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As a well-known NU player, Django seems an odd victor for a BW OU tournament—in fact, this was his first OU match since the previous Smogon Tour OU tournament three weeks ago! Although he joined Smogon in 2009, Django didn't do much competitive play until last year. As an NU player, tutor, and contributor, Django was able to successfully transfer his battling knowledge into the far different metagame of OU. Django took on the tournament with a team made by CTC, focusing on an offensive core with Acrobatics Scizor and Swords Dance Breloom. Latias and especially specially defensive Rotom-W provided pivot support, easily checking top-tier prevalent threats such as Keldeo and Landorus. Using his niche sets, Django was able to put himself in the finals. The tournament scene is fraught with these strategies, as using unknown sets can be a high risk, high reward method of countering more "standard" teams. However, in the finals, Django started to slip. His underestimation of Scizor's bulk combined with some Stone miss Edge hax put him into a corner very quickly. In the end, it all came down to a crucial turn, where a misplay (or misclick?) completely turned the match around in Django's favor. Congratulations and good luck in the future OU scene!
From the Dominican Republic, CyberOdin is a relatively new tournament player. While being on the site for a whole year isn't exactly "new," it's certainly more recent than most of the winners I've talked to so far. For Saturday's tournament, CyberOdin used two similar sand stall teams. Stall as a playstyle seems to be gaining some popularity in OU, leading to an increase of the so-called "stall rage" among some players. Mienshao and SubToxic Gliscor were the key to one of these teams; the one used in the finals against Heist. Mienshao seems like an odd pick for a stall team, but it gives a little bit of offensive muscle many teams lack while staying healthy with Regenerator. Against Heist, CyberOdin was forced to play defensive right off the bat, with Heist sporting dangerous stallbreakers such as Alakazam, Landorus, and Hydreigon. CyberOdin packed a Bronzong to counter most Landorus variants, but Heist's Smack Down Landorus ruled Bronzong out as a way to deal with it. Mienshao was the star of the match, keeping these stallbreakers at bay through its Speed and power in Hi Jump Kick. Eventually, CyberOdin's combination of a defensive core, Mienshao, and just a bit of luck were enough to turn the normal offense vs stall disadvantage into a victory. Congratulations!
This marks the second time in three weeks I've spoken to McMeghan, who is proving to be a strong contender in Smogon Tour 15, currently in second place! For last Sunday's tournament, McMeghan used an offensive rain team focusing on Swords Dance + Baton Pass Celebi (a classic ADV set, no surprise). Substitute + 3 attacks Jirachi and Mamoswine acted as receivers, while Garchomp acted as an opposing Jirachi check, and with Surf (!), a Skarmory and Landorus-T one as well. An early advantage in the final match, with Jirachi's Substitute blocking -Frexa-'s Amoonguss's Spore, let McMeghan control the momentum of the match. Surf Garchomp was also able to pull its weight, surprising and taking out the opposing team's spinner. As things transitioned to the late-game, McMeghan still had his entire offensive Baton Pass core intact, but it would prove to be unnecessary. Celebi was able to soak up (no pun intended) Hydro Pumps and Spores from the opposing rain sweepers and quickly boost itself up to +6 with Swords Dance. Once Celebi had set up, it was a simple Seed Bomb sweep to the finish. Congratulations!
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