My wife got her first Master BP ticket yesterday, and given that fact, I imagine that...a good portion of people are coming up to or have received it as well. So with that in mind, I’m going to talk about all the BP pairs in a broad sense, and talk about which ones I think are super worth it, and which are...you know, maybe not so great.
There are two categories with the BP units: the regular kind, and the Master kind. At present, there are five regular kinds. These come at 4*, and therefore require some investment to build up, but are much easier to get 3/5 thanks to the abundance of 4* move candies (you get one in like every event anymore). The Master BP units are 5*, so they’re prepared right away, but require much rarer move candy. As a result, they come with a much greater opportunity cost. You also get one Master ticket every 10k BP. So you kinda want to go in knowing what you want out of them. With that in mind, let’s go through the options.
Common BP Pairs Morty and Mismagius Morty and Mismagius are a solid defensive support pair. His trainer move offers +2 to both defenses, and he comes packing Potion. He has a 1 gauge move in Astonish, which can potentially flinch, and has aggravation on the grid if that’s the direction to go. The trouble is, you can’t get Potion MPR, Master Healer, and Aggravation at once. They’re all on different sections of the grid. You can’t even get Master Healer, MPR on Potion, and MPR on his trainer move at once. Basically, there’s a lot of give and take with Morty, and considering base Leaf can get double Potion MPR, Master Healer, and Tackle aggravation on top of healing status or buffing her defense? I kinda feel like she’s flat out better than him in every way. But he is a Ghost support, which means he lines up well with some units who don’t need Leaf’s brand of support. H!Morty and Anni Lillie are very self-sufficient buffers for their offensive stats, and appreciate Morty providing theme skill bonuses and stronger defensive abilities.
The other big problem is that he’s very much a “wants 3/5″ unit. Otherwise he loses everything. Everything he wants is gone at 2/5, and you’re only left with Quick Cure and Healthy Healing. It’s rough. Thankfully, candy is an option, but considering the ease of collecting BP tickets, I don’t think that’s necessary. It’s just that BP tickets are also a high competition resource.
Zinnia and Salamence Zinnia and Salamence are...okay. I actually do like the look of their kit. Double terrify, bonuses for crit, bonuses for super-effective hits, bonus for foe being flinched from her best move anyway. She has a ton going for her. The real downside is she doesn’t self-buff crit or attack. Attack can be built to, thanks to her passives. But crit rate is a necessity. Dragon is also really lacking in support options, so theme skills are harder to come by overall. As a result, her team support is fairly specific. There are great options like Hop, but it can be limiting for a Champion Stadium run when you need to preserve a good supporter for her specifically.
There’s also the issue of...other Dragon strikers. There are a lot of other Dragon-type damage dealers. Including herself, who is purely free, about to be permanently available, and will likely get a massive buff in due time. There’s also Cyrus, who likely gets the same, but also has the ability to cap his own special attack, speed, and even crit with the dragon-focused damage. In absence of these free units, Zinnia would be a great pick, but once they become permanently available, I kinda feel like BP Zinnia will fall off really hard, and almost just flat-out isn’t worth it.
Erika and Tangela While the alterations to Master Mode could have a dramatic effect on this perspective, Erika is my pick for the single best unit for regular BP tickets. Master Mode is challenging, even at the current 1500, for many people who don’t whale for units. While the abundance of free legendary events will be permanent soon, even they are not always a good clear. Sometimes you’ll get hit with a Ground-weak stage, and then what? Gonna run Clay?
No, you stall cheese, something this Erika is uniquely adept at. Toxic and Infestation on the same unit means she has every damage-related tool for stall. Koga only has Toxic, SS Leaf only has Toxic, Wallace only has Trap. Lucy has both, but Wrap is inaccurate, and she has no grid. Most of the other stall-centered threats cannot do what she does, and it uniquely opens up support options to carry both a defensive threat like base Leaf or Skyla, and someone to debuff foe’s offenses like Champion Iris or Janine. Because of this, Erika is a nigh-guaranteed 1500 clear in Master Mode every week, and can pull it off at 1/5. All she gets for 3/5 is Pokey Trap to speed up the damage a bit. Sure, there are other things she gets like First Aid, or...Double Down and Crit Strike for sync, I guess? But her main utility is perfect at 1/5, and because of that, she’s my recommendation for the first BP pair to pick up.
Karen and Umbreon Full disclosure! I did not get Karen yet. I’m saving the ticket. She is the only one I don’t have direct experience with, and that’s largely because...Dark-weak stages are covered for me. I have base Karen, and more importantly, Lysandre. If you have one of those two, I don’t consider this BP pair worth it overall. But I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t good.
Dark is a rarer offensive typing, I think, and she’s capable of dealing respectable damage. It’s just that it has recoil, and that’s something you really need to be mindful of. As a result, 1/5 is garbage, because you don’t have enough Standfast to mitigate the damage you’d receive in response. Even 2/5 feels shaky, because you only have Standfast 3 but not the additional 5. It’s also worth noting that her grid doesn’t allow her to get both Standfast and First Aid, unless you give up all damage nodes, and take two that are specific to Faint Attack, which you’ll never use. But on the plus side, she has the ability to buff attack and crit rate. Independently and within 5 turns for max effect, but having both options means she’s a little more flexible on support. On the whole though, she’s only really worth it if you need a Dark-type damage dealer. And with that in mind, remember that Erika can also clear a Dark-weak stage with cheese. Just saying.
Surge and Raichu Actually way better than I give him credit for. I mean it, Surge is really good. Max crit buffer, buffs attack and defense, can paralyze. Surge has some great team support. He can also get First Aid, Endurance, Team Fast track; he has good options. Though you can only really get two of the three of those because of grid limitations, unless you give up MPR on X Atk All. He’s also got posthaste built in, which has a good chance to speed him up and grant fantastic gauge control as a result.
