super great analysis, love to see my goat manaphy putting in the work as always. Go Tigers!Bored Pikachu's lukewarm analysis
Lighthouses vs Rufflespro
Based on the team previews, it looks like RufflesPro's squad is built around some strong offensive threats. I'm leaning toward a DD Mega Tyranitar or possibly a Choice Band Tyranitar. The Serperior could either be running a Screen set to support the team or a Resto-Chesto setup for more longevity. Garchomp could fill multiple roles: TankChomp for bulk, Mega Garchomp for raw power, or a Sand Veil SD set to take advantage of sand. Thundurus seems like a utility set, probably focused on spreading status and providing a pivot with Volt-Switch. Excadrill is almost certainly rocking Sand Rush to capitalize on the sandstorm, and Manaphy could go in several directions. I suspect it might have Hidden Power Fire, as it helps against Ferrothorn, and that makes sense with the Choice Band Tyranitar on the team.
On the other side, Lighthouses' team seems designed for Spikestack, featuring a Scarf Landorus to apply offensive pressure and potentially revenge-kill threats. Crawdaunt is likely either Choice Band or Swords Dance, built to clean up late-game once the opposing team has been softened up.
Turn 1: Landorus vs. Serperior. Landorus doesn't use U-turn, which suggests it might not be holding a Choice Scarf. Alternatively, it could be avoiding chip damage from Tank Chomp, which makes sense given the situation.
Turn 2: Serperior lands a key Glare on Heatran.
Turn 3: Tyranitar sets up Stealth Rock. This contradicts my initial analysis, as Tyranitar is neither DD Mega Tyranitar nor Choice Band, but rather a utility variant. This also implies that Garchomp must be the Mega on the team.
Turn 4: Crawdaunt claims a kill, further supporting the idea that Tyranitar is a utility set, as it's slower than Crawdaunt.
Turn 5: Serperior reveals its Screen set.
Turn 7: Garchomp reveals Substitute, which likely indicates a setup set designed to avoid status conditions and gain free turns.
Turn 8: Garchomp reveals Swords Dance. At this point, it's clear Garchomp is likely running Earthquake and Stone Edge as its final two moves, maximizing coverage and power.
Turn 9: Garchomp takes out Clefable.
Turn 10: Mega Latias attempts to revenge kill Mega Garchomp, but Excadrill comes in and removes all hazards.
Turn 11: This turn seems like a misstep to me—Lightghouses could have just eliminated Excadrill here.
Turn 22: This sequence feels odd to me—reducing Ferrothorn's HP here doesn’t seem ideal. Ferrothorn is a solid wall for most of the opposing team. Additionally, I would have opted for setting up Spikes, as the extra layer of hazards would be crucial against threats like Manaphy and Mega Garchomp.
Turn 25: The unfortunate paralysis here could have been a game-changing moment, especially with how much momentum RufflesPro was building.
Turn 26: Uh-oh, Thundurus is revealed to be running a Nasty Plot + Substitute set. Lava Plume can’t break the Substitute, which is a huge problem for Lighthouses' team.
Turn 28: Another unfortunate paralysis. The double paralysis is especially frustrating here, as it further hampers any chance of getting back into the game.
Turn 32-34: RufflesPro tries to fish for a Stone Edge miss by spamming Substitute, and eventually, he get the miss.
Turn 35: At this point, it’s effectively game over. Thundurus sweeps through Lighthouses’ remaining team, finishing off any chance of a comeback.
Santu vs. Blubird
Based on the team previews, it appears that Santu's team revolves around a Birdspam Hyper Offense strategy. Mew is likely the Stealth Rock setter, carrying Colbur Berry for Weavile. Excadrill may be running a Choice Scarf set for speed control. Talonflame could be either a Choice Band or Swords Dance set, likely using Flare Blitz as its offensive move. Dragonite, meanwhile, could go for either a Choice Band or Dragon Dance set.
On the other hand, Blubird's team seems to favor an offensive approach as well. Weavile is most likely running a Choice Band set to hit hard with its STAB moves. Zapdos seems to be speedy while Excadrill looks to be a utility variant. Dragonite could again be either a Choice Band or Dragon Dance set, similar to Santu's team. Manaphy is likely carrying Hidden Power Fire, possibly to deal with Ferrothorn, especially given the presence of Weavile to punish Mega Latias via Pursuit. Finally, Metagross could take on multiple roles, potentially acting as a Stealth Rock setter, an all-out attacker, or even a setup sweeper with a Power-Up Punch set.
Turn 1: This turn is exactly how I expect it to be. However, I do not expect a beatup on Weavile, and I also do not expect Mew to be Choice Scarf. Burned Weavile is terrible for Blubird because it makes revenge kills of threats such as Manaphy, Talonflame, Mega Pinsir, and Dragonite harder.
Turn 2: Blubird was forced to switch Weavile because it invites so many threats. Zapdos is a good call by Blubird because it can beat everything in Santu's team. Santu switched to Excadrill because getting Stealth Rocks up is crucial to beat Zapdos.
Turn 3: -
Turn 4: Santu switching his Mew into Zapdos is a good call because it could burn anything against Blubird, and it also could threaten to explode or trick the Choice Scarf to Zapdos. Blubird knew this would happen, and he switched into Weavile. I would say this is high-level play from both sides.
Turn 5: Santu switches his Pinsir into Weavile, expecting Weavile to click Knock Off; however, Blubird clicks Icicle Crash, which I think is a superb move because it covers everything but Manaphy.
Turn 6: Weavile continues to click Icicle Crash but it doesnt matter because Santu goes into his sole ice resist which is Manaphy.
Turn 7-14: At this point, it’s effectively game over. Manaphy sweeps through Blubird' remaining team, finishing off any chance of a comeback.
This game is really interesting because Scarf Mew is rarely used as a Stealth Rock setter, yet it works surprisingly well on BirdSpam hyper offense. It brings both a fast Stealth Rock and fast Defog, which is a really solid combo. I’m not a fan of Shadow Ball on Blubird’s Manaphy, though. If it had Energy Ball, it could’ve stopped Manaphy from sweeping so easily. Another thing I don’t like is how Blubird’s team lacks a status absorber or a support move like Healing Wish or Lunar Dance. That being said, I still think Blubird is a really solid teambuilder, and he is very capable of winning a lot of games still.
Garay Oak vs Erz
Based on the team previews, I’m going to assume that Erz’s team revolves around a Mega Diancie Sand core. Mega Diancie will likely run its standard set, while Tyranitar could be a Choice Band, Choice Scarf, or even a utility set—each option makes sense in this context. Excadrill might be running a utility set, a Sword Dance set, a Substitute set, or even a Life Orb + 3 Attacks set. Zapdos is probably a speedy variant with either a Rocky Helmet or Leftovers. Serperior is most likely the RestChesto set, although the Synthesis set is also a plausible choice. Finally, Volcanion is likely to run a Choice Scarf set to provide some extra speed control.
On the other hand, Garay Oak's team is centered around Mega Venusaur Offense. His Mega Venusaur is most likely running a Growth set to maximize its offensive potential. Landorus could be using a defensive set with Explosion, which would provide a great way to gain momentum. Weavile might be running either the Swords Dance set or a Choice Band set, both of which make sense. Volcarona could be anything really, but I think the Life Orb set works best with this team. As for Manaphy, its set could go in several directions, but if Weavile is using a Choice Band, I’d lean toward Manaphy having Hidden Power Fire to help deal with Ferrothorn. Finally, Latias is likely a utility set with options like Colbur Berry, Rocky Helmet, Choice Scarf, or even Eject Button..
Turn 1: I was expecting Garay Oak to lead with Mega Venusaur since nothing on Erz's team really threatens it. Leading with Serperior, on the other hand, seems like a risky play, but at the same time, landing a Glare on Mega Venusaur could be huge. In hindsight, Erz's decision to go for Glare was the right call, especially after Garay Oak opts to set up with Growth. It really shows how well Erz anticipated the situation.
Turn 2: Erz's decision to switch Tyranitar in against Mega Venusaur is a smart play, as the sandstorm will chip away at Mega Venusaur's health and also limit its Synthesis recovery. This turn is unfortunate for Garay Oak, as Mega Venusaur gets fully paralyzed and can't make a move, putting him at a disadvantage.
Turn 3: Erz's choice to switch Zapdos into Mega Venusaur is another clever move, as Tyranitar’s sand is crucial for Excadrill's Sand Rush, chipping down Venusaur, and Zapdos is the only Pokémon on his team that resist Giga Drain.
Turn 4: Erz's decision to Volt Switch Zapdos into Excadrill is another excellent play, as Excadrill is the only Pokémon on his team immune to Sludge Bomb.
Turn 5: Erz's choice to click Iron Head is a smart move, as it gives him the chance to paraflinch Mega Venusaur while also threatening Landorus in case it switches in.
Turn 6: Garay Oak's choice to switch his Mega Venusaur into Landorus is also a great play because Mega Venusaur is really good against Erz's team.
Turn 7: Garay Oak's decision to set up Stealth Rock is a smart one, as it will heavily punish Volcanion and Zapdos.
Turn 8: Garay Oak's decision to switch out Landorus makes sense, as it's still a valuable asset to check Excadrill and Tyranitar, while also preventing Zapdos from using Volt Switch
Turn 9: Garay Oak's decision to use Thunder Wave is a solid one, as it can cripple most of Erz's team, except for Excadrill and Zapdos. I'm assuming his Latias is holding a Colbur Berry, given that Tyranitar is still in the back to threaten Latias.
Turn 10: Instead of using Pursuit on Latias, Erz opts to set up Stealth Rock, which is a great move. Latias is likely holding a Colbur Berry, so Pursuit wouldn't have been effective, and Stealth Rock is crucial for wearing down threats like Volcarona and Weavile. Garay Oak's decision to switch Latias into Manaphy is a smart one, as Tyranitar is simply setup bait, and even Serperior struggles to take down a full-health Manaphy.
Turn 11: Erz is forced to bring in Serperior, as it's the only Pokémon that can switch into Manaphy easily and weaken it, allowing either Mega Diancie or Excadrill to revenge kill.
Turn 12: -
Turn 13: Erz is opting to use Excadrill to revenge kill Manaphy, but I disagree with this choice. Mega Diancie could also take out Manaphy, and it would be much harder for Garay Oak’s team to switch into it. Mega Diancie brings more offensive pressure with its higher Speed and strong STAB moves, which could pose a bigger threat to the opposing team overall. Garay Oak's decision to preserve Manaphy and switch into Landorus is good choice because Manaphy still could be scary with Healing Wish support.
Turn 14-15: -
Turn 16: Garay Oak's decision to use Healing Wish On Mega Venusaur is good because as I said Mega Venusaur is really good against Erz's team.
Turn 17: Once again, solid play from Erz, as he anticipated Garay Oak would go for Growth that turn. He also got a bit lucky with the crit, which definitely helped secure the advantage.
Turn 18: -
Turn 19: Erz’s decision to use Excadrill to revenge kill Mega Venusaur was definitely the right call in that situation. However, if he had Mega Evolved his Diancie to revenge kill Manaphy on turn 13, he could have used it here to take down Mega Venusaur instead.
Turn 20: -
Turn 21: Volcanion revealed Leftovers, indicating it's not scarfed, so Garay Oak can safely eliminate Erz’s Volcanion without worrying about a potential speed disadvantage.
Turn 22: -
Turn 23: Garay Oak got lucky with the flinch on Erz’s Mega Diancie, but I’d say it was somewhat deserved, considering the bad luck Garay Oak experienced a few turns earlier in the game.
Turn 24-30: This is pretty much game over now, as Weavile can clean up against almost everything, and Garay Oak has enough remaining Pokémon to handle Excadrill with Sand Rush.
This game was really interesting because both players executed their strategies exceptionally well. I’m particularly impressed by Garay Oak’s team—Mega Venusaur on a Hyper Offense team is pretty unconventional and unheard of, yet he managed to build a strong, effective lineup and secure the win in SPL. Erz’s Sand team was also solid, and I really hope he gets his first win soon; he’s definitely capable of it.
Poek vs Michealderbeste2
For this week, it looks like both players are using well-known teams. Michealderbeste2 is likely running Lusa’s team, which includes SubPsychic Manaphy, Choice Band Weavile, Heal Bell Chansey, Impish Excadrill, Physically Defensive Zapdos, and Growth Mega Venusaur. On the other hand, Poek seems to be using Santu’s team, featuring SubSD Sand Veil Garchomp, Defog Mega Scizor, Utility Tyranitar with Thunder Wave, a standard Amoonguss set, Static Zapdos, and Swords Dance Excadrill.
