The HOTTEST Takes in Pokémon Draft League: 2024

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[@queenaddi]

im not on the weird elon musk cesspool website but my (new) hot take (bc you know i have plenty) is that draft league players undersell and undervalue the importance of leaning into mons as an inherently rng-oriented game. I think because of stigma or community culture or maybe just trauma from Ls we tend to perceive "perfect and optimal play" as entirely hax-less and devoid of any percentage chances. I actually think optimal playing can very much be the opposite, if youre drafting in a way where your opponents have to use inaccurate moves as coverage against you (i.e. stone edge, focus blast, etc), thats a positive quality to a draft. conversely, if you draft a team that relies on a bunch of inaccurate moves, its a bad draft. If youre playing in a way where you can safely and effectively lean into para-spam as a means of stopping your opponent from moving during some turns or maybe you have a pecharunt which is solely there to disrupt, poison, and confuse - that can very well be optimal play. if you miss your moves, odds are its kind of on you because you made the call that the chance to miss was worth the boost in power/effect/whatever. if you have a team with a bunch of things that can cause hax and a bunch of accurate moves, and your opponent has a team with few options to cause hax and inaccurate coverage moves, you probably have the better team most of the time. fundamentally, mons is all about increasing your odds of victory. you enter team preview with relatively even odds of victory, but the build/matchup/plays all attempt to move that goalpost closer to 100% odds of victory - very rarely will it hit 100%. If you lose the game on a 10% shot, thats on you, you couldve done something to make those odds of victory closer to 100% and not 90%. i have very little sympathy for people who endlessly complain about rng really at all anymore. people fail to improve because they externalize their own responsibility for their losses by pinning it on rng. go play chess if you cant grapple with the fact that you can actually be responsible for hax that goes against you. thats my ted talk lol

[@Necrostevo]

And THIS is why I avoid clicking inaccurate moves as much as possible. I value consistency much more over raw power. Sheer force means nothing if I whiff 20% of the time and I'm always forced to click the move.

[@chromethug]

it all boils down to putting yourself in a position to be lucky which i will always applaud as that is undoubtedly a skill. i agree completely, it is optimal to make the odds more in your favor

[@OGalbina]

i think taking luck out of the equation as much as possible is very much so a skill yeah, hwoever the take of dont get mad at rng is a bit odd i cannot lie LOL

[@queenaddi]

@@OGalbina you've completely misunderstood what I'm saying

[@OGalbina]

@@queenadditoo feeble minded I apologize

[@DonShnack]

27:30 PPFC MENTIONED LETS GOOOOOOOO. From having lots of convos with Nexus and Uzi I can def see how a lot of upload leagues can make things a lil less fun when it comes to draft. Some day I def wanna make a side channel for draft stuff, but as for now the dumbass discord leagues are my favorite hobby

[@OGalbina]

common ppfc w........ also you lmk when you wanna jum,p into the wifi scene i gotta bbr invite w ur name on it

[@OscarDudley-e1k]

you know its wild that i subbed to owen about 2 months ago and only discovered your channel a week ago. Been fun to catch up on your stuff and would love a draft league side channel at some point

[@Necrostevo]

My hot take is that it is important to determine WHY you are participating in draft league. Many players play to win. Understandable. If you lose (when you lose) what are you getting out of the time invested? How are you reviewing your plays? Are you seeking advice or feedback? If more players found additional aspects to get out of their time in draft, then it would likely be more fun for the player and their audience.

[@OGalbina]

yeah thats 100% fair, making sure youre playing for your own reasons is going to largely determine your enjoyment

[@TadpoleMafia]

Can I just say I think Noivern is a baller, solid tera captain for low tera leagues (normal boomburst goes crazy), great speed tier for the price and scarf/switcheroo sets mean it can be an amazing form of speed control mixed with item swap shenanigans, really nice moveset that includes solid coverage, hazard removal, recovery, & momentum, two nice abilities and for draft league specifically I think Infiltrator really dissuades screen setting options.

