The Community-made 500 Cup has arrived to the Go Battle League as the Little Cup. We covered the details of the Little Cup in our review of the Season 5 announcement in our last article, so today we'll be breaking down the meta, and we'll go through some teams to get you started with some ideas. This meta is heavily influenced by Bronzor so we'll be focusing on how to counter it. I should also mention that I don't have a Bronzor myself so none of the teams will include one. Bronzor is insane and if you have one around 500 cp then congratulations, but if you're like me and don't want to dump 100k worth of Stardust into one then these teams will offer some alternatives. I'll also only have one charge move unless it is something like a starter that has a 10k Stardust unlock cost for the second move. As always check out PvPoke for all the stats you need for the Go Battle League.
The Meta
If we're keeping it simple then this is what the best of the meta looks like. You could also include Wynaut and even Stunky, but Wynaut is a very steep investment and not something everyone has lying around. You'll definitely see some in the higher ranks but for the most part, they won't pop up often. Stunky is another Dark-type that can counter Bronzor and is an easy alternative if you don't have a Deino. Bronzor is the meta monster. It runs this Cup more than Azumarill dominates the Great League if that offers some perspective. Bronzor is so dangerous because of its bulk, and the fact that it is a Steel type and has Confusion to shred almost everything that is neutral to Psychic. It can also beat most things that you think would counter it like most Fire types and even some of the Ground types. Deino is a fantastic counter for Bronzor with Dragon Breath and Crunch, but it is completely vulnerable to Charm damage from Cottonee. Seriously, three Charms will delete it. Cottonee is another powerhouse with a good amount of bulk and has Charm to chunk most of the meta. It also has Seed Bomb that charges pretty quickly and does decent neutral damage if it needs to. Charm and Dragon Breath are some of the most destructive fast moves in the game and most of these baby Pokemon have very little bulk, so we have this Cup coming down to fast move damage in a lot of match-ups.
Team 1
This team is aggressively trying to catch Bronzor on the lead. Houndour is one of the better Fire type counters for a Bronzor as it has the Dark typing to help it resist Confusion damage. I'm running it with Ember over Feint Attack so help do some damage against a Cottonee and to deal with Shelmet. Crunch is necessary for beating Bronzor but Flamethrower is a nuke if you want to unlock a second charge move. Our Seel is to cover against Ground types that beat Houndour and has Aqua Tail to deal more neutral damage to Bronzor. Lick is the fast move of choice to deal super effective damage to Bronzor. You could flip this core and put Seel on the lead with Icy Wind to pressure Deino. Cottonee is our safe switch and wins a lot of neutral matchups, with our worst-case being they counter swap into a Bronzor or a Fire type. Charm still pressures the life total even when resisted and allows us to come in and farm with Seel or Houndour.
Team 2
Leading with a Ground type is another way to catch a Bronzor on the lead. We can also catch people running Fire type leads that are also looking for Bronzor. Barboach is the real deal with Mud Shot for super effective damage against Bronzor and it charges to Mud Bomb very quickly. Aqua Tail is another spammy charge move for Barboach but we're running Ice Beam instead. Mud Bomb already deals with Fire types so I'm using Ice Beam to potentially flip a Cottonee match up or take out a Deino from out of nowhere. Charmander covers grass types that treated Barboach and is very effective against Cottonee as it resists Charm damage. Ember is the preferred fast move and we have Flame Charge which charges quick enough and boosts our attack so we can go for the farm down. We also have Flamethrower as a bomb, in playtesting it landed on a Vulpix and almost one-shot it with resisted damage. Again we have Cottonee on the safe switch.
Team 3
This is definitely our spiciest team with Turtwig on the lead with Razor Leaf. Turtwig catches Ground types on the lead or something like a Seel. We have Body Slam for great neutral damage and to apply shield pressure, and Seed Bomb for super effective damage when Razor Leaf somehow doesn't delete Water and Ground types. Cubone is our main answer for Bronzor with Mud Slap generating absurd amounts of energy to spam Bone Club. Cubone also covers Fire types that our Turtwig can't beat. Drifloon is a solid safe switch and has access to the exact same moveset as its evolved form Drifblim in the Great League. Hex doesn't counter Bronzor outright but it does chunk it while gaining lots of energy to through Icy Wind. Icy Wind lowers the opponents attack to let us stay in the fight longer when we safe switch in. Shadow Ball would really help against Bronzor when shields are down, but Icy Wind is well suited against a broad stroke of the meta. I also found out that Drifblim beats Deino in the 1 shield if it only has access to Body Slam and not Crunch.
Team 4
This team is pretty meta with Deino on the lead to spam heavy Dragon Breath damage on the meta. Deino is favored in most neutral matches it lands in and can do some serious shield pressure with Body Slam. However, if you can only run one charge move then I would make it Crunch because Deino can't beat Bronzor without it. Barboach is our closer to spam Mud Bomb and Aqua Tail. I'm still running Ice Beam for that Cottonee coverage but Aqua Tail is very energy efficient and can get spammed in the late game. Barboach is a reliable closer because of the coverage it has and its Ground and Water typing makes it only weak to Grass attackers. Razor Leaf users shouldn't be too common so Barboach should be safe to take over the late game.
Despite being dominated by Bronzor, the Little Cup looks to be a unique and exciting experience in the Go Battle League. Let us know which Pokemon you're going to bring to battle. I am a little sad that the restrictions can't allow us to use some of the event Pokemon like Balloon Pikachu and I seriously resent that I can't use Dunesparce. The most powerful Pokemon of all time should be able to unleash its wrath upon the Little Cup. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope this gives you some ideas for what to run in the Little Cup. We'll be doing a stream on Tuesday, November 10, so check us out on Twitch to these teams in action. Follow us on Instagram to get updates on our streaming schedule and check out our YouTube channel for more PvP content coming soon. Thanks for reading and joining The Fellowship.
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