Turn 1: I think Poek has a strong lead here, as Tyranitar can set up Stealth Rock and the sand, which is especially useful against Mega Venusaur—particularly if it's running Hidden Power Fire instead of the Growth set. On the other hand, MDB2’s lead is solid as well, with Zapdos providing great coverage and the ability to Volt Switch if Poek leads with Tyranitar.
Turn 2: MDB2 is forced to Rapid Spin here, as clicking Earthquake would put him at a huge disadvantage if Poek switched into Zapdos. Poek anticipates this and takes advantage of the situation by clicking Superpower to punish Excadrill. This turn works out really well for Poek, as Excadrill is now left with low health.
Turn 3: Poek is now forced to switch his Tyranitar because his Tyranitar is valuable in long run. MDB2 also anticipate this and set up Stealth Rock.
Turn 4-5: -
Turn 6: MDB2 clicks Pursuit on Zapdos, likely recognizing that Mega Scizor would wall Weavile for the rest of the game. However, I disagree with this decision, as there’s the risk of getting paralyzed by Zapdos’ Static. Manaphy would have been a better choice to punish Mega Scizor, since nothing on Poek’s team, aside from Sand Rush Excadrill, really threatens it.
Turn 7-8: -
Turn 9: I understand why MDB2 chose to use Tail Glow with Manaphy that turn, but honestly, using Substitute might have been a better option. If Tyranitar had decided to switch out, Manaphy could have still used Tail Glow later, and the Substitute would have provided an extra layer of protection.
Turn 10-11: -
Turn 12-13: MDB2 decides to switch into Chansey and use Heal Bell to support both Weavile and Manaphy, which is a great move.
Turn 14: Poek clicks Earthquake, knowing that nothing on MDB2’s team can take it well, except Zapdos. However, even Zapdos isn't completely safe, as it could still be hit hard by Rock Slide. It’s a smart move to apply pressure and force MDB2 into a tough position.
Turn 15-17: -
Turn 18: Poek decides to switch into Tyranitar, recognizing that only Excadrill can reliably revenge kill Manaphy. This move puts him in a good position to handle any threats while keeping his options open.
Turn 19: Poek switches into Garchomp, likely with the goal of weakening Manaphy so that Excadrill can revenge kill it later. This move sets up a solid plan for handling Manaphy while maintaining pressure on MDB2’s team.
Turn 20: Poek uses Substitute on Garchomp, anticipating that MDB2 might switch out Manaphy. It also gives him a chance to potentially dodge Manaphy’s move, thanks to Garchomp’s Sand Veil ability, adding an extra layer of unpredictability to his play.
Turn 21-22: Game over.
Axel vs PJ
Based on the team preview, I’m going to assume PJ’s team is built around either Mega Charizard Y or Mega Charizard X with Cresselia providing support. If it’s Charizard X, it could be either a Swords Dance set with Flame Charge or a standard Dragon Dance set. The Serperior might be running a RestChesto set or possibly a Screen set. The Weavile could be Choice Band or Swords Dance, and if it’s the former, I’d also guess Manaphy has Hidden Power Fire to hit Steel-types like Ferrothorn. Excadrill is likely an utility set, and Cresselia is probably the standard support set.
As for Axel's team, it's hard to predict given how unorthodox it is, but here’s my guess: His Tornadus is likely an Assault Vest set, which would help it tank special hits. Excadrill could be running a Choice Scarf to provide some speed control. Weavile is probably a Choice Band set to maximize its offensive presence. Seismitoad is likely a Stealth Rock setter, possibly with Refresh to check Rotom-Wash. Conkeldurr could be running a Flame Orb set for Guts or an Assault Vest to take hits more reliably. Finally, Scizor is probably a Swords Dance set, looking to sweep once it gets a boost.
Turn 1: It looks like PJ’s Charizard is Mega Charizard X. I think PJ’s lead is decent, as Charizard X can definitely cause chaos if the opponent misguesses its form. However, Axel makes an excellent lead with Tornadus, as it can pivot with U-turn, effectively covering both potential Charizard forms. This gives Axel a great way to scout and maintain momentum. PJ reveals that his Charizard has Dragon Dance, so it’s likely the standard Dragon Dance set, right?
Turn 2: Oh, it turns out PJ’s Charizard also has Swords Dance. Axel’s decision to Earthquake Charizard was definitely the right call, as he needed to weaken it. Without that, Charizard could easily sweep through his team.
Turn 3: -
Turn 4: Axel’s decision to use Mega Scizor is definitely the right call, as nothing else on his team could reliably revenge kill Charizard X. However, the fact that he's using U-turn suggests that his Scizor likely doesn't have a way to hit Charizard X hard. I’m going to assume his Scizor is running Swords Dance, Bullet Punch, Roost, and U-turn—focused on pivoting and maintaining pressure while setting up.
Turn 5: Axel’s decision to use Weavile is solid, but I feel like Conkeldurr might have been a better choice. Conkeldurr could have applied pressure to the rest of PJ's team, dealing with threats more effectively and potentially taking advantage of its bulk and offensive presence.
Turn 6: I feels like Manaphy is the better option here because it could threaten alot more.
Turn 7: -
Turn 8: Bringing in Excadrill here is definitely the right play, as getting Stealth Rock up is crucial for chipping away at threats like Tornadus and Weavile. The rocks will also put extra pressure on the opponent’s team, making it harder for them to switch around freely.
Turn 9: Uturning into Weavile is great because Weavile kills everything.
Turn 10: -
Turn 11: Switching into Serperior is a great play, as it can punish nearly everything with Glare, except for a potential Guts Conkeldurr.
Turn 12: I think switching into Mega Scizor was a questionable play, especially since PJ hasn't revealed his Hidden Power yet. It turns out to be Hidden Power Fire, PJ's Weavile is very scary now.
Turn 13: Switching into Tornadus was definitely the right play, as Weavile couldn’t afford to take more damage from Stealth Rock. PJ switches in Manaphy to take the Hurricane, activating Eject Button and allowing Weavile to revenge kill Tornadus. This is a brilliant play and an awesome piece of tech—managing to pivot effectively and turn the momentum in his favor.
Turn 14-15: PJ uses Icicle Crash, knowing that Axel’s team no longer has an Ice resist after Mega Scizor goes down. Axel isn’t ready to give up just yet, though, and switches in Conkeldurr, hoping to revenge kill with Mach Punch.
Turn 16-17: Axel switches in Tornadus, anticipating that PJ wouldn't risk losing Weavile, given how valuable it is. It turns out his Tornadus is running Taunt instead of the usual Assault Vest set, which is a huge play. Taunt can shut down Cresselia’s potential Lunar Dance, preventing PJ from using it to keep his team healthy.
Turn 18: Axel keeps the pressure on by swapping into Excadrill to remove the Stealth Rock, which is especially valuable for Weavile and Tornadus. Clearing the hazards helps maintain their longevity and gives Axel more opportunities to pivot and keep up the offensive pressure.
Turn 19-20: PJ swaps in his Manaphy to threaten Excadrill and clicks Surf to take it down. However, Axel maintains the pressure by bringing in Weavile. Notice how Axel’s decision to remove Stealth Rock and avoid using Weavile recklessly plays a key role in this exchange, allowing him to make a strong, strategic play without sacrificing his important assets.
Turn 21: -
Turn 22: Removing PJ's Weavile's Choice Band is crucial, as it significantly reduces its offensive power. This helps Axel's Excadrill survive potential Knock Off or Icicle Crash, giving it a better chance to continue applying pressure and contributing to Axel’s overall strategy.
Turn 23: Pj swap in his Serperior is once again a good play because he could threaten to glare everything.
Turn 24-35: -
Turn 36: Axel did a great job to preserve his Excadrill till the end but he got unlucky abit. Well played from both sides.
Last few comments
This week, we've seen a lot of offense in play, and Manaphy, in particular, has been a standout Pokémon. It’s been a real threat, and I hope players will adjust their preparation to handle Manaphy better in the coming weeks.
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Tournaments SPL XVI - ORAS OU Discussion
- Thread starter MrAldo
- Start date
super great analysis, love to see my goat manaphy putting in the work as always. Go Tigers!
This game was a travesty and unpleasant to watch. I was so excited to watch my hero play especially so early instead of on the stereotypical Saturday or Sunday evening however a tragedy befell me. One so gut-wrenching and heart breaking I instintively fell down to my knees and cried tears of pain and sorrow. Both sides loading were loading Manaphy. Not only that, it appeared as though my hero had lost the drive and creative finesse that I began to associate with his building and play. He loaded the exact same five as last week.
, 
, 
, 
and 
. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! At first glance, the only change from what he brought last week vs another great player who I am fond of, lighthouses, was that Mega Garchomp was replaced for Mega Pinsir! My spirit was crushed and my heart was shattered into as many pieces as the grains of sand kicked up by Tyranitar's Sand Stream.Despite my initial disappointment however, I (similar to my hero's Excadrill nickname) steeled my spirit and prepared myself to watch the game. Thankfully, the sets this time were switched up however that did little to heal my broken heart. At first, all seemed well. The matchup was neutral for the most part (I believe Mr. MDB2 had a slight edge with the stacking of multiple threats to sand in Serperior, Landorus, Manaphy and Mega Scizor). However something troubled me. I noticed that something was amiss. Something that should have been noticed as early as the usage statistics for week 2 were dropped. Not a single Ferrothorn was in sight. I truly and whole-heartedly believe that if either one of these 'esteemed' players brought ferrothorn (
) they would have won on the spot.But alas, not everything you wish for comes true. I sincerely hope that as the week comes to a close, that those playing this week will take my thoughts, prayers and earnest considerations to heart and take advantage of the Manaphy craze that seems to have taken manifest amongst the building habits of those at the highest level.
To my hero RufflesPro,
Last edited:
i tried
Week 3 overview and thoughts
BluBirD vs Garay Oak
From the beginning, we can see that Garay Oak once again opts for a more old fashioned team, which is admirable. We are also greeted by Ferrothorn to many people's joy, given the number of Manaphys we saw last week. On the other hand, we see BluBirD bring a sand team featuring Mega Heracross. We see Scarf Latios get a big crit on Slowbro, causing BluBirD to bring in Tyranitar as a sacrifice, however it evades the Draco Meteor. A couple turns later, we see M-Hera put in work as it ko's Specs Keldeo after an unfortunate Hydro Pump miss. As the game comes towards an end, we see Heatran put in some work to severely lower Slowbro's health, then the pair of Lando-T and Mega Manectric wins the game for Garay Oak.
MichaelderBeste2 vs RufflesPro
Right off the bat, we see Ruffles load a sand team, showcasing Mega Pinsir. Contrarily, MDB2 brings a screens hyper offense team. Bare in mind both of these players have Manaphy on their team, along with Serperior and one of the Thundurus forms on their team. The latter two functioning as their means to check opposing Manaphy. We see Ruffles get a nice crit on Mega Scizor turn 2, allowing it to die to Rocky Helmet the next turn. Later, MDB2 gets a crucial Glare on Ruffles' Serp which paves way for Manaphy as it isn't worried about Serp potentially revenge killing with Leaf Storm. MDB2 also makes some neat Knock Off plays against Excadrill's Stealth Rock and Manaphy's Substitute. The game ends with Manaphy cleaning the rest of Ruffles' team after a Tail Glow, further embedding itself as one of ORAS OU's greatest threats.
erz vs Poek
As we can see from the match up, it seems that both players decided to load some rather balanced teams, both teams also encompassing Spikes stack into them. As the game begins, we see Poek's Skarmory really keeping hazards away via Defog, we also then see erz's Skarmory trade health to wound Keldeo with Brave Bird. After a couple turns, Poek brings out Mega Metagross who after getting its own Stealth Rock up, immediately applies pressure as erz lacks any reliable switch ins to its moveset, this causes erz to sacrifice Slowbro in order to force M-Metagross out the next turn with Excadrill. Poek then uses Skarmory's Whirlwind to severely chip erz's team, ultimately winning the game.
pj vs lighthouses
This time around, we see lighthouses bring some sort of offense whilst pj brings a bulky offense team with no removal. After two turns of switching, the game begins with pj getting Stealth Rock up as lighthouses' Volcanion gets a nice burn on pj's Rotom-W. However, pj gets an early crit with Volt Switch on what I assume is Assault Vest Volcanion. pj's Rotom-W gets another crit on lighthouses' Clefable which leaves it susceptible as Heatran comes in the next turn to revenge kill it. As the situation gets more dire, lighthouses is forced to make plenty of aggressive switches in attempts to bring this game back, as well as to get Excadrill's health back via Leftovers. Progress is made as lighthouses brings Gliscor down after a crit from Mega Lopunny; however, Mega Alakazam secures the victory for pj.
