Highlight Games
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Our first highlight game is none other than the very first game of this SPL, where top ranked Sun and Moon player ABR steps into the ring of the new and wild tier against none other than highly rated SPL newcomer Lysergic. Two players who originated as a ladder player and first hit the tour scene from OLT playoffs, now facing off on the big stage.
Lysergic brings a team full of old faces; formerly banned Greninja and well known Mega Pinsir, Heatran, and Garchomp make an appearance in the game. Alongside these very well recognized threats, Lysergic adds Zapdos and Tapu Bulu; Zapdos provides the team with a reliable Defogger and a solid answer to a multitude of common threats in the metagame, while the unique Tapu Bulu can serve a multitude of purposes for a team, whether Scarf, Banded, or a wallbreaking set of SD + Fightinium Z. Lysergic's team is seemingly very efficient at breaking down bulkier teams, of which ABR was notorious for running throughout ORAS. On the other hand, Lysergic's team has a glaring weakness to one of the biggest typings in the game; Water. While he does have two Water resists, both are far from reliable, one being incredibly vulnerable to Scald and the other being incredibly frail.
ABR's team isn't far from what you'd expect from him; he packs another balanced team featuring a reliable win condition and fast, non-Choiced Pokemon, in Zygarde and Tapu Koko. ABR's team uses the two new bulky Fairies introduced this generation in Tapu Fini and Magearna; Tapu Fini has seen notably high usage this week due to its reliability as a Defogger and its immunity to status. Magearna, on the other hand, is a versatile 'Mon, capable of acting as a win condition, breaker, or bulky pivot depending upon its set. ABR's team also fields an unexpected sight in Skarmory, whose usage has declined with the rise of Celesteela, who offers similar defensive utility and also has the new-toy-syndrome level of appeal. Skarmory, however, is a very reliable hazard setter, something Celesteela isn't capable of due to its lack of access to any form of hazards.
The game started off hot on
Turn 1, when ABR reveals Scarf Landorus-T and Lysergic reveals his Zapdos carries HP Ice, which is incredibly threatening to ABR. Even with this in mind, Lysergic must be wary of attempting to knock out ABR's Zygarde out of fear of Toxic, as such he switched out as ABR made a switch to his Magearna, indicating he either did not have Toxic or predicted Lysergic's switch to Tapu Bulu. On
Turn 3 Lysergic's Heatran takes Leftovers recovery, indicating it is not Bloom Doom Heatran and thus Tapu Fini will be able to hard wall it for the remainder of the match. This opens a whole for ABR to bring in Tapu Fini, who can freely Scald due to Lysergic's lack of immediate counter play to a simple Scald. On
Turn 5, Lysergic switches his Tapu Bulu into a Scald and unfortunately gets burnt. While Lysergic does not have a reliable switch into Scald, Lysergic expected ABR to either Defog and remove the Rocks he just set up or that he'd be able to switch in without getting burnt. On
Turns 6-8 Lysergic's Tapu Bulu reveals it is carrying SD + Fightinium Z, which would have posed to be quite the threat to ABR's team should it have not been burned. On
Turn 20, Lysergic brings in his Greninja on ABR's boosted Zygarde, expecting ABR to fear a potential Protean Ice Beam. Unfortunately for Lysergic, ABR chose to stay in and put Lysergic's Greninja out of commission as it went for a Choiced Specs Hydro Pump. After these turns, ABR slowly but surely puts himself into the driver seat of this match, and eventually sealed the deal on
Turn 40 as his Landorus-T knocked out Lysergic's Scarf Garchomp.
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The next game comes to use from KratosMana and P2. KratosMana, now entering his third SPL season, has won a trophy and managed his team to the finals in his two prior seasons, as well as helped lead Team Brazil to a championship run in 2014. P2, who is mostly unknown to the tournament community, finds himself in the starting lineup after a 2-0 WCoP run where he defeated both dragonuser and rozes. Both players have been rather unknown to the tournament community in recent months, either due to inactivity from KratosMana or simply not being well known within the community for P2.
