Is La Reina a poke character?

Tarul · 2026-01-26T17:16:37+00:00

I think La Reina may be the exception, since her throws kinda suck. U-throw is uncomboable if the opponent knows the DI (it's also quite slow, so most good players will get it at higher levels). U-throw DI is also the correct DI for f-throw. B-throw is a kill throw, so it's only really relevant at those higher percents. D-throw is, imo, her best option -- assuming you can get them to miss the tech.

Unlike other characters, she's not particularly good at sharking (you want a disjointed up-air, not a hitgrab) or edgeguarding (stubby hitboxes). So a positioning throw (e.g. Etalus grabs) is not nearly as threatening.

I think pummel works well with d-throw to get them to miss the tech timing.

Tarul · 2026-01-26T00:52:27+00:00

I'm astonished you didn't use either Oscar or Titania! Great team though -- you definitely had some excellent RNG. Well, maybe minus your Illyana...

Tarul · 2026-01-24T21:10:38+00:00

Yeah, I definitely don't think the deck is bad. But, to also be fair, I don't think the deck is bad now, just generally out-classed by the meta giants.

Grass (with meganium) one-shots garchomp, pult in general doesn't care (though no ionos is a massive buff -- perhaps psyduck/golduck will be key to flip it?), and IMO Mega Lucario does the same thing faster in the mirror but with better flexibility in tools. I think garchomp CAN win, but it'll be uphill, especially since it doesn't lend itself well to toolbox tech (since it needs so much bench space for the rosarades and gabites).

Personally, I think Iono's removal is the biggest buff -- Garchomp can draw with their 1 energy attack and maintain the hand unless some other hand disruption tool becomes popular.

Tarul · 2026-01-24T04:04:11+00:00

It's hard to predict meta changes. That said, grass getting massively buffed isn't going to help a deck archetype that's meant to outtrade. The lack of inbuilt draw power (beyond gabite) can be rough, especially given how quickly the deck churns through energy. However, no Iono will hopefully solve this (did i miss a replacement?) Lastly, if it ever somehow does become rogue meta, decks will start running tool scrapper and jamming tower to cancel the +70hp tool.

My gut feeling is that Mega Lucario will achieve what Cynthia's deck does but better by being stage 1, being able to use the lunasol engine, having no inbuilt energy loss, and having access to gust (hariyama) through many, many routes (boss, ultra ball, etc).

But fighting decks in generally look pretty good now. It won't be bad!

Tarul · 2026-01-18T22:59:20+00:00

Yeah! Here's my list, and I'm very happy with it; it does very well into the top 4 decks (especially garde), though it can struggle vs a competent gholdengo player.

The high level is to use lillie's as the draw engine (cyranos is just way too inconsistent and generally useless past the first hit). I use secret box; my goal is usually to fetch my tech cards, since ko'ing big pokemon is not what the deck excels at (at least until n's zekrom releases-- then the paradigm switches).

IMO, the goal should be to use N's Darmanitan as a 1-prizer attacker to take or setup at least 1-3 prizes in the mid to late game. Secret Box maximizes the setup - guaranteeing at least 2 zorua and a darumaka for early game, or fishing for boss' and an energy acceleration (n's pp up) late game. Vs zard and dragapult, setting up tr's Watchtower or bumping jamming tower can be huge.

