Author: Justin Cabrera

{ "de-DE": "", "en-US": "Justin Cabrera is a tech content writer with Softonic.com. Prior to joining Softonic, Justin was a overcaffeinated radio DJ and know-it-all music critic with WPGU 107.1. His two favorite things in the world are video games and music culture.", "es-ES": "", "fr-FR": "", "it-IT": "", "ja-JP": "", "nl-NL": "", "pl-PL": "", "pt-BR": "", "social": { "email": "", "facebook": "", "twitter": "", "linkedin": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-cabrera-62037a107/", "web": "https://www.clippings.me/justincabrera" } }

Beginner’s Guide to Competitive Pokémon

Ready to battle the big boys in competitive Pokémon? Start here!

So, you want to be the very best, like no one ever was?

There’s much more to being the world’s best trainer than just beating the Elite Four. In order to really find out who the best is, Game Freak and the Pokémon Company frequently host competitive Pokémon tournaments called the Video Game Championships. The rules for VGC are different than your standard Pokémon battle. The current ruleset is as follows:

Ruleset Overview

All matches are to be played as Double Battles in Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon.
All Pokémon must have the black clover icon, meaning they must be caught or hatched in Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon, or obtained from an event distribution in these games.
For all series formats, GS Cup rules apply, meaning only two restricted Pokémon can be used per team: Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-oh, Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma
Mythical Pokémon are banned. (Note: Mythical Pokémon include event-only or otherwise inaccessible Pokémon, such as Mew, Celebi, or Arceus)
The “your timer” system has been changed, with the maximum player time increased from 5 minutes to 7 minutes.

Like most competitive games, Pokémon VGC comes in seasons, ending with the prestigious Worlds tournament. 2019 is a unique season in that it is being divided into three different series, all with slightly different rules. The rules of each series are listed below:

Sun Series
September 4, 2018–January 7, 2019

Z-Crystals and Mega Stones are not permitted.
Blue Orb and Red Orb items are not permitted.
Rayquaza may not know the move Dragon Ascent.

Moon Series
January 8, 2019–April 1, 2019

Ultranecrozium Z is not permitted, but other Z-Crystals are permitted.
Mega Stones are not permitted.
Blue Orb and Red Orb items are not permitted.
Rayquaza may not know the move Dragon Ascent.

Ultra Series
April 2, 2019–Pokémon World Championships in August 2019

All moves and items obtainable through normal gameplay are permitted.

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Double or nothing

Unlike standard trainer battles in the games, in VGC all battles are double battles. Before each battle, the player can view the other player’s team in Team Preview (but not their moves or held items). Each trainer then chooses 4 out of their 6 Pokémon. It is important to pick Pokémon that synergize well with each other and hold type advantages over your opponent.

Certain moves or abilities that are useless in single battles become amazing in double battles. For example, the move Helping Hand powers up your partner’s attack, which can prove to be the difference between a hard hit and a game-winning KO. Additionally, spread moves such as Earthquake, Surf, Rock Slide, and Dazzling Gleam are incredibly important for their ability to hit both of the opponent’s Pokémon. You need to be careful when using these moves, however, as some spread moves hit your partner Pokémon as well.

Another extremely important move is Fake Out. Fake Out has priority (meaning it will always hit first) and makes your target flinch, causing them to waste a turn. While nearly useless in single battles, proper use of Fake Out is important as it can turn the momentum in your favor. Fake Out can only be used on the first turn the Pokémon using it is sent out, and it doesn’t work while Psychic Terrain is up, so be careful.

One of the most common and important moves in VGC is Protect. You can use Protect to shield your Pokémon, scout out the opponent’s moves, or soften the impact of a hard-hitting z-move. If you’re building a team and you can’t think of a fourth move to put on one of your Pokémon, you can’t go wrong with Protect.

Getting the band together

These were some of the most commonly used Pokémon in VGC last year

If you want to succeed, your Pokémon team needs to be balanced in multiple ways. First, it needs to be balanced when it comes to type matchups. Don’t follow the Gym Leader route and pick a bunch of Pokémon with the same type weakness. You want to make sure your type coverage is broad and versatile. If a Pokémon gets destroyed by an extremely common Pokémon like Incineroar or Tapu Koko, you probably shouldn’t use them.

Additionally, each Pokémon on your team should be chosen to fulfill a certain role. When choosing offensive Pokémon, you need to have both physical and special attackers to be able to cover all of the threats. Support Pokémon, like Cresselia and Amoongus, can provide invaluable help to your team. These Pokémon can often tank hits easily, spread status conditions, and disrupt your opponent’s plans with moves like Follow Me and Rage Powder.

Not knowing where to begin when putting together a team is very common. To start, pick one or two Pokémon that you really want to use and then build a team around them, based on their typing and roles.

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The angry gods have awoken!

It may be surprising to new competitive players that you can use legendary Pokémon in competitive. Certain legendaries, such as the legendary birds, the genies, and the legendary dogs, have always been allowed in competitive play, as they’re generally not considered strong enough to be imbalanced.