KratosMana brings one of the more unique teams seen in Week 1 of SPL, fielding both the very rare Mega, Sharpedo and the fallen one, Gengar. Mega Sharpedo was very rare for the entirety of ORAS due to its unreliability, and while it didn't receive any big boost from Sun and Moon outside of Psychic Fangs, it feeds off of the very offensive metagame. Whether or not it's any better than it was in ORAS remains to be seen, but it is surely a threatening Pokemon. Gengar, even though it lost Levitate, is still a very threatening Pokemon. Sun and Moon is very much lacking reliable Dark resists, only being found in Greninja. No other Ghost resist was seen more than once this week in SPL, very much emphasizing how few there are. KratosMana also adds another forgotten face in Mew. While Mew was seen quite a bit during the entirety of Gen 6, its usage has plummeted since the discovery of the Alola region, due to not only the burn nerf, but also Tapu Fini's ability to negate status effects. Even with this, Mew is one of the few Pokemon that are incredibly reliable at handling Tapu Lele, a Pokemon which otherwise can run rampant on teams similar to KratosMana's. He rounds his team out with some very popular ORAS 'Mons in Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, and Landorus-Therian, granting him hazards, momentum, a multitude of resists, and a powerful Z Move abuser in Landorus-T.
P2's team features a mix of ORAS and Sun and Moon. Ferrothorn and Landorus-T were staples of a multitude of ORAS OU teams, reliably answering many Pokemon, providing a team with hazards, and potentially speed control. Mega Gyarados, while it did fall off towards the backend of ORAS, was one of the more threatening Mega Evolutions in the early parts of Gen 6. On the other half, P2 adds new the new Fairies in Tapu Fini and Magearna. Tapu Fini alongside Ferrothorn grants Ferrothorn with a very nice ability to avoid burns from both Rotom-W Wisps and Scald burns, while also being able to remove hazards from the field. Magearna, on this team, presumably either provides the team with powerful win condition or a very reliable pivot, either wielding a Shift Gear set or an Assault Vest set. Eitehr way, Magearna will find itself to be an asset this game, as Shift Gear can be a potential threat and Assault Vest gives P2 a switch into Gengar. P2's last Pokemon, Zygarde, which saw very little usage in ORAS and XY, has founds its niche in SM due to its new signature move; Thousand Arrows. This move, for those who don't know, allow Zygarde to hit any Flying-type Pokemon neutrally and ground them, thus making Grass and Bug-types the only things not hit neutrally by Zygarde's best Ground STAB.
The game starts off very interesting
Turn 1 as KratosMana reveals he is a bulky Stealth Rock Mew, while P2 reveals his Tapu Fini is on the slower end carrying Nature's Madness, which is coupled with Taunt. After a few turns of KratosMana
carefully wearing down P2's Tapu Fini with Psychics, on
Turn 9 P2 brings in his Zygarde, which can comfortably sub up on Mew. KratosMana's Landorus-T gets hit by a Toxic from P2's Zygarde on
Turn 11, which could be potentially huge, as Zygarde poses to be quite the threat to KratosMana's team, should Landorus-T get too low to handle it. On
Turn 30, KratosMana's Landorus-T falls due to poison damage and a hit from Zygarde's Thousand Arrows. Zygarde found its way back in the very next turn, as it now posed the ability to either set up a Substitute vs KratosMana's Ferrothorn, or Coil up and endure the following Gyro Ball and keep its sub intact. Unfortunately for P2, his Zygarde was crit by KratosMana's Ferrothorn on
Turn 33. At this point in the game, Zygarde had no potential of sweeping, nor would it have been capable of completely removing the Ferrothorn from the game, however, a weakened Ferrothorn could have opened up a chance for P2's Mega Gyarados to win later on in the game. On
Turn 49, P2 reveals his Timid Shift Gear Magearna carries both Flash Cannon and Fleur Cannon alongside Fairium Z, allowing him to KO KratosMana's Mew. However, at this point in time, KratosMana had a full health Scarf Gengar, which outspeeds P2's Magearna and, thanks to damage from Mega Sharpedo, would have been able to knock Magearna out. After Magearna fainted, KratosMana was able to comfortably cruise to victory.
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While the series was decided at this point in time, our last game of the week and our last highlight game from SPL W1 SM display comes from the drama filled series gifted to us between the Cryonicles and the Wolfpack. After the series was decided, mencemeat was nowhere to be found to face off against FlamingVictini and thus subbed out in favor of NJNP's friend and the infamous Terrakion, R!cardo.
FlamingVictini, well known for his creative teambuilding choices, brings what is seemingly a more generic team in SM. Between the ever popular choices in Landorus-T, Magearna, and Greninja, FlamingVictini also fielded some far from rare Pokemon in Tapu Bulu, Alolan Marowak, and Jirachi. At team preview, FlamingVictini has a very well rounded team, having a multitude of resists and switchins to many threats in the metagame. However, even with this, his team is on the slower end due to its form of speed control being either Scarf Tapu Bulu or Landorus-T, coupled with what could be a Specs Ash Greninja. FlamingVictini also found himself, similarly to other players, on the weaker end in terms of Water resists. Even with few actual resists, FlamingVictini has plenty of countermeasures to Water-types that he shouldn't be losing without some form of misplays.
