Maui surf report
Surfing
2008.09.11 15:17 Surfing
Kooks on the internet
2010.07.19 04:19 killingthedream Treasure Coast, FL: News, Happenings and Gatherings
2017.01.11 22:54 beatbahx A subreddit for the New York Surfing Community
A community by and for NY Surfers
2023.06.02 21:57 IceJD 56.0.0 Observations - New Features & Misc.
 | This post is always a work in progress. New sections will be added throughout the reporting process. Check back often for more insights on new features and misc. updates submitted by IceJD to disneyemojiblitz [link] [comments] This post has NOT been QAed; last updated June 2nd @ 12:55PM (Pacific, USA)================================. ⏩☄️ Fast Forward Offers - Includes Variants ☄️⏩🛑 Variant Testing of this new purchasing offer feature - offer type is turned completely on or off for you device; variants are assigned randomly at the point of installation 🛑
Over 100 emojis are currently not able to appear among these offer types. Pattern is not quite clear and unknown how much this list will change in the future:
https://preview.redd.it/ceislzhenn3b1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e72e90fb2198a42739e7329119221c1bab5b104c ================================. 🎡🎲 Regular Prize Wheel July 🎲🎡July 1st thru 31st (Birthday Celebration-themed) Regular Wheel
================================. Deluxe Wheels in May & JuneSpecial artwork and slightly different prize odds from the standard Deluxe Wheel• Late June Deluxe Prize Wheel - June 20, 2023 thru June 22, 2023 • Late July Deluxe Prize Wheel - July 27, 2023 thru July 31, 2023 ================================. Spelling Correction
================================. New Mission Levels
|
2023.06.02 15:48 DadJokesRGreat I-CDP Acronym List, Module 3
Adding this to reddit because these are things we see every day and should all know, but might need reminders with.
submitted by DadJokesRGreat to AirForce [link] [comments]
- AAC – Assignment Availability Code
- AEF – Air Expeditionary Force
- AETC – Air Education Training Command
- AFECD – Air Force Enlisted Classification Directory
- AFFORGEN – Air Force Force Generation
- AFIT – Air Force Institute of Technology
- AFM – Assignments Functional Manager
- AFPC – Air Force Personnel Center
- ALC – Assignment Limitation Code
- ART – Air Expeditionary Force Reporting Tool
- AU – Air University
- BA – Budget Activity
- BER – Budget Execution Review
- BES – Budget Estimate Submission
- BLSDM - Base Level Service Delivery Model
- CCDR – Combatant Commander
- CCMD – Combatant Command
- CED - Contingency, Exercise and Deployment
- CFETP – Career Field Education and Training Plan
- CFM – Career Field Manager
- CONPLAN – Contingency Plan
- CONUS – Continental United States
- CPG – Career Progression Group
- CSA – Cryptologic Support Agency
- CY – Calendar Year
- DAS – Date Arrived Station
- DCAPES - Deliberate and Crisis Action Planning and Execution Segments
- DEPORD – Deployment Order
- DEROS – Date Estimated Return From Overseas
- DoDD – Department of Defense Directive
- DOS – Date of Separation
- DRRS – Defense Readiness Reporting System
- DRU – Direct Reporting Unit
- DSD – Development Special Duty
- DTS – Defense Travel System
- DWEC – Direct War and Enduring Cost
- EFMP – Exceptional Family Member Program
- eTM – Enlisted Talent Marketplace
- ETS – Expiration of Term of Service
- EXORD – Execution Orders
- EOY – End of Year
- FAC – Functional Account Code
- FHCON – Family Housing Construction
- FM - Functional Manager
- FOA – Field Operating Agency
- FTA – First Term Airman
- FY – Fiscal Year
- GFM – Global Force Management
- HAF/A1 – Headquarters Air Force, Air Staff Manpower and Personnel
- IDT – Inactive Duty Training
- IMA - Individual Mobilization Augmentation
- IOT&E – Initial Operational Test and Evaluation
- JOPES - Joint Operation Planning and Execution System
- LFT&E – Live-Fire Test and Evaluation
- LOA – Line of Accounting LOGSET – Logistics detail
- LRIP - Low-Rate Initial Production
- MCR – Manpower Change Request
- MEF – Manpower Force Element
- MFM – MAJCOM Functional Manager
- MILCON – Military Construction
- MILPERS – Military Personnel
- MISCAP – Mission Capabilities statement
- MPA - Military Personnel Appropriation
- MPS – Mission Personnel Section
- MYR – Mid-Year Review
- NDS – National Defense Strategy
- NSS – National Security Strategy
- NTI – National Tactical Intelligence
- OCO – Overseas Contingency operations
- OEF – Operation ENDURING FREEDOM
- OIF – Operation IRAQI FREEDOM
- O&M – Operation and Maintenance
- OSD – Office of Secretary of Defense
- OSI – Office of Special Investigations
- PPBE – Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution
- PDPT – Personal Deployment Preparedness Tool
- QDR – Quadrennial Defense Review
- R&D – Research and Development
- RDT&E – Research, Development, Test and Evaluation
- RFC – Request for Capabilities
- RFF – Request for Forces
- RI – Reporting Identifier
- SDI – Special Duty Identifier
- SEI – Special Experience Identifier
- SORTS – Status of Resources and Training System
- SRB – Selective Reenlistment Bonus
- STRT – Specialty Training Requirements Team
- SURF – Single Unit Retrieval Format
- TARP – Tactics Analysis Reporting Program
- TDY – Temporary Duty T&E – Test and Evaluation
- TPFDD - Time Phased Force Deployment Data
- TSC – Training Status Code
- TUCHAREQ – Type Unit Characteristic Report
- UDM – Unit Deployment Manager
- UFR - Unfunded Requirements
- UIF – Unfavorable Information File
- UMD – Unit Manning Document
- UTC – Unit Type Code
- U&TW – Utilization and Training Workshop
- UPMR – Unit Personnel Management Roster
2023.06.02 15:26 GoStockGo Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) Special Report
 | Predictmedix – a great way to surf the Artificial Intelligence wave. submitted by GoStockGo to StonkFeed [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/kg4bcsw4wl3b1.jpg?width=741&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=728d042d11fd1e03cff86a22052e7f72345dbb08 There is a saying attributed to Mark Twain that goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but if often rhymes.” This means circumstances might be different but similar events often recur. This is good because securities regulators demand that you make it clear that in the financial markets, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” However, investment analysts continue to use rhymes and here’s one that could help you see sizeable investment returns from Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF). This is how the rhyme comes together: A. The 1990s technology boom: The parallel I see is between the current Artificial Intelligence cycle and the dot-com stock market cycle of ≈1990 to ≈ 2002. As background, the 1990s either developed or laid the groundwork for changes that completely transformed the world we live in. Out of that time came many new technologies and related developments and each was highly disruptive. Here is a very brief list of some of those developments: (1) Nokia was the first mass-produced cellphone offered in 1992 with the ability to send and receive phone calls as well as store data (e.g. phone numbers). (2) The World Wide Web, a.k.a. the Web browser was proposed in 1990 and debuted in 1991. This was the start of the Internet, Websites, e-mails and a massive amount of information that would become available to everyone. (3) With the explosion of data available, finding it became a challenge. Mosaic started as the first search engine in 1993 followed by Yahoo in 1994 and Google in 1998. Today, Google has risen to the top and become synonymous with an Internet search. Google it. (4) Other important developments of that time included the growth in the capacity of microprocessors, Photoshop, texting, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, realistic videogames for a more adult market, collecting and using DNA, the start of e-tailing and more. (5) Finally, we have the stock market. Cisco, Dell, Intel and Microsoft are sometimes referred to as the four horsemen of the 1990s tech boom. But we can’t ignore Apple and Google and there were many more that benefited. The smaller, new, Initial Public Offering companies came to the fore with incredibly high returns in the second half of the 1990s. The chart to the right shows how stock markets performed during the 1990’s high-tech boom. A few things are worth noting: (1) The Dot.Com stock market cycle lasted a long t time. Essentially, more than the decade of the 1990s. It’s length reflected the importance of the fundamental changes taking place. (2) There was an important development regarding the stock market that has become part of the stock market legend. On December 5, 1996, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in a televised speech used the term “irrational exuberance” to describe a stock market that he thought was highly speculative and overvalued. His comment was intended as a warning from the Fed that the stock market, driven by the high-tech developments described above, was overvalued. His timing was five years early which is a lifetime in the stock market. (3) The five years after Greenspan’s “irrational exuberance” statement was the most profitable for investors of the entire ten years plus of the stock market cycle. As you sit reading this brief, imagine your life without a cell phone, the Internet, e-mail and text messages. How different would your life be without just these four products that emerged from the 1990s. A more relevant question might be how different would your life be if you had purchased shares in Apple or Cisco or Dell or Google or Microsoft back then? B. The Artificial Intelligence Boom (AI): The term Artificial Intelligence was created in 1955. The idea was to have a machine that could take data, and find patterns that would enable it to make predictions and reach conclusions (make decisions). The Oxford Dictionary defines AI as “The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” It was Moore’s Law in 1975 that stated the capacity of semiconductors would continue to double every two years which enabled computers to be able to put into practice the AI Boom that is taking place today. Current forecasts say the AI industry will grow to $900 billion by 2026 and $15.7 trillion by 2030. AI growth in the 1920s could dwarf anything high-tech was able to accomplish in the 1990s. (1) There is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom going on and many people don’t yet realize it is even happening. AI is used in: i. Self-driving and parking cars. AI is used by Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota and Volvo. ii. Maps and navigation. Enter where you are and where you want to go by car and Google Maps, for example, will give you a choice of routes, the time optimal route taking into account construction and traffic. iii. Facial detection or recognition. Facial detection identifies a human face or facial recognition that identifies a specific face that can be used for surveillance and security. iv. Digital assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. When combined with search and recommendation AI, Alexa or Siri is able to learn your preferences and recommend things you are interested in. v. Customer service chatbots that answer frequently asked questions, track orders or direct calls. Often people will be unaware they are dealing with a machine. vi. Vehicle recognition use computer vision and deep learning to find a specific car on a surveillance video. vii. Robot vacuums can scan a living area, look for and remember objects in the way, remember the best route for cleaning the area and decide how many times it should repeat cleaning a specific area. It is estimated that by 2030, between 400 and 800 million jobs will be displaced by Artificial Intelligence and 375 million people will have to change to a totally different type of work. It is also forecast that it is not just lower-paying, blue-collar jobs that will be replaced by AI. Jobs such as accountants, lawyers, doctors, investment advisors and portfolio managers might all be substantially eliminated. AI will impact all industries and the rate of change will be exponential, that is, the rate of change will accelerate. For example, what does a doctor do? In general, a doctor gathers new information, refers to a patient’s medical history, refers to a medical book or today’s Internet, makes a diagnosis and provides s treatment. This is also what a lawyer does. AI might reach the point where it can do it faster and better than a human.. AI does present threats to human existence. As AI is changing exponentially, it will happen faster than the technology boom of the 1990s. It took technology 20 years to produce the changes we discussed above. AI could produce equivalent changes in 10 or 15 years. For example, ChatGPT, an AI product went from zero to 100 million users within months making it the fastest-growing consumer software product in history. There will be others. (2) The AI shift could drive economic change and a stock market cycle at least as significant as the last “dot.com” cycle. The “go-to” companies today for participation in AI are the likes of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Meta (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). These are very large companies. GOOGL has a market cap of $1.6 trillion, AMZN has a market cap of $1.2 trillion, META has a market cap of $$648 billion, MSFT has a market cap of $2.4 trillion, NCDA has a market cap of $963 billion and ORCL has a market cap of $282 billion. (3) While these are excellent businesses, they are also amongst the world’s largest companies. In 2022, GOOGL, META and MSFT purchased 2 out of every 3 AI chips. In my opinion, it is almost unthinkable that GOOGL can be a ten-bagger from a base market cap of $1.6 trillion or AMZN from $1.2 trillion. But it is clear these stocks now have a major component of their value derived from involvement in Artificial Intelligence and it is not surprising that early adopters would choose a lower risk/lower return approach to gain exposure to an emerging Artificial Intelligence industry. (4) The changes created by AI also carry some risks. The speed of change will be challenging to human beings. There are forecasts that say one in four workers globally will see their jobs disappear and one in eight workers will have to be retrained in a totally unrelated field. During the industrial revolution and the tech boom, there was always the promise of more and better jobs. With AI we may have reached the point where machines actually do replace workers. (5) Cathie Wood is a well-known and widely followed money manager with a reputation for expertise in the Artificial Intelligence sector. Wood manages a range of portfolios including the ARK Innovation Exchange Traded Fund (ARKK) and since its founding in 2014, Bloomberg estimates NDVA has contributed 13% of the fund’s 112% total return only behind Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Invitae Corp and Tesla. That is all positive but Wood sold the ARKK holding in NVDA in January 2023 just before it rallied strongly adding some $560 billion to its market cap with $200 billion coming on one day after reporting earnings. Wood’s investors have basically missed the huge rally in the stock and the sector in 2023. (6) But there is another phase I would look for and that is the participation of smaller, retail investors. Whether it was in the tech cycle I discussed above, the “meme” stocks or commodity exploration and development cycles in the past, the retail investor buys in before the bull market ends. Market pundits such as Citi global asset allocation and Vanda Research make the same observation: where is the retail investor? We know the institutional investors have been getting in. So far in 2023 according to Bloomberg, the top 4% of stocks in the S&P 500 have contributed 94% of the index return and 8 of the top 20 include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Class A, NVIDIA, Alphabet Class C, Tesla and Meta. In other words, the top 2% of the stocks in the S&P 500 contributed 94% of the return. Through mid-May, if the AI stocks are omitted, the S&P Index would be down -1.4% instead of up +8.3%. All of these stocks are AI leaders and each of them is an institutional stock. Yet, I believe the retail investor will come into the market and when they do, it is stocks like PMED for which they have always had an appetite. C. I think investors will get more bang for their buck by investing in a small company like Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) with a total commitment to AI. From a base market cap of $16.6 million and, as I have pointed out in recent reports, many different business verticals to get them higher, I see PMED as a unique opportunity for aggressive growth investors. It is hard to imagine any decade having more of an impact on the ensuring socio-economic decades than the 1990s. Imagine your activities today without your cellphone, Internet, email and texting. I expect the cycle driven by AI to be a long one, similar to the dot-com cycle that lasted longer than the decade of the 1990s. To the right is a chart published by Luke Lango’s Hypergrowth Investing. It shows the stock market in the 1990s and overlays current results. The parallels Lango sees include: • Federal Reserve’s tight money policy slowed economic growth in 1990 as it is doing currently. • In 1990, the markets were down around 20% and in 2022 stocks dropped around 25%. • In late 1990, the Fed started reducing interest rates and the markets rebounded. • In late 2022, the Fed has turned less hawkish and into 2023 has slowed the pace of interest rate increases. The markets have been recovering. • In the early 1990’s, the dot-com stock market rally began and the market would advance generally higher for the rest of the decade and into the new millennium. • Today, it is Artificial Intelligence that is pushing stocks higher and given my expectations for AI, it could stock prices higher until at least 2030. Conclusion: I believe Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) is exceptionally well positioned to participate in the upcoming boom in Artificial Intelligence. There are many different ways to describe market cycles that evolve around such drivers. Here is mine:
