The World Cup of Pokémon 2025 - Semifinals

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The World Cup of Pokémon 2025 - Semifinals
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Logo by Pissog
Hosted by ken, Vertigo, Syrinix, UT, goldmason, and mimi. Also, Larry.

~Spreadsheet~​

We've made it to the Semifinals of this year's WCoP! Coming in hot and fresh off a quarterfinals tiebreak win is Italy, now with two undefeated, 5-0 players, Santu and Empo, as well as two 4-0 players, Kebab mlml and zS. Paired with and defeating US West in the semifinals last year, this year they're going up against Chile, who've made it to the semifinals for the first time since their inception with a pretty incredible run themselves, especially when you look at their individual records being spread more evenly across the team, though Endill's on a hot streak with their own 4-0. US West and US Northeast are facing off for the second year in a row in the playoffs, where last year US West conquered their eastern brethren and moved on to the semifinals, and US Northeast returns to the semifinals for the first time since 2021. Each team has had some of their own standout runs so far: 4-0 streaks from fade for USNE and Frito and Fusien for USW, as well as emforbes' 3-0 for USW.

What do you expect to see from the potential finalists? 3 of these teams won trophies in back to back to back years-US Northeast in 2018, US West in 2019, and Italy in 2020-and only Italy has returned to the finals since. What do you expect to see from team Chile in their semifinals debut? As always, time will tell, so FIGHT FOR YOUR COUNTRY!

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US West (6) vs. (4) US Northeast
SV OU: shiloh vs. fade
SV OU: Attribute vs. lax
SV OU: Fusien vs. Star
SV OU: emforbes vs. blunder
SV OU: TJ vs. bhkg
SS OU: z0mOG vs. Finchinator
SM OU: PZZ vs. bro fist
ORAS OU: Ruffles vs. ABR
SV UU: Meru vs. robjr
SV Ubers: Frito vs. Excal

italy.png
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Team-Chile-WCOP-2025-3-A.png

Italy (6) vs. (3) Chile
SV OU: Niko vs. Lazuli
SV OU: H.M.N.I.P vs. azogue
SV OU: zS vs. Mister McLovin
SV OU: Tricking vs. Mako
SV OU: Kebab mlml vs. Abele
SS OU: Raiza vs. Mendeez
SM OU: Empo vs. Endill
ORAS OU: Santu vs. Vileman
SV UU: Punny vs. IamLowTier
SV Ubers: entrocefalo vs. EG Jhonx~

The deadline for this round is Sunday, July 13th @ 11pm GMT-4.

US West (0) vs. (0) US Northeast
SV OU: shiloh vs. fade
SV OU: Attribute vs. lax
SV OU: Fusien vs. Star
SV OU: emforbes vs. blunder
SV OU: TJ vs. bhkg
SS OU: z0mOG vs. Finchinator
SM OU: PZZ vs. bro fist
ORAS OU: Ruffles vs. ABR
SV UU: Meru vs. robjr
SV Ubers: Frito vs. Excal

Italy (0) vs. (0) Chile
SV OU: Niko vs. Lazuli
SV OU: H.M.N.I.P vs. azogue
SV OU: zS vs. Mister McLovin
SV OU: Tricking vs. Mako
SV OU: Kebab mlml vs. Abele
SS OU: Raiza vs. Mendeez
SM OU: Empo vs. Endill
ORAS OU: Santu vs. Vileman
SV UU: Punny vs. IamLowTier
SV Ubers: entrocefalo vs. EG Jhonx~
 
Last edited by a moderator:
US West (5) vs. (5) US Northeast
SV OU: shiloh vs. fade (51-49)
SV OU: Attribute vs. lax (40-60)
SV OU: Fusien vs. Star (51-49)
SV OU: emforbes vs. blunder (55-45)
SV OU: TJ vs. bhkg (55-45)
SS OU: z0mOG vs. Finchinator (51-49)
SM OU: PZZ vs. bro fist (45-55)
ORAS OU: Ruffles vs. ABR (45-55)
SV UU: Meru vs. robjr (45-55)
SV Ubers: Frito vs. Excal (45-55)

Italy (7) vs. (3) Chile
SV OU: Niko vs. Lazuli (49-51)
SV OU: H.M.N.I.P vs. azogue (49-51)
SV OU: zS vs. Mister McLovin (75-25)
SV OU: Tricking vs. Mako (60-40)
SV OU: Kebab mlml vs. Abele (80-20)
SS OU: Raiza vs. Mendeez (55-45)
SM OU: Empo vs. Endill (90-10)
ORAS OU: Santu vs. Vileman (75-25)
SV UU: Punny vs. IamLowTier (55-45)
SV Ubers: entrocefalo vs. EG Jhonx~ (49-51)
 
