[Challenge] Pokémon Draft Challenge

Wuzzy · Aug 4, 2020

OP idea stolen from Juno here | Pixel Art Background by Waneella
Verbatim adapted from SerenesForest Forums

Welcome to the Pokemon Draft Challenge! In a nutshell, a Pokemon draft is... "A pool of characters is established, several people enter and take turns picking characters, then play through the game with only those characters." If any of you are familiar with Fire Emblem drafts or drafting tournaments, a Pokemon Draft is essentially the same thing but with a different game!

What is a Snake Draft?

This challenge will follow the Snake Draft rules, which ensures no one has a huge advantage or disadvantage for being first or last within the draft order.

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The essence of the draft is... count the number of contestants, say the last number twice, and go back around.
An example draft order would be [1, 2, 3, 4 | 4, 3, 2, 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4 | 4, 3, 2, 1...], each number represents a single player and each section divided by a | represents a round within the draft.
Ideally, all draftees would coordinate time zones and draft at the same time. However, drafting can also be done via PMs and players should be given a 24-hour notice to draft a Pokemon before you randomly select a Pokemon for them.
DM me or check out this website if you are still confused.

Rules

General Rules

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Groups should have at least 4-6 people (potentially 8 for games with a larger Pokedex such as X/Y). If you do not have a group, you may sign up as a free agent.
Everyone plays the same game (doesn't have to be the same version, feel free to pick RomHacks as well). Groups should come to a consensus on the game before drafting.
Once a Pokemon is drafted, it is banned for everyone else.
All undrafted Pokemon are banned for everyone.
All Pokemon must be caught in-game, you may not hack in or trade over any Pokemon, eggs, or items at all.
Trading is ONLY allowed for trade evolutions. If you are playing on an emulator, you may use a save editor / universal randomizer to help them evolve (only if you meet the requirements in the first place).
All Uber and Mythical Pokemon are banned from use.
HM Slaves are allowed but, they may not be used in battle.
When your group has finished drafting, post the results here! This thread may also be used to log your progress as well.

Questions to Answer as a Group

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Competitive or Casual? (If competitive, all players must report their final game times to make it into the Hall of Fame)
Will starters be free?
How many Pokemon will each person draft? (I recommend 8-10)
Will you allow Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, or Dyna/Gigantamax?
Will you ban any additional Pokemon?
Will branch evolutions be drafted separately or together? (For example... if someone drafts Vileplume, another person can draft Bellossom if they want)
For SwSh, will you include DLC Pokemon?
What is the end-game point of the run?

Draft Variations

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SOYO (Screw Over Your Opponent) - Draft for the participant in front / behind you, with the intent of making it harder for them to reach the end goal.
Knickerbocker - Each participant will nominate a person outside the group to draft for them.
Ban 1, Draft 1 - Idea courtesy of Janp... It's essentially what it means, each person bans 1 Pokemon and drafts 1 Pokemon each round (perfect for games with large Pokedexes to increase the stakes)

Sign-Up Forms

Group Sign-Up

[B]All Participant's Forum Names -[/B]
[B]Game -[/B]
[B]Casual or Competitive? - [/B]

Free Agent Sign-Up

[B]Forum Name -[/B]
[B]Discord Name -[/B] If Applicable
[B]Games Interested in Drafting -[/B]
[B]Casual or Competitive? - [/B]
[B]Timezone -[/B]
[B]Availability -[/B]

Resources

Below are master lists of every Pokemon obtained in the game (post-game Pokemon outside of G/S/C/HG/SS and Colosseum were omitted, DLC Pokemon in SwSh included) arranged by region and ordered by earliest availability. Feel free to use them as reference or as check-off lists.

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~happy drafting!~

Wuzzy · Aug 4, 2020

Free Agents

Challengers

Casual

X / Y

Simply Dunsparce -

Pok3pals -

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Competitive

Champions

Casual

X / Y

Kostucha -

Smotemotem -

Janp -

Wuzzy -

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Competitive

Janp · Aug 5, 2020

This looks really great. I hope the thread is ready.

And here's my free agent sign-up
Forum Name - Janp
Discord Name - Janp#1785
Games Interested in Drafting - FRLG, HGSS, RSE, ORAS, BW, DPPt, B2W2, XY, Sun or Ultra Moon.
Timezone - GMT+2
Availability - I should be available through most of the day. But if I have to put a time, I would say around 20:00 GMT+2 would be ideal.

