Gengar

Gengar makes a name for itself in Tradebacks as the second fastest sleep inducer behind Persian, giving it a prominent role in the lead metagame, as it threatens every slower sleep-inducing lead in the game. Gengar is also the only relevant Ghost-type, letting it wall Persian after Sleep Clause has been activated, and pivot into strong Normal-type attacks from Snorlax and Tauros to let teammates such as Cloyster, Zapdos, and Snorlax come in more easily. Its typing also lets it catch Explosion from Cloyster, Exeggutor, Snorlax, and opposing Gengar. Its high Special allows it to deal solid damage with Thunderbolt and Ice Punch, and access to Explosion allows it to threaten walls and bulky foes like Chansey and Exeggutor. In addition, its 21.48% critical hit rate makes these offensive tools all the more dangerous.

However, Gengar’s Poison typing, mediocre bulk, shaky accuracy with Hypnosis, and lower Speed relative to its threats all prove to be significant flaws that make Gengar somewhat unreliable. Its Poison-type allows Earthquake users and STAB Psychic users to greatly threaten it. Gengar also has reliability concerns as a sleeper, as its frailty combined with Hypnosis's 60% accuracy means it may fail to put a foe to sleep before it is KOed or forced to use Explosion. Tradebacks OU also features more strategies involving early paralysis spreading compared to OU. This also frustrates it, as Gengar's base 110 Speed is one of its greatest strengths, letting it outspeed otherwise much more threatening Pokemon such as Snorlax and Exeggutor.