Battle Stadium Singles blog #1 — Welcome to Generation 8
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 chosen to inaugurate this new series of monthly Battle Stadium Singles coverage with a general statement of goals and to provide some light as to what the reader can expect to find here going forward, and concluding with my first impressions of the ranked singles metagame.
1) Blog goals for generation 8:
Despite not seriously pushing the ladder over the last year of generation 7 (the duration of the existence of this blog), I managed to hold a rating of between top 1-3% of players in ranked singles throughout my monthly journey of switching teams and writing up my ladder-climbing experiences on this platform. Thus, as long as the ranked singles format of generation 8 unfolds in a way that manages to keep my interest, I will continue documenting my first-hand observations of the ranked cart ladder on the pages herein — and ideally at a respectable rating again, of course.
1.1 — Content going forward
I will continue posting monthly battle reports about my travails on the cart ladder, with initially perhaps more of a focus on theorycrafting, the metagame in general as it starts taking shape, and on the possible new online resources that might pop up for players take advantage of for a smoother climbing experience. But once public exploits for newer Switch models become readily available, the genning options accompanying custom firmware should once more free me to do ladder runs with fringe sets, too. Until then, however, the first few blog posts should cover mostly standard teams while I build up pokemon ingame for the initial climbs.
2) Generation 8 — first impressions:
If I cared about the mainline pokemon games as some kind of Gesamtkunstwerk, an artistic whole, I would not have paid full price for Sword/Shield, as it is evidently clear that these games are woefully behind the standards of the Triple-A gaming landscape in virtually every respect: the visual presentation from draw distance and frame drops to graphics are lagging behind contemporary releases even on the very same platform, stripped features and content (no postgame to speak of, Dexit) that speaks to a rushed production cycle, and hiding content central to the pokemon experience behind a paid online service.
Adding on top of all this is the series of massive self-inflicted wounds committed in the marketing running up all the way to release: interviews where developers stated that some pokemon might not make it only for that number to be revealed — by leakers, no less! — to be over 60% of extant pokemon at the time, resulting in pulled ads and cancellation of Japanese launch events due to "operational reasons" (threats of violence from a self-entitled fan base), potentially catastrophic loss of goodwill of the very fandom which had allowed Game Freak developers to get away with less-than-complete products in the past (XY comes to mind), and, finally, a lack of sufficient communication about the future of Pokemon Bank / Home to ameliorate the the negative backlash of Dexit.
All of this is, of course, obviously the result of the pokemon video game franchise having as its whole reason for existence in the first place the mere the furtherment of the merchandising which makes pokemon the most profitable media franchies in history. And you know what, I'm fine with that. I am, after all, here mostly for the bizarrely interesting combination of poker and RPS-elements resultant from the overly complex battle mechanics and the bring-6-select-3-singles -format present in this particular series of children's video game. Yes, I am aware of just how silly what I just stated sounds like — taking enjoyment out of an overdesigned and arguably infantile activity — but it is what it is, and I can't very well stop myself either.
2.1 — Ranked Singles metagame compared to generation 7 / USUM
Before briefly touching on the metagame itself, the two main factors most impactful in drawing a distinction between the ranked ladder systems between generations 7 and 8 — Dexit and the overhaul of the ranking system itself — need to be addressed.
USUM season 11 top-rated dedicated stall. Compiled by marilli.
First, Dexit means that many staple cores and play styles are invalidated in their generation 7 iterations in generation 8. Some notable examples include late-USUM variants of hard stall with offensive options mixed in, popular hyper offense with megas / Naganadel losing their speed creeping sweepers and suicide leads (Sash Landorus, Trick Room Download Porygon2), Hippowdon + Salamence + Aegislash + Tapu Koko losing its raw burst damage output, whereas the ascendant Celesteela + Tapu Fini + Charizard X / Ground-type got just straight up deleted from the game altogether.
Interestingly, though, the loss of Z-moves, an only partially successful implementation of a burst / wall-breaking mechanic in my book, means that defensive survivors of Dexit such as Hippowdon, Ferrothorn, and Aegislash will have an easier time against, for example, potential lure sets...provided they find a way play around Dynamax and Gigantamax.
As for the ranked ladder system itself, then, the news seems overwhelmingly good at first glance: not having your rating completely reset after every season should improve the match-making in at least two ways that immediately come to mind: first, my read of this is that inherent in the approach of retaining rank across seasons is a core assumption that the metagame develops faster due to improved match-making among peers; and, second, making it easier to avoid bad plays especially over time as ratings stabilize, so that not only would you avoid getting matched with someone hundreds of points below you, you would mercifully be spared having to actively consider sub-optimal plays against such opponents in a format in which in-game fortunes can turn on a dime in the most savage of ways.
Now, of course, there is no way to know in advance whether things like match-making will pan out as I think and hope it will, but what bears remembering is that even 3+ years into generation 7, ranked singles retained a seasonal player base of 70k players registering a result, a full 10x more players than both the doubled formats combined, proving that there is an appetite for ranked singles out there even if these new systems are somehow implemented in the worst ways imaginable.
2.2 — Ranked Singles metagame: new pokemon, battle items & mechanics?
