#nc calem

[crystalelemental]

Sync Pair Retrospective - Kalos Neo Champions

This was such a mixed event for me. On the one hand, this is the best outfit Serena has. I love her hair, I love the blue, it's perfect. On this same hand, this is some of the best writing DeNA ever produced. The focus on Calem's rivalry with Serena leaving him feeling like he doesn't measure up, and wanting to push himself to do better so he can stand on equal footing with her, actually held weight. I generally don't like the confirmation of which protagonist is "canon," but one of the only times they do, and they nailed the emotional significance of the other side having literally never won. And when he does get his win, the whole event feels like this big accomplishment, like everyone involved has finally made it.

On the other hand, Greninja. God I hate this frog. Also, no other NC event has lived up to this one. Not even close. Galar NCs were fine but I'm still pissed about Opal, while Kanto NC event couldn't stop sucking Red's dick long enough to remember how Blue's character worked. I'm kinda sour on Neo Champions, despite how much I love the concept.

Neo Champion Serena Serena remains top Water. "But SS Lys-" no really, I need you to trust me on this one. Serena is obscenely good. Low gauge cost, fast self-setup with little to be desired, powerful Water and Dark-type sync that ranks well above the competition, rebuff application for both types, hilarious levels of debuffing on Water, flinch and accuracy debuffing on Dark, etc etc etc. Serena wanted for very little.

Truth be told, I have little to say as well. Nothing has seriously competed with Serena in what she set out to do. She's insane. And in a few days, datamine very well may show us they handed her the Strike Role, and now I legitimately don't think there's any stopping her. If anything, she just got better when SS Lysandre entered the picture, because now she had someone she aligned perfectly with. His Buddy move evaporates sides, her sync deletes center, and both are powered up further by Kalos Pride. What possible limitation is there to be found with her? Even outside of the Water situation, Serena has Dark at her disposal as well. Despite that type being loaded with powerhouses, Serena keeps up perfectly, and if she receives that Strike role, NC Marnie is frankly out of a job. That's how disgusting NC Serena is. This is going to get a buff soon. Not Anni Lillie though, apparently. The meta is unfair.

In spite of that though, I barely use Serena. I legitimately think there's some kind of brain block that prevents me from using pairs that I think are actually too good at what they do. It's like how I never really use SS Lyra or NC Marnie, I just can't bring myself to do it. It's no fun.

Neo Champion Calem Calem, by comparison, kinda sucks. Oh, don't give me that, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Calem had tremendous value as a role compression support. Not just Rain, but Dark Zone, could be called. Considering only SS Cyrus had this ability before, and SS Cyrus has never rerun, Calem had tremendous value. There's just one teensy tiny problem. The conditional was 10 hits on opponents. Which meant, unless he was running with NC Serena, that condition isn't going up until it's time to sync. Which is completely unhelpful. This is the crux of what makes Calem so frustrating: he has these two tools, but they're inaccessible until the fight drags out a little. His buddy move is a nice injection of stats, but with Team Sharp Entry at 3/5 he can't cap crit, and neither offensive stat moves to cap either. He also messed up, going for Special Moves on Rain and Physical on Dark, when the inverse at the time was the better call. Even now, Special on Rain was a mistake; he does not at all compete with SS Kris for rain dominance. He's far more frail, and lacks her healing potential. And to make his life worse, one of his big benefits was that he buffed both offenses and crit pretty quickly. That was something! Well, it was, until NC Bede dropped, and copied most of his stat boosts on a 2MP move that also gave both kinds of Moves Up Next per use and refreshed every sync and also rotated Free Moves Next and could do SEUN on all allies. Bede put a lot of people out of work...

Thankfully, all he had to do was wait a week and his fortunes were reverse, thanks to SC Zinnia. SC Zinnia has X Atk All, and thus between the two of them, they cap the entire team's physical offensive needs in one turn, while also setting Rebuff. Zinnia's Buddy move hits AoE and flinches, which is fantastic for stealing an extra turn for Calem to ensure his Buddy move goes up with first sync. Pretty much any physical Dark type could fill in and the team would still work. This was a surprisingly powerful answer to NC Marnie's dominance, literally one month later. I switched to Zinnia and never looked back; this was so much more fun. And with Akari, we've now entered a situation where Dark Zone can be called at any time for this team, and Calem supplements later on. They're stronger than they've ever been, and are a huge part of what makes Dark so dominant. It's hard to beat 70% flinch rates, stealing all buffs then preventing them, perpetual Dark Zone, massive DPS on Akari, massive sync on Zinnia, and Calem throwing in Team Endure and evasion boosts. Yes, I know people will run Marnie as the third and Akari as the tank, and it works in CS. I like the bullshit of evasion. But I do see the appeal.

The point is, Calem came around to be really good, and it was kind of exciting. Which is why it's so disappointing his EX Role is Tech. This dude was perfect for either Field or Sprint, and they went with Tech. Hysterically disappointing. Guess we can't expect much good for Supports from these EX roles.

Final Thoughts Kalos NCs were huge, and remain huge. While I dunked on Calem all day on his release, he did have some good traits, and has since been elevated to a position on one of my favorite team compositions. That said, I do think that teams succeeds almost in spite of him, with SC Zinnia doing most of the heavy lifting there. I think the two are fairly lopsided in that regard. Serena's exceptional on both fronts, and has a ton of traits beyond just damage that will keep her relevant long into the figure. Calem is good but feels like he's just waiting to get outclassed. The Rain/Zone combo will keep him relevant, but that Buddy conditional really does him no favors.

[books-are-my-life-stuff]

AAAAAA AKARI ARRIVES AT FIRST MULTI FINALLY MY STREAK OF BAD LUCK HAS (TEMPORARILY) ENDED!! THANK YOU GAME I WILL SAVE GEMS NOW

[epicspheal]

Alright so that Neo Champion event was...disappointing. Infuriatingly so. So to start off Professor Oak sees that there are a bunch of new trainers who are struggling. Professor Oak feels like they are aiming too high and that could cause problems for them and wants to help them. So he calls Lance to gather Red, Blue and Leaf. The Kantrio think they are being summoned to help be judges when Lance surprises them by saying he wants them to be participants by teaming up with the beginner trainers. Lance and Professor Oak mention the parameters of the tournament which provides my first and probably most major critique. There's two parts: a knowledge part and a battle part. Now, the problem I have here is there should've been three parts. The name of the event is "Three Trainers, Three Minds" which implies that we're going to see how three trainers with different mindsets mentor others. So theoretically there should be three parts that showcase the strengths of their individual training styles Only there's two...so someone is going to get left out. Leaf suggests to Red and Blue that because this is an opportunity to grow they should try using new Pokemon. She mentions she was inspired by the Galar NC trio, so this gives the hint that the three had already caught the legendary birds (par for the course so far for the Neo champion events in that the Pokemon they're paired with are ones they already owned). Now it's time to train!

