Even the absolute top level players don’t have more than say a 65% win rate against other competent, experienced players I would guess. Theres just too much randomness in matchup and rng for even someone like ABR to win every time. If you practice the metagame you want to play and play in tournaments to get experience, you’re probably never worse than like 20/80 odds to win any given game
@@pinkacross2042 a great example of this is that recently the top seed player for ADV Revival 2 Swiss lost to someone with the lowest seed on the last round before bracket There’s always a chance of beating the veteran player
I play at a top level sometimes (I bounce around between 1950 and 1700 ELO mostly staying in the 1800s) so I played Pinkacross a few times. He's much better than me but I still managed to beat him 1 out of 5 times.
@@pinkacross2042Some people play many metagames, I mostly play OMs and doubles and AG along with whatever I decide is fun at the time so my ELO is a mess with how much it's divided, also I test out many gimmick concepts which doesn't help with that
No, you have to be worse than your opponent, that way the hax shifts into your favor and when they try to predict your good play you actually make a bad one and it helps you
Queueing into PIF in the UU ladder surely felt a bit like this. He was like the top 1 UU ladder player for a long time and all but actually talking to him in the chat and playing against him was like 'hey, he's just a nice guy that happens to be really good at this, but he's far from perfect or unbeatable'.
As someone whos played lots of uu across the generations, I completly agree with this. Ive also loss alot of those matches, hes number 1 for a reason lol
the best way to beat any better opponent is to use paraspam, if you're worse than your opponent might aswell leave it up to the lord. Can confirm i beat ABR using Kadabra + Stomp tauros in RBY Cup
In my experience laddering pretty high up in old gens, I find that top players who use offense or generic defensive pivots are the easiest matchups to punish-to the point I really feel like there’s little to glean from the replay “oh I just won vs an offense.” While some find success running random hidden powers for particular threats, it’s the work of understanding common switchins and interactions (Eg. Trapper or set up threat in the back) in tandem with moves that force progress (yawn, roar, toxic, hazards, etc) that can net you a numbers or pressure advantage vs those good players that force them to make plays like using earthquake on a flying type. That being said, #4 is especially true in RBY where these lines of play are super duper figured out and good positioning with a handful of mix ups are what net you advantages in the long term.
Hey Pink! I'm new to showdown and your content has been absolutely amazing for learning general play patterns and especially how to team build. My favorite pokemon is Gyarados, so seeing it be so far down the usage tier was pretty disheartening. I wanted to make it work though, and ended up landing on Intimidate Choice Bannd Adamant with Outrage, Aqua Tail, Avalanche, and Tera Blast Flying(EVs:252 attack, 208 speed to outrun Raging Bolt with the rest in HP). Sorry for the formatting, I'm not familiar with what's appropriate. I started going through the viability rankings like you suggested to see how it matches up with other mons, and noticed that this set matches up pretty well into the tier.. It live and OHKOs a LOT of mons, while blanking most Gliscor and Landorous sets. How does one go about submitting teams for review? I did build a team around it, but I suck so I'm interested to see what someone of your skill level can do with the idea. Thanks for all you do!
I'm so happy to hear that my content has been helpful! :] Personally, I'd say the most promising Gyarados set is probably Dragon Dance, Tera Blast Flying, Substitute, and Earthquake. If you want to run Choice Band, I'd go Tera Blast Flying, Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Waterfall. The problem is-- I can't see myself running this. I imagine a breaker like Ogerpon-Wellspring that doesn't need Tera, and is even stronger than this Gyarados, and I have a tough time justifying using it.
i love the part of getting reqs where after i play a game i get very nervous and spend 20 minutes dilly daddling before i queue up into the next game, and then have a 50% chance to click the cancel button before getting into a game and spending another 20 minutes eating cashews
One thing I love about pokémon is that anyone can beat anyone at any time. Pretty much anytime I’m playing someone better than me, I’ll just bring an interesting tech that I’ve had a lot of success with on ladder. Specs keldeo? Sure! Band kartana? Weird, but why not! Special attack boosting agility iron moth? Sounds good! Granted, I’m not playing people on the level of top tourney players or anything, but every now and then I’ll play someone who’s a pretty respected player in the tier’s community.
