Monster Hunter OU should either be Spiribird wins a game (any color) or low tier Mon surprisingly revealed to be too strong for OU (somehow a regular occurrence). Our metagame gets limited gameplay and is relatively under explored since we mostly have the same 10 players that play regularly with a random spattering of new guys here and there.
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Tournament Solomods Premier League III Commencement
- Thread starter Gekokeso
- Start date
we call this "The Slither King Effect"
hello chat. i am not a manager this year, which means i can make a PR without outing my draft plan, so that's exactly what i'm gonna do!!!
1.
Mid Metangs
The obligatory #1. Unironically tho I think Nog and Jump had a stellar draft. They've got the best clickers in the entire tour aside from maybe Dave's, with names like LpZ, OLK, and ChrisPBacon standing out. qsns with Nog support will lock down the MG2 slot, Ineros is super flexible and has great past performance, gephicka will apparently go crazy in FEVGC, I'm a fraud starter but I will support every tier if given the chance, and both managers are free to support so the clickers will actually have a chance to go in. Overall an insane draft, I can see us going very far this year.
2.
Workers' Union of Gourgsokyo
My alma mater. Before even getting into the draft, both of the manager selfbuys are incredible, with FlamPoke essentially locking down the PoA slot and ana having knowledge on half the metas in the tour. THE_CHUNGLER will smash whatever meta they're put into, Smudge covers FEVGC, and shreyashhy should have DNU covered at least on the tier knowledge front. Mada, Plague, and DripLegend are good clickers who have a solid chance to perform well considering the amount of support they'll be getting. TTK tier-locking into ZA is a strange choice but I expect he'll do well if he's slotted there. The weakest link here is definitely MG2, Orangesodapop has experience in it but otherwise things are looking pretty lacking on that front. Overall this is a really stellar draft, pretty much what I'd expect from the Gourgs. A lot of their support picks were great presences in the server last PMPL and I expect the vibes will be just as strong this tour.
3.
Dave's Dusknoirs
Dave's have once again pulled the genius drafting strategy of "blow all your money on 4 good players and scrounge for the rest," which I would knock, but they keep winning tours with it so I can't really judge. Monai is a guaranteed X-0 in whatever meta he's put in, same for Xrn, spell is another amazing clicker and big tony 2014 isn't half bad either. srvoltmike is apparently a VGC player, though we know from previous years that his support will be limited to hopefully he can self-sustain, Oculars and Tempo are solid clickers who should win often enough to guarantee the team some victories, and the rest I don't know as well but I'm sure they'll do fine with Dave's support. The scariest thing here is definitely the fakemon metas, Monaipricefixed only signed up to play Best Wishes (and technically PoA), but assuming he's slotted in PoA along with Xrn in either MHOU or Touhoumons, that still leaves one fakemon meta unaccounted for, so Dave's will have to find another player comfortable enough to learn something completely new. Still a very solid draft though, and I expect Dave's to make it to playoffs once again.
4.
Terrifying Tanukiefs
A pretty top-heavy squad. They've got igiveuponaname for MHOU, and Fragments and Spammernoob are good general clickers, but there's almost no tier knowledge for most of the formats. Idk who they're planning on putting in MG2, they've got LogIce and sheepie for FEVGC but both are unproven, Akaru Kokuyo signed up for Touhou but idt they've played the tier before, LBN and lostmemories are known tour players but don't have much of a history in Pet Mods so who knows how well they'll do, and they also drafted known frauds Concept and teamo. I can see this squad doing really well in the right situation, but overall Tanukiefs' performance heavily depends on how quick their clickers can pick up the tiers they're placed in, and how well the supports they drafted can help with building for those clickers.
5.
Stamford Starlies
If Starlies do not go X-0 in DNU, they have failed as a team. Jokes aside, this is a solid draft. R8 will be great in MG2 once he's actually alive, Tanny is the only player in the entire tour with BW experience, fifi should be solid in Touhou, BenjiTho is one of very few MHOU mainers in the draft, and volcaronavgc literally has VGC in their name. NEO is probably their pick for DNU but they have like 5 DNU players so they're not lacking in that slot. Their clickers are kinda lacking, I will admit. M0onStarr and zxgzxg both have prior tour experience but have middling results, Bobsican and woo the same but with actively bad results, and SquidSpring I don't know that well but is probably their best slot for something like PoA, which they'll otherwise really be struggling to find a player for. Definitely a team with some weaker tiers, but I do see potential here.
6.
Slugma Slugma Slugmas
31.5k for Baddy in this pool is fucking crazy. Regardless, I think this draft could've gone better for the Slugs. Necas should crush in FEVGC, fiish is their Touhoumons knowledge base, Ryan&Ditto covers MHOU, and Lacks seems to be their ZA player, but otherwise clickers like Taka and Baddy are pretty much flying without support. One notable weak point here is again PoA, there weren't that many support options in the pool to begin with and Slugmas didn't pick up any of them, so hopefully they can pull something together or else they'll be hanging high and dry in the slot. Another rough spot is MG2, not really sure who they're gonna be slotting there. Slugmas are kinda relying on Quinn passing teams to half the players while also playing himself in order to do well here, so we'll see if that plan pans out.
7.
Gallade Gladiators
This is a weird one. evakiyama! and Stories are solid clickers, QT has at least played Touhoumons before, and iPetBigfoot+Evie is a proven FEVGC combo. Nashrock can do well with support but idk where they'll be slotted, Zpice is their DNU pick but idk if he'll perform, and the rest are ppl I've never heard of. Supports seem really lacking for this one, which is bad considering how much they're relying on their top clickers to pull wins, so overall I think Gallades are gonna have a rough time this tour.
8.
Earnest Espurrs
The ultimate fraud team. Everywhere I look I see frauds. pannu is a fraud, Clas is a fraud unless they're in Teramax, Paul will be playing from a nursing home, Pixie has zero records, TTTech is washed, Slikkles is pretty cool actually, and the rest are no-names except cityscapes, who is like their one good clicker. Actually seraphz is also a clicker, but like who tf is their FEVGC slot? Who tf is their support for half these tiers? pannu will be slotted in MG2 and go 1-6, ZA idek who they're slotting, and don't even get me started on the fakemon metas. Unless Paul activates his third eye and builds for half the tiers, I doubt these guys are making it to playoffs.
In conclusion, don't count your chickens before they egg. Or was it to count your chickens if they hatch? Or did you need to count your road? Or...
1.
Mid Metangs The obligatory #1. Unironically tho I think Nog and Jump had a stellar draft. They've got the best clickers in the entire tour aside from maybe Dave's, with names like LpZ, OLK, and ChrisPBacon standing out. qsns with Nog support will lock down the MG2 slot, Ineros is super flexible and has great past performance, gephicka will apparently go crazy in FEVGC, I'm a fraud starter but I will support every tier if given the chance, and both managers are free to support so the clickers will actually have a chance to go in. Overall an insane draft, I can see us going very far this year.
GRAND SLAM 13
UU Classic 2021
BDSP Grand Slam
ADV NU Spotlight
SS NU CUP
BW RU OPEN
ORAS GRAND SLAM
BW GRAND SLAM
GSC NU Cup
BW PU CUP
ADV PU CUP
ADV RU OPEN
RBYPL 1
GSCPL 1
PUWC 2021
PUWC 2022
Teamballo 2023
RUPL 2023
PUPL 2021
PUPL 2023
ZUPL 2023
EPL 2023
ALTPL 2024
NUCL 2024
UUPL 2024
ROAPL X
1v1 PL VIII
UU Classic 2021
BDSP Grand Slam
ADV NU Spotlight
SS NU CUP
BW RU OPEN
ORAS GRAND SLAM
BW GRAND SLAM
GSC NU Cup
BW PU CUP
ADV PU CUP
ADV RU OPEN
RBYPL 1
GSCPL 1
PUWC 2021
PUWC 2022
Teamballo 2023
RUPL 2023
PUPL 2021
PUPL 2023
ZUPL 2023
EPL 2023
ALTPL 2024
NUCL 2024
UUPL 2024
ROAPL X
1v1 PL VIII
2.
Workers' Union of Gourgsokyo My alma mater. Before even getting into the draft, both of the manager selfbuys are incredible, with FlamPoke essentially locking down the PoA slot and ana having knowledge on half the metas in the tour. THE_CHUNGLER will smash whatever meta they're put into, Smudge covers FEVGC, and shreyashhy should have DNU covered at least on the tier knowledge front. Mada, Plague, and DripLegend are good clickers who have a solid chance to perform well considering the amount of support they'll be getting. TTK tier-locking into ZA is a strange choice but I expect he'll do well if he's slotted there. The weakest link here is definitely MG2, Orangesodapop has experience in it but otherwise things are looking pretty lacking on that front. Overall this is a really stellar draft, pretty much what I'd expect from the Gourgs. A lot of their support picks were great presences in the server last PMPL and I expect the vibes will be just as strong this tour.
3.
Dave's Dusknoirs Dave's have once again pulled the genius drafting strategy of "blow all your money on 4 good players and scrounge for the rest," which I would knock, but they keep winning tours with it so I can't really judge. Monai is a guaranteed X-0 in whatever meta he's put in, same for Xrn, spell is another amazing clicker and big tony 2014 isn't half bad either. srvoltmike is apparently a VGC player, though we know from previous years that his support will be limited to hopefully he can self-sustain, Oculars and Tempo are solid clickers who should win often enough to guarantee the team some victories, and the rest I don't know as well but I'm sure they'll do fine with Dave's support. The scariest thing here is definitely the fakemon metas, Monai
4.
A pretty top-heavy squad. They've got igiveuponaname for MHOU, and Fragments and Spammernoob are good general clickers, but there's almost no tier knowledge for most of the formats. Idk who they're planning on putting in MG2, they've got LogIce and sheepie for FEVGC but both are unproven, Akaru Kokuyo signed up for Touhou but idt they've played the tier before, LBN and lostmemories are known tour players but don't have much of a history in Pet Mods so who knows how well they'll do, and they also drafted known frauds Concept and teamo. I can see this squad doing really well in the right situation, but overall Tanukiefs' performance heavily depends on how quick their clickers can pick up the tiers they're placed in, and how well the supports they drafted can help with building for those clickers.
5.
Stamford Starlies If Starlies do not go X-0 in DNU, they have failed as a team. Jokes aside, this is a solid draft. R8 will be great in MG2 once he's actually alive, Tanny is the only player in the entire tour with BW experience, fifi should be solid in Touhou, BenjiTho is one of very few MHOU mainers in the draft, and volcaronavgc literally has VGC in their name. NEO is probably their pick for DNU but they have like 5 DNU players so they're not lacking in that slot. Their clickers are kinda lacking, I will admit. M0onStarr and zxgzxg both have prior tour experience but have middling results, Bobsican and woo the same but with actively bad results, and SquidSpring I don't know that well but is probably their best slot for something like PoA, which they'll otherwise really be struggling to find a player for. Definitely a team with some weaker tiers, but I do see potential here.
6.
Slugma Slugma Slugmas 31.5k for Baddy in this pool is fucking crazy. Regardless, I think this draft could've gone better for the Slugs. Necas should crush in FEVGC, fiish is their Touhoumons knowledge base, Ryan&Ditto covers MHOU, and Lacks seems to be their ZA player, but otherwise clickers like Taka and Baddy are pretty much flying without support. One notable weak point here is again PoA, there weren't that many support options in the pool to begin with and Slugmas didn't pick up any of them, so hopefully they can pull something together or else they'll be hanging high and dry in the slot. Another rough spot is MG2, not really sure who they're gonna be slotting there. Slugmas are kinda relying on Quinn passing teams to half the players while also playing himself in order to do well here, so we'll see if that plan pans out.
7.
Gallade Gladiators This is a weird one. evakiyama! and Stories are solid clickers, QT has at least played Touhoumons before, and iPetBigfoot+Evie is a proven FEVGC combo. Nashrock can do well with support but idk where they'll be slotted, Zpice is their DNU pick but idk if he'll perform, and the rest are ppl I've never heard of. Supports seem really lacking for this one, which is bad considering how much they're relying on their top clickers to pull wins, so overall I think Gallades are gonna have a rough time this tour.
8.