First we have Blue, who enlists the help of three previous neo champions to help train his team: Bede, Hop and Calem. Now this is cool because they all have the same thing in common with struggling to beat their rivals (the protagonists) and it seems like there might be some discussion where Blue talks about learning from past mistakes...or not they just kind of skip over any discussion. Oh and where's Zapdos? Not around apparently. Blue was really eager to take up Leaf on the idea of using his legendary bird but of the three he's the only one not shown to be practicing with it with his mentees. Leaf does actually use her Moltres to her team and her part of the story involves her instructing her team on how it's important to deepen their knowledge of Pokemon not just by looking at a Pokedex but by bonding with them. It then cuts to Blue meeting with Leaf in the town square. Both of them feel like training is going well for their teams, but then the conversation switches to Red. They're both concerned about their silent friend as they don't know about his teaching skills. So they decide to check on him They eventually find Red and his Articuno...relentlessly beating his team. The trainers look visibly panicked and even say they surrender at one point. Blue and Leaf try to caution Red about overdoing the tough love and that they're being judged on how well they mentor the others. Red assures them (silently) that he has this in mind and that's why's he going all out on them Now Red going ham on his team invokes him Gigantamaxing his Snorlax in the Rocket Hideout back in the Villain arc. He clearly isn't one to go easy. But where you can at least justify him really not liking Team Rocket and wanting to shut them down with haste...it's hard to say the same when of the Kantrio, he has the youngest mentees (a youngster and a camper). It felt like overkill. I can 100% buy Red not being the most natural mentor. He's not perfect and it's a good way to show that. I thought it was a little much to have him go that hard on newbies. If his team was slightly more experienced trainers but who were stuck in a rut it would've felt a little less heavy-handed. Then it's the day of the tournament. We see Blue and Leaf with their teams who are clearly nervous. Blue's team tell him they're scared of holding him back and despite them winning against Hop, Bede and Calem, they apparently lost more times than they won. Blue tells them to have more confidence in themselves but honestly it felt like they needed to hear different words of encouragement. Meanwhile Leaf's team is also feeling similarly, however Leaf manages to respond with telling them to relax and have fun. That they won't be able to show their best if they're too anxious. Where's Red and his team? Well thankfully he didn't scare his group off. In fact they run into Diantha, Alder and Steven and eagerly challenge the three champions to a battle. Congrats, Red you're Bootcamp was successful.

The tournament begins. First part is the knowledge assessment. Everyone does well but Leaf is the clear winner. Professor Oak compliments her and her team's deep knowledge of Pokemon and their love too.

Blue remarks "trust and love in your Pokemon"...which almost certainly reminds anyone who played RBGY/FRLG of what was told to Blue after he lost to Red. That was a key part he was missing. And years later, he missed it again.

Now to the battle portion. We already know Leaf has secured her spot as a neo champion so now we know narratively we're about to see another Red vs Blue matchup. Well with the Neo champion stadium being about growth and seeing interesting upsets (Calem finally beating Serena and Bede, Hop and Marnie finally taking down Gloria, Victor AND Leon) surely we're about to see something unprecedented right? Ha. Hahaha. Red, Blue and Leaf all make it to the semifinals, with Blue's team taking out Leaf's team. But then it's time to face Red's and it's clear he's at a disadvantage. Where Red's team takes the powerful hits in stride, Blue's team quickly becomes frazzled and his two mentees get knocked out rather quickly leaving only Blue left. A final clash happens between Zapdos and Articuno but Red's Articuno emerges victorious. So Blue focused too much on training them up quickly that he forgot to teach them to enjoy battling. Despite Red's training from hell, his team managed to at some point lose their fear of losing (as seen by them being fearless enough to challenge the likes of Diantha, Alder and Steven to a battle). Once again we see Blue repeat a mistake that cost him the championship title years ago: being so afraid of losing he forgot to just enjoy the battle. This leads me to my second major problem with the arc. Blue has been hinted throughout Pokemas to not only enjoy mentoring others, but to be good at it. Yet if I'm being honest, he did poorly in this story. He failed to realize his team needed better words of encouragement, he was the only one of the Kantrio to not use his legendary in training, and he failed to teach his trainees how to better bond with their Pokemon and how to enjoy battling. The only saving grace in this is that he at least in both instances of failure against Leaf and Red recognizes where he messed up and apologizes... Which would've been a great jumping off point for a third arc where he can correct those mistakes and give his team a chance at victory...oh wait...it's only two parts to this tournament. Welp With the trend of Neo Champion events being a chance for the rivals to triumph over the protagonist friends, it was really jarring and disheartening to see Blue not get a clear distinct moment to shine against both Red and Leaf (yeah he wins against Leaf in the battle portion, but it's never stated he came in second place to her for the knowledge portion which would've implied that he at least beat Red at something). We come to the end where they announce the Neo champions. Leaf is first and she's praised for having a deep knowledge of Pokemon and true love for them as well. Red is last and he was praised for being able to conquer his team's fears of losing and how sharp they looked, reminding Lance of when Red challenged him. Oak does mildly chide Red for his methods being harsh but it was kind of downplayed.

But Blue gets told his team was solid in both performances so the judges thought he should get the title too. Honestly didn't feel like he was really solid because he made two critical mistakes (that again were supposed to have been ingrained in him after his loss at the Indigo Plateau). Also the praise was more directed at his team having a solid showing but not the one thing I felt like he did really well which was own up to his faults and saw room for improvement. It's an important part of leadership and the fact that was dismissed too was annoying. Again, a third leg of the tournament the writers could've used that strength of his to give him a chance to unequivocally defeat Leaf and Red instead of just being the solid number 2. Yeah it was nice to (finally) see Professor Oak praise Blue to his face, but it honestly felt a little unearned in the sense he didn't feel amazing the way Leaf and Red got to be. It felt more like a participation trophy than him getting to back the claims up that he's made over the story of Pokemas of being a good mentor (and as he said in his sygna suit sync pair story he's supposed to be better at it than Red). So yes, the Kantrio get to all be Neo Champions but it felt like this story didn't capture the same level of growth and resolving loose ends the previous two did. Blue failed to triumph, Red kind of got away with harsh training that would've been scolded a bit more harshly otherwise, and Leaf kind of shines in a safe way but not really challenging her skills.

[jacandra-cerise]

NC!Calem

[p-chux]

NC CALEM + BP VALERIE 🔛🔝

[prismportrait]

Water-Type Masters High Score Event Challenge in Pokemas

Yeah the r/pokemonmasters subreddit might provide way better resources but I’m still boycotting reddit and I feel like sharing these details to those it may help.

Quick Notes:

You will not get every parameter. Much like Champion Stadium, it’s impossible to clear with everything.

You must have 1 water type on all 5 teams. Bonus if it’s a Main Character, which is pretty common between Spotlight general pool and Trainers Lodge free units.

Rewards max at 180,000 so don’t worry if your last fight is tough if you’ve already cleared. I’m only doing this cause I’m an idiot.

You do get gems for clearing the fights so if this module is not your interest, just clear it with the bare minimum and get those gems at least.

You can take the fights in any order, I will be talking about them in order, left to right.

I find the ‘right’ level of Strength Increase difficulty for me is 250 with full Water teams. Anything above makes the fights significantly harder.

If you don’t have full Water teams, you may need to increase Strength difficulty to earn points. I think the Strength difficulty is to provide a resource for those with few Water units/people who only ever pulled Anni Red/Ash and thought they could clear everything for the rest of their lives lol. You basically need to clear with immediate sync nuking at expert level and above, so good luck.

You need to pay attention to parameters when setting up your teams.

More details below cut. I will not be going over much for f2p but the notes I do have on f2p units you can take and apply as needed. I can post sync grids as requested.

VS Misty

Lodge Silver, Eusine, SS Kris

The hardest fight before Archie is the first. You cannot use SS Lysandre here. You NEED a rain or sun setter.

I used SS Kris for my rain but technically May could work here too, or use Winona. I have no idea if NC Calem counts, typically type-changers do not count as a Water Type but it would count towards your Main Character at least.

Getting frozen is pretty unlucky, you’ll want to reset.

The new Eusine unit is pretty great here, the only downside is he can’t trap with Whirlpool so he misses that extra passive buff a little. Lodge Silver Was just a water unit I could throw in but I gave him Stoic 2 lucky skill from the silver-level pink cookies so he can keep buffing. More stats= more points.

VS Marlon

Lana, NC Serena, Swimsuit Misty

RIP anyone who didn’t get the free Swimsuit Misty tbh. This parameter requires NO strike sync pairs, so you need to optimize a good tech unit but possibly save those like Nessa for the monster that is Archie.

The reason for this parameter is simple: the sides are brutal. Marlon’s teammates hit so hard, they’ll easily OHKO your main attacker. This is why you need a good free Lana here with Wide Guard to shield from Rock Slide. You won’t even need to shield Surf because of her passive Team Water Guard.

