Grand Slam XIII Coverage

Ubers Open

This year's Ubers Open saw many big names fall in just the first round, with this year's Ubers Winter Seasonal winner yovan33321 making a surprising exit, marking the second year in a row where the previous seasonal winner fell at the first hurdle in Open. Other big names such as Lily, MichaelderBeste2, pdt, and robjr also fell, with the likes of Gilbert arenas, Edgar, and Finchinator joining them in the following round. The following rounds saw the many favorites to win the tour such as RichardMillePlain, entrocefalo, Aberforth, fade, Star, Icemaster, and Kate all fall until we reached the final three. To the surprise of no one, the tier leader Fc had secured his place here after a relatively smooth run; the other two finalists, however, were far from expected. First up was the tour's host himself and manager of last year's SCL-winning Gibles, false, who surprised many by knocking out March Fires, Icemaster, and Suzuya in the previous three rounds to get here. Our other finalist was none other than TPP, who had spent the previous year shifting away from OU towards Ubers and was ready to prove himself once again.

false vs TPP - Game One | Game Two | Game Three

Game one's Team Preview showed us some interesting choices from both sides, with false electing to load a bulky balance team featuring both Clodsire and Skeledirge, both of which had fallen out of fashion ever since the release of DLC 2. TPP meanwhile chose a HO team with hazard control Landorus-T, featuring Kingambit as a dedicated endgame cleaner and the rare Deoxys-A over more common options such as Koraidon and Necrozma-DM. The game opens with false immediately being set on the back foot, losing 75% of his Necrozma-DM's HP against Miraidon in exchange for removing its Heavy-Duty Boots with Knock Off. He's then pushed back even further as TPP's Miraidon uses Draco Meteor on his Clodsire switching in and then pivots to Landorus-T with U-turn as Clodsire uses Earthquake, leaving false with a 49% Clodsire. The next few turns see TPP safely set up Stealth Rock as false's Taunted Gliscor is unable to punish him, before TPP brings in Zacian-C. Normally, this would be a complete waste of Zacian-C, as it is usually completely walled by Skeledirge, and TPP would've lost most of the momentum that he had built up. This time, as Skeledirge switched in, Zacian-C Terastallized into a Water-type to hit it with Tera Blast. This forced false to burn his Terastallization early as Skeledirge used Tera Water and recovered with Slack Off; however, it enabled TPP to safely bring in Miraidon again on the following turn. From here, Miraidon's presence brought out Arceus-Fairy, giving TPP a safe switch to Zacian-C, before doubling to Deoxys-A to attempt to take a KO. false managed to stop it by luring out Psycho Boost with Necrozma-DM, which allowed Arceus-Fairy to come back in safely. Arceus-Fairy and Skeledirge attempted to keep TPP in check, but Miraidon found a safe opening to hit Arceus-Fairy with Electro Drift, and thanks to a lucky crit, it was also able to dispatch of Clodsire with ease. While false did attempt to claw back the game with the rarely seen Boots SD Flame Charge Scale Shot Koraidon, Landorus-T and Extreme Killer Arceus kept it in check, and once Miraidon found another safe entry point, false was forced to sack Arceus-Fairy. Thanks to Spikes from Gliscor, Miraidon was no longer able to enter the field, but the damage had been done, as sacking it against Skeledirge gave TPP a free Psycho Boost with Deoxys-A to pick off Necrozma-DM. From here, timely sacks of Zacian-C and Arceus gave TPP free opportunities to claim KO after KO with Psycho Boost, while all false could do was pray for one to miss, as a single miss would wrap up the game. In the end, Psycho Boost never missed, and false's Earthquake-less Gliscor ended up losing to Kingambit, putting TPP up 1-0.

