Super Smash Bros. is Nintendo’s premier fighting game franchise. The series released its fifth entry, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, in 2018. The brainchild of Masahiro Sakurai (the man behind Kirby and Kid Icarus: Uprising), it is beloved by many for its fun and easy-to-grasp gameplay, and more notably, its massive crossover status. The Smash series has always been about characters from all different franchises and companies duking it out. With a whopping 81 planned characters (plus seven clone characters, referred to as “Echo Fighters”), every player is bound to find at least one they like.
However, no series is without controversy, and people often find themselves lamenting the characters that DON’T get in, and sometimes even those that do.
I realize that there's a post talking a lot more in-depth about one of these characters, so if you'd like to read that as well here's a link.
A Brief History Lesson
Super Smash Bros. debuted for the Nintendo 64 in 1999, with this classic commercial depicting mascot versions of popular Nintendo characters duking it out to The Turtles’ “Happy Together”. The game was a smash (heh) hit, and featured twelve playable characters (Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox McCloud, Pikachu, Luigi, Ness, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff). It supported up to four players, and had a variety of items that could be used in battle. More characters were added throughout the sequels, including third party characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man. In the third game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a new item was added to the game: “Assist Trophies”, summonable NPCs that could assist the player who summoned them in battle. Each Assist Trophy did something different, and many characters who otherwise wouldn’t have a shot at being playable got to appear this way. One such character was Waluigi from the Super Mario Bros. series, who would run around the stage and stomp on opponents while hitting them with his tennis racket, making them briefly immobile.
When the fourth game for the Wii U and 3DS came around, several cuts and changes were made so the game could run on the comparatively weaker 3DS hardware. The game also featured no story mode. However, there were three big hope spots for fans. The first was Mii Fighters, which allowed players to create their own custom fighter (either a Brawler, Gunner, or Swordfighter), with a variety of costumes based on various characters. The second was the inclusion of DLC, which allowed new characters to join after release (for a price, of course). The third was the biggest of all: the Fighter Ballot. This was a chance for fans to vote on which character they’d like to see join Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and WiiU.
The Fighter Ballot
The Fighter Ballot was extremely popular, with thousands of people voting for their favorites. Aside from “meme” picks like Goku or Shrek, some of the most popular choices, at least according to message boards and polls from the time, included Ridley from Metroid, Waluigi and Princess Daisy from Super Mario Bros. (this despite Waluigi still being an Assist Trophy), Sora from Kingdom Hearts, the Inklings from Splatoon, Shantae, Wolf O'Donnell from Star Fox (a character who had been cut during the transition between games) Banjo-Kazooie, Geno from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and quite possibly the loudest fanbase, King K. Rool from Donkey Kong Country. The ballot came to a close in October 2015, revealing the winner to be…
…Bayonetta.
While Bayo certainly did have her fans and supporters, many people were…underwhelmed, to say the least. Bayonetta was allegedly the most popular character in Europe, and in the Top 5 in America, though some folks found this hard to believe. Things weren’t helped by the unpopular reveal of Corrin from Fire Emblem Fates as a DLC character before the ballot closed, with many people stating that there were too many Fire Emblem characters (at the time, the game had six different characters from the series). Eventually, the game was datamined, and it was revealed that Bayonetta’s data existed in the game just two weeks after the ballot opened up. Mii Fighter costumes of some of the more popular picks were released as consolation prizes, but it still stung. Sakurai stated that the ballot was meant to pick fighters for a future installment, and not for Smash 4, but this is a bit hard to believe given that the website outright said the character would be for Smash 4. However, there was still hope for these characters in the future.
Everyone is Here…?
The fifth game in the series, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, was quite possibly the most hyped-up game of the decade. It promised to be the ultimate (heh) dream match, with every single fighter from past games returning. It also introduced several highly requested newcomers, including Ridley (complete with a shoutout to his supporters), Daisy (I cried tears of joy at her reveal), the Inklings, Simon Belmont (and his descendant Richter) from Castlevania, Isabelle from Animal Crossing, and of course, King K. Rool, all of whom generated a lot of hype. This only expanded when the DLC was revealed, with several unexpected characters from a variety of different companies. However, one character was notably missing: Waluigi.
The Purple-Clad Plumber
For anyone who doesn't know, Waluigi is a character who originates in the game Mario Tennis. He was originally created solely so Wario could have a doubles partner, and quickly became a mainstay of the spin-offs. At first, he was seen as an unnecessary character who only existed as filler, but his role in Matthew Taranto's webcomic Brawl in the Family saw him gain popularity. The comic mostly focused on video game-based gags while occasionally having longer story arcs. Waluigi would show up to take over the comic every once in a while, with his catchphrase "TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME." often appearing. People loved the comic's take on Waluigi as a zany, over-the-top, and somewhat tragic character. It wasn't long before this version of Waluigi became a meme, with the regular version following.
It’s a Cold and It’s a Broken Waluigi
Generally, Assist Trophies are considered to be a “deconfirmation” for a character. While nothing in the game outright states that a character can’t be playable if they also appear as an Assist Trophy, nothing denies it either. There is technically a chance, as the game does have certain conditions that disable assist trophies on certain stages (for example, the Moon from Majora’s Mask can’t appear on the stage Great Bay, as it appears as a background element). Stage elements can also be affected by which characters are playing in a match. For example, King Dedede won’t appear in the background of Dream Land if he’s also in the match, Toon Link will be replaced by Alfonzo (“Leave it to me!”) on the Spirit Train if another Link is playing, and Fox, Falco, and Wolf have specific dialogue changes referring to one another. However, this has never been confirmed, and Assist Trophies have always been unplayable. Which brings us to Waluigi.
In early June, Waluigi was confirmed to be an Assist Trophy, and therefore unplayable, for the third game in a row. As if to add insult to injury, the video also revealed that Assist Trophies can now be knocked out, and used Waluigi to demonstrate this. People were, to put it lightly, fucking pissed. Memes were made about the situation, songs were written, petitions were signed to get Waluigi included, Matthew Taranto of Brawl in the Family got in on it, years after the comic had ended, and a few (emphasis on a FEW) fans even started harassing Sakurai in an attempt to get the purple plumber in the roster. A small group of Waluigi cosplayers staged a protest at a Smash event, and while they had good intentions, they did make some staff and guests uneasy. Some theorized that the Assist Trophy thing was a red herring, and that Waluigi would be revealed as playable after all. People were literally analyzing the colors of some chairs in the background of a video. It was crazy. Things only got worse for poor Waluigi when the first DLC character was revealed…
…a Piranha Plant. Just a single Piranha plant.
Generic, nameless Piranha Plants have never been playable in any official Nintendo game before this, so its inclusion was a surprise. A few people thought it was a jab at Waluigi supporters (which, let’s be real, it obviously wasn’t). Once the shock wore off, however, the Plant was welcomed into the Smash family with open arms. The fact that it was free for a limited amount of time certainly helped. The next DLC character (and the first in the “Fighters Pass”, a series of five DLC challengers), Joker from Persona 5, was also beloved by the fanbase, with his trailer showing him literally hijacking the 2018 Game Awards. Then E3 2019 came, and fans were speculating on who the next fighter would be, with Erdrick from Dragon Quest, Banjo and Kazooie, and Steve from Minecraft being popular guesses. The latter two, in particular, sparked quite the rivalry.
Bears, Birds, and Blocks
While Banjo-Kazooie was originally considered a Nintendo property (it even had its own commercial from the same people who made the “Happy Together” Smash commercial), with Banjo’s debut (sans Kazooie) being in Diddy Kong Racing, they were developed by the company Rare, which was later bought out by Microsoft. Microsoft and Nintendo are historically rivals, so the bear and bird joining Smash was seen as an impossibility for many years. However, many had hope, given that Microsoft and Nintendo had been on much friendlier terms in recent years. But there were some strikes against them. For one thing, Banjo and Kazooie weren’t exactly…relevant. Their last game, Nuts and Bolts, was in 2008, and was seen by most fans as a disgrace to the franchise due to its change in gameplay and aesthetic. JonTron’s memetic version of “I Will Always Love You” comes as a reaction to this game, in fact. If a Microsoft character WAS added, it would likely be someone more popular. Say…a character from one of the highest-selling games of all time? That’s right, Minecraft.
For weeks, a rivalry brewed between Banjo-Kazooie fans and Steve fans, and a trend called “Steveposting” began to spread. Starting on 4chan, people would post pictures of a grotesque 3D model of Steve harassing other characters, often accompanied by a copypasta starting with “GOOD MOOOOOOOORNING /v/! Just wanted to remind you that we’re another day closer to Steve (yes, THE Steve from Minecraft) getting confirmed in Smash Ultimate! Make sure to save your tears for the upcoming Fighter Pass when Steve walks into the spotlight!” The most popular character for Steve to harass was Banjo. People would often argue that Steve had more relevance, and post images of Steve harassing, harming, or killing Banjo and Kazooie. One infamous video featured Banjo walking through a blocky landscape, remarking to Kazooie that they must have ended up in Minecraft instead of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. “Grotesque Steve” reveals himself, shows off Kazooie’s mangled corpse, and approaches Banjo with a sinister look on his face…the rest of the video is disgustingly NSFW, hence why I won’t be linking it or even describing it. If you know, you know. Overall, the rivalry was pretty bitter, and even genuine supporters for Steve grew tired of the “Steveposting”.
Finally, E3 2019 rolled around, and fans were excited for new content from Nintendo. One of the first reveals of the day was the second new DLC character for Smash…that being the heroes from Dragon Quest. Most people thought that Erdrick from Dragon Quest III would be the representative, and while he does appear, he’s not the only one (the heroes from XI, IV, and VIII also show up as alt costumes). Japanese fans were thrilled, American fans weren’t as enthusiastic, and it looked like there would be no more Smash news for the day. That is, until the just before the very end of the presentation. A trailer began, similarly to King K. Rool’s, only to then cut to the King hanging out with Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong. Suddenly, a golden piece bounces across the screen. Wait, is that…a Jiggy? No, it couldn’t be… DK and friends look out the window, to see a familiar silhouette, only for it to be revealed to be the Duck Hunt Dog in disguise. But then everything changes when the new character descends from above and knocks the Dog out of the way. That’s right folks, against all odds, Banjo and Kazooie are in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!
As for Steve, he and his fellow Minecraft friends were eventually added in October 2020 (in his familiar blocky form, thankfully), which put the rivalry to rest for good. Finally, the Steveposting days were over. These new fighters were well-received, but the same can’t be said for the fifth DLC character.
Too Many Swordsmen, Are There?
Generally, if a new game is released after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a free update will add content from said game, usually in the form of “spirits”, power-ups you can equip to your fighter of choice to give them a stat boost of some sort. In-universe, they’re explained as characters who have lost their physical form due to events in the game’s story mode. For example, equipping the Hammer Bro spirit will enhance your jumps. One game did not receive free update spirits, however.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is definitely one of the best games of 2019, in my opinion. With four distinct routes, a ton of morally grey characters, and an absolutely bitchin’ theme song, it’s definitely worth a try. While it’s not without its problems, the game is still pretty solid. The reason I bring this up is because Fire Emblem: Three Houses got nary a mention in Smash, despite being a new installment of one of Nintendo’s most heavily-advertised franchises. This led people to speculate that they were saving a Three Houses reveal for later. And as it turns out, they were!
Now, the fourth DLC character, Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury, was not met with the brightest reception from fans. At the very least, he came with a lot of amazing music (a whopping fifty songs from various SNK games). My personal favorite out of these is the theme song from Psycho Soldier. That sax solo though! While some people were obviously mad (or should I say…fatally furious?) about Terry’s inclusion in the game, most of the memes came from fellow SNK character Mai Shiranui’s exclusion from any form of cameo (to preserve the game’s ESRB rating). Anyway, people were really expecting something big for DLC fighter #5.
The fifth DLC character was revealed in January of 2020. Many predictions included Sora from Kingdom Hearts and Dante from Devil May Cry. The trailer dropped, only to reveal that the final character for the Fighters Pass was Byleth, the player character in Three Houses. The trailer had a jab at the common complaint that the roster has too many swordsmen…to which Byleth responds by becoming a swordswoman, as well as using other weapons from their home game. And yet still, people were once again, to put it lightly, fucking pissed. Read the comments on this to get an idea of it. After all, this now marked the eighth Fire Emblem character in the game.
Naturally, some people made memes about the situation. Others jokingly pointed out that one of Byleth’s alternate costumes gave them a red outfit and white hair, just like Dante (though the costume was meant to resemble Three Houses character Edelgard). Voice actress Allegra Clark, who voices a few characters in Three Houses, had this to say about the news. Even to this day, some people are still upset over Byleth’s inclusion.
The Heart of a Marionette
Geno is a character from the cult classic Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The game is certainly an oddball in the Mario franchise, but it’s beloved to this day by many. Geno appears as a living marionette with a gun arm, and he’s been a popular request for Smash Bros for a while now. He appeared in the famous (and very fake) “Grinch leak”, which incidentally also featured Banjo and Kazooie. YouTube animator TerminalMontage is one of Geno’s most vocal supporters, and even Sakurai has stated that he’s a fan of the character. So, what’s stopping the little puppet from getting in? Licensing. Geno is technically partially owned by Square Enix, so getting him in the game has always been tricky. He appeared as a Mii Fighter costume in Smash 4, but fans had hope that he would appear for real in Ultimate.
Now, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate introduced some very interesting Mii Fighter costumes. Costumes usually come in two parts: headwear and outfits. Headwear can include hats, wigs, helmets, and even masks. That last one is the important one here. Certain Mii Fighter costumes came with a full-head mask of a character rather than just a hat. These costumes, which some fans refer to as “deluxe” costumes, also came with a song, making them feel like a sort of bonus DLC character. The most popular of these is Sans from Undertale, though Cuphead also has one, as do Vault Boy from Fallout and Bomberman (though the latter two don’t come with music tracks).
So, December 2020 rolls around, and with it come the Game Awards. The new Smash trailer shows several of our heroes facing off against the game’s main villain, Galeem…only for it to be sliced in half and killed. Suddenly, “One-Winged Angel” starts to play, and hoooooOOOOOLY SHIT SEPHIROTH FROM FINAL FANTASY VII IS IN. People were, to put it lightly, fucking STOKED!!!!!! There were a few whiny “too many swordsmen” people, but they were drowned out for the most part…
...then came the costume reveals.
Each new fighter generally comes with five new Mii Fighter costumes, whether they be outfits, headwear, or a set of both. Sometimes they’re related to the character, sometimes they aren’t. The first four were pretty basic, with outfits based on Aerith, Barrett, and Tifa, Cloud’s companions from Final Fantasy VII, as well as a hat themed after a Chocobo. The fifth costume, on the other hand, led to a lot of disappointment.
I think we can all guess who it was. Geno fans were upset, and definitely made themselves heard. To make matters worse, Geno’s headwear was just a hat, when a mask would have worked well. Him being a “deluxe” Mii costume could have been a nice compromise to get him in. The aforementioned TerminalMontage made a short video on the topic, showing his disappointment with the results. Quite a few people made fun of Geno’s supporters for ever thinking he’d be playable, while others celebrated the fact that Sora or Lloyd could still have a chance. And all of this came mere months after the revelation that the widely-rumored Geno plush was in fact a myth.
In Conclusion
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate still has three DLC slots left, and everyone is wondering just who the final three will be. Personally, while I’m sure I’ll be content with whoever we get, there’s sure to be some fighting no matter what, and the only way to settle it…is in Smash.

