Week 3 Preshow

This is coming out a bit late due to a busy weekend at the household.  But any games that are done before this is out, haven't been looked at yet.

Going over  Week 2 would be depressing for me since my predictions were basically 100% wrong except the one game that wasn't played.


LA Charjas def Chicago 4-0
 In a quick match of only 16 turns, Zangoose and Braviary both put in a lot of damage with Facade and Return respectively. K/D MVP  Tapu Koko - +2


Brooklyn def Akron  1-0
 This would be one of the two games to watch. But it's a slog of 60 turns with no kills for almost 20 turns in a row. K/D MVP Milotic - +2


Indianapolis def Ohio 4-0
 Touted as one of the games to watch, and it didn't disappoint(obvious bias showing).  This match was a lot closer than it seemed. K/D MVP Swellow - +2


Dracos def Rowlets 3-0
  This was a very entertaining match until the late game when you could see who would win and the Dracos used passive kills to finish off the Rowlets, while that strategy is more boring, it's still valid. K/D MVP Celesteela - +3



East Sea def Kansas City 3-0
  The two named city match up. This had a lot of good reads by both teams and some accidents and freeze hacks against one team. This match up could easily go either way when these two meet again. K/D MVP Krookodile - +3

Rochester def Kennesaw 3-0
 Mantine is fat. That's probably the best thing to learn from this match up.  That and Kecleon with perma-STAB is pretty good.  K/D MVP Kecleon - +3

New York def Lairons 6-0
 This was a long sweep. a 37 turn 6-0 is hard to come by. Sam(NYK) has a really good write up here.  There's not much more I can add to it.  K/D MVP Gyarados - +4

Galesburg def Michigan 4-0F
 Unfortunately this one was not played.




Transactions this week:

Not as many this week, and they will go down less and less until the midseason switch out.

Kansas City drops:
Venomoth(T3)
Skarmory(T1)

Kansas City adds:
Nidoqueen(T3)
Manaphy(T3)


This gives Kansas City an actual Ground type and a Water type. But still no Fire type(outside Silvally).  He does lose two defoggers though.

Detroit Lairons drop:
Scizor(T1)

DL adds:
Latios(T1)

Less bulk for the bulk god. But Latios can be a terror to most teams if played right.

And for the first time ever in the RDL, we have had a trade.  The Akron Alakazams and the Indianapolis Ponytas have agreed to the following:

Akron receives Hitmontop(T4) from Indianapolis.
Indianapolis receives Meloetta(T4) from Akron.

Hitmontop is a fantastic bulky spinner that Akron needs and Meloetta gives Indianapolis even more versatility than it already has.



Upcoming week:


This week marks the end of the first set of Divisional matches. This is your last chance to directly affect your division.  Each division currently has a good parity of one 2-0 team, two 1-1 teams, and one 0-2 team.  I doubt we'll have a pattern like this again later in this season.



Kanto Division:

Atlanta Rowlets(0-2) V Brooklyn Bulbasaurs(2-0)

Can the team with no wins beat the team with no losses? Of course they can. I hope this battle is a little faster than the Akron-Brooklyn match up last week.  And so should Atlanta. The tankiness of The Bulbasaurs is not something you want to stretch out to a long game. Will we see the return of CurseLax or will Milotic tank the table? Both could happen easily. But on the other side, M-Beedrill and Jirachi will be good at breaking down walls before they get too big.

Key pieces: Jolteon has to be able to break things down, but Choice is not a great option due to Zy-Dog and Tangrowth.  On the otherside, I'm giving the necessary piece to Snorlax. If it gets curse up twice, it'll be able to tank out the big wall breakers on the Rowlets.

My prediction: Bulbasaurs win.



Akron Alakazams(1-1) V Detroit Dracos(1-1)
The Alakazams got their loss of the season out of the way. But knowing Adam, he won't let it happen again without a lot of planning (or Togekiss flinch hacks).  But Excessive_ knows what he needs to do to win in this game. As stated before, and going to be stated again, getting rocks up on the Dracos is huge, but Ground attacks aren't needed, well that would be if you don't have Thousand Arrows. Which if you didn't know, the Alakazams have.  Being able to predict what Adam will bring and his switches and attacks will be key for the Dracos.

