Cycle 4 Qualifiers
Rank #1:
Rexus | ELO: 2151 | GXE: 85.7 | Record: [reset]
Rank #2:
beatiful | ELO: 2149 | GXE: 86.8 | Record: [reset]
Rank #3:
Ojama | ELO: 2143 | GXE: 87.4 | Record: [reset]
Rank #4:
Twixtry | ELO: 2140 | GXE: 86.9 | Record: [reset]
Rank #5:
Liones | ELO: 2135 | GXE: 86.5 | Record: [reset]
Rank #6:
Mimolette | ELO: 2132 | GXE: 87.6 | Record: 111-41
Rank #7:
michy47 | ELO: 2131 | GXE: 83.4 | Record: [reset]
Rank #8:
Samqian | ELO: 2128 | GXE: 83.3 | Record: [reset]
shoutouts TPP for graphics again
- Mega Latias continues to be one of the premier Mega Evolutions this cycle, being featured on some of the most used teams at the top like the Krookodile semi stall Insult qualified with cycle 1 and the Electrium Z Rotom-W balance Tricking used in his run last cycle. Its massive bulk and great typing allows it to check a wide variety of threats while acting as a great win condition with Calm Mind, which can end games rather quickly should the opponent not have appropiate counterplay.
- Kyurem-B picked up a lot in usage this cycle, mostly because of xtra$hine's Mega Medicham offense that Updated Kanto used to qualify last cycle. Its Icium Z set guarantees it a kill in about every matchup and it can prove to be very annoying for Rain teams, which struggle to even knock it out due to its fantastic bulk and resistance to Water, as well as for some of the bulkier teams that were seen around the top of the ladder, which can lose several key defensive members to it and end up being dismantled by its teammates.
- Mega Mawile was probably the second most popular Mega Evolution after Mega Latias, with appearances on several teams at the top such as the Tapu Lele bulky offense beatiful and Ojama were seen using as well as the Groundium Z Greninja BuluTran team that was fairly popular these last 2 cycles. Its ability to dismantle the bulkier teams that were used at the top as well as act as a check for the likes of Gyarados and Hawlucha on hyper offense thanks to Intimidate makes for a very valuable pick on a variety of teams.
Notable Teams
- This team was initially used by beatiful and later by Ojama and top-contender SoulWind, it's an interesting take at the Mawile VoltTurn bulky offense archetype that features some uncommon sets such as Darkinium Z Ash Greninja and Metronome Tapu Lele, which wasn't used at all until ilyakomaster qualified with it in cycle 2. It forgoes some key team components such as a reliable dark resist in favor of solid metagame picks that allow the team to thrive in a top-heavy ladder environment.
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- This is the team that Tricking used in his crazy ladder run last cycle, where he clutched the first spot on the ladder in a matter of hours. It is to be expected that a team with such results would get a lot of usage the cycle after and that's exactly what happened. Notably, Rexus was seen using it on his run through the higher portion of the ladder while several other early top-contenders used it to climb in the first few days. It is also worth nothing that later during the cycle a similar version with Life Orb Clefable and Poisinium Z Greninja instead of Rotom-W also saw a decent amount of usage and is what ultimately allowed Rexus to secure the first spot on the ladder.
- As I previously mentioned, this team by xtra$hine was used a lot throughout this cycle, following Updated Kanto's success with it the previous cycle. Between Mega Medicham and Icium Z Kyurem-B this team had no trouble breaking through bulkier teams and the combination of Hawlucha, Shift Gear Magearna and dual priority Mega Medicham was quite troublesome for offense. xtra himself as well as several other top-contenders used different variants of this team in particular, which would make scouting for certain sets a nightmare, as Mega Medicham could sometimes run Ice Punch or Magearna could be an Assault Vest variant.
- After Insult qualified with this team back in cycle 1 it's been used a fair amount by top-contenders like michy47, sayuze and loti/cielbakasan. Reuniclus remains as strong as ever and while the ladder has certainly adapted to its presence its still a strong pick and has the potential to win some common matchups such as when facing the xtra$hine offense outlined above. There's not much to say about this team, semi stall has always been a strong archetype for the higher portion of the ladder despite the recent ban on ionext and the implementation of the OLT Bot.
- Finally there's this team again which was highlighted last cycle after Chaitanya used it to clutch the 8th spot on the ladder. It was again fairly popular during the mid-period of the cycle although it wasn't seen much in the last few days. You can read more on the team in Finch's post on last cycle's trends above
That is all for this year's OLT Discussion Thread, hope everyone enjoyed and could learn from their experience here and although we didn't see as many posts from qualifiers as previous years it was still cool reading everyone's posts and takes on the ladder metagame. Good luck to everyone in playoffs and may the best player win