General / QoL

• Dark Mode is now available as a setting and on by default. We also tied down the guy (who wrote the flashingly bright note about seizures) in a opthalmic speculum, in a dark room while opening and closing the said bright note for 3 hours.
• Light Mode uses grayish / genshin-impact-blue color scheme.
• Users can now map keys in settings.
• New user center setting : Allow Teyvat Times to publish my in-game alias (not username) and last 4 digits of my UID (When you set a world record of hunting fowl and etc.)
• Added setting for persistent aiming mode. If turned on, your character will try to get back to aiming mode even when you dash or you are knocked back.
• Going in and out of aiming mode is now much smoother. You can still dash, cast skills and still keep the cursor on. Inspired by Tombraider? Idk why I wrote this.
• When crafting an item and you run out of materials for it, the item selected stays in place and will not scroll all the way down.
• When choosing characters for the abyss, the preview button to see which enemies you will face is also there.
• When finishing an abyss floor, you can return to the abyss menu without ending the "run" to collect rewards or browse around.
• Fixed a bug with sucrose/xinqiu bonus materials when crafting.
• Fixed a bug with razor's c1 constellation not increasing his damage and not displaying a buff indicator.
• All buffs are now grouped/stacked by icon category, attack/defense/regen etc. Hovering the cursor in the grouped icon will display verbose info. (e.g. thrilling dragon tales, character talent, gouba pepper etc).
• Daily Login Bonus is permanent.
• Claim All and Repeat Buttons are now available in Blacksmith, Battlepass, Expeditions and the Like.
• VA/CV list is displayed instead of current selected voice language in character details. (e.g. if you go to a character screen, and have english voice language, you will only see english voice actor and you have to change language just to find out who the cn and jp voice actor is)
• Hide ui/hud setting and dedicated hotkey is added for creating fan-made cinematics.
• Unless it is an artifact or a weapon, an item previously recorded and consumed will no longer display as "new"
• Added shield bar on top of health bar
• Added party icon on the top right ui and a dedicated hotkey to switch parties
• Added hotkey to switch to your saved Comps 1 to 4
• Resin is now always visible at the top of UI (without needing to open up the map)
• Moved UID a bit further down by 2px so it doesn't overlap with the buttons
• Changed UID Opacity by 75% and has grayish text color, inspired by "windows is not activated"
• Added a space character on the launcher download text (e.g. "Downloading75%" into "Downloading 75%")
• Bonus damage from element-affected status (e.g. "deal 15% increased damage against cryo affected enemies" are enclosed in parentheses
• Expedition Slot Remembers Last Character Used
• Expedition Slot Remembers Last Hour Used
• All map objects are navigatable for consistent experience. and are not overridden by quests. You will always be directed towards the one you choose.
• Navigated Map Object Always Display Their Distance and Light Beacon (e.g. Leylines not having those)
• Added enemy weakspot zones with varying degrees (green,orange,red) in the adventurer's handbook, if you kill 150 of a certain enemy type. Humanoid types generally have the head as a weakspot.
• Fraction of Fraction of a bullet time effect and a red particle glows when you hit the weakest spot of an enemy.
• Reading and Clearing Story/Voice Lines syncs across all devices you own.
• Statues' Remaning Healing Energy now Visible on the Tower Itself. Dat Glowy thingies deplete when you use them.
• Statue's First Healing Tick Revives Fallen Characters by 10hp%. Second Healing Tick is Full Restoration or until Remaining Healing Energy Allows it.
• Critical strike Indicator
• Enemies in the handbook are dynamically arranged by type , then alphabetically. All hypostasis are lined up.
• All enemies are displayed in the handbook regardless of what region you currently are.
• Journal (J) is now binded to (F1), since this is where you look commissions for rather than the Adventurer Handbook (F1)
• Journal , Handbook and Archive are compressed and combined.
• We bought a time machine and went back to the time when we did the hypostasis event. The last challenge in the event is now a new hypostasis after the three old hypostasis.
• Andrius's Boss Fight is now properly a Trounce Domain, For consistency with other weekly boss.
• Changing a Team Member in your active roster won't override that slot in your saved team comp
• Active Roster and Saved Team Comps are now a seperate thing
• Selecting a Saved Team Comp will replace the Active Roster (so you can replace one member before "deploying")
• Clicking Deploy in a Saved Team Comps will immediately send you back to the game
• Switching Party Members is smoother than an oiled tits smooth, regardless of network latency. Especially in Single Player Mode.
• Resource and Player Position in the map has better visual clarity. (Imagine klee collecting wolf berries or philly mushrooms)
• Option to adjust map size , and resource/player icons.
• PC , map pin size collision reduced. If I clicked Taishan Mansion, I meant Taishan Mansion.
• Mora , Artifact Limits and etc always visible in inventory screen regardless of which tab you are on
• Blacksmith remembers the quantity of ores you refine
• Adventurer's Handbook remembers the last filter you used when browsing enemies (all, elite ,boss)
• Adventurer's Handbook points you the next enemy you are hunting (when you kill 1 ruin guard, you dont have to open handbook again to see the next one in the map)
• Adventure's Handbook knows ALL of the elite enemy locations. The list seem to be manually added instead of dynamic, possibly due to chest concealment similar mechanic. If you hunt ruin guards, I think the book only lists 4 of them in the whole map.

Gameplay

• Training dummy added near favonius hq. You have to do a story quest and spend resource to have it constructed.
• Enemies now have a difficulty rating. The higher the difficulty rating is, the higher character xp/gold they will provide. XP scales off your adventure rank level. Extra Large enemies have a guaranteed chance to drop 1-4* artifacts. They will respawn longer as a consequence. It doesn't make sense that a huge lawachurl and smol hilichurl both give 20xp.
• First and Second Dash now have different color indicators.
• If you used 2 dashes consecutively, a subtle glow/indicator pops around your character for when you are able to dash again. Inspired by Deadcells.
• Added Treasure Compass for Dragonspire.
• All excess anemoculus/geoculus/dendroculus and crimson agate can now be traded in the antiques shop.
• Treasure Compass will automatically change depending on what region you are on. If you don't have a treasure compass for that region, it will remain unchanged from what is the last equipped.
• Treasure Compass search radius is increased region wide. It will point the "nearest" treasure chest's direction. The color of the direction changes the farther you are.
• Treasure Compass will now consider puzzles as treasure, and display a different indicator. It won't tell you what steps to take to open it, though.
• Added a domain for gladiator and wanderer's troupe artifact sets. Artifact drop rate from world bosses are FURTHER reduced. Weekly boss artifact drops are unaffected.
• Prototypes will now drop at least once in the last weekly boss you face, if you are unlucky. The chance to acquire multiple prototypes within a week is unchanged. Drop rate is reduced consequently.
• World Boss Artifact Drop Rates are now visible in the adventurer's handbook.
• Prototype Drop Rates are now visible.
• Domain Artifact Drop Rates are now visible.
• 1-3* Weapons are now craftable. They will require a shit ton of ores and materials. Cold Steel for instance will require 200 pieces of mint.
• Added 6 new craftable weapons. Of course it will require prototypes you f2p piece of shit.
• Craftables, Shops and Loot have higher priority versus signboards and npc.
• Monsters and Enemies have higher priority (when attacking or casting skills) versus ores and flaming/freezing flowers and other resource objects.
• You can now equip up to 3 gadgets.
• New Action : long pressing a gadget opens up Gadget Wheel to switch gadgets without opening the inventory. Gadget goes into long cooldown.
• Domains now consider your condensed resin before saying you are out of resin.
• After completing a domain challenge, The start challenge object will respawn in the center of the arena. Game will no longer go into a loading screen. This is for the console peasants.
• When claiming domain challenge rewards, it also displays how much condensed resin you have (so you know you can still do 1 more, or gtfo) when it asks if you want to continue or leave
• Anemo Hypostasis will die if you manage to collect all the orbs, for a more consistent experience with other hypostasis.
• Weekly boss timers are now consistent. (Some have none , some at top, some at bottom)
• Dvalin's Mini Cutscene will hold your altitude (if you are gliding) when it triggers
• Childe's Mini Cutscene is now automatically skippable (named "skip when already viewed once" found in settings).
• Food is now sortable by type.
• When choosing a revival food, the icon sizes are reduced and displayed in a grid rather than a long line. When in single player mode it slows down time. Like witcher 3 or tomb raider.
• MRE can now hold all types of food, up to 3 slots.
• You can long click/hold the MRE button and switch the food it holds. Goes into long cooldown.
• Charged Longsword and Bow Attacks (for claymoreless comps) will now allow you to mine ores more effectively. This affects rock shield wall hilichurls as well.
• No one uses claymore charged attacks, even with stunned enemies. Claymore charged attacks now deal increasing damage the longer it was charged uninterrupted. You will get staggered and take more damage as a consequence. The last attack of a charged attack deals more damage and wipes half of the planet's population.
• Constellation can now be toggled on/off

Gacha / Shop

• The first cheapest crystal top up (60+60) has been buffed to (80+80) crystals. We realized it wasn't even enough for a single pull and we laughed until our sides hurt. As a tiny token of goodwill this will retroactively affect everyone who purchased this item for n amount of times the person has purchased this item.
• All in-game currencies (primo/fate/genesis/future except mora) are always displayed in the topright corner when wishing and shopping.
• Pity Counter. When it reaches 75 it glows like christmas.
• Gifting of purchase is now possible. In the case of chargebacks , the gifter gets banned. Gifts can only be sent after 60 days of purchase, and usable by the recipient after a week. Maximum of 1 gift per month.
• Gifter must have a track record of >= $20 of purchase within the last 3 months.
• Gifting is a sensitive topic. Chargeback scams fucks up game companies, banks and third party payment platforms.
• Purchase history and total is added to track expenses.
• Gambling addicition reminders when you rage spend. Also alerts a mhy employee when huge purchases are being made in error. It displays a huge red alert on the employees screen.

In Consideration

• Reworked Elemantal Mastery to also increase Elemental Skill Damage by 25% (base, some current/future characters might interact with less or more) of your total Elem Mastery. Consequently, Skill Damage from Attack Ratios are lowered. Think of ad/ap ratios in League of Legends.
• Character skills to deal compound damage of physical+element when using a weapon (e.g. diluc smash bouncing off pyro slimes, despite his big sword being sharp and shiny)

Items

• Wind Catcher Gadget now refills with anemo energy particles.
• Prototype Aminus/Archaic's proc cooldown refinement is restored. (Used to be 15/14/13/12/10)
• Boar Traps are now craftable and equippable as a gadget. You can leave it up to 48 hours to check if you caught something.
• Cast net are now craftable and equippable as a gadget. Can be used to catch multiple fish and crystal flies.
• Crab Traps , can be left in the wild for 48 hours and catches 3 crabs per trap.
• Inflatable balloon for safe swimming. Requires anemo slime materials.
• Portable towers no longer expire.
• Portable towers max deployed count is increased up to 5.
• Condensed Resin can now be used on World Boss
• Condensed Resin cap increased to 5.
• Artifact Inventory Limit increased to 5000.
• Weapon Cooldown Indicator displayed as status icon (sacrificial sword, archaic, etc)
• Seelie Companions give 1% passive bonus CharXP(Blue), CompanionXP(Purple), Mora(Gold)
• Crafting Table no longer consumable
• Portable Cooker no longer consumable (requires fuel , 1 fire stamen = 3 uses)
• Portable Warmer no longer consumable (requires fuel , 1 fire stamen = 3 uses)
• Items mined are ores
• Refined ores are ingots
• Option to refine Magical Crystal Chunk without resin, but with immensely increased cost and time

Coop

• You can see the general direction and how far an ally is like in pubg.
• In-game voice chat for random players in matchmaking

Battlepass / 12 Episode Anime

• Battlepass can now have excess points up to 3000xp , for the times when you do your reputation bounty and missions earlier before the next battlepass comes out.
• When a new Battlepass starts, it starts on mondays , so no mission gets left out. All excess days until the next new-battlepass-monday are dynamic and flexible.
• When using a condensed resin in a domain, it counts as 2 domains cleared in the Battlepass
• Cooking ingredients (sugar, bacon, cheese, etc) counts as cooking in the Battlepass
• You don't need to switch tabs in the battlepass when using claim all. Clicking claim all, claims all.
• New battlepass campaign for 12 episode anime. Milestones are displayed on website and forum. Sales earned are transparent in game and website. Inspired by dota 2 international.
• Percentage of battlepass campaign sales will go to anime funding.
• Having at least 1 season of anime puts mihoyo in the "mainstream" status in the leagues of Fate, Princess Connect, Grand Blue etc. It solidifies the IP.

Quests

• Option to abandon story quests (restart from scratch) to prevent blocking of coop
• Repeatable Quests Ideas below. Coop and matchmaking is enabled. 15~30 minutes long, walking pace. Not mandatory for daily activity/event/battlepass for people with little time to play. Gives worthwile rewards (3 pieces of adventurer's wit, 5k mora etc)
• Long escort caravan mission, from Mondstadt all the way to Liyue. From Springvale to Liyue. People and Caravan must survive. Enjoy the beautiful world of Teyvat, optional pit stops, coop chat/discord, region guard checkpoints and enemy ambush. Multiple client routes available. Go through dragonspire for a shorter, but more dangerous path. Get harassed by Fatui at borders. Board a ship and load the caravan. Get checked by Border Patrol for smuggled goods and diseases.
• Repeatable Town defense without towers. Defend the Town from hordes of invaders. Something fun with coop.
• Fatui and Friends Battle Royale. All npcs and doors disabled. You and the fatui bots duke it out. Healing only comes from special food that you pick up. Matchmaking enabled.
• Beach Defense. Prevent the Fatui from invading the coastline. Your friends rain arrows from starsnatch cliff.
• Beach to Mondstadt/Springvale goods escort services.

Elemental Reactions

• Vaporize's Steam deals aoe damage
• Overloads damage (electro->pyro) now deals x1.5 (pyro) damage
• Overloads damage (pyro->electro) now deals x2 (pyro) damage.
• Overload's knockback decreased significantly
• Superconduct's damage (electro->cryo) now deals 2x (cryo) damage
• Superconduct's damage (cryo->electro) now deals 1.5x (cryo) damage
• Superconduct's negative armor debuff is moved to Melt
• Melt gains the negative armor debuff due to the sudden temperature change, making surfaces brittle.
• Melt damage consequently reduced. (pyro->hydro) at x1.4% , (hydro->pyro) at x1.8%
• Geo New Reaction : Smoldering Rock or something (pyro->geo)(reverse not applicable) deals x0.3 (pyro damage) on top of crystallize
• Geo New Reaction : Mud or something (hydro->geo)(geo->hydro) deals x0.1 (geo damage) on top of crystallize, slows enemy movement
• Geo New Reaction : Snow or something (hydro->geo)(reverse not applicable) deals x0.2 (cryo damage) on top of crystallize, slows enemy attack speed
• Geo New Reaction : Seeds or something (dendro->geo) deals x0.1 (dendro damage) on top of crystallize, restores 3% of your hp. Or entangle. Prevents enemy movement (can still attacc and cast spells)

Enemies

• Enemies inside domains and abyss have their return-to-spawn-point-then-regenerate-to-full-health disabled.
• Enemy AI a bit smarter. Those with mobility skills (whopper, smol geovishap, cycin mages) won't follow you to drown in the water. The game will not check if you are wet , but if you are in a swimming state.
• Enemies attack cycle improve. Fixed bug when enemies stop attacking. Baedou Problems.
• Hydro Abyss Mage's and Hydro Fatui Gunner's Hydro Barrier now takes the same damage rate/ratio from opposing elements (cryo,electro) for consistency.
• Hydro barrier new opposing element : Geo. It makes it harder to maintain the water shield due to the mud soaking up the water and adding weight.
• Boss Childe's Spirit Whale Attack generates water in the sides of the arena, pushing you towards the center. You must have enough stamina to keep dashing to the sides before he does this, or you will have to perfectly dodge the spirit whale attack.
• Hydro SamaChurl now heals at a rate of +300/HoT per AR Milestone instead of percentage. This is for when you are hunting a LawaChurl Bounty that is near dead and healed to full health in 3 seconds. Having a fixed amount of healing ensures that it is big enough for the intended smaller enemies and portionally good enough for large enemies. The other option is to use different healing ratios for small and large enemies.
• Queen of Pain , I mean Cycin Mages have a stagger window when they are about to cast their almost-undispellable shield
• Zed , I mean Shadow Fatui Agent makes use of his shadows to dodge your attack sometimes.
• Smol Geo Vishap now drops less geo shields
• Smol Geo Vishap now uses his rolling attack near you, not 150m away from you.
• Smol Geo Vishap now burrows a bit less frequently
• Ruin Hunter doesn't stay in the air up and raining artillery forever , in consideration of bowless comps
• Fatui Cryo and Hydro Gunner Turn Rate Reduced by 10% when on Spray Mode.
• Primo GeoVishap now has a tired/exhausted animation, instead of standing still and looking at you and what life could have been for 10 seconds.
• Primo GeoVishap spin attack now has a 0.2 dodge window (previously none) and Spin Radius Decreased by 100m.

