Team Preview

[Nix_Hex]

Team Preview

image credited to Zebraiken

Team preview was one of the most controversial introductions to the 5th Generation. "It would ruin the surprise factor in Pokemon battles!"; "There are no such thing as leads now!"; "No more scouting, either!"; "Naaw guys, it's okay because both teams are still on equal playing ground!" The mechanics of Team Preview work just like this: in-game, a selection screen pops up showing both teams and the ability to set the order in which your Pokemon are to appear in battle. On Pokemon Online, the screen is a bit more friendly, with both teams shown in one line and the default order being that of your team in the Team Builder window. You can arrange the Pokemon in any order just by clicking on the sprite representing that Pokemon and clicking on its new position.

The most important implication here is that you can choose your lead Pokemon based on the information you can gather just by looking at your opponent's team! Naturally, people predicted that using dedicated "suicide" leads such as Azelf or Aerodactyl, who were so popular in DPP as a means of almost guaranteeing Stealth Rock, would be less effective. You could now see your opponent's team and see which lead you are using and use the appropriate check as their lead. The abundance of Politoed and Ninetales as weather starters threw a monkey wrench in the plans of Tyranitar and Hippowdon, formerly the only instant weather starters in OU.

Have these early hypotheses remained true? In what ways have Team Preview benefited or hindered the Pokemon experience? How has it affected either your caution or your recklessness over the course of the match? What leads have become common?

One of the most common and dangerous leads in OU has been Rotom-W.

Rotom-W can run a variety of dangerous sets, from Choice Scarf to Choice Specs to bulky support. The danger here is that Rotom-W can fit Volt Switch very nicely on on any of its common sets even if it's not being used as a lead. The very sight of this Pokemon can make you think twice before sending out your weather starter, especially but not limited to, if they have a weather starter of their own. Consider the following scenario:
You are running Politoed as your weather starter. You see that your opponent has no weather starter of their own, so you are safe to get your weather immediately. But wait one second... Your opponent has a Rotom-W, who is naturally faster than Politoed and poses a threat with Thunderbolt or Volt Switch. Your opponent, knowing that you have control of the weather from the get-go, will likely predict your Politoed lead and send out their Rotom-W. The battle starts and as you may have expected, Politoed and Rotom-W face off. Being the master of the type chart that you are, you switch to Ferrothorn, who sponges both of Rotom-W's STAB attacks with its resistances and excellent Special Attack. Wait, wait... you see that they have a Magnezone! Gastrodon would be a wiser choice, being immune to both of Rotom-W's STABs and potentially getting a Special Attack boost from an overpredicted Hydro Pump. In either case, you hope to God they don't Trick you a Choice Scarf.

Do predicaments like these affect your team building? Gastrodon is a great Pokemon anyways, but would you feel it absolutely necessary to use one to take advantage of this very situation? Discuss!


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[blutrainer]

yess first post ok so in my opinion no those hypothesis are not correct i think that team preview has just helped the pokemon games evolve and us players just need to keep up, i also think that it has hindered the experience somewhat because it does ruin the surprise as for common leads LO Mienshao equipped with fake out and U-Turn is seen a lot

 

[gamer40000]

I think that team preview has changed the way we ban things. If there were no team preview, then, for example, Excadrill would have been banned earlier because no one knew if you had one or not. If they think you are running no weather, and their checks to Excadrill were gone, you could bring in T-tar, set up Sand, and sweep their team with Excadrill.

 

[Vitalise]

Hmm, TeamPreview has its good and bad side. The bad side is ppl Switching there pokemon out to couter your team for Example: I lead with a ttar and they switch from there lead to a scizor, then i would have to switch out to a wall and them getting the uturn off to bring in another pokemon to counter my wall, Its stupid .-.. The good thing about it is we can see which playstyle the oppent is going to be using and how well they have made there team.

 

[New World Order]

First of all, why is the Team Preview in the OP a RU team vs a NU team?