Swimsuit Misty has a lot of bulk, healing, and provides stat increases. NC Serena is good even at 1/5 to handle the rest. Alternatives... any good tech. Probably Dojo Gloria? Idk.

VS Lana

SS Misty, May, SS Blue

This is the first time I really used SS Misty and it worked pretty well. She’s extremely good for Haze, removing their buffs, and Mist for preventing more stat decreases. Even more importantly, her sync grid allows for the chance of sync propulsion with the use of Mist and Haze. It only worked once, but it works when I most needed it to pop May’s sync before Lana could sync.

SS Blue is one of the best tanks in the game but even he will struggle if you don’t remove their stats. He was dying in 2-3 hits, the game here is to kill quickly and get a little lucky with accuracy drops on May.

Probably my most f2p friendly team here. May is always a queen.

VS Nessa

SS Lysandre, Archie, Elio

My easiest fight hands down but look at this ridiculous team, of course it was. This fight requires burn, so good luck to anyone without SS Lysandre, I guess.

This was super simple, burn, then kill.

VS Archie

Marlon, Nessa, Hilbert

I technically haven’t won yet but I’ve gotten so so so close on this team or with SS Grimsley it’s painful I can’t clear yet. The good news is I’ve already cleared 250 on the previous 4 fights so it doesn’t matter, but I wanna clear similarly for principle now.

Hilbert has X Speed evasion option in his grid which is surprisingly helpful. Waterfall only works so many times to flinch. Marlon raises defenses and can take some of the aggro, if you get very very lucky in his grid, you can even get Unyielding 2 immortality. Most importantly, Marlon decreases speed.

Nessa or SS Grimsley both hit very hard and physically, which is the parameter of this fight. There’s no special options. So uh, lol. I’m having slightly better luck with Nessa since she can raise her own crit rate without taking 90% HP loss, and her Ripple Effect does help with Carvanha.

Truly, the Carvanha are the menace here. Rip me.

[punjab-official]

OK I actually am really glad that Geeta’s one of the half-anniversary sync pairs for 2 reasons:

Finally we get an anniversary sync pair that isn’t a Neo Champion! With the exceptions of Adaman and Irida and SS Gladion, IIRC all new Master Fairs have been Neo Champions since the concept debuted with NCs Serena and Calem. I do love NC Calem but frankly the entire concept has grown a bit stale, especially around anniversaries.

She is Desi and you cannot change my mind about it

Will still probably skip since I haven’t played SV and two other wanted pairs are rerunning (Anni May and SC Steven) but she’s probably number 3 on banners I’m hyped for this month.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Grusha

This one's weird. Iono has a lot of popularity and is a Pokemon Company favorite, so it makes sense she gets in as a PokeFair. But Grusha? I didn't think Grusha pulled that much popularity. Then again, I guess he's just "Volkner but a good character," so he's pulling in all the sad boi fanatics. I can't judge. We all know I have my types that get me, too.

General Overview Grusha comes in as an Ice support.  Not just any Ice support though.  This is a man with Ice Zone.  That's right, for the first time in a long while, we have Role Compression Support.  For the unfamiliar, my stance on these kinds of supports is "Automatically excellent."  Being able to remove the need for a Tech pair that supplies the field effect opens up options for debuffers or secondary DPS pairs that really expands your range of effects.  SS Kris, SS Morty, and Ingo were pioneers of this approach, and all three were, and still are, excellent.  Even NC Calem, who I am often shitting on for his buddy move conditional, is fantastic because of this compression.  Grusha doesn't even have the Buddy move hangup, so he's got that going for him.  In addition, he offers some fairly nice tools, including Team Fierce Entry 2 for a pop injection of Atk, team recovery per action under Zone, accelerated gauge under Zone and Revenge Boost 9, Impervious and access to Vigilance on grid, and disruptive effects in Flinch and Freeze from Ice Fang.  His Buddy move, despite its two-turn nature, negates an attack thrown at him before counterattacking, including voiding an entire AoE move against the team, and inflicts a -3 Atk/Sp Atk debuff on the target, which is all great for survival.  So hey, Grusha's set to be top tier.

Except no, he isn't.  While I am a huge advocate for these kinds of compressed roles, Grusha encounters a serious problem on closer inspection.  Consider this: what made SS Kris, SS Morty, and Ingo so effective?  What makes NC Calem so good that the Gamepress tier list ranks him as the third best support in the game despite his many failures?  In all of these situations, they are good on offense.  Kris boosts Sp Atk, Ingo boosts physical attack, and Calem hits both.  Kris is well aligned to her type as many Water types emphasize special, while Ingo is good for Sandstorm as almost everyone who cares about it is physical.  Calem's decisions have some questionable elements, but he better supports physical Water than Kris, while emphasizing the common physical Dark types.  Even Morty, who doesn't do much for offense, is well aligned, as most Fire types have been in a three-year arms race with SS Red for better and better self-sufficiency, and rarely if ever need more than what Morty offers, instead just appreciating that he covers speed.

Now look at Grusha.  +2 Atk on entry if desired.  Dire Hit All+.  Maybe Pep Rally on his TM.  Atk/Sp Atk debuffs. He does nothing for special Ice types, which is for the best as Irida covers that far too well, but it would've been nice to have the option since special ice setup is a nightmare.  But for physical, he's...nothing novel.  Candice's setup isn't entirely solved through him, and he's not a support for Hail, just Ice, so her weather creates the need for Snow Shelter on grid.  Hala's setup is fine, just add Zone, which can be done cheaper with Glaceon eggmon.  Summer Steven honestly wants more help with Atk than Grusha provides.  Silver desperately wishes Grusha would debuff speed with that Buddy move so he contributed something to his nuke.  SS N is the obvious beneficiary, having his sync very well accounted for, but frankly SS N is a better DPS pair and prefers PMUN stackers to blast things apart.  Grusha is maladapted to his type.  You can't even argue the merits of just having Ice Zone broadly, because any specially offensive Ice type is better served by Irida's compression of high DPS, Sp Def debuffs, inclusion of Hail to solve Blizzard accuracy and apply grid multipliers, and freeing up better supports that do more for Ice types' notorious poor setup.

This leaves Grusha to the role of generalist, where he under-performs compared to Winter Sycamore who just left. Sycamore does exactly what Grusha does, but with better gauge, and with Rebuff to negate the common Extreme Battle condition of Acute Senses, and allows you to take "No Field Effect Change" in CS for a nice chunk of free points. Honestly, without any substantial healing under his belt and a two-turn move, he's arguably worse off than Halloween Phoebe, who I absolutely did not respect. So if he's not useful to his type, and he's not a great generalist, what is he? The fourth Ice Support for a hypothetical Ice High Score. You're getting him in case they only make five supports by the time that type drops. Is this a worthwhile concern? Not to me. But then I don't invest in the good Ice types, only the bad ones because it's funny how hard Irida carries.

EX, Role, and Move Level? Support, so 3/5 recommended. Especially with his base kit being so generally poor, give him the help he needs. 5/5 gets nice traits, but oddly no Zone extension. Role is Tech, just for stats, don't think it's worth it.

Team 1: Grusha, SS N, Colress Realistically, this is what Grusha is built for. SS N wants every aspect of what Grusha puts down, particularly for his sync nuke. I personally think this is less advantageous to N compared to PMUN stacking via NC Rosa, but to each their own. Colress should bottom out defense so N can contribute the most.

Team 2: Grusha, SS Silver, Masked Royal Grusha can attempt to salvage Silver, who can grid Pinpoint Entry for the sure hits. Grusha gives crits, and Masked Royal gives team speed, which can conserve Silver's Buddy move nuke for when it's ready. Problem: the condition is max HP. Grusha cannot heal him. I think this is honestly the worst drawback because it renders Silver a relatively poor choice overall.

