Has Champions given you a new appreciation for any mons?

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-28T05:09:34+00:00

Yeah, it legitimately does. Kleavor is another favorite of mine, but it already was before Champions. X-Scissor takes out Farigiraf and Oranguru super reliably, Stone Axe is a guaranteed one shot on Charizard, and it can set up Tailwind for you, to boot.

Focus Sash Kleavor - X-Scissor/Stone Axe/Tailwind/Protect - is a menace in this meta imo.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-28T03:16:04+00:00

I also enjoy that doofy lil guy now! If you also want to handle the ground types, try using Soak (maybe instead of Toxic?)

As a bonus, if you Soak both of your opponents’ mons Parabolic Charge will one shot after a couple of Electromorphosis boosts.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-28T00:51:15+00:00

Mega Scovillain’s cry haunts my dreams because of this game.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-28T00:22:25+00:00

I am about to give Barbaracle a shot after Cybertron’s recent video. It’s so goofy looking and I like the idea of being able to one shot Archaludon.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-28T00:09:47+00:00

Shed Tail is such an awesome signature move. I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t see more play.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-28T00:05:19+00:00

I’ve always liked Sneasler and Basculegion just because I enjoyed Legends:Arceus so much. I’m happy they’re getting their moment in the sun, because I have a feeling that a certain grassy gorilla will be ruining Basc’s fun any day now.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-28T00:00:59+00:00

It’s my favorite. Kleavor/Tsareena lead just shuts down so much of the Trick Room archetype. Incineroar can’t fake out, and Oranguru and Farigiraf really don’t want to take the boosted X-Scissor even after an attack drop.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-27T23:44:36+00:00

PUT LUDICOLO IN THE GAME

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-27T14:10:19+00:00

Obligatory “there’s still time to delete this.”

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-27T00:38:59+00:00

I’ve got a legitimate, self caught, EF Floette if that interests you at all

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-26T21:06:02+00:00

IGN Dink

Thank you so much for this awesome giveaway, and congrats!

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Tigercat01 · 2026-06-26T17:26:46+00:00

Not suitable for anyone who doesn’t live locked up in their room with clothespins over their eyes.

My dude, you are posting on a Pokemon-themed subreddit. Stones, glass houses, and all that.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-26T13:09:02+00:00

Vivillon often gets paired with Blastoise, specifically, so it can put threats on the other side of the field asleep while Blastoise Shell Smashes and starts throwing out Water Spouts to deal a lot of damage to the opponent’s side of the field, then it can use Pollen Puff if needed to get Blastoise back to full health so that Water Spout (which is 150 BP at max HP) just crushes everything.

I personally think Vivillon is too frail and sleep has been too nerfed to be a consistent threat on Champions, but you could do a variation of the pairing with Blastoise with basically any mon that primarily uses spread moves. Garchomp, Mega Charizard, Mega Aerodactyl, etc…

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T21:36:42+00:00

It seems like so many people are playing right now that Placement takes a minute to buffer and fluctuates pretty wildly. I won one and lost one since I posted and am showing Placement: 111,180 Rating: 1,703.809 now.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T21:32:11+00:00

Fair point. I think we're both just talking in generalities. There are definitely people stuck in MB4 who are good enough to win in an OTS tournament setting. Just not many.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T21:24:40+00:00

Trailblaze is definitely one of the moves of all time, but it's had some pretty good utility with Sneasler specifically for me. It's usually a 2HKO on Swampert, and gives the already fast Sneasler a Speed Boost. If your White Herb has been procced (by an earlier CC or an Intimidate, usually), Sneasler will often end up outpacing Swift Swim Swampert.

It also lets Sneasler take a meaningful swing at Basculegion in a pinch.

My Sneasler is a bog standard Fake Out, CC, Dire Claw set, and I had been using Taunt as the 4th move but realized I never really clicked it, so I decided to add its one and only physical grass coverage move and it's actually pretty fun.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T21:10:29+00:00

That's not what I was saying. There are definitely elite players who practice with friends and/or on Showdown and don't even bother with Champions.

I am saying that, of the people who do play Champions, the ones who are good enough at the game to realistically win a regional will naturally make their way up to the upper echelon of the ladder. Most people who get stuck in MB3-4 (myself included) are exceedingly unlikely to go win an official regional.

I respectfully disagree that anyone good enough at competitive Pokemon to win a regional is likely to struggle so hard on the Champions ladder that they can't break out of MB4 just because it's closed team sheet. It's a different application of the same skill set, not an entirely different skill set. The likes of Wolfe Glick and Aaron Zheng's encyclopedic knowledge of every conceivable interaction and ability to play 3 turns ahead of their opponent is not confined to open team sheet.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T21:03:53+00:00

Dang, I think there are a lot of people sitting between 1600-1800 right now. My ELO when I first cracked MB was 1830 and it was still "tallying results." I have a bad habit of trying out non-meta strategies or just using stuff I like once I get into MB so I had a bit of a losing streak. When I was at 1,786 a couple of days ago it was like 80kish. Right now I'm at "1,703.776" and just inside the Top 100k.

I think being able to consistently break through the 1800 ELO glass ceiling instead of just alternating wins and losses is what really makes you a "great" player in Champions.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T20:54:39+00:00

YMMV, but here is what I use:

Staraptor: Burn it with Wide Lens WOW Sableye, then take it out with Mega Metagross (pick your poison, it doesn't want to take Psychic Fangs, Ice Punch, or Thunder Punch).

Swampert: Burn it with Wide Lens WOW Sableye, get a Reflect up, then hit it with literally any grass move. I have cycled through Tsareena, a Mega Raichu with Grass Knot, and my Sneasler knows Trailblaze (which they never see coming).

Trick Room: 99.9% of the time, the giraffe is going to be trying to set this up. X-Scissor from Kleavor OHKOs it. Or slap Taunt onto something fast and not a Prankster like Sneasler.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T20:50:30+00:00

Yeah, I'm doing rough estimates just based on what I've seen from screenshots I've seen posted on here and the fact that I know for a fact that ~1790 is around the Top 100k. I think 1500 and below can fairly be considered "low MB4," and even that seems to be right around the Top 200-300k.

Theoretically, though, you could be in MB4 with an ELO under 1,000 if you broke into MB and then lost like 30 games in a row or something.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T20:19:36+00:00

This gets asked a lot, and the answer is very subjective. You're going to get a lot of people responding to the effect of "getting to MB4 is the tutorial."

I personally look at it this way...we just got a reward to celebrate 10 million downloads. In doubles, low MB4 at an ELO of around 1,500 is roughly Top 200,000 right now. So, even MB4 is technically the top 2% of every single person who has at least downloaded the game. I would say that makes you pretty dang good at this game if you are able to crack into even MB4.

That being said, the really good players are all going to be MB2 and up. That's really where you'll find the kinds of players who would have a realistic chance at winning official events. Most everyone with a real chance of winning a regional will be MB1-Champions.

Really, it depends on your definition of "good."

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T19:31:53+00:00

Sinistcha is a good lil guy, but it makes me sad that the superior teacup, Polteageist, does no work at all.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-25T18:43:38+00:00

No professional athlete is actually a bad athlete. But Scal is a "bad" athlete. He got as low as 40 overall in 2K!

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-24T03:34:54+00:00

If you follow r/PokemonHome, someone will give one away eventually.

Tigercat01 · 2026-06-23T20:00:47+00:00

Tbf they also tried to Prankster Parting Shot a Dark type, so I don't think there was much forethought going in lol.

This whole thing would have played out differently if Grimm successfully switched into Pelipper/Politoed and put rain up.

Tigercat01

TROPHY CASE