Xiri

ANNOUNCEMENT Just in case, people didn't read the recent Redemption Weekly post, there has been a bracket shift: Make sure to keep these changes in mind while making your respective challenge!

Redemption Weekly - Week Two I know I'm late Welcome to the second edition of Redemption Weekly. Without further ado, here are the Leader Statistics for Week 2! Current Leader Win Rates are as follows: Mira 62W, 28L 68.9% (▼1.8%) Nick 44W, 54L 44.9% (▼1.4%) Olivia 81W, 37L 68.6% (▲2.3%) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ariel 26W, 13L 66.7% (▼5.2%) Edgar 20W, 14L 58.8% (▲18.8%) Haley 14W, 10L 58.3% (▲1.2%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Helen 3W, 10L 23.0% Lucifer 5W, 3L 62.5% Penelope 2W, 3L 40.0% Every 2 weeks, the Redemption Staff discuss if bracket shifts are necessary. This week was the first week we made decisions on such things, and based on the performances of the Leaders for the past 2 weeks, we have made the following decisions! Deeper Insights: The royal one returns to Bracket 2 and has claimed the highest win ratio out of the B2 leaders for Week 2. Xe has returned to Redemption with a more confident posture - and xyr battles have proven that xe can successfully demonstrate many more tactics compared to Season 1. Xe seems to enjoy switching around between Singles, Doubles and even Triples - and today, we'll be looking at xyr Singles matches, which seems to be the style xe prefers the most. Xe seems to like using the same squad of 6 - including defensive mons like Spikes Klefki, and strong powerhouses like Azumarill. But the mon that has been putting in the most work is definitely xyr Togekiss. Usually Choice Scarfed, Togekiss is famous for spamming Air Slash - which has a 60% chance of flinching the opponent on that turn - so you'll have to be very lucky while facing this thing. It also seems to carry Flamethrower to deal with Steel types, so don't think they are a safe switch-in either! On the bright side, xyr mons seems to be running the same items and movesets, so if you study them close enough, victory may be closer within your reach! Battle of the Week (vs Ojama&Biden2k20): http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptionsingles-79325 This cocky man just avoided the demotion to B2, and it seems that he is determined to pull himself right up. "The first few days were a joke, ya dolt" ... he says. Well, we'll have to wait and see if that is true or not, I guess? Edgar seems to prefer fighting challengers in the Singles format - but the tricky part about preparing for Edgar is determining what Mega he will bring. He has used a wide range of Megas in his battles - including Gallade, Metagross and Medicham, and Alakazam. It might be worthwhile considering all these options, and figuring out strategies to outsmart all these hard-hitting Megas. Watch out for Alakazam's Trace if you are using Weather Strategies, like Swift Swim and Sand Rush, since Alakazam can backfire that strategy right back at you. Battle of the Week (vs Ice Braand): http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptionsingles-79313 Unfortunately, the former 'Wall of Ice' tumbled back down to Bracket 1. However, do not underestimate her, as she won't let you just pulverize her. Haley's preferred battle format is triples (no surprises there), and she seems to use the same squad for all her battles. Expect a lot of Fake Out users, Focus Sashes and Slush Rush users! Walrein is a mon she catches challengers off-guard with the most - as its amazing bulk coupled withe Ice Body ability makes it very difficult to take down. It also has Super Fang, which may leave your Pokemon vulnerable for her other Pokemon to finish off with more ease. Your first step would be assessing which of her mons will be most annoying for you to deal with, and start acting from there. Unfortunately, Ice is one of the worst defensive typings, so hyper-offensive strategies may be the key to your victory. Battle of the Week (vs Quinn): http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-79417 Other Featured Battles: Mira vs Swampellow: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-79449 Mono-Ghost vs Mono-Rock. Who will be the winner? Nick vs LeonVermillion: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-79307 They say third time is the charm, and good results follow when you keep trying your best~ Olivia vs RBRN Alex: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptionsingles-79429 An intense battle, well-played by both parties! HELEN vs Sarunae V: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiondoubles-79448 An example of Helen's battle style - a teaser for the next issue! Lucifer vs Toon Ojama: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-79203 An example of smart playing - countering a Leader's team. Penelope vs Jmanultrax: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-79437 Smart playing 2 (albeit it was a bit of a coincidence)

Happy Birthday Ice! I don't know you very well at all, but you seem like a really chill (ha.ha.) person. Hope you have a great day!

