Tournament World Cup of Pokemon 2024 - SV OU Discussion

[ninth]

logo by Iyarito
thread approved by The Mods
​

Welcome to the World Cup of Pokemon 2024! A unique team tournament on Smogon's trophy circuit, WCOP brings together the best players from a country/continent/region (yeah, it's a little confusing sometimes) to fight for glory and the blue trophy. This year will be a little different from previous years, with 5 SV OU slots and UU + Ubers + SS + SM + ORAS. Still plenty of Great Tusk, though.

Last year saw Spain narrowly defeat Europe after a long path featuring tiebreakers at literally every round. Will they make it two in a row? Will US Northeast live up to their expectations? Will a qualifying team come out strong and win over hearts like Bangladesh last year? Tune in to find out! This is the place to discuss metagame trends, analyze games, and look at cool sets. Any discussion related to SV OU in WCOP 2024 is welcome.

Links:
Introduction thread
Rosters
Replays
Administrative Decisions (links to start of 2024 decisions)
Usage Statistics

Main Event Round 1
Main Event Spreadsheet
Qualifying Spreadsheet

SV OU players on every roster: managers italicized, starters bolded

Main Event (rosters not finalized yet)

• Belgium — Eoward, Rubyblood, Mada, Uxilon, Eoward, Fant'sy Beast
• Europe — We Three Kings, Leni, Alhen, Eeveeto, Lily, TheFranklin, Twixtry
• France — BIHI, Deckline, AK, Antonazz, Hiko, Carkoala, Welli0u
• Germany — Sylvi, mind gaming, Trickster, Fogbound Lake, xdRudi.exe, Conflict
• India — Dj Breloominati♬, Piyush25, MAVERICK SHOOTERS, vk, myjava, freezai
• Italy — s7a, paolode99, Kebab mlml, Niko, zS, Pais, Laroxyl
• Oceania — false, Tom Bus, Chloe, DugZa, Leavers, March Fires, ninjadog
• Spain — reiku, Dorron, Dasmer, Garay oak, Malekith, SoulWind, Trosko
• United Kingdom — Glue, Gingy, xavgb, Ahsan-219, Stareal, Trogba Trogba, Baddy
• US Midwest — Groudon, ausma, oldspicemike, zioziotrip, S1nn0hC0nfirm3d, heileone, kythr
• US Northeast — obii, Sabella, blunder, Finchinator, INSULT, lax, Star, CTC, Srn
• US South — Dave, kumiko, aesf, GXE, hellom, TPP, Xrn
• US West — velvet, Smudge, emforbes, ima, PZZ, shiloh, Vert
• Asia — devin, Mimikyu Stardust, JJ09LIE, Typical_bastard, devin, sugarhigh, Xiri
• Brazil — Rewer, Sahki, Ash KetchumGamer, elodin, Luigi, mncmt, Thiago Nunes
• Canada — 3d, Baloor, Potatochan, sunsets, Career Ended, HYpertonix
• Chile — Vileman, Mister McLovin, zMisaka, Lazuli, Mako, Raptor, darkman64, 1LDK
• China — Metallica126, Nashrock, hi.naming is hard, Soul king0, Chaos23333, Raceding, cscl, cen344uu
• Africa — Zoyotte, Hats, yovan33321, KeshBa54, L lawliet, Yves Stone, Lokifan
• Bangladesh — feen, Xboy, Mushfiq, Kaif, SKC44, Let's Rumble Shall We, Dhrabb, Calambrito

