Smogon Classic X Coverage

The latest tier but the first chronologically, BW was the start of modern Smogon tiering, and the first to have a level of power that really necessitated tiering action. What is the chicken and the egg here is left as an exercise for the reader, but mid-BW Cup was a suspect test for the tier that checked whether the tier should have Reuniclus. With the vote determining to keep Reuniclus in the tier, the format remained unchanged for the entirety of the tournament.

BW Cup was the sole focus for a number of players, with notable players like MichaelderBeste2, Larry, and Baloor either signing up for little other than the tournament or being unable to make much advancement elsewhere. At the semifinals, TD duo Star and Finchinator each fell to Larry and Luthier. No player had an easy path to their placement, with noted players like Poek, SoulWind, and the aformentioned TDs all being tough opponents to get to the finals.

Luthier vs Larry

Game One

Game one's Team Preview shows Larry with a unique sun team focused around entry hazard control, facing off against a rain team brought by Luthier. Ninetales's Drought can be surprisingly annoying for Luthier's strategy, limiting the accuracy of Thundurus's Thunder and Tornadus's Hurricane, in addition to halving the power of any Water-type attacks from Politoed or Latios. However, when boosted by rain, those same moves can be deadly for Larry's sun-reliant team, leaving this game as a classic weather war that BW is known for.

Larry opts to get his rain set up, as Politoed is slower than Ninetales and would prevail in the instance that both players led their weather setters. Larry leads Starmie, and the lack of a revealed item like Air Balloon forces Politoed out for Ferrothorn. Anticipating this, Larry switches to Ninetales, setting sun and immediately threatening the Ferrothorn, preventing Luthier from setting hazards early. A return to Politoed changes the weather again, which then reveals a standard defensive set by failing a Toxic onto Ninetales's Protect.

Heatran then replaces Ninetales, though Larry's aggressive play is not rewarded as Luthier opts to click Scald instead, washing away most of Heatrans's HP with the rain boost backing it. Larry finds himself on the back foot early, but a Choice Specs super effective Hidden Power deals plenty of damage to Politoed before Heatran is KOed by a second Scald. Larry tries to keep up the momentum, sending out Starmie before immediately double switching to Landorus-T on the Latios from Luthier. With many possible outcomes for this interaction depending on the sets, both players commit to the showdown, with Latios's Surf KOing the Landorus-T outright.

With rain still active and Larry unable to predict Latios's full set, Ninetales switches in to change the weather to sun. Luthier, knowing Latios is at no real risk, stays in to chip Ninetales, albeit with Surf weakened in the sunlight. With the damage dealt, either Ninetales is a more offensive set, or Latios is holding a Choice Specs. With Ninetales unable to deal much damage in return regardless of set, Larry decides to burn Latios, hoping to damage it with Protect and switches over time. Latios uses Surf once again, dropping the sun setter to below half HP.

Larry, predicting the Latios to stay in, hits it with a sun-boosted Fire Blast, hoping to chip down the Dragon further. However, as a result of this damage, Ninetales has found itself on low HP, needing to Protect to recover some HP and allowing Politoed a free switch in to control the weather. Larry brings out Starmie, trying to regain some momentum, only to be set back as Politoed uses Rest with a Chesto Berry to return to full HP, undoing all of Heatran's work and putting Luthier further ahead.

Reminiscent of the early-game section, Ferrothorn and Ninetales both switch in, though this time Ninetales does land the Will-O-Wisp on the incoming Politoed. Another Protect from Ninetales on a Politoed attack indicates that Ninetales is not running Sunny Day, giving Politoed another leg up in the weather war. Starmie switches in, taking a Toxic for its trouble protecting Ninetales.

Another double switch occurs, with both players trying to grab momentum. Luthier sends out Ferrothorn while Larry sends out Excadrill, and peculiarly, Starmie does not show off Natural Cure as it switches out, further lending strength to the possibility of it being an offensive set with Life Orb or a Choice item, paired with Analytic. Larry immediately chooses to boost up with Swords Dance, with Ferrothorn setting up Stealth Rock, the former threatening for Luthier immediately while the latter will cause Larry trouble resetting the weather in the future.

Excadrill is unable to immediately act on its power, with Thundurus-T avoiding the Earthquake entirely. However, Thundurus then fails to hit a Focus Blast and is taken incredibly low by a Life Orb-boosted Iron Head. With no safe switch-in, Luthier is forced to roll the dice again, this time landing Focus Blast and putting Excadrill out of commission.

Larry finally decides to send out his Latios, and thanks to the work of Excadrill, it is able to pick off the Thundurus-T with Psyshock instead of Draco Meteor. The next turn is a Latios stare-down. Larry, either being locked to Psychock or not wanting to risk a Speed tie, sends Ninetales out one last time, going down to a Draco Meteor as it sets up the sun. Larry's Starmie comes out to revenge kill Latios, which Luthier switches out to Politoed to establish the weather for the rest of the game.

Larry, anticipating this, makes a double switch back to Latios. Traditionally, Psyshock on Latios means it has a Choice Item, but Latios uses Calm Mind as Politoed uses Rest, staying asleep without the Chesto Berry this time. Not wanting to risk a KO, Luthier switches to Ferrothorn as Latios boosts again. Larry's final attempt to salvage the game is a Draco Meteor into Ferrothorn, which shrugs it off and uses Knock Off, chewing through Latios's Colbur Berry for little as well, with the damage rolls indicating Power Whip as the other attacking move of choice over Gyro Ball.

Larry boosts up once again as Luthier switches to Tornadus, which chooses to set up Tailwind rather than try to break through a +3 Special Defense Latios, relying on Excadrill to revenge kill it later. However, Tornadus survives, letting it chip Latios slightly before Excadrill comes in to claim the KO. With Larry down to a poisoned Starmie that can't outspeed a Tailwind-backed Excadrill, Luthier takes game one.

