u/GameWoods

Let's set the scene.

Natlan decides to host a grand, Teyvat wide tournament to crown the champion between all the nations. In response, every nation has been asked to select a Champion amongst themselves to represent them in the tournament. After much deliberation, the nations of Teyvat vote on thier best and brightest.

The people of Mondstat are quick to elect thier one and only Grandmaster Varka, and hes even quicker to accept a chance to go back to Natlan. The people of Liyue vote for Captain Beidou as their champion, well known and beloved by most Liyueans. As the highest ranking official of the Shogunate army, Kujou Sara is naturally the best choice to stand and represent the Almighty Shogun. The people of Sumeru vote their General Mahamatra Cyno for the tournament for his long standing service and clear displays of strength. The citizens of Fontaine elect their one and only champion duelist for the task. The Natlaneese hold a seperate tournament to decide their representative, with Chasca ultimately claiming victory. Nod Krai isn't typically united enough for such a spectacle, but the Klink Klank Craftshop is perhaps the one entity universally liked by the people of Nod Krai, and thus Ineffa gladly accepts to oppurtunity for a trip back to her homeland. And as for Snezhnaya? Well Childe practically begged for the position.

So with all nations represented under Natlans blazing sun, who do you believe has what it takes to take home the gold?

Remember when Nikador was Hertas dedicated shill boss? Pepperidge farm remembers.

Inspired by Blake Jennings

Inspired by Blake Jennings

While everyone's talking about Sunbringers new outfit, what i find far more interesting is the context of the trailer itself. And Sunbringers role in things.

The thing that immediately stands out to me is that the light in Sunbringers eyes have almost completely diminished. One of the first things we learned about Sunbringer is that she had an intense love for humanity. Its why she became a Void Hunter. But this woman? The one before us? She hardly looks the part. Cold, distant, silent. Do you really think the creator of the Bangboo would look so dead inside? Something happened.

And we can already assume what it was. Back in 2.5, we learn that Sunbringer was accused of a large scale incident and was effectively betrayed by the people she'd work so hard to defend. And following that made some manner of deal with the Creator. What this deal was or what came of it is currently unknown but given Sarah's boss fight we can confirm that the exchange did indeed happen at some point. The only clue we currently have is a hint dropped by Ramielle during the teaser, something called a Celestial Nexus, something that Sunbringer has control over.

But thats all well and good but why am I saying this Sunbringer isnt the original? You may have missed her in the shuffle, but during Normas segment of the trailer theres a second lingering on a silver haired girl with mismatched eyes. And the game files drive the point home, her NPC data lists her as-

Little Sunbringer.

So, two possibilities.

A. Little Sunbringer is all of Sunbringers joy and optimism surgically ripped out and removed, deeming such emotions as weak or unfit to her rule, casting it out.

B. Sunbringer has been silently usurped with no one the wiser, and Little Sunbringer is basically this games version of Mem/Nahida.

Point being, that woman? She isnt Sunbringer, not fully. And whoever, or whatever changed Sunbringer is the one calling the shots.

This is the team ive been having strong success with, but with the Grand Challenge in a few days I want to know if its actually got what it takes to really compete.

Team Breakdown:

Mimikyu: Mimikyu is the main Pokémon i started this team around. Looking it over i saw one thing it did better than almost anything else. Guaranteed setting up Trick Room. Between Fake Out immunity, Mental Herb, and Disguise, its really difficult to stop Mimikyu from setting the Trick Room up turn one. The rest of the moveset is fairly simple except for the last one, Destiny Bond. Destiny Bond has two jobs. If I know Mimikyu is going down after setting up Trick Room, I can pop Destiny Bond first and drag an opponent down with me. The second, more evil strategy only works on the last turn of Trick Room. If I know the enemy wants to protect spam the final turn of Trick Room, I can pop Destiny Bond and either force a trade or get a second Trick Room up.

Mega Camerupt: When I was looking for my Trick Room sweeper I had two qualifications. One a Mega, and two spread damage. And looking at the field no one's got a stronger spread than Mega Camerupts Eruption. It simply deletes things. From there Earth Power for stab, Ancient Power for really useful coverage, and Protect is always good. Camerupt is a simple mon, but highly effective.

Torkoal: Whats stronger than one powerful Eruption? Two Eruptions now backed by sun. Torkoal exists because the meta is currently heavily weather based so I want to control the weather and help Camerupt sweep. Eruption let's me double up with Camerupt, Solarbeam helps muscle past fire resists, Helping Hand can make Camerupt do ridiculous amounts of damage. And finally Sunny Day let's me wrestle back control should the enemy weather setter still be standing.

Rotom-Wash: From here we get to my support core. Rotom is here for early game Scarf pressure. Together with Mimikyu fake out i can Immediately burst down threats like Aero, Sneasler, and Charizard turn one before they can even become an issue. From there it can fall back and hold out if I need a final push once Trick Room ends. Moveset is pretty standard.

Tsarenna: Tsarenna is here for two jobs. One to handle priority spam that would slow down Eruption and to handle the bulky water types that resist Camerupt and threaten it hard. Power Whip for stab, Triple Axel for dragon/flying, Taunt for set up mons, and U turn to pivot out once the water types are down.

Incineroar: Yeah it's just Incin. Fake Out, Intimidate, rotating with Parting Shot, you've probably seen it a thousand times.

General Piloting:

The gameplan is simple. I lead Mimikyu with one of my support core, set up Trick Room and maybe score a KO on a lead, then pivot into Camerupt and Torkoal and from there just shoot down damage until the enemy is down. Rotom comes to lead if I need to outspeed something. Incin for Fake Out if I suspect a double into my Mimikyu, and Tsarenna if I worry about Water types or priority.

Weak Points:

I fear my gameplan is ultimately too simple and thus too predictable. Im already considering changing Tsarennas moveset for Power Whip and Low Kick over Taunt. And I haven't been bringing Incineroar to most of my recent games I've noticed.

And thats the team report. I'd like to hear some feedback on the squad.