Kostucha · Aug 5, 2020

Sounds interesting, hopefully enough people join this. Signing up as free agent:

Forum Name - Kostucha
Discord Name - Kostucha#1508
Games Interested in Drafting- anything from gens 3-8
Timezone - GMT+2
Availability - basically anytime through the day

Pok3pals · Aug 5, 2020

Free Agent:
Forum Name - Pok3pals
Discord Name - Pok3pals#7854
Games Interested in Drafting- Gold/Silver, Platinum, Soul Silver, X, Sun, Sword, White
Timezone - EST
Availability - Anytime really.

Simply Dunsparce · Aug 5, 2020

Forum Name - Simply Dunsparce
Discord Name - LeanYeenMachine#6229
Games Interested in Drafting - Most games from gens 4-7
Timezone - GMT-5
Availability - Given that school starts back up for me next week, I won't be as available as I usually am, but on most days I should be available at 17:00 GMT-5

Wuzzy · Aug 5, 2020

hi hi, thread was pretty unfinished but I did update it quite a bit...
Anyways this update include,

Added the Pokemon master lists under "Resources"
Added the Hall of Fame
Added a new question in the sign up form (Casual or Competitive?), feel free to update your sign up form with the new question if you want to ^^
Added 2 variations of the draft
General formatting changes
Changed some of the wording
Changed banner title

My free agent sign up form... I'll be forming groups in another post below

Forum Name - Wuzzy
Discord Name - Wuzzy#4096
Games Interested in Drafting - Any game outside of Hoenn/Galar
Casual or Competitive? - Either
Timezone - GMT-8 (PST)
Availability - Anytime after 12pm

Wuzzy · Aug 5, 2020

Spoiler:

All 5 of us will be in the same draft group.
The game choices based on everyone's interests are narrowed down to

HGSS, BW, DPPt, B2W2, XY, Sun/Moon, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon

I'll be contacting all of you guys soon!

Smotemotem · Aug 6, 2020

Ooooh, can I get in on this too?

I've wanted to make a draft-style team for a while, but have only seen it employed for PVP, rather than a story mode playthrough.

Smotemotem
FacewithGlasses#3369
Any Main Series Game
Either, but leaning Competitive
GMT-5
Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri, Sat afternoons tend to be best for me. (After 4:30 p.m. my time, which I think is 9:30 p.m. GMT)

Wuzzy · Aug 7, 2020

finished drafting, these are the teams for X/Y draft

additional rules:
- no mega stones
- starters are NOT free

Kostucha -

Janp -

Simply Dunsparce -

Pok3pals -

Wuzzy -

Smotemotem -

Smotemotem · Aug 7, 2020

I was excited to get in and start playing, so I went ahead and challenged the first gym.

Chapter 1

Spoiler:

Current Team

Pok3pals · Aug 8, 2020

Draft Challenge Start!
Synopsis
So starting the challenge I caught my first member which was Zigzagoon. I chose it due to not having the trouble of catching another Pokemon for the sole purpose of making them use HMs. So better to draft it and possibly even use it rather than it just being a waste of a spot that I can't even use in battle. Anyhow I leveled him up to around level 8. Once I reached Route 3 I caught a Dunsparce and I drafted it for two early reasons. Rage and Rollout. And Dunsparce, I believe, is quite tanky so it's rage would do a significant amount of damage. Anyhow the gym battle was somewhat of a breeze. I built up Rollouts, however it missed the first Rollout against Vivillon so...yeah. But first badge acquired!

Team:

Nature
Lax
Moveset:
-Growl
-Tackle
-Tail Whip
-Headbutt
Held Item:
N/A
Level:
10
Ability:
Gluttony
Stats:
HP: 30
Attack: 13
Defense: 15
Special Attack: 14
Special Defense: 12
Speed: 18

Nature
Jolly
Moveset:
-Rage
-Pursuit
-Rollout
-Spite
Held Item:
N/A
Level:
11
Ability:
Serene Grace
Stats:
HP: 46
Attack: 22
Defense: 23
Special Attack: 18
Special Defense: 19
Speed: 17

Badges: 1/8

Simply Dunsparce · Aug 8, 2020

Draft Challenge Update 1

At the start of the challenge I picked up my first team member Bunnelby. I chose Bunnelby mostly because I hadn't used it before and wanted to see how it would turn out. Although the first couple battles were a bit tricky due to her being a bit under-leveled, I eventually able to get her up to a reasonable level, and handled most of the fights relatively well. Viola took a couple tries to beat due to Vivillon being a bit more defensive than I had expected, but with the help of some x-items I was able to beat her, earning my first badge.

