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Hantsuki is a very old-school player; he's been in the competitive Pokemon game since NetBattle days (2005!). He first joined Smogon in 2010 to play the World Cup, and has become very well known for captaining Team Brazil in recent World Cup matches. For last weekend's tournament, Hantsuki wound up in a three-way final against 1996ITO and giara. This final round wound up going into a second match for everyone due to a three-way tie in the first one. For these matches, and the rest of the tournament, he used two different teams. The first was pretty standard, using a core of Breloom, Suicune, and Heatran as well as Superachi. Against 1996ITO, Hantsuki had some trouble with a problematic Life Orb Starmie and Choice Scarf Tyranitar. After those were taken out by Breloom and a Hydro Pump miss, Superachi was free to take on the rest of the team, taking out four opposing Pokemon with the help of Heatran. The matches against giara were a bit more laid-back, with giara using a mono-Rock team the first round and mono-Water the second. Hantsuki formed a team with Choice Specs Yanmega and Choice Band Rhyperior (known for it's hype before the DPP metagame was understood—an old-school choice). There's not much to say about that match, but I think everyone has learned from that battle that Choice Specs Tinted Lens Yanmega can wreck teams. Congratulations to Hantsuki!
Unfortunately, I never got in touch with SOMALIA, last Saturday's round's winner, so I didn't get the chance to learn much about his personal life. Most of you know him from the infamous "Energy Ball Jellicent" episode; for those of you that are unfamiliar, let me fill you in. SOMALIA was having a bit of a bad run on the ladder, and as the final straw in one match, he got beaten by somebody using Energy Ball on Jellicent. Energy Ball on Jellicent. SOMALIA got quite upset afterwards and was eventually removed from his position as a simulator moderator and banned due to his actions. However, he has since redeemed himself, and has returned to Smogon. As for his Smogon Tour round, SOMALIA brought an effective sand team featuring two trappers, Dugtrio and Magnezone. Dugtrio was able to take out yan[sogeking]'s Tyranitar while Magnezone eliminated Skarmory and then put Celebi in critical health with Explosion. As it came down to the final turn, it was SOMALIA's Flygon versus yan[sogeking]'s Heatran, where Flygon was burned from an earlier Will-O-Wisp from Heatran. Flygon was in low heath, and three turns of burn damage would kill it. Yan[sogeking] needed to succeed with Protect three times in a row to win the match—a low 25% chance. Heatran successfully guarded against Flygon's first two Earthquakes, but lost the odds in the third turn and was KOed. Congratulations to SOMALIA!
The winner of Sunday's tournament, HellPowna, is known well outside of Smogon, in fact playing for the youth S.S.C. Napoli soccer team, but rarely joins tournaments on-site unless they are official, such as the Smogon Tour. HellPowna is a rare stall advocate, even more so in BW than older generations due to the presence of rain stall. For the Smogon Tour, HellPowna used a semistall team given to him by Bloo, focusing on a Shaymin/Heatran/Rotom-W core with a peculiar Occa Berry Jirachi. Against The Kyle, Jirachi's Hidden Power Ground gave HellPowna a huge advantage by taking out the opposing Heatran. After an overprediction, HellPowna was able to take out The Kyle's spinner, freeing up the opportunity to stack entry hazards on the field. As any stall player knows, once entry hazards get fully set up against an opposing team, it's hard for them to make a comeback due to constant residual damage while the stall team just heals themselves. Once HellPowna set up, it was only a matter of time before the opponent succumbed to his team. Congratulations!
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