Characters

• Dvalin's Cutscene when you dispel his barrier is removed and much smoother. He just falls in place and no clipping.
• Character's "Main Stat" is now visible in attributes. Previously you can only know it when ascending or when using google, or if you really have a big brain.
• All characters passive talents are now combat related.
• All characters now have their own cooking/exploration/crafting/smithing talents. It is possible not to have OR have multiple talents in each category. We get it , everyone can taste what a good gravy is, but not everyone can make a good gravy.

Ayaka

• Alternate sprint binded to a different hotkey.
• Yes I came from the future.

Albedo

• Elevator can be activated to go up and down by using the F key.
• C2 stack counter / indicator via particles (think of razor geo sigils)
• C4 plunged attack covers albedo's sword in geo energy (like noelle, but smol)
• C6 crystallize shield has a different shape (leaf)

Amber

• Increased ultimate radius by a tiny bit.
• Allow targeting of ulimate by holding the ultimate button.
• If baron bunny is present in the ultimate radius, it will absorb all pyro damage and deal it as bonus damage when it blows up.
• If baron bunny was "charged" with pyro rain and hit with a C2 charged shot, it will trigger a micheal bay explosion animation.

Barbara

• Restored Barbara's Energetic Voice Lines
• New Lines sold seperately as Dark Barbara™ , comes with a Dark Dress
• C6 Revive indicator is now visible as a buff.
• C4 now generates flying energy particles instead of instantly regaining energy. Mind you that this is a fucking nerf to this piece of shit healer that freezes you. It's just that there's no flying particles when you use this hero.

Beidou

• Casting the elemental skill applies a strong taunt and re-initializes enemies attack loop.
• Bullet Time effect added when triggering a perfect counter, when playing in single player mode.
• The ultimate's chain lightning deals tiny spark damage if it didn't jump.
• C2 chain lightning has a different color.
• C4 buff is triggered when you do a perfect counter (Taking damage to activate a skill promotes bad gameplay)
• C4 perfect counter grants the maximum damage bonus
• C4 shield has a different color.
• C6 has aura on the ground (inspired by Dota 2's Necrophos , but purple)

Bennet

• C6 Ultimate pyro infusion just adds pyro damage to your attacks, and won't convert them fully into pyro.
• C6 Ultimate restores up to 100% hp.

Childe

• Improved manly posture when in aiming mode
• C4 Riptide slash and flash uses different coloparticles/animation
• C6 has an indicator when it works and when it is available

Chongyun

• Cryo Field's Cryo infusion just adds cryo damage to your attacks, and won't convert them fully into cryo.

Diluc

• What seriously? You really want more?
• Fuck this guy in particular
• Elemental Sword Duration Indicator added
• C6 his flames has some bluish tint

Diona

• Fixed shield duration bug and increased by additional 1.1 seconds per claw.
• Shield ratio based off max hp increased by 10%
• C2 reduces skill cooldown by -2 seonds (press) and -4 (hold). The coop shield is added by default out of the box. Anything coop should not be locked behind a paywall because it will hurt the game and fanbase.
• C4 has been reworked to grant normal and aimed uncharged shots 25% chance to deal charged attack shots.
• C6 radius is increased and uses a different color.

Fischl

• Ultimate now deals tiny bit of damage per 0.2 seconds tick when making contact with enemies (aside from getting hit by lightning once)
• Ultimate can fly/pass through thorn walls. I'm looking at you Dendro Samachurl.
• Shadow Raven Let Night F---!!!
• C4 Ultimate hp restored now scales off damage dealt by the ult.

Ganyu

• holding the elemental skill allows you to aim and won't make you backdash
• C4 Freezing Field changes color intensity per damage increase
• C6 free frost charged arrow now works with normal unaimed attacks.
• C6 uses a different particle color. Sometime it turns into a bazooka.

Jean

• Reduced Increased swaying of boobs by a tiny amount while holding the skill. You can kinda feel them slapping against your face. You can almost describe their softness and warmth in a minimum of 10 pages apart from you going sommelier describing how deep her sweat tastes like.
• Jean's Charged Attack Launch Height is too damn high that you cant even hit the enemy, so - Reworked Jean's Charged Attack : Holding the attack button launches the enemy in the air. If you keep holding it down you will perform 3 slashes in the air. If you let go early you will stay on the ground.
• Base Attack Increased by +5
• Jean can now pick up the slimes dropped by enemies and use it against them for a bighead move
• Ultimate radius is increased
• Ultimate Wall Mechanic Reversed. Enemies are now trapped inside. When you use your skill (usually to regain energy) you can air-wall slam them. Block Projectiles from outside.
• If any of you actually played jean support, a normal person would use ult to heal, cast skill to regain energy, then switch back to other characters. It doesn't make fucking sense to push them outside your wind arena because you want to fight inside the swirl/healing zone.
• Ultimate swirls every 0.2 seconds , depending on what elements are inside. Field Changes Color Each Time Like a Disco Ball
• Ultimate now slowly succs enemies to the center(without lifting them up)
• Ultimate Damage is consequently reduced.
• C1 Uses a different colored windblast
• C2 Buff Indicator
• C4 uses a different color wind field
• C6 Ultimate is now an aura and moves with you. To break away from "buffed area" convention.
• C6 Ultimate will get you to keep the windsaber for the ult's duration
• C6 Shield Buff Indicator via Particle and Status Icon

Kaeya

• Base attack incresed by 5
• Elemental Skill (Hold) Sprays Ice , think of Igni but Ice in Witcher 3 or DND's Burning Hands
• C2 Icicles light up when you defeat an enemy indicating that it really works
• C4 Barrier is of different shape
• C6 uses a different icicle particle for bling purposes

Keqing

• Aiming mode feels a lot smoother. You can aim while moving and cursor immediately shows and the kungfu pose is only done when throwing the stilleto.
• When in single player mode, casting your ultimate produces a bullet time effect.
• C4 Buff Indicator
• C6 Description is confusing as fuck.
• C6 Buff indicator
• C6 Makes your sword light up like a lightsaber.

Klee

• Imroved Torch/Bonfire/Campfire and the likes Lockon (if there's any to begin with)
• Throwing Jumpty Dumpty provides 0.1s iframe during her spin
• Ult is now no longer greedy. Pyro satellites remain when you switch characters, making our lovable klee open up for support options. Child support.
• C4 is now manually triggered, Pressing q again will make her explode, bigger damage based off remaining duration. less duration left, less damage.
• C6 klee uses different bombs

Lisa

• A lingerie shop is opened in Mondstadt to change her pantsu, socks and garter belt style and colors. Black Leather Tight Suit™ Sold Seperately.
• Option to wear glasses as a Librarian added.
• Climbing voice volume is re-mastered in asmr microphone, in all languages.
• Requires "i am of legal age" consent in the user center
• Elemental skill (press) aoe slightly increased.
• Base attack increased by 15.

Mona

• Alternate dash is now binded to alt key.
• Hydro Puppet now deals half damage upon cast and half damage upon explosion.
• C6 normal attacks use a different attack animation.

MC (Anemo)

• Palm vortex can be casted in midair to break your fall (but not propel you up)

MC (Geo)

• When you overlap geo boulders (aimed mode) it will trigger the geo explosion of the older rock, then replace it with a new one

Ningguang

• Holding the skill button surrounds her in mini jade screens , unable to perform any action until it is released or ends. Useful for cinematic stuff. Imagine tanking childe's whale attack. Or someone wants to recreate triple rashomon scene.
• C6 has a chance to use different attack animation.
• C6 star jade now resembles a primo gem.

Noelle

• Elemental Sword Duration Indicator added
• C1 heals have a special effect and voice line when conditions are met.
• C2 upgrade uses a different charged attack animation.
• C4 uses a different barrier color
• C6 upgrade uses different ult (possibly red with the same hue as her skirt) color.

Qiqi

• C2 reworked as -15% attack debuff
• C4 reworked as -20% elemental resistance debuff
• C6 cooldown/availability indicator.
• C6 has a different bling/color

Razor

• Transformation Duration Indicator added
• C1 increased damage now really works
• C1 now has a buff indicator that it really works
• C2 now has a special crit indicator
• C4 armor shred now has a (claw mark) armor shred indicator that it really works
• C4 (hold) has increased damage so it doesn't feel left out. It also has electro explosions similar to when you mine an electric ore as a special effect to indicate that you are C4 and have a big PP.
• C6 covers your sword with electricity (like diluc) when it is charged and ready
• Yes I play razor a lot.

Sucrose

• Fixed crafting bug not producing any bonus when using large quantities (say 100+)
• Improved lock on when blowing off dandelion flowers. Idk how she keeps missing them even at point blank range, Hell , at any given range.
• C1 if you overlap the wind nukes the second one will be a 0.1s delay then it will go off with a slightly bigger radius
• C2 ult has a different color
• C4 has an indicator that it works
• C6 buff indicator

Venti

• Wind current generated by skill (hold) allows him to fall slower without gliding, and allows him to shoot wind lasers. Ehe
• C2 Charged Shot produces a bullet time effect when shot at point blank or if all 3 arrows hit a single enemy. Sometimes he draws the holy lyre and it transforms into a primitive shotgun.
• C4 buff indicator.
• C6 uses different vacuum color

Xiangling

• Ultimate deals additional damage when cast at point blank because you get stab and bonk while she is twirling her spear.
• C2 last attack leaves a flaming trail special effect (inspired by kyo or iori from king of fighters)
• C6 upon cast, Xianling automatically does a speed-up full normal attack combo and then releases the pyronado normally (while covered in flames or some shit). If you are in single player mode and there are no other enemies within 150 radius the ult will cause the screen to black out, like in legend of legaia.
• C6 during the ultimate if it contacts with gouba's flames it produces micheal bay effects while raining carpet bombs and shit.
• Yes flat is justice.

Xingqiu

• Floating Swords Duration added
• Fixed crafting bug not producing any bonus when using large quantities (say 100+)
• C4 Allows you to hold the elemental skill for double backflips (inspired by law from tekken) cooldown is 1 month.
• C4 Elem Skill leaves a faint rainbow (when ulted)
• C6 Swords emit faint rainbow color. Rainbow power motherf-

Xinyan

• Hitting large enemies counts as 2 enemies.
• C1 buff indicator
• C2's level 3 shield has some bluish flames
• C6 charged attack uses a diffent attack animation or has an indicator that it works

Xiao

• Transformation Duration Indicator added
• C2 now leaves a trail of anemo energy that deals tiny bit of damage , trail lasts for 1 second and deals at 0.2s intervals.
• C6 plunge attack counts large enemies as 2.
• C6 plunge-attack-no-cooldown-empowered-dashes uses a different particle color and produces a bullet time effect when used for the 3rd time onwards. useful for cinematic purposes
• C6 during the bullet time you can sneak in a normal attack once per dash
• Bullet time is always disabled in multiplayer

Zhongli

• Increased pillar aoe by a tiny bit
• Generates energy particles per pulse, maximum of 1 enemy per pillar
• Base attack increased by 5
• Travelers can redeem promo code "WHOSYOURDADDY" for additional +5 damage, regardless if they have the hero or not.
• Attack ratios increased by 3% per attack category.
• C1 has a slightly bigger dong eherm statue
• C4 Chaos Meteor errrr I mean Order Meteor has a different rock color
• C6 shield uses a different color , come on you get the drift already.
• C6 Meteor is affected by the element of the barrier you are wearing. The element is dealt as secondary damage, primary damage is still geo. (flaming space rock?)

Why different coloparticles/animation when you have C1-C6 upgrade?

It makes whales feels special, and it gives F2P players something to aspire for. It makes you want to spend with all the bling. Particle recolor is easy peasy and can be deployed within minutes. Attack animations on the other hand are time consuming. It almost always put smile in people's faces when a whale shows up in a ferrari. "Dude check this out a C6 GeoDaddy joined my domain run. Look at the size of his statue. Oh my what a BIG meteor."

Why are you doing this?

It's just for my amusement. I'm still adding random thoughts now that 1.3 has launched. I don't care if nothing gets implemented. I would nut hard in my shorts with QoL and alleged bug/bugfixes mentioned in this post more than anything.

Afterword

Leave your thoughts below. Sorry and not sorry for the broken engrish , feel free to copy and paste whatever, use it wherever idc as long as it doesn't annoy or harm someone. Translate it in your language etc. No credits needed etc. Let your mind flow

After-Afterword

• Thanks for the awards and all kinds of reception
• You guys are awesome and insane that's a shit load of awards thank you.

Most of you are probably far to young to even know what "Love Boat" is, but the theme just fit SO well, I opted to go with that rather than the much more popular Haddaway's "What Is Love?" (though you'll see a little shout out to that later too 😉).
Anyway, sit back and let me assault your (mental) ears for a moment....
Love, exciting and new
Come aboard! Hanke's expecting you!
Love, and GBL's sweet rewards.
Let dust flow, it comes back to you!
The Love Cup, soon you'll be making another run,
The Love Cup promises something for everyone!
The "Nifty Or Thrifty" article series takes a comprehensive look at the meta for PvP Cup formats: Love Cup, in this case. As is typical for the NoT series, I'll cover not only the top meta picks, but also some mons where you can save some dust with cheaper second move unlock costs. Because for those on a stardust budget--and/or folks trying to save up some dust for the future--it can be daunting trying to figure out where to spend or not spend it. We all want to field competitive teams, but where can we get the best bang for our buck and where should we perhaps channel our inner scrooge?
Love Cup is an unusual format... there are only 105 Pokémon eligible in total, and of those, only about 60 (and honestly, far less than that) have any PvP relevance at all. Heck, most Cup formats have 150-200 eligible Pokémon, easily... even Kanto Cup has more than 105! So while there IS some diversity and variety to be had, there is also a higher than normal chance of the same Pokémon showing up over... and over... and over....
In fact, there is one core group that Love Cup discussions I've seen are honing in on, and I want to highlight the Pokémon that make up that core--and why they're discussed so often together--before I dive into anything else. Similarly to how Flying Cup was all about Aerodactyl, Skarmory, and Zapdos and then what could beat them, so will be my breakdown in this article.
So let's get to it!

BABY DON'T HURT ME...NO MORE

These Pokémon are at the very top of this meta. Their importance cannot be understated, to the degree that I feel compelled to cover them before I get into the standard run from 10,000 to 100,000 dust 'mons. You may not plan to use them, but you better have a plan to fend them off. Because otherwise... baby, they WILL hurt you. LOTS more.
THE CHARMERS
WIGGLYTUFF
Charm | Ice Beam & Play Rough
CLEFABLE
Charm | Meteor Mash & Psychic
Amazingly, even though you automatically think of "pink" when pondering Charmers, Wigglytuff and Clefable are the only two Charmers (and only fully evolved Fairies) that are actually eligible. And while they may look cute and friendly on the outside, deep down they are stone cold killers.
With well over a 60% win rate against the entirety of Love Cup AND the core meta, WIGGLYTUFF appears to remain the better Charmer once again. That Normal subtyping DOES make it a little bit squishier against Fighting damage, but it still easily dispatches of the Fighters that actually sneak into the format. And while there is barely any Ghost damage around, the fact that Wiggly double resists Ghost DOES allow it to beat both Lickis with their Lick fast move, whereas Clefable (with no resistance to Ghost) typically loses. (With caveat... see below.)
CLEFABLE does replicate nearly all of Wiggly's performance, albeit sometimes with a bit less left in the tank and sometimes needing to play matchups a certain way to get the win. To make the comparison between the two as simple as possible, I did some extensive side by side analysis on Wiggly vs Clefable in 1v1 shielding, and here are my findings:

• Wigglytuff alone is able to defeat XL Lickitung and Camerupt... Clefable has no realistic path to victory, at least assuming it does not come in with a shield or energy lead. Wiggly is also able to beat non-XL Lickitung, Lickilicky, and Milotic consistently, whereas Clefable wins against those are reliant on sticking to JUST Charm and are also a bit IV dependant.
  