Axel vs Santu
Santu decided to load a hyper offense looking team this week, although Zapdos is present. On the flip side, we see Axel bring a fairly standard sand team, other than the fact that it has two flying types. Turn 1 brings Axel an instant one up at the cost of 75% of Mega Tyranitar's health as Scolipede reveals Superpower. A few turns later, Santu's Zapdos reveals Thunder Wave to many people's surprise and further later we see Protect Manaphy. Axel's Keldeo ends up claiming a few of Santu's mons and we see Santu reveal Explosion Mega Diancie which takes out the oppsoing Tornadus-T. As the game draws to a close, Santu's Manaphy triumphs over Axel's Keldeo.
Final few comments
Once again, it seems that sand teams are much prevalent, as they were brought to 4 out of 5 of games. I will disregard the Tyranitar that was used in pj's game as there were no sand abusers to go along with it. This week also gave us a variety of Mega evolutions, such as M-Manectric, M-Heracross, M-Pinsir and such. Compared to last week, there were only 3 Manaphy appearances, a significant reduction. It seems the players have adjusted their teams to better prepare against Manaphy despite its few shows this week. For instance, many teams have a more reliable check to Manaphy, such as Chansey and Ferrothorn. We were also faced with quite a handful of close games this week, which is enjoyable and thrilling for the viewers.
BluBirD vs Garay Oak
From the beginning, we can see that Garay Oak once again opts for a more old fashioned team, which is admirable. We are also greeted by Ferrothorn to many people's joy, given the number of Manaphys we saw last week. On the other hand, we see BluBirD bring a sand team featuring Mega Heracross. We see Scarf Latios get a big crit on Slowbro, causing BluBirD to bring in Tyranitar as a sacrifice, however it evades the Draco Meteor. A couple turns later, we see M-Hera put in work as it ko's Specs Keldeo after an unfortunate Hydro Pump miss. As the game comes towards an end, we see Heatran put in some work to severely lower Slowbro's health, then the pair of Lando-T and Mega Manectric wins the game for Garay Oak.
MichaelderBeste2 vs RufflesPro
Right off the bat, we see Ruffles load a sand team, showcasing Mega Pinsir. Contrarily, MDB2 brings a screens hyper offense team. Bare in mind both of these players have Manaphy on their team, along with Serperior and one of the Thundurus forms on their team. The latter two functioning as their means to check opposing Manaphy. We see Ruffles get a nice crit on Mega Scizor turn 2, allowing it to die to Rocky Helmet the next turn. Later, MDB2 gets a crucial Glare on Ruffles' Serp which paves way for Manaphy as it isn't worried about Serp potentially revenge killing with Leaf Storm. MDB2 also makes some neat Knock Off plays against Excadrill's Stealth Rock and Manaphy's Substitute. The game ends with Manaphy cleaning the rest of Ruffles' team after a Tail Glow, further embedding itself as one of ORAS OU's greatest threats.
erz vs Poek
As we can see from the match up, it seems that both players decided to load some rather balanced teams, both teams also encompassing Spikes stack into them. As the game begins, we see Poek's Skarmory really keeping hazards away via Defog, we also then see erz's Skarmory trade health to wound Keldeo with Brave Bird. After a couple turns, Poek brings out Mega Metagross who after getting its own Stealth Rock up, immediately applies pressure as erz lacks any reliable switch ins to its moveset, this causes erz to sacrifice Slowbro in order to force M-Metagross out the next turn with Excadrill. Poek then uses Skarmory's Whirlwind to severely chip erz's team, ultimately winning the game.
pj vs lighthouses
This time around, we see lighthouses bring some sort of offense whilst pj brings a bulky offense team with no removal. After two turns of switching, the game begins with pj getting Stealth Rock up as lighthouses' Volcanion gets a nice burn on pj's Rotom-W. However, pj gets an early crit with Volt Switch on what I assume is Assault Vest Volcanion. pj's Rotom-W gets another crit on lighthouses' Clefable which leaves it susceptible as Heatran comes in the next turn to revenge kill it. As the situation gets more dire, lighthouses is forced to make plenty of aggressive switches in attempts to bring this game back, as well as to get Excadrill's health back via Leftovers. Progress is made as lighthouses brings Gliscor down after a crit from Mega Lopunny; however, Mega Alakazam secures the victory for pj.
Axel vs Santu
Santu decided to load a hyper offense looking team this week, although Zapdos is present. On the flip side, we see Axel bring a fairly standard sand team, other than the fact that it has two flying types. Turn 1 brings Axel an instant one up at the cost of 75% of Mega Tyranitar's health as Scolipede reveals Superpower. A few turns later, Santu's Zapdos reveals Thunder Wave to many people's surprise and further later we see Protect Manaphy. Axel's Keldeo ends up claiming a few of Santu's mons and we see Santu reveal Explosion Mega Diancie which takes out the oppsoing Tornadus-T. As the game draws to a close, Santu's Manaphy triumphs over Axel's Keldeo.
Final few comments
Once again, it seems that sand teams are much prevalent, as they were brought to 4 out of 5 of games. I will disregard the Tyranitar that was used in pj's game as there were no sand abusers to go along with it. This week also gave us a variety of Mega evolutions, such as M-Manectric, M-Heracross, M-Pinsir and such. Compared to last week, there were only 3 Manaphy appearances, a significant reduction. It seems the players have adjusted their teams to better prepare against Manaphy despite its few shows this week. For instance, many teams have a more reliable check to Manaphy, such as Chansey and Ferrothorn. We were also faced with quite a handful of close games this week, which is enjoyable and thrilling for the viewers.
Not a single Ferrothorn was in sight. I truly and whole-heartedly believe that if either one of these 'esteemed' players brought ferrothorn (
But alas, not everything you wish for comes true. I sincerely hope that as the week comes to a close, that those playing this week will take my thoughts, prayers and earnest considerations to heart and take advantage of the Manaphy craze that seems to have taken manifest amongst the building habits of those at the highest level.
Ferrothorn is currently 1-2 on the sheet. In it's one win, it came in got a single spike and died instantly.
Full analysis coming soon...
Before we begin, I'd like to quickly gloss over the usage stats to get an idea of the mini-metagame that was this past week;
Since this is gonna be a long read, I'll just make three points;
Game 1: Santu vs. pj
vs.
Just looking at preview I immediately knew pj was gonna win with one of his Dark types. dd Tar + sd Bisharp and even a potential sd Garchomp or cb Terrakion make this matchup incredibly difficult for Santu to navigate. I'd say Santu's main hope is getting up Spikes and going for the win with cm Clef. Otherwise it's over.
20 seconds later (watch replays on fast mode guys it's a godsend feature) and this is how the game ends.
I was right about Bisharp and Tyranitar being set up but I wasn't sure about Garchomp or Terrakion since they could be anything from Choice Band + Swords Dance, Swords Dance + Swords Dance, etc. However one combination I didn't think about was Stealth Rock Terrakion + Swords Dance Garchomp. I was a little suprised to see Terrakion be the rocker on this team. This might be the future of Terrakion, who knows!
Anyway, here are a few observations;
middle schooler insult 
I don't have much to say here to be honest.
Game 2: Poek vs. BluBirD
vs.
I think this was my favourite game this week. Poek brought some classic Serp Mana Volc hyper offense with the flavour picks this time being Cloyster + Charizard with Aerodactyl as the rocker of choice. I quite like this six especially in this matchup since Charizard and Volcarona are massive threats to BluBirD's sand Bulky Offense. On BluBirD's side, Excadrill looks like it has to do insane heavy lifting to prevent Poek from running away with the game. Anyway, let's see how this played out.
rocks went up a turn too late...
Jokes aside, I think we were robbed of a potentially amazing game by BluBirD's choke but c'est la vie.
Game 3: Garay Oak vs. Axel
vs.
I think Axel might have solved the giant Weavile issue that Mega Gyarados teams tend to have by slotting in Bisharp. Genius must be recognised. The matchup for both sides looks fairly neutral however Garay Oak seems to have the edge with both Mega Medicham and Weavile who are massive pains to face when running a more bulky offense or offense build like Axel's.
First time anyone brings Superpower Tornadus in 500 years and it prevents the auto-lose to sd Bisharp.
The script writers went crazy with this one...
I wish I had both the energy and time to analyse this beautiful game fully but alas I have neither. Expect a Youtube video covering this game very soon. For now I'll just say that this is a very strong contender for game of the week. Garay Oak is an amazing player and they're really growing on me.
Game 4: RufflesPro vs. Erz
vs.
Erz brought cheese and lost to Keldeo.
Game 5: lighthouses vs. MichaelderBeste2
vs.
My goat lighthouses vs. another strong contender for the current best player in the tier. This game is competing with the Garay Oak vs. Axel game for game of the week. I can't do it justice with a simple write-up so expect a video on this game as well. (I'm also extremely tired and 2 hours past my bedtime)
Takeaways/ Observations:
(replies aren't working so please bear with me)
This could be a sign that Ferrothorn is not all it's made it out to be...
Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Tornadus-Therian | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 2 | Clefable | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 3 | Excadrill | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 4 | Serperior | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 5 | Slowbro | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Heatran | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Landorus-Therian | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8 | Zapdos | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 9 | Gyarados | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Aerodactyl | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 11 | Manaphy | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 12 | Latias | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 13 | Ferrothorn | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 14 | Medicham | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 15 | Weavile | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Garchomp | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 17 | Bisharp | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 18 | Thundurus | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 19 | Rotom-Wash | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 20 | Volcarona | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 21 | Tyranitar | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 22 | Keldeo-Resolute | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 23 | Chansey | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 24 | Azelf | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 25 | Scrafty | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 26 | Hawlucha | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 27 | Hippowdon | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Keldeo | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 29 | Cresselia | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 30 | Charizard | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 31 | Cloyster | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Reuniclus | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 33 | Skarmory | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 34 | Gastrodon | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 35 | Terrakion | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |Since this is gonna be a long read, I'll just make three points;
- The top 4 Pokémon are a near perfect representation of what most would consider as the best non-mega Pokémon in the tier.
- The most used mega Pokémon was Gyarados...
- Manaphy is no longer top 3 or even top 10 in usage. Is this an indication of something? #noooticing
Game 1: Santu vs. pj
Just looking at preview I immediately knew pj was gonna win with one of his Dark types. dd Tar + sd Bisharp and even a potential sd Garchomp or cb Terrakion make this matchup incredibly difficult for Santu to navigate. I'd say Santu's main hope is getting up Spikes and going for the win with cm Clef. Otherwise it's over.
20 seconds later (watch replays on fast mode guys it's a godsend feature) and this is how the game ends.
I was right about Bisharp and Tyranitar being set up but I wasn't sure about Garchomp or Terrakion since they could be anything from Choice Band + Swords Dance, Swords Dance + Swords Dance, etc. However one combination I didn't think about was Stealth Rock Terrakion + Swords Dance Garchomp. I was a little suprised to see Terrakion be the rocker on this team. This might be the future of Terrakion, who knows!
Anyway, here are a few observations;
- pj brought some crazy greed with np Thund, sd Bisharp, TAUNT DD Ttar and Life Orb sd Chomp...
- Santu got gigahaxxed on turn 21 with Bisharp's Sucker Punch crit which all but sealed the game
- Santu cannot trash talk to save his life
I don't have much to say here to be honest.
Game 2: Poek vs. BluBirD
I think this was my favourite game this week. Poek brought some classic Serp Mana Volc hyper offense with the flavour picks this time being Cloyster + Charizard with Aerodactyl as the rocker of choice. I quite like this six especially in this matchup since Charizard and Volcarona are massive threats to BluBirD's sand Bulky Offense. On BluBirD's side, Excadrill looks like it has to do insane heavy lifting to prevent Poek from running away with the game. Anyway, let's see how this played out.
Jokes aside, I think we were robbed of a potentially amazing game by BluBirD's choke but c'est la vie.
Game 3: Garay Oak vs. Axel
I think Axel might have solved the giant Weavile issue that Mega Gyarados teams tend to have by slotting in Bisharp. Genius must be recognised. The matchup for both sides looks fairly neutral however Garay Oak seems to have the edge with both Mega Medicham and Weavile who are massive pains to face when running a more bulky offense or offense build like Axel's.
