At this point, I don't think it's a controversial thing to say that BSS is currently undergoing the unhealthiest metagame since its inception way back in 2011 with the Global Battle Union (although techincally online match-making has exist…

While I am not above hot takes, such as considering Regieleki an actual trashmon as a screens setter compared to Tapu Koko in Series 7, I do try to avoid unwarranted histrionics, and did honestly try to keep on open mind about this ruleset…

It's probably obvious by now, but I kind of enjoy teams that are momentum-based, and therefore heavily reliant on the lead game. These teams are almost inevitably either hyper offense or some sort of balance-bulky offense, the two styles I…

Details: https://battle.pokemon-home.com/regulation/000000203/en This was originally just a coda in the upcoming team write-up for Season 14, but as I thought more about what I wanted to say about the announced changes for ranked singles f…

I consider this one to be a bit of a disappointment. Having presided over numerous fun experiments with, alas, underwhelming results, involving things like Focus Sash/Custap Berry Cramorant, and Slowking-G as Zapdos/Nihilego check this sea…

Another singles weekender to play in, this time with the twist of BSS + 1 uber per team. For this one, I even took the nigh unprecedented step of doing some legwork in the form of almost 20 practice games on Showdown, as well as consulting…

The past month saw the unveiling of what I think we can assume will be the final state of generation 8 BSS in the release of the Crown Tundra. I think I managed to play something like 60+ games within the first two days of the season with …

Another weekender with a 3v3 singles ruleset to put myself through. Allow me to begin by meticulously detailing the entirety of my team-building process for this: When the announcement was put up, I made a Notepad list of what I thought wa…

As mentioned in the previous entry, the idea here was to run a base 60 Speed creeping Choice Band Rhyperior to surprise wall-break through teams that play towards reactive Dynamaxing with slower, bulkier stuff like Primarina and Azumarill,…

Alright, I couldn't quite break into triple digits with this on the final day's run and ended up bombing out really hard on the last grind of the day, going 6-14 in the last 20 games, but I thought I'd share this anyway now that I know th…

After having a rotten go of it with Kingdra, the would-be subject of this entry, I landed on mixed Blast Burn Cinderace hyper offense as this month's triple-digits reaching team showcase. I realize almost everything below is going to be ob…

It took three months, and I honestly didn't think it would even happen thanks to the pandemic and its resultant unfulfilled VGC-circuit obligations taking priority over online events, but here we are again, an honest-to-goodness singles we…

1) Overview 2) Notes on tools & their usefulness 2.1 Damage Calculator 2.2 Usage Stats & Trends 2.3 Smogon Resources 3) Deeper metagame-knowledge 3.1 Nouthuca 3.2 Pokesol (youtube) 3.3 Pokedb 4) Player streams 5) In Conclusion Season 8, Ju…

Here is my first post-Libero, post-DLC foray into ranked after grinding out a relatively decent finish last season. Given that it's still quite early in the new metagame, I don't expect this team to really have much long term viability, bu…

The last season before the first set of DLC drops is upon us. As it has become painfully clear by now, generation 8 BSS is sadly no longer so much about identifying and playing around good cores on the opposing side like the venerable Hipp…

Memento slug into Gothitelle? Check. Pre-Libero Gunk Shot Cinderace? Aye. Fire Blast Gyarados? Hot. The best questionable decisions are the ones with some thought behind them: before arriving at the final line up below, know that all of th…

After not managing to get a finish above the low triple digit ranks for Season 5 (April) despite actually pushing on the final day for once (and meeting more disconnect abusers on that final day of the season than over the course of the re…

This April's entry covers another original work of left-handed imbecility; a real knee-slapper; a rib-tickler, if you will. Ok, not really. Here's the gist of it though: two Trick users and an unorthodox Seismitoad spread come together to …

"How about another weekender singles tournament?" "Sure." "It's 1v1 though. Without a team preview screen. And 10 second turn timers." "..." 1) Team overview: 2) Tournament: Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Final Result 3) Post-mortem: Rules/Announcement…

Don't be fooled by the rock that she's got — she's still Jenny from the block. For March, the format got its first taste of the shake-ups coming later in the year in the form of DLC with the inclusion of things like G-Max Lapras, Blastoise…

Generation 8 in a nutshell: When every attack bar Aerial Ace has the accuracy of Stone Edge. This is a team I used not only to get triple digits in season 3 of ranked play, but doing so earlier in the season than my previous two efforts, i…

The occasional turn 2. For January's post, I thought I'd to a quick run-through of an aggressive team whose author used it to come 1st in an early friendly tournament and which I ended up piloting to get triple digits during season 2. This…

At ladder season 1's conclusion, I thought I'd do a write-up of the first original team that dragged me into the triple digit ranks (before crashing out again) late in the season by accidentally targeting an apparent pocket metagame consis…

In preparing for the first official weekender competition of generation 8, my analysis of the meta was based on a shallow and, at times, alarmingly swingy experience comprised of a total of 79 games on the ranked console ladder across 4-5 …

Note: this was written a few days before the full datamine of the games. With a new generation of pokemon come new challenges to overcome and new opportunities to grab some delicious ranked ladder points. It is in this spirit that I have c…

The final weekender competition of generation 7 gave players another take at Ultra No Holds Barred, only this time with a completely unlimited roster of pokemon to choose from. The goal of this post will hopefully give a decent picture of …

For September's mid-season climb to 1700+, I adapted (read: made objectively worse) a Tapu Lele + Charizard team that reached 2000 points during season 15. nouthuca: blogs: https://hanamiti19.hatenablog.com/entry/2019/06/19/200950 (origina…

For August's post, I have chosen to recount the tale of a committed Lopunny team that features interesting complementary options such as Sap Sipper Azumarill and SpDef invested bulky berry Excadrill, and which the team's original author us…

For July's post, I decided to explore a sweet triple Z-move armed Decidueye team the team's author successfully piloted to 1900+ during season 15. What made this team stand out to me was not only the fact that this team comes equipped with…

And now for something completely different. Now, of course, it is a truth universally acknowledged that in order to play the game in ranked, all one has to do is click the find match-button on the Battle Spot. But I am here to inform you t…