#crit role meta

[copperhawkthoughts]

I love stories about love.

So much of what made the Mighty Nein compelling to me was really watching “it’s love that makes people” play out - watching those characters grow and heal and be shaped by receiving love but also through the act of giving love. By allowing themselves to be loved.

Calamity is getting me in the gut because one of the themes showing up is “love is not enough”, in big, world-ending ways and in small, everyday ones

- it’s not enough to keep a marriage together

- it’s not enough to keep a child happy

- it’s not enough to save someone’s life

- it’s not enough to save the world

[essektheylyss]

It's very interesting that both Allura in this episode and Essek in 2.124 frame the Luxon as a pre-Founding entity that has been in Exandria since before the Primordials or the pantheon, because it really does complicate the idea of gods as a single unified classification. Discussions around, say, the Raven Queen's ascension and Artagan's godhood are interesting of course, but lend themselves to a hierarchy of being and power—mortals and archfey must be elevated to a higher position to reach a place among the gods—but the Luxon throws a wrench into the hierarchy itself.

Fandom discussions around the Luxon referring to it as an entity tend to feed into this hierarchy as well, even when framing the Luxon in a positive light, by placing the classification of god or deity as a literal higher power in a contemporary and very sociopolitical conceptualization of "power," positioning anything in that role as inherently oppressive, and I think this also does the conversation a disservice. A better metaphor, in my opinion, is to compare deities to the fundamental forces of physics.

The way that dunamis has been said to intertwine with reality on a minute level and the Luxon's extension of divine power without direct communication suggests to me that its power in relation to other deities is somewhat akin to gravity itself—gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces, but much farther reaching, and therefore it exerts a massive influence on the cosmos in spite of that lesser strength.* This echoes the complexities of trying to rely upon a hierarchy of being in this discussion, because such hierarchies are always constructed and imposed, not inherent. Sometimes they are constructed by those positioned at the top, and other times not, but from any angle, regardless of field, they tend to be used to justify some moral stance and standing.

This is utterly negated by the Luxon's existence. Whatever can be said about it as an entity, it seems to be an inherently amoral being—it does not seem to concern itself with moral questions, and very possibly has no capacity to do so. At the same time, dunamis seems to be enmeshed within the reality of the Material Plane and the Weave itself, perhaps even the Skein of Fate—as described, dunamis may well be the very particulate matter comprising the choices of everything in the cosmos and how those choices intertwine.

The Raven Queen, as an ascended mortal, can look upon the individual heroes of the story and acknowledge them, validate them, but the Luxon has no inherent position from which to look, and as such evades any positionality within the constructed hierarchy upon which the questions of this campaign hinge.

*Complicating this metaphor is the fact that gravity's weakness means it doesn't exert significant influence on a micro scale, but I do not ever purport to suggest that dunamancy is a one-to-one mirror of the realities of quantum mechanics, not least because Matt is definitely no more a physicist than I am.

[luckthebard]

Ok here's my actual hot take from episode 33 - I kind of don't get the complaints that Fearne or Orym's deaths were "all about Imogen."

Fearne is ruidusborn. Otohan even focused on her because of that, for all that it was dismissive and condescending. That's the kind of thing that will really stay with Fearne as a consequence here, if FCG manages a successful Revivify. It could really stay with her and potentially drive her story of self-discovery in really interesting ways.

As for Orym, this fight was major for him in terms of his personal quest to find the shadow assassins. He sure found them. It's tragic and weirdly poetic that Otohan killed him too when she's the one who killed Will, but Orym absolutely found what he was looking for. This wasn't about Imogen at all, for him - it was directly tied to his personal quest. It just didn't end the way he wanted. And, like Fearne, if there is a shot at a Revivify with Orym, this moment of failure but also discovery would be a huge drive forward for his story.

They were all on this job together, not for Imogen, and there are clear ways the fight itself had narrative meaning for other characters.

And also, I'm going to need someone to explain (really explain, in a way that makes sense) how there being a powerful villain closely tied to one character is GREAT and the BEST EVER in one case (Percy and the Briarwoods) and somehow unacceptable and bad here, besides gender.

[craftyfaecreature]

Fjord, Mollymauk/Lucien, Yasha and Jester's story arcs:

The Mighty Nein discover their friend is in a weird cult.

Not only that, their friend is an important chosen one/founder of the cult.

They travel with/follow the cult to a far away place.

There's a search where the Nein hide and/or search for something the cult is looking for.