Game Two

Game two, Larry brings a rain team with the rare pick of Gyarados paired with Garchomp. Larry's rain team looks to break through the opponent's defensive backbone using physical pressure rather than rain's usual special offensive direction. Luthier brought a very threatening hail team with three Dragon-types, all looking to make use hail slowly wearing by down their common check in Ferrothorn over time. Luthier's advantage at Team Preview is significant, challenging Larry with an uphill battle to secure even an opportunity at a third game.

Luthier leads off with the monstrous base 170 Attack Kyurem-B as Larry opts to lead with Ferrothorn. Despite being at a traditional type disadvantage, Luthier makes the decision to attack the Ferrothorn with Outrage on turn one to try and break it for the other Dragon-types in the back. Luthier is rewarded heavily for this with a critical hit, leaving Ferrothorn almost KOed as it just gets up Stealth Rock and leaving Larry with an even harder position to climb back up from, as he needed Stealth Rock up for the entire game just to have a chance.

With a now-worthless Ferrothorn facing down an Outrage-locked Kyurem-B, Larry opts to sacrifice Ferrothorn to the second turn of Outrage. Unfortunately for Larry, the revenge killer of choice in Thundurus-T misses its Focus Blast, itself instead going down to Kyurem-B's Outrage. Playing down two Pokémon before turn four is never easy, and Larry needed a miracle to pull this back. His choice was Gyarados, using Intimidate to attempt to set up a Dragon Dance. However, Kyurem-B breaks through confusion and the Intimidate drop to use its Choice Band Outrage, leaving Gyarados at 8% HP, just out of range of hail damage.

Being so behind, knowing that at +1 none of Gyarados's moves can KO the Kyurem-B, and needing precious Leftovers recovery, Larry goes for a second Dragon Dance, a risky choice needed when so far behind that can only be recovered by a drastic play. Unfortunately for Larry, Kyurem-B lands another Outrage, KOing the boosted Gyarados and now taking down half of Larry's team in just five turns. With no other options, Larry sends out Garchomp as his only hope, clicking Outrage to deal serious damage to any of Luthier's Pokémon. Luthier selects Abomasnow, setting up hail and threatening significant damage with Ice Shard or Blizzard, depending on set.

Instead, Luthier switches again, sending out his own Garchomp, building up chip damage on Larry's Garchomp between Rough Skin, Rocky Helmet, and Hail. Without knowing Larry's Garchomp set, Luthier sends out Jirachi, resisting Outrage and providing opportunity to set up Stealth Rock or pivot. Garchomp instead switches out, suggesting a Choice Scarf or that Larry did not want to risk the chance of a confusion self-hit. Using Politoed to pivot back in Garchomp, Larry locks back into Outrage, KOing the incoming Abomasnow but letting in Jirachi to revenge kill it. Larry, down to two Water-types against a Starmie with Thunderbolt on top of other powerful threats, quickly folds to end the series, crowning Luthier as the winner of the BW Cup.

DPP, a generation that has seen little tiering movement since the reintroduction of Latias, reignited a lot of conversation around the time of this tournament about potential future tiering action. A strong tier with a long history on the site, being the first generation to be fully within the lifespan of the forum, the tier is uniquely positioned as a bridge between some of the game's origins and more modern concepts. Predating now-core concepts like Team Preview and more-accessible weather while introducing concepts like the physical / special split and Stealth Rock, DPP stands as a wholly unique tier to be loved or hated.

With DPP-focused signups Drifting and awyp eliminated as early as round six, every further match had serious impacts on the playoff field. Seven of eight participants in the quarterfinals eventually made it to the Classic Playoffs, with only Christos missing out due to having not signed up for any other Cup and being eliminated by SoulWind in the semifinals, who then met M Dragon, who himself eliminated elodin. With M Dragon vs SoulWind being a joy to watch in any tier and decade, the finals for the DPP Cup were set to be a spectacle.

SoulWind vs M Dragon

Game One

Game one presents two rather safe leads from SoulWind and M Dragon; Metagross and Rotom-A have a myriad of options at their disposal, meaning the lead matchup is really dictated by their sets. Rotom-A is faster and deals an unexpected chunk of damage to Metagross, showing that the Rotom-A is Choice Specs. M Dragon sets up Stealth Rock, and the following turn, both players switch out; SoulWind switches Breloom in to safely trigger its Toxic Orb on a correctly predicted switch from M Dragon, and Latias hits the field for M Dragon's side. With this obviously an unfavorable situation for a Breloom to be in, SoulWind switches it out for Heatran, which can take any damage Latias goes for. Latias doesn't go for damage, though, opting for Thunder Wave to punish SoulWind's expected switch. M Dragon brings in Starmie to counter Heatran, and the Stealth Rock that comes up won't be around for long; the very next turn, Starmie spins it away as Latias comes in and reveals it's not Leftovers. Already, we see SoulWind relatively behind by turn five, with more Pokémon revealed; so far, he has no way to remove entry hazards and also no way to keep up his own. M Dragon's Metagross and SoulWind's Heatran come in to meet each other, but because of the previous Thunder Wave on Heatran, it's threatened out for Rotom-A. Metagross's Meteor Mash does a whopping 40% to Rotom-A, indeed showing that it's a much more offensive build, and M Dragon brings in Tyranitar to effortlessly shrug off a Shadow Ball and dispatch Rotom-A with a Pursuit. Breloom comes in, a tough draw for a Tyranitar likely locked into a weak Dark-type move, and Latias switches into a Spore, taking it out of the battle for a few turns. Dragonite comes in as M Dragon's secondary Fighting-resistant as Breloom unleashes a Focus Punch, nearly 2HKOing the Dragonite. Latias comes in for SoulWind, hoping to pivot into an incoming Fire Blast, but M Dragon's Dragonite drops a Draco Meteor that immediately takes out Latias. Gliscor comes in next, but that's yet another Pokémon walled by Starmie, though SoulWind properly assesses that M Dragon's Starmie lacks coverage for Breloom and forces it out. However, if Starmie did opt to use Psychic instead of Thunder Wave, this would allow SoulWind's Empoleon to take advantage of it, covering both bases. Metagross goes down, and Dragonite comes in to claim another KO before it succumbs to Life Orb and sand damage, taking Heatran down with it. Lucario is M Dragon's last, which Gliscor can take on pretty easily, so Latias comes in to try and wake up early. Some long sleep turns and a timely critical hit let Gliscor come out on top. Starmie comes out to finish what Latias couldn't, then gets put to sleep by Breloom. Empoleon is SoulWind's last, ready to work some magic in front of the sleeping Starmie. Empoleon sets up a Substitute and Agility, with its last two moves being resisted by Starmie. Both Water-types shrug off each other's moves, and even an Ice Beam freeze is cured by Starmie's Natural Cure, which thaws it at Tyranitar's expense. Eventually, Starmie's Recover PP runs out, and Starmie and Empoleon are trading blows, but Empoleon is just stronger and bulkier. Starmie goes down and Empoleon still has a Substitute up, with this one activating Empoleon's Petaya Berry. Lucario has no chance of surviving a +1 Torrent-boosted Surf from Empoleon, and somehow, SoulWind clutches this game from 4% HP.

