PDL Week 3 Recap

3 Weeks down and 1 more before our first bye week. Let’s keep up the pace and push
on ahead.

DEP vs. BLP : 0-1

NWN vs. JAX : 4-0

HEH vs. LOL: 0-5

VAV vs. ITA: 3-0

BFS vs. HFW: 0-3

TOT vs. PIP: 0-5

COG vs. DCC: 6-0

SHS vs. MIN: 4-0

SLC vs. AUK: 0-2

NYY vs. BAL: 0-1

BEN vs. MIL: 0-4

NJJ vs. MID: 0-6

This week shook everything up. Going into the week there were 8 teams that were
undefeated and now there are only 5, and there was only 1 match that featured 2
undefeated teams. What does this tell you? Everything is up in the air. Teams that were
expected to win lost, everyone is improving and that is absolutely fantastic. It is really
going to be a challenging year.

I recommend watching a lot of the matches this week. This was the best week of
battling thus far and it is only going to get better. There are sweeps, calculated
predictions, and tons of great plays. We have newcomer Kazuma Rathalos taking over
the New York Yanmegas and showed he was ready to battle against R.Sigma. Several
teams that started off on the wrong foot this season fought hard for their first win this
week, especially TheBritishGent. If you get a chance check out this close game against
Dr. Shamu.
TBG Side: 43MG-WWWW-WWWL-3MU2

Dr.Shamu Side: FFTW-WWWW-WWWL-3MT9

Pick’ems
Picking this week was extremely tough since everyone got at least 2 games wrong. The best
record for the week was 10-2. This is partly due to the 4 upsets that occurred. To refresh I’m
defining an upset based off how many picks the team got to win over their opponent. BLP over
DEP (2-12), VAV over ITA (0-13), SHS over MIN (2-11), and AUK over SLC (6-7). To get
mentioned in the pick’ems you gotta get that perfect week. Do your research and maybe we will
see you here next week.

Trades

We have some trades this week, so let’s begin:

JAX Claydol T5 VAV Golurk

VAV Golurk T5 JAX Claydol

AUK Meowstic T5 Free Agent Gabite

TOT Golisopod T3 PIP Empoleon

PIP Empoleon T3 TOT Golisopod

JAX and VAV traded Claydol for Golurk respectively, while AUK dropped Meowstic in
favor of Gabite. We also see TOT trade Golisopod to PIP for Empoleon. These trades
help diversify the teams while keeping desired typing on the teams. Will these trades
impact their future matches? Can the new teammates get along on their new teams?
Only time will tell.

Power Rankings with Geo

Welcome back for another edition of POWER RANKINGS. I’m joined by

Geo, who has been gracious enough to help out with the rankings. We
want to reiterate that these are completely opinion based and just because
you are not on the list or do not like your spot doesn’t mean you are not
doing well. We both have different styles and value different things when
looking at teams. Do your best, and your effort will be noticed! Without
further ado:

Clod9 Geo

1. NWN M
2. HFW M
3. COG M
4. BAL M
5. MID M
6. MIL M
7. DEP M
8. ITA M
9. BFS M
10. AUK M

Interview with Bigby

This week I’m joined by the Scrappy upstart Bigby!

C9: Thank you Bigby for taking the time to answer these questions for the fans. Let’s
start at the beginning how did your draft go? I know you weren't present for the draft but
how do you feel it went for you?

Bigby: Thanks for having me Clod9 - happy to be here. I was fortunate to study under
the sage tutelage of yourself pre-draft, so I was pretty confident with my draft plan
heading into it. I missed out on a top tier Fairy in Round 2 and wound up with
Shiinotic…but Lil Shiit has slowly grown on me, which should come as no surprise since
it’s a mushroom.

C9: What are your goals for this season of PDL?

