Whimsicottonopolis Season 1 Tactical Analysis

This analysis was prepared by Kerry Tosis, tactical correspondent for The Daily Whismur.

## Preseason analysis

### Type Breakdown

The Whimsy have a balanced team, with their draft covering fourteen types and only Fighting and Ground represented twice. Thirteen types appear once on their roster, with Bug, Dark, Ghost and Ice remaining unselected. The Whimsy selected the only Dragon type in the league, which would ordinarily be a huge advantage, but the three Fairies chosen by Old Leaf Pals will mitigate this somewhat. (Beatnik's selection during the supplementary draft meant that the Whimsy did have a Bug.)

### Speed

Whimsicottonopolis' team is reasonably well balanced speedwise. They have a couple of naturally speedy options in Kong Fu and Cleopatra and plenty of excellent Choice Scarf users. Their only real dud in terms of speed is Spruce Wayne, which is reflected in his low points cost.

In terms of priority moves, they have Kong Fu's Fake Out, Mach Punch and Vacuum Wave, Pixie Nott's and Cleopatra's Quick Attacks, Rambunctious' Sucker Punch and Reviver's Aqua Jet.

### Hazard Setting and Control

Defective Pikachu has shown a clear preference for Stealth Rocks, with no fewer than six available users in Kong Fu, Kommunist, Rambunctious, Hank Scorpio, Dairy Kween and Spruce Wayne. In contrast, Rambunctious is the only pokémon on the team with access to any other hazards at all, in the form of Toxic Spikes.

On the defensive side, Cleopatra is likely to be a hazard deterrent simply through her presence on the roster - her Magic Bounce ability can be very difficult to play around. Hank Scorpio is an excellent Defog user, and Rambunctious can absorb Toxic Spikes.

The Whimsy do not have a Spikes or a Sticky Web user and they are likely to look into patching this up with a supplemental draft pick after a few weeks.

### Z-Crystal candidates

Kong Fu and Kommunist are two seriously top tier Z-move users.

### Offensive / defensive balance

Whimsicottonopolis are being touted as the most aggressive team in the Draft League. Kong Fu, Kommunist, Space Birb, Rambunctious and Pixie Nott are all capable of breaking through defences from a number of angles. However, the team is complemented nicely by Reviver, Spruce Wayne and Hank Scorpio.

## Midseason analysis

Clearly Space Birb was underestimated in the original analysis. At 15 points it is not overvalued at all as it almost single-handedly shut down the Route 28 Rustbuckets three games in a row. The team definitely remain notable for their lack of hazard setters and this has not been improved by the addition of Beatnik. Despite their impressive start to the season there have been a number of occasions when chip damage from Spikes or the advantage from Sticky Web would have made things a lot easier.

At the time of writing, Pixie Nott and Spruce Wayne are yet to make their debuts for the team. Whether this indicates that either might be waived in coming weeks, particularly with the low spend on Beatnik is a matter of conjecture, although Martin joining the Pals increases the effectiveness of Pixie Nott. However it is hard to criticise a team with a 100% record. Defective Pikachu will be very pleased with how their team has acquitted itself.