Team 3: Grusha, Candice, Summer Steven It's really hard to get a good F2P team going. Candice is the obvious nuke, appreciating the Zone boost tremendously, as well as the +2 Atk that removes a turn of her buffing. Summer Steven has the DPS inclusion for if you want to let Grusha sync first, though you are then reliant on a quad queue or a denial/flinch. Best of luck.

Team 4: Grusha, Irida, BP Candice If you really want to pair Grusha with Irida, for whatever possible reason, it's best to run another Hail setter like BP Candice. Alignment with Sinnoh and all. The thing is, I don't think this is optimal. I'm just saying you can use the other two to alleviate Irida's setup. If you want.

Team 5: Grusha, NC Red, SS Hilbert This is what I think is better. Irida and NC Blue can operate independently, and I think that's legitimately for the best. They're strong enough to clear on their own. In this case, Grusha is sensible as a partner with Red on his own, thanks to application of the Zone for him. Admittedly I struggle to think of a sane third, but SS Hilbert converts to Ice, and has Sp Def debuffs and the third rebuff, so like...sure?

Final Thoughts Grusha can participate, and a multiplicative field effect is never strictly bad. But this feels like an ongoing bit where DeNA keeps making Ice types kinda bad for no real reason. Maybe they just don't like Ice. It's winter, so I'm inclined to agree with them for the next three months.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Viability Speculation - October 2023

Is it Caitlin? No.

Is it Lusamine/Nihilego?  No.

Is it Roxanne?  YES, APPARENTLY, WHAT?

Akari Fuck yeah, Hisui!  Love this region.  A bit peeved that Akari got Samurott but I can flex with it.  Akari is very, very good.  Dark Damage Field is set on Ceaseless Edge, and her Buddy move is equivalent to a Tech Nuke, spammable, gains 20% more damage each use up to 60% but resets if any other action is taken, and is a Field pair with the coveted Strike role.  If anything holds her back, it's 376 attack.  Which I don't think is bad enough to really stop her.

Akari effectively has +90% move damage for free, extension on her damage field which already lasts halfway through forever, and 150% sync damage, on top of summoning Field.  Akari is, in my personal opinion, the first true test of a Field pair.  Variety Giovanni is there, but most skipped him with good reason.  Akari is a lot more relevant to people, and we're going to actually finalize perspectives on this move type with her.  I am anticipating positive response.  As I had predicted, the measure of a good Field is going to be good DPS, and Akari actually lives up to this spectacularly.  I would say her DPS is more significant than her sync, though sync is obviously fantastic as well.  Her main issue is going to be competition.  Dark is absolutely stacked.  NC Marnie dominates, SC Zinnia dominates, Akari won't really upstage them.  Both have comparable damage and high flinch rates.  Akari is meant as supplement to, providing the Zone, but in exchange takes first sync.  I think she'll work beautifully in the NC Calem/SC Zinnia comp, but Marnie may have less use for her.  Personally, I'm well satisfied.

Rei Rei is bullshit.  I'm sorry, this is nutty.  478 base attack, almost a full 100 over Akari.  And you get a once-per-sync buddy move...that is as strong as a Strike sync...and has sure flinch AoE with no penalty.  That also always crits and hits -2 defense.  Am I reading that right?  His trainer move even gives him +6 speed, there is no flaw here.  As a Sprint pair, he's even got a pretty natural -2 sync cooldown on his base kit, any Head Start 1 from, say, Aura Cynthia's grid, is a fast-ramp to first sync, which he then gets a -3 off of the next, and an AoE sure flinch, while dishing out obscene damage.  Do I have all that right?  And there are four sync damage nodes.  Only 50% sync multipliers, but like...god, does he need it?  This is the first time I've seen an aggravation tile and thought it was unnecessary.  But even without Buddy move, he can still have 60% flinch and a guaranteed -1 defense per hit.  All of this, on a rare Fighting typing, with a Strike role.  EX and Role'd, his attack stat is on par with SS Hilda.

I mean...I'll say it, I think if it weren't for Zone, he'd be better than NC Hop.  I say this with absolute confidence.  I know, his damage won't measure up to Hop's.  But I greatly value the bullshit he provides.  Two fast-ramps with sure flinch AoE is just magnificent.  I will say his limitation is specializing a bit too much into sync.  His damage output relies on defense drops, which are easy enough to supply, but he personally does not facilitate well.  I'm personally on the fence with him.  Mostly because I'm trying to be more judicious about my gems.  I really like this kit, but I struggle to say SC Diantha wasn't getting a job done, and he's not exactly the ideal partner she's been waiting for.  He does well with the Master Fairs, and his speed facilitates dual strike more reliably for a type that plays well to that approach.  I actually couldn't articulate why I'm not more hyped by him.  Is it just the male protagonist thing?  It might just be the male protagonist thing.

Variety Noland I...I'm sorry, Noland and Ninjask?  Is Noland a Bug guy?  I thought he was a Frontier Brain with a more varied team?  Anyway, Bug damage.  The upside of Noland is that he's a -3 sync cooldown instantly on trainer move, and his buddy move is a 4-bar move's damage in a 1-bar move, that confuses, never misses, and debuffs accuracy.  The bad news of Noland is that he feels like someone without a cause.

Usually, these Variety scouts are really good at Gauntlet, at the expense of 3v3 fights.  He gives hints of that with the Overwhelm focus, the boosting of evasion, debuffing of accuracy, and slow pace to set up max speed for his buddy move.  But, his buddy move also cuts his defenses by 3.  Which is sure death when things connect.  And Gauntlet has Sure Hit.  Like, routinely.  He has no means of fixing the debuffs, no Endurance effect, and his only means of healing is Sync Regen.  Personally?  I think he's damned.  I think this is a bad set for Gauntlet with too little to excel like many others in the Variety pool, and with way too slow and awkward a kit for CS.  Easy skip, get fucked Bug types.

Variety Thorton Finally, someone to challenge Marnie's Steel Zone monopoly.  Thorton...is interesting.  He functions by applying Restrain on a target, which is a damned nice effect, and then powering up the attacks of all allies when foe is restrained.  He gets 100% guaranteed free moves next and SEUN whenever he attacks a restrained opponent, and has both Steel and Electric type moves, making him fairly useful across two kinds of stages as an easy slot-in third. Or, if you Support role him, as the tank.  His Trainer move does provide +2 Atk/Sp Atk, +3 crit, and Endure to a target ally, so he can offload that to someone else if needed.  And with Metal Sound, he's got a nice debuff as well.  Add in 100% sync multipliers, Staggering 4 broadly (which means Discharge hits all foes for flinch at a set 50% rate), and Satisfied Snarl for potential survival, Thorton...actually looks competent.

I think what slightly bothers me about Thorton, stupid as it is, is his demands.  Sync is Power Hold 5, which is easily set up, but Static Shock 5 is...rough.  Even with HE2 on grid, which is hard to pick up, Thorton can't ensure paralysis on a target.  He needs support.  And his self-buffing of offsenses is similarly impacted, requiring at least special attack, and likely speed given his stats and propensity for dual strike.  I think Thorton is competent.  I actually like this kit more than I expected.  I think he'll do well.  I just also...don't entirely care?  As a replacement to P!Marnie, he's okay, but not exactly doing as much, given he has to take sync and is special, which conflicts with the mostly physical type.  He'll do well with Raihan and S!Tate, but Tate really didn't need the help, so it's kinda just Raihan.  It's hard to justify a pull for a single sync pair.

Halloween Phoebe There's the required Ghost trainer.  I'm kinda stunned it's all Hoenn again?  Anyway, Phoebe comes in with Cofagrigus, which feels like it belongs to Shauntal so I'm at least a bit salty about this.  More critically...she's kinda bad.

