Official Smogon Doubles Tournament I Recap

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Introduction

Smogon Doubles had been a staple of Smogon Premier League ever since SPL V (and was included in every iteration of Smogon Snake Draft), but it was removed from SPL XII when the tournament shrunk from 12 slots to 10 and its focus shifted to being a singles OU-only tournament. While Doubles OU was to get a guaranteed spot in Smogon Champions League (SSD's successor, which was branded as a current generation tournament), it shrank to having only one trophy tournament, unlike most other official tours. While Little Cup was also booted from SPL, itself and the usage-based lower tier metagames had a spot in Smogon Grand Slam, while the old gen OUs were highlighted in Smogon Classic. Since Doubles was about to lose half of its trophy tournament representation, TonyFlygon proposed Doubles OU get its own trophy tour, similar to how VGC used to have one. While most Doubles players would have preferred staying in SPL, an individual trophy tour was seen as a fair compromise, and thus Official Smogon Doubles Tournament was born.

With both an individual trophy and a $350 cash prize on the line, OSDT I filled up an entire 256-person bracket, which was double what both Winter and Summer Seasonal attracted. While 256 entries was much smaller compared to Official Smogon Tournament's 1024, as well as other official tournaments such as this year's edition of DPP Cup that had a 512-person bracket, OSDT I was still the largest Smogon Doubles tournament in history. Furthermore, some bigger Doubles names that hadn't been seen much (or at all) in this year's circuit such Qwello Lee (2020 Circuit Champion, SSD IV Player), Memoric (SSD IV Player, 2x Individual Winner), and Z Strats (SSD IV Player) all signed up for a shot at not only the coveted orange trophy (the same exact design as the Smogon VGC Trophy) but also up to twenty new circuit points. OSDT I was a last-minute addition to the circuit, since it didn't exist yet when the circuit was planned out, so there was lots of potential for the standings to be totally flipped upside down. Additionally, accomplished singles players with little-to-no doubles experience joined in at the hype, including the aforementioned TonyFlygon, Finchinator, and SoulWind.

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Metagame leading up to OSDT

The metagame at the tail end of Doubles Premier League 7 and throughout Doubles Ladder Tour 2021 playoffs screamed one thing: hyper offense. The playerbase started to realize that we didn't currently have the tools to play passively around threats such as Urshifu-R, Kartana, and Zygarde, so it became very easy to slap the hardest hitters together and overload more balance-oriented structures. Urshifu-R OHKOes both viable Intimidate users (Landorus-T and Incineroar) with Surging Strikes and ignores Protect with every contact move, while Kartana provides a monstrous base 181 Attack to go with a STAB move that gets boosted by the omnipresent Grassy Terrain from Rillaboom and lands a critical hit 50% of the time with Scope Lens. It also sets a fast Tailwind that partners such as Urshifu-R and Heatran can immediately benefit from due to Generation 8's new dynamic Speed mechanics. Zygarde has a fantastic typing, stats, and one of the best STAB moves in the entire tier in its arsenal, with no foes being immune to it and few resisting it. Together, these three had very few reliable switch-ins and wrapped the metagame in a hyper offense mirror match. Posts discussing how good offense was can be found here, here, and here.

The most common six was a team built by Z Strats for Shadowmonstr7 to use in DPL finals that went on to be the most popular team in DLT Playoffs. Some variations appeared, such as Zapdos over Zeraora, but the style of play was clearly the one to beat. Furthermore, Psychic spam hyper offense teams (two styles, built by emma and Actuarily) that were popularized during the end of the DPL regular season didn't go away and made for another very viable hyper offense structure that was being spammed. You can find the original teams with notes from the builders here, here, and here.

Sample Teams

Of course, as these teams became popular, players adapted. Once DLT playoffs concluded, previously unranked Pokémon on the Viability Rankings such as Kommo-o, Buzzwole, Naganadel, and Latias began gaining popularity, as they matched up well against the most common cores. Furthermore, balance teams began always using Kyurem-B, Tapu Fini, and Incineroar as a backbone that could hold up into the offensive onslaught. Even some sets began to change, such as Dragon Dance Kyurem-B holding a Chople Berry and some Zeraora running an Adamant nature, both to get the upper hand against Urshifu-R. Lastly, players began running slight modifications on their own hyper offense teams (such as running Naganadel over Zeraora on Z Strats hyper offense) to gain an edge in the mirror match. An in-depth guide about how players tried to counteract offense can be found here, written by SMB.