R!cardo brings a very offensive team, fielding powerhouses Pheromosa and Ash Greninja, while also supporting it with the reliable defense backbone of Magearna and Landorus-Therian. R!cardo's team team is filled with multitude potentially threatening Pokemon, all of which are more than capable of presenting teams with troublesome matchups due to each's unique offensive capabilities. With this said, he trades his defensive reliability for his offensive potential. R!cardo's team can be easily overwhelmed by a multitude of Pokemon not handled by the defensive backbone of Magearna and Landorus-Therian, Pokemon such as Mega Metagross, Protean Greninja, opposing Pheromosa, and Tapu Bulu. Even with this in mind, the team R!cardo is using does not simply fall over to any of these aforementioned threats, and has the capability of circumventing these 'Mons.
The first notable turn is
Turn 2 when FlamingVictini's Greninja is not, in fact, Protean, as it U-turns on R!cardo's Magearna and remained Water and Dark-type. Later that turn, the very same Magearna lands a critical hit on FlamingVictini's Marowak, crippling it very low within a very early portion of the game, potentially opening a hole for Pheromosa or Tapu Koko later on in the game. On
Turn 11, FlamingVictini's Jirachi turns out to be Wish + Protect, which can become a nuisance to R!cardo's Scarfed Pheromosa. The next big moment happens on
Turn 19, when FlamingVictini's Tapu Bulu reveals it is Choiced Scarf, outspeeding and knocking out R!cardo's Tapu Koko with a Wood Hammer. At this point in time, this Tapu Bulu poses to be quite the big threat to R!cardo's team, as his only Grass resists, Pheromosa and Magearna, find themselves to be weakened. On
Turn 25, FlamingVictini revealed his Magearna is a bulky Trick Room setter, which seemingly should win at this point due to how weakened R!cardo's team is. However, R!cardo opens himself an opporutinity by getting a five hit with Water Shuriken on
Turn 27. Even with this, FlamingVictini was able to wrap the game up with his Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu, even in Trick Room!
Notable Trends
The most commonly found Mega Evolution in Sun and Moon is none other than Mega Metagross. The metagame shifts between ORAS and SM have been nothing but kind for Metagross. Between Mega Evolution mechanics changing, allowing Metagross to wield 110 base speed from the get-go, to the release of terrains and the Island Deities, and to the general viability of its answers, things have only been looking up. Mega Metagross found itself on 11/30 teams in week 1, outdoing any other potential mega by 7 uses (Charizard comes in with 4 between 2 uses for both Charizard forms). Mega Metagross' restraint on teambuilding has made itself a notable threat and choice for many people in week 1, threatening teams lacking one of the very few reliable answers to extreme extents. Whether or not Metagross will continue to see this kind of usage is yet to be seen, but it surely will be on the radar of the OU Council as it's one of the most threatening Pokemon found in the tier.
Scolipede's only niche in recent memory has only been as a Baton Passer. However, the Indie Scooters presented the tournament scene with a new and very powerful sweeper in
Waterium Z Scolipede. Axel10 wielded this innovation against Cicada (
replay) as the Scooters cruised to victory over the Falcons. While this set has only seen the scene once, it's something many players will take into consideration in future weeks, or simply accept defeat to everyone's favorite German's new fetish.
Landorus-T and Tapu Fini find themselves as the most common glue Pokemon in the first week of SPL. While neither can claim a winning record, Landorus-T found itself on 64.71% of teams and Tapu Fini on 50%. While surely few are surprised that these two are so common due to their defensive utility and general viability, it is still quite notable how common they are found. While the metagame around it sped up, Landorus-T was able to find more ways to solidify itself as a top tier threat thanks to Z moves. Z Move Landorus-T, whether carrying Rockium Z or Flyinium Z, is an incredible threat for many teams. Tapu Fini takes Latios' spot in ORAS as the most common form of hazard removal. While Fini doesn't have the same kind of offensive capabilities, its temporary immunity to status can be godsend, for both itself and its teammates. Surely teams later on will either be more cautious of overusing these two, or find themself on the wrong end of a lure for one of the two very common Pokemon. On a more negative note, even with Tapu Fini's high usage, it rarely found itself winning in the first week, going 5-12 in the first week. Whether or not this was a fluke or simply Tapu Fini's capabilities being overestimated is yet to be seen, but it, alongside the ever common Landorus-T, will surely be in the spotlight in the coming weeks.
SPL Week 1 Thread | Week 1 Usage Stats
