One Last Ride: The Sleepy Hollow Spectriers Season-in-Review

 I'll make this pretty short since I didn't save any replays, but now that the season has ended for everyone else also (I had to drop the last week due to a death in the family, starting a new job, and a surprise visit from one of my absolute closest friends from Beijing, who I hadn't seen in about 5 years [pre-pandemic, of course], all happening at once.), I wanted to do a quick reflection just in case I end up playing again, or maybe someone randomly stumbles upon this and finds it useful.  

First a quick look at my team(s):

Being somewhat close to a wheel, I was able to more easily plan 2-mon cores, which I think made for a solid draft overall (see team analysis in previous post for more details).  The changes I made were largely to try and benefit Spectrier, who I was having a difficult time using effectively in the beginning.  My changes took place after week 4, so I got a pretty decent split with both rosters and found the changes to be substantial improvements.  It was plain to see my years away had definitely made me rusty, but I felt I was able to get it back reasonably quickly after a { spoiler alert } very rough start to the season...

Week 1: vs Termnal and the Worcester Woobatsox

My whole goal was to win a single game this season because I knew there'd be a learning curve, and this one, being the first, was definitely embarrassing.  He ended up bringing Darkrai, Skeledirge, Zapdos-G, Kyurem, Forretress, and Porygon-Z.  Matchup-wise, I feel this was my second worst; he had a lot of offense to pressure me from Darkrai, Necrozma, Kyurem, Ogerpon, P-Z, and Z-G, and Skeledirge was a big enough problem for me that defensively he was hard to break also.  In hindsight, I should have brought Garganacl to help with this, and I never got to use him anyway, which was a regret on my part.  I'll say this though: from a teambuilding perspective in draft, I think he has to be a tera captain to really be useful since rock is not a great defensive type for a defensive mon :/ Still, in the infamous "forgetting Tera existed" moment, I forgot to tera a set-up Iron Crown and died to a Hex from Skeledirge; my calcs after the game showed Tera Steel living the hit reasonably comfortably, so had I remembered, I would have lived and won 5-0 outright since he had no Focus Sash users, Ferro's sturdy had broken (may not have mattered because Tachyon Cutter hits twice anyway and my bulk investment lived a crit body press at his theoretical health after the Hex--crit hex + crit body press would have killed, I believe), and I didn't even need super effective moves to clean.  I was so mad I forgot and managed to salvage an 0-4 loss with Sylveon picking up my only two KOs.  Like I said, rough start.

I do want to add that I had a really fun Scope Lens Salamence I brought to this, but misclicked a Tailwind (I needed tailwind for certain Ogerpon-W sets, which he didn't bring, so it was a useless move this match) when I meant to attack, missing out on 55.7-65.6%.  In prep I knew I'd lose this exchange, but it would have been worth it to weaken the Skeledirge as I had revenge options (or a set up opportunity if he chose to heal in front of Iron Crown, for instance).  I'll probably make it a priority to draft that thing next time, because it not only suits my playstyle (and was my starter lol), but I think it's actually very underrated in the format, presumably due to the need to be a Tera captain.  

One more thing: I thought Z-G was actually a really sweet bring on his part.  I felt pretty well-prepared for it but that thing was much stronger than I anticipated and really put a lot of pressure on the the team that I brought. It's a little pricey, so I'm sort of on the fence on whether or not I'd draft it, particularly since it's fairly one-dimensional, but it's so good in that dimension that it would be worth considering if one was in a scenario where they're a bit later in the draft, have budgeted well, and covered the other roles they're looking for.  

Week 2: vs Niko and the Saffron Solrocks

  

I don't know why the center-align isn't working so sorry for the inconsistency haha.  Anyway, we have yet another very intimidating team, but I felt it was a winnable matchup and was determined not to lose two-in-a-row, something I don't think I've ever done before. Immediately, my biggest concerns are his Sneasler, Enamorus, Blastoise, Snorlax (CIL OG's know how much I love this mon after it basically won an entire season for me, and one of my 3 draft league titles), Polteageist... should I just read the whole roster?  Defensive Mence had a great matchup here and I chose to support it  with Muk-A and Milotic for my defensive core, as those three did a really good job of either walling his offensive threats, or the latter two being able to stop the plethora of setup options he had with Clear Smog and Haze respectively.  Offensively, I felt Spectrier could shine once Lax was dealt with, so Great Tusk was a must, and Regieleki was my best option to deal with all of his speed, except Unburden Sneasler, who Mence was primarily tailored for.  Surprisingly, it even outruns scarf Latios, which I thought could be really good vs me, especially with Trick to cripple my defensive mons. 

Scarf Latios was not what he brought though 😂 .  Pretty much everything went according to plan and I found myself up 5-3, only losing Great Tusk (though Muk-A was near finished and burnt) and both my speedy Offensive threats could clean vs Blastoise, Latios, and Sneasler.  So confident was I when Latios came in in front of my Muk, that I just clicked Shadow Sneak to get some chip damage before going down and to break a potential sash.  The SMARTER play would have been to just spam clear smog, since the only shot I had at losing was, oh I don't know, maybe Agility + Weakness Policy Latios.  Which was what he brought to reverse sweep me, leading to a 3-0 loss for me.  Amazing bring on his part and he seized his opportunity, so bravo to Niko.  I really thought I had it in the bag up until that point haha.  

Another careless error on my part leading to the first back-to-back losses of my draft league career had me feeling a little bit down on myself.  Maybe I was away for too long, maybe the learning curve was too steep... but I felt the prep was solid, I just wasn't playing well in my first two games back, so I resolved to slow down my usual pace because I was -determined- to get my one win.  

Week 3: vs Jace and the Detroit Lairons

Fuck it, right align it is.  I hate how obnoxiously bad text editors can be with their formatting 😑

Of course as the pressure builds, I end up playing one of the best teams/ coaches in the league and when you look at his team, it's not hard to see why.  Speed and power abounds complimented by powerful momentum and some devastating set-up mons like Archaludon, who I thought matched up great against me, but my opponent ultimately elected not to bring, choosing Meowscarada, Cinderace, Rotom, Jirachi, Thundurus, and Rhyperior.  The Rhyperior set in particular was really cool to me; Tera Flying Lightning rod enabled him to deal with both Great Tusk and Regieleki exceedingly well, but he ultimately made it a utility mon when I felt it was most effective against me as a Weakness Policy sweeper.  Maybe he saw what happened with me playing Latios the weak before and [correctly] assumed that I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

For my offense, I thought Spectrier, Iron Crown, and Regieleki were the most effective brings on my part, Regieleki in particular does what so much of his team is great at, but better and faster at the cost of being one dimensional.  I almost didn't bring it since Rhyperior is a perfectly reliable response and annoying for me because of that, but I knew if I cleared that, he was going to have some problems with it, which is exactly what ended up happening.  Muk-A was a must again, as one of the only decent answers to Meowscarada, and of course I had to pack the Rocky Helmet since for some reason that thing has stupidly good coverage with Triple Axel.  Seriously, if that thing didn't get that move, I think it'd be a couple points cheaper at least, but with it, it's very scary.  Milotic and Great Tusk rounded out my defensive core and ultimately paved the way for the Regieleki sweep at the end, netting me my first win with a 3-0 margin.  Against a coach of this caliber, I couldn't help but feel like I was starting to really come back to the level of play I was used to playing.

Week 4: vs Rose and the Las Vegas Rotoms

Oh good. Center align now works again, just in time for another absolute powerhouse of an opponent :]  At the time, Rose had a slightly different team and brought Ambipom, Landorus, Samurott, Orthoworm, Hawlucha, and Iron Boulder.