In game two, we see a matchup of two defining styles of HO: Grimmsnarl screens by false and Ribombee Webs by TPP. Off Preview, screens tends to have the advantage into Webs because of the bulk provided by screens, which is vital, as neither team has any real defensive backbone. It's made worse for TPP by a little Ice horsie known as Calyrex-I, which turns the tables with Trick Room, undoing the progress that Sticky Web attempts to make. false leads with Zacian-C and TPP picks Miraidon, meaning neither chooses to lead with their usual HO leads. Immediately, this should tell false that TPP's Ribombee has Choice Scarf and not Focus Sash, as Sash Ribombee has no real reason not to lead into screens, as it can punish both Grimmsnarl and setup sweepers alike; Scarf Ribombee meanwhile can potentially give its item away later with Trick or try to get off a speedy Stun Spore. false switches out Zacian-C to Arceus-Ground, showing that it probably does not have Play Rough, while TPP uses Electro Drift. TPP then launches a tactical nuke at Arceus-Ground, otherwise known as Life Orb-boosted Draco Meteor, knocking it almost into the red, while Arceus-Ground gets up the all-important Stealth Rock. Miraidon then uses Overheat on the incoming Grimmsnarl, which TPP tries to answer with his Eternatus but is unsuccessful at bluffing Sludge Bomb, as false's Grimmsnarl is able to set up both screens and also pivot to Necrozma-DM with Parting Shot, negating the boost from Eternatus's Meteor Beam. TPP's Ribombee hard switches into Necrozma-DM as it uses Dragon Dance, and it proceeds to give Necrozma-DM its Scarf with Trick as it goes for a second Dragon Dance, possibly implying that it needed +2 Speed to outspeed Zacian-C. false then switches out to Zacian-C while Ribombee sets up Sticky Web, and he reveals Substitute as Ribombee tries to paralyze it with Stun Spore. TPP attempts to claw back the game by switching in his own Zacian-C, but it loses the Speed tie to false's now +2 Zacian-C. He does manage to break the Substitute with Miraidon as Zacian-C fails to KO it, but it faints to Life Orb recoil in the process. false then seals up the game by revealing Tera Flying against TPP's Tera Water Arceus-Ground, allowing Zacian-C to set up a Substitute safely and wrap up the game.

Going into game three, we see false going back to his game one plan of using a somewhat unorthodox balance team, this time featuring Eternatus and Arceus-Water. TPP on the other hand chooses to load a third straight HO team, this time opting for a Glimmora-based team with the rare Kyurem-B, which has an almost perfect matchup into false's team, forcing false to play very carefully around it to prevent it from getting free turns. false opens with Eternatus to prevent TPP's Glimmora from getting up a layer of Toxic Spikes via Toxic Debris, but it is unable to prevent Spikes from going up. TPP preserves his damaged Glimmora and switches in Zacian-C on Dragon Pulse, attempting to use Swords Dance freely until false reveals Fire Spin. Despite this, he's still forced to sack his offensive Ho-Oh to Zacian-C, as Eternatus was simply too valuable into the rest of TPP's threats. He then brings out Scarf Koraidon, and instead of going for Flare Blitz or Low Kick, he chooses U-turn, predicting TPP will save Zacian-C, and it works out. TPP elects to sack Glimmora, which usually wouldn't have died to U-turn but did due to Dragon Pulse's crit on turn 1. false uses this opportunity to bring out Eternatus to absorb the Toxic Spikes, and TPP attempts to punish this with his Koraidon, but he fails to do so, as false's Eternatus uses Tera Fairy and poisons Koraidon with Toxic as it uses Scale Shot. He then traps the Koraidon with Fire Spin, forcing it to trade with Eternatus, and it ends up fainting from Toxic at the end of the exchange. false tries to capitalize on this fresh game state by sending in Scarf Koraidon, which can either KO or pivot out on any of TPP's switch-ins, and it does pivot against Arceus-Ground to Arceus-Water. TPP sees this as an opportunity to safely bring in Miraidon and use Calm Mind as false goes to the dedicated check, Ting-Lu. We then see Miraidon fire off its second Life Orb Draco Meteor of the set, putting Ting-Lu down to the red, while false uses Ruination, attempting to engineer a situation where Zacian-C can set up on a -3 Miraidon. TPP overpredicts on the following turn and uses Overheat to cover a Zacian-C switch-in but instead narrowly misses the KO on Ting-Lu, which sets up a layer of Spikes. This meant that Miraidon left the exchange not only at -5 but also without Electric Terrain, giving Zacian-C a free turn to use Trailblaze. Despite this seeming advantage, false still switches out against the incoming Arceus-Ground, sacking his Arceus-Water to it to give Koraidon a safe switch in. Koraidon proceeds to 2HKO Arceus-Ground after comfortably tanking its Earthquake, and it forces Kyurem-B to use Tera Fire to take Low Kick and KO it back with Fusion Bolt. This set the scene for false's Zacian-C to pick it off, resulting in a standoff against TPP's Zacian-C. TPP's Zacian-C had to not only survive the first Behemoth Blade on a roll but also then win the following Speed tie to win, but such theorymonning became pointless, as false's Zacian-C won the Speed tie and managed to get the roll, KOing TPP's Zacian-C and winning the Open.

UU Open

After a number of grueling weeks for the competitors, Smogon Grand Slam entered into its latter phases with the finals of UU Open, pitting mncmt against Kate. Both users, having won Smogon team tournaments in the past, entered the match in search of their first individual trophy, with UU Open serving as the springboard for their subsequent qualifications into the knockout stages. A swell of South American support seemed to set the stage for mncmt, who was arguably the favorite entering into the finals.

