Smogon Masters I Coverage

By Maia, fade, Lily, a fairy, Luigi. Released: 2024/05/12.
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Art by Blazenix

Art by Blazenix.

Introduction

With the ever-increasing number of Pokémon generations, the previous tournament structure began to falter, as the system was poised to leave ORAS in limbo, being too new of an oldgen for Smogon Classic and too old of an oldgen for Smogon Tour. This problem, as well as a handful of Tournament Policy threads about what to do with ORAS and accessibility issues with Smogon Tour, gave way to Finchinator's new brainchild, unofficially dubbed Fairy Cup by its creator and Masculine Testosterone Cup by men in the Smogon Tournaments server unwilling to be associated with the word "fairy." After a bit of policy back-and-forth and a name vote, what emerged was Smogon Masters, a Swiss tournament featuring a Bo3 of ORAS, SM, and SS OU and one of the prettiest trophy colors on the site to date. Smogon Masters stands where the second annual season of Smogon Tour used to and has resolved the issue of all oldgens not having a place in an individual tournament, at least until Gen 10.

Swiss

The first edition of Smogon Masters saw nearly 750 signups, twice as many as OSDT, the other official Swiss tour, and only slightly less than the number of unique participants across all five of the Cups in Smogon Classic IX. As is to be expected of an official tournament, the brackets were littered with strong threats: SoulWind, Empo, Skypenguin, BKC, and many others with years of experience waited for their chance to go head to head to be the first to claim Smogon's newest trophy.

While the first two rounds of Swiss don't result in any eliminations, there were still plenty of upsets to be seen, like Xiri beating ABR, Laurel beating SoulWind, BlessyZ beating BKC in round one, and z0mOG losing to Bka Onon in round two. Once the 0-2 bracket hit, the first wave of eliminations saw shiloh losing to activity, CTC taken out by a coinflip, and 91 players altogether dropped from the tournament, more than an eighth of the initial signups gone in one stroke. Already sitting in the 1-2 danger zone were names like BKC, BlazingDark, Xrn, and QWILY, just one set away from elimination.

Another 142 players fell from the 1-2 bracket in round four, another fifth of the initial signups gone. BKC, Xrn, watashi, Jisoo, Mako, and Beraldo were among the eliminated, with Leo, DAHLI, Ox the Fox, Hayburner, Prinz, and Star finding themselves in danger going into round five. On the other hand, the 3-0 bracket boasted matchups like Garay oak vs Kebab mlml, Eternal Spirit vs xray, and BIHI vs xavgb.

The 2-2 bracket took out another 142 competitors, marking more than half of the initial competitors being dropped from the tournament at the end of the fifth round. Leaving the tournament just shy of an even 3-3 record were Prinz, Hayburner, Exiline, and Seasons alongside most of the remaining dead accounts in the tour. Lily, lax, Vileman, Luigi, and z0mOG found themselves dropped to the 3-2 bracket going into round six, while blunder, Eternal Spirit, fade, London Beats, SoulWind, and other strong players hung on moving into 4-1. The undefeated pool continued to narrow, with only 24 people emerging victorious from the 4-0 bracket, including Finchinator, Garay oak, Skypenguin, xavgb, xray, and Ewin alongside lesser-known names like pulsar512b and Zaza.

Another 119 players dropped from the 3-2 bracket, which, for those not following along, meant nearly 500, or 2/3, of the tournament's initial competitors were eliminated after round six. Among the fallen were Laurel, dex, Fakes, and Sylvi, with clean, Leo, Void, and Star surviving another round and Empo, Kebab mlml, Eternal Spirit, Jytcampbell, blunder, and RaiZen1704 joining them on the edge of elimination after dropping from the 4-1 bracket. Advancing into the 5-1 bracket, Rubyblood, TPP, Santu, Malekith, Niko, Joya, and many others were emerging as strong competitors for top cut, while the undefeated pool was cut in half again after spectators were treated to matchups like Garay oak vs Finchinator, xray vs Giannis Antetokommo-o, and 3d vs xavgb.

With the number of players able to be eliminated starting to run thin, heavy hitters like Kebab mlml, Eternal Spirit, crying, z0mOG, and devin were among the 89 players leaving from the 4-2 bracket. QWILY continued to hold onto his spot in the tour despite being in danger of elimination since round three, and Star did the same despite being in danger since round four. Empo, BIHI, and Luigi also lived to see another round, while the 5-1 bracket added Giannis, Rubyblood, Gondra, Malekith, robjr, and ChrisPBacon to the potential elimination pool. Only six players remained in the undefeated pool: decis, false, Skypenguin, Rewer, Zaza, and Dj Breloominati.