Earnest Espurrs The ultimate fraud team. Everywhere I look I see frauds. pannu is a fraud, Clas is a fraud unless they're in Teramax, Paul will be playing from a nursing home, Pixie has zero records, TTTech is washed, Slikkles is pretty cool actually, and the rest are no-names except cityscapes, who is like their one good clicker. Actually seraphz is also a clicker, but like who tf is their FEVGC slot? Who tf is their support for half these tiers? pannu will be slotted in MG2 and go 1-6, ZA idek who they're slotting, and don't even get me started on the fakemon metas. Unless Paul activates his third eye and builds for half the tiers, I doubt these guys are making it to playoffs.
In conclusion, don't count your chickens before they egg. Or was it to count your chickens if they hatch? Or did you need to count your road? Or...
Solopl III Power Ranking of Players Who Went for Exactly 10k
1. Seraphz
2. Beaf Cultist
1. Seraphz
2. Beaf Cultist
Team Rankings:
1. Mid Metangs: It is said that when Osama Bin Laden's compound was raided by SEAL team 6, they found a lifetime subscription to the Nog Blog alongside his belongings; multiple sources corroborate this. Infamous tier basher Noglastica pairs up with the Mary Immaculate of DNU: Jumpheart, to bring a very powerful team to the competition, the pair being the most accomplished manager duo in solopl. Somehow, for some reason, Noglastica's main tactic of just ragebaiting every single other manager worked this year as every manager decided to let them get the best team possible at dirt cheap (except Daves, who straight up got held hostage for being broke for the entire draft). The team combines old goats from the Drakloak era like Runo and QSNS, the good segments of the flop era of the jynxes like Beaf Cultist and Ineros, and distressingly low 3k steals like ChrisPB and OLK. Their record speaks for itself, as the dynamic duo are bound to make a splash, but wherever that splash is a light drizzle or a thundering storm remains to be seen.
2. Daves: For about 3 years now the Dave Dynasty has ruled the petmods tour scene with an Iron Fist®, farming custom avatars and Discord Nitro like no other group of people has done in order to cement their legacy as the most threatening group in petmods history. After being left with 50 bucks and a lighter trying to buy back their family, Chairman Larry and Great Teacher Mana were subjected to grueling gourg psychological torture, yet still managed to get pretty good 3k slots like Tempo and Oculars that round another powerful lineup for the most powerful dynasty in Petmods history. I don't doubt that this team will perform well, especially since there's now a BW tier that they can slot Monai in instead of sending him to the trenches in a fakemon tier, but wherever they are going to manage to win it all again or finally face its yellow river catastrophe remains to be seen.
3. Gourgeists: There is evidence of a higher power ruling over our lives, some sort of divine figure who controls our every action, and at the present, it really fucking hates the gourgs. Flampoke joins the fun in the yearly Anaconja divine torture ritual to try and finally get this squad to get past the semi-finals. Like all years, the gourg lineup is nothing short of stacked. The most threatening out of all self-bought manager pairs, generalist excellence with the likes of Mada and TTK, and people with benignant/malignant auras such as THE_CHUNGLER and OSP. Logic dictactes that this tour will not be the exception, faith makes us hope the gourgs will at last kill their white whale for once by winning, and declare 2026 as the year of the gourg.
4. Terrifying Tanukiefs: The only team to choose a fakemon as their mascot since the tragic tale of the Manicunos, the Tanukiefs will now attempt to see if the fakemon curse is dormant or still active. CEO of white people Concept joins forces with Cow of "Holy Cow" fame to bring a well-balanced team. CAP comandos Fragments and Spammernoob provide a quite competent building core for the likes of LBN, Lostmemories, Igiveuponaname and more, even if their general experience isn't the best. Regardless of my opinion of Concept's drafting acumen, his building skills are quite potent, which, combined with the support from Cow (I'm yapping here, as far as im aware from their messages in petmods discord im not sure this guy is even alive atp) should make for quite an interesting team as long as they force Spammernoob to not get coerced by other squads to give them teams.
5. Slugmas: No other team lives in more Petmod infamy than the slugmas. They are known as the fishermen, the cheaters, the hackers, the antagonists, the double-crossers, the cheesers, the worst kind of people on earth who will stop at nothing and will do anything degenerate to win the tournament, except actually win their games when it matters the most. I am exaggerating a bit there, but atp the Slugs have as much of a terrible record of getting prizes in Petmods team tours as the gourgs, and somehow they have their weakest draft yet this year, even if their manager pair is the strongest ever as Quinn finally got a sentient player to comanage in Necas. Aside from two strong managers and two strong clickers like Baddy and naere, the rest of the team is either mainer super soldiers or people that are good but not entirely impressive, and notably have 0 builders which means their player will actually have to build stuff instead of milk out some poor soul (jk they WILL find someone, I can ensure you that). Not much to talk about this year, but Slugmas are notorious for feeding from the hatred of other users and using it to power up their tour runs to ruin the dreams of other teams.
6. Gallade Gladiators: The most pleasant surprise in the last PMPL, the Gallades are now entering the much more brutal waters of the first team tour in PetMods history to feature 8 teams. Featuring a relatively new yet passionate leader to the Petmods scene, the Briton Zpice joins forces with Jeoz to bring a team that, while seemingly unassuming on the surface, will surely give more than a few teams quite the scare. While the actual building component seems like it will fall on the shoulders of the two managers in every tier (besides iPetBigfoot+Evie providing a powerful VGC core) they have a large amount of competent clickers like QT, Evakiyama!, Stories and Nashrock. Not a flashy squad, but certainly one that has potential, man.
7. Earnest Espurrs: A team held together by glue, scotch tape, hopes and dreams. Ghastlypixie was left trying to hold the squad together after an unfortunate incident, but has now gotten the help from Clas to help salvage this sinking ship. It will have to leverage its best clickers like cityscapes, slikkles, clas and Zastra if they want an opportunity. That is unless the likes of TTTech and pannu can magically stop frauding for once in a tour or if the espurrs are willing to commit elder abuse to get Paulluxx to build them everything, alongside having to learn every tier with the exception of PoA where the great mega is allegedly their LeBron, allegedly. From a change in leadership to almost not being able to have a manager present for the draft, this team has faced many hardships, but if DNUPL taught me anything is that you can do everything you desire with as much spite your heart can hold.
8. Stamford Starlies: Out of all the teams that could be possibly be labeled Glup Shittos, the Starlies out-glup their competition via- This section is completely irrelevant because they did the classic mistake of drafting r8 without being aware that his presence outside DNUPL causes the team to get afflicted with an ancient Mesopotamian curse. They ain't winning shit.
1. Mid Metangs: It is said that when Osama Bin Laden's compound was raided by SEAL team 6, they found a lifetime subscription to the Nog Blog alongside his belongings; multiple sources corroborate this. Infamous tier basher Noglastica pairs up with the Mary Immaculate of DNU: Jumpheart, to bring a very powerful team to the competition, the pair being the most accomplished manager duo in solopl. Somehow, for some reason, Noglastica's main tactic of just ragebaiting every single other manager worked this year as every manager decided to let them get the best team possible at dirt cheap (except Daves, who straight up got held hostage for being broke for the entire draft). The team combines old goats from the Drakloak era like Runo and QSNS, the good segments of the flop era of the jynxes like Beaf Cultist and Ineros, and distressingly low 3k steals like ChrisPB and OLK. Their record speaks for itself, as the dynamic duo are bound to make a splash, but wherever that splash is a light drizzle or a thundering storm remains to be seen.
2. Daves: For about 3 years now the Dave Dynasty has ruled the petmods tour scene with an Iron Fist®, farming custom avatars and Discord Nitro like no other group of people has done in order to cement their legacy as the most threatening group in petmods history. After being left with 50 bucks and a lighter trying to buy back their family, Chairman Larry and Great Teacher Mana were subjected to grueling gourg psychological torture, yet still managed to get pretty good 3k slots like Tempo and Oculars that round another powerful lineup for the most powerful dynasty in Petmods history. I don't doubt that this team will perform well, especially since there's now a BW tier that they can slot Monai in instead of sending him to the trenches in a fakemon tier, but wherever they are going to manage to win it all again or finally face its yellow river catastrophe remains to be seen.
3. Gourgeists: There is evidence of a higher power ruling over our lives, some sort of divine figure who controls our every action, and at the present, it really fucking hates the gourgs. Flampoke joins the fun in the yearly Anaconja divine torture ritual to try and finally get this squad to get past the semi-finals. Like all years, the gourg lineup is nothing short of stacked. The most threatening out of all self-bought manager pairs, generalist excellence with the likes of Mada and TTK, and people with benignant/malignant auras such as THE_CHUNGLER and OSP. Logic dictactes that this tour will not be the exception, faith makes us hope the gourgs will at last kill their white whale for once by winning, and declare 2026 as the year of the gourg.
4. Terrifying Tanukiefs: The only team to choose a fakemon as their mascot since the tragic tale of the Manicunos, the Tanukiefs will now attempt to see if the fakemon curse is dormant or still active. CEO of white people Concept joins forces with Cow of "Holy Cow" fame to bring a well-balanced team. CAP comandos Fragments and Spammernoob provide a quite competent building core for the likes of LBN, Lostmemories, Igiveuponaname and more, even if their general experience isn't the best. Regardless of my opinion of Concept's drafting acumen, his building skills are quite potent, which, combined with the support from Cow (I'm yapping here, as far as im aware from their messages in petmods discord im not sure this guy is even alive atp) should make for quite an interesting team as long as they force Spammernoob to not get coerced by other squads to give them teams.
5. Slugmas: No other team lives in more Petmod infamy than the slugmas. They are known as the fishermen, the cheaters, the hackers, the antagonists, the double-crossers, the cheesers, the worst kind of people on earth who will stop at nothing and will do anything degenerate to win the tournament, except actually win their games when it matters the most. I am exaggerating a bit there, but atp the Slugs have as much of a terrible record of getting prizes in Petmods team tours as the gourgs, and somehow they have their weakest draft yet this year, even if their manager pair is the strongest ever as Quinn finally got a sentient player to comanage in Necas. Aside from two strong managers and two strong clickers like Baddy and naere, the rest of the team is either mainer super soldiers or people that are good but not entirely impressive, and notably have 0 builders which means their player will actually have to build stuff instead of milk out some poor soul (jk they WILL find someone, I can ensure you that). Not much to talk about this year, but Slugmas are notorious for feeding from the hatred of other users and using it to power up their tour runs to ruin the dreams of other teams.
6. Gallade Gladiators: The most pleasant surprise in the last PMPL, the Gallades are now entering the much more brutal waters of the first team tour in PetMods history to feature 8 teams. Featuring a relatively new yet passionate leader to the Petmods scene, the Briton Zpice joins forces with Jeoz to bring a team that, while seemingly unassuming on the surface, will surely give more than a few teams quite the scare. While the actual building component seems like it will fall on the shoulders of the two managers in every tier (besides iPetBigfoot+Evie providing a powerful VGC core) they have a large amount of competent clickers like QT, Evakiyama!, Stories and Nashrock. Not a flashy squad, but certainly one that has potential, man.
7. Earnest Espurrs: A team held together by glue, scotch tape, hopes and dreams. Ghastlypixie was left trying to hold the squad together after an unfortunate incident, but has now gotten the help from Clas to help salvage this sinking ship. It will have to leverage its best clickers like cityscapes, slikkles, clas and Zastra if they want an opportunity. That is unless the likes of TTTech and pannu can magically stop frauding for once in a tour or if the espurrs are willing to commit elder abuse to get Paulluxx to build them everything, alongside having to learn every tier with the exception of PoA where the great mega is allegedly their LeBron, allegedly. From a change in leadership to almost not being able to have a manager present for the draft, this team has faced many hardships, but if DNUPL taught me anything is that you can do everything you desire with as much spite your heart can hold.
