Pokemon Shuffle

[The Warden]

My biggest issue with the competition is the rich get richer nature of them. Those with the most RMLs and Skill Boosters are going to do WAY better than everyone else. This gives them access to even more and it spirals. Like I get maybe its to make people spend money, but I don't even think that would be all that helpful.

 

More or less. It's even worse now that you receive double the RMLs you do Mega Speedups from tier 4 up. So this puts the rich even further ahead as now they're gaining 10 RMLs instead of 5.

[Flame Dragon]

On a random side note, I've completed all the Mission Cards now...except for that bullshit one, where you literally cannot do it without a Jewel (Yveltal's cloud clearing).

I decided to burn jewels doing it. It sucked cause I burnt a lot (pretty sure I complained about it in this thread when I did), but if it means I have them all done I'm cool with it. I have 3 right now and haven't felt any need to use them so in the end its fine I think.

[evilfusion]

I could go ahead and complete it, but I just really hate the idea that it's outright impossible without a Jewel. The other stupid one, that relied on Prank, to complete was also really dumb, but at least that one was POSSIBLE.

[The Warden]

Y'know, the people behind this game are real bastards sometimes. While it's pretty scummy to put a competitive challenge immediately after the last one, it's a Trump level of scum to have the funking AUDACITY to make a C-1 mandatory to even do well in the Hoopa-U challenge. Especially when they go "hurr de durr Xerneas mattur" when Scizor was also funking mandatory, yet they conveniently left its inclusion out until you play the stage.

[evilfusion]

Y'know, the people behind this game are real bastards sometimes. While it's pretty scummy to put a competitive challenge immediately after the last one, it's a Trump level of scum to have the funking AUDACITY to make a C-1 mandatory to even do well in the Hoopa-U challenge. Especially when they go "hurr de durr Xerneas mattur" when Scizor was also funking mandatory, yet they conveniently left its inclusion out until you play the stage.

 

It is pretty awful. At least it gives some major value to the Jewel item bundle.

 

...that's not really a compliment, though. And the stage is plenty difficult to get a good score on even then, from what I've heard. Then again, I looked up the details before attempting the stage, so I already knew Scizor was a good choice to bring. Some people brought Accelgor, though.

 

And I'm still kind of annoyed with my great score. 97k, currently in place 36. And while people's scores ARE climbing (probably due to getting access to Victini today), the "low score" for Tier 1 is about 86k (yesterday, the low score was 76k, so mine was still a solid 20k higher). 65 people still need to score higher than me to bump me out, though, and with Tier 2 low score being 68k, there is NO CHANCE of me getting anything less than Tier 2.

 

But don't forget, I got that score (by luck) without my stuff being maxed out. Level 11 Heracross, Level 15 Xerneas, Level 7 Vivillon, and Level 10 Scizor. So even without max investment, luck can give you a stupidly good score. If I'm still in Tier 1 when this competition ends, I'll be both delighted and frustrated that I used 9 RMLs that I didn't need to.

[Flame Dragon]

So, whats the team we should use for the contest? Still haven't logged an attempt. Also, we can use -1 Complexity? Thats a bit much.

[evilfusion]

So, whats the team we should use for the contest? Still haven't logged an attempt. Also, we can use -1 Complexity? Thats a bit much.

 

M-Heracross (or M-Scizor, but Heracross with Skill Swap has Mega Boost+), Vivillon-Pokeball, Xerneas, and Scizor. I find that keeping Scizor's Swarm ability is quite useful for massive damage in the last turns, but it could be Skill Swapped to have Swap++(?).

 

And yes, you can use Disruption Delay, Attack Power, and Complexity-1. Or pay a Jewel for the item bundle. Yes, this is a blatant money grab.

[The Warden]

The C-1 is because Hoopa-U is the fifth support icon, meaning you're paying 9000 coins just to actually play the stage with 4 icons instead. It's incredibly scummy.

[evilfusion]

The C-1 is because Hoopa-U is the fifth support icon, meaning you're paying 9000 coins just to actually play the stage with 4 icons instead. It's incredibly scummy.