• Clefable is uniquely capable of Charming down Porygon2 and Shadow Magmortar, again as long as it sticks with JUST Charm and does not try to throw any charge moves. Wigglytuff cannot win these battles without some type of advantage coming in.
  
• As you have probably gathered, a Clefable player sometimes has to rely on commiting to the Charm farm down (and sometimes a little luck!) to win certain battles. These include the Lickiboys, Milotic, Porygon2, and S-Magmortar, as noted already, plus Solrock, Ledian, and Corsola. Wigglytuff wins all of those besides P2 and S-Mortar whether it throws a charge move or not, so it is technically better at pressuring shields despite Clefable having the cheapest charge move of the pair (Meteor Mash, at 50 energy).
  
• Clefable DOES do better versus the Fighters (Medicham, Scrafty, Blaziken) due to fully resisting Fighting damage, but Wigglytuff still beats them all very, very comfortably.
  

Now all that said, it may be mostly academic as I believe a number of players are planning to run BOTH Charmers in the same line of three, alongside protection against Fires and Steels and Poisons that plague Wiggly and Clefable. Protection like the next thing on our list....
ALOLMOMOLA
Waterfall | Psychic & Hydro Pump/Blizzard
Alomomola is a nearly perfect pairing with the Charmers for one big reason: it makes a fantastic bodyguard, washing away the Fires and Steels that threaten the Fairies, beating the Charmers themselves on opposing teams, as well as fighting the Poisonous Bugs at least to a standstill (and usually emerging victorious there too, at least with a decent Attack IV). If a Charmer cannot beat it, then with very few exceptions, Alomonola probably can, or at the very least leave it nearly dead and well within Charm range.
I mean, if you really wanted to, you could stop with those three and likely call it a day. That trio essentially is the "B.B.M.L." of Love Cup. Running them all three together--or heck, just ONE of the Charmers plus Aloe--nets the highest possible score against the Love Cup meta in terms of Safely, Consistency, and most importantly, Coverage. The ONLY score that clocks in below an A is "Bulk", and honestly, I think even that is a B+ at worst. (I mean, what is it looking for there... Chansey? 🤣 You don't get much bulkier than that trio.)
But good as they are, those three are of course not the ONLY options... not by a longshot. There are plenty of other solid Pokémon to cover, and I'll be keying in on those that can beat down these Queens of Love Cup. And so, let's get into a more standard Nifty Or Thrifty review of the rest, starting with the cheapest and working out way on up from there.

10,000 Dust/25 Candy

SCOLIPEDE
Poison Jab | X-Scissor & Megahorn/Sludge Bomb
This might seem an odd place to start in with the 10,000k 'mons, but there's a method to my madness. Because Scolipede is one of only two Pokémon in the format with Poison Jab, and that move alone--combined with Scolipede's natural resistance to Charm thanks to being a Poison type--is able to completely farm down the Charmers. What's more, Scolipede is capable of finishing off Alomomola (depending on IVs, as linked to up above) as well as Vileplume. In fact, Scolipede and Vileplume are two of only FOUR Pokémon in the entire format capable of taking out both Charmers and Alomonola. I could probably rest my case there, but there's more, as Scolipede can also beat Medicham and Scrafty (neither appreciate Bug damage), Cherrim, Milotic, and even Lickitung... and that's of the XL variety too. Note that Scolipede wants both Bug charge moves more than Sludge Bomb; Bomb is better for one shotting Fairies, but Megahorn is necessary to beat Medicham and Lickitung, and those are kiiiiiiiiiiind of a big deal, so Horn gets the nod from me. Venipede is out there spawning in boosted numbers right now, so what are you waiting for?! Go get a good one while you still can.
ARIADOS
Poison Sting | Cross Poison & Megahorn
Scolipede lite. I don't know that I heartily recommend Ariados, but it CAN beat everything Scolipede can... well, except for Medicham, Lickitung, and Milotic. Ariados does beat out Electrode, which it can brag about to Scol that does not, but that's not exactly fair compensation. If you like Ariados and have always wanted to run it, this DOES look like your best shot by far... after all, it IS in elite company with Scolipede, Vileplume, and one other (secret, for now) Pokémon as the only 'mons that can slay Wigglytuff, Clefable, and Alomomola. But it's quite bait dependant and... yeah. Like I said, not strongly recommended, but you can do a lot worse.
CHARIZARD
Fire Spin/Dragon Breathᴸ/Wing Attackᴸ | Dragon Claw & Blast Burnᴸ/Overheat
With all the many moves Charizard has these days, AND being able to be a Shadow as well, I could fill half an article just going through them all. But I will try to keep this light and not get bogged down. So to sum it all up, let's assume you have Dragon Claw and Blast Burn as a starting point. With that in mind:

• Fire Spin typically beats Grasses (Vileplume, Cherrim), Fairies (Wiggly, Clefable), Lickitung, and Wing Attack Zard. Shadow FS is a hair worse, gaining Electrode but now losing to WA Zard and XL Lickitung.
  
• Wing Attack has been generating some buzz for the fact that it adds Slowbro to the win column, but it cannot beat XL Licki and loses to Fire Spin and Dragon Breath Zard. Shadow WA now DOES beat Fire Spin Zard, but loses that special win over Slowbro.
  
• Dragon Breath has been less discussed than the other fast moves, as people understandably assume it is less viable than other moves due to the prominent presence of the Dragon-resistant Charmers. However, DB Zard DOES still beat the Charmers, with the same HP left over that FS Zard does... it just has to land the Blast Burn, obviously, but that is also the case with Fire Spin and Wing Attack: no BB, no win. Dragon Breath Zard also beats FS and WA Zard, Slowbro like WA is able to do, and Licktung like FS is able to do. The one blemish is that DB does NOT defeat Medicham, not even the non-XL version. However, Shadow DB Zard can beat Medi, but is overall worse, losing to XL Licki and WA Zard. No bueno.
  

Also no bueno: we are now into the portion of the article where we're discussing things that can handle the Charmers OR Alomomola, but not both. Zard and most Fires handle the Charmers (and other things, like Vileplume and Bugs and Steels that harass the Charmers) just fine, but have not a prayer against Alomomola's Waterfalls.
TALONFLAME
Fire Spin | Brave Bird & Flame Charge
Arguably a better Charizard in this particular meta, and will require far less second-guessing on which moves to run with! While Talon cannot overcome Medicham as Zard (usually) can, it CAN beat Scrafty and Seaking, neither of which Zard can replicate, and beats down Slowbro and XL Lickitung far more effectively and consistently than Charizard can (25+ more HP remaining on average), and ALSO beats Fire Spin Zard in the head to head. Charizard has more quirks and is a bit more unpredicatable, but if you just want consistency (and have Medicham coverage elsewhere), you may like the feel of Talonflame a lot more in Love Cup. (And do note that Talonflame CAN overcome non-XL Medi, so there's that too.)
BLAZIKEN
Counter | Blaze Kick & Blast Burnᴸ/Brave Bird/Stone Edgeᴸ
The first of very few Fighters on our list, which is a pro and con. The good: easy wins against things like Lickitung and Crustle and Magcargo that are weak to Counter, AND things like Vileplume and Cherrim that are weak to Fire damage. (Blaze Kick is usually enough for those.) The bad: Charmers are a write-off, AND Alomomola (and most other Waters too) in this case. If you DO decide to run Blaze, I recommend Blast Burn most, as that at least is fast enough and powerful enough to beat Seaking. Blaze does good things, but even I will admit that losing to all of the "big three" is pretty discouraging. Just being honest here!
MAGCARGO
EmbeRock Throw | Stone Edge & Overheat
Magcargo is meta? Could it be true? Anyone that has followed my articles for a while (especially those focused on The Silph Arena) probably knows that I am a YUGE fan of Mr. (or Mrs.!) Cargo. It is truly unique with its typing and moves. The issue is that, while it has a lot of resistances (Fairy, Bug, Normal, Flying, Ice, Poison, and 2x to Fire), it has some very exploitable weaknesses as well (Fighting, Rock, and double weaknesses to Water and Ground). It's also a Fire that takes neutral damage from Grass and Steel, which become problematic whenever there are several of those around. Quite frankly, usually there are other Fire types that are just plain better. But in Love Cup, Mags is right up there with them. It beats the Charmers and the Grasses just as you'd want your Fire type to do, as well as Bugs Scolipede, Trashadam, Sczior and such. But it ALSO beats Charizard (as long as it doesn't have Dragon Breath) and Talonflame and most other Fires, manages to claw past Lickitung, and incredibly, even takes out Slowbro! You do have the option of running Rock Throw instead of Ember (as in the sims above), but while you do beat Crustle that way and become a VERY hard anti-Fire counter, you now lose the Grasses and Lickitung and Slowbro and... it's just too much. Just stick with Ember, and for once, roll Magcargo out there with confidence! 💪🐌
CRUSTLE
Fury Cutter | X-Scissor & Rock Slide
Speaking of odd Rock types, little Crustie is a nice option overall too, though I'll point out right up front that it doesn't beat the Charmers or Alomomayomama. What it does do it clean up most of the riffraff, from Charizard to Slowbro to Electrode to the Grasses to Seaking to Trashadam to Scolipede to any Lickitung that isn't driven all the way up to the very upper 40s. It's disappointing not being able to take out the very biggest names, but many can't and have to settle for that riffraff, and Crustle does it as well as (and much cheaper than!) most.
WORMADAM (TRASH)
Confusion | Bug Buzz & Iron Head
Convenient that the only Wormadam allowed in this format is the best by far. "Trashadam" is a very curious little guy. There are many Steely Bugs in PvP now, but Trashy still remains truly unique with Confusion powering out more standard Steel and Bug moves. Between these moves and its typing, Trashadam is a particularly good Fairy counter that also beats Vileplume (and HARD, too), Slowbro, Electrode, Scizor, and even Blaziken, and puts up an intense battle against Lickitung and Alomomola too. With excellent PvP IVs it adds Crustle and even PuP Medicham to its list of wins too! (If Cham is running Ice Punch/Psychic, as I recommend below, then Trashy already wins that anyway.) It doesn't win EVERYTHING you might want it to, but that's one heck of a résumé. I strongly recommend looking into building one if you can... though note that, despite the second move costing only 10k dust, Trashy has to be at (or nearly at) Level 40 to work, so it's still not exactly "thrifty".
DELPHOX
Fire Spin | Flame Charge & Psychic
No, it's not an impressive win total, but note WHAT Phoxy beats: both Charmers, Medicham, Vileplume, and Cherrim (and unlisted Trashadam and Scizor). Yes, Aloyomama will steal its lunch money and stuff it in a locker, but if you need a quick, cheap build to deal with Charmers and/or Medi and/or Grasses, Fenneken is still spawning quite frequently right now, so Delphox may be a good emergency fill in for you.
CHERRIM (SUNNY)
Bullet Seed | Weather Ball (Fire) & Solar Beam
Now this is an impressive win total, and includes a rare Alomomola sighting in the win column, and VERY solidly so. Now I know what you're thinking looking at that: "but JRE, it only wins because it baited a shield with Fire Weather Ball!" Well yes, but also no: Cherrim has ample time to forgo baiting and just go double Solar Beam and still escape comfortably. Solar Beam may normally seem to take longer to charge than quarantine has been dragging on, but with Bullet Seed driving it, Cherrim has one ready to go after only 7 Seeds and about 10 seconds, which is faster than Aloe can charge up its first charge move. And thus, Cherrim easily dispatches Alomomola and Milotic and Slowbro, as well as melting down Vileplume, Steely Bugs, Electrode and Lickitung with Fire Balls. As a 3+ season lead for my own Great League GBL team, I can tell you from experience that Cherrim puts a LOT more pressure on the Charmers than the sims show, too. If Aloe is a particular issue for your team and you can't (or just don't want to) build, say, a Vileplume, Cherrim has some really good play in this meta.
Oh, you COULD run it with Razor Leaf instead if you want a really hard Water counter, picking up Seaking along the way, but you now lose to Scizor, Vileplume and others with the drastic decrease in the number of Fire Balls you can spew out there. Not worth it, IMO. If you want a Razor Leafer, just scroll down about four lines....