Kate vs mncmt - Game One | Game Two

The first game in the series starts with little overlap at Team Preview, with only Cobalion shared between the two competitors. Kate's team looks to take on a more familiar mid-range approach, with bulkier attacking options like Raikou and Hydrapple flanked by the complementary typing and Regenerator backbone provided by Slowking and Torandus-T. mncmt, on the other hand, brought a funkier-looking team with a more offensive bent—Greninja, Gardevoir, and Lokix serving as instant threats, facilitated by Golurk (which looks to present a fairly notable threat), Mandibuzz, and Cobalion as a core. The more offbeat nature of mncmt's team is something to be expected, as he's always been willing to use wackier options, and where better to experiment than in the UU Open finals? The synergy between Lokix and Greninja presents an interesting problem for Kate, whose team is not particularly equipped to handle the overload, particularly when they're augmented by Golurk's ability to keep Stealth Rock up, which is a thorn in Tornadus-T's side. This is not to say that her options are entirely limited, with Hydrapple being an issue for mncmt to deal with alongside threats from Tornadus-T and possibly Excadrill with a little luck.

The battle starts with Tornadus-T and Golurk on Kate and mncmt's sides, respectively. We learn that the Golurk is using a Choice Band, as it takes a hefty Knock Off from Tornadus-T, but even without its item, the follow-up Poltergeist takes a large chunk of health from the bird. Gardevoir replaces the ghost, unwilling to entertain a possible KO, and begins to make some headway—mncmt correctly calls Kate's attempts to set up Stealth Rock as her Slowking pivots to Cobalion, ravaging the Sword of Justice with Mystical Fire and then signing its death warrant by catching the Volt Switch out through a return to Golurk, with Future Sight from turn 3 doing the dirty work. Kate's Raikou comes in afterward in an attempt to wrestle back momentum, but its ineffectual attacks reveal the incoming Gardevoir's Assault Vest, leading to little progress.

mncmt throws out another Future Sight on turn 8 before bringing in his Greninja, which Kate attempts to counter by staying in with Slowking, understanding that it can take a Dark Pulse from most sets. The stay-in quickly comes back to haunt her, though, as Greninja gives away its Choice Scarf with Trick, severely reducing the staying power and flexibility of Kate's Water-type. This was potentially a purposeful play, as Slowking's utility against the rest of the Brazilian's team is limited; however, Kate appears to be running out of options quickly in this match, as Greninja manages to lay on damage over the next few turns while Kate's Pokémon pivot. mncmt manages to bring Cobalion back in from Greninja's U-turn, and the goat Pokémon manages to give a great account of itself, getting up Stealth Rock and paralyzing Tornadus-T, which seemed like the biggest problem left for mncmt to beat down.

Turn 17 marks the beginning of the end for this match, as mncmt Terastallizes his Lokix, which is now set to deal silly amounts of damage with its Tinted Lens-boosted hits. The bug tanks Excadrill's Rock Slide on turn 23, the last meaningful turn of the game, and then the remainder of the match is cleaned up through pivot moves and First Impressions, giving mncmt a lead in the series.

Game two sees Kate bring a team centered around heavy hits through Ursaluna, Greninja, and Lokix, backed up by Mandibuzz, Slowking, and Tinkaton. We see a consistency in team choice here, as she continues to use squads with clear and obvious synergies, this time though with a more offensive and immediate bent. The presence of a scary Ursaluna seems to be Kate's centerpiece. Across from Kate's team we have mncmt with, once again, a more hodgepodge approach—bringing Pecharunt, Sandy Shocks, Empoleon, and centerpiece Ogerpon, supported by Mandibuzz and Slowking, which are the only two overlapping Pokémon in this match. With a fairly even matchup on their hands, the second game begins.

In a rarity for this generation, we see mncmt Terastallize his Ogerpon turn 1, landing a very hefty, super effective Ivy Cudgel on Kate's Slowking, which narrowly avoids the KO. The returning Scald fails to burn, and so Kate is forced to switch to Mandibuzz, which serves more or less as a full stop to the generation 9 legendary. mncmt accepts a Knock Off on the carrion bird after getting up a layer of Spikes, but in return, Ogerpon gets chipped further with U-turn, and Kate uses the opportunity to get a bit of regeneration on her Slowking. Mandibuzz ultimately returns to remove Spikes with Defog, but mncmt has a great check for the buzzard, with Sandy Shocks coming in to set up Stealth Rock and leaving Mandibuzz unable to do much aside from pivoting out on the prediction. It is after this turn, though, that Kate's gameplan starts to roll, as big bear Ursaluna comes in and uses Bulk Up, while Sandy Shocks gets out of dodge. The incoming Mandibuzz knows it can do little but use Toxic, and Ursaluna takes this chance to get off a hefty Ice Punch, freezing the Mandibuzz, which then immediately thaws. With the Toxic poison racking up, mncmt pivots to an Air Balloon-wielding Pecharunt before returning to Mandibuzz (ostensibly to catch a Ground-type move), but Kate takes the opportunity to bring in Tinkaton.