Prior to the draft, I think Iron Boulder was a mon I underestimated all the way up until I had to calc for it and wow.  I didn't realize it was so fast and the bulk is better than you'd think at 90/80/108.  Not to mention Rock is actually one of the best offensive typings, so while Psychic isn't a particularly good compliment, it helped immensely vs my best response to it in Great Tusk.  I knew SD murdered me, I knew there could easily be 1-2 rounds of Spikes up if I had to switch into Samurott-H, and I knew virtually nothing else on my team could handle it, so Payapa Berry Great Tusk felt like the only option, working exactly as planned, taking out the +2 threat in the mid-game with over half it's health remaining.  You love to see it come together like that.  

Half of Rose's team also didn't make a ton of sense to me, with Ambipom obviously needing to be scarfed to help deal with Spectrier, which it realistically doesn't do anyway, relying on Technician-boosted Astonish (it was also Tera Ghost), which wasn't especially strong vs anything else, so I could switch into it with ease.  Plus I made my own Spectrier Scarf, partly as a troll, but I also felt it could more reliably sweep that way this week, even though I really wanted to launch some fat Specs hits off, outrunning her entire team naturally, bar a scarfer.  Seeing she swapped Ambipom out for P2 seems VASTLY better to me (I may have a P2 bias--a mon I've always really wanted to draft in general, but especially with a Justified mon like Gallade or Cobalion or something).  I'm still not sure why Orthoworm and Hawlucha over something like Hydrapple, Rotom-H, and Pecharunt, the latter of which also matched up really well against me both offensively and defensively.  Seriously, after I think it's second entry (theoretically, of course), I could never lose more than one mon whenever it hit the field.  I'd for sure need Tera Steel Iron Crown to have the poison immunity and at least be neutral to Ghost, but it could also be used for momentum and pressure my team that way too.  I really wish she would have brought it, because I do want to see what it would have been like--another intriguing mon in any format but draft especially.  As Umbreon is my favorite mon, I've wanted a defensive Gengar since Gen 2 for how well their typings complement each other and it's finally here :]. If I follow more draft and play more, I'll definitely have my eye on this thing, but because of the threat of it in this matchup, I have to lead Iron Crown.  Unfortunately, I can't risk using my Tera early though because S-H also could be very threatening and her offensive pressure + speed really had me on the back foot right from prep and might need to Tera Sylveon.  

The game played out pretty smoothly; the Iron Crown lead was favorable against Ambipom as it took minimal chip from Scarf Astonish, confirming my suspicions.  I get flinched on my Volt Switch though, and decide not to risk it by going hard into Sylveon, the only mon I could afford to let take the hit with Great Tusk being needed for Iron Boulder/ Orthoworm, Mence being the only shot I have at not getting swept by Lando--oh yeah, one of the best fucking draft league mons ever is in this stacked-ass team, by the way.  Yeah.  Fuck me.  However, with Hydro Pump Mence, I can -only- lose it, instead of the whole game, after Lando sets up (Nasty Plot and Calm Mind both made sense here, she went with CM), as long as I hit my move(s-if she tries to set up twice).  It played out exactly as such, thankfully weakening it just enough for Milotic to revenge.  Great Tusk ultimately played out exactly as planned against Iron Boulder also, and I'm starting to feel a little bit more like a Psychic type myself at this point as the Scarf Spectrier catches Ambipom off-guard and cruises us to our second-straight win.

Week 5: vs Onsie Banette and the Solihull Skarmoors

Despite my growing confidence, I know this matchup is all but un-winnable with how heavily it was stacked against me.  Only one other time had I felt I was in such a stilted matchup, in the finals against my good friend in this game and Mount Rushmore-level draft league coach, Black117x.  I'm very tempted to throw the game just to get intel because if I want a shot at everything, I can't rely on someone else eliminating him from playoffs.  Important to note, not only is this my first week with roster changes, but his team is also different from what's depicted above, most notably missing from this rogues' gallery is Mamoswine, which completely obliterates my team as the Illumise that I thought got Reflect does not.  It gets Light Screen, what the fuck, Game Freak?!  Onesie felt it wasn't that great against me and I did calcs--I have no idea to this day how he came to that conclusion.  You lead with that thing and you're effectively guaranteeing a turn one kill if I don't lead Milotic or have a sash.  Plus I have 0 good switch ins.  It can 2HKO anything on my team.  Worst still, is the fucking Terapagos?!  This was going to be my first pick overall if I could have gotten it, I felt it was the most broken thing on the board and shouldn't even fucking be unbanned honestly.  The thing I have going for me is he's a little limited because while his "ace" is the perfect counter to my "ace", he has to build it specific ways to be able to withstand Spectrier, because certain sets CAN overwhelm it, and in the process, lead to tremendous set up.  I actually felt this was my best path to victory, an epic Hail Mary to a Miracle on Ice kind of upset that would have been carefully crafted by yours truly, so I opted to bench that idea, but never got to use the sets I had in mind.  Sub CM with some odd, very bulky EV spreads, beats both physical and special variants the most consistently, but I also found a Will-o-Wisp set was basically 100% against a physical Terapagos, which was the better option given that Sub CM was the most lethal.  I can't recall how much, but it didn't need a lot of chip damage to all but guarantee beating it, which meant it would either be in a position to sweep the rest of the team, or, if a revenge killer popped in that it was in range of, it would still be healthy enough to be worth preserving to pressure the rest of his team throughout the game.  I so wish I could have sprung this on him in the semifinals or something haha.  And because I've gone absolutely mad, I also made a Curse set that would beat it over time, but the Sylveon Wish passes felt too tenuous to try and predict that specifically.  I do think it could have been done, but I'd have to play near-perfect and I want to win just a little bit more than I want to get THAT creative with the set come playoff time, but at literally the last minute before this game, I was deciding between that version of the team and the one I ended up bringing.  

Besides that, he also has Annihilape, one of the most feared mons in the game and, like Terapagos became banned to Ubers.  Sweet. My matchup against this isn't great either, but I don't think anyone's really is as it has perfect STAB coverage and one of the best attacks ever made in Rage Fist.  So how do you beat one of the best Fighting and Ghost types in the game?  A goddamn Dudunsparce, that's how.  I had built a reaaaally cool Coil set designed to set up on Mamo behind a Reflect, and Body Press + Dual Wingbeat could also sweep his team.  The problem is, I can't get Reflect up on Mamoswine with anyone but motherfucking Air Balloon Regieleki.  That's fucking right.  Triple lures.  My strategy hinges on capitalizing on the fact this is a bad matchup for me, that the plays and options are easy for him which would make him predictable.  My weakness is my strength AND I'm doing it by using Pokemon that are designed to take advantage of their checks and counters.  Draw him in. Snake charmer. Someone's gotta appreciate the poetry here besides me right?

Strangely, one of the most annoying menaces to my team was also Hatterene, who prevented me from getting hazards I desperately want in a matchup like this, provides good offensive pressure with or without set up, spread status, and deter/ slow set-up... just fucking annoying haha.  I also think you could justify him bringing any fucking member of his team, but the top 4 in the picture, Mamoswine, and you-fucking-name-it was just so devastating against me, I couldn't fathom him not bringing those. 