Then they (at least offer to) fight a demigod to get their friend out of the cult.

Most of the cult is dispersed.

[c-duceusclay]

The funniest thing Ashton does is give Percy shit.

Percy will be standing there, minding his damn business and Ashton will be like "oh my fucking god, you miserable bastard" and be correct

[darkdisrepair]

c3e37 meta - about laudna

there are so many things to talk about and so little time- but here is my customary post-episode thought dump:

so how about that episode, huh???

topics the mercy of matt mercer | matilda | the many parallels of the soul realm with imogen and laudna

the mercy of matt mercer

first of all, let's just give matt a round of applause for that dreamscape. just so haunting and twisty and terrifying- a visage of a city we know and love, enemies lurking around the corner- the whole thing was quite possibly one of the most alluring destinations and plot thread he has made this campaign.

you may be wondering- he wasn't merciful at all, really, with all he threw at the group- but he was.

by placing this battle with delilah, and the fight for laudna's soul, in this soul realm, he allows the group to throw everything they have toward getting laudna back, without holding back.

because after the otohan fight, it's evident that this group can do so much when they aren't afraid. and though being yanked back into reality, away from the fight, is horrible because it takes away that support, it's also not death.

which allows everyone to unleash. to let go, of that ever present fear of another tpk. because delilah could have easily become an otohan moment, but because of where it was placed it gave bell's hells the best possible shot they could have.

and, it also suggests that if they really had failed, and all been taken back before getting laudna, that even that would not have been the end.

we all know that marisha wants laudna to return, and matt has always said that he ultimately tries to honor his players' wishes- so this setting is a beautiful way of organically giving the party the chance to get laudna back, without handing it to them on a silver platter, but still with a sense of weight to their actions.

kudos, matthew.

matilda

matilda/laudna's backstory is just so sad. she is, in so many ways, the classic case of the outcast in school, ever weird, ever teased- a little girl with a bright purple soul that just wants to be free but can't because the world won't let her- and marisha is just such a genius for that.

ugh.

there's something so striking about the art i've seen that is just so haunting. such a brilliant spark, in laudna, and yet so sad.

it portrays beautifully how laudna has grown up to have the perspective she has- desperate to be happy, all the time, to please others, to pull imogen into the brightness of the world that she so desperately longed for when she was a child, to find acceptance-

and it also paints how she can be so utterly manipulated by delilah.

just such a good arc. such a good portrayal of a hurting inner child.

(do i want her to go by matilda in the main campaign? not particularly, but damn do i love the matilda the musical parallels- i half expect her to put "quiet" on laudna's playlist next, or "when i grow up")

the many parallels of the soul realm ft. imogen and laudna

there were so. many. parallels.

mainly, let's look at this through the lens of imogen and laudna:

imogen and liliana

this one really hit me so hard, when they were following the many iterations around the soulscape. imogen, calling out to laudna.

don't trust him. we'll find you. don't go to dinner.

imogen, in laudna's head, warning her. trying to comfort her. just as her mother has done for her, over and over again, the only voice that rings out in a never ending nightmare.

who would have thought, that it would be imogen in laudna's nightmare before laudna ever got the chance to be in imogen's? how haunting, that it's the girl whose nightmares haunt her night after night who willingly throws herself into another, refusing to let go of laudna's mind, refusing to let go?

so gentle. so comforting. so kind. calling her "honey." just so ugh.

2. laudna and imogen

that short conversation was quite possibly one of the most heartwrenching moments of the campaign yet. marisha really knocked it out of the park with this one.

her desperate imogen. just as the last moments of her life, a few episodes ago, were calling out to imogen. reaching for her.

that's the first parallel.

but now:

laudna may not have kept her promise not to break the rock (let's not get into the details of it being delilah). but imogen promised that she would sunder delilah briarwood and she did.

these girls care about each other so much. and the steady escalation of the stakes of these promises to each other- from friendship to laudna's actual soul- is just beautiful to watch.

i said i wanted an imogen vs delilah 1v1 and while i didn't quiet get that WHAT WE GOT WAS AN IMOGEN HOW DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS ON DELILAH BRIARWOOD as it should be.

our queen, laura bailey.

3. delilah battle vs otohan battle

isn't it so haunting, that both of these fights ended with three people knocked out of the fight? laudna, orym, and fcg this time; laudna, orym, fearne last time?

and isn't it crazy, as well, that both of these fights were of powerful women trying desperately to hold control over the characters in the party? and each conflict is so deeply personal. delilah and laudna. otohan and imogen.

not to mention both fights ending in a wave of destructive, blinding whiteness, and imogen harnessing her powers in ruidus.

i'm so excited to see what comes next.

