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ggs to usne, lot of very close sets you guys are hella strong. expect more deep runs from you guys in the future
bit late as always to this - I debated if I wanted to do shoutouts but decided to do it to say please draft some of the "newer" faces on this team to the scene for rbtt. beyond some very strong sheet records even you choose to ignore qualifiers, so many players passed the eye test regardless of legacy and were also just genuinely easy to team and vibe with making for a super fun team environment. lot of mvps on this team who I know are interested in rbtt and deserve the opportunity for sure, whether they've been drafted before or not.
Career Ended talked a bit already but appreciate you switching to bo5 on short notice and getting some huge wins. I think the reverse 3-0 in finals is the perfect summation of this tour for us, was great having you in a pivotal slot - blue trophy next (I thought wcop was pink when we talked oop)
Sapphire it’s been a couple years since teaming on rbtt, but looks like we get our Latias win after all 10-2 is absolutely insane, you need to give your play more credit man. appreciate you acting as a 4th manager with scheduling times and admin stuff as well, see you for more rands soon potentially?
3d Rand Bat Hero. idk if you even realized it but when you played in semis and finals, we were down by 1 both times and you locked in to help us win the week. thank you for making time for this between scl olt and some mid tour irl circumstances, cant wait to see your trophy soon
Batram you dont know this but we've played quite a bit on ladder before lmao, so was pretty excited to hear you were interested and you really didn't disappoint. I hope you enjoyed your time and felt comfy with the tour, would love to have you back in the future.
Zap everyone in the rands scene knows how good you are man, you make that shit look easy sometimes no glaze. Also greatly appreciate when you made time during a busy week to help hare out, incredible teammate and player to have around.
Click>Think think I watched ur sets on pc the most so I prob gave you more comments than everyone else LOL promise it was nothing personal. you genuinely did super well man and I enjoyed your constant activity too. good mix of charisma and gameplay, you're going places in rands for sure
yerdunc knew you more from gen 9 but guess you're like that in 6 too. I remember from your first 2 qualis sets u were playing well but mus weren't landing - needless to say, the eye test pays off. glad we got you at least one big W this week man, you will cook in rbtt
TheHorrorHare apparently you are still youthful in a team full of uncs, so you are the future of this team. some great promise from what I saw and clutch poffs wins including a gen 8 masterclass. a young champ, congrats
Texas Cloverleaf even our ex-friend malamar and some interesting ps admin server decisions couldn't prevent the clutch. me and blunder had no doubt there was no tb happening when we saw you were the last finals game, 10-2 with a 3-1 set win all business for the old gens legend.
GirlsSeeGhosts 10-1 is absurd dude, not even sure if I can call it a bounce back from last season you prob should've just been in rby from the start. would've been our semis tb pick if it came to it too, a confirmed historical performance by fran. gl in rbtt man (even if you are from qu*bec)
Seo. life of the party and a true hypeman. unfort the undefeated record couldn't last, but your spirit was still unmatched and truly infectious. when's the quaquaval dance coming though?
Enstrom can't lie was a bit hesitant after tryouts, but I'm very glad we took you in the end - great sense of humor and also actually undefeated on the sheet one flaw of the wcop format is how limited sub roles can be, so I appreciate your activity and meming even with limited playing opportunity.
Glimpse things didn't always go your way, but thank you for stepping in during regular season on short notice and I'm glad you were able to get on the board in the end. ik you had interest in a custom, hope you enjoy
King BilluCape Canaveral didn't see you guys too much but thanks for signing up and being there in the end (laughed when I saw you doubled your line count for the season in finals @billu)
IcyPenguin2 first time I think someone outside of canada has been in the server? was cool having your support and enjoyed your insight, great presence to have. us vs Midwest in poffs next year?
blundergoth my fellow captains. I have never seen someone with so much passion for this in my years on the site LOL I mean this as a compliment, just make sure not to burn yourself out. big reason for the team's cultural shift this year, your name is definitely out there now. look forward to seeing what you do next
Rage even before typing this I was always going to save you for last, a veteran who has went through many iterations of this team and through good and bad results alike. regardless of what a spreadsheet says this team would not be here without you. hope I was able to help bring the W, thanks for having me man.