Team:
Bunnelby (F) - Jane
Lv. 13
Cheek Pouch
Tackle/Agility/Mud-slap/Quick Attack

Badges: 1/8

Wuzzy · Aug 8, 2020

Update #1
Wuzzy -

Spoiler:

Actually started my run last night but I decided to play a lil' bit more before writing up this update...

Anyways, this is actually my first time playing Pokemon X/Y sooooo I went into this semi-blind (I knew the gym leader rosters and wild pokemon but that was it). Didn't really have a drafting strategy, I really just picked mons I have never used before and that I was interested in using.

I started with Fennekin because even though Delphox is kind of cursed, this guy won't ever be evolving so it'll stay as a cute Fennekin. Had to ninja through a bunch of trainers within Santalune Forest because I wanted to save exp for Azurill. Azurill took a bit since I wanted one with Huge Power and it took like 4 tries to get one eventually. Azurill wasn't that bad to grind up honestly, it just took a while because everything was like a 10-hko but the trainers loved spamming Growl or Play Nice.

Didn't think I'd run into any trouble until I hit Route 22 and had to face a trainer with a Psyduck/Litleo with just an Azurill. Since she was blocking the nearest grass patch which housed my next encounter, Litleo, I had to just go for it and try and beat her with Azurill. With a lot of patience and luck, I somehow beat her by spamming Bubble and Potions (got lucky with speed drops and crits). This made me wish that I had drafted an early Normal-type to help me get through the early game and just replace it later. Reason I chose Azurill was because I assumed it learned Pound (I swore it did) and wouldn't be that difficult to train to Marill but, I was wrong. Anyways, after I caught my Litleo, I went ahead and challenged Viola's gym which was very easy. Despite Viola's Surskit having the type advantage over Litleo, after 2 Work Ups and a Potion, Litleo was able to OHKO Surskit with Headbutt and take down Vivillon with Ember to help me secure the Bug Badge.

In Route 4, had to ninja more trainers because I wanted to snag the TM for Return from Dexio at the Lumiose City gate, which made training Azurill a whole lot easier. After beating Professor Sycamore, I chose Bulbasaur mainly because it can learn Cut and I didn't feel like catching another HM slave. Again, more ninja-ing trainers in Route 5 (except Tierno because he's forced) because I was kind of over-leveled and wanted to save those trainers for Honedge. Made it to Camphier Town and then had to take a detour to the Parfum Palace. At Route 6, I caught my 3rd encounter being Honedge which I have big hopes for since I like Aegislash and went to battle the trainers I avoided to level it up. Inside the Palace, I got the HM for Cut and saved the wandering Furfrou.

Team

Spoiler:

Janp · Aug 9, 2020

The Draft Challenge in Pokémon X

PART 1

Okay, let's start.

I let others draft my Pokémon and didn't tell them what Pokémon I like or dislike, just to see if they will draft strong or weak Pokémon for me. And to be honest, I'm really satisfied with the draft. There are one of my most favourite Pokémon and also one of my most disliked Pokémon. So, before I start, let's look at my picks:

My first drafted Pokémon was Riolu. Lucario is my most disliked Pokémon. But I actually used it in my very first playthrough of Y and it was probably the worst Pokémon to use in Kalos. Fighting-type isn't really a good pick for Kalos, due to Fairy-types and Lucario doesn't even have a good Steel-type move to make usage of its secondary typing. And Megas are banned. Yeah, not touching it at all. Or at least will try not to touch it, because I might need Riolu to beat Grant. And now that I'm writing this, I'm considering giving it a second chance. Depends on how well it will do.

This is perfect Pokémon for first Gym. I'm not sure if I'll use it after it that much, but it might make a cut to final E4 team.

I'm not a fan of Eeveelutions, but for some reason, Vaporeon is one of my most used Pokémon in recent years. It's just that useful. I'll take it. I don't think I can get Water Stone before facing Grant, which will make that fight a little bit harder.

Now we're talking. In recent months, Rotom got to my TOP3 favourite Ghost-types. I just hope I won't spend the whole week just hunting it, since it can only be caught on Tuesday. This means I'll either have to play slowly until the next Tuesday or play quickly through the game today and tomorrow and get Rotom on this Tuesday.