However, cover legendaries such as Groudon, Kyogre, and Dialga, are not always allowed in competitive play, it just so happens this year Game Freak is switching it up and allowing their use. The last time cover legendaries were allowed was back in 2016, which saw competitive play dominated by Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre.

You can only choose 2 cover legendaries to use on your team. So far, the most popular cover legendaries being used are Xerneas, Kyogre, Groudon, and Necrozma-Dusk-Mane. Xerneas’ Geomancy allows it to boost its stats to obscene levels, which will quickly allow it to destroy your team unless dealt with quickly. Kyogre’s bulk, automatic rain, and high special attack allow it to tear through unprotected teams. Groudon’s insane attack, bulk, and automatic sun allow it to cancel Kyogre’s rain and clean up opposing teams.

To be competitive, it is HIGHLY recommended to have a couple of legendaries on your team, though it’s not necessary to pick them for every battle depending on your opponent’s team.

Advice from a top player

Softonic spoke to Nate Innocenti aka NotasVGC, a top VGC player from Illinois who got 42nd at last year’s World tournament. Here is the advice he offered:

1. Don’t expect to be amazing right out the gate. It takes time to develop the fundamentals needed to be successful in the game. Different people learn at different paces. Don’t get frustrated if things don’t come to you right away. They will in time!

2. You can still use Pokémon you like, even if they are not strong in VGC. Your road becomes more difficult if you choose to use less powerful Pokémon, but finding success with them feels that much more of an accomplishment!

3. Don’t be discouraged if you have bad luck. Pokémon is a game with many RNG components, no trainer has gone a playthrough without experiencing critical hits, untimely burns, game-breaking freezes, or sleep lasting 3 turns. It’s all part of the game, so if it happens it’s best to analyze the battle to try and determine how else you could’ve gone about it. This breeds a very constructive mindset that’ll allow you to improve your skill quicker!

4. Talk to people. If ever you find yourself at a VGC event, you’re literally surrounded by people who share your passion for Pokémon. If at any point you get a chance, strike up a conversation with people. Compliment your opponent’s team while talking about your battles afterward. VGC becomes much more rewarding when you have friends within the community!

5. Never give up. As someone who went an entire season without earning a single point towards a trip to Worlds, I can tell you how frustrating it might be. Keep at it. The very next year, I found myself not only making Worlds, but placing in the top 50 after being 1 of only 25 people to move from day 1 to day 2. Anyone can play this game, so long as you’re willing to put in the work, you’ll find the success to reflect it.

Yeah yeah, I skimmed through all that. So where do I start?

You can look up “VGC 2019 teambuilding guide” on YouTube to see tips from top players on how to build your team. Once your team is planned out, you can practice using it without having to go through the trouble of breeding it in-game using Pokémon Showdown.

Pokémon Showdown is an online battle simulator that allows you to play a variety of competitive Pokémon formats, including VGC, without having to go through the tedium of building your team in-game. It is incredibly popular in the Pokémon community and should be used to practice before committing to your team.

Once you feel confident in your team and skills, you can use the Pokémon Company’s official tournament locator to find a tourney. Once you find a tournament, show off your skills!

Google+ shuts down after massive privacy breach (and because nobody used it)

Google+ is dead. Here’s why (beyond the obvious).

Here’s some sudden and disappointing news for all five of you who use Google+.

In a post here, Alphabet Inc (Google’s parent company) stated that they were shutting down the consumer version of Google+. The service will slowly be rolled back over the course of 10 months. Within the post, the company said that 90% of users only used the service an average of 5 seconds per session. Google elaborated on the service’s unpopularity by saying:

“This review crystallized what we’ve known for a while: that while our engineering teams have put a lot of effort and dedication into building Google+ over the years, it has not achieved broad consumer or developer adoption, and has seen limited user interaction with apps. The consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds.”

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A tiny and uninterested userbase wasn’t the only thing that contributed to the demise of Google+. In the post, Google publically revealed that there was a widespread privacy breach that affected over 500,000 users. Basically, the Google+ Application Programming Interface allowed third-party apps integrated with the service to access data that users had marked private. This data includes birthdays, email addresses, work history, and real names.

This breach was discovered back in March, but Google chose not to reveal the problem publicly. Presumably, they wanted to avoid a PR hit, as that was the same time that Facebook was being slammed in the media for not stopping Cambridge Analytica from stealing data from millions of users. It should be noted that while Google discovered the problem in March of 2018, the vulnerability had been present since 2015. Google quickly fixed the issue, but its lack of transparency with its users has eroded public trust in the brand.

Google thought they had stayed afloat after Twitter and Facebook drowned in controversy, but the public is now calling lawmakers to investigate and regulate the internet giant. Public backlash has already begun, and class action lawsuits can’t be far behind.

The 5 best video game glitches of all time

Did you survive the Corrupted Blood Plague?

For the most part, gamers don’t want to see glitches. They can delete saved data, cause crashes, or otherwise ruin an otherwise fun experience. There’s nothing worse than playing Skyrim and getting deeply immersed in a questline only for a crucial NPC to glitch out and die for no reason.

