#poma rerun value

[crystalelemental]

PokeFair Rerun Value

Two Triple PokeFair banners are running this month, and in pretty close succession! I figure, for funsies, I should talk about them, since...apparently a lot of people on Reddit are thinking the Tapu are a better value than Nate? God I love that place. Such an uproar about Nate being under-appreciated, and he finally gets a legitimately staggering alt, and people are clamoring he got fucked over because SS Serena's damage is comparable. Lunatics.

Set A: The Tapu Alongside the Alola VA events rerunning, SS Acerola, SS Mina, and SS Lana are running as a combo focus. To be direct about my own biases, the Tapu are among my greatest regrets as far as pulls go. None of them were particularly exciting picks as far as characters go, I don't really like the costume choices for anyone barring Lana, whose game iteration is one of my least favorites in the series, and I was devastated at no Lusamine/Nihilego like there should have been. I was drawn in by field effects, my eternal loves, but frankly I am not a huge fan of how they actually function.

SS Lana's the easiest one to speak out against. She's a DPS pair who is physical for no real reason, and it absolutely fucks with CS parameters, necessitating that you have both Physical and Special Damage Reduction 8 not checked off. Those 100 points are obnoxious at best, and devastating at worst when attempting to off-type. Lana also does the same AoE no penalty shit as Lusamine, so despite being the long-awaited partner, the two have this nasty tendency to fail when it comes to pressuring center. Their single-target damage is just not up to par. SS Steven can make use of Lana, but there's also something to be said for the notion of, why Lana? What does Lana seriously contribute? Extended Terrain? Because yeah, sure, but is that substantially more valuable than what others present, especially when Lana's Buddy move animation sharply eats into that extended duration anyway? I've used her, but I unironically like Anni May better.

SS Mina is, frankly, a pretty poor overall support. Team Sharp Entry and an immediate cap of Sp Atk is nice, but if you pulled NC Blue, there is absolutely no reason to pull Mina. Like, imagine if Blue were just hella slow, couldn't cap crit, didn't have offense debuffs backing his defensive buffs, and healed less on his 1MP trainer move, and also couldn't flinch or paralyze. Mina is nice for Fairy compositions, but little else. Her Rain support is downright laughable with SS Kris around, and her Fairy Zone requires her to constantly take sync to keep up, which messes with pairs like Diantha and SS Wally who need to sync to contribute. And don't forget, slow and has a minimum of two-bar spam with Draining Kiss, so she exacerbates a major problem the type tends to have. Tanky stats are one thing, but there are a metric ton of tanky supports these days, including this new Sycamore. Her only relevant contribution is Fairy Zone, and SS Wally's a far better option for that effect.

SS Acerola is the only real consideration. Lauded as one of the best supports due to her rapid-fire boosting of PMUN, and ability to cap all relevant physical stats, Acerola...now has direct competition in Argenta and NC Rosa. No I'm...not joking. Acerola's contributions are that field effects like weather, terrain, and zone activate a +1 PMUN for the team, which is nice, but her own applications are "on sync" and "2MP Sun." Her Buddy move gives +1, but only up to three times. Yes, this is often sufficient. But it does mean she runs out, and it's actually difficult to get the speed boosts from her TM when you'd want them half the time. Argenta has no such problems, is more persistent with PMUN, and grants accuracy, while being able to ditch field effects for a less threatening spread of CS parameters. And NC Rosa is now coming in with comparable stacking ability thanks to her TM, which gives better gauge performance, better defensive backbone with pop healing, the ability to support special strikers as well, and can also do accuracy and less threatening CS parameters like Argenta. Acerola is good, but if you're F2P and thinking man, I only get so many picks, keep in mind that Acerola, while broadly applicable, is specifically superior only for Grass/Fire type physical pairs. In every other situation, Rosa wins, and Argenta at least competes.

My overall stance on the Tapu is harsh, but I hold firmly to it. Their kits are interesting, but I've found very, very little use for any of them. Acerola sees the most play, go figure, but since getting Argenta, I've used her less and less. And with Rosa coming up, I expect she'll drop even further.

Set B: Gauntlet Trio This Legendary Gauntlet focuses on Entei, Tapu Bulu, and Uxie. As such, the decisions they made for PokeFairs were...SS Blue, SS Korrina, and Emma. Korrina is the only Ghost PokeFair, and I guess Lysandre was busy. Also we're going Blue because we hate you.

Let's get the big one out of the way: SS Blue may have been top dog in his day, but I earnestly don't believe you. He offers only Def and crit as reliable buffs, otherwise relying on 50%s for Sp Def, and random activations for Atk or Sp Atk. His healing potential is some of the worst, relying on 30%s to maintain. Unless you have him 2/5, I legitimately think Dawn is a better starting tank for a new player, just due to the value of built-in Vigilance when you don't have lucky skill availability. His position was downright dire when I got here, and it's only gotten worse over time. I'll admit, he takes hits pretty well, but this is not unique to him, and I've never found success with him in CS unless it was stall parameters. And even then he doesn't do well with Challenge Stall in the 10k and 15k meta. Blue is a bad pick at this point.

SS Korrina, my beloathed. Coming in here just outright better than Anni Lillie in literally every way that matters. I'll never forgive this bullshit. The only joy in my life is that her limited MP Snatch move can miss and tank her run. That's what you get, Korrina. This is what you deserve. I'd say Korrina is good. She's always seemed to do well for people who pulled her, and the CS parameter of Five Stats +3 is hilarious when they're trying to use it against Korrina. It's free money. I...honestly don't have a good reason to say you shouldn't do this. Ghost isn't exactly thriving right now, and neither Anni Lillie nor Renegade Cynthia can be said to be "better" than her. Which still makes me mad, those two are fucking Master Fairs, why are they such garbage?

Emma is my girl. Poison damage has come a long way, but Emma's still peak. Her Buddy move is obscenely overpowered, and in 3v3 content is absolutely devastating. Her ability to give the entire team +4 speed means any team is running perfect gauge control, and she can even get Free Moves Next when hitting poisoned foes. Her sync is explosive, her Potions can be nice, Emma is just an excellent all-around Striker. Who cannot do Gauntlet worth beans. Seriously, it's bad. I don't know why they did this to her.

I'd say this one has better overall value. Emma remains exceptional, while Korrina is still very good even if I can't personally vouch for her. Blue sucks though, so like. The highs are higher than the Tapu, but the lows are much lower too.

Final Verdict Skip both. I'm so serious.

Look, the Tapu set seems appealing, but having run them, they're not as significant as you'd hope. Acerola is really strong, but she isn't doing a single thing NC Rosa can't also do, and Rosa covers special too. Mina's really bulky and has capped Sp Atk for allies, but often this isn't as relevant as you'd hope, and the Fairy/Rain combo does almost nothing half the time. Lana...look, she's fine. Psychic's kinda fallen off in a way where its supports and F2P-adjacent pairs are the most interesting thing about them.

Meanwhile, SS Blue sucks, SS Korrina's pretty good, and Emma's extremely good...but the split between the three hurts a lot, because you're always dealing with those lower rates, and the possibility of getting bodied by Blue, who just isn't really worth it.

Moreover, all of them are happening around this month's new additions. You want absurd power, NC Nate has more than anything these sets provide. You want really good support, NC Rosa is arguably the best there is. You want a really powerful defensive support, honestly Winter Sycamore ain't lookin' too bad. You need a rare type covered? I get that Poison isn't super common, but at least that's had a lot of powerful picks drop recently, Bug is still a wasteland, and we're given one with excellent utility and Zone. I just can't think of a scenario where either of these sets outperforms what's new this month.