50,000 Dust/50 Candy

VILEPLUME
Razor Leaf | Sludge Bomb & Moonblast
The only Razor Leafer you actually WANT to run with Razor Leaf in Love Cup, and unlike Cherrim, Vileplume comes with some very handy resistances thanks to a Poison sub-typing, enabling it to be the third (of four) Pokémon on the list of things that can beat both Charmers and Alomomola. And it can do that comfortably without ever having to throw a charge move! In fact, if you compare Plume using charge moves to Plume sticking to just Razor Leaf, you'll notice a jump in performance in the RL-only results. Why? Because as is often the case for other Razor Leafers (and Charmers to, in point of fact), the best way to play them is usually to kill something off with just fast moves and save up energy to throw a charge move (or maybe multiple charge moves) at the next thing to follow before dying. As odd as it may seem, sometimes throwing a charge move (that is blocked) can actually lead to a loss where just straight fast move spamming would mean a win. Take Crustle, for just one example: throwing a charge move means a tie, whereas just saving that energy and sticking with Razor Leaf means a win instead (albeit by a razor thin margin). Anyway, not to get TOO down in the weeds, in addition to the Waters and Charmers, Plume can also slice through Electrode and Scrafty. Shadow Plume is a small step backwards, with the drop in bulk leading to losses to Scrafty and Crustle no matter what strategy you utilize. Plume is dangerous in this format, and stands truly alone as your one real Razor Leaf option.
SEAKING
Poison Jabᴸ | Icy Windᴸ & Drill Runᴸ
So I keep teasing a fourth Pokémon that can take out the Charmers and Al Yomama. Well here it is. Thanks to Poison Jab, Seaking wears down the Charmers, softens them up with Icy Wind, and then finishes them off with a Drill Run to the face. (Or you can go for the throat and just double Drill Run instead... either way works.) In addition to Cherrim, I have ALSO run my own triple Legacy Seaking out there a LOT in GBL, and so it's not surprising to see that the best way to beat Alomomola is to hit it first with an Icy Wind (reducing all subsequent damage dealt by Aloe) and THEN start launching Drill Runs, just as I've done for a couple GBL seasons to Azumarill (though Azu, being a Fairy, is even more farmable thanks to Jab). Anyway, with those three handled, note that Seaking has some overlap with Vileplume, beating Slowbro and Milotic in addition to the big three, but then branches off from there to handle Fires (Charizard, Magcargo, Blaziken, etc.) and, ironically, Cherrim, who cannot quite reach two charge moves (the second being Solar Beam) before Seaking launches its own second Icy Wind to close it out. Vileplume has certainly been discussed in forums I have seen in excited tones, but not so much Seaking, which is a serious oversight. Yes, it requires a couple Elite TMs to build, but I promise you that it is a BLAST to play, and there's never been a better time to get started.
PARASECT
Fury Cutter | X-Scissor & Solar Beam
Parasect is yet another 'mon with a promising and unique typing (Bug/Grass) and decent moves that has never seemed to put it all together. But maybe, juuuuuuuuuust maybe, its moment has finally come? As a Bug--and one that double resists Grass, at that--it handles Vileplume and Cherrim, and that Bug damage also tears up half-Dark Scrafty and half-Psychic Slowbro. But as a Grass, it also resists Water damage and can hit at Waters with big fat Solar Beam, enabling it to also take out Milotic and Big Momma Olga. (The nicknames for Alomomola are just coming easier and easier the more I write. 😂) And before you point out that, yes, the sim results up there bait with X-Scissor before landing the killing Beam, keep this in mind: it can beat Milly AND Aloyomama (and Vileplume, for good measure) with JUST Solar Beam, no baiting required. Boom! Oh, and it also takes out (with X-Scissor) Electrode and Lickitung for good measure, just to further sweeten the deal. I love how this Cup brings some neglected but cool Pokémon into the PvP limelight, and Parasect could be a great representation of that.
SLOWBRO (and friends)
Confusion | Ice Beam & Psychic
A popular discussion topic, simply because it beats Alomomola and Medicham. It doesn't do a whole lot beyond that--just a couple Fires, Milotic, and Scolipede are about it--but this meta is such that taking out those two big targets is enough to be considered "core meta".
Of note: SLOWKING and even SLOWPOKE do the same basic things, with King also beating Bro head to head and Poke beating Fire Spin AND Wing Attack Zard (whereas WA can overcome the other Slows). EX Slowpoke looks VERY interesting with added wins against Slowbro, Crustle, and the Charmers too, if you're feeling frisky and somehow rolling in XL Slow candy.
And there are actually several other 'mons that fill a similar role. CRAWDAUNT (with Snarl) actually beats the same things as the Slows, though substituting (Smack Down) Crustle in place of Medicham... being half-Dark, Daunt has no chance against Medi's Fighting damage and loses especially hard to the Charmers. Exeggutor is not the right color for Love Cup, but EXEGGCUTE is. Like Slowpoke, it has to be maxed, but it has similar potential, handling the Aloe and Milly, Medicham (most of the time, at least... Ice Punch can be a problem though), and then Electrode, Vileplume, and Cherrim, mostly on the strength of resisting most of their moves thanks to being part Grass. And pushed up to XL levels (if you're crazy enough to try!), it can even beat Clefable, which is quite a nice pickup. Similar in some ways but quite different in others, SOLROCK gives up the Waters but hates harder on Fires, manages to beat Medicham, Scolipede, and Seaking, and somehow can also outlast Clefable in the right spot (but as with Exeggcute, Wigglytuff remains evasive). And there are still others like GOREBYSS, but they're even worse and not much more than curiosities.
ELECTRODE
Volt Switch | Foul Play & Thunderbolt
On the surface, Electrode has a set of wins that looks shockingly close to the Slows, despite being drastically different Pokémon. As with Crawdaunt, it replaces Medicham with a Crustle win (the better Fury Cutter variety this time), but otherwise the same names are all there: Charizard, Magcargo, Milotic, Alomomola, Ice Punch Medicham, and hey, also the head to head with Slowbro. But unlisted there are also wins against Scolipede and Scizor and even Trashadam that the Slows and Daunt and the others above can't beat. Electrode, by my estimation, does their job, but better, and I'm surprising even myself by saying that I'd recommend it over any of them. The one hangup is that it has no answer to the Grasses, but that seems an acceptable price for all the good it can do. I will admit: I underestimated Electrode in Great League in GBL the first couple times I faced it, and I learned not to be so dismissive after those first couple encounters. It's not the greatest Electric out there or anything, but it certainly does its job well enough, and there is practically no Electric competition in this meta. The closest is bargain basement Lanturn wannabe ROTOM (Wash), and it's just... not as good. Again, never thought I'd say it, but just stick with Electrode and you'll be fine.
KINGLER
Mud Shotᴸ | X-Scissor & Crabhammer
I almost listed this among the smattering of stuff the followed the Slows, but Kingler is a bit different. It doesn't really beat the other Waters, for one thing, aside from Slowbro. But it does still beat down the Fires, and also the Bugs... Crustle, Scolipede, Trashadam, Scizor, all of 'em. And as a bonus, throw in Electrode and Cherrim as well, things that Waters really shouldn't be beating, but here we are. Kingler doesn't get many of the big ticket names in the meta, but it does do enough zany things that you're likely to see somebody flexing their Legacy one during the week. Knowledge is power... be prepared.
PORYGON2
Lock-On | Tri-Attack & Zap Cannon
Alright, Porygon fans. This is your first (and likely) last chance to use one of them and have it be actually borderline relevant. Yes, it requires baiting and landing the Zap Cannon killing blow, but P2 can take out the big Waters (including Mama Olga... I'm not even TRYING to get that name right anymore 😅), and Crustle, and Lickitung, and Magcargo, and can force a tie with Wigglytuff. This is still, in my opinion, more gimmick than serious play, but if you were to ever try, THIS is probably the time.
LICKITUNG
Lick | Body Slamᴸ & Power Whip
Okay, look, I'm not here to debate the merits of the XL candy system or how likely/fair it is that some players will have grinded enough XL candy by now to push Lickitung to new heights. I'm just here to report the facts, and the fact is, XL Lickitung is very good. But even regular old Level 40 Licki is good too, still beating Waters (Aloe Vera included) thanks to Power Whip, plus Electrode, Vileplume, and even Clefable just by sheer bulk and a lot of Body Slams. The only things XL Lickitung brings in are anti-meta type stuff like Scolipede, Trashadam, and FC Crustle. Not that those wins aren't good to have, but my point is this: you can run a non-XL Licki and still fulfill its primary roles without missing a beat. Do pay attention to any above 1411 CP (as that represents a maxed, perfect IV Level 40 one) so you'll know whether it's an XL one you're facing and respond accordingly. Good luck!
For those wondering, yes, LICKILICKY is a viable enough (and much cheaper) replacement, but without Power Whip, it struggles versus Waters (losing to Alomomola, which is a particularly painful step backwards) and is just a bit worse/less bulky overall. Honestly, if you can't build a good Lickitung, I might look elsewhere to fill that slot on my team than to Lickilicky... but that's me! It's YOUR team, so do what makes you happy.
DARMANITAN
Incinerate | Rock Slide & Overheat
SIMISEAR
Fire Spin | Crunch & Flamethrower
Just a couple of alternative Fire types you may or may not have laying around already. Both effectively handle the Bugs (aside from Crustle) and the Grasses, and manage to overcome Wigglytuff and Clefable. SIMISEAR beats WA Charizard and Slowbro thanks in large part to Crunch, while DARMANITAN instead XL Lickitung, Ember Magcargo, and (barely) XL Medicham and is probably a better choice overall. But they're both generally behind other Fire types already discussed above.
MEDICHAM
Counter | Psychic & Ice Punch/Power-Up Punch
So a lot of nuances here, but I'll try and keep it simple. You want Counter and Psychic (the move) for sure, but beyond that it gets a little sticky. My recommendation is Ice Punch, as it's needed to get wins against Cherrim and Vileplume, whereas Power-Up Punch instead narrowly wins the mirror match... see why I lean Ice Punch? That all said, PuP MAY be better with XL Medicham, as it still manages to beat Vileplume without Ice Punch, still wins the mirror, and adds on Trashadam as well. Ice Punch is still needed to overcome Cherrim, however. You may not have to worry about XL Medi too much, though... the only notable wins you get at Level 50 that Medicham cannot achieve at Level 40 are Vileplume (for PuP) and Milotic (for Ice Punch). Aloe, Mags, Crustie, Licki, Electrode, Scrafty, Scizor, etc.... they all go down with regular or XL Medi. Might not have to break the bank to play Medicham in this format.
SCRAFTY
Counter | Power-Up Punch & Foul Play
Here things are quite a bit easier: the moveset is pretty well set (don't run Acid Spray, please), no real XL concerns. The one potential concern is that sims don't always handle Power-Up Punch well, as it usually ALWAYS burns a shield on it, so while Scrafty looks godly in the overall win/loss column, losing really to only Charmers and Medicham. (Though if you expand a little beyond the "core meta", there are a few Bugs and Fires that give it issues.) But it's hard to tell how much that can be fully trusted, as you're not ALWAYS going to get the bait. I think there is certainly enough there to give Scrafty a hearty thumbs up--it may be even a bit better than Medicham--but live testing will probably be required to find out HOW good it can be.

75,000 Dust/75 Candy

I'm going to run through these quickly and highlight just a handful that really stand out, and then throw a few more "spicy" ones all at the end. You can construct a team pretty cheaply in this Cup, so something this expensive has got to be REALLY good to get an in depth look. Something like....
ALOMOMOLA
Waterfall | Psychic & Hydro Pump/Blizzard
Yep, what else would I lead this section with? I think I've talked about Alomomyolo enough already, but let's just take a look at what all it can actually do. Beats the Fires, beats the Charmers, beats its closest competitor Milotic, beats Crustle (and Scizor... and Trashy). But Aloe is not without flaws... it does still generally lose to the Fighters, Waters with non-Water moves (read as: Seaking and Slowbro), Lickitung, Electrode, and of course the Grasses. Alomomola is not dominant by any means, but as discussed way back at the beginning, it fills in the gaps left by the Charmers almost perfectly. Alo/Charm is surely going to be THE core to beat.
MILOTIC
Waterfall | Surf & Blizzard/Hyper Beam
Alomomola, but not as good. Still beats the Fires and Crustle/Trashy/Scizor and Clefable, which is good, but cannot reliably overcome Wigglytuff and cannot hang with Momolala, which is very, very bad. If you just don't HAVE an Alomomola to run, this might be the best place to turn, but it's going to struggle to maintain exactly the same role.
MAGMAR & MAGMORTAR
Karate Chop | Fire Punch & Return (Magmar)/Thunderboltᴸ (Magmortar)
Yet again, more Fire options. Do note they both seem to actually run a little better with Karate Chop than their Fire fast moves... it's necessary to beat Magcargo, Magmar needs it to Lickitung, and Magmortar needs it to beat Fire Spin Zard and Seaking. (Conversely, Magmar with Ember instead defeats Electrode and Scolipede, and Magmortar with Fire Spin only brings in Scolipede.) And those are really the big differences between them: the potential wins against Lickitung and Electrode are unique to Magmar, and the potential wins versus Charizand and Seaking (both thanks to Thunderbolt) are unique to Magmortar. They both handle the Grasses just fine, the Bugs (aside from Crustle), and of course the Charmers. (It gets a little tighter with Karate Chop rather than Fire fast moves, but not much.)
SCIZOR
Bullet Punch | Iron Head & X-ScissoNight Slash
For when you absolutely need Charmers dead, call in the exterminator. There isn't much that can outslug the Charmers in a battle of JUST fast moves, but Scizor can. That alone gives it value, but then it also goes out and beats several other relevant things like Vileplume, Slowbro, Crustle, Scolipede, Lickitung, and Seaking. It's not cheap, but Scizor is an above average Fairy killer that plays as a pretty good generalist too.
Others that look interesting (but not QUITE interesting enough) include HEATMOR, FLAAFFY, and BISHARP, but there are other things listed above that generally handle their roles better.
And that's it! Thanks for sticking with me to the end! Hopefully this helps you balance the cost of where to save yourself some hard-earned dust (and candy!) and still have a good time in Love Cup.
Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter for near-daily PvP analysis nuggets, or Patreon. And please, feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll try to get back to you!
Thank you for reading! I sincerely hope this helps you master Love Cup, and in the most affordable (and enjoyable) way possible. Best of luck, stay safe, and catch you next time!

Most of you are probably far too young to even know what "Love Boat" is, but the theme just fit SO well, I opted to go with that rather than the much more popular Haddaway's "What Is Love?" (though you'll see a little shout out to that later too 😉).
Anyway, sit back and let me assault your (mental) ears for a moment....
Love, exciting and new
Come aboard! Hanke's expecting you!
Love, and GBL's sweet rewards.
Let dust flow, it comes back to you!
The Love Cup, soon you'll be making another run,
The Love Cup promises something for everyone!
The "Nifty Or Thrifty" article series takes a comprehensive look at the meta for PvP Cup formats: Love Cup, in this case. As is typical for the NoT series, I'll cover not only the top meta picks, but also some mons where you can save some dust with cheaper second move unlock costs. Because for those on a stardust budget--and/or folks trying to save up some dust for the future--it can be daunting trying to figure out where to spend or not spend it. We all want to field competitive teams, but where can we get the best bang for our buck and where should we perhaps channel our inner scrooge?
Love Cup is an unusual format... there are only 105 Pokémon eligible in total, and of those, only about 60 (and honestly, far less than that) have any PvP relevance at all. Heck, most Cup formats have 150-200 eligible Pokémon, easily... even Kanto Cup has more than 105! So while there IS some diversity and variety to be had, there is also a higher than normal chance of the same Pokémon showing up over... and over... and over....
In fact, there is one core group that Love Cup discussions I've seen are honing in on, and I want to highlight the Pokémon that make up that core--and why they're discussed so often together--before I dive into anything else. Similarly to how Flying Cup was all about Aerodactyl, Skarmory, and Zapdos and then what could beat them, so will be my breakdown in this article.
So let's get to it!

BABY DON'T HURT ME...NO MORE

These Pokémon are at the very top of this meta. Their importance cannot be understated, to the degree that I feel compelled to cover them before I get into the standard run from 10,000 to 100,000 dust 'mons. You may not plan to use them, but you better have a plan to fend them off. Because otherwise... baby, they WILL hurt you. LOTS more.
THE CHARMERS
WIGGLYTUFF
Charm | Ice Beam & Play Rough
CLEFABLE
Charm | Meteor Mash & Psychic
Amazingly, even though you automatically think of "pink" when pondering Charmers, Wigglytuff and Clefable are the only two Charmers (and only fully evolved Fairies) that are actually eligible. And while they may look cute and friendly on the outside, deep down they are stone cold killers.
With well over a 60% win rate against the entirety of Love Cup AND the core meta, WIGGLYTUFF appears to remain the better Charmer once again. That Normal subtyping DOES make it a little bit squishier against Fighting damage, but it still easily dispatches all of the Fighters that actually sneak into the format. And while there is barely any Ghost damage around, the fact that Wiggly double resists Ghost DOES allow it to beat both Lickis with their Lick fast move, whereas Clefable (with no resistance to Ghost) typically loses. (With caveat... see below.)
CLEFABLE does replicate nearly all of Wiggly's performance, albeit sometimes with a bit less left in the tank and sometimes needing to play matchups a certain way to get the win. To make the comparison between the two as simple as possible, I did some extensive side by side analysis on Wiggly vs Clefable in 1v1 shielding, and here are my findings:

• Wigglytuff alone is able to defeat XL Lickitung and Camerupt... Clefable has no realistic path to victory, at least assuming it does not come in with a shield or energy lead. Wiggly is also able to beat non-XL Lickitung, Lickilicky, and Milotic consistently, whereas Clefable wins against those are reliant on sticking to JUST Charm and are also a bit IV dependant.
  
• Clefable is uniquely capable of Charming down Porygon2 and Shadow Magmortar, again as long as it sticks with JUST Charm and does not try to throw any charge moves. Wigglytuff cannot win these battles without some type of advantage coming in.
  
• As you have probably gathered, a Clefable player sometimes has to rely on commiting to the Charm farm down (and sometimes a little luck!) to win certain battles. These include the Lickiboys, Milotic, Porygon2, and S-Magmortar, as noted already, plus Solrock, Ledian, and Corsola. Wigglytuff wins all of those besides P2 and S-Mortar whether it throws a charge move or not, so it is technically better at pressuring shields despite Clefable having the cheapest charge move of the pair (Meteor Mash, at 50 energy).
  
• Clefable DOES do better versus the Fighters (Medicham, Scrafty, Blaziken) due to fully resisting Fighting damage, but Wigglytuff still beats them all very, very comfortably.
  

Now all that said, it may be mostly academic as I believe a number of players are planning to run BOTH Charmers in the same line of three, alongside protection against Fires and Steels and Poisons that plague Wiggly and Clefable. Protection like the next thing on our list....
ALOLMOMOLA
Waterfall | Psychic & Hydro Pump/Blizzard
Alomomola is a nearly perfect pairing with the Charmers for one big reason: it makes a fantastic bodyguard, washing away the Fires and Steels that threaten the Fairies, beating the Charmers themselves on opposing teams, as well as fighting the Poisonous Bugs at least to a standstill (and usually emerging victorious there too, at least with a decent Attack IV). If a Charmer cannot beat it, then with very few exceptions, Alomonola probably can, or at the very least leave it nearly dead and well within Charm range.
I mean, if you really wanted to, you could stop with those three and likely call it a day. That trio essentially is the "B.B.M.L." of Love Cup. Running them all three together--or heck, just ONE of the Charmers plus Aloe--nets the highest possible score against the Love Cup meta in terms of Safely, Consistency, and most importantly, Coverage. The ONLY score that clocks in below an A is "Bulk", and honestly, I think even that is a B+ at worst. (I mean, what is it looking for there... Chansey? 🤣 You don't get much bulkier than that trio.)
But good as they are, those three are of course not the ONLY options... not by a longshot. There are plenty of other solid Pokémon to cover, and I'll be keying in on those that can beat down these Queens of Love Cup. And so, let's get into a more standard Nifty Or Thrifty review of the rest, starting with the cheapest and working out way on up from there.