Vigilance is nice, Potion with double MPR is nice, and her base defenses work well.  But every other aspect hurts her.  Ignoring the opponent's boosts to offenses is nowhere near as valuable as debuffing them, because those boosted offenses are going to obliterate you and your friends on sync.  Her trainer move may give +4 to both defenses, but that's just Evelyn, who is known to be underwhelming and is largely considered worse than BP Morty because it's 1MP.  Phantom Force into evasion boosting and Group Gloat is cute, but impractical outside of Gauntlet.  Boosting both offenses of the team by 1 each time she attacks is incredibly slow acting, especially since it denies any progress when she has to heal or use her trainer move, or on the first turn of Phantom Force.  Tech is a bad role for someone who can't buff their own crit rate.  She's slow as shit, so this does nothing for her own type, thus doing nothing for High Score.  And her grid.  Despite built-in Vigilance and Status Immunity and Endurance, her grid is spread in such a way that getting all three effects restricts what else she's able to pick up, with Potion being a major casualty.  I...don't really love this one.  I kinda don't respect it at all actually.

Halloween Roxanne This is the greatest sync pair all year.  For me.

Ground Tech, who got the coveted Strike role.  Roxanne is coming in swinging.  And swing she did, for this is...actually pretty good.  Sand Tomb applies immediate Trap on all foes when she hits once.  She powers up team moves against trapped opponents by 20%, which is a universal benefit.  She removes all stat bonuses, and turns them into debuffs, on sync.  Every sync.  And even has a grid node for No Stat Increases effect on foe.  With 150% sync damage, 50% move damage, and a Buddy move that debuffs Def/Spd of foes by 1 each hit then boosts her team's Def/Spd the same amount?  Roxanne is excellent.

But with problems.  Buddy move is fairly weak, and suffers AoE penalty.  Her buddy move is a nice +3 self crit and +2 team accuracy, but her ability to boost attack needs supplemented (you know what's coming).  Her debuffing is very slow acting.  Fortunately, Roxanne is competent.  Slo-pponent Sync 5 and Sync Power Flux are godsends on a pair that could easily have been slapped with Cakewalk, allowing her to easily set it up in one rotation.  Lack of any gauge on her Buddy move more than offsets the lower BP.  And Halloween Caitlin exists, providing Roxanne with, quite literally, everything she needs.  And given the atrociously slow type she's in, being able to actually boost team speed?  This is a godsend for High Score.  Roxanne is incredibly well poised across game modes.  Her Tech nuke does what she needs, and Strike role obliterates 3v3.  Her inversion of buffs and persistent debuffing makes her excellent in Gauntlet.  She is, to be perfectly frank, my favorite of the month.  I recognize the Hisui duo are better overall.  But this is my girl.

Lenora Okay guys, hear me out.  What if Cheren...but good? But also! What if Lucian...but terrible?

Lenora's trainer move is incredibly reminiscent of Cheren, trading gradual healing for a 20% HP recovery on all pairs, and otherwise charging gauge.  With Special Damage Reduction on entry and X Sp Def All, she skews specially defensive.  This is all she buffs.  As a support.  Not so good, girl.  She does get +1 Atk or Sp Atk depending on grid, and has Team Sharp Entry, but...it's slow and generally insufficient, and notably does not work with Leer which is a major conflict of interest.  Leer is her bigger draw, debuffing both defense and special defense thanks to her passive. This is incredibly useful, but would align better with a Tech than a Support, who otherwise wants to be doing like a million things at once.

Lenora feels like a response to Lucian, who was so well optimized he remains the greatest general pool pair by a mile.  I think Lenora is the power scale they want to push Lucian back to.  It's the only way to make sense of the difference between them.  To be honest, lack of First Aid 4 and only having Safety Tether implies she's not doing well with staying power, given the low self-healing of her trainer move.  She's just...not optimized for much success in the meta.

Lodge Giovanni This is the only thing I'm legitimately pissed about.  Did you know Giovanni has 5 alts?  Yeah.  This fuck clown has more alts than Leaf now.  You couldn't even give her a month to be a protagonist considered as popular as the antagonist?  Just jumped straight to the Kanto men, huh?  No, I get it, it's fine.

Poison Support with Nidorino.  Should've been Nidorina, but Kanto (the Pokemon region) is sexist, so can't have him with a girl Pokemon.  His trainer move boosts Defense +2 and crit +1.  So shades of Lodge Blue.  Unlike Blue, Giovanni does nothing of value.  Potion is cute, but no Endurance on a Lodge unit that has heavily lopsided defenses never goes so well.  Hostile Environment 4 does not make him a reliable Poison user; that's the same rate as Janine with the weaker Poison.  Team Sharp Entry is cute, but unlike Janine, he's not getting anything from it since his TM already buffs crit.

This is a pretty bad support.  I struggle to find any reason to use him, at all, over Lodge Blue.  Even in situations where you need Poison, you have Lodge Janine, who, by all accounts, has comparable defensive merit with the evasion, but way more relevant buffing kit.  I do not respect Giovanni, now more than ever.  I feel like every time he shows up it's to demonstrate the depth of his failure, yet somehow people still think he's cool.

Clemont Grid expansion.  It's uh...hmm.  Grand Entry 2 is so not enough.  Obscuring Power 3 is hilarious, his move damage is irrelevant.  Speedster Sync 5 is cute, I guess, but does nothing to help with his bigger Cakewalk multiplier.  Critical Eye would be amazing if it weren't 1 and only on trainer move.  I can't complain about Caitlin getting Crit Eye 2 when no one else does, but I can say it's strange.  I feel like Clemont isn't going very far.  This does very, very little to help him.  I guess the intent was slightly stronger sync, but adding more multipliers to move damage in hopes it matters this time?  I don't think it does.

Steven Allegedly, he got another grid expansion.  It's not up.  I feel like a mistake has been made somewhere.

Shauntal I can't believe they gave Shauntal the EX, but in hindsight, this tracks with recent decisions.  At the risk of making Aera depressed, Shauntal's EX is completely and totally irrelevant.  Oh, I know, four sync nodes and a 50% multiplier, surely this is something.  It's not.  Her sync damage calculation is still bottom of the Ghost type, and unimpressive in general.  Shauntal is a common that thrives off of frankly spectacular DPS.  The sync was not her approach, so this feels...extraneous?  Nice to have, but there were options that I think much more desperately needed it.

[crystalelemental]

It's that time once again, lads.

EX & 20/20 Current 5* powerups: 255 Current spirits: 890 5* powerups available: 49 (20 lodge, 5 event, 4 CS, 20 exchange) Spirits available: 340 (85x4 CS) Total powerups: 304 Total spirits: 1230

We can afford a decent amount at this point.  I've realized I can spend powerups down to 150, to match the 500 spirits for 10 EX in a pinch.  So let's call it 9 available.

This month's acquisitions will include...Penny and Valerie. Sylveon Supremacy.  I am not sold on anyone else.  I've talked myself out of Roxie and Ryuki, I don't care about Piers or Elaine at present.  I may go for the Eevee tier scout.  Two guaranteed Eevesi along the way is nice, and if I roll one of Selene or Elio, I'll get the other at pity.  I don't know if I'll EX them, it really depends on how I'm feeling about it.  Since Valerie is already 20/20, we can get up to 8 others.

Rei - Really strong Fighting damage, Hisui bias, etc.

SS Silver - My Ice roster is basically "Irida."  I should aim to boost that, and I like Silver and Sneasel well enough.

SS N - Frankly a terrible idea, I don't really respect him, but he is fun when I break him out. That said, meta shift, 15k Master Mode may not play so nice with him.

Ethan - If I decide to go hard on the Fire High Score event. Which I'm already backing out of.

Eevee Lucas - Same as Ethan, but also, Eevesi. He is the Only Good Flareon, so tempted.

Lodge Calem - Fennekin is baby. Also Fire High Score I guess, but mostly the baby thing.