|
2023.06.02 15:25 GoStockGo Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) Special Report
 | Predictmedix – a great way to surf the Artificial Intelligence wave. submitted by GoStockGo to PennyHaven [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/32yljrc6wl3b1.jpg?width=741&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af6eca4f1a380c15e08b20f6e4603b4836535991 There is a saying attributed to Mark Twain that goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but if often rhymes.” This means circumstances might be different but similar events often recur. This is good because securities regulators demand that you make it clear that in the financial markets, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” However, investment analysts continue to use rhymes and here’s one that could help you see sizeable investment returns from Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF). This is how the rhyme comes together: A. The 1990s technology boom: The parallel I see is between the current Artificial Intelligence cycle and the dot-com stock market cycle of ≈1990 to ≈ 2002. As background, the 1990s either developed or laid the groundwork for changes that completely transformed the world we live in. Out of that time came many new technologies and related developments and each was highly disruptive. Here is a very brief list of some of those developments: (1) Nokia was the first mass-produced cellphone offered in 1992 with the ability to send and receive phone calls as well as store data (e.g. phone numbers). (2) The World Wide Web, a.k.a. the Web browser was proposed in 1990 and debuted in 1991. This was the start of the Internet, Websites, e-mails and a massive amount of information that would become available to everyone. (3) With the explosion of data available, finding it became a challenge. Mosaic started as the first search engine in 1993 followed by Yahoo in 1994 and Google in 1998. Today, Google has risen to the top and become synonymous with an Internet search. Google it. (4) Other important developments of that time included the growth in the capacity of microprocessors, Photoshop, texting, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, realistic videogames for a more adult market, collecting and using DNA, the start of e-tailing and more. (5) Finally, we have the stock market. Cisco, Dell, Intel and Microsoft are sometimes referred to as the four horsemen of the 1990s tech boom. But we can’t ignore Apple and Google and there were many more that benefited. The smaller, new, Initial Public Offering companies came to the fore with incredibly high returns in the second half of the 1990s. The chart to the right shows how stock markets performed during the 1990’s high-tech boom. A few things are worth noting: (1) The Dot.Com stock market cycle lasted a long t time. Essentially, more than the decade of the 1990s. It’s length reflected the importance of the fundamental changes taking place. (2) There was an important development regarding the stock market that has become part of the stock market legend. On December 5, 1996, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in a televised speech used the term “irrational exuberance” to describe a stock market that he thought was highly speculative and overvalued. His comment was intended as a warning from the Fed that the stock market, driven by the high-tech developments described above, was overvalued. His timing was five years early which is a lifetime in the stock market. (3) The five years after Greenspan’s “irrational exuberance” statement was the most profitable for investors of the entire ten years plus of the stock market cycle. As you sit reading this brief, imagine your life without a cell phone, the Internet, e-mail and text messages. How different would your life be without just these four products that emerged from the 1990s. A more relevant question might be how different would your life be if you had purchased shares in Apple or Cisco or Dell or Google or Microsoft back then? B. The Artificial Intelligence Boom (AI): The term Artificial Intelligence was created in 1955. The idea was to have a machine that could take data, and find patterns that would enable it to make predictions and reach conclusions (make decisions). The Oxford Dictionary defines AI as “The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” It was Moore’s Law in 1975 that stated the capacity of semiconductors would continue to double every two years which enabled computers to be able to put into practice the AI Boom that is taking place today. Current forecasts say the AI industry will grow to $900 billion by 2026 and $15.7 trillion by 2030. AI growth in the 1920s could dwarf anything high-tech was able to accomplish in the 1990s. (1) There is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom going on and many people don’t yet realize it is even happening. AI is used in: i. Self-driving and parking cars. AI is used by Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota and Volvo. ii. Maps and navigation. Enter where you are and where you want to go by car and Google Maps, for example, will give you a choice of routes, the time optimal route taking into account construction and traffic. iii. Facial detection or recognition. Facial detection identifies a human face or facial recognition that identifies a specific face that can be used for surveillance and security. iv. Digital assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. When combined with search and recommendation AI, Alexa or Siri is able to learn your preferences and recommend things you are interested in. v. Customer service chatbots that answer frequently asked questions, track orders or direct calls. Often people will be unaware they are dealing with a machine. vi. Vehicle recognition use computer vision and deep learning to find a specific car on a surveillance video. vii. Robot vacuums can scan a living area, look for and remember objects in the way, remember the best route for cleaning the area and decide how many times it should repeat cleaning a specific area. It is estimated that by 2030, between 400 and 800 million jobs will be displaced by Artificial Intelligence and 375 million people will have to change to a totally different type of work. It is also forecast that it is not just lower-paying, blue-collar jobs that will be replaced by AI. Jobs such as accountants, lawyers, doctors, investment advisors and portfolio managers might all be substantially eliminated. AI will impact all industries and the rate of change will be exponential, that is, the rate of change will accelerate. For example, what does a doctor do? In general, a doctor gathers new information, refers to a patient’s medical history, refers to a medical book or today’s Internet, makes a diagnosis and provides s treatment. This is also what a lawyer does. AI might reach the point where it can do it faster and better than a human.. AI does present threats to human existence. As AI is changing exponentially, it will happen faster than the technology boom of the 1990s. It took technology 20 years to produce the changes we discussed above. AI could produce equivalent changes in 10 or 15 years. For example, ChatGPT, an AI product went from zero to 100 million users within months making it the fastest-growing consumer software product in history. There will be others. (2) The AI shift could drive economic change and a stock market cycle at least as significant as the last “dot.com” cycle. The “go-to” companies today for participation in AI are the likes of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Meta (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). These are very large companies. GOOGL has a market cap of $1.6 trillion, AMZN has a market cap of $1.2 trillion, META has a market cap of $$648 billion, MSFT has a market cap of $2.4 trillion, NCDA has a market cap of $963 billion and ORCL has a market cap of $282 billion. (3) While these are excellent businesses, they are also amongst the world’s largest companies. In 2022, GOOGL, META and MSFT purchased 2 out of every 3 AI chips. In my opinion, it is almost unthinkable that GOOGL can be a ten-bagger from a base market cap of $1.6 trillion or AMZN from $1.2 trillion. But it is clear these stocks now have a major component of their value derived from involvement in Artificial Intelligence and it is not surprising that early adopters would choose a lower risk/lower return approach to gain exposure to an emerging Artificial Intelligence industry. (4) The changes created by AI also carry some risks. The speed of change will be challenging to human beings. There are forecasts that say one in four workers globally will see their jobs disappear and one in eight workers will have to be retrained in a totally unrelated field. During the industrial revolution and the tech boom, there was always the promise of more and better jobs. With AI we may have reached the point where machines actually do replace workers. (5) Cathie Wood is a well-known and widely followed money manager with a reputation for expertise in the Artificial Intelligence sector. Wood manages a range of portfolios including the ARK Innovation Exchange Traded Fund (ARKK) and since its founding in 2014, Bloomberg estimates NDVA has contributed 13% of the fund’s 112% total return only behind Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Invitae Corp and Tesla. That is all positive but Wood sold the ARKK holding in NVDA in January 2023 just before it rallied strongly adding some $560 billion to its market cap with $200 billion coming on one day after reporting earnings. Wood’s investors have basically missed the huge rally in the stock and the sector in 2023. (6) But there is another phase I would look for and that is the participation of smaller, retail investors. Whether it was in the tech cycle I discussed above, the “meme” stocks or commodity exploration and development cycles in the past, the retail investor buys in before the bull market ends. Market pundits such as Citi global asset allocation and Vanda Research make the same observation: where is the retail investor? We know the institutional investors have been getting in. So far in 2023 according to Bloomberg, the top 4% of stocks in the S&P 500 have contributed 94% of the index return and 8 of the top 20 include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Class A, NVIDIA, Alphabet Class C, Tesla and Meta. In other words, the top 2% of the stocks in the S&P 500 contributed 94% of the return. Through mid-May, if the AI stocks are omitted, the S&P Index would be down -1.4% instead of up +8.3%. All of these stocks are AI leaders and each of them is an institutional stock. Yet, I believe the retail investor will come into the market and when they do, it is stocks like PMED for which they have always had an appetite. C. I think investors will get more bang for their buck by investing in a small company like Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) with a total commitment to AI. From a base market cap of $16.6 million and, as I have pointed out in recent reports, many different business verticals to get them higher, I see PMED as a unique opportunity for aggressive growth investors. It is hard to imagine any decade having more of an impact on the ensuring socio-economic decades than the 1990s. Imagine your activities today without your cellphone, Internet, email and texting. I expect the cycle driven by AI to be a long one, similar to the dot-com cycle that lasted longer than the decade of the 1990s. To the right is a chart published by Luke Lango’s Hypergrowth Investing. It shows the stock market in the 1990s and overlays current results. The parallels Lango sees include: • Federal Reserve’s tight money policy slowed economic growth in 1990 as it is doing currently. • In 1990, the markets were down around 20% and in 2022 stocks dropped around 25%. • In late 1990, the Fed started reducing interest rates and the markets rebounded. • In late 2022, the Fed has turned less hawkish and into 2023 has slowed the pace of interest rate increases. The markets have been recovering. • In the early 1990’s, the dot-com stock market rally began and the market would advance generally higher for the rest of the decade and into the new millennium. • Today, it is Artificial Intelligence that is pushing stocks higher and given my expectations for AI, it could stock prices higher until at least 2030. Conclusion: I believe Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) is exceptionally well positioned to participate in the upcoming boom in Artificial Intelligence. There are many different ways to describe market cycles that evolve around such drivers. Here is mine:
|
2023.06.02 10:41 bubba_169 [H] Steam Games [W] Any Working Steam Key For a Quick Game Swap
The giveaway where you also give back! I'm offering a quick trade for any valid steam key. If there's something on the list you want, make me a sensible offer and it will most likely be accepted. The list keeps on cycling so check back at any point as there may be something you like added later on!
I'm not after lists to look through, I want you to offer me your unwanted steam keys for games from this list of a similar value. Think of it like a book swap - take one and leave one. You get a game you want and the one you leave might be the one somebody else wants.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the nature of the quick swap, most of these keys are from previous trades and donations and I have no way to verify them or check for region locks. Even with the best intentions from all sides, mistakes will be made and some of these keys may not work. I'll always send the key first and ask you to redeem before sending me anything to make sure they work for you.
As a general rule I will usually accept any game in the same tier as a fair trade. I've also accepted trades with games at the top end of a lower tier for games at the bottom end of the next tier. We can trade multiples to even out values but they don’t need to be exact as long as the trade is reasonable. If I already have a surplus of a game you're offering, I may turn you down until the existing copies have been traded.
If anyone just wants to donate any keys that are no good to them to the list then I’m always grateful to receive them. Just DM me and I’ll add them. A huge thank you to those that have already donated keys to this project.
Even though re-trading is nothing new, removing personal interest and accepting a trade for any game makes trading much more accessible to others - especially those with only a few spare keys. The idea was popular and it gained momentum. I also received some generous donations and the list grew into what you see above. Even though I don't get much from it myself (I do keep the occasional game that catches my eye) I am happy that I can help others get games they can play in exchange for keys they have no use for. The community has really come through with honesty, helping to grow this into something worthwhile.
Thanks everyone!
My IGSRep Page.
submitted by bubba_169 to indiegameswap [link] [comments]
I'm not after lists to look through, I want you to offer me your unwanted steam keys for games from this list of a similar value. Think of it like a book swap - take one and leave one. You get a game you want and the one you leave might be the one somebody else wants.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the nature of the quick swap, most of these keys are from previous trades and donations and I have no way to verify them or check for region locks. Even with the best intentions from all sides, mistakes will be made and some of these keys may not work. I'll always send the key first and ask you to redeem before sending me anything to make sure they work for you.
How it works
- You offer me any steam game(s) of a similar value to any of those in this list in the comments. Please comment first, don't just DM me.
- I say yes if the games you want are still available and we trade. I'll DM you the keys first for you to redeem then you send me yours once you're happy they worked. Please also let me know of any region locks when we trade.
- The keys you give me go back on the list ready to trade with someone else and the cycle starts again.
Games Available:
Always let me send you the key first so you can check it worksTier 1 (Key value of £1 or less)
- Alcatraz Builder
- Alien Spidy
- Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy (x3)
- Anomaly: Warzone Earth
- Anomaly 2
- Aura: Fate of the Ages
- Automatic War
- Aveyond 3-1: Lord of Twilight
- Bad Rats
- Bionic Commando: Rearmed (x2)
- Black Moon Chronicles
- Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
- Commandos 2: Men of Courage
- Commandos 3: Destination Berlin
- Control Craft 2
- Crash Time 3
- Curse: The Eye of Isis (x3)
- Deadly 30 (x2)
- Deponia
- Drawful 2
- Dub Dash
- Ecchi Jack (NSFW)
- El Matador (x2)
- Explodemon
- Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
- Flashback (Classic)
- Garfield Kart (x3)
- Garfield Kart - Furious Racing
- Grav Blazer Squared
- Greed: Black Border
- Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes (x2)
- Hacker Evolution Source Code
- Hotshot Racing
- Hue (x2)
- Idle Champions - Celeste Starter Pack (DLC)
- Konung 2 (x2)
- Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail (x3)
- Manual Samuel
- Mata Hari
- Megarace 1 (x5)
- Megarace 2 (x3)
- Memories of a Vagabond
- Men of War
- Men of War: Assault Squad - Game of the Year Edition
- Miner Wars 2081
- NOT the Hero
- Occultus - Mediterranean Cabal
- Onikira: Demon Killer
- Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
- Overcast: Walden and the Werewolf
- Overcooked 2: Surf 'n' Turf Pack (DLC)
- Paradox Soul
- Pixel Heroes: Byte & Magic (x3)
- Pumped BMX Pro
- Puzzle Kingdoms (x2)
- Red Risk
- Rym 9000
- Safety First!
