Was getting thrashed around a bit when open great league came back, then stumbled on this team and went ham, stunfisk corebroke basically everyone in the entire entire 2000-2400s, after TWO chokes at 2497 elo where i went 1-4 both times i got back to 2497 and finally finished off. Good to come back after a few seasons off (last veteran was with shadow swampert vigoroth and skarmory🫣) and get back to here, now it’s time to fuck around and run some spice

As Minior is shown as Core form in your boxes, my ~1800 CP Minior cannot enter GL despite the fact that under Meteor form its CP would be around ~1100.

This means if you’re interested in using Minior in GL, you’d be using it around lv25 with the Meteor form CP of around 1000.

In UL, Minior-Core can reach 2500 at lv50. Its corresponding CP for Minior-Meteor is around 1600.

Hi All,

As the post says. Today I experienced two situations where DRE did not work as intended, i.e. when throwing a charged move on the last turn of an opponent fast move that would ko me, my mon faints instead of throwing. Wanted to see if it is just lag on my side or it is a diffused issue. I am confident that in both situations I had the energy to throw the move.

Situation 1: my Volt Switch Forretress has basically 100 energy from farming down an opponent. an Incinerate Houndoom enters the field and starts an Incinerate - in theory I should be able to throw a VS and then a Rock Tomb on the 5th turn, instead my Forretress faints.

Situation 2: I have a Hydreigon against a Sableye. Sableye kills me with 5 shadow claws, however I should have been able to throw 9 DBs and then throw a Brutal Swing on the 10th turn.

First time getting to Ace trainer. I was really excited because of the pool of encounters this season, but the second I passed level 20 my winrate absolutely tanked 🥴. Not sure if this is common for a lot of new GBL players, but its tough because all I really want is 3 wins per set for the encounter, but Ive been averaging maybe 2 since I hit ace, only got 3 once in 5 sets.

Outside of the obvious, like playing more and practicing more, anything I should do to get to win #3 more often? I mainly play Great league and its variants, but this week have been heavily playing little cup.

Ive heard some people mention like intentionally losing to get placed against easier opponents. Also heard switching leagues. Any anecdotes to that?

Which should I silver bottle cap? G.moltres is GL rank 8 after raising hp to 15. I’m in Ace and only played GL currently. Never played UL and ML as I do not have the resources for them.

I know sword zacian raid is coming but I don’t think I’ll have the time to farm the energy as it is only available 1 day in my location.

Moltres is not as great in GL vs UL. Should I use it on moltres and wait for the next silver bottle cap to use on zacian when I have the resources and finally decided to play ML?

Thanks in advance for any inputs.

Now that we have several of them, and they have proven to be powerful how do you feel about them? Do you think they are healthy for the game?

Hello, battlers. I'm still working on an overview of the entire Fantasy Cup meta ahead of next week, but in the process of doing that, I've run across a huge problem. Put simply: Mimikyu is about to absolutely destroy this format.

Now, I've written about Mimikyu before, before it was even allowed in GBL, and came the conclusion even then that it was completely busted. And while it hasn't completely broken GBL in half, it has become a big part of even Open formats, emerging as a Top 10 Pokémon in the rankings {and at multiple levels) and in actual usage (per the already awesome GoBattleLog), and again, across multiple Leagues. With a unique and potent defensive typing that is weak to only Ghost and Steel damage (and double resists Dragon, Normal, and Bug damage, and triple resists Fighting damage), and its extremely powerful third shield mechanic, it has a LOT going for it.

And now we arrive at Fantasy Cup. Like other Fairies, that double resistance to Dragon damage is a big deal in a format with only three typings, and one of them being Dragon. I'll show the sims in a moment, but despite having only one move that deals super effective damage to Dragons (Play Rough), there is only ONE Dragon in the entire format that can sometimes overcome Mimikyu, and even that one is IV-dependent (and realistically you're never going to actually see it anyway).

Now here's where things start getting crazy. There is also only one single Fairy that reliably beats Mimikyu, and that one is Wigglytuff which, of course, resists Ghost damage thanks to Wiggly's Normal typing.

So that leaves us with Steels, and even there, not many manage to best Mimikyu! Accounting for the Wigglytuff and Appletun we just mentioned, there are less than 10 Steel types that can reliably overcome Mimikyu in 1v1 shielding: Steelix (regular and Shadow), Forretress, Galarian Stunfisk, Ferrothorn, Corviknight, Melmetal, and then a couple things there's basically no chance of encountering (Aron and Shadow Probopass). Additionally, Aggron and Lairon with Metal Sound can force a tie. But that's it... Mimikyu can defeat a whopping 93% of the entire Fantasy Cup format.