8. Stamford Starlies:
ok but can they update the thread to be in the right subforum
touhoumons w1 review
writing reviews has been scientifically proven to improve future winrate
lbn vs fiish 
both sides went into this game looking to brawl. we are not seeing any passive mons, we're barely even seeing any utility mons, both players have rocks (suika for lbn, kaguya for fiish) but it's tough to say whether either one will even have time to go for them. i would probably give the matchup edge to lbn because scarf flan will be super devastating and the fiish psyspam idea runs into 2 steels + flan + misty surge suika (though suika herself is hardly doing anything besides catching out a reisen volt switch). still fiish has a lot of play with kogasa and vivit, and it's not like the psychics are completely stonewalled, patchouli will always be doing huge damage to whoever comes in.
shinmy lead makes a lot of sense from lbn, sukuna beats all 6 from full hp, you can even dynamax on patchy if you want. fiish leads kogasa which feels a bit odd to me, kogasa is a really important mon and i'd want to keep her in the back to get opportunities later. as for what the kogasa set is, we could be looking at band or some other pivot, cause the psyterrain means sd aqua jet ideas are a little silly, but i don't think you have enough time to pivot around in the early game, you need to start getting damage on things as soon as possible. i would probably just have led one of the psychics, of course you don't want to run into flan but the beginning of the game is her weakest point and you should be able to handle her and get your own initiative going with like kaguya.
we see t1 hard switch (!) from fiish into vivit, which then manages to 1v1 the 3atks chesto rest shinmy thanks to lbn overpredicting and clicking spirit break initially on what i guess was hard patchouli predict, followed by a fortunate missile burn on sacred sword. interestingly lbn chooses not to dynamax on the kill turn, wondering if this was a mistake or if they wanted to prevent something like kogasa sd (assuming scarf flan + non-scarf chimata), though i think youre probably fine there with gigaton -> spirit break -> go to chimata and you either live a wave crash (assuming physdef) or kill them with recoil (if they go to +4). if it was some weirdo chimata spread then understandable play though.
lbn revenges with flan who reveals a moldy special set, potentially not even scarf at all, who clicks searing shot for a pitiful 20% into kogasa. assuming max spa flan, this means kogasa is either very bulky (like, probably more than even max hp) or av, both of which are pretty radical but of the two i would be more inclined to assume av. lbn doesn't want to auto-lose to sd so they go chimata on uturn. it takes 3%, confirming that this chimata has at least some physdef investment, as 0 atk kogasa does min 4.2% to no bulk chimata. we also see leftovers revealed, meaning no scarf.
the rabbit arrives and clicks volt switch for only 50%, meaning we're probably looking at full spdef chimata. rather than recovering, lbn volt switches themselves (good decision) on the vivit to bring in flan, who reveals scarf and kills off the vivit with searing shot. 5-5, but kogasa is in now and nobody is left to take wave crash. flan is invaluable psy immune + speed control for lategame, so lbn chooses to sacrifice chimata and fiish uturns, which i think is definitely wrong. sure, patchouli gets in, but even with the kill she's much easier to revenge, while kogasa can kind of just uturn on everything slower and beast on hatate and flan. lbn can also just deny patchy a kill by correctly predicting blue flare and going flan, which is what happens in the game.
here lbn has the option to barrage for a kill and damage on everything and the option to searing shot (stupid, but if you burn kogasa the game is over); rather than either of these, they choose the midground and go chimata. a little fancy, seeing how you're just putting off the gameplan against kogasa, but i understand wanting more hp on chimata (esp with vivit now removed) and you're still a tempo ahead if kogasa comes in, which is what happens. fiish goes back to the bunny, but rather than recovering lbn actually goes to suika to get rocks.
without a doubt this is, like, the only thing suika ever does in the position, but it will make a huge difference. however, fiish chooses to go kaguya and get their own rocks, which will be massively limiting against flan. both sides dance around for a bit after this, with chimata finding an opportunity to heal and kogasa revealing boots. eventually, fiish doubles into patchouli on chimata and kills her off with blue flare. this is huge for fiish, as with chimata gone, kogasa looks insanely strong, though there are still resources for lbn in the form on hatate and iku.
iku comes in, revealing boots, and rapid spins on the reisen switchin. i think fiish absolutely shouldn't have switched out here, patchy never ever gets another opportunity (except against suika but like, who cares about her) and you can 2hko through multiscale with moongeist beam and then clicking mist ball when iku is below half. instead reisen is inexplicably brought in to refresh psyterrain, then kogasa bravely comes in to defog (didnt even know she got that) while lbn hard switches into hatate. fiish brings in remi to try and stop her from setting up, but it's instead a more sober boots attacker set that gets in 83% with shock wave and switches out on crunch (scared of scarf, which was never confirmed or denied).
fiish doesn't have an electric resist at this point, so despite being a mon up the squad looks like it's almost crumbling to shock wave, though iku reveals revelation dance, meaning she's actually a no electric move set that gets hard walled by kogasa (a little bit sketchy to use revdance on a misty surge team). the next few turns are kind of stupid, lbn is trying to bait fiish into committing and clicking play rough on a hatate switch, which eventually happens and remi is sacrificed.
here you can go to patchy or reisen. both mons get revenged by flan; the difference is that reisen is prediction-reliant, and patchy needs hp to beat hatate in the endgame. fiish chooses reisen and hits the prediction, slamming suika with specs freezing glare and removing the most fraudulent defensive piece in the position (though even fraudulent pieces are relevant in a war of sacrifices).
lbn goes flan and fiish takes two forbidden barrages with kogasa before clicking play rough for the kill. at this point, things look pretty much decided in fiish's favor as kaguya, reisen, and patchy can each 1v1 one of the remaining mons. lbn reveals uturn hatate (WHY was this not clicked against reisen earlier???????) but there are too many mons with too many hp and the game ends.
pretty nice game, felt like it kept going back and forth. i think lbn definitely should've gone suika against vivit in the early game, shinmy is just always so threatening and you don't need suika for anything else. cool sets also, i really like rest shinmy, aoa hatate, and spdef kogasa, though idk how new those are.
solrock vs tony 
cirno snow mirror, with chilly reception youmu for solrock and letty for tony. both sides have also invested in defensive cores, with kanako and hina from solrock's side and suwako + shinmy + tenshi from tony. solrock has the weirdos tewi and seiga, it's not entirely clear what they do or why they're here. i would give the matchup advantage to tony because solrock's team is just super frail and i can see it going down super easy after the kanako + hina core collapses, which will happen eventually, while i don't think tewi seiga and cirno are getting it done vs shinmy + suwako + multiple revengers.
tony leads letty vs youmu and just clicks veil t1, icy rock sacred sword wouldn't even have 2hkod full physdef letty, this mon is crazy. solrock brings in hina, trying to get damage on the shinmy with fire blast, but tony goes tenshi instead and doubles to cirno on the kanako switch.
at this point i think tony already has a huge lead, solrock has no real ice resist and veil is a massive game-changer, most of solrock's resources are fast, offensive mons that hate not being able to actually kill things.
av hina takes a blizzard for 37, tony goes into tenshi again (seemingly unafraid of mortal), but takes a fire blast burn. veil also wears off and letty is revealed to be neither icy rock nor light clay, weirdly. youmu comes in on sword of hisou eq for 40, scares away the tenshi, and receptions into the hina on the letty switchin. i don't really understand this play, feels like seiga should be the one coming in here if you want damage. suwako comes in and tony once again gets momentum, getting in shinmy on a tewi switchin. there's nothing resembling a shinmy answer on solrock's team; kanako looks the most like one, so she's brought in and subsequently dies to ice hammer.
i won't go into detail on the rest of the game as shinmyoumaru unceremoniously kills every remaining mon and there isn't a lot solrock can do. seiga tries revbless but it doesn't really do anything. letty is also revealed to be eject button which (with apologies to tony) is completely counterintuitive in my opinion cause it means you take chip early, have to come in more times (maybe on rocks), and as a result barely ever get to click veil. it only really makes sense if you win by getting cirno in asap vs no blizzard resist.
overall not a lot to say here, in retrospect there was pretty much nothing that could've been done against shinmy. happens. i do hope to see tewi and seiga being used in future weeks, they have some cool things going on with them
also brick break youmu won, stay woke
fififlutters vs qt 
only matchup of the week that can't really be called a mirror, fifi has a very employed balance while qt has setup spam likely with dd iku. impossible to say on preview who has the better matchup, as a lot depends on fifi's sets (easy way to say i dont know the meta very well)
fifi leads scarf rumia into the screens ran and knocks the light clay, which is very good for her though she'll still need to be careful of the various demons in qt's arsenal. sash sd momiji comes out first (i think the 2nd knock wasn't fifi's best play), bites the physdef kanako repeatedly (hungry??), and dies to multiple earthquakes. ran is then sacrificed for reflect; fifi had a window to recover or do something else here, but eq makes sense.
eternity comes in next and fifi clicks hurricane for a crisp 99%, then fifi sacks mokou to hurricane and straightforwardly revenge kills with alice. mokou being gone makes enoko a decent mon at the very least, but qt has also lost two mons without dealing any damage to the majority of fifi's team, and their screens are also gone. iku comes in next but i feel like fifi should be able to handle her by attacking with alice and finishing the job with kanako. this happens, and byakuren comes in next.
fifi can either go for hurricane or try her luck going hard lily (im not sure what the lily set is so this may not be viable), she goes with the former and hits for 90% but then misplays by going hard lily from +1 instead of just sacrificing the kanako. i think she had a 100% win otherwise, scarf superpower rumia + iku + weakened lily should always beat lastmon enoko, though if it's something weird like no fighting move rumia + physical iku then you might be in some trouble. from here going hard kanako is correct, but it didn't really matter cause qt crit every move anyway and fifi lost all her mons.
tough game, fifi positioned herself very well earlier on in the game and it was unfortunate to watch that ultimately yield nothing. that said, she did make liberal use of that sweet poison we call 70% accurate hurricane, and if either of the ones she'd used missed then we likely would've been looking at a much different and more double-edged position. i also think she would've gotten a lot out of rocks, but i can hardly fault her for assuming boots eternity.
fifi brought the only mokou this week and also opted for alice instead of the more standard shinmyoumaru, which i found pretty cool, she always brings neat structures that no one else is using. qt's team was also pretty interesting, the double slow steel definitely wouldn't be the first thing i'd think of on screens offense, but i can see them holding on for some time against creatures like cirno, though enoko and momiji are also both frauds that have 0 spdef, so who's to say really. i did get the impression there wasn't much qt could have done to get a better position, probably they had to challenge the scarf rumia with one of the steels rather than lose light clay, but this also would've been a big commit and likely would've resulted in rocks going up, which would be really bad. if iku was the bizarre dd/supercell/ascent/spin (unironically think it mightve been this), maybe it wasn't terrible though.
cityscapes vs chrispbacon 
3rd playstyle matchup in a row, we have marisa balance vs marisa balance. im not happy to see both moriyas into my physdef keiki and 2 steels into kaguya, but chris's cb marisa counterplay is super dubious and i have this helpful mixdef komachi into the opposing marisa so i can't complain too much. i wasn't expecting shinmy lead cause marisa vs shinmy is basically a worst case scenario for chris, and i didn't think kaguya would lead to click rocks (figured one of the moriyas was the rocker) so i led rumia. rumia isn't pursuit trapping anyone this game and it isn't very good into marisa + kaguya, so i figured i could trade it off early game for damage and then kill everyone with marisa later.
i'm able to click knock and icy wind (!!!) into the kanako lead as chris goes for an eq and spike, then land a knock on the shinmy. this is basically exactly what i wanted out of the early game, my marisa and kaguya are now super opened up and i feel like the burden is on chris to stop me from just bringing in the demons and winning. keiki takes ice hammer but i don't really care cause keiki isn't a good mon here, i grab rocks and go back to rumia to get damage on the suwako, though chris also gets rocks so my marisa will be super limited.
shinmy outspeeds rumia and kills me, this surprised me at the time cause i had some speed (68) on rumia to outspeed uninvested shinmy, but in retrospect probably should've seen it coming, 0 spe shinmy is pretty rare. i don't wanna go kaguya cause of dynamax or keiki cause of it doing nothing, so i choose marisa and chris sacrifices kanako, which is definitely correct.
kaguya comes in and i start sweating, i figure it's def the standard offensive set and i don't kill that from full, so i decide to go to my slow scarf chimata and try to kill it with make it rain. fortunately for me, chris gets really puzzled by my spread and loses the kaguya. having this big threat gone feels like a huge weight off my shoulders, but i feel like i still have to be super careful with the positional decisions i make.