- Slain: Back From Hell
- Smoke and Sacrifice (NA Region Locked)
- Soulblight
- Soulcraft
- Space Empires V
- Stacking
- Starfinder Core Rulebook + Junkers Delight (Paizo Ebook key)
- Still Life
- Survivalist (x2)
- S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster
- Syberia
- Syberia II (x2)
- The Next Door
- Theatre of War 2: Africa 1943
- Time Lock VR 1
- Trivia Vault: Auto Racing Trivia
- UFO: Afterlight
- Unstable Portal
- Vault Cracker
- Voyage: Journey to the Moon (x2)
- Warrior Kings
Tier 2 (Key value of £1 - £2)
- Autonauts (x2)
- Beat Hazard (x3)
- Comedy Night
- Crazy Machines: Golden Gears
- Darwinia (x3)
- Darwinia Soundtrack
- Fling to the Finish
- Game Dev Studio
- Golfing in Aether
- King's Bounty: Armored Princess
- Multiwinia
- My Little Prince - A Jigsaw Puzzle Tale
- Narcos: Rise of the Cartels
- 🧠 OUT OF THE BOX
- Project Warlock
- Silver Chains (x2)
Tier 3 (Key value of £2 or more)
- Bomber Crew Deluxe Edition (x2)
- Horror Story: Hallowseed
- Mysteries of the Past: Shadow of the Daemon (Delisted)
- Snooker 19
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Valuing Trades
We'll use gg.deals UK key shops price as a way to compare the value of games. If a key shop price isn't available we'll use best judgement based on retail price and recent bundles. Key values change daily so if you notice something is in the wrong tier please let me know. To keep things accessible we'll cap key value at £2.As a general rule I will usually accept any game in the same tier as a fair trade. I've also accepted trades with games at the top end of a lower tier for games at the bottom end of the next tier. We can trade multiples to even out values but they don’t need to be exact as long as the trade is reasonable. If I already have a surplus of a game you're offering, I may turn you down until the existing copies have been traded.
If anyone just wants to donate any keys that are no good to them to the list then I’m always grateful to receive them. Just DM me and I’ll add them. A huge thank you to those that have already donated keys to this project.
Region Locks
Any region locks I know about with be noted next to the affected games. I have no way to check so there may be others. I'll always go first in a trade so you can make sure the key works for you before sending me any of yours.Why?
A short while ago I had some spare keys from bundles that I couldn't find a trade for. The traders with the games I wanted already owned the games I had and the traders who wanted the games I had didn't have anything I'd want in return. I was thinking of giving up and giving away my keys but then I had an idea - If I was willing to accept any game in return, I could trade with those that wanted my games and break the trading deadlocks for the more common, lower value games. I could add the games I didn't want myself back onto the list and if I ended up with a load of rubbish that nobody wanted then I'd only lost what I was willing to give away anyway.Even though re-trading is nothing new, removing personal interest and accepting a trade for any game makes trading much more accessible to others - especially those with only a few spare keys. The idea was popular and it gained momentum. I also received some generous donations and the list grew into what you see above. Even though I don't get much from it myself (I do keep the occasional game that catches my eye) I am happy that I can help others get games they can play in exchange for keys they have no use for. The community has really come through with honesty, helping to grow this into something worthwhile.
Thanks everyone!
My IGSRep Page.
2023.06.01 22:02 Lindenator_Esq Desensitizing Resin (9911) necessary for ALL fillings?
 | I just got my bill back from my last visit where I received 2 fillings. There was a code on the bill that I was not familiar with. Turns out it was for Desensitizing Resin (Code 9911). I called and they informed me that they use this on ALL fillings at the practice. submitted by Lindenator_Esq to askdentists [link] [comments] I've been to several other dentists and haven't seen this billed before. I've done some searching, and it seems that it is usually only used for large cavities. This leads me to think that the doctor may just use this as an up-charge on all fillings. Is this a normal charge for all cavity fillings? Edit: Added image Summary of Benefits from Insurence |
2023.06.01 22:01 JRE47 JRE's Analysis on the GBL Season 15 Move Rebalance
GO Battle League Season 15 is upon us, and along with it, our now-customary move rebalance! What's new, what's improved, what's good, bad, or ugly coming out the other side? Let's dive right in and see!
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS? It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.
LONG STORY SHORT, Fairy Wind Clefable is one of those rather rare overnight sensations that could see an immediate usage spike in Ultra League and as a nice corebreaker in Great League (the pickup against Noctowl really pushing it over the top). It really appreciates the extra energy to spam charge moves, and has just enough variety between Meteor Mash, Psychic (the move!), and Moonblast to keep the opponent guessing and shielding when they really don't want to. The other Fairies with new toys (Togetic and Wigglytuff especially) appreciate small bumps in performance, but are unlikely to suddenly appear where they weren't already.
DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥 As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY? So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.
Man, quite a bummer, right? Decent move, but really nothing that gets it stands to benefit in a way that will impact PvP. So moving on then to... wait, what? I missed one? Oh... OH! So I did. And thankfully, we can end this section on a good note... because GOLISOPOD just became a bit more interesting.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
THE LEAF AGE BEGINS? Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.
I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!
LONG STORY SHORT, no huge improvements to be found with Leafage, but it does earn a rightful place as a robust sidegrade consideration for the Lurantis and Abomasnow lines (particularly with Ultra League Aboma). It's an upgrade for the Rowlett/Dartrix/Decidueye line, though Deci itself remains middling at best until it one day gets Frenzy Plant (or just some more synergistic charge moves in general!). Leafage SHOULD start popping up here and there in PvP soon, moreso than Liquidation likely will.
JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:
As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!
LONG STORY SHORT, Mystical Fire IS likely the default coverage move of choice for Drifblim going forward, just because of the number of burnable things (as opposed to freezeable things) in its respective metas, Great League especially. Except to see Blim soar up a little higher than it has in a while. It's also a nice upgrade for Litwick, who should finally emerge as a true Fire contender in Little League formats.
ODDS AND ENDS Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT** that stand to benefit from this as well!
Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.
And there are all the actual move "rebalances". Now to wrap it up real quick with a final list of existing moves now assigned to new Pokémon!
PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
Speaking of funky Rock types, HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡
Speaking of time, though... it's up! The new season is here! So we're gonna wrap it up right here for now. I hope this was as helpful a read as it was LONG. 🙃
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!
submitted by JRE47 to PokemonGOBattleLeague [link] [comments]
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS? It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.
LONG STORY SHORT, Fairy Wind Clefable is one of those rather rare overnight sensations that could see an immediate usage spike in Ultra League and as a nice corebreaker in Great League (the pickup against Noctowl really pushing it over the top). It really appreciates the extra energy to spam charge moves, and has just enough variety between Meteor Mash, Psychic (the move!), and Moonblast to keep the opponent guessing and shielding when they really don't want to. The other Fairies with new toys (Togetic and Wigglytuff especially) appreciate small bumps in performance, but are unlikely to suddenly appear where they weren't already.
DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥 As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY? So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.
Man, quite a bummer, right? Decent move, but really nothing that gets it stands to benefit in a way that will impact PvP. So moving on then to... wait, what? I missed one? Oh... OH! So I did. And thankfully, we can end this section on a good note... because GOLISOPOD just became a bit more interesting.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
THE LEAF AGE BEGINS? Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.
I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!
LONG STORY SHORT, no huge improvements to be found with Leafage, but it does earn a rightful place as a robust sidegrade consideration for the Lurantis and Abomasnow lines (particularly with Ultra League Aboma). It's an upgrade for the Rowlett/Dartrix/Decidueye line, though Deci itself remains middling at best until it one day gets Frenzy Plant (or just some more synergistic charge moves in general!). Leafage SHOULD start popping up here and there in PvP soon, moreso than Liquidation likely will.
JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:
As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!
LONG STORY SHORT, Mystical Fire IS likely the default coverage move of choice for Drifblim going forward, just because of the number of burnable things (as opposed to freezeable things) in its respective metas, Great League especially. Except to see Blim soar up a little higher than it has in a while. It's also a nice upgrade for Litwick, who should finally emerge as a true Fire contender in Little League formats.
ODDS AND ENDS Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT** that stand to benefit from this as well!
Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.
And there are all the actual move "rebalances". Now to wrap it up real quick with a final list of existing moves now assigned to new Pokémon!
PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
Speaking of funky Rock types, HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡
Speaking of time, though... it's up! The new season is here! So we're gonna wrap it up right here for now. I hope this was as helpful a read as it was LONG. 🙃
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!
2023.06.01 21:58 JRE47 An Analysis on the Season of Hidden Gems Move Rebalance
GO Battle League Season 15 is upon us, and along with it, our now-customary move rebalance! What's new, what's improved, what's good, bad, or ugly coming out the other side? Let's dive right in and see!
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!
submitted by JRE47 to pokemongo [link] [comments]
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS?
It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
- More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
- WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
- PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.
DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥
As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY?
So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
- I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
- Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
- VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
- GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
- There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
- ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
THE LEAF AGE BEGINS?
Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.- I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
- LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
- Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!
JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY
Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:- As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
- Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!
ODDS AND ENDS
Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
- Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
- Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT** that stand to benefit from this as well!
- Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
- Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
- Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.
- PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
- Speaking of funky Rock types, HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
- A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
- Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
- Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
- And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!
2023.06.01 21:58 JRE47 Under The Lights: GBL Season 15 Move Rebalance
GO Battle League Season 15 is upon us, and along with it, our now-customary move rebalance! What's new, what's improved, what's good, bad, or ugly coming out the other side? Let's dive right in and see!
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!
submitted by JRE47 to TheSilphArena [link] [comments]
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS?
It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
- More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
- WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
- PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.
DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥
As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY?
So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
- I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
- Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
- VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
- GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
- There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
- ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
THE LEAF AGE BEGINS?
Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.- I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
- LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
- Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!
JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY
Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:- As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
- Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!
ODDS AND ENDS
Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
- Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
- Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT** that stand to benefit from this as well!
- Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
- Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
- Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.
- PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
- Speaking of funky Rock types, HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
- A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
- Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
- Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
- And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!
2023.06.01 21:58 JRE47 A PvP Analysis on the HUGE GBL Season 15 Move Rebalance
GO Battle League Season 15 is upon us, and along with it, our now-customary move rebalance! What's new, what's improved, what's good, bad, or ugly coming out the other side? Let's dive right in and see!
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!
EDIT: Oh Em Gee, thank you SO much for the Platinum and other awards! 🤩
submitted by JRE47 to TheSilphRoad [link] [comments]
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS?
It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
- More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
- WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
- PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.
DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥
As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY?
So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
- I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
- Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
- VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
- GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
- There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
- ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
THE LEAF AGE BEGINS?
Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.- I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
- LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
- Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!
JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY
Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:- As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
- Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!
ODDS AND ENDS
Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
- Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
- Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT that stand to benefit from this as well!
- Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
- Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
- Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.
- PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
- HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
- A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
- Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
- Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
- And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!
