[Online Competition] 3v3 Little Cup (check OP for the giveaway thread)

Theorymon

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THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME! I predicted this over a year ago, and it's finally happened!


That's right, Gamefreak is doing a 3DS Little Cup Tournament in May! This is huge: these tournaments often get more players than Pokemon Showdown's ENTIRE userbase, so this is basically the biggest exposure for Little Cup EVER!

To celebrate this happening, we're having a bit of a collaboration here: The Little Cup and Battle Spot forums are going to team up, to discuss and prepare for this metagame! Let's try to top the 3DS tournament!

Here are the rules to get you started on discussing this!

The big changes compared to Smogon's Little Cup rules are numerous though, so I'll detail them here.

1. This metagame is 3 vs 3 singles. This means that you bring 6 Pokemon, but can only choose 3 to battle. This usually makes games faster paced.

2. EVIOLITE IS BANNED! Expect this to make games a lot faster paced! Also, Soul Dew is banned for some reason lol.

3. There is no Uber list in this metagame. This means stuff like Scyther and Swirlix are legal!

4. Berry Juice is allowed!

5. Item clause is in full effect here. So sorry, only one Pokémon can carry Berry Juice...

6. This metagame auto level downs Pokemon to 5. This means that genderless Pokemon have full access to their movepool!

7. Pokebank is BANNED. This means that moves that require previous gen tutors are illegal!

8. No OHKO, Sleep, Evasion, or Moody clause here! That sounds scary as hell, but trust me, battle spot is usually able to deal with this just fine, so I'm sure people will be able to deal with it here :P

This thread will be in both the Little Cup AND Battle Spot forums somehow, so both userbases should expect to see some new faces! This may be moved + redirected, or maybe here will just be two threads that will be linked together. Either way though, I think we'll need both Little Cup and Battle Spot Singles knowledge to decode this metagame, so let's team up!

Before we start, I want to set out a little goal here: Let's try to get out a functional threat list by May 15th, which is a week before the tournament starts. If we do this, it could go a long way towards getting people prepared for this metagame!

Have fun people!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Since a huge part of playing these tournaments involves breeding your team, a bunch of really nice people have done the hard work for you and are hosting a giveaway featuring all the top tier threats! What's even better is that all the Pokemon being given away are shiny so you can battle in style. Go claim what you need and thank those running it

 

Theorymon

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Guys I should probably clarify: This thread is more about metagame discussion. In order to enter the tournament, you actually have to use gamefreak's website (since this is on the 3DS). And sign ups don't start till May 15th anyways. Sorry for the confusion!

Gamefreak tournaments also work differently than normal tournaments: They're more like short lived ladders with daily battle limits, over a 3 day period. It sounds odd, but its pretty much needed when over 10,000 people are guaranteed to join your tournament @_@

Anyways, let's try to focus on metagame talk here, so then when the actual tournament day comes, we can kick some ass internationally!
 
I won't be playing in the tournament but i'll guess what the metagame will be like at the high level:

scyther, sneasel, SR lead, sneasel check, scyther check, filler (or something along these lines, basically every good team will have at least the first 3). Both scyther and, to a lesser extent, sneasel, are incredibly broken and the metagame will be centered around them. Because of there being no eviolite it does mean that sneasel can revenge scyther (could be wrong), so that's definitely something to note. Speed ties are going to decide many games :/

also the junior/senior or master system is p stupid, if I joined i would have to play even MORE starter teams before I got to the top ;-;
 
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Merritt

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How to win:

Swirlix.

No but seriously, Swirlix is arguably more of an issue than Scyther. It needs setup, sure, but its CGCM set is absurd, the BD set sweeps even easier now that Eviolite is banned, and it's probably a really good BJ mon. All your teams should have a Koffing.

Obvious good items: BJ, LO, Scarf, (Band/Specs), Sashbra, Oran Berry.

Oh and make sure you bring something to break BJ Recycle, since 3v3 means hazards are less viable.

E: Scyther is important to break Evasion shenanigans with its STAB Technician Aerial Ace. And OHKO moves are pretty trash, although if you're lucky af... Oh and Yanma can spam Hypnosis forever.

And Bidoof may or may not be a potent threat that will slay everybody.

E2: @ below

Sash mons are typically Abra, who didn't care about hazards anyways. Gastly and Diglett also run sash sometimes, but Gastly is pretty outclassed by Missy generally (although Gastly can hit Swirlix much harder) and Diglett's not doing all that much.

General Purpose mons in LC today is our Lord Mienfoo, who holds Eviolite most of the time. Porygon should be good though, since it can finally run Analytic and moves.
 
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Theorymon

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I won't be playing in the tournament but i'll guess what the metagame will be like at the high level:

scyther, sneasel, SR lead, sneasel check, scyther check, filler (or something along these lines, basically every good team will have at least the first 3). Both scyther and, to a lesser extent, sneasel, are incredibly broken and the metagame will be centered around them. Because of there being no eviolite it does mean that sneasel can revenge scyther (could be wrong), so that's definitely something to note. Speed ties are going to decide many games :/

also the junior/senior or master system is p stupid, if I joined i would have to play even MORE starter teams before I got to the top ;-;
Now I need to take a crash course on Little Cup (I haven't played it seriously since gen 4 lol), but something I know from 3v3 in both regular and Ubers is that often times, a lot of teams aren't guaranteed to use Stealth Rock. 3v3 is a lot faster paced than 6v6, so sometimes some teams will find it better to just start slamming stuff asap.

