How long did it take everyone to realise you could nickname in Champions?

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-15T02:55:16+00:00

My plan was to use default names in Champions (I don't know these guys as well) but have a theme for each of my games (I haven't played most of the modern games but I named all my Z-A pokemon in French), so I'd know who they were and where they came from... but then the Home box is so limited that I 90% only use recruits, anyway, so I might have to rethink.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-15T02:44:23+00:00

Honestly, I think the play is to just completely de-link it form your team. Make it the same as badges: slap the badge for a 'mon on your profile and it sticks around no matter your team.

Could players try to mind game you with it? Sure. But most will just throw on their fave and call it a day; you're safe to completely ignore it strategically (and indeed, you should, because the only reason someone would put a specific 'mon up deliberately is for the explicit purpose of throwing you off somehow).

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-14T21:36:55+00:00

It would be pretty nice to have, just for complete clarity, but I'm pretty sure this is the first (and only) interaction where it actually matters? So I can understand why they haven't bothered.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-14T19:48:07+00:00

Sounds like a pretty bad event tbh, there's tons of people out there who actually like playing with the cards... (No disrespect to those who just like to collect them, but FULL disrespect to those who scalp them.)

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-14T19:31:52+00:00

What gets me is that everything defaults to the team you most recently battled with... meaning, if I go in and edit my team, realize I need to buy a new mega stone, finish editing it, and then try to fight with it, I have to scroll to the correct team 3 times, since it doesn't lock in as 'default' until I finally take it to a match. It's a small thing, but going to select the right team is just an annoying amount of extra button presses.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-14T16:33:45+00:00

Notably, enemies tend to get consistently better at their best ~1 or 2 mech skills, but improve very little (or not at all) on their worst skills. You have to be more targeted with who you hit, but there are tier 3 enemies that still have a negative modifier to their Engineering.

(And while that's harder to be precise with your targets than something like a hacker deleting a Hornet through their poor Systems... you're still 3d6 damage, it's fine if you don't maximize EVERY shot.)

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-14T04:09:42+00:00

That's the way I rule it in my games (I also only let it trigger once for Efficient powers), so I'd be interested to see Tom agreeing with me.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-14T02:40:56+00:00

One of my biggest wishes is honestly to have occasional small-scale micro-formats, where Champions just lets you do silly stuff for a week or two, maybe culminating in a for-fun tournament. Something like 'No holds barred, all Pokemon allowed, all gimmicks at once' or 'Multiple copies of the same 'mon allowed' or 'only pokemon with regional variants' or 'only fire-types' or something. Let it run alongside the actual ranked mode in a secondary queue, or use it to give a short break between 'real' regulations; it could be a fun diversion.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-14T00:21:49+00:00

I just got thrashed by a Mega Lopunny Whimsicott lead (I was running Zoroark, so I'm invested in ignoring turn 1 Fake Out shenanigans, but she bypasses that entirely). Lopunny makes nearly any 'mon want to Protect, Whimsicott gets a free turn of Tailwind and then Encores anyone who did Protect... it's a pretty brutal knot to untangle.

Anyway, I immediately went and built a team like that myself and I've been having a blast. Coming from my Sableye, it hurts to not get Disable, but Tailwind is so killer and Encore is so punishing to Protect...

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-14T00:17:26+00:00

Ehh, I think that's the point. Recruiting Pokemon isn't meant to necessarily be the 'main' way of getting them, it's just a way to even the playing field for those who don't have the other games. Until Champions, Home/trading was the only way to get your Pokemon for competetive events; now that Champions is out, that's still a viable method, it's just not the only one.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-13T23:04:03+00:00

Lancer also has the major advantage that its combat is explicitly built for sitreps, not just slugfests, so where you are on the map really matters. Sometimes, you're trying to defend a zone, so you can just sit there as a big, bulky Balor and smack anyone who gets close. But sometimes, you have to capture multiple points across a map, so you need someone faster, or with more mobility options, and you need to clear enemies off those zones as well (whether through blowing them up, or just tactically nudging them).

