NDPL IV Coverage

By ChrisPBacon. Released:2024/01/30

Introduction

National Dex's most prestigious team tournament returns this year again, featuring new talent, tiers, and the transition to Generation 9! The format has expanded since last year's iteration, adding two SS NDOU slots, which continues to be popular after the generation's transition, and replacing the unpopular best of 3 slot by showcasing ND Doubles for the first time in a team tournament, while the now unplayable ND Anything Goes has been replaced by Ubers. Three teams remain for the first iteration, as Kate and the Vice City Victinis chase their win after barely missing out in finals last year with the comanagement of Fragments over Isza, Milo is joined by kDCA as the Wicked Weaviles to see their fantastic regular season performance last year follow through in playoffs, and the Galarian Phoenix look for a repeat win under the new management of ChrisPBacon (that's me!). The new teams include: relative newcomers to National Dex hidin and velvet leading the Mythical Manaphies, Indian superstars TDR and skimmythegod as the Goldenrod Gholdengos, NatDex Grand Slam winner and Ubers's rising star entrocefalo pairing with Europe's NDWC Manager Mada to lead the Glaring Gengars, prominent tournament players crying and fade captaining the Sylveon vs the Forces of Evil, and well-known ND main ezra with Batzi, who recently returned to the tier and look for a win as the Luvdisc is Rage 2.

Team Rosters

Galarian Phoenix: Manager: ChrisPBacon; Roster: ChrisPBacon, Thiago Nunes, baconeatinassassin, Ryuji, Elfuseon, Inder, Lameflame, Baloor, Chris32156, Trouser Snakes, Drud, Voltix

Mythical Manaphys: Managers: hidin, velvet; Roster: hidin, Kyo, tyo, Clementine, lotiasite, Bouff, RoyalReloaded, RaJ.Shoot, Meminger21, gamer but swag, SHSP, setset77

Glaring Gengars: Managers: Mada, entrocefalo; Roster: pannu, JRL, Leru, zee, Gondra, Cielau, Mihowk, Xurkiyee, Latiasboy, fakenagol, dunoks, LouisIX, Runo, Weaselfie

Goldenrod Gholdengos: Managers: TDR, skimmythegod; Roster: skimmythegod, Fc, LBN, Jordy, style.css, Piyush25, Saurav the great, hi.naming is hard, zioziotrip, Smudge, Ainzcrad, bage1

Luvdisc is Rage 2: Managers: vstra, Batzi; Roster: vstra, devin, The Strap, Leavers, xqiht, Dorron, hellom, lolebruh, anique, crashy, ojr, outbackrabbit, MTB, LORD SAGIS, Shucklegigas, Farce Of The Death, Maxouille, Trogba Trogba, Ashbala

Wicked Weaviles: Managers: Milo, kDCA; Roster: Nat, peap, avarice, Seasons, Spurrific, Felines, Scarfire, Togkey, Leni, Rhmsitb, db, sealoo, Axzel, feen, BlackKnight_Gawain, Iceberg77

Sylveon vs the Forces of Evil: Managers: crying, fade; Roster: crying, Isza, sage, gum, Akaru Kokoyo, Splash, Unowndragon, 3d, spellcaster, s7a, Eledyr, pichus

Vice City Victinis: Managers: Kate, Fragments; Roster: Kate, Trichotomy, Roginald, JustFranco, Taka, eragon11145, Kayzn, TBIC106, Adriyun, BigFatMantis, jay, Rasche

Regular Season

In the early weeks, the Luvdiscs got into an early lead with convincing wins against the Manaphies and Weaviles while all other teams bar the Manaphies had gone neutral. However, these teams would prove to be the weakest in the tournament, with the Manaphies tragically failing to win a week, at best managing a tie against the Weaviles in Week 5, while the Weaviles would suffer the same curse bar an early victory against the Phoenix. Combined with a harsh defeat against the Gengars in the following week, the Luvdiscs quickly lost momentum and began to struggle throughout the season. This paved the way for the Phoenix and Sylveons to establish themselves as the leading teams, each amassing three wins, a tie against each other, and one loss as the tournament entered its closing stages. While the Sylveons were able to maintain their winning streak to lock in their playoff seat as the first seed, the Phoenix's loss to the Victinis set a tense final week as the two aforementioned teams alongside the Gholdengos and Gengars fought for the other three playoff places. The Victinis had been solid throughout the tournament, not dropping a week after a debut loss against the Gholdengos, and carried their victories to secure the second spot in playoffs. Meanwhile, the Gengars and Gholdengos were paired against each other. With the Gholdengos being the stronger team, they clinched a win that greatly hampered the chances of the Gengars qualifying alongside them, as the Phoenix now only need a tie to make it into playoffs, which they successfully managed against the Luvdiscs for the final seat.