ngl when I saw Team Canada this year, I thought we were going 25-35 in Groups, with a good performance being to avoid relegation. Never thought in a million years we would get 1st seed, let alone take the title. Absolutely wild but amazing ride, all the team banter, close sets, drama made it all the sweeter to win this year. Shoutouts to everyone on the team for being so wonderful to hang out with, and for absolutely killing it this tour, couldn't have asked for a better team :D
blundergoth Honestly the best thing I did for the team was pass leadership onto you, your enthusiasm for rands and the Team definitely hard carried. Rage great to have you back managing Team Canada, kinda felt wrong without you last year tbh. sunsets We finally got that W Team Latias deserved :D pleasure working with you and talking about tiebreaks that literally never happened, hope we get to team again soon!
Career Ended Big time hero for taking the hardest slot in Gen 9 Bo5. You're a really strong player, and especially proved it big time in Finals. Was really nice teaming together on Team Canada these past 3 years, hope we get to team together in other tours in the future!
3d Rand bat hero. Your record honestly doesn't do you justice, but you always clutched up when it mattered most. Mastered the art of skillful server crashing too, truly nothing in this world you can't do :fire: Really fun to watch you cook in Tiers and Draft, keep the Ws coming :D
Batram We were this close to not getting you on the team, getting a hold of you was so difficult, but it was so worth it. Amazing performance in Quals and Groups, followed by an insanely clutch Finals W. Still can't believe you play exclusively on mobile, but ig a tooltip + calcdex Batram would be too broken. Hope to see you play in RBTT later this year!
Zap Goat speaks for itself. Super fun to be on a team with you, team chat really was different without you last year. Was really nice having a more experienced player and Smogoner on the team and in chat, big team carry and mentor ngl. Also you have a bunch of 100% objectively correct opinions, great minds think alike. :handshake: Also hope we get to team again in the future!
Click>Think ngl I initially thought you were some random we pulled to fill our Gen 7 slot, but high key maybe I'm the random they pulled to fill the Doubles slot LOL. Happy that there was someone that'd yap in the Discord as much as me, really glad we got to meet through WCOR! GL with Slam and all the rands stuff, better see you winning Circuit this year!!
yerdunc I'm really eating my words when I said you were definitely the 15th player on our team last year, ended up being better than me LOL. Was super fun being on a team together, we gotta team up for another WCOP or team tour at some point. One of the most promising new players in Draft and Rands, can't wait to see what other tours you'll dominate!
Seo. You may not be undefeated in games, but you're still undefeated in chat presence. Unbelievably legendary audio clips, super funny guy, always brought a smile to our faces every time you entered chat. Bagged milk facilities around the world depended on you, and you did not disappoint. Dubs slot is for you next year, time to start your training arc :D Also still waiting for that Texas Hold Em :))))))
TheHorrorHarebaby. Fr though, you're a really strong and versatile player who was willing to rise up to the challenge of whatever slot the team needed. Was also crazy to see your progression over this season, always stepped up to the plate and delivered. Lmk if you ever get into VGC, Seniors Division is not prepared for you. Keep up the amazing work, especially for someone so young.
Also wtf is GMT-2.5, still refuse to believe that's a real timezone LOL
Texas Cloverleaf 100% the MVP of the team, clean 4-0 from last year into 10-2 this ON TOP of the absolute clutch ups in Semis and Finals, definitely the Team Canada closer we needed. Absolutely underrated Gen 4 player, and absolutely proved everyone wrong week after week. Hope we get to team again in other tours in the future! Still think it's funny that someone named Texas took home the W for Team Canada.
blundergoth Your versatility makes me wonder if putting you in Gen 3 was the play last year, but it clearly paid off for you and the team. Super skilled and versatile player, we definitely couldn't have won this without your play, enthusiasm, prep sets, management, everything. Honestly crazy to see how much you've grown since you first messaged me last WCOR (you probably don't want to think about that DM LOL)
"Recognized."
