JWA Tournament: 1 KO Tournament

So Ludia used to do tournaments that allowed rarity of x, y, and/or z in for that weekend. Then starting this year, they came up with different formats that were rarity x, y, and/or z minus ability w or only with ability v. But in the end, nothing really changed. Now we have our first change to how the tournament itself functions with restrictions on creatures within a rarity. This week, you only need one KO to win a battle. Will this function correctly? Hopefully as it sounds like a cool concept. So, it’s my job to help you find what creatures work best this weekend. Again, this is still a pretty new format and things change. So these creatures look good on paper, but again it all comes down to in practice.

Before we jump into the creatures, first let's go over the Tournament itself.

The rewards for this Tournament are COINS - THOUSANDS OF THEM! You'll be needing these coins to level up your creatures to do well in Advantage Tournaments and in the Arena, so be sure to get your creatures battling in this Tournament. These are the numbers of coins you'll be able to get for each placement:

First up, let’s talk about all the BANNED creatures. If your desired creature is a flock or has some version of no escape, I got some bad news for you as they are all banned. On top of that, Megalonyx, Dracorex, and Eremotherium also got the boot for some reason. The flocks are just too hard to kill while trappers could make this tournament so lopsided with no escape, so it’s for the best they were removed from the format. As for the other 3, I can see Dracorex getting banned as it is pretty good, but Megalonyx kind of struggles in the last rare event and Eremotherium is even worse. But hey, they got banned. So, what creatures are good? Let’s find out.

Starting off, we got Albertosaurus. Albertosaurus has only 1 guaranteed counter this weekend and is a major threat to anyone who comes face to face with it. It hits like a truck, has a priority impact, good resistances, and has solid base stats. You need this on your team if you want to do well. And with the only guaranteed counter being Dilophosaurus, swappers like Nasutoceratops will be key in wearing it down.

Next up we have Titanoboa gen 2. This thing is on here for one reason: on escape dust cloud. This ability makes it the best anti-swap creature in the format. Pretty much nothing can swap in on a fresh boa safely. You just need to hope that you have something to deal with it because it will punish you harder than almost anything else if you don’t. Doedicurus is probably your best bet thanks to its high armor and shields to stall out ferocity if you have to swap on it.

Speaking of Doedicurus, that little ball of fun is up next and is a threat in its own right. Doedicurus is probably only second to Titanoboa for its swap punishing capabilities. It’s got high armor, good hp, solid output, and a punishing moveset. The only real safe switches on Doedicurus are ceratopsians, but they can also get in trouble if they miss their stun on the swap. If you want to break through this guy, you need something like Albertosaurus or another Doedic to do so.

Suchotator is unsurprisingly something that should be heavily considered in this tournament due to its great stats and diverse moveset. And being a bleeder, Suchotator’s effects can be felt after swapping out. It has solid base stats, a good neutral multiplier, and it can deal with the 3 rares you see above pretty decently. If you have Suchotator, I highly advise using it.

Nasutoceratops makes a comeback as the best rare swapper around thanks to Ludia getting rid of those pesky flocks. It has bulk, a defensive moveset, and a powerful swap move to deal with many of the most popular threats around. It can also be paired up with many creatures like Suchotator to really cripple some creatures, and when you only need one takedown to win, that ability is even more valuable. Consider this bulky swapper.

Another creature that hasn’t seen the limelight in some time is Marsupial Lion. With its powerful 1-2 rending abilities, Marsupial Lion can take out any opponent that cannot distract it or resist rend in 2 turns. It has a good speed tier and a priority move that helps it soak up any damage that has priority over it like killer instinct. And finally, it is immune to deceleration to make sure it gets the jump on those tanks. Marsupial Lion is looking pretty good.

With switching out being very important this event, runners are very valuable, and that brings us to Ornithomimus. With high speed, damage, and alright hp, Ornithomimus is the classic hit and run type of creature. Rampage and run combined with 2 moves that absorb damage makes Ornith a pain to deal with. It can also just take out many of the top creatures in the format. And if it doesn’t, then it can always run to a swapper to either finish off whatever it was up against or it just kills the opposing creature outright. If you want to slow it down, Doedic is your safest switch in while boa gen 2 is its worst possible matchup.

Another swapper that is something to consider is Eniasuchus. With higher speed and a more offensive kit than Nasutoceratops, Eniasuchus can swap in and deal some big damage with all its resilient moves. On top of that, it can also use dig in right away and swap out whenever necessary. This and Nasutoceratops should be your ceratopsians of choice, as one is more defensive and the other had more offense.

Now commons don’t really show up in rare events as their rare counterparts just do everything better, but with this format, one common looks very tempting to use. Dracorex gen 2 is a high-risk high-reward creature as it can come in and remove 40% of the opponent’s hp (not accounting for armor). However, if you predict wrong and accidentally swap into something like a Doedic coming in, you’re toast as Dracorex gen 2 on the field isn’t as strong as its rare counterpart.

Kelenken is another rare that is looking promising being able to safely swap in on the fierce creatures like Albertosaurus with swap in dodge. It also has a good priority move and high damage.

Since most of the best cunnings in the format are flocks, you really have Ornithomimus and Dilophosaurus. Dilophosaurus is a bulky cunning that denies resilients swapping in pretty well with its good output and defensive moveset that relies heavily on distraction. It is also sitting at a pretty fast speed tier for the format and can deny most resilients a safe switch in.

That’s really it. There are a few other good rares out there like Carnotaurus, which can be used as a sneaky counter-attacker to swap in and rend 33% of the opponent’s hp. You also have Cervalces, which has high speed and can put many resilients and almost any cunning in a tight spot. Even Dimorphodon can be used this weekend. This tournament is looking interesting and I like the creativity with these formats. Hopefully we see more formats like these in the future. Don’t forget to dart your epics and 2.14 is looking interesting with the reset tokens. Thank you for reading and happy playing.