Just two rounds away from top cut, 63 more competitors had their run ended in the 5-2 bracket, bringing us to well over 600 competitors eliminated and leaving only about 100 in the tour. QWILY finally dropped following an impressive run from the 1-2 bracket, alongside reyscarface, BIHI, robjr, and RaiZen1704. Star, Empo, Giannis, Malekith, and blunder kept fighting for their place in top cut from the bottom while players not often seen in high-level tournament play like PANNAMAA, OranBerryBlissey10, Vermillion Gangsta, and MGdos16 advanced alongside and further than some of the site's best-known names. On the other side of the bracket, the 8-0 pool consisted only of three players: Rewer, Zaza, and Skypenguin, the last of whom beat false in a coinflip to remain undefeated.

The final Swiss round saw the last 42 players eliminated from the 7-2 bracket, including xavgb, Malekith, Leo, and Splash, though not all survivors of this round could rest easy, with play-ins looming over them. While everyone in the 8-0 and 7-1 brackets were guaranteed to advance, Skypenguin still beat Rewer and Zaza in a round robin 8-0 bracket to claim his spot as the one true 9-0, and xray, false, Lusa, SoulWind, Dj Breloominati, ima, Niko, London Beats, weird mon, Santu, Ewin, and damien the genius all finished with impressive 8-1 records.

Top Cut

To make an even 64-player top cut bracket, the bottom ten seeds had to play for the last five spots:

And the top 64, seeded by record then resistance, could begin the playoffs of the first ever Smogon Masters:

While replays were broken for a bit during this round, (almost) everyone played their games to a number of upsets, like 65th seed clean defeating the undefeated Skypenguin right out of play-ins, relatively unknown ladder hero third seed Zaza beating Fc, and MS3D beating blunder, who won a Smogon Tour with 2/3 of these tiers in it. The most upsetting part of this round, however, was an activity call made against ima by Leru. While ima missed the time and Leru was within his rights to claim an activity win, people generally hope for and expect more in the playoffs rounds of trophy tournaments, and ima's many attempts to reschedule to no answers from Leru certainly didn't help the situation. Leru won his activity call but began his Smogon Tournaments villain arc.

Top 32

Because drama always comes in twos, the first part of the top 32 thread was dominated by people giving two-cents posts on the Leru vs ima activity call, followed by Zokuru, Leru's top 32 opponent, attempting to activity call Leru for not opening his wall within 24 hours as per the letter of the rules, resulting in a back-and-forth until Finchinator finally told them both to STFU and play their set. We finally get to the first set of the round at post 36, with Santu beating LpZ. Zokuru did end up beating Leru in the end in what many would consider to be karma. Some of the tournament's underdogs came out on top this round, with Skyrio beating Ewin and PikachuZappyZap taking down Ash KetchumGamer, and some favorites to go far like Garay oak and SoulWind were eliminated.

Top 16

Luthier drew first blood in the top sixteen, ending PikachuZappyZap's run, though the latter would end up with a spot starting SM for for the Wi-Fi Wolfpack in SPL XV after this. Smogon Tour Season 36 champion MichaelderBeste2 was next, continuing a long streak of SS OU wins. Empo and Santu followed, ending two underdog runs from DugZa and weird mon in two games each, and Zokuru beat fade, one of the favorites of the tournament. Former WCoP champion DonSalvatore took down certified nice user TPP, fresh off of a disappointing SCL run, and two extended series added xray and Skyrio to the top eight.

Quarterfinals

Going into quarterfinals, Luthier was once again involved in first blood, though this time on the losing end of three games against xray. Three days later, DonSalvatore upset Empo, removing another one of the favorites to win the entire tournament. Zokuru beat Skyrio in two games that were surprisingly quick for someone whose custom title is "The Stall Lord," and MichaelderBeste2 continued his undefeated SS OU playoffs streak in his victory over Santu.

Semifinals

MichaelderBeste2 vs xray was a clash of Smogon Masters titans, two incredibly strong players who both deserved a place in the tournament's finals. Most of the thread was rooting for xray, but it was MichaelderBeste2 who came out on top in only two games, not even adding another SS OU game to his name. DonSalvatore and Zokuru were two countrymen with strong runs, claiming opponents like BlazingDark, Malekith, Finchinator, TPP, and Empo between them to earn their place in the top four. Another two-game series awaited here, with DonSalvatore emerging the victor and taking second place in the first ever Smogon Masters finals.