Game Two

In game two, we see a more lopsided lead matchup in favor of M Dragon, with his Swampert able to take out Jirachi or get up Stealth Rock, save for the rare Grass Knot Jirachi. Stealth Rock does indeed go up as Jirachi U-turns out of a dangerous situation to SoulWind's second Breloom of the series. Spore puts the incoming Roserade to sleep, but Natural Cure instantly wakes it up as Gengar takes its place, now staring down Jirachi again. We see Jirachi doesn't have Leftovers, so one could assume it's Choice Scarf. Regardless, Heatran comes in as Jirachi sets up Stealth Rock. Jirachi switches out rather than using U-turn, meaning either Jirachi is indeed Choice Scarf, or SoulWind was scouting Choice Scarf on M Dragon's Heatran, or both! Clefable comes in to answer Heatran, and answer is quite the overstatement, as it's surprisingly 2HKOed by Magma Storm. Tyranitar comes in afterwards, and Swampert takes a huge chunk from Superpower. Both players switch, and M Dragon's Roserade is staring down SoulWind's newly revealed Starmie. M Dragon sets up Toxic Spikes as Jirachi comes in and forces Roserade out. Heatran takes Jirachi's Trick and throws out a Magma Storm at the incoming Tyranitar. Tyranitar claims a KO on Swampert, and M Dragon's own Jirachi comes in with deathly ideal conditions: sand and Toxic Spikes both active. Starmie attempts to check it, but a Choice Scarf Iron Head critical hit coupled with sand and poison put Starmie too low. Starmie switches out for Zapdos, an admittedly solid response to Iron Head, and after a near-KO experience, Jirachi gives up and goes into Roserade. SoulWind's Jirachi nimbly dodges a Sleep Powder and goes for an Iron Head, but it bounces off of Heatran. Jirachi tanks an Earth Power and goes for a slow U-turn to safely get Zapdos in to Roost. A bit of déjà vu later, and Roserade finally lands that Sleep Powder on Jirachi. Gengar comes in to burn and damage Zapdos a bit, with the burn doing more damage long-term than anything else. Latias forces Zapdos out, but it's already so low and burned. Jirachi shrugs off a Dragon Pulse from Latias, but M Dragon has Hidden Power coverage for it, and it can safely pick it off as it sleeps. Starmie does get the Rapid Spin off that it's been looking for all game, and suddenly, things look doable for SoulWind. Starmie does get KOed in the process, but Tyranitar comes in to dispatch Latias, taking some chip damage from Dragon Pulse and poison for its troubles. M Dragon knows from previous damage that Tyranitar is Choice Band, and because it's locked into Crunch, Heatran can afford to miss a Magma Storm. However, Heatran misses two Magma Storms, and Tyranitar succumbs to poison damage as it takes out Heatran. Jirachi does classic Jirachi things now that Zapdos is weakened and burned, with Iron Head flinching down both Zapdos and Breloom to secure M Dragon the win.