Sandy Shocks continues to be a good answer here, though Tinkaton manages to get up Stealth Rock and remove the Paradox Pokémon's Heavy-Duty Boots for its trouble, taking a Volt Switch in return. Of note, Kate brings in Lokix only to take another Volt Switch from the Shocker, which seems like an early time to tank a hit from one of mncmt's premier attackers, though she seemingly has few options to handle Electric-type attacks with Ursaluna on a timer. Things go from bad to worse here, though, as mncmt manages to both badly poison and confuse Kate's Greninja on turn 18, facilitating an easy Empoleon switch-in, as Kate's team is whittled down methodically. Empoleon bashes its head against Kate's Slowking for a few turns, successfully removing its Heavy-Duty Boots, and at the end of the interaction, mncmt takes the opportunity to bring in Pecharunt for some recovery, which it gets off successfully before Tinkaton has to lock it down with Encore.

The two players pivot a bit more, with neither accomplishing very much until we get Kate's Mandibuzz coming on on mncmt's Ogerpon's Ivy Cudgel. Taking the opportunity to pile on the pressure, Ogerpon chips away at Mandibuzz's health even more before getting KOed by a Foul Play on turn 33, though Kate is forced to sacrifice Mandibuzz immediately afterward to Sandy Shocks. Lokix is Kate's choice to scare out Sandy Shocks, which it does, ultimately leading up to a situation where mncmnt must sacrifice his Empoleon to Greninja's repeated Dark Pulses as it collapses under its Toxic poison. mncmt actually brings in Slowking again on turn 38, perhaps expecting to be able to stomach a single Dark Pulse from the frog or choosing his least important remaining Pokémon as a sacrifice, and it succumbs as Greninja goes down alongside it.

The last leg of the game starts in interesting circumstances. Pecharunt is able to badly poison and confuse Slowking, meaning that Kate is absolutely playing on borrowed time now, with her team a bit shattered and statused. She manages to get Tinkaton in to lock Pecharunt into Night Shade and then threatens free recovery with Slowking, forcing mncmt to switch to Sandy Shocks, ostensibly to continue to threaten the lurking Ursaluna. Kate, however, chooses Scald and removes Sandy Socks as a consideration, and now mncmt's team is looking quite thin as well. After sacrificing Tinkaton at 1% while allowing Mandibuzz to recover, a late Terastallization is used to make Kate's poisoned Slowking a Fairy-type, and it successfully paralyzes the backbone mon, potentially crippling Mandibuzz's chances of seeing this game out. After a few turns of recovery, Kate manages to get Lokix back in, and goes for Knock Off on the paralyzed Mandibuzz, which successfully breaks through paralysis and KOes Lokix. The game ends from here in muted fashion, barring a single turn of "will it or won't it" paralysis, which mncmt's Mandibuzz breaks through. A few spammed Foul Plays and Roosts later, Kate's team crumbles, and Grand Slam finalist mncmt succesfully wins UU Open.

RU Open

Okidogi's favorite tier saw a plethora of strong players fall in the first two rounds, including Finchinator, hellom, lax, robjr, 3d, Mada, MZ, and Punny. The competition only got tighter as the tournament advanced, seeing DugZa, crying, LpZ, Floss, feen, and TheFranklin fall in back-to-back rounds. By the time finals came, most of RU's most well-known players had been eliminated, leaving a round robin between defending RU Circuit Champion Star, Italian Ubers player entrocefalo, and OMs main abriel, who is making an impressive debut in the official metagames.

abriel vs Star - Game One | Game Two | Game Three

The first game of round robin had the back-to-back finalist Star against the breakout player in abriel. Star brought a hyper offensive build, with interesting picks such as Torterra and Thundurus, while abriel decided on a bulky offensive approach. The game was very straightforward for Star's side: get hazards up and start pressuring with an offensive onslaught. Froslass leads and pressures abriel's Cyclizar due to Destiny Bond, which gives Star the perfect momentum to get Armarouge on field and force a switch out, grabbing a KO on Moltres and forcing abriel to Terastallize her Rhyperior to get Armarouge out. Froslass then gets in again and forces Cyclizar to switch out to preserve Rhyperior's HP. The rest of the game goes with Blastoise taking the opportunity to KO Cyclizar and almost take out Okidogi and Mimikyu cleaning up the rest of abriel's weakened team, giving Star the first game win.