Metagame Shifts & Innovations

The opening weeks of the tournament saw National Dex OU in a rather awkward state, as Kingambit had recently been banned, leaving the dominant Ghost-types Dragapult and Gholdengo without their best check and Pursuit trapper. As such, both saw an uptick in usage, most often wielding Z-Move Dragon Dance and bulky Nasty Plot sets, respectively, to take over the game. In response, Ting-Lu, which had been somewhat overlooked in favor of other Ground-types such as Gliscor, Great Tusk, and Landorus-T, saw an immense uptick in usage as one of the best stopgaps the tier could offer while providing other utility in either Stealth Rock or Spikes and an ironclad measure against Zapdos, which had also been rising in usage and often paired well with Ting-Lu itself to punish threats such as Urshifu-R and Mega Lopunny with Static paralysis. This teamused by hellom against hidin and later lolebruh against Nat reflected common cores at the time and would continue to be used throughout the tournament, albeit with edits. Modelled after an SV OU team at the time, it highlights Ting-Lu's ability as a special sponge against the likes of Heatran and even Tapu Lele, while Dondozo staves off some of the tier's most dangerous physical wallbreakers in Dragon Dance Dragapult and Swords Dance Gliscor. The team is rounded off by Moltres acting as a similarly effective alternative to Zapdos against most Fighting-types, its own Swords Dance Gliscor and Nasty Plot Gholdengo to make progress against defensive teams, and Meowscarada for speed control along with utility in Knock Off.

The Teal Mask DLC

Come Week 3, the tier had been flipped on its head. Not only was Dragapult banned in the middle of Week 2, the Teal Mask DLC both introduced new Pokémon and buffed existing ones to uproot the entire metagame. Some of these would immediately stand out as immense threats—Ogerpon-H and the new addition of Scale Shot Baxcalibur came to mind, as the former brandished a solid Speed tier and strong, zero-drawback Fire-type STAB move that could be augmented by Tera to give it what was essentially an Adaptability and Choice Band without the drawback in one, while the latter now had an alternative to boost its Speed alongside the existing Dragon Dance sets. The two made for a devastating pairing; in a desperate attempt to check Ogerpon, players began spamming Dragonite and just about any Tera Dragon defensive Pokémon you could think of including Dondozo and Toxapex, turning them into easy pickings for Baxcalibur. Both would catapult their respective weathers sun and snow into unprecedented usage in an effort to support them even further, and the former was so overwhelming that it was quickbanned within two weeks. This game between Isza and Baloor perfectly encapsulates the chaos of the early DLC meta, where both players brought hyper offense and every turn could result in being swept.

Of course, not every game was an offense on offense brawl, and balance teams still maintained a solid foothold in the tier, now bolstered by another new DLC addition in Flip Turn Alomomola. While previously the wish fish was largely a momentum sink due to its reliance on Wish and Protect for recovery, it now served as an excellent slow pivot against the likes of Hisuian Samurott and Mega Lopunny while bringing in its own offensive teammates and passing its titanic wishes to defensive Pokémon with limited longevity such as Heatran and the newly buffed Knock Off Mega Tyranitar. It would be out of the fire and into the gigantic bipedal bear for defensive teams, however, as after Ogerpon-H's ban, another titanic offensive threat would emerge that initially went under the radar: Ursaluna-B. Its low speed was offset by its titanic physical bulk and the ability to shore up its Special Defense with Calm Mind, simultaneously shooting its Special Attack to ludicrous levels at which its signature move Blood Moon could be spammed while ignoring counterplay such as Tera Ghost-types and Air Balloon Gholdengo thanks to its ability Mind's Eye. Unlike its regular form, it could additionally keep itself healthy with Moonlight and Leftovers, producing an unkillable behemoth that forced incredibly specific counterplay such as Calm Mind Blissey and Substitute + Calm Mind Mega Latias to boost alongside it while taking minimal damage from Blood Moon. Ursaluna-B soon became the new fixture of hyper offense, ripping through defensive teams while its teammate Sneasler began to slowly increase in usage, paired with Tapu Koko or more recently, Rillaboom and Tapu Lele to activate its Electric, Grassy, or Psychic Seed and double its Speed with Unburden to become a fantastic cleaner against offensive teams.

