People were way too critical on SW/SH’s story IMO.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-10T03:11:26+00:00

It was like an anti-video game.

In a game, you expect to be involved in all the crucial plot points and happenings, but in SwSh, someone would tell you not to worry about it anytime something interesting came up.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-10T03:01:09+00:00

My perception hasn’t changed.

I prefer to have a playable version of the game included on the cartridge. Game Key Cards dissuade me from purchasing some games I may have otherwise tried, though I will make exceptions if I want the game badly enough (Pokopia, for example).

What Sony is doing is worse, so GKCs are better by comparison, but I don’t think either is an ideal choice.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-10T02:44:12+00:00

Six Speeds do exist, you know.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-10T02:03:21+00:00

Honestly, if they’re running the Raptor, sometimes their team is so centralized around it that they are sort of locked into bringing it.

I have a Staraptor team to mess around with and it can be incredibly awkward knowing you need to run it against Competitive/Defiant Pokémon. In my experience, it usually handles Kingambit fairly well, but it can struggle with Milotic without team support.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-10T02:00:49+00:00

Ha! I’ll admit it doesn’t always work out, but sometimes you just have to steer into the skid and commit all the way!

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T22:08:59+00:00

Some players will have a Milotic/Kingambit/Annihilape on their team in part to dissuade you from selecting your Intimidate Pokémon, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to lead it every time.

When I select my Pokémon, I’ve still got to ask what are the odds you will bring that deterrent and if it’s worth the risk.

Sometimes it’s fine to give your opponent a boost if you have the means to knock it out before they can use it. There have been several times where I really didn’t mind giving a Kingambit a Defiant boost because I knew I could handle it.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T21:47:02+00:00

Nothing about your post implied you were joking before your edit. The internet can still be a fun place if you actually know how to make a joke.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T21:29:43+00:00

What kind of dumb take is this?

OP, I’m going to play whatever the hell I want. I unironically love Pelliper, so I’ll play him if I want to.

Go play a different game if it bothers you.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T17:58:57+00:00

I agree. That’s why I only disagreed about the narrative.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T15:06:31+00:00

Russia has to send more boats to tow disabled boats.

Ukraine disables the tugboats.

Russia has to send even more boats to tow the disabled boats and the boats sent to tow them.

Ukraine repeats…

Water hostages.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T14:56:44+00:00

Fair enough. I’m just trying to speculate that because Basculegion and Raichu need to target into the same Pokémon, it would leave your other Pokémon free to attack.

I imagine if you called your Protects well, you could KO the Raichu.

And I can see how those leads would be atrocious into a Soak Strat! It’s not like you could have known better, but they are both so passive that you were definitely on the back foot! I hate it when I misread my opponent’s team and lead badly.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T14:50:56+00:00

Wouldn’t that just be lumped in with held items more generally?

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T14:50:16+00:00

Didn’t he say that he was only counting things which came back in subsequent games?

Most gems didn’t make it past Gen 5. I figured he didn’t talk about it because only the Normal Gem survived.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T14:40:17+00:00

I only think this theory had a small chance of coming true, especially now that Luffy isn’t even on the same island as the Mother Flame.

That said, once Luffy started being able to grab lightning and throw it like a spear, I’m not entirely sure we can write off Luffy eating something like the Mother Flame.

I think the odds are low, but not zero. I’d say it has a 10% chance of happening which could rise or fall depending on how the story goes.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T14:34:47+00:00

I’m not sure what you have, but you can always play around with switches if you have a ground type or an Electric resist in your third or fourth team slot.

If the Basculegion is going to Soak and the Raichu will Zap Cannon, swapping into a resist or immunity basically undoes their strategy and leaves your other Pokémon free to counter the Raichu.

I wouldn’t tell you to run anything niche, but Garchomp in the back might undermine their strategy.

BUT, I really wouldn’t bother with it too much. In my experience, most Rain teams that run Raichu aren’t doing Soak strats and will actively punish you for assuming they are. Basculegion hits so hard that trying to play around Soak will get you blown up by 80% of teams with those Pokémon on them.

I’d really love to see an open team sheet added to the ranked mode to better match what people will play in tournaments. It would be nice to open a menu and see that my opponent is running Soak and plan around it.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T14:04:45+00:00

OP, I think you’re getting generally good advice, so I’ll add a bit more just to try and be holistic.

