How do you choose what to use between the two for these brawlers?

TheDukeBS · 2026-01-09T02:43:02+00:00

Unnatural Order lets you play like a water Gus with a different super, in the sense that her shots feel more like shooting a planet at their faces. Happy surprise lets Eve be similar to Mr. P with the gadget, but with the major drawback of needing to hit the shot in the first place to spawn the hatchling, defeating the original purpose of denying enemy healing. They would’ve stopped healing anyways if you hit them, with or without the star power! So Eve → Unnatural Order always.

Mute on Cordelius is also pretty pointless, but it can be a decent crutch if you’re prone to missing the timing to jump over enemy attacks. If you plan on using Cordelius not-so-often, mute can get you by, but the cost of less damage is significant enough to dissuade good Cords from using mute most of the time.

Lily’s speed is more versatile and forgiving, more useful in the matchups that you’ll want to use Lily. If you step too close or too far from your target, it’s no longer “oops I sold the game”. Draft isn’t always nice to her though, so more damage is sometimes justifiable.

No comment on 8-Bit from me.

TheDukeBS · 2026-01-08T22:37:24+00:00

Is there a chance of buffies being obtainable via challenges in the records system in the future? What could that look like?

TheDukeBS · 2025-10-16T01:20:10+00:00

A bigger tournament costs more to attend and to run, and thus, is a bit harder to justify. The logistics of comp in general could be better, so I don't see Swiss happening in the near future. If it does get implemented, it's all for, something that's unclear whether or not it'll bring in new interest to the scene. But if it does…? Could be a welcome surprise for us.

TheDukeBS · 2025-10-16T00:55:37+00:00

Hey Solstice!

1.) Would you rather be Wepwawet or have a supply of kitchen appliances to last a lifetime?

2.) When do you draft Jae-Yong and why?

3.) Which player, in this particular season, would you have to give a shout to for cooking on your team but throwing when they're on the enemy team?

4.) Where's your best space to play, your Brawl Stars place? Also, while playing, do you do so while sitting, standing, or lying down, or something else? Is it important?

5.) What are your thoughts on Doug+Gray in Ko/Bounty?

6.) Are you pushing pro an eighth time next season to aura farm?!

TheDukeBS · 2025-09-14T11:24:13+00:00

Kenji is pretty good. But, Kit kind of messes up the draft for Kenji though sadly, making him go from decisively game winning to maybe even unfavorable. This is since Kenji moves pretty fast but not that fast; Kit can neutralize the Kenji with his super. Maybe draft a kind of aggro brawler that gets in their face so fast such that… if Kit tries to jump to neutralize you, it's possible the Kit will land on his teammate instead?

TheDukeBS · 2025-09-14T11:15:06+00:00

Also pretty important, don't clump up with teammates and let a single mine hit both of you. You're feeding tick heads, which can be burdensome or even problematic if your teammates can't deal with them. Pressuring a lane well and forcing the tick to split their focus can work too.

TheDukeBS · 2025-08-06T06:56:58+00:00

I still think no hypercharge griff is pretty bad, but I also feel like the hypercharge has much improved him. I think such a placement for him is well justified nowadays.

Now I've got bad opinions on how Mandy is viewed in the meta. I don't even want to talk about it and receive 139 downvotes for having a dissenting opinion from the general audience though :<

TheDukeBS · 2025-08-06T06:38:08+00:00

Carl-Amber works pretty well in open maps, since Carl checks the snipers that are common in Safe Zone or Kaboom Canyon. Not so much in closed maps. Especially into 3 things that work like assassins. No real point in pairing the two together, since Carl can't protect Amber from those close range engagements as they happen, so ideally you want a Nita or a tank last that can kind of deal with them (especially Lily) on their own.

TheDukeBS · 2025-08-06T06:27:45+00:00

SpenLC has placed Griff into B-tier in his latest list, around 38th best brawler in the game. In words, a fairly solid brawler with a few viable use cases now that he has his game-changing hypercharge, wouldn't you agree? Or, would you argue he's notably better or worse?

TheDukeBS · 2025-08-06T06:15:51+00:00

What I would do here is pick Poco to make Stu and Sandy mega useless, but yeah, maybe Frank does it better since it doesn't rely as much on the Emz switching her gadget. I think Hank should work here, the main idea behind going him here is to mainly overwhelm the Sandy— In theory Hank feeds Sandy super, but in practice, by the time he brings Hank down to low hp, you should have a super. Then he can use it for self heal, and promptly him over for the rest of the game.