Classic Blue - I use him semi-regularly thanks to the Roxanne/Lodge Steven comp. But as an off-type, that one is in Major Danger with the meta shift, so I'm not exactly sold on it.

Alder - Bug game is weak, I think it'd be nice to have a stronger Bug Man around, and I like Volcarona well enough.

Anni Steven - Maybe one day.  I legitimately do want to do this one day.

Relevant Support Roundup:

Lana - Still not really feeling it.

BP Morty - Kinda unnecessary.

BP Surge - Helps his Gauntlet survival but I hate using him.

Lodge Blue - Don't really use him outside of Gauntlet.

Lodge Elesa - Don't really use her outside of Gauntlet

Lodge Raihan - Really don't respect it.

Nita (20/20) - I'm considering just because I've been F2P focused, but I don't like Nita or Lando, so...

Lodge Morty - Actually does see use, there's an argument to be made here.

Lodge Acerola - Less frequently used than Morty, but still sees play.

Lodge Adaman - Not actually good, but Eeveelution and Hisui.

Lodge Leaf - I've found more opportunities to try with her, but also I feel like Penny just walked in and knocked her teeth out.

The 20/20 I have a few pairs that are sitting at 20/20, and would just cost spirits.  Given that I have enough powerups for 9 EX but enough spirits for 14, this may be worth looking at.

NC Marnie - Intensely unnecessary but kinda funny. Compresses Fiery Wrath.

SS Ethan - Also super unnecessary given he's 1/5, and Aeroblast doesn't even compress.

Victrier - I don't like Victor, but he's a free Field pair for Ghost, and I do like Spectrier. The recent Galar battle got me thinking about investing after all.

CANDY SITUATION Strike (4)

Petrel - 2.  I mean.  It's worth considering?

Rose - 2.  He gets a lot stronger with it.

SS Ethan - 2.  Full sync privileges, if that's a thing we care about now.

Honestly, just hold.

Tech (2)

SC Ingo - 2.  Bug nuke man with MPR.

BT Leon - 2.  I did EX him, and Dragapult has grown on me tremendously.

I'll likely do BT Leon, but at next datamine when I'm certain it's safe.

Support (2) None!  Amazing.  If I lucky pull H!Phoebe I'll consider it.  "What about Pen-" Penny will cooperate or so help me god.  I am done with it always being the support that goes bad.  Just one month without needing Support candy, Penny!  JUST ONE!

General (19)

Rei - 2.  He's really strong, so this is a fairly sane investment overall. And Hisui, so you know, regional bias.

The Eevi - Okay, this is a big one.  I hoard.  I hoard so bad I have 19 of these general candy sitting in my lap right now.  I have not used one...almost ever.  That's a problem.  I stockpile so I can avoid disaster, but at the point I can also just hand all five of them candy and probably still be over 10, we've reached the point I'm being ridiculous.  I am willing to candy them.  If I crack for Elio and Selene, I'm not going for the other Eevee scout and risking another disaster, I'm just using general candy.  This shit ends now.

Cake Situation I have a Tech and a Support. Exactly nothing with these effects interests me right now. Holding. As for the potential for another Strike cake from Penny, I don't feel like anyone needs it. Akari's sync isn't that great, she's had no problem with DPS, and I sure as hell am not giving it to Penny. Hold all cakes.

LEVEL 150

Nemona - I don't use Nemona all that often, but that's a failure on my part, not hers.

Drasna - I love Drasna, I feel like I need to. Maybe if I shower her with affection, she'll show up off-focus.

BT Leon - My recent ScarVi competitive streak got me really hooked on Dragapult. I love that funky Ghostie Dragon.

SS Diantha - A little hesitant, but it is Diancie.

NC Serena - Considering because Serena and this is her best outfit. Hesitating because Greninja.

Bede - Look. We all need to accept that I like Bede.

Anni Skyla - Tornadus Therian is one of the only good djinn forms, and I really like her 3/5 kit.

SS Serena - I feel like it just makes sense but it's hard to justify.

Kahili - I like never use Kahili anymore but she was a big focus for a while there. Maybe when she gets EX.

Shauntal - Shauntal did get EX and I really like her DPS sets so I'm kinda tempted here.

Kris - Kick you apart, now even harder.

Clair - Favoritism.

Iris - I like running things that are bad.

Penny - Sylveon is good, and I like it.

[crystalelemental]

How did you organize your move queue order when using NC Calem, SC Zinnia, and Akari? I was surprised you said you couldn't queue Ceaseless Edge first turn.

Usually NC Calem and Akari's entry passives (Team Safe Start, Quick Tempo, Survey Corps Teaching, Kalos Pride), along with enemies' entry passives and buffs (especially when choosing Five Stats Up parameter), give some time to queue NC Calem's trainer move, SC Zinnia, X Attack, and then Ceaseless Edge.

Here's my attempt. I often do X Attack All > NC Calem's trainer move > Ceaseless Edge but you also can make NC Calem's trainer move go first then X Attack All. Ceaseless Edge needs to be the last to be queued.

Calem's TM, Zinnia's X Atk All, then waiting for gauge for Akari's Ceaseless Edge was my play too. Maybe I'm just not doing Calem's action fast enough, but they were just barely too slow to make it. So either it's that, or if you have all three of them at level 150 maybe that makes a slight difference? I dunno. I just didn't get it to work at all, so instead I just had Akari set up Dark Zone for Zinnia's B move turn 2. Which slows Akari's DPS slightly, but isn't the worst trade.

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Akari

Hisui time once again, and we're kicking things off with Rei and Akari.  I'll be honest, not my first picks for Hisui additions, really hoped for Cyllene and Laventon with these two once the starters were hinted, and had fully expected post-anniversary Volo as bait.  But it's fine.  At least Akari got Decidueye so I have another girl on Fighti-what?  Oh.  Oh...

General Overview Grousing aside, Hisuian Samurott is set to be really good.  Its focus is on setting Dark Damage Field with its main attack, Ceaseless Edge.  This opens up its Buddy move, which is a different Ceaseless Edge, that has power equivalent to a Tech sync nuke, is spammable, and gains 20% more damage each use up to 60%.  The catch is that if "the user's Pokemon uses another move," it will reset to baseline.  Note that this is specific, and means using her trainer move or Potion counts as a free action, and sync is not included among its moves.  So it's literally only reset when you have to re-apply the damage field.  With natural access to Crit Strike 2, lucky skill of Crit Strike 2, and the free 30% multiplier for moves on her grid, this attack has 200-240BP, with 130% multipliers on it.  Oh, and she's a Field pair who can also set Dark Zone by using her trainer move.  Said Trainer move also applies, to any ally, +4 speed, and +2 PMUN/SMUN.  And if you do drop sync for another Zone, she has up to 150% sync multipliers as well, and a Strike role.  For comparison, her DPS and sync are both on equal terms with NC Marnie, with her spammable buddy move technically putting her in a stronger spot. She is that strong.

Her main issue is one of competition.  "On par with NC Marnie" is not replacing her, and SC Zinnia isn't too worried either, given that both have tremendous flinch potential in addition to damage that Akari can't recplicate.  Among the three, Akari is safe to call worse as a damage dealer.  Thankfully, Akari has played her hand well, and rather than competing, aims to complement.  Her ability to call Zone at any time complements NC Calem's horrendous Buddy move condition.  Her extreme single-target DPS complements NC Marnie's spread damage.  Her 5/5 skill to debuff both defenses complements any damage dealer at all.  Potion facilitates supports that can't otherwise reasonably heal themselves.  Akari doesn't aim to usurp top Dark meta, but rather situated herself as an excellent third in already strong compositions.  As a result, the main reason to not pull Akari is those comps were doing alright before.  It's not like Marnie or Zinnia needed the help.

