UPL XI Coverage

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Introduction

Ubers Premier League, or UPL, is Ubers' most prestigious team tour. Featuring every generation of Ubers from RBY to SV, as well as a multigen best-of-three slot, UPL showcases Ubers at one of its highest level of play. Old veterans and new faces alike got their chance to shine this UPL, as they competed for glory, a custom avatar, and the title of UPL XI champions.

This UPL saw many returning faces to the manager pool: Mr.378 returned to manage the Devastating Dialgas for the fifth year in a row and Stone Cold once again took up the Dangerous Dracovishes, as he had since the team's creation in UPL VIII. March Fires took on the Alolan Mukkers, a team he'd captained since 2021 after a short managing break, and the Choice Bandits were controversially given to one of their UPL X managers, Ayu. Fc and Perry rounded out the returning managers, once again leading the Void Villains and DaReal Drizzlers, respectively. The Manly Melmetal were taken on by a duo of new managers, Inder and GenuisFromHoenn, and, surprisingly, no one stepped up to captain the UPL X champion team, the Defiant Durians, so they were assigned to the final manager pair of aurora and Drifting.

Draft

The most expensive player in the tournament was FatFighter2, who went to the Choice Bandits for 28k after an expertly run upbidding campaign by Master Chief that had Aberforth yelling "Stop bidding!" in call well before the final price was reached. Hack, logging into Smogon for the first time since 2021, was close behind at 27k. The managers at the auction also apparently stopped paying attention, as the Void Villains were allowed to pick up Garay oak and SoulWind on top of having already self-purchased Fc, who was rated the best SS starter in the pool by far, as well as the incredibly cheap 10k retain of Torchic, one of the best RBY players in the tour.

The Early Weeks

Starting off the season, the tied-for-last-in-the-power-rankings DaReal Drizzlers began a strong campaign to prove the haters wrong, with Conflict, MMII, and Zesty43 starting the tour off with 4-0 records in GSC, ADV, and SM Ubers, and the team as a whole rising to the top of the standings with victories over the Defiant Durians and Choice Bandits. The Manly Melmetal, ranked near the middle of the pack alongside two other teams, saw similar success out of entrocefalo and The Dovahneer, also securing a win over the Choice Bandits, as well as the Devastating Dialgas.

Conversely, number one ranked team the Dangerous Dracovish failed to win a single week in the first half of the season, tying all of their series, as many of their players struggled to put up a positive record. The Defiant Durians and Devastating Dialgas fell rapidly to the bottom of the pool, each only able to secure one point via ties. Between the two teams, they had a combined 8-16 record in SV and a lot of ground to make up if they wanted to have a shot at playoffs.

Midseason Standings

Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	Points
DaReal Drizzlers	2	0	2	6 (+8)
Manly Melmetal	2	0	2	6 (+4)
Void Villains	1	0	3	5 (+6)
Alolan Mukkers	2	1	1	5 (+2)
Dangerous Dracovishes	0	0	4	4 (+0)
Choice Bandits	2	2	0	4 (-2)
Devastating Dialgas	0	3	1	1 (-6)
Defiant Durians	0	3	1	1 (-12)

The Later Weeks

The Void Villains kicked into high gear for the second half of the tournament, winning all three of their remaining series against the Mukkers, Dialgas, and Bandits and climbing quickly into the first seed thanks to stellar regular season performances from players like Torchic and Royal1604, each coming out with 6-1 records. While the Drizzlers slipped from their top position, they and the Melmetal maintained their earlier spots in the top four, with Conflict notably putting up a 7-0 GSC record for the Drizzlers, and the Bandits, with the help of the Villains and Melmetal, overtook the Mukkers' fourth seed to claim the last spot in the semifinals.