Game Three

M Dragon leads with Uxie for game three, Tricking Swampert a Choice Scarf as it sets up Stealth Rock. Knowing a switch is coming, Uxie goes for a Thunder Wave against the Ground-type as it switches to Tyranitar, though a Lum Berry keeps it safe for now. Uxie goes for another Thunder Wave and takes a surprisingly little amount from Crunch, then getting Swampert in with U-turn to take a KO with Earthquake. SoulWind's own Swampert comes in to hit M Dragon's Swampert with Hydro Pump as Stealth Rock is now up for both sides. M Dragon brings in Starmie and, yet again, properly uses Thunder Wave against the Ground-type locked into an unfavorable move. That Thunder Wave hits Gengar, netting a full paralysis as M Dragon seemingly attempts to sacrifice his Uxie for positioning. Uxie goes for a Psychic into Swampert then U-turns out on a missed Hydro Pump, somehow surviving two separate instances of M Dragon trying to let it go down. Starmie comes in again on the Choice-locked Swampert, and a Surf slams Gengar into red HP as it attempts to block a Rapid Spin. SoulWind again decides to preserve his Gengar, bringing in Latias to shrug off another Surf, and yet again, M Dragon tries to sacrifice his Uxie. Uxie continues to flex its plot armor as it gets an instant full paralysis on the Metagross that came in to meet it. Uxie U-turns out yet again and safely gets Swampert in on another full paralysis. SoulWind's Swampert comes in on Earthquake and is left at exactly 1%, ready to throw out one final Torrent-boosted Hydro Pump, finally KOing Uxie. Starmie comes out and now that Gengar is paralyzed and at a sliver of health, Rapid Spin is free to go for. Gengar does of course come out and faints to sand, blocking Rapid Spin one last time. Jirachi comes out and Starmie uses Thunder Wave, but we see SoulWind's second Lum Berry of the game as Jirachi takes Starmie out with a Thunderbolt. M Dragon's own Jirachi comes out, finally paralyzing SoulWind's Jirachi after taking a soft Fire Punch. After the Body Slam paralysis, Swampert can come out and threaten Jirachi, forcing Latias out in its place. Jirachi comes in to take some kind of attack from Latias, but Latias goes for a Healing Wish, curing Jirachi of its paralysis. Avenging its fallen friend, SoulWind's Jirachi burns M Dragon's Jirachi with a Fire Punch and avoids a Body Slam paralysis. After netting the burn, Jirachi doesn't push its luck any further, going into Metagross to Trick away its Iron Ball and take Jirachi out. Swampert comes out and finishes the paralyzed Metagross off with an Earthquake, and with SoulWind's Swampert KOed by Stealth Rock upon entry, it is effectively Jirachi vs The World. Jirachi hits the field, and Psychic just leaves Swampert at a sliver. Jirachi goes down to a final Earthquake, and M Dragon is crowned the winner of the DPP Cup.

This year has been a great one for ADV. An explosion of activity on the ladder has led to many new names rising to prominence in the last few months, and many ADV legacy names returned for Cup as well, including the defending champion McMeghan. As the tournament progressed, we saw many of these strong older players make early exits, with Soulwind, M Dragon, Kristyl, Endill, and Finchinator all out of the tournament by round four. Round five saw even more, with Fakes, Arctic, BluesEnergy00, BIHI, and CyberOdin taking their leave. By round 7, mind gaming, Fruhdazi, and Mako had also fallen, leaving a top eight with a healthy mix of new and old players. Top four saw ABR exit but otherwise a fairly predictable winning out of the legacy players barring one exception: oliveroddish (henceforth known as JoJ), who beat Zokuru and subsequently McMeghan to make finals alongside Sapientia. Sapientia boasted a long history on the site, from inventing the Pursuit Tyranitar set back in the day to winning the ADV Revival tournament after a long hiatus. Conversely, this would be JoJ's first real tournament appearance outside of a win in ADVPL this very same year. Additionally, this would not be the first time these players had faced; both Sapientia and JoJ had already played in ADVPL IV week 4.

Sapientia vs oliveroddish

Game One

Game one starts off quite interestingly, as Sapientia leads with a Skarmory and JoJ leads with Jolteon. Usually, we will see Blissey swap in on Electric-types on a Skarmory lead team, but Sapientia opts instead to go to a very specially defensive Zapdos, which tanks two Thunderbolts from Jolteon before phazing it with Roar. Salamence is forced in on the 50% Zapdos, and Sapientia wisely makes the swap to Skarmory on Rock Slide. However, this is quickly revealed to be a trap, as the Salamence is mixed with Rock Slide, and a Fire Blast takes Skarmory quite low. Blissey comes in to take a Fire Blast, and then Sapientia expertly doubles back to Skarmory, which most Blissey answers usually have a tough time with. This pays off quite well, as JoJ switched to Metagross. Skarmory has been able to rack up considerable healing with Leftovers by this point and would be very likely to put down a second or even third layer of Spikes later in the game. Compounding that is Sapientia's swap to Moltres, revealing a Metagross switch-in and answer as well as threatening to apply pressure with powerful attacks that benefit greatly from Spikes. Puzzlingly, the answer on JoJ's team to Moltres is Jolteon, which eats a very annoying Will-O-Wisp on top of chip damage from Spikes. Jolteon does get a nice Baton Pass, which lets Metagross come back in on Sapientia's Blissey; this allows JoJ to apply the pressure needed, especially with a Meteor Mash Attack raise, to take down Skarmory and deny more layers of Spikes. Moltres comes back in, and JoJ reveals a Starmie; this is again quite strange, as it would have taken the Will-O-Wisp or Fire-type move from Moltres much more effectively than Jolteon earlier. Starmie reveals a massive Hydro Pump on the incoming Misdreavus but blanks into Blissey. Misdreavus doubles back in expecting something to trap, but instead JoJ goes to Tyranitar. Both players double on turn 19; Sapientia to Flygon to deal with Tyranitar, and JoJ finally revealing a Skarmory, which promptly puts down Spikes as Sapientia again swaps to Moltres. Notably, the Tyranitar switch in has introduced sand to the field, so Moltres and other Pokémon not immune to sand will have a tougher time recovering. After some switching for positioning, and more chip damage on Jolteon, a crucial bit of information is revealed on turn 26; JoJ's Salamence has dropped Dragon Claw to fit Rock Slide, meaning it is entirely walled by the Flygon. JoJ goes to Skarmory and tries to get a Toxic on Moltres or Flygon, but it misses, and with no good switch-in to Moltres's Hidden Power Grass, JoJ stays in, hoping to catch Sapientia overpredicting. However, Sapienta goes for the safe Flamethrower, KOing Skarmory in one hit. This proves to be the nail in the coffin of game one; without Skarmory, there is no Toxic or other tool to deal with the core of Flygon, Moltres, and Blissey. Sapientia even gets a little fancy with it, swapping Flygon into Salamence and then clicking Earthquake into the Starmie and Metagross coming in, sealing Sapientia's victory. After a few more turns, Salamence and Jolteon go down to status conditions, and Flygon finishes off Tyranitar with an Earthquake.

