Night Falls, Heavens Rise

I had been debating on whether or not I should make this post. The reason is because my raid group hasn't been too active in hosting its own tournaments, and - I'll admit - I haven't been too active either in participating in the tournaments. But I've had a history with the tournaments, and I'm likely to participate in them at any time if the opportunity allows, so I've decided to make this post regardless. Now, the tournaments of course refer to those of the Silph Arena, and this post therefore regards one of its cups or themes for the current running season of the Arena.

The cup or theme for the month of December is called "Nightfall", as hinted by the title of this post. For this, the restrictions are fairly simple. There are only type restrictions, with only the Normal, Fighting, Ground, Poison, and Ice types allowed. All kinds of Pokémon are allowed, so long as they are of at least one of these types. Apart from this utilizing the Great League (as is standard) and Mega Evolution being disallowed (as the current protocol), the cup or theme becomes as simple as that. The selection of types can be said to represent all the things that may befall the night and make it dark in different ways.

Accordingly, there is always a meta. At the heart of the meta is Galarian Stunfisk for its ability to counter most other Pokémon that can possibly be used; it is therefore central. In the periphery of the meta, there is another single actor of Wigglytuff, which can deal with the Fighting (and Mud Boys) realm, which can deal with the Ice realm, which can deal with the (Shadow-) Grass-Poison realm, which can deal with Wigglytuff. Galarian Stunfisk and Wigglytuff are key parts of a team of six Pokémon that the Arena requires, while the other four can be made up of selections that can effectively deal with others as above.

It is no surprise, then, that Galarian Stunfisk tops the usage list (at this point in time) for current teams on the Silph Arena. Below that, there is Froslass as the major representative of the Ice realm, followed by Medicham and Swampert as the best of their combined realm, and then Wigglytuff and Gallade (the latter as part of the Fighting realm). Rounding out the top 10 are Venusaur, Victreebel, Noctowl, and Abomasnow, three of which are in the Grass realm while Noctowl holds its own as a Normal type representative. Many of these will make fine choices for teams.

Being that this is December, Nightfall becomes the last theme of the year for the Silph Arena. It has been a somewhat difficult year due to last season becoming rather anticlimactic and this season starting off in the midst of further difficult situations, which may have caused some to refrain from competing, like me. In that sense, it may be considered that night has fallen, as with this theme, in contrast to the Sunrise theme. But then again, with night falling, the heavens also rise, and with the choices of Pokémon for this theme, all it takes is a pick of the right ones to send a Trainer right to the stars.

One year ago: Pokémon Center Pilot Pikachu Plush - Narita Airport Ver.

Two years ago: Stage Coin Tricks in Shuffle

Three years ago: Cosplay: Utsuru F!