CIL Season 2 Reflections

Another season of the CIL is in the books and I'd have to say, there was a lot that surprised me this year making for a very interesting second chapter for the league.  Since this is my blog though, I'm going to talk all about my team and my season lol. Sorryyyy

I feel that the LA Kinglers draft was marginally better this season.  Going off of my theory that offense is the most dangerous archetype in league play, I drafted a very different team from season 1.  The team we settled on after trades & free agency swaps was:

1)    Merlin (Mega Alakazam)
2)    Poseidon (Manaphy)
3)    Guacamole (Excadrill)
4)    RNGesus (Thundurus-I)
5)    Wukong (Infernape)
6)    Thyme Lord (Celebi), formerly Mogwai (Amoonguss)
7)    Shuck N Jive (Shuckle)
8)    Julia (Diancie), formerly Spike (Granbull)
9)    Lancelot (Dragonite)
10)  Graninja (Greninja - Torrent), formerly Hanzo (Accelgor)
11)  Cap (Braviary), formerly Buzz the Ave (Mandibuzz)

Things that were sniped that I reeeally wanted lol: 
1) Lil Cletus (I will never not be mad about this)
2) Sylveon (My back-up Cletus :( )
3) Ttar (would have made some great synergy with this team)
4) Kyurem-B (although having Dragonite meant better priority for the team, so not as bad)

Immediately you see numerous potential set up sweepers, lots of Volt-Turn potential and hazard stacking options, including Sticky Web.  If you've never used Manaphy in OU with Sticky Web, you're missing out--I would have even drafted something I don't particularly like such as Leavanny to have it as an option on this team solely for that combination.  I think a lot of people expected me to get Mega Ttar (I wanted regular) to support Guacamole but after having a rough go with Mega Gyarados, I was hesitant to pick a slow mega with lots of weaknesses. Granted, Ttar would have performed better than Gyarados here, but I chose Mega Alakazam to deal with not only fast megas but to ease prediction on who my opponent could scarf for the match. Merlin is SO fast that most teams only have a couple of choice scarf options to outrun it; in fact, to outrun max speed Merlin, a Pokemon needs base 101 speed and a scarf to do so. For instance, if I had ever played the Wynauts, Raichu would be their only thing that could outrun Merlin when scarfed. I could choose to run modest knowing this and get extra damage on things.  I think many would be critical of this choice saying Ttar would still be better in general for this team, but

A) I like Mega Alakazam more lol
B) I knew I wouldn't have time to prep much/ at all this season so simplifying things (knowing the scarfs) as much as possible was important to me.
C) I didn't have Celebi when I first drafted (not that psychic typing is a "must")

This unit was able to finish 5-5 but I truly feel this season *easily* could have ended with only one loss but more realistically, I think 7-3 should have been the finish.  Allow me to discuss the losses:

Week 1 vs Poison Sting: 0-5 L

We were able to set up CM Manaphy to +6 so in a normal game that lacks something with water absorb, it's pretty much over at that point.  What I didn't realize is that an Iron Tail got a defense drop on it, meaning it could no longer live +2 Adamant Salamence's Outrage from full. This carelessness cost me as I didn't switch out when Mence later came back in and a Banded Adamant one was able to pick it off due to the def drop.  Manaphy had ample opportunities to set up against that unit so preserving it and switching in Granbull (pre-Diancie), as was the plan for Mence, would have been my play.  Unfortunately, a solid win turned into a huge loss because of this; I feel that had I noticed the drop, I would have played accordingly and won.  I still attribute the majority of this loss to RNG but unfortunately, I do bear some blame as well.

Week 2 vs Bisharps: 0-0 L (Late Penalty)

It would have been a 3-0 loss had my opponent been on time but luckily he was not since I lost this one too. RNG was not a factor, but I didn't bring Sticky Web for Mega Lop and Shuckle could have toxic'd the Zapdos that plagued my team and webs would have meant banded Iron Fist Infernape could have out prioritized and KO'd Mega Lop.  I decided not to bring it at the last minute in favor of something obviously irrelevant now lol.  This one's solely on me.

