Online Competition Test Your Luck! (Metronome Battles)

  • Pressure is pretty much pointless this format. I've only had 1 battle where I ran out of PP on one Pokemon, and it didn't matter. (Dusclops and Dusknoir are still good for bulk though, imo Dusknoir more so because it can hold an item.)
that's interesting that that's such a divergence between cart and PS, because pressure abounds on PS. How many turns on average would you say most of your games were going on cart?
 
that's interesting that that's such a divergence between cart and PS, because pressure abounds on PS. How many turns on average would you say most of your games were going on cart?
I'd say about 15 turns if they're playing along and selecting all their turns immediately? Something I didn't notice until one of the hosts mentioned it is that the friendlies have been set to 15 minutes per match max (that can't be changed, it seems) when the actual competition is max 20 minutes per match. I don't feel that that will change things much (a normal turn is like 1 minute long), but it does mean that people relying on getting to a 3v2 and then timer stalling actually have to play their luck for an extra 5 minutes or so.
 
Pressure is fixed and it's annoying and unfun to deal with, once dusclops and dusknoir appear, or worse, the opponent does nothing but switching.

I tried using Flame Body Magmar to try to get some status, only to find out it's uncompatible in SWSH for some reason :(
 

Thick Fat Azumarill

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Pressure is fixed and it's annoying and unfun to deal with, once dusclops and dusknoir appear, or worse, the opponent does nothing but switching.

I tried using Flame Body Magmar to try to get some status, only to find out it's uncompatible in SWSH for some reason :(
That's because Magmar(and Electabuzz) only learn Metronome in gen 1, and the Galar symbol rule doesn't allow mons with past gen moves.
 
Pressure is fixed and it's annoying and unfun to deal with, once dusclops and dusknoir appear, or worse, the opponent does nothing but switching.

I tried using Flame Body Magmar to try to get some status, only to find out it's uncompatible in SWSH for some reason :(
I use jacoba berry grimsnarl with Pickpocket to steal the leftovers and do 12% Damage To dusknor Which is guaranteed as long as dusknor hit you with a physical move unlike flame bodies 30% chance
 

DaWoblefet

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For fun, I wanted to keep track of all the different moves called by Metronome that I saw during the competition. Originally, I was just going to do an Excel sheet, but I decided to make a small web-based tool instead! The Metronome Usage Tracker allows you to keep more easily keep a tally and count of what moves you have and haven't seen with Metronome. I plan on using it for seeing moves called from Metronome from both my opponent and me. Check it out!

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If you have questions about the tool, feel free to PM me.
 

cant say

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I streamed my day 1 games and ended up going 10-5. I think I’m 1570? I forgot to check my score after the last match but i was 1557 before winning the final game.

Mr Mime has been really nice for dealing special damage onto all the tanks running physical bulk when it is actually able to call a special attack.

Pickpocket Grimmsnarl has been my MVP, the biggest reason Dusknior is any good is that Leftovers heals more than the damage you can usually do in 8 turns. When the damage becomes permanent it can’t effectively stall you. I’m not pairing it with Sticky Barb Clefable, I kinda wish I did because now that I’ve played with the cart timer I don’t really see how Pressure teams deal with the constant chip. Whereas on Showdown it felt like they were able to slowly beat you over 100 turns by just using the two Pokémon that don’t have the Barb while you run out of PP. However Life Orb Clef was epic in the games I brought it in.


Timer stalling is really unfun though so I’m really happy I went with Mime + Machamp and just been trying to brute-force quick wins/losses.

The highlight of the day was my lead Snorlax getting Belly Drum turn 1, into Icicle Crash OHKOing Togekiss, Cross Poison OHKOing Alakazam, and then Rollout 2HKOing Gengar. Nice 5 turn game…

I’ll be playing more games tomorrow so look out for that if you’re interested!!


>> stream VOD
 
After 28 games, I'm currently 21-7 with 1673 rating. Could be 20-30 points higher because my 3rd loss was a tragic DC from a winning spot (currently waiting for my phone to charge for my mobile hotspot hahaha) but overall I'm very happy with how its going. Went with the standard Gengar / Dusknoir / Grimmsnarl trio, with Helmet Snorlax making an appearance in one game and no complaints so far. I'm probably going to finish all my games because interestingly enough, I feel like the variance in this format, in terms of winning and losing games, is actually far smaller than in regular competitions. I expect that as long as I keep playing properly, I will slowly create a net positive in points over my last 17 games, which is exciting to see because I'm ~70th in the world atm.

Something that I missed in my preparation for the tour was the strength of heavy special attackers (Specs Togekiss in particular) and just 3 mon HO, typically LO Alakazam, Specs Togekiss/Clefable and Band Machamp/Snorlax. Individually they are all very hit-or-miss mons, but when you stream three attackers one after the other you are bound to connect with some heavy hits. One of my losses in particular was a LO Alakazam + Specs Clefable combo hitting 5 special moves + Poltergeist on Dusknoir in the first 6 turns. I always thought one attacker would be nice to have just in case you see a team that might need breaking through with some luck, but I wish I had a special attacker over Clefable as my 6th, given how much physical defense mons are investing in.