Rage You really took a big one for the team, Gen 2 is really a different breed. Filling in our Gen 2 slot and keeping your head up after each game, absolute legend.
GirlsSeeGhosts Definitely the biggest glowup on our team from last year, from 0-x to the best on our team. you gotta let me in on that secret training plan :eyes: Was a pleasure to watch your games every week, and cook your opponents in the wacky gen that is RBY. Can't wait to see your run in RBTT this year! Also Miku buddies :handshake:
Enstrom Unrivaled memes, amazing chat presence, absolute legend. Definitely hiring you to do my memes in the future. KingBillu the hidden gem of the team, every line in our Discord really hit different and motivated us to win. Also big clutch stepping up to the Gen 1 plate last year, really glad you were a part of our team these past two years! Glimpse Super appreciated step-up when we needed in in Groups, legend. Cape Canaveral hi
Had a really fun time playing randdubs again, here were some of the highlight games from my run!
Got really lucky this set, guilhoes was definitely the strongest player in my Quals pool, was disappointed we couldn't have a better set. At least I'll see them on ladder at some point.
Turn 1: Horrible lead, play was fine unless I had a better mon to sack in 6th slot
Mid Game: Played hyper aggressively and somehow got all the calls right, culminating in a Gunk Shot dodge to basically lock me the game. Without it I'd have to go Jolteon and call whether Banette goes for Protect immediately (more crackhead aggressive reads required). I think I would likely be ok with using Tera Fairy Jolteon to remove Annihilape, but it's admittedly way messier and potentially losing
I'm ngl their original player showed up late and I on my way to church so I ended up playing this set on mobile on some random bus.
Game 1: Phione was very threatening, especially after my Copperajah got burned, so my whole objective was just to remove the Phione and try to outplay with Tropius TW afterwards. The abundance of negative RNG my way didn't help, but my play was actually decent for once?!!!?!?>!
I'm honestly pretty confused about my Toxtricity sack, and not switching Tropius in first on the Cacturne slot, but the timing of TW worked out better this way. Fortunately I didn't miss Leaf Storm or Hurricane in the endgames, but it felt deserved from the earlier misses.
Game 2: My play from Turn 9 onwards was quite sloppy, but I was getting the feeling that my opponent isn't very experienced in Doubles and that I had a huge advantage, so I just started clicking buttons. I definitely didn't respect the Houndoom nearly as much as I should have (get another TR up), but Eternatus wins the Blaziken endgame anyways so random play at this point was marginally acceptable.
calling act on Bangladesh, I've waited ~2.5 hours from the time arranged with the sub, and I've given a fair effort to make this match happen over the course of the qualifying period
I was initially pretty frustrated to lose this set bc I had a perfect game record at this point and got haxed out, but I think I could have played better anyways, especially Game 2 where I kinda gave up on the MU too early.
Game 1:
I got both Head Smash calls correct and was punished by losing 1 and 2 mons per Head Smash miss, but the game was very locked for me had those hit. I thought Smudge would respect the Haze on Murkrow so I tried some to call that with some defensive switches to save my speed control, but Smudge went for Muddy Water anyways and I lost a ton of momentum off that. I also lost the 50-50 on Deoxys, which maybe would have given me minor playing chances if I got it correct. Regardless, I probably didn't have enough offense to break Tera Fighting PZ after the two Head Smash misses.
Game 2:
MU felt bad because I had nothing for Flygon, but high key I could have just played better lol.
Turn 2: People don't switch in x4 weaks unless they are teraing, no clue why I thought I could snipe a free Ice Spinner like that. Ice Spinner the Yanmega.
Turn 3: The chance to KO Volc there was about 34% so I went for it, but it was better just to go Milotic and keep Volcanion for later game endeavors since I clearly got through it fine with Milotic anyways
Turn 10: I kinda gambled on Flygon being Loaded Dice to KO it and prevent Tailwind -> Double Icy Wind, but Reshiram either gets Tailwind or Protect, so that plan wouldn't work anyways unless Smudge decided to throw or miss a fire type move. The correct play was probably to click Head Smash predicting no Reshiram switch, or Wood Hammer predicting Reshiram to switch out.