[roslina-w-bagnie]

I just realized how poetic it is for the goddess of death to have been mortal. A mortal who cheated death and now rules it. A mortal who seduced Death, erased him from existence, and took his place. A goddess who knows how it is to be mortal because she was once the same as the people who are now under her care. For who she cares for way more than her predecessor ever could've, because he wasn't like Them and didn't know how it is to be like Them.

[theroseylane]

Something that hit me while reading this absolutely masterful meta from rosemarydisaster (seriously, go read it; it’s phenomenal) is just how Zerxus fits in to the rest of this group. There be spoilers ahead, so be warned…

So, during the Insta takeovers leading up to the premier of EXU: Calamity, someone asked in Sam’s AMA about who the moral compass of the group was. He answered Luis’ character, who we now know is Zerxus. Note: this takeover was filmed before the finale of this series, so take from that what you will. There was a decent amount of us who, after watching the first episode, thought that Zerxus was going to be the only good character in this party of selfish, hubristic magic users (and Cerrit, who felt like he was in a completely different movie). But this latest episode showed us just how Zerxus fits in with everyone else. He has just as much hubris as the rest of them; just not about magic. What I realized this episode is that Zerxus isn’t good. He’s NICE. And that’s a big difference.

He has a sense of “moral superiority” to the rest of the group because he’s nice to everyone. He doesn’t try to be rude or dismissive of those who he disagrees with or are of “lower station” than him, like Patia, Laerryn, or Nydas. It doesn’t matter if his kindness ends up hurting others later; all that matters to him is that he was nice in the moment. Something goes wrong later? Well, he did what he could. He was nice when it mattered when he thought it mattered. If they still did the bad thing(s) anyway that just means the person was bad. At least he was nice anyway. He’s the type of person who would look at someone who committed an atrocity and think “If only someone had been nice to them; maybe they wouldn’t have done what they did.” Or thinks that being kind to those who wish you harm will somehow get them to reconsider their actions/beliefs/thoughts. In rewatching the latest episode, the Lord of the Hells says that Zerxus’ flaw is that he’s too trusting. And I think he was lying; being trusting to those who don’t deserve it different from being kind to those who don’t deserve it. At least, to everyone but Zerxus.

[bitterbeanjuiceenjoyer]

Someone: Posts 10 gifs of Matthew M. Mercer in a costume

My tumblr app:

[kdrc]

Huhuhuhuh I'M PREPARED THIS YEAR, DENA!!!!!

Well it's true that I'm prepared but tbh aside from Red who took me 11th multi to got him, it was the 4th for Leaf and only 1st for Green I legit screamed-

[thewitchness]

In case all my critters are wondering why I'm not posting on this blog, I've separated it into crispys-crit-role-blog

I'll see you there!

[oddthesungod]

The whiplash in scrolling the crit role tag absentmindedly, appreciating the cool art/fics/meta and fun episode reactions and seeing the most over the top “grrrrrrr you females and queers with ur purple hair and pronouns are making d&d woke and boring!!!! >:((((“ post lmfao

Got a chuckle out of me from the sheer over the top absurdity, hitting so many obvious dog whistles a whole kennel came running

[c-duceusclay]

ROBO DATE

ROBO DATE

ROBO DATE

[darkdisrepair]

"i know i cry a lot" | imogen meta

okay now that i've kind of caught up-

can we talk about the conversation that the group had about imogen's emotional health?? because it was both really good to talk about but also really... not helpful at all?

you can tell that the group sees right through imogen when she say's she's fine- but they also don't seem to really follow up with their concerns?

"she goes to sleep every night crying," fearne says, and here's the thing- imogen doesn't disagree.

though that just might be a laura joking thing- that's so sad??? that someone could even say that about imogen's life and it is even plausible that it's true??

and THEN: "i'm not going to do that anymore, i'm strong" - imogen

is also both healthy and not healthy??

not to get meta but laura said once (i forget where) that in college/young adulthood that she was so sad that she decided she was going to smile and trick her mind into being happy because she didn't want to be sad anymore- and she said herself that it's a terrible coping mechanism

genius of her to use that as imogen's coping mechanism here, now.

but once she says that there's some singing of "survivor" and then... just no follow-up?

orym moves the conversation along and i can't help but notice... that imogen despite what she's just said... does still like she's going to cry.

and just. ugh.

our purple haired sorceress is going through it :(

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Neo Champion Rosa

Fun fact! Meloetta is my favorite mythical Pokemon. I adore this little Vocaloid baby. So I've been anticipating the day it finally got added. I always expected more of a seasonal/PokeFair kinda deal, maybe with Lisia, but apparently we're going full-on Master Fair with Rosa. So she's gonna be good, right?