First time anyone brings Superpower Tornadus in 500 years and it prevents the auto-lose to sd Bisharp.
The script writers went crazy with this one...
I wish I had both the energy and time to analyse this beautiful game fully but alas I have neither. Expect a Youtube video covering this game very soon. For now I'll just say that this is a very strong contender for game of the week. Garay Oak is an amazing player and they're really growing on me.
Game 4: RufflesPro vs. Erz
Erz brought cheese and lost to Keldeo.
Game 5: lighthouses vs. MichaelderBeste2
My goat lighthouses vs. another strong contender for the current best player in the tier. This game is competing with the Garay Oak vs. Axel game for game of the week. I can't do it justice with a simple write-up so expect a video on this game as well. (I'm also extremely tired and 2 hours past my bedtime)
Takeaways/ Observations:
- Ferrothorn MIGHT NOT be that good
This could be a sign that Ferrothorn is not all it's made it out to be...
- Fat/ balance teams might be having a dip in performance with both Mega Latias fat spikestack teams losing this week coupled with the rise of powerful bulky offenses running good fat breakers in Calm Mind Keldeo and Weavile
- Mega Gyarados is slowly but surely becoming a top pick as people experiment with it on different styles shown by both Axel and erz.
- Metagross didn't show up this week (he's on leave)
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Turns out there wasn't much wrong about this after all.
Predicted rankings/records at the end of the season:
1./2. Santu 7-2, Ruffles 7-2
3. Poek 6-3
4./5. Garay Oak 5-4, pj 5-4
6./7. lighthouses 4-5, Michael 4-5
8./9. Ruiners erz/London Beats 3-6, Wolfpack BluBirD/GeniusX 3-6
10. Cryos Axel/Vileman 1-8
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hey all, no mega post from me this week, i instead want to discuss a cool team that was brought twice by two great players who i'd like to call friends of mine; Paprikaflow and lighthouses
We saw this team get piloted and win twice this SPL Sunday by both Paprika and Diogo;
Game 1: Paprikaflow vs. London Beats
vs.
Game 2: lighthouses vs. geniusx
vs.
Before I get into both the team itself, I wanna make a few observations from the matchups off preview;
According to my sources, this team was invented by arguably the best ORAS OU player of all time, CBB. Interestingly, the original version had Gallade over Metagross. This version of the team is how I came to learn about this brand of physical offense and it used to be my preferred version until the 'discovery' of this Metagross set;
@ Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
- Power-Up Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Thunder Punch
This set is easily the best Metagross set in the current meta (imo). And the starting point for our team analysis. Power-Up Punch gives Metagross the ability to brute force and break teams with incredible potency. One of my favourite interactions with this set (which we didn't get to see this week) is the Rotom-Wash interaction. Here are some calcs;
252 Atk Tough Claws Metagross-Mega Power-Up Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-Wash: 43-51 (14.1 - 16.7%) -- possible 8HKO
+1 252 Atk Tough Claws Metagross-Mega Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-Wash: 190-225 (62.5 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
If you get two high-rolls, Metagross easily destroys max-max Rotom and if you don't, Rotom dies to Zen Headbutt after taking two rounds of Stealth Rock + Power-Up Punch chip. In addition to completely dominating Rotom, the pup boosts allow Metagross to beat literally all of it's checks. Boosted Thunder Punch completely wallops Slowbro and breaks Scizor while the pup boosts unlock Zen Headbutt 2HKOs on Garchomp and Tangrowth.
We see the power of this Metagross set in lighthouses game where it got 4.5 kills despite being paralysed by Zapdos' Static as well as in Paprikaflow's game where it got 3 kills. It was a brutal beatdown. Interestingly, Paprikaflow, had he gotten unlucky, could have been reverse-swept by London Beats' own pup Metagross
@ Choice Band / Focus Sash
Ability: Pickpocket
- Knock Off / Swords Dance
- Ice Shard
- Beat Up / Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
The feature-mon. The demon. Weavile. Weavile is an incredibly strong physical attacker and Beat Up only exacerbates it's breaking power even further by giving it Dark-type STAB that's wayyy stronger than the 97.5/65 base power of Knock Off. According to my calculations, Beat Up when used on this team is 112.5 base power easily making it the strongest move in Weavile's kit. (i used the calculation on Bulbapedia and this explanation on Pokémon Database) To add on to the insanity, Beat Up is contactless meaning you can't punish Weavile with Rocky Helmet from Garchomp or Landorus or Iron Barbs from Ferrothorn (pj bad news...) which makes Weavile even tougher to punish.
The beauty of this set is that it's super flexible when it comes to its item choice. When running Knock Off 99% of the time you want Choice Band or Black Glasses/ Dark Plate to boost the power of Knock Off. However, because Beat Up is stronger than Earthquake, you can skip out on Choice Band in favour of items such as Focus Sash or if you truly want to be evil and malevolent, Kings Rock. I'm pretty sure Kings Rock gives Beat Up a 60% chance to flinch which when combined with the 30% flinch chance from Icicle Crash makes Weavile downright unholy to face. All fun and games until your Clefable takes 40% from +2 Beat Up and flinches.
@ Choice Scarf / Life Orb / Assault Vest
Ability: Teravolt
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Outrage / Earth Power
- Dragon Claw / Iron Head / Roost / Rock Tomb
Kyurem can literally run anything. Paprika and lighthouses both brought Choice Scarf to great success as Paprika traded positively vs London Beats' Keldeo on t1 while lighthouses used Kyurem to get the fast kill on geniusx' Alakazam.
Kyurem and Volcanion are easily the most flexible Pokémon so I'd like to talk about them together.
@ Leftovers / Assault Vest / Choice Scarf / Shuca Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
- Protect / Roar / Earth Power / Overheat / Hidden Power [Grass]
- Toxic / Sludge Bomb
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
Volcanion never came out once in either game
The reason I want to go over both of these Pokémon together is because they are similar and different at the same time when it comes to their item choice/ role. Both of these guys can easily run one of Choice Scarf or Assault Vest to great success. On the version that Paprika and lighthouses brought, I'm pretty sure it was Assault Vest since the team needs both a special sponge and a Volcarona check. Both of these roles can be fit by either one of Kyurem and Volcanion however since we clearly saw that the dragon was scarfed, the logical conclusion is that Volcanion was vested.
Now as much as I'd like to go super in-depth into the move choices and how they affect how the team plays in combination with the item of choice, I'm choosing to keep it short since this post is already long enough as is and a lot of the options are self-explanatory. All I'll say is that these two Pokémon are not only extremely crucial due to their wide defensive reach in covering threats such as Manaphy and Serperior and Mega Charizard-Y to name a few, they are also super customizable to fit whatever goal/ direction you want to go.
(M) @ Rocky Helmet / Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
- Stealth Rock / Knock Off / Superpower
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Knock Off / Stone Edge
Stealth Rock bot.
@ Leftovers / Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic / Substitute / Stealth Rock / Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
Rapid Spin bot.
I'd also like to go over these last two Pokémon together since they have a very similar relationship to Kyurem and Volcanion. Once again these are two crucial defensive pieces whose job is to cover a wide range of threats such as Gallade, Mega Charizard-X, Lopunny, Diancie, etc. Landorus and Excadrill cover sooo much. Once again we see lots of flexibility in terms of set variety since both of these Pokémon can set up Stealth Rock as well as act as speed control with the Choice Scarf. They also lure in physically defensive answers such as Slowbro and Ferrothorn and wear them down with Knock Off and Toxic respectively or even Swords Dance boosted Earthquake.
It's late at night and the well of thoughts is running dry so I'll just conclude by saying that I absolutely love this team since it's a great showcase of the sheer variance and flexibility that each Pokémon has in our beloved ORAS OU and that teams such as these really get to show off a player's preferences and perspective on how they view the tier. I think the best part about this game we play is the difference in our perspectives/ viewpoints and how each game a person's judgement is tested. And this team is a perfect example of how different perspectives can completely change how a team is played
We saw this team get piloted and win twice this SPL Sunday by both Paprika and Diogo;
Game 1: Paprikaflow vs. London Beats
Game 2: lighthouses vs. geniusx
Before I get into both the team itself, I wanna make a few observations from the matchups off preview;
- Keldeo is a massive threat to this type of offense since it naturally outspeeds everything bar Weavile (and Metagross post-mega) and also hits 4/6 mons for super-effective
- Keldeo is a massive threat to this type of offense since it naturally outspeeds everything bar Weavile (and Metagross post-mega) and also hits 4/6 mons for super-effective
- Have I mentioned that Keldeo is a massive threat to this type of offense since it naturally outspeeds everything bar Weavile (and Metagross post-mega) and also hits 4/6 mons for super-effective?
According to my sources, this team was invented by arguably the best ORAS OU player of all time, CBB. Interestingly, the original version had Gallade over Metagross. This version of the team is how I came to learn about this brand of physical offense and it used to be my preferred version until the 'discovery' of this Metagross set;
@ MetagrossiteAbility: Tough Claws
- Power-Up Punch
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Thunder Punch
This set is easily the best Metagross set in the current meta (imo). And the starting point for our team analysis. Power-Up Punch gives Metagross the ability to brute force and break teams with incredible potency. One of my favourite interactions with this set (which we didn't get to see this week) is the Rotom-Wash interaction. Here are some calcs;
252 Atk Tough Claws Metagross-Mega Power-Up Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-Wash: 43-51 (14.1 - 16.7%) -- possible 8HKO
+1 252 Atk Tough Claws Metagross-Mega Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-Wash: 190-225 (62.5 - 74%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
If you get two high-rolls, Metagross easily destroys max-max Rotom and if you don't, Rotom dies to Zen Headbutt after taking two rounds of Stealth Rock + Power-Up Punch chip. In addition to completely dominating Rotom, the pup boosts allow Metagross to beat literally all of it's checks. Boosted Thunder Punch completely wallops Slowbro and breaks Scizor while the pup boosts unlock Zen Headbutt 2HKOs on Garchomp and Tangrowth.
We see the power of this Metagross set in lighthouses game where it got 4.5 kills despite being paralysed by Zapdos' Static as well as in Paprikaflow's game where it got 3 kills. It was a brutal beatdown. Interestingly, Paprikaflow, had he gotten unlucky, could have been reverse-swept by London Beats' own pup Metagross
@ Choice Band / Focus SashAbility: Pickpocket
- Knock Off / Swords Dance
- Ice Shard
- Beat Up / Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
The feature-mon. The demon. Weavile. Weavile is an incredibly strong physical attacker and Beat Up only exacerbates it's breaking power even further by giving it Dark-type STAB that's wayyy stronger than the 97.5/65 base power of Knock Off. According to my calculations, Beat Up when used on this team is 112.5 base power easily making it the strongest move in Weavile's kit. (i used the calculation on Bulbapedia and this explanation on Pokémon Database) To add on to the insanity, Beat Up is contactless meaning you can't punish Weavile with Rocky Helmet from Garchomp or Landorus or Iron Barbs from Ferrothorn (pj bad news...) which makes Weavile even tougher to punish.
The beauty of this set is that it's super flexible when it comes to its item choice. When running Knock Off 99% of the time you want Choice Band or Black Glasses/ Dark Plate to boost the power of Knock Off. However, because Beat Up is stronger than Earthquake, you can skip out on Choice Band in favour of items such as Focus Sash or if you truly want to be evil and malevolent, Kings Rock. I'm pretty sure Kings Rock gives Beat Up a 60% chance to flinch which when combined with the 30% flinch chance from Icicle Crash makes Weavile downright unholy to face. All fun and games until your Clefable takes 40% from +2 Beat Up and flinches.
@ Choice Scarf / Life Orb / Assault VestAbility: Teravolt
- Ice Beam
- Fusion Bolt
- Outrage / Earth Power
- Dragon Claw / Iron Head / Roost / Rock Tomb
Kyurem can literally run anything. Paprika and lighthouses both brought Choice Scarf to great success as Paprika traded positively vs London Beats' Keldeo on t1 while lighthouses used Kyurem to get the fast kill on geniusx' Alakazam.
Kyurem and Volcanion are easily the most flexible Pokémon so I'd like to talk about them together.
@ Leftovers / Assault Vest / Choice Scarf / Shuca BerryAbility: Water Absorb
- Protect / Roar / Earth Power / Overheat / Hidden Power [Grass]
- Toxic / Sludge Bomb
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower
Volcanion never came out once in either game
The reason I want to go over both of these Pokémon together is because they are similar and different at the same time when it comes to their item choice/ role. Both of these guys can easily run one of Choice Scarf or Assault Vest to great success. On the version that Paprika and lighthouses brought, I'm pretty sure it was Assault Vest since the team needs both a special sponge and a Volcarona check. Both of these roles can be fit by either one of Kyurem and Volcanion however since we clearly saw that the dragon was scarfed, the logical conclusion is that Volcanion was vested.