Sometimes though, a glitch can be so bizarre, rewarding, or mysterious that it actually enhances the gaming experience. Here are some of the craziest, weirdest, and coolest glitches in gaming history.

The best video game glitches of all time

5. Missingno – Pokémon Red and Blue

This disturbing blob of pixels and code is actually a Pokémon! Well, a glitch Pokémon to be exact. Players can encounter this glitch pretty easily in the Gen 1 games, including the 3DS remakes. To find Missingno (which stands for “missing number”), all you have to do is talk to the old man in Viridian City that teaches you how to catch a Pokémon. After this, immediately fly to Cinnabar Island and surf along the coastline. Missingno will then appear.

Missingno is a normal/bird type Pokémon. No, not flying, bird. It has the move Water Gun twice for some reason and has the highest base attack stat in the game, as well as the lowest base defense stat. This makes the blocky glitch a potent sweeper that could help you wipe the Elite Four if they’re giving you trouble. More importantly, catching Missingno glitches your trainer bag, duplicating whatever item you have in your sixth item slot hundreds of times. Want hundreds of Master Balls or Rare Candies? Missingo’s your man…..bird.

Pokémon Red and Blue came out at a time where playground rumors were rampant. There was no internet to debunk rumors, so kids could make up Pokémon like Mewthree or Pikablue that often had ridiculous catching methods. Missingno was one of those weird glitches that were actually true, and actually fairly easy to encounter. Though the freaky glitchy blob understandably freaked out younger players, it’s one of the many oddities that make Pokémon Red and Blue special.

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4. Ermac – Mortal Kombat

The early Mortal Kombat games were known for their secrets almost as much as they were for their violence. Even in the very first arcade game, the green ninja Reptile would appear and offer cryptic hints to the player on how to fight him. Intrigued players tirelessly scoured the game for other hidden fighters. Occasionally, the game would glitch out when Scorpion or Sub-Zero would be chosen, giving them a red color palette and renaming them to Ermac (which stands for error macro). While this is a glitch, it was understandably mistaken for a secret character. Rumors quickly spread how to fight and unlock the mysterious red ninja Ermac. Cheeky arcade owners cashed in on the phenomenon by posting fake lists of players who defeated Ermac.

The Mortal Kombat developers at Midway were highly amused by all of the commotion, and added to it by spreading fake rumors within the game itself. Finally, with the release of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Midway threw players a bone by including Ermac as a legitimate playable character. Ermac has been a series staple ever since, clad in red and fighting using magic and summoning souls. Ermac’s legendary rise from glitch to urban legend to playable character is emblematic of the Mortal Kombat team’s dedication to its fans.

3. Wavedashing – Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee is easily the most popular game in the series among competitive players. The physics engine allows for fast, fluid combos. This, combined with advanced techniques like L-canceling, shield dropping, and SHFFLing, create a fighting game experience like no other. Melee’s most famous advanced technique, however, is the wavedash.

Wavedashing is not technically a glitch, it’s a physics exploit. Melee features directional air dodges, and if you air dodge into the ground your momentum is carried, causing you to slide. If you jump off the ground and immediately air dodge into the ground at a diagonal air dodge, you will wavedash, sliding across the ground like in the gif above.

While the timing is tight and can be difficult for newer players, wavedashing is an incredibly valuable technique in competitive play. Wavedashing allows you to approach or retreat while in your standing stance, allowing you to jab, grab, and use tilt and smash attacks. This is often preferable to simply dashing, as while dashing your character can only dash attack, jump, shield, or grab. Wavedashing opens up new options in your approach, allowing you to fake out and mix up your opponent. Characters who benefit from wavedashing most are characters with low traction like Luigi and the Ice Climbers, as they can slip around the stage at high speed while keeping their options open.

Wavedashing is a beloved and iconic part of Melee. While directional air dodges have returned in Smash Ultimate, it looks like wavedashing is, unfortunately, not possible.

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2. The Minus World – Super Mario Bros.

Look at the world counter on top. It says you’re at World -1!

The Minus World is an entire level in Super Mario Bros that is glitched. To access the Minus World, the player must stand on the lip of the pipe at the end of World 1-2 and duck jump into the wall. If done correctly, Mario should automatically slide through the bricks into the Warp Zone. If the far left pipe is entered, Mario will enter the Minus World.

The Minus World is an endless watery grave for our beloved plumber. The world is a simple water level that repeats endlessly when Mario reaches the end pipe, trapping him until he gets a game over screen.

The Minus World is a mysterious and cool glitch that’s held gamers’ attention since the 80s. It’s so popular that Nintendo themselves have referenced the glitch in multiple games, including Super Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

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1. The Corrupted Blood Plague – World of Warcraft

The Corrupted Blood Plague caused untold destruction throughout Azeroth

The Corrupted Blood Plague was a 2005 incident that happened within World of Warcraft. In early September of that year, Blizzard released a new raid that included a boss named Hakkar the Soulflayer. Hakkar cast a debuff spell called Corrupted Blood on players, causing them to rapidly lose health. Players spread the disease to nearby players, causing them to become afflicted too. While the spell was intended to be contained only within Hakkar’s dungeon, players quickly found out that their summoned pets could contract the disease. By summoning their pets outside the dungeon, they could spread the disease to the outside world.