You can tell this was my favorite to prep for; love a challenge :]

Incredibly, I didn't see Mamo upon team preview, much to my confusion.  I opted to lead new team member and favorite gen 9 mon, Clodsire (aka "Mudsy Bogs", a nickname I'm exceedingly fond of) against Terapagos, Salazzle, Jolteon, Annihilape, Lokix, and Haunter.  What the fuck?  Ok so he must have thought the same thing, this matchup could go sideways for him so save the big guns for playoffs.  I'll only have to make minor adjustments but my ace is still up my sleeve too.  Since I've blabbed so much about this matchup, I'm gonna speed through the game here: Tera Water Jolteon was the big surprise here, being threatening to Milotic, Great Tusk, and Clodsire, who was Unware because of Terapagos and Dragonite setup especially, but also thought Ice Jolteon was so much better because I could just have easily as ran Water Absorb and then you're absolute dead weight and put the momentum in my favor.  Drat.  It also now walled my Regieleki, meaning it suddenly had a favorable matchup against basically everything, but really destroyed 2/3 of the team with ease, and that's exactly how it went down. 

Offensively, I had Booster Great Tusk, which actually outruns Jolteon by one point when you have no more than 4 EVs in Attack and Defense and still does good damage to his team, especially after a Bulk Up or two, which I felt I could set up in a couple scenarios under the assumption SOME of his stars were coming.  Really impressed with the prep on his part, coming up with this very creative team, that also had an incredible matchup and stomped me 😂 .  It forced the Jolteon out on a Salazzle sack, but double Ghost is very prepared for that, bravo.  At this point, Jolteon has already done too much damage to the team and with my booster spent, we end up on the wrong end of a Scarf Rage Fist sweep.  I do think that should probably be banned also, but I believe this league is very competitive and very experienced so they likely enjoy having more broken shit.  

Week 6 vs Amstan and the Boston Beedrills

Amstan has a really interesting team to me because it was an idea some of us tossed around in the early days of draft; having a solid core repeated but with versatility, so for instance, you prepping for Clef, Skarm, Kommo-o would not only have the option of wearing down checks for things you might have used to deal with Pult, Tinkaton, and Revavroom.  Personally, I never really wanted to try it because I do like having as many types as possible, but it's cool to see someone doing it, AAAND, he ended up being the champion of the league, so there's clearly some merit to it.  Zoroark was my favorite gen 5 mon and they somehow topped it with it's Hisuian form (The Arceus game was terrific. Really made catching Pokemon fun again.) AND made it better with it's typing and improved Speed and Special Attack.  I love the wrench he throws into decision making and he looks cool as fuck doing it.  Hell yeah, Zoroark-H! Oh and he's got defensive stalwart and annoying mon to face in Slowking, a very reliable ground type and hazard control in the classic Donphan, and Qwilfish-H as only his one of two Spectrier responses. 

I've also personally always had Dragapult in my top 3 any given draft, of course I think it's one of the coolest designs out there but I think it's so awesome and versatile from a competitive building standpoint that it's hard not to want for that, and to not have to face because what the figgity fuck do you do for that?  Of course my decision to prioritize drafting a powerful, reliable Fairy type early is paying dividends because Sylveon is the perfect response to both Dragapult and Kommo-o.  They have ways of denting her, sure, but she counters both and can stay reasonably healthy to deal with each.  Plus Milotic, who the coach's had as my MVP for much of the season, probably up until this week reasonably handles both as well, and addresses or can be used to address Donphan, Tinkaton, Skarm, Revavroom, Samurott, Qwilfish-H, just about everything. Very hard for him to deal with lacking STAB super-effective coverage on it, so I toss Incineroar on their to help me deal with Zoroark and pivot around as I do and Clodsire, who also is very difficult for him to break too.  

Offensively, I decide to start with Regieleki, since I think I so reliably deal with Donphan that it carving up that team is a very solid potential path to victory, and can reliably spin on Donphan unless he's Rocky Helmet til then. CM 3 attacks Iron Crown to sweep because it don't need nuffin' fancy to git da job done.  I said in the team analysis and I'll say it again: Iron Crown is a beaaast and has definitely been underrated.  I'm writing this like a month or so after the season and it feels like the majority of people are only just starting to catch on with it only arriving in OU as May's sole rise into it for Smogon.  As for my game things went exactly as planned: the walls walled, and it was a little stall-y at first with Clefable, Qwilfish, and Donphan shuffling around against Clodsire and Milotic.  There were some hazard stacks exchanged which I didn't have as good a handle on as I thought because it never really felt like a good time to go hard into Regieleki.  If I had accounted for that better, this would have been more clean for me, but that's why we reflect :] ...pun not intended? Since Regieleki uses Reflect often in it's commonly used Dual Screens set--you know what? Let's just... keep it moving. 

So after 36 turns, Z-H, poorly disguised as a healthy Dragapult when the real one was Paralyzed and damaged did snipe the first KO of the game on my Sylveon with Hyper Beam doing 84%.  To a Sylveon. A neutral hit. That's STRONG. But that's also the opportunity for Iron Crown to Start getting up CM's and a Iron Defense before taking out the Donphan and getting Tricked a Specs because for some reason Trick didn't occur to me in the moment.  I make a safe play into Incineroar and finally start getting momentum with Parting Shot to Pivot into freshly minted ~Specs~ Iron Crown who goes on to eventually pick off two more in Qwilfish and the game-winner, Dragapult.  Clodsire and Milotic really held it down though; a bit like the offensive line in football, the unsung heros protecting the guys who are gonna score points, get lucrative commercial deals, and date pop stars, because the offensive potential we faced in Pult, Z-H, and Kommo-o could have swept us with ease if they weren't a couple of ol' reliables. 

Week 7: vs Joey and the LA Nidokings

I actually don't have a ton of in-depth stuff to say about the prep for this game as I feel I had a favorable match-up here, having multiple reliable ways of dealing with his ace in Gouging Fire.  I swear it wasn't on purpose, as Gouging Fire was #2 on my pre-draft wish list, but there wasn't really much other offense I was too concerned with except for maybe some well-timed sweeps from stuff like SD Gliscor, the weird new Battle Bond Greninja, Stored Power Reuniclus, Grimm setup, Bulk Up Eviolite Primape, all of which I could handle thanks to Sylveon, Milotic, and Clodsire too.  Clodsire really stifled a lot of this guy's team too, because Killowattrel could have had a really nice time without it, but all of my walls had overlaps and I feel very comfortable running bulkier, more defensive schemes.  I did feel there was some trickiness with Gouging Fire and Gliscor as a potential Tera Water could be problematic, but I think the double pony pressure of Iron Crown and Spectrier, especially, is very hard for him to deal with at any point but especially in the late game, and Sylveon had Calm Mind to help break through it if needed. Oh and Clodsire was actually a special attacking set with Acid Spray and Earth Power because I felt Will-o-Wisp Weezing was inevitable; Mence could sweep him without it and it definitely helps him deal with Great Tusk, but I felt they weren't needed with this slower-pace team I cooked up; I felt I needed to commit to that archetype for it to work; balance left too many holes on one side and not enough power on the other and offense just isn't as comfortable to me as it was back in the day, which is a shame because it does feel to me like the predominant playstyle. 

I'll say he took out my walls better than I thought thanks to a couple layers of Spikes, but ultimately it was my T-spike and the offensive pressure from Iron Crown and ultimately Daredevil himself, the Spectrier, cleaning up with Hex. I really feel like this is where the roster change dividends really showcased my adjustments to help Spectrier shine more, being able to pivot with Incineroar as a reliable partner and having T-Spikes to take advantage of Hex, which Spectrier definitely appreciates.  The synergy was syngergygging. -g.

