Pokemon GO Battle League PvP: Kanto Cup Review

I don't play Pokemon GO for the GO Battle League (GBL), but I find it enjoyable in the rare times* that I do. 

* I sometimes get addicted to it that I'll play a week straight then won't play for two months.

Despite its issues and how frustrating it is to lose. I find joy in figuring out which team works best based on the Pokemon I have available. 

I also recently discovered the GO BattleLog app - it's a crowdsourcing application where you enter all your battles, and the app aggregates everything to update the PvPoke.com site. For fun, below are some of the teams I have tried and the results.

I only started playing GBL again three days ago because I was bored, and the Kanto Cup was ongoing.

Team 1: Nidoqueen, Dewgong, and Raichu

The first team I tested is Nidoqueen, Dewgong, and Raichu. In the ten battles I did with this team, they only won three times. A 30% winning rate is unacceptable - I don't like to lose, so I know I need to change things up. Below is the chart of the composition of teams that I battled against.

These charts are from using Nidoqueen, Dewgong, and Raichu 
Click the image to enlarge.

Team 2: Dragonair, Dewgoing, and Raichu

I changed one Pokemon from my Team 1, and my winning rate increased from 30% to 39%. Although, I did more battles with this team. I did 23 battles and won 9 of them. It still doesn't feel good to lose so often. It means that I am winning 2 out of the 5 battles. Because Dragonair is my first Pokemon, I faced more teams with Fairy- and Ice-type.

I am beginning to understand how crucial the type of your first Pokemon is.

These charts are from using Dragonair, Dewgong, and Raichu
Click the image to enlarge.

Team 3: Dragonair, Hypno, and Lapras

This team I used for 25 battles, and I won 63% of the time! It's crazy! My weakness with this team is still Fairy-type, but either Hypno or Lapras can deal with them. 

I also faced Alolan Marowak a lot. I get it, though. It's a Dark-type which is strong against Hypno, and a Fire-type which can defeat Lapras (ice-type). However, my Lapras and Dragonair both have water-type charge attacks, which helped.

These charts are from using Dragonair, Hypno, and Lapras
Click the image to enlarge

Bonus Team: Lapras, Hypno, and Snorlax

My hubby doesn't like GBL, so I play it for him. He has stronger Pokemon, so I went with a team composed of Lapras, Hypno, and Snorlax. The winning rate of this team is 71%! I used it for three days, and it won 53 battles out of 75. Crazy! I love it.

This is the chart of all battles by Pokemon type against Lapras, Hypno, and Snorlax.

You can see from this chart that Electric is usually the first Pokemon of the trainers I battle with. This makes sense because Lapras is a water type. This is followed by fire and fighting types as the first Pokemon because Lapras is an ice-type weak against fire and fighting moves.

Why is this team still winning? Lapras can handle the fire-type first Pokemon since it has a water-type Charge attack. While it won't survive the electric type and fighting type, Snorlax and Hypno can almost always finish the job.

This is the type of Pokemon faced by a Lapras, Hypno, and Snorlax team where they won.

The real difficulty with this team is when the fighting Pokemon is the last. Hypno is heavily damaged by then, and I only have Snorlax left, which is almost useless against a fighting type.

This is the type of Pokemon faced by a Lapras, Hypno, and Snorlax team, where they lost.

I am surprisingly looking forward to the next season of GBL. Let me know your thoughts on this data in the comments below.

All screenshots are from my account in gobattlelog.com. I highly recommend the app to understand the type of Pokemon you usually face with the team you have.