Right before OSDT I began, Urshifu-R was put through a public suspect test in response to many players believing offense to be too strong. Pro-ban arguments are shown here and here, while the justification behind no ban is highlighted here and here. While 54% of qualified participants voted ban, it did not hit the 60% majority required, and Urshifu-R stayed in the tier. With the current metagame being here to stay, players continued to evolve. Archetypes such as Sticky Web became popular, as well as individual Pokémon like Tornadus and Togekiss. We also saw the continued rise of Grass spam cores, while Psychic spam started to drop due to its unfortunate matchup against it. While offense was still the most popular structure, it was clear the metagame was growing, even though most of this development was hidden, since OSDT I did not require replays in the early stages.

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OSDT Game Analysis

Top 8: Tricking vs. Mishimono

Game 1 saw Tricking load up SMB's notorious Chansey + Toxapex + Celesteela team, which nobody saw coming. While the team was 1-0 so far in OSDT I, it had historically only seen success when being wielded by SMB, so it would be interesting to see if Tricking knew how to use it. Mishimono stacked checks to Kartana, which was being discussed for a suspect test, in Metagross, Dragapult, and Togekiss. This left him without much firepower, and as a result the game wasn't particularly close. Tricking positioned his big three stall threats well and never let his opponent gain any sort of momentum. Toxic Spikes also worn down Mishimono's grounded Pokémon, making this one of the most lopsided games we had seen so far.

Tricking loaded up the exact same six in Game 2, but Mishimono came a lot more prepared, with Naganadel to remove Toxic Spikes and Galarian Zapdos to punish Chansey. Mishimono played a lot more aggressively this game, leading straight with Dragon Dance Kyurem-B, which ended up letting him take down Incineroar fairly early on. One of the most game-changing plays was when Mishimono called Celesteela's Protect and used Dragon Dance on turn 16. This resulted in Kyurem-B outspeeding and OHKOing Dragapult and Rillaboom and dealing 90% to Toxapex. While stall got him once, Mishimono adapted with a team better equipped to handle it, played more aggressively, and evened the series out.

This was the second deciding game of a set that saw a user bring Full Trick Room. The playstyle got quite popular during DLC 1, but it died down a lot when Crown Tundra dropped and has seen minimal appearances since then. Hatterene and Indeedee-F can get up Trick Room against almost anything in the lead spot, but not when facing two powerful spread moves in Eruption Heatran and Thousand Arrows Zygarde. Tricking smartly led with Porygon2 and Scrafty, which let him get Trick Room up immediately and get to work. He was actually in a great spot until turn 4, when Naganadel barely survived Torkoal's Eruption and finished off Scrafty, which had attacked Heatran instead of finishing it off. After losing his only Fake Out user, Tricking wasn't able to set up Trick Room again, and Mishimono steamrolled the rest of the team with Heatran, Zygarde, and Urshifu-R. While Tricking's run would end early, it was still a very impressive showing from the 2014 Doubles Circuit Champion.

Semifinals: Nido-Rus vs. Qwello Lee

Nido-Rus brought his signature Dragon Dance Kyurem-B team (more on that later), while Qwello Lee loaded up rain hyper offense, which had seen success in earlier rounds, relying on grabbing the momentum early against the opponent and trying to win in as few turns as possible. Qwello Lee has to be extremely careful that he doesn't give Kyurem-B any turns to set up, since it OHKOes his entire team after a Dragon Dance. While Urshifu-R has STAB Close Combat and Tsareena is packing High Jump Kick, setup Kyurem-B often runs a Chople Berry to find safer situations to boost. Qwello Lee also has no Swift Swim Kingdra, so he has no option to revenge kill it if it were to click Dragon Dance. While he is able to put the pressure on early, Nido-Rus uses Eject Button Amoonguss to get Kyurem-B in against Urshifu-R locked into Surging Strikes and Tsareena. While Kyurem-B only survives the combined forces of the two with 18%, that's all it needs to finish the game at +1/+1.

Game 2 sees Nido-Rus be the one to load up weather, while Qwello Lee reveals a new Necrozma team. Necrozma has typically been used alongside Tapu Lele as a form of Psychic spam hyper offense, but Qwello Lee instead uses it in more supportive roles with Trick Room and Ally Switch. On turn 2, Qwello Lee is immediately put into a terrible spot when Tyranitar OHKOes Kartana with Flamethrower under Trick Room. Eventually, Nido-Rus is able to set up Clangorous Soul Kommo-o and get it in next to Rage Powder Volcarona. While Tapu Fini is still alive, Nido-Rus believes he can just redirect any Moonblasts and eventually bring in Rillaboom or Dracozolt to clean up. However, Tapu Fini reveals to be Choice Specs and takes down Kommo-o through Rage Powder with Dazzling Gleam. After trading Tapu Fini for Dracozolt, Qwello Lee is able to bring back game 2 by cleaning up with Naganadel.

