Introduction to the Smogon Classic

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Introduction

Even if the Smogon Classic is one of the most recent official tournament of the website, it is the only one that focuses itself only on the past generations. It gives a chance not only to the most experienced players of Smogon to compete in their first OverUsed tier, but also to the newcomers to discover seasoned tiers, with their own mechanics and particularities. The players fight in open tournaments, collecting points in order to reach the playoffs and perhaps get the trophy.

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A bit of history...

Two years ago, Jorgen noticed that though past generations were featured in team tournaments such as World Cup and Smogon Premier League, there was not any official tournament for old-gens players. He wanted to introduce a Smogon Tour-like tournament in which players would battle in the three generations that were not featured in the official Smogon Tour—RBY, GSC, and ADV at that time—but some issues (such as problematic GSC battles in live tournaments, or the fact that with a seventh generation, DPP would have been snubbed by both tournaments) were raised. However, BKC proposed another idea.

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Format

As mentioned, each of the past generations are featured in an individual tournament following the classic best-of-three, single elimination format called "Cup". Based on the number of sign-ups and your performance in a Cup, you will be awarded a certain number of points using the same system as in Smogon Tour. Once the five Cups are finished, the 12 players at the top of the ranking fight in best-of-five single elimination playoffs. Notice that this iteration of the tournament won't include ORAS OU, and that it will be frozen into the same format as the previous editions.

• The BW Cup - Hosted by Finchinator - March 27th
• The DPP Cup - Hosted by Jirachee - April 3rd
• The ADV Cup - Hosted by BKC - April 3rd
• The GSC Cup - Hosted by Malekith - April 10th
• The RBY Cup - Hosted by Golden Gyarados - April 10th

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The past generations at a glance

RBY OU is the first generation, and despite its restricted metagame, no one would call it "simple". There are actually no IVs, no EVs (which means that the stats of the Pokémon are maximized), no entry hazards, and no items. As with most of the old generations, there is no Team Preview either. However, this does not make much of a difference, since most teams have at least the top-tier Pokémon we call the Big 4: Chansey, Snorlax, Exeggutor, and the infamous Tauros. These Pokémon are so dominating that you can hardly play without them. However, there is an existing, albeit small, place for anti-meta teambuilding, which can surprise your opponent (for example, Snorlax can use multiple sets, or rare Pokémon such as Persian can be threatening). Finally, having almost the same team as your opponent means you will have to play smart: each turn can potentially be decisive and the matches are often very close.

GSC OU is a unique tier, and while many people find it slow, it is the OverUsed generation that requires the highest amount of experience and knowledge. The second generation saw the appearance of items, and Leftovers is GSC's bread and butter: 99% of the Pokémon, bar Marowak, which has its Thick Club, use Leftovers (which has led some Pokémon to use Thief). With all stats maximized, it is quite hard to kill a Pokémon, which means that having a long-term plan is very important: this fashion of improving your position turn-by-turn is similar to chess.

GSC squads are separated into three categories: stall, offense, which are the teams that have a chance to break through stall (Explosion is the #1 move to use on offense), and Baton Pass, which, though not used regularly, actually requires a decent amount of skill. In both cases, Snorlax is the GSC based lord, and the most dominating Pokémon in the tier: it has almost everything needed in the metagame, and is a jack-of-all-trades (and master of most). Paralysis is also used by both stall and offense, since it allows the stall teams to set up a Belly Drum Snorlax, which is their main source of damage, and offense teams to break through tough walls. Spikes were introduced with one layer and have high usage: they are a central point of the metagame, and Spikes and Rapid Spin users have their own fight inside the battle itself. That is the beginning of entry hazard domination through the generations.

ADV OU, also known as Advance, is a middle ground of DPP and GSC: it is more calm than the first but still faster than the second. ADV is often considered as the golden age of the strategy: the coming of IVs and EVs was an important change, but Advance is also known as one of the—if not the—most balanced metagames in competitive Pokémon. Plenty of new moves were also introduced during this generation, such as Calm Mind, Dragon Dance, and Will-O-Wisp. The lack of the super-strong moves (which only came in DPP) makes bulky sweepers more viable, and most of the teams are what you would call "balance" in the most recent generations, with a couple of sweepers and one or two defensive Pokémon. Trappers such as Magneton and Dugtrio are also very common and can quickly remove Skarmory, Forretress, Blissey, etc., forcing players to make compromises in teambuilding. Finally, Spikes stacking to three layers is an important component of the games, and each team must have a way to deal with them. Tyranitar and permanent sand are also a dominating force on this tier, which is very popular among new players.

