I have a confession. I forgot that the Pokémon GO Battle League (GBL) Night was last Thursday until around 10:00 PM. I started playing at 10:00 PM and decided to complete 25 battles with the same team. Why? I was checking Twitter, and there were a couple complaints about always facing the same counter.
I was losing more frequently and thought maybe the GO Battle League (GBL) night gives you the worse match-up. However, I didn't let my emotions (the stress of losing) cloud my judgment. I decided to record all my battles using GO Battle Log and see if there's data to back up the claim that the GBL night gives you the counters for the team you have.
Quick answer: No.
On the first day at GBL, I documented statistics on the team I'm using, and it's the same team I used during GBL night. My team is composed of Altaria, Galarian Stunfisk, and Azumarill. I won 60% of the GBL night as compared to 64% during day 1 of GBL. The 4% is really a difference of winning 1 additional battle. I won 15 times out of the 25 battles I did during GBL Night and 16 out of 25 during day 1.
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| All Type |
What to check with counters?
I noticed that while the Type of Pokémon matters, the move set is also critical to the matchup.
Lead Pokémon
My first Pokémon is Altaria (Flying and Dragon-type with the same move set). The first Pokémon matched up against me are 6x Fighting, which is weak against Flying, BUT their move set includes an Ice Punch (Flying Type is weak against Ice Type Pokémon and move).
The second most common matchup for my Altaria is Electric Type which Flying is vulnerable against. How will you win when you face this type? USE YOUR SHIELDS.
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| Lead Pokemon Type |
My technique is to make sure my first Pokémon survive so that I can pick who to bring out next depending on their second Pokémon.
Second and Third Pokémon
My two other Pokémon are Azumarill and Galarian Stunfisk.
By type, the opposing trainers picked Fairy, Ground, and Rock three times. With a Fairy Pokémon, Altaria won't stand a chance because Dragon is vulnerable to Fairy type. Ground and Rock Pokémon usually have a Rock move which again makes Alteria vulnerable.
For these three Types, I use Galarian Stunfisk just because it's always been reliable, and all of them usually succumb to the Earthquake move.
The most common third Pokémon opposing trainers pick against my team are Ground (6x), Fighting (5x), and Poison (3x). These three types are stronger against both Azumarill and Galarian Stunfisk.
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| Second and Third Pokemon Type |
In general, I hate losing or failing, but I enjoy charts, so recording which Pokémon I face with the team I use is beneficial.
Record Your Battle
If you're serious about Pokemon GO Batlle League, I recommend using the GO Battle Log app. It will help you understand the weaknesses of your team and prepare to counter move set. My analysis of the Kanto Cup from last season is available here.
Here are a few more charts.
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| Pokemon Type when I won |
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| Pokemon Type when I lost |
All screenshots are taken from GO Battle Log app.