One nice thing about team preview is that it helps with hazard selection. For example, I'm carrying a Sun team with a Forretress. If I see a Tyranitar, I'm getting Spikes down as early as possible to gain an advantage in the weather war. If I see a Volcarona or Dragonite, though, I'm getting Stealth Rock up. If I see a Magnezone, I'm going to Volt Switch to test the waters before going for my hazards. Furthermore, you can see what options your opponent has to deal with hazards. If they have a Tentacruel, don't even bother with Toxic Spikes until that thing is gone. If they have an Espeon, don't just blindly Spike. You can also determine how effective an entry hazard will be. If your opponent carries like 4 Stealth Rock resist, and 2 SR neutral Pokemon, then getting up Stealth Rock is not a necessity. But if of those 6 Pokemon, 5 are affected by Spikes, you want to get Spikes up as early as possible. This is especially true for annoying strategies like U-turn. With Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes up. Scizor will lose 25% of its health just for coming in, meaning your opponent will actually have to think rather than blindly click U-turn/ Volt-Switch every turn.

 

[doughboy]

I hate team preview, its almost as if Nintendo decided to try to find a way to take the element of surprise out of the game. Team preview, from the very start of the battles, tells you what Pokemon are important to your team, and what ones you are able to sac. There is no "I might need this Poke because he might have X in the wings", it makes sacking a viable tactic because you know a poke isn't really important.

On the next release, I would implore Nintendo not to put in Team Preview. If there was a way we could get around the Smogon server,I would support it.

 

[Codraroll]

^^Not true!

Remember the days of the Indigo league? Or the Silver Conference (I really can't remember)? Anyway, our hero Ash was seen looking at his next competitor's registered Pokémon on his computer before a battle. While the battles were only three-on-three, and a trainer was allowed to register a far greater range of Pokémon than the standard six, it still makes an early version of Team Preview.

(Remember, it it were real, you'd have to use only Pokémon you'd have brought up yourself, which would effectively limit their number, so the Pokémon you register would probably not be many more than your entire team of six).

Also, for rental Pokémon battles: Pokémon Stadium. Battle Factory. Yep, Team Preview is semi-canon.

 

[2sly4u]

^^Not true!

Remember the days of the Indigo league? Or the Silver Conference (I really can't remember)? Anyway, our hero Ash was seen looking at his next competitor's registered Pokémon on his computer before a battle. While the battles were only three-on-three, and a trainer was allowed to register a far greater range of Pokémon than the standard six, it still makes an early version of Team Preview.

(Remember, it it were real, you'd have to use only Pokémon you'd have brought up yourself, which would effectively limit their number, so the Pokémon you register would probably not be many more than your entire team of six).

Also, for rental Pokémon battles: Pokémon Stadium. Battle Factory. Yep, Team Preview is semi-canon.

It doesn't really matter if it's cannon with the manga or anime. All that matters is whether or not Game Freak decided to implement it into the game in question. If so, the sims are bound to include it for accuracy purposes.

Personally, I like team preview. It always frustrated me in gen IV where the game basically came down to guessing. Should I keep my Gyarados and sac Blissey in case there's a Lucario, or should I do the opposite in case Raikou is waiting? At least IMO, that's less strategy and more blind guessing. With team preview, I know immediately which pokemon are vital to keep alive. On the other hand, my opponent can see if a Heatran is the only thing in the way of their Scizor sweeping. There's less surprises, but that's more than made up for by the advanced tactics needed to keep your vital pokemon alive while drawing out your opponent's.

 

[Birkal]

Hey, I have a more applicable Team Preview image for the OU metagame. Feel free to use it ;)

Hide

But in all seriousness, I am actually quite fond of Team Preview; I particularly agree with NWO's on how it helps in setting up hazards. I felt that in Gen 4, it was hard to develop a battle strategy against the opponent until midway through the battle. With Team Preview, you can get right down to brass tax and think about your battle plan. Perhaps you're running a Sun-based team that is weak to Heatran. Upon seeing it in Team Preview, you can immediately start planning your route of attack for taking it out and then proceeding to sweep.

In my opinion, Team Preview also makes late-game much more exciting! Instead of having a sweeper randomly pop up at the end of the match to completely turn the tables on a weakened team, users can plan which Pokemon they want to save for the bitter end, which usually leads to some interesting matches. It also helps you decide which Pokemon you can sack; if your opponent only has Terrakion and Lucario remaining (and you know this thanks to Team Preview), it might be prudent to sacrifice Scrafty to avoid the 2HKO on some of your more bulky Pokemon. Overall, I think that Team Preview helps develop early-game planning and makes the entire match more interesting.