Week 8: vs Ashi and the Origin Strike Braviary

Unforunately, I never got to play Ashi, but I really wish we could have, because I felt this matchup was definitely in my favor. with a couple different options in my favor.  Sub CM Spectrier has a field day here, I liked a Kee Berry set in particular since it gets enough health from Draining Kiss to be persistent, out runs his entire unscarfed team naturally, I think even with a Bold nature, but I guess it wouldn't need to since it could snag another CM or two against it, especially if it already had a boost. Grafaiai was the only thing that resisted that coverage and the Kee Berry beats a Grafai that has to switch in.  Mandibuzz, of course being weak to Draining Kiss made ol Daredevil really hard to deal with.  I felt I had really good defensive matchups as well, with Sandy Shocks kind of being that exception, since it had good coverage on my team.  Whimsicott was great as a Grass type for its STABs, but I did need to watch out for a Flash Cannon coming back my way.  Still, Giga Drain on a SpDef set wins that exchange unless I get crit, it's just Specs predicting it on the switch that would 2-shot that really concerned me, so AV Tusk would have been a great compliment while also blocking Volt Switch and being a nice offensive spinner.  Calm Mind Iron Crown with Volt Switch for mid-game utility seemed so good here too and kind of necessary since Ogerpon-C is actually a menace, especially since he could be Grassy Terrain boosted.  Latias was a concern to me also, because Whimsy was pressured by Sandy Shocks also, and I had that brain fart earlier this season against her dashing blue brother in a game I choked.  Primarina and Gholdengo seemed like obvious choices too, but I wasn't so sure about Rillaboom and Blaziken since I had Mence to handle them nicely defensively, or use them as setup fodder; Mence would definitely be a mon I'd look at utilizing in a matchup like this, but it's not amazing against much else. Still, without it, I'd be pretty vulnerable to some strong Pokemon so it does seem like it would be one of my better options here.  You could say I'm a little weak to Gholdengo, but I have Incineroar, who also helps my matchup a bit with Rillaboom, Grafaiai, and Latias, and might even be able to set up here, that could have been fun. Primarina posed a threat too, I don't think that should be slept on; I really don't care for it's visual design, but it's gameplay design has really impressed me with it's versatility within it's power and bulk.  Clodsire handles that though, and has utility against Mandibuzz, Sandy Shocks to a degree, and Gholdengo to a degree since it might not be Unaware.  You know who else might have been interesting is Tera Fire Sylveon; that has potential both offensively and defensively, if I wanted to bench or assist Mence. Tera Fairy isn't bad either actually, one of his two resists is frail, and the other is hit by Shadow Ball if I predict or am willing to try and take a Make it Rain (less likely lol), so there's a possible pressure point for sure, I just think Fire probably makes more sense for this matchup, to beat her checks and cover more bases.  I think the annoyance of Sandy Shocks is enough to leave Regieleki on the bench though, since it really does invite him in for free so I'd probably just have to Explode since I'd either lose momentum or die staying in to do about 50% with Giga Impact to just die the next turn anyway, and E-speed can't 2HKO either--all of that factoring 252+ Eleki.  Dudunsparce might have potential, but I can't really think of a set that would really do as much as my other options.  Calm Mind Throat Spray Boomburst could actually be really cool. That + Shadow Ball is perfect coverage so he could be really bulky with Roost and be a mid-game wall with the same set--that's some versatility I like.  Surprisingly Milotic is a bit less good here, being a bit pressured by Rillaboom, Ogerpon-C, Sandy Shocks, and the sheer power of SD Blaziken can OHKO 252/252+ Milotic at +2, since Milotic's physical defense is definitely it's weak point.  And I don't think Illumise really offers much here, but just about the whole squad could do some damage in this matchup and I really would have liked to been able to continue playing and see how a playoff run went. 

Ultimately, I'm extremely proud of not only the successes, but how I was able to bounce back from adversity early in the season and have nothing but strong performances once the rust was off.  My one loss was to a finalist, and I did have a win over the eventual champion, Amstan, coach of the Boston Beedrills.  I would have called that one of my more signature wins even if he hadn't gone on to win it not only for the strong showing I had, but the creativity in drafting that he had.  I thought that was really cool and congratulations to him and all the participants on a successful season.  It was an honor to be a part of it, and I'm happy to know that this Pokemon Master has still got it, and showed it against some of the most experienced coaches around.  Especially once I picked up steam, I feel like I very much could have taken the title myself if I could get past or around Onsie and his goddamn super squad.  If it was the last ride for me for draft league, it was a nice one, and I'm grateful for the chance to live my childhood dream of being a Master with such warm, welcoming fellow Masters on a journey of their very own yet shared by all...

To be the very best like no one ever was. 

One Last Ride: The Sleepy Hollow Spectriers Draft Analysis

Full disclosure, I'm writing this post after the season's conclusion, but when I joined the Paldea Battle Academy, I really wanted to have at least one more draft league in case I'm never really able to again.  Nothing's wrong, draft is just time-consuming and more of my time gets consumed by things in life the older I get, as with most people.  

But this is Gen 9, Kevin! You haven't played a draft league in TWO generations of Pokemon, and you plan to go up against seasoned veterans of the game?!  You must be mad!  You know me too well, dear reader, but if that's true, then you also know that I haven't let that stop me before.  Pokemon is structurally still the same game, there's just lots of moveset changes and new Pokemon to account for... and abilities, items, the budget/ tiering... and what the fuck is "Tera"? Oh no... I've made a terrible mistake...

Going into the draft, I knew I wanted to try and build with the old tried and true principles, attending to balance and versatility in as many ways as possible, but I'd also be willing to make concessions for Pokemon I liked.  Also to win a game!  Let's see how I did beginning with my draft analysis. 

Budget: 120, 1st Pick - Spectrier (-18) "Daredevil"

I was the third-to-last pick in the draft, and the 13 picks or whatever before me cycled out my top 10 choices; I kind of wish I would have saved my notes actually because it was funny to see thing after thing fall off.  There was no panic initially as round after round, Terapagos, my top choice, didn't get drafted, but eventually he did, along with other stuff that interested me like Gouging Fire, Gholdengo, Ursaluna-Bloodmoon, Sneasler, and Dragapult.  Eventually I landed on ol' Daredevil and that kind of became the whole identity of the team... which I had to make in MS Paint in a browser because I use a Mac.

   It could have been worse.

This actually went against my instinct because I do feel as though Spectrier is a little one dimensional.  It has a few interesting tricks (I did not get to use my Curse set) and brings a lot of great stuff with the first pick, but I think the real strength of it is how restricting it can be on team-building.  I know you're going to bring your Normal/ Dark type because if you don't, you basically have to sack something every time he gallops into action.  Plus if you play around it wrong, it just sweeps you, so now I can understand YOUR team building constraints more clearly.  I like that.  I drafted Mega Alakazam for a similar reason, well before its potential was realized because I felt it played similarly and I did enjoy having it, even though I didn't draft around it well, so loosely similar and I do think I did better drafting around Spectrier when the final version of the team was made.  

In Review: I actually don't think I'd draft it again to be honest.  It's strong, but it's manageable for opposition and a difficult choice with which to get creative.  If the price were lower, I might be persuaded to look at it, but it didn't feel like a mon I wanted to bring to every game, often being unable to break through certain things, or being revenge killed too easily.  That's partly why most of my top choices had some bulk to them--I want an ace that's going to stick around a while and be a pain in your ass.  I've always played better with bulky offense, but theoretically in my head, this thing seemed much better than how I felt it actually performed or what it was like building with and around it.