marisa comes in and i need someone to sacrifice and this is a huge decision for me. i really, really want chimata alive cause defog would be huge for me, but i don't see a definitively correct play either way. i deliberate on going to all 5 mons for some time (yes, even marisa) and ultimately decide on sacrificing keiki, she's *so* close to being a good mon (if she gets to recover and suwako vanishes she wins on her own), but i felt that the factors limiting her were too decisive, though it felt horrible sacrificing my only volt switch switchin.
after this i'm not exactly sure what to do, kaguya dies to 2 (i am not power gem), i could try marisa speed tie but then i also have to 50/50 flare blitz/double-edge vs stayin/hard scarf chimata, which i think shakes out to give me a 1/3 chance of grabbing a kill if chris stays in 2/3 of the time. i didn't like this at all, so i went with the third option, komachi. shackle was stupid, i keep forgetting suwako is earth eater and not water absorb, but w/e never punished. shinmy comes in, though, and this is really scary as thunderpunch will get a kill on its own. i figure i have to cut my losses and accept the fact that hazard removal + marisa isn't a realistic winpath at this point, so i throw out chimata, which i think was correct. chris sacrifices shinmy to marisa flare blitz, then kills me with chimata volt switch and goes to their own marisa.
now i have to risk this calc on my 52% komachi:
252 SpA Reckless Marisa Kirisame Light of Ruin vs. 252 HP / 108 SpD Komachi Onozuka: 188-222 (47.2 - 55.7%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO
the marisa MISSES and im able to recover and land a liquidation on suwako, leaving it on 9 after leftovers.
here i'm super considering going to kaguya, but i'm terrified that the suwako will uturn on the switch, after which there are probably winning lines with both marisa and chimata against my kaguya, and i just don't want chris to have another sacrifice in general. so i liquidation to take it off the board and it toxics me. against toxic switching definitely would've been correct, kaguya would kill suwako and then chris would've had to either lock into make it rain on chimata or kill kaguya with marisa; in either case, komachi would get to recover, after which i probably beat the last two. volt switch, trick, and light of ruin are all very scary individually, but the positioning is awkward so they don't synergize with each other to create unstoppable threats--if chimata volt switches into marisa, marisa dies; if marisa clicks light of ruin, i just recover, if chimata tricks me, i'm healthy enough to kill everyone with liquidation. there was a clever idea to kill kaguya with marisa, uturn to chimata on komachi recover, volt switch OR trick on liquidation OR recover, then (if volt switch/liquidation was played previously) volt switch OR trick on liquidation OR recover once again in the ensuing 1v1. hax notwithstanding, this would've been a 2/3 in my favor.
back to the game (only to divert away instantly once again), akira was saying i was dead lost if chimata came in to revenge rather than marisa, it was definitely a better overall line for chris, trick specifically looks very strong and kaguya can't come in on it because chimata is too healthy and i would lose my lo. meanwhile if komachi stays in, i don't really have a better line than trading it off against the chimata and trying to win vs marisa with kaguya. there was a secret resource in the position but i won't reveal it because that shit is prep.
anyway, marisa uturns on komachi, chimata takes a liquidation, here i spend some time deliberating on lines and ultimately decide on kaguya, i didn't actually have anything concretely calculated but i knew that if kaguya took trick it was very very good into the last 2, and if it took volt switch then i was probably fine with that, i get 2hkod anyway so might as well lock that in and force marisa to kill me. if make it rain was played, i was probably dead lost to make it rain spam + toxic damage, but i figured no way chris would do that.
volt switch into marisa was played, i moonblasted and dodged fire blast, i yapped for some time in touhoumons cord about the ensuing endgame if fire blast hit and kaguya died (i was pretty sure it came down to damage rolls, though thinking it over once again chris had really good chances if they clicked fire blast vs komachi rather than dying to lor recoil on recovers). i mystical fired the second turn cause i forgot i had unaware, but chris didn't see the fire blast into komachi line (which was present in the actual position as well, despite the extra damage on marisa) and missed the ~15% roll to kill, so i was healthy enough to beat chimata and won.
holy shit lol
writing reviews has been scientifically proven to improve future winrate
lbn vs fiish both sides went into this game looking to brawl. we are not seeing any passive mons, we're barely even seeing any utility mons, both players have rocks (suika for lbn, kaguya for fiish) but it's tough to say whether either one will even have time to go for them. i would probably give the matchup edge to lbn because scarf flan will be super devastating and the fiish psyspam idea runs into 2 steels + flan + misty surge suika (though suika herself is hardly doing anything besides catching out a reisen volt switch). still fiish has a lot of play with kogasa and vivit, and it's not like the psychics are completely stonewalled, patchouli will always be doing huge damage to whoever comes in.
shinmy lead makes a lot of sense from lbn, sukuna beats all 6 from full hp, you can even dynamax on patchy if you want. fiish leads kogasa which feels a bit odd to me, kogasa is a really important mon and i'd want to keep her in the back to get opportunities later. as for what the kogasa set is, we could be looking at band or some other pivot, cause the psyterrain means sd aqua jet ideas are a little silly, but i don't think you have enough time to pivot around in the early game, you need to start getting damage on things as soon as possible. i would probably just have led one of the psychics, of course you don't want to run into flan but the beginning of the game is her weakest point and you should be able to handle her and get your own initiative going with like kaguya.
we see t1 hard switch (!) from fiish into vivit, which then manages to 1v1 the 3atks chesto rest shinmy thanks to lbn overpredicting and clicking spirit break initially on what i guess was hard patchouli predict, followed by a fortunate missile burn on sacred sword. interestingly lbn chooses not to dynamax on the kill turn, wondering if this was a mistake or if they wanted to prevent something like kogasa sd (assuming scarf flan + non-scarf chimata), though i think youre probably fine there with gigaton -> spirit break -> go to chimata and you either live a wave crash (assuming physdef) or kill them with recoil (if they go to +4). if it was some weirdo chimata spread then understandable play though.
lbn revenges with flan who reveals a moldy special set, potentially not even scarf at all, who clicks searing shot for a pitiful 20% into kogasa. assuming max spa flan, this means kogasa is either very bulky (like, probably more than even max hp) or av, both of which are pretty radical but of the two i would be more inclined to assume av. lbn doesn't want to auto-lose to sd so they go chimata on uturn. it takes 3%, confirming that this chimata has at least some physdef investment, as 0 atk kogasa does min 4.2% to no bulk chimata. we also see leftovers revealed, meaning no scarf.
the rabbit arrives and clicks volt switch for only 50%, meaning we're probably looking at full spdef chimata. rather than recovering, lbn volt switches themselves (good decision) on the vivit to bring in flan, who reveals scarf and kills off the vivit with searing shot. 5-5, but kogasa is in now and nobody is left to take wave crash. flan is invaluable psy immune + speed control for lategame, so lbn chooses to sacrifice chimata and fiish uturns, which i think is definitely wrong. sure, patchouli gets in, but even with the kill she's much easier to revenge, while kogasa can kind of just uturn on everything slower and beast on hatate and flan. lbn can also just deny patchy a kill by correctly predicting blue flare and going flan, which is what happens in the game.
here lbn has the option to barrage for a kill and damage on everything and the option to searing shot (stupid, but if you burn kogasa the game is over); rather than either of these, they choose the midground and go chimata. a little fancy, seeing how you're just putting off the gameplan against kogasa, but i understand wanting more hp on chimata (esp with vivit now removed) and you're still a tempo ahead if kogasa comes in, which is what happens. fiish goes back to the bunny, but rather than recovering lbn actually goes to suika to get rocks.
without a doubt this is, like, the only thing suika ever does in the position, but it will make a huge difference. however, fiish chooses to go kaguya and get their own rocks, which will be massively limiting against flan. both sides dance around for a bit after this, with chimata finding an opportunity to heal and kogasa revealing boots. eventually, fiish doubles into patchouli on chimata and kills her off with blue flare. this is huge for fiish, as with chimata gone, kogasa looks insanely strong, though there are still resources for lbn in the form on hatate and iku.
iku comes in, revealing boots, and rapid spins on the reisen switchin. i think fiish absolutely shouldn't have switched out here, patchy never ever gets another opportunity (except against suika but like, who cares about her) and you can 2hko through multiscale with moongeist beam and then clicking mist ball when iku is below half. instead reisen is inexplicably brought in to refresh psyterrain, then kogasa bravely comes in to defog (didnt even know she got that) while lbn hard switches into hatate. fiish brings in remi to try and stop her from setting up, but it's instead a more sober boots attacker set that gets in 83% with shock wave and switches out on crunch (scared of scarf, which was never confirmed or denied).
fiish doesn't have an electric resist at this point, so despite being a mon up the squad looks like it's almost crumbling to shock wave, though iku reveals revelation dance, meaning she's actually a no electric move set that gets hard walled by kogasa (a little bit sketchy to use revdance on a misty surge team). the next few turns are kind of stupid, lbn is trying to bait fiish into committing and clicking play rough on a hatate switch, which eventually happens and remi is sacrificed.
here you can go to patchy or reisen. both mons get revenged by flan; the difference is that reisen is prediction-reliant, and patchy needs hp to beat hatate in the endgame. fiish chooses reisen and hits the prediction, slamming suika with specs freezing glare and removing the most fraudulent defensive piece in the position (though even fraudulent pieces are relevant in a war of sacrifices).
lbn goes flan and fiish takes two forbidden barrages with kogasa before clicking play rough for the kill. at this point, things look pretty much decided in fiish's favor as kaguya, reisen, and patchy can each 1v1 one of the remaining mons. lbn reveals uturn hatate (WHY was this not clicked against reisen earlier???????) but there are too many mons with too many hp and the game ends.
pretty nice game, felt like it kept going back and forth. i think lbn definitely should've gone suika against vivit in the early game, shinmy is just always so threatening and you don't need suika for anything else. cool sets also, i really like rest shinmy, aoa hatate, and spdef kogasa, though idk how new those are.
solrock vs tony cirno snow mirror, with chilly reception youmu for solrock and letty for tony. both sides have also invested in defensive cores, with kanako and hina from solrock's side and suwako + shinmy + tenshi from tony. solrock has the weirdos tewi and seiga, it's not entirely clear what they do or why they're here. i would give the matchup advantage to tony because solrock's team is just super frail and i can see it going down super easy after the kanako + hina core collapses, which will happen eventually, while i don't think tewi seiga and cirno are getting it done vs shinmy + suwako + multiple revengers.
tony leads letty vs youmu and just clicks veil t1, icy rock sacred sword wouldn't even have 2hkod full physdef letty, this mon is crazy. solrock brings in hina, trying to get damage on the shinmy with fire blast, but tony goes tenshi instead and doubles to cirno on the kanako switch.
at this point i think tony already has a huge lead, solrock has no real ice resist and veil is a massive game-changer, most of solrock's resources are fast, offensive mons that hate not being able to actually kill things.
av hina takes a blizzard for 37, tony goes into tenshi again (seemingly unafraid of mortal), but takes a fire blast burn. veil also wears off and letty is revealed to be neither icy rock nor light clay, weirdly. youmu comes in on sword of hisou eq for 40, scares away the tenshi, and receptions into the hina on the letty switchin. i don't really understand this play, feels like seiga should be the one coming in here if you want damage. suwako comes in and tony once again gets momentum, getting in shinmy on a tewi switchin. there's nothing resembling a shinmy answer on solrock's team; kanako looks the most like one, so she's brought in and subsequently dies to ice hammer.
i won't go into detail on the rest of the game as shinmyoumaru unceremoniously kills every remaining mon and there isn't a lot solrock can do. seiga tries revbless but it doesn't really do anything. letty is also revealed to be eject button which (with apologies to tony) is completely counterintuitive in my opinion cause it means you take chip early, have to come in more times (maybe on rocks), and as a result barely ever get to click veil. it only really makes sense if you win by getting cirno in asap vs no blizzard resist.
overall not a lot to say here, in retrospect there was pretty much nothing that could've been done against shinmy. happens. i do hope to see tewi and seiga being used in future weeks, they have some cool things going on with them
also brick break youmu won, stay woke
fififlutters vs qt only matchup of the week that can't really be called a mirror, fifi has a very employed balance while qt has setup spam likely with dd iku. impossible to say on preview who has the better matchup, as a lot depends on fifi's sets (easy way to say i dont know the meta very well)
fifi leads scarf rumia into the screens ran and knocks the light clay, which is very good for her though she'll still need to be careful of the various demons in qt's arsenal. sash sd momiji comes out first (i think the 2nd knock wasn't fifi's best play), bites the physdef kanako repeatedly (hungry??), and dies to multiple earthquakes. ran is then sacrificed for reflect; fifi had a window to recover or do something else here, but eq makes sense.