While the third generation brought IVs and EVs and therefore changed the face of competitive Pokémon, DPP OU continued this trend and added many new mechanics. The most important one is probably the physical / special split. In the previous generations, an attack was either physical or special depending on its type. Now, each move has a defined category; as a result, many old Pokémon had brand new movepools and sets. But two of the most dominant moves were also released in Stealth Rock and U-turn, and many other powerful attacks, such as Draco Meteor, Close Combat, Outrage, Stone Edge, etc., appeared at the same time. Finally, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, and Life Orb gave to the offensive teams new toys to use; DPP OU is a very aggressive metagame in which predicting right and keeping the momentum is more important than ever. However, defensive teams can still work, and they enjoy the multitude of hazards (Toxic Spikes also appeared during this generation) and spinblockers (Rotom being good on both stall and offense as a jack-of-all-trades) to slowly shut down the opposing team. There is also a whole "lead metagame" in DPP, and Pokémon such as Azelf and Machamp made their names in it. For inexperienced players, the main challenge is to guess the last hidden Pokémon of the opponent's team, which is crucial in late-game.

BW OU is the last generation in which weather is permanent, with Drizzle Politoed and Drought Ninetales keeping Tyranitar company. Despite the general nerf of weather sweepers (Stoutland and Venusaur most notably) in the later stages of the metagame, weather is still a very important and unique aspect of BW OU. That said, weatherless teams are also a perfectly viable option: Pokémon such as Volcarona, Dragonite, Latios, and Breloom don't need weather to clean a team, and DragMag teams (Magnezone plus a bunch of dragons such as Dragonite, Garchomp, and the like) are more than good. Entry hazards are also very prevalent in this metagame due to the limited choice of Rapid Spin users (Starmie, Tentacruel, Donphan, Forretress, and Excadrill), the strength of spinblockers (Jellicent is able to spinblock and is a good way to deal with rain), and the way Defog used to work. If you are facing a bulky team, Spikes and Stealth Rock will often be on the field. Despite the sheer power of the hyper offensive teams, rain and sand stall or semi-stall aren't too uncommon (see the famous Spikes + Magic Guard cores). The metagame revolves around classic teams, mostly sand balance teams, cookie cutter rain, weatherless bulky, and very agressive hyper offense. Despite sand being the most dominant playstyle, sun still has some tricks, with Cresselia, and can counter Tyranitar's very high usage with Dugtrio. Another big change is the introduction of Team Preview (Ojama describes its effect below).

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Conclusion

The Smogon Classic is one of the most prestigious tournaments of the website, and it is easy to understand why; only those who master five generations will be able to reach to the playoffs and win. However, it is also the best way to discover brand new metagames, so don't hesitate! The Ruins of Alph forum compiles everything you need to become the champion tomorrow.

Puzzle Page »

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Puzzle Page

Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Flying Press's Puzzle Page! Thanks to all of those who sent in their answers. Congratulations to Bartimaeus, who has once again earned the most points last time for the previous set of puzzles! As usual, anyone who submitted correct answers has earned points on the leaderboard at the bottom of the page.

Thanks to all of the members of the puzzle team who helped out with the puzzles in this edition, including Conni, Mr. Perry, and SparksBlade!

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Parameters

By using the /dexsearch command on Pokémon Showdown, find out which parameters match only the Pokémon listed. For example, say you are given these Pokémon: Bibarel, Bidoof, Pachirisu, Patrat, Raticate, Rattata, Smeargle, and Watchog. Even though all of them learn both Protect and Substitute, there are many other Pokémon that can as well, so the trick is to try to narrow down your options as much as possible. Parameters may include moves, abilities, tiers, generations, colors, and so on.