General Overview Psychic Support.  An instant OHKO on my hopes for a Normal Meloetta that type shifts, but I guess the plus side is my Psychic army is ever-growing.  Also, she does type shift to Fighting, and all her moves seem to be Normal, as her sync is listed with Normal-type damage modifiers, so...I don't know, theme skills are weird.

Buddy Relic Song has AoE, and gives +1 crit, +2 to a random stat, and transforms Meloetta each use, with a passive giving +1 PMUN and SMUN each transformation.  Her first attack in each form applies Psychic or Fighting rebuff, she gets both, and each attack gives +1 Sp Def (Aria) or +1 Def (Pirouette).  Her trainer move is a pop +2 PMUN (Pirouette) or SMUN (Aria), with +2 team speed.  She is the most consistent moves up next stacker in the game, with the most consistent fast-acting stacks in the game at present for either offensive type.  And that's just her base kit, with two moves.  She has Potion, and changes between Sing in Aria, and Teeter Dance in Pirouette.  Her grid provides options like Precision Pals, MPR1 for even more stacking, Force Field/Team Stoic to get some guaranteed defenses, Curative Confusion for passive regen, Easy Pickings for random debuffs on foes, double Potion MPR, and Go Viral in case you really need Sing to just mess with the whole team, but I actually think Go Viral sleep is detrimental at this point in my life.

Rosa's rotation is fairly clear, at least to me.  Spam Buddy move out the gate, while your allies handle boosting Atk/Sp Atk by themselves.  By the time they're done, you're around first sync, which Rosa takes, getting Support EX buff.  She then kicks in Sprint role and ramps so you're guaranteed second sync before foe's first.  Then you either use Buddy move once to get to the form you want, or go straight to TM to stack moves up, until the opponent dies.  There is no mercy.  Only Meloetta.

Rosa's problems, however, are just as apparent. The main one is her Buddy move conditional. She needs to "not be in a pinch." Which is that red blinking HP level around 25%. Heavy hits in CS are a massive threat to her, and if she's taking Half Healing as a parameter, which is often free money in CS, it's hard to get her back on track. She also can't reliably buff Atk/Sp Atk, which means she's excellent for top-tier self-sufficient damage dealers, but pretty bad otherwise. Also she needs partners with good DPS attacks; low DPS gets borderline nothing from her. Another flaw, and this seems to be a personal stance, is that Sing is a bad decision. Yes, I hear you, general meta theorists. Sleep is insanely powerful and broken as a status for disruption. But it also means Rosa can't queue another action before the foe re-queues, which means if she's sleep-locking, she's not doing literally anything else. It also means having to run Troublemaker as a lucky skill to hit literally anything ever, because 45% accuracy. Even with the +20 accuracy she can get from grid, which is expensive and removes her better utility, AND the Precision Pals effect on TM, that's...around 85% accuracy. Which is still far too shaky to rely on. But she doesn't get Vigilance, so you're leaving yourself wide open on crits.

Which brings us to the big flaw. My first opinion of Rosa was "this seems kinda tame." It's because her grid sucks ass. Her kit does a lot, but considering that Blue not only had a super good base kit but also got an absurd grid that gave him even further tools that were unnecessary? Rosa feels like she should be getting more than this. Her tools are underwhelming on grid, and it's hard to build anything overly cohesive out of it. And like...no built-in Vigilance? I thought we fixed this shit with Melony; if you have Sing, you want Vigilance on grid so you can take Troublemaker, otherwise you're Elio, who is bad. Melony got this, but somehow Master Fair Rosa didn't? Why? This isn't exactly a tall order if a general pool can do it. Even her ability to boost team defense is +1 per attack, similar to Blue, but without his offense debuffing and chance for flinch. They even have the audacity to make them two separate skills on opposite ends of the grid. Rosa's grid legitimately feels like one of the worst all year for very little reason.