I'm not sure if this was intentionally, but female Nidoran was my very first Pokémon and I will gladly use it again every time. And this also reminded me that I wanted to solo Kalos with Nidoqueen for years now.

Speaking of soloing, I jokingly said I'll solo this run with Scatterbug. But I love this draft, so it would be shame not to use full team. Anyway, I haven't used Vivillon yet and I'm sucker for butterfly Pokémon, so I'll be using this one too.

I just used Solrock in my other run. I'll gladly use its sibling in this run. Plus it might help be get through Grant. Psychic/Rock-type is interesting typing too. I wonder how useful it will be.

I like Vileplume. But it's also probably the last Grass or Poison-type Kanto Pokémon I would choose. I don't recall there being a need to Grass-type early in the game, so I think Vileplume will be another Pokémon I'll be dropping from my final team.

You remember when I talked about my TOP3 Ghost-types? Well, Litwick is in my TOP5. There is no way Gardevoir will get through 2 Ghost-types.

And that's my opinion for my draft. Like I said, I really like it and can't wait to try them all.

Smotemotem · Aug 10, 2020

@janp - I'm surprised to hear that you don't like Riolu / Lucario, but I'm glad you got some stuff you wanted. We thought that would be a good pick, because that's the Pokemon of choice for speed runners, in XY. Then again, that may be heavily dependent upon the mega stone.

Chapter 2

Spoiler:

Current Team

Wuzzy · Aug 10, 2020

Update #2
Wuzzy -

Kind of want to talk about my picks like what Janp did soooo...

Spoiler:

Team

Spoiler:

Simply Dunsparce · Aug 11, 2020

Draft Challenge Update 2

Right after the first gym I went and picked up my second team member, Budew, on Route 4. I choose Budew because I hadn't used one yet and have heard that they do fairly well in Kalos. Despite Budew only being a baby mon, he did suprisingly well in this section, and his ability Poison Point was also quite useful. After catching Budew, I made my way to Lumiose city and fought Professor Sycamore, picked Squirtle, then immediately boxed it and headed to Camphrier town. On Route 6 I caught my third team member, Venipede. I chose Venipede because it and its evolutions are some of my favorite bug types, and because I haven't used it in Kalos yet. Venipede did fairly well in this section, although she did stuggle a bit until she learned Poison Tail. After catching Venipede, I help the guy in Parfum Palace, woke up the Snorlax, and traveled through Connecting Cave to Route 8. On Route 8 I caught my fourth team member, Mienfoo. I choose Mienfoo mostly because, like with the others, I hadn't used it yet and wanted to see how it turn out. Mienfoo did struggle a bit it this section, partially because she was somewhat underleveled when I found her, and partially because her movepool wasn't that great (She doesn't learn and STAB moves until like, Lv. 29), although I was able to handle switch training with her quite well due to Fake Out and Regenerator. Soon afterwards, I caught my fifth team member, Helioptle, on Route 9. I chose Helioptle, mostly because I wanted at least one team member who could learn surf for most of the game. Helioptle, much like Mienfoo, was a bit underleveled for where she was in the game, but with her ability, Dry Skin, she fared quite well against the Water types on the Route 8 beach. While dealing with the Team Flare grunts in Glittering Cave, Bunnelby evolved into Diggersby. Before challenging Grant, I took a detour to catch my sixth team member, Sigilyph, which also happened to be around when Venipede evolved into Whirlipede. I chose Sigilyph because it is a pokemon that I like using, but haven't used in Kalos before. The fight against Grant could have gone better, partially because I forgot that Amura had the ability Glaciate, thus making its Take Downs Ice-type. Amura knocked out Helioptle, Budew, and Whirlipede before being defeated by Sigilyph, while Tyrunt went down after two or three Mud Shots from Diggersby, earning us the Cliff Badge.

Team:
Diggersby (F) - Jane
Lv. 23
Cheek Pouch
Return/Double Kick/Mud Shot/Quick Attack

Budew (M) - Rosando
Lv. 24
Poison Point
Mega Drain/Growth/Worry Seed/Stun Spore

Whirlipede (F) - Arthropleura
Lv. 23
Swarm
Bug Bite/Rollout/Poison Tail/Protect

Mienfoo (F) - Leah
Lv. 22
Regenerator
Swift/Meditate/Rock Tomb/Fake Out

Helioptle (F) - Lizzie
Lv. 20
Dry Skin
Quick Attack/Thunder Shock/Charge/Mud-Slap

Sigilyph (M) - Nazca
Lv. 21
Magic Guard
Psywave/Tailwind/Air Cutter/Psybeam

Badges: 2/8

Janp · Aug 15, 2020

The Draft Challenge in Pokémon X

PART 2

I finally had time to start, so let's see what happened.