End Game: I managed to actually play it to a 10% chance Draco/Heat Wave miss to win on Turn 12 despite the bad MU, odds that would have been much more in my favor had I not been burned on Turn 9 (burn contributed 18% chip and pushed Milotic into Draco Meteor range). Technically if I went for Wood Hammer onto Palafin I could have forced another 10%, but I thought they would Close Combat Milotic + Heat Wave the Sudowoodo, so I didn't think it mattered what I killed with Sudowoodo (as Milotic would win the resulting 1v1 barring crits)
Game 1 was really weird because I had all the speed control resources but had to play really defensively to get any sort of damage off, was a long maneuvering game with a bit of positive RNG. Game was so positional that we only took the first KO on Turn 13. Shoutouts to my opponent for playing so well despite the bad MU this game.
Turn 3: Not sure why I didn't just Energy Ball + Sylveon, Politoed doesn't get Protect and forcing not Hypnosis or Tera Steel would have been a very good result.
"Midgame": Chimecho worked overtime, thank goodness it doesn't get Recover in Doubles. I couldn't get any good offense going because the mons with good defensive utility were hindered by Snarl. The Turn 15 Hurricane crit did matter, but I think I'd be guaranteed TR or TW the next turn anyways, so not the biggest deal in the world, Additionally, both would be in range of a -1 Hyper Voice from Sylveon so I wasn't too concerned. Shoutouts for double Harvest working overtime that game, making the positional game much easier for me.
Game 2: My team was really good with Orthworm, the fast normals, and Scarf Kyogre, but my opponent's predictions + my poor play costed me.
Turns 1-3: I'm not 100% sure why I hyper focused the Garchomp so much, I think I was scared of +1 [speed] Garchomp running away with the game on me. You can also seehow ineffective my playstyle is when they accurately read me. Well done to the opponent.
Midgame: The Sawsbuck was well managed, but I still have no clue why I kept trying to use Wisp so much when simple damage on Garchomp would have given me the position I needed to win. The game was lost once Garchomp got +1 Speed, my Kyogre could no longer properly deal with Garganacl, especially because of Tera Ghot Garganacl. Had I not hyperfocused the Garchomp early game, Pokemon like Dodrio and Sawsbuck would be healthier to deal with Garganacl in the endgame.
Game 3: This game kinda felt like we were both tossing the game back and forth a bit, but I didn't toss it back on the last turn.
Turns 1-3: Since that Solgaleo was the Weakness Policy set, I didn't have have Psychic Fangs or anything reliable to hit their Solgaleo so it was pretty rough.
Turn 4: Again, you don't switch in x4 Pokemon without the intention of Tera, so I decided to call the Dark Okidogi, but didn't commit fully by clicking Icicle Spear, and then was put into a sticky situation when it only 4 hit. Luckily my throw wasn't punished as Hugo clicked Snarl the next turn after expecting it to kill Avalugg (bailed by mobile)
Turn 7: We both didn't actually commit to dealing lethal damage for some reason, so firm handshakes on our throws there.
Turn 10->: At this point, Solgaleo is within range of any attack, Hatterene dies to any attack (including taking Lorb from its own attack), and there's one turn of TR. Myriad of Protect mindgames, but because Hatterene always dies to its own chip and Solgaleo outspeeds outside of Trick Room, Hugo always should Protect Solgaleo and not Protect with Oricorio.
Clicking Tailwind in that position is 100% wincon (if Hugo has it) as Solgaleo picks up the teapot, leaving Hatt to lose. Clicking Quiver Dance also wins 100% as I can only KO Oricorio by attacking with Hatterene, forcing a winning 1v2. Even if I play the winning line (no attack with Hatt + Shell Smash), I would need to crit Shadow Ball on Oricorio (1/24) to win.