The bigger question that exists is her complementary nature to the worst among the type.  And she's...fine?  Dark Zone is always going to be at least useful, but her supportive effects are minimal beyond that.  She exists to deal damage, and DPS is likely sufficient to clear the stage independently of others.  She is, as a result, like many other Zone setters: really good on her own merits, kinda whatever at facilitating her type.  SS Cyrus still has better claim to that role.

EX, Role, and Move Level? Akari is interesting because she kinda does her job at any level.  Zone is Zone, you know?  And having a free call means, if paired with NC Calem, the EX isn't necessary at all.  The Striker role can be incredibly valuable for 3v3, notably the High Score event where DPS denials aren't happening, but it's again not strictly necessary.  Move Level, then, can be 1/5 for her Zone and DPS support, 3/5 for heavy DPS or sync investment (I recommend aiming for the role if you go sync), or 5/5 for the defensive debuffing that I think is mostly good for Gauntlet and High Score leaderboards.

Team 1: Akari, NC Calem, SC Zinnia Okay I talked about this one in the general discussion so let's get that over with.  Akari blends beautifully with NC Calem and SC Zinnia.  Zinnia has tremendous lockdown, Akari provides Zone while Calem can't, Calem supplies surprise PMUN when it's his turn for Zone, etc etc etc.  NC Calem/SC Zinnia is the kind of core that pulls BP Karen into off-type clear relevance, so Akari will have zero trouble with them at her side.  It's high investment, though, so...you know.

Team 2: Akari, H!Caitlin, Colress Don't you look at me like that, you knew this would happen.  Akari caps her own crit, it's Caitlin time.  Anyone with +2 attack works, but Caitlin uniquely gives the +1 accuracy she needs to not pick up Accuracy +10 node on grid.  Colress debuffs like crazy, and Akari's Potion can notably keep Caitlin alive as needed.

Team 3: Akari, BP Clemont, Nemona This one might seem odd, but hear me out.  Nemona provides a fast-ramp with Akari, while also supplying +2 attack to top off Akari's needs with trainer move.  Beyond that, all that's needed is a defensive pair, and BP Clemont offers both defense and debuffing.  While he's slow, Akari and Nemona both have speed boosting down pat, so gauge shouldn't be any issue either.

Team 4: Akari, Tina, Nanu/Tech Kangaskhan Maybe I just feel bad writing off Tina so easily.  And by Tina I mean Flareon.  This is an approximate budget thing, though Tina can be swapped for anything with +2 attack.  The focus Tina has is Dire Hit All+ for Nanu.  Nanu has debuffing and Bite for flinch, which is nice for keeping Tina alive.  Otherwise, Tech Kangaskhan has Leer and a good flinch rate in Stomp, so that'll do.

Final Thoughts Akari feels like another entry to the "Dark is the current best type" pile.  Dark is stacked, and Akari's keeping up with the best of them.  Her damage calculations suggest she'll be doing just fine, and is a great complement to top performing teams.

[crystalelemental]

New Variety Pairs are Thorton and Noland, and I dunno what Extreme Battle Event it is.

Next Trainer Lodge is Giovanni, dunno who his partner is.

The upcoming Master Fair rerun is NC Calem. Unova VA is getting a rerun and their banner got a rerun too I think.

Along with them, Lenora is finally here!

Oh shit no foolin? Rerun of SS Hilbert would be nice. And yeah I can’t tell what type that is either. I wanted to guess Dark but that can’t be right. Huh.

Thorton getting Magnezone on a Variety scout fills me with unimaginable fury. That was for Jasmine you little gremlin. Someone fetch me that political cartoon of the big guy guzzling water from a pipe glaring at the starving guy getting a few drops from a leak. I need to super-impose Jasmine and Thorton on it.

[crystalelemental]

I think whoever DeNA makes the Paldea protagonist will decide the Alola protag for good. By which I mean: Red aside, we have a perfect equilibrium of male and female protagonists:

Ethan, Brendan, Hilbert, and Rei for the boys.

Dawn, Rosa, Serena, and Gloria for the girls.

Only Alola is undefined at this point. They both moved from Kanto to Alola with a pet Meowth. However, Selene mentions her (their?) mom, and Elio references a photo taken at the start of his island challenge. So if Juliana’s the Paldea protag, then one can assume Elio is the Alola one, same for Florian and Selene.

I guess? I dunno honestly, I don't tend to keep track, and I don't think it matters too much unless they have a story reason for confirming it, like they did with NC Calem and Serena, or Lucas and Akari sharing the feeling of dissatisfaction that their once-understudy surpassed them so quickly.

Though admittedly, I think the general impression is that Juliana will be, if either is confirmed. So it fits. Personally, I kinda anticipate an Elio/Selene situation for them where there's nothing clear cut. The Paldea protagonists are not especially popular compared to like...everyone else from their region, kinda like Elio and Selene, so I don't really expect them to get much focus as a result.

[crystalelemental]

Sync Pair Retrospective - Halloween 2022

I feel like this event was weird. I dunno, it just didn't feel that engaging to me? It's hard to explain.

Halloween Allister Allister came out second, but I'm talking about him first, because I once said he was the worst support released last year. It's been another year now, and...yeah actually, I stand by it.

Halloween Allister feels very much like SS Wally, in that sense where he was ultimately held back for having a new trait. Ghost Rebuff was supposed to be a huge deal, but Ghosts...don't really love this guy. They can get along, but the bad speed tends to hinder more than help, given how gauge limited many of them already are. His immediate +3 crit for the team is nice, but defense is only relevant sometimes, and his Ramp Up is incredibly slow acting. He's a pair that thrives more in Gauntlet, especially as a soloist given his passive recovery, but his CS performance is highly suspect. This has not significantly changed.

The completion of grid expansions did provide Allister with two F2P partners in Agatha and Shauntal. Agatha's stalling technique via Hypnosis allows Allister to take a little longer with the Ramp Up to get her where she's going, while Shauntal's speed boosting trainer move meant gauges were less of a problem. Neither was an ideal fit. They worked well, but were far from exceptional. NY Dawn was effective enough, further improving physical bulk and doubling his Ramp Up buff. But the trouble with Allister is that if he's getting Ramp Up, he's not applying the rebuff, and then what is he doing? You need approximate self-sufficiency, but the only two with that, Anni Lillie and Renegade Cynthia, are pretty slow and gauge hungry. So he often fails to give them what they need.

Allister hasn't really changed. If anything he's gotten worse, as other fast-acting crit buffers jump in. NC Calem does the same +3 crit with the right grid, and offers a huge boost to Atk with some Sp Atk in the same action, while having two types of field effect. Palentine's Mallow does the same Def/Crit with high personal healing and Ramp Up gimmick, but with special defense drops on her main damage attack instead of the type rebuff, making her more broadly applicable. Frankly, if it weren't for the rebuff, Variety Agatha would've put him out of a job permanently as far as offensive support goes. The kid started out pretty bad and arguably got worse. His only real niche at this point is a Gauntlet Solo count few care about, and the rebuff that doesn't see much use. That'll save the meta.

Halloween Iris So with that you may think hey, Iris has Poison Zone, and Poison is a rough time. I guess she's the better pick. Great news! She's the worst Zone setter! It's not even close!

Iris' Zone exists for herself. Hyper Beam spam is at least decent, despite her low special attack, and she can do okay at clearing on-type content. Though off-type reveals how bad the special attack really is. Her only other utility is Acid, which she needs 3/5 to make a 100% AoE chance to debuff special defense. That is a lot of investment for an effect Lucian wildly outperforms at 1/5, girl. Zone is carrying you, and frankly, it's not worth it given how bad Poison damage really is. It's incredibly had to justify Iris.