Because of this, I got a question to you LC people: Do you think there are any dangerous Focus Sash Pokemon that would benefit from 3v3? Focus Sash is a LOT more common in 3v3. I mean, in battle spot singles, you even see it on stuff like Landorus-T, because clutch survivals are a LOT more dangerous in 3v3 compared to 6v6. Do you think any Little Cup Pokemon could fit that bill?

Also, another factor I'm interested in: In the 3v3 metagames I've played, I've found that Pokemon who have more "general multipurposeness" work better than Pokemon who "do a few jobs really well . An example: Porygon2, Suicune, and Cresselia aren't big in OU, but they are god damn superstars in Battle Spot, enough so that Mega Salamence usage actually CRATERED! Do you guys think Little Cup 3v3 could have something like that? It doesn't need to be a defensive threat either, just something that looks like it'd be a lot more special in 3v3 than 6v6 because they're more "general".
 
I'm really excited that Gamefreak is promoting Little Cup by introducing this tournament! I've also dabbled a little bit in Battlepot singles, and am interested to see how this format goes in LC. The banning of Eviolite and item-clause makes defensive mons almost completely unviable in the face of heavy hitters like Sneasel, Scyther, and Swirlix. Porygon would have been ideal for checking multiple threats like its big brother Porygon2, but without Eviolite its ability to take hits is hurt. Lack of Eviolite means that set up sweepers like Swirlix and Scyther will completely rip through unprepared teams, so Sturdy Juice Recycle Magnemite should be a very good catch-all check. Focus Sash Abra might be helpful, but it can't rkill Scyther so Mag would still be better. Murkrow seems like it could be a decent mon to throw on teams due to Prankster Thunder Wave, strong priority, and nuclear Brave Birds. Also, Swagkrow is free so Lum berry might not be a bad item for set-up sweepers like Scyther. To me, it seems every team will have Scyther/Magnemite/Sneasel/Sneasel Check/Swirlix Check/Swirlix or something along those lines. Although it seems like it will be ruled by speed ties, I'm very excited to see how the metagame will evolve, and will hope to participate in this! (Even though breeding sucks and takes too much time, not to mention the weird evs being done easiest through Super Training.)

E: Koffing a shit without eviolite
+6 212+ Atk Swirlix Frustration vs. 36 HP / 236+ Def Koffing: 22-26 (104.7 - 123.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
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Merritt

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So for moody our unaware users are based lord wooper, some bat thing idk who even cares ain't woop woop, and BIDOOF

BIDOOF V BIDOOF EVERY MATCH GUYS
 
Holy shit. This meta. Scyther, Sneasel, Tangela, Yanma, and Swirlix are already notorious for being insanely broken, but the lack of Eviolite and sleep clause simply exacerbates this. Sneasel has literally one reliable switch in (Swirlix), and even that can get KOed by Ice Punch with a little prior damage. Swirlix, as mentioned, will tear through virtually anything with the lack of Eviolite. Tangela is also really good for being bulky and strong while outspeeding so much shit under sun. Yanma will have a field day against anything it can outspeed thanks to Hypnosis. Scyther simply has raw stats, a great ability, and a great movepool, but I'm not sure it will be as broken as the others, since it gets hit hard by a lot of key threats, Sneasel and Fletchling being most notable.

I'm not really sure as to how Gligar, Murkrow, Meditite, and Misdreavus will perform in this meta, simply because of what else is in it. I'm sure they won't be horrible, but they will probably be overshadowed the bigger threats. Fighting-types seem really subpar as well, because a lot of what they could take advantage of seems to be hurt by the bigger threats and Eviolite ban. The fact that six new and good checks were reintroduced does not help Fighting-types either. On that note, Pawniard is pretty much completely outclassed by Sneasel.
 
I'm going to sub protect Bidoof all day screw your belly drum cotton ball and sd sneasel/scythers!
Seriously though, this is super exciting!
Unfortunately I can't say in or nah atm due to my schedule but I'll be with you guys in spirit!
 

Merritt

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Wait so there is No banned Mons!!!
3. There is no Uber list in this metagame. This means stuff like Scyther and Swirlix are legal!
Gamefreak isn't exactly known for their extensive testing as to balance in singles (see Mega Khan and Mence).

The main impact of the unbanning is that so many things are unviable. If you can't take a move from Scyther/Sneasel or OHKO with a scarf, then you shouldn't use it. And why would you, considering that there's so many broken things to exploit?
 

Arcticblast

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Cottonee @ Focus Sash
Level: 5
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 116 HP / 196 Def / 196 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Memento
- Encore
- Dazzling Gleam / Knock Off / Protect

Trick Room seems to be a lot better in 3v3 so naturally when coming up with ideas I went to the "pretty much autopilot" thing. Set TR as soon as possible, maybe Encore something first to aid setup, then Memento for a free three-turn rampage with Skrelp.
EDIT: FUCK ME COTTONEE DOESN'T LEARN TRICK ROOM

Skrelp @ Life Orb
Level: 5
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 36 HP / 116 Def / 200 SpA / 116 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Sludge Wave
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power Fire / Scald
- Scald / Swagger

damn this thing has no moves lol. Once you get TR up, send in the cleaning crew. Skrelp's pretty damn strong.

a couple alternate TR setters include Porygon and Spritzee (best Sneasel answer?) and of course because it's 3v3 you can always throw Scyther / Sneasel / Meditite / Remoraid / Sashmon / whatever else onto the other part of your team!
 
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