Budget: 102, 2nd Pick - Great Tusk (-19) "Snuffleupagus"

The greatest of tusks is one of my favorite paradox designs and since I don't currently play OU, I'm not sick of it like the rest of yall, so I snagged that off that long 3-pick wheel and named it after our pachyderm friend from Sesame Street.  And I was just talking about liking mons that stick around to be a pain in your ass, wasn't I?  Spin, rocks, set up, knock, phys def, ground typing, this thing does so much for a team, which was why I was willing to spend that much--Great Tusk is in the second-highest tier at that price, alongside meanaces like Darkrai, Garchomp, and motherfucking Zamazenta-Crowned.  Let me guess, "it can only hold one item so it's more predictable"? Ok.  

How do you not love his giant tusks and fluffy feet?

In Review:  Great Tusk is definitely a mon I enjoyed and would draft again.  It reminded me a bit of Lando-T but in my hands, comparatively worse.  Loved being able to always have the spin/rocks set splashed on a team that was tight for spaces, even though I think I only did it once, but it definitely makes it easier to use other creative options in my opinion, especially on an uphill matchup.  Shortcomings I think that a team needs to address is that as a ground type, it's heavily pressured by electric types with coverage which is... most of them, especially with Tera now being a thing.  Like Lando-T, I think a second ground type is ideal for getting the most milage out of this guy, ideally minimizing weaknesses if possible, which is harder than with Lando (egs. Lando-T + Gastrodon or Great Tusk + Steelix if they ever let him back in the game).  Anyway, Snuffleupagus was a steep price, but a price worth paying.

Budget: 83, 3rd Pick - Iron Crown (-10) "Lil Troy"

With how strong Tachyon Cutter is, I wouldn't be surprised if there WERE twenty-inch blades on this impala! (if you don't get it, the nickname is a clue).  I discussed this one with my friend Emvee who shared my opinion that this was an extremely budget-friendly pick-up and would be my first Tera captain.  Tera captains had a separate budget that essentially allowed for 2-3 mons with 3 Tera types decided in advance of the season but could be switched once.  Additionally, one of those types had to be from it's original typing, so you definitely want good ones, like say... steel.

Admin Poll Consensus MVP for the Spectriers

In Review: I really loved this mon, I would still draft it a couple tiers up--I think it's really being underestimated right now, especially with Tera. Great bulk, decent speed, very strong, pivot, good typing, strong special attacker, this was one of the easiest mons to use in my opinion.  The other coaches agreed evidently as it was ranked my team MVP at the end of the season and if I had remembered to Tera in my week 1 game, it probably would have had a run at league MVP as it was poised for a 6-0.  The set I found myself using most commonly was really just four-attacks with Volt Switch, Tachyon Cutter, and Psychic/ Psyshock, but once it sets up, which it does easily thanks to it's bulk and typing, it steamrolls teams with the Stored Power set.  My Teras were Steel, Fighting, and Fairy, the latter of which I actually never used, and rarely found little reason to deviate from Steel, actually.  Tachyon Cutter with set up was pretty much always worth running over other coverage for the Stored Power resist/ immunity that always had to come. Not sure what I'd pick for the third type off-hand, and I don't think Fairy is a bad choice, but I'd personally be more inclined to try something else.  Obviously, I would absolutely draft this thing again.  

Budget: 73, 4rd Pick - Sylveon (-9) "RaRa"

Sylveon has been around long enough, but in my "storied" career of terrorizing draft leagues with fairies, I've never been able to get it.  I've been sniped for it before, but at last it's on our side.

Named after our family cat, "Ra". Not as cute as the real thing, but much more obedient.

One of the reasons I most wanted to acquire this in the past is because of how great Umbreon has been for me as a bulky support/ wall and the similarities in the way they play, but with offensive potential and better typing.  I also nickname my Umbreon's Osiris, my late beloved by all cat, and he was Ra's best friend.  Aww.  So we've got a nice tie-in to my lore... now back to your regularly scheduled carnage.

In Review: I'm also a huge fan of sound moves in general because a well-timed substitute can really ruin your evening, and also make certain sets more likely to be excluded, like a Sub-Dragon Dance Dragapult or something, and Hyper Voice is basically always on this thing.  RaRa seemed like an optimal choice for a tera captain, and while I do think it makes an excellent one, I found myself using it more as a parachute for something getting out of control, which happened once (you remember the time I forgot to tera...). I really liked the Tera types I picked for that purpose (Fairy, Fire, Water), especially since I didn't originally have a Fire type, but I think Poison and Steel would be amazing on this thing also. I pretty much brought Tera Fairy each week (seldom used) but Fire one week as a CM sweeper, and Water a couple times as an aforementioned parachute, which I did not use but nevertheless was glad to have.  If doing it over again, I probably would have made a different Tera, and while I could have switched it, I just didn't have the time this season to think that deeply about it, honestly.  I could go look at matchups and whatnot, but I'm drafting against "everything" in my head because I want to win lol.  And of course, would draft again, even if not a Tera captain.

Budget: 64, 5th Pick - Salamence (-11) "Chomps McGee"

Salamence is one of my all time favorite Pokemon, probably top 5, top 10 at the lowest, and I've never drafted it.  I used it while subbing for someone in a Gen 6 draft and thought it was incredible.  I've also found it difficult to prepare against, which is why I think I had so much fun building with him.

Now Chomps McGee was from Tennessee...

One of the most underrated qualities about Mence to me is how good it is as a special attacker as well.  Everyone and their mom has been swept AND been swept by the Dragon Dance set multiple times... assuming they've been playing since this fella came out anyway, but the versatility of Salamence, combined with that price tag was too good to pass up.  At this point also, having never done a points-budgeted drafts (tiers back in my day!), I'm trying to be very frugal and look for "hidden" gems like this. 

In Review:  Chomps did not disappoint, but it also didn't dazzle me.  There's fewer matchups where it's good and I think it's primarily because of other dragons available and the abundance of strong ice coverage with the distribution of moves like Ice Spinner and Triple Axel.  One of my biggest complaints about the direction of the games it it's obsession with offense, when the intricacies of methodical building and counter-play characterize the experience. That's the Pokemon I love to play, and while I do think he's worth the price tag, I don't think I'd spend more than another point for the value I felt he brought in this particular meta.  As a favorite mon? Delighted--like I said, loved having this thing as an option in the team builder and would put him there again. 

Budget: 53, 6th Pick - Alolan-Muk (-8) "Gak" { exchanged for } Clodsire (-9) "Mudsy Bogs"

This was a tough one because I really thought Alolan Muk was amazing while I had it. Truly and I would draft it again--it was extremely clutch the first couple weeks I had it, especially thanks to some surprise Clear Smogs.  I also think Muk-A is definitely underrated, but I made a fairly big change of four free agency swaps to remove some redundancies (as well as add the ground one I mentioned earlier) while offering substantial gains with no real loss... other than Gak :( 

                

It was a bittersweet day.

So what kind of gains?  Besides being my favorite gen 9 mon of all, my team was heavily pressured by set up and Unaware took a lot of pressure out of needing Clear Smog/ Haze always taking up a slot.  Of course, Mudsy's hazard options are top tier and it finally gave my team access to T-Spikes, which I didn't have before, as well as maintaining a spiker I lost in the free agency moves, and a reliable rocker.  Losing the ever-reliable Knock Off of Muk was a bummer, but between Unaware, T-Spikes (to help Spectrier by making Hex easier to do), the supplemental ground type, and a personal favorite, I couldn't resist, and I'm glad I didn't.