Both Nido-Rus and Qwello Lee reused the teams they won with in the winner-takes-all game 3. Similarly to game 1, Nido-Rus is able to Dragon Dance with Kyurem-B while supporting it with Zeraora and Incinerator. While Qwello Lee had lost his Necrozma and Heatran, he still has a chance to win since on turn 8, he can set up Tailwind with Kartana and try to win with Naganadel, which now outspeeds +2/+2 Kyurem-B and Choice Specs Tapu Fini. However, Nido-Rus puts the game away when he reveals Choice Scarf Urshifu-R, which takes down Kartana first and gives Kyurem-B the room it needs to win the game. Both games 1 and 3 showcase how powerful Dragon Dance Kyurem-B can be, especially when paired with proper support.

Finals: Nido-Rus vs. Mishimono

Game 1 was unfortunately the least exciting of the three finalist games, as Nido-Rus got two important full paralyses with Thunder on Diancie and Rillaboom that ended up blocking key Diamond Storm and Fake Out, which threw any chance of winning out the window. While Volcanion semiroom is something Shift Gear Genesect rain does not want to see at all, Nido-Rus was able to keep on the offensive pressure and win Game 1 without much competition.

Game 2 was much better, which sees Nido-Rus bring his signature Dragon Dance Kyurem-B team against a variation of Mishimono's Kyurem-B / Volcanion / Galarian Zapdos / Rillaboom / Naganadel / filler squad. Nido-Rus starts off very strong, with Dragapult matching up incredibly well against Mishimono's team. He leads off with it, dents Indeedee-F, and then is able to bring it in again via Amoonguss's Eject Button to finish Indeedee-F off. He is even able to utilize Choice Scarf Urshifu-R to revenge kill Kyurem-B after it uses Dragon Dance. However, Mishimono makes a series of excellent plays to take out Nido-Rus's Dragon Dance Kyurem-B and get right back into it. First, he makes sure to double target it with Brave Bird and Heat Wave on turn 7, putting it in range of almost any attack. Then, he switches to Rillaboom on turn 8 to provide Fake Out support as well as avoid Spore and Rage Powder from Amoonguss and preserve Choice Scarf Galarian Zapdos for later; however, Nido-Rus also makes a great play in switching in Incineroar despite there being a Volcanion on the field, since he knows Mishimono has to attack Kyurem-B. After trading Fake Outs, Mishimono is able to absorb +1 Fusion Bolt with Naganadel and take out the Kyurem-B with Rillaboom. Keeping Galarian Zapdos alive earlier also meant Mishimono was well prepared for Dragapult in the end.

It all comes down to this. Nido-Rus once again brings the game 2 team, while Mishimono packs both the Dragapult and Togekiss in preparation for a potential Kartana. The first big play is when Mishimono doubles into Incineroar on turn 5 to secure the KO. Following that, despite using U-turn into Eject Button Amoonguss, Mishimono is able to retain momentum and take out Dragapult and Urshifu-R, giving him a 5-3 Pokémon advantage. He is also able to keep his Togekiss alive, after Nido-Rus misplays by not using Shadow Ball and Surging Strikes into the Rillaboom slot on turn 7 for a free KO. However, this all comes at a cost, as Nido-Rus's Kyurem-B is able to set up with Dragon Dance. At the end of turn 12, Mishimono brings in Dragapult, which ends up with Rillaboom and Amoonguss trading lives and eventually Dragon Dance Kyurem-B running away with the game. While this play could have won the game if Kyurem-B attacked the Dragapult on turn 13 and Rillaboom got the roll on Kyurem-B with -1 Superpower, an alternative play could have been bringing in Togekiss instead. Togekiss would have forced Kyurem-B to focus on it and give Rillaboom a chance to go for the OHKO and the win.

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OSDT Team Analysis

Shift Gear Genesect

Genesect was seeing a bit of a downfall before the Shift Gear set was discovered due to the presence of Kartana. While they function completely differently, stacking 4x Fire-type weaknesses (which gets even worse next to Rillaboom) made them very hard to use together. Kartana packed a higher base Speed and Attack, fast Tailwind, and ability to inflict massive damage through the combination of Scope Lens, Leaf Blade's high critical hit ratio, and Grassy Terrain, all of which made it one of the best Pokémon in the tier. With Kartana's dominance, it became very hard to fit the standard Choice Scarf and Assault Vest Genesect sets on teams.

That all changed when Nido-Rus first brought to light Shift Gear Genesect. The combination of it and Coaching Zeraora absolutely shreds teams without a Heatran, Urshifu-R, Volcanion, or Zapdos. Being able to get to +2 Attack (potentially +3 from Download), +1 Defense, and +2 Speed in a single turn usually means game over for the opposition. At first, players were using the duo on a rain team to counteract the Fire-type weakness (although the set can easily muscle past Incineroar), but Nido-Rus later built a more standard offense structure to account for the Volcanion and Trick Room weakness. This version went on to be used by himself, Z Strats, and Qwello Lee to big success.