EDIT: Oh Em Gee, thank you SO much for the Platinum and other awards! 🤩
2023.06.01 21:17 Temporary_Noise_4014 Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) Special Report
 | Predictmedix – a great way to surf the Artificial Intelligence wave. submitted by Temporary_Noise_4014 to PennyCatalysts [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/p6vawwx2ig3b1.png?width=741&format=png&auto=webp&s=16344b32088e8959d3e838a528a893994685ec85 There is a saying attributed to Mark Twain that goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but if often rhymes.” This means circumstances might be different but similar events often recur. This is good because securities regulators demand that you make it clear that in the financial markets, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” However, investment analysts continue to use rhymes and here’s one that could help you see sizeable investment returns from Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF). This is how the rhyme comes together: A. The 1990s technology boom: The parallel I see is between the current Artificial Intelligence cycle and the dot-com stock market cycle of ≈1990 to ≈ 2002. As background, the 1990s either developed or laid the groundwork for changes that completely transformed the world we live in. Out of that time came many new technologies and related developments and each was highly disruptive. Here is a very brief list of some of those developments: (1) Nokia was the first mass-produced cellphone offered in 1992 with the ability to send and receive phone calls as well as store data (e.g. phone numbers). (2) The World Wide Web, a.k.a. the Web browser was proposed in 1990 and debuted in 1991. This was the start of the Internet, Websites, e-mails and a massive amount of information that would become available to everyone. (3) With the explosion of data available, finding it became a challenge. Mosaic started as the first search engine in 1993 followed by Yahoo in 1994 and Google in 1998. Today, Google has risen to the top and become synonymous with an Internet search. Google it. (4) Other important developments of that time included the growth in the capacity of microprocessors, Photoshop, texting, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, realistic videogames for a more adult market, collecting and using DNA, the start of e-tailing and more. (5) Finally, we have the stock market. Cisco, Dell, Intel and Microsoft are sometimes referred to as the four horsemen of the 1990s tech boom. But we can’t ignore Apple and Google and there were many more that benefited. The smaller, new, Initial Public Offering companies came to the fore with incredibly high returns in the second half of the 1990s. The chart to the right shows how stock markets performed during the 1990’s high-tech boom. A few things are worth noting: (1) The Dot.Com stock market cycle lasted a long t time. Essentially, more than the decade of the 1990s. It’s length reflected the importance of the fundamental changes taking place. (2) There was an important development regarding the stock market that has become part of the stock market legend. On December 5, 1996, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in a televised speech used the term “irrational exuberance” to describe a stock market that he thought was highly speculative and overvalued. His comment was intended as a warning from the Fed that the stock market, driven by the high-tech developments described above, was overvalued. His timing was five years early which is a lifetime in the stock market. (3) The five years after Greenspan’s “irrational exuberance” statement was the most profitable for investors of the entire ten years plus of the stock market cycle. As you sit reading this brief, imagine your life without a cell phone, the Internet, e-mail and text messages. How different would your life be without just these four products that emerged from the 1990s. A more relevant question might be how different would your life be if you had purchased shares in Apple or Cisco or Dell or Google or Microsoft back then? B. The Artificial Intelligence Boom (AI): The term Artificial Intelligence was created in 1955. The idea was to have a machine that could take data, and find patterns that would enable it to make predictions and reach conclusions (make decisions). The Oxford Dictionary defines AI as “The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” It was Moore’s Law in 1975 that stated the capacity of semiconductors would continue to double every two years which enabled computers to be able to put into practice the AI Boom that is taking place today. Current forecasts say the AI industry will grow to $900 billion by 2026 and $15.7 trillion by 2030. AI growth in the 1920s could dwarf anything high-tech was able to accomplish in the 1990s. (1) There is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom going on and many people don’t yet realize it is even happening. AI is used in: i. Self-driving and parking cars. AI is used by Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota and Volvo. ii. Maps and navigation. Enter where you are and where you want to go by car and Google Maps, for example, will give you a choice of routes, the time optimal route taking into account construction and traffic. iii. Facial detection or recognition. Facial detection identifies a human face or facial recognition that identifies a specific face that can be used for surveillance and security. iv. Digital assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. When combined with search and recommendation AI, Alexa or Siri is able to learn your preferences and recommend things you are interested in. v. Customer service chatbots that answer frequently asked questions, track orders or direct calls. Often people will be unaware they are dealing with a machine. vi. Vehicle recognition use computer vision and deep learning to find a specific car on a surveillance video. vii. Robot vacuums can scan a living area, look for and remember objects in the way, remember the best route for cleaning the area and decide how many times it should repeat cleaning a specific area. It is estimated that by 2030, between 400 and 800 million jobs will be displaced by Artificial Intelligence and 375 million people will have to change to a totally different type of work. It is also forecast that it is not just lower-paying, blue-collar jobs that will be replaced by AI. Jobs such as accountants, lawyers, doctors, investment advisors and portfolio managers might all be substantially eliminated. AI will impact all industries and the rate of change will be exponential, that is, the rate of change will accelerate. For example, what does a doctor do? In general, a doctor gathers new information, refers to a patient’s medical history, refers to a medical book or today’s Internet, makes a diagnosis and provides s treatment. This is also what a lawyer does. AI might reach the point where it can do it faster and better than a human.. AI does present threats to human existence. As AI is changing exponentially, it will happen faster than the technology boom of the 1990s. It took technology 20 years to produce the changes we discussed above. AI could produce equivalent changes in 10 or 15 years. For example, ChatGPT, an AI product went from zero to 100 million users within months making it the fastest-growing consumer software product in history. There will be others. (2) The AI shift could drive economic change and a stock market cycle at least as significant as the last “dot.com” cycle. The “go-to” companies today for participation in AI are the likes of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Meta (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). These are very large companies. GOOGL has a market cap of $1.6 trillion, AMZN has a market cap of $1.2 trillion, META has a market cap of $$648 billion, MSFT has a market cap of $2.4 trillion, NCDA has a market cap of $963 billion and ORCL has a market cap of $282 billion. (3) While these are excellent businesses, they are also amongst the world’s largest companies. In 2022, GOOGL, META and MSFT purchased 2 out of every 3 AI chips. In my opinion, it is almost unthinkable that GOOGL can be a ten-bagger from a base market cap of $1.6 trillion or AMZN from $1.2 trillion. But it is clear these stocks now have a major component of their value derived from involvement in Artificial Intelligence and it is not surprising that early adopters would choose a lower risk/lower return approach to gain exposure to an emerging Artificial Intelligence industry. (4) The changes created by AI also carry some risks. The speed of change will be challenging to human beings. There are forecasts that say one in four workers globally will see their jobs disappear and one in eight workers will have to be retrained in a totally unrelated field. During the industrial revolution and the tech boom, there was always the promise of more and better jobs. With AI we may have reached the point where machines actually do replace workers. (5) Cathie Wood is a well-known and widely followed money manager with a reputation for expertise in the Artificial Intelligence sector. Wood manages a range of portfolios including the ARK Innovation Exchange Traded Fund (ARKK) and since its founding in 2014, Bloomberg estimates NDVA has contributed 13% of the fund’s 112% total return only behind Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Invitae Corp and Tesla. That is all positive but Wood sold the ARKK holding in NVDA in January 2023 just before it rallied strongly adding some $560 billion to its market cap with $200 billion coming on one day after reporting earnings. Wood’s investors have basically missed the huge rally in the stock and the sector in 2023. (6) But there is another phase I would look for and that is the participation of smaller, retail investors. Whether it was in the tech cycle I discussed above, the “meme” stocks or commodity exploration and development cycles in the past, the retail investor buys in before the bull market ends. Market pundits such as Citi global asset allocation and Vanda Research make the same observation: where is the retail investor? We know the institutional investors have been getting in. So far in 2023 according to Bloomberg, the top 4% of stocks in the S&P 500 have contributed 94% of the index return and 8 of the top 20 include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Class A, NVIDIA, Alphabet Class C, Tesla and Meta. In other words, the top 2% of the stocks in the S&P 500 contributed 94% of the return. Through mid-May, if the AI stocks are omitted, the S&P Index would be down -1.4% instead of up +8.3%. All of these stocks are AI leaders and each of them is an institutional stock. Yet, I believe the retail investor will come into the market and when they do, it is stocks like PMED for which they have always had an appetite. C. I think investors will get more bang for their buck by investing in a small company like Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) with a total commitment to AI. From a base market cap of $16.6 million and, as I have pointed out in recent reports, many different business verticals to get them higher, I see PMED as a unique opportunity for aggressive growth investors. It is hard to imagine any decade having more of an impact on the ensuring socio-economic decades than the 1990s. Imagine your activities today without your cellphone, Internet, email and texting. I expect the cycle driven by AI to be a long one, similar to the dot-com cycle that lasted longer than the decade of the 1990s. To the right is a chart published by Luke Lango’s Hypergrowth Investing. It shows the stock market in the 1990s and overlays current results. The parallels Lango sees include: • Federal Reserve’s tight money policy slowed economic growth in 1990 as it is doing currently. • In 1990, the markets were down around 20% and in 2022 stocks dropped around 25%. • In late 1990, the Fed started reducing interest rates and the markets rebounded. • In late 2022, the Fed has turned less hawkish and into 2023 has slowed the pace of interest rate increases. The markets have been recovering. • In the early 1990’s, the dot-com stock market rally began and the market would advance generally higher for the rest of the decade and into the new millennium. • Today, it is Artificial Intelligence that is pushing stocks higher and given my expectations for AI, it could stock prices higher until at least 2030. Conclusion: I believe Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) is exceptionally well positioned to participate in the upcoming boom in Artificial Intelligence. There are many different ways to describe market cycles that evolve around such drivers. Here is mine:
|
2023.06.01 21:16 Temporary_Noise_4014 Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) Special Report
 | Predictmedix – a great way to surf the Artificial Intelligence wave. submitted by Temporary_Noise_4014 to Canadapennystocks [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/gj9fc2nzhg3b1.png?width=741&format=png&auto=webp&s=f87c4488fd2fac4388b4b65e352e8b286af88c9c There is a saying attributed to Mark Twain that goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but if often rhymes.” This means circumstances might be different but similar events often recur. This is good because securities regulators demand that you make it clear that in the financial markets, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” However, investment analysts continue to use rhymes and here’s one that could help you see sizeable investment returns from Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF). This is how the rhyme comes together: A. The 1990s technology boom: The parallel I see is between the current Artificial Intelligence cycle and the dot-com stock market cycle of ≈1990 to ≈ 2002. As background, the 1990s either developed or laid the groundwork for changes that completely transformed the world we live in. Out of that time came many new technologies and related developments and each was highly disruptive. Here is a very brief list of some of those developments: (1) Nokia was the first mass-produced cellphone offered in 1992 with the ability to send and receive phone calls as well as store data (e.g. phone numbers). (2) The World Wide Web, a.k.a. the Web browser was proposed in 1990 and debuted in 1991. This was the start of the Internet, Websites, e-mails and a massive amount of information that would become available to everyone. (3) With the explosion of data available, finding it became a challenge. Mosaic started as the first search engine in 1993 followed by Yahoo in 1994 and Google in 1998. Today, Google has risen to the top and become synonymous with an Internet search. Google it. (4) Other important developments of that time included the growth in the capacity of microprocessors, Photoshop, texting, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, realistic videogames for a more adult market, collecting and using DNA, the start of e-tailing and more. (5) Finally, we have the stock market. Cisco, Dell, Intel and Microsoft are sometimes referred to as the four horsemen of the 1990s tech boom. But we can’t ignore Apple and Google and there were many more that benefited. The smaller, new, Initial Public Offering companies came to the fore with incredibly high returns in the second half of the 1990s. The chart to the right shows how stock markets performed during the 1990’s high-tech boom. A few things are worth noting: (1) The Dot.Com stock market cycle lasted a long t time. Essentially, more than the decade of the 1990s. It’s length reflected the importance of the fundamental changes taking place. (2) There was an important development regarding the stock market that has become part of the stock market legend. On December 5, 1996, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in a televised speech used the term “irrational exuberance” to describe a stock market that he thought was highly speculative and overvalued. His comment was intended as a warning from the Fed that the stock market, driven by the high-tech developments described above, was overvalued. His timing was five years early which is a lifetime in the stock market. (3) The five years after Greenspan’s “irrational exuberance” statement was the most profitable for investors of the entire ten years plus of the stock market cycle. As you sit reading this brief, imagine your life without a cell phone, the Internet, e-mail and text messages. How different would your life be without just these four products that emerged from the 1990s. A more relevant question might be how different would your life be if you had purchased shares in Apple or Cisco or Dell or Google or Microsoft back then? B. The Artificial Intelligence Boom (AI): The term Artificial Intelligence was created in 1955. The idea was to have a machine that could take data, and find patterns that would enable it to make predictions and reach conclusions (make decisions). The Oxford Dictionary defines AI as “The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” It was Moore’s Law in 1975 that stated the capacity of semiconductors would continue to double every two years which enabled computers to be able to put into practice the AI Boom that is taking place today. Current forecasts say the AI industry will grow to $900 billion by 2026 and $15.7 trillion by 2030. AI growth in the 1920s could dwarf anything high-tech was able to accomplish in the 1990s. (1) There is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom going on and many people don’t yet realize it is even happening. AI is used in: i. Self-driving and parking cars. AI is used by Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota and Volvo. ii. Maps and navigation. Enter where you are and where you want to go by car and Google Maps, for example, will give you a choice of routes, the time optimal route taking into account construction and traffic. iii. Facial detection or recognition. Facial detection identifies a human face or facial recognition that identifies a specific face that can be used for surveillance and security. iv. Digital assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. When combined with search and recommendation AI, Alexa or Siri is able to learn your preferences and recommend things you are interested in. v. Customer service chatbots that answer frequently asked questions, track orders or direct calls. Often people will be unaware they are dealing with a machine. vi. Vehicle recognition use computer vision and deep learning to find a specific car on a surveillance video. vii. Robot vacuums can scan a living area, look for and remember objects in the way, remember the best route for cleaning the area and decide how many times it should repeat cleaning a specific area. It is estimated that by 2030, between 400 and 800 million jobs will be displaced by Artificial Intelligence and 375 million people will have to change to a totally different type of work. It is also forecast that it is not just lower-paying, blue-collar jobs that will be replaced by AI. Jobs such as accountants, lawyers, doctors, investment advisors and portfolio managers might all be substantially eliminated. AI will impact all industries and the rate of change will be exponential, that is, the rate of change will accelerate. For example, what does a doctor do? In general, a doctor gathers new information, refers to a patient’s medical history, refers to a medical book or today’s Internet, makes a diagnosis and provides s treatment. This is also what a lawyer does. AI might reach the point where it can do it faster and better than a human.. AI does present threats to human existence. As AI is changing exponentially, it will happen faster than the technology boom of the 1990s. It took technology 20 years to produce the changes we discussed above. AI could produce equivalent changes in 10 or 15 years. For example, ChatGPT, an AI product went from zero to 100 million users within months making it the fastest-growing consumer software product in history. There will be others. (2) The AI shift could drive economic change and a stock market cycle at least as significant as the last “dot.com” cycle. The “go-to” companies today for participation in AI are the likes of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Meta (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). These are very large companies. GOOGL has a market cap of $1.6 trillion, AMZN has a market cap of $1.2 trillion, META has a market cap of $$648 billion, MSFT has a market cap of $2.4 trillion, NCDA has a market cap of $963 billion and ORCL has a market cap of $282 billion. (3) While these are excellent businesses, they are also amongst the world’s largest companies. In 2022, GOOGL, META and MSFT purchased 2 out of every 3 AI chips. In my opinion, it is almost unthinkable that GOOGL can be a ten-bagger from a base market cap of $1.6 trillion or AMZN from $1.2 trillion. But it is clear these stocks now have a major component of their value derived from involvement in Artificial Intelligence and it is not surprising that early adopters would choose a lower risk/lower return approach to gain exposure to an emerging Artificial Intelligence industry. (4) The changes created by AI also carry some risks. The speed of change will be challenging to human beings. There are forecasts that say one in four workers globally will see their jobs disappear and one in eight workers will have to be retrained in a totally unrelated field. During the industrial revolution and the tech boom, there was always the promise of more and better jobs. With AI we may have