What happened next was pure pandemonium.

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The infection spread like wildfire, killing low-level players within a few seconds. Populated cities like Ironforge were hit the hardest, as players quickly spread the disease to one another. NPCs could also catch the disease, though they didn’t display symptoms, causing them to become asymptomatic carriers. Normal gameplay became impossible, as cities became littered with bodies and players avoided each other as much as possible, often fleeing to the countryside.

Some benevolent players made makeshift hospitals, using healing spells in an attempt to save as many people as possible. Other more mischevious players attempted to spread the plague as much as possible, infecting themselves and traveling to major locations to start an outbreak. The epidemic lasted a whole week before developer Blizzard hard reset the servers and prevented pets from becoming infected, isolating the plague to Hakkar’s dungeon as originally intended.

The event fascinated social scientists and epidemiologists, as it was the first example of a widespread unintentional plague within a digital place. Researchers compared players who spread the disease on purpose to bioterrorists, saying that their behavior mirrored that of those who experienced real life plagues like SARS. Epidemiologists also mapped out the spread of Corrupted Blood throughout the world of WoW, noting that the spread resembled real-life disease maps.

The Corrupted Blood Plague is one of the most iconic moments in MMORPG history, and it’s crazy to think that it was unintentional. The plague fascinated researchers by providing a model of panic and disease for the real world in a virtual space.

Have you tried these glitches? Any big ones we missed? Let us know!

Why Facebook forced a Belgian politician to change his name

Some names just aren’t okay with Facebook.

Belgian political candidate Luc Anus was forced to change his name on Facebook. Because his name is Luc Anus. That’s his name. But, ya know. The social network said his name was “offensive and inappropriate.”

Forced to change his name to “Luc Anu,” Anus cheekily told local reporters, “Facebook just does not accept my name.” Facebook has held steadfast in not letting Anus change his name, no ifs ands or… butts.

There are 49 other unfortunately named people named Anus who also live in Belgium, so hopefully, they stand in solidarity with Luc. Anus joins American judge Willie Stroker, former congressman Dick Swett, and Dutch senator Tiny Kox as one of the most unfortunately named public servants of all time.

Fortunately for Anus, his Facebook exile has gone viral on social media. And for an aspiring politician like Anus, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t follow in Anthony Weiner’s footsteps…

Trump administration challenges California’s net neutrality laws

State governments are willing to go to war over net neutrality.

Just when you thought the fight for net neutrality was lost, the plot thickens.

Recently, California passed the toughest statewide net neutrality law in the country. Hours later, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice sued the state. The federal government, and by extension the DOJ, has its pockets deeply lined with “donations” from major telecommunication companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T.

Essentially, California’s new law (SB822) rolls back net neutrality rules to what they were before they were gutted by the FCC. This prevents internet service providers from selectively throttling or blocking their users’ access to different websites or online services. For example, in states other then California, Comcast could block or slow access to Netflix in an attempt to draw more users to their On Demand service. The bill also outlaws anti-competitive data sponsorship programs, which allow ISP’s to exclude their video services from their customers’ data caps, giving them an unfair advantage over services like Hulu or Netflix.

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California isn’t the only state defending net neutrality through legislation, Washington is pushing its own laws, too. The attorneys general of 22 states have filed a brief against the FCC in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai accused California’s bill of being anti-consumer, even though the bill has the support of many consumer groups.

Trump does not appear to hold a strong opinion on net neutrality one way or another. His administration repealed it last year, but his personal stake in repealing it seemed to be revoking yet another Obama-era policy. It should be noted, however, that Trump has expressed concern in the past about ISPs blocking access to conservative online content.

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American cable and internet providers have created one of the most unregulated, monopolistic industries in the world. Major ISPs, such as AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable, have essentially divided the country amongst themselves. They make no attempts to encroach on each others’ territories, and any smaller ISPs have a laughably small chance of succeeding in territories controlled by the main players.

Consumers essentially have no choice when it comes to internet or cable; it mostly depends on where they live and who the local ISP kingpin is. This lack of competition also results in lower quality cable and internet services for consumers, as these companies have no incentive to offer faster internet services (matching the speed of services like Google Fiber) because the customer has no other options.

If California wins their bout with the DOJ, you can expect more states to follow their lead.

5 Best Competitive Pokémon for VGC 2019 Sun Series

Want to do battle in Pokémon VGC 2019 Sun Series? Here are your best bets.

The Pokémon VGC Sun Series has been underway for about a month now, and the addition of cover legendaries has caused pandemonium within the format. With so many gods and elemental beasts running around, it can be hard to choose which two to use on your team. Before jumping in, here are the rules for VGC 2019 and the Sun Series:

All battles will be Double Battles played in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon.
All Pokémon from National Pokédex No. 001 through 807 are allowed, with the following restrictions:
- Mythical Pokémon and Ash-Greninja are not permitted.
- Players may only include two of the following Pokémon in their teams: Mewtwo, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Cosmog, Cosmoem, Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma.
Pokémon must have the Alola symbol, showing they were caught in the Alola region.
Duplicate Pokémon are not allowed.
Duplicate held items are not allowed.
All Pokémon are set to Lv. 50, including Pokémon below Lv. 50.
Players will have 7 minutes of Your Time, up from 5 minutes in 2018.