My move pokedex is coming along nicely, 401/554 moves seen (between both me and my opps), haven't kept track of what move has come up the most annoyingly. Some highlights move wise have been:
  • An opposing Miltank using Round three times in one game, with two coming one after the other
  • Hurricane -> opps Conversion 2 into a Steel type -> my Inferno
  • Inferno connecting (which always burns) -> me Psycho Shifting the burn on the same turn
  • 2 Lunar Dances in the same game (one each), which really screwed with us because of the delayed mechanics of Lunar Dance healing
  • Magnet Rise -> Fissure immunity in one turn
  • One of my opps setting up SR, and a layer each of Spikes and TSpikes
  • My Grimmsnarl ending up with +1 Atk/Def/Spatk/Speed and +3 Spdef, with Focus Energy and a Choice Band (I ohkod a Clefable with Head Smash)
Match wise had a few cool ones:
  • Played the same Japanese gamer (sN) twice today in a direct mirror. Both games ended 3-3 and were super interesting. First game he kept switching between Gengar and Dusknoir (after taking my Dusknoir's Leftovers) while I kept hitting Metronomes and eventually won just about on HP. Second game I had to timer stall for about 13 mins of the game once he Struggled with his Disabled Gengar to pass my Grimmsnarl Black Sludge - I was able to hold the HP difference but it was very tense
  • I got my Gengar Blue Flare -> burnt, and my Dusknoir Frenzy Planted by a Specs Togekiss and was very far behind. 2-2 going into the last 3 mins but I have a clear HP deficit. He decided to keep Metronoming rather than Max Guarding and I get the perfect punish with a Torment to force Clefable -> Iron Head to KO the 40% Polteageist + poison chip. Game ends on the very last turn with me flipping the game to a 2-1 win
  • One of my losses was to a Togekiss where I rolled T1 Explosion on Gengar trying to scout the item, and then 7 turns later rolling Final Gambit on my Dusknoir
  • Gengar has had a rough time of it overall - on top of the 2 matches above: I lost to a Prankster CB Grimmsnarl rolling Knock Off on its first move as I was expecting Pickpocket (to give it my Black Sludge); an actual Pickpocket Grimmsnarl rolling Shell Smash -> Psystrike -> Aromatherapy to heal 2 burns I'd given
Had a lot of fun so far, I think on balance I can't say I've had bad luck at all. Though the matches are draining sometimes having to timer stall a boring game, a few of my timer stalls have been close and super intense trying to hold a lead and praying for no OHKO moves. I'd love to end up in the Top 30 for the competition but I am going to go for all 45 games and see where I end up.
 

DaWoblefet

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Finished out early today, 1714 rating. I found 499/554 possible callable moves. I streamed on my Twitch channel; thanks to all who came out to watch! Both on Showdown, with the infinite double Pressure switching, and on cart, where timer stalling is optimal nearly all of your games, I can only conclude this format is both absolutely amazing and absolutely terrible.

Total wins: 30
Timer wins: 21
Forfeit/ragequit wins: 7
Games where I KOed 3 Pokemon to win: 2

Total losses: 15
Timer losses: 13
Losses where all 3 Pokemon were KOed to lose: 2

I got Metronome OHKOed 3 times this tour; once by a Machamp, and once by two different Dusclops. The only other time a mon died in one hit was Super Lock Scope Lens Togekiss crit Eruption at full HP on my Gengar.

As I suspected, timer was a major factor in the vast majority of my games. Basically, if you ever lost one mon and your opponent knew what they were doing, it was over, and vice versa. I ended many games with 0 Your Time, 0 Total Time, and most of the forfeit/ragequits I got were from situations where I was very, very likely to just win on timer. Every time one player rolled a "KO yourself" move, like Healing Wish or Explosion, the game just becomes a long, drawn-out stallfest.

A particularly ridiculous example involved a full Gengar/Dusknoir/Grimmsnarl mirror. We both were using Metronome but getting inconsequential rolls, as well as switching a lot. By the end of the game, the only damage was on our two Grimmsnarls, with mine leading by a mere 10 HP:
 
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Been playing and streaming to good friends in Discord, coming out of lurkerdom for posterity.

Currently 1727 with 7 games left to play. Last game of the night I faced a 1792 JP player (1st on ladder?) and got a 5-turn sweep with Miltank to reverse what was a semi-bad position as my Grimm had stolen their Gengar's Black Sludge and I was losing on HP:

1. Acupressure -> Atk boost
2. Psycho Cut crit KO their Gengar (no Cursed Body proc)
3. Double Hit OHKO their Grimm (they were not carrying Jaboca or Sitrus Berry)
4. Inferno hits and crits their Lefties Snorlax (this move didn't matter but it was incredibly BM)
5. Sacred Sword KOs the Snorlax for game

Don't think I'm ever getting a string of moves like that ever again. The game was over within 3 minutes once Miltank hit the field.
 

DaWoblefet

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