eternity comes in next and fifi clicks hurricane for a crisp 99%, then fifi sacks mokou to hurricane and straightforwardly revenge kills with alice. mokou being gone makes enoko a decent mon at the very least, but qt has also lost two mons without dealing any damage to the majority of fifi's team, and their screens are also gone. iku comes in next but i feel like fifi should be able to handle her by attacking with alice and finishing the job with kanako. this happens, and byakuren comes in next.
fifi can either go for hurricane or try her luck going hard lily (im not sure what the lily set is so this may not be viable), she goes with the former and hits for 90% but then misplays by going hard lily from +1 instead of just sacrificing the kanako. i think she had a 100% win otherwise, scarf superpower rumia + iku + weakened lily should always beat lastmon enoko, though if it's something weird like no fighting move rumia + physical iku then you might be in some trouble. from here going hard kanako is correct, but it didn't really matter cause qt crit every move anyway and fifi lost all her mons.
tough game, fifi positioned herself very well earlier on in the game and it was unfortunate to watch that ultimately yield nothing. that said, she did make liberal use of that sweet poison we call 70% accurate hurricane, and if either of the ones she'd used missed then we likely would've been looking at a much different and more double-edged position. i also think she would've gotten a lot out of rocks, but i can hardly fault her for assuming boots eternity.
fifi brought the only mokou this week and also opted for alice instead of the more standard shinmyoumaru, which i found pretty cool, she always brings neat structures that no one else is using. qt's team was also pretty interesting, the double slow steel definitely wouldn't be the first thing i'd think of on screens offense, but i can see them holding on for some time against creatures like cirno, though enoko and momiji are also both frauds that have 0 spdef, so who's to say really. i did get the impression there wasn't much qt could have done to get a better position, probably they had to challenge the scarf rumia with one of the steels rather than lose light clay, but this also would've been a big commit and likely would've resulted in rocks going up, which would be really bad. if iku was the bizarre dd/supercell/ascent/spin (unironically think it mightve been this), maybe it wasn't terrible though.
cityscapes vs chrispbacon 3rd playstyle matchup in a row, we have marisa balance vs marisa balance. im not happy to see both moriyas into my physdef keiki and 2 steels into kaguya, but chris's cb marisa counterplay is super dubious and i have this helpful mixdef komachi into the opposing marisa so i can't complain too much. i wasn't expecting shinmy lead cause marisa vs shinmy is basically a worst case scenario for chris, and i didn't think kaguya would lead to click rocks (figured one of the moriyas was the rocker) so i led rumia. rumia isn't pursuit trapping anyone this game and it isn't very good into marisa + kaguya, so i figured i could trade it off early game for damage and then kill everyone with marisa later.
i'm able to click knock and icy wind (!!!) into the kanako lead as chris goes for an eq and spike, then land a knock on the shinmy. this is basically exactly what i wanted out of the early game, my marisa and kaguya are now super opened up and i feel like the burden is on chris to stop me from just bringing in the demons and winning. keiki takes ice hammer but i don't really care cause keiki isn't a good mon here, i grab rocks and go back to rumia to get damage on the suwako, though chris also gets rocks so my marisa will be super limited.
shinmy outspeeds rumia and kills me, this surprised me at the time cause i had some speed (68) on rumia to outspeed uninvested shinmy, but in retrospect probably should've seen it coming, 0 spe shinmy is pretty rare. i don't wanna go kaguya cause of dynamax or keiki cause of it doing nothing, so i choose marisa and chris sacrifices kanako, which is definitely correct.
kaguya comes in and i start sweating, i figure it's def the standard offensive set and i don't kill that from full, so i decide to go to my slow scarf chimata and try to kill it with make it rain. fortunately for me, chris gets really puzzled by my spread and loses the kaguya. having this big threat gone feels like a huge weight off my shoulders, but i feel like i still have to be super careful with the positional decisions i make.
marisa comes in and i need someone to sacrifice and this is a huge decision for me. i really, really want chimata alive cause defog would be huge for me, but i don't see a definitively correct play either way. i deliberate on going to all 5 mons for some time (yes, even marisa) and ultimately decide on sacrificing keiki, she's *so* close to being a good mon (if she gets to recover and suwako vanishes she wins on her own), but i felt that the factors limiting her were too decisive, though it felt horrible sacrificing my only volt switch switchin.
after this i'm not exactly sure what to do, kaguya dies to 2 (i am not power gem), i could try marisa speed tie but then i also have to 50/50 flare blitz/double-edge vs stayin/hard scarf chimata, which i think shakes out to give me a 1/3 chance of grabbing a kill if chris stays in 2/3 of the time. i didn't like this at all, so i went with the third option, komachi. shackle was stupid, i keep forgetting suwako is earth eater and not water absorb, but w/e never punished. shinmy comes in, though, and this is really scary as thunderpunch will get a kill on its own. i figure i have to cut my losses and accept the fact that hazard removal + marisa isn't a realistic winpath at this point, so i throw out chimata, which i think was correct. chris sacrifices shinmy to marisa flare blitz, then kills me with chimata volt switch and goes to their own marisa.
now i have to risk this calc on my 52% komachi:
252 SpA Reckless Marisa Kirisame Light of Ruin vs. 252 HP / 108 SpD Komachi Onozuka: 188-222 (47.2 - 55.7%) -- 78.5% chance to 2HKO
the marisa MISSES and im able to recover and land a liquidation on suwako, leaving it on 9 after leftovers.
here i'm super considering going to kaguya, but i'm terrified that the suwako will uturn on the switch, after which there are probably winning lines with both marisa and chimata against my kaguya, and i just don't want chris to have another sacrifice in general. so i liquidation to take it off the board and it toxics me. against toxic switching definitely would've been correct, kaguya would kill suwako and then chris would've had to either lock into make it rain on chimata or kill kaguya with marisa; in either case, komachi would get to recover, after which i probably beat the last two. volt switch, trick, and light of ruin are all very scary individually, but the positioning is awkward so they don't synergize with each other to create unstoppable threats--if chimata volt switches into marisa, marisa dies; if marisa clicks light of ruin, i just recover, if chimata tricks me, i'm healthy enough to kill everyone with liquidation. there was a clever idea to kill kaguya with marisa, uturn to chimata on komachi recover, volt switch OR trick on liquidation OR recover, then (if volt switch/liquidation was played previously) volt switch OR trick on liquidation OR recover once again in the ensuing 1v1. hax notwithstanding, this would've been a 2/3 in my favor.
back to the game (only to divert away instantly once again), akira was saying i was dead lost if chimata came in to revenge rather than marisa, it was definitely a better overall line for chris, trick specifically looks very strong and kaguya can't come in on it because chimata is too healthy and i would lose my lo. meanwhile if komachi stays in, i don't really have a better line than trading it off against the chimata and trying to win vs marisa with kaguya. there was a secret resource in the position but i won't reveal it because that shit is prep.
anyway, marisa uturns on komachi, chimata takes a liquidation, here i spend some time deliberating on lines and ultimately decide on kaguya, i didn't actually have anything concretely calculated but i knew that if kaguya took trick it was very very good into the last 2, and if it took volt switch then i was probably fine with that, i get 2hkod anyway so might as well lock that in and force marisa to kill me. if make it rain was played, i was probably dead lost to make it rain spam + toxic damage, but i figured no way chris would do that.
volt switch into marisa was played, i moonblasted and dodged fire blast, i yapped for some time in touhoumons cord about the ensuing endgame if fire blast hit and kaguya died (i was pretty sure it came down to damage rolls, though thinking it over once again chris had really good chances if they clicked fire blast vs komachi rather than dying to lor recoil on recovers). i mystical fired the second turn cause i forgot i had unaware, but chris didn't see the fire blast into komachi line (which was present in the actual position as well, despite the extra damage on marisa) and missed the ~15% roll to kill, so i was healthy enough to beat chimata and won.
holy shit lol
this is the real SPL
Errrr I like poa
Touhoumons W3 Review
I don't know this meta, so prepare for bad reviews
Also, DH is not loading for me so everyone is just VIVIT.
Spammernoob vs fififlutters
I load a FSight team (classic structure I like) with Alice Margatroid and Rumia / Yuugi to take advantage. Rest of team is utility; Kanako as Phys wall + SR setter, Iku as spinner + pivot, and Clownpiece as Marisa switchin (read: sac to kill with Rumia after). fifi loads a team with Soga / Junko / Mokou breakers, Kogasa removal (I assume), Kanako SR setter, and Alice. MU-wise, fifi's Kanako and Kogasa both force my Kanako to switch in. On the other hand, my Scarf Rumia applies a lot of pressure, and limits Soga to 1 kill. I assume Mokou is scarfer, which outspeeds both my scarfers, so I should preserve Clown (though combination of Kanako + Iku check it, I'd prefer to save HP on Kanako). Junko is a wildcard that can be Phys or Special, so very scary.
I expect Kanako lead, so I lead Alice. I have Ice Beam, so I hope I can snipe Kanako t1, but unfortunately Alice switches in to scout. I have Spikes and FSight, so I have no problem staying in to make progress, while my Rumia in the back scares out their Alice and they go Junko. This telegraphs EQ to me, so I switch in Kanako as SD is clicked. Junko does 37 to Kanako with +2 Frustration as EQ + FSight put Junko in range of a second EQ, so I click Glare as a midground to cover Kanako as Junko uses Recover. Knowing I need Kanako HP and not expecting EQ to be clicked, I go Yuugi on a lucky full para, and then double back to Kanako expecting fifi's Kanako so we can trade SR. Instead of trading, however, fifi goes Soga. I need to preserve Kanako HP, but going hard Rumia is extremely obvious so I pivot Iku as midground, and flip to Rumia to claim the free kill.
fifi then takes the opportunity to bring in Kanako to set SR, as I go to my Kanako. I know this and Kogasa are the 2 mons I'm forced to trade my Kanako's HP into. fifi reveals Wood Hammer, which is great for me as my Kanako should easily outtrade with Hurricane, but after using Glare and then missing 2 Hurricanes, I accept my bad luck and go Alice to scare out Kanako with Ice Beam. fifi goes Junko on Ice Beam, then reveals EQ (as expected) as I go Kanako. I get a free EQ on a lucky full para, then go Yuugi on an expected Recover. I then click Stone Edge into Kanako switchin doing 38 (SpDef Kanako?), then try to secure the kill as they pivot Alice.
Here comes the first bot play, as I switch Clownpiece (needed for Mokou) into Alice instead of my own Alice to set Spikes. I throw my Clown for no reason clicking Moonblast into Alice (lol) and then get cleaned up by Mokou, which confirms that it's Scarf. I go Iku to secure my spin on Flare Blitz locked Mokou, as fifi goes Kanako. I think I can kill with a fast Flip Turn, but unfortunately I am a bot that lets up rocks while giving Kanako a Storm Drain boost. I am forced to go Kanako, and get lucky with Hurricane hits and full paras to clean up their Kanako. fifi sends Junko, and I need to preserve HP on Kanako for Kogasa, so I send in Rumia to be sac'd, but Junko gets full para'd twice and dies to Knock Off. Kogasa is sent in, and I trade my Alice and Rumia for Kogasa.
At this point, Kanako is in a good position, but I don't think she can trade with both Mokou and Alice. I go Iku as midground, as if Mokou is sent in I can slow pivot to Kanako to secure a kill, and if Alice is sent out, I can spam Discharge to fish for a para to set up Kanako win. Alice is sent out, Discharge eventually paras, and Kanako wins with 2 Earthquakes as expected.