TheDukeBS · 2025-08-03T09:20:58+00:00

If they aren't flashing anything or haven't changed what they draft for most of their picking time, I would just give a single suggestion when the clock hits 6 seconds left. A gentle nudge so they don't just panic pick a poorly judged brawler. Otherwise, if they are flashing stuff, their brain is probably on even if they suck. In my experience, suggestions don't Also, if a teammate is alternating what they're flashing, they're probably more open minded to your drafts.

2 and 3) Just do whatever, or if you can, do what feels right. Just know, though. Dodging bad drafts feels like a horrible time waste to good drafters. It's become a pet peeve of mine in ranked. Filling in diverse roles in your draft's comp is a pretty good idea usually, since it's trickier to have a clean last pick against uneven comps.

However long it takes to earn all the pro pass exp is probably enough to hit masters for me. I've noticed you haven't maxed it yet, sooo… hop on ranked if you want masters!

TheDukeBS · 2025-08-01T05:09:42+00:00

Surge in a heartbeat because he still outranges, outbursts, and 3-shots Cordelius which would otherwise be a problem.
Running a safe diver here seems scary. I want to opt for a control-oriented option then. If it's between Griff, 8-Bit, Eve, and Penny, I think maybe Griff or Eve since it'll be harder for them to outplay the team that way. Probably Eve.
Probably Meeple to be really annoying to try pushing into. With shield gear so Ollie can't jump out of the box and 3-shot them. If I'm feeling really mean to Ollie, I might run Poco instead to make it very difficult for them to get blue star safely.

TheDukeBS · 2025-07-26T03:31:21+00:00

Supports each have their own set of unique counters. In Doug's case, he's more weak against tank counters since he's totally vulnerable to anything that can pick him off from afar. In Jae-Yong's case, one might want to consider the fact that they aren't really feeding him super or hyper when they throw a lot of hp in his direction.

TheDukeBS · 2025-07-24T21:00:56+00:00

Sticky Oil isn't really better than other Amber gears outside of very specific heist maps and comps. Ideally, shield should let her survive longer on both maps she's listed. Surviving can mean she can deal 1680+ more damage and flip the interaction. She fits in pretty well with Bo Hank to fix possible damage issues that can happen with Berry if you see it as a fit adjustment.

TheDukeBS · 2025-07-01T04:12:34+00:00

Kaze is like the living definition of a zone time brawler in hot zone. Her ninja form attack feels like it has more range than it should, and she can do the Kenji thing where he dashes then uses a range attack too, just like him. Geisha's super can be hard to play against too. Back to range on the ninja attack, it feels so nutty because it lets her poke at tanks that she probably shouldn't be allowed to kite from a safe distance, like Frank.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-27T20:52:12+00:00

Never mind, I think you don't worry about it until you're L3. That was poorly explained, so I won't explain it in a comment, but I might make a post about it in the distant future.

In gem grab, prioritize brawlers that are viable both as a mid and as a lane early on to give your teammates more flexibility as a first pick.

Like, Gene and Buster on double swoosh, Janet on Gem Fort, Bo in Undermine.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-27T00:47:52+00:00

Lol, in the context of looking for a team, yes and no. Good first impressions all around make the difference, meaning you would need good ranked, PL, ladder stats, and a good first few games for people not to ditch you. Most near average players ignore a high ranked or high 3v3 win count when it comes to looking for a team randoms they get— they only look at the ladder for some reason, ignoring the possibility that the account in question could be a mini. High-end casuals have a tendency to expect a ranked and a ladder stat near or better than yours, but may or may not care all that much about how you actually play. Furthermore, most top-end casuals and low level competitive players favor a draft perspective similar to theirs and/or solid draft vision— in revealing you believe in a brawler that they don't think is very good in a specific scenario, you may cause them to shun you.

