Season 2 Previews (Part 1)

8 min readJul 18, 2020

After a tense PP stall finals in season 1, the poke posse for life draft league (sponsored by Green Giant) was (surprisingly) renewed for a second season, with a $1 billion expansion team awarded to the large market of Nepean. In this two-part series, let’s take a look into the hopes of each team, starting with the teams that failed to make the playoffs.

The Stittsville Stoners

Coach: Andrew Cameron
Captain: Golisopod
Sponsored by: Shoppers Drug Mart
Goal song: Coming Soon — Hollyweed
Last Season: 8th (1–13)
Playoff Performance: n/a
Preferred Playstyle: Flinch Offense

With the worst inaugural regular season in the league, this venerable franchise (one of the original 8 teams) has only up to go. A win against coach Connor last season and a near miss against coach Niko remain the Stoners’ only scalps. However, with a new look, more threatening team, the Stoners look to make a step up and push for playoffs.

DRAFT OVERVIEW

MVP Candidate: Alakazam (2nd)

A team lives and dies by the strongest things it can do, and for Andrew, that’s abuse his offensive threats. Aerodactyl-Mega and Alakazam are two of the fastest pokemon in the realm (of the ROTMGGs), and so it was clear that one of them would be in this slot. I’ve gone with ‘Zam; this pokemon is a complete menace in the right matchups, with its Psychic STAB being super spammable, a high base-120 speed tier, and the ability to abuse Magic Guard in conjunction with either focus sash or life orb.

If Andrew were to make a splash in free agency and pick up Indeedee for the psychic terrain support he could make a serious push for playoffs. Here are some expanding force calcs if you don’t believe me:

252+ SpA Life Orb Alakazam Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ferrothorn in Psychic Terrain: 164–194 (46.5–55.1%) — 10.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Alakazam Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight in Psychic Terrain: 213–251 (53.2–62.7%) — guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Alakazam Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tangrowth in Psychic Terrain: 406–477 (100.4–118%) — guaranteed OHKO

Seriously boys, don’t sleep on this Pokemon.

Biggest Steal: Serperior (56th)
Serperior is an excellent bulky grass type with a spammable move in Leaf Storm and some setup options in coil and glare. Getting him this deep in the draft is a real boon for Andrew, and, in a trend we will likely see continue, one he has been able to parley into real trade capital. While swapping for Gyarados, who was picked 26 picks later, does seem like a step down, it’s an incredibly threatening pokemon in its own right and can abuse the holes Alakazam is capable of punching in teams to sweep.

Biggest Reach: Tsareena (20th)
Andrew loves his pet picks — he resigned two pokemon from last season in this draft. In some ways it’s prudent to pick up pokemon one is experienced with; after all, what use is a Celesteela or a Toxapex if you have no idea how to use them effectively? However, Tsareena would have easily been available with a later pick, and Andrew’s team really misses the star power that should have been there from its 3rd round pick, for reasons on the field and off; aside from Scott’s Turf Builder, nobody wants to sponsor this kind of grass type nowadays.

Projected Finish: 9th (3–13)*
The quality of this team has improved in real terms since last season, and I can’t see them not improving. However, with how tough the competition is and the usual last place jinx, (no team in league history has finished last in one season has ever failed to finish last again) I can’t see Andrew higher than 9th.

*The projected records likely won’t add up to a real number, this is more of a rough gauge of each team’s respective quality.

Sudbury Seismitoed

Coach: Dante Ursini
Captain: Articuno
Sponsored by: Smoke’s Poutinerie, Metro inc, Nickel (the element)
Goal song: Swing — La Goutte
Last Season: 7th (2–12)
Playoff Performance: n/a
Preferred Playstyle: Mono-Giga Drain

Coach Dante has been rehired by the venerable and now relocated (Sri Lanka is the Atlanta of Pokemon; every franchise there fails) Sudbury Seismitoed after an unimpressive 8 game freshman stint with them. Dante goes into Season 2 with a lot to prove to the team that resigned him on a big money contract, as well as two major sponsors to satisfy. An entirely new look squad (one of only a few players to resign no pokemon) shows that Dante is aiming to forget last season and take his team in a new direction.

