Smogon Premier League: Doubles discussion

[Level 51]

Checkmater vs Braverius || It blows my mind how people can predict AGAINST Zach in this matchup. Zach is one of the most consistent players I know, both in VGC and Doubles, and I'm not sure what check is going to be able to do to turn the tables in his favour lol.
kamikaze vs Biosci || While I'd like to predict Biosci just to shut uninformed people like BlueSkiddoWeCanToo up ("who is Biosci"), I actually do think kami will take this one.
Arcticblast vs KyleCole || Arcticblast won the Doubles Open, KyleCole beat a choking Stratos twice. idk which one is a bigger achievement?? oh well :>
TFC vs qsns || qsns has been doing really solid all season, whereas the only time I've heard Kimo's name mentioned is with regards to money matches with clius. rip
Laga vs BLOOD TOTEM || kind of a toss-up, as far as I'm aware neither has played very recently? Should be fun to see Totem's hentai nicknames and Laga's _ though.

 

[ryo yamada2001]

I deleted my previous post because I felt it was better to give an explanation on why I predicted some names instead of just simply bolding random names.

We'll very likely include one or two of those battles in the Post-Game Analysis Project!

Outside of that I'm personally really looking forward to checkmater's first battle in the SPL.
As well as Arcticblast vs KyleCole, two massive players that I think will be indeed the highlight match.
And to be fair Laga vs Totem seems like a fun game as well.

My predictions:
checkmater vs Braverius
checkmater has got basically everything against him. He has no teammate to prepare together with (unlike zach, kami, qsns), he has no SPL experience (unlike arctic, laga, tfc) and he hasn't really proven himself to be a consistent top-tier player all year long (unlike kyle, qsns, kami) which makes it very difficult to predict against Braverius here. I think Braverius is extremely solid, he has the SPL experience and playing ability. checkmater might win this game if he's insanely lucky but I don't see that happening. I think if checkmater will play Stathakis it could be an easier match for checkmater, but I don't really want to say anything about Stathakis yet before I see more games of him.

kamikaze vs Biosci
I think this is a win for kamikaze. I haven't seen anything from Biosci all year long and I think kamikaze simply outclasses Biosci if he will play like he normally does.

Arcticblast vs KyleCole
I find week 1 difficult to predict properly, you don't really know who's in the flow of the SPL or not and if somebody's doing well or not and I think that makes predicting such close matchups difficult. Arcticblast has the edge in SPL experience, but I think Kyle is just more flexible in building teams and I think Kyle is just slightly better than Arcticblast, but again I find this very difficult to "predict"

TFC vs qsns
I'm rooting for qsns this SPL, he's cute and all. I know TFC has SPL experience but he went 2-7 last year and I don't know if he has improved over time, whereas I know qsns is incredibly solid.

Maybe majorbowman will play this, in that case I think this is a coinflip really. I'm not gonna criticize majorbowman, many people told me he's insanely good so we'll see.
Laga vs BLOOD TOTEM
Maybe what I'll say here is not true at all but I think Laga is more motivated than the BLOOD TOTEM. Laga is back at his friends at the BIGs and he has a lot of partners to practice with (mizu/mcmeghan). I think Laga just has the slight edge here, also due to SPL experience, but at the same time he's kinda out of the meta. But we'll see, I have a lot of confidence in Laga, but I think this will be insanely close

Laga vs BLOOD TOTEM || kind of a toss-up, as far as I'm aware neither has played very recently? Should be fun to see Totem's hentai nicknames and Laga's _ though.

:PIG:

 

[Checkmater]

saying I'm favored to beat Braverius is a joke but so is saying I haven't proven myself all year long

 

[Mizuhime]

Checkmater (Ruiners) vs Braverius (Wolfpack): Anyone who thinks stath will play doubles this season in the place of zach is hilarious, Zach should win this week, but it will be a good week for check to learn what spl is like.
kamikaze (Cryos) vs Biosci (Scooters): This game is a tough one, could go either way. Gave the slight edge to the person who's played in SPL for years, prove me wrong, kami.
Arcticblast (Classiest) vs KyleCole (Falcons): Coming from an open win and having played in SPL before the edge here goes to ablast 100%, embrace being the underdog kyle and learn from it.
TFC (Sharks) vs qsns (Tigers): TFC sucks, but he knows how to play spl and knows what needs to be done. Qsns still isn't use to the pressure of big games and it doesn't get much bigger than SPL, as of now tfc should take this, later in the season i might have predicted qsns
Laga (Bigs) vs BLOOD TOTEM (Raiders): - Good luck totem & Raiders

Tl;dr I predicted everyone who's been in SPL before.