 

Ooh, right...I forgot about that. I think I thought the fifth support was Blocks, like it often is within Escalation Battles or something.

 

...yeah, that IS kind of a dick move.

[The Warden]

Welp, we officially have Alola pokemon now, and what a deluge. In the special tab we have Oranguru and Passimian replacing Wobbufet and Carnivine, dailies starting with Wishiwashi (with the apt Crowd Control ability), Litten, Mimikyu, and Cosmog. There's also a safari with the Alolan Golem line, Salandit, and Togedemaru. Which means Salazzle is going to be a special stage I reckon. Or an expert maybe.

[evilfusion]

I think Salazzle is set to be a special stage next week or something.

 

Whee, made good headway on this content. Safari was a pain. Used the free trial "infinite hearts" to get A-Golem. Caught Cosmog, Mimikyu and the other stuff so far, and began the trek for the main stages.

 

I did indeed make Tier 1 for the Competion. Gave my Speedups to re-max out M-Mewtwo Y, and used 5 of my RML on...Mawile. Why? Just cuz. Still holding onto 5 for now, though, because Mawile takes 10 max, and I don't feel like giving her them all.

[The Warden]

*Sighs* I really am tired of this jabroni of a game's capture mechanics sometimes. I've failed to catch Komala around 12 times now on either a 25% or 28% chance to catch. By the laws of statistics I should have caught 3 of them. And yet, and funking YET, this game dicks me over despite making me waste 5000 gold on Cosmog because a Great Ball failed on a 62% funking chance. And then, I had to waste 5000 gold on Mimikyu for a 75% chance. Yeah, the game funked me over for the same exact chance it is adamantly refusing to let me catch Komala on, when by now I should have caught it. I swear super Catch Chances aren't as lucky as they should be, since during those times my captures have funked up A LOT recently. And I mean a lot. that Vivillon jabroni that made me waste 7500 gold on it for a chance that should have worked by the second Great Ball at least, and now this. I've wasted so much gold on these bastards failing to be captured for no reason beyond the game purposefully making me waste gold.

[evilfusion]

Yeah, some of the capture rates are pretty awful. Before this update, I had saved up to about 70k gold.

 

I'm nearly broke.

 

Granted, I am fairly reckless with my gold spending, and I've been gathering S Ranks in addition to the captures.

 

There ARE times when it's better not to use a Great Ball at all, and just retry the stage.

[Flame Dragon]

Generally speaking, if a stage is beatable without spending gold I'll just grind it out until I catch them. Exceptions would be the one per day stages or the last safari stages, but thats generally how I do it.

[Flame Dragon]

After finally catch Alolan Golem I decided to make a final push for Togedemaru using the free 15 minutes unlimited hearts. After playing out a game I realized wait I can just exist right away once I realize it isn't Togedemaru stage. Despite this it still took me like 5 minutes (I have to assume something like 20 more times) of quickly leaving and entering the stages before it finally showed. Between that and 5 extra hearts I had used earlier I ran into Golem 2 more times.

 

I used the remaining time to try to catch Oricorio and failed the 6 or 7 (wasn't counting) attempts at catching it. One of those was even an actual heart I had gotten while under the 15 minutes of free play bonus. I still haven't caught it.

 

What I learned

-The free play think is sweet.

-Sometimes 9% odds of showing up is worse than 3%.

-You can fail at a 20% chance more than what the odds of success would suggest.

-I am #neverlucky

[The Warden]

Welcome to my life. I had a 50% chance of catching Magearna (super catch chance), and I failed the coin flip three funking times.

[Flame Dragon]

I honestly try to roll with the punches. I know every every bit of bad luck I have run good. I honestly was more impressed by the sheer number of times I need to try to find Togedemaru and the fact that I fond Golem twice in the final push.

 

Anyway, new stuff to catch. Also the 15 minutes of free play is back, recommend using it for the Escalation battle.

[The Warden]

I used the 15 minutes of free play to get Togedemaru, and in the very last second, I got Golem as well. And I've spent the rest of my time after grinding cash, so I'm now back up in the 30k at least.

 

Also, I gotta say that Magearna is seriously toughter to beat than Victini was.