 

[Matthew]

I actually really enjoy team preview. The lead metagame was bogus and boring; there was nothing which I hated more than that in DPP. I do like how to get a sweep going I can see what people will use to wall what I have and make (semi) accurate predictions regarding what they will do to counter my threats. It creates amazing mind games. We both know what the end-goal is (to faint 6 pokemon on the opponents team), but to how we might go about the goal is seen and can be fought against. The inclusion of Team Preview might've been Nintendo's greatest addition to a pokemon game (outside of natures + item).

 

[Demoness]

I hate team preview, its almost as if Nintendo decided to try to find a way to take the element of surprise out of the game. Team preview, from the very start of the battles, tells you what Pokemon are important to your team, and what ones you are able to sac. There is no "I might need this Poke because he might have X in the wings", it makes sacking a viable tactic because you know a poke isn't really important.

On the next release, I would implore Nintendo not to put in Team Preview. If there was a way we could get around the Smogon server,I would support it.

Wow, I never knew that Team Preview also showed what set and EVs the Pokemon are running!!! Why is sacing a Pokemon such a tabbo thing to you that it needs to be gotten rid of? I also don't get why your so annoyed that Team Preview helps you decide which Pokemon will be important in the battle and which will not. To me, that actually makes the game more competitive because it means you can't just sack something, and then steamroll someone just because they didn't know you had some hidden sweeper that they lost their counter to. Also, Choice users would just be nearly impossible to use with any sort of safety without Team Preview because it's so easy to get swept just because you locked yourself in on the wrong move.

 

[blarajan]

Team Preview is kind of a necessity this generation, regardless of whether or not you like it. There are quite frankly too many fucking threats. And not only are there too many threats, they got a lot stronger. Without team preview, these things would just dominate you if you didn't know they were there.

 

[GARCHOMPZILLA]

I dont like team preveiw. It pretty much ruins the chance of suprise, which is one key to win when youropponent doesnt suspect what you're going to do. At the start they know your whole team, and your opponent can switch to what he thinks will counter you.

On the other hand, it also helps you know what you're up against, and in vgc style it helps people new to pokemon understand how in vgc tournaments the opponents do see your whole team. But overall its nice to have the opponent have no idea what theyre up against so you can have a trick up your sleeve.

 

[BattleStar]

I am pretty used to Team Preview now. Once I have preview I don't think I go can go back xD. But seriously I don think its such a bad thing.
Sure it gets rid of feel of your oppenent can have any Pokemon up their sleeves to switch in. But I like it gone to be honest. With team preview sometimes you can just feel that your team is done for. Like a Hail team vs sun.

Team preview is the bane of giving the underdogs a fighting chance. Granted this doesn't completely wipe down it. But with team preview you can see all the Pokemon that will give you trouble and focus to get rid of it by good prediction on switch in.

Another thing about Team preview I love/hate is when you are in the late game. Before on shoddy late game can still hold surprises because you don't know know I that lag Pokemon left is a sweeper or a wall. But in PO when you cleared most of the oppenet and he is down to the last 2 and you know exactly what Pokemon is left and how to counter it. This leaves the game on more of a sour note knowing you are going to lose.

This is definitely food for thought. I will post again later.

 

[Demoness]

I dont like team preveiw. It pretty much ruins the chance of suprise, which is one key to win when youropponent doesnt suspect what you're going to do. At the start they know your whole team, and your opponent can switch to what he thinks will counter you.

On the other hand, it also helps you know what you're up against, and in vgc style it helps people new to pokemon understand how in vgc tournaments the opponents do see your whole team. But overall its nice to have the opponent have no idea what theyre up against so you can have a trick up your sleeve.

Good god, there is STILL surprise in Pokemon even with fucking Team Preview!! Does Team Preview show you the opponents sets? No! Can people please actually think before they say that Team Preview takes away all surprise in the game -_-?

 

[canno]

If you see Terrakion in the Team Preview, you know the opponent has a Terrakion. However, you don't know if it's going to revenge kill (Scarf), punch giant holes in your team (Band), or set up and sweep (Double Dance), unless you can deduct the set based on the team is, which is really dangerous because if you're wrong, it could cost you the game. Team Preview doesn't "ruin the chance of surprise", what Team Preview does is prevent you from rushing into your opponent blindly.