Game two has Star bringing a pretty unorthodox team, with hyper offensive staples in Blastoise, Revavroom, and Mew coupled with bulky offense presences in Gligar, Gardevoir, and Ditto, while abriel once again decides on a bulky offense team, this time with interesting picks in Alolan Muk and Choice Band Slither Wing. The game starts with an unfortunate Steam Eruption miss for abriel, which forced her Volcanion to play on the back foot the rest of the game. Ditto comes in and forces damage on Cyclizar; both switch out, leading Star to sacrifice Gligar to Slither Wing's Close Combat, which gives Mew a chance to use Nasty Plot and get damage on Alolan Muk and a KO on Volcanion. Galarian Zapdos forces Mew to switch, and Ditto is sent out as Galarian Zapdos pivots to Rhyperior, forcing a Close Combat that abriel takes advantage of to get Galarian Zapdos in once again, which ends up winning the Speed tie against Ditto and decently chips down Revavroom. Rhyperior comes in and unfortunely takes an Iron Head flinch, forcing Abriel to Terastallize it to OHKO Revavroom back. Gardevoir comes in and Terastallizes but unfortunely for Star doesn't KO Alolan Muk, forcing them both to get KOed by each other. Slither Wing finishes the rest of the game with two Close Combats and brings abriel the second game's win.

Game three switches up on Star's side, who decided to run a bulky offensive team as well. The game starts with Cyclizar at low HP due to Basculegion-F's Ice Beams; it's subsequently sacked to Moltres as it crucially removes Moltres's Heavy-Duty Boots with Knock Off. Slowbro switches in and Terastallizes as soon as Basculegion-F switches in, forcing Star to go to his Assault Vest Golurk to force it out. Gligar then switches in to get Stealth Rock up and poison Golurk with Toxic, which gives abriel's Slowbro a lot more breathing room later in the game, being able to both get a KO on Star's Cobalion and halve Golurk's health in the process. Golurk forces a Gligar sack after that, which abriel promptly takes advantage of to get Slowbro on field again on a forced switch to Amoonguss, letting Slowbro grab two KOs on Golurk and Moltres. Bisharp comes in and forces abriel to get Jirachi in to use Encore; it pivots out to Okidogi, which boosts with Bulk Up and guarantees abriel the win on the first set.

abriel vs entrocefalo - Game One | Game Two

Switching things up for the first game of the other set, abriel is now the one bringing a hyper offensive build, with entrocefalo deciding for the entirely opposite side with a stall team. The game starts with Terrakion trading some blows with Milotic and using Taunt on Chesnaught. Revavroom switches in, and after some switches, Terrakion and Talonflame mutually KO each other. Revavroom then comes in and forces Chansey to Terastallize into a Ghost-type to avoid fainting to a Gunk Shot after an unfortunate Iron Head flinch. Maushold switches in to get poisoned by Toxic Spikes and immediately after goes to Revavroom, which sadly for entrocefalo, had the spirit of Jirachi in it and landed two Iron Head flinches on Jirachi, which left it unable to recover. A few turns later, Quagsire and Revavroom are switched in, and while Quagsire gets Toxic Spikes up, the one who ends up poisoned is Quagsire via Revavroom's Gunk Shot. After some double switches, Bisharp is able to get on the field with a Swords Dance, KOing Chesnaught with two Iron Heads. This leaves entrocefalo in a tight spot, which he was not able to recover from with his remaining three Pokémon, letting abriel grab the win and leaving her one win away from the championship.

The second and final game of RU Open once again has a hyper offense team, but this time on entrocefalo's end; abriel once again brought a trustworthy bulky offense team. abriel leads with Thundurus against entrocefalo's Cobalion. Thundurus would normally have the advantage in this interaction, but guess what? Focus Blast misses twice, while Cobalion gets some damage and Stealth Rock up. Jirachi and Yanmega hit the field after this interaction, and abriel reveals her Jirachi to be the rather uncommon Choice Scarf variant, which locks Yanmega into an uncomfortable Bug Buzz, forcing a switch on entrocefalo's end due to a previous Cobalion switch-in. entrocefalo goes hard into Maushold to threaten an Encore but has to deal with one of RU's common interactions: Population Bomb into Rocky Helmet Hippowdon. Feraligatr then finishes up Maushold's job on Hippowdon and is then forced out by Thundurus, which after some doubles gets Yanmega and Jirachi in, this time with Jirachi fainting and, once again, Thundurus grabbing the KO. Krookodile is later revealed to be Moxie Tera Dragon with Loaded Dice, which unfortunately only grabs an OHKO on Cyclizar and faints to a Focus Blast from Thundurus after getting paralyzed. Feraligatr comes to the field and finishes Thundurus but is unable to OHKO Slowbro, leaving the final interaction between Tera Ghost Cobalion against Weakness Policy Armarouge to end in entrocefalo's defeat due to Weak Armor not activating on special moves. abriel is crowned this RU Open's champion, with an impressive performance over a lot of solid players in the tournament scene.