Overall, this game was made a lot harder by the fact that I threw Clownpiece for no reason, leading to Kanako's HP becoming an issue in the lategame despite me getting very lucky with full paras.
big tony 2014 vs cityscapes
cityscapes loads both blanket checks in Sukuna and Iku (removal?), Aki (SR most likely), Clownpiece, Yuugi (Choice? Scarf?), and Soga. Big tony 2014 loads double Fire breakers in Flandre / Marisa, Kanako as Phys wall / SR setter, Eirin as SpDef wall, utility Lily (Defog?), and Sukuna. If Iku is the removal, big tony should have a much easier time sticking SR than cityscapes, though he will likely have to Defog his own rocks at some point if Flandre and Marisa are not both boots. Soga and Marisa are both happy not seeing Rumia on the other side. If big tony's Kanako is Hurricane, it heavily pressures every mon on cityscapes side except Soga. If not, big tony is relying on Marisa to break, as Flandre does nothing into Yuugi + Clown. Soga looks like it farms damage easily so I think cityscapes is favored, though Hurricane Kanako makes it more even.
big tony leads Sukuna, likely Ice Spinner to snipe Aki if it clicks SR. cityscapes leads Clownpiece, which has a favorable MU into most of big tony's team due to Will-o-Wisp + trading well into Flandre and Marisa. big tony cannot give up Marisa HP early as she is his primary breaker, so he absorbs Wisp with Eirin. Eirin then reveals Thousand Arrows, chipping Sukuna on the switch (which is Leftovers). Eirin is clearly walled, so big tony takes the opportunity to heal his Eirin's burn and go Flandre on Spikes, as Fairy STAB and Sacred Sword are both unlikely to come out that turn. cityscapes takes the easy Clownpiece switch as Flandre uses Fire Lash, and big tony is forced out by Moonblast threat back into Eirin as cityscapes calls the switch with a Sukuna double. Based on previous damage, +2 Thousand Arrows should kill Sukuna, but Gigaton does 80% to Eirin and forces it out into Kanako. big tony reveals Wood Hammer to deny Soga free entry, but Aki switches in instead to trade SR. Wood Hammer reveal means likely no Hurricane, so cityscapes clicks EP to deny entry to Marisa / Flandre as big tony switches to Lily and immediately removes the SR and Spikes on his side, as well as the SR he just set up (Kanako is helmet so it didn't even get 6% from this, truly a wasted turn) as cityscapes gets a free switch into Sukuna. Gigaton takes 40 off of Kanako (because neither Fire type wants to switch in here... dire) and then big tony doubles Lily on the safe Aki switchin. Lily uses Wish as SR are set, and then teleports to Kanako (who was chipped to 40) as cityscapes switches to Sukuna (denies the pass to Eirin?). big tony is now conditioned and goes Lily expecting Aki switch again, but instead is met with a Gigaton Hammer, which instantly deletes Lily and effectively kills Eirin as well.
This turn is interesting, as I feel EQ is a low risk play for tony. The likely switch is Aki, who makes no progress vs Lily since SR are already set. If EQ is clicked vs Aki, cityscapes is now forced to give up momentum as Lily switches in, or make a risky double to Clown or Sukuna, reversing the situation. There is the consideration of Ice move on Sukuna, but it was not clicked t13 so it is reasonable to discount it.
Flandre threatens out Sukuna and Clownpiece switches in, trading half HP for half of Flandre's HP (Fire Lash is surprisingly effective here) before being forced out into Iku. Iku clicks Recover to restore its Multiscale as big tony sacs Eirin, and then gets the +1 boost from Fiery Dance. big tony breaks the Multiscale with Marisa's U-turn, sacing Flandre, and comes back to deal 83% with Double Edge, failing to kill and instantly dying. The rest of the game is just cityscapes trading down mons, as Iku + Yuugi take out Kanako and Yuugi + Soga take out Sukuna.
The game spiraled after Eirin took a Gigaton for 80, and Lily was deleted, but big tony's team was just really not able to take Gigaton well (non-Leftovers Kanako is tough). Since big tony didn't have Hurricane on Kanako, he had to play more aggro to win, eg. Marisa t2 on Sukuna switchin and then correctly calling the stay-in, Dynamax, Yuugi, or Clown switch (very difficult).
fiish vs ChrisPBacon
Both players load Marisa balance. Chris has Junko, Kanako, Sukuna, Sannyo, Kaguya (SR?) while fiish has Mokou (Choice?), Lily, Suwako, Yukari, and Soga. I don't actually know if Chris has any removal on his team so it is more likely to be bootspam, whereas fiish has Lily ofc. Also notably, fiish has 5 mons with access to pivoting, so we will see if they decide to use pivot Lily and Yukari. Finally, Kaguya is likely SR on Chris' team, so it is possible Kanako has Wood Hammer / EQ / Hurricane + 4th utility move (Glare is best imo) meaning it can farm Suwako and Lily, and chip Soga as well. I expect game to be explosive as neither team has super solid answers for the other's threats.
fiish leads Marisa while Chris leads Kaguya. fiish U-turns into Lily, giving free SR, and revealing Leftovers on Kaguya (this is odd, taking the progress with Marisa Double Edge / Fire Blast seems correct here). Lily uses Defog as Kaguya reveals Cosmic Power. Remaining moves must be Moonblast and Moonlight, so Chris successfully loaded mono-Moonblast Kaguya into Marisa fairy resist... fiish pivots around, losing half of Suwako's HP and 1/4 of Soga's to get up SR and hit Kaguya with Psychic Noise on a Recover turn, forcing it out. fiish doubles Mokou on the Sukuna switch, and then nails Kanako with what must be a CB Flare Blitz for 60 + burn. Chris is forced Sannyo as fiish reads this and doubles Suwako to trade poison with Sannyo and pivot out to Yukari. fiish catches Sukuna with an Earth Power midground, then kills it with a second, revealing scarf Yukari. Chris takes the opportunity to heal his Kaguya as fiish switches to Marisa, revealing no HDB.
At this point, fiish has revealed 5 mons without HDB, 2 likely confirmed choiced (CB Mokou and scarf Yukari). It is clear they need to win fast before their team dies to SR, so the switch to Soga is truly perplexing (there is no Double-Edge switch-in, is this Marisa specs???). Chris switches in Marisa, which would have instantly exploded, but instead gets a free kill as fiish decides not to risk the speed tie and instead sacs Suwako. Mokou is then sent in and explodes to Double Edge (did fiish forget to calc) before Yukari forces Chris out into Kaguya. Kaguya gets a Recover as fiish pivots to Lily, and gets a Cosmic Power as Lily wastes turns clicking Leaf Storm and Teleport. fiish is forced to trade Soga to chip Kaguya into range for Marisa (with a lucky? crit). Chris sacs Kanako to Flamethrower, gets a Knock Off into Yukari, and finishes her with U-turn. The game is now over, as Marisa choice-locks into Flamethrower vs Sannyo and dies, and Lily dies to Chris' Marisa in the back.
I might come off as a bit of a hater in this review, but it is clear fiish did not play aggressively enough with Marisa in a MU they could not win long-term. Cosmic Power Kaguya is an unfortunate pull but even fire move Kaguya pressures Lily heavily on Defog attempts, so it was clear from the start that keeping SR off would be difficult. T1 U-turn set the pace for the game, and it was simply too slow for fiish to win. Even with Kanako instantly crippled, fiish couldn't end the game fast enough to outpace the SR clock on Marisa.
QT vs DripLegend
QT has loaded a bulky team to support Rumia (scarf?), with Kaguya (SR), Suwako (?), Chimata (Defog), Eirin as SpDef wall, and Komachi. Drip has loaded an offensive team, with breaker Patchouli, Flandre (scarf?), Sukuna, Kanako (SR), Soga, and Kogasa (Defog?). Rumia will need to do a lot of heavy lifting in sniping Patchouli and Soga, though QT has the slow pivot support to make it happen. Flandre is a major threat, especially with boots, as nothing takes its STABs well and it can easily trade down vs Kaguya. Scarf will have more difficulties into Kaguya + Komachi, and SR chip putting it in range of Rumia's Pursuit. For QT, Komachi looks extremely powerful, as its STABs are difficult to switch into, and SD sets can 1v1 non-Wood Hammer Kanako. Chimata is a good Defogger into Kanako, but lets in Flandre for free so care must be taken in the hazard game.
QT leads Rumia as Drip leads Sukuna. Rumia lead is greed to try to snipe Soga early, but leading Chimata or Komachi for better Kanako lead seems more reasonable. Drip led Sukuna to deny Kaguya SR, which is fine enough. QT goes Chimata as Drip uses Spikes, then takes 40 from TPunch to Defog. Drip lays another Spikes as QT is forced to Roost, and then clicks TPunch again as Suwako is switched in, securing 1 Spike in the exchange. Drip switches in Kanako on Scald, and takes a free Glare into Chimata. As noted before, Chimata can Defog on Kanako easily, but lets in Flandre for free. Flandre tricks away its Scarf into Eirin, taking a Leftovers in exchange (why was it not Black Sludge...) and activating it to break much more easily in the future. Drip goes Sukuna to not risk para from Nerve Poison (no fear of Thousand Arrows...) and eats a Knock. QT goes Komachi to tank a Gigaton, and then pivots in Flandre on Night Shade, which does 40. This is an insane click to me, as Flandre is an insane breaker so risking it vs potential Water move is very OD. Night Shade also means this Komachi probably loses to Kanako so here we are.
QT goes Kaguya as Drip opts to switch in Kogasa. This is definitely lower risk than clicking Fire Lash, so it's fine. Kaguya sets SR as Kogasa misses PRough, and then chips for 40 with Moonblast as Defog is clicked. This is a losing trade for Kogasa as it doesn't have Leftovers, so it U-turns to Sukuna as Kaguya resets SR. QT goes for a high-risk Mystical Fire to push 30% chip into Sukuna as Drip clicks Spikes on an expected Komachi, though Mystical Fire is also fine into a TPunch. Drip then chips Komachi with Spirit Break on the switch, and brings Kanako in on Recover to set SR. Komachi likely loses the 1v1 due to Kanako's high HP, so QT brings in Chimata, but decides to Flash Cannon (???) instead of just Defog or Volt (maybe not running it?) as Patchouli is brought in (insane btw). QT then clicks Defog on the Blue Flare miss (also insane btw) before deciding to go Suwako. Drip telegraphs choiced Patchouli by switching out to Kanako, which gets free SR on Suwako (still scared of Wood Hammer?). Unfortunately for QT, Flandre gets a free in vs Chimata again, who gets full-para'd, and Flandre finally reveals Phys (not a surprise) by clicking Fire Lash into Suwako. Lash does 25 so Crunch vs -1 Suwako should kill from 75 but Drip takes a safe Kanako switch and doubles back to Flandre on Chimata (again). This time Lash -> Crunch kills for sure vs Suwako, so Drip takes this line as QT switches Suwako on Lash, then Eirin (?) on Crunch. Eirin clicks Knock Off into a safe Sukuna switch, and dies to Gigaton to bring in Komachi safely. Komachi then reveals Court Change (why? this team is already very hazard-resistant) before Kanako forces Chimata in, and reveals its 4th move (Stone Edge) as it trades HP with Chimata.
At this point, Kanako has revealed it cannot touch Suwako, but QT decides to stay in to spam Flash Cannon, letting Flandre in. Flandre clicks Fire Lash into Kaguya, dealing 26, which raises the question of why Eirin was sac'd into this mon earlier. Kogasa comes in and trades half of its HP to Defog, before U-turning to Sukuna and letting SR back up (lol...). Sukuna sets up Spikes as Komachi switches back in, and burns its Dynamax on TPunch which does 45. TPunch in terrain does 40, which pressures Komachi to spam Recover, giving Drip the free Soga in. QT goes Suwako as Drip reveals CM, trades Scald w/ SBall, and then switches Rumia in on another SBall. The non-scarf Rumia then dies to Tbolt because QT decides not to click Sucker, instantly losing the game. Suwako is sac'd, Chimata gives Soga free Pain Split HP as it full paras, and Kaguya is forced to take 80 to finally kill Soga. QT sacs Suwako into Flandre (no Moxie) to bring in Komachi, who kills Sukuna sac with Aqua Cutter (Sharpness?). Patchouli then explodes the remaining Komachi and low-HP Kaguya.
QT's team is incredibly confusing, as it has 0 speed control. Why would you not run Scarf Rumia on this build? There were also 2 hazard control options, in Defog Chimata + Court Change Komachi, despite not having any SR-weak mon. Flandre was threatening as expected, though it should not have gotten as many free ins vs Chimata as it did. Overall, entire game hinged on Rumia being Scarf, but it was not, so QT lost.
tbh, there's a world where Suwako is sac'd t46, and Scarf Rumia clicks Knock Off ~8 times to clean, but it is not this world. Sad life.