The following additional rules will be in place only during their respective series.

Sun Series
September 4, 2018–January 7, 2019

Z-Crystals and Mega Stones are not permitted.
Blue Orb and Red Orb items are not permitted.
Rayquaza may not know the move Dragon Ascent.

Now that that’s out of the way, here are some of the best Pokémon in Sun Series so far.

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5 Best Competitive Pokémon for VGC 2019 Sun Series

Incineroar

Incineroar @ Assault Vest/Figy Berry

Ability: Intimidate

Level: 50

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD

Adamant Nature

– Fake Out

– Flare Blitz

– Knock Off

– U-turn/Roar/Protect/Snarl

The controversial heel wrestler absolutely dominated VGC 2018, and Sun Series looks no different so far, once again becoming the most commonly used Pokémon in the format. Incineroar’s monstrous attack stat and fantastic offensive typing allow it to hit opponents hard with STAB Flare Blitz and Knock Off. It’s bulky too, allowing it to survive a rain-boosted Origin Pulse from Kyogre while holding an Assault Vest.

Incineroar’s greatest strength, however, is its amazing utility with Fake Out and Intimidate. Intimidate is obviously one of the most broken abilities in doubles, lowering both of the opponents’ physical attack stats on a switch in. This broken ability combined with Fake Out pressure allows Incineroar to support its teammates, allowing them to set up utility moves like Tailwind or Trick Room. If you want additional utility, you can replace U-turn and your Assault Vest with a few different options. Roar can be used to phase out the terrifying threat that is Geomancy Xerneas, while Snarl does spread chip damage and lowers your opponent’s special attack stats.

Xerneas

Xerneas @ Power Herb

Ability: Fairy Aura

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid/Modest Nature

– Geomancy

– Dazzling Gleam

– Protect

– Moonblast

This roided-out Bambi is arguably the biggest threat in Sun Series so far. Once it gets its Geomancy up, there is very little in the metagame that’s able to stop it. The set is fairly straightforward: set up Geomancy, then win. While using Xerneas, you need to make sure you can get your Geomancy up safely.

Common anti-Geomancy Pokémon include the aforementioned Roar Incineroar and Haze Crobat, both of which can waste Xerneas’s Power Herb, making it significantly less effective. Make sure you support your Xerneas with Fake Out and Taunt users that can ensure your precious deer’s ascent into godhood.

Kyogre

Kyogre @ Choice Scarf/Life Orb

Ability: Drizzle

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Modest Nature

– Origin Pulse

– Water Spout

– Ice Beam

– Thunder

Even though it doesn’t have access to Blue Orb in Sun Series, Kyogre is still one of the best Pokémon in the game. If you can avoid Fake Out ruining your momentum, spamming scarfed Water Spout can net you a win. If you’ve been damaged a bit already, Origin Pulse still hits like a truck. Kyogre’s Drizzle ability also provides a lot of useful utility if you build your team around it. Swift Swim Pokémon like Ludicolo can run circles around the enemy team, abusing their blazing speed to remove threats to Kyogre and give you the win. Kyogre alone counters strong offensive Pokémon like Groudon and Incineroar, and if you can remove threats like Amoonguss and Ferrothorn, Kyogre should be able to clean up the enemy team easily.

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Necrozma-Dusk-Mane

Necrozma-Dusk-Mane @ Weakness Policy

Ability: Prism Armor

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpDef

Sassy Nature

– Photon Geyser

– Sunsteel Strike

– Trick Room/Earthquake

– Protect

After making waves in Ubers, Necrozma-Dusk-Mane makes its VGC debut with a vengeance. Its amazing ability Prism Armor reduces damage from super effective attacks by 25%, allowing it to tank through common moves like Earthquake or Flare Blitz. After taking a super effective hit, NDM’s Weakness Policy will activate, allowing it to sweep. In order to make sure NDM can sweep, your team must utilize speed control. Either have another Pokémon set up Tailwind or have NDM activate Trick Room itself. NDM is arguably the most powerful Xerneas counter in the format. If you can establish speed control and eliminate threats like Incineroar, your NDM sweep will be extremely hard to stop.

Ferrothorn

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers

Ability: Iron Barbs

EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD

Brave Nature

– Gyro Ball

– Power Whip

– Leech Seed/Thunder Wave

– Protect

This thorny annoyance has made constant appearances in competitive play ever since its debut in Black and White. Ferrothorn’s insane bulk and fantastic defensive typing allow it to tank hits from some of the most powerful Pokémon in the game. The two most powerful Pokémon in Sun Series, Xerneas and Kyogre, both fear Ferrothorn. It can easily absorb hits from both of them and respond in kind with a Power Whip for Kyogre or a Gyro Ball to a boosted Xerneas. Depending on their set, Ferrothorn can one-hit-KO either of those two Pokémon.