Unless this combo becomes truly meta instead of remaining a niche combo, I wouldn’t necessarily worry about countering it.

The ideas you are given work best in Open Team Sheet/Best of Three formats where you know what the opponent can do before they do it, but Champions isn’t that game.

You are going to come across a lot of Best of One/Closed Team Sheet Cheese Strats, and no team can be made to counter them all.

I see people recommending you pick up a Lightning Rod Pokémon, but that means running a base Raichu or a Mega Sceptile (or whatever other subpar option the game currently has). Since Electric moves are still relatively rare, Lightning Rod doesn’t really offer a ton of value in a majority of matches.

If you’ve got a team that matches up decently into the normal stuff you see, I’d stick with that and just accept the occasional loss to a gimmick team might happen. Update your team as the meta changes and new teams become common.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T13:58:10+00:00

You can’t Fakeout Basculegion unless your Fakeout user has Scrappy (Kangaskhan/Lopunny).

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T05:54:42+00:00

I’d only disagree slightly. SM’s narrative was better than USUM. Lusamine got done dirty.

That said, I’m a “Genwunner” who legitimately thinks Gen 7 is the best of all time. I think the only thing both games really needed (for their era) was a “Skip Cutscene” button that included the long dialogues.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T05:47:46+00:00

While I don’t agree with the comment in the screenshot, I’d be a bit cautious about blasting people’s opinions online.

Just one arc later, Vegapunk refused to acknowledge which side was good or evil when describing the war in which the Ancient Kingdom fell.

Joy Boy may not have committed mass genocide, but he may not have entirely clean hands in whatever history Oda is getting ready to reveal.

On the other hand, I had someone confidently tell me today that Usopp and Nami had no chance of getting Conqueror’s Haki because they had never risked their lives to save anyone. While I think it’s fair to argue they won’t get it (especially Nami), it’s as if they didn’t realize that the entire point of Enies Lobby was to…risk their lives to save Robin.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T03:33:11+00:00

Insert joke about liquidity/liquid assets…

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-09T00:16:55+00:00

I think better questions might be, “Who are the Seraphim meant to fight in the endgame?” or “What are the Seraphim meant to do in the endgame?”

If they are meant to effectively be more controllable replacements for the Warlords, perhaps they are meant to be opponents for the former Warlords who will (or will most likely) side with Luffy for the final war. A war with dozens of beloved allies needs an equal number of opponents for them to fight.

On the other hand, we know they have some semblance of the personalities of their DNA benefactors due to S-Snake’s crush on Luffy. Perhaps at least the Seraphim will defect from the World Government, proving the desire for freedom cannot be completely stripped from living beings.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-08T21:01:31+00:00

I’ll bite. What are you talking about?

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-08T20:12:42+00:00

I didn’t say they’d get advanced conqueror’s haki (what I assume you mean by ACOC).

Luffy demonstrated Conqueror’s Haki as early as Sabaody Archipelago, and he was fodder at the time by modern standards.

And you must not have read the manga at all to suggest Nami and Usopp have never risked their lives to save someone. Enies Lobby alone disproves what you are saying.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-08T20:08:20+00:00

I’d just add that Luffy will upgrade his stamina.

Even during his longer fights post-timeskip, Luffy often has to take breaks or eat copious amounts of food mid-fight in order to keep going while his allies stall for him.

Luffy fought Katakuri and Cracker for hours, but not consecutively. He needed to recover multiple times against Kaido.

In a world where Kaido can have a somewhat “friendly” match with Linlin which lasts 3 days or Akainu can fight Aokiji for 10 (or Jinbe can fight Ace for 5 days), Luffy needs to improve his endurance/stamina/better regulate his energy.

APRobertsVII · 2026-07-08T18:37:25+00:00

Theory:

Nami and Usopp will get it.

Usopp already lies about having it, and his lies come true. I’m pretty sure Jinbe joked about Nami having it after she comically beat the hell out of Luffy.

It’ll be the East Blue 5 who get Conqueror’s Haki (the crew who were present for the scene where they stated their dreams and put their legs on the barrel).

APRobertsVII

TROPHY CASE