10,000 Dust/25 Candy

SCOLIPEDE
Poison Jab | X-Scissor & Megahorn/Sludge Bomb
This might seem an odd place to start in with the 10,000k 'mons, but there's a method to my madness. Because Scolipede is one of only two Pokémon in the format with Poison Jab, and that move alone--combined with Scolipede's natural resistance to Charm thanks to being a Poison type--is able to completely farm down the Charmers. What's more, Scolipede is capable of finishing off Alomomola (depending on IVs, as linked to up above) as well as Vileplume. In fact, Scolipede and Vileplume are two of only FOUR Pokémon in the entire format capable of taking out both Charmers and Alomonola. I could probably rest my case there, but there's more, as Scolipede can also beat Medicham and Scrafty (neither appreciate Bug damage), Cherrim, Milotic, and even Lickitung... and that's of the XL variety too. Note that Scolipede wants both Bug charge moves more than Sludge Bomb; Bomb is better for one shotting Fairies, but Megahorn is necessary to beat Medicham and Lickitung, and those are kiiiiiiiiiiind of a big deal, so Horn gets the nod from me. Venipede is out there spawning in boosted numbers right now, so what are you waiting for?! Go get a good one while you still can.
ARIADOS
Poison Sting | Cross Poison & Megahorn
Scolipede lite. I don't know that I heartily recommend Ariados, but it CAN beat everything Scolipede can... well, except for Medicham, Lickitung, and Milotic. Ariados does beat out Electrode, which it can brag about to Scol that does not, but that's not exactly fair compensation. If you like Ariados and have always wanted to run it, this DOES look like your best shot by far... after all, it IS in elite company with Scolipede, Vileplume, and one other (secret, for now) Pokémon as the only 'mons that can slay Wigglytuff, Clefable, and Alomomola. But it's quite bait dependant and... yeah. Like I said, not strongly recommended, but you can do a lot worse.
CHARIZARD
Fire Spin/Dragon Breathᴸ/Wing Attackᴸ | Dragon Claw & Blast Burnᴸ/Overheat
With all the many moves Charizard has these days, AND being able to be a Shadow as well, I could fill half an article just going through them all. But I will try to keep this light and not get bogged down. So to sum it all up, let's assume you have Dragon Claw and Blast Burn as a starting point. With that in mind:

• Fire Spin typically beats Grasses (Vileplume, Cherrim), Fairies (Wiggly, Clefable), Lickitung, and Wing Attack Zard. Shadow FS is a hair worse, gaining Electrode but now losing to WA Zard and XL Lickitung.
  
• Wing Attack has been generating some buzz for the fact that it adds Slowbro to the win column, but it cannot beat XL Licki and loses to Fire Spin and Dragon Breath Zard. Shadow WA now DOES beat Fire Spin Zard, but loses that special win over Slowbro.
  
• Dragon Breath has been less discussed than the other fast moves, as people understandably assume it is less viable than other moves due to the prominent presence of the Dragon-resistant Charmers. However, DB Zard DOES still beat the Charmers, with the same HP left over that FS Zard does... it just has to land the Blast Burn, obviously, but that is also the case with Fire Spin and Wing Attack: no BB, no win. Dragon Breath Zard also beats FS and WA Zard, Slowbro like WA is able to do, and Licktung like FS is able to do. The one blemish is that DB does NOT defeat Medicham, not even the non-XL version. However, Shadow DB Zard can beat Medi, but is overall worse, losing to XL Licki and WA Zard. No bueno.
  

Also no bueno: we are now into the portion of the article where we're discussing things that can handle the Charmers OR Alomomola, but not both. Zard and most Fires handle the Charmers (and other things, like Vileplume and Bugs and Steels that harass the Charmers) just fine, but have not a prayer against Alomomola's Waterfalls.
TALONFLAME
Fire Spin | Brave Bird & Flame Charge
Arguably a better Charizard in this particular meta, and will require far less second-guessing on which moves to run with! While Talon cannot overcome Medicham as Zard (usually) can, it CAN beat Scrafty and Seaking, neither of which Zard can replicate, and beats down Slowbro and XL Lickitung far more effectively and consistently than Charizard can (25+ more HP remaining on average), and ALSO beats Fire Spin Zard in the head to head. Charizard has more quirks and is a bit more unpredicatable, but if you just want consistency (and have Medicham coverage elsewhere), you may like the feel of Talonflame a lot more in Love Cup. (And do note that Talonflame CAN overcome non-XL Medi, so there's that too.)
BLAZIKEN
Counter | Blaze Kick & Blast Burnᴸ/Brave Bird/Stone Edgeᴸ
The first of very few Fighters on our list, which is a pro and con. The good: easy wins against things like Lickitung and Crustle and Magcargo that are weak to Counter, AND things like Vileplume and Cherrim that are weak to Fire damage. (Blaze Kick is usually enough for those.) The bad: Charmers are a write-off, AND Alomomola (and most other Waters too) in this case. If you DO decide to run Blaze, I recommend Blast Burn most, as that at least is fast enough and powerful enough to beat Seaking. Blaze does good things, but even I will admit that losing to all of the "big three" is pretty discouraging. Just being honest here!
MAGCARGO
EmbeRock Throw | Stone Edge & Overheat
Magcargo is meta? Could it be true? Anyone that has followed my articles for a while (especially those focused on The Silph Arena) probably knows that I am a YUGE fan of Mr. (or Mrs.!) Cargo. It is truly unique with its typing and moves. The issue is that, while it has a lot of resistances (Fairy, Bug, Normal, Flying, Ice, Poison, and 2x to Fire), it has some very exploitable weaknesses as well (Fighting, Rock, and double weaknesses to Water and Ground). It's also a Fire that takes neutral damage from Grass and Steel, which become problematic whenever there are several of those around. Quite frankly, usually there are other Fire types that are just plain better. But in Love Cup, Mags is right up there with them. It beats the Charmers and the Grasses just as you'd want your Fire type to do, as well as Bugs Scolipede, Trashadam, Sczior and such. But it ALSO beats Charizard (as long as it doesn't have Dragon Breath) and Talonflame and most other Fires, manages to claw past Lickitung, and incredibly, even takes out Slowbro! You do have the option of running Rock Throw instead of Ember (as in the sims above), but while you do beat Crustle that way and become a VERY hard anti-Fire counter, you now lose the Grasses and Lickitung and Slowbro and... it's just too much. Just stick with Ember, and for once, roll Magcargo out there with confidence! 💪🐌
CRUSTLE
Fury Cutter | X-Scissor & Rock Slide
Speaking of odd Rock types, little Crustie is a nice option overall too, though I'll point out right up front that it doesn't beat the Charmers or Alomomayomama. What it does do it clean up most of the riffraff, from Charizard to Slowbro to Electrode to the Grasses to Seaking to Trashadam to Scolipede to any Lickitung that isn't driven all the way up to the very upper 40s. It's disappointing not being able to take out the very biggest names, but many can't and have to settle for that riffraff, and Crustle does it as well as (and much cheaper than!) most.
WORMADAM (TRASH)
Confusion | Bug Buzz & Iron Head
Convenient that the only Wormadam allowed in this format is the best by far. "Trashadam" is a very curious little guy. There are many Steely Bugs in PvP now, but Trashy still remains truly unique with Confusion powering out more standard Steel and Bug moves. Between these moves and its typing, Trashadam is a particularly good Fairy counter that also beats Vileplume (and HARD, too), Slowbro, Electrode, Scizor, and even Blaziken, and puts up an intense battle against Lickitung and Alomomola too. With excellent PvP IVs it adds Crustle and even PuP Medicham to its list of wins too! (If Cham is running Ice Punch/Psychic, as I recommend below, then Trashy already wins that anyway.) It doesn't win EVERYTHING you might want it to, but that's one heck of a résumé. I strongly recommend looking into building one if you can... though note that, despite the second move costing only 10k dust, Trashy has to be at (or nearly at) Level 40 to work, so it's still not exactly "thrifty".
DELPHOX
Fire Spin | Flame Charge & Psychic
No, it's not an impressive win total, but note WHAT Phoxy beats: both Charmers, Medicham, Vileplume, and Cherrim (and unlisted Trashadam and Scizor). Yes, Aloyomama will steal its lunch money and stuff it in a locker, but if you need a quick, cheap build to deal with Charmers and/or Medi and/or Grasses, Fenneken is still spawning quite frequently right now, so Delphox may be a good emergency fill in for you.
CHERRIM (SUNNY)
Bullet Seed | Weather Ball (Fire) & Solar Beam
Now this is an impressive win total, and includes a rare Alomomola sighting in the win column, and VERY solidly so. Now I know what you're thinking looking at that: "but JRE, it only wins because it baited a shield with Fire Weather Ball!" Well yes, but also no: Cherrim has ample time to forgo baiting and just go double Solar Beam and still escape comfortably. Solar Beam may normally seem to take longer to charge than quarantine has been dragging on, but with Bullet Seed driving it, Cherrim has one ready to go after only 7 Seeds and about 10 seconds, which is faster than Aloe can charge up its first charge move. And thus, Cherrim easily dispatches Alomomola and Milotic and Slowbro, as well as melting down Vileplume, Steely Bugs, Electrode and Lickitung with Fire Balls. As a 3+ season lead for my own Great League GBL team, I can tell you from experience that Cherrim puts a LOT more pressure on the Charmers than the sims show, too. If Aloe is a particular issue for your team and you can't (or just don't want to) build, say, a Vileplume, Cherrim has some really good play in this meta.
Oh, you COULD run it with Razor Leaf instead if you want a really hard Water counter, picking up Seaking along the way, but you now lose to Scizor, Vileplume and others with the drastic decrease in the number of Fire Balls you can spew out there. Not worth it, IMO. If you want a Razor Leafer, just scroll down about four lines....

50,000 Dust/50 Candy

VILEPLUME
Razor Leaf | Sludge Bomb & Moonblast
The only Razor Leafer you actually WANT to run with Razor Leaf in Love Cup, and unlike Cherrim, Vileplume comes with some very handy resistances thanks to a Poison sub-typing, enabling it to be the third (of four) Pokémon on the list of things that can beat both Charmers and Alomomola. And it can do that comfortably without ever having to throw a charge move! In fact, if you compare Plume using charge moves to Plume sticking to just Razor Leaf, you'll notice a jump in performance in the RL-only results. Why? Because as is often the case for other Razor Leafers (and Charmers to, in point of fact), the best way to play them is usually to kill something off with just fast moves and save up energy to throw a charge move (or maybe multiple charge moves) at the next thing to follow before dying. As odd as it may seem, sometimes throwing a charge move (that is blocked) can actually lead to a loss where just straight fast move spamming would mean a win. Take Crustle, for just one example: throwing a charge move means a tie, whereas just saving that energy and sticking with Razor Leaf means a win instead (albeit by a razor thin margin). Anyway, not to get TOO down in the weeds, in addition to the Waters and Charmers, Plume can also slice through Electrode and Scrafty. Shadow Plume is a small step backwards, with the drop in bulk leading to losses to Scrafty and Crustle no matter what strategy you utilize. Plume is dangerous in this format, and stands truly alone as your one real Razor Leaf option.
SEAKING
Poison Jabᴸ | Icy Windᴸ & Drill Runᴸ
So I keep teasing a fourth Pokémon that can take out the Charmers and Al Yomama. Well here it is. Thanks to Poison Jab, Seaking wears down the Charmers, softens them up with Icy Wind, and then finishes them off with a Drill Run to the face. (Or you can go for the throat and just double Drill Run instead... either way works.) In addition to Cherrim, I have ALSO run my own triple Legacy Seaking out there a LOT in GBL, and so it's not surprising to see that the best way to beat Alomomola is to hit it first with an Icy Wind (reducing all subsequent damage dealt by Aloe) and THEN start launching Drill Runs, just as I've done for a couple GBL seasons to Azumarill (though Azu, being a Fairy, is even more farmable thanks to Jab). Anyway, with those three handled, note that Seaking has some overlap with Vileplume, beating Slowbro and Milotic in addition to the big three, but then branches off from there to handle Fires (Charizard, Magcargo, Blaziken, etc.) and, ironically, Cherrim, who cannot quite reach two charge moves (the second being Solar Beam) before Seaking launches its own second Icy Wind to close it out. Vileplume has certainly been discussed in forums I have seen in excited tones, but not so much Seaking, which is a serious oversight. Yes, it requires a couple Elite TMs to build, but I promise you that it is a BLAST to play, and there's never been a better time to get started.
PARASECT
Fury Cutter | X-Scissor & Solar Beam
Parasect is yet another 'mon with a promising and unique typing (Bug/Grass) and decent moves that has never seemed to put it all together. But maybe, juuuuuuuuuust maybe, its moment has finally come? As a Bug--and one that double resists Grass, at that--it handles Vileplume and Cherrim, and that Bug damage also tears up half-Dark Scrafty and half-Psychic Slowbro. But as a Grass, it also resists Water damage and can hit at Waters with big fat Solar Beam, enabling it to also take out Milotic and Big Momma Olga. (The nicknames for Alomomola are just coming easier and easier the more I write. 😂) And before you point out that, yes, the sim results up there bait with X-Scissor before landing the killing Beam, keep this in mind: it can beat Milly AND Aloyomama (and Vileplume, for good measure) with JUST Solar Beam, no baiting required. Boom! Oh, and it also takes out (with X-Scissor) Electrode and Lickitung for good measure, just to further sweeten the deal. I love how this Cup brings some neglected but cool Pokémon into the PvP limelight, and Parasect could be a great representation of that.
SLOWBRO (and friends)
Confusion | Ice Beam & Psychic
A popular discussion topic, simply because it beats Alomomola and Medicham. It doesn't do a whole lot beyond that--just a couple Fires, Milotic, and Scolipede are about it--but this meta is such that taking out those two big targets is enough to be considered "core meta".
Of note: SLOWKING and even SLOWPOKE do the same basic things, with King also beating Bro head to head and Poke beating Fire Spin AND Wing Attack Zard (whereas WA can overcome the other Slows). EX Slowpoke looks VERY interesting with added wins against Slowbro, Crustle, and the Charmers too, if you're feeling frisky and somehow rolling in XL Slow candy.
And there are actually several other 'mons that fill a similar role. CRAWDAUNT (with Snarl) actually beats the same things as the Slows, though substituting (Smack Down) Crustle in place of Medicham... being half-Dark, Daunt has no chance against Medi's Fighting damage and loses especially hard to the Charmers. Exeggutor is not the right color for Love Cup, but EXEGGCUTE is. Like Slowpoke, it has to be maxed, but it has similar potential, handling the Aloe and Milly, Medicham (most of the time, at least... Ice Punch can be a problem though), and then Electrode, Vileplume, and Cherrim, mostly on the strength of resisting most of their moves thanks to being part Grass. And pushed up to XL levels (if you're crazy enough to try!), it can even beat Clefable, which is quite a nice pickup. Similar in some ways but quite different in others, SOLROCK gives up the Waters but hates harder on Fires, manages to beat Medicham, Scolipede, and Seaking, and somehow can also outlast Clefable in the right spot (but as with Exeggcute, Wigglytuff remains evasive). And there are still others like GOREBYSS, but they're even worse and not much more than curiosities.
ELECTRODE
Volt Switch | Foul Play & Thunderbolt
On the surface, Electrode has a set of wins that looks shockingly close to the Slows, despite being drastically different Pokémon. As with Crawdaunt, it replaces Medicham with a Crustle win (the better Fury Cutter variety this time), but otherwise the same names are all there: Charizard, Magcargo, Milotic, Alomomola, Ice Punch Medicham, and hey, also the head to head with Slowbro. But unlisted there are also wins against Scolipede and Scizor and even Trashadam that the Slows and Daunt and the others above can't beat. Electrode, by my estimation, does their job, but better, and I'm surprising even myself by saying that I'd recommend it over any of them. The one hangup is that it has no answer to the Grasses, but that seems an acceptable price for all the good it can do. I will admit: I underestimated Electrode in Great League in GBL the first couple times I faced it, and I learned not to be so dismissive after those first couple encounters. It's not the greatest Electric out there or anything, but it certainly does its job well enough, and there is practically no Electric competition in this meta. The closest is bargain basement Lanturn wannabe ROTOM (Wash), and it's just... not as good. Again, never thought I'd say it, but just stick with Electrode and you'll be fine.
KINGLER
Mud Shotᴸ | X-Scissor & Crabhammer
I almost listed this among the smattering of stuff the followed the Slows, but Kingler is a bit different. It doesn't really beat the other Waters, for one thing, aside from Slowbro. But it does still beat down the Fires, and also the Bugs... Crustle, Scolipede, Trashadam, Scizor, all of 'em. And as a bonus, throw in Electrode and Cherrim as well, things that Waters really shouldn't be beating, but here we are. Kingler doesn't get many of the big ticket names in the meta, but it does do enough zany things that you're likely to see somebody flexing their Legacy one during the week. Knowledge is power... be prepared.
PORYGON2
Lock-On | Tri-Attack & Zap Cannon
Alright, Porygon fans. This is your first (and likely) last chance to use one of them and have it be actually borderline relevant. Yes, it requires baiting and landing the Zap Cannon killing blow, but P2 can take out the big Waters (including Mama Olga... I'm not even TRYING to get that name right anymore 😅), and Crustle, and Lickitung, and Magcargo, and can force a tie with Wigglytuff. This is still, in my opinion, more gimmick than serious play, but if you were to ever try, THIS is probably the time.
LICKITUNG
Lick | Body Slamᴸ & Power Whip
Okay, look, I'm not here to debate the merits of the XL candy system or how likely/fair it is that some players will have grinded enough XL candy by now to push Lickitung to new heights. I'm just here to report the facts, and the fact is, XL Lickitung is very good. But even regular old Level 40 Licki is good too, still beating Waters (Aloe Vera included) thanks to Power Whip, plus Electrode, Vileplume, and even Clefable just by sheer bulk and a lot of Body Slams. The only things XL Lickitung brings in are anti-meta type stuff like Scolipede, Trashadam, and FC Crustle. Not that those wins aren't good to have, but my point is this: you can run a non-XL Licki and still fulfill its primary roles without missing a beat. Do pay attention to any above 1411 CP (as that represents a maxed, perfect IV Level 40 one) so you'll know whether it's an XL one you're facing and respond accordingly. Good luck!
For those wondering, yes, LICKILICKY is a viable enough (and much cheaper) replacement, but without Power Whip, it struggles versus Waters (losing to Alomomola, which is a particularly painful step backwards) and is just a bit worse/less bulky overall. Honestly, if you can't build a good Lickitung, I might look elsewhere to fill that slot on my team than to Lickilicky... but that's me! It's YOUR team, so do what makes you happy.
DARMANITAN
Incinerate | Rock Slide & Overheat
SIMISEAR
Fire Spin | Crunch & Flamethrower
Just a couple of alternative Fire types you may or may not have laying around already. Both effectively handle the Bugs (aside from Crustle) and the Grasses, and manage to overcome Wigglytuff and Clefable. SIMISEAR beats WA Charizard and Slowbro thanks in large part to Crunch, while DARMANITAN instead takes out XL Lickitung, Ember Magcargo, and (barely) XL Medicham and is probably a better choice overall. But they're both generally behind other Fire types already discussed above.
MEDICHAM
Counter | Psychic & Ice Punch/Power-Up Punch
So a lot of nuances here, but I'll try and keep it simple. You want Counter and Psychic (the move) for sure, but beyond that it gets a little sticky. My recommendation is Ice Punch, as it's needed to get wins against Cherrim and Vileplume, whereas Power-Up Punch instead narrowly wins the mirror match... see why I lean Ice Punch? That all said, PuP MAY be better with XL Medicham, as it still manages to beat Vileplume without Ice Punch, still wins the mirror, and adds on Trashadam as well. Ice Punch is still needed to overcome Cherrim, however. You may not have to worry about XL Medi too much, though... the only notable wins you get at Level 50 that Medicham cannot achieve at Level 40 are Vileplume (for PuP) and Milotic (for Ice Punch). Aloe, Mags, Crustie, Licki, Electrode, Scrafty, Scizor, etc.... they all go down with regular or XL Medi. Might not have to break the bank to play Medicham in this format.
SCRAFTY
Counter | Power-Up Punch & Foul Play
Here things are quite a bit easier: the moveset is pretty well set (don't run Acid Spray, please), no real XL concerns. The one potential concern is that sims don't always handle Power-Up Punch well, as it usually ALWAYS burns a shield on it, so while Scrafty looks godly in the overall win/loss column, losing really to only Charmers and Medicham. (Though if you expand a little beyond the "core meta", there are a few Bugs and Fires that give it issues.) But it's hard to tell how much that can be fully trusted, as you're not ALWAYS going to get the bait. I think there is certainly enough there to give Scrafty a hearty thumbs up--it may be even a bit better than Medicham--but live testing will probably be required to find out HOW good it can be.