Key pieces:  ZySnake with 1000 Arrows will be a big piece against most of the Dracos team. On the other hand, Decidueye could be a strong piece against the Alakazams, bringing both utility and damage is key here.

My prediction: Alakazams win.




Johto Division:


Ohio Ninetales(1-1) V Detroit Lairons(0-2)

Our reigning champion lost due to a planning issue with an item. I don't think this will occur this week.  But the Lairons have rebuilt their team a bit to be more offensive, well at least having the ability to be offensive.   But Clefable could bring some pain against the double dragon pieces of the Ninetales. But there has to be something that the Lairons do to cover my pick for the key piece for the Ninetales.

Key pieces: Togekiss. The only STAB the lairons have on Togekiss is Amoonguss, Shuckle, and Lapras. None of which are that strong on their own, and Amoonguss gets hit hard by Air Slash.  For the Lairons, I hope Mega Sableye can bulk out enough and do enough damage to anything except Togekiss.

My prediction: Ohio win.



Indianapolis Ponytas(2-0) V New York Klinks(1-1)

I won't go too into detail here.  I know both of these teams way too well after going over them over the past few days.  This one is going to come down to predictions.  But this is the first battle of the Tapus. With the same investment, Fini will outspeed Bulu, resulting in Grassy Terrain will remain on the field, if both come out at the same time. 

Key pieces: Well most of the main parts of the Klinks are good here. Mega Diancie can handle 3/4 of the big Core for the Ponytas(Mega Charizard X, Tapu Fini, Weavile, Ferrothorn), Heatran can as well, Gyarados can for the most part too.  For the Ponytas, the key is taking out things that prevent you from sweeping.

My prediction: Ponytas win.




Hoenn Division:

Rochester Roggenrolas(1-1) V East Sea Gastrodons(2-0)


Both teams coming off a win from week 2, both wanting to add another to their record.  I feel like the planning from the Gastrodons may out do the duo team of the Roggs.  But there is such a thing as over planning. And the Roggs are easy to over plan for.

Key pieces: Mega Manectric is the hard hitter against Salamence and Hawlucha and Krook. But fails against Mega Venusaur. Victini can handle most of the Gastros except Ttar with certain builds.


My predicition: Gastrodons win.





Kansas City Kingdras(1-1) V Kennesaw Noctowls(0-2)

Before the season started this was probably one of the more anticipated matches. But now, it's less so, due to the Noctowls lack of finding their groove.  Despite that, I think this could be one of the better ones this week.  Manaphy and Nidoqueen are new pick ups that could change a lot of things for Kennesaw. Both teams lost last week with a Scald burn and Ice Beam freeze. Let's hope for less RNG in this match up.

Keys pieces: Honestly no part of either team is really needed for this match.


My prediction: Kansas City win.



Alola Division:


Chicago Tauros(1-1) V Galesburg Gliscors(2-0)

The battle of the Mega Lati's.  Will it be red or blue that wins? Neither. They both go purple when they Mega. These teams can both put out a lot of offense and have a lot of bulk.  I'm looking forward to seeing more from the Gliscors as we have only seen 1 match from them so far.

Key pieces: Mega Lati's Both can remove the other and both are the same speed. It'll be interesting.

My prediction: Gliscor win.




Michigan Magcargos(0-2) V LA Charjabugs(1-1)

I still want the Charjabugs to be fantastic team, but I'm not sold yet.  I easily could be though.  As for the Mags, we've only seen one match from them. So we'll see how they match up against Kyurem-B and Koko.

Key pieces: Volcarona if it gets a quiver dance or two up, it can sweep the team. Entei can bring some fire power and speed that can beat down all of the Mags.


My prediction: Charjas win.





Overall this week should be a good week. Expect a few long matches but most of them should be under 25 to 30 turns.  Games to watch: KEN/KCK, ATL/AKR, ESG/ROC