US West (0) vs. (10) US Northeast
SV OU: shiloh vs. fade
SV OU: Attribute vs. lax
SV OU: Fusien vs. Star
SV OU: emforbes vs. blunder
SV OU: TJ vs. bhkg
SS OU: z0mOG vs. Finchinator
SM OU: PZZ vs. bro fist
ORAS OU: Ruffles vs. ABR
SV UU: Meru vs. robjr
SV Ubers: Frito vs. Excal

east beast

Italy (7) vs. (3) Chile
SV OU: Niko vs. Lazuli
SV OU: H.M.N.I.P vs. azogue
SV OU: zS vs. Mister McLovin
SV OU: Tricking vs. Mako
SV OU: Kebab mlml vs. Abele
SS OU: Raiza vs. Mendeez
SM OU: Empo vs. Endill
ORAS OU: Santu vs. Vileman
SV UU: Punny vs. IamLowTier
SV Ubers: entrocefalo vs. EG Jhonx~

Italy is many times more powerful, but rooting for chile to win this one.
 
US West (2) vs. (3) US Northeast
SV OU: shiloh vs. fade (45-55) pretty weird semis mu out of the gate. both have one sv game. both won. i watched jons live and it was...fine but was fairly gifted on MU. i think fade is a stronger player overall but shiloh is probably underrated as a player in general. i have a feeling whichever way this goes it won't be amazingly close. cool enough as a quirky mu tho.
SV OU: Attribute vs. lax (51-49) the only west mu i wouldn't favor lax in. bute has just been too much of a sheet farmer since scl to not favor him slightly, cloutimus aside. rlly cool one tho.
SV OU: Fusien vs. Star (55-45) fusien has been doing a lot better since his crazy ost win. spl i think looked pretty bad (no shade) but wcop has looked much better (no glaze). star is just consistently solid. i think fusien will have a better MU if he doesn't get lazy. obviously star is more proven overall but i don't think that counts for a ton here beyond saying 'yea he is good and has a good shot'
SV OU: emforbes vs. blunder (45-55) rlly rlly funny one. i respect emi a lot in SV OU having tested w him and whatnot, but this just feels like a game he's destined to lose. and then be reminded of it for a while. this aside i think this MU is fairly even. i don't know how you can look at this and just say there is a big favorite unless youre goobhating.
SV OU: TJ vs. bhkg (40-60) bhkg has been fine. tj has been fine. tjs game vs leng was completely insane but that isnt his fault. it looked pretty grim to me watching bhkg in his one loss, but he's bounced back quite nicely ofc. i think bhkg has more to go off of as an sv player but as is a common theme, doesn't seem like a mu where u can disrespect either.

i think a west/east tb would be the best canonical result. it should really happen but it's pokemon so maybe it's just 6-2 or something.

Italy (4) vs. (1) Chile
SV OU: Niko vs. Lazuli (49-51) something insane and stupid in my gut is saying lazuli will win. niko is obviously more proven, but lazuli is 3-1 even if the schedule is a little lackluster. chile has made it this far so it'd be silly to say they just have no chance. i think this is one of those MUs they just could pull out/steal.
SV OU: H.M.N.I.P vs. azogue (55-45) not a ton to say here compared to the other 9 MUs. i dont know current form pietro but i think pietro is gonna win. gl pietro.
SV OU: zS vs. Mister McLovin (65-35) the most lopsided matchup i'll predict. mister mclovin is no slouch but i think zs has been very solid and in-tune with this meta. he had a positive spl and is having the best tournament of his life rn. i don't see a reason you could predict that to change here. but it's pokemon of course.
SV OU: Tricking vs. Mako (55-45) i am a big fan of makoat but just feels like tricking will do tricking things and win the game. i don't know how, he'll probably just get there. mako is of course very respected and arguably chile's best player. i think it could be a really fun game and the one you should wanna catch live the most from italy vs chile.
SV OU: Kebab mlml vs. Abele (60-40) predicting a 4-1 in sv feels mean but it isnt meant to be. i don't know enough about abele besides seeing they are 1-3 in sv currently for this tournament. that isn't meant to say "ah you're just a 1-3 sver, that's all you are" i just don't know more, i'm sorry...kebab meanwhile is solid enough as an option & should be favored here.


italy is obviously favored but again chile made it this far. there's not a reason to disrespect them, and i hope they continue to look good and competitive.
 