The Dracovish still failed to win a single week the entire tournament despite high hopes for their team, tying six of their seven series and suffering a loss to the Bandits, despite strong performances from SS and GSC starters Icemaster and vani. The Dialgas and Durians remained firmly at the bottom, each tying with the Dracovish to get an additional point but losing all other series. By the end, the Durians only had two positive players, and the Dialgas had several positive records across multiple generations from Kebabe, Hack, elodin, Ctown6, and Heysup, but they also faced severe setbacks from players who refused to play their games, resulting in all six of the tournament's act calls being against their team.

Final Standings

Team	Wins	Losses	Ties	Points
Void Villains	4	0	3	11 (+17)
Manly Melmetal	4	1	2	10 (+11)
DaReal Drizzlers	4	1	2	10 (+9)
Choice Bandits	4	3	0	8 (+3)
Alolan Mukkers	3	3	1	7 (-3)
Dangerous Dracovish	0	1	6	6 (-2)
Devastating Dialgas	0	5	2	2 (-11)
Defiant Durians	0	5	2	2 (-24)

Semifinals

The Drizzlers and Melmetal began their semifinals series fairly evenly matched, with Taka and Amaranth exchanging wins and Thor pulling the Drizzlers into a 2-1 lead. The Drizzers couldn't keep this momentum, however, and the Melmetal put up a series of four wins to suddenly swing the series to 5-2 in their favor. Enigami and Zesty43 attempted to mount a comeback with a pair of back-to-back wins, but Mimikyu Stardust won in a narrow SS victory against robjr's unorthodox Genesect team, and entrocefalo sealed the deal in a short and brutal SV game to guarantee the Melmetal the first spot in the UPL XI finals.

The Bandits and Villains matched each other throughout the series, trading two wins from MZ and Aberforth for the Bandits for three wins from Torchic, SoulWind, and kythr from the Villains, back and forth until the series sat at 6-5 in favor of the Bandits. With the help of a timely critical hit, Fc secured a win over baconeatinassassin and sent the week into a tiebreaker. With SV as a locked slot, the Bandits chose DPP and the Villains chose SS, both in truly predictable fashion, as those were their managers' strongest tiers. DPP was first, and Highlord, with a critical hit against Garay oak's Giratina, put the Bandits in the lead in just sixteen turns. FatFighter2 versus Fc was heavily favored towards Fc as one of the generation's best players, but to the surprise of many, FatFighter2 pulled off a decisive and non-lucky 4-0 victory over the Tier Leader, securing the tiebreak 2-0 for the Bandits and earning them the second spot in the finals.

Finals

• Choice Bandits (5) vs (7) Manly Melmetal
• SV Ubers: Frito vs Inder
• SV Ubers: Guard vs entrocefalo
• SV Ubers: DAHLI vs Shuwri
• SS Ubers: baconeatinassassin vs Mimikyu Stardust
• SM Ubers: oversway vs Rhmsitb
• ORAS Ubers: Alkione vs skimmythegod
• BW Ubers: MZ vs The Dovahneer
• DPP Ubers: Highlord vs London Beats
• ADV Ubers: FatFighter2 vs Vileman
• RBY Ubers: Isa vs Amaranth
• RBY Ubers: SaDiSTiCNarwhal vs Unowndragon - G1 / G2
• Bo3: Aberforth vs Gondra - SV / SM

The regular season match between the Bandits and the Melmetal ended in a 7-5 victory for the Melmetal, and they looked to repeat this success in the finals. The Melmetal got off to a strong start, with skimmythegod, London Beats, and Inder quickly taking them up to a 3-0 lead. The Bandits regrouped and put up a fight to bring the series to 5-5, but entrocefalo and a Tera Fairy Kyogre put the score at 6-5 in the Melmetal' favor. Gondra and Aberforth, playing less than an hour before the deadline, fought to secure the win for the Melmetal or force a tiebreaker for a second chance for the Bandits, but ultimately, Gondra overcame Aberforth in two games of their Bo3 to secure the week for the Melmetal, winning them the tournament in identical fashion to the teams' first meeting.