In review: Whatever praise I could heap on one, I could heap on the other, but I do feel Mudsy fit the team better having piloted both version.  Both felt like "every game" mons, the utility was tremendously felt, and they made building the rest of the team much easier.  T-Spikes did come in handy for a Spectrier sweep as expected, and Unaware made my life much easier.  I'd absolutely recommend both, and I might even think Clodsire could get tons more mileage out of being a Tera captain.  Part of me wishes I would have swapped Sylveon's onto him, but maybe next time.

Budget: 45, 7th Pick - Regieleki (-8) "Thunderblight" 
Unfortunately, no, Regieleki is not allowed to be a Tera Captain in this league.  I know you're going to ask, that's got to be the first question with that thing.  Regieleki with Tera would be more broken than Spectrier, Terapagos, Zamazenta, Chi-Yu, according to the administrators of the league who banned it.  

Behold the lightning bringer of doom

So I ended up with another 1-dimensional mon, but also still brings that nice benefit of forcing certain preparations out of an opponent.  I know you're bringing your ground type because the moment it's gone, this thing is going to be so fucking annoying because Transistor boosted Volt Switches sting a lot.  I also love the way this looks, and it's my favorite Regi, narrowly beating out Death Metal Kirby. I mean Regidrago. 

In Review:  There were a few times where I would have maybe rather had something like Jolteon, but I had a great time in games where I brought it, and I actually don't think I ever lost when I did bring it, now that I'm thinking about it... damn.  But the thing was, it wasn't great in many games too; I was always glad to be able to have that spare spinner in the back who could also close out the game and surprisingly few scarfers can catch this guy even with a Modest nature.  Also Screens are always nice to have in the back pocket since few end up with Aurora Veil and Screens can be really disruptive to someone's prep.  If it could Tera, I might draft it first overall, and without it, I still think it was outstanding.  Would love to have it in my builder again someday, if I ever get back into this like when I was younger.

Budget: 37, 8th Pick - Ogerpon (-13) "Ipkiss { exchanged for } Incineroar (-9) "Crossfitten"

I'm just gonna get this out of the way: I never brought Ogerpon. I never even found it good in matchup, which probably sounds sacrilegious to a modern competitive player, but I just didn't find it good.  Offensively, it was pretty easily walled by at least one mon and defensively, while viable I think, never made sense when I had another option for a Grass type I liked more that we'll get to later.  I also realized in the initial draft that I was being too stingy with my points and wasn't really loaded up with much power, and Ogerpon felt like the best fit for my team at the time with so many other desirable options snatched up.  I almost got the Fire Ogerpon too, but felt the cost was a little too steep and wanting to have some wiggle room as more things start getting sniped. 

Really I just wanted someone to hold me accountable at the gym.

Enter: Incineroar.  After losing my dark-type in Muk, and seeing the opportunity to acquire a bulky fire type that had both Intimidate and multiple pivot moves to whittle down would be checks to Spectrier as well as help get it in safely, I felt this was a move I had to make.  

In Review: This thing did exactly what I drafted it for.  I think the price tag makes sense, and I'm really glad I dropped Ogerpon for this thing.  I would go so far as to say that I feel this is an ideal Pokemon to have on Spectrier teams; while certainly not mandatory, I definitely felt like having this expanded my options with Spectrier. I would also recommend it without the spooky horse because that slow bulky pivot with STAB Knock Off and Intimidate is seldom not useful. You'll run boots often if the hazard game is tough, but I always had a reliable spin with this draft too.  I do wish I could have given Ogerpon a better shake, and perhaps sprung for the fire one initially, but it will have to be on a team it's better suited for, I believe. 

Budget: 24, 9th Pick - Milotic (-11) "Focalors"

Everyone thinks they know what the best Water type in draft is, but if they don't take Milotic into consideration, I don't believe they've seen what this thing can do.  In the Casualness Intensifies League (CIL) that I ran for a few years (6 seasons I think), Milotic earned its way into legend by tanking Thunder from Heliolisk and Thunder from Zapdos in the same game and walling a rain team into defeat.  I helped build that team, I've drafted it before myself, and it is the only mon joining the squad that I have drafted before. 

Every bit deserving of the namesake.

In the draft, I was willing to wait for this around the long wheel because there were still great options like Suicune and Dondozo on the board, neither of whom I had drafted and both of whom I had interest in.  I felt Milotic was the stronger choice though so when it didn't get picked up, I pounced.  I consider a bulky Water type a must when drafting--this may be contentious to some, but I feel it's as important as the equally requisite Ground or Poison types.

In Review: When you factor in cost, I will always think Milotic is one of the best value picks in draft.  It's actually an incredible Pokemon, that may be a bit one dimensional at times, but it's a clutch dimension that saves your ass--I would know, because until the end of the season, this was actually the coach's pick for my team MVP until the very end.  A big advantage I think this thing has over other bulky Waters is it's immediate recovery, where as Suicune and Dondozo must rely on Rest.  Higher budget options generally have this going for them as well, in addition to more utility in most cases, but for only 11 points, she was incredible.  At this point, after two drafts, she has to be "Signature Mon" status, which is basically my "Hall of Fame"... might be another fun post actually... anyway, I obviously would, in theory, draft it again, but I would personally like to explore new choices in future leagues if the opportunity presents itself like a Slowbro/king, Empoleon, Primarina, even Samurott-H, who I've yet to see fill his full potential in my opinion.  I think people are too aggressive with the Ceaseless Edge spam and would like to try it myself some other ways just to see if I'm on to something.  Anyway, yay Focalors.

Budget: 13, 10th Pick - Garganacl (-6) "Salt Bae" { exchanged for } Dudunsparce (-9) "Thousand Dragon"

Garganacl was a mon I never used and should have week one.  I thought I didn't need it when it would have helped a ton vs Skeledirge that I knew was going to be an issue but had I remembered to Tera my Iron Crown... anyway!  I ultimately felt that Garg without Tera just wasn't that good and knowing it's coming increases the likelihood of Covert Cloaks, which diminishes the value of Salt Cure, so while I do think it's a mon I'd look at again if I could Tera it, ultimately, Dudunsparce was a more useful Pokemon to have around. 

Thousand Dragon as happy about the exchange as I was.

My one regret with Dudunsparce was that I didn't have more time with it. If you're a creative team builder, I think Dudunsparce is a Pokemon you should draft at least once because there is a truly surprising number of times it can be useful thanks to it's great versatility.  Rocks, Glare, reliable recovery, deceptively good offensive potential, and a great deal of bulk is pretty much always useable.  I almost feel like it can "contain" (may die in the process but would set you up to pick off or capitalize on the position) any one mon you want... but only one.  That's not true of course, but it feels true.  Draft it yourself and tell me it's not.

In Review: I genuinely feel that this is a mon that could be brought just about every week despite the fact that I only ended up bringing it once to the maybe 3 or 4 games I had it for, but when I looked at calcs and started building out options/ versions of teams, I really enjoyed dialing up plays for Thousand Dragon to run.  If I get the chance to draft him again, I may even make it a priority because there were so many sets cooked up that I never got to use.  I have to note though, that having run some calcs, when you factor in the fact that the price tag isn't cheap, but a defensively better and offensively worse prevolution exits for the low cost of 3.  6 points is a lot and since you probably aren't using this as your primary offensive weapon, I suspect Dunsparce might actually have comparable or better value. For reference, that could be a Dunsparce + Entei or a Dudunsparce + Raboot combo for the same price because of how much Dunsparce saves you while offering a marginally worse package for a role you may not even use every week, even if you could if you wanted. 