[evilfusion]

Okay, I officially ADORE my Unity Power Ash-Greninja. Worth every Skill Booster and RML. It is so good for this Escalation Battle. I've gotten to like...stage 89 so far, completely itemless.

 

My team is M-T-tar (15/15 Speedups), Winking Manaphy (Level 15, Rock Break++), Suicune (Level 15, Block Smash+), and Ash Greninja (Level 15, Unity Power, SL5).

 

*pause* Okay, so my team is VERY investment heavy. But Ash-Greninja is the MVP because Unity Power is ridiculous. It's got a respectable activation rate (40/60/80%), and does like 3600 damage on a 4 match.

[Flame Dragon]

Okay, I officially ADORE my Unity Power Ash-Greninja. Worth every Skill Booster and RML. It is so good for this Escalation Battle. I've gotten to like...stage 89 so far, completely itemless.

 

My team is M-T-tar (15/15 Speedups), Winking Manaphy (Level 15, Rock Break++), Suicune (Level 15, Block Smash+), and Ash Greninja (Level 15, Unity Power, SL5).

 

*pause* Okay, so my team is VERY investment heavy. But Ash-Greninja is the MVP because Unity Power is ridiculous. It's got a respectable activation rate (40/60/80%), and does like 3600 damage on a 4 match.

Yea, I put a bunch of skill boosters into Ash-Gren and after trying to figure out who to use my last couple RMLs on I settled on him since the 10 ones are such a pain to max. I've only gotten past 25 or so so I still have a ways to go. Going to suck though since I'm likely going to need items since I needed +5 moves just for stage 25. Since I still have the majority of main stages to go I'm working on clearing that out and will jump into the escalation battle next week.

 

I still don't like the tap Megas but I think maxing out Beedrill made me better at using them since whenever I use him I'm like "I can do this and this if I had the + shaped clears". Since I've gotten better with Cam I think I'll max out T-Tar sometime soon.

[evilfusion]

Yeah, I pretty much learned some of the tricks with tappers due to using Beedrill's more...crude destruction, and wishing it was more narrowed at times. I'm still no expert, but I can usually, if motivated to do so, make a couple more combos, but I usually use the tapping for either disruption clearing or just bumping the damage a bit more.

 

I have given 10 RMLs to Mawile, and I gave my RML from Escalation Stage 75 to Charizard, so he's maxed out on them now. Probably not going to dedicate to another 10 one, unless it's similar to Mewtwo or Xerneas (5 in one batch to make it worthwhile to max, then a long time later, another 5 to make it amazing). The only other 10 one(s) I'd ever consider is Donphan (Ground Forces is good) or Azumarill (Fairy-type with SS Risk Taker), but the latter is a bit of a stretch due to the high amount of investment.

 

Plus I still want to give some candy to Blaziken.

[Flame Dragon]

Yeah, I pretty much learned some of the tricks with tappers due to using Beedrill's more...crude destruction, and wishing it was more narrowed at times. I'm still no expert, but I can usually, if motivated to do so, make a couple more combos, but I usually use the tapping for either disruption clearing or just bumping the damage a bit more.

 

I have given 10 RMLs to Mawile, and I gave my RML from Escalation Stage 75 to Charizard, so he's maxed out on them now. Probably not going to dedicate to another 10 one, unless it's similar to Mewtwo or Xerneas (5 in one batch to make it worthwhile to max, then a long time later, another 5 to make it amazing). The only other 10 one(s) I'd ever consider is Donphan (Ground Forces is good) or Azumarill (Fairy-type with SS Risk Taker), but the latter is a bit of a stretch due to the high amount of investment.

 

Plus I still want to give some candy to Blaziken.

My understanding is Machamp is the best 10 RML mon. Makes sense since fighting is tried for being good against the most types at 5

 

Any, for those curious, how I've used my RMLs and Candies

 

RML

 

Golurk

Talonflame

Emboar

Genesect

Salamence

Groundon

Yveltal

Suicune

Raikou

Throh

Glalie

Lucario

Charizard

Breedrill (still need to get it to level 13)

Ash-Greninja (2/5)

 

Candied

 

Salamence

Lucario

Beedrill

Shiny Gyarados

Camerupt

Rayquaza

Mewtwo-Y

Aerodactyl (7/14 I regret this one)

Gengar

Blaziken (3/6)

 

I'm sitting on 5 candies. Not sure how I'm going to use them yet. I do want to finish Blaziken though. Aero sadly was a total waste.