After draining my timer, I decided to click Protect on Hatterene (to cover for a rogue Solgaleo attack on my passive turn) and Shell Smash hoping for an Oricorio attack or Protect. I'm further bailed of RNG when Hugo doesn't get the Double Protect, followed by no Quiver Dance on Oricorio (possibly TW set). At this point Shadow Ball is a 43.8% chance to kill, with Hugo having a 43.8% chance to kill Polteageist with Hurricane. I get lucky, and barely snatch the set.
I thought this set was pretty clean from my end, I don't think any of the hax I got really mattered.
Turn 3: Poltergeist only does 60% tops, really did not matter since a follow up CC Twave into Basculin is exactly what I want.
Midgame hax: Double Mystical power Miss was really annoying ngl, the icy wind miss followup was REALLY annoying. Still in a good spot thought since Snorlax is Band locked, ended up forcing a call on Basculin to win the game. Besides that the game was pretty straightforward from there.
Game 2 all game down to that Ceruledge on the opposing side. Honesty I'm not sure why I was so adverse to clicking Knock Off onto the Ceruledge or switching in Lando for intimidate, spamming U-Turn on Lando + Icy Wind on Empoleon was quite free with no downsides. Besides taht the set was pretty straightforward as well, got kinda lucky the Ceruledge didn't do further damage. The Fire Blast miss from Scovillain was unfortunate, but I had many resources in the back for Scovillain and Treads.
I was playing this set while walking through the British Museum, so some moves were not fully calculated through.
Game 1: Turn 5: View attachment 771886
In my defense I do live Close Combat if it is the Doubles Wallbreaker set, but it's only 33% chance and not worth the Quiver Dance. Sacrificing Keldeo or Houndoom is probably the play there. Museum was good though.
Turn 6: I couldn't have known they would bring out Indeedee, but I really need that Plusle gone, and there's literally no downside to clicking Dark Pulse onto Medicham + Close Combat into Plusle. I did forget that Plusle doesn't have Nuzzle though, which greatly impacted my thinking process there.
Game 2 Team Recreation: https://pokepast.es/10805524aaa51917
This is the game I'm referring to whenever someone asks why I'm a Twave hater. I had 3 supports + a TR Dusknoir and I still managed to hax my way through with the power of yellow magic. Clicking Twave 5 times on Uxie has to be a crime in most countries.
Turn 3: My Dusknoir rolled the TR set which forces its speed to be minimum (85), so with Thunder Wave I'm still slower than Boulder (a fact that I forgot about). I get a crucial para and remove the Ceruledge, which otherwise would have instantly won USN the game. I don't think I had Helping Hand on Uxie, but if I did, Helping Hand + Shadow Sneak would have been a winning play. If it wasn't Helping Hand, using Shadow Sneak into Knock Off on Ceruledge also would have removed the Ceruledge, which should have been the play to make there. Additionally, there's no reason to tera on Dusknoir because USN can use Bitter Blade to restore HP (no reason to risk Poltergeist tera and miss)+ Iron Boulder to knock it out anyways(as shown in game).
Maushold: I've removed their tera and most threatening sweeper, but the job is still not even close to finished Maushold runs away when not checked properly, and I've lost one of my few offensive Pokemon already. Honestly Uxie's best value came from getting free turns later in the game from para, no reason at that point to not click it. I definitely should have clicked Mystical Power on Turn 7 for damage on Victreebel/Maushold, I got trigger happy with Twave at that point. Stealth Rocks was crucial here with Scream Tail as it KOs Iron Boulder on the bench.