reached the point where machines actually do replace workers. (5) Cathie Wood is a well-known and widely followed money manager with a reputation for expertise in the Artificial Intelligence sector. Wood manages a range of portfolios including the ARK Innovation Exchange Traded Fund (ARKK) and since its founding in 2014, Bloomberg estimates NDVA has contributed 13% of the fund’s 112% total return only behind Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Invitae Corp and Tesla. That is all positive but Wood sold the ARKK holding in NVDA in January 2023 just before it rallied strongly adding some $560 billion to its market cap with $200 billion coming on one day after reporting earnings. Wood’s investors have basically missed the huge rally in the stock and the sector in 2023. (6) But there is another phase I would look for and that is the participation of smaller, retail investors. Whether it was in the tech cycle I discussed above, the “meme” stocks or commodity exploration and development cycles in the past, the retail investor buys in before the bull market ends. Market pundits such as Citi global asset allocation and Vanda Research make the same observation: where is the retail investor? We know the institutional investors have been getting in. So far in 2023 according to Bloomberg, the top 4% of stocks in the S&P 500 have contributed 94% of the index return and 8 of the top 20 include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Class A, NVIDIA, Alphabet Class C, Tesla and Meta. In other words, the top 2% of the stocks in the S&P 500 contributed 94% of the return. Through mid-May, if the AI stocks are omitted, the S&P Index would be down -1.4% instead of up +8.3%. All of these stocks are AI leaders and each of them is an institutional stock. Yet, I believe the retail investor will come into the market and when they do, it is stocks like PMED for which they have always had an appetite. C. I think investors will get more bang for their buck by investing in a small company like Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) with a total commitment to AI. From a base market cap of $16.6 million and, as I have pointed out in recent reports, many different business verticals to get them higher, I see PMED as a unique opportunity for aggressive growth investors. It is hard to imagine any decade having more of an impact on the ensuring socio-economic decades than the 1990s. Imagine your activities today without your cellphone, Internet, email and texting. I expect the cycle driven by AI to be a long one, similar to the dot-com cycle that lasted longer than the decade of the 1990s. To the right is a chart published by Luke Lango’s Hypergrowth Investing. It shows the stock market in the 1990s and overlays current results. The parallels Lango sees include: • Federal Reserve’s tight money policy slowed economic growth in 1990 as it is doing currently. • In 1990, the markets were down around 20% and in 2022 stocks dropped around 25%. • In late 1990, the Fed started reducing interest rates and the markets rebounded. • In late 2022, the Fed has turned less hawkish and into 2023 has slowed the pace of interest rate increases. The markets have been recovering. • In the early 1990’s, the dot-com stock market rally began and the market would advance generally higher for the rest of the decade and into the new millennium. • Today, it is Artificial Intelligence that is pushing stocks higher and given my expectations for AI, it could stock prices higher until at least 2030. Conclusion: I believe Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) is exceptionally well positioned to participate in the upcoming boom in Artificial Intelligence. There are many different ways to describe market cycles that evolve around such drivers. Here is mine:
|
2023.06.01 21:16 Temporary_Noise_4014 Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) Special Report
 | Predictmedix – a great way to surf the Artificial Intelligence wave. submitted by Temporary_Noise_4014 to CanadianStockExchange [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/madn1nknhg3b1.png?width=741&format=png&auto=webp&s=afdc89b341aef03eb0099910359090687d69568d There is a saying attributed to Mark Twain that goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but if often rhymes.” This means circumstances might be different but similar events often recur. This is good because securities regulators demand that you make it clear that in the financial markets, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” However, investment analysts continue to use rhymes and here’s one that could help you see sizeable investment returns from Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF). This is how the rhyme comes together: A. The 1990s technology boom: The parallel I see is between the current Artificial Intelligence cycle and the dot-com stock market cycle of ≈1990 to ≈ 2002. As background, the 1990s either developed or laid the groundwork for changes that completely transformed the world we live in. Out of that time came many new technologies and related developments and each was highly disruptive. Here is a very brief list of some of those developments: (1) Nokia was the first mass-produced cellphone offered in 1992 with the ability to send and receive phone calls as well as store data (e.g. phone numbers). (2) The World Wide Web, a.k.a. the Web browser was proposed in 1990 and debuted in 1991. This was the start of the Internet, Websites, e-mails and a massive amount of information that would become available to everyone. (3) With the explosion of data available, finding it became a challenge. Mosaic started as the first search engine in 1993 followed by Yahoo in 1994 and Google in 1998. Today, Google has risen to the top and become synonymous with an Internet search. Google it. (4) Other important developments of that time included the growth in the capacity of microprocessors, Photoshop, texting, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, realistic videogames for a more adult market, collecting and using DNA, the start of e-tailing and more. (5) Finally, we have the stock market. Cisco, Dell, Intel and Microsoft are sometimes referred to as the four horsemen of the 1990s tech boom. But we can’t ignore Apple and Google and there were many more that benefited. The smaller, new, Initial Public Offering companies came to the fore with incredibly high returns in the second half of the 1990s. The chart to the right shows how stock markets performed during the 1990’s high-tech boom. A few things are worth noting: (1) The Dot.Com stock market cycle lasted a long t time. Essentially, more than the decade of the 1990s. It’s length reflected the importance of the fundamental changes taking place. (2) There was an important development regarding the stock market that has become part of the stock market legend. On December 5, 1996, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in a televised speech used the term “irrational exuberance” to describe a stock market that he thought was highly speculative and overvalued. His comment was intended as a warning from the Fed that the stock market, driven by the high-tech developments described above, was overvalued. His timing was five years early which is a lifetime in the stock market. (3) The five years after Greenspan’s “irrational exuberance” statement was the most profitable for investors of the entire ten years plus of the stock market cycle. As you sit reading this brief, imagine your life without a cell phone, the Internet, e-mail and text messages. How different would your life be without just these four products that emerged from the 1990s. A more relevant question might be how different would your life be if you had purchased shares in Apple or Cisco or Dell or Google or Microsoft back then? B. The Artificial Intelligence Boom (AI): The term Artificial Intelligence was created in 1955. The idea was to have a machine that could take data, and find patterns that would enable it to make predictions and reach conclusions (make decisions). The Oxford Dictionary defines AI as “The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” It was Moore’s Law in 1975 that stated the capacity of semiconductors would continue to double every two years which enabled computers to be able to put into practice the AI Boom that is taking place today. Current forecasts say the AI industry will grow to $900 billion by 2026 and $15.7 trillion by 2030. AI growth in the 1920s could dwarf anything high-tech was able to accomplish in the 1990s. (1) There is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom going on and many people don’t yet realize it is even happening. AI is used in: i. Self-driving and parking cars. AI is used by Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota and Volvo. ii. Maps and navigation. Enter where you are and where you want to go by car and Google Maps, for example, will give you a choice of routes, the time optimal route taking into account construction and traffic. iii. Facial detection or recognition. Facial detection identifies a human face or facial recognition that identifies a specific face that can be used for surveillance and security. iv. Digital assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. When combined with search and recommendation AI, Alexa or Siri is able to learn your preferences and recommend things you are interested in. v. Customer service chatbots that answer frequently asked questions, track orders or direct calls. Often people will be unaware they are dealing with a machine. vi. Vehicle recognition use computer vision and deep learning to find a specific car on a surveillance video. vii. Robot vacuums can scan a living area, look for and remember objects in the way, remember the best route for cleaning the area and decide how many times it should repeat cleaning a specific area. It is estimated that by 2030, between 400 and 800 million jobs will be displaced by Artificial Intelligence and 375 million people will have to change to a totally different type of work. It is also forecast that it is not just lower-paying, blue-collar jobs that will be replaced by AI. Jobs such as accountants, lawyers, doctors, investment advisors and portfolio managers might all be substantially eliminated. AI will impact all industries and the rate of change will be exponential, that is, the rate of change will accelerate. For example, what does a doctor do? In general, a doctor gathers new information, refers to a patient’s medical history, refers to a medical book or today’s Internet, makes a diagnosis and provides s treatment. This is also what a lawyer does. AI might reach the point where it can do it faster and better than a human.. AI does present threats to human existence. As AI is changing exponentially, it will happen faster than the technology boom of the 1990s. It took technology 20 years to produce the changes we discussed above. AI could produce equivalent changes in 10 or 15 years. For example, ChatGPT, an AI product went from zero to 100 million users within months making it the fastest-growing consumer software product in history. There will be others. (2) The AI shift could drive economic change and a stock market cycle at least as significant as the last “dot.com” cycle. The “go-to” companies today for participation in AI are the likes of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Meta (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). These are very large companies. GOOGL has a market cap of $1.6 trillion, AMZN has a market cap of $1.2 trillion, META has a market cap of $$648 billion, MSFT has a market cap of $2.4 trillion, NCDA has a market cap of $963 billion and ORCL has a market cap of $282 billion. (3) While these are excellent businesses, they are also amongst the world’s largest companies. In 2022, GOOGL, META and MSFT purchased 2 out of every 3 AI chips. In my opinion, it is almost unthinkable that GOOGL can be a ten-bagger from a base market cap of $1.6 trillion or AMZN from $1.2 trillion. But it is clear these stocks now have a major component of their value derived from involvement in Artificial Intelligence and it is not surprising that early adopters would choose a lower risk/lower return approach to gain exposure to an emerging Artificial Intelligence industry. (4) The changes created by AI also carry some risks. The speed of change will be challenging to human beings. There are forecasts that say one in four workers globally will see their jobs disappear and one in eight workers will have to be retrained in a totally unrelated field. During the industrial revolution and the tech boom, there was always the promise of more and better jobs. With AI we may have reached the point where machines actually do replace workers. (5) Cathie Wood is a well-known and widely followed money manager with a reputation for expertise in the Artificial Intelligence sector. Wood manages a range of portfolios including the ARK Innovation Exchange Traded Fund (ARKK) and since its founding in 2014, Bloomberg estimates NDVA has contributed 13% of the fund’s 112% total return only behind Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Invitae Corp and Tesla. That is all positive but Wood sold the ARKK holding in NVDA in January 2023 just before it rallied strongly adding some $560 billion to its market cap with $200 billion coming on one day after reporting earnings. Wood’s investors have basically missed the huge rally in the stock and the sector in 2023. (6) But there is another phase I would look for and that is the participation of smaller, retail investors. Whether it was in the tech cycle I discussed above, the “meme” stocks or commodity exploration and development cycles in the past, the retail investor buys in before the bull market ends. Market pundits such as Citi global asset allocation and Vanda Research make the same observation: where is the retail investor? We know the institutional investors have been getting in. So far in 2023 according to Bloomberg, the top 4% of stocks in the S&P 500 have contributed 94% of the index return and 8 of the top 20 include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Class A, NVIDIA, Alphabet Class C, Tesla and Meta. In other words, the top 2% of the stocks in the S&P 500 contributed 94% of the return. Through mid-May, if the AI stocks are omitted, the S&P Index would be down -1.4% instead of up +8.3%. All of these stocks are AI leaders and each of them is an institutional stock. Yet, I believe the retail investor will come into the market and when they do, it is stocks like PMED for which they have always had an appetite. C. I think investors will get more bang for their buck by investing in a small company like Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) with a total commitment to AI. From a base market cap of $16.6 million and, as I have pointed out in recent reports, many different business verticals to get them higher, I see PMED as a unique opportunity for aggressive growth investors. It is hard to imagine any decade having more of an impact on the ensuring socio-economic decades than the 1990s. Imagine your activities today without your cellphone, Internet, email and texting. I expect the cycle driven by AI to be a long one, similar to the dot-com cycle that lasted longer than the decade of the 1990s. To the right is a chart published by Luke Lango’s Hypergrowth Investing. It shows the stock market in the 1990s and overlays current results. The parallels Lango sees include: • Federal Reserve’s tight money policy slowed economic growth in 1990 as it is doing currently. • In 1990, the markets were down around 20% and in 2022 stocks dropped around 25%. • In late 1990, the Fed started reducing interest rates and the markets rebounded. • In late 2022, the Fed has turned less hawkish and into 2023 has slowed the pace of interest rate increases. The markets have been recovering. • In the early 1990’s, the dot-com stock market rally began and the market would advance generally higher for the rest of the decade and into the new millennium. • Today, it is Artificial Intelligence that is pushing stocks higher and given my expectations for AI, it could stock prices higher until at least 2030. Conclusion: I believe Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) is exceptionally well positioned to participate in the upcoming boom in Artificial Intelligence. There are many different ways to describe market cycles that evolve around such drivers. Here is mine:
|
2023.06.01 21:14 Temporary_Noise_4014 Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) Special Report
 | Predictmedix – a great way to surf the Artificial Intelligence wave. submitted by Temporary_Noise_4014 to 10xPennyStocks [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/1euasjh6hg3b1.png?width=741&format=png&auto=webp&s=bca3509be737c63b59eab69398f5a735d746c185 There is a saying attributed to Mark Twain that goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but if often rhymes.” This means circumstances might be different but similar events often recur. This is good because securities regulators demand that you make it clear that in the financial markets, “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” However, investment analysts continue to use rhymes and here’s one that could help you see sizeable investment returns from Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF). This is how the rhyme comes together: A. The 1990s technology boom: The parallel I see is between the current Artificial Intelligence cycle and the dot-com stock market cycle of ≈1990 to ≈ 2002. As background, the 1990s either developed or laid the groundwork for changes that completely transformed the world we live in. Out of that time came many new technologies and related developments and each was highly disruptive. Here is a very brief list of some of those developments: (1) Nokia was the first mass-produced cellphone offered in 1992 with the ability to send and receive phone calls as well as store data (e.g. phone numbers). (2) The World Wide Web, a.k.a. the Web browser was proposed in 1990 and debuted in 1991. This was the start of the Internet, Websites, e-mails and a massive amount of information that would become available to everyone. (3) With the explosion of data available, finding it became a challenge. Mosaic started as the first search engine in 1993 followed by Yahoo in 1994 and Google in 1998. Today, Google has risen to the top and become synonymous with an Internet search. Google it. (4) Other important developments of that time included the growth in the capacity of microprocessors, Photoshop, texting, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, realistic videogames for a more adult market, collecting and using DNA, the start of e-tailing and more. (5) Finally, we have the stock market. Cisco, Dell, Intel and Microsoft are sometimes referred to as the four horsemen of the 1990s tech boom. But we can’t ignore Apple and Google and there were many more that benefited. The smaller, new, Initial Public Offering companies came to the fore with incredibly high returns in the second half of the 1990s. The chart to the right shows how stock markets performed during the 1990’s high-tech boom. A few things are worth noting: (1) The Dot.Com stock market cycle lasted a long t time. Essentially, more than the decade of the 1990s. It’s length reflected the importance of the fundamental changes taking place. (2) There was an important development regarding the stock market that has become part of the stock market legend. On December 5, 1996, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in a televised speech used the term “irrational exuberance” to describe a stock market that he thought was highly speculative and overvalued. His comment was intended as a warning from the Fed that the stock market, driven by the high-tech developments described above, was overvalued. His timing was five years early which is a lifetime in the stock market. (3) The five years after Greenspan’s “irrational exuberance” statement was the most profitable for investors of the entire ten years plus of the stock market cycle. As you sit reading this brief, imagine your life without a cell phone, the Internet, e-mail and text messages. How different would your life be without just these four products that emerged from the 1990s. A more relevant question might be how different would your life be if you had purchased shares in Apple or Cisco or Dell or Google or Microsoft back then? B. The Artificial Intelligence Boom (AI): The term Artificial Intelligence was created in 1955. The idea was to have a machine that could take data, and find patterns that would enable it to make predictions and reach conclusions (make decisions). The Oxford Dictionary defines AI as “The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” It was Moore’s Law in 1975 that stated the capacity of semiconductors would continue to double every two years which enabled computers to be able to put into practice the AI Boom that is taking place today. Current forecasts say the AI industry will grow to $900 billion by 2026 and $15.7 trillion by 2030. AI growth in the 1920s could dwarf anything high-tech was able to accomplish in the 1990s. (1) There is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom going on and many people don’t yet realize it is even happening. AI is used in: i. Self-driving and parking cars. AI is used by Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota and Volvo. ii. Maps and navigation. Enter where you are and where you want to go by car and Google Maps, for example, will give you a choice of routes, the time optimal route taking into account