Team Preview

[Scattered mind]

How much use do you make from the team preview, and how much it really helps you?
Usually, after building a team, we have in our minds each of our Pokémon's role and purpose. We have our late game sweeper and our lead, or anti lead. We have our mid game wall and our early game wallbreaker etc..
However, sometimes in the moment of true, when we see the opponent's team, there is a semi-mind game between us and them, which is usually about things like: what Pokémon my opponent is going to send first? Is he expecting me to send my obvious lead? Am I predicting him right that he would send this Pokémon?

So, do you have any ways of how to use effectively the team preview? Would you prefer if there wasn't a team preview at all (like in random battles on PS)? Do you think it hurts the competitiveness of the game or certain strategies/Pokemon (ahamm Zoroark ahamm)?

btw- this topic is meant for both ou and vgc from obvious reasons :]

 

[One Approved]

Effectively using team preview is one of the most important skills a battler can have, I think. When the battle starts, I always take my sweet time looking at my opponent's team. Not only am I trying to figure out what they will lead against me/what they expect me to lead with, I'm also looking at their team for possible threats. (ie: I see a Reuniclue, so I know I have to try and keep Mega Scizor alive at all costs because it's my only check.) I'm also doing the same in reverse, I'm looking to see where my team can press my advantage against there's (ie: they don't have a lot of switch-ins to Gengar, so it will be able to punch holes.) and starting to formulate a gameplan. Obviously this will change as the match goes on, but I at least have a basic idea for how I want the match to go before I even select the pokemon I'm going to send out.

As for preferring if there was/wasn't a team preview, it's honestly very difficult to say. I played and still play a lot of DPP OU, where there is no team preview. As a whole, Team Preview is a great benefit to offensive teams, because it's very easy for them to identify which pokemon they have to KO at all costs before the match begins. If your cleaner is Speed Boost Sharpedo, and you see that your opponent has both a Suicune and a Zapdos on their team, you know that Sharpedo doesn't come out until those pokemon are weakened. On the flipside, your opponent sees that you have a sharpedo, but they don't necessarily know if your gameplan is based around using it to clean up. For all they know, it could be a special attacking shark designed to punch holes into its usual switch-ins, actually supporting a different team member. In that respect, Team Preview definitely benefits offensive teams more than it does stall teams.

Lack of Team Preview definitely benefits stall teams more because the offensive teams have to play the game of scouting. If your team is based around a physical sweeper like DD Dragonite, they don't know that you have both a Skarmory and a Scizor going into the match. The offensive team has to scout out what pokemon will potentially be threats to their win condition, and this ultimately leads to more switches and more residual damage, which benefits teams more suited for longer battles, which is probably why Bulky Offense was much more prominent in DPP while more aggressive variants are now.

Overall though, it's difficult to say without testing it out extensively.

 

[King Arceus]

VGC is my primary metagame and you absolutely need to use Team Preview. I look for lead combinations to see if there is a way I can counter it. I am normally able to figure out what their mega is even if two or more of their Pokemon are capable of mega evolution just by looking how the team is put together. If you choose the wrong Pokemon, you are at a big disadvantage which is hard to overcome in the fast paced nature of VGC.

 

[Scattered mind]

Effectively using team preview is one of the most important skills a battler can have, I think. When the battle starts, I always take my sweet time looking at my opponent's team. Not only am I trying to figure out what they will lead against me/what they expect me to lead with, I'm also looking at their team for possible threats. (ie: I see a Reuniclue, so I know I have to try and keep Mega Scizor alive at all costs because it's my only check.) I'm also doing the same in reverse, I'm looking to see where my team can press my advantage against there's (ie: they don't have a lot of switch-ins to Gengar, so it will be able to punch holes.) and starting to formulate a gameplan. Obviously this will change as the match goes on, but I at least have a basic idea for how I want the match to go before I even select the pokemon I'm going to send out.

As for preferring if there was/wasn't a team preview, it's honestly very difficult to say. I played and still play a lot of DPP OU, where there is no team preview. As a whole, Team Preview is a great benefit to offensive teams, because it's very easy for them to identify which pokemon they have to KO at all costs before the match begins. If your cleaner is Speed Boost Sharpedo, and you see that your opponent has both a Suicune and a Zapdos on their team, you know that Sharpedo doesn't come out until those pokemon are weakened. On the flipside, your opponent sees that you have a sharpedo, but they don't necessarily know if your gameplan is based around using it to clean up. For all they know, it could be a special attacking shark designed to punch holes into its usual switch-ins, actually supporting a different team member. In that respect, Team Preview definitely benefits offensive teams more than it does stall teams.

Lack of Team Preview definitely benefits stall teams more because the offensive teams have to play the game of scouting. If your team is based around a physical sweeper like DD Dragonite, they don't know that you have both a Skarmory and a Scizor going into the match. The offensive team has to scout out what pokemon will potentially be threats to their win condition, and this ultimately leads to more switches and more residual damage, which benefits teams more suited for longer battles, which is probably why Bulky Offense was much more prominent in DPP while more aggressive variants are now.

Overall though, it's difficult to say without testing it out extensively.

Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Team preview helps a lot for offensive teams to make sure which Pokémon they need to keep for the late game. Do you think that because of that, player needs to have 2 Pokémon for late game cleaner/sweeper?
Do you also try to guess what items/roles each of the opponent's Pokémon has? Or do you think it can confuse you and it's better to leave it for the actual battle?

Also, I think that that the Mega Pokémon brought another good reason to use the Team preview. It's actually the first thing that I'm looking for because it is very easy to tell most of the times. Charizard is a unique one. I always try to guess wether it is X or Y base on its teammates. For example, if I see Bisharp or Weavile then I can tell it is going to be Charizard Y since players often pair with him a pursuit trapper.

 

[Scattered mind]

VGC is my primary metagame and you absolutely need to use Team Preview. I look for lead combinations to see if there is a way I can counter it. I am normally able to figure out what their mega is even if two or more of their Pokemon are capable of mega evolution just by looking how the team is put together. If you choose the wrong Pokemon, you are at a big disadvantage which is hard to overcome in the fast paced nature of VGC.

In VGC though, there is the extra challenge with the team preview, since you don't know which 4 Pokémon out of the 6 the opponent is going to bring. Players often brings with them 2 Mega Pokémon so they can have 2 options to pick from, depending on the opponent's team.

 

[PG24]

As a whole, Team Preview is a great benefit to offensive teams, because it's very easy for them to identify which pokemon they have to KO at all costs before the match begins. If your cleaner is Speed Boost Sharpedo, and you see that your opponent has both a Suicune and a Zapdos on their team, you know that Sharpedo doesn't come out until those pokemon are weakened. On the flipside, your opponent sees that you have a sharpedo, but they don't necessarily know if your gameplan is based around using it to clean up. For all they know, it could be a special attacking shark designed to punch holes into its usual switch-ins, actually supporting a different team member. In that respect, Team Preview definitely benefits offensive teams more than it does stall teams.

Lack of Team Preview definitely benefits stall teams more because the offensive teams have to play the game of scouting. If your team is based around a physical sweeper like DD Dragonite, they don't know that you have both a Skarmory and a Scizor going into the match. The offensive team has to scout out what pokemon will potentially be threats to their win condition, and this ultimately leads to more switches and more residual damage, which benefits teams more suited for longer battles, which is probably why Bulky Offense was much more prominent in DPP while more aggressive variants are now.

I agree with all you said, but I think the opposite is also true as you can see which Pokemon you must preserve in order to counter a certain Pokemon. With how offensive the metagame got in Gen 5, the advent of team preview was somewhat of a blessing in disguise as it somewhat helped you prepare for what you'd need for the match and what you don't. You were only able to get this information in prior generations only after multiple turns of scouting. This helps a lot when you're dealing with Pokemon with very little or no counters, which are all over the past two generations, as you know right from the start what you need to keep healthy. Due to this, I think it's tough to pinpoint if there's a correlation between team preview and the slow dying of stall / defensive orientated teams as you also have to factor in that the metagame just got more offensive in general.

Do you also try to guess what items/roles each of the opponent's Pokémon has? Or do you think it can confuse you and it's better to leave it for the actual battle?

Absolutely try to guess what the role of their Pokemon might be. Team preview not only tells you what Pokemon they have, but also what their team's goal is. Being able to spot out their cores and main sweepers allows you to formulate a gameplan on what you need to eliminate and preserve to reach a win condition. This is easier against defensive and stall teams since roles and movesets tend to be set in stone for that playstyle, but it becomes harder against offensive teams, especially hyper offensive teams due to how Pokemon can switch roles from main sweeper to wallbreaker easily. Any information you can gather in team preview and the beginning game paves way to how well you stack up in the mid and lategame phases.

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I wish we had got Zoroark in Generation 4 to get a case study on how team preview can actually hurt a Pokemon's viability. The greatest counter to Zoroark is just knowing that it's there, which ruins most of its surprise. This makes you play more cautiously with your checks and counters so they won't be lured in and picked off easily, thus opening up the sweep for the actual Pokemon Zoroark was posing as. With good speed, movepool, and offenses, there's no doubt Zoroark would've been the perfect lure under Generation 4's metagame now that its gimmick isn't hindered.

 

[Chaos Jackal]

Pokemon like Zoroark showcase in the extreme the simple truth: team preview can make or break a game. A proper anti-lead strategy or the preservation of a certain wall or sweeper in order to halt or cause a snowballing are quite often the reasons behind a win or a loss. In a way, team preview also makes the game more strategy-based. While of course carefully scouting the enemy team is a showcase of skill, there's still a possibility that an otherwise good match is ruined because you hadn't accounted for that DD Dragonite when your Skarmory died. Team preview gives both you and your opponent the chance to lay down the basic frame of the whole battle before it even begins. What's the enemy's playstyle? Strategy? Key figures? Could they possibly have a trick up his sleeve with the seemingly unrelated mon they've included? Does the matchup favor a specific playstyle and correspondingly calls for bolder or more conservative moves, or it's fair to both sides and leaves the field open for a direct confrontation?

Let's face it, there's no comparing a carefully aimed sniper shot to a blind shot in the dark.