I really wanted to cover this set because it really shows skill expression in my opinion and was a really fun watch, probably my favorite match so far. I'm just going to cover game 1 though, as it was easily the best (in my opinion) and this is also kind of draining because of how much happens at once lmao, wanna keep this short and get this out before midnight (which won't happen spoiler).
Pregame Notes:
- Paul's matchup is pretty rough, especially against Flutter Mane under Sun, which heavily threatens his team.
- Although Paul can obtain the speed advantage with Whimsicott to circumvent this, Eric can capitalize on this by Fake Out cycling, bulking out Tailwind with Calyrex-I and Substitute Landorus, or priority spamming with Raging Bolt.
- Eric looks very good into this (would be better if Calyrex-I had Trick Room...)
- Paul's team:
https://pokepast.es/37beef0be6b5e888
- Eric's team:
https://pokepast.es/33364224e10ca84a
Game 1:
- Paul decides to lead his Calyrex-S and Incineroar, to which Eric matches with a lead of his own; Flutter Mane and Koraidon.
- Paul hard swaps Incineroar into Whimsicott and goes for Tera Fairy on Calyrex-S, calling that Koraidon would Protect in fear of Incineroar's Fake Out. Flutter Mane uses Shadow Ball into the now Fairy-type Calyrex-S and gets a Special Defense drop, at the cost of losing its Focus Sash to Astral Barrage.
- Eric, knowing that he is at risk of losing a powerful piece, swaps out Flutter Mane for Incineroar. Paul, however, knowing that his Calyrex-S drops to a Tera Normal Icy Wind from Flutter Mane + Flare Blitz from Koraidon, swaps out his Calyrex-S into his own Incineroar and Encore locks Koraidon into Protect, calling that it wouldn't swap. Even better for Paul, Eric decides to use Tera on Koraidon to avoid fainting to Draining Kiss.
- Eric swaps out his rather useless Koraidon into Calyrex-I while Paul sets Tailwind with Whimsicott. Calyrex-I would've also eaten a Knock Off from Paul's Incineroar, but Eric's Incineroar denied that with Fake Out.
- Paul swaps his Whimsicott, which is threatening nothing at all, into his Urshifu-R as Calyrex-I Protects. Incineroar launches a Flare Blitz into Calyrex-I, as Eric's Incineroar uses U-turn into Urshifu-R, notably breaking its Focus Sash. With U-turn, Eric brings in Koraidon.
- Afraid of Collision Course, Paul swaps his Incineroar into Whimsicott and uses Detect on his Urshifu-R to reposition. As expected, Eric uses Collision Course into the freshly placed Whimsicott spot as Calyrex-I attempts a Leech Seed into the Protected Urshifu-R. The sun also fades this turn.
- Now afraid of Glacial Lance or Flame Charge, Paul brings back out Incineroar in the place of Whimsicott which also lowers Calyrex-I's Attack stat thanks to Intimidate. Eric, however, is scared of the possibility that Tailwind + Surging Strikes will KO his Koraidon, so he swaps in Flutter Mane as a sacrificial piece. Urshifu-R KOes Flutter Mane as it and Incineroar both comfortably take a Glacial Lance from Calyrex-I.
- Incineroar presses Fake Out into Calyrex-I, likely preventing it from using a Leech Seed. Unfortunately for Paul, this means that Koraidon is able to take out Incineroar. The Tera Fire Koraidon does, however, almost get KOed from Surging Strikes.
- As Calyrex-S is brought in as a replacement for Incineroar, Koraidon swaps out into Incineroar to avoid being KOed by Astral Barrage. Paul accounts for this and uses Close Combat into the now Incineroar on top of Astral Barrage, KOing it whilst leaving Calyrex-I on low HP thanks to Astral Barrage.
- With low HP on both of his Pokemon, Eric Rios loses game 1 to Paul's Astral Barrage.
Some key things to note that (in my opinion) make this a special game:
- Paul really shows why he is a former world champion, being able to make really good calls on Eric (who mind you is a amazing player in their own regard) and win off of skill, even if something like the Shadow Ball SpDef drop forced him to change his game plan a bit (considering he would've been KOed by a Moonblast).
- My favorite part was probably how Urshifu-R was positioned. Paul made sure to stall out enough of Sun so that, when it was needed, Urshifu-R could easily press Surging Strikes.
- In the end of this mini rant, we see how matchups don't mean everything; if you're good enough, you can overcome it (proof: Paul won the set).
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