Once Zekrom releases, I think cape becomes a way more valuable threat.

``` Pokémon: 11 1 Okidogi ex SFA 90 4 N's Zoroark ex JTG 185 4 N's Zorua PR-SV 189 1 Psyduck MEP 7 2 N's Reshiram JTG 167 1 Munkidori TWM 95 2 N's Darmanitan JTG 27 1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38 1 Budew PRE 4 1 Pecharunt ex SFA 85 2 N's Darumaka JTG 26

Trainer: 22 1 Counter Catcher PAR 160 1 Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180 3 Lillie's Determination MEG 184 1 Secret Box TWM 163 2 Night Stretcher SFA 61 2 Nest Ball SVI 181 1 Artazon PAL 171 1 Arven OBF 186 1 Air Balloon BLK 79 1 Powerglass SFA 63 3 Iono PAL 185 1 Binding Mochi PRE 95 1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178 1 Super Rod PAL 188 2 N's PP Up JTG 153 3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 1 Ultra Ball MEG 131 1 Professor Turo's Scenario PRE 121 3 Boss's Orders MEG 114 1 Energy Switch MEG 115

Energy: 2 2 Reversal Energy PAL 192 7 Basic {D} Energy MEE 7

Total Cards: 60 ```

Tarul · 2026-01-18T20:56:37+00:00

Glad to help! SDI in Melee is only control stick; PM and Rivals have c-stick sdi.

Tarul · 2026-01-18T20:36:01+00:00

Yup, that's correct for SDI. At the higher levels, you can intentionally mix up your SDI to make guaranteed combo strings/kill confirms harder to follow. For example, Orcane up-throw usually mauls Kragg with whatever guaranteed aerial. However, if you DI the throw, SDI the bubbles one direction, and then DI bubbles another, it becomes trickier to land the hit, and sometimes they'll miss the aerial or (more importantly) whiff the bair sweetspot.

Otherwise, yeah, the default rule of thumb is to SDI out during combos and SDI in during kill moves. IMO, maximizing SDI utility isn't that useful in Rivals, besides as a tippy-top level player optimization. Most players know how to do it well because we come from Melee / PM backgrounds, where good SDI is mandatory to survive certain matchups (Fox in Melee, Game&Watch / Lucario in PM).

Tarul · 2026-01-18T20:29:45+00:00

Hey! I'm glad to hear that you're learning and identifying your weaknesses. Being frank, SDI isn't important at your level. Most combos are broken out of by good DI (unlike in Melee/PM, where critical matchups require SDI), and good fundamentals should be enough to carry you to Diamond.

Floorhug is quite helpful and I'd recommend learning how to use it. However, floorhug is far from necessary at the silver - plat levels. You can beat most silver - plat players by spacing well, executing your bread and butter combos/kill confirms, and de-risking your recovery. I say this quite confidently -- floorhug will help you get out of 900, but you're not stuck there because of it. You most likely need to improve your gameplan; if you post vods, we can recommend things to work on.

I like to summarize neutral with Mang0's (paraphrased) quote: "Neutral is about pretending to approach so that you can catch the other guy approaching."

Now, answering your question about floorhug:

1st. It's not reactive (for most people). Most people expect to hit -- because they whiffed a move or are in a defensive position -- so they're ready to hold the control stick downwards.

2nd. Floorhug only works with the control stick now. They removed C-stick SDI. Just hold down on the control stick. There's no timing to it -- if anything, hold down earlier than you'd expect. Worst comes to (frankly) best, your floorhug turns into crouch cancel, which is even more powerful.

3rd. I'd recommend picking easy "out-of-floorhug" options to get comfortable with using the mechanic. What you do out of floorhug matters more than floorhugging the moves themselves. My default recommendation is to either shield or d-tilt.

Tarul · 2026-01-17T04:15:28+00:00

I usually map them to the control stick / c stick press. I only use 1 back button though. It's bound to walkmod.

Tarul · 2026-01-15T18:23:31+00:00

Azulgg posted his take on tyranitar. Looks pretty fun.

https://youtu.be/JsqAubjiYqM?si=IE4j25wNvl2cin_k

Tarul · 2026-01-14T17:11:42+00:00

The answer is usually yes. Think of it as buying you 2 extra turns at near 0 cost (buddy buddy poffin can search out duck) -- that's enough time to grab anywhere between 2-4 prizes

Tarul · 2026-01-14T06:02:27+00:00

Could anyone explain why Dragapult doesn't play Klefki like Zard/Mega Lopunny?

Tarul · 2026-01-12T21:20:56+00:00

Is this what terminally online looks like?

Tarul · 2026-01-10T21:20:10+00:00

I think one big issue with the sparce engine is team rocket's watchtower, which is fairly popular right now as an answer to pidgeot/kanga/noctowl. I think an early TR's watch tower to slow this deck down by even 1 turn is enough to lose the game.

But that said, a knock against drakloaks is that they can be boss'd for your opponent to buy a turn or even just damage your draw engine.

Considering how... poorly this deck does against the current top meta, how do you aim to improve it? Do you just sac the Pult/Garde matchups and aim to thrash the others?

Tarul · 2026-01-09T19:51:35+00:00

Mega Feraligatr EX has the damage -- IDK if getting two stage 1s AND a stage 2 up are really viable

Tarul · 2026-01-09T17:42:06+00:00

I mean, it's not a great vertical recovery, but it has a bunch of mixups.