Just wanted to say smth that many people don’t care about, but eh whatever I want to

Leaving west for NE was never about moving to a “better” team, but happened during a time that I wasn’t so invested in mons and I was looking for that spark to get back into it; a new opportunity to team with people I hadn’t before and trying out new things (physically being on the east coast too lol). Also, I met a bunch of new ppl and friends I never woulda talked to usually. Many of my older friends and reasons to stay on west have long since retired (one forcibly) and it was a real “yeah, why not” moment.

Since winning this in 2019, I’ve had maybe a singular win or two in a team tour playoff (many unqualified runs that are for sure partly my fault) and a lot of the clutch factor I was once known for is gone. I’m basically a relic in smogon ages with whatever to bad tour performances lately and many many heinous chokes that honestly leave me wondering why I still play

I’m also 0-3 vs west (Bute, Emboarbes, Fusien) in the past 3 years, once again finding myself facing my old team. I think team tours (to the energy, motivation, & effort you need to win one) are way beyond me at this point and prob have been for a while, so this is likely the final Team tour that I’ll be Tryhard-ing in. I’ll hella sign up for SPL due to FOMO I’m sure, but it’s gonna feel very different for me. I’m a youtube and manager main now lol (wooo shoguns)

Anyways, ending this long period hunting down rings with my first trophy since 2019 would be Awesome, also funny being with the team I used to hate so much, but I hold nothing against west if they do win and would root for them to take it all home in that event. Just gonna hopefully go out with a bang and play my heart out (this monz shit be serious), while taking my son Bute down. What happenz, happenz

As always, looking forward to sheist games and Go! Team! 加油
 
lax said:
Just wanted to say smth that many people don’t care about, but eh whatever I want to

Leaving west for NE was never about moving to a “better” team, but happened during a time that I wasn’t so invested in mons and I was looking for that spark to get back into it; a new opportunity to team with people I hadn’t before and trying out new things (physically being on the east coast too lol). Also, I met a bunch of new ppl and friends I never woulda talked to usually. Many of my older friends and reasons to stay on west have long since retired (one forcibly) and it was a real “yeah, why not” moment.

Since winning this in 2019, I’ve had maybe a singular win or two in a team tour playoff (many unqualified runs that are for sure partly my fault) and a lot of the clutch factor I was once known for is gone. I’m basically a relic in smogon ages with whatever to bad tour performances lately and many many heinous chokes that honestly leave me wondering why I still play

I’m also 0-3 vs west (Bute, Emboarbes, Fusien) in the past 3 years, once again finding myself facing my old team. I think team tours (to the energy, motivation, & effort you need to win one) are way beyond me at this point and prob have been for a while, so this is likely the final Team tour that I’ll be Tryhard-ing in. I’ll hella sign up for SPL due to FOMO I’m sure, but it’s gonna feel very different for me. I’m a youtube and manager main now lol (wooo shoguns)

Anyways, ending this long period hunting down rings with my first trophy since 2019 would be Awesome, also funny being with the team I used to hate so much, but I hold nothing against west if they do win and would root for them to take it all home in that event. Just gonna hopefully go out with a bang and play my heart out (this monz shit be serious), while taking my son Bute down. What happenz, happenz

As always, looking forward to sheist games and Go! Team! 加油
Click to expand...
Watching you playing on West during Current Gen 7 and Seeing u play all the way up till now is very inspiring and glad to see how both East & West have come so far can't wait to see the games
 
US West (2) vs. (3) US Northeast
SV OU: shiloh vs. fade - this tier is admittedly not the first one I mentally associate either player with, but fade is like 14-1 in WCOP so just give him some fat mons and he'll be favoured.
SV OU: Attribute vs. lax - both of these players are SV aces but I think Attribute feels more consistent as of late: that said, WCOP is historically one of lax's stomping grounds and I'd not be surprised if he found some quality tech for an opponent he's familiar with.
SV OU: Fusien vs. Star - Fusien looks damn good this tour. I'm really enjoying the stuff he's bringing; he's making me pull up the calc pretty frequently. The game vs java was a little lucky but you can't hold that against him. starmaster is starmaster, you're not getting a bad performance from him, but the hot hand is real.
SV OU: emforbes vs. blunder - this fight has existential stakes. If someone loses this and it ends up mattering they'll never hear the end of it on future laxcasts. Both players are coming off of wins in quarters but I liked blunder's win the best, just brought a tryhard team and played it pretty tightly. This is like 49/51 at most, hoping for a nice long-ish game.
SV OU: TJ vs. bhkg - I like bhkg's team choices a bit more than TJ's so far, he's clearly a grinder (he got tourbanned for grinding too hard!) and has seemed generally in touch with the meta. TJ counters this with a 3-1 record of his own and much more experience in high-pressure situations. Purely in terms of odds this is close but I'm actually gonna predict this being the shortest game of the set.