Highlight Matches

GSC Ubers - vani vs Conflict

Facing off in Week 2 with the score 5-5 are two German greats in Conflict and vani, representing two different generations of Pokémon players. The game opens up with Mew versus Mewtwo leads. vani seizes the opportunity to set up Spikes on the opposing Mew, but his Cloyster's MiracleBerry is consumed and he takes 46% for his troubles before eventually pivoting into Golem and forcing the Mew out with Roar. Zapdos enters the field and hits the incoming Raikou with Thunder Wave, indicating a strong but slower threat in the back. Conflict sends in Snorlax on Raikou and Curses, and vani sends in Lugia. Having effectively revealed his team, we can see that vani has a fairly balanced squad that hopes to remove key opposing threats through Explosions before cleaning up with a bulky Raikou + Lugia core. Lugia uses Toxic (showing that it is not a Curse set), and after forcing Snorlax to Rest, vani can phaze it out. Conflict's Mew enters and is phazed out by Golem, swapping places with Cloyster to ensure both sides play on a hazardous field. Vani sends in his Mewtwo and uses Flamethrower, which hits Conflict's Snorlax - this leads to Mewtwo's Self-Destruct being used and both Mewtwo and Snorlax go down, with the idea that vani's Raikou can now possibly get through. Indeed, vani sends in his Raikou, but Conflict's Mew easily eats a Crunch and vani sacrifices his Lugia to the inevitable Explosion.

In the aftermath, Conflict reveals one of his two remaining Pokémon: a Marowak, very well positioned with a worn down Cloyster and paralyzed Raikou. However, vani sends in his Snorlax and uses Lovely Kiss to force out Marowak. Conflict anticipates this and sends in his last unrevealed Pokémon, Tyranitar, to get slept. Conflict's Cloyster scares out vani's Snorlax in favor of Raikou. This leads to a sequence of double switches as Cloyster and Marowak first hit the field, then Snorlax and Zapdos. vani does not want to take Thunders with his Snorlax and goes Raikou, but it gets forced out by Whirlwind for his efforts first before sticking to the field on the second try. Crunch only hits Marowak lightly, and vani is forced to sacrifice a Pokémon, choosing to let go of Golem, then sending in Cloyster and trading it off with Zapdos. Conflict takes the time to tell vani this sequence has lost vani the game, seemingly premature. However, the reason for Conflict's confidence is soon revealed, as he reveals RestTalk Tyranitar, turning the seemingly incapitated Tyranitar into a threat that vani no longer has an answer for. Raikou is KOed by Rock Slide and Conflict finishes the game with Cloyster's Explosion to take the victory in a well fought battle.

BW Ubers - Kebabe vs Edgar

This was a game between two veterans who, despite having played this metagame for so long, didn't face each other in tournament play until this one. This BW game gives us an example of the complexity in a match between two bulky rain teams. Edgar has a more defensively oriented team, while Kebabe more of a bulky offense rain with Tyranitar to support it against common leads like Deoxys-S and Forretress. As is common in BW Ubers, both teams rely on entry hazards as the main avenue for bringing down opposing teams. Kebabe took an upper hand by getting up Stealth Rock and three layers of Spikes before Edgar did, letting him gain early momentum while also relying on the sheer power of Arceus-Ghost and their respective Lati twin for offensive purposes. This was so much of a crucial factor that, in order for each player to make progress against each other, they had to risk two Speed ties with both Arceuses and Lati twins face-to-face. Kebabe takes both Speed ties, putting Edgar in a position where it was hard for him to recover without a substancial amount of luck in his favor. And thus, the match went to Kebabe.

