Announcement: https://sv-news.pokemon.co.jp/en/page/146.html It took a few weeks shy of a full year since release, but we finally got an official online competition in the singles format in generation 9—and the situation hasn't really been…

As unplayable as I found Regulation C to be, I am sorry to report that Regulation D has not been much of an improvement at all. The game just does not feel like BSS anymore. So I will simply not be laddering until meaningful changes make t…

TL;DR: I won't be creating content for Regulation C. In the almost four and half years of covering BSS here in my own little way, I've never before felt the need to make a post quite like this. Now, admittedly, this is in no small part due…

To conclude Series 2 (Regulation B) in the midst of a move into a new apartment with something at least resembling a respectable result, 1850+ Elo, I had to let go of any notion of trying to make Iron Thorns work after some truly rough gam…

The first ruleset rotation of generation 9 this month saw the release of the Paradox pokemon. As I see it, the most interesting result of this change-up involves the new special attackers admitted into the proceedings—Flutter Mane, Iron Bu…

As Series 1 is defunct as a ruleset by the time this entry is public, I'll try to keep things brief. The initial idea I had to close out Series 1 was to pilot some variant of dedicated Drifblim Minimize Baton Pass, which ultimately proved …

Greetings, fellow humans. As promised, this is my first summary of the major resources I try to make use of for ranked singles on console in generation 9. It goes without saying that virtually all relevant material below is in Japanese, co…

Before getting to the meat of the matter, my first impressions about the new ranked singles format, after around 300 games played on console across two accounts, are as follows: First, and much to everyone's relief, I'm sure, generation 9 …

I may be jumping the gun here a bit, but I figured this would be fun to do, so what the heck! To kick off my coverage of generation 9, I briefly go over three prominent pokemon that were absent from SWSH, and whose return to ranked singles…

With Scarlet/Violet just over the horizon now, and SWSH's final official tournament being played in the doubles format, I figured it was time to bid farewell to generation 8. Unfortunately, I don't think it's a controversial thing to concl…

Rules: https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000119/en Smogon thread: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/champion-league.3707533/ Well, color me surprised! Finding myself unable to get excited about the recent "I Choose 'Chu!" o…

Official rules page: https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000213/en As Generation 8 of ranked draws to a close, we now have the ruleset for the final complete series of play, Series 13. And it's a spin on Mythical Melee, which is …

"Protect your Magikarp"? "You mean from Perish Song by Bouncing into a semi-invulnerable state to avoid it?". Announcement & Rules: https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000117/en Thread: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/jump-…

Announcement: https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/register-now-for-the-single-battle-cup-competition/ I am embarrassed to admit just how excited I got upon receiving the news that there was something to do in ranked singles other than …

The first two months of maintenance mode (Series 12) are behind us, so I figured it's about time for me to report in on what I got up to this past March. Unfortunately, what I decided to feature this time around isn't necessarily the most …

Mellow greetings. It is time for another update to the list of resources I use for BSS, the previous one being from May 2021. Again, everything below is divided into three basic sections. First, tools for laddering: things you may want to …

As previously stated, I took the liberty of taking the last two months off from anything resembling mindful laddering for the first time in three years of doing these write-ups. That should tell you everything you need to know about what I…

Announcement: https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000211/en I say this only half-jokingly, but a most terrible fate has befallen those of us who have made the catastrophic choice of enjoying ranked singles on console enough to tu…

To see off the only non-Dynamax ruleset for ranked singles we've had so far this generation, I wanted to build something special; to make things as memorable for myself as possible, and hopefully not too off-putting as a read, either. Afte…

I went into a bit of a ruleset-induced funk this season, so this one is not going to have as much meat on the bones as usual. Indeed, this entry is not at all what I initally set out to do, but because the closest thing to an interesting c…

This was going to happen eventually: a weekender tournament with both restricted and mythical pokemon in it, and with the added complication of the generational gimmick of Dynamax to boot. 1) Team overview Necrozma Dusk-Mane Kyogre Zacian-…

Series 10 is live until the start of November, so for my first effort, I wanted to feature the team I played most of my 80 games on my main account, and which got me a 1900 Elo finish. This team doesn't have any of the three most popular a…

Alright, here's what I used to drag myself across 1800 Elo during the last week or so of Season 20, Series 9. Not exactly a great result, and admittedly short of what I set out to do to see off Series 9, but not terrible either. In any cas…

Alright, so what we got here was 45 games of a mono-Water format without Tapu Fini, Urshifu-RS and Suicune to work with. Oh, and Silvally-Water is out, too. Yep, Silvally. But Gyarados (Moxie Max Airstream), Lapras (Freeze Dry), and Rotom-…

Announcement: https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000207/en Here's another few paragraphs about my thoughts regarding the announced ruleset changes for Series 10 — a three-month period of play, running from the start of August to…

Zapdos continues to rule the roost, so what better time to fire up something that is intentionally free for Volt Switch, and ideally wants the opponent to pop Dynamax on it on turn 1 as a matter of course? This team is a riff on what mujuk…

Did they botch the rollout of the ruleset for this competition, as well? Well, yes. But we shouldn't let the seemingly endless parade of witless incompetents responsible for online in this game detract from the fact that what we ended up g…

With the ill-conceived mid-pandemic Tokyo Olympic Games right around the corner, what better time to get into the spirit of things and do some shot put with Light Balls again. This team also has Maranga Berry Zapdos at the ready to do the …

Hello there. This is an update for a page I made last year, containing what I considered some of the most relevant resources for BSS team-building and laddering at the time. I decided to do this again after concluding that enough has happe…

This is going to be a short one, but I feel like I have to say a few words about Series 8 again, now that we have the complete picture of what a full three months of play with the Dragon King Cup rules looks like. A proper post-mortem is w…