Please can you do a team building video around Palafin before it get banned again? If you want some spice, you can do this Palafin set: Palafin-Hero @ Throat Spray Ability: Zero to Hero Tera Type: Normal EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Naive Nature - Jet Punch - Boomburst - Surf - Ice Beam
Magic Room is a field effect similar to Trick Room, but instead of inverting speed, it nullifies items. So, for example, you could run Choice Band Dragapult with Dragon Dance, DD up under Magic Room, then start attacking once it ends.
Ok but, how do you seriously get into a situation where you’re fighting soulwind while only being 1 month into playing? (Ironically I was watching one of soulwind’s games right before watching this vid)
my first year of playing (4y ago I think) I matched up against empo in ost r2. lost 0-2 but dropped both due to bad luck/mu. known players r good but not holy deities, in the end anyone can win if theyre clever.
@pinkacross2042 @pinkacross2042 Lmao so basically: 1. Pray to the rng gods for matchup 2. Use easy teams and pray to rng gods for matchup 3. Pray to rng gods for your button presses to work out 4. Actually try to outplay
I have not watched the video, but from someone that has beaten a top 10 GSC OU ladder player, I can tell you that once you are in the game, if you have a good team, somewhat competent knowledge of the metagame and some reasoning skill, you can beat anyone if you actuallynplay seriously. There have been plenty players much better than me that see a famous player and instantly use their cheesy fish team and gamble just to end up taking the game out of their hands and losing pathetically, and in the process, having the opposing player not even resoect you and not even say gg because u were a moron who didnt actually try. Sure most of the time the better player will win, but its never 100%, hell I dont think its even above 85% if you have the previosly mentioned traits. I could win a match agaibst ABR, a lot of people could, sure in 20 matches he would beat you in at least 15 but hey, in a game full of variance like Pokemon, givin uo before the battle starts is lame Imma being up the match I had, if you watch it and have some GSC OU knowledge u know that he was closer to victory than me, but I kept trying and engineering ways to victory and I found a path with my Heracross, which landed some key critical hits and allowed me to break through his team Here's the match: replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2ou-2264351698-hc2qkr92l8ncn4uhodkxol37l4476whpw Unfortunately he was using an alternative account but many players woulda brought a cheese team anyway.
Take a break! There are a lot of great, productive things to do in the world. If you're not into exercise, I highly recommend working out. Build some muscle, come back in a few months and see if you still want to play the game!
(I have used some blatant counterteams to success. Brought a Shed Shell Magnezone to a triple steel Magnezone team in a big individual BW tournament it was hilarious)
![[OP09] TOP 10 Ranked Gameplay! Purple Luffy Vs Black Beard High Rated One Piece TCG](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KPgwF9HoebM/mqdefault.jpg)
Even the absolute top level players don’t have more than say a 65% win rate against other competent, experienced players I would guess. Theres just too much randomness in matchup and rng for even someone like ABR to win every time. If you practice the metagame you want to play and play in tournaments to get experience, you’re probably never worse than like 20/80 odds to win any given game
Well-put! I agree, unless there's a major skill gap, anyone has a solid shot.
@@pinkacross2042 a great example of this is that recently the top seed player for ADV Revival 2 Swiss lost to someone with the lowest seed on the last round before bracket
There’s always a chance of beating the veteran player
That’s why Kevin BKC Gen 5 career tournament winrate of 67% means he’s the GOAT
I play at a top level sometimes (I bounce around between 1950 and 1700 ELO mostly staying in the 1800s) so I played Pinkacross a few times. He's much better than me but I still managed to beat him 1 out of 5 times.