It can also easily stall out enemy teams with Protect and Leech Seed, proving once again that it’s an unkillable parasite. If you come up against a Ferrothorn, break out the Incineroar and light it up with Flare Blitz. Just be wary of its Rocky Helmet.

Want to put these powerhouses into practice? Find an event near you with Game Freak’s official VGC event locator!

The comic book origins of the 4 coolest costumes in Spider-Man PS4

Where did these 4 Spidey suits come from? Here’s the comic book backstory.

Insomniac’s Spider-Man for PS4 has been a massive success, and for good reason. The game was clearly made by and for Spider-Man fans, and Insomniac went above and beyond in representing the beloved character’s decades of history. One of the coolest ways Insomniac pays homage to the wall-crawler is through the unlockable alternate costumes. Below we’ll show you some of the coolest ones you can unlock and talk about the comics that they came from.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man: PlayStation 4

From: Amazon

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The comic book origins of the coolest costumes in Spider-Man PS4

Spider-Man 2099

Spider-Man 2099 is the main star of his eponymous book in the Marvel 2099 comic line. Set in a dystopian cyberpunk future where most Marvel heroes are long gone, Spider-Man 2099 is the alter ego of Miguel O’Hara, a scientist who works for the evil megacorporation Alchemex. Miguel is a self-absorbed, cocky womanizer – the total opposite of Peter Parker.

After his employer tricks him into becoming addicted to the drug Rapture, Miguel attempts to experiment on himself to rid himself of the drug. However, a coworker sabotages the experiment, granting Miguel 50% spider DNA and giving him spider powers. Alchemex hunts down Miguel, who dons a bodysuit and Day of the Dead mask to evade them. (Miguel is the first Latino Spider-Man.)

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While early in his costumed career, Miguel focuses on escaping Alchemex and finding a cure for himself. But he slowly becomes more aware of the exploitation and oppression the people around him suffer. Inspired to turn his life around for the better, he publically proclaims himself to be the new Spider-Man, enemy of all megacorporations and champion of the people. Miguel proves himself to be one of the future’s greatest heroes, even eventually becoming worthy enough to wield Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir.

Miguel’s powers are similar to the original Spider-Man’s, though there are some sharp differences. For example, Miguel does not possess a spider-sense, but he does have highly enhanced senses of vision and hearing. He is able to see in the dark and “zoom” his vision in. While Peter Parker was able to cling to any surface with any part of his body, Miguel is only able to cling using talons on his hands and feet. These talons can also be used offensively, being strong enough to tear through flesh. In addition to talons, Miguel also has razor sharp poisonous fangs.

In current Marvel Comics continuity, Miguel is trapped in the present day. He frequently teams up with Peter Parker.

Spider-Man Noir

Spider-Man Noir debuted in 2009’s Marvel Noir comic storyline. Marvel Noir takes place during the Great Depression and features darker and grittier versions of their classic heroes. Spider-Man Noir is no exception.

In this universe, Peter Parker is mentored by famed reporter Ben Ulrich. Ben, under the alias of the Spider, uses his contacts in the criminal underworld to get information on the Goblin, the terrifying alter ego of Norman Osborn that controls all the crime in New York City. After sneaking into a warehouse full of the Goblin’s henchmen, he sees them unload a spider statue. The statue breaks open, freeing swarms of spiders, one of which bites Peter, causing him to dream of a spider-like god. When he wakes up, Peter realizes he has spider powers. Peter dons his uncle’s airman suit to become the brutal vigilante known as Spider-Man, stopping at nothing to bring down the Goblin.

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One of the main differences between the main Spider-Man and Spider-Man Noir is that Noir is perfectly willing to kill his enemies. He frequently uses a revolver and a Tommy gun in his war against crime. Unlike the main Spidey, Noir doesn’t use web-shooters. Instead, his powers gave him organic webbing. Noir uses intimidation and his large number of underworld contacts in order to get closer to the Goblin.

Spider-Man Noir will appear in the upcoming animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. He will be played by Nicolas Cage.

Scarlet Spider

Scarlet Spider is the alias used by Peter Parker clone Ben Reilly, star of the universally panned Clone Saga storyline from the 90s. The story is convoluted and filled with comic book nonsense, but we will do our best to briefly summarize it here:

After fighting the villain Jackal, who uses clones to fight Spider-Man, Peter wakes up in a room with an identical clone also in a Spider-Man suit, both thinking the other is an imposter. The two Spider-Men fight, but eventually team up to rescue Gwen Stacy from the Jackal. The clone seemingly dies in an explosion while trying to rescue Gwen. A disturbed Peter drops the clone’s body in a smokestack to get rid of it, but the clone survives and escapes. After following Peter and taking a look into his life, the clone (still thinking that he is the original Peter), adopts the name Ben Reilly, named after Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Ben becomes the Scarlet Spider, creating his own hoodie-like costume and fighting crime. He also constantly evades Kaine, another clone of Peter with murderous tendencies.