NU Open

The NU Open had an interesting course as a breakout tournament for relatively unheard names like Suzuya and abriel, who make it quite far into the later rounds, helping to cement their positions in Grand Slam playoffs. We see some more familiar faces looking into finals, a three-way tie between Star, xavgb, and MichaelderBeste2; three players with less NU experience than notable tier mains like Danny, Stories, S1nn0hC0nfirm3d, and Skierdude101, who all fell out in earlier rounds.

Star vs xavgb - Game One | Game Two

Game one starts off, and already at Team Preview we get a sense of each player's style. xavgb has some more unconventional picks like Gligar, Mesprit, and Cacturne, which all find a home in tiers below NU. Cacturne carves a small niche for itself in the metagame despite its sub-ZU usage with an immunity to both of Slowbro's STAB moves. Slowbro was so dominant at the time that using such a Pokémon to counter it was worth a consideration. Gligar and Mesprit are pure bundles of bulk and utility, with the potential to remove items, set up entry hazards, and pivot out. Here we see them supporting xavgb's stronger Pokémon, namely Basculegion-M, which is sure to be throwing out Adaptability-boosted moves. Pointing out the more experimental picks is not to discount the viability of xavgb's Pokémon, but we already see much more established picks on Star's side of the field, showing his no-nonsense attitude. Six absolute monsters in the NU tier, with Slowbro at the forefront as undoubtedly the best Pokémon the tier has seen all generation. Powerful pivots like Mienshao and Talonflame aim to position Porygon-Z to wallbreak, with Rhyperior, Alolan Muk, and Slowbro creating a super solid backbone for the team.

Star leads off with Porygon-Z, aiming to get some immediate progress made against xavgb's slower team. xavgb's Talonflame is immediately forced out to Copperajah, one of the few Pokémon that can take repeated hits from Porygon-Z, and we can infer that Porygon-Z is equipped with Choice Specs after the damage dealt. In the coming turns, the two players commit a handshake exchange of Stealth Rock, and we see xavgb's team make a great deal of progress using its pivots and Knock Off from Cacturne. Spikes are laid up on Star's side, whittling away at the Porygon-Z that continues to dish out damage, but xavgb has answers for whatever move it locks into. xavgb's Cacturne gets free entry against Slowbro every time, and with all the entry hazards up against Star and Cacturne repeatedly removing Heavy-Duty Boots, the switch-ins to it are quite limited. As Star's Talonflame hits the field, so does xavgb's Basculegion-M, attempting to deter Talonflame from staying in to clear the hazards away with Defog. Talonflame inverts its Water weakness, Terastallizing into a Dragon-type, and the hazards are removed, undoing a large portion of xavgb's progress but also burning Star's Terastallization in the process. Over the next couple turns, we see hazards reinstated on both sides of the field, but now Gligar is taken out, and Spikes won't be able to be reset should Defog be used again. xavgb uses Tera Fairy on his Uxie, inverting its weakness to the incoming U-turn and granting a safe Nasty Plot. Star brings in Porygon-Z, attempting to shut down the setup sweeper, but Uxie is faster. Star's Alolan Muk is asleep and weakened, and the two Pokémon faster than Uxie are unable to damage it with Draining Kiss restoring so much HP. Star's only option now is to match Uxie's boosts with Calm Mind Slowbro, but Uxie reveals Encore, ultimately guaranteeing the win for xavgb in game one.

In game two, we see some familiar faces on xavgb's side of the field; Gligar and Basculegion were key players for the win last game, and we see other pivots like Flygon and Mienshao. Star is also sporting a pivot-central team, with Swampert, Incineroar, Magnezone, and Noivern all able to use pivoting moves to get Gallade onto the field, a fearsome wallbreaker capable of beating traditional Fighting-type checks like Vileplume and Slowbro. Both players lead with their Flip Turn users, but surprisingly neither clicks the move, instead opting for damage. Basculegion-M's Choice Scarf is removed by Swampert's Knock Off, eliminating a lot of odds for the Mienshao in the back to also have a Choice Scarf. On a sliver of health, Basculegion pivots out, leaving Swampert quite low as well in the process. Stealth Rock goes up and Mienshao takes out Swampert, indeed revealing its Life Orb. We see some pivoting action from both sides, and eventually Star makes a great call to use Flash Cannon on Bronzong as it switches out into Flygon, leaving Flygon in red HP. xavgb fires back with a read of his own, using Scale Shot on the Magnezone as Star's Ditto transforms into a Flygon, dropping to three hits and making xavgb's Flygon the fastest Pokémon in the battle. Incineroar can take an Earthquake from Flygon, but barely, and we see Star's resources are dwindling, while xavgb's Sylveon keeps all its teammates healthy. Sylveon comes in on Noivern and starts setting up with Calm Mind. Magnezone hits the field in an attempt to stop the sweep, but too many boosts have been accrued by now, and Magnezone can't do enough damage. Star's remaining Pokémon cannot even 2HKO Sylveon, and the battle is over.