99% of gamblers quit before they beat ABR by getting the 0,000000016384% chance of dark pulse flinching 14 times in a row
It's true
I am that 1%
ABR once taught me something very valuable about my team, the hard way: the fact that it got 6-0d by Volcarona. Thanks king.
Damn lol, that's a lesson we've all learned at times
@@pinkacross2042 im not over you doing this to me twice
As a veteran 1000 Elo player, this was very helpful. Happy Holidays!
Veteran + 1000 Elo is crazy 💀
Happy holidays! :D
@@pinkacross2042Some people play many metagames, I mostly play OMs and doubles and AG along with whatever I decide is fun at the time so my ELO is a mess with how much it's divided, also I test out many gimmick concepts which doesn't help with that
How to beat a better player:
Become a better player than your opponent
Yes, that is the best method... takes quite a while though.
instructions unclear i have been trying that for years and still suck
No, you have to be worse than your opponent, that way the hax shifts into your favor and when they try to predict your good play you actually make a bad one and it helps you
Ok but can we talk about abr and how goated his showdown avatar is? That's like half the charm of the top players of smogon tbh
Yea his custom is really good
Thanks for the Keldeo praise! This is for you.
Thank you so much! What a nice Christmas gift! :D
Queueing into PIF in the UU ladder surely felt a bit like this. He was like the top 1 UU ladder player for a long time and all but actually talking to him in the chat and playing against him was like 'hey, he's just a nice guy that happens to be really good at this, but he's far from perfect or unbeatable'.
Yea, a lot of people put top-level players on a pedestal-- they're good, but as you said, far from unbeatable.
As someone whos played lots of uu across the generations, I completly agree with this. Ive also loss alot of those matches, hes number 1 for a reason lol
@@shadowgear7032 Yea I've played pif a few times myself-- won some, lost most, in UU at least. Very strong player
Miss that guy 😢
the best way to beat any better opponent is to use paraspam, if you're worse than your opponent might aswell leave it up to the lord. Can confirm i beat ABR using Kadabra + Stomp tauros in RBY Cup
Hey! Are you THE Mimikyu Stardust, the one from the Smogon council?
Paraspam is a type of cheese I didn't mention, but yea I'd agree it's one of the best.
The correct answer is to lean hard into RNG. They can’t predict you if you don’t have any idea what you’re doing.
"To confuse your enemy, you must first confuse yourself." ~ Sun Tzu
Okay but the first game clutch was amazing
Thank you! :]
I suck at doing my best. I always give up.
As a player that is trying to get better at a Tournament setting as myself
I can confirm I've been using most of this techniques
Thank you for this, Pink-Croissant
You're welcome! :D
In my experience laddering pretty high up in old gens, I find that top players who use offense or generic defensive pivots are the easiest matchups to punish-to the point I really feel like there’s little to glean from the replay “oh I just won vs an offense.” While some find success running random hidden powers for particular threats, it’s the work of understanding common switchins and interactions (Eg. Trapper or set up threat in the back) in tandem with moves that force progress (yawn, roar, toxic, hazards, etc) that can net you a numbers or pressure advantage vs those good players that force them to make plays like using earthquake on a flying type. That being said, #4 is especially true in RBY where these lines of play are super duper figured out and good positioning with a handful of mix ups are what net you advantages in the long term.
Hey Pink! I'm new to showdown and your content has been absolutely amazing for learning general play patterns and especially how to team build.
My favorite pokemon is Gyarados, so seeing it be so far down the usage tier was pretty disheartening. I wanted to make it work though, and ended up landing on Intimidate Choice Bannd Adamant with Outrage, Aqua Tail, Avalanche, and Tera Blast Flying(EVs:252 attack, 208 speed to outrun Raging Bolt with the rest in HP). Sorry for the formatting, I'm not familiar with what's appropriate.
I started going through the viability rankings like you suggested to see how it matches up with other mons, and noticed that this set matches up pretty well into the tier.. It live and OHKOs a LOT of mons, while blanking most Gliscor and Landorous sets.