Italy (3) vs. (2) Chile
SV OU: Niko vs. Lazuli - I've liked Lazuli's games thus far, one of the key pieces spearheading this Chile run. Definitely somebody I'll be watching out for after WCOP. Niko is a very strong player but IMO he needs this win to keep his momentum positive. I'm hoping for him to get to his HO bread-and-butter; let's get an Iron Moth at team preview.
SV OU: H.M.N.I.P vs. azogue - I'm not overly familiar with either of these players' games specifically in SV OU, I think HMNIP was in UU before? I'm feeling a Dudunsparce attempt here followed by no full paras on important turns.
SV OU: zS vs. Mister McLovin - zS has maybe the hottest hand in SV this tour. 4-0, strong games throughout (that game vs Unamed was a heater), selected for tiebreaks amidst a stacked roster. Not many I'd bold against him right now - Mister McLovin has had some nice brings so far but it's going to take a big effort.
SV OU: Tricking vs. Mako - highlight matchup. The Tricking SV arc has been all wins so far, and now he's facing one of Chile's aces in Mako. She pilots a variety of strong teams and is usually fairly consistent across disciplines. This one could go either way but Tricking's x-factor just narrowly gives him an edge imo, he's a real trickster and I'm not sure how you would prep for him in SV besides generic anti-Italy prep.
SV OU: Kebab mlml vs. Abele - Kebab is 4-0 bringing weird stuff all four times...he's sheist. This is nowhere near unwinnable - Chile as a whole has punched above their weight, and there's a non-zero chance that the Italian cheese goes stale - but Kebab is undeniably the favourite.
 
This tournament is the best team tournament on the website. There is no other tour that brings your country together like this yearly and as a newcomer, the opportunities to prove yourself are endless on this stage, compared to auction tours. If there was a team tournament worth playing it’s easily this one by a long shot.

For how many times we face east every World Cup you can only think it’s fate that brings us here each time. This time one of us will advance to finals, too bad we can’t meet there like 2018. That was my first ever tournament and now here i am managing an entirely new roster with some of the most talented fresh blood I’ve ever got to work with. And yeah thank god im not playing because literally not joking I would probably disconnect again lol.

Anyways ever since our glory days my goal as a veteran of US West has been to pave the road for the future generation with wisdom that our old west ancestors taught us (L*vos, Phil, Undisputed, Ben) so in case if I eventually retire, or even shiloh/zomog, our dynasty is in good hands. A lot of good memories are shared with West, from meeting up in SanFran and winning the tour, celebrating and seeing everybody move on with their lives, and the cycle will continue surely, but until then I have the best team I could ask to work with who work hard daily, and it’s time to lock in. The truth is, we can have the best SV record in the tour, we can be 1st seed, all this and that but to me those are all empty stats— we haven’t even done anything yet until we win. None of that shit matters till we bring it home and so till then we will fight. Very proud of my team regardless so LETS FUCKING GO WEST! I’ll be there every step of the way.

GL for like the 8th time, East. I can tell ABR is unwashed because he’s cooking up some goat teams in 6/7, and I’ve always been cheering for the WCOP GOAT John in 2025 (except in the unfortunate scenarios our teams get paired)
 
good luck west, sad we won't see zom vs john part 6. its funny how so many years ago when most of us were still hotblooded teenagers we beefed so much but nowadays things are pretty chill. does make the rivalry a bit more tame but maybe we can make up for that by having some exciting games instead?

go NE, lets win this thing!
 
lax said:
Just wanted to say smth that many people don’t care about, but eh whatever I want to

Leaving west for NE was never about moving to a “better” team, but happened during a time that I wasn’t so invested in mons and I was looking for that spark to get back into it; a new opportunity to team with people I hadn’t before and trying out new things (physically being on the east coast too lol). Also, I met a bunch of new ppl and friends I never woulda talked to usually. Many of my older friends and reasons to stay on west have long since retired (one forcibly) and it was a real “yeah, why not” moment.

