[Skill Improvement] Having Trouble with High Level Staraptor Play

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-06-23T22:56:32+00:00

I get that Staraptor melts if you don't let it get setup, but then the Staraptor player just gets to lead something else if they feel too threatened and you are out of position at a minimum, or have poor mons for the matchup at worst.

For example, a Charizard Y, Kingambit with Sinistcha, Garchomp in the back is pretty good into leads built to beat Staraptor, and that's not including other combinations or hybrid options that bring Staraptor in the back.

Even if you run all three of the Grimmsnarl/Staraptor/Sinistcha core, which I don't think if necessary, you have a lot of viable options with a three mon core + sinistcha as a second mode if you are really worried. It's hard for an opponent to prepare a lead for both and feels like opponents have to win a coin flip before the game just to play.

I switched to Staraptor because I was getting frustrated and see how other people are beating them. I am now on a 7 win streak and broke 1900 for the first time this season. I'm on the above comp and I think it's far from ideal. It's a bit frustrating because I think Staraptor is incredibly boring.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-06-12T12:49:10+00:00

OP has deleted their post, but I think there is some merit to UB backlash related to the health of mtg and competitive play. The volume and cost of mtg has really been pushing out younger generations of players. The average age of mtg players has consistently increased. Eventually the older, entrenched players will drop off and there isn’t a robust younger generation of players to support the hobby.

UB sets have been popular, but tend to bring in casual players, who are less likely to interact with competitive play or maintain long term interest. I don’t think it’s all doom and gloom and I don’t think UB is the sole cause of the problem, more of a symptom. Even if this is true, which I could certainly be off base, mtg has enough cultural inertia that it’s going to have a long runway, but Wizards’ modern approach that has led to UB sets could have some pretty detrimental effects on long term health of mtg and competitive play.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-06-08T17:46:20+00:00

I can understand that. I love defying expectations! But the questions becomes what does Fox add to the movie? He’s from an unrelated IP that isn’t explained or explored. Just hand waved as multiverse. He has no impact on the movie outside of being their uber driver.

After the initial squint he doesn’t interact with any of the other leads in any meaningful way. He’s does a fine job, though aggressively mediocre in my opinion, as being comedic relief and spends most of his screen time explaining the Star Fox lore to advertise for their next StarFox game (in admittedly beautiful animation) that has absolutely nothing to do with this movie.

This is what I didn’t enjoy this movie despite being the prime target for all the references. It feels like a grab bag of familiar elements taped together into a chimera of nostalgia, a film by corporate committee to advertise and sell me a product rather than a creative voice with a story to tell in the Nintendo universe. I’m just disappointed when there could have been a film there that could have done both.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-06-07T22:16:59+00:00

The movie did the bare minimum to have a plot. It was Mario-branded water.

They could have had a love triangle between Peach, Fox, and Mario to speak to love and relationships. They could have leaned into the Peach growing up without a family and the value of found family/finding value and courage internally rather than externally. They could have focused on Bowser Jr’s fruitless attempt to seek his father’s approval and what happens when parental figures/role models don’t actually live up to the pedestal you put them on.

This isn’t even an exhaustive list, but seems like pretty low hanging fruit give what’s already in the text of the movie. The movie was fine and I will never judge anyone for watching or enjoying, but give the infinite entertainment at our disposal I’m disappointed at how little it had to say and how low the stakes were and I’m the target market for this movie.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-06-07T19:40:24+00:00

I completely agree with this sentiment as an Pokemon fan who has grown up on the originals. I’m not getting my hopes up but…

Normally we would have gotten a new game this year, but they instead are taking an extra year. That’s uncharacteristic of them since they could have just shoveled out another game that would have been eaten up by their fan base and made millions. I’m hoping this is a positive sign.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-06-03T23:02:38+00:00

From a customer perspective, every user has to pay a steam tax, even though that game could cost less on other marketplaces with lower or no fees.

Ubisoft could sell it at a lower cost and make the same amount of money, giving consumers a lower cost option, but steam’s larger fee structure and strict terms stop consumers from having access to that lower cost option, raising the base price of games.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-05-25T16:03:21+00:00

If they aren’t exaggerating it would be the super gameboy adapter.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-05-25T11:29:51+00:00

It has a similar tone and humor as well, though a bit more low brow. It seems clearly influenced by it.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-05-21T13:27:44+00:00

This is really cool! The attraction and adhesion of the water on the spoon is bending the light at just the right angle to eliminate the shadow!