How does one go about submitting teams for review? I did build a team around it, but I suck so I'm interested to see what someone of your skill level can do with the idea. Thanks for all you do!
I'm so happy to hear that my content has been helpful! :]
Personally, I'd say the most promising Gyarados set is probably Dragon Dance, Tera Blast Flying, Substitute, and Earthquake.
If you want to run Choice Band, I'd go Tera Blast Flying, Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Waterfall. The problem is-- I can't see myself running this. I imagine a breaker like Ogerpon-Wellspring that doesn't need Tera, and is even stronger than this Gyarados, and I have a tough time justifying using it.
@@pinkacross2042Yes, Wellspring is kind of the fun police huh 😂. It's certainly a better mon, hopefully it gets suspected soon
i love the part of getting reqs where after i play a game i get very nervous and spend 20 minutes dilly daddling before i queue up into the next game, and then have a 50% chance to click the cancel button before getting into a game and spending another 20 minutes eating cashews
One thing I love about pokémon is that anyone can beat anyone at any time. Pretty much anytime I’m playing someone better than me, I’ll just bring an interesting tech that I’ve had a lot of success with on ladder. Specs keldeo? Sure! Band kartana? Weird, but why not! Special attack boosting agility iron moth? Sounds good!
Granted, I’m not playing people on the level of top tourney players or anything, but every now and then I’ll play someone who’s a pretty respected player in the tier’s community.
Unconventional tech works well against many people! I think the best teams are those that use slightly unique pokemon or sets.
@@pinkacross2042 For sure! Also the most fun!
Somewhere on the other side of the globe, BKC felt a disturbance in the force when this video was posted
Haha yea you're probably right
You're definitely my favourite pokemon creator of the year ! Cheers for your amazing videos 🥳
Thanks so much! I appreciate the support! :D
Thank you for this great video on Christmas, Lokix will leave a good first impresent :)
You're very welcome! Lokix climbed down my Chimney and U-turned out before I woke up
Please can you do a team building video around Palafin before it get banned again?
If you want some spice, you can do this Palafin set:
Palafin-Hero @ Throat Spray
Ability: Zero to Hero
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Jet Punch
- Boomburst
- Surf
- Ice Beam
I doubt Palafin will be banned, honestly it doesn't seem great. I don't think these special sets are very good, but I'll keep it in mind!
Pinka’s thumbnail game has improved a lot lately.
Thank you! This is my first thumbnail not using Google Slides LOL
No way, pinka is a slides artist too? I thought we were almost extinct!
Potentially late to your time zone but Merry Christmas Pink! Thanks for all of your uploads! ❤💚
Not late at all! Thanks so much! :D
Very cool thumbnail
Thank you! I've been working on my thumbnail game! :]
Today i found out i was not subscribed to pinkacross and immediately subscribed
Thank you! :D
Awesome vid, keep em coming bro
@@omiegon Thank you! Will do! :D
I lost 0-2 to someone way better than me in a dl just 3 days ago 💀 sure would've appreciated this back when i was prepping
There's always next time!
I just realized that most of my playing is hyper offense. Thanks for the revelation.
@@harrisontownsend910 Glad I could help!
@pinkacross2042 I normally play almost any ability so I've added some more slow paced pokemon and it's helping so far.
Perfect tutorial on trying [[and probably failing]] on beating this shiny heracross
I hope the rookies learn this. I won in the past and as the meta changes you will have to learn the new mechanics to adapt.
Screw that. We ball
2:30 What on earth is magic room? is he talking about trick room?
Magic Room is a field effect similar to Trick Room, but instead of inverting speed, it nullifies items. So, for example, you could run Choice Band Dragapult with Dragon Dance, DD up under Magic Room, then start attacking once it ends.
Merry christmas pinkacross! Wishing you many crit flinch dark pulses in 2025
Thanks so much! You too! :D
He's teaching us this so he knows how to counter us
In the teamtour I played, 5/7 of my opponents brought HO against me-- I was ready every time, kept bringing strong priority
leaving a comment because i am enjoying. luv u pink.
