#Bought the blp stage play

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Love spending some of my money on things i like

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PDL Week 5 Recap

PDL Week 5 Recap

We return from the bye week and each team has had an extra week of training to help them prepare for their matches. Let’s see how they did.

DEP vs. NWN: 0-6

HEH vs. BAL: 0-2

VAV vs. AUK: 0-1

BFS vs. NJJ: 6-0

TOT vs. BEN: 6-0 (Forfeit)

COG vs. SHS: 4-0

SLC vs. ITA: 2-0

NYY vs. LOL: 0-3

PIP vs. HFW: 1-0

JAX vs. DCC: 0-5

BLP vs. MIN: 0-5

MID vs. MIL: 4-0

This week featured the top 2 teams in each division going head to head in some crazy battles and at the end of it. There is only 1 team left that is undefeated. Geo and the Columbus Gallades atop the standings. This is proving to be a tougher year of PDL than anyone expected. Any team has the potential to take down any other team on the right day.

After 5 weeks of play, lets look at the top 5 on the MVP race. At the top we have Snorlax from BFS with 13 kills and only 2 deaths with a +/- of 11. The next closest is Excadrill with 9 Kills, 1 death and a +/- of 8. Following we have 3 pokemon tied with +/- of 7. Tapu koko with 8 kills 1 death, and Tornadus-T  and Vileplume with 7 Kills and 0 deaths. 7 more weeks to rack up kills and prove who is the MVP this season.

Pick’ems

This week was full of upsets and that caused most people to be less than accurate in this weeks predictions. NWN had a 3-9 upsets along with SLC 2-10, PIP 3-9 and MID 4-8. While people are learning who to pick based of previous weeks anything can happen as the closest person had 10/12 correct. Who knows maybe next week someone will get it all right.

Trades

We had a bunch of trades this week so lets see how things went down.

AUK Terrakion T1 Free Agent Weavile BLP Dhelmise T3 TOT Feraligatr TOT Feraligatr T2 BLP Dhelmise BLP Feraligatr T2 Free Agent Medicham TOT Turtonator T4 Free Agent Granbull NYY Escavalier T4 Free Agent Alolan Dugtrio HFW Honchkrow T3 Free Agent Greninja (Torrent)

  The first thing we see is TheBritishGent relapsing and making more trades to feed his addiction. In all reality we see Power being swapped for more power, and and different mons of the same type being interchanged. I know I can speak for myself when I say that, I looked at my future matchups and saw that the potential for Honchkrow to make an appearance was going to be slim so I looked for another mon that could fill his shoes and off more to my squad overall and I found that in Greninja. I think these changes could have a real impact. Nothing says scary like Weavile or hip like Alolan Dugtrio… anyways lets move on…

Interview with Lynian

This week I’m joined by the trivia master himself Lynian

Clod9: Thank you Lynian for taking the time to answer these questions for the fans. This is your big reveal into battling within PUCL, how is it going so far?

Lynian: I would like to think it’s going well! I haven’t made a complete ass of myself, at least, with some respectable wins under my belt. Adjusting to draft league has been a bit of a journey, but I think I have a good team and a solid grasp on what it can do.

C9: How did your draft go? Were you nervous?

L: I was very, very nervous. I was so nervous, in fact, that instead of typing Thundurus-I, I typed Tornadus-I. Well, what can you do? I recovered, calmed down, and the resulting Porygon-Z pick up has done wonders, so I’m quite happy with how it went. Even if DrShamu stole my Zygarde, forcing me to take Landorus.

C9: What are your goals for this season of PDL?

L: I would like to think that I’ve already accomplished them! I went into this hoping above hope that I might actually pull a single win out, and to my surprise, I’m doing much better than I expected! As we settle into the back half of the season, I think my goals are making the playoffs. I can lose the first round, but I’m going to do my damnedest to make it there.

C9: Who are most looking forward to battling this season?

L: I’m really looking forward to battling the rest of my division. So far, I’ve only fought Geo, and I don’t like the look of my 0% in-division win rate. I hope to fix that, and shortly.

C9: Is there anyone you are glad you don’t have to face in the regular season?

L: R. Sigma, Seth Vilo, DrShamu, and well, you. Sigma has an eerie amount of foresight, Shamu is just a better battler than I, Seth is a stall monster who needs to be stopped, and you are just me but better.

C9: You are also sponsoring the Create a Pokemon Competition. How did that come about?

L: About the time of the UUTC, I was looking over the tentative calendar for the year, especially all of the community events and tournaments. I realized that if someone wasn’t into Pokemon for the competitive scene (cards, battles, or badges), there really weren’t any events for them. As a fan who loves the world and collection as much or more than the actual core gameplay, this didn’t sit right with me. So, I gathered up a few cohorts, and we drafted up a plan so that people who were more into non-battle mechanics could have a chance to shine.

C9: if you had to create a Pokemon what would it be?

L: See, now it feels like I’m being evaluated on my credibility! Well, if I had to pick one of my ideas, I really like the Fire/Grass Pokemon based on pyrophytes (plants that require fire as part of their reproductive cycle) that I have made. I call it Flakseed. It looks like a tank. The other one that I liked was a Psychic/Bug Pokemon called Paramoth, based around the idea of the “butterfly effect.” It was an oversized moth with clocks as wings, and it had a unique ability that applied the crit-boosting effect of Super Luck and the effect of Serene Grace… to every Pokemon on the battlefield.