I hope no one actually read this, its 3000 words of nonsense LOL. In case anyone actually made it here, I'll give some thoughts on writing reviews now. tbh, I'm very new to this, and it feels like I am just narrating a play-by-play. Maybe this is interesting, maybe it isn't... there feels like some amount of redundant info, but if I skip over the turns where an obvious move is clicked, it may be awkward for a reader who doesn't want to tab between the replay and the review...
My platonic ideal of a game review would cover gameplans at team preview, information gained by each player at each turn, in-depth analysis of key decision turns. Unfortunately, I am both a poor writer and an ignoramus in the tier of Touhoumons, so this review fell short of my ideal. Maybe next week I will try again, or I will run it back with an analysis of W2 games, who knows.
I don't know this meta, so prepare for bad reviews
Also, DH is not loading for me so everyone is just VIVIT.
Spammernoob vs fififlutters
I load a FSight team (classic structure I like) with Alice Margatroid and Rumia / Yuugi to take advantage. Rest of team is utility; Kanako as Phys wall + SR setter, Iku as spinner + pivot, and Clownpiece as Marisa switchin (read: sac to kill with Rumia after). fifi loads a team with Soga / Junko / Mokou breakers, Kogasa removal (I assume), Kanako SR setter, and Alice. MU-wise, fifi's Kanako and Kogasa both force my Kanako to switch in. On the other hand, my Scarf Rumia applies a lot of pressure, and limits Soga to 1 kill. I assume Mokou is scarfer, which outspeeds both my scarfers, so I should preserve Clown (though combination of Kanako + Iku check it, I'd prefer to save HP on Kanako). Junko is a wildcard that can be Phys or Special, so very scary.
I expect Kanako lead, so I lead Alice. I have Ice Beam, so I hope I can snipe Kanako t1, but unfortunately Alice switches in to scout. I have Spikes and FSight, so I have no problem staying in to make progress, while my Rumia in the back scares out their Alice and they go Junko. This telegraphs EQ to me, so I switch in Kanako as SD is clicked. Junko does 37 to Kanako with +2 Frustration as EQ + FSight put Junko in range of a second EQ, so I click Glare as a midground to cover Kanako as Junko uses Recover. Knowing I need Kanako HP and not expecting EQ to be clicked, I go Yuugi on a lucky full para, and then double back to Kanako expecting fifi's Kanako so we can trade SR. Instead of trading, however, fifi goes Soga. I need to preserve Kanako HP, but going hard Rumia is extremely obvious so I pivot Iku as midground, and flip to Rumia to claim the free kill.
fifi then takes the opportunity to bring in Kanako to set SR, as I go to my Kanako. I know this and Kogasa are the 2 mons I'm forced to trade my Kanako's HP into. fifi reveals Wood Hammer, which is great for me as my Kanako should easily outtrade with Hurricane, but after using Glare and then missing 2 Hurricanes, I accept my bad luck and go Alice to scare out Kanako with Ice Beam. fifi goes Junko on Ice Beam, then reveals EQ (as expected) as I go Kanako. I get a free EQ on a lucky full para, then go Yuugi on an expected Recover. I then click Stone Edge into Kanako switchin doing 38 (SpDef Kanako?), then try to secure the kill as they pivot Alice.
Here comes the first bot play, as I switch Clownpiece (needed for Mokou) into Alice instead of my own Alice to set Spikes. I throw my Clown for no reason clicking Moonblast into Alice (lol) and then get cleaned up by Mokou, which confirms that it's Scarf. I go Iku to secure my spin on Flare Blitz locked Mokou, as fifi goes Kanako. I think I can kill with a fast Flip Turn, but unfortunately I am a bot that lets up rocks while giving Kanako a Storm Drain boost. I am forced to go Kanako, and get lucky with Hurricane hits and full paras to clean up their Kanako. fifi sends Junko, and I need to preserve HP on Kanako for Kogasa, so I send in Rumia to be sac'd, but Junko gets full para'd twice and dies to Knock Off. Kogasa is sent in, and I trade my Alice and Rumia for Kogasa.
At this point, Kanako is in a good position, but I don't think she can trade with both Mokou and Alice. I go Iku as midground, as if Mokou is sent in I can slow pivot to Kanako to secure a kill, and if Alice is sent out, I can spam Discharge to fish for a para to set up Kanako win. Alice is sent out, Discharge eventually paras, and Kanako wins with 2 Earthquakes as expected.
Overall, this game was made a lot harder by the fact that I threw Clownpiece for no reason, leading to Kanako's HP becoming an issue in the lategame despite me getting very lucky with full paras.
big tony 2014 vs cityscapes
cityscapes loads both blanket checks in Sukuna and Iku (removal?), Aki (SR most likely), Clownpiece, Yuugi (Choice? Scarf?), and Soga. Big tony 2014 loads double Fire breakers in Flandre / Marisa, Kanako as Phys wall / SR setter, Eirin as SpDef wall, utility Lily (Defog?), and Sukuna. If Iku is the removal, big tony should have a much easier time sticking SR than cityscapes, though he will likely have to Defog his own rocks at some point if Flandre and Marisa are not both boots. Soga and Marisa are both happy not seeing Rumia on the other side. If big tony's Kanako is Hurricane, it heavily pressures every mon on cityscapes side except Soga. If not, big tony is relying on Marisa to break, as Flandre does nothing into Yuugi + Clown. Soga looks like it farms damage easily so I think cityscapes is favored, though Hurricane Kanako makes it more even.
big tony leads Sukuna, likely Ice Spinner to snipe Aki if it clicks SR. cityscapes leads Clownpiece, which has a favorable MU into most of big tony's team due to Will-o-Wisp + trading well into Flandre and Marisa. big tony cannot give up Marisa HP early as she is his primary breaker, so he absorbs Wisp with Eirin. Eirin then reveals Thousand Arrows, chipping Sukuna on the switch (which is Leftovers). Eirin is clearly walled, so big tony takes the opportunity to heal his Eirin's burn and go Flandre on Spikes, as Fairy STAB and Sacred Sword are both unlikely to come out that turn. cityscapes takes the easy Clownpiece switch as Flandre uses Fire Lash, and big tony is forced out by Moonblast threat back into Eirin as cityscapes calls the switch with a Sukuna double. Based on previous damage, +2 Thousand Arrows should kill Sukuna, but Gigaton does 80% to Eirin and forces it out into Kanako. big tony reveals Wood Hammer to deny Soga free entry, but Aki switches in instead to trade SR. Wood Hammer reveal means likely no Hurricane, so cityscapes clicks EP to deny entry to Marisa / Flandre as big tony switches to Lily and immediately removes the SR and Spikes on his side, as well as the SR he just set up (Kanako is helmet so it didn't even get 6% from this, truly a wasted turn) as cityscapes gets a free switch into Sukuna. Gigaton takes 40 off of Kanako (because neither Fire type wants to switch in here... dire) and then big tony doubles Lily on the safe Aki switchin. Lily uses Wish as SR are set, and then teleports to Kanako (who was chipped to 40) as cityscapes switches to Sukuna (denies the pass to Eirin?). big tony is now conditioned and goes Lily expecting Aki switch again, but instead is met with a Gigaton Hammer, which instantly deletes Lily and effectively kills Eirin as well.
This turn is interesting, as I feel EQ is a low risk play for tony. The likely switch is Aki, who makes no progress vs Lily since SR are already set. If EQ is clicked vs Aki, cityscapes is now forced to give up momentum as Lily switches in, or make a risky double to Clown or Sukuna, reversing the situation. There is the consideration of Ice move on Sukuna, but it was not clicked t13 so it is reasonable to discount it.
Flandre threatens out Sukuna and Clownpiece switches in, trading half HP for half of Flandre's HP (Fire Lash is surprisingly effective here) before being forced out into Iku. Iku clicks Recover to restore its Multiscale as big tony sacs Eirin, and then gets the +1 boost from Fiery Dance. big tony breaks the Multiscale with Marisa's U-turn, sacing Flandre, and comes back to deal 83% with Double Edge, failing to kill and instantly dying. The rest of the game is just cityscapes trading down mons, as Iku + Yuugi take out Kanako and Yuugi + Soga take out Sukuna.
The game spiraled after Eirin took a Gigaton for 80, and Lily was deleted, but big tony's team was just really not able to take Gigaton well (non-Leftovers Kanako is tough). Since big tony didn't have Hurricane on Kanako, he had to play more aggro to win, eg. Marisa t2 on Sukuna switchin and then correctly calling the stay-in, Dynamax, Yuugi, or Clown switch (very difficult).
fiish vs ChrisPBacon
Both players load Marisa balance. Chris has Junko, Kanako, Sukuna, Sannyo, Kaguya (SR?) while fiish has Mokou (Choice?), Lily, Suwako, Yukari, and Soga. I don't actually know if Chris has any removal on his team so it is more likely to be bootspam, whereas fiish has Lily ofc. Also notably, fiish has 5 mons with access to pivoting, so we will see if they decide to use pivot Lily and Yukari. Finally, Kaguya is likely SR on Chris' team, so it is possible Kanako has Wood Hammer / EQ / Hurricane + 4th utility move (Glare is best imo) meaning it can farm Suwako and Lily, and chip Soga as well. I expect game to be explosive as neither team has super solid answers for the other's threats.
fiish leads Marisa while Chris leads Kaguya. fiish U-turns into Lily, giving free SR, and revealing Leftovers on Kaguya (this is odd, taking the progress with Marisa Double Edge / Fire Blast seems correct here). Lily uses Defog as Kaguya reveals Cosmic Power. Remaining moves must be Moonblast and Moonlight, so Chris successfully loaded mono-Moonblast Kaguya into Marisa fairy resist... fiish pivots around, losing half of Suwako's HP and 1/4 of Soga's to get up SR and hit Kaguya with Psychic Noise on a Recover turn, forcing it out. fiish doubles Mokou on the Sukuna switch, and then nails Kanako with what must be a CB Flare Blitz for 60 + burn. Chris is forced Sannyo as fiish reads this and doubles Suwako to trade poison with Sannyo and pivot out to Yukari. fiish catches Sukuna with an Earth Power midground, then kills it with a second, revealing scarf Yukari. Chris takes the opportunity to heal his Kaguya as fiish switches to Marisa, revealing no HDB.
At this point, fiish has revealed 5 mons without HDB, 2 likely confirmed choiced (CB Mokou and scarf Yukari). It is clear they need to win fast before their team dies to SR, so the switch to Soga is truly perplexing (there is no Double-Edge switch-in, is this Marisa specs???). Chris switches in Marisa, which would have instantly exploded, but instead gets a free kill as fiish decides not to risk the speed tie and instead sacs Suwako. Mokou is then sent in and explodes to Double Edge (did fiish forget to calc) before Yukari forces Chris out into Kaguya. Kaguya gets a Recover as fiish pivots to Lily, and gets a Cosmic Power as Lily wastes turns clicking Leaf Storm and Teleport. fiish is forced to trade Soga to chip Kaguya into range for Marisa (with a lucky? crit). Chris sacs Kanako to Flamethrower, gets a Knock Off into Yukari, and finishes her with U-turn. The game is now over, as Marisa choice-locks into Flamethrower vs Sannyo and dies, and Lily dies to Chris' Marisa in the back.
I might come off as a bit of a hater in this review, but it is clear fiish did not play aggressively enough with Marisa in a MU they could not win long-term. Cosmic Power Kaguya is an unfortunate pull but even fire move Kaguya pressures Lily heavily on Defog attempts, so it was clear from the start that keeping SR off would be difficult. T1 U-turn set the pace for the game, and it was simply too slow for fiish to win. Even with Kanako instantly crippled, fiish couldn't end the game fast enough to outpace the SR clock on Marisa.
QT vs DripLegend
QT has loaded a bulky team to support Rumia (scarf?), with Kaguya (SR), Suwako (?), Chimata (Defog), Eirin as SpDef wall, and Komachi. Drip has loaded an offensive team, with breaker Patchouli, Flandre (scarf?), Sukuna, Kanako (SR), Soga, and Kogasa (Defog?). Rumia will need to do a lot of heavy lifting in sniping Patchouli and Soga, though QT has the slow pivot support to make it happen. Flandre is a major threat, especially with boots, as nothing takes its STABs well and it can easily trade down vs Kaguya. Scarf will have more difficulties into Kaguya + Komachi, and SR chip putting it in range of Rumia's Pursuit. For QT, Komachi looks extremely powerful, as its STABs are difficult to switch into, and SD sets can 1v1 non-Wood Hammer Kanako. Chimata is a good Defogger into Kanako, but lets in Flandre for free so care must be taken in the hazard game.