The game was locked by Turn 10 since the Walking Wake was Specs, but I've also calculated scenarios assuming the optimal Shadow Sneak + Knock Off play on Turn 2 and zero full-paras for my opponent below:
In summary: if I had played fully optimal, only the speed control from Twave was necessary, but my suboptimal play forced my win to be reliant on para. This assumes that USN still targets my Charizard instead of my Clefairy (there is no reason to target Zard in any scenario)
Turn 8: Maushold went for Protect, assuming that it gets it off, it would then switch in Ttar for Rock Slide + Follow Me. I'd follow up with Protect on Zard and go Play Rough onto Maushold to chip it into Heat Wave range. If it is Rock Slide, the line is much worse (but the damage dealt to Clefairy is less so the 1v1 relies a bit more on misses and paras). If it is Stone Edge, my Charizard gets to stick around, but the Clefairy 1v1 is a bit worse with dodging crits and higher damage taken (but Stone Edge can miss)
Endgame: I forgot that I had clicked Protect the turn prior, not a big deal but getting a bit of extra chip on Ttar would have been good for the Clefairy endgame. Walking Wake is actually an amazing last for me since Clefairy is decently bulky and OHKOs with Moonblast. I'm fairly sure I still lose the 1v1 against Tyranitar, but at that point I could hope for a couple paras. Surprisingly Moonblast 4HKOs Tyranitar, so getting 1-2 para was all I needed to win that endgame (assuming Knock -> Stone Edge Stone Edge, and depending on the number of high rolls/crits I get on Moonblast). If they have Rock Slide, I need 2 paras/misses or 2 crits to close out the game.
Game 1 my initial positioning against ions was kinda rough so I needed to get a bunch of calls right and/or get TW/Trick Room. My play on Turn 4 basically guaranteed that I would get the speed advantage, but ions happened to miss Icy Wind and get 4-hit Scale Shot insta lose me the game on my Tailwind/Trick Room turn. My team was good, but the line I decided to take to get speed control could have been cleaner (Talonflame on a hard/free switch).
Game 2 was all about killing the other player's special attack sweeper (Lugia, Frosmoth)
Turn 2: This Twave dodge honestly was the game changer, was definitely expecting him to click Encore or even Play Rough there, so the Twave was a great punish that came 10% shy of victory for him. Kinda didn't feel bad though since I just got scammed by 2.5% LOL. Also the tera ground onto Lugia was decently obvious, there was little reason for me to not click Ice Punch there.
Endgame: Turn 11 Helping Hand onto Giratina was so aggressive, Dazzling Gleam + Poltergeist always makes more sense there to get ship onto Toxtricity and break Multiscale on Lugia (it always clicks Recover there). The rest of the game was pretty linear from there, a Play Rough miss from Scream Tail on my Frosmoth made the endgame even more linear than it needed to be.
Game 3 was pretty linear from my end by setting up an unkillable sweeper. Camerupt was honestly very tough for my team to break, but Florges bought enough time for me to clean up the endgame with all of my resources. I probably should have gotten another Coaching onto the Florges on Turn 6, there was minimal threat to Mew + any extra HP is greatly appreciated, especially as Gliscr did negative damage switching in there.
If you want to beat the randdubs GOAT ions, just raid visit! his country :D
Game 1 was a solid game from both sides, pretty happy with my play. I started out getting most of the calls right, the odr got all the calls right, then I got all the calls right in the endgame to force the game to come down to 1 turn sleep. Tera Grass Tera Blast Pyroar and Tbolt Magmortar were my best options to hit Palafin or Gyarados respectively, so it was a strong positional game.
Game 2 Turn 1 I thought Walking Wake was faster than Squawkabilly and tried to snipe a quick double KO and immediately lost my most important mon. From there I had a terrible time trying to get Morpeko a speed boost while avoiding Froslass Wisp and Krook Intimidate and ended up hyper-focusing on certain plays. I also forgot Appletun didn't get Leech Seed so I overestimated its staying power while not reading the obvious tera on Turn 6. Rest of the game was kind of a fruitless struggle in my attempt to get a Tailwind up on Scyther. I'd like to say the MU was bad, but had I just read speed tiers on T1, the MU would be been very playable and likely favorable towards me.
Game 1 Team Recreation: https://pokepast.es/ac94bc29ee52ac1f
Team had 3 Tailwinders and Icy Wind + non-min speed Dusknoir, team was actually really good with the amount of speed control and offense it had. USN probably hates randdubs Dusknoir now
Turn 1: I again didn't check speed tiers and thought Perrserker outsped Beartic, was a pleasant surprise to see my Pokemon go down lol.
