SoulWind vs Cow
Cow’s team:
SoulWind’s team:
I enjoyed both players’ teams. Cow brought a sand team with two strong Psychic-type attackers in Latios and Alakazam, pairing them with Heatran to help against bulkier teams and with Ferrothorn for double hazard support. SoulWind showed a solid and offensive Thundurus-less rain team, not falling to his “bored mainer syndrome” as someone else said, distancing himself for now from his trend from last year.
Both players traded hazards in the first few turns, with Cow switching first to his Alakazam, only to hit Eject Button Ferrothorn. I really liked Eject Button Ferrothorn, in an offensive team such as SoulWind’s, it offers good entry points to other Pokémons. After Starmie spinned and both players revealed Scarf Landorus-T, Cow was able to kill Starmie and set Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes again with a great double switch, sacrificing his Ferrothorn. SoulWind sent his Politoed on an Alakazam switch on turn 14, killing Latios with a critical hit in the following turn. Without the crit, Latios lived, and the damage showed it was Specs Politoed. Afterwards Cow’s Heatran got sacrificed to another Surf to damage Politoed with Landorus, and both players trading their Pokémon, resulting in a SoulWind win after his Landorus-T OHKOd Cow’s Life Orb Alakazam. Overall I enjoyed both teams, probably without the crit Cow had the bigger chances of winning between the two players.
If you want an awesome in-depth commentary, go watch and like
LuckOverSkill ’s video about this game
GaryTheGengar vs Star
GaryTheGengar’s team:
Star’s team:
Star brought an Heatran Bulky Offense Sand team, with the same 6 as the Heatran FWG sample. GaryTheGengar brought a very interesting weatherless hyperoffense team, with two strong Ice type physical attackers in Kyurem-Black and Mamoswine. Immediately from the start, Conkeldurr proved to be problematic to Star’s team, after missing and then hitting Toxic with Keldeo, he switched back to Celebi. After some back and forth, Gary traded his Starmie to spin against Tyranitar, providing a great entry point to Mamoswine, that with Substitute was able to KO Celebi, the only Pokémon that could check Conkeldurr. After trading two Pokemon each, Conkeldurr was able to sweep in the endgame. I found it very interesting to see Rocky Helmet Jirachi on Gary’s team, where as it’s mainly Choice Scarf in these type of HO structures. His team choice was very smart, as Star showed how much he likes and how good he is with these bulky sand teams in Invitational.
harshest vs sugarhigh
sugarhigh’s team:
harshest’s team:
harshest finally made his BW SPL debut with an aggressive rain team, with Excadrill as its spinner and Ground type. Meanwhile sugarhigh brought a strong Sand team with Reuniclus, which has a great matchup against his opponent’s squad. After both players set Stealth Rock and some damage, harshest was able to setup with Nasty Plot Thundurus-T on Ferrothorn, a threat that if left unchecked could prove to be game ending. Both players tried to reposition to find footing, and at turn 28, harshest’s Latios tricked his Choice Scarf onto Reuniclus, de facto crippling the biggest threat, after he previously stopped it with Encore Politoed. On turn 46 Thundurus-T paralyzed Rotom-W, which remained paralyzed failing to kill the genie. This momentum swing allowed harshest to open a gap and win, killing sugarhigh’s Latios with his Politoed at the end. I like some elements of both players’ teams and disliked some others. I appreciate Nasty Plot Thundurus-T’s wallbreaking power, and Excadrill’s spinning ability is necessary to provide it with many entry points. sugarhigh’s team shows a solid sand team that can answer well to most threats, even if Ferrothorn was a bit passive in this matchup.
Mako vs Dark Eeveon
Mako’s team:
Dark Eeveon’s team:
Mako makes his BW SPL debut vs. Dark Eeveon, who returns to the SPL stage after his 2024 season. Mako used an old dice’s team from 2024, that dice brought vs Eeveon himself, while Dark Eeveon brought a very creative team, with manual weather with Rain Dance Starmie, in the hopes of abusing Kingdra’s Swift Swim ability. Mako immediately gets the lead, killing Ferrothorn with Tyranitar thanks to Fire Punch. Blissey has a good matchup, as it walls Eeveon’s Kingdra, but his team has the necessary tools to make holes through the opposition, with Substitute Gengar, Scizor, and Dragonite.
Terrakion proved to be an effective revenge killer for Mako. With different RNG with the paralysis we could have had a different game. I like Eeveon’s creativity and will to innovate, experimenting with manual weather. Substitute Gengar has a lot of potential, sadly Focus Blast accuracy remains the biggest issue. Mako brought a solid team that was able to win against his opponent in the past, granting herself a good matchup.
Brine vs Monai
Brine’s team:
Monai’s team:
Sadly a disappointing game ruled by luck, after Monai’s mixed attacker Tyranitar was able to successfully freeze both Jirachi and Landorus-T on his first tries. Brine had to fight an uphill battle from there on. Brine’s team is an hyperoffense team, featuring a Life Orb Latias, Breloom, and Dragonite. Having to deal with such momentum loss since the start of the game put him in a big disadvantage. Monai’s Tyranitar was the MVP of the game, after freezing Jirachi he unfroze it cause he needed to damage it, to only freeze Landorus-T right after. With Jirachi gone, Brine lost his only check to Trick Room Reuniclus. Then Monai managed to prevent any of Brine’s threats to snowball or force enough damage to get him in the lead.
Alpha Ruiners: sugarhigh, Fakes, Dababy2, Tizio Potente Ao
Circus Maximus Tigers: Cow, Finchinator
Congregation of the Classiest: Dark Eeveon, Sheik :, LB
Cryonicles: GaryTheGengar, Zokuru
Dragonspiral Tyrants: SoulWind, BlazingDark
Ever Grande BIGS: Mako, JustFranco
Indie Scooters: Brine, elodin
Stark Sharks: harshest, Malekith
Team Raiders: Star
Wi-Fi Wolfpack: Monai, coco