[@OGalbina]

Noivern does go crazy

[@larando02]

I actually know a view leagues now which tiers their mons on performance and one with an extra special rule as well. The extra rule was basically over the course of the season certain Mons will drop a tier if they aren't picked up and you can basically test it out a week for a transaction and if you want to have it afterwards you just pay another transaction and you have you for cheaper! Hoping to see more leagues like that!

[@OGalbina]

Yeah I don’t like when that’s based on ONE leagues results, but based on a larger sample sure!

[@bicmouth]

It might be cause I have too much nostalgia for old cod, but I feel like the toxicity of competitive gaming makes it so much more fun. I feel like in draft league if you’re getting salty and toxic w your opponents I think it would make for a more interactive and entertaining experience for both the player and audience.

[@OGalbina]

See I get what you’re saying but liek Marcus said, toxicity is not the right word for this hahah

[@kingl5]

​@@OGalbinabanter is poggers, toxicity is silly goose

[@LanternComicnerd]

Fun fact, the guy who called mirror herb best item once ran a blunder policy iron fist golurk. And he hit 3 dynamic punches in a row. So, blunder policy = free no guard?

[@OGalbina]

This MUST be true

[@ryffboit4234]

My hot take is that goofing off with a bunch of mons you might be not very used to using and just see what creative stuff you can come up with. You can still try to win but I think just finding new cool stuff to try and bring is the best way to play draft

[@OGalbina]

I feel like that’s another personal preference thing. Nobody is saying you can’t do that but you can’t really force others to do so

[@WinterRedstone]

36:22 BOO!!! I will admit as a draft league owner always having to ask "Which Kyurem? Which Ogerpon form? Which Hoopa form? (they show a gif with one hoopa turning into the other) does get kinda anoyying at times. I do find it funny when people say stuff like "past iron treads" or "future great tusk" and I have to just guess what they mean

[@OGalbina]

well yeah they should type out the mons name too obv

[@torterrad5429]

I've had terapagos in 2 leagues, was mvp and kill leader in both. That mon is an insane sleeper when you just save it in the back to cleanup sweep, so many teams aren't ready for normal stab that strong. Ran rest talk fake suicuine set one weak that went crazy with tera shell, spin or polish starstorm calm mind or meteor beam always puts in work. Thats my goat.

[@OGalbina]

yeah i def think ppl are giving it a bit too much shit in this thread

[@nicktime5841]

Guys I feel like my gouging fire dopamine boost from winning a playoff game with it clouded my judgement for the reply…

[@OGalbina]

LOL valid

[@ZekeZer0]

to defend my kill/death stat entry take a bit. i think better wording would be “differential isn’t the amount of kills you get, it’s the amount of pokémon you have left after you win.” it’s totally possible and ok to win 6-0 but only get 5 kills awarded. pokémon dying isn’t the same thing as a pokémon getting killed. and i’m not talking about passive kills like rocks or sand bc those kills can be directly traced to a mon actively doing something to get that kill. what i’m talking about are things like recoil or explosion. if a pokémon dies to its own recoil, that cannot be traced back to any pokémon actively doing something to get that kill. again a mon dying does not mean it was killed. if i shoot myself in front of you, should you be charged with murder just bc you were there? (this part is a joke). and it’s true this argument doesn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of the scene, but as someone who does a lot of stat entry, it matters to me lol

[@OGalbina]

I think your example, while very funny LOL, doesn’t really make sense for the reasons I explained in the video. I’m not forcing you to pull the trigger in your example, but my Mon is forcing yoh to boom. Or is directly KOing you w the rocks it set up

[@OscarDudley-e1k]

On iron crown i just drafted both it and indeedee and im pretty hyped to use psy spam.

[@OGalbina]

psyspam in singles is p wild hahah good luck w the team!

[@WinterRedstone]

It will never stop amusing me the random examples given in the ogalbina community that I just haven't seen anywhere else. 40:24 Joe Bob Smith, Kyurem Black/Magearna on Tuesday with (whatever examples thought of that day).