The introduction of new damage dealers was also a double edged sword. Yes, Emma and Oleana could use the Zone. But they're physical, and new CS parameters with the 12.5k meta meant you didn't want to attack with both types of damage, so oopsie doodles, using Iris is not using someone who does literally nothing but Zone, or trying to let her contribute to damage by re-allocating points to more punishing conditions. Emma had an easier time with Looker than Iris. And Oleana had a rebuff that she slapped on right away to ensure Toxic, effectively replicating Iris' utility, then adding Venom Drench and Pep Rally 2 on Move Gauge Boost to the mix. Oleana wasn't so much a good partner to Iris as her replacement. It wasn't Zone, but it got the job done better. The only real partners Iris has received as Drasna, who has Poison as secondary, and Petrel, who is a 0.4% chance to happen on a limited banner he's sharing with four other targets. Good luck with that!

Iris is not in a great position. Poison is starting to seriously pick up as a damage type, but they're all physical. And while Iris doesn't contribute much, she prefers special. Which very, very few competent Poison-types are. Iris is still waiting for the special Poison type of her dreams, that has competent DPS and is easier to access and everything. Personally, I'm hoping it's Halloween Lusamine and Nihilego this year. But given how the year has gone for me personally, I'm not confident.

[crystalelemental]

State of the Meta - EX Roles

We are now in month 2 of EX roles, and have now a decent assemblage of options with the trait. Still think they should be adding these faster to older pairs, but whatever. The cakes haven't been available long, and few players will have them given the absolutely batshit methods of acquisition, but I figure hey, let's talk about the structure of them.

Mechanics For the unfamiliar, it seems as though new additions and rerunning Master Fairs are being granted access to EX Roles, which give their sync a secondary effect: Strike, Tech, Support, Field, or Sprint. Each also grants statistical bonuses. All of them give +60 HP, with the remaining 80 being split:

Strike: +40 Atk/Sp Atk Tech: +20 Atk/Def/Sp Atk/Sp Def Support: +40 Def/Sp Def Field: +20 Def/Sp Def, +40 Spd Sprint: +20 Atk/Sp Atk, +40 Spd

This role is unlocked through cakes, which operate similarly to candy: rare items that you need 20 coins of to acquire a single one, that is applied to a selected sync pair to unlock the extra role.

Distribution of Roles At present, there are no Field or Sprint secondary roles. This is...fascinating to me. I expected more of that. More on that later.

More interesting is that this month, we have a general pool introduction in Lenora, who did get access to an EX Role. Which means somehow, they managed to make Drasna's release detrimental to her. Absolutely incredible. Only new pairs seem to get access, and at present, only one set of reruns are getting access: Master Fairs.

SS Serena and the upcoming NC Calem reruns will include their own roles being added. This seems to be the only introduction, but I am personally, perhaps foolishly, hopeful for more. I want PokeFair grid expansions to coincide with getting a role, but Classic Elesa suggests otherwise. Right now, there is no reason to hope for this being distributed to anything but new pairs and Master Fairs as they rerun. Depressing.

Acquiring Cake At present, there are four methods of acquiring cake.

1) Daily Ticket Exchange The easiest acquisition for everyone is that, each time you complete dailies, you get a Daily Ticket. Five of them can be exchanged for one cake candy, which means that at 100 days of playing, you can select one (1) type of cake. Wooooo...

2) Daily Region Rotation The other accessible option is Daily Region Rotation's highest difficulty setting. Which isn't too hard. You get one of the cake coins per day, with a five day rotation of Strike-Tech-Support-Field-Sprint. So in essence, every 100 days of playing and beating these stages, you get one of each cake. Riveting.

3) PokeFair Scouts This is the most accessible option they want you to take. New PokeFairs now come with rewards, in the form of four 5* powerups and four cake coins of that PokeFairs role. Notably, this is per copy pulled. This is honestly a fair trade. People who were pulling for a PokeFair now have better access to a boost for them, and even get more powerups for EX along the way. PokeFairs were always a bit disappointing, because you got nothing for it beyond the pair. These rewards are nice, and serve them well too. Having 4 per copy pulled means getting to 5/5 through the gacha rather than using candy has potential value. Not enough to offset the gem costs, but it's an interesting approach.

4) Master Fair Scouts What is not an interesting approach is the Paid Gems Only Master Fair scout that still costs a full fucking 400 scout points, and if you pull them once at all, you get one (1) cake. The problems with this are myriad. First, paid only, but there's no decrease in demanded gems like seasonals. This makes it an atrocious deal from the start. Second, only one cake. This disincentivizes further pulling on such scouts if you get lucky early, and the presence of the General Candy bundle deal makes it easier than ever to just candy these. There's no push for pulling further to save candy on this kind of paid only scout. Third, your odds of pulling a Master Fair before pity are so low that you're likely requiring the full 36,600 gems. Which is actually more than using a daily on the regular focus. This is a situation where you're investing approximately $300 for a single cake, which is not a good trade. The staggered, partial success of the PokeFair is infinitely more enticing.

Role Combinations As mentioned, Field and Sprint roles are not available through cake at present. They're only default. This means we only have Strike, Tech, and Support at present.

The biggest winner so far has been Tech/Strike. Tech has natural multipliers on sync, and thus the highest possible damage, that then spreads. Strike/Tech is similar, but without the natural multiplier, it's overall weaker.

Support on a Strike or Tech has been...questionable at times. The successful two are SS Serena and Paulo, who both require first sync, and thus remove their original problem of opportunity cost. The failure has been Petrel, who really, desperately wanted Tech for better sync damage. His DPS isn't worth writing home about. Variety Thorton is an odd choice as well, but makes a bit more sense. Despite being Field, he has a secondary DPS type in Electric. Powering up the Electric type with his Support sync is valuable. Moreover, he does better with DPS than sync, which makes a Support more valuable than the spread damage.

The oddity are Support pairs. All of them, except NC Blue, have been given Tech. Which has been exceptionally odd, as none of them have meaningful sync damage. NC Blue getting Strike made sense, he gets the extra rebuff on all foes with spread damage. But why Tech for the others? Sprint should be far more valuable as an effect.

I think the answer is twofold. One is, Tech gives points in bulk. Field would as well, but many supports are not specific to their type. They want the flexibility to go wherever, and applying a Field effect can, in some situations, be an active detriment. As the only other role with bulk, Tech has value for their tanking, which is central. The other is...I think they consider Sprint overpowered. No seriously, level with me. Support gives double damage for the rest of the match, and Sprint would give -3 cooldown. This combination basically ensures you beat a CS stage. You're guaranteed to make it to second sync, even if you can't DPS denial, and power is doubled. I think they're looking at Sprint as an effect to be saved for really top-notch Supports. Which, unfortunately, might mean Leaf and SS Dawn get hit with Field instead of Sprint. Though Dawn can make it work, let's be real.

Final Thoughts While initial responses were supremely negative due to the Master Fair presentation and slow drip for complete F2P acquisition, I actually kinda like the roles. But much like the skill gear, its implementation has some kinks to work out.

Specifically, what is the most effective way to not care about these cakes? Not having the sync pairs that use them. If you barely pull on anything, like many F2P players do, these cakes have no value. There is no system of distribution to older pairs, and thus no real threat of ever being too far behind. If you decide to pull on a new PokeFair, you can just grab the cake coins you get for pulling. If you pull a new Master Fair, those come out once every three months, so barring repetition of roles, you're not really in a pinch. General pool pairs are rare, and no one pulls for Variety, so you're relying on your few and far between seasonal pairs to carry. And it's not going to work. Bringing in older pairs would increase the value of these kinds of rewards, putting the pressure on for unlocks. At the slow rate we're at now, the easiest way to not need them is not to pull. Which makes them a bad incentive to pull in the first place, because you have three outcomes:

1: Don't pull, don't need cake 2: Pull with luck, don't need cake 3: Pull and get bad luck, now need cake

Given that pulling isn't even a sure thing, the safest play is not pulling. The exact opposite of what these are supposed to do. Fortunately, the solution is clear: speed up access for older pairs. An EX role won't actually save the bottom tiers like Clair or Iris, but it would sure be nice for them to get something in their lives.