Qualifiers

Qualifying rosters

• Brazil — Rewer, Sahki, Ash KetchumGamer, elodin, Luigi, mncmt, Thiago Nunes
• Chile — Vileman, Mister McLovin, darkman64, Lazuli, Mako, Raptor
• Greece — Christos, nikitas, anan2004, apollonas77, Fear, GLFGno7, Solo Laddering
• China — Metallica126, Nashrock, hi.naming is hard, cen344uu, Chaos23333, Raceding, cscl
• Africa — Zoyotte, Hats, yovan33321, KeshBa54, L lawliet
• Latin America — Ann, Posho, bbeeaa, Storm Zone, Gtcha, Luirromen, Fakee
• Asia — devin, Mimikyu Stardust, JJ09LIE, sugarhigh, Xiri
• Mexico — Railgun, Ikaishi, Mrbanana45, Srita Kaguya, Eddie1840, ZeroKitss, MrBanana21
• Netherlands — Drud, Quinn, Ivar57, Luxanse, PoseidonWrath
• South Korea — Fluore, marilli, quokkadayo, ckcake1, gudwbs, moomlight
• Portugal — UltiNooba19, sayyonara, Wait2Seconds, Msousagamer, Chlora, I Feel Stabby
• Bangladesh — feen, Xboy, Mushfiq, Kaif, Calambrito, Let's Rumble Shall We, Dhrabb
• Argentina — Enzonana., JustFranco, ACR1, haxlolo, Ravenna, HolaSoyBalto, Maxisc23
• Canada — 3d, Baloor, Potatochan, sunsets, HYpertonix
• Switzerland — elednb, Sificon, Basil103, Frablz, Gman, jyusaan, Pan.
• Austria — Drachenkeule, tr1x, bausparvertrag, Sieeeffmon, Liones, RoFnA, mj
• Venezuela — Raahel, Long Spirit, Juseth sepulveda, Mashin Sentai, Hashg Skynyrd, ApacheRomero, disgusting

 

[Duck Chris]

Yesss it's time!!!
Qualifying rosters to watch:
Asia- JJ09LIE had a strong 7-4 record this season in SPL and looks to continue in their wcop debut. Mimikyu Stardust posted a respectable 3-3 in SPL and looks to improve on their 1-2 record from wcop'22.Devin, sugarhigh, and xiri are all returning players from some years ago so this team has both experience and current meta relevance.
Latin America - Storm Zone has been on a tear this year and the addition of recently freed bbeeaa makes this team the one to beat for sv. And they're already up in standings.
Canada- simply the best team around and especially cool. They will win

EDIT: i forgot Brazil due to the extended mental effect of many users typing swift portuguese while their opponent tries to focus on not getting smashed

 

[ninth]

Qualifying R1 ends soon but I wanted to quickly highlight this team of six that's been used twice now by team Latin America to success:

(this is my very low-effort recreation, not all moves/Teras were revealed and the EVs are almost certainly off, use at your own risk)

There isn't any particular gimmick - it's just six great mons that cover for each other well. The only boots on this team belong to Cinderace and Kyurem, so the former's Court Change is valuable to keep the team healthy: Landorus-Therian appreciates being able to U-Turn in and out without taking rocks. Water Assault Vest (I think it is, at least, the calcs certainly look that way) Slowking-Galar stops the team from losing to special wallbreakers like Walking Wake.

Here, bbeeaa weaves around Basil103's mono-Protosynthesis +Speed sun team, notably using Water AV Glowking to full stop Walking Wake and Hatterene, and even survive a blow from Banded Tera Fire Band Gouging Fire. In its second use, Gtcha whittles down ckcake1's defensively inclined build with U-Turns, Future Sights, and Sludge Bombs until Zamazenta and Cinderace can clean house on an enemy team that has taken one too many body blows.

 

[1LDK]

RE: 1LDK world cup heat set reports

In the last year I did some heat reporting in world cup, not all matches, but the stuff I found cool, now I won't be able to do that, because Chile is now in Main Event, so I have to help, nevertheless, I hope that the person who takes up the mantra makes as good of a job as I did, maybe even better

 

[ninth]

RE: 1LDK world cup heat set reports

In the last year I did some heat reporting in world cup, not all matches, but the stuff I found cool, now I won't be able to do that, because Chile is now in Main Event, so I have to help, nevertheless, I hope that the person who takes up the mantra makes as good of a job as I did, maybe even better

[This analysis has been edited due to copyright infringement concerns.]

