PSPL III Recap

Português (4)

(2) Español

• Ubers: Zxut VS New Attitude
• OU: Golden Freddy's VS ZaelTX
• DOU: AccidentalGenius VS NocturOP
• UU: WhiteQueen VS ImSNT
• RU: zdrup15 VS Shockblade Kongou
• NU: Ren-chon VS Lolazo
• LC: Brazilian Army VS Sken

Lolazo has a nice matchup against Ren-chon, with Sneasel and Haunter able to deal heavy damage to almost every one of Ren-chon's Pokémon. Lolazo leads with Sneasel, which is a good call because it has a good matchup against everything except Mawile. Ren-chon leads with Lanturn, though he immediately has to switch out in fear of a Choice Band-boosted Knock Off. Ren-chon switches out to Intimidate Mawile, which is a smart play by Ren-chon because Mawile is a strong counter to Sneasel. Lolazo is forced to switch because Sneasel cannot do very much in the situation except be taken out by a Play Rough. Xatu switches in for Sneasel, predicting Stealth Rock, but Ren-chon smartly opts for Baton Pass to scout what Lolazo will switch into. Ren-chon brings Lanturn back in for a better matchup. Lolazo then predicts a Scald and switches Hariyama in, hoping for a burn so that Hariyama's Guts will activate.

Hariyama outspeeds Lanturn (after missing the burn), which means that Lolazo is running Speed creep EVs, catching Ren-chon off-guard. Hariyama gets huge Knock Off damage, but more importantly, it removes Lanturn's Leftovers. Lanturn Volt Switches out to Tauros, which is smart because if Ren-chon predicts well, he can do huge damage to an incoming Pokémon or even knock out Hariyama. Unfortunately, Tauros misses with Iron Tail, which would have OHKOed Hariyama with the Life Orb and Sheer Force combination.

Hariyama hits back with Knock Off, letting Ren-chon know that Hariyama is Choice-locked (because otherwise why not use Close Combat?). Tauros proceeds to use Rock Climb, knocking Hariyama out. Lolazo brings out Sneasel, a good call considering that Sneasel can Pursuit trap Tauros and OHKO it no matter what. Lolazo predicts that Ren-chon won't switch and goes for the safe option in Knock Off, ensuring a KO on Tauros. Ren-chon brings out Scyther, which tells Lolazo that it probably runs Choice Scarf, as Sneasel normally outspeeds Scyther. Scyther U-turns out to Lanturn as Lolazo switches directly into Lanturn, absorbing the U-turn. Lolazo fishes for a burn with Scald while Ren-chon's Lanturn persists with a Hidden Power Ground or Grass. Lolazo proves that he really wants the burn but still doesn't get it while Ren-chon tries to predict a switch and goes for Scald as well.

Lolazo continues with Scald and finally gets the burn on Lanturn, while Ren-chon also burns the opposing Lanturn before his Lanturn succumbs to its own burn. Ren-chon brings in Archeops and uses Earthquake to finish Lanturn off. Lolazo brings out Regirock, which can eat up any hit Archeops wants to throw at it. Ren-chon switches in Uxie to take a Rock Slide, though Lolazo could have set up Stealth Rock there. Lolazo switches to Xatu to prevent Ren-chon's own Stealth Rock from going up (which is unlikely because Mawile has Intimidate, which is often paired with Stealth Rock), and Uxie can't do very much to Xatu, while Ren-chon goes for Giga Drain, hoping Lolazo keeps Regirock in, to get some super effective damage off. Uxie then goes for Signal Beam, doing some meager damage to Xatu, especially considering that Xatu has Roost. Xatu goes for Thunder Wave to cripple something and maybe get some parahax. Xatu then goes for Signal Beam, which looks like a smart play, but with Uxie's natural bulk, the attack does less than 30% damage. Uxie goes for another Signal Beam, which scores the same amount of neutral damage on Xatu as the super effective hit on Uxie, effectively showing how immensely bulky Uxie is. Xatu heals with Roost, which seems like a good play, but Uxie goes for Calm Mind to bolster its offense and bulk. Xatu uses Signal Beam once more, but Uxie's is more powerful and confuses Xatu in the end. Lolazo keeps Xatu in, probably so it can faint and he can bring in Sneasel to revenge kill Uxie, provided that Sneasel has Pursuit.

Uxie continues to break through the paralysis and decides to use Giga Drain to regain health, which is a smart play given that with Leftovers, it gets 12% health back, with Xatu only doing a maximum of 20%, so Uxie is really only taking 8% damage per turn. When Xatu faints, Lolazo brings out Haunter, which probably means that Sneasel lacks Pursuit. Still, Haunter scares every Pokémon that Ren-chon has left. Ren-chon switches Scyther in to a Shadow Ball, which does around 70% and gets a Special Defense drop, which doesn't matter because the next hit would KO anyway. Lolazo switches Haunter out to Regirock, a good counter to Scyther, while Scyther uses Knock Off, only scoring a middling 14% damage.

Scyther stays in, risking being knocked out by Rock Slide while Lolazo sets up Stealth Rock. Ren-chon lets Scyther faint to Rock Slide, as it can't come back in again anyway, and then he brings out Uxie, hoping to break through Rock Slide's flinch chance and its paralysis, though it cannot and falls to Rock Slide. Mawile comes out, and if it lacks Iron Head (which is uncommon on Intimidate Mawile), it's over for Ren-chon. Mawile goes for Play Rough, meaning that it lacks Iron Head, and then it is demolished by Earthquake. Regirock then OHKOes Archeops, securing a strong win for Español. Lolazo had the advantage because Regirock countered or checked three of Ren-chon's Pokémon. Sneasel was a huge threat to all of Ren-chon's team as well, bar Mawile, and Haunter had been a threat to everything except Lanturn.

Right off the bat, both players are looking like solid contenders. WhiteQueen starts the game with Beedrill and immediately Mega Evolves and U-turns out to Salamence as Nidoqueen sets up Stealth Rock, which is an obvious move and a smart play by WhiteQueen to get Salamence in before it would take entry hazard damage. ImSNT then switches to Shaymin, likely predicting an Earthquake, though it might have given WhiteQueen an opportunity to set up, so either way it was a risky move. On the switch, Salamence drops a Draco Meteor that takes a huge chunk out of Shaymin's HP. Shaymin remains in, probably hoping to either Rest or outspeed Salamence and OHKO it with Hidden Power Ice, but Salamence wins what is assumed to be a Speed tie and finishes off Shaymin with another Draco Meteor. ImSNT goes to Feraligatr, which is a smart choice given that Salamence is at -4 Special Attack and it's an opportune time for Feraligatr to set up. Instead, however, ImSNT opts to use Crunch on WhiteQueen's switch to Porygon2, only getting middling damage off.

Without having set up, Feraligatr is essentially useless squaring up against Porygon2, so ImSNT switches to Reuniclus, likely predicting a Thunder Wave or Toxic, both of which are detrimental to Feraligatr's sweeping potential. However, WhiteQueen opts for Tri Attack, and due to ImSNT's double switching, Chandelure ended up paralyzed, though it does manage to Trick its Choice Specs onto Porygon2. WhiteQueen switches to Gligar knowing that if Chandelure stays in, he will be able to set up Stealth Rock, with no chance for Chandelure to OHKO Gligar without hax. With Stealth Rock now up, ImSNT switches to Feraligatr, and WhiteQueen knows that Gligar would just avoid being OHKOed by both Waterfall and Ice Punch and decides to slow U-turn out to Salamence as Feraligatr instead uses Crunch, scoring yet again very meager damage. ImSNT switches Feraligatr out for Chandelure to sacrifice what he deemed a useless Pokémon at that point. Salamence cleverly Roosts and then drops a Draco Meteor on Chandelure.

A revenge kill is imminent. ImSNT has lost two key Pokémon to Salamence and finds himself in prime position to remove it from play, so he brings in Aerodactyl and Mega Evolves it, proceeding with a Stone Edge to OHKO. Fortunately for WhiteQueen, he sees through the obvious revenge kill attempt and switches to Porygon2, narrowly missing the attack. A few turns of Tri Attack-Roost-Stone Edge leapfrog and some crippling freezes later, Mega Aerodactyl falls to Porygon2 and ImSNT forfeits, issuing the win to WhiteQueen and Português!