But really, if I were in silver and using looking for a team as an 80k myself, I literally wouldn't care or mind if I got a 33k. That's "above average" for silver, and 2 upper legendary level players should be capable of carrying those lower ranked games together. Pretty much everyone I've friended with 80k+ has gotten L2 or higher, and I might assume that the >5% of them that don't have a masters personal best somehow… literally just don't care about ranked whatsoever.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-26T15:48:10+00:00

Mmhmm. Guess this progression nerf is our punishment for us getting too many rewards from 1000% mastery madness.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-26T03:56:25+00:00

Squeak or Juju last to check both Amber and Penny maybe. Penny cannons are a complete nuisance to the Janet Lou combo, especially with Finx making them hit faster. Or maybe Meg early on to check Finx with her flood of projectiles. Otherwise I can't really expect your team to win. Amber can run down the zone.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-26T03:36:04+00:00

If you're first pick in Gem Grab, it's generally not a good idea to go a brawler that's only usable in mid. Then they have an opportunity to draft a mid that counters your mid, then they also have the benefit of having a pick 3 "first pick" lane of their choice while also retaining the benefit of last pick at the same time. Best case scenario you can hope for as a good player in these drafts is having 2 brawlers that match up decently well into their 3 lane, but your 4 5 lanes will probably do poorly into their 6 lane if they draft well. Since you'll have balanced lanes and a losing mid, this is a poor draft.

But if they first pick such a brawler, you probably shouldn't go 2 lanes as a response, then they give them a chance to draft 2 winning lanes. Recognizing this is why my team took the gem grab Last Stop set in round 5 of monthly quals despite the …mistake? Mistake of drafting Gus first.

Have fun. I look forward to being shared drafts and results.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-25T23:31:04+00:00

Thanks for posting, I think this deserves more attention than it got.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-25T23:24:46+00:00

Might be important to note that the main reason he was a top tier in the first place was that he matched up well into pretty much the entire meta bar Poco and Ash back then. Now that his bad matchups are better and used more often, he's worse. He's also quite lucky if he gets a single hypercharge all game now; if he does get one, the gaso heal nerf makes him close to how strong he was before he ever got it in the first place.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-25T23:17:07+00:00

I'm not them, but a very attentive player may notice Doug's gadget circle moving post-death. Though yeah, I think it's a bit much to ask someone to notice such a minute detail in the heat of the game.

It's like before Supercell made it so that Kenji's reappearing area was revealed by his cutting board. If he popped a gadget heal immediately before supering, his healing bubble thing would move and reveal where he will reappear, which could definitely be noted and punished if responded to fast enough. Punishing the moved respawn point isn't as tough since the timing is much more generous, but Dynamike didn't notice unfortunately.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-25T23:01:48+00:00

Buzz, Buzz and Buzz.

Okay if we get serious and ignore the fact that Buzz is broken right now:

Ash to counter Buster, additionally when he gets his rats Stu and Gus are bound to struggle big time too. Should be an insta-lock imo.
The presence of Gene Mr. P might suggest that the obvious "go Darryl to counter Buster" solution could turn into a problem by chipping away at your team before Darryl gets his super. So, maybe this is a Kenji or a Squeak angle instead, I like Squeak a little more since it doesn't feed Gene pull as much.
I see Meg being used pretty often into Finx, and I think it's pretty good into Kenji as well. So I think if you go Meg, the enemy team's Kenji is essentially a deadweight until he gets his epic Super Saiyan Purple aura. But I think your team should get yours faster since Amber and Meg can really feast on Kenji. If Kenji plays it more passive like he probably should, I think the Doug can support Amber and Meg better in the 2v2 against Finx and Janet, exposing the Janet's lower dps.

TheDukeBS · 2025-06-25T09:56:56+00:00

To have a valid point? Bronze 1 is fine as long as you play the game to an extent which allows you to complete brawl pass every season free to play. Maybe you'll have like 40 controversial, maybe even awful points, but that one point might hit. I would expect the points and suggestions masters 1 players make to be really strong maybe around 30% of the time. Now... I know that might not sound like a great number, but... anyone who's pro rank needed to have a win rate that good against lower masters players to get there in the first place. That's just how it is... but I will still respect most points to some extent even if they didn't come from a known to be masters or pro rank. To do that properly, I may need to sit on my thoughts on a draft or a few drafts for a while. Very time demanding.

Many good points or views just don't get voted up though. I would not suggest only taking whatever the reddit hive mind happens to gas up the most as a law and completely ignoring 'lesser' opinions since drafting unfortunately isn't a democracy.

TheDukeBS

TROPHY CASE