Finals

Game One - ORAS OU

MichaelderBeste2 vs. DonSalvatore opens up to an explosive Preview, with Michael running a hyper offense team featuring game-ending threats Cloyster and Volcarona of BW OU suspect fame and DonSalvatore aiming to catch a matchup against a bulkier team using classic fat-killer Crawdaunt. Unfortunately for Don, using a team from the ORAS Teambuilding Competition forum project would end up backfiring, as Michael had collected the team pastes for most of the public teams he could find for the generation. It only took a few moments at Team Preview to lock down exactly what team Don had brought, and with it came the ability to strategize several potential win conditions and ways to prevent Don's outs.

Don counterleads Michael's lead Landorus-T with Zapdos, trying to punish Michael for setting up Stealth Rock—however, Michael quickly brings in Volcarona on Hidden Power Ice, and from there it immediately gets dicey. Zapdos goes down soon after, and while Crawdaunt can beat the bug, Keldeo's Hydro Pump is now tearing Don's team apart. Serperior looks like a big threat, but a Focus Sash on Cloyster lets it take out the snake, and then it's back to Keldeo on Crawdaunt's Aqua Jet to clean things up. Keldeo takes out Crawdaunt and Clefable before Taunting Mega Gallade, leaving it useless against Landorus-T. Michael claims the final KO and wins the game with his setup HO, despite never once having clicked a setup move.

Game Two - SS OU

With his back to the wall after losing the ORAS OU game, DonSalvatore chooses SS OU for the next battle. A loss here means the end of the tournament, while a win would send them into a decisive game 3 in SM OU.

Team Preview

Looking at their teams, Michael brought a balanced team centered around physical attackers that aims to exploit the offensive synergy between Urshifu-R, Weavile, and Zeraora to lure and break apart each other's checks, backed up by a solid defensive backbone of Clefable, Heatran, and Tornadus-T, with the last of these also being excellent at maintaining momentum. A well-oiled, efficient product of German engineering. DonSalvatore, on the other hand, has a team built around Future Sight + Teleport Slowbro, which works by using Slowbro's solid bulk and Regenerator ability to switch in, click Future Sight, then Teleport into one of the team's heavy hitters—in this case, Kartana, Weavile, or Heatran—allowing them to land two attacks in a single turn. This lets them threaten Pokémon that would otherwise entirely wall them, with the Slowbro working in tandem with its teammates like an elegant French dance. The attentive spectator will notice that DonSalvatore's Slowbro is level 99. This is not an accident, but it's deliberately done so that it can underspeed an opposing level 100 Slowbro or Slowking, thereby gaining the upper hand if both Teleport at the same time, at the cost of a negligible (heh) loss of bulk and power. Both of these teams heavily rely on pivoting and positional advantages to push through progress in their own way, so you know we're in for an exciting battle full of twists and turns!

Battle

With the stage set, the game is off to an exhilarating start as both players choose their leads… Clefable. Hmm. And they exchange Thunder Waves turn 1. Look, I promise SS is cool and exciting. Ahem. Michael fails to paralyze DonSalvatore's Clefable due to a miss, but DonSalvatore lands a Thunder Wave on Slowbro, so he's off to a good start. Since the Future Sight + Teleport strategy requires precise timing to work, the inability to move on the Teleport turn is even more devastating than the average full para. Clefable, having crippled Slowbro and set up Stealth Rock, can no longer do anything to Slowbro other than give it free turns, and so Michael opts to switch it out to keep the momentum going, while DonSalvatore takes the chance to get the Future Sight ball rolling. His plans are interrupted by an unfortunately timed bout of yellow magic as Michael goes to his Weavile to nullify the Future Sight. The full para allows Michael to pivot his Heatran (which easily tanks the Future Sight) into DonSalvatore's Clefable, which came in to handle Weavile, giving Michael a very strong position, as Heatran poses a threat to DonSalvatore's entire team, depending on its set. Recognizing this, DonSalvatore decides to paralyze the Heatran and dodges a Magma Storm while doing so, but then greed gets the better of him as he stays in an additional turn to Moonblast the Heatran, thinking he is safe enough against a paralyzed Heatran that he can play around it and maybe get a Special Attack drop before switching out. Heatran in turn is offended by being hit by a 4x resisted move and doesn't miss a second time, trapping Clefable before swiftly crushing it under its 430 kg bulk with Heavy Slam, significantly easing the trio of physical attackers' job. From here, Michael is in a commanding position, but there's plenty of game left to go.