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The character was “revealed” to be the original Peter Parker. After massive fan outcry, Ben was killed off in a fight with the newly resurrected Green Goblin. His death inspires Peter (who ACTUALLY was the original all along) to retake his mantle of Spider-Man. Ben was recently resurrected in the “Dead No More: Clone Conspiracy” storyline. In this, he goes insane and becomes the new Jackal until he is defeated by Spider-Man. After his loss, Ben flees to Las Vegas in order to rediscover what it means to be a hero.

Got all that? No? Oh well, at least his costume is awesome.

Spider-Punk

During the crossover event Spider-Verse, in which Spider-Men from different realities team up to fight the villain Morlun, a reality is shown that features a never-before-seen Spider-Man. This hero is Spider-Punk, a vigilante who fights against the oppressive President Osborn using his spider powers and the power of rock and roll.

In his series, Spider-Punk becomes the symbol and leader of a punk youth movement that fights against the government and its drones. In true punk style, the comic is stylish, loud, and unsubtle. This incarnation of the hero is Hobie Brown. In the mainstream Marvel Universe, he’s a young African-American inventor who is one of Spider-Man’s oldest allies. Spider-Punk hates being referred to as such, instead preferring to be called Spider-Man. Later on, he fights against time-traveling supervillain Kaine the Conqueror, who has become a CEO that sells Spider-Punk’s image. Spider-Punk fights him to take his image back as a symbol for revolution and freedom instead of a cheap, catchphrase-spouting mascot.

What are your favorite unlockable costumes in Spider-Man? Are there any costumes you hope make it in as DLC? Let us know in the comments below!

Fallout 76 has a genius way to deal with griefers and trolls

Fallout 76 has a genius way to deal with in-game jerks.

Griefing. Griefing never changes.

Since the dawn of man, there have always been people who get their kicks out of ruining games for others. Today, things are no different. Griefers run amok in basically every popular online game. They’ll burn down your painstakingly built house in Minecraft, feed the enemy team in League of Legends, and shoot the ball into their own goal in Rocket League. They’re annoying and can ruin the game for people who want to play the way the developers designed.

In Fallout 76, Bethesda’s first foray into multiplayer for the Fallout franchise, steps have already been taken to discourage griefing. In a post-post-apocalyptic world filled with super mutants and raiders, the last thing you want to worry about is some angry 12-year-old troll.

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At QuakeCon 2018, Fallout 76 game director Todd Howard discussed how the game was balancing PVP combat with griefing. He described how he wanted there to be some element of danger coming from other players because it fits the theme and world of Fallout. However, the game isn’t designed for players to just massacre each other on sight, a la DayZ.

If a player attacks you out of nowhere, the damage is severely reduced. Howard compares this initial reduced attack to lightly slapping a stranger in a bar to see if they want to fight (an action we HIGHLY recommend you don’t do in real life). If the player who was attacked accepts the fight, then both players will start dealing full damage to each other.

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Even though unprovoked attacks do reduced damage, they are still able to kill players. A player who kills another in this way doesn’t gain any experience points or caps from their corpse. The attacking player is then labeled as a “Wanted Murderer.” This player is then marked on the map with a large bounty on their head, alerting every player in the vicinity.

No weapons or armor are lost upon death, though you do lose any collected crafting materials. If you truly do not want to join in the PVP experience you can turn it off entirely. Additionally, if a player keeps following you and harassing you, there are built-in options to block or ignore them.

Griefers, raiders, and everyone in between can join the battle when the Fallout 76 beta releases on October 23 on Xbox One. PC and PS4 players can join in a week later on October 29.

How the YouTube content algorithm hurts creators

Is the YouTube algorithm causing a mental health crisis?

In the past, becoming a famous entertainer was a pipe dream. You’d need to get lucky and get discovered by an agent at a mall, endure hundreds of auditions, and know the right people. After all that, if you were astronomically lucky, you’d get on TV.

While all of that largely remains true, the rise of Web 2.0 and user-based content platforms like YouTube and Instagram has made it exponentially easier to become a famous entertainer. Nowadays nearly everyone has a high definition camera, editing studio, and branding platform sitting nicely in their pocket. The barrier to entry is lower than its ever been, allowing anybody with a camera or platform to become a YouTube star.

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For popular content creators, making YouTube videos is a full-time job. In terms of finances, it could be more than worth quitting your job. Top YouTubers make anywhere from thousands to millions of dollars per year off of advertising revenue, sponsorships, and donations. The highest paid YouTuber of 2017, DanTDM, made over $16.5 million. Being paid enormous amounts of money to be famous and create funny videos may sound amazing, but these creators’ careers are constantly in flux due to the way YouTube uses algorithmic software to recommend and promote certain videos.

So, what is this all-powerful YouTube algorithm?

The YouTube algorithm is the program that YouTube uses to automatically determine what kind of videos you like and which videos to recommend to you. The algorithm gathers data on user viewing habits and changes itself to match current internet trends. The program has grown so large and gathered so much data that even its creators at YouTube don’t completely understand how it works nowadays.

