Competitive Pokémon History - Corsola Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Unfortunately, Corsola had zero chance of making a mark in its debut generation of standard play. Even in UU, it was completely overwhelmed, and was left to rot in obscurity in NeverUsed, where even there it was lackluster. The biggest reason for this probably stems from its very low base stats. What was Corsola's highest stat?

Answer: 85

With an 85 in its defenses, a poor 55 for HP, very bad 35 in speed and a 65 in special attack, Corsola's bulk was very average but its other stats were plainly horrible. It was very slow, very passive and wasn't the tankiest thing in the world. With an auspicious Water/Rock typing, it became very clear at first glance that Corsola was never going to make an impact in any real competitive context. Even NU, which was sort of a joke at the time, was hostile to Corsola.

2. In spite of its many flaws, Corsola actually did have one thing that Water types not named Starmie did not. This was a trait that defensive Pokémon game wide would have killed for. What advantage did Corsola have?

Answer: Instant, reliable recovery

Access to Recover meant Corsola could try and make use of its average defenses to soak up hits for its team. Sadly, this did not save Corsola from being a horrible all around Pokémon with its awful speed and offenses. Quite frankly, the relatively fragile Starmie with far superior stats otherwise and access to Recover would make for a better defensive Pokémon despite being quite frail.

3. Corsola's prospects in the third generation were actually improved noticeably, and it made the leap up to being a viable, albeit rarely seen, UU threat. This was because it got access to a pretty great defensive ability. What was Corsola's second slotted ability?

Answer: Natural Cure

Natural Cure allows the user to automatically heal off status afflictions upon switching out of battle. With access to Recover, Corsola could take hits from offensive and defensive team alike, patch itself up, and avoid being crippled by Toxic or some other debilitating status.

A strengthened defensive profile helped in conjunction with the existence of EVs, making it so that Pokémon were generally not as offensively threatening as they were in the second generation. Corsola still had to flee in the presence of a bad typing matchup, which was unfortunately rather common. But in the face of an opponent lacking an obvious positive matchup, Corsola could do okay. This was a nice step up from its miserable second generation.

4. Generation four's UnderUsed tier has developed a reputation for being very open in terms of threats which could become viable in the tier, with wacky examples over the years. Corsola initially seemed to be an exception, but midway through the generation, it managed to wiggle its way in with a basic, but effective, niche. What was Corsola's niche in fourth generation UU?

Answer: Tank

Corsola's passable bulk and access to both Recover and Stealth Rock made a Tank set workable, albeit not spectacular. In truth, it became extremely hard to justify using Corsola in this niche over Steelix, as Steelix lacking Recover was far made up for by having vastly superior stats to Corsola in almost every way conceivable.

In truth, this was why it took so long for players to even notice and starting using Corsola, and it should be little surprise that it did not see enough usage to be a native UU Pokémon.

In NU, it was basically the same story, only the competitor here was Regirock, who boasted virtually the same advantages over Corsola as Steelix, and was viewed very similarly as competition for a Tank role.

5. Corsola appeared to finally drown from the competitive scene in the fifth generation. However, it's few positive traits came together to give it a niche on NU stall teams as a Pokémon who could counter the most feared stall breaker in the tier. Which Pokémon of the following could Corsola reliably switch into and defeat?

Answer: Braviary

Tauros' Earthquakes, Charizard's Hidden Power Grass and Serperior's Grass moves were far too strong for Corsola to handle. However, Braviary's Brave Bird did little to Corsola, and a combination of Power Gem, Toxic and Recover ensured Corsola could upend Braviary as it switched into it every single time. Even a Choice Banded, super effective Superpower could be taken and Recovered off, forcing Braviary to switch or get beaten down.

Where Corsola began the generation as an unviable joke, the emergence of Braviary left trainers in NU scrambling to find answers. Those who employed stall teams found their answer in Corsola, and thus, it remained afloat in the competitive scene.

6. Corsola finally fell off the face of the competitive planet in the sixth generation, as it lost its fifth generation niche and was now no longer capable of providing any meaningful value to a team even in PartiallyUsed. This was partly due to the existence of a Pokémon who outclassed Corsola almost entirely. Which Pokémon, who also boasted the Regenerator ability, outperformed Corsola so distinctly?