Admittedly, Mimikyu is not quite that dominant in other even shield scenarios, but 0shield still hits an 86% winrate, and 2shield drops down to 79%. I mean, when about 80% winning is your LOW point, that's not ideal. That's like Aerodactyl-in-Flying-Cup, Bronzor-in-Little-Cup levels of domination.

The only Fantasy Cup Pokémon that consistently beat Mimikyu in all even shield (well, as "even" as you can get when Mimikyu cheats with its third shield)? WIGGLYTUFF, FORRETRESS (regular, not Shadow), and MELMETAL. That's it... that is the entire list.

STEELIX (both regular and Shadow) wins in the 1shield and 2shield matchups, but not with shields down. EMPOLEON loses in 1v1 shielding, but wins otherwise. Same with CARBINK, who also wins with shields down and with both shields up, but loses the 1shield showdown. CORVIKNIGHT gets 1shield and 0shield matchups, but loses the advantage when the battle pushes to both shields.

And uh... that's really about it. There are a handful of others that win one specific even shield battle scenario against Mimikyu, but that's about the extent of it. Oh, and there's even one more wrinkle that can mess with the above, as Mimikyu could come packing Thunder instead of Play Rough and flip some of those results above like Corviknight and Empoleon, giving up only a couple Dragons (sometimes Zweilous, Hydreigon, and/or Turtonator) to do it and otherwise remaining just as domineering.

Scopely, if you're reading my analyses like I know Niantic used to... any chance you could just ban this thing in Fantasy Cup and be done with it? 🥺 The meta has a much healthier look without it. (Not to mention GBL in general, while we're at it. 🙏)

If not, dear readers, then get whatever few Mimikyu hard counters you have ready. You're gonna need 'em.

I'll still try and push out an analysis on other new and improved stuff in this meta (like Melmetal, which does a LOT more than just consistently outrace Mimikyu) in the coming days, but I didn't want to wait on this one. Scopely, you know what to do! (Please!)

Anyway, until next time, you can often find me on Twitter for Pokémon GO analysis nuggets, or Patreon. Thank you for reading, and good luck in your Fantasy Cup prep (or avoidance! 😅) next week. Catch you next time, Pokéfriends!

This has bothered me since they double nerfed scizor a few seasons ago. Bullet punch lost 1 damage and night slash went from a double attack boost to a single boost.

Scizor was a cool Pokemon to have around the meta for the 2 or 3 seasons that it was good. It thrashed fairies, it got thrashed by fires, and to everything else it was just a strong neutral presence. Waters resisted bullet punch but took SE from trailblaze. It was very neutral into ghosts because night slash just isn’t a great move. It went pretty even with fighters although primeape would overwhelm it in even energy.

The thing that made scizor obnoxious was always the double boost from night slash. Once you got that it was usually game over because even resisted bullet punches would tear through entire teams. Scizor worked fine without the boost but once you got it it was unstoppable unless you had a pocket fire mon, which at the time was pretty uncommon. Now we have ninetales though.

The same season Scizor went away, wiggly became an absolute terror. Wiggly is nerfed and mostly gone now, but now we have mimikyu, which, while not as irritating as wiggly, really makes you wonder why bullet punch was ever nerfed. Mimikyu is only weak to ghost and steel, but ghosts take SE from yu’s shadow claws in return and there are currently no good steel fast moves, so that leaves us with what? Astonish dunsparce and I guess ludicolo to punish mimikyu. That sucks man. Steel sucks as an offensive type, let it have bullet punch.

TL;DR Scizor was cool, night slash made it dumb. Leave NS but bring bullet punch back to its former glory.

Trying my luck since the meta shifted. I'm one of the few that likes the new system as it is more balanced personally and lag is not as prevalent as the past seasons that made me quit GBL and PoGO entirely.

I have recently gotten to the point where I consistently reach ace rank each season. What techniques/strategies helped you get from Ace to Veteran?

My team changes a lot based on what I am using, but I am currently running Gastrodon lead with shadow snorlax and clamoring.

I appreciate any tips the community can provide.

So many viable and satisfying counters to Bronzor in Little Cup now thanks to the Sucker Punch buff.

And frankly even then sometimes Bronzor would still destroy a team with only one SP user.

That has made me now run TWO SP users and I always laugh when they think they've killed my one Bronzor counter (shadow Purrloin) and then triumphantly bring out their 1-shield Bronzor and I bring out my Nickit.

So anyway, this version of LC has been super fun and actually made me want to build a bunch of mons (played around with h. growlithe and s. joltik) etc. And even though I lose, been fun to see Togepis and Tinkatinks!