Game Two

Game two starts off quite interestingly as well. Sapientia leads Gengar, while JoJ leads Tyranitar. Gengar goes for a Will-O-Wisp that hits, allowing the Gengar to stay quite healthy even after being hit by a Rock Slide. Having confirmed the lack of Pursuit, Sapientia swaps to Dugtrio, hoping Tyranitar would attack again feebly into the trapper; however, JoJ smartly swaps to Skarmory, which Dugtrio is powerless against. JoJ places the crucial first layer of Spikes as Sapientia is forced to swap, bringing in Jirachi. Tyranitar comes in to tank the Thunderbolt from Jirachi, and then JoJ brings in an incredibly high threat in Charizard as Sapientia goes to Celebi. Charizard is very powerful into the core of Gengar / Jirachi / Celebi, so much so that Sapientia immediately sacrifices Celebi for chip damage on Charizard with Psychic. Sand damage and Leftovers heal order along with Flamethrower damage on Celebi confirms the Charizard is Modest, which is unusual in ADV, and thus it is safe for Jirachi to come back in on Charizard to finish it off. Swampert takes an unfortunate critical-hit Psychic as it replaces Charizard, but Jirachi uses Calm Mind on the next turn, revealing a very uncommon Calm Mind / Thunderbolt / Psychic / Ice Punch set. This does, however, allow Swampert to do massive damage with Earthquake, after which Tyranitar comes in to bulk an attack and also use Earthquake. Jirachi is then revenge killed by Aerodactyl with Double-Edge. Gengar enters on the Choice Band Double-Edge, but Skarmory is no longer necessary to keep healthy after the first Spikes layer; it comes in on Gengar and gets some decent damage on it with Drill Peck despite a Will-O-Wisp burn. Regice comes in on Skarmory but immediately thuds into Blissey, which reveals Calm Mind and starts setting up. Regice is forced to Explode, allowing Dugtrio to revenge kill Blissey, but this allows the terrifying Modest Charizard back in. Charizard claims Gengar and a massive chunk of an offensive Suicune's health, allowing Skarmory to get a final Drill Peck needed before Aerodactyl sweeps Suicune and Dugtrio with Double Edge.

Game Three

This game starts with Hariyama from JoJ and Suicune from Sapientia. Sapientia's Suicune does not want to lose its Leftovers and thus swaps to Skarmory, but JoJ also swaps into Snorlax. Turn three is quite interesting; Sapientia reveals a Magneton, hoping to catch JoJ's Magneton as it swaps into Skarmory. However, JoJ does not swap to Magneton, instead using Curse and forcing Sapientia to go back to Skarmory. Snorlax starts using Double-Edge to wear Skarmory down, but combined with Protect, Skarmory is able to easily shrug off the attacks and use Roar. Gyarados is dragged in and immediately swaps to Starmie to remove Spikes, but it is met with a swap to Blissey. Hariyama comes back in and threatens a massive mix-up with Knock Off and Focus Punch, but the Focus Punch it opts for is tanked reasonably well by Claydol. Salamence swaps in for Sapientia, and Tyranitar for JoJ. Salamence is revealed to not have Leftovers, which lets JoJ fairly safely swap to Gyarados. However, Gyarados ends up completely walled by Skarmory, and so its Hidden Power Flying does nothing as it is phazed. The last from JoJ, which to this point has been presumed to be a Magneton, is revealed as a Metagross. Unfortunately, this means JoJ's entire team struggles to break through Skarmory + Blissey. Despite a few more great plays (such as Earthquake on a Salamence as Sapientia swapped it to Magneton) this SkarmBliss core easily shrugged off JoJ's efforts to get an advantage in the game, especially aided by Suicune and Salamence, which were able to bulk through the Gyarados and Metagross and obtain invaluable chip damage. This was only more noticeable when it was revealed that Blissey entirely walled JoJ's Tyranitar, which was forced to spam Crunch into Blissey. JoJ tried to position Hariyama, Metagross, and Gyarados on Blissey, and eventually Sapientia did let Blissey go down to Metagross. However, with Starmie and Snorlax down, Claydol is revealed to have a large amount of Speed investment, and it quickly finishes off Metagross, Tyranitar, and Gyarados with Psychic and Earthquake.

With the tournament structure leading towards a round robin final that would eventually reset, and a generation that prioritized metagame and mechanical knowledge above all, the tour was a surprising mix of multi-generational talent, outside appearances, and a handful of GSC-specific mainers towards the end. Semifinalist Skarpherim was primarily known for Ubers and AG, while finalists Sapientia and GLFGno7 are known GSC names; the latter won a Seasonal earlier in the year and also beat Skarpherim in that same tournament, and the former is a storied name on the site and eliminated Luthier, a skilled player across many tours.

They were joined by BIHI, who is successful in almost every tier he tries, in a round robin finals after BIHI eliminated consistent team tour captain ziloXX. The bracket had reset after Sapientia beat BIHI, BIHI beat GLFGno7, and GLFGno7 beat Sapientia, all in two-game victories. GLFGno7 would triumph over both in the bracket reset, which opened up a long conversation about tournament sizes and the pros and cons of round robin finals.

BIHI vs GLFGno7

Game One

BIHI attempts to absorb sleep with his Raikou, then pivot through his Zapdos in an attempt to minimize damage taken, but GLFGno7 holds off on his Lovely Kiss, making BIHI dance around the Nidoking's mixed attacking moveset. BIHI's choice to switch Snorlax out of Nidoking instead of taking the sleep on it indicates the potential lack of Sleep Talk, but GLFGno7 punishes the switch with a prediction and uses Earthquake, hitting a critical hit on the Raikou for extra reward. With Exeggutor being the next to come in, BIHI's team looks particularly unable to handle the Lovely Kiss unless it misses, as Exeggutor cannot outspeed Nidoking and can't handle being put to sleep either.