Going through the new pokemon in any kind of detail when it comes to their expected roles or team cores is well and truly beyond the scope of this post, so I'll mention the new pokemon additions to the franchise only as they relate to Dexit, the main takeaway of which at this point is the fact that a number of role-vacuums have formed, which I trust will be filled with things whose power level would have previously been considered inadequate to ever overcome being outclassed by strictly bigger stat-sticks in formerly available pokemon such as the many variants of Celesteela, Landorus or, indeed, any of the premier offensive megas. Something to look forward to, to be sure.
At first glance, of the new battle items introduced this generation, most seem rather underwhelming when it comes to 3v3 singles, with the possible exception of Heavy Duty Boots, but even then, Stealth Rock, the only consistently viable hazard in the format historically, is usually played around through the preview screen and team-building anyway. Something like Blunder Policy, for example, will probably find a place, too, even if that place is located in the meme domain. The new moves introduced should also give underused old items a new lease on life, with something as situational as Red Card looking marginally more appealing thanks to opposing Dynamax / Gigantamax, or when paired with a move like Jaw Lock.
Speaking of Dynamax / Gigantamax, this is the half-baked new gimmick mechanic of this generation that, properly employed, lets players break through defensive play or eliminate a key threat by virtue of how regular moves behave after maxing. This is especially true for Dynamax, which, unlike Gigantamax and its 2x HP buff and access to a unique special move, offers only a 2x HP buff outside the new move interactions: meaningful new offensive coverage, weather and terrain manipulation, and self-boosting options granted access to for its three-turn duration. In short, my read is that this mechanic will have limited usefulness as a defensive tool, used instead mostly to close out games as a follow-up to momentum plays à la Dragon / Quiver Dance sweep of previous generations.
2.3 — Cart ladder: my likely first build for ranked & beyond
As mentioned above, custom firmware remains a bit of a hassle on the Switch currently, which means most players, myself included, will have to resort to actually playing ingame, which, while significantly less of a hassle this time around thanks to the many quality-of-life improvements implemented in Sword/Shield with competitive players in mind, remains an absolutely disgusting prospect for an old hackerman nevertheless.
Without going into too much detail, I am not making any claims about whether my chosen six pokemon to develop first represents some kind of objectively right choice for everyone (of course not), rather, I have instead arrived at them because they are familiar to me and seem like solid picks both in the upcoming online competition and in ranked play going forward...not to mention the Battle Points grind in the Battle Tower competitive players will be subjected to.
Pokepaste:
https://pokepast.es/72d585d6f2107ab5
Note: Other pokemon that are on my list of things to play towards but did not make the first six are: Excadrill, Roserade, Mamoswine, Ferrothorn, Dragapult, Tyranitar, Indeedee, Frosmoth, Eiscue, Darmanitan, Barraskewda, and the Gigantamax pokemon Lapras, Gengar & Copperajah.
Mimikyu:
The Dexit culling of the upper speed tiers would just as easily let Mimikyu run fast Swords Dance + Dynamax builds even with painful loss of the Ghostium and Mimikium Z-Crystals for the extra punch they provided at +2 or +4 to break through even Ferrothorn and Hippowdon, but as a firm proponent of bringing teams with at least some form of solid anti-jank tech (Baton Pass, rain/sand, Screens play, Moody etc.), I will instead first opt for a bulky Curse set with speed control.
Inteleon:
Lazy-EV'd discount Greninja for the option of running a fast, special-based glass cannon as a Focus Sash, Life Orb, or even Choice Scarf set.
Hydreigon:
Another simple offensive choice that can Dynamax Belch to remove a Fairy-type switch-in or run a Choice Scarf/Specs U-Turn set, and pairs up defensively well with Aegislash. Nastly Plot and even Taunt + Roost sets have some real potential I feel, but I have chosen to keep it simple at first.
Aegislash:
Physically defensive Weakness Policy Aegislash from USUM. Mega Salamence and Mega Gyarados are gone, but the bulk even after the King's Shield and BST nerfs it got in this generation still lets it potentially check things like Dragon Dance Dragapult and sand/Excadrill, as well as waste Dyna/Gigamax turns with its formidable native bulk in conjunction with King's Shield.
Gyarados:
Dragon Dance Gyarados of yore. Premium Intimidate and Dynamax user. Allegedly, Moxie Dynamax Gyarados has been performing above expectations in preliminary testing, so that might be something worth building towards eventually, as well.
Rotom-H:
SpDef-orientated bulky berry Rotom-H is intended to be another option for Aegislash defensively, and nets more momentum for Gyarados and Hydreigon with Volt Switch. Even with the pinch berry (FIWAM) nerf, I feel like they still outclass Sitrus Berry on defensive pokemon.
3) Conclusion:
With the housekeeping out of the way, all that's left to say is that I wish everyone a fun and successful journey in ranked going forward, and I hope you manage to find the time to swing by this blog every once in a while if what I have outlined above is at all interesting to you.
December's post and the first post-proper of generation 8 will cover my participation in the first weekender online-competition of the new generation, hosted merely three weeks after release, Galar Beginnings.
- Tox
