u/LeansCenter

I often get tired of seeing the same Pokemon repeatedly in GBL and, not wanting to contribute to the problem (and to save my own sanity), I’ll try and create teams that avoid the top 5-10 or so and see how I do.

Today, I started wondering what teams other people might build so… I thought I’d ask!

What would be your go-to team in:

GL (minus the top 10)

UL (minus the top 10)

ML (minus the top 5 since it’s a more condensed meta)

Remember, everyone else can use anything. This is just an exercise in self-limitation.

How much do you think the limitation would affect your performance, if any?

Out of the first 20 matches in ML tonight, 14 of my opponents led with Palkia or Zacian and almost all of those 14 had the other on their team. Most of the other leads were Mewtwo and I’d like to give a shoutout to the one person who had Counter on their Mewtwo - it took what would have been a shellacking-or-you-swap by my Shadow Ttar and turned it into a 1 charge move and swap scenario for me.

So… I ask… when did we collectively decide to use the word “meta” to describe seeing the same f’ing Pokemon over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again? We need to stop using that word and attach a proper label befitting the banality of such choices.

ML tonight has been so incredibly uninspiring and I’d like to thank alllllllll of the boring ass people who look at a list of top-ranked ML Pokemon and build a team from the top 5… especially the half of you I beat. Adding up my teams ranks gives me a PvPoke rank score of 75 (and my highest ranked is an IV compromised shiny and the other two are both shadows) so I didn’t use the worst Pokemon, but choosing Zacian (1), Palkia (2), and Metagross (3) would give you a PvP rank score of 6. And I saw that team. Twice.

I think I’ll skip my last set and do something less painful with my time, like… chew on thumbtacks.

I think everyone is pretty sick of seeing top meta teams and the same 10 Pokemon over and over and over and over and over again. Right? Here’s a solution, at least for tournaments run by individuals or even when battling friends.

• Everyone can make as many teams as they want

• The Battle Point rating on PvPoke is what rules the day

• Every team has a Battle Point cap of 261 (or whatever number you decide). Think of the Battle Point cap like a salary cap. You could choose different caps for different leagues.

• You can add criteria as you like. For instance, you can change the Battle Point cap to 258 or 264. You can lower or increase the cap each round. A best of 3 can have different caps for each round within the matchup. Etc…

Here’s an example of how it could work…

In GL, Lickilicky would (currently) cost 94 points out of 261. That would leave 167 Battle Points to spend. You could pick Feraligatr, the number 2 ranked Pokemon in GL (93.1 Battle Points) but that would only leave 73.9 points which leaves options like Krookodile, Probopass, Shadow Skarmory, and Tyrunt (ranked 643-646). Or, instead of Gatr, maybe you split the remaining salary cap and go with 2 Pokemon in the 84 point range like Shadow Victreebel, Shadow Ampharos, Shadow Latias, Machamp, etc, all around rank 235-ish.

Or, you could choose to run a balanced team of Pokemon that are all roughly 87 Battle Points which is roughly rank 131 (we’re talking Kommo-o, Kelfki, S Anni, Lanturn, etc.

Or however you want to spend your Battle Point salary cap.

In Master League, running the commonly paired Zacian (99 Battle Points) and Origin Palkia (98.9) would leave you with 63.1 points to spend which would get you the 204th ranked Gogoat! 😂

So… what do you think? Again, I realize this doesn’t help in GBL in the game but against friends or in tournament formats, it could work. It could even work for limited cups (may need a salary cap adjustment).