Why thank you! :D
I am yes enjoying thank you pink on crops engagement algorithm
Glad to hear it, thank you! :D
Merry Christmas!!
Thank you! Merry Christmas to you as well!
Wait a minute... i know the 2 teams you used in the stall part
Yes, I think they're both public teams! At least, the Sun is for sure.
@pinkacross2042 yeah from the final of the pinka tourney
@jaysongoldsborough9889 Yes, that's where the replay is from!
Merry Christmas Everyone 🎉🎉🎉
Merry Christmas! :D
step 1: be confident
That never hurts!
pinkacross bringing the gift reckoning
Santa Cross
Ok but, how do you seriously get into a situation where you’re fighting soulwind while only being 1 month into playing? (Ironically I was watching one of soulwind’s games right before watching this vid)
You probably won't, that's kinda the point-- you'll rarely be in a situation where you actually want to bring a cheese team.
Wow this is a really great resource! it means you have a chance to beat me now(ignore half of the games weve played)
my first year of playing (4y ago I think) I matched up against empo in ost r2. lost 0-2 but dropped both due to bad luck/mu. known players r good but not holy deities, in the end anyone can win if theyre clever.
Very true!
I already know how. You matchup fish and use cheese teams obviously.
@@DragapultRules You may want to watch the video...
@pinkacross2042 @pinkacross2042 Lmao so basically:
1. Pray to the rng gods for matchup
2. Use easy teams and pray to rng gods for matchup
3. Pray to rng gods for your button presses to work out
4. Actually try to outplay
Also keep changing layers kinda works because you fuck up their minds lmao
Its simple,just play in a different format like VGC Reg H
"Oh, you thought we were playing OU? Nah, Gen 3 PU Doubles, right now."
Honestly i wanna a see a Competitive PokeTuber play PU Doubles
The worst ever player after watching this video: STONKS
LOL
Honestly?
A lot of words to say "RNG... but good?"
No rng bad.
Happy Christmas Pink!
For my gift can you say something nice about Keldeo?!
Merry Christmas! Keldeo is a solid switch-in to Kingambit.
@@pinkacross2042 aww! Thanks.
I have not watched the video, but from someone that has beaten a top 10 GSC OU ladder player, I can tell you that once you are in the game, if you have a good team, somewhat competent knowledge of the metagame and some reasoning skill, you can beat anyone if you actuallynplay seriously.
There have been plenty players much better than me that see a famous player and instantly use their cheesy fish team and gamble just to end up taking the game out of their hands and losing pathetically, and in the process, having the opposing player not even resoect you and not even say gg because u were a moron who didnt actually try.
Sure most of the time the better player will win, but its never 100%, hell I dont think its even above 85% if you have the previosly mentioned traits.
I could win a match agaibst ABR, a lot of people could, sure in 20 matches he would beat you in at least 15 but hey, in a game full of variance like Pokemon, givin uo before the battle starts is lame
Imma being up the match I had, if you watch it and have some GSC OU knowledge u know that he was closer to victory than me, but I kept trying and engineering ways to victory and I found a path with my Heracross, which landed some key critical hits and allowed me to break through his team
Here's the match: replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen2ou-2264351698-hc2qkr92l8ncn4uhodkxol37l4476whpw
Unfortunately he was using an alternative account but many players woulda brought a cheese team anyway.
Pink I'm no longer having fun in this shitty ass game what do I do
Take a break! There are a lot of great, productive things to do in the world. If you're not into exercise, I highly recommend working out. Build some muscle, come back in a few months and see if you still want to play the game!
beans
thanks lol
I don't need this, I make ABR look like ABC
Dang that's pretty confident
Stomp Tauros and inshallah
(I have used some blatant counterteams to success. Brought a Shed Shell Magnezone to a triple steel Magnezone team in a big individual BW tournament it was hilarious)
please, play for spl this time🫠 and record them
I'm not a fan of tournaments, but I'll consider it