If there is any limitation, it’s that he does little for a specially offensive unit, or to help sustain against specially offensive stages. He is all-in on physical and that is his job. But he’s got a great move for Legendary Arenas where status is required, and supports a huge array of units. Definitely worth picking up. Though like everyone except Erika, this is only at 3/5. He retains Posthaste and the max crit buff, but loses out on the really exciting stuff without being 3/5. Still puts him ahead of the others that aren’t Erika, in my opinion.
Master BP Units MU and Cobalion Full disclosure! I haven’t used my Master ticket yet. I’ve decided to hold on to it. Bear that in mind, they may function differently in practice.
Cobalion is probably the best overall Master BP unit so far, but only in one sense. That sense being, he maxes crit, and lowers defense well. That’s what Cobalion does; has Dire Hit All+ and Rock Smash. Trainer move is Move Gauge Acceleration and defense buff, and if you wanted someone to buff defense and move gauge, Skyla does that and has Potion. He’s a more offensive supporter than Skyla, but that’s...about it. Team Fast-Track is good, First Aid is good, but Cobalion just doesn’t impress me much. I don’t think it’s helped by Fighting Teamwork being somewhat limited in the current meta, thanks to the limited number of Fighting-type options. Knight Diantha has been a big one people freak out about, but frankly I don’t know if it’s all that good. Diantha doesn’t need the crit buff, can get the defense buffs on her own, and really only benefits from speeding up the defense reduction on the foe and Master passive. It’s not quite a match made in heaven type deal. It has some interesting grid options, but Ripple Effect on Rock Smash isn’t that impressive, and something like Synchro Healing isn’t that fantastic when you have no EX and are best partnered with options that really want to use their own sync. Cobalion just isn’t that neat to me.
Also you have to use the MU, so like...no thanks.
MU and Regirock Often cited as the worst of the options, but hey, it has a Potion that can buff defense. That’s something. In all sincerity, I feel like it at least combos better with Princess Hilda than Cobalion combos with Knight Diantha. But that’s one unit. It doesn’t play as nice with Classic Blue, Emmet and Olivia really want Sandstorm support and I’d argue Jasmine is better as the frontline tank for that. Its main trouble is it doesn’t offer anything too unique compared to others. Like...even broadly, Hop can do its job, and Hop is free to 5/5 with a full grid. Regirock just doesn’t have anything all that good, and I struggle to find reasons why anyone would pick it over the other two.
Evelyn and Entei Evelyn gets dunked on for being kinda bad, because BP Morty is arguably better than her. Which isn’t entirely incorrect. He has 2MP on a move that gives +2 to both defenses, while Evelyn has 1MP on a move that gives +4. She’s much less likely to cap with MPR. X Regen All isn’t exactly great either; burst heals tend to be better. Her moves are also...okay, I guess? Flame Wheel is bad, but Sacred Fire is a good burn chance. Which isn’t great.
Her grid is also about as okay as the other two Master BP pairs. She gets First Aid 4, Endurance, Sync Cure, Synchro Healing, and Quick Tempo. Quick Tempo is the only one that’s unique, but outside of Master Mode with permanent field effects, I don’t think it’s as worth it, since it means you can’t take Synchro Healing. It’s also worth nothing that the other two have all of this as well, so it’s not like this is especially unique.
But her passives are...really good. Revenge Boost 9 is a guarantee of move gauge whenever she takes a hit. Team Fist Bump is a decent chance to heal when she takes an action, which is going to have a good burn chance. And Quick Cure, which...sure. Good since she needs to attack for the possible passive heal.
Her biggest saving grace is just how prolific Fire types are, making her Master passive much more valuable. But given time, that could change. I think what sets her apart is her healing. Team Fist Bump, Synchro Healing, and First Aid are all really good options to have, and make her fantastic for Battle Villa. And while this is more of a guess, I anticipate her value will spike with the changing of Master Mode score caps. Right now, the strategy is to buff offenses and nuke, but to do that you take all the offense boosting modifiers. With an increase, you’ll need to take HP or Strength nodes too, which is going to put strain on the notion of “KO before they can sync or you’re playing it wrong.” I think something that allows for bulkier play will be more beneficial, and modern meta units are pretty often coming with the ability to cap their own crit rate and relevant offensive stat, so it’s not like Evelyn is unviable solely because she can’t support offenses. Time will tell, but I think she’s most likely to see a surge in legitimate, overall value, while Cobalion is right behind her for units that still can’t self-buff crit. The downside is that Evelyn outright needs 3/5. Cobalion can work at 1/5, it just misses a lot of good tools. Regirock is hindered, but still has notably good tools. Evelyn just tanks without it. So if you get her, you need to be willing to use the support move candies.
Final Thoughts Personally, I would hold on to the Master BP ticket. None of the three are so exceptional as to be must-haves, and all three are only optimal at 3/5, which is a tall order for support candies. Regular BP pairs are honestly a safer investment because of the lower opportunity cost. I’d generally say you can take one of each as you progress through the first time, but I’d recommend Erika first, then Surge, and then pick based on filling needs in your team. Once you get to round 2, Surge is probably the best to use your tickets on to get 3/5, followed by Morty. This may be perception, but Tech and Strike candies seem more plentiful than support candies, so if you really needed to, it’s easier to use 4* candy for Zinnia and Karen. Erika should be the last one you get to 3/5, if you do so at all. She’s perfectly fine at 1/5 and gets minimal gains from 3/5. They’re good gains, but far from essential.