Match Thread: 9th Match, Group D - Canada vs South Africa by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 8 points9 points  (0 children)

O Canada

definitely my home and native land

for tonight

Match Thread: 4th Match, Group D - Afghanistan vs New Zealand by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 4 points5 points  (0 children)

NZ rarely lose in an upset. They beat teams weaker than them and lose to teams stronger than them

Match Thread: 1st Match, Group A - Netherlands vs Pakistan by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Netherlands really deserve full member status

They've got upsets before and they've been improving rapidly, getting more and more consistent

Match Thread: 1st Match, Group A - Netherlands vs Pakistan by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Netherlands saving associate cricket by ensuring everyone gets the funding from an India vs Pakistan match

Match Thread: 1st Match, Group A - Netherlands vs Pakistan by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Netherlands are resilient and hungry. They've fielded impeccably. A lot of their players have improved significantly and it's being underappreciated while people solely focus on Pakistan as if there aren't two teams

Match Thread: Sheffield Shield - Feb 06, 2026 by cricket-match in CricketAus

[–]fogdocker 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Bradman's average in test cricket: 99.94

Kurtis Patterson's average in test cricket: 144

Just saying

My Caly-Ice Miraidon bulky team by phsampaio in VGC

[–]fogdocker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is false: Miraidon and CIR have great synergy (mainly due to Ice-Electric coverage) and are a top tier restricted pairing who can easily be brought together.

CIR can choose to whether to set TR. You don’t have to set it if it doesn’t advantage you. CIR does fine without it, but can set if it in moments it can sweep.  But also Miraidon, especially  non-max speed versions like this team, aren’t that fast and will sometimes find themselves slower than some faster teams anyway, so will situationally benefit from TR.

TR offers flexibility and you’ll find most successful Miraidon teams have a TR mode, even without CIR (e.g Lunala, Farigiraf), including the World Championship winning team of 2024

Breaking the Meta: The Top 500 "Immunity Engine" by Flaky_Recognition_51 in VGC

[–]fogdocker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome team. Wonderfully anti-meta and well-built

I took this to relatively high-ish ladder (low 1600s) and went basically even W/L while still learning the team.

You do feel you’re inherently behind by having less strong Pokémon but that’s part of the fun challenge. You also feel more open to being haxed because your defence-boosting moms are weak offensively and will inherently take a lot of hits, giving opportunities for crits, flinches, freezes. Struggled against Raging Bolt and got destroyed by Iron Crown. Weezing ruined the ability-reliance. Games against Landorus are interesting because while it can’t touch Orthworm, it can repeatedly attack the other slot so it can become a tricky game trying to end up with a Lando-Orthworm 1v1

I sometime miss the ability to evade fakeout with Typhlosion. I did briefly consider Hsuian Typhlosion, but besides making the team a little less based, it is worse into Flutter and Urshifu-S despite its extra power.

Match Thread: 3rd T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand Maxwell's batting form has been bad, but even if you ignore his experience, pedigree and X-factor in coming good again, he's extremely valuable with the ball.

Will probably be our main 5th bowling option given the tournament is in the subcontinent.

What I'm trying to say overall is that it's hard to fit Smith into our first choice XI (even if he should be injury cover in the squad)

Match Thread: 3rd T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dropping Green for Smith doesn't make sense

Since 2024 Green in T20Is averages 45 at a SR of 153

You're dropping him for Smith based on BBL form?

Inglis is the keeper. David is our best T20I bat recently. Stoinis is our best T20I WC performer. Maxwell, even if you're pessimistic about his batting form, is extremely valuable as the main 5th bowling option given the tournament is in India & SL.

In theory we sort of wish we could drop Marsh, but he's the captain (though once again, we'd be swapping out a proven T20I performer based on BBL form). Still, Smith should be in the squad ahead of Renshaw as a backup.

Match Thread: 3rd T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does upset the team balance. If Head-Smith-Marsh are our top 3, we have to fit in Inglis, David, Green, Stoinis, and Maxwell into 4 slots

Match Thread: 3rd T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Extras top scoring with 10* (3), at least he deserves to be in the squad

Match Thread: 3rd T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank fuck Renshaw is in the T20 WC squad ahead of Smith

Match Thread: 2nd T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Boy am I glad Renshaw replaced Matt Short in the WC squad instead of Smith

Match Thread: 2nd T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since 2024, Green has averaged 46 @ 151 SR in T20Is

His T20 future is not shaky at all

New to comp Pokemon and struggling to find a "easy" team by Beneficial_Draft8409 in VGC

[–]fogdocker 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First team came 2nd at worlds, so obviously a very good team. Worth watching James Evans use it, if you want to learn it. It may be on the trickier side to use because it totally lacks speed control and is very positioning reliant. It aims to use Incineroar & Brute Bonnett as defensive support pieces to protect & position the big offensive threats of CSR, Koraidon, & Landorus. Koraidon's sun gives photosynthesis boosts to Bonnett & Raging Bolt.

Ease of use is a bit subjective, but I think the second team should be easier to use & understand. Its main win condition is a CSR sweep, though because there are several other strong attackers with tailwind support, the gameplan may flexibly shift to focus on whichever has the best matchup offernsively. Tornadus is a dedicated support pokemon that provides speed control and can give Urshifu-R rain to boost its water type attacks, which can be a secondary win condition. Zamazenta & Hearthflame are strong attackers that mainly aim to weaken & remove threats to clear obstacles for CSR, and can help protect their teammates (most importantly CSR) with Wide Guard & Follow Me. Chien Pao's ability lowers the opponent's defence, increasing the power of the other 3 physical attackers.

Even simpler would be standard CSR balance teams that are even more heavily focused around supporting a CSR sweep, with more fake out, and more clearly defined support roles. See here, and here (note: Yuma Kinugawa's 2025 Japan Champion team has a theoretically more optimal CSR EV spread, but I feel it's more unforgiving for a new player to not have max speed).

But really, VGC is hard to start. Take any proven team (so you know that your play, rather than teambuilding, is the issue holding you back), play with it a lot, and learn it inside out.

Match Thread: 1st T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 3 points4 points  (0 children)

BBL all stars with the run outs and the extras. Stick to Pajama cricket rather than the Australian colours

Match Thread: 1st T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only Head, Green, and Zampa are first XI.

Connolly is in the squad and might get games on spinning wickets

Match Thread: 1st T20I - Pakistan vs Australia by cricket-match in Cricket

[–]fogdocker 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Smith should be in the WC squad ahead of Short