Now as much as I'd like to go super in-depth into the move choices and how they affect how the team plays in combination with the item of choice, I'm choosing to keep it short since this post is already long enough as is and a lot of the options are self-explanatory. All I'll say is that these two Pokémon are not only extremely crucial due to their wide defensive reach in covering threats such as Manaphy and Serperior and Mega Charizard-Y to name a few, they are also super customizable to fit whatever goal/ direction you want to go.
(M) @ Rocky Helmet / Choice ScarfAbility: Intimidate
- Stealth Rock / Knock Off / Superpower
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Knock Off / Stone Edge
Stealth Rock bot.
@ Leftovers / Choice ScarfAbility: Mold Breaker
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic / Substitute / Stealth Rock / Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
Rapid Spin bot.
I'd also like to go over these last two Pokémon together since they have a very similar relationship to Kyurem and Volcanion. Once again these are two crucial defensive pieces whose job is to cover a wide range of threats such as Gallade, Mega Charizard-X, Lopunny, Diancie, etc. Landorus and Excadrill cover sooo much. Once again we see lots of flexibility in terms of set variety since both of these Pokémon can set up Stealth Rock as well as act as speed control with the Choice Scarf. They also lure in physically defensive answers such as Slowbro and Ferrothorn and wear them down with Knock Off and Toxic respectively or even Swords Dance boosted Earthquake.
It's late at night and the well of thoughts is running dry so I'll just conclude by saying that I absolutely love this team since it's a great showcase of the sheer variance and flexibility that each Pokémon has in our beloved ORAS OU and that teams such as these really get to show off a player's preferences and perspective on how they view the tier. I think the best part about this game we play is the difference in our perspectives/ viewpoints and how each game a person's judgement is tested. And this team is a perfect example of how different perspectives can completely change how a team is played
for those interested in the Ferrothorn project, we are currently 2-2
it's not yet over...
it's not yet over...
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Rufflespro VS Santu was arguably the most entertaining match this entire SPL, really fun to watch!
ORAS OU: pj vs Poek - i actually feel like poeks play in this tournament has been very consistently high level but somewhat lacking in the teambuilding department, getting bad matchups more often than not. whereas pj has had some really good matchup calls this season like in his game vs santu. i feel like with a neutral matchup these 2 are pretty evenly matched but i find it hard not to predict that pj will have some sort of advantage there
ORAS OU: RufflesPro vs fade - i expect fade to not rely on fat this week and use something more offensive as ruffles is a known prep demon and has been bringing anti fat stuff all tournament long, unlike in the above matchup i dont think these two are evenly matched in a 'honest' offense vs offense matchup, fade to me seems to be a much more solid pilot
non 0% chance that all 4 teams are sand
ORAS OU: RufflesPro vs fade - i expect fade to not rely on fat this week and use something more offensive as ruffles is a known prep demon and has been bringing anti fat stuff all tournament long, unlike in the above matchup i dont think these two are evenly matched in a 'honest' offense vs offense matchup, fade to me seems to be a much more solid pilot
non 0% chance that all 4 teams are sand
predicting rufflespro to win because im a fan
edit : is it too late to expect a rain team
edit : is it too late to expect a rain team
2025 ORAS SPL arc
Although SPL is not done, ORAS in SPL is officially done. I want to go over my journey
W1
My first win and a dominating one. Good prep, good practice on the team, good matchup (prep worked), good execution.
W2
Another dominating win. Good prep, good practice on the team, good matchup (prep worked), good execution.
W3
My first loss.
The main issue: Time. Starting W3 my time was basically significantly cut, as school and other life responsibilities came knocking on the door. When I signed up, I didn't think I'd be this busy - a mix of responsibilities either underestimated or unexpected. From W3 to the finals, I had very little time, with some weeks being worse than others. W3, W7, W8, and Finals were the worst weeks when it came to having time.
Starting week 3, I had either too little time to prep, practice my teams, and/or focus during my game. I played a game from my phone. I played two games from the student home I was in, with 7 students cramped in a small place and bad wifi. Some games I had to play right before I sleep on a weekday as I had no better time. I played the finals from a hotel room with shaky internet. Although this could easily be a valid excuse, to me it is not. It showed very evidently to me that I'm not the good player I thought I was - I relied on prep and environment way more than I thought.
For this week specifically, I changed one mon from W2 and changed the sets up a bit. Well, it was already a made team and I loaded it with maybe 1-2 games on it. I played early on Thursday or something. I was too busy to play afterwards and too busy to practice or properly prep before. The mu was fine, the team had flaws, and my play was bad.
W4
Although I did win this week, I wasn't really happy with either my prep nor my play. I loaded a team I really liked that zaza built and I fixed and edited and tested a couple months back. I was comfy on it. But this team was probably better used in a different week, such as W3 or W5. I got a weird and probably bad mu and I didn't play ideally and had some luck go my way.
W5
My worst loss.
The main issues: Self-doubt and tilt. This week was really bad for me because of the way I Lost. I didn't have too much time to prep, and I thought of two routes to go this week. Either HO or stall. I brought offense quite a lot and full stall was not something I brought often, but I didn't have time to do my proper prep, of looking into the opponent's habits in team brings and play. GeniusX almost never loses to stall. It was a bad play to bring it. I didn't know that before since I didn't pay attention. I was advised by team members to just stall him, especailly since my other team had a celebi. In hindsight, the celebi would have been way more effective than this stall. I also had decent chances to win, but my tilt allowed me to make many suboptimal moves.
W6
After week 5, I decided I run back to what made Ruffles, Ruffles. Bringing heat techs and banking on suprrise factors and the opponents unfamiliriaty. I had this team for a couple months now and I prob ran close to 50 battles with it on the ladder and maybe a random tour win. I just loaded it, with enough time to only get 3 practice games on the ladder right before my game lol. It worked tho.
So although I won, and was happy with most of my play, I was not really happy with me prep, although I liked the way I did my prep, albeit small.
W7
My first content loss. I absolutely had no time to prep or practice this week, and i was going up against one of the best ORASers in the week, so I kind of just steeled myself. I brought something heat, I got a decent matchup, and I played pretty well. I do not regret my choices this week. What I do regret was the lack of focus I had during the game (Had to play at night after a long day) and with plaiyng something as fragile as TR, 1-2 mistakes (which did happen) can blow the whole game. I did get close tho and hax did not favor me. Getting para's with Tri attacks using a TR team really really sucks, especailly when I was getting way more fully para'd then my opponent. Nonetheless, it was fun, and I tried my best given the circumstances. In my opinion, it was still much better than W3, so I wasn't too mad.
W8
Again, not much time. Luckily, I had this team made early in SPL and I liked it, and had some practice games on it. I loaded it, got a decent mu, got lucky at the end. I hated how I played this game, I feel like I made multiple mistakes. I was unfocused.
W9
My biggest regret was me not caring about W9 since we were already (basically) in. I wish I just brought a good team and played my heart out. Instead I brought a team I was still testing and a playstyle I was still experimenting with. And another weak I didn't play well, although the crit on keldeo did suck. CM on Serp was just funny tbh I was laughing during the game. I was low on time and calculating so many different lines trying to win outside of sball crit on enemy zam or win speed tie, and I found one but didn't account for Contrary.
SemiFinals
I really really did not want to lose to Fade, mainly because everyone was predicting him to win and doubting me once again. This was actually an exception where I was mostly happy with my prep and play. I had some extra time this week that I used in prep. I prepped during work. I was thinking about my prep going to sleep; lmao. I still haven't had time to practice the team outside of like 3-4 games, but it was good enough.
Finals
This was, by far and away, the absolute least time I had to prep. Nonetheless, I was happy with the team I brought, but I really lacked the foucs in the game for many reasons. The reason for both the lack of focus and the lack of prep are one, but it's very private. Though I will say, I had really good chances to win the game. When Skarmory Whirlwinded Mega Tyranitar after eaitng a stone edge, there was a 50% chance the game was won on the spot immediately (bringing manaphy or thundurus out of 4 possibilities), but it brought Scolipede. Later on, not getting paralysis on Clefable or Mega Alakazam, nor from the mew on the clef, was 0/3 paras. Then, Mega Tyranitar being +1 missing on Skarmory was a huge blow, because it won the game on the spot once again since it brought Manaphy out. Then, the game still had a chance to be won if Manaphy's Scald burnt. Finally, if Scolipede killed the Skarmory or Flinched it with Rock Slide, I also win. I truly believe that if I got any of these I win. Not getting any of these is abuot 1.5%. This might be just my salty side talking but eh this is just mons it happens. Bad mu with bad luck. It do be what it do. I want to focus more on the misplays and sub-optimal plays I made, and I did make some.
Overall thoughts
It's really disappointing to dominate the entire year in ORAS, only to end up 6-5 in SPL, something I thought I would do so much better in. I have high standards for myself, but I do also have to be realistic. This level of result is already pretty good considering how little prep I put in. I mostly floated on my previous prep before SPL. I got lucky in some games, I got unlucky in others. It kind of balances out. I brought some really heat teams, which I'm very proud of.
Things I learned:
2026 SPL Gameplan
My 2025 SPL gameplan was to get more consistent as a player and a builder, and to also form a team of support around me. I am happy with both of these, but I do think I will make changes going to 2026.
1. 2025 ORAS VR Update (personally and a project from the mod team)
2. An RMT
3. A total of three teams shared in ORAS bazar by WCOP.
This, combined with the teams I posted in Samples, is much more than I have done in 2024 alone. I will do more after WCOP. For now, an RMT and 3 teams in bazard (alongside 3-4 teams in samples) is more than enough considering my time committment. Follow my signature if you want to stay updated when these release
Although SPL is not done, ORAS in SPL is officially done. I want to go over my journey
W1
My first win and a dominating one. Good prep, good practice on the team, good matchup (prep worked), good execution.
W2
Another dominating win. Good prep, good practice on the team, good matchup (prep worked), good execution.
W3
My first loss.
The main issue: Time. Starting W3 my time was basically significantly cut, as school and other life responsibilities came knocking on the door. When I signed up, I didn't think I'd be this busy - a mix of responsibilities either underestimated or unexpected. From W3 to the finals, I had very little time, with some weeks being worse than others. W3, W7, W8, and Finals were the worst weeks when it came to having time.
Starting week 3, I had either too little time to prep, practice my teams, and/or focus during my game. I played a game from my phone. I played two games from the student home I was in, with 7 students cramped in a small place and bad wifi. Some games I had to play right before I sleep on a weekday as I had no better time. I played the finals from a hotel room with shaky internet. Although this could easily be a valid excuse, to me it is not. It showed very evidently to me that I'm not the good player I thought I was - I relied on prep and environment way more than I thought.
For this week specifically, I changed one mon from W2 and changed the sets up a bit. Well, it was already a made team and I loaded it with maybe 1-2 games on it. I played early on Thursday or something. I was too busy to play afterwards and too busy to practice or properly prep before. The mu was fine, the team had flaws, and my play was bad.
W4
Although I did win this week, I wasn't really happy with either my prep nor my play. I loaded a team I really liked that zaza built and I fixed and edited and tested a couple months back. I was comfy on it. But this team was probably better used in a different week, such as W3 or W5. I got a weird and probably bad mu and I didn't play ideally and had some luck go my way.
W5
My worst loss.
The main issues: Self-doubt and tilt. This week was really bad for me because of the way I Lost. I didn't have too much time to prep, and I thought of two routes to go this week. Either HO or stall. I brought offense quite a lot and full stall was not something I brought often, but I didn't have time to do my proper prep, of looking into the opponent's habits in team brings and play. GeniusX almost never loses to stall. It was a bad play to bring it. I didn't know that before since I didn't pay attention. I was advised by team members to just stall him, especailly since my other team had a celebi. In hindsight, the celebi would have been way more effective than this stall. I also had decent chances to win, but my tilt allowed me to make many suboptimal moves.
W6
After week 5, I decided I run back to what made Ruffles, Ruffles. Bringing heat techs and banking on suprrise factors and the opponents unfamiliriaty. I had this team for a couple months now and I prob ran close to 50 battles with it on the ladder and maybe a random tour win. I just loaded it, with enough time to only get 3 practice games on the ladder right before my game lol. It worked tho.
So although I won, and was happy with most of my play, I was not really happy with me prep, although I liked the way I did my prep, albeit small.