Budget: 7, 11th Pick - Whimsicott (-5) "Whimsy"
Another top 5 or 10 favorite Pokemon design and mon that I've never drafted: my beloved Whimsicott.  Whimsicott is one of the only Pokemon I actually did the breeding process for back in Gen 5 (when it wasn't as convenient as you whippersnappers have it) and I've definitely been that dude pissing you off on the ladder with shenanigans like Encore and Sub Seed, but occasionally, I've even liked offensive Whimsy.  I love this mon so much that I could have made even better roster changes if I gave it up and I just couldn't.  Something about that "play with your favorite" ethos just sticks with me, especially when we're talking about a fluffy, cute, excited, face of terror.

Destroyer of Worlds

At this point in the draft, I felt the team was effectively complete, so I was looking for things I liked to be fun role-players and Prankster mons are always welcome to me, especially since this one has STAB Moonblast to address that new-ish Dark-type immunity to Prankster.  Having it also enabled me to make the big moves because dropping Ogerpon freed up so much cap space when I honestly felt Whimsicott was more useful anyway, plus how great those moves ended up turning out.  Blasphemy. I know. You goobers and your Ogerpons. I don't care.

In Review: As expected of a late, lower-tier pick, Whimsy didn't see much field time, but was yet another mon that I loved having in the builder.  There was one week where I was seriously considering it over Spectrier because the opponent was particularly weak to Fairy and definitely could have.  As much as I love this mon, and I don't think it's a bad pickup if you feel it suits your team or you enjoy terrorizing people, but I don't know if I'd draft it again, especially with some of these intriguing new fairies like Enamorus, Iron Valiant, and Fezandipiti.  I still haven't even drafted Togekiss (not available in current draft) and I think I could do some damage with that thing. Maybe as a budget grass type, like in this draft though. Fairy is a type I don't mind doubling up on, especially since one was a Tera captain... actually I think Tera Whimsy would probably be good too because it's a decent hit-and-run kind of mon anyway and I think Tera just elevates most offense more, although a defensive Tera like Poison or Steel could be interesting too as a nice bulky pivot to help you position.

Budget: 2, Final Pick - Smeargle (-2) "LE ARTEEST" { exchanged for } Illumise (-1) "Dolores"

Smeargle never came, but the prospect of any moveset imaginable was too tempting to resist when I felt the team was already complete.  But now if I want to do something wacky, I can, I've got every hazard and hazard removal now... everything.  Except, I don't know if you've ever done calcs with Smeargle but even the most obscene offensive setups do like 40% to mons uninvested in bulk.  It's depressing. And on top of that, it can't really be used defensively either because it's defenses are even worse somehow. I actually didn't have to make this change, but as life started getting busier and the dream of the bizarre Smeargle sweep became less tenable, I decided it was time for a change to improve our lack of ground resists and picked up the best bug I could with 2 points left.

"10 Points from Gryffindor!"

I chose Illumise over Volbeat, who is essentially the same mon but with better offensive coverage (abysmal offenses for both though), but lacks Wish.  I felt if I was going to use her, it would be as a bulky pivot to some dangerous ground type or prankster Encore deterrent to set up.  

In Review: While Illumise never came this season, I did have a couple interesting builds with her loaded up as alternate versions, but ultimately found it hard to justify this pick over some stronger option on the roster.  I really wish one of these twin bug sisters got Reflect though; they would be outstanding dual screen setters, and I think for the toolkit they bring at the lowest price available, it's definitely a mon I would consider drafting again.  I'd still like to revisit Smeargle, but it's difficult to imagine a time in my life where I will have more availability to spend time on creative build shenanigans as I get older

Closing Thoughts

Ultimately, I'm going to give my draft a B+.  Surprisingly, I felt the squad really shone with it's defensive prowess, despite some of the potent offensive potential available to me with things like Spectrier and Regieleki.  Especially once the changes were made, the team felt incredibly defensively sound and I wasn't overly concerned with renegade mons.  Even Gouging Fire, who is still tough enough to merit two mons for in my experience, was handled well by the combination of Incineroar and Milotic, while both also covered other threats like Greninja and Reuniclus in the same game. Some of that could be chalked up to my style too as I have a tendency to make sure I'm "safe" before I figure out how to break them. 

With that in mind, part of the reason I couldn't give myself an A was because as I've found in many drafts, I never am satisfied with my wall-breaking options.  Except that time I had Kyurem-B in... gen 6 or 7 I think, and that was probably the best team I drafted and ultimately ended up winning that season.  The crazy part was, Kyurem-B had one less kill than my Torn-T, but the pressure a great wallbreaker exerts is even better than the more narrow pressure of things like Spectrier and Regieleki, which may have few checks and counters but are generally addressed easily by at least one mon on the team.  This is kind of why I'm still thinking about if I had tried the Fire Ogerpon, for instance.  That's not to say the offense wasn't good, but A-grade has to be great. 

I also have to dock points for the Whimsicott thing, because it definitely would have been better to drop it for the points and be able to spend even more when I was rebuilding. I also recall some version with Heracross that I think would have been an incredible fit for the team that even kept Whimsy, but I think cost me Dudunsparce or something.  So I definitely played favorites a bit, but I also found some great undervalued gems as well.

I also think I did a nice job with the speed tiers and type synergy, as well as accounting for many utility roles for a very well-balanced and fun team to build and play with.  Despite my rough 2-game start to the season, I was on path to make playoffs and perhaps most important of all, I feel like I "still got it", even while learning this very different meta and rule set against really experienced competitors, and with adequate time, I could definitely still compete in this format, even if I never end up getting to play it again. If this was the last ride, it was as all fun ones are: exciting and over too soon.

Often I miss the draft league though, not really so much for the competitive Pokemon aspect (although I do enjoy that), was the friends made along the way.  I have truly cherished memories with some friends I've met, and some friends I've never met, playing in the CIL, being silly and having fun, while providing me with some semblance of normalcy in a tumultuous time in my life when I moved across the country from a rural town of 1200 people to the 18 million in Los Angeles in pursuit of a dream, alone, and knowing no one there.  I think about my friends often now, as we don't keep in touch like we used to, but I really do wish everyone had the time to keep it going because those times, as difficult as they were, still fill me with so much happiness when I really needed it, that I just might feel a tear in each eye right now.  If any of you read this, thank you, I love you, and I hope we'll play again one day.



P.S. Special thanks to my friends Kelly and Joe for getting me into the PBA and Emvee for his draft consultation haha. And of course the PBA people for putting it on and being very pleasant yet fierce competitors.  

P.P.S. For my own amusement, 25 Gen 8/9 Pokemon I still haven't drafted and really want to, not necessarily in order but kind of, maybe as a personal reminder/ starting point for another league 👀 :

1. Skeledirge

2. Dragapult

3. Garchomp

4. Terapagos

5. Gouging Fire

6. Walking Wake

7. Sneasler

8. Ursaluna-Bloodmoon

9. Gholdengo

10. Chi-Yu

11. Kleavor 

12. Annihilape 

13. Zoroark-H

14. Arcanine-H

15. Roaring Moon

16. Urshifu-Single Strike

17. Samurott-H

18. Enamorus

19. Ogerpon-Fire or -Water

20. Darkrai

21. Fezandipiti

22. Pecharunt 

23. Wo-Chien

24. Iron Valiant

25. Houndstone 

Genshin Impact Value-Driven Tier List

I wanted to make a different kind of tier list than the standard community one for Genshin Impact because one thing I've noticed, or at least wish I knew when I started, was how difficult it can be to build up multiple characters--most of us knew to focus on 1-2 main DPS units but the selection process on how you choose who to invest in is never really discussed in detail because everyone just wants to say "play with who you like" which is TOTALLY fine and definitely the better way to play the game. 