construction and traffic. iii. Facial detection or recognition. Facial detection identifies a human face or facial recognition that identifies a specific face that can be used for surveillance and security. iv. Digital assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Microsoft’s Cortana. When combined with search and recommendation AI, Alexa or Siri is able to learn your preferences and recommend things you are interested in. v. Customer service chatbots that answer frequently asked questions, track orders or direct calls. Often people will be unaware they are dealing with a machine. vi. Vehicle recognition use computer vision and deep learning to find a specific car on a surveillance video. vii. Robot vacuums can scan a living area, look for and remember objects in the way, remember the best route for cleaning the area and decide how many times it should repeat cleaning a specific area. It is estimated that by 2030, between 400 and 800 million jobs will be displaced by Artificial Intelligence and 375 million people will have to change to a totally different type of work. It is also forecast that it is not just lower-paying, blue-collar jobs that will be replaced by AI. Jobs such as accountants, lawyers, doctors, investment advisors and portfolio managers might all be substantially eliminated. AI will impact all industries and the rate of change will be exponential, that is, the rate of change will accelerate. For example, what does a doctor do? In general, a doctor gathers new information, refers to a patient’s medical history, refers to a medical book or today’s Internet, makes a diagnosis and provides s treatment. This is also what a lawyer does. AI might reach the point where it can do it faster and better than a human.. AI does present threats to human existence. As AI is changing exponentially, it will happen faster than the technology boom of the 1990s. It took technology 20 years to produce the changes we discussed above. AI could produce equivalent changes in 10 or 15 years. For example, ChatGPT, an AI product went from zero to 100 million users within months making it the fastest-growing consumer software product in history. There will be others. (2) The AI shift could drive economic change and a stock market cycle at least as significant as the last “dot.com” cycle. The “go-to” companies today for participation in AI are the likes of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Meta (NASDAQ: META), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). These are very large companies. GOOGL has a market cap of $1.6 trillion, AMZN has a market cap of $1.2 trillion, META has a market cap of $$648 billion, MSFT has a market cap of $2.4 trillion, NCDA has a market cap of $963 billion and ORCL has a market cap of $282 billion. (3) While these are excellent businesses, they are also amongst the world’s largest companies. In 2022, GOOGL, META and MSFT purchased 2 out of every 3 AI chips. In my opinion, it is almost unthinkable that GOOGL can be a ten-bagger from a base market cap of $1.6 trillion or AMZN from $1.2 trillion. But it is clear these stocks now have a major component of their value derived from involvement in Artificial Intelligence and it is not surprising that early adopters would choose a lower risk/lower return approach to gain exposure to an emerging Artificial Intelligence industry. (4) The changes created by AI also carry some risks. The speed of change will be challenging to human beings. There are forecasts that say one in four workers globally will see their jobs disappear and one in eight workers will have to be retrained in a totally unrelated field. During the industrial revolution and the tech boom, there was always the promise of more and better jobs. With AI we may have reached the point where machines actually do replace workers. (5) Cathie Wood is a well-known and widely followed money manager with a reputation for expertise in the Artificial Intelligence sector. Wood manages a range of portfolios including the ARK Innovation Exchange Traded Fund (ARKK) and since its founding in 2014, Bloomberg estimates NDVA has contributed 13% of the fund’s 112% total return only behind Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, Invitae Corp and Tesla. That is all positive but Wood sold the ARKK holding in NVDA in January 2023 just before it rallied strongly adding some $560 billion to its market cap with $200 billion coming on one day after reporting earnings. Wood’s investors have basically missed the huge rally in the stock and the sector in 2023. (6) But there is another phase I would look for and that is the participation of smaller, retail investors. Whether it was in the tech cycle I discussed above, the “meme” stocks or commodity exploration and development cycles in the past, the retail investor buys in before the bull market ends. Market pundits such as Citi global asset allocation and Vanda Research make the same observation: where is the retail investor? We know the institutional investors have been getting in. So far in 2023 according to Bloomberg, the top 4% of stocks in the S&P 500 have contributed 94% of the index return and 8 of the top 20 include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet Class A, NVIDIA, Alphabet Class C, Tesla and Meta. In other words, the top 2% of the stocks in the S&P 500 contributed 94% of the return. Through mid-May, if the AI stocks are omitted, the S&P Index would be down -1.4% instead of up +8.3%. All of these stocks are AI leaders and each of them is an institutional stock. Yet, I believe the retail investor will come into the market and when they do, it is stocks like PMED for which they have always had an appetite. C. I think investors will get more bang for their buck by investing in a small company like Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) with a total commitment to AI. From a base market cap of $16.6 million and, as I have pointed out in recent reports, many different business verticals to get them higher, I see PMED as a unique opportunity for aggressive growth investors. It is hard to imagine any decade having more of an impact on the ensuring socio-economic decades than the 1990s. Imagine your activities today without your cellphone, Internet, email and texting. I expect the cycle driven by AI to be a long one, similar to the dot-com cycle that lasted longer than the decade of the 1990s. To the right is a chart published by Luke Lango’s Hypergrowth Investing. It shows the stock market in the 1990s and overlays current results. The parallels Lango sees include: • Federal Reserve’s tight money policy slowed economic growth in 1990 as it is doing currently. • In 1990, the markets were down around 20% and in 2022 stocks dropped around 25%. • In late 1990, the Fed started reducing interest rates and the markets rebounded. • In late 2022, the Fed has turned less hawkish and into 2023 has slowed the pace of interest rate increases. The markets have been recovering. • In the early 1990’s, the dot-com stock market rally began and the market would advance generally higher for the rest of the decade and into the new millennium. • Today, it is Artificial Intelligence that is pushing stocks higher and given my expectations for AI, it could stock prices higher until at least 2030. Conclusion: I believe Predictmedix Inc. (CSE: PMED, OTCQB: PMEDF) is exceptionally well positioned to participate in the upcoming boom in Artificial Intelligence. There are many different ways to describe market cycles that evolve around such drivers. Here is mine:
|
2023.06.01 17:38 ArgonSong Existential Crisis surrounding newly discovered Autism prognosis
I am currently having an existential crisis around my "high-functioning" autism diagnosis, and since I have no one else to talk to about this I am turning to Reddit for my existential rant to see if anyone can relate or how they coped. Feel free to skip to the "Existential Crisis" portion at the bottom if you don't want to read the backstory. Although honestly either way it's pretty long.
Backstory:
So, about ten years ago I was diagnosed with high functioning autism. I was nineteen at the time. Like many autistic women, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety first. I only went for an autism evaluation in the first place because I was seeing a therapist at the time who was convinced I had autism. I thought that she was wrong, so in order to prove this, I went to get evaluated. This backfired marvelously as the evaluator also determined that I was autistic.
Around the time of the diagnosis, I googled high functioning autism symptoms and saw that it explained my sensory issues with sound, my social awkwardness, my love of pacing and swinging outside, my motor tic, and walking on my toes. It possibly contributed to my depression and anxiety. But I honest to god did not think it impacted my life beyond that. Nowhere in any of those articles did they mention the actual life outcomes for people with autism. In true autistic fashion I took "high functioning" literally. I assumed it meant that people with HFA could function at a high level and have a relatively normal life. No one ever explained what my diagnosis meant and I never received treatment or support for it. I just got the report in the mail and never saw the evaluator again.
So I continue going about my day and expect that I can have a normal life. I just carry around earplugs along with an unsubstantiated belief in my masking abilities.
Cue that voice in Spongebob that says "Ten Years Later..."
My life is kinda garbage. I went to college right after high school, but I dropped out two years in due to becoming extremely overwhelmed and depressed, along with developing chronic migraines. I moved back home with my parents. Since then, I have only managed to work or go to school part-time. Last year, things were really looking up. My migraines had been under control for a few years. I finally graduated college and got off of disability. And I got my first full-time job. And burned out and quit within a few months. Just like everything else I have ever done. I then got another part-time job within weeks and the same thing happened. In fact, it's happening right now, I'm quitting my part-time job that I got after the full-time job because of how much it stresses me out and triggers my sensory issues.
I felt really bad about this. In addition to feeling more depressed and burned out than I have in a while, I just felt like I was a failure. Most people are more successful than me by my age. Sure I had my struggles with depression, but I had really believed that if I just worked really really hard, I could have a normal life and a full-time job and move out and have a partner and just be a successful, normal human being. All I did was try to meet that goal and all I did was fail. I tried all the depression medications, all the therapy but all it did was get me here. Every time I try to work for any prolonged period of time, I eventually become so overwhelmed and depressed I just have constant suicidal thoughts until I can't do it anymore. I either quit my job or check in to a psych ward. Rinse. Repeat. But it's not like I can just do nothing for the rest of my life so I feel like I have to keep trying. I don't know what else to do.
Existential Crisis:
I was feeling like a failure due to getting yet another job and burning out yet again within a few months. At some point I was surfing reddit and came across this thread of how high functioning gifted autistic people cope. I ended up reading it in depth, since I'm this supposedly intellectually gifted high functioning autistic person even though I'm not coping very well at all. And all of the comments were like "I'm high functioning but even I can't hold down a full-time job."
I was shocked. And that's when I learn that "high functioning autism" doesn't actually refer to the level of daily functioning. It refers to support needs. "High functioning" autists have lower support needs than people with autism and intellectual disabilities. HFAs have autism but don't have an intellectual disability. That's all it means. https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/large-study-supports-discarding-term-high-functioning-autism/
Then I look up the life outcomes of people with "high functioning" autism and it is literally the most depressing thing I have ever read.
-80% of high functioning autistic people (HFAs) don't have a full-time job
-15% of autistic high school students graduate from college overall. Of those who do attend college, only 39% eventually graduate
-Most HFAs can't maintain (or sometimes even start) a long-term romantic relationship or marriage
-People with autism, even "high functioning" autsim, literally have the lowest employment rates of any disability. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40489-014-0041-6
-Additionally, people with autism have the worst life outcomes of any developmental disability, and one of the highest rates of suicidal ideation at 66% https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(14)70248-2/fulltext70248-2/fulltext)
The odds are against even the "highest functioning" autists from graduating college, maintaining full-time employment, or getting married. I feel incredibly stupid, but I never knew this until now. And now every sandcastle plan for my life I ever had is collapsing. I'm having an existential crisis. I'm finally facing facts and beginning to abandon my delusional lifelong optimism and realizing that maybe there are things I just can't do, and it's not about how hard I try or how 'smart' I am. Like maybe I will never be able to work full-time and I should stop pushing myself to the breaking point over and over again, like Sisyphus bound to hell. I know you might be thinking, why did you have such a delusional level of optimism after so many failures? But I guess the answer is that it's what got me through the day.
For the first time I even began to question my ability to live with a partner, because after all I would have to be around them pretty much every day and would have a lot less alone time as a result. Could I actually handle that? What if I can't handle the things I think I can handle? I thought I could handle working full time or just life in general but I was obviously wrong about that. What if I'm wrong about other things I thought I could handle too? How is my life even going to go now?
I'm trying to figure out how I might be able to live off of part-time work, or how I could get into more freelance or work-from-home stuff so I could stand to work more hours, but my parents don't believe I have a real disability and are putting a lot of pressure on me. They say they're going to start charging me rent soon. I mean, they say they believe the official diagnosis, but they also say things like "Life is hard" and "You keep quitting things when they get hard. Can't you find a way to stop being such a quitter?" They think all of my career ideas are terrible and I feel like if I don't get my life together then I'm disappointing them. I did share HFA employment statistics with them, which they didn't know about before, but it didn't seem to change anything. My dad said I was using them to "portray myself as fragile." I would rather not live with them because they're pretty toxic and controlling tbh but I don't have anywhere else to go. I'm not exactly sure what I hope to gain by ranting about this but I guess I want to know how other people dealt with the horrible prognosis autistic people have. Did you know when you got your diagnosis about these statistics? If not how did you find out? Do you let the "average" prognosis define or affect you? Did it allow you to cut yourself some slack? Did other people in your life cut you the slack you needed too?
submitted by ArgonSong to autism [link] [comments]
Backstory:
So, about ten years ago I was diagnosed with high functioning autism. I was nineteen at the time. Like many autistic women, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety first. I only went for an autism evaluation in the first place because I was seeing a therapist at the time who was convinced I had autism. I thought that she was wrong, so in order to prove this, I went to get evaluated. This backfired marvelously as the evaluator also determined that I was autistic.
Around the time of the diagnosis, I googled high functioning autism symptoms and saw that it explained my sensory issues with sound, my social awkwardness, my love of pacing and swinging outside, my motor tic, and walking on my toes. It possibly contributed to my depression and anxiety. But I honest to god did not think it impacted my life beyond that. Nowhere in any of those articles did they mention the actual life outcomes for people with autism. In true autistic fashion I took "high functioning" literally. I assumed it meant that people with HFA could function at a high level and have a relatively normal life. No one ever explained what my diagnosis meant and I never received treatment or support for it. I just got the report in the mail and never saw the evaluator again.
So I continue going about my day and expect that I can have a normal life. I just carry around earplugs along with an unsubstantiated belief in my masking abilities.
Cue that voice in Spongebob that says "Ten Years Later..."
My life is kinda garbage. I went to college right after high school, but I dropped out two years in due to becoming extremely overwhelmed and depressed, along with developing chronic migraines. I moved back home with my parents. Since then, I have only managed to work or go to school part-time. Last year, things were really looking up. My migraines had been under control for a few years. I finally graduated college and got off of disability. And I got my first full-time job. And burned out and quit within a few months. Just like everything else I have ever done. I then got another part-time job within weeks and the same thing happened. In fact, it's happening right now, I'm quitting my part-time job that I got after the full-time job because of how much it stresses me out and triggers my sensory issues.
I felt really bad about this. In addition to feeling more depressed and burned out than I have in a while, I just felt like I was a failure. Most people are more successful than me by my age. Sure I had my struggles with depression, but I had really believed that if I just worked really really hard, I could have a normal life and a full-time job and move out and have a partner and just be a successful, normal human being. All I did was try to meet that goal and all I did was fail. I tried all the depression medications, all the therapy but all it did was get me here. Every time I try to work for any prolonged period of time, I eventually become so overwhelmed and depressed I just have constant suicidal thoughts until I can't do it anymore. I either quit my job or check in to a psych ward. Rinse. Repeat. But it's not like I can just do nothing for the rest of my life so I feel like I have to keep trying. I don't know what else to do.
Existential Crisis:
I was feeling like a failure due to getting yet another job and burning out yet again within a few months. At some point I was surfing reddit and came across this thread of how high functioning gifted autistic people cope. I ended up reading it in depth, since I'm this supposedly intellectually gifted high functioning autistic person even though I'm not coping very well at all. And all of the comments were like "I'm high functioning but even I can't hold down a full-time job."
I was shocked. And that's when I learn that "high functioning autism" doesn't actually refer to the level of daily functioning. It refers to support needs. "High functioning" autists have lower support needs than people with autism and intellectual disabilities. HFAs have autism but don't have an intellectual disability. That's all it means. https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/large-study-supports-discarding-term-high-functioning-autism/
Then I look up the life outcomes of people with "high functioning" autism and it is literally the most depressing thing I have ever read.
-80% of high functioning autistic people (HFAs) don't have a full-time job
-15% of autistic high school students graduate from college overall. Of those who do attend college, only 39% eventually graduate
-Most HFAs can't maintain (or sometimes even start) a long-term romantic relationship or marriage
-People with autism, even "high functioning" autsim, literally have the lowest employment rates of any disability. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40489-014-0041-6
-Additionally, people with autism have the worst life outcomes of any developmental disability, and one of the highest rates of suicidal ideation at 66% https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(14)70248-2/fulltext70248-2/fulltext)
The odds are against even the "highest functioning" autists from graduating college, maintaining full-time employment, or getting married. I feel incredibly stupid, but I never knew this until now. And now every sandcastle plan for my life I ever had is collapsing. I'm having an existential crisis. I'm finally facing facts and beginning to abandon my delusional lifelong optimism and realizing that maybe there are things I just can't do, and it's not about how hard I try or how 'smart' I am. Like maybe I will never be able to work full-time and I should stop pushing myself to the breaking point over and over again, like Sisyphus bound to hell. I know you might be thinking, why did you have such a delusional level of optimism after so many failures? But I guess the answer is that it's what got me through the day.