W7
My first content loss. I absolutely had no time to prep or practice this week, and i was going up against one of the best ORASers in the week, so I kind of just steeled myself. I brought something heat, I got a decent matchup, and I played pretty well. I do not regret my choices this week. What I do regret was the lack of focus I had during the game (Had to play at night after a long day) and with plaiyng something as fragile as TR, 1-2 mistakes (which did happen) can blow the whole game. I did get close tho and hax did not favor me. Getting para's with Tri attacks using a TR team really really sucks, especailly when I was getting way more fully para'd then my opponent. Nonetheless, it was fun, and I tried my best given the circumstances. In my opinion, it was still much better than W3, so I wasn't too mad.
W8
Again, not much time. Luckily, I had this team made early in SPL and I liked it, and had some practice games on it. I loaded it, got a decent mu, got lucky at the end. I hated how I played this game, I feel like I made multiple mistakes. I was unfocused.
W9
My biggest regret was me not caring about W9 since we were already (basically) in. I wish I just brought a good team and played my heart out. Instead I brought a team I was still testing and a playstyle I was still experimenting with. And another weak I didn't play well, although the crit on keldeo did suck. CM on Serp was just funny tbh I was laughing during the game. I was low on time and calculating so many different lines trying to win outside of sball crit on enemy zam or win speed tie, and I found one but didn't account for Contrary.
SemiFinals
I really really did not want to lose to Fade, mainly because everyone was predicting him to win and doubting me once again. This was actually an exception where I was mostly happy with my prep and play. I had some extra time this week that I used in prep. I prepped during work. I was thinking about my prep going to sleep; lmao. I still haven't had time to practice the team outside of like 3-4 games, but it was good enough.
Finals
This was, by far and away, the absolute least time I had to prep. Nonetheless, I was happy with the team I brought, but I really lacked the foucs in the game for many reasons. The reason for both the lack of focus and the lack of prep are one, but it's very private. Though I will say, I had really good chances to win the game. When Skarmory Whirlwinded Mega Tyranitar after eaitng a stone edge, there was a 50% chance the game was won on the spot immediately (bringing manaphy or thundurus out of 4 possibilities), but it brought Scolipede. Later on, not getting paralysis on Clefable or Mega Alakazam, nor from the mew on the clef, was 0/3 paras. Then, Mega Tyranitar being +1 missing on Skarmory was a huge blow, because it won the game on the spot once again since it brought Manaphy out. Then, the game still had a chance to be won if Manaphy's Scald burnt. Finally, if Scolipede killed the Skarmory or Flinched it with Rock Slide, I also win. I truly believe that if I got any of these I win. Not getting any of these is abuot 1.5%. This might be just my salty side talking but eh this is just mons it happens. Bad mu with bad luck. It do be what it do. I want to focus more on the misplays and sub-optimal plays I made, and I did make some.
Overall thoughts
It's really disappointing to dominate the entire year in ORAS, only to end up 6-5 in SPL, something I thought I would do so much better in. I have high standards for myself, but I do also have to be realistic. This level of result is already pretty good considering how little prep I put in. I mostly floated on my previous prep before SPL. I got lucky in some games, I got unlucky in others. It kind of balances out. I brought some really heat teams, which I'm very proud of.
Things I learned:
- Time is king, make sure to have plenty of it before going to SPL.
- SPL is prep heavy, and I need to account for that more.
- Trust my gut. Do not overthink stuff or over-rely on scouts.
2026 SPL Gameplan
My 2025 SPL gameplan was to get more consistent as a player and a builder, and to also form a team of support around me. I am happy with both of these, but I do think I will make changes going to 2026.
- Prep less for side tours and rely more on play
- Play more games on phone/outside of the house for side tours
- Trust my gut and do not overrely on scouts.
- Share more teams. I believe it is my responsibility as a new oras mod and I've started doing it anyways. But tbh, my strategy of hoarding teams was a mix of good and bad. I never shared teams publicly, but shared plenty privately if i was asked. I think I'm going to do the opposite this year, mainly because I relied too much on my teams/techs being private, and that warped my game plan going into games.
1. 2025 ORAS VR Update (personally and a project from the mod team)
2. An RMT
3. A total of three teams shared in ORAS bazar by WCOP.
This, combined with the teams I posted in Samples, is much more than I have done in 2024 alone. I will do more after WCOP. For now, an RMT and 3 teams in bazard (alongside 3-4 teams in samples) is more than enough considering my time committment. Follow my signature if you want to stay updated when these release
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Hi everyone. After these last few runs I have been a part of between Midwest 2024 and Classiest 2025 as a dedicated builder, I feel obligated to put my stamp on a few things here and document some teams.
My name is KlefkiHolder. It's a cringey old name I made way back in 2013 (I was a kid!). IDK how many of y'all know me but I've been around a bit. I'm not really much of a player. I've never really tried to be and its never been something I've enjoyed or taken too seriously. But I do build and have done so actively ever since Mega Gengar and Kangaskhan meta. Some of my teams have popped up here and there in officials but its really this last year where I've had more direct impact. I used to run the OU room back in the day so maybe you saw me there, or if you're old enough maybe you saw me back in bof. I have no personal sheet games either. Just to quickly touch on my process, I am very scout focused. I am also very aggressive. Everything is rooted in multi-mon synergy attacking specific trends I see of what people prefer. I wouldn’t call them fishes or counterteams (except in a few cases here) but of course everything is very much focused on taking advantage of a tournament best-of-1 setting and maximizing odds on preview.
You may know my dear friend Gingy better. I'm sort of his right hand man and have been for over a decade so a lot of my influence has been via proxy thru him. We've sort of developed a lot of systems through the year and in my opinion, quite a few unique styles and structures.
I’ve been in Midwest for a long time and I want to touch on this and our last world cup first as its sort of a prelude to SPL. It is out of scope of this thread some so I’ll make it a collapsable box:
Midwest WCOP 2024:
Anyways, going onto SPL, starry had this idea of just arranging a marriage between me as a helper and whoever they got because of the WCOP run. That ended up being pj (aka praj), who I never have actually talked to. We had to get to know one another pretty fast in this whole thing and basically just had a loose connection through Mannat. I’ll quickly (or try to) go week by week here.
Classiest Regular Season Notes:
SPL Playoffs:
So that was that. Apologies for how long winded that was but theres a lot of games to cover. This really was surface level detail on a lot of things and I could get a lot more into the specific concepts we chose week to week. 6-5 in SPL isn’t amazing, I don’t want to oversell it, but it’s solid. Still, I think our missteps were major learning moments as well.
For me, this run has just been so fortunate. I need to thank so many of the people I’ve gotten to work with, especially Starry for trusting in me and commissioning me to do much of this. We go wayyy back and its just so funny to look at what we’ve done. And of course, Gingy for everything over the years as well and constantly doing quality control for me through all of the above.
I have a lot of firm beliefs as a prepper but also as someone who manages a player in general (preppers are sort of like mini-managers at times). You must, MUST always remain positive. Keep putting in the work, keep acting with conviction. You’re in your spot for a reason. Some of the stuff I see where people are directly negative of their teammates rubs me in such a wrong way. Praj and I worked so well together because we both had this mindset of just attacking an idea and moving on if the results were good OR bad because there was more work to be done. In this game, so much of it is a crapshoot and you can lose a week in a single turn. As long as the work is sound and you UPLIFT your players, the results will come. And speaking on that, conviction is sooooooo key. I don’t care if you flamed out the week before, you need to not second guess yourself constantly. Waffling never leads to good decisions in my opinion. Looking at some of our losses, I think two of them are directly down to us not committing hard enough.
And just one other note, own the losses too. Your player’s resume is your resume. Remember that.
A few meta notes – I think the tier is in a fantastic spot. There isn’t anything I would even think about changing in it. I’ve always loved ORAS because of how many things are viable within it. There are near 20 megas I would consider tournament viable. For us, we used 10 in our 11 games, only re-using Zam in finals! You look at some of what we didn’t use and its Diancie, ZardY, Slowbro, Pinsir, etc. And in the normal pokemon, theres a wide amount of mons as well that you can totally use. At thee end of the day, we used fairly standard stuff. I’d get told it was creative but everything comes down to the roles you slot into a team. Roles are roles. I want to encourage people to not get so bogged down by what they think the meta is and focus more on what Pokemon accomplish the specific thing you need them to do, especially in a team tournament, best of 1 setting. At the end of the day, all that matters is the 6v6 you load into.
And last thing, pj. Holy shit man. This dude is the best. I have NEVER seen a player with a better mentality than him. He is absurdly calm and ridiculously nice. I don’t know if he is even capable of being mean. He constantly let me push him past his comfort zone and even when I totally shot down some of his ideas he would never complain. He rules. He’s the fucking man. I cannot say enough about praj. I know he’s not a new dude on the block or anything – but seriously, congrats my guy, you EARNED it.
If you have actually made it this far, I applaud you. I wrote far too much here and my apologies. If you have any questions or insights, I'm pretty often on discord, you'll see me as just kh with a Crash Bandicoot picture there.
A few other quick shoutouts, shoutout my guy Finchinator for always believing in me, shoutout the old fart Groudon for his season, shoutout my new best friend Vileman and shoutout my man Tace. Shoutout MANNAT as well, came in clutch in finals when we got him involved as well. He has long been a part of this whole thing and a big supporter of mine. We go wayyy back to 2013 as well.
Shoutout as well to all of Classiest and Midwest. I've met so many good people and so many who have carried us especially in this SPL. I won't get into it all here but you know who you are.
2024 WC+2025 SPL Full team dump and scout:
Finally, those who know me know I spend a good bit of time studying other sports, mostly American football. I love this old expression from Don Brown, who is a very renowned defensive coach. It encapsulates everything we have been about:
My name is KlefkiHolder. It's a cringey old name I made way back in 2013 (I was a kid!). IDK how many of y'all know me but I've been around a bit. I'm not really much of a player. I've never really tried to be and its never been something I've enjoyed or taken too seriously. But I do build and have done so actively ever since Mega Gengar and Kangaskhan meta. Some of my teams have popped up here and there in officials but its really this last year where I've had more direct impact. I used to run the OU room back in the day so maybe you saw me there, or if you're old enough maybe you saw me back in bof. I have no personal sheet games either. Just to quickly touch on my process, I am very scout focused. I am also very aggressive. Everything is rooted in multi-mon synergy attacking specific trends I see of what people prefer. I wouldn’t call them fishes or counterteams (except in a few cases here) but of course everything is very much focused on taking advantage of a tournament best-of-1 setting and maximizing odds on preview.
You may know my dear friend Gingy better. I'm sort of his right hand man and have been for over a decade so a lot of my influence has been via proxy thru him. We've sort of developed a lot of systems through the year and in my opinion, quite a few unique styles and structures.
I’ve been in Midwest for a long time and I want to touch on this and our last world cup first as its sort of a prelude to SPL. It is out of scope of this thread some so I’ll make it a collapsable box:
Midwest WCOP 2024:
So last year, we had Dice as our starter initially. I was in there talking with him from time to time but I wasn’t too involved for him. Meanwhile, I was making my own stuff on the side and trying to be available as a bouncing board if need be. Anyways, we had some things happen in quarterfinals that thrusted Mannat into the lineup. I worked with Mannat some but him and Gingy ended up taking things a different direction from what I was doing. After Mannat won though, the dude got himself banned LOL, so we all of a sudden were in a pickle in ORAS!
We discussed a few options but what we landed on (and what I lobbied for) was basically to let me and avarice cook. We had to matchup vs McMeghan! We didn’t have much of a scout to go off of and I figured we would catch something sort of like a Gliscor-Clef balance or something of similar defensive structure. The odds were not great and we were sort of scrambling some but I had sent avarice some DD Megatar+Specs Magnezone stuff (https://pokepast.es/2e211ecac056f2fb). In the meantime, I focused on some specs KyuB+MegaSciz stuff but that was a dead end. Avarice actually ended up tweaking my initial build and when I saw a specs Latias, I went “hell yes” and we rolled with it. I love the pressure states on this team and it exploits Clefable+bulky water rooted cores very well. We had a pretty good matchup and one crazy part of this game is it set up the tiebreak of the series, which we won.
https://pokepast.es/1dc0a1b8df2e4563
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-779150
Moving onto finals, we had another big task in Santu. Two heavy hitters! Santu is a player with such hard reliance on a lot of sound defensive structures. These are the matchups I love prepping for the most. I love to load up on heavy breakers and attack and avarice was likeminded. I had a few ideas of a variety here but we ultimately went with one of our boring routes. I need to give credit to Gingy too, we got him directly involved and we as a collective made the bones of this in call. Then avarice came back with some nice quirks on the sets. Our matchup ended being very strong [https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-781544] and the game went very smooth. This team as is pretty flawed vs people you expect to bring more offensive threats but in this matchup it made perfect sense.
https://pokepast.es/95b00e0df7a53ac1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-781544
One last note on all of this but I need to give massive props to avarice. I know some people try to discredit what he did but he dealt with a ton of BS these weeks and a ton of noise. Ultimately, while guided by our group, he made these teams and executed them to an even higher level. I have soooo much respect for him in this environment. I also have to give props to our whole MW team for giving us the space to do our thing and run things like AV Azumarill in 2024, especially to starry for giving me the trust to put things together. It's still so funny to me we actually won world cup LOL. But hey, I guess we proved it again.