Round 1 of WCOP 2024's qualifiers has concluded, and with it five teams have made it to the main event. Topping the sheet was team Chile with an outstanding 16-4 record and no slots going winless; they're joined by Asia, Canada, China, and Brazil in the main event. The final two slots will be decided by two 9v9 sets: Bangladesh vs Austria and Latin America vs Africa. Here are some neat teams/sets from quali.

Somehow, Sinistcha currently sits at a 100% winrate over three uses, two of them being from Team China. How much it contributed to said wins is a different story, but still. It has just the right mix of weird defensive attributes to make it obnoxious: in hi.naming is hard's game here, it closes a Fire/Water/Grass defensive loop and makes Rillaboom run from the smoke. (It does die to Heatran immediately after, though.) Chaos23333 used it to help whittle down a balance team, walling Blissey and chipping Clefable. Outside of China, Bangladesh's Dhrabb probably got the most mileage out of it; it brings Samurott-H into Rocky Helmet range and turns a burnt Clear Body Dragapult into free healing.

 

[Baloor]

Team China's sunsets also used this team against what certainly looked like Trick Room,

sunsets get ready to learn chinese buddy

 

[ninth]

sunsets get ready to learn chinese buddy

ah hang on a sec

 

[CTC]

edit:
trash ass users see some hot shit and dont have the decency to use for themselves they gotta send it off to everyone they know to farm clout points, forcing me to put out this psa --
stop stealing teams and build your own shit
calcify your vertebrae

 

[Duck Chris]

LEAK??

LORDHEAT LEAK？英雄联盟 RILLABOOM GARGANACL TEAM LEAK？英雄联盟 BASEDLORD SHOWDOWN TEAMBUILDER LEAK? 英雄联盟 CTC BASEDLORD CHEAT HACK CHAMS CLIENT OVERLAY 100% WORKING FREE DOWNLOAD WAREZ ZIP EXE MONSTERFILESCTC LEAK？英雄联盟

Regardless of the source i think Rillaboom + Garganacl has been on an absolute tear this round.
No usage statistics yet but I swear it was like every third game. I like it because it doesn't rely on typical grassy sweepers like Hawlucha which I definitely find underwhelming. Free leftovers is also busted on pokemon that are hard to ko in one like Garg.

 

[ninth]

Qualifiers have wrapped up! Team Bangladesh defeated Austria 5-2, marking their return to the main event, while Africa upset the favored Latin America in a close 5-4 series.


Out of 14 qualifier R2 teams, there were three Tinkaton! (It lost two of those three times, with the win being a mirror match, but it's still neat.) Using either Air Balloon or Leftovers, it provides a Swiss army knife of utility including rocks, Knock Off, Encore, and stealing items once the Balloon pops. In the Tinkaton mirror (Africa's Yves Stone vs LATAM's bbeeaa), bbeeaa brought it for Rocks support on a unique rain structure and Yves used it to remove Dragapult's Specs. Commonly seen with Dragapult and Great Tusk.


Dragapult has been a straight-A student for the last two gens, and part of it is thanks to its great versatility. Out of seven Pults brought, we saw Specs from bbeeaa and L lawliet, a fully special Boots pivot from Yves Stone, the mixed Boots pivot from Sieeeffmon and maybe Gtcha, and a physical Life Orb set from yovan33321. At 50% usage it's one of the premier options to round out a team with its ridiculous speed tier, fast U-Turns, and potential surprises.


Bad news for people who hate having to run Covert Cloak: Garganacl saw 17% usage across all of qualifiers, winning just over two-thirds of its games. Comparatively, Garganacl only had an 8% usage on 1825+ ladder this last month, so we may be in for another upwards shift in this brick's ever-oscillating usage.


We're now in the main event! Over the next three weeks we'll see, if my numbers are good, 150 games of SV to look at, and 149 of them will probably be on the last weekend. Super excited to see what comes out of the premier regional kitchens. For a detailed rundown of all of the rosters, please check out this great writeup by teal6 and Theia; also check out some of the custom avatars for the tour by scrolling here! For my part, I wanted to give a highlight to some of the most interesting SV pools. You can also rewatch the official pools reveal here, hosted by lax, blunder, elodin, 3d, fade, and hellom.