Turn 2 & 3: Peak genius play that is Wisp Tailwind. I think I wanted to keep Beartic bc I thought it was heavily nerfed while burned, but Beartic has 288 Atk and still hits really hard. Never underestimate pqlar bears.
Turn 6: I remember saying in my teamcord after the match that I wanted Dusknoir to go down so I could Tera Fire Tailwind with Reshiram and try to sweep in sun (which would have worked due to the two steel types), but Dusknoir ended up getting some really nice damage on Metagross that otherwise wouldn't have gone down so easily. The rest of the game was straightforward due to the Shadow Sneak onto the Metagross.
I'd analyze Game 2 in more detail, but I'm lazy and the Game 2 MU was basically unplayable for USN. Sinistcha + DDance Gouging Fire was pretty scary, but I had too many grass resists so it really couldn't do anything. I don't remember much about my 6th, but I thought Gouging + Sinistcha was game-threatening if they got every call right.
Game 1 Team: https://pokepast.es/4b26160b842daffd
I actually brought back a good habit of mine and saving teams as pastes for semis, should've been doing this early. I think this game was probably my worst performance with major misplays from me on Turns 1, 4, 8, 10.
Turn 1: I calc'd that Crabominable would live a Draco Meteor so I felt safe doing a double up onto Rabsca. Seeing the team I had above, Hydreigon is the way bigger threat, no idea why I decided to go for Rabsca.
Turn 4: I probably should've calc'd to see if Hippowdon would actually live a Hydreigon Draco, an extra 27-32% on Hydreigon honestly would've went a long way for the endgame. Not a total throw bc they could have attacked Magnezone, but I think the damage on Hydreigon was more valuable than the HP on Hippo.
Turn 8: ngl at this point I thought the game was guaranteed lost for me, but there was a clear out for me at that point: Keep both Oinkologne and Toucannon on the field + deny Toucannon Tailwind. At the time my last-ditch effort was to double and KO Toucannon then hope Oinkologne would attack Hoopa, allowing my Mandibuzz to live a Triple Axel from Weavile to get TW and sweep the game. At this point zuzhou probably saw the value in Hydreigon and Weavile for the endgame and likely wouldn't switch them into a Banded Hoopa Drain Punch, so the correct play was to click Drain Punch into Toucannon + Taunt Toucannon to prevent Tailwind from going up. Unless zuzhou calls this specific play and hard switches Oinkologne, this play allows me to get a second TW up and win the game. With the moves I clicked, zuzhou happened to make the one play that wins me the game, bailed.
Turn 10: Genuinely I panicked on this turn, I ran all the calcs and still made the wrong play. Barring a crit Reshiram always lives 1 attack against Weavile without Lorb, so the play was to click was to click Draco Meteor onto Hydreigon and Knock Off into Weavile to remove a potential Life Orb. Even in the worst case scenario (Hydreigon Protect + Weavile Triple Axel into Reshiram, they'd need higher rolls to KO Reshiram with a follow-up Ice Shard. Also knowing that the Hydreigon was Life Orb, there was a chance that Hydreigon didn't have Protect, so attempting to kill it was the safer play. Mandibuzz wins the 1v1 against Hydreigon after Heat Wave takes out Weavile and ~15% on Hydreigon.
Game 1 Team: https://pokepast.es/35ca7fd8c3937a4b
Pretty balanced game, I think I had the MU and a decent advantage early on, but sloppy play resulted in me consistently losing progress throughout the game, allowing the game to come down to a 50-50 call on Turn 13.
Turn 4: My Oinkologne's Play Rough onto Koraidon was eaten by para, what I deserve for para spamming lol
Turn 7: really no reason not to click Freeze Dry + Gleam there, the extra damage from Freeze Dry really would have gone a long way later down the line
Turn 10: I got scared of the 33% Tera Poison and switched out to scout. Better play would have been to click Gleam + Icy Wind to get speed control for Perrserker and Electivire in the endgame + get chip on Hoopa.
Turn 13: The 50-50 read: Does Hoopa Protect? If yes, Wild Charge into Hoopa + Moonblast into Lokix. If no, Moonblast + Wild Charge Lokix. Got the call wrong, good call by Arctic.