We discussed a few options but what we landed on (and what I lobbied for) was basically to let me and avarice cook. We had to matchup vs McMeghan! We didn’t have much of a scout to go off of and I figured we would catch something sort of like a Gliscor-Clef balance or something of similar defensive structure. The odds were not great and we were sort of scrambling some but I had sent avarice some DD Megatar+Specs Magnezone stuff (https://pokepast.es/2e211ecac056f2fb). In the meantime, I focused on some specs KyuB+MegaSciz stuff but that was a dead end. Avarice actually ended up tweaking my initial build and when I saw a specs Latias, I went “hell yes” and we rolled with it. I love the pressure states on this team and it exploits Clefable+bulky water rooted cores very well. We had a pretty good matchup and one crazy part of this game is it set up the tiebreak of the series, which we won.
https://pokepast.es/1dc0a1b8df2e4563
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-779150
Moving onto finals, we had another big task in Santu. Two heavy hitters! Santu is a player with such hard reliance on a lot of sound defensive structures. These are the matchups I love prepping for the most. I love to load up on heavy breakers and attack and avarice was likeminded. I had a few ideas of a variety here but we ultimately went with one of our boring routes. I need to give credit to Gingy too, we got him directly involved and we as a collective made the bones of this in call. Then avarice came back with some nice quirks on the sets. Our matchup ended being very strong [https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-781544] and the game went very smooth. This team as is pretty flawed vs people you expect to bring more offensive threats but in this matchup it made perfect sense.
https://pokepast.es/95b00e0df7a53ac1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-781544
One last note on all of this but I need to give massive props to avarice. I know some people try to discredit what he did but he dealt with a ton of BS these weeks and a ton of noise. Ultimately, while guided by our group, he made these teams and executed them to an even higher level. I have soooo much respect for him in this environment. I also have to give props to our whole MW team for giving us the space to do our thing and run things like AV Azumarill in 2024, especially to starry for giving me the trust to put things together. It's still so funny to me we actually won world cup LOL. But hey, I guess we proved it again.
Anyways, going onto SPL, starry had this idea of just arranging a marriage between me as a helper and whoever they got because of the WCOP run. That ended up being pj (aka praj), who I never have actually talked to. We had to get to know one another pretty fast in this whole thing and basically just had a loose connection through Mannat. I’ll quickly (or try to) go week by week here.
Classiest Regular Season Notes:
Week 1 vs Ruffles, we were still getting to know one another and our prep got a bit derailed so I’m not gonna go the most into this one. We originally were working on Pursuit+Medi stuff but pivoted to more of a comfort pick. In the end we got farmed. The end result was fairly different from the initial concept, but still had some of the bones of it so it was a bit disjointed. My biggest comment here is that when you pick an idea, you shouldn’t lose sight of the foundation of it and that became a theme for us later on. In this particular game, we picked a route with distinct pressure states and then kneecapped our ability to maintain those pressure states. That was something we wanted to correct going forward.
https://pokepast.es/55158a5ac5d73574
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-815051
Week 2 vs Axel is when we really took a shift and leaned more into what I was sort of wanted to do. I LOVE this team. It’s out there but I love it. For this week I knew I wanted to attack Axel’s steel cores he relied on. He had a ton of double steel usage. The team we used is a Gingy team we developed last WCOP. I sort of had an epiphany one day about eject button Manaphy, but still with its standard 3 atk moveset, and then ging put the team together around double dance ZardX. This team is a little theoretical but in essence what the Manaphy does is tri-fold
https://pokepast.es/b1346f49b601f300
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-816266
Week 3 vs lighthouses, this was a fairly straightforward week. After the previous two weeks I wanted to go to something a bit more comfortable for praj. We actually re-used an old team of his I knew he had used with some of the bones I wanted (Zam + CB Tar) and that we tried to use week 1. I sort of nudged him into posting this without asking for it and we had this locked extremely early in the week. I think praj played one of his best games in the season here.
https://pokepast.es/52cb6a37a4727d92 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-817651
Week 4 was definitely the highlight of the season for me. I made a tonnnnnnn this week and also had a lot of unused stuff from WCOP finals we considered. With Santu I felt pretty free to commit hard to some anti-fat structures while accepting weaknesses vs certain offensive cores. I mean, you can look at the paste yourself, it’s a lot of setup and direct trading. This is a CT.
I had two parallel concepts – the original one was actually based off SD Megachomp sand (more on that later), and then I pivoted to a Megatar idea too with SD LO Chomp (one of my absolute favorite breakers), which is the one we eventually picked. Both were rooted in having a strong dark stab with plot Thundurus. The Terrakion part of what we chose was due to how synergistic it was with Garchomp and how strong it was into Skarmory-based cores. The paste below has my version but on the morning of the game, we actually changed it from SD to Scarf Rocks due to some late-stage Lopunny fears. The one thing we added in our testing was taunt to Megatar as with the Serp set as is, it was a little inconsistent maintaining our pressure especially vs SkarmChans stuff.
The team itself is a very old general structure for me, it is loosely based off of a Feraligatr offense of mine, but the mons chosen are quite different. It’s a bit of a throwback in terms of the Terrakion usage in particular.
I think the replay speaks for itself, Santu does a good job of summarizing things there within. On preview, I was pretty excited, especially since he loaded the same 6 as in WCOP finals.
https://pokepast.es/eece16fb74792c34
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-818341
Weeks 5 and 6 I was on vacation so I wasn’t really building much and we dug into the well. Week 5 vs Beste I wanted to lean on praj’s comfort some more so I just asked him for teams he had that fit what I was looking for. We decided to go for a volcarona+metagross route and praj had something which worked pretty well. One other thing we looked at here was non-traditional Cloyster stuff but nothing got across the finish line.
https://pokepast.es/a664dd594ae06415
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-820257
Week 6 vs Garay I felt pretty confident we were gonna catch some sort of Lando offense, which we did! While I’m here, I think Garay’s team vs us was one of my favorites all tour. I really like what he is doing with the Lando+Garde here.
I had a few different concepts this week, going into the well for some of my old rains… I had a team build around mixed Dragonite and Metagross as well that I think would’ve done well. The team we chose is a gingy offense actually and I still really liked our matchup but Garay had a great lead sequence and Serp set that took the game off rails quick. BTW - Congrats on the season, Garay! Super cool dude. Super well deserved.
https://pokepast.es/9cd4ac80c4991947
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-821717
I was back home by Week 7 and this was definitely my poorest showing of the season. We had a bit of writers block and never got something everyone liked so we just sorta stole something last minute and tried to shore it up vs stall. I liked the team but the matchup we pulled was pretty bad…. I own this one completely. We knew to prep for the extremes properly but I did a poor job here. Apologies to the original team creators as well, our panic should not be reflective of you.
https://pokepast.es/a75ed5566dcde551
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-822912
Week 8 – This was the earliest we locked anything all tour. I was so mad from having my pants down vs stall and I thought there was a chance we face it or something a bit more defensively rooted again so we rage-picked that Sunday night from our pool of unused teams from the Santu week. We went with my favorite Megachomp sand from that.
The team as is is definitely fishy and if you want it to be more generally optimal, you should change Manaphy to something like Slowbro. You can also make Heatran an Excadrill, but for the matchups we were targeting, this team is SO strong. Also, it just looks menacing.
A few notes on this structure - I think Megachomp has always been extremely underrated. It is an elite tournament mega for fat matchups. The version we used is Dragon Claw > Draco because we wanted to be more Gliscor sound, but this is loosely based off of a gingy team from COVID using this set. It does very well into a lot of Lando, Rotom, Slowbro, etc balances/BOs as well as strong fat matchups and if you want to tweak it to be better vs Lopunny offense, feel free! The structure is lacking Excadrill as I felt it is better to maximize Garchomp by having a choiced Tyranitar, and Drill on these sorts of teams is a half measure against many one-off threats but not super reliable into much, to put it short. The game itself went very well.
https://pokepast.es/af0606a7a5258a9a
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-824096
Week 9 – So this week, I was requested to make a Mega Garde team because “it’s our mascot.” We were basically locked into the 1 seed so we had a little bit of fun. To give you an idea, I was posting Talonflame+Chesnaught stuff in our channel to keep it light. I don’t want to make excuses though, we were trying to win this week. I pulled out a pretty archaic Latios set to make a Taunt Gli + Wisp Garde + CM LO Lati team. We had a few other ideas I probably would’ve preferred to do instead but you know, orders are orders. I actually don’t like this team in hindsight, I think it’s awkward. The game itself got derailed some by early wisp misses and we had other bad luck but honestly I think we deserved to lose for messing around a bit. Overall though, our matchup was decent still.
Also while we’re here, shoutout to Jon for sniffing my involvement here out. Thanks for remembering me. I thought your assessment of what we were doing was very fair. Much of what we used in the regular season had weaknesses defensively but those were always planned in our matchups. Every week I would make a checklist of threats we needed answers to and some we could be more lax on (of course, there’s still risk there).
Last thing but I also had some Klefki offense with LandoGarde this week. I liked it actually and I thought it’d be super funny to use our mascot + my namesake but that was a little too silly I suppose….
https://pokepast.es/7face450be79d80a
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-824951
https://pokepast.es/55158a5ac5d73574
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-815051
Week 2 vs Axel is when we really took a shift and leaned more into what I was sort of wanted to do. I LOVE this team. It’s out there but I love it. For this week I knew I wanted to attack Axel’s steel cores he relied on. He had a ton of double steel usage. The team we used is a Gingy team we developed last WCOP. I sort of had an epiphany one day about eject button Manaphy, but still with its standard 3 atk moveset, and then ging put the team together around double dance ZardX. This team is a little theoretical but in essence what the Manaphy does is tri-fold
- Lead. You just lead manaphy into a lot of matchups especially if you catch a bulky ground setter. The ability there is its setup threatens, its coverage threatens a lot of “safe” leads directly. This allows you to establish the tone for a huge amount of games.
- Pivot. Mana’s bulk gives a free in for weav/zard/serp quite often. It's bulk gives you critical trades to get one of your threats in for free. This can thwart mid ground plays quite easily especially for certain uturn targets for weavile specifically (genies!!)
- It allows Mana to be used as a mid game trader of a specific hit it needs to take once of a slower threat (Rotom is a big thing here), but then you can still lunar it as a sweeper
https://pokepast.es/b1346f49b601f300
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-816266
Week 3 vs lighthouses, this was a fairly straightforward week. After the previous two weeks I wanted to go to something a bit more comfortable for praj. We actually re-used an old team of his I knew he had used with some of the bones I wanted (Zam + CB Tar) and that we tried to use week 1. I sort of nudged him into posting this without asking for it and we had this locked extremely early in the week. I think praj played one of his best games in the season here.
https://pokepast.es/52cb6a37a4727d92 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-817651
Week 4 was definitely the highlight of the season for me. I made a tonnnnnnn this week and also had a lot of unused stuff from WCOP finals we considered. With Santu I felt pretty free to commit hard to some anti-fat structures while accepting weaknesses vs certain offensive cores. I mean, you can look at the paste yourself, it’s a lot of setup and direct trading. This is a CT.
I had two parallel concepts – the original one was actually based off SD Megachomp sand (more on that later), and then I pivoted to a Megatar idea too with SD LO Chomp (one of my absolute favorite breakers), which is the one we eventually picked. Both were rooted in having a strong dark stab with plot Thundurus. The Terrakion part of what we chose was due to how synergistic it was with Garchomp and how strong it was into Skarmory-based cores. The paste below has my version but on the morning of the game, we actually changed it from SD to Scarf Rocks due to some late-stage Lopunny fears. The one thing we added in our testing was taunt to Megatar as with the Serp set as is, it was a little inconsistent maintaining our pressure especially vs SkarmChans stuff.