When you create your YouTube account, the first thing the algorithm does is try to figure out who you are and what you’re into. If the algorithm determines that you’re a college-aged male who likes watching people play video games, it’s going to start recommending you videos about gaming. Now that it knows this about you, it’s going to recommend you videos that are popular with other college-aged male gamers, creating a feedback loop in which people who fit in the same categories all see the same thing.

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This phenomenon causes certain select channels who please the algorithm to shoot up in popularity, often over a very short period of time. This system is generally not a bad thing for viewers, as it shows you videos that are relevant to your interests and promotes the most proven and successful content. However, for content creators, the algorithm is a suffocating and merciless beast that forces them to constantly churn out videos or be banished into irrelevance.

Creators vs The Algorithm

To get noticed by the algorithm, content creators need just one smash hit video to get the ball rolling. This is difficult, as the number of views required for a video to be considered viral gets higher every day. However, if their video ends up becoming a hit, the algorithm will soon start recommending the creator’s other videos. When this happens, the creator’s views and subscriber count explodes overnight.

Once the creator is in this position, in order to maintain their popularity they’re expected by both their audience and the algorithm to produce content very frequently that is at the same level of quality as their original hit video.

Creators must adhere themselves to strict schedules and post high-quality videos on a daily or weekly basis if they are to maintain favor with the algorithm. If the creator either misses their schedule or produces videos that don’t click with audiences, they will be cast out by the algorithm and their videos will no longer be recommended by it to users. Because YouTube is saturated with content on nearly every conceivable hobby or subject, the algorithm will have no problem finding a similar creator to replace you.

Algorithmic burnout

The algorithm’s brutal emphasis on consistency and frequency often leads creators to experience burnout. Recently, waves of YouTubers have created videos of themselves describing their feelings of burnout and depression caused by the merciless algorithm. Prominent gaming YouTuber Jacksepticeye recently sat down with fellow YouTuber h3h3 to describe the feeling of burnout caused by YouTube and its algorithm. (The interview below contains some harsh language)

The rigorous schedule expected of the algorithm affects every dedicated YouTuber, whether they have hundreds of subscribers or millions. The automated system of video curation makes YouTubers feel disposable, constantly living in fear that they’re one missed or weak video away from fading into irrelevancy. Promoting quantity and consistency over all else has caused many YouTubers to experience mental health issues. The suffering of these creators is often reflected in their work, and fans will notice that their videos are lower in quality or harsher in tone than they used to be. This is all to say nothing of the inevitable torrents of toxicity and anonymous abuse by trolls that comes with being any sort of prominent figure on the internet.

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What can be done?

YouTube has an absolutely enormous amount of content. Every second, one hour’s worth of video is uploaded onto the platform. It would be nothing short of impossible for human employees to sort through videos without the help of an algorithm. So what can YouTube do to help maintain the mental health of its biggest stars? It can start by making changes to the algorithm, de-emphasizing the quantity and frequency of content. It could still take those into consideration, but it could widen the window of time creators have to upload videos before being shut out. Instead of emphasizing daily content, the algorithm can focus more on weekly or monthly content, giving creators more breathing room.

YouTube can also continue creating resources that help creators deal with stress and burnout. They’ve created a video through their Creators Academy series that teaches creators how to handle burnout. The creation of these videos is a good sign, as it shows YouTube is aware of the mental health issues created by their algorithm, and that steps are being taken to help fight this phenomenon.

When YouTubers are suffering, everyone involved with the platform loses. Creators suffer and make low-quality content, audiences lose out on videos they love, and YouTube gains bad press and loses revenue. If YouTube wants to maintain their dedicated base of creators, they must make drastic changes to their algorithm in order to preserve their mental health.

Snapchat uses augmented reality to team up with Amazon

Snapchat and Amazon team up for an impulse buyer’s dream.

You ever wish you could just look at something cool and then buy it within a few seconds? There’s good news for you, my impulsive friend, as Snapchat has teamed up with Amazon, allowing Snap users to scan items using their phone cameras, taking them directly to their Amazon store page.

As shown in the picture above, scanning an item in Snapchat will bring up a window for its Amazon store page, displaying its price and a few related items. The technology combines augmented reality with Amazon’s machine-based visual learning software, which analyzes shapes, colors, and logos in order to identify products. Given the gigantic variety of items available to purchase on Amazon, this kind of software is no small technological feat.

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Shopping features have been slowly added to popular social media apps for a while now, but haven’t really gained much momentum because they took too many extra steps. Snapchat and Amazon’s partnership is ingenious in that it only takes a tap or two to get to the product page, encouraging impulse buying and increasing profits. Ensuring impulse buying is especially important for Snapchat’s userbase, as its users tend to be younger and more prone to buying things en masse.

It is currently unknown what the financial details are in this partnership. Some believe that Snapchat will get referral money from Amazon when its users buy products, while others think that this may simply be a new feature that Snapchat hopes will allow it to gain new users and engage and maintain current ones.

This feature is slowly being introduced throughout the United States, and it will hit international users soon.