 

[Adamant Zoroark]

I'm not a fan of it, but I feel that it's a necessity with all the bullshit that's running around in the current meta.

For example, without it, you could attempt to set up SR with Heatran and get those bounced back by Espeon without even knowing Espeon was there. You're already at a huge disadvantage. However, with team preview, you can at least predict a switch to Espeon, then Pursuit it with your Scizor or Tyranitar (whichever one you carry). Espeon can and WILL get pursuited by either one if it carries the incorrect Hidden Power, and in the case of Scizor, even if they carry the correct Hidden Power because they may still switch fearing a Bullet Punch.

However, I still like the lack of team preview in DPP because I like that whole game of "If I sac Blissey now, I may be screwed if he has a Raikou, but if I sac Vaporeon, I'll be screwed if he has an Infernape". It added to the skill factor of the game because you had to think about what your opponent could have. It was a bad idea to sac Hippowdon because your opponent could have a Lucario, so switching Blissey in on that Specs Rotom-W is a better idea. You'll probably get tricked Choice Specs, but at least Blissey is still alive and able to take special hits like nothing else. Better than losing your Hippowdon.

I probably would have liked BW more without team preview, but as others have said, there's just too much shit now.

 

[doughboy]

Good god, there is STILL surprise in Pokemon even with fucking Team Preview!! Does Team Preview show you the opponents sets? No! Can people please actually think before they say that Team Preview takes away all surprise in the game -_-?

Sure it doesn't show the sets of the Pokemon, but have you forgotten that most Pokemon usually carry 2-3 sets? Even if they do carry different sets, those sets usually carry the same moves, accomplish a similar purpose, and are checked/countered by the same stuff. Only Pokemon like Lucario, Dragonite, and Infernape carry more than than 6 sets countered by different things. However, by looking at all the other teammates on the opponents team, you can tell what kind of set the opponent is running (i.e. Dragonite on a rain team probably means it is a Rain Tank or Rain Mixnite) So with this in mind, I believe you are the one who isn't thinking.

 

[GARCHOMPZILLA]

Good god, there is STILL surprise in Pokemon even with fucking Team Preview!! Does Team Preview show you the opponents sets? No! Can people please actually think before they say that Team Preview takes away all surprise in the game -_-?

At this point you can almost always know what someone's going to do by their team. For example, almost/all jellicent will will-o-wisp, recover and scald, ferrothorn has leech seed and spikes, and you almost always call protect on stuff.) It also has to do with the fact that moves dont mean anything if they have a faster pokemon thaat can just OHKO you. It makes it so that they know everything that have type resistances to your moves, and when you switch in to a counter, so will they, usually. Movesets are often so predictable a teampreiview can tell them half of what you're going to do or more.

And as for the help it gives you to prevent yourself from being sweep or something, keep in mind YOU cant do that either now that they know your team. So it could cost you the win as well.

 

[Spaniard]

I like team preview. It further extends skill as you can start thinking right on turn 0.

It isn't unfair since both sides get the same amount of valuable information. You can draw the basic lines of your game strategy and are challenged to predict your oponent.

It seems to me that the 'it kills surprise factor' statement is an excuse. I don't like playing games blind, it's very sad being in the dark because you don't know how to handle your opponent. Losing because you didn't keep a vital counter alive, wasted a lot of time laying uneffective hazards or gambled setting up only to be met with a ice cold counter ruins the game. Lacking basic information takes out a lot of skill and makes superior players lose more often.

To sum it all up. Team preview lets you start predicting and playing with a solid strategy from the very beginning (if you don't like this I wonder why you're playing a strategy game such as pokemon). And it's not unfair since it gives the same chances to both players. If I had to relly on cheap tactics to win I would be a mediocre player.

 

[BattleStar]

I liked a lot of the good points being said for pro-preview.

I agree with all the stuff running around we can't rely on fighting blindly and not knowing what to do. It also most as if Gamefreak knows best (lol kidding ).

But I certainly won't let the surprise element being taken away as a argument for non-preview l. As others have said you don't know the set, nature, or role it runs really. You can predict and that a mark of a good player.
Team preview has sharpened our skills of prediction.
I still get surprised today on PO of a set that catches me off guard. Even with preview it can catch you of guard seeing not commonly seen Pokemon.