My stance on Rosa lands somewhere between "This is the best support in the game" and "Oddly under-kitted." Depending on partner, she's either the unquestionable best partner for 3v3 content given her stacking and defensive backbone with healing, or she's accomplishing next to nothing because her kit locked her into one niche unlike NC Blue who got to do literally everything at the same time. I think if the grid were less garbage, she'd have an argument for being better than him. But as it stands, she's at home among the other Master Fair support, but I don't know if I'd call her strictly better than Bede, and certainly not better than Blue. Which is just typical Kanto bias shit. My favorite couldn't just lose to Kanto, but to Zapdos? Rude.

EX, Role, and Move Level? If you're looking at Rosa like damn.  I wish I had that kind of stacking power.  1/5 has all you need.  Legitimately, she's fine 1/5.  EX is a good idea for the stats, given her buddy move conditional, but you only need the one copy.  3/5 is when you just get silly with the defensive backbone she doesn't need but will gladly take, and some other niche tools that don't do much because again, I do not respect her grid.  The EX Role is honestly one of the most worth it things ever.  Support/Sprint is one of the best combos in the game, and my pick for outright best.  It's perfect pace for 3v3 metas, ensuring two syncs before foe's first even without quad queue, denial, or Adrenaline.  Supremely worth it. And good news! She's the first and currently only Sprint sub-Role! So you have the cake. Choose wisely though, because there's good odds of SST Red and Aura Cynthia at the start of the year with roles, and I have a feeling Cynthia's getting Sprint.

Team 1: NC Rosa, SS Lana, SS Lusamine Alright let's start with one on-type pick each, the best of each kind.  Lusamine Hours.  Rosa's +1 crit is all Lusamine needs for a successful fast-ramping nuke, and the ability to stack both types of Moves Up Next means both Lana and Lusamine fire at maximum capacity at all times.  With a defensive-minded grid, she is able to consistently provide what Bede could not: a serious means of survival in High Score.  Potion's pop heal just doubles down on this flexibility, achieving an absolutely bonkers performance.  With Lana and Lusamine already fast-ramping to Lusamine's transformation, and Meloetta's Sprint role, she even contributes meaningfully to the ongoing Psychic Ramp meta.

Team 2: NC Rosa, NC Hop, Rei "But Aura Cynthia-" redundant.  Rosa stacks harder than Cynthia could ever imagine, and the rebuff is much better than duplication of Zone.  And with Rei's Sprint role, welcome to fast ramp central, complete with sure-flinch lockdown and rapid defensive drops.

Team 3: NC Rosa, Anni Lillie, Renegade Cynthia Okay, time to start getting a little silly with it.  NC Rosa's ability to boost team speed, as well as boosting both offenses, anchors a dual strike opportunity like Lillie and Cynthia.  Anni Lillie has tremendous DPS, and adores the stacks of SMUN.  Meanwhile, Cynthia has the ability to store one type of moves up for the other, including a potential explosion off of Shadow Force.  Having both options at her disposal allows Cynthia to just go ballistic here.

Team 4: NC Rosa, SS N, Glaceon/Colress As alluded to in the previous set, one thing Rosa can be incredibly funny for is the 2-turn move nuke. SS N's Freeze Shock is bullshit powerful, having 300BP at base. Now consider a situation where N gets to throw out Freeze Shock, but he's loaded up with PMUN. And also there's either Zone, or there's Def debuffs. Are we really...going to argue this one? I might actually, a non-EX SS N often fails me. Two-turn damage is still a problem.

Team 5: NC Rosa, SS Hilda, Blaine/NC Leaf SS Hilda is similar to Renegade Cynthia, being extremely high damage, but having both physical and special moves available.  She can DPS nuke both ways.  Add in Sun, and her damage is frankly batty.  It doesn't even matter where the Sun comes from, anyone will do, but Leaf is the comedy hour option.

Team 6: NC Rosa, Nemona, Volkner/Jolteon Another fun option: Nemona.  Nemona operates on burst damage, she's not good at DPS.  Rosa's stacks PMUN for Nemona to throw around on her Buddy move as needed, while also having that coveted Sprint role for repeat fast-ramping.  Nemona instant ramps, Rosa ramps off her sync, into Nemona's sync, which is also a ramp.  Speedrunning. There's honestly an argument for Paulo in here if you have him. Just triple fast-ramp sync nuke deluxe, with two of them being Support.