The team itself is a very old general structure for me, it is loosely based off of a Feraligatr offense of mine, but the mons chosen are quite different. It’s a bit of a throwback in terms of the Terrakion usage in particular.
I think the replay speaks for itself, Santu does a good job of summarizing things there within. On preview, I was pretty excited, especially since he loaded the same 6 as in WCOP finals.
https://pokepast.es/eece16fb74792c34
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-818341
Weeks 5 and 6 I was on vacation so I wasn’t really building much and we dug into the well. Week 5 vs Beste I wanted to lean on praj’s comfort some more so I just asked him for teams he had that fit what I was looking for. We decided to go for a volcarona+metagross route and praj had something which worked pretty well. One other thing we looked at here was non-traditional Cloyster stuff but nothing got across the finish line.
https://pokepast.es/a664dd594ae06415
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-820257
Week 6 vs Garay I felt pretty confident we were gonna catch some sort of Lando offense, which we did! While I’m here, I think Garay’s team vs us was one of my favorites all tour. I really like what he is doing with the Lando+Garde here.
I had a few different concepts this week, going into the well for some of my old rains… I had a team build around mixed Dragonite and Metagross as well that I think would’ve done well. The team we chose is a gingy offense actually and I still really liked our matchup but Garay had a great lead sequence and Serp set that took the game off rails quick. BTW - Congrats on the season, Garay! Super cool dude. Super well deserved.
https://pokepast.es/9cd4ac80c4991947
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-821717
I was back home by Week 7 and this was definitely my poorest showing of the season. We had a bit of writers block and never got something everyone liked so we just sorta stole something last minute and tried to shore it up vs stall. I liked the team but the matchup we pulled was pretty bad…. I own this one completely. We knew to prep for the extremes properly but I did a poor job here. Apologies to the original team creators as well, our panic should not be reflective of you.
https://pokepast.es/a75ed5566dcde551
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-822912
Week 8 – This was the earliest we locked anything all tour. I was so mad from having my pants down vs stall and I thought there was a chance we face it or something a bit more defensively rooted again so we rage-picked that Sunday night from our pool of unused teams from the Santu week. We went with my favorite Megachomp sand from that.
The team as is is definitely fishy and if you want it to be more generally optimal, you should change Manaphy to something like Slowbro. You can also make Heatran an Excadrill, but for the matchups we were targeting, this team is SO strong. Also, it just looks menacing.
A few notes on this structure - I think Megachomp has always been extremely underrated. It is an elite tournament mega for fat matchups. The version we used is Dragon Claw > Draco because we wanted to be more Gliscor sound, but this is loosely based off of a gingy team from COVID using this set. It does very well into a lot of Lando, Rotom, Slowbro, etc balances/BOs as well as strong fat matchups and if you want to tweak it to be better vs Lopunny offense, feel free! The structure is lacking Excadrill as I felt it is better to maximize Garchomp by having a choiced Tyranitar, and Drill on these sorts of teams is a half measure against many one-off threats but not super reliable into much, to put it short. The game itself went very well.
https://pokepast.es/af0606a7a5258a9a
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-824096
Week 9 – So this week, I was requested to make a Mega Garde team because “it’s our mascot.” We were basically locked into the 1 seed so we had a little bit of fun. To give you an idea, I was posting Talonflame+Chesnaught stuff in our channel to keep it light. I don’t want to make excuses though, we were trying to win this week. I pulled out a pretty archaic Latios set to make a Taunt Gli + Wisp Garde + CM LO Lati team. We had a few other ideas I probably would’ve preferred to do instead but you know, orders are orders. I actually don’t like this team in hindsight, I think it’s awkward. The game itself got derailed some by early wisp misses and we had other bad luck but honestly I think we deserved to lose for messing around a bit. Overall though, our matchup was decent still.
Also while we’re here, shoutout to Jon for sniffing my involvement here out. Thanks for remembering me. I thought your assessment of what we were doing was very fair. Much of what we used in the regular season had weaknesses defensively but those were always planned in our matchups. Every week I would make a checklist of threats we needed answers to and some we could be more lax on (of course, there’s still risk there).
Last thing but I also had some Klefki offense with LandoGarde this week. I liked it actually and I thought it’d be super funny to use our mascot + my namesake but that was a little too silly I suppose….
https://pokepast.es/7face450be79d80a
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-824951
SPL Playoffs:
Going into playoffs, I felt okay with how things went. We started strong, going 0-1, into 4-1, but then dropping to 5-4. Still, in those 4 losses, there’s 3 weeks I would really like back and I think our prep could’ve been stronger. In semi’s vs Poek, we had a few parallel ideas, but the one we attacked from the beginning was Water Overload + Dark Overload offense, meaning we pulled in Mega Gyarados + Bisharp + Manaphy. One thing I do think bit us is when we played Poek the first time, because we sort of rage locked early on that week from our prior loss, we didn’t go through a full on prep process, and I think we tunnel visioned some in semis. Eventually though, we landed on a pretty solid double genie offense in this structure with some of our external helpers (I don’t want to take sole credit). In game, we basically loaded into a mirror.
The game itself got derailed by an early crit onto our Manaphy after we won a Serp war. In the matchup, it sort of is what it is and I don’t really want to whine about the luck considering the Serp thing. We were HP Ice for opposing Serp on lead actually but I believe he was as well for the same reason. The matchup itself is obviously even, and I’m not fully sure which side I would prefer between Zam or Gyara, but the Gyara side is definitely a bit more prone midgame, and the crit showed why. I still think it is a bad look pulling a mirror matchup though, so I wasn’t happy with myself. Thankfully, our team clutched out the week.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-826377
https://pokepast.es/2b3a9f841c330877
Going into finals, I knew for either Ruffles or Jon that I would want to do something more in line with Praj’s roots. I had several, and I mean several, different types of spikes+pivot concepts for both. When we had clarity it would be Ruffles, we knew we were going to prep for the extremes again and this time we needed to learn from the debacle in Week 7. We, as a collective, also felt that going for something far more defensively structured than what we were using was wise. The actual teambuilding process here was extremely simple. The Sunday before the game, I asked praj to just send me his own favorite spike teams, and one of them was that one sample team with FerroTran. I sorta just had a moment here, looked at that and simply deleted FerroTran in favor of SkarmChans. That was really it. My thinking here is just to match offensive extremes with the most extreme 2 mon defensive core in the tier, and having Zam and a strong pivot in Rotom gave us a lot of good answers vs offense. . This also allowed us to keep the spikes route, lessen our own weakness to opposing spikes, and be stronger into a Manaphy overload, though still admittedly susceptible. From there we just tweaked sets. We also had a few other ideas we worked on in the meantime but this concept was finalized fast and by Tuesday we came back to it. The game itself didn’t play out in a way without real danger but sometimes that is the fun of it. I liked our matchup and think we had some solid answers into some of the unknown techs we were expecting.
It wasn’t part of the plan but Ruffles actually used something quite similar the week before. Funny how that works out I suppose.
https://pokepast.es/4d0fcfe58d0d055e
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-831063
The game itself got derailed by an early crit onto our Manaphy after we won a Serp war. In the matchup, it sort of is what it is and I don’t really want to whine about the luck considering the Serp thing. We were HP Ice for opposing Serp on lead actually but I believe he was as well for the same reason. The matchup itself is obviously even, and I’m not fully sure which side I would prefer between Zam or Gyara, but the Gyara side is definitely a bit more prone midgame, and the crit showed why. I still think it is a bad look pulling a mirror matchup though, so I wasn’t happy with myself. Thankfully, our team clutched out the week.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-826377
https://pokepast.es/2b3a9f841c330877
Going into finals, I knew for either Ruffles or Jon that I would want to do something more in line with Praj’s roots. I had several, and I mean several, different types of spikes+pivot concepts for both. When we had clarity it would be Ruffles, we knew we were going to prep for the extremes again and this time we needed to learn from the debacle in Week 7. We, as a collective, also felt that going for something far more defensively structured than what we were using was wise. The actual teambuilding process here was extremely simple. The Sunday before the game, I asked praj to just send me his own favorite spike teams, and one of them was that one sample team with FerroTran. I sorta just had a moment here, looked at that and simply deleted FerroTran in favor of SkarmChans. That was really it. My thinking here is just to match offensive extremes with the most extreme 2 mon defensive core in the tier, and having Zam and a strong pivot in Rotom gave us a lot of good answers vs offense. . This also allowed us to keep the spikes route, lessen our own weakness to opposing spikes, and be stronger into a Manaphy overload, though still admittedly susceptible. From there we just tweaked sets. We also had a few other ideas we worked on in the meantime but this concept was finalized fast and by Tuesday we came back to it. The game itself didn’t play out in a way without real danger but sometimes that is the fun of it. I liked our matchup and think we had some solid answers into some of the unknown techs we were expecting.
It wasn’t part of the plan but Ruffles actually used something quite similar the week before. Funny how that works out I suppose.
https://pokepast.es/4d0fcfe58d0d055e
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-831063
So that was that. Apologies for how long winded that was but theres a lot of games to cover. This really was surface level detail on a lot of things and I could get a lot more into the specific concepts we chose week to week. 6-5 in SPL isn’t amazing, I don’t want to oversell it, but it’s solid. Still, I think our missteps were major learning moments as well.
For me, this run has just been so fortunate. I need to thank so many of the people I’ve gotten to work with, especially Starry for trusting in me and commissioning me to do much of this. We go wayyy back and its just so funny to look at what we’ve done. And of course, Gingy for everything over the years as well and constantly doing quality control for me through all of the above.
I have a lot of firm beliefs as a prepper but also as someone who manages a player in general (preppers are sort of like mini-managers at times). You must, MUST always remain positive. Keep putting in the work, keep acting with conviction. You’re in your spot for a reason. Some of the stuff I see where people are directly negative of their teammates rubs me in such a wrong way. Praj and I worked so well together because we both had this mindset of just attacking an idea and moving on if the results were good OR bad because there was more work to be done. In this game, so much of it is a crapshoot and you can lose a week in a single turn. As long as the work is sound and you UPLIFT your players, the results will come. And speaking on that, conviction is sooooooo key. I don’t care if you flamed out the week before, you need to not second guess yourself constantly. Waffling never leads to good decisions in my opinion. Looking at some of our losses, I think two of them are directly down to us not committing hard enough.
And just one other note, own the losses too. Your player’s resume is your resume. Remember that.
A few meta notes – I think the tier is in a fantastic spot. There isn’t anything I would even think about changing in it. I’ve always loved ORAS because of how many things are viable within it. There are near 20 megas I would consider tournament viable. For us, we used 10 in our 11 games, only re-using Zam in finals! You look at some of what we didn’t use and its Diancie, ZardY, Slowbro, Pinsir, etc. And in the normal pokemon, theres a wide amount of mons as well that you can totally use. At thee end of the day, we used fairly standard stuff. I’d get told it was creative but everything comes down to the roles you slot into a team. Roles are roles. I want to encourage people to not get so bogged down by what they think the meta is and focus more on what Pokemon accomplish the specific thing you need them to do, especially in a team tournament, best of 1 setting. At the end of the day, all that matters is the 6v6 you load into.
And last thing, pj. Holy shit man. This dude is the best. I have NEVER seen a player with a better mentality than him. He is absurdly calm and ridiculously nice. I don’t know if he is even capable of being mean. He constantly let me push him past his comfort zone and even when I totally shot down some of his ideas he would never complain. He rules. He’s the fucking man. I cannot say enough about praj. I know he’s not a new dude on the block or anything – but seriously, congrats my guy, you EARNED it.
If you have actually made it this far, I applaud you. I wrote far too much here and my apologies. If you have any questions or insights, I'm pretty often on discord, you'll see me as just kh with a Crash Bandicoot picture there.
A few other quick shoutouts, shoutout my guy Finchinator for always believing in me, shoutout the old fart Groudon for his season, shoutout my new best friend Vileman and shoutout my man Tace. Shoutout MANNAT as well, came in clutch in finals when we got him involved as well. He has long been a part of this whole thing and a big supporter of mine. We go wayyy back to 2013 as well.
Shoutout as well to all of Classiest and Midwest. I've met so many good people and so many who have carried us especially in this SPL. I won't get into it all here but you know who you are.
2024 WC+2025 SPL Full team dump and scout:
Finally, those who know me know I spend a good bit of time studying other sports, mostly American football. I love this old expression from Don Brown, who is a very renowned defensive coach. It encapsulates everything we have been about:
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