GLFGno7's Snorlax and Cloyster exchange hits with their equivalents on BIHI's team, in a game where GLFGno7's special threats seem unanswerable with enough time. A timely critical hit on GLFGno7's Zapdos from BIHI's own alleviates some pressure, but GLFGno7's Tyranitar is able to make its appearance shortly after, chewing through BIHI's team with powerful Crunches. With Zapdos's Thunderbolt revenge killing BIHI's Tyranitar, GLFGno7's struggles with the Electric-type onslaught become more apparent. However, once Zapdos reaches the end of its utility for BIHI, he makes the move to give Zapdos into the poison chip damage, as the status effect takes action right after moving, and with a fainted Pokémon, the turn ends, preventing Snorlax from moving at all. As more hits are traded and pieces fall, the endgame is riveting. GLFGno7 has Nidoking and Zapdos vs BIHI's Cloyster and Golem. Cloyster falls asleep to Nidoking's Lovely Kiss, and Golem pivots in on the expected Thunder. If Golem hits Nidoking with Earthquake, taking an Ice Beam, it will KO the Nidoking and leave it with enough health to Explode on the Zapdos.

However, GLFGno7's Zapdos completely walls the Golem, and if it Explodes on the Zapdos before Nidoking goes down, Cloyster will lose to it. BIHI only has one primary path to win: call out the Zapdos switch with Roar and force Nidoking to take the Spikes damage over and over—death by a thousand 6.25%s. He has other options, such as baiting the Nidoking into taking an Earthquake or bringing it to Surf range from Cloyster and then navigating the Golem Explosion for an ideal end state. However, if GLFGno7 ever gets a Roar turn call correct, a Nidoking Ice Beam will get the chip on Golem necessary to push it closer to the range where Nidoking and Zapdos can KO it. After seven Roars, GLFGno7 makes the Ice Beam play, and is rewarded anti-climactically with a freeze. With PS's old RNG formula answering the question of how long the Roar mind games could've gone on or if they ended that very turn, GLFGno7 wraps up the game against BIHI's frozen and sleeping the remaining two Pokémon.

Game Two

GLFGno7 starts the game with the well-known Jynx opener, landing a Lovely Kiss, grabbing a Leftovers via Thief, and bouncing. Each player's Cloyster establishes Spikes, and then GLFGno7 gets aggressive by pushing Thunder with Zapdos. BIHI's first recourse for the Thunder is an Exeggutor, a Pokémon notably lacking reliable recovery over the course of a long game. It looks like neither team is built to go the distance, so hits need to be traded in equal share until someone's win path opens up. GLFGno7 absorbs Exeggutor's sleep with the heavily chipped Jynx, then Steelix comes in to eat a Giga Drain and unwillingly help heal Exeggutor. With the offensive pace of the match, GLFGno7 goes straight to Exploding with Steelix, providing confirmation to anyone who still needed it that GSC is not an "all-stall generation" with the rate of faints in the finals of GSC Cup of all places. GLFGno7 hits BIHI's Cloyster hard with a Double-Edge from Snorlax, then goes to Gengar expecting an Explosion, but he is instead treated to a critical-hit Surf for his troubles.

The Gengar is actually in good position to claim a KO here despite the hit, as between the Spikes, previous damage, and the powerful Explosion available to it, Gengar is quite likely to claim a KO before ghosting the rest of the match. However, Dynamic Punch was the move selected, landing on the switch and preventing BIHI's now-confused Snorlax from using Rest. After some further pivoting, BIHI brings Tyranitar in to trade hits with GLFGno7's Snorlax, which lets Snorlax use Rest after taking a Rock Slide. However, the reveal of Screech from Tyranitar means that Snorlax is far from comfortable, leaving Jynx to get sacrificed to the Rock Slide and Cloyster to threaten out the Tyranitar. Both sides have enormous threats—with BIHI's Snorlax low, GLFGno7's Gengar and Zapdos are dangerous every time they come out. BIHI, on the other hand, has a lethal Screech Tyranitar to punch through GLFGno7's Snorlax and claim KOs in return.

GLFGno7 threatens the Tyranitar with Surf, then on BIHI's switch to Zapdos instead opts for a different path, letting Cloyster pick up a KO with a predictive Explosion. GLFGno7's Zapdos is a few Thunders away from locking in the game, but it fails to hit against BIHI's Tyranitar. Then, Gengar misses Dynamic Punch, and all advantage that GLFGno7 seemed to have had simply dissipated into the mist. He forfeits with just his Snorlax remaining, knowing that BIHI has the win by sacrificing a Pokémon then having Cloyster Explode. Twenty-two turns of Exploding, breaking, and call-out predictions resulted in a tossup endgame that BIHI got the better of.

Game Three

GLFGno7 and BIHI exchange Double-Edges with their Snorlax, then they both switch to Cloyster hoping to set up Spikes. Continuing the mirror match, both exchange Toxic first before Spiking. There are further options to trade health with Surf or Explosion, but both players opt instead to switch; BIHI switches to his Exeggutor and GLFGno7 to his Zapdos, the first deviation of the mirror match. When GLFGno7 switches again to Snorlax to absorb the Sleep Powder, the mirror match is fully discarded, with GLFGno7 revealing his preferred sleep absorber, leaving Zapdos in perfect condition to threaten BIHI later with Spikes up and a weakened Snorlax. BIHI uses Tyranitar to pressure the sleeping Snorlax, only to eat a critical-hit Earthquake through Sleep Talk. GLFGno7 pivots in Golem on the weakened Tyranitar, seeking to use Rapid Spin to remove the Spikes. However, BIHI reveals the Tyranitar is packing Surf, an uncommon move choice, removing Golem and leaving no functional Normal-resistant Pokémon in the game. GLFGno7 forces out BIHI's Tyranitar with his own, with the Machamp that switched in granting GLFGno7 an opportunity to cash in on the reward of having preserved Zapdos, which then easily stomachs a Rock Slide and threatens with Thunders.