Answer: Tangela

Tangela also had the Regenerator ability, could wield Eviolite item to become far bulkier than Corsola, didn't have anywhere near as exploitable of a defensive typing, and could also manage to offensively threaten the opponent outside of just using Toxic against them.

7. Corsola recuperated some competitive usability in the seventh generation. What tier was it in here?

Answer: ZeroUsed

ZeroUsed or, ZU, was a new competitive metagame introduced during the seventh generation. It didn't become an actual official metagame until towards the end of the generation's timeline however, so there is a pretty much nonexistent amount of documentation of tournament play in seventh generation ZU. From what little we do have, however, Corsola seemed to have regained a niche as a Tank capable of spreading status and laying entry hazards.

The competition for that niche was pretty sparse, as Regirock, Omastar, Steelix, Tangela and other Pokémon Corsola has historically competed with over the years were banned from ZU. That said, the metagame never truly developed enough to allow the player base to witness Corsola potentially becoming an amazing, great, good, niche or poor pick for the tier.

8. Corsola was invigorated with a bit of viability in the eighth generation, as it not only gained a Galarian forme, but this Galarian's forme came with it an evolved form as well! It's evolved form, Cursola, has virtually night and day stats from its Johto counterpart. What competitive tier did Cursola find itself in?

Answer: Untiered

Despite having an incredible 145 in special attack and 130 in special defense, which far exceeded any one stat Johto Corsola had, Cursola struggled immensely to fit into any competitive meta in the eighth generation. It's speed stat of 30 is even lower than Corsola's, its abysmal 50 in defense and 60 in HP to go with a weaker Ghost typing defensively meant that Cursola was very easy for teams to heavily pressure and eliminate.

It wielded a lot of offensive firepower and could succeed in situations where it was not in an obviously poor matchup. Sadly, those situations were rather rare, as due to its milquetoast defenses and abysmal speed, the list of Pokémon who could threaten Cursola was very high.

As a result, it was even less viable overall than its Johto form was, despite the fact that it's an evolved form.

9. An unexpected development, Cursola's pre-evolved form, Galarian Corsola, made a huge impact in the PartiallyUsed metagame, and it even bore early influence as far as standard play before power creep kicked it out. Galarian Corsola's defenses for a pre-evolved Pokémon are actually pretty great, and this was especially the case considering it gained access to a new recovery move here. What new recovery move was this?

Answer: Strength Sap

Strength Sap lowers the attack of the opposing Pokémon by one stage, then heals the user based on how high the opponent's attack stat was. This was instrumental in allowing Galarian Corsola to wall out physical threats while also progressively pacifying them and reducing their threat, as well as neutralizing their capability to overwhelm Galarian Corsola with boosting moves or items. Combined with 100 in both defense and special defense and Eviolite, and Galarian Corsola put its Johto form to shame with how amazing of a Tank it became in PU.

As noted in the question, Galarian Corsola briefly made a name for itself even in standard play for this particular craft, though this did die down as the metagame developed and standard play threats Galarian Corsola couldn't handle began rising in spades. Still, that's the most impact Corsola has ever had on the competitive scene, which is pretty nice!

10. Both Galarian Corsola and Cursola have played much differently than Johto Corsola, mainly due to the major difference in typing from Johto Corsola. Where Johto Corsola is a Water/Rock type, what type are Galarian Corsola and Cursola?

Answer: Ghost

Ghost is definitely more potent offensively, and it wields a different defensive profile from Water/Rock that has plenty of a pros and cons. For one, no longer being 4x weak to anything like Johto Corsola is to Grass was nice. On the other, being extremely weak to Knock Off and not taking opposing Ghost or Dark moves easily at all was rather unappealing.

In the role of a Stealth Rock setter though, it is definitely better than Water/Rock, as Ghost types can deny Rapid Spin attempts, meaning Galarian Corsola can use its own typing to partially protect the Stealth Rock it is usually tasked with setting.

Source: Author cavalier87

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Competitive Pokémon History - Corsola Quiz

One of Misty's favorites, the second generation Water type shores up here on Funtrivia! See what you know about it competitively, from generations 2-8!

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