PU Open

The lowest of the fully evolved tiers kept up the trend of many others, seeing players like JJ09LIE, Luthier, Elfuseon, mncmt, zS, entrocefalo, and fish anemometer being eliminated in the first three rounds. robjr, Malekith, MZ, and xavgb failed to make it to the top 24, and the race to top 12 eliminated Drud, TPP, and Lily along the way. The quarterfinals saw a mix of lower tier mainstays and strong all-around tournament players, but it would be the latter group that mostly made up the three-way finals between Star, SoulWind, and eifo.

Star vs SoulWind - Game One | Game Two | Game Three

SoulWind would end up defeating fellow finalists eifo and Star in 2-1 fashion before either had the chance to play each other. SoulWind made use of several teams he had used in prior rounds, copies of teams that had been used recently in PU Premier League and at least one sample team, preferring to outplay his opponents in a well-developed meta rather than relying on innovations. The set versus Star started out extremely close, with game one ending in a double down as SoulWind's Arcanine achieved the final KO on Star's Decidueye while fainting to Flare Blitz recoil. In game two, Star's combination of Calm Mind Galarian Slowbro and hazards managed to quickly overwhelm SoulWind's balanced build, but in game three, SoulWind threw a similar strategy back at Star, whose balance team lacked hazard control and was brought down by a combination of Spikes and early breaking from Calm Mind Florges.

SoulWind vs eifo - Game One | Game Two | Game Three

eifo was able to take game one versus SoulWind with a balance team that utilized the rare Poliwrath to check SoulWind's Arcanine and Inteleon, but he lost game two when he brought a balanced team without any hazard control versus SoulWind's Spikes Coalossal. In the final game of the PU Open, SoulWind took an early lead with strong plays from his Choice Band Golurk. eifo attempted to countersweep by weakening SoulWind's Scyther and setting up with his Hariyama, but the reveal of the rare Tera Poison Milotic to wall eifo's Hariyama and Rotom-C ended the game, crowning SoulWind as the seventh PU Open champion.

LC Open

Grand Slam XIII's second-biggest open, LC is the tier that is the most different from the rest of those featured in Slam, requiring a different set of metagame knowledge and a little bit of Speed tie luck to succeed. Despite this, established LC players like Slam XII's LC Open winner Sylveon used calm mind, Wail Wailord, Fille, Eric, and gali all fell in the first two rounds. By the time the top 16 rolled around, it was anyone's tournament, with strong LC players like kythr, tazz, Laroxyl, and Starsama failing to make the cut, leaving only old gens all-rounder false and one of Smogon's highest-rated LC players in Hacker to face off in the finals.

Hacker vs false - Game One | Game Two | Game Three

At Team Preview, we see relatively standard teams from both players, featuring a single flavor pick; hacker's Magnemite and false's Torchic. Hacker's Magnemite and Mienfoo both seem poised to spam their powerful STAB moves in this matchup, given false's apparent lack of resistances to them. false's gameplan appears to use his standard top-tier picks like Mienfoo, Vullaby, and Hisuian Voltorb to pivot around and weaken the opposition, then finally clean up with his speedy sweepers Torchic and Shellder. Unfortunately for false, it appears that Hacker is well equipped to deal with both of these threats, with Mudbray and Mareanie being two of the most consistent answers to both of them.