[@OGalbina]

LOL

[@alfiegreen349]

Also I fully disagree with Kurt saying prim sucks. I still think azu is better but prim is a very versatile mon that can be great support with flip turn but can also break with specs and have very few switch ins. I’ve also used scarf prim before to catch people off guard. However I’m not a huge fan of calm mind prim

[@OGalbina]

Yeah very hot take from Kurt LOL prim is broken

[@wreckitmike5213]

Bruv did you just say hazards removal has great distribution in Gen 9? Smh I’ll give it to ya tho “Hit your hurricanes buddy” is the coldest line I have heard in a while 😂

[@OGalbina]

28 draftable foggers 29 draftable spinners.... they are there if thats a role you value

[@coleasice8]

20:53 that was my terapgos damnnit Keegan

[@OGalbina]

nooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@coleasice8]

@OGalbina yea at least pretty sure cuz I set up a calm mind got a kill broke the tera shell and then got toxic

[@lordbash11]

Tera Jolteon the goat!!!

[@OGalbina]

Wrong!!!

[@LanternComicnerd]

As someone whos used both, jolt is good, but eleki is just so much better

[@lordbash11]

@@LanternComicnerd I am going to make sure people fear the day they come across tera Jolteon!!

[@LanternComicnerd]

@@lordbash11 oh dont worry. I fear it.

[@ViciousVirusV2]

Paul Bufano here Thanks for the insight. Cant wait for more content 💕

[@ViciousVirusV2]

34:06 😍

[@OGalbina]

ofc bro glad you enjoyed!

[@jscurf26]

Idek if this a hot take or if it’ll be in the video but leagues feel dead to me. It’s tours and team tours carrying the community and being most enjoyable leagues feeling p dead

[@OGalbina]

Def not a hot take, at least in the showdown scene

[@_gunk0]

Aye gifs are just hard to load at work that’s all 😭 nice vid

[@OGalbina]

LOL they should def still type the mon

[@Necrostevo]

Thank you JRicky 19:42

[@OGalbina]

THANK YOU J RICKY

[@Zethoro]

Nice to see all the fun hot takes! fwiw I don't know any league that allows smash mega blastoise I just felt the need to mention it as an exception since that thing is broken LOL. To add on to the thought it's honestly not the weeks where you smash that are the problem because yeah you can definitely play around it and burn the mirror herb to make opportunities for later, it's the weeks you DON'T bring smash that feel problematic. Either you run a pretty predictable set that diminishes your prep, or you run something different and it causes problems for your other setup sweepers who would be less likely to trigger the OBVIOUS COUNTERPLAY red flag the way shell smash does.

[@OGalbina]

It’s just another thing to account for in the builder, but saying a smash Mon on your team makes it worse is a bit over dramatic

[@LanternComicnerd]

Ngl, when you put on those sunglasses, i thought you looked like a former Joey associate. (Sorry. Lol)

[@Iono.hehehe]

Oh iron moth should be renamed iron fraud, I've never seen it perform well, it never feels strong enough, always just misses important kills and gets nuked bht you can't justify it any lower cause a 140 base spatk, 110 speed mon doesn't belong in the same place as say h-samurott but for it's price point it never fails to underwhelm me

[@jasonjones7881]

Counter argument to tiered vs point system for draft is point drafts literally take forever. In my league our tiered drafts usually take 2 or 3 hrs. We go on the clock and have to make our pick in 2 mins. Tier structure with 4 free slots works best for us not close. Also the whole comment about Rilla being 15 min and it not mattering kinda contradicts the point argument. Most leagues are 1-19 points, tiered leagues are 1 to 5 each tier being worth 3.8. If ur 2 or 3 points off on ur tiering literally defeats the whole purpose.

[@OGalbina]

I feel like that’s not really an argument for tiers > points… a VAST majority of leagues do not run fast drafts like that, and greatly prioritize good teams and proper structure over a draft going fast. On top of that 99% of leagues don’t have people that can block out time for a fast draft

[@jasonjones7881]

@@OGalbina i hear ya and am aware thats how most pokemon draft leagues run, but it is the only type of league that runs that way. Every other league that has a snake draft has time limits on picks, all sports, all card games etc. It is so odd that pokemon drafts run the way they do. I run a league with 10-16 ppl over the age of 28. Most ppl dont have the time to spend hrs and hrs over a weeks time to make their picks. Its much easier for my group to hammer it out in one session. Especially once u have a wife and kids.