DRAFT OVERVIEW

MVP Candidate: Landorus-T (36th)
It was hard to choose between Dante’s top 4, but Landorus-T is the clear pick here. This pokemon fits so many roles that you want on a team, being an excellent scarfer, defog user, bulky pivot, and useable setup sweeper, that I would be surprised if Dante doesn’t bring it every week. The lack of good ice types in the league (with Niko hoarding two) makes this pickup even better. Dante’s opponents will prep to break Landorus or die to earthquake spam and stealth rocks from one of the best setters in the game.

Biggest Steal: Tyranitar (55th)
I was tempted to put Landorus-T again, as getting a pokemon that good in the fourth round should by rights be illegal. However, you can’t ignore Tyranitar dropping all the way to the 7th round. Like Landorus, this pokemon does so many things you want, but it also has a specific Nat Dex only niche: it can trap with pursuit. With so many teams relying on Ghost- and Psychic- types susceptible to Pursuit trapping, TTar will warp other teams’ prep even if Dante never brings it.

Honourable mention to Jolteon at 72nd overall. It’s very hard to find good speed in this format, and that Dante was able to find a good speedy boy this deep in the draft speaks volumes to the quality of his scouting department.

Biggest Reach: Porygon-Z (54th)
This one sticks out to me as being a bit of a reach. I know how much damage Porygon-Z can do with its adaptability boosted tri-attacks, (and hyper beams) but there were definitely better wallbreakers available at this stage in the draft. It’s unlikely to even be good trade capital unless Dan picks up his phone.

Projected Finish: 7th (4–12)*
Dante will likely push hard to get into playoffs with this team. However, with 9 teams and only 6 places, the competition for them will be a lot tighter, and so I foresee him missing on the last day or so of play. He should push right to the wire though.

Nepean Neuroforce

Coach: Beck Vandenbygaart
Captain: Clefable
Sponsored by: Goodlife Fitness
Goal song: Headhunterz — The Power of the Mind
Last Season: n/a
Playoff Performance: n/a
Preferred Playstyle: Lax Incense

After a promising appearance for a flagging franchise, coach Beck is behind the wheel of an expansion team constructed himself. The exciting young coach who has never failed to make the playoffs in a full season of games is, like Dante, going into this season with a lot to prove, and fans are excited to see him behind the wheel of a team he built himself.

DRAFT OVERVIEW

MVP Candidate: The Excadrill-Hippowdon Combo
Beck inherits this from the Kanata Keldeos, who neglected to resign their sand core. Weather is so threatening historically in this format, (no weather team has failed to make the playoffs in league history) and these two are a synergetic and threatening core capable of breaking offense and stall alike. Expect to see a lot of these guys.

Biggest Steal: Tapu Bulu (59th)
Before writing this I forgot Beck even drafted Bulu. Getting him at all (provided Rillaboom is gone) is a triumph, but getting him this late in the draft is a masterclass. Slight anti-synergies with the two ground types of the team, but I’m sure that won’t matter so much when wood hammer is breaking holes in the opponent.

Biggest Reach: Skarmory (68th)
This one is less a reach and more of a “Celesteela was still available and kind of outclasses Skarm” post. If Beck got Celesteela here I might be talking about this as a steal and, I don’t know, Grimmsnarl or something being a reach. Beck has a very well drafted team if you just look at expected position vs where the pokemon actually ended up.

Projected Finish: 6th (6–10)*
Beck showed a lot of promise in his stint last season and was growing game by game. I’m sure with time, and behind the wheel of a real team, he’ll show everyone that he has what it takes to sneak into playoffs.

But who drops out of playoffs? Where do their teams stack up? Join us tomorrow for the season preview of the remaining 6 teams in the poke-posse for life league season 2!*

*Pat. Pending.

Season 2 Previews (Part 1)

The Stittsville Stoners

DRAFT OVERVIEW

Sudbury Seismitoed

DRAFT OVERVIEW

Nepean Neuroforce

DRAFT OVERVIEW

Written by Poke Posse Draft League News