C9: Why did you choose the team name, Salt Lake Combees?

L: Well, my home state has a relative dearth of sports teams, other than the Jazz, and I couldn’t come up with a good pun for it. I settled on using the Salt Lake Bees, a minor league baseball team, as the base, but I knew another team was taking the Beedrills. Figuring that a minor league team doesn’t need a fully-evolved Pokemon, I settled on the Salt Lake Combees.

C9: Were there any secret techs that you brought for your matchups that you didn’t get to showcase?

L: I think the only secret tech that I brought that didn’t get to see any play was Sludge Wave on Tornadus on my week against Sparky. He didn’t bring any of his Fairy mons, so the tech sat unused. Tornadus also got knocked out in the match against Whimsicott before getting to set off Defog to clear her Aurora Veil, but that doesn’t feel special enough to qualify as a secret tech… Oh! Due to an unlucky crit, I never had the health to pull it off, but I did have Z-Gravity on my Landorus one week, hoping to sweep with the +Sp. Atk boost to my Earth Power.

C9: Who would you say is the mon you are most excited to use on your team this year?

L: Honestly, I have no idea. I’m genuinely excited to use two of my personal favorites in Galvantula and Porygon-Z, but part of me is just happy to see Magmar doing anything at all. NFE Pokemon are really good in this meta, man.

  C9: Let’s learn about you as a pokemon Fan. When did you start listening to PUCL?

L: It’s been just about a year, actually! I dived into the chatroom quick, and the rest is history. One thing to note, I actually listened to all of the Game Corners before I listened to a main show! I was so confused when everyone was talking about this Thatch guy. Snag loves it when I tell that story.

C9: What pokemon generation did you start with?

L: The very first video game that I owned was Pokémon Sapphire. I’m confident my mom just bought it for me when she got my GameBoy because I had watched some of the “cartoon.” Little did she know that I would play it almost exclusively, well past childhood.

C9: What is your favorite region?

L: Alola, full stop. The region was bursting with life. Every area felt distinct, but still one region. People often say that it was too “tropical” or had too little variation, but the consistency was something I found that tied it together more than bored me. Instead of “Pokémon Urban Outskirts #412”, each area felt like it fit. Not to mention the fairly great representation of Hawaii!

C9: Who is your favorite pokemon?

L: Minior, no doubts. I love the goofy little boi. When I first saw it, I was mostly unimpressed by its design, but the gimmick of the ability had me interested. Now, though, I love the swirly glasses and the candy colors! It looks like something that would fly silently, but instead makes airplane noises with its mouth (that would, of course, get muffled by the rock casing). It’s currently my phone background.

C9: If you had to pick: Attack or Special Attack?

L: Boy, oh boy, is this an interesting question. See, besides having two different stats to resist, both attacking stats are affected very differently by battle. See, Attack is a dynamic stat where Special Attack is much harder to influence. Want to boost attack? Swords Dance, Huge Power, Moxie, Defiant, or a myriad of other effects are widely available and usually influence it either by multiple stages or by being easy to trigger. Want to cripple a physical attacker? Intimidate and Burn are also widely available. The reverse is not true. Other than Snarl, how do you effectively drop Special Attack? Most moves to raise it are either rare, or specifically Calm Mind, too, so raising it is hard. All things being even, I like the consistency of Special Attack over the dramatic highs and lows of Attack.

C9: What is your battle style: Stall/Hyper Offense/Bulky Offense/Balance?

L: Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *Cough* The preferred Lynian strategy is 5 sweepers and a pivot. I think that speaks for itself. I like to smash things. :3

C9: Do you prefer Speed or Trick Room?

L: My brain says Speed, but my heart says Trick Room. I think out of specific edge cases (like best boy Stakatakatkatkataktakakatkataktakaktaktaktaktaka), I prefer to have something faster than something that functions under a gimmick in general. It just sucks when your team requires the move in play and you don’t get a chance to set it up.

C9: What is your favorite Weather; Hail/Sand/Rain or Sun?

L: Hail and Sand (outside of specifically my Mono-Rock team) are horrible and I hate them. I think I prefer Sun to Rain, if only because multiple types can flourish under it, while Rain is mostly limited to Water-types. Chlorophyll, Solar Beam, and Flower Gift are some examples of Grass-types getting a nice boost, with the increased damage to Fire-moves giving them a strong edge.

C9: Electric/Misty/Grassy or Psychic Terrain?

L: The terrains are an interesting concept, but I find them more or less bland weather. Grassy Terrain’s passive healing aside, I forget they are in play half of the time. I would think Psychic Terrain is my favorite, but only because Tapu Lele not having to worry about priority is nice. I wouldn’t carry a terrain move if I could avoid it. Maybe for Draft League.

C9: Favorite status to inflict: Sleep/Freeze/Paralysis/Burn or Poison?

L: I think it’s got to be Freeze. You see it so rarely and knowing the sheer defeat that a Frozen Pokémon inflicts on its trainer is just delicious to watch.

C9: Have you watched the Pokemon anime? If yes, what is your favorite Theme song?

L: I have watched the show since I was a little kid, and I doubt there is a theme song from the show I can’t sing other than the Gen 5 ones after the first, and the English version of the Sun and Moon one (I watch subtitled episodes because I have no patience). Hard choice between Pokémon Johto and Advanced Challenge.

C9: That is all the time we have for today! Until next time, Clod-out!

from PDL Week 5 Recap