[@burstslinky7113]

my hot take is that dragapult should not be this auto first pick 0 thought process going behind it mon that it is for some people. especially towards newer players who arent as experienced with pult, oftentimes just going for another mon that is easier to play with can be a lot better for some players. dragapult isnt that crazy when you dont know what to do with it, unlike some more "brainless" mons (just mean they can be used effectively without much braincell usage) like tusk or nifalap

[@OGalbina]

i agree w your basic premise but i think palafin is a very bad example of that

[@LanternComicnerd]

Yeah, fin is a pretty bad example. I used to use palafin all the time in speed tours when i was a newer player. It was really pretty unwieldy and difficult to use. Then, come like, 2 months ago, I finally got to try it again, and it is 18 and 3, but for me to get it to this point, I couldn’t really turn off my brain to use it successfully. Those 3 deaths were all my losses, and happened as a result of me turning off my brain.

[@funnyname3589]

1:06:55 Im so sorry, my friend Don forgot to take his meds that day and start back up on his anti-ogerpon rants, sorry you had to deal with that and hopefully it wont happen again

[@OGalbina]

LOL

[@mehialnazaroff]

Tera swellow boom burst is the greatest low tier Tera. Nat Dex. Normal Swellow was brought to 99% of games and I won a championship with it.

[@OGalbina]

that seems like some crazy damage output

[@mehialnazaroff]

@@OGalbina Specs OHKOd every Pokemon not a steel type.

[@Tysadowoodo]

I’m excited to see Pano use Slaking in the Gnocchi division lmao he used it a few times in our casual league and got some decent kills with it. Funny mon

[@OGalbina]

Maybe he’ll prove me wrong!

[@KazItzMyLife]

Leagues that force you to draft more than 9 mons almost always lead to people drafting a 3 point or lower mon to fit the requirement. The next largely distributed move other than our beloved clerics and removal should be momentum, give my boy stunfisk volt-switch already. Free grace is a fantastic concept and league owners that ban it should eat rocks and pound sand 👁👁.

[@OGalbina]

Boooo free grace rewards shitty drafting booooo

[@oofjeff3735]

I agree I hate being forced to use 11 mons

[@alfiegreen349]

Not many people will probably agree with this but iron bundle should get rapid spin and spikes like delibird as whenever I play with it it just feels restrictive and I think they would add dimension to it

[@OGalbina]

That’s def be sick! Spikes in particular seem broken w it

[@OscarDudley-e1k]

@@OGalbina Hot take but in nat dex bundle is broken with koko. Bundle ended up kill leader in a league i won and koko was the facilitator. Agility lorb for a win con or breaker specs were the 2 main sets.

[@ShmeckleBoy]

Hot Take: Loom is the GOAT Tera mon

[@OGalbina]

we love loom in this household

[@a12qsd]

@Fungal we need to talk.

[@OGalbina]

HAHAH

[@stlouisshroomish]

haven't watched but 30 seconds and I know there is diggersby slander incoming

[@lordbash11]

Give diggersby return again!!

[@SantosOverlord]

my hot take: Joey is broken AF, plz nerf GF

[@OGalbina]

SO true

[@Razzy7]

THANK YOU J RICKY

[@OGalbina]

THANK YOU J RICKY

[@FistToYourDoom]

Not hard at all to go find a scuffed ass league, just gotta look a little harder for them 😂

[@PokemonTrainerOrange]

TRUE

[@OGalbina]

So true LOL

[@superdolphin440]

Well I have both palafin and deo speed so ratio paul

[@OGalbina]

W GETTEM

[@mrblinka3078]

7:16 L take im never wrong ever and if your wrong i've been sent from the heavens to humble you

[@OGalbina]

NOOOOOOO

[@Obo_]

z moves are bad!

[@OGalbina]

no u!!!