QT leads Rumia as Drip leads Sukuna. Rumia lead is greed to try to snipe Soga early, but leading Chimata or Komachi for better Kanako lead seems more reasonable. Drip led Sukuna to deny Kaguya SR, which is fine enough. QT goes Chimata as Drip uses Spikes, then takes 40 from TPunch to Defog. Drip lays another Spikes as QT is forced to Roost, and then clicks TPunch again as Suwako is switched in, securing 1 Spike in the exchange. Drip switches in Kanako on Scald, and takes a free Glare into Chimata. As noted before, Chimata can Defog on Kanako easily, but lets in Flandre for free. Flandre tricks away its Scarf into Eirin, taking a Leftovers in exchange (why was it not Black Sludge...) and activating it to break much more easily in the future. Drip goes Sukuna to not risk para from Nerve Poison (no fear of Thousand Arrows...) and eats a Knock. QT goes Komachi to tank a Gigaton, and then pivots in Flandre on Night Shade, which does 40. This is an insane click to me, as Flandre is an insane breaker so risking it vs potential Water move is very OD. Night Shade also means this Komachi probably loses to Kanako so here we are.
QT goes Kaguya as Drip opts to switch in Kogasa. This is definitely lower risk than clicking Fire Lash, so it's fine. Kaguya sets SR as Kogasa misses PRough, and then chips for 40 with Moonblast as Defog is clicked. This is a losing trade for Kogasa as it doesn't have Leftovers, so it U-turns to Sukuna as Kaguya resets SR. QT goes for a high-risk Mystical Fire to push 30% chip into Sukuna as Drip clicks Spikes on an expected Komachi, though Mystical Fire is also fine into a TPunch. Drip then chips Komachi with Spirit Break on the switch, and brings Kanako in on Recover to set SR. Komachi likely loses the 1v1 due to Kanako's high HP, so QT brings in Chimata, but decides to Flash Cannon (???) instead of just Defog or Volt (maybe not running it?) as Patchouli is brought in (insane btw). QT then clicks Defog on the Blue Flare miss (also insane btw) before deciding to go Suwako. Drip telegraphs choiced Patchouli by switching out to Kanako, which gets free SR on Suwako (still scared of Wood Hammer?). Unfortunately for QT, Flandre gets a free in vs Chimata again, who gets full-para'd, and Flandre finally reveals Phys (not a surprise) by clicking Fire Lash into Suwako. Lash does 25 so Crunch vs -1 Suwako should kill from 75 but Drip takes a safe Kanako switch and doubles back to Flandre on Chimata (again). This time Lash -> Crunch kills for sure vs Suwako, so Drip takes this line as QT switches Suwako on Lash, then Eirin (?) on Crunch. Eirin clicks Knock Off into a safe Sukuna switch, and dies to Gigaton to bring in Komachi safely. Komachi then reveals Court Change (why? this team is already very hazard-resistant) before Kanako forces Chimata in, and reveals its 4th move (Stone Edge) as it trades HP with Chimata.
At this point, Kanako has revealed it cannot touch Suwako, but QT decides to stay in to spam Flash Cannon, letting Flandre in. Flandre clicks Fire Lash into Kaguya, dealing 26, which raises the question of why Eirin was sac'd into this mon earlier. Kogasa comes in and trades half of its HP to Defog, before U-turning to Sukuna and letting SR back up (lol...). Sukuna sets up Spikes as Komachi switches back in, and burns its Dynamax on TPunch which does 45. TPunch in terrain does 40, which pressures Komachi to spam Recover, giving Drip the free Soga in. QT goes Suwako as Drip reveals CM, trades Scald w/ SBall, and then switches Rumia in on another SBall. The non-scarf Rumia then dies to Tbolt because QT decides not to click Sucker, instantly losing the game. Suwako is sac'd, Chimata gives Soga free Pain Split HP as it full paras, and Kaguya is forced to take 80 to finally kill Soga. QT sacs Suwako into Flandre (no Moxie) to bring in Komachi, who kills Sukuna sac with Aqua Cutter (Sharpness?). Patchouli then explodes the remaining Komachi and low-HP Kaguya.
QT's team is incredibly confusing, as it has 0 speed control. Why would you not run Scarf Rumia on this build? There were also 2 hazard control options, in Defog Chimata + Court Change Komachi, despite not having any SR-weak mon. Flandre was threatening as expected, though it should not have gotten as many free ins vs Chimata as it did. Overall, entire game hinged on Rumia being Scarf, but it was not, so QT lost.
tbh, there's a world where Suwako is sac'd t46, and Scarf Rumia clicks Knock Off ~8 times to clean, but it is not this world. Sad life.
I hope no one actually read this, its 3000 words of nonsense LOL. In case anyone actually made it here, I'll give some thoughts on writing reviews now. tbh, I'm very new to this, and it feels like I am just narrating a play-by-play. Maybe this is interesting, maybe it isn't... there feels like some amount of redundant info, but if I skip over the turns where an obvious move is clicked, it may be awkward for a reader who doesn't want to tab between the replay and the review...
My platonic ideal of a game review would cover gameplans at team preview, information gained by each player at each turn, in-depth analysis of key decision turns. Unfortunately, I am both a poor writer and an ignoramus in the tier of Touhoumons, so this review fell short of my ideal. Maybe next week I will try again, or I will run it back with an analysis of W2 games, who knows.
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Going to review W2 as well as an exercise in writing game reviews. I think MU analysis and identifying interactions (eg. Kanako + Flandre vs Chimata, Sukuna + Aki vs Kanako + Lily) and winning lines for each player are the most interesting parts of these reviews, so I will try to expand on those sections. I predict this will heavily bloat the word count, and also someone could probably read this and download 90% of my thought process during mons games, so I don't even know if this is a good idea, but I will do it regardless. I put more placeholder VIVIT because I'm lazy, will update with real teams later (read: never).
EDIT: I'm 3000 words in for the first 2 games... If you have any semblance of sanity, please don't read this LOL
EDIT 2: 5000 words total. Other 2 games were short, so most of those words were probably on preview. I still don't recommend reading, but if you read the first 3000... might as well finish LOL.
fiish vs fififlutters
Both players load BO teams with relatively standard backbone. fiish has Kanako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Komachi, Sukuna with Soga + Nemuno breaker core, and fifi has Kanako (SR), Sukuna, Iku with Mystia + Marisa + Murasa breaking core. Honestly, I don't know what Mystia or Murasa do at all, but I expect one scarfer on each side to outpace the key 125 speed tier. fiish's team is either Scarf Chimata or Scarf Nemuno, though Scarf Nemuno makes the team feel worse into Rumia as the team has limited breaking power w/o Soga. fifi's team feels like Murasa could be Scarf, as it is likely Iku isn't removal, so the team is either removal-less bootspam or Mystia is removal. Iku could also be Scarf Levitate, but that seems bad.
The hazard MU does not look very important, as Kanakos will likely trade rocks and Chimata will Defog them away a few times over the game. fiish's Chimata is a free Kanako answer, but fifi doesn't have a foolproof answer, likely needing to trade Kanako HP. Defog is not extremely forced, so fifi cannot take advantage of Chimata to pivot in Marisa consistently, as it is possible Chimata clicks Volt Switch instead. For fiish, Nemuno has difficulty breaking through both Sukuna and Kanako, especially if Scarf, as its best move to hit Sukuna, EQ, is immuned by Kanako. Kanako will likely be a solid midground in early-mid game switchin, though Sukuna can be used as well, and Kanako pivoted in after EQ is locked. Soga looks potent, though CM sets are limited from sweeping by potential Scarfe Murasa, and Choice sets are limited by Kanako + Marisa resisting its STABs. fifi can easily use Iku as a midground play to scout Soga, as its Multiscale is not extremely necessary for anything in this MU. For fifi, Murasa looks like a very potent breaker, as fiish has no Poltergeist resists. If Murasa is Scarf, fiish will need to preserve HP on Chimata and Kanako to not get blown through by Murasa (assuming Polt hits). Mystia is heavily limited by Sukuna, and Marisa is somewhat limited by Komachi, though if Marisa gets a turn vs Sukuna or Chimata, it is easy to U-turn into Murasa on Komachi switchin to throw off a Poltergeist. If Murasa is not Scarf, however, it has an easier time breaking through the defensive core of Chimata / Komachi / Kanako with the option to Ice Spinner on Kanako and preserve Poltergeist pp vs Chimata, but it sacrifices the MU vs Soga which may put fifi at a disadvantage. Ultimately, I think fifi is heavily favored if Scarf Murasa, and even game if not. For fifi, SR to chip Kanako + Chimata and set up for endgame Murasa clean is likely best line, and need to preserve Kanako + Marisa to punish choiced Soga. For fiish, need to soften fifi's defensive backbone with Soga so that Chimata / Sukuna / Kanako can make significant progress when they force Murasa out, before they run out of HP to check her.
For leads, Kanako is fine from both sides to immediately set SR. fiish can choose to lead Chimata to counter-lead Kanako, as SR is more important for fifi than fiish. Alternatively, Soga can be led to make immediate progress vs Kanako. fifi counter-lead Chimata with Marisa, as she can U-turn out of Kanako, and make some progress with Light of Ruin vs Chimata. Alternatively, fifi can lead Mystia to have a good MU into Kanako, physdef Chimata, and likely force Soga lead to scout Scarf. (alright... 500 words on preview... the dream).
fiish decides to lead Kanako, while fifi decides to lead Mystia. This is interesting, as this indicates fiish values early SR to some extent (which I disagree with, but SR can be useful to scout items), while fifi values chip on Kanako. Kanako instantly sets SR, as Mystia uses Brave Bird, revealing physical Tough Claws (but not CB or LO). 34% is a max roll if Kanako is PhysDef and Mystia is Jolly w/o boosting item, so it is more likely Mystia is Adamant or Kanako is not PhysDef. The next turn, Mystia does 38% with a second Brave Bird while Kanako misses Stone Edge (robbed...). This confirms Kanako is not max PhysDef, and also forces a lot of chip on Kanako, who is now at 40%, likely in range of Poltergeist after SR. If Stone Edge hit, fifi likely goes Kanako to set SR and invite Chimata to Defog, or Marisa to throw off a U-turn into Komachi. fiish likely sacs Kanako later to Murasa, but being up on sacs in this volatile MU is always valuable. The threat of another Stone Edge leads fifi to U-turn into their own Kanako to set SR, while fiish reveals Life Dew. This restores some HP, which is vital in this game for checking Murasa. fifi then sets SR as fiish pivots in Komachi. This seems risky, as Komachi is needed to check Marisa, and can be heavily chipped by Wood Hammer in the 1v1, whereas Life Dew can be clicked freely to recover to full and scout fifi's Kanako's coverage. fifi decides to preserve Kanako's HP and switches in Mystia (boots) on Spirit Shackle. This indicates Kanako likely doesn't have Wood Hammer, as that move should allow Kanako to out-trade SD Komachi in a 1v1 or at least heavily chip it to open a Marisa wincon. Mystia forces in fiish's Chimata, who tanks a Knock Off and reveals Leftovers. This should be a strong indication Nemuno is Scarf for fiish. Mystia U-turns into Marisa, allowing Chimata to Volt Switch into Nemuno. As stated in my preview section, fiish is in no hurry to Defog the hazards, so the options are between Moonlight and Volt Switch. Denying the Marisa momentum that leads to Murasa vs Komachi is very nice for fiish here, though Chimata at 48 after SR is very dangerous into lategame Murasa, and gives fifi the option to aggro Drill Run to catch Sukuna the next time Mystia is in (if she has it). Nemuno is an interesting choice. Komachi is the alternative switch here, and applies pressure since Mystia is in range of Liquidation / Aqua Cutter. fifi likely goes Iku, recovers on Kanako switch, and then is forced into her own Kanako, giving fiish momentum. Alternatively, