Everyday on the OU ladder, hundreds upon thousands of battles are played. Most aren't worthy of notice as there was a great deal of unfortunate RNG rolls, early forfeits and bad play. However, within this rough, there are true diamonds. Battles that most people can learn from. Close matches that showcase the skills of two evenly matched battlers playing at their highest level. While people can talk theory all day, nothing beats a great battle when trying to teach people how to play.
This thread will aim not only to showcase these battles, but to promote discussion. The discussion will be based around team match-ups, overall play, crucial turns, and some "What would you do" scenarios". I will post a battle submitted to me and give a brief summary (also given to me). I will also try to give questions towards promoting discussion but please do not be afraid to propose your own questions, whether for academia purposes or for discussion.
There are some changes this time. Replays to be used should be submitted to me with a brief description of why the battle was good/crucial points that made the battle good. Please tell me which person you were in the battle. Try to be objective in your summary. I do not mind the use of first term, but I do not want summaries where you "completely dominated [your] opponent in prediction". Those replays will unfortunately not be able to be used because they'll lack a summary.
Remember: Games should be competitive. Even if you end up cleaning up three pokemon with Pinsir-mega, it should've been very much competitive before hand. Hax should be at a minimum. Crits should not affect the outcome. Both battlers should be playing very well. Games can be competitive without having battlers be good, so we want to avoid that.
Worry not, it will not just be me deciding on the battles, I will be asking some people in the OU chat room on Showdown which battle they want to discuss next and think is worthy of being displayed. As this thread progresses, I will probably get someone to assist me in this thread. Drop by sometime, we might be discussing which one to use next.
Once a discussion is finished, I'll post the battle into a hide tag in this post, as well as the initial brief summary and the most widely accepted comment on that discussion. Replays will be posted as needed, dictated both by frequency and discussion but I do expect a minimum of three days spent on any specific replay.
Past replays:
This thread will aim not only to showcase these battles, but to promote discussion. The discussion will be based around team match-ups, overall play, crucial turns, and some "What would you do" scenarios". I will post a battle submitted to me and give a brief summary (also given to me). I will also try to give questions towards promoting discussion but please do not be afraid to propose your own questions, whether for academia purposes or for discussion.
There are some changes this time. Replays to be used should be submitted to me with a brief description of why the battle was good/crucial points that made the battle good. Please tell me which person you were in the battle. Try to be objective in your summary. I do not mind the use of first term, but I do not want summaries where you "completely dominated [your] opponent in prediction". Those replays will unfortunately not be able to be used because they'll lack a summary.
Remember: Games should be competitive. Even if you end up cleaning up three pokemon with Pinsir-mega, it should've been very much competitive before hand. Hax should be at a minimum. Crits should not affect the outcome. Both battlers should be playing very well. Games can be competitive without having battlers be good, so we want to avoid that.
Worry not, it will not just be me deciding on the battles, I will be asking some people in the OU chat room on Showdown which battle they want to discuss next and think is worthy of being displayed. As this thread progresses, I will probably get someone to assist me in this thread. Drop by sometime, we might be discussing which one to use next.
Once a discussion is finished, I'll post the battle into a hide tag in this post, as well as the initial brief summary and the most widely accepted comment on that discussion. Replays will be posted as needed, dictated both by frequency and discussion but I do expect a minimum of three days spent on any specific replay.
Past replays:
Since this is new and I don't have any of your replays, I'm going to lead off with a match between Ash Borer and myself, which took play roughly three weeks ago. So get me some replays and let's get some good discussion going.
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-100761311
Ash Borer was running a fairly standard team from preview but had a few curve balls in mono-stab Resttalk Mega Gyarados and Sub Aegislash. I was running a stall team I had finished up a week prior and was still testing through a few things, but this game ended pretty close. For all intents and purposes, we both finished the suspect test in the top 100. (He finished 32 and I'm in 55th?).
The game really came down to whether his Aegi could break my team before I could get it out of the field (Sub aegi takes a while to get off the field) and whether I could stop his Gyarados after losing Skarmory and having Chesnaught devoted to Aegislash.
Questions:
What would you say was the best match up I had that I was able to take advantage?
What about the best match up Ash had that Ash was able to use?
In my opinion, my skarmory got getting rocks up before dying was among the most critical turns in the game, ending Landorus permanently. What would you say were the critical points in this game?
Turn 73, Ash reveals rest on gyarados. Given this information, what would you have done?
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/oususpecttest-100761311
Ash Borer was running a fairly standard team from preview but had a few curve balls in mono-stab Resttalk Mega Gyarados and Sub Aegislash. I was running a stall team I had finished up a week prior and was still testing through a few things, but this game ended pretty close. For all intents and purposes, we both finished the suspect test in the top 100. (He finished 32 and I'm in 55th?).
The game really came down to whether his Aegi could break my team before I could get it out of the field (Sub aegi takes a while to get off the field) and whether I could stop his Gyarados after losing Skarmory and having Chesnaught devoted to Aegislash.
Questions:
What would you say was the best match up I had that I was able to take advantage?
What about the best match up Ash had that Ash was able to use?
In my opinion, my skarmory got getting rocks up before dying was among the most critical turns in the game, ending Landorus permanently. What would you say were the critical points in this game?
Turn 73, Ash reveals rest on gyarados. Given this information, what would you have done?
However we're going to use Ash's replay because that was the consensus when I asked.
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/smogtours-ubers-6457
Memoric was admittedly very Genesect weak. After seeing the Life Orb damage taken, was there a play you would've made in lieu of leaving Aegi in to scout flame thrower? Was sacrificing Aegi the best play available or do you think there was better fodder?
What were the critical plays/Turns? Personally, leaving Aegi in on Gene would get my vote but Knocking off Gengar and destroying one of the best Aegi checks would've been another strong contender at the time.
Any other questions? Ash Borer is obviously around to answer any questions on thought process and I'd imagine Memoric is too.
Response by Memoric
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/smogtours-ubers-6457
If I'm not mistaken, this came from Starmie's OU mini-tour which legalized Gene and banned Deo-S. Do you think Gene's impact on the game was noticeable? Perhaps it was even a negative effect as it gave Memoric an easy kill on the otherwise-deadly terrakion, who also lured out Talonflame easily after aegi got killed.
Memoric was admittedly very Genesect weak. After seeing the Life Orb damage taken, was there a play you would've made in lieu of leaving Aegi in to scout flame thrower? Was sacrificing Aegi the best play available or do you think there was better fodder?
What were the critical plays/Turns? Personally, leaving Aegi in on Gene would get my vote but Knocking off Gengar and destroying one of the best Aegi checks would've been another strong contender at the time.
Any other questions? Ash Borer is obviously around to answer any questions on thought process and I'd imagine Memoric is too.
Response by Memoric
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