 

 

So, got to Arbok. Stage needs DD, MS, and +5 to S rank. Since I don't want to spend a ton I need to use great balls. Take 1. Fail at 14%, goes to 28%. Fail. Fail. Fail. Home quit out to not waste the gold. 3 tries is more expensive than another item run and 1 great ball. Fail at 17%, goes to 34%. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Run Away. Thank god for the home trick. Has saved me a lot of gold.

 

If you haven't already skill swapped Mawile I recommend doing it before you play her stage. I sadly wasted a free PSB on the wrong ability. I have no real interest in using her, but giving up free value is always tilting.

[evilfusion]

Yeah, Machamp is easily the best 10 RML investment. It having Risk Taker AND being Fighting is what makes it phenomenal. Fighting is probably the best Type, since M-Lucario was godly good originally, and still is solid.

 

[spoiler=RML/Candy Investment List]

RML

Machamp 10/10

Mewtwo 10/10

Xerneas 10/10

Mawile 10/10 (Level 16 currently)

Electivire 5/5

Golurk 5/5

Talonflame 5/5

Diancie 5/5

Vivillon (Pokeball) 5/5 - this ended up wasted, but still decent.

Emboar 5/5

Manaphy - Winking 5/5

Genesect 5/5

Salamence 5/5

Ash-Greninja 5/5

Mew 5/5

Yveltal 5/5

Suicine 5/5

Raikou 5/5

Emolga 5/5

Glalie 5/5

Lucario 5/5

Heracross 5/5

Absol 5/5

Angry-chu 5/10

Charizard 5/5

Shiny Gyarados 3/3

Beedrill 3/3

Zoroark 3/3

Slowbro 2/5

Groudon 1/5 (still Level 10)

 

Total RML - 157

 

MSU

 

Charizard Y - 1/3

Absol 8/8

Ampharos 3/9 (current project)

Lucario 4/4

Blaziken 6/6

Gengar 1/1

Aerodactyl 2/14

Mewtwo Y 14/14

Rayquaza 20/20

Shiny Ray 15/15

Salamence 10/10

Tyranitar 15/15

Banette 1/15

Garchomp 3/14

Latias 1/13

Latios 1/13

Camerupt 7/7

Beedrill 12/12

Shiny Gyarados 10/10

Alakazam 3/9 (he WAS fully candied before the Mega Evo update)

 

Total MSU - 137

 

 

 

I'm delighted that my RML investments are less random as hell, with a bunch of "incomplete" RMLed Pokes. My Speedup investments are a bit more all over the place, some like the Lati@s were only given a candy back when they were still "good", and then M-Ray stole the Dragon M-Evo spot forever. I notice I do tend to give candies to the Megas that require a ton, or are just amazing.

[The Warden]

Let's see now.

 

--RML Investment--

Mewtwo 10/10

Genesect 5/5

Salamence 5/5

Groudon 5/5

Yveltal 5/5

Suicune 5/5

Entei 5/5

Raikou 5/5

Lucario 5/5

Charizard 5/5

Beedrill 3/3

Machamp 10/10 (level 13)

Xerneas 2/10

Angrychu 5/10 (level 12)

 

75 RMLs

 

--Mega Speedup--

Mewtwo Y 14/14

Lucario 4/4

Char Y 1/3

Beedrill 12/12

Alakazam 6/9

Camerupt 7/7

Garchomp 4/14

Manectric 3/14

TTar 15/15

Rayquaza 20/20

Aerodacytl 1/14

Gengar 1/1

Blaziken 3/6

Slowbro 1/6

Stock 6

 

98 Speedups.

[evilfusion]

Phew. Reached Stage 140, but lost (bad RNG), and I'm broke. Taking time to grind back up the money before heading back in.