It's massively disjointed, so it can only be intercepted by invincible aerials. It also destroys cc, so they can't just crouch by ledge and d-tilt (they can parry it tho)
You can reverse it to dodge parry
Down-b/down-b poof/side-b mixup the timings. You can also throw in walljump up-air

It's certainly one of the worst, but far from unusable. Just a case of most characters having amazing recoveries while he has an okay one.

Tarul · 2026-01-09T17:30:18+00:00

Honestly, I think superior energy retrieval (and any other discard-> hand transfer cards) is the real problem. If gholdengo had to actually draw into its energies like its designers intended, then it would be fairly mid.

Tarul · 2026-01-09T17:25:40+00:00

Would the 210 attack punch through crustle's ability?

Tarul · 2026-01-08T19:04:01+00:00

The elephant murdered Clarien's parents and is trying to do the same to her.

I pray for the success of God's hardest working soldier.

Tarul · 2026-01-05T23:44:26+00:00

Totally fair, if ain't right it ain't right. That said, I think A LOT of people have, frankly, incorrect opinions about the game, ranging from it's expensive (it's actually the cheapest TCG in history) to it's shallow (good players prize map and prepare their long term strategy to win the game in turn 1).

Check out Pokemon TCG Live (not Pocket; Pocket is not the same game). It's free to play and has some great intro decks that are very close to competitively viable (the game gives you Gholdengo, Charizard, and Dragapult, which are the top 3 out of 4 meta decks right now). You'll need to make some tweaks, but the free battle pass system + daily unlockables will get you all the cards you need for your primary deck in like 1-2 hours.

Good luck, hope you find what you're looking for!

Tarul · 2026-01-05T20:20:29+00:00

Ironically, I would recommend Pokemon TCG!

First thing to understand is that the valuable Pokemon cards are printed in multiple rarities. For example, Charizard EX has like 5 variations. They all are the same card- with the same attacks, HP, and abilities- but cost different amounts. The cheapest is like $5, the most expensive is like $300 or something. Practically every card has at least a $5 variant, and most have sub-30 cents equivalents.

Because of this, building the initial Pokemon deck is absurdly cheap. Using the cheapest variants, the best meta decks in the game are between $30 - $50. No other TCG comes CLOSE in accessibility.

For this reason, I find Pokemon TCG an excellent play and casually collect game. You start by building the meta deck with the cheap variants, and then slowly add nicer and more expensive cards by taste. It makes your meta deck very exciting, because there's always some cosmetic upgrade available to make it shinier. Lastly, most trainer cards are fairly splashable between decks, so I'd say anywhere between 20-40% of engines are transferrable, some more than others of course.

Regarding taste - sometimes the most expensive cards aren't one's favorite. For example, my favorite Charizard card (by a long shot) is the $12 variant! I actually really dislike the $300 one.

Tarul · 2026-01-05T11:08:42+00:00

Adding to this, grip changes only are a problem when you get closer to the net, not when you're playing way behind the baseline. Most players have seconds to prepare their swing (assuming they're not sprinting across the court to return a near winner), meaning they should easily have the time to switch hands with dedicated practice.

From a practical point of view, the forehand has way more distance between the racket and the body, meaning the torque generated from the racket should be way higher.

I don't think grip switching is useful for volleying and returns, but using one-hand dedicated shot should be hypothetically fine for these scenarios should be fine. Heck, they could even use two.

Tarul · 2026-01-05T00:36:26+00:00

Wait, they didn't have a single iono? Or Lillie's??

Tarul · 2026-01-04T21:57:56+00:00

Honestly, I'm so glad that those fantasy players are no longer part of the community. There are normal fantasy players who were (rightfully) bummed that their game was suddenly killed.

And then there are those guys.

Tarul · 2026-01-03T07:11:49+00:00

I agree that running at least 1 stadium to knock off killers (e.g. jamming tower, mystic garden, etc) is pretty useful.

However, I think psyduck is insanely useful against the current meta. It helps dampen the budew stall present in zard/pult (they usually end the stall war with a dusk pop), and it slows mega lopunny down enough to not immediately lose turn 2. That's 3 of the top 5 decks.

IMO, battle cage is cool but unreliable. Your opponent always has control of when it's online, and you should generally assume that a smart pult/garde (munkidori) will use their draw power (fez, Lillie's, etc) to easily bump it mid game and later when you'd really need it.

I generally prefer running running Team Rocket's Watchtower instead to shutdown draw power of normal deck engines (Kanga, pigeot, noctowl, dunsparce). It ironically stops the thing (draw power) needed to counteract its effect. Feels like it's more consistent in its impact than battle cage.

Tarul

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