 

[Platinum God n1n1]

What is with you guys saying stuff like "spl experience", "pressure of big games", "knows how to play in spl"

It's just another battle. Use teams you are good with and thrown in some surprises. All this talk sounds like hype and ego

 

[ryo yamada2001]

What is with you guys saying stuff like "spl experience", "pressure of big games", "knows how to play in spl"

It's just another battle. Use teams you are good with and thrown in some surprises. All this talk sounds like hype and ego

it's the pressure you have when you play an important game. each of these players wants to win for their team and doesn't want to disappoint, which makes players nervous. knowing how to play in the spl makes you less prone to choking and losing games

 

[Stratos]

What is with you guys saying stuff like "spl experience", "pressure of big games", "knows how to play in spl"

It's just another battle. Use teams you are good with and thrown in some surprises. All this talk sounds like hype and ego

everyones first spl game is a fucking mess, literally nothing matches it nerves-wise so unless you have practice battling with those nerves you tend to make mistakes

 

[Arcticblast]

It's not like a seasonal or the ladder. You aren't just playing for yourself, you're playing for a minimum of fifteen other people, and even then if you're playing later in the week the entire thing can be in your hands. On top of that, you're at the absolute forefront of Smogon tournament play. It's a whole new game, basically.

 

[McMeghan]

free hypnograv you sissies

Laga.

 

[Haruno]

TFC goes undefeated
Laga goes 0-11 but gets his spl winner trophy

that is all. Fuck the rest.

 

[Josh]

just imagine your opponents, teammates, and the spectators are naked, and nerves wont be a problem

Checkmater (Ruiners) vs Braverius (Wolfpack)
kamikaze (Cryos) vs Biosci (Scooters)
Arcticblast (Classiest) vs KyleCole (Falcons)
TFC (Sharks) vs qsns (Tigers)
Laga (Bigs) vs BLOOD TOTEM (Raiders)

 

[megacyber]

just imagine your opponents, teammates, and the spectators are naked, and nerves wont be a problem

Checkmater (Ruiners) vs Braverius (Wolfpack)
kamikaze (Cryos) vs Biosci (Scooters)
Arcticblast (Classiest) vs KyleCole (Falcons)
TFC (Sharks) vs qsns (Tigers)
Laga (Bigs) vs BLOOD TOTEM (Raiders)

I can confirm that i will, in fact, watch spl ass naked

 

[Stratos]

i often watch games on the shitter so i can back that statement up as well

edit: no before someone misinterprets this i don't take off all my clothes to shit, but my ass is naked

 

[Arcticblast]

Checkmater (ruiners) vs Braverius/Stathakis (wolfpack) - Check's gonna get a rude awakening regardless of who he plays here, but it's gonna kick him into gear like nothing else. Expect some hyper offense upsets by week 3.
kamikaze (cryos) vs Biosci (scooters) - kami is simply the best DOU player in SPL, and even a new playing environment won't change that. He's got Lohgock to help him out too. Sorry Biosci, it's the truth.
TFC (sharks) vs qsns/majorbowman (tigers) - Similar to kami vs Biosci, I think qsns is the better player. I can see TFC pulling out a win with the right build, but I expect our sandwich dealer to take this one easily. I don't know enough about MajorBowman to judge him vs TFC, but qsns is gonna start lol
Laga (bigs) vs BLOOD TOTEM (raiders) - I think :pig: has the upper hand, but this is probably going to be a great battle. I can honestly see either player winning, but it all depends on who plays the early game better.

 

[shrop]

Checkmater (ruiners) vs Braverius/Stathakis (wolfpack)-- zach is best vgc oo
kamikaze (cryos) vs Biosci (scooters)-- kami is very nice guy, will win
Arcticblast (classiest) vs KyleCole (falcons)-- click ads, kale is bringing hot team
TFC (sharks) vs qsns/majorbowman (tigers)-- yummy sandwiches for everyone:]
Laga/Mizu (bigs) vs BLOOD TOTEM (raiders)-- totem best girl

 

[TheFourthChaser]

Mfw Arcticblast won the doubles open and everyone is predicitng against him. It's ok brother, haters are your motivators. #stayclassy

So did I but look at all these silly opinions

 

[Isa]

#freestathakis

 

[Arcticblast]

So did I but look at all these silly opinions

man you haven't played dubs in months

 

[Stratos]

#freestathakis

if stathakis plays dou then are the wolfpack just planning to take a loss in dpp?