75,000 Dust/75 Candy

I'm going to run through these quickly and highlight just a handful that really stand out, and then throw a few more "spicy" ones all at the end. You can construct a team pretty cheaply in this Cup, so something this expensive has got to be REALLY good to get an in depth look. Something like....
ALOMOMOLA
Waterfall | Psychic & Hydro Pump/Blizzard
Yep, what else would I lead this section with? I think I've talked about Alomomyolo enough already, but let's just take a look at what all it can actually do. Beats the Fires, beats the Charmers, beats its closest competitor Milotic, beats Crustle (and Scizor... and Trashy). But Aloe is not without flaws... it does still generally lose to the Fighters, Waters with non-Water moves (read as: Seaking and Slowbro), Lickitung, Electrode, and of course the Grasses. Alomomola is not dominant by any means, but as discussed way back at the beginning, it fills in the gaps left by the Charmers almost perfectly. Alo/Charm is surely going to be THE core to beat.
MILOTIC
Waterfall | Surf & Blizzard/Hyper Beam
Alomomola, but not as good. Still beats the Fires and Crustle/Trashy/Scizor and Clefable, which is good, but cannot reliably overcome Wigglytuff and cannot hang with Momolala, which is very, very bad. If you just don't HAVE an Alomomola to run, this might be the best place to turn, but it's going to struggle to maintain exactly the same role.
MAGMAR & MAGMORTAR
Karate Chop | Fire Punch & Return (Magmar)/Thunderboltᴸ (Magmortar)
Yet again, more Fire options. Do note they both seem to actually run a little better with Karate Chop than their Fire fast moves... it's necessary to beat Magcargo, Magmar needs it to Lickitung, and Magmortar needs it to beat Fire Spin Zard and Seaking. (Conversely, Magmar with Ember instead defeats Electrode and Scolipede, and Magmortar with Fire Spin only brings in Scolipede.) And those are really the big differences between them: the potential wins against Lickitung and Electrode are unique to Magmar, and the potential wins versus Charizand and Seaking (both thanks to Thunderbolt) are unique to Magmortar. They both handle the Grasses just fine, the Bugs (aside from Crustle), and of course the Charmers. (It gets a little tighter with Karate Chop rather than Fire fast moves, but not much.)
SCIZOR
Bullet Punch | Iron Head & X-ScissoNight Slash
For when you absolutely need Charmers dead, call in the exterminator. There isn't much that can outslug the Charmers in a battle of JUST fast moves, but Scizor can. That alone gives it value, but then it also goes out and beats several other relevant things like Vileplume, Slowbro, Crustle, Scolipede, Lickitung, and Seaking. It's not cheap, but Scizor is an above average Fairy killer that plays as a pretty good generalist too.
Others that look interesting (but not QUITE interesting enough) include HEATMOR, FLAAFFY, and BISHARP, but there are other things listed above that generally handle their roles better.
And that's it! Thanks for sticking with me to the end! Hopefully this helps you balance the cost of where to save yourself some hard-earned dust (and candy!) and still have a good time in Love Cup.
Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter for near-daily PvP analysis nuggets, or Patreon. And please, feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll try to get back to you!
Thank you for reading! I sincerely hope this helps you master Love Cup, and in the most affordable (and enjoyable) way possible. Best of luck, stay safe, and catch you next time!

Before I became a DM I spent a fair amount of time working for a professional wrestling company.
I won't say which one, but let's just say it once got sued by a federation of animal lovers and to this day features worldly wrestlers everywhere.
When I was first starting out as a DM, I read as much as I could (including tons of posts on this very subreddit). I built complex encounters and antagonists I thought were compelling, but when it came to running my sessions with them they often felt a little anticlimactic. That's because I was investing all my time in the payoff, and none in the build. And that's when I remembered everything I learned while I was working with in-ring talent on their characters their definitely real life selves: The build is everything. Now that I use pro-wrestling secrets* to develop my NPCs and encounters, I'm the best DM there is (ever was, or ever will be). At least to my party.
Below are a few lessons I learned from my time just outside gorilla, as well as a few examples of how they translate to your work as a DM.
For clarity these terms will come up alot, so here are simple definitions:
"heels" = "bad guys"
"babyfaces/faces" = "good guys" aka "your party/their allies."
"Heat" = "an emotional reaction." In general, you want the audience to be emotionally invested. Heat is the name for that investment, whether they love or hate someone.

*these aren't really secrets—they are the basic building blocks of compelling storytelling, and oftentimes can be boiled down to a single maxim: give the people what they want...just make them pay (and/or wait) for it.