Hacker, recognizing false's lack of a Fighting resistance, comes out guns blazing, setting up a Swords Dance turn 1 with his Mienfoo in the face of Hisuian Voltorb, which cannot meaningfully damage Mienfoo at this point in the battle. At best, Hacker will get an OHKO the following turn. At worst, ignoring High Jump Kick's miss chance, false will be forced to use a timely Terastallization to neutralize Mienfoo. Either way, this is a huge lead for Hacker already. Turn 2 we see the best-case scenario for Hacker, and False is without his Stealth Rock setter, primary Vullaby switch-in, and only a layer of Toxic Spikes to show for it, which Hacker can easily remove with his Mareanie. false sends out his own Mienfoo to answer Hacker's, a common line in LC, and he correctly calls out that Hacker will switch out to preserve his Mienfoo and uses U-turn on the incoming Mareanie. We see some more pivoting action between the two players, with Volt Switch and U-turn whittling each other's teams down, but Magnemite's typing and free Volt Switch are too much; even with Vullaby neutralizing its Electric weakness with Roost, it eventually loses too much HP. Mienfoo comes in on false's side to answer Magnemite, but a Thunderbolt paralysis thwarts these plans. false sacrifices his Vullaby to Mienfoo to get Shellder on the field, where it can safely set up with Shell Smash using its amazing physical bulk. Hacker lets his Magnemite go down, as it has done its job at this point, and a Tera Water from Mudbray completely neutralizes Shellder, as it ends turn 22 with +6 Defense. Despite Mudbray being at relatively low health now, Hacker keeps it around, as it can still take a hit from Torchic later, but false gets his Hisuian Voltorb in safely on Mareanie, and Mudbray gets taken out back. Hacker's Pokémon all have their Eviolite intact still, and false's last two Pokémon simply cannot dish out enough damage to take them out.

Game two begins, and we see a lot more colorful picks from each side, notably the Tinkatink on both teams. false's Tinkatink seems capable of walling a majority of Hacker's team, easily taking on Mareanie's weaker attacks and resisting the STAB moves of Stunky, Grookey, and Gothita. Hacker's Mienfoo looks great here again, as false's Mareanie falls prey to Gothita's Shadow Tag. false's Tinkatink comes in against Hacker's Mienfoo lead and takes a Knock Off for its troubles. However, Tinkatink's Pickpocket ability lets it snatch Mienfoo's Eviolite, effectively turning the tables on Mienfoo. Despite staring down a Fairy-type, Mienfoo throws out a High Jump Kick, easily threatening to 2HKO Tinkatink as it sets up Stealth Rock, possibly expecting a switch from Hacker. false brings in his Vullaby to take the subsequent hit, activating its Weak Armor and allowing it to outspeed everything on Hacker's side. Hacker brings out his own Tinkatink, and false goes for a Brave Bird, which both threatens Mienfoo and also prevents Tinkatink from stealing Vullaby's Eviolite after Knock Off. Vullaby heals off the recoil damage it faced with Roost as Tinkatink sets up Stealth Rock, and Hacker goes to Mienfoo on a U-turn, throwing it into a positive matchup regardless of what false goes to. Hisuian Voltorb comes in, just for some more pivoting action on both sides. Eventually, Tinkatink comes in against Hacker's Stunky and, scouting for a potential Temper Flare that would take Tinkatink out, false doubles to Mareanie, and Hacker, either calling this read out or simply not having Temper Flare, goes to his own Mareanie. After throwing some weak attacks at each other, Hacker traps and removes Mareanie with his Gothita. Vullaby comes in on Gothita Choice-locked into Psychic, granting it a free Roost as Tinkatink comes in. An exchange of Knock Off on a few Pokémon happens, but false is able to remove Stealth Rock using his Toedscool. With Grookey's Eviolite gone, it goes down to Hisuian Voltorb, and Hacker isn't left with many options to deal with it. Hisuian Voltorb pivots out against Tinkatink to keep its Eviolite, bringing Toedscool to throw out an Earth Power, which Hacker lacks a resistance to now. Hacker's Mienfoo misses a High Jump Kick, putting it down insantly. Gothita can take out false's Mienfoo, and resources are dwindling quickly on both sides. The final two Pokémon stare each other down, Mareanie vs Hisuian Voltorb. Both Terastallize. Mareanie takes two hits and is about to 2HKO Hisuian Voltorb for the win, but false scores a clutch critical hit to bring the series to a game three.

At Preview from the third game, we see two Hisuian Voltorb, two Mareanie, and two Mienfoo, some of the biggest MVPs for both players so far in these games. Hacker's Hisuian Growlithe is a fearsome cleaner, but much like Hacker's defensive core from game 1, false has Mareanie and Mudbray, two of the best checks to it. Both Mienfoo lead off and give a courtesy handshake of item removal, both pivot out afterwards and we eventually see Toedscool set up Spikes. Tinkatink uses Stealth Rock against Vullaby, and as Vullaby reveals Tera Blast Ground instead of Defog, these hazards are here to say. The aforementioned Tera Blast effectively surprises Tinkatink, but it has done its job already; the hazards are up and pelting into false's team, and false has already used his Tera. Any switch-ins to Hisuian Growlithe and Hisuian Voltorb are torn apart by the entry hazards, and eventually Hacker cleans up, but not before missing another High Jump Kick in the process of course. Tera Psychic from Hisuian Voltorb lets it take a hit from false's Gothita in a pinch, taking out the final Pokémon that could stand up to it, and Hacker's Hisuian Pokémon crown him the winner of the LC Open.