But what if you didn't get who you wanted? How do you decide who to invest your precious resources in as you progress through the game?  

If you just follow the standard tier list, I think you'll more likely find yourself in a situation where you end up investing in characters who aren't good investments because of how replaceable they are.  The whole tier list is centered around damage and DPS in general but because the characters are basically the least important part of the equation, I don't think that's the right approach to take.

Anybody can be a DPS. Some are better at it than others, of course, and generally this is true within the sub-hierarchies of roles a character can fulfill (so obviously not everyone can heal, but among those that are capable of doing so, some are better at it than others). I think they community has done an outstanding job of illustrating the competence hierarchy within designated roles but I'm going to present a problem that I hope will realign the conversation on how a tier list should be done for low spending or free-to-play players. 

Let's say you just started the game and you had your heart set on Xiao, since 1.3 just launched recently.  The odds of getting him are quite low and, unfortunately, you only managed to pull Beidou and Razor, two four-star Electro claymore users.  If you were to decide who to build up based on the tier list, Razor is ranked in A at the present, and Beidou in B.  What the tier list doesn't assign is value to versatile units, or penalize for inflexible ones.  Razor can really only be a physical DPS carry, whereas Beidou can also do that, be an Electro damage dealer, and provide a little defensive utility.  

Continuing with that very example, let's now say you're nearing the end of the Xiao banner and you've managed to get pretty far into the game.  I don't know if this is mathematically possible, but let's say you hit AR 40 in two weeks, so you've got some pretty highly-leveled units with your DPS's at about 70.  Your artifacts definitely aren't there yet and the higher levels of spiral abyss are thus a little out of reach, but you've been managing your resources really well and once you start artifact farming, you'll have two solid teams ready to go... and then you pull Xiao.  Ohhh my god it's the character you wanted all along and he's finally here!  You invested in Razor and now Razor is going to take a back seat to Xiao because they're competing for the same role of main DPS and Xiao is just better and cooler to you. 

Not counting artifacts, it takes about 10 days worth of resin to level up a character and their weapon to 70, if you focus SOLELY on them, and of course, not counting artifact farming, which can take a month or more if you're a true min/max-er.  With Razor on the bench, that investment currently yields you nothing because you replaced that unit; he's still a very good DPS but he can't fill any other roles so you have to bench him.  If you had taken that time to invest in Beidou instead, you could now adjust her role to be a support to Xiao since she's capable of it, and a good partner for him.  Because of her versatility in this regard, she holds value better and therefore is a better investment of your extremely limited resources.

I don't want to argue we shouldn't have the current tier list, but it provides an incomplete understanding and a misleading one for low/no-spending players that has certainly caused people to waste time and resources, so I thought I'd take a stab at injecting my opinions on units that I believe have the most *value* and I'll explain a little bit about the decisions behind this tiering after I show you: 

 

As you can see, it does bear a fair bit of similarity to the community tier list, but I'm going to select individual examples to explain drops and rises.

Perhaps the most controversial is putting Diluc in A-tier. Again, this is not to take away from his prowess as a main DPS--the math is well documented and he continues to be a highly effective choice for the role, but all his teams are Diluc teams--you can't really use him to support a Xiao, so you better really love Diluc if you're going to invest in him.  But because he's SO good as a main DPS, it's not justifiable to put him any lower than A.  Klee is higher not just because her DPS is slightly higher, but she can apply Pyro more frequently and off the field through her bombs left over, which is very valuable, whereas Diluc has to be out there.

Similarly, this principle applies to Xiao and Childe in the A-tier also, but Kaeya, a clearly inferior DPS choice sits in the same tier because while still being a strong choice in the DPS role, really excels more as a sub-DPS and is great for continuously applying Cryo to trigger reactions for teammates. He can be a main DPS both from a Cryo and physical damage standpoint as well as support.  A very good investment, and the second best DPS carry on freeze-teams after Ganyu who sits in S-tier as she can fulfill DPS and sub-DPS roles, apply lots of Cryo, and is really the best at all of those things right now. I also suspect Kaeya's value will drop when Rosaria comes out, as they have similar kits and hers is just better at dealing damage but much remains to be seen in that regard with her ult being stationary.

Next, you could make the argument Chongyun can do all those things Kaeya can and, technically, provides more Cryo application. Why put him in B, then?  For starters, Chongyun's use is generally more niche and it's harder to fit him on a team because his elemental skill turns most units' damage into Cryo.  In some cases, that's awesome, and he can be truly outstanding in his role, but not always. Because that relegates him to a more niche role than Kaeya, I placed him in B-tier. If you're going to invest in him, you should definitely do so once you have all the pieces you'll need for that team.

There are instances in which specialists still ranked quite high, for example Qiqi, because her healing is absurdly good. I know some people have taken to calling her "the worst 5-star" because her healing is sort of overkill but I actually placed Albedo lower because there are fewer healers than sub-DPS units at this point in time and only one of your two Spiral Abyss teams can have Bennett plus the next best option for strictly healing is also a 5-star (Jean) and one of the most versatile units in the game lol. 

On that note, Diona dropped a tier that she and Qiqi currently share because as far as shields go, hers have been extremely lackluster in my experience and her healing is far worse than other healers besides Noelle who has a better shield and can actually DPS fairly effectively as well.  Diona may have an EM boost, but it's situational, requires C6, and confines you to circle impact; these drawbacks have made it an unnoticeable improvement in my clear times when testing. 

Ultimately, if you see similar characters, I try to put them in different tiers and prioritize the characters who are either more versatile or just so much better at the role they share that it really is worth investing in them over their competition unless your personal situation creates a particular niche that one couldn't possible account for in a tier list. This list will also tend to bias support units as someone like Bennett or Venti can be used on a huge variety of teams and automatically improve them because of what they can offer. Also the nature of being less invested simply by being a support (generally you don't need a level 90 Xingqiu for him to do awesome things, so getting the last ascension to unlock the talents (and maybe leveling to 70 if you want) is among the more recommended advice regarding supports I've heard across the community. 

If you get an S-tier, I think it's about as safe as investment as you can have.  A-tier is right there as well, but definitely choose your carries/ main DPS units thoughtfully as they will be consuming most of the resources you spend resin on. B is fine if you know you like the character or know you need them for a particular team comp, such as Chongyun on a Diluc melt team, but understand that investment is just riskier because those characters likely won't have as much utility unless something changes.  I actually hold C in a higher regard than people might expect, but each one is out classed in everything it does by another unit. Physical carry Xinyan? Razor is better. Healer Barbara? Hope you like getting frozen, dawg, maybe try Bennett instead? 

The only adjustment I might make and I'm not *sure* of is placing the Travelers much higher.  I say "much" because you get the gems needed to ascend them just from playing the game naturally, AND they're going to be able to switch to more elements in the future.  I think there's a lot of potential there, but we don't know anything for sure yet, and you might want to save your Mora and EXP books for other units right now.

As everyone who's ever done a guide for this game has said, play however you want to get the most enjoyment from the game. I just wanted to make sure someone at least started the discussion on value of units to fill in the missing information that is unavoidable with the current community tier list. 

Safe travels :]