Team 7: NC Rosa, Anni Steven, S!Liza Okay, NOW it's time to talk.  NC Rosa, because of her buddy conditional, approaches CS with a bit of apprehension around field effects.  The shuffling of parameters often means taking Offenses +5, which is when things get scary.  When she ignores field effects, Rosa is at her most devastating.  And with that in mind, enter one of my favorite cores, Anni Steven and Summer Liza.  Both of them have very effective physical DPS, with Steven having fantastic speed control and Liza having the ability to rotate in Free Moves Next and her own PMUN.  Rosa's ability to boost defense for the team off a 3/5 grid allows Liza to get to TM second turn with full Atk.  Her TM boosting team speed eases their rotation of offense as well, as they throw around ridiculous numbers.  And again, because Rosa can ramp with Sprint role, there's no more of this need for a denial to keep on pace.  Liza will sync, and she will kill.

Team 8: NC Rosa, Paulo, Emmet Sprint ramping is real, and Paulo was a huge proponent of it with his sub-Support role.  Paulo can take first sync to throw out his own Buddy move, which also removes Rosa's grid energy from defense boosting to put into other fun tools like Precision Pals on TM for their accuracy issues.  Paulo's GMax having Sandstorm application, and his free -2 with Emmet's -1 TM in Sandstorm composing a fast-ramp, makes this a fairly strong Sandstorm core.  That can then pivot into Rosa taking second sync for further ramping, with double Support EX bonus and massive stacks of moves up next on both allies.  The accuracy here is key; Rosa's ability to grid in accuracy salvages the issues I have with Paulo's base kit.

Team 9: NC Rosa, Roxie, Looker I want to use this opportunity to stress something important.  When you're dealing with these heavy moves up next stackers?  +4 offense is sufficient.  Obviously, +6 is the ideal, but you can make do.  To that end, Roxie and Looker.  +4 offenses is just fine for them, with the moves up next stacks more than making up for the missing +2.  And with Rosa, there's always the chance that she rolls that +2 anyway.

Team 10: NC Rosa, Will, Brycen Okay this is really stupid but I realized something I could do and it was WAY too funny not to consider. So, Rosa has Teeter Dance, right? But no Stop Hitting Yourself. She partners with pairs who do, though. Mallow has poor offensive setup, and Sidney has poor DPS. But Will? Will has Stored Power. "But wait," you say. "Will has no self setup at all! How is he relevant?" Not so. Remember, Five Stats +3 is a thing. Will can simply copy and double their buffs, to get all his stats to +6 instantly! "Okay but...now you're dealing with stronger opponents." Not with Brycen here to Haze that shit. "Crystal this feels like a bad plan that could very easily backfire." True. But I bet it works.

Final Thoughts Rosa seems very good, and I am excited to try out her kit. I will acknowledge I think she also has some serious flaws which limit the teams she can support. She does not play well with sync nukers with low DPS, and she doesn't play nice with those who need full offensive support. But she does offer the best and most consistent moves up next stacking in the game at current, and given it's literally "every time you attack, +1 to both," this feels like a cap in the same way Aura Cynthia was. I doubt we'll get directly better than this any time soon. We just have to hope the Buddy move conditional isn't too great a burden.

[immortaltale]

now im thinking abt different managers' style of play in the hypothetical pokemonverse

i think klopp would prioritize speedy pokemon with good attack. glass cannons who are fragile defensively (get it bc liverpool players are always injured...). he'd use lots of priority moves along with things like u-turn and volt switch to try and overrun the opponent. always tries to hit as hard as he can, lots of boosted crit rate moves too

pep would be pretty flexible i feel and he'd always have something to counter the "meta". held item merchant. entry hazards galore. runs builds you never in your life would think that they work but somehow they do. he has an entirely different team depending on the day and the direction of the wind so you can never predict what's up

arteta feels like the type of guy who likes a good buildup so he always tries to set up offensively. always has a clear plan in mind and good use of baton passes. every pokemon on his team has a clear role. doesn't like powerful low accuracy moves as they're unreliable so he prefers the consistent but constant damage

mourinho would be an absolute cunt to face off against. setting up defensively, pokemon who are def/SpD walls. spamming recovery moves. protecting every other turn. poisoning your whole team. pp stalling you. most toxic (ha) trainer to ever exist

ancelotti.... now i don't know much about him tactically (so sorry if it's inaccurate) but there has to be something in that "power of friendship" meme right. so he'd run some pokemon that evolve via friendship and use return a lot. no thought behind team composition just his strongest pokemon and pure vibes

on a similar note. don pioli. hates switching out. level 70 ace (leao) and level 30 rest of the team

ok thats it from me for now