Tag: pokemon go

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Go Battle League. In early seasons I would play until getting to rank 20 and then Ace, and then call it a season.

Then Pokemon Go introduced the season-long Go Battle League research that provided a raid-free way to get rare candy XL for every 100 wins, and that got me to do more battles for the rare XL candy. I’d sometimes get to expert within those 500 battles but never could make that last push for legend even after continuing to play. At a certain point it became clear that I should put down the game for my sanity instead of malding my way back down to Ace.

During the season of Shared Skies (summer 2024) I decided to liven things up in the early ranks, with the knowledge that it was likely to screw up my entering elo. No, I didn’t do auto rekt. I did the GBL Nuzlocke-ish challenge.

I’ve played in Silph tournaments since PVP came out, where I’ve consistently reached Ace since season 2. I dabble in Go Battle League but have never tried to reach Legend for two reasons: one, because GBL is a commitment and I have other hobbies, and two, I strongly prefer pick six formats and chatting with my opponents over malding alone at pocket monster battles.

After going 1-2 in Orlando with zero practice and 2-2 in Knoxville with only a little practice, I had almost a whole month to prepare for Charlotte. Even though Toxapex was my MVP in Knoxville (and I felt justified with the rise of double fairy teams), it was also very hard to build around. I ditched my neon Bastiodon the week before Charlotte for a team of Medicham, Galarian Stunfisk, shadow Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, Noctowl, and Lanturn.

The end result? 4-2 and finishing one win short of my stacked group’s lower bracket semifinals. That’s a significant improvement so let’s talk about the three big things that went into it.