 

[jake]

First of all, why is the Team Preview in the OP a RU team vs a NU team?

Sorry!! NixHex asked for a picture of Team Preview and those were the teams I had on hand. x)

I think, if anything, Team Preview simply adds a whole new layer of prediction especially in the beginning of a match, and almost even makes the game a degree harder. Being able to know your opponent's entire team obviously helps you organize a gameplan - you can sorta tell which of your Pokemon are going to be the most important in the match, which Pokemon of theirs are the most dangerous and need to be taken out first, and how you should start by going about this. Knowing the entirety of their team eases predictions such as double-switching; it's easier to take advantage of their team if, say, they only have one response to SD Lucario.

Team Preview also allows a player to sort of analyze the opposing team and identify their overall goal. It's not always apparent, but sometimes it really is. Clearly, any team with a Volbeat will be going for that Prankster Tail Glow + Baton Pass, so you should keep your phazer around until that's dealt with, etc. And that's not just talking about the lead metagame, which I think is really underestimated in BW. People talk about the lead metagame dying with DPPt because shit like suicide leads are gone, but it seems to me that it's more important than ever to start off on the right foot. Often, your lead selection sums up as just picking the Pokemon on your team that has the best matchups overall, but sometimes when playing a well-rounded team you'll just have to guess and hope you picked right.

There are tons of other factors to consider mid-game too, knowing your opponent's team. I liked the point that NWO brought up, talking about entry hazards - obviously if your opponent's team has four flying/levitating Pokemon, you don't want to spend too much time trying to spam Spikes or Toxic Spikes. And if they have Espeon... beware of that. Team Preview really changes the BW metagame and I think it's really hard to say if it's a positive or negative influence it has. It obviously limits that "surprise value" and hidden Pokemon factor that was present in all previous generations, but there are tons of new mindgames to make up for that.

 

[v]

Good god, there is STILL surprise in Pokemon even with fucking Team Preview!! Does Team Preview show you the opponents sets? No! Can people please actually think before they say that Team Preview takes away all surprise in the game -_-?

Would you mind being a little less caustic in your posts? It doesn't help your argument when you point fingers at everyone who disagrees with you and imply that they're raging idiots.

 

[Spaniard]

As many people are complaining about surprise factor, I have to speak my words on the topic. There's still a huge surprise factor since you only know the pokes, not the sets.

If anyone hasn't ever fell for any of the following examples that come to mind, please stand up and be proud to be the player with the sharpest prediction in the world:

- Scarf scizor U turning your celebi.
- Tyranitar ice beaming your gliscor.
- Got will-o-wisp'd by a chesto rest rotom-w you thought was choiced
- Got caught by a move changing expert belt hydreigon.
- Got caught by a move changing expert belt landorus.
- Worked hard to lure that skarmory, trapped it with magnezone and it run away with shed shell.
- Got destroyed by a chansey with counter.
- Got pursuited by a metagross.
- Reuniclus trick roomed on your face when you expected calm mind.
- Latias used reflect and stopped your pursuit tyra.
- That scarf starmie crippled your scarf user.
- You got belly drum'd on your face.
- Bronzong exploded.
- That terrakion rock polished.
- That gliscor used sub and has acrobatics.
- Dragonite draco meteored you.

I could go on, but I think it is clear

 

[WinstonShnozwick]

Team preview lets you see the opponents pokemon, and now, I feel that the biggest surprise factor you have over your opponent is concealing the sets of your pokemon before they have a chance to stop them. It makes lesser known pokemon and original sets stronger, because the sad fact is that the weather bastardization of OU made over 50% of teams 80% predictable, because everyone was using the same copypaste teams with no thought involved. That's where team preview allows original sets to shine, because if you can see the opponents pokemon, you will start to prepare for it, and the only thing they have left is the set you don't know they have. Take for example my Armaldo. Laugh if you will, but he can take a CB outrage from haxorus, being my physical wall, and is a pretty great spinner. And no one prepares for him because it's goddamn armaldo in OU. Team preview doesn't ruin it. It just sets up the game with everyone having equal knowlege so they can begin the chess/poker process of prediction and outplaying each other. It's more random when you don't know the oppoents team, because then, you can't make a definate decision in battle if they can switch to an unknown pokemon.