Thunder misses the Exeggutor that BIHI switches in, and rather than risking Zapdos, GLFGno7 switches in Snorlax. BIHI uses Cloyster to threaten the Snorlax with an Explosion, but the Gengar that switched in expecting it instead takes decent chip damage from Surf, then lands a Hypnosis on the Snorlax switch in. GLFGno7 returns to Tyranitar to push progress, but BIHI's Sleep Talk fortunately calls Rest, healing Snorlax back up. BIHI's Exeggutor switches in on the revealed Dynamic Punch, which misses, as Dynamic Punch does. Uniquely, sleep is on the table for BIHI, as with Sleep Talk calling Rest, the two sleeping Snorlax are now seen as having chosen to fall asleep, rather than having been put to sleep. As a result, GLFGno7's Tyranitar is forced out, and BIHI's incoming Exeggutor gets some free damage on the sleeping Snorlax. BIHI decides to commit, and the Psychic critical hit that comes of it hits for a large percentage of GLFGno7's Snorlax's remaining HP. Snorlax rolls Earthquake twice with Sleep Talk, chipping Exeggutor but leaving it at just shy of a quarter of its HP.

With Snorlax due to wake up next turn (due to pulling Rest two turns ago with Sleep Talk), BIHI pivots in Machamp on the forced Rest. GLFGno7's best response to start with is to switch in Cloyster, which takes most of its remaining HP from a Cross Chop. BIHI switches in his own Cloyster, with an Explosion taking them both out. While BIHI has the numbers advantage, most of GLFGno7's Pokémon are healthy, while BIHI's Tyranitar is at a third of its health. GLFGno7's Gengar meets BIHI's Zapdos and is forced out for Snorlax. The two exchange damage and healing between Thunderbolt and Sleep Talk pulling Rest, but eventually the Thunderbolt critically hits, forcing the Snorlax to manually Rest, which lets Machamp in. However, GLFGno7 predicted the switch, forgoing the Rest for significant chip on the Machamp via Double-Edge. GLFGno7 then goes to Zapdos on Earthquake, then to Tyranitar as BIHI brings his own Snorlax in. GLFGno7's Tyranitar's Dynamic Punch is set to claim KOs, as BIHI has to bring in his own chipped Tyranitar, luckily dodging the Dynamic Punch. BIHI's Tyranitar eats a Rock Slide and lands two Surfs, bringing the terrifically terrifying Tyranitar down to below half health. BIHI's Exeggutor comes in next, and GLFGno7 chooses to not switch in the yet-to-Rest Snorlax, instead using Fire Blast for damage as Tyranitar falls asleep. From here, a Psychic prediction on a Giga Drain absorber and then a Giga Drain take out GLFGno7's Tyranitar, which never wakes up throughout it all and now sleeps for a long nap.

GLFGno7 uses Gengar to get a revenge kill, threatening an Explosion, only to double switch to Snorlax as BIHI brings out his own. With Snorlax finally able to Rest, BIHI keeps the aggression up by bringing Snorlax in, then going for Machamp and using Rock Slide to predict the Zapdos, only to fall to GLFGno7's Snorlax using Sleep Talk and pulling Earthquake. BIHI returns to his own Snorlax, but with Sleep Talk only calling Rest and Flamethrower, GLFGno7 is able to push through it with repeated use of Double-Edge. Exeggutor comes in to use Sleep Powder on the Snorlax to try to take it down with Psychic, bringing it as low as 1% HP, with Snorlax's Double-Edge taking Exeggutor down to about a third of its HP and finally taking the Snorlax down. GLFGno7 ends the game with Gengar, using Ice Punch to dispatch the Exeggutor and then using Explosion on the Zapdos for the win.

The first generation, experiencing more variance in metagame development via metagame trends over years and new bizarre coding practices discovered decades after release, RBY is a generation with the most history and arguably the purest expression of skill and metagame knowledge. With tiering action rare and more often a matter of interpreting how obscure technical interactions should be ruled, RBY has stood the test of time as a powerful metagame that rewards knowledge and intuition more than cheap teambuilder gimmicks.

With enough players to hit a round robin finals, RBY saw some of the highest number of players near the end that were nearly exclusively focused on RBY in this tournament. RaiZen1704, oligen, King Billu, and Amaranth, all eliminated in the second to last round, either signed up only for RBY or made a deep run only in RBY. With BeeOrSomething, another RBY-exclusive, elodin, and Deezcastforms eliminated in the semifinals, the finals were left to Eeveeto, Isza, and Excal.

Excal vs Isza

Game One

After a grueling round robin finals, both Excal and Isza found themselves gearing up for another round. Game one of the second set saw Excal get the better of his opponent in the initial sleep war after a clean double switch on turn one, with his Exeggutor landing a Sleep Powder on Isza's Gengar, which missed a Hypnosis before then being slept by Isza's own Egg. Excal reveals Mega Drain on his Exeggutor, which serves as a bit of additional pressure against Isza's Starmie. Isza attempted a handful of times to get a clean Tauros switch, but he was foiled by Excal's Tauros, which denied any free turns.