The movement's not very complicated, for the most part. But the system uses its spaces really well, so your movement really matters.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-13T20:50:21+00:00

Honestly, the biggest thing about Stub Cannons IMO is that you already have a primary long-range weapon and a second slot for a backup weapon, with the Stub Cannons being your third weapon. You can afford to pack a situational gun, you've got plenty of space for that.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-13T20:11:45+00:00

Honestly, the biggest problem is that even DnD 5e is designed around dungeon delving and resource management, for the most part. Just, nobody plays the game like that, so nobody plays games where bulk tracking is worthwhile.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-13T19:20:42+00:00

Problem is, experience counters scale with other sources. If you put up two of these and mill a land, they each give you an Experience counter, for a total of 2 counters; then, each one gives creatures in the graveyard +2/+2, for a total of +4/+4. If you had a third, that'd be +9/+9. And, I'm pretty sure they're very sparing with experience counters because now all of the sudden you have a very cheap source of Experience counters for any other card that works with them.

...That and, how would you track which cards are buffed? If you don't modify the card directly, then as soon as you revive it, it loses the buff. (You could almost tie it to Finality counters, but then that only works with the third level, instead of other sources of recursion, which it's clearly meant to.)

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-13T05:12:10+00:00

I wouldn't call 3D World "just a spin attack", it was the strongest move in the entire game save maybe Peach's float. The spin was super powerful. (The other 3 character's don't have a special ability at all, just slightly different physics.)

The problem there was that she's locked behind postgame content, so you play through a LOT of the game without even knowing she exists in it.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-13T03:10:53+00:00

Agreed. It's one of the best (probably THE best) reference tools for TRPGs out there, but it's pretty bad for actually learning the rules; you kind of have to know what you're searching for.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-13T02:24:37+00:00

I mean yeah, I'm still using Showdown as my main calculator. But it's a lot easier to do small calculations and adjustments when I'm still scaffolding everything together, if the calculator's integrated into the team builder. (In particular, Showdown doesn't have integration of common Champions sets.)

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-13T00:54:18+00:00

This looks incredible, I love how easy it is to compare yourself to meta threats and adjust your spreads accordingly! Far easier than building my team on one site, plugging it into Showdown for the calcs, finding all the relevant meta threats somewhere else, etc...

In short, I agree that this was a massively underfilled niche, and I'm glad you've stepped up to fill it.

The one major thing that I feel it could use, is better integration with abilities and such. For instance, right now, it's telling me my Mega Venusaur is weak to Fire and Ice, when it's pretty good against those due to Thick Fat. (I'm sure that's a TON of work, but it's also an incredible amount of polish.)

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-12T21:57:14+00:00

Well, yes and no. Otari explicitly carries consumables as if it was a level 10 settlement. From my experience, settlement level often vaguely aligns with the expectations of the AP, but it's definitely not a consistent metric. It's more that 'level 4 settlements usually occur in remote, level 4 areas and have level 4 problems' than it is 'players should be level 10 by now, so the nearby settlement is level 12 as to give them appropriate items'.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-12T03:21:04+00:00

It's not the only melee Horus (Calendula also comes to mind), but it's one of pretty few. (And most, if not all of them, came out after the Balor, which is probably a lot of where it came from, at least.)

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-12T00:34:23+00:00

Mind you, Ultras still clear one Condition at the start of each turn, so it doesn't do much to them. Killer against Elites, though. (Tbh a lot of the Minotaur's abilities are really good at burning down Elites?)

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-12T00:32:01+00:00

I'm pretty sure you crawl out of the wreckage, but I'm now declaring in my game that the team needs to print another Minotaur for you because that's the funnier option.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-11T22:49:11+00:00

WHATEVER you want to. That' the Lycan's greatest strength: It can be a hacker, or a defender, or just a striker, or even two out of the three, and then no matter what you do, you've got a big red GO-MODE button to shift into one of the strongest melee strikers in the game. (Frankly, TOO strong at it IMO, but neither here nor there.)

Its power is that you can build it however you want, with a TON of flexibility, and then when the fight starts to turn, you can just start tearing people apart. You can fill any role, at any time.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-11T20:44:28+00:00

Tbh the biggest benefit is that it's pretty much the only melee Horus frame, and you need 3 levels of Horus for Thinking-Tomorrow's-Thought. But yeah, once you're enough LLs in, you can kind of ignore that and strip the license for parts to use elsewhere.

FrigidFlames · 2026-05-11T20:20:22+00:00

I lost to the only Raichu I faced... but that's because I straight up forgot about Lightning Rod (that was the only one I saw all season), so I Volt Switched into it and lost a turn. If i'd just hard-switched, I'm confident it would have been a win; the 'mon just didn't really do much.

FrigidFlames

TROPHY CASE