1. Banette, Kecleon, Misdreavus, Mismagius, Shedinja, Shuppet, Smeargle (2 Parameters)
2. Donphan, Phanpy, Piloswine, Politoed, Slowking, Smeargle, Steelix, Swinub (2 Parameters)
3. Avalugg, Bergmite, Carbink, Magnemite, Magneton, Magnezone, Shuckle (3 Parameters)

Portmanteaus

Portmanteaus comprise several Pokémon-related terms, each of which is in a set of [brackets]. Each term and its preceding and succeeding terms must "overlap" with each other with two or more of their letters. All of the overlapping terms, when combined, will form one large amalgam of terms, which is your answer! For example, [Gen V Dark-type][Gen III Water-type][Gen II Ground-type] would form the term bisharpedonphan (a combination of Bisharp, Sharpedo, and Donphan).

1. [Gen V Flying-type][Gen III Poison-type][Gen VII Poison-type][Gen I Psychic-type][Gen IV Ground-type][Gen I Fire-type]
2. [Gen V Rock-type][Gen I Psychic-type Move][Gen I Psychic-type Move][Berry Species (including the word "Berry")][Gen III NPC][Gen V Held Item][Gen IV Dark-type Move][Gen VII Bug-type][Gen I Grass-type][Gen III Ability][Gen VI Psychic-type]
3. [Gen I Electric-type][Gen VII Bug-type][Gen VII Grass-type Move][Gen VI Held Item][Gen III Normal-type Move][Gen VI Normal-type Move][Gen VII Held Item][Gen III Fire-type Move][Gen VI Electric-type Move][Gen VII Steel-type Move][Gen III Normal-type Move][Gen IV Dragon-type Move][Gen IV Normal-type Move][Berry Species]

Cryptogram

In a cryptogram, every letter used in a message is replaced with a different letter. In order to solve it, you must determine what the original message is. The following phrase is a quote from a character in the main series Pokémon games. For example, a cryptogram of "VDWXQFR REBU AFRSUBKYTCA!" would unscramble to "Pikachu used Thunderbolt!", as each U in the original sentence is swapped for R, each E is swapped for B, and so on.

1. TJN GUD BUT OCURIEIZ TJN OUDR. U HJMIXJD, IEID AK AR'B ZIEIZIV UB U VIART, AB BRAFF LNBR U HJMIXJD.

What's that sprite?

These images have been zoomed in from the sprites of several Pokémon-related images. Your aim here is to find out what the original picture is. For example, this:

is a cropped-out version of:

Sprites may include items, Trainer classes, and Pokémon and their formes.

1	2	3

Pokémon Link

In this puzzle, you must create a path from one Pokémon to the other identical Pokémon by drawing a continuous line. Each line must be either horizontal or vertical but can change directions wherever applicable. Every square in the grid must be filled, and lines cannot pass through other filled boxes or boxes with icons in them. Keep in mind that lines may not be created diagonally nor can boxes be filled without being part of the continuous line.

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Conclusion

The answers to the previous issue's puzzles will be posted here, and answers for this issue will be posted with the next issue. As usual, once you've completed one, some, or even all of the puzzles that this page has to offer, send your answers via a private message to Smogon's Flying Press on the forums (a Smogon account is required), with its title as "Puzzle Page: Volume 11". Good luck to all who dare to participate, and we'll see you again in a few weeks!

Leaderboard

1. Bartimaeus & Yellow Paint: 45 points
2. 6Infernapes: 40 points
3. Calm: 35 points
4. Someoneelse: 23 points
5. AWailOfATail: 22 points
6. Axel Rouche: 21 points
7. Max. Optimizer: 19 points
8. Mowtom: 13 points
9. Saywhaat: 13 points
10. HikozaruYes: 12 points
11. Seito Hakari: 10 points
12. Robotjam2: 9 points
13. EnemyJurist: 7 points
14. baconbagon: 6 points
15. {Pokemon_Vigilante}: 4 points
16. flygonfanatic: 4 points
17. Aragorn the King: 3 points
18. Martin: 3 points
19. SovereignC2: 3 points
20. Vanillish Wafer: 2 points

Answers

Answers to the previous puzzles:

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