161- ..Wait I'm staff now. RIP

Redemption Weekly - Week One I'm so not stealing Grapevine Gallade's old job Hello folks - and welcome to the first issue of Redemption Weekly, where I bring you neat information such as Leader Rates, Bracket Shifts (every 2 weeks), Strategy Suggestions and noticeable battles throughout the week. Redemption has successfully launched once again, and its time to take a look at the brief summary of things that happened during the first week. Current Leader Win Rates are as follows: Mira 43W, 17L 71.7% Nick 31W, 36L 46.3% Olivia 59W, 30L 66.3% --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ariel 8W, 5L 61.5% Edgar 4W, 6L 40.0% Haley 4W, 3L 57.1% Deeper Insights: Mira has surely proven herself to be a strong leader by having the highest win rate in Bracket 1. She is definitely on the verge of being suspected for promotion to Bracket 2 if her performance continues to be excellent. A common strategy she uses is Triple Trick Room - having a mix of both defensive and offensive mons. Alolan Marowak with Thick Club is extremely devastating under Trick Room, so be prepared to take hefty damage once TR is up. I heard Iron Balls and Macho Braces are becoming popular among challengers to counter her strategy... so maybe give those a try if you're having trouble with her. Battle of the Week (vs Anstane): http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-78195 A very, very close match, with both sides demonstrating their strengths! Nick was off to a rough start in the beginning of the season - but he has finished Day 5 of the League with an impressive 11 Wins, 5 Losses record, achieving a positive record for the first time this season! He is very determined to not stay at the bottom of the bracket, so we'll need to keep a good eye on his future performances! Nick also specializes in Triples, but prefers to use mons that have great synergy together. Alolan-Golem's Galvanize Explosion not only hits hard and destroys nearly everything, but gives Lightning Rod and Motor Drive boosts to his other Pokemon - which can be very tough to deal with late-game. Wide Guard is a solid move to use in preparation for this, as well as just killing the Golem as soon as possible to avoid taking massive damage. Battle of the Week (vs Personthing): http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-78691 Explosion... at its finest Olivia improved drastically from Season 1 - maintaining a solid win rate, just under Mira. She played the most games out of the Leaders up until now, and she has certainly proved that Grass can be a powerful type to face in combat. Olivia tends to face her challengers in either Sun Doubles or Trick Room Triples. The star of the Trick Room Triples team is definitely Mega Abomasnow, who hits very hard, and is almost always guaranteed to go first under Trick Room because of its already low base speed. Preventing Trick Room from going up is a nice strategy to go for, since then your mons are more likely to strike first than her rather slow mons, so Safety Goggles (which bypasses Rage Powder) is a useful item to give to your Pokemon, should she choose to fight you in this battle style. Battle of the Week (vs EternalLight95): http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-78681 Trick Room and Weather Wars! Well, that is it for this week. Next week, I'll be featuring Bracket 2 Leaders' strategies and tips, so stay tuned for those! But I will drop some nice Bracket 2 battles for you guys to enjoy: Ariel vs RBRN Azery: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptionsingles-78555 These two have been at each other's throats since Season 1... watch till the end to find out who emerged victorious! Edgar vs HYCROX: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptionsingles-78458 Edgar's second match... but things aren't looking too good for him Haley vs Intsys: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7redemptiontrip-78504 Haley's debut match for Season 2! Now let me run off before a certain cactus chases me, accusing me of stealing his job....

Yeah you should be fine but I meant for the challengers that will restart in the future

While most leaders do prepare teams according to the challengers' team, it doesn't necessarily make the game shift to their favor (otherwise nobody would be earning any badges at all >>). Items and EV spreads make a lot of difference - so its easy to play around for the element of surprise. Remember that leaders are also restricted to using a single type - so its fair in a sense they get access to the moves and the mons challengers use. And @Jmanultrax1 that is exactly why we created the Restart thread to avoid further confusion and hassle.

He is the same person as Dexter, who was the Psychic Leader in S1 - so you are correct to assume that he is the Psychic Leader (I mean, look at his new Ace Pokemon)

ANNOUNCEMENT Greetings, challengers! I'm here to announce the official League hours for Season 2! To account for our challengers all around the world, League hours will operate a little bit differently to the previous season. League Hours will run every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from: 1) EARLY - 12pm ~ 3pm EST (5pm ~ 8pm GMT) 2) LATE - 6pm ~ 9pm EST (11pm ~ 2am GMT) A couple of important rules regarding this: 1. You may only challenge ONCE per day. Even though there are 2 sessions of League each day, you may only challenge only on one session per day. You may face consequences if you are caught challenging more than once per day. 2. Leaders won't be available at all League sessions. Details of their availability will be announced once they are officially revealed. Please post any questions in the Discussions thread. Good luck to all the participants!

Happy Birthday Etesian!!