The two threw out jabs at one another for a few turns before landing in a Snorlax mirror, where both revealed Reflect, following a key double Thunder Wave from Isza's side, giving him {inconsistent pronouns} the initial advantage. After a few turns of positioning to run out their Rests, Isza maneuvers into a Starmie vs Snorlax matchup, where ultimately the Normal-type gets the better of the star, paralyzing it and landing a key critical-hit Body Slam that enables a clean switch to Zapdos, but Isza calls the play right and lets Chansey take the incoming Thunderbolt, forcing a switch. Turn 39 gives us our first KO as Excal lets his Starmie go down for some chip damage on Isza's Snorlax, leaving it in range of both Tauros and Zapdos. Isza, on his part, then sacrifices Gengar immediately afterward to Tauros, preceding a bull-on-bull war. Isza pulls out of the conflict on the third turn, letting Excal's 15% Tauros shoot a Hyper Beam into Isza's paralyzed Starmie, which then revenge kills it on the recharge turn. The pace of the match quickens from here as both teams are very worn down, and eventually, Excal positions his Snorlax through a handful of offensive moves, trading down with booms until Snorlax could see the game out itself with a bit of offensive help from the Zapdos. After a short Chansey-on-Chansey conflict, the Snorlax comes back in and uses Self-Destruct, giving game one to Excal.

Game Two

Game two's early turns go dramatically in Isza's favor, with his Jynx landing a Lovely Kiss on Excal's Starmie turn one before freezing Excal's Chansey on turn four. Keeping up the momentum as the two reposition a bit, Isza lands a heavy Counter with their Snorlax on Excal's Tauros, scaring it out and forcing the sacrifice of the frozen Chansey. Turn 13, though, slows down Isza's rampant attack finally, as he loses the Speed tie in a Snorlax-vs-Snorlax mirror, using Self-Destruct into a Reflect and doing a minimal amount of damage. Isza's approach goes from bad to worse then, as his incoming Zapdos's Thunderbolt is met with a Rhydon, which essentially invalidates the legendary bird and allows Excal to click free Body Slams whenever he manages to get the matchup, completing a total shift of momentum from the early-game section, with Excal now leading.

The two sparred a bit with their Exeggutor, and the game moved along until Jynx finally went down, freeing up another round of Tauros from Isza's side. The bull survived a Self-Destruct from Excal's Snorlax before hitting a critical-hit Body Slam on an Exeggutor that was out of range, dramatically easing the next few turns for Isza, as they didn't need to predict around the Rhydon at all anymore, having wrestled back the momentum after things looked dour earlier in the match. After winning the Tauros-vs-Tauros Speed tie, Isza's Exeggutor proved too much and ran over the dregs of Excal's team.

Game Three

Isza starts things off with a bang in game three, as he brings a quirky lead Snorlax that works out excellently, forcing out Excal's lead Starmie and letting Gengar come in on Chansey to score a Hypnosis. Excal nabs a sleep on the Gengar a few turns after with his Exeggutor, which then goes on to trade paralysis with an Alakazam.

As the early-game section winds down and we enter the middle-game part, Excal manages to chip Isza's Tauros with his Snorlax before healing off the damage with Rest. The two dance around one another a bit, with Excal waking up his Exeggutor along the way, before Isza reveals a back Zapdos (confirming a no-Chansey team) in an attempt to dodge a Tauros Earthquake on his sleeping Gengar, though Excal calls this and uses Body Slam for some chip damage before revealing his hard counter Rhydon. Hilariously, Isza brings in their Snorlax on the Rhydon as it uses Body Slam, claiming a "misclick", before revealing Surf the next turn for a huge hit. The tubular Snorlax gets some good value, too, as it manages to connect a Self-Destruct on Excal's own Snorlax, bringing us to 5-5.

Excal eats a Thunder Wave on his Tauros, crippling his ability to pull magic out of a hat. His egg is then used as a battering ram as Isza's paralyzed Alakazam makes its way in, knocking the Alakazam out. Excal's next few moves drastically shift momentum back in his favor, however, as he leaves a dangling Starmie in front of Isza's Zapdos, tempting it to Thunderbolt after only having hit a Drill Peck on the way in. Excal pulls the trigger here, swapping hard into Rhydon, leaving it with enough HP to get off a key rest as the Zapdos begrudgingly switches out. Ultimately, Isza's Tauros comes back in and, mirroring its counterpart, eats a Thunder Wave, but not before it switches out it spreads its own critical paralysis on Excal's Starmie.

As the match wore on, the late-game section seemed difficult for Excal to pull off, with Isza's fully healthy Mega Drain Exeggutor looking brilliant against Excal's Rhydon, paralyzed Tauros, and paralyzed Starmie. His team was grinded down gradually, with Isza's Pokémon seeming to have just the right moves necessary to tie up the win. With only a Tauros and a Rhydon left, Excal scores a key critical hit on Isza's Zapdos, depriving it of any chip damage for the upcoming bull war. The two Normal-types go at one another, few paralyses mark the battle, before Excal reveals a vital fourth move on his Tauros—Rest, an absolutely crucial last move that changed the entirety of this game, bringing it from lost to doable on Excal's side. After healing off his ~90% of damage, Isza seems to make a mistake, attempting to click Sleep Powder with their Exeggutor on the waking Tauros, forgetting that it was previously paralyzed (the Speed reduction remains applied in RBY even if the paralysis is lifted via Rest). This allows Tauros to wake up unscathed, a crucial free turn for the bull. Rhydon is then offered up to Isza to reset the Speed drop, and upon its return, Tauros does Tauros things, landing a huge critical-hit-turned-full-paralysis with Body Slam on the Exeggutor before wiping it up with Hyper Beam. Ultimately, Tauros proved to be too much. Excal's decision to run Rest gave his bull a second wind that let it do classic Tauros things, with it cleaning up Isza's team and giving Excal a much-needed 1-0 in the second round robin.