For the first time I even began to question my ability to live with a partner, because after all I would have to be around them pretty much every day and would have a lot less alone time as a result. Could I actually handle that? What if I can't handle the things I think I can handle? I thought I could handle working full time or just life in general but I was obviously wrong about that. What if I'm wrong about other things I thought I could handle too? How is my life even going to go now?
I'm trying to figure out how I might be able to live off of part-time work, or how I could get into more freelance or work-from-home stuff so I could stand to work more hours, but my parents don't believe I have a real disability and are putting a lot of pressure on me. They say they're going to start charging me rent soon. I mean, they say they believe the official diagnosis, but they also say things like "Life is hard" and "You keep quitting things when they get hard. Can't you find a way to stop being such a quitter?" They think all of my career ideas are terrible and I feel like if I don't get my life together then I'm disappointing them. I did share HFA employment statistics with them, which they didn't know about before, but it didn't seem to change anything. My dad said I was using them to "portray myself as fragile." I would rather not live with them because they're pretty toxic and controlling tbh but I don't have anywhere else to go. I'm not exactly sure what I hope to gain by ranting about this but I guess I want to know how other people dealt with the horrible prognosis autistic people have. Did you know when you got your diagnosis about these statistics? If not how did you find out? Do you let the "average" prognosis define or affect you? Did it allow you to cut yourself some slack? Did other people in your life cut you the slack you needed too?
2023.06.01 16:05 1ViewTask_VK How to Maximize Your Earnings on 1ViewTask: Tips for Freelancers
 | submitted by 1ViewTask_VK to 1ViewTask [link] [comments] Freelancers are renowned for working on various projects at a single time and businesses often look for freelancers to outsource some kind of work. You can find freelancers in any field, but from a freelancer’s point of view, managing work is not easy. Handling multiple clients/vendors and delivering work on time is often a challenge for them. Often freelancers feel like they are exhausted and lose track of their time but what if I tell you that there is a solution for you now and there are some tips for freelancers by which they can improve their productivity and earnings? Yes, there is a solution and tips for freelancers and that is opting for a task management tool like 1ViewTask. An artificial intelligence-enabled software that has been created especially for managerial purposes. There are multiple features offered by 1ViewTask and you can easily maximize your earnings by using them. By the end of this blog, you will get to know the answer to how earnings can be maximized. Some Handful Tips for Freelancers
For more information, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Quora. Source: How to Maximize Your Earnings on 1ViewTask: Tips for Freelancers |
2023.06.01 15:41 BreadfruitSea2876 Facebook overrun with AI pictures and profiles
Hi all. This is my first post here under this profile, but not my first altogether - I took a long break from Reddit, but now I'm back, as the self-help groups are so useful. I have a lovely ideal of myself living the "no surf" life, but sadly, thanks to my physical and mental ill health, it has proved not to be. I am trying to deal with my various process addictions, though!
Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only person to have noticed a huge surge on Facebook of AI/fake profiles, and "paintings". I belong to several art groups on FB and they are positively infested with AI generated pictures. No-one is impressed by this, by the way, and many people complain! Also, many of my groups are full of what seem to be AI profiles - they have weird, long names and have thousands of "points", but are new to the group. If this carries on, FB will become unusable as we won't know who or what we're dealing with. I don't mind interacting with real people online, but I draw the line at interacting with probable bots. It frankly messes with my head, as I have enough trouble holding onto reality as it is as times! I suffer with mental health difficulties and my brain lies to me enough as it is! According to reports, FB is fully embracing AI so this problem (and to me, it is a problem) is only going to get worse.
But then again, maybe I'm wrong? Is it just me being paranoid? I don't really trust my own judgement, to be honest. What do people think? If it's true, and I'm not imagining it, then FB is not really a safe place for me. I feel, to be honest, as if we're being psychologically manipulated but I don't know how to say that without sounding ridiculously paranoid!
I'd be really interested in other people's thoughts on this matter.
submitted by BreadfruitSea2876 to nosurf [link] [comments]
Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only person to have noticed a huge surge on Facebook of AI/fake profiles, and "paintings". I belong to several art groups on FB and they are positively infested with AI generated pictures. No-one is impressed by this, by the way, and many people complain! Also, many of my groups are full of what seem to be AI profiles - they have weird, long names and have thousands of "points", but are new to the group. If this carries on, FB will become unusable as we won't know who or what we're dealing with. I don't mind interacting with real people online, but I draw the line at interacting with probable bots. It frankly messes with my head, as I have enough trouble holding onto reality as it is as times! I suffer with mental health difficulties and my brain lies to me enough as it is! According to reports, FB is fully embracing AI so this problem (and to me, it is a problem) is only going to get worse.
But then again, maybe I'm wrong? Is it just me being paranoid? I don't really trust my own judgement, to be honest. What do people think? If it's true, and I'm not imagining it, then FB is not really a safe place for me. I feel, to be honest, as if we're being psychologically manipulated but I don't know how to say that without sounding ridiculously paranoid!
I'd be really interested in other people's thoughts on this matter.
2023.06.01 15:21 RNJ24 Must See/Do in Maui?
My husband, 14 year old daughter, 12 year old daughter, and myself will be in Maui in just a few weeks for the first time. We are staying in Kāʻanapali and our flight lands at 1:10 pm on our first day.
I need suggestions on beaches or other areas on Maui that we must see or do. Our only plans at the moment are the Haleakala Sunrise on our first morning and we plan to drive the Road to Hana out to Waiʻānapanapa State Park on our last full day. That gives us the evening of our arrival day, the rest of the day after Haleakala, and one more full day without any plans. Other than anything on the Road to Hana, what should we do? We love to explore and find things that are a little more “off the beaten path” of super touristy areas. That also goes for any food recommendations.
I will add that we are also going to Oahu and Kauai after Maui. We already have a luau, surf lessons, and a sunset catamaran with snorkeling planned on the other islands.
submitted by RNJ24 to VisitingHawaii [link] [comments]
I need suggestions on beaches or other areas on Maui that we must see or do. Our only plans at the moment are the Haleakala Sunrise on our first morning and we plan to drive the Road to Hana out to Waiʻānapanapa State Park on our last full day. That gives us the evening of our arrival day, the rest of the day after Haleakala, and one more full day without any plans. Other than anything on the Road to Hana, what should we do? We love to explore and find things that are a little more “off the beaten path” of super touristy areas. That also goes for any food recommendations.
I will add that we are also going to Oahu and Kauai after Maui. We already have a luau, surf lessons, and a sunset catamaran with snorkeling planned on the other islands.
2023.06.01 06:20 SPlCYGECKO How well would this Hisuian form of Haxorus do in OU?
 | submitted by SPlCYGECKO to stunfisk [link] [comments] |
2023.06.01 05:43 Dry-Parfait697 Hotel debts from Corona times and owner's playing games. Need some opinions...
I apologise for my long post. And that I write anonymously. Sorry that you need to read a bit, but I do not want to be mistaken.But my problem is related to nomadic and remote work, so I want to ask for some advice. It is related o hotel debts from Corona times. But the debts aren’t the issue. I need to explain a bit, I am sorry about that.In January 2020 I decided to move for some weeks into a hotel. I wanted to move into a new house, but it was not available, but I also did not want to stay in my old rented house, because thelandlord had cheated me with the bills. So, I found this cheap, but nice, quiet and clean hotel – so I thought. Worst mistake in my life!
January 2020... There was something, right? We remember? Right, after about 10 days in, I first read about those lung disease. Authorities were strangely nervous, especially in the country, but also thecity I lived in. Borders were closed end of January, a curfew was announced. I don’t want to recall Corona, we all have our own memories. Just to stress: We were put for 213 days under martial law. I wasn’t allowed to leave my room in this time (also, in the other 4 lockdowns). In the beginning, I was not really that much concerned. I work remotely, had quite some work and income. All my papers were valid. Only problem was food, because hotel rooms have so many kitchens, haven’t they?
In January 2021, the owner of the hotel cancelled the Internet contract. That was one year in Corona, and still 14 months to go... I couldn’t do anything. Though the lockdowns were not continuos, shops were all closed. I asked the owner. She said, she could not do anything anymore. Without Internet, however, I could not work anymore. Due to the severe disease laws, everything was shut. I don’t know why she cancelled the Internet. Anyhow, in October 2021, she made new Internet. I was lucky up tothen, because sometimes I illegally surfed on a neighbour’s wifi, but it wasn’t turned on all the time. Okay...So, lockdowns, no Internet, no work, no income.I just could not pay the hotel. She demanded 100 % every month. All the other expats who were in a similar situation, told me they got at least 30-70% discount for that time. My greedy owner: nope. Imean, in those 26 months, the hotel had done NOTHING, but billed me 100%.When in March 2022 the emergency status was abolished I had 4,800$ debts.
The first debts in my life and I am nearly 50yo.
I negotiated with her:
- I gave her 1,000$ at once;
- I pay the monthy rent again from March 2022;
- The rest I will pay back in installments.
I have done so in the past year. I had planned high installments, but due to the shit during the lockdown and the general economic situation, my income has decreased more than 80% compared topre-Covid. I pay the monthy bill, but the installments are slow, sometimes I cannot even pay back anything in a month.
Anyhow, currently I still owe her roughly 1,500$.
The debts aren’t an issue. It’s just inconvenient. My financial situation isn’t stable and it is not good. My life is on hold. I haven’t evenbeen once out for an evening coffee since 2020. I take it as a punishment for my debts.
BUT
Now we come to the issue:I mentioned that my work load decreased. And the hotel isn’t innocent in that. Because from the beginning, March 2022, my owner started playing games. I cannot list all things, just some of her„services“:
- My room has not been cleaned ONCE since Imoved in (we remember: 12.01.2020. That is nearly four years!). Accordingly,the room is quite a mess. I am a hygienic person, but I mean, this is a hotel.I had not moved in with cleaning stuff. And now I am not really interested tobuy mobs and cleaning stuff, because I pay that in my monthly fees. But theroom is really a mess, it stinks, it moulds, it sticks.
- The owner has dozens of cats. She sends themup to my floor. The hotel is locked over night, so the cats piss and shit at mydoor. I have several videos, where the piss is literally flowing into my roomunder the door. Given that nothing is cleaned that is totally unacceptable. She sends the cats intentionally to my floor. I know that...
- The hotel locks doors and gates over night,10pm to 6am officially. But in the mornings it is not opened before 9am. I wakeup/cannot sleep often around 4am. I wanted to leave at 6am, but I was refused.„You can go out later“, my owner told me. I was near calling police. Havingdebts is one thing, imprisoned another. Currently, I have a pact with thecleaner (who does not clean, but she is at least a bit of friendly): Shearrives at 6am and lets me out. Coming in is nother chapter, though...
- A lot of fun has my owner with turning offthings, like electricity, Internet, water... The first times, my electricitywas gone I thought it was a power cut. Until I found out that everyone haspower, but me. I realised the truth when I had no power, and heard guestsmoving into the next room: power came back within 30 seconds... Water is thesame. I check the water every morning. It literally turns off 5.40 am, the timeI usually take a shower.
- Regarding water: I am not allowed to have a25 litre bottle of drinking water. Tapped water is dirty, it contains bugs andmoskitoe larvae and other things. To be truthful: she did not forbid me to getthat huge bottle. She just forbids me to bring it into my room. I can store itin the floor (which is public). I am not paying for water and all others getit. So I drink the tap water after boiling it. However, when the water isturned off I also cannot drink anything.
- Noise: Terrorising someone is best withnoise. That’s why „guests“ move into the neighbouring room and have a pan-partyat 2am. It is fun to throw pans at the wall, trumble and kick at it, turn theTV to maximum. But not all...Her husband needs to drill holes at 4am in themorning. It is just by accident that it is the wall where my head is placed on a pillow... The noise level is generally high. One reason I cannot work somuch. I just cannot do anything with interpretation, voice over, teaching,transcription...
- 12 weeks in the beginn of 2023 she had high pressure drilling 7am to 6pm. 120 dezibel in my room and higher. Do I need to say that asking her for a discount was useless? By the way, the drilling was 7days a week, 12 weeks. My personality shifted already. I was sitting in a cafe,holding a glass, shaking like a drug addict on cold turkey. I have about 500videos of this with high quality sound...
- After that drilling, I had whistling. In midof April started a strange whistling sound. Like an alarm. It went for about 3weeks. Day and night. I came and went randomly. Ironically, it was so loud thatguests moved out. So the owner decided to do something (not because Icomplained). I have about 100 videos. The sound was produced by a brokentap...It was loudest in my room.
- Now, let’s turn again to the fact that I pay100 % of the monthly rent now. BUT: the air conditioner broke in April 2020;the TV had never even functioned (I reported it, but I remember saying to afriend: Doesn’t matter, I am just three weeks here. I don’t watch TVanyway...LOL); the ceiling fan is broken. The room has no window. Some weeksago it was 38°C with 80% humidity. I can see the mould growing on the wall...Most of that stuff broke BEFORE I had debts. But she refuses to repair it. ButI still pay for that. She even bills me now a higher electricity, though Idon’t even have an aircon.
- Turning off the electricity, by the way: I had 3 laptops. One I work with, 2 as a failsafe. 2 are already broken – becauseof electricity issues. These endless on and off is damaging every battery andevery electric system. If she does this more my only left laptop will also bedamaged. Last Friday, she turned it off 5 times in a row. The battery wasfinally 2% and my laptop just shut down because of no power. I lost severalfiles I was working on, but since then, some programmes also do not functionproperly. I know that she turned the power off, because I heard her laughingeverytime it went...
- But the shittiest thing is: turning off the Internet. I just had a big fight last Saturday: I had told the owner, I have anextremely important zoom meeting at 8.30am. Now, guess, whose Internet wasturned off at 8.20am? There aren’t any Internet cafes anymore here around.
Andalthough there are so many jobs around, my personal finances drain and drain. Iliterally do not earn anything anymore because of this shit. Not to mention mypersonal health. I lost 30kg due to this shit! I look worse than my grandfatherbefore he died. The mental stress not to mention. Customers already complainabout my spelling and grammer mistakes. I regulary miss deadlines... What mademe furious: I asked her about the Internet and she switched a light switchon/off, grinned at me and said, that the problem seems to be solved. Does she thinkI am retarded? That I am stupid, I know....
So. The issue is. I am paying 100 % for a room in which literally nothing is functioning. I just cannot understand why someone tries to boycot me in this way. I try everything to get HER money and she isboycotting me. I do not demand any „service“. I do not even care if they clean that room. But how can someone with a braincell in the head turn off the Internet for someone who is working online? And I know that she does it. The Internet is okay in all other floors (wifi is password locked; I don’t have thepw of those floors; she refused to give them to me).