Week 4 vs Pinsirs: 0-0 L (Late Penalty)

Rough start, huh? The Pinsirs was actually the game I most wanted to win since he not only stole Lil Cletus, the season 1 MVP from me (grr) but I also wanted to draft a LOT of his team, especially Jirachi and Keldeo.  A lot of people think Keldeo is too one-dimensional for draft and I think even if you make that argument, it's dimension is so good, it's still always a threat you have to prep for. Tell me how many things enjoy switching into a Specs Hydro Pump? and Scald is Scald.  Anywayyy...  This was the only game I put in a lot of prep for and I LOVED the team I made.  I felt there was no way I was going to lose with the prep being so good but after missing a Rock Slide enabling Thundy-T to set up safely behind a sub, and my Thundy getting crit by a Tbolt after I... sacked Shuckle, I think... there was little room for me to claw back into it.  I salvaged differential (it would have been 0-1 or 0-2 w/o the penalty) because the team was so good but I know that had just *one* of the hax not happened, the match would have been hugely in my favor because of the prep.  I don't mean to discredit any of my opponents, but this was absolutely the second loss decided by RNG and after actually putting in the work to prep and everything, I mostly stopped giving a shit. My thinking was why would I put in all that time (literally spent like an hour calc'ing and shit) just to have RNG undo it all in an instant? Frustrating, especially since those two losses are what excluded us from the playoffs.

Week 8 vs Nidokings: 0-3 L

Not much to say about this; Kiev has proven himself to the best in our league and others and is definitely one of the best league-format players I've ever seen.  He drafts well, he plays well, and his prep, like his Chesnaught, is bulletproof.  I draft so-so, I play well, and I didn't prep, so I was actually pretty pleased with the outcome.  This loss is also on me, no RNG or anything.

Week 9 vs Charizards: 0-1 L

This came down to not having HP Fire on Celebi.  If I had that, I won, but I had Healing Wish because I love using it in OU and I hadn't used it yet in the CIL.  I also strongly expected my Thundurus to be the main mode of offense making Healing Wish more appealing but I played aggressively and inadvertently sacked it to a Draco when I was expecting a Defog. So close in this one but I still count it in that "expected" 7-3 record I mentioned earlier.


So none of the losses were bad, which I believe is evidence more of my play than my draft or builds, as usual.  In my season 1 reflections, I mentioned I was going to try to draft a team that required less prediction and I think I improved slightly with that even though it was my predictions that either won games or kept them close.  The next logical question then is...


How do we improve?

Obviously more prep would be great, but I can't give that time from my life and after my week 4 loss, I honestly don't think it's worth it.  I don't take this seriously enough to do that, particularly when my time is needed elsewhere.

Play-wise, I really feel I only made a few misplays this season and I think only one really determined a game (week 1 since I'm counting my lack of awareness as a misplay as it was my fault lol).  I'm really pleased with the decisions I made in-battle and feel that I did the best with what I had.

I think the best thing I can do in my situation is similar to a goal from my last reflections: improve my draft.  Offensively, the team is actually quite good and poses a significant threat to any team. We had every kind of hazard, multiple hazard removing options, dangerous set up sweepers, somewhat lacking on wall-breakers, but lots of initiative, and excellent speed.  Defensively, the Kinglers were paper-thin and as someone who rarely (never) plays hyper offense, my inexperience with the play style was very apparent at times.  While I still believe hyper offense is still the most potent style in leagues, I may lean more toward balance or bulky offense in the next draft.  The choice comes down to if I want to grow in a new play style or be more competitive and I'm not sure how I'll feel about the Sun and Moon meta.  But if I do move towards a bulk/balance, I definitely want a spin blocker and a wall breaker or two in addition to some better utility mons. Mega-wise I have a lot of things I'd really enjoy using so I'll wait to see what the rest of the team looks like before I decide but there are a few that interest me in this moment like Aggron, Diancie, Gardy, and Zard Y.


I've already written far more than I wanted to, but I think this does a good job of summarizing my reflections and feelings from this season at the end of the ORAS meta.