Hey guys. I haven't made a RMT in a while, so I thought I would like to share a really neat team that has been bringing me a lot of success in the Gen 7 OU ladder (not Pokebank). This team brought me to a ladder score of 1862 (#5 on Ladder currently). I understand that the normal Gen 7 OU might be closing soon following the release of Pokebank, but thats fine - I'll just have fun in the tier until it lasts. Any sorts of feedback will be welcome. At a Glance: It is a pretty balanced team in general - scout the opponent's team to figure out which mon (Greninja, Koko or Scizor) can sweep end-game. Weaken their respective checks with other mons, and you'll be good to go. There are 2 U-turn and 2 Volt Switch users on the team to help gain maximum momentum. Now, onward to the more detailed explanations: Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs Ability: Battle Bond EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature - Dark Pulse - Hydro Pump - U-turn - Water Shuriken Who would have thought this thing would be so strong? Normal Greninja has pretty decent special attack and speed, so activating the Battle Bond ability is not too terribly difficult. Specs STAB Hydro Pump usually inflicts heavy damage on mons that are not called SpD Toxapex, SpD Tapu Fini and Chansey. Dark Pulse OHKOs Mega Metagross (even before Battle Bond), a common Pokemon found in the tier, as well as usually 2HKOing things that are neutral to it. U-turn provides good momentum, and Water Shuriken is a really solid priority move to have - which saved me in tight spots against DD Mega Gyarados (which the team is somewhat weak to) and OHKOs Pheromosa after Battle Bond. Greninja is also very fast - even outspeeding Tapu Koko after Battle Bond, so its really difficult to switch-in to this monster too. Tapu Koko @ Life Orb Ability: Electric Surge EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Dazzling Gleam - Hidden Power [Ground] - Thunderbolt - Volt Switch Dazzling Gleam is a nice STAB move that is able to scare Garchomp, Zygarde etc. A common switch-in for Tapu Koko are Ground types such as Mamoswine, and they are usually 2HKOed by LO Dazzling Gleam unless they have SpD investments. HP Ground is there to OHKO non AV Magnezone and inflict a lot of damage onto Alolan Marowak - both of them who usually switches-in to Koko. Be careful since HP Ground doesn't quite OHKO AV Magnezone, and you'll need to inflict more damage onto it to kill it with Koko. Thunderbolt is another strong STAB attack to have - especially under Electric Terrain, and Volt Switch provides powerful, good momentum. Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite Ability: Technician EVs: 244 HP / 168 SpD / 96 Spe Careful Nature - Bullet Punch - Roost - Swords Dance - U-turn Scizor is a great mon to have since it can switch-in to a lot of things - including Mega Metagross, Mimikyu, Dhelmise, Tapu Bulu etc. It can also switch-in to Tapu Lele pretty well since most of them are Scarf, and even if it has HP Fire, it doesn't OHKO. Roost is a really neat recovery move for longevity and U-turn can be used to switch out when the opponent sends out things like Mandibuzz and Toxapex which can wall this particular Scizor set. Tapu Fini @ Leftovers Ability: Misty Surge EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 Spe Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Defog - Moonblast - Surf - Taunt Tapu Fini is easily one of the best hazard remover in the tier, and its Water/Fairy typing makes it a nice switch-in for common powerful mons such as Greninja, Alolan Marowak, Mandibuzz, Mamoswine and Buzzwole. It needs to somewhat watch out for Pheromosa although a non-LO Poison Jab is a 3HKO with that EV spread. Taunt is a great move to use on defensive mons such as Chansey, Toxapex, Skarmory and Celesteela, making them unable to use recovery moves (although it can't really do much do the first two). Surf is run over Scald since Misty Terrain prevents Scald burns from occurring. Mamoswine @ Focus Sash Ability: Oblivious EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Jolly Nature - Earthquake - Ice Shard - Icicle Crash - Stealth Rock The standard SR Mamoswine set. Having the Sash intact is very helpful - as it helps revenge kill things such as Tapu Koko, Xurkitree etc. Keeping Mamoswine alive for the last-minute Ice Shard can also change the outcome of the game, since residual damage is always important. Magearna @ Assault Vest Ability: Soul-Heart EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD Modest Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Aura Sphere - Flash Cannon - Fleur Cannon - Volt Switch The special wall of the team - it can deal with specially offensive mons such as Tapu Lele, Mega Alakazam (be careful of it Tracing Soul Heart however), Nihilego and Xurkitree. Pretty simple EV spread - max HP, max Special Attack, and the rest in Special Defense to add to the Assault Vest bonus. Flash Cannon and Fleur Cannon are very powerful STAB moves that hit pretty much everything that doesn't resist it hard. Volt Switch works well with Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain, although you do have to be cautious if there is a Ground type on the opposing team - in this case, it might be best to use Flash Cannon or Fleur Cannon on an incoming Ground-type and inflict massive damage (e.g Garchomp, Mamoswine, Zygarde etc.). Threats: - Mega Gyarados: If Tapu Fini becomes weakened, this thing can potentially sweep the whole team after one Dragon Dance. It's best to set up Stealth Rocks (once the remover is gone) before Gyarados comes in. - Stall: There aren't really powerful stallbreakers on this team, so stall can be a problem. It's important to utilize U-turn/Volt Switch well against stall teams, and weaken the stall teams bit by bit, and hit them hard before they get a chance to use Recover or Softboiled (or you can just win by flinching with Icicle Crash or Dark Pulse) - Trick Room: This can be a problem since things like Porygon2 and Mimikyu can get Trick Room up pretty safely. Feedback will be much appreciated. If you would like to try this team out, feel free to - and tell me your experiences with it. Importable:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7customgame-77346 A WHALE of a battle

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/reborn-gen7monotyperandombattle-77182 @mde2001 Here's a replay you'll be proud of

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-516107287 Koko saving the day

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-513295271 I probably shouldn't have won, but phew that was close

Just a reminder that accuracy-reducing items such as BrightPowder are NOT allowed.

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-507311410 Sandslash strikes again

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-505540881 Alolan-Sandslash <3

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-503985221 Beating hax with a correct prediction