Bigby: I think everyone’s goal is to win, but for me I wanted to focus on establishing a
defined core/playstyle for my team in the draft and find ways to build on it during the
season. Last season I had a team that could go Rain and Trick Room in the same
match but couldn’t do either particularly well. This season I came into the draft knowing I
wanted to play a style that relied less on speed control and more on team synergy and
support. We’ll see how it pans out...so far not so great but it’s a long season and I think
my team compliments itself pretty well.

C9: Who are most looking forward to battling this season?

Bigby: To be honest, I’m taking it week by week. My schedule doesn’t allow for a whole
lot of breathing room - there are a lot of great coaches so I’m just hoping to give some
of these guys/gals a run for their money.

C9: Is there anyone you are glad you don't have to face in the regular season?

Bigby: I’m facing a lot of coaches I was hoping to skirt around this season, so you and
Hydra maybe?

I will say I’m bummed RottedMushroom and I don’t get to battle this season - he’s a
good coach and a fungi! *crickets* I’m sorry dude my bad. Let me buy you a drink.

C9: Being 0-3 is a tough spot to be in. What would you say has led to being stuck in this
position?

Bigby: Fair question. My in-game decision making and ID’ing wincons has been really
bad so far. I had put myself in great position to beat Scron as well as make a mid-game
run at Snag, but I just made the wrong choices or slipped on calcs in-game. Geo was a
different story, but at the end of the day all three made better decisions than I did. When
you play good teams and make mistakes, it’s hard to come back from that.

C9: Will there be a roster change coming up?

Bigby: I just blew my last 2 pickups a few days ago and brought Reuniclus and
Aerodactyl into the fold. I like what both have to offer and expect both to get plenty of
run moving forward.

C9: Were there any secret techs that you brought for your matchups that you didn’t get
to showcase?

Bigby: There are still a few I still could use so I don’t want to get too deep into it, but my
favorite ones I still have yet to bring. We’ll see if the matchup makes sense in the
coming weeks.

C9: Who would you say is the mon you are most excited to use on your team this year?
Bigby: Stunfisk, but Shiinotic is a close second.

C9: Let’s learn about you as a pokemon Fan. When did you start listening to PUCL?

Bigby: Sometime in 2014 probably? It was a while ago.

C9: What pokemon generation did you start with?

Bigby: Gen 1 baby! Squirtle was my starter.

C9: What is your favorite region?

Bigby: Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire was my first trip to Hoenn and I thought it was a
lot of fun. Mega Lati@s Soar was a great feature that made it easy to connect to the
world and explore.

C9: Who is your favorite pokemon?

Bigby: Pikachu. Fat Pikachu. And Mewtwo is pretty cool. For in-game, you can’t go
wrong with a Crobat by your side.

C9: If you had to pick: Attack or Special Attack?

Bigby: Punching things really hard can be really fun, so Attack.

C9: What is your battle style: Stall/Hyper Offense/Bulky Offense/Balance?

Bigby: Bulky Offense maybe? I like mons that can dish it out as much as they can take
it.

C9: Do you prefer Speed or Trick Room?

Bigby: I like both but probably Speed. Trick Room is hard to maintain momentum but
they’re both fun.

C9: What is your favorite Weather; Hail/Sand/Rain or Sun?

Bigby: *Duke Nukem voice* Hail is the king, baby.

C9: Electric/Misty/Grassy or Psychic Terrain?

Bigby: Psychic preventing priority is really scary, especially since (in most cases) Tapu
Lele is usually around wherever Psychic Terrain is around.

C9: Favorite status to inflict: Sleep/Freeze/Paralysis/Burn or Poison?

Bigby: You can only Freeze someone with a little bit of luck, so let’s go with that one.

C9: Have you watched the Pokemon anime? If yes, what is your favorite Theme song?

Bigby: I watched the first season back in the day and have seen the
Origins/Generations series, which were both really cool. I’m not really an anime guy in
general.

C9: Thank you Bigby, for joining us today! Tune in next week for another PDL Weekly
Recap. Happy Battling.

Bigby: You got it!