Game 2 Team: https://pokepast.es/71c588d454239919
I think a pretty clean game from me overall, not much from my end to discuss. I didn't have any flying or ghost resist so the MU felt pretty poor by Turn 2.
Turn 6: I'm pretty sure Arctic just wins here if he goes for Aqua Jet into Torterra + Tera Rage Fist into Delphox; I have no damage or speed to overcome that board state. Obviously Arctic didn't know my team but he is still in a good spot with a 50% +1 Ape and 3 full health mons vs my Moltres and 2 mons +tera.
Game 3 Team: https://pokepast.es/d74d78f25b200d63
in hindsight I think the MU was favored towards Arcticblast, especially after I revealed my whole team in front of Toxapex by Turn 8. However, I did have Clodsire and kinda threw that Turn 1. Overall play was fine, an unexcusable Turn 14 caused by nerves nearly cost me the set though x_x
Turn 1: At the time I thought the lead was good bc I thought Clodsire was faster than Sunflora + Haxorus couldn't kill Dialga. Both of those are incorrect. Lorb Haxorus CC has a 56% chance to KO Dialga, but is decently risky for Arctic to gamble on Turn 1. Honestly all my options kinda suck when presented the offensive threats, but the following would have been fine:
Draco Meteor into Haxorus + Clodsire switch to Tropius
Draco Meteor into Haxorus + Gunk Shot into Sunflora
Because of my errored logic I clicked Twave predicting a Haxorus switch + Gunk Shot, and lost Clodsire Turn 1, which ended up being my ideal Toxapex check.
Turn 3: Dialga really doesn't do anything on the field so it really should just be switched out (or at minimum be clicking Twave onto Cinderace), let alone protect. Switching Dialga + Drain Punch into Sunflora is a fine play. I ended up getting the call right but I really shouldn't have.
Toxapex: I really did not have anything for this since I lost Clodsire, had to dedicate 100% of my team's resources towards removing it before anything else. Slaking does actually OHKO it, but 4/5 of my opponent's Pokemon happened to have Protect so Slaking's effectiveness was really limited.
Turn 6: My idea behind going Tera Ghost was to have switching mobility from Infestation, but didn't make any sense bc it can't go for Infestation and survive Double Edge. Either I tera and attack Cinderace, or I conserve tera and attack Toxapex. I didn't have anything better to tera but it made my opponent's lines more clear.
Turn 8 & 9: Honestly there was no reason for Arctic to protect Toxapex on Turn 8, there was no damage threat and Recover would have made winning next to impossible for me. At this point my whole team was revealed to be weak to Toxapex; Arctic should have been calculating the line to win with Toxapex. The Protect on Turn 8 also allowed me to double it with Draco and Hurricane on Turn 9. Thinking a bit more now, Arctic didn't really have any switch-ins to Draco + Hurricane (assuming Tera Grass) + I didn't really have much offensive pressure with just Tropius against their two Protect mons.
Endgame: I got a bit lucky with Tropius living Pyro Ball (consolidated 58%) in addition to dodging the Burn, but Arctic should have just clicked Knock Off + Pyro Ball into Tropius to secure the win since Slaking is not a threat. Turn 13 Hurricane confusion self-hit (7%) was definitely divine intervention sent by God to let me win the game, especially after the double Hurricane miss prior. God wanted to make a point, and he delivered. I proceeded to follow up divine intervention with a spectacular throw; Tailwind + Heavy Slam wins every time barring an immediate Knock Off crit. Game ends with a max roll non-crit Knock Off into Dialga, allowing me to secure a minimum tie for Canada.
All glory from my victories belong to God, and thanks to Team Canada for giving me the opportunity to play!
10-2 is absolutely insane, you need to give your play more credit man. appreciate you acting as a 4th manager with scheduling times and admin stuff as well, see you for more rands soon potentially?
one flaw of the wcop format is how limited sub roles can be, so I appreciate your activity and meming even with limited playing opportunity.