When asked about the building process, Nido-Rus revealed that he actually first built the Shift Gear Genesect rain back during early rounds of Spring Seasonal (during May) but never got to really use it due to it matching up roughly against common Porygon2 and Volcanion semiroom structures. However, when preparing teams for umbry, he noticed that it matched up very well against her common playstyle, and the team did exactly what it was supposed to do against her.

Weather Hyper Offense

Just when you thought offense was enough, Nido-Rus once against innovated and brought back weather hyper offense, a style of place that has not been popular in the tier for a long time. What first started as a fun squad to bring in early rounds against players with little-to-none Doubles experience turned into something Nido-Rus had to rely on to win against one of the greatest Doubles player of all time in Top 16 down 0-1. After his Shift Gear Genesect team failed to break past stall, he decided to load up sun hyper offense in hopes he could muscle pass the potential stall build. While the sun team never got to fight stall, it was still able to overcome SMB's more balance-oriented teams with its sheer power.

Following his Top 16 victory, Nido-Rus turned the tides and brought rain hyper offense instead, a playstyle he had been experimenting with in earlier rounds. What conspired in those two Top 8 games can only be described as a beatdown. Nido-Rus won both games in a total of fifteen turns while only losing two total Pokémon. Something interesting to note was the exclusion of Kingdra, which had been a staple of rain teams in Doubles OU since Generation 5. As of its introduction in Generation 8, though, Urshifu-R seems to have taken its place as not only a very powerful rain attacker but also one that can still function when the weather isn't up. Kingdra also failed to break through certain compositions, namely semiroom, which Choice Band Urshifu-R performed much better against. This set once again proved that (hyper) offense was king in the metagame and that the tier simply didn't have the tools to cover every single style.

Mishimono's Signature Team

Finalist Mishimono used a variety of teams during his spectacular OSDT run, but the most common structure was his personal take on standard Z Strats hyper offense. By replacing Zeraora with Naganadel and Kartana with Genesect, Mishimono kept the same composition while turning the mirror match from a coinflip to a very likely win. Naganadel's resistance to Grass, Water, and Fighting, as well as a faster Tailwind than Kartana and Flamethrower to threaten an OHKO on it, made it one of the best Pokémon against standard offense. With it taking care of speed control, Mishimono also made the switch from Kartana to Genesect. This gave him a faster and more reliable way to pressure the ever-present Rillaboom, Kartana, Kyurem-B, and Zygarde. Once more, we see an offensive structure roll over a Kyurem-B, Incineroar, and Tapu Fini balance squad, continuing to prove that offensive is best.

Nido-Rus's Signature Team

OSDT I champion Nido-Rus not only overwhelmed his opponents with constant hyper offense spam but also was able to break his opponents down slowly with a team built fully around Dragon Dance Kyurem-B. After gaining both Dragon Dance and Icicle Spear in Generation 8, Kyurem-B is finally able to take advantage of its monstrous base 170 Attack stat and wreak havoc on the opposing team. While Assault Vest had been more popular throughout the generation, the Dragon Dance set has finally cemented itself as the best set and has even potentially made Kyurem-B broken in the eyes of some.

Zeraora and Incineroar provide Fake Out support, with the latter also gaining momentum and setting up opportunities to set up with Parting Shot, Amoonguss redirects hits from the likes of Urshifu-R, Dragapult provides instant speed control and is great on/against standard offense teams, and Urshifu-R blows through Incineroar and Heatran and can even snipe Kartana with the use of its Choice Scarf. With so many support options, Nido-Rus is able to pivot around threats and get into the perfect position for Dragon Dance Kyurem-B to do its thing.

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Final Thoughts

Congratulations to Nido-Rus for winning the first-ever Official Smogon Doubles Tournament! While it might not have been SPL, OSDT was still a huge blast for the entire Doubles community. Getting to see the best of the best duke it out for a trophy, money, a custom avatar, and circuit points was a ton of fun for everyone involved. Finalists Nido-Rus and Mishimono climbed to first and second, respectively, on the Doubles OU Circuit rankings, while a strong showing from Z Strats put him right back into the playoff mix after taking a few tournaments off. You can find team and replay dumps from Doubles OU players Nido-Rus (Champion), Mishimono (2nd), sawamura (Top 4), Z Strats (Top 8), AuraRayquaza (Top 16), and Zeal (Top 16) here. While Nido-Rus won in the tournament, the entire Doubles community won in the end by getting to watch the first-ever Smogon Doubles individual trophy tournament. See you next year for Official Smogon Doubles Tournament II!

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