SS Ubers - FatFighter2 vs Fc

Fc and Fatfighter2 face off in the UPL semis tiebreaker, with Highlord having given the Bandits a 1-0 advantage in the bo3 set. Both players have brought balance, with Fatfighter's focus being on maximizing the value of his Choice Specs Kyogre thanks to teammates like Eject Pack Eternatus, while Fc's team prefers a longer game where his RestTalk Kyogre can outlast the limited defensive counterplay to Kyogre, complete with Ferrothorn's Spikes and Leech Seed support to wear down opposing Eternatus quickly. Fatfighter2 gets the best opening possible, with Eternatus immediately Eject-Packing into Choice Specs Kyogre and KOing Fc's Eternatus on Turn 3. FF2 is in a fantastic position from this, as Eternatus is instrumental in handling numerous Pokémon, including the Yveltal set that FF2 has brought, and is now focused on avoiding unnecessary risk. For this very reason, he chooses to go Necrozma-DM on Calyrex-S, in case he needed to take a Trick, to keep his Yveltal free. Fc reveals it is SubSeed Calyrex, making FF2's Taunt Yveltal safe against it, and FF2 pivots well to bring Kyogre in once again on the opposing Kyogre, which must fear a Thunder. FF2 uses Origin Pulse on the Ferrothorn switch, leaving it at 25% and unlikely to ever lay Spikes up to further Fc's plan. FF2 continues to press his advantage and eliminates the Ferrothorn 10 turns later with a Thunder, having avoided a burn on his Eternatus in Fc's two attempts at doing so in the meantime. Fc tries to play for a choke, but FF2 continues playing well around miss chances, prevents the Calyrex from setting up enough to be threatening, and sacks his Necrozma-DM to allow Kyogre in again to use Thunder on Fc's own Kyogre, as Fc has no safe switch-ins to Thunder anymore. After a few turns of eerily similar gameplay, Kyogre comes in on a Necrozma trying to recover to claim yet another KO, this time with Origin Pulse, and Fc tries to position himself to win with Dragon Dance Necrozma, but Fatfighter does not allow him that breathing space and shuts it down with a Taunt, giving FF2 the win that sends his team to the UPL Finals.

SV Ubers - Guard vs entrocefalo

Guard and Entrocefalo met in the finals of UPL with the score level at 5-5, with the winner of the game guaranteed at least tiebreak. Guard has brought a bulky offensive team, designed to maximize the effectiveness of Flutter Mane with sun support from Koraidon, a pivot Miraidon, and a defensive backbone to try to outlast an opposing team's offensive pressure between Arceus-Steel, Landorus-T, and Ting-Lu. entrocefalo has brought a more proactive version of a similar team idea, with Choice Scarf Landorus-T, the combination of Zacian and Koraidon, which tends to work very well at breaking checks for the other, and setup on both Kyogre and Arceus, designed to browbeat the opponent into submission in a very fast-paced game. entrocefalo gets the better early-game, getting a big hit off on Koraidon on turn 1 and catching Guard off-guard on turn 3 to KO Miraidon with the Landorus-T unexpectedly outspeeding the Iron Serpent. This early-game advantage proves pivotal, as Guard is simply too far behind to meaningfully come back, and entro does not take his foot off the gas, including using Swords Dance on a Flutter Mane that was forced to switch out to maintain momentum and carefully managing his Pokémon to avoid any potential loss to a Choice Scarf Koraidon, absorbing Outrage first with Zacian-C, and then with Tera Fairy Kyogre, as the Koraidon is too weak to pivot in and out with Stealth Rock still on the field due to the early Ice Beam. entro even guards against a potential last-Pokémon Arceus-Steel comeback by sacrificing his own Arceus instead of KOing Koraidon to ensure Kyogre would be ahead in the Calm Mind face-off. A dominant performance from entro then gave his team a huge lead that proved decisive in UPL, resulting in his team winning the whole tour with his 8-1 record helping get them to that stage.

Final Thoughts

After a hard-fought tournament, the Manly Melmetal secured the UPL XI trophy after overcoming so many strong teams and players. They showcased incredible talent from relative newcomers to the tier like entrocefalo and veterans like The Dovahneer alike, as well as a strong showing from rookie managers Inder and GenuisFromHoenn. To see all of the amazing battles from UPL XI, check out the Replays thread, and stay tuned for UPL XII!

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