I’m trying to get better at team building and have played around with my potential teams on pick3.gg and oakcoliseum. Both sites seem to prefer different teams which makes it difficult to determine which mons to invest my dust and CMs in. Neither seems to completely replicate battleflow’s findings either which is interesting.

How would you guys rank each source for influence on what teams you build?

I put in effort for the first time guys. Also helps these moms I had didn’t cost too too much to build. Anyway if you have a drink in your hand atm please have a toast!🥂🍻🍾

Some extra information before I get into the meat and potatoes of this post: I stayed in with my Shadow Hitmonlee against the talonflame because I didn’t really want to have it up against Mega Aggron later in the match.

The Mega Aggron/Melmetal cmp is very close and actually IV dependent.

Shadow Kyogre beats Rillaboom cmp by about 4 attack in UL.

Main Point - There are very three very critical moments in this match. The first is at 0:40. Talonflame is at 100 energy after fully farming down Shadow Hitmonlee. I get throwing on alignment is something you’ve been told not to do but talonflame isn’t getting any more energy. There are times where going past 100 energy is optimal like when you’re trying to farm something into charge move range and throwing your move would give your opponent an opportunity to swap out with energy at low hp. The thing is, you know something at full health is coming in since the match just started so throwing a fast move there is quite literally as inefficient as throwing on alignment. This free energy the opponent gives me becomes very become potent later in the match.

The second moment is at 1:43. Me and my opponent had swapped into our steel types at the same time. My intention was to try and catch a Fly/Brave Bird and my opponent’s was to bank energy incase its useful later (it was). Thing is, because we had both swapped at the same time, our switch cooldown timer was the same as well. Had my opponent been more proactive here, they would have swapped rillaboom the second brick break landed since the switch timer was up. Unless something like a florges comes in, a melmetal at that health range has no good reason to be staying in after the switch timer has come up since it’s at risk of being immediately farmed down. Because they stayed in with Melmetal and threw a thunder shock, my shadow Kyogre now suddenly has an extra waterfalls worth of energy that it shouldn’t have.

Normally, Rillaboom would run circles around Kyogre’s slower pacing. The issue for my opponent now is that shadow Kyogre has a 9 turn head start. With the three extra waterfalls I got throughout the match due to my opponent’s mistakes, my kyogre has enough energy to perfectly keep up with Rillaboom. I cmp their rillaboom to both Drum beatings and am able to take out one of Kyogres worst matchups in the league. Going back to critical moment #1, had my opponent thrown a Fly immediately at my Kyogre, I would only have 1 waterfall which would allow Rillaboom to outpace. Looking back at #2, had my opponent been a little more conscientious about not allowing me to get ahead on energy, I would have also been outpaced due to also not getting a free waterfall. These past two mistakes are bad for my opponent and have given me an opportunity to take advantage of those mistakes but victory is still within their grasps. They still have 55 energy on Talonflame and can very easily come in and knock out shadow Kyogre. If they do that, my very low health mega aggron is helpless as the last shield was spent on Kyogre to block the first drum beating (also it’s in 1 incinerate range lol). The victor of the match will be decided in these next key moments.

The final and (in my opinion) most critical moment of the match is at 2:26. Kyogre knocks out Rillaboom but is stuck waiting for the switch timer to come up. There is 1 free second where my opponent can come in with Talonflame and decide the match. All that matters for my opponent is if it lands or not. As Rillaboom faints and the ability to come in is available my opponent…hesitates? Maybe they were thinking on whether they actually stored a move on their talonflame or stressed due to allowing me to take out their rillaboom due to their decisions while battling. Whatever they were thinking about in that 1 second between my switch timer coming up and their talonflame coming in, it allowed me to swap out and catch the fly onto my Mega Aggron which sealed the game for me. Had kyogre not made 2 moves against the rillaboom, it also wouldn’t have been to stall the switch clocks for long enough to be able to get out in time to avoid talonflame’s game ending Fly. In this scenario, only three charge moves had been thrown since the last time someone switched (My two avalanches and their singular drum beating). While my opponent was the one who swapped last, knowing that 4 charged moves is usually the amount of time it takes for switch to come back fully might have been what made the difference in the end game. Had they known, they might’ve brought in Talon as fast as they could and absolutely smack down any possibility of me being able to catch their move due to my switch timer not being up.