DonSalvatore takes the opportunity of the paralyzed Heatran to send in his Landorus-T and Defog the hazards away as Heatran switches out to Urshifu-R. Slowbro, even while paralyzed, remains one of the best Urshifu-R answers in the tier, but it is hit by a U-turn as it comes in, allowing Michael to keep his foot firmly on the gas pedal as he sends out Tornadus-T to force some progress. The Slowbro is hit by a Hurricane and is confused, but while other Pokémon merely adopted confusion, Slowbro was born in it, molded by it, so it easily breaks through parafusion to Teleport out to Weavile, which scares out the Tornadus-T at the same as it invites the Urshifu-R back in, getting a Knock Off off in the process. The Urshifu-R loses its Protective Pads but is now once again forcing DonSalvatore to send out his Slowbro, as all the remaining Pokémon on his team would be KOed by one of its STAB moves. This time, Michael opts to Close Combat instead of U-turn, and then he Close Combats again as the Slowbro overpredicts and goes for a Scald, which fails to burn. At this point, Slowbro is squarely in U-turn KO range, but as previously stated, DonSalvatore has to have the utmost caution when switching into Urshifu-R, as any misstep could cost him one of his Pokémon. This is one of the most pivotal turns in the game: U-turn KOing Slowbro would be catastrophic, but so would losing any of the other members of his team to one of Urshifu-R's STAB moves. Recognizing that he is already on the backfoot and that similar Urshifu-R vs. Slowbro sequences might repeat all game if he switches out, DonSalvatore opts to stay in AGAIN, predicting that Michael would predict him to switch, and click one of Urshifu-R's STAB moves to punish that. If DonSalvatore is correct, he'll be able to knock out the -2 Special Defense Urshifu-R with Scald and in doing so remove the biggest threat to his team. The bold prediction is correct, as Michael clicks Close Combat, but any joy he felt as he saw the beginning of the animation of Urshifu-R going over to punch Slowbro in the face was gone by the time it ended, as the Close Combat hit for an impossible 22% (252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 72-86 (18.3 - 21.8%)). Yes, dear reader, your suspicion is correct. DonSalvatore's decision to use Level 99 Slowbro, which cost him 4 HP and Defense points and pushed the max damage of that roll to 22.3%, bit him in the ass harder than that Shellder biting the Slowbro. See, I told you that SS could be interesting. Whew. From this position, Michael is extremely far ahead.

The Pokémon DonSalvatore opts to send out to scare the Urshifu-R away is Kartana, which is met by Tornadus-T, which eats a Knock Off and U-turns out after finding out from the damage that Kartana is Choice Banded. This knowledge lets him pivot in his Weavile, which gets Knocked and then in a bold fashion statement replaces its lost Boots with a stolen Headband, acquired via Pickpocket. Michael then decides to Icicle Crash as Heatran comes in to tank it. Michael simply sacks his own Heatran to it and brings out his Urshifu-R. With Slowbro and Clefable fainted, any time Cocaine Bear Urshifu comes in on the slower Heatran or Landorus-T, it will be in position to get a KO with the appropriate STAB move. This is the situation DonSalvatore now finds himself in, having to decide what to do against Urshifu-R. He can send out Kartana, which will survive a Surging Strikes and scare it out, or Landorus-T, which will survive a Close Combat, though without the benefit of scaring it out; additionally, getting the call wrong with either ends the game on the spot, as a dead Kartana guarantees an Urshifu-R sweep, while a dead Landorus-T guarantees a Zeraora sweep. Not willing to risk it, DonSalvatore sacks his Weavile to a Surging Strikes and brings out Kartana before doubling to Heatran to try to claw his way back in, but his efforts are cut short as Michael once again sacks one of his Pokémon in front of Heatran, letting him bring out his Urshifu-R again, which this time knocks out Landorus-T with a Surging Strikes that opens the way for Zeraora to finish cleaning up DonSalvatore's team.

Michael's team performed exactly as it was supposed to, with the aggressive positioning (and some luck) allowing him to make short work of both of DonSalvatore's Urshifu-R answers, which enabled him to play a very safe endgame where he could trade his Pokémon for a free switch for his Urshifu-R to get a KO, bringing the game to a swift conclusion afterwards. Splurging for that extra Rare Candy would have made a world of difference.

Final Thoughts

With his second individual trophy of 2023, MichaelderBeste2 cemented himself among the upper echelon of Smogon's tournament players, an incredible feat that commands respect. His dominance in most tiers he touches, especially SS OU, is something for aspiring players to strive for, and he is a fitting winner of the first of the purple trophies. DonSalvatore's run is nothing to dismiss, however, as making it to the finals of an individual trophy tournament is no easy task in itself. While there were some kinks to work out, as no first edition of a tournament is perfect, Smogon Masters successfully gave a spotlight to the most recent oldgens and gave players old and new the chance to show off their skills. Stay tuned for Smogon Masters II, which will surely come with just as exciting of a story.

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