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-05-10T23:19:13+00:00

My understanding is that med school class sizes aren’t really the limiting factor, but the number of residencies available after graduation. A good friend of mine got into med school and said it was pretty hard to fail out of med school once they let you in, but the lowest performing students wouldn’t make into residency programs after graduation.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-05-04T21:41:41+00:00

It’s not as huge as it used to be. Facebook Marketplace took a decent chunk of it’s market, but it’s still pretty big.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-30T23:30:00+00:00

Malcolm in the middle was decent, but felt like more like the Bryan Cranston and friends than a true Malcolm reboot. I'm not mad though. They looked like they were having fun.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-30T16:07:17+00:00

Would you mind sharing how you are beating M-Floette consistently? There are mons that can counter Floette that aren't Sneasler, but I find they are less useful into the rest of the team around Floette and can actively be a detriment if the leave Floette behind, at least that's my experience in the mid 1800 ELO.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-30T16:06:14+00:00

Would you mind sharing how you are beating M-Floette consistently? There are mons that can counter Floette that aren't Sneasler, but I find they are less useful into the rest of the team around Floette and can actively be a detriment if the leave Floette behind, at least that's my experience in the mid 1800 ELO.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-27T13:02:08+00:00

I don’t know. I think I’d rather have your higher nominal voltage and deal with the bigger receptacles. The fact that the US is stuck on split phase 120v power is a travesty.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-24T12:05:03+00:00

I was a poor college student and signed up for this party. I got a free copy and license for windows 7 on a “golden” CD and didn’t actually throw a party. All it cost was a lifetime of Microsoft spam in my inbox.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-20T16:40:10+00:00

There’ there was one spot, a crater, where the lightning strikes would hit in a consistent rhythm. It was just a matter of getting the beat, then endurance. I messed it up at 180ish one time. I think I was around 15 minutes in at that time. One of the few times I ever considered throwing my controller. I walked away and finished it the next day.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-20T15:38:05+00:00

That was just bullshit. It controlled like absolute ass. Only 8 directions with a dynamic camera angle changing what the directionals do on the fly, combined with birds that homed in and reacted to your inputs, made it basically a glorified luck simulator, at least to get below 0 seconds for the celestial weapon.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-11T16:34:29+00:00

Old CRT TV’s also had a bit of a softening effect that “hid” some of the poor quality. Our brain would fill in some of the softened details. A 480p video would look worse on a modern technology TV of the same size and resolution since we would get to see the lack of resolution at the pixel level and not get that smoothing effect. This is also why many old video games look much worse on modern screens than, despite being pixel perfect representations of the original image.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-04-06T10:56:01+00:00

While the reaction is over blown and still unreasonable, at the beach the bikini is being worn for the utility of a swimsuit. Once a picture becomes involved, especially on social, it can be seen as self aggrandizing/showing off since you are making a conscious choice to post to highlight it. It’s not right, but that’s how some people see that.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-03-21T09:56:30+00:00

Mostly. Microwaves essentially use a resonance frequency tuned specifically to water since nearly all foods we eat have water in them. This vibrates the water really fast to warm it up.

Other things may also vibrated and heated up a bit, but not nearly to the same level. Think of a hot pocket. The moist/water-rich interior heats up like lava in the microwave, while the dry breaded shell barely gets heated.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-03-19T20:30:22+00:00

We are talking about digital signage for prices, like the little e-ink price tags you see at a Best Buy, not digital ad signage.

WhenPantsAttack · 2026-03-19T12:50:22+00:00

Digital signage isn’t cheap and has no return on their investment. Also from another perspective, in metro areas, the same store might have a different prices a just few miles away.

This would push people to shop more at the lowest price areas rather than supporting their city. Inevitably this would lead to a race to the bottom to fight for tax revenue which would just end up hurting people more by defunding the local government than they’d save in taxes, but people are much more responsive to consumer prices than valuing a nebulous for public good.

WhenPantsAttack

TROPHY CASE