SV OU #4: Trosko / Chloe / Lily / hellom — this is one hell of a pool. Two of SPL's highest-performing SV slots in Spain's Trosko and US South's hellom will be looking at a rematch after their semifinals tiebreak thriller, in which Trosko landed a triple Protect to squeeze out a victory from hellom at the last moment. UU leader and OU councilwoman Lily makes her return to SV OU after a 6-3 from her last WCOP helped push Europe to finals; she'll be looking to put her underwhelming SCL firmly in the past after taking SPL off. Chloe, former PU tier leader, probably has the least interaction with SV OU out of the four, but went positive for Oceania last year and shouldn't be discounted either. This pool is going to be a thrill to watch and probably a bit difficult to schedule.

SV OU #15: SoulWind / INSULT / Typical_bastard / ima — three well-known talents and a wildcard hoping to flip the table. SoulWind's accolades are beyond dispute, creeping ever close to ABR in trophy count, and it'll be interesting to see how he continues his SV work after a neutral record (and the trophy) last year. INSULT had an uncharacteristically bad WCOP last year, along with most of Northeast but will be looking to bounce back with recent deep individual runs and the support of lordheat. ima made that goddamn Kyurem PP stall team and anyone deranged enough to do that is sure to thrive in the wild west of SV. Don't sleep on Asia's Typical_bastard either, who went 2-0 in ORAS during qualifiers and is much less of a known factor than the other three.

SV OU #17: Ahsan-219 / Mako / JJ09LIE / 3d — a group full of players looking to ascend. Chile's Mako is the only member of this pool with a trophy, but she's better known for work in classic gens and will hope to plant a stake in SV after a 1-1 qualifying. England's Ahsan-219, top-seeded in Smogon Tour, will be looking for redemption after a first-round exit and getting called blunder's son on an official Smogon stream. JJ09LIE comes in as a frontrunner of Asia after an incredible 7-win rookie run in SPL, hoping to make the next step into bonafide stardom. Finally, 3d is ultra-determined to turn around his sheet record as both player and captain for Canada; victory here would not just lift his record but raise the flag for his compatriots.

SV OU #20: Garay oak / Niko / oldspicemike / emforbes — super hype matchups here. The best-performing SV player here is Midwest's oldspicemike, who is 16-7 in his last three team tours and has rapidly ascended to must-watch viewing with his takes on offense. Garay oak is not particularly known for SV but is nonetheless someone that persistently shows up when needed the most, and when the clock starts running late on pools Spain might just need him to clutch up. Niko's talent is made obvious by the fact that he's put up good records in SV despite not really liking the tier that much, and he'll be looking to help bring Italy back to its winning days. Finally, West's emforbes makes his World Cup and SV OU debut after continued excellence in VGC over the game's lifetime; with teambuilding support from Vert and no sudden death clauses, he'll look to keep making waves and maintain his great 68% winrate in team tours.

 

[ninth]

I've fallen ill so while I'm trapped at home I might as well show off some of the cooler games that took place. The deadline is next week, but anyone without an excuse was required to play at least one (1) game before midnight last Sunday, so we were able to see some games.

With about 40% of the games completed we're starting to see something resembling a pecking order. Germany has the joint most completed games at 17, and with 11 wins they're looking quite strong. They're followed by the continental squads of Europe (only played nine games), Africa, and Oceania — Africa in particular is proving their form in qualifiers wasn't a fluke. Chile has also put up a respectable nine wins in 17 games, able to keep the heat on from their ridiculous qualifying run.

The American teams have generally few games played (eight for US South at the time of writing) but have generally followed a normal distribution, with West leading and South's eight games putting them lower. Reigning champions Spain currently sit at -2 differential in 12 games. The bottom five are currently occupied by the quali teams not already mentioned; Bangladesh, at -7 in 13 games, seems to be struggling to stay afloat despite a 2-0 record from SV frontman SKC44.