My ID ended with 2, so I picked Chespin as my starter, but it didn't stay on my team for long. I got Pidgey named Miss Peck and Scatterbug named Vedmi on Route 2 and then trained them in Santalune Forest, since I get free healing there. I love this location. I was a little bit surprised Scatterbug didn't evolved on level 7 like other early bugs. But ever since Miss peck learned Gust, there was nothing to stop me.

I also had a weak moment when I got to Santalune City and decided to catch Riolu just so I get all of my drafted Pokémon. It can also stay on my team as long as I have free spot. And it took me 40 minutes before I found one! Now I hope it will be worth it!

Anyway, Pidgey's Gust was pretty much the only attack I used in majority of Santalune Gym's battles. I decided to start with newly evolved Spewpa against Surskit, but it wasn't really a good idea and I quickly switched to Pidgey, who easily beat both Surskit and Vivillon with Gust.

I'm really scared of Grant. Right now, my team doesn't have a good counter against his Pokémon and I'm not sure if I can actually get any.

Team

Miss Peck, Modest Female Pidgey
lvl 14, Tangled Feet
- Tackle
- Sand Attack
- Gust
- Quick Attack

Vedmi, Naive Female Spewpa
lvl 11, Shed Skin
- Tackle
- String Shot
- Stun Spore
- Protect

Dolero, Docile Male Riolu
lvl 7, Inner Focus
- Quick Attack
- Foresight
- Counter
- Endure

Janp · Aug 16, 2020

The Draft Challenge in Pokémon X

PART 3

Not gonna lie, I used Dolero more than I'm willing to admit. It was nice to have non-Flying-type Pokémon to use. It became useful especially once he learned Force Palm. But it kept hitting itself in confusion, flinched every time it got opportunity, was hit with several critical hits, was paralyzed for 4 turns in row and slept for 5 turns. I don't think he will ever evolve with this attitude.

Anyway, after learning new moves via TMs, Vedmi got enough experiences to evolve into Vivillon right on a next Route. My have Garden Pattern, which is in my opinion one of the better ones. Miss Peck evolved some time after that, I think it was around the time I beat Sycamore. After beating him, I was forced to pick another starter, but I quickly boxed it.

I caught Pivl the Oddish on my way to Perfume Palace. Another pretty good Pokémon for now. And quickly after that, I also caught Melichar the Lunatone and Kristi the Eevee. So now I have 6 Pokémon and I'm ready for Grant.

And it was disaster like always. I started out with Dolero and he took down Amaura with one Force Palm. That was nice. But then Grant's Tyrunt survived one Force Palm and beat Dolera with critical Stomp. I sent out Pivl, but Tyrunt's Stomp and Bite flinched him several times and Pivl barely did any damage. But he forced Grant to use his Super Potion. The rest of the team had to work really hard to bring Tyrunt down. Combination of Vedmi's Infestation, Miss Peck's Twister and Kristi's Baby-Doll Eyes weakened Tyrunt enough for Melichar to finally beat it.

Next time I'm catching Nidorina, which means I'll have to box one Pokémon. So it's probably the end of Dolero.

Team

Miss Peck, Modest Female Pidgeotto
lvl 27, Tangled Feet
- Return
- Twister
- Gust
- Quick Attack

Vedmi, Naive Female Vivillon
lvl 24, Shield Dust
- Struggle Bug
- Infestation
- Supersonic
- Psybeam

Dolero, Docile Male Riolu
lvl 26, Inner Focus
- Quick Attack
- Copycat
- Counter
- Force Palm

Pivl, Mild Male Gloom
lvl 25, Chlorophyll
- Mega Drain
- Sweet Scent
- Venoshock
- Sleep Powder

Melichar, Timid - Lunatone
lvl 21, Levitate
- Confusion
- Hypnosis
- Rock Polish
- Psywave

Kristi, Adamant Female Eevee
lvl 20, Run Away
- Quick Attack
- Baby-Doll Eyes
- Swift
- Bite