Every time we get a fashion week event I can’t help but think of the movie Zoolander. If you haven’t seen it, (first of all oh my gosh go watch it. Watch it now!) it’s a silly movie about an aging male supermodel who gets caught up in a nefarious geo-political scheme. I’ll avoid spoilers but I do see a parallel between one of the movie's subplots, where an up and coming model starts stealing Zoolander’s limelight, and the community discussion leading up to this week's event. 

 

While the event features long time meta staples like Toxicroak and Jellicent, all anyone can seem to talk about is this new Poison Starfish. Poor Toxicroak. Poor Jellicent. Seasons of solid service and the community is ready to forget about them the second a bulky Poison type waves a barb at them! This is one fashion faux paux we can do something about. Take a trip with me down the catwalk as we explore what this event has in store for battlers of every experience level. 

 

 

Event Basics

The Fashion week event will run from Tuesday September 27th until Monday October 3rd. It will introduce four new costumed Pokémon: Diglett/Dugtrio, Absol, and Toxicroak. It will also mark the debut of Shiny Furfrou! There will be many costumed Pokémon in the wild, event specific raids, eggs, and field tasks and a special Fashion Event timed research.

 

 

Notes/disclaimers

You have to be at least level 31 to collect XL candy and unless otherwise noted the IVs I list as target/ideal will be assuming a level 50 cap and the requisite XL candy. For a quick explanation on how PvP IVs work refer to this article. I would recommend using the rank checker of your choice, such as GOStadium, to see how good the IVs on your mons are. IVs matter but aren't everything. I would rather run a poor PvP IV Skarmory than a perfect PvP IV Fearow.

 

The Debut of Mareanie: Toxapex, So Hot Right Now

 

Tangent444, the hero we need, but not the one we deserve. Months ago, he predicted the potential predicament this prickly Poison type’s arrival could portend for the PvP community. I’ll leave the full article here (it’s a good read) but the tl;dr was that Toxapex with Muddy Water was going to be very strong and create a lot of situations where games became more slog-fest than fun. When it looked like Toxapex would in fact be released with that moveset, PvP Twitter was…less than happy. For whatever reason, Muddy Water was swapped out for Brine and a potential Poison crisis was averted. Toxapex is still going to be good, but may no longer have a toxic relationship with the PvP community.

 

A quick list of top meta things it loses to: Gfisk, Swampert, Sableye, Skarmory, Registeel, Diggersby. When you lose to top meta tanks, tank busters, AND anti fighters, your superstar potential is going to be limited. That being said, Toxapex still has that incredible bulk and some nice matchup wins against strong meta picks like Trevenant, Lickitung, basically every Counter user, and all the Fairies. I think Toxapex will find its place as being an incredibly good role filler with some generalist upside. 

 

High Priority Event Spawns

 

These are the event Pokémon that I would consider high priority to catch and pay attention to in this event.

 

 

Croagunk > Toxicroak

Leagues: Great, Ultra

How to obtain: Wild spawns, eggs, raids, tasks

XL needed? Yes, for Ultra

 

Once upon a time, this Poison frog was a premium player in the Open Great meta, punching tanks and sludging Azumaril left and right. That time has passed but Toxicroak still has play in Open Great while being an incredibly strong pick in limited metas, such as Sinnoh Cup. Make sure you have a Toxi ready for both leagues by the end of the event and bonus points if they are shiny hats!

 

 

Frillish > Jellicent 

Leagues: Great, Ultra

How to obtain: Wild spawns

XL needed? Yes, for Ultra

 

In this house we….sorry I blacked out for second what were we talking about? Oh right, the Ghost Jellyfish, Jellicent.

 

Jellicent has faded from prominence as a top pick in Open Great League but it is still very good there and is often a star in limited metas like Fossil Cup. 

 

Jellicent is a stud in Ultra League. Its performance in the recent Weather Cup showed that it will be great in Ultra Limited Metas as well as Open. Ultra Jelli requires a lot of XL candy so don’t blow the opportunity to work on this XL project. 

 

Mareanie > Toxapex

Leagues: Great

How to obtain: Wild spawns, research and raids

XL needed? Maybe a TINY amount for top top ranked ones but nothing crazy

 

 

Yveltal

League: Master

How to obtain: 5 star raids

XL needed? Only for Open (L50) Masters

 

When Yveltal was released it was THE prodigal bird. It was the long awaited clamp to shutdown the ever present Mewtwo safe switch and check the cookie cutter teams like Dialga-Groudon-M2. 

That lasted all of about….a month. That’s when Zacian made its debut and claimed its Crowne as the ruler of Master League. Unsurprisingly, a Zacian dominated meta was not a friendly place for a Dark/Flying type and Yveltal quickly fell from grace.

Yveltal is still pretty good but is now more of a role filling specialist and Mewtwo/Tina mauler than a superstar generalist. Its value may go up in the future as several Generation 7 Legendaries are Psychic types, but I myself am not psychic and can’t say for sure how that will shake out or how long that will take. Aim for the hundo but it’s not a super high priority for Level 50.