Anyways, here's some selected replays you should watch! Criteria were mostly "I enjoyed watching this" or "there's a neat set or two here."

[Asia] JJ09LIE vs Ahsan-219 [United Kingdom] — this 16-turn battle showcases a couple of neat offensive surprise sets. JJ09LIE leads with Power Herb Meteor Beam Glimmora, which burns the herb turn 1; Ahsan-219 figures it's safe to bring in Moltres, only for JJ09LIE to immediately reveal Power Gem on top of Meteor Beam for maximal baiting. [edit: Meteor Beam + Power Gem is actually a suggested set but I thought it was cool at the time.] Later, Ahsan-219 tries to bring out Tera Steel Regidrago to win, but JJ09LIE reveals Tera Fairy Tera Blast Iron Boulder and cleans house. I wish we had seen more from Regidrago, but JJ09LIE had an Enamorus too so it was probably always going to have an uphill battle to put in work.

[US West] Vert vs hi.naming is hard (gewwge) [China] — this game features two high-octane offensive teams going down to the very end. gewwge's Excadrill sand (also featuring Volcanion) gets out to an early 5-2 lead despite the best efforts of Vert's DD/Roost Roaring Moon, but Vert's last two mons are Kingambit and Gholdengo, so it's absolutely not over. Worry Seed Amoonguss and Skarmory manage to take out Kingambit, and it comes down to Rocky Helmet Tera Fairy Gholdengo versus gewwge's three wounded mons. I'll not spoil it here; watch it yourself to see the conclusion.

[Spain] Trosko vs Lily [Europe] — highlight from one of the best pools. Lily's using a variant of that one CTC team that broke containment and is now being used by everybody in the tournament, while Trosko has a defensively robust offense featuring Tornadus-T. This game goes to show Cinderace's power as one of the best Poison-types in the tier; Libero Gunk Shot is able to repeatedly put a massive chunk in Tornadus-T and scare out Tera Fairy Gholdengo, with great utility coverage in Pyro Ball and Sucker Punch to keep Trosko's team honest. Lily's Gholdengo is also Grassy Seed, which makes it take a quite low 49% from a Ceaseless Edge while maintaining potent offensive capabilities.

[Europe] Eeveeto vs mncmt [Brazil] — people with Eevee in their username consistently come up with some of the craziest teams. RestTalk Kyurem and Substitute Zapdos-Galar are the major headlines on Eeveeto's squad, but the relatively normal-ish Scarf Tera Dark Samurott-Hisui ends up being the big breadwinner, putting up all layers and inflicting fantastic damage onto mncmt's offense.

[India] myjava vs TheFranklin (arce9) [Europe] — reigning SPL champion myjava shows how to fight back from an early freeze that just won't thaw no matter what. Tera Ground DD + special moves Kyurem proves to be the MVP, helping pull back from a 1v3 scenario. TheFranklin shows some pretty neat sets here too with Tera Blast Fighting Dragapult and Liquid Voice Psychic Noise Primarina.

 

[Duck Chris]

Inspired by the above great replays: some heat reports
Standard: anything under B- rank on the VR also I have to be impressed

C+ - Brought by Bangladesh, tidied up once, won. 5/10
UR - Brought by Belgium, got up rocks, roar'd out a booster energy Raging Bolt, prevented spin with tera ghost, won 8/10
C - Brought by France, 3 kills, tera ice, won 8/10
C+ - Brought by Chile, 3 kills, lost 5/10
C+ - Brought by Italy, did nothing but won 3/10
UR - Brought by UK, 1 kill vs a paralyzed Bolt, won 4/10
UR - brought by Chile, you know him you love him he did nothing and won 6/10
D - brought by Italy, 1v1'd a Glowking, won 9/10
covered above

Honorable mention B - Brought by Africa with no webs, swept 7/10 this mon is ass tho