Checkmater75 (Ruiners) vs Braverius (Wolfpack) - free win for zach as long as he actually responds to my messages with all the sick deets on checkmater
kamikaze17 (Cryos) vs Biosci (Scooters) - kamikaze17 is the best player in this field so i think even with the disadvantage of no tour experience and no recent showings to CT biosci on he'll be able to take this with just solid play
Arcticblast (Classiest) vs KyleCole (Falcons) - Arctic's pretty easy to counterteam, and that's Kyle's game. Arctic's the better player, though, and less susceptible to choking, especially with his previous spl experience. Overall this is definitely the hardest match to call of the week, though I hesitate to say anything in week 1 will be a highlight because like i said, week 1 is always a disaster
TFC (Sharks) vs qsns (Tigers) - i think qsns is really vulnerable to the SPL pressure; if this game happened at any other week I'd probably be predicting qsns to win but i feel like his first game is gonna hurt to watch
Laga (Bigs) vs BLOOD TOTEM (Raiders) - TOTEM's gonna go for some epic play that will either work out or flop, and the match will hinge on which of these it is. If it flops, Laga will tell him it was a horrible play and he doesn't deserve to be in SPL; if it works out, Laga will tell him it was a horrible play and he doesn't deserve to be in SPL and he got lucky.

 

[Stathakis]

sob

I wanted to play doubles for the scooters and save them some money that they could use elsewhere. I practiced a lot, as Stratos will confirm. I even went 38-2 on the doubles ladder before realizing it was useless as a metric of skill and even as a place to test teams. but, I'm not prepared to play this tier at an SPL level, and furthermore a team I did not plan to be on bought both me and braverius. it would be unbelievably selfish of me to deny zach the doubles spot that I've done nothing to earn. sorry to break it to you all.

kamikaze (Cryos) vs Biosci (Scooters) - afaik biosci has been out of the game for a while, meanwhile kamikaze is currently in form and is extremely involved in the tier
Arcticblast (Classiest) vs KyleCole (Falcons) - just won an open, he's in form
TFC (Sharks) vs qsns (Tigers) - on current form I think he's better, and he builds the freshest teams out of any of the top players I've seen. "spl pressure" is a myth tbh just go in with your dick in your hands and you'll be fine. if majorbowman plays he'll probably do well too he's extremely good or so i've heard
Laga (Bigs) vs BLOOD TOTEM (Raiders) - hardest call and highlight match IMO. whoever is more in form will win it

excited for doubles this SPL, the pool seems like a nice mix of old doubles legends, doubles up-and-comers, and vgc legends

 

[Braverius]

deoxys speed > all
this message brought to you by finally

im finally and i approve this mensaje

the irony here is uncanny considering the situation last year. good job on passing the godforsaken gut-wrenching torch, finally. this is all your fault #freedeoxysspeed #keepfinallylockeduptho


except i legitimately don't know anything about deoxys speed :(

which in stratos' world somehow implies that i think he is bad. sorry stratos but i am not as dense as you even though from time to time i put up a decent fight

half-heartedly bang bang kinda because i actually don't h8 u keith



bonus bang bangage: if i lose to checkmater in legitimate fashion do i inherently prove stratos has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to evaluating players?? are we both just absolute trash?? can anything be inferred from the result??

 

[Checkmater]

I think if you lose vs me Stratos' head might implode

 

[TGMD]

Checkmater75 (Ruiners) vs Braverius (Wolfpack) - this would be the much funnier result and would most likely provide amazing material for Stratos 4
kamikaze (Cryos) vs Biosci (Scooters) - kamikaze is one of the top 3 doubles players atm and I haven't seen Biosci play doubles at all this year. Biosci is a fantastic player, but doubles has changed too much and VGC is just too different atm for Biosci to come back with a quick crash course and start winning SPL games against the biggest names. Kami is new to the pressure that comes with tournaments like SPL, but he's a very level-headed guy
Arcticblast (Classiest) vs KyleCole (Falcons) - this a really tough choice considering each of these two have each won a big doubles tournament recently. I almost went with Arcticblast considering his edge with SPL experience, but he will be dealing with pressure of his own to improve over last year. In the end, I went with KyleCole because I think he actually has the fundamentals of preparing for games down better than most doubles players as well as the building skills and dedication to act on them appropriately
TFC (Sharks) vs qsns (Tigers) - qsns is unstoppable atm and the only way he could lose this, outside of luck of course, is if the pressure of his first SPL gets to him, but I think being in the playoffs of an official Smogon Tournament (Grand Slam) and performing well proves he can deal with high pressure games.
Laga (Bigs) vs BLOOD TOTEM (Raiders) - Rei would have absolutely been my choice if there was this same matchup last year (why Rei wasn't picked up for SPL last year is something I'll never understand), but Laga has been doing well recently and I haven't seen Rei play absolutely serious with a team that doesn't involve Ampharos-esque Pokemon in way too long to gauge his current skill

 

[Lolk]

Good luck everyone y'all gonna kill it

 

[BLOOD TOTEM]

Stratos on the auction, manga reads from right to left u dorks

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