Since winning this in 2019, I’ve had maybe a singular win or two in a team tour playoff (many unqualified runs that are for sure partly my fault) and a lot of the clutch factor I was once known for is gone. I’m basically a relic in smogon ages with whatever to bad tour performances lately and many many heinous chokes that honestly leave me wondering why I still play

I’m also 0-3 vs west (Bute, Emboarbes, Fusien) in the past 3 years, once again finding myself facing my old team. I think team tours (to the energy, motivation, & effort you need to win one) are way beyond me at this point and prob have been for a while, so this is likely the final Team tour that I’ll be Tryhard-ing in. I’ll hella sign up for SPL due to FOMO I’m sure, but it’s gonna feel very different for me. I’m a youtube and manager main now lol (wooo shoguns)

Anyways, ending this long period hunting down rings with my first trophy since 2019 would be Awesome, also funny being with the team I used to hate so much, but I hold nothing against west if they do win and would root for them to take it all home in that event. Just gonna hopefully go out with a bang and play my heart out (this monz shit be serious), while taking my son Bute down. What happenz, happenz

As always, looking forward to sheist games and Go! Team! 加油
Click to expand...
Won vs. lax, gg

I'll edit in the replay once I'm through with him.
 
THE INVESTMENT IN NORTHEAST AND ITALY FINALLY PAID OFF

US West (1) vs. (9) US Northeast
SM OU: PZZ vs. bro fist
ORAS OU: Ruffles vs. ABR
Two WCOP GOATs ez W

SS OU: z0mOG vs. Finchinator
FINCHTOUR38 LETS GO

SV OU: shiloh vs. fade
stop dropping slurs in battle or u gonna get CTC'ed bruh

SV OU: Attribute vs. lax
SV OU: emforbes vs. blunder
Future YouTube superstar in 2048. Also lax backstabbed West one last time after the great lax / lavos duo break up :psycry:

SV OU: Fusien vs. Star
SV UU: Meru vs. robjr
SV OU: TJ vs. bhkg
idk roleplayers just do your job hit your open 3 pointers

SV Ubers: Frito vs. Excal
I hope Excal lose because he banned my Froslass for no good reason




Italy (10) vs. (0) Chile
SM OU: Empo vs. Endill
SV OU: Tricking vs. Mako
ORAS OU: Santu vs. Vileman
SV OU: zS vs. Mister McLovin
SV OU: Kebab mlml vs. Abele
Literally the easiest 5 wins ever. GOAT empo, GOAT Tricking, Smog Tour winner Santu, zS Kebab 8-0

SS OU: Raiza vs. Mendeez
SV UU: Punny vs. IamLowTier
SV OU: Niko vs. Lazuli
SV OU: H.M.N.I.P vs. azogue
SV Ubers: entrocefalo vs. EG Jhonx~
Literally the second easiest 5 wins ever. This match up is more free than America on July 4th.

CAN YOU PLEASE NOT CHOKE THIS FREE WIN LIKE LAST YEAR WORLD CUP ITALY THANK YOU, MANNAT IS NOT HERE ANYMORE TO ANTAGONIZE PAIS


Please win NE and Italy everyone wants to see ABR vs Empo in the Final :mad:
 
ok but like we need to talk about my goat Abele cuz mannn that guy's a natural aura farmer. he doesn't even try and he's so nonchalant about it too like god damn someone nerf him!!!don't even get me started on his gaming cuz when he queues up for a match, servers start trembling. mons faint out of fear before the battle begins. the ladder goes on vacation. your carefully crafted stall team? REDUCED to a pile of Leftovers and regret. your HO? More like LOL. he has the same amount of sheet wins as skere111 and is undefeated in SPL. his mind is a labyrinth, his prep is a masterpiece (he doesn't prep), and his vibes? femboyish but we love that. teammates love him. opponents fear him. the vr updates itself after every one of his battles. he once brought a team with 0 hazard control, 3 scarfers and 2 cm users and won flawlessly!?! why and how? because he CAN. this isn’t a game of 6v6 anymore. it's a game of “Can you even survive Turn 1 vs the chilean goat?"oh and abele, in his first ever attempt at managing a team, turned a random collection of players into a functioning war machine!!! and the best part? this wasn’t WCoP. not SPL. not even LARPPL.this was THE masters farmer league, where the only prize is trauma and memes and he wasn't just managing he was farming legacies! though have to mention he got FARMED by captcha one time and couldn't past one for hours so he had to be ghosted in captcha..so next time you see "Abele01" in your bracket... just log off. go outside. touch some grass. you’re not ready. none of us are.#PrayForTheOpp #HeBenchedMyAnxietyToo #fftst #NationalTreasueOfChile #trust.
 
US West (10) vs. (0) US Northeast
SV OU: shiloh vs. fade
SV OU: Attribute vs. lax
SV OU: Fusien vs. Star
SV OU: emforbes vs. blunder
SV OU: TJ vs. bhkg
SS OU: z0mOG vs. Finchinator
SM OU: PZZ vs. bro fist
ORAS OU: Ruffles vs. ABR
SV UU: Meru vs. robjr
SV Ubers: Frito vs. Excal

West coast best coast always :bellipog:
 
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