 

Scraggy > Scrafty

Leagues: Great, Ultra

How to obtain: Raids

XL needed? Yes, for Ultra

 

Scrafty is pretty darn good in Great Legaue, solidly beating a lot of Steels, Psychics, and Ghosts. It struggles in a potential Fairy + Poison meta, but a good Counter user will always have play in PvP. 

 

While Scrafty does fine in Great, it really shines in the Ultra League. What Scrafty likes seeing is Ghosts and things that are weak to Counter. What does Open Ultra happen to have a bunch of? Things like Registeel, Walrein, and Tina. A Scrafty paradise. Get a good Scrafty for Ultra, trade for those XL candies, and maybe buy Scrafty a pair of pants that fits. 

 

 

The Not Important but Why Not? Tier

These mons aren’t super important or worth stressing over, but…I mean you’re already out playing the event! You’re already saving tons of event junk. Why not devote a few spots to these picks if you can afford to do so. 

 

 

Murkrow > Honchkrow

Leagues: Great, Ultra

How to obtain: Wild spawns, tasks

 

Like in the case of Yveltal or Mandibuzz, the Dark/Flying typing makes Honchkrow an intriguing Pokémon. The problem is that Honchkrow makes paper mache look sturdy and durable. It’s too fragile to be a major player in the Great League. Just use Mandibuzz. It’s also not that good in Ultra, but its best shot at viability will come in Ultra themed cups, especially ones with the “Classic” tag.

 

 

Glameow > Purugly 

Leagues: Great

How to obtain: Wild spawns, tasks

 

This apex fluffy cat once held a place somewhere between meme and niche in Open Great League. As is often the case, these picks get worse and power crept over time and Purugly can go back to what it does best: ending Nuzlocke runs in Pokémon Platnium. 

 

 

Gothita > Gothitelle

Leagues: Ultra

How to obtain: Wild spawns

 

At the end of the day Gothitelle is just a sub par Confusion user that will likely never see much serious usage in Great League formats. Ok stats and access to Rock Slide might equal some play in themed Ultra cups. 

 

 

Eevee > A bunch of things

Leagues: Great, Ultra

How to obtain: Tasks

 

Umbreon is good in Great and Ultra League. Sylveon (especially lately with Quick Attack) sees some play in Ultra League formats. Glaceon used to see play as an alternative Ice type. Vaporeon sees a tiny tiny amount of play in limited Great League metas. That’s about all I can say for the Eevolutions. You’d have to use an EliteTM to make evolved Evee from this event work, so probably not worth the time and effort, but bank any hundos as future Umbreon for Ultra League. 

 

Trash Tier

Mentioning these spawns mostly so you can expedite explaining to your locals why they aren’t good/important

 

 

Lopunny: Pro: Has Double Kick now. Con: Has Fire Punch and Focus Blast as charge moves. Yuck. 

 

Shinx: Can’t evolve

 

Kirlia: Bad. Can’t evolve.  

 

Butterfree: Very cute but not Beedrill and not Wormadam. 

Blitzle: Bad. Can’t evolve.

Absol: A classic day 1 of the season meme. Hard hitting moves but faints to a stiff breeze. 

 

Skitty: Charm Delcatty is hype but terrible

 

Diglett > Dugtrio: I forgot about this mon completely at first. Enough said. 

 

Other Considerations 

 

XL Projects

Rank 1 Jellicent for Ultra requires 296 XL Candy. Have a Ghost or Water Type Mega Active for bonus XL Candy

 

Rank 1 Toxicroak for Ultra requires 165 XL Candy. Have a Poison or Fighting type Mega active for bonus XL Candy. 

 

Rank 1 Scrafty for Ultra requires 296 XL Candy. 

Have a Dark or Fighting Type Mega active for bonus XL Candy. 

 

Rank 1 Umbreon for Ultra is a hundo and requires 296 XL Candy. Have a Normal type Mega active for bonus XL Eevee Candy. 

Mega Gyarados covers two of these, while Mega Lopunny covers three. Given that the current raid boss, Yveltal, is a Dark/Flying type and that Toxicroak only requires 165 XL, I will go ahead and proclaim Mega Gyarados as my pick for the premium Mega for this event. That being said, go with whatever helps your collection most!

 

Costume Toxicroak?
If you saved any costume Croagunk with PvP IVs from previous fashion events, your hoarding may have paid off! Can’t imagine who would be silly enough to do that though…oh wait


Little Cup Hoarding Index

Once upon a time, life with Little Cup was simple. We knew it could only be the first stage of mons that evolved. Now it seems like basically all mons are fair game. Until we have more little cups like Little Jungle, stashing evolved forms under 500 CP is still INCREDIBLY speculative but such is life. Anyways, in order of how much people will judge you for keeping these mons for Little Cup

 

Smart: 😩

Reasonable: Frillish, Eevee

Starting to get questionable:Croagunk, Mareanie, Mukrow

Super Speculative: Any evolution

Full On Hoarder: Shinx, Blitzle, Gothita, Skittty, Glameow

 

Conclusion

As you can see, what this event lacks in PvP depth it makes up for with top end strength and adorable costumes. Toxapex, Scrafty, and Toxicroak round out the core of PvP must haves while plenty of other picks and projects should keep all battlers busy this week. So don’t be fashionably late for these spawns, lest your PvP collection become so last season.