I didn’t make this post to mock this trainer’s battling ability. I made this post in hopes that it could give insight to trainers who feel as if they’re getting hard countered all the time and that the game isn’t over once you’re put in a bad situation. While it takes more effort, battling in situations where you’re on the back foot is a very good way to increase your skill level if you’re willing to learn and look for ways to get out of the sticky situation instead of giving up or getting mad and blaming the game. Just as I did during this battle, you may find opportunities arise out of battles you deemed RPS at first too if you just keep looking. People aren’t perfect. Even if your opponent has pokemon that are very strong into yours, it’s possible that they may make decisions that could benefit you too. Just keep an eye out for them. Don’t know where to look? Learn all you can about PvP. Find the best sources. As time goes on, if you try your hardest to absorb valuable info and try to implement it into your gameplay, you will get better.

When I was backed into a corner by an opponent who had all the tools they needed to beat me, I grasped at straws and found a sword that had been forged out of my opponent’s mistakes and slew them with it. If I could do it, so can you. :)

I must say I didn't have an opinion on the huge legendary pool this season, but to get 11 unique legendary pokemon during this season has been great.

​

Back in 2019, I was new to content creation and livestreaming. I spent weekends travelling between Pokémon GO communities across Southern Ontario—London, Hamilton, Toronto, and Barrie—meeting trainers, getting to know community leaders, and streaming local tournaments.

Then I heard about the Silph Arena Regionals. Some of the best-ranked trainers in the region would compete for an invitation to Continentals, and I was honoured to have the opportunity to stream the event.

Putting it together took some creativity. We had more than 50 trainers, no indoor venue, and hosting that many people in a food court wasn’t an option. So we held the tournament at a park in uptown Toronto.

My biggest challenge? Finding working power for my equipment and a stable Wi-Fi connection. Somehow, I managed to get both, and we had a stream!

For a league in its first season, the level of competition was incredible. Trainers were investing their time, energy, Pokémon Candy, Stardust, and hours of practice into becoming the best battlers they could be. Getting to capture that early chapter of competitive Pokémon GO was something special.

I wanted to share the stream for anyone who was there, remembers that era, or wants to see what the early days looked like:

"Watch the 2019 Regional tournament on YouTube" (https://www.youtube.com/live/ckObW5I1fNk?si=ryTAyRNryAG3LMck)

It took a lot of work and coordination from community leaders across the region to make this happen. Thank you to everyone who helped organize it and every trainer who came out.

Were you there, or did you compete in a Season 1 Regional somewhere else? I’d love to hear your memories.

Is this even worth using? Most of the pros are running higher attack IV spreads, and this does significantly worse in sims than a 15/10/10 & 15/15/15 sableye, it feels so dominant right now that I feel like I have no choice but to get candies & power it up, but I'm also certain that I'll get a better one the next time this Pokemon is in rotation.

Hey everyone! I’m using the Oak Coliseum team builder. I had a couple of quick questions about how it works (also i’m not trying to get to ace or anything just to grind rare candies on rank 20):
1. Team Scores: When looking at my options, should I be prioritizing the general overall score (around 76) or the specific ABC team score (around 79)?
2. Move Change Needed: Does Oak Coliseum calculate its team synergy based on the exact moves I manually input into my box, or does it assume the Pokémon have their ideal/legacy moves (like Gigaton Hammer on Tinkaton)? It flags "Move Change Needed" for me, so I'm wondering if the score and the team picking reflects my current moves or the recommended ones.
3. IV Ranks: How much does an IV rank in the 700s or even 1000s (out of 4096, based on pvpoke) actually matter for climbing to Rank 20 compared to team synergy (i got some good alternatives with way better iv’s but not as good)?

Proof you don’t need good IVs to hit Veteran.

Took a little break last season but this is the smoothest team I’ve played in a long time. 3/2 or 4/1 in almost each set. 2200 to 2500 ELO in 3 days. Danced around the meta for a while before landing on this.

Hot take: Charj is the best Mon in the game 😂

​

Does anyone else miss waiting for the next monthly Silph Arena meta to drop?

Seasons 1 and 2 were amazing. There was something exciting about finding out the new theme, building teams, figuring out what might work, and seeing everyone’s ideas come together at tournaments. Every month gave us something to look forward to.

I had a small role in the Pokémon GO PvP community, hosting tournaments and producing livestreams. It was a lot of work behind the scenes, but I’m proud I got to contribute. Some of my favourite memories came from bringing people together around this game.

I met so many amazing people. Like any community, there were difficult experiences and people I wouldn’t work with again, but those don’t erase what made it special. The friendships, familiar names, local rivalries, and shared excitement made it feel like we belonged to something.

I don’t produce livestreams anymore, but I still love watching Play! Pokémon GO streams. They remind me how much I enjoyed being involved.

I miss the battles, but I think I miss the people and that monthly sense of anticipation even more.

What’s your favourite Silph Arena memory? Was there a particular cup or season you wish you could experience again?