The worst is that these debts aren't even my doing. I could not pay because of those lockdowns. Sometimes I got to an ATM, but most were not functioning. Banks were closed. I do not have a credit card. I cannot even overdraught my account. I had no cash at that time. The amount of4,8k is ridiculous. Other have millions of $ debts. I paid 2/3 already back. And then those silly games?
Now, my question is: What would you advice. I do not want to fight with her all the time.
Keep in mind that I have ALL my POSSESSIONS in here. As a nomadic worker I do not have much with me, but still, it’s about 3-4 huge bags of books, of stuff, personal papers. I cannot move out with getting my rucksack and gone I am...I cannot move out, because I cannot pay that; I cannot stay, because she is billing me stuff I do not consume and I literally pay for nothing. My issue is NOT paying back the money. It is the games theowner plays. I already thought of going to the police. But for what? There seems not be a institution here to mediate. My embassy told me that this is my problem and have to solve it...
Thanks for reading and commenting! I am sorry for the weird orthography, but Reddit changed my format several times. I don't know why...
submitted by Dry-Parfait697 to helpme [link] [comments]
January 2020... There was something, right? We remember? Right, after about 10 days in, I first read about those lung disease. Authorities were strangely nervous, especially in the country, but also thecity I lived in. Borders were closed end of January, a curfew was announced. I don’t want to recall Corona, we all have our own memories. Just to stress: We were put for 213 days under martial law. I wasn’t allowed to leave my room in this time (also, in the other 4 lockdowns). In the beginning, I was not really that much concerned. I work remotely, had quite some work and income. All my papers were valid. Only problem was food, because hotel rooms have so many kitchens, haven’t they?
In January 2021, the owner of the hotel cancelled the Internet contract. That was one year in Corona, and still 14 months to go... I couldn’t do anything. Though the lockdowns were not continuos, shops were all closed. I asked the owner. She said, she could not do anything anymore. Without Internet, however, I could not work anymore. Due to the severe disease laws, everything was shut. I don’t know why she cancelled the Internet. Anyhow, in October 2021, she made new Internet. I was lucky up tothen, because sometimes I illegally surfed on a neighbour’s wifi, but it wasn’t turned on all the time. Okay...So, lockdowns, no Internet, no work, no income.I just could not pay the hotel. She demanded 100 % every month. All the other expats who were in a similar situation, told me they got at least 30-70% discount for that time. My greedy owner: nope. Imean, in those 26 months, the hotel had done NOTHING, but billed me 100%.When in March 2022 the emergency status was abolished I had 4,800$ debts.
The first debts in my life and I am nearly 50yo.
I negotiated with her:
- I gave her 1,000$ at once;
- I pay the monthy rent again from March 2022;
- The rest I will pay back in installments.
I have done so in the past year. I had planned high installments, but due to the shit during the lockdown and the general economic situation, my income has decreased more than 80% compared topre-Covid. I pay the monthy bill, but the installments are slow, sometimes I cannot even pay back anything in a month.
Anyhow, currently I still owe her roughly 1,500$.
The debts aren’t an issue. It’s just inconvenient. My financial situation isn’t stable and it is not good. My life is on hold. I haven’t evenbeen once out for an evening coffee since 2020. I take it as a punishment for my debts.
BUT
Now we come to the issue:I mentioned that my work load decreased. And the hotel isn’t innocent in that. Because from the beginning, March 2022, my owner started playing games. I cannot list all things, just some of her„services“:
- My room has not been cleaned ONCE since Imoved in (we remember: 12.01.2020. That is nearly four years!). Accordingly,the room is quite a mess. I am a hygienic person, but I mean, this is a hotel.I had not moved in with cleaning stuff. And now I am not really interested tobuy mobs and cleaning stuff, because I pay that in my monthly fees. But theroom is really a mess, it stinks, it moulds, it sticks.
- The owner has dozens of cats. She sends themup to my floor. The hotel is locked over night, so the cats piss and shit at mydoor. I have several videos, where the piss is literally flowing into my roomunder the door. Given that nothing is cleaned that is totally unacceptable. She sends the cats intentionally to my floor. I know that...
- The hotel locks doors and gates over night,10pm to 6am officially. But in the mornings it is not opened before 9am. I wakeup/cannot sleep often around 4am. I wanted to leave at 6am, but I was refused.„You can go out later“, my owner told me. I was near calling police. Havingdebts is one thing, imprisoned another. Currently, I have a pact with thecleaner (who does not clean, but she is at least a bit of friendly): Shearrives at 6am and lets me out. Coming in is nother chapter, though...
- A lot of fun has my owner with turning offthings, like electricity, Internet, water... The first times, my electricitywas gone I thought it was a power cut. Until I found out that everyone haspower, but me. I realised the truth when I had no power, and heard guestsmoving into the next room: power came back within 30 seconds... Water is thesame. I check the water every morning. It literally turns off 5.40 am, the timeI usually take a shower.
- Regarding water: I am not allowed to have a25 litre bottle of drinking water. Tapped water is dirty, it contains bugs andmoskitoe larvae and other things. To be truthful: she did not forbid me to getthat huge bottle. She just forbids me to bring it into my room. I can store itin the floor (which is public). I am not paying for water and all others getit. So I drink the tap water after boiling it. However, when the water isturned off I also cannot drink anything.
- Noise: Terrorising someone is best withnoise. That’s why „guests“ move into the neighbouring room and have a pan-partyat 2am. It is fun to throw pans at the wall, trumble and kick at it, turn theTV to maximum. But not all...Her husband needs to drill holes at 4am in themorning. It is just by accident that it is the wall where my head is placed on a pillow... The noise level is generally high. One reason I cannot work somuch. I just cannot do anything with interpretation, voice over, teaching,transcription...
- 12 weeks in the beginn of 2023 she had high pressure drilling 7am to 6pm. 120 dezibel in my room and higher. Do I need to say that asking her for a discount was useless? By the way, the drilling was 7days a week, 12 weeks. My personality shifted already. I was sitting in a cafe,holding a glass, shaking like a drug addict on cold turkey. I have about 500videos of this with high quality sound...
- After that drilling, I had whistling. In midof April started a strange whistling sound. Like an alarm. It went for about 3weeks. Day and night. I came and went randomly. Ironically, it was so loud thatguests moved out. So the owner decided to do something (not because Icomplained). I have about 100 videos. The sound was produced by a brokentap...It was loudest in my room.
- Now, let’s turn again to the fact that I pay100 % of the monthly rent now. BUT: the air conditioner broke in April 2020;the TV had never even functioned (I reported it, but I remember saying to afriend: Doesn’t matter, I am just three weeks here. I don’t watch TVanyway...LOL); the ceiling fan is broken. The room has no window. Some weeksago it was 38°C with 80% humidity. I can see the mould growing on the wall...Most of that stuff broke BEFORE I had debts. But she refuses to repair it. ButI still pay for that. She even bills me now a higher electricity, though Idon’t even have an aircon.
- Turning off the electricity, by the way: I had 3 laptops. One I work with, 2 as a failsafe. 2 are already broken – becauseof electricity issues. These endless on and off is damaging every battery andevery electric system. If she does this more my only left laptop will also bedamaged. Last Friday, she turned it off 5 times in a row. The battery wasfinally 2% and my laptop just shut down because of no power. I lost severalfiles I was working on, but since then, some programmes also do not functionproperly. I know that she turned the power off, because I heard her laughingeverytime it went...
- But the shittiest thing is: turning off the Internet. I just had a big fight last Saturday: I had told the owner, I have anextremely important zoom meeting at 8.30am. Now, guess, whose Internet wasturned off at 8.20am? There aren’t any Internet cafes anymore here around.
Andalthough there are so many jobs around, my personal finances drain and drain. Iliterally do not earn anything anymore because of this shit. Not to mention mypersonal health. I lost 30kg due to this shit! I look worse than my grandfatherbefore he died. The mental stress not to mention. Customers already complainabout my spelling and grammer mistakes. I regulary miss deadlines... What mademe furious: I asked her about the Internet and she switched a light switchon/off, grinned at me and said, that the problem seems to be solved. Does she thinkI am retarded? That I am stupid, I know....
So. The issue is. I am paying 100 % for a room in which literally nothing is functioning. I just cannot understand why someone tries to boycot me in this way. I try everything to get HER money and she isboycotting me. I do not demand any „service“. I do not even care if they clean that room. But how can someone with a braincell in the head turn off the Internet for someone who is working online? And I know that she does it. The Internet is okay in all other floors (wifi is password locked; I don’t have thepw of those floors; she refused to give them to me).
The worst is that these debts aren't even my doing. I could not pay because of those lockdowns. Sometimes I got to an ATM, but most were not functioning. Banks were closed. I do not have a credit card. I cannot even overdraught my account. I had no cash at that time. The amount of4,8k is ridiculous. Other have millions of $ debts. I paid 2/3 already back. And then those silly games?
Now, my question is: What would you advice. I do not want to fight with her all the time.
Keep in mind that I have ALL my POSSESSIONS in here. As a nomadic worker I do not have much with me, but still, it’s about 3-4 huge bags of books, of stuff, personal papers. I cannot move out with getting my rucksack and gone I am...I cannot move out, because I cannot pay that; I cannot stay, because she is billing me stuff I do not consume and I literally pay for nothing. My issue is NOT paying back the money. It is the games theowner plays. I already thought of going to the police. But for what? There seems not be a institution here to mediate. My embassy told me that this is my problem and have to solve it...
Thanks for reading and commenting! I am sorry for the weird orthography, but Reddit changed my format several times. I don't know why...
2023.06.01 03:34 mprogers123 Does .NET MAUI actually work with iOS??
I'm having a *lot* of probs trying to get a plain-vanilla .NET MAUI app to run, from Visual Studio Mac (VSM) on iOS (I can get Android and MacCatalyst apps to run fine, and apps created in Xcode run fine, too).
I've cleaned projects; created new ones; reinstalled VSM (although maybe I missed bits and pieces in the Library, I just deleted the apps and reinstalled the apps).
Neither Google nor ChatGPT have helped much, and I can't even post to Microsoft's Feedback page because it won't accept my credentials (yeah, I'd like to report a bug ... I can't report a bug 🙄).
On VSM 17.5.*, I'm getting this error:
Error NETSDK1005: Assets file '/Users/me/Projects/AlohaWorld3/obj/project.assets.json' doesn't have a target for 'net7.0-ios16.0'. Ensure that restore has run and that you have included 'net7.0-ios16.0' in the TargetFrameworks for your project. (NETSDK1005) (AlohaWorld3)
On VSM Preview 17.6, I'm getting this error:
xcrun: error: unable to find utility "simctl", not a developer tool or in PATH
error HE0046: Failed to install the app 'com.companyname.alohapreview' on the device 'iOS 16.4 (20E247) - iPhone 14 Pro Max': simctl returned exit code 72
Any help would be hugely appreciated.
submitted by mprogers123 to dotnetMAUI [link] [comments]
I've cleaned projects; created new ones; reinstalled VSM (although maybe I missed bits and pieces in the Library, I just deleted the apps and reinstalled the apps).
Neither Google nor ChatGPT have helped much, and I can't even post to Microsoft's Feedback page because it won't accept my credentials (yeah, I'd like to report a bug ... I can't report a bug 🙄).
On VSM 17.5.*, I'm getting this error:
Error NETSDK1005: Assets file '/Users/me/Projects/AlohaWorld3/obj/project.assets.json' doesn't have a target for 'net7.0-ios16.0'. Ensure that restore has run and that you have included 'net7.0-ios16.0' in the TargetFrameworks for your project. (NETSDK1005) (AlohaWorld3)
On VSM Preview 17.6, I'm getting this error:
xcrun: error: unable to find utility "simctl", not a developer tool or in PATH
error HE0046: Failed to install the app 'com.companyname.alohapreview' on the device 'iOS 16.4 (20E247) - iPhone 14 Pro Max': simctl returned exit code 72
Any help would be hugely appreciated.
2023.06.01 02:45 howbizsolutions Find Best SEO Company in Toronto to help your business get maximum Traffic and Profit
 | When we hear the word SEO, the first thing comes in our mind is the marketing of our website. Today we find that promoting methodology, in today’s date have changed in a sensational manner. Doing online marketing or advertising your website has turned out to be extremely normal in today’s quick time. In any case, making business fruitful is impractical unless, you have innovative ideas and techniques to do so. In such situation, find the best SEO Company in Toronto submitted by howbizsolutions to howbiz [link] [comments] to make its own stand. https://preview.redd.it/7d2hv2omza3b1.png?width=940&format=png&auto=webp&s=e0506b63e74dd27ba777ffe43ba7dbacec8ebbae SEO Agency in Torontocan clearly expand the opportunities of obtaining huge prevalence.To be frank, for immaculate web advertising, compelling systems followed by SEO experts, helps for a superior advancement. Each organization hunts down an open door that will turn into an assistance to increase worldwide advancement. The propelled innovation utilized by these organizations, makes them effective. The streamlining done by the specialists gets to be valuable for clients to get obliged data. Here are some different advantages that show how best SEO company specialists are beneficial to your business association. Inserting your website with Best Keywords: To enhance you’re showcasing style, depending on best SEO company in Toronto expert administrations, appears to be more compelling. Execution of compelling techniques helps in legitimate advertising.Promoting is only an arrangement of procedures that needs certain changes. By surfing the web, it is unrealistic for basic individuals to comprehend the progressions. SEO specialists make utilization of the essential keywords that serves to pick up a rank in the internet search result. Accordingly, it helps in fruitful promoting. https://preview.redd.it/v78zds4pza3b1.png?width=940&format=png&auto=webp&s=90363a14953fdca327119118f5cd52ef4665887a Advance Website: In the event, that you are attempting to enhance your website, then positively you have to do something inventive. To enhance the quality, general transferring of good substance shows a positive effect. Notwithstanding this, SEO specialists bundle the items in a manner that upgrades advancement. Best SEO Company in Toronto experts, add to the magic word quality and find superb methods to put it on the landing page of the site. They can surely ensure the site ideal and make a dynamic notoriety. An extensive report doesn’t simply say, what had been done, however, what outcome exited it. An even better website, streamlining organization, will let you know who had been come to, by exactly how much, and how a best SEO company in Toronto, truly gets its cash worth from the greater part of the site design improvement venture. https://preview.redd.it/xmfs73frza3b1.png?width=940&format=png&auto=webp&s=b021bcc4c3f2bf06662bd4830ebbe6910b04f117 It’s about deriving best results from the right SEO Company. These SEO Company gets you the right result, targets, and movement. Toward the end-of every last bit of it, what customers look for is typically a site design improvement that sets the bar in a sensible tallness for the clients. The right site improvement will never disappoint you, as you probably are aware for sure as to, what is occurring with the venture. Discovering the right SEO company among 100’s of wrong ones is somewhat dubious. In any case, this focuses will help you or your business to succeed inside of the long run. |