Playoffs

The playoffs pitted the Sylveon vs the Forces of Evil against the Galarian Phoenix, while the Goldenrod Gholdengos were facing the Vice City Victinis. The Gholdengos started off at an unstoppable lead, with "NDUU legend" Saurav the great, zioziotrip, and skimmythegod all achieving quick wins with hyper offense in their respective tiers. Piyush25 would then overwhelm JustFranco in RU with the raw power of Choice Band Crawdaunt, while LBN stifled Adriyun's own hyper offense with an unorthodox Z-Haze Tapu Fini, bringing the score to 5-0. However, the Victinis weren't out yet and began bringing the series back with eragon11145 and Kayzn both achieving wins, Taka punishing Jordy's unorthodox Nidoking bring in SS NDOU with a Flyinium Z Zapdos and Trichotomy's Iron Hands pummeling Ainzcrad's Normal team in Monotype. Just when there appeared to be hope for a tiebreak, however, Fc closed the series out with Calm Mind Clefable outlasting Roginald's Deoxys-D in SS NDOU, cementing the Gholdengos as the first team in the finals.

Meanwhile, the series between the Sylveons and Phoenix started more back and forth, as Inder PP stalled crying's Choice Scarf Baxcalibur Glaive Rush until Volcarona could clean up, while in return Sage bested yours truly with a rain team that pressured Ferrothorn and Toxapex until Ash-Greninja could seal the game. The Phoenix began to pull through though, with Baloor eventually breaking through Unowndragon with Substitute + Calm Mind Mega Latias, Voltix achieving some good fortune against Akaru Kokoyo in Doubles, and Inder Thiago Nunes wielding a defensive Slither Wing to great success against s7a's RU hail team. However, after Splash's Tapu Bulu on Fairy pulled through against Trouser Snakes's Electric and baconeatinassassin brought the series to 5-2 in the Phoenix's favor, the Sylveons began to pull back as Isza wielded the same team Baloor previously used against Ryuji, 3d withstood an otherwise dominant Mega Medicham vs fat matchup with his bulky team featuring both Mega Slowbro and Aegislash, and gum's Mega Latias swept through Elfuseon's team in UU to force a tiebreaker. The tiebreak started well for the Phoenix, with Inder taking OU as an error by Isza allowing Iron Hands to start the game with an unstoppable lead. Akaru Kokoyo brought the series back to a tie though, as Grassy Seed Kingambit was too much for Voltix to break down. It would come down to RU, as Thiago Nunes brought hail against gum, achieving a much more successful result as Arctozolt accumulated chip damage and KOs until Sandy Shocks could clean up the game and seal the Phoenix's place in the finals.

Finals

Goldenrod Gholdengos vs Galarian Phoenix
SV Ubers: skimmythegod vs baconeatinassassin
SV OU: LBN vs Ryuji
SV OU: Ainzcrad vs Inder
SV OU: zioziotrip vs Baloor
SV UU: Saurav the great vs Elfuseon
SV RU: Piyush25 vs Thiago Nunes
SV DOU: Smudge vs Voltix
SV Monotype: style.css vs Trouser Snakes
SS OU: Jordy vs ChrisPBacon
SS OU: Fc vs Drud

Due to the extended nature of the previous tiebreak, the finals perfectly aligned with Gholdengo's ban from NDOU, and while neither LBN or Ryuji particularly ached for it, its effects were felt as Ainzcrad resorted to Aegislash as a substitute against Inder, which proved far less effective. While both the Phoenix and Gholdengos had struggling Doubles slots, Voltix was able to get the jump against Smudge, while baconeatinassassin followed with a victory against skimmythegod as Necrozma-DM found its opportunity to sweep with Dragon Dance after a balance brawl. style.css and LBN were able to swing the match back though, as the former's Electric got the jump on Trouser Snake's Fire, while LBN's defensive core proved too stalwart against Ryuji's team, although not before Jordy was defeated by myself, with a Victini that shut down Calm Mind Clefable's opportunities of making progress. With the score now 3-2 in the Phoenix's favor, Inder exploited Aegislash's inability to recover instantly in comparison to Gholdengo after overpowering Gliscor with Rotom-W, while Thiago Nunes defeated Piyush25 in a close game that came down to a Speed tie between two Latias. In the deciding game, Elfuseon's hyper offense was able to overwhelm Saurav the Great's balance to end the tour and declare the Galarian Phoenix as victors.

Final Thoughts

For the second year, the Galarian Phoenix ended as the victors of National Dex Premier League. After the tournament, Baxcalibur and Ursaluna-B were banned from NDOU for their restrictive nature and ability to dominate games without specific answers. Despite the chaos the DLC brought, the tournament continued to see new and exciting innovations that shaped the DLC1 metagame. For more insight into the tournament, check out the replay thread and look forward to the continued evolution of National Dex tournaments!

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