Everyone Who's Anyone Has At Least One Nickname
The Undertaker is also: The Phenom, The Deadman, Big Evil, The Lord of Darkness, The Demon of Death Valley and 'Taker if you're nasty. And that's just one guy (and like, only half his nicknames...). Any of your NPCs that you're planning to throw at your party as possible heels should have a cool moniker or two to help establish their renown within the world you're creating.
Perhaps more importantly, each member of your party should be given the chance to earn one. You will be surprised how awesome your rogue feels when one of their NPC allies starts referring to them as "The Graveyard Whistler" following their steely performance during a crypt-based encounter.
As your players conquer various encounters, nicknames are a cool way to weave their exploits into the narrative on a regular basis. In my experience, you'll find players actually start incorporating their given monikers into the way they play their characters. A nickname is the first step toward turning your heroes into superheroes—don't miss out on the opportunity.
Everyone Sells for Your Superheroes (So When They Don't, It Means Something)
I put this close to the top because I think it informs everything about the way most pro-wrestling is booked. There are a few guys/gals on the roster that are unbeatable. Let's call them Superheroes (when they're a physically intimidating heel, they are usually referred to as "monsters"). Andre the Giant. Hulk Hogan. The Rock. Undertaker. Goldberg. John Cena. These wrestlers rarely, if ever, lose. If they do lose, it's typically under special circumstances (their opponent cheated, they were injured, they were supremely outnumbered, their opponent covered them in cement, or someone poked them with a very powerful finger). If a Superhero loses "clean," meaning none of that previously mentioned interference, it is often part of the coronation of a new Superhero.
Everyone on the roster sells for a Superhero. A Superhero's punches hit harder. Their bodyslams bounce you off the mat. Their penetrating stare sends you scrambling back up the ramp and into the locker room. Superheroes beat local competitors in 10 seconds, or destroy previously celebrated opponents in what are called "squash" matches—a total annihilation meant to reinforce that the Superhero is unbeatable.
Your party are fledgling Superheroes, and will reach proper Superhero status as they progress in level. So when they use a weapon or cast a spell or talk their way out of trouble, have your lower level NPCs sell for them. Basic bandits should flee in fear when your paladin drops that first smite. Skeletons shudder and rattle the moment a cleric shows their holy symbol—they know all it'll take to render them to dust is the whispered name of the cleric's god. A rogue's knife doesn't miss...the opponent got lucky dodging to the left at the precise moment...a twist of fate the target knows they're unlikely to repeat.
When Andre the Giant was bodyslammed and pinned by Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III , it was the culmination of one of the longest, most successful builds in pro-wrestling history. And it cemented Hogan as an unbeatable force, because he had dethroned the boss. The monster. The 8th wonder of the world. Andre sold for Hogan, and elevated him as the heir apparent.
By having your lower level NPCs (and even some in the mid-tier) oversell for your party, it'll mean more to your party when they come across a monster or miscreant that takes the full weight of a great weapon master's heavy swing, shrugs it off and hands them a receipt: a full bore punch to the throat.
Now your party is facing a formidable foe—they've never been in this situation before. And when they finally succeed in defeating this new opponent, they'll feel that much more unstoppable (which is, of course, when you throw an even bigger monster at them).
When in Doubt, Give 'em a Gimmick
Some cynics might view this as lazy storytelling (and they might be right!) but even some of the best written characters in history have a "gimmick"—i.e.: a shtick...a clearly articulated angle...that thing that sets them apart from other, similar characters. Walter White wasn't just a drug kingpin—he was a brilliant chemistry teacher who used his brain to rise through the criminal underworld. Tony Soprano wasn't just a mob boss—he was a mob boss dealing with panic attacks/depression, whose family issues were as complicated/stressful as his "family" issues. Dr. Gregory House is just Sherlock Holmes in a hospital. Gimmicks are pretty much character premises, but in pro-wrestling, they have a way of informing entire identities.
Sure, Jake "the Snake" Roberts is a mentally intimidating dude—but that notion gets cranked to 11 when he shows up in the ring with a cobra in a sack. The Undertaker, a walking avatar of death itself, who buries his opponents (including his brother!) alive, evokes far more dread and intrigue than "Mark Calaway" ever could. Some gimmicks are simple ("He's a warrior, but he's like...the Ultimate Warrior.") and others are complex (Randy Orton, the Apex Predator, is also known as the Viper because his most devastating strike can come out of nowhere). But all WWE gimmicks have one thing in common: They exist. Pretty much every Superstar has one.
If you're building an NPC you want your party to love (or hate), make sure they have a thing that sets them apart from the rest of the crowd. Give them a nickname only those who speak Thieves' Cant understand means they are "Untouchable." Give them a blade that can end a life with a thought which they constantly brag about never having to use. Give them a profession that also doubles as a menacing, occasionally ridiculous hint at their underlying savagery (see: Mark Henry, aka The World's Strongest Man," or Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, or Irvin R. Shyster, aka "IRS.").
A gimmick is a way to crank an otherwise unmemorable NPC to 11 (everything in pro-wrestling is cranked to 11. Like, 11 is the baseline), and helps your party know who they are up against—and in many cases, how they can shut them down [see Good Gimmicks = Great Weaknesses].
"Parts Unknown" = Instant Backstory
Don't have a good idea for a gimmick for an NPC or magic item? Take another cue from Vince McMahon's playbook and simply describe them as being from "Parts Unknown." Demolition, Papa Shango, Ultimate Warrior and a dozen other WWE Superstars were billed as hailing not from Omaha or Albuquerque or Cleveland, but from "Parts Unknown." Where is that? NO ONE KNOWS. That's what makes it scary/cool/intriguing. It's instant mystique.
Now, this might read as lazy to you cynics out there, but high level works of fantasy use the same trick: see: 2001's monolith. The Next Generation's Borg. Even the Joker, one of the most considered villains of the modern era was, until pretty recently, backstoryless.
Sometimes a mystery is more terrifying than anything you could come up with on your own. If the most powerful NPCs in your world can't explain the origin of a recently summoned entity or artifact, well, that sounds like something your heroes should approach with caution (or reckless abandon...their choice).
Every Good Villain Deserves a Valet
If you've got a heel you know your party is going to love/hate, double down and give them a valet. A valet can take many forms. Sometimes they act as a hype man/woman, other times they serve as arm candy, a prop to showcase just how much better the heel's life is than your own or sometimes they are a heavy...a wall of meat to keep the heel from taking any sort of beating (there is no faster way to build heat than for a heel who deserves to be punched in the face than to have them step behind a wall of harder-to-punch flesh).
Valets often serve to offset the strengths/weaknesses of the character to whom they are assigned. Again, this is classic storytelling. Falstaff and Hal. Laurel and Hardy. Pinky and the Brain. Pro-wrestling just does it overtly and often (usually to protect a storyline or, in some cases, hide the wrestler's weaknesses). Monsters like Brock Lesnar aren't much on the mic? No problem: enter Paul Heyman.
Give your charming rogue a droll sorceress who can snap her fingers and summon a demon. Give your posh prince access to the hired goon who single-handedly dominated your party in the area's underground fight club. Give your dragon-lich an incredibly weak but utterly hilarious underling who can add some levity to otherwise intense "my evil plan is falling into place" monologues.
When your heel has a great valet, your party gets the bonus of kicking the ass of two characters they hate. Alternatively, they have a character they can use as leverage against the heel (perhaps, like Heyman, they work for the highest bidder, and would be willing to turn on their client for a better offer).
Repackage Your Failures into Successes
Look: You're going to screw up. You're going to create a character you think is an easy sell: let's call him Rocky Maivia. Rocky Maivia is the future! He's gonna be amazing! He will create heat simply by showing up. And then, when the pyro goes off...well, it's a dud. Well guess what! You're Vince F'ing McMahon! You create and destroy characters with a thought! You don't have to stick with Rocky Maivia! You are not a failure! You are simply biding your time, letting the crowd think you've made a mistake. But as anyone who has met him will tell you he's told them, Vince McMahon doesn't make mistakes. Rocky Maivia? No. That's the Rock. He's always been the Rock. And now, he always will be.
Demented Dentist Isaac Yankem? No...that's KANE, the Big Red Monster.
Hunter Hearst Helmsly, the Connecticut Blueblood? Uhmm...no. That's Triple H. The Game. The Cerebral Assassin. The World's Most Hydrated Man.
"Stunning" Steve Austin? No, make that Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rattlesnake, he of the Gimme a Hell Yeah.
The "Bottom Line" as the artist formerly known as Stunning Steve might say, is this: you're going to invest a lot of time in a character and your party is going to wipe them out. You're going to create a fully developed backstory for a villain you think is dark and compelling only to watch your players laugh in your face and make a joke about the accent you gave them. You will toil over your notes for a delicious monologue and then watch your players choose to violently attack rather than listen to what your villain has to say. So many times. And you might think you have failed...but you are not a failure. You're Vince McMahon. You walk like this. You are a god.
If an NPC you thought had potential as a foil gets annihilated due to your party being OP, great. Did your party know he also made a deal with several different infernal authorities and is now a revenant that sleeplessly seeks their utter demise? Did your party know that nefarious noble with the funny accent was actually a weakened rakshasa who underestimated them but won't make the same mistake twice? That NPC your party chose to sneak by rather than encounter face to face? Oh shit, did you know that NPC has access to a helm of scrying and plans to see them later in more ways than one?
When something isn't working for you or your campaign, feel free to trash it. Keep the parts you like, or find creative ways to bring your personal favorites back in a fresh way. If your party can't remember the name of an NPC you care about...guess what (what!): to quote the Rock...it doesn't matter what their name is. You can rebuild them. You can rebrand them. You can return to glory.
Mediocre Heel + Good Heel + Random Heel = Great Stable
Similar to repackaging, and often a part of one, building a stable is a great way to take B-level talent and turn them into an A-list draw (see: The Shield. The New Day. The Nexus...sidenote: Stables often start with a definite article).
The truth is, your party is a stable—a group of individuals united out of convenience and (typically) a singular purpose (they might even have a name. It might even start with 'the'). But they all have individual goals. If your party can form a stable, why can't your NPCs?
Perhaps all the NPCs your players have dispatched over the past few months have decided they don't like the new heroes in town kicking them around, and they've formed a Justice League of their own. Or perhaps the seemingly disconnected events of the past year (and the NPCs associated with them) have all been part of a larger plan that's only just now coming into view.
You can get more mileage out of your lesser heels as well as more satisfaction out of encounters by having your party face off against familiar enemies who are now more powerful because they've allied with other known entities. "You mean the cult from three sessions ago that we barely defeated has somehow allied themselves with the New Kobold Order, from our very first session, to bring more gold to the dragon we nearly killed last month? Well...that sounds...bad." No. It sounds great.
Kick Them While They're Down (So You Can Lift Them Up)
You'll see this a lot when a babyface is angling for a title. It's not enough for a guy like John Cena to beat his opponent. After all, John Cena is a Superhero who could beat anyone. That's why you have John Cena get injured during a meaningless tag team match the week before the championship fight. Now he has a bad shoulder. Oh no! And the heel doesn't care that Cena has a bad shoulder. In fact, the heel just keeps working that shoulder over and over and over until Cena may as well be fighting the guy one handed.
But that's just it. When someone says "I could beat you with one arm tied behind my back," well, that's a claim that means more when you back it up. The crowd will root for Cena to defeat his foe in a weakened state (at least, the 10 and unders will).
Find a way to weaken your party so that the obstacle they're facing isn't just an enemy.
Curses. Exhaustion. Difficult Terrain. Anti-magic fields. Make them run a gauntlet (in WWE a gauntlet match is basically one guy vs. a series of tough opponents as part of one fight) by forcing them to experience more encounters in a day than Kobold Fight Club might deem reasonable or fair. You think Vince McMahon cares about what's fair? (spoiler: he does not). He cares about what sells. And desperation sells.
If your party feels overmatched, outgunned, outnumbered, and out of spell slots, it'll be all the more impressive when they come out on top. And if they don't...you do not have to kill them to "maintain realism." There are fates worth than death. You can just have one of your heels take everything they care about. Kick them while they are down. Rob them of their pride, their freedom, their dignity...their precious gold and preciouser magical items.
The struggle to get it all back will mean that much more.
Good Gimmicks = Great Weaknesses
The best gimmicks often come with something another wrestler could theoretically exploit for leverage. Macho Man Randy Savage didn't just love Slim Jims. He had a valet named Miss Elizabeth. They got married! It was amazing! While the Macho Man's gimmick wasn't necessarily "guy in love," (his gimmick was "guy on cocaine") but his devotion to Miss Elizabeth was definitely a big part of his character. That's a gimmick. And therefore a weakness. So what did Jake "the Snake" Roberts give the happy couple as a wedding gift? That's right: a cobra. (Note: It was not on their registry.)
Speaking of Jake "the Snake"—he had a number of snakes over the course of his tenure as a pro wrestler. The snake that was first introduced as part of this gimmick was named Damien. A guy who carries a snake in a bag into the ring with him is a great gimmick. But again, creates a great weakness. That's why Earthquake (a guy whose gimmick was that he was so obese he could shake the very earth just by sitting down) squashed Damien by sitting on him in the middle of a match. Twice! Earthquake later fed the remains of Damien to Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes. THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF PRO WRESTLING.
If your party is facing a great heel with a great gimmick, that character's weaknesses may be self evident. In Undertaker's case, for a while there his power allegedly came from something called "the Urn." Whomever controlled the Urn controlled the Deadman. The parallels to D&D tropes should be pretty clear there. "Monster X is unstoppable...but it's possible if we get our hands on Artifact 3, we can bring the monster under our control."
Giving your NPCs a weakness or two for your party to exploit is not taking it easy on them. In fact, it allows you to refocus your encounters on problem solving rather than just on combat. This is a great fix for DMs in the mid-to-late tier of the game when your party is effectively impervious to any threats. They aren't just fighting a villain—they are fighting a villain by solving a puzzle.
Stick it to the Smarts
In pro-wrestling parlance, there are "Marks" and there are "Smarts" (there are also "Smart Marks" or "Smarks"). Marks are people who believe everything they see related to pro wrestling is real/unscripted. Smarts are the opposite, and understand that pro wrestling is a business/form of entertainment with a specific audience (Smarks are Marks who believe wrestling is fake but love it in spite of (and sometimes because of) this fact).
Vince McMahon is not in the business of giving a shit what the Smarts think or think they know about what's happening backstage. The only time he cares is when so many Smarts think something is true that he can use their belief to his advantage (see: the evolution of Vince McMahon, friendly ring announcer to Mr. McMahon, arguably the greatest heel in pro wrestling history).
In D&D, metagamers are Smarts. The players who have read the Monster Manual (and the various supplementary titles) cover to cover and know every detail about every creature you could possibly throw their way, who are the first to say "they can't do that" when your NPC uses Dimension Door to move 500 feet instead of the published 400, who say things like "How can that creature deal 48 damage if we are Level 4? That's beyond our challenge rating!"—those are Smarts.
Smarts think D&D has rules—rules they can memorize and use against you at the table. You are absolutely welcome to agree with them, but that's not DMing like Vince McMahon.
If you want to DM like Vince, the only rule of D&D is you're the DM and whatever you say happened is what happened. Period. If you say it exists, it exists. Your players might ask "Why? How? Who?"—and you can flash the grin that accompanies ultimate power and say "Because I said so."
That's admittedly extreme, but so is the Smart's position ("This book I read before the session said X, Y or Z...so you're wrong" or worse "That's not how I do it in my game"). If you're feeling equitable, and want to split the difference (something Vince would never do, except for when he agreed to the Daniel Bryan push, but, I digress) meet in the middle and use what a Smart thinks they know against them.
As an example: Smarts know a creature only has 3 Legendary Resistances, and will strategize around this fact, holding onto a killer 7th-level spell for after that moment when the dragon uses its LR a third time. Well guess what, sucker—this ancient being has EIGHT Legendary Resistances, one for each of the centuries its been alive. Reveal this intel and watch them get sick to their stomachs.
This isn't being petty (though it certainly can be)—it's good storytelling. You have to keep people guessing. And if your players think they know everything about how your world works because they read an outside source, and you know this, you can flip their expectations back on them. Example:
Expectation: The Monster Manual says hags only hang out in covens of three. Reality: This coven formed a stable (see above) with two other hag covens, they call themselves The Triumvirate, and you just killed 3 of their sisters. The other six are on their way back to the nest. Whoopsie! Who's smart now?
The Art of the Swerve
Similar to using what your players know against them as a way of subverting/exceeding expectations, a swerve is a pro-wrestling term that basically means "doing something other than what the audience is planning to see," and typically involves storyline.
As the Monday Night Wars drew to a close, Vince McMahon sent his son Shane to sign the paperwork and purchase WCW as part of a cross brand takeover. Shane signs the paperwork (expected) but uses his OWN NAME (swerve!), effectively becoming the owner of a rival company overnight, and kicking off the "INVASION" storyline and like, 2 years of WWE content.
When CM Punk was dealing with contract negotiations, it was a forgone conclusion he would lose his championship bout with John Cena, as there was simply no way Vince would let someone like Punk win a championship, let alone against John Cena, to say nothing of the fact that Punk had cut a promo in the weeks prior that dunked on the entire concept of being a company guy. And yet—swerve—he walked out of Chicago and (at least in storyline) the company as WWE Champion.
Swerves happen in fantasy/sci-fi as well. Two notable examples both feature in spoiler-filled Game of Thrones recaps, and involve things that can/can't happen to supposed main characters' heads and what should/should not take place at colorful weddings. Those moments took the characters by surprise because they subverted the rules of the world (in so much as they proved rules only apply to those who believe in them) and they took the audience by surprise because they used our expectations against us. ("Sean Bean can't die! He never dies in anything!")
You can swerve your players by thinking through what their expectations for an encounter will be, then do the opposite. Or something to the left or right of what might have been promised. Or do something that isn't even in the same universe of what you'd originally presented.
Example: "Let's go visit the king and convince him to help the people of this fair city, who have been ignored by their leader for too long!"Expectation: There will be an encounter in the castle overlooking the citySwerve: There is no castle—it's a major illusion.
You can start with the swerve, then come up with the reasoning for it. You don't need to swerve just for the sake of shaking things up (although that's exactly what Vince would do), but you should recognize the swerve as a tool in your arsenal, and one that will help take your stories to another level simply by forcing you to think of the unexpected thing.
Always Build to the (Next) Pay Per View
This rule is more complicated now that WWE Network has sort of killed the idea of the PPV, but here's the gist: Each month there's a major event. That's where you want numerous storylines to coalesce— for the babyfaces to triumph and the heels to get their comeuppance.
This is a hard and fast rule: If the world wants nothing more than to see somebody punch Ric Flair in the mouth, do not—under any circumstances—let someone punch Ric Flair in the mouth unless they've paid for it. This is why championships rarely change hands on episodes of Raw or SmackDown—you want to build anticipation for a title change, rather than just allow it to happen without any buildup. That's how you make money off a PPV.
The more the heel needs to get punched, the more the heel should find ways to weasel out of it. For a defending champion, examples include:
-faking an injury to delay a match-no showing-refusing to fight unless ridiculous conditions are agreed to-getting themselves intentionally disqualified so the title won't change hands-getting themselves intentionally disqualified a different way so the title won't change hands-no showing again-faking another injury
This can take many forms in D&D. If the party wants to kill the evil princess, have them fight their way through a cavalcade of creatures and sneak through the sewers only to discover that (gasp!) the princess is in another castle. That castle is guarded by an anti-magic field and a bunch of buff tortles. So the party waits to try and catch the princess when she's at the Summer Tournament. But then the princess's courier shows up and explains the Summer Tournament has been cancelled. So the party convinces the realm's council to host a Fall Tournament. The party is pleased...they lie in wait. But the courier arrives at the Tournament in her place, with a note that says "ha, ha, ha. My castle is live-scrying the Tournament so I don't need to be there in person. Toodles." This will frustrate your party. The courier says "Milady has invited you to dinner at her castle." The party is skeptical, but they attend. The princess poisons their food...but the party was expecting poison so they're fine...but they don't know the princess is a simulacrum of the real deal, and when they slay her she turns to melted snow, and her dying words are "I'm sorry, but the princess is...in...another......castle-arrrrrggh."
By keeping your party's favorite foe just out of reach for a few sessions/encounters, you delay the gratification and help ensure that when they actually do get to land that killing blow, they've fought/sweat/died to earn it.
Blow Off to Something Bigger
When your party thinks they are at the end of their face off with a foe, don't be afraid to turn a Survivor Series showdown into a Wrestlemania-worthy main event. This is what I mean by "Build to the (Next) Pay Per View." You don't just want to delay the payoff/gratification as part of your build—you want to spin a partial pay off into something biggebettemore exciting.
In pro wrestling, this can take several forms, but the most common is "If you beat me at event X, you'll win a title shot at event Y," or the heel is forced into a contract signing to defend the title and it's a no DQ match so they can't weasel out of the defense this time, or the babyface finally (finally!) wins the title...but the moment the belt is in their hands after an utterly exhausting match, a new contender comes out of nowhere and challenges them to a title match, and the new champ loses before they can get to their feet. This starts a new program between your hero and a new challenger.
Generally, the last match in a program between two wrestlers is called a "blow off"—it's the match that ends one story for a wrestler so they can start a program with another one. Due to D&D's de facto episodic structure, you can create a blowoff in your campaign simply by introducing a new shiny object for your party to chase once they've finally accomplished a longterm goal.
The best blow-offs don't bookend a story—they start a new chapter, utilizing elements/moments/sleights/intel from the previous pages.
Once your party conquers the princess, they find out her courier is the one who's been pulling the strings all along, and he's kept the party busy long enough for his plans to finally come to fruition.
Or the dragon hoard features evidence of a conspiracy involving the disappearance of your party's favorite NPC...and it points directly at your party's paladin's dad!
Or the kindly treasure hunter who fearlessly led the party to the heart of the dungeon makes off with the loot while they're battling the creatures that guard it.
Finding ways to blow off into something bigger for your party will drive your narrative forward while keeping it rooted in the present moment. Your party's passions will be influenced as much by what you're telling them as what you're keeping from them. They'll be so motivated to chase the things that are important to them that they won't even notice how neatly it all connects behind the screen.
Know When to Humble Yourself
Yes, you're Vince McMahon—the walking, talking, mugging millionaire megalomaniac who runs D&D sessions with the confidence of a guy who has all the power. But even Vince knows when it's time to be sprayed with beer, or smacked in the face with a bedpan, or even have his head shaved by a future president.
If you rule your table like Vince would, you're going to frustrate your players. This is totally fine, provided you know when to allow them to release that tension on your creation. You aren't trying to beat them—you're trying to entertain them. Sometimes that means letting them have the W, especially when they've earned it.

There are dozens more examples but I feel I've gone on longer than Shawn Michaels v. Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII. So instead, I'll leave it here and leave the floor open for those of you who know more about DMing and D&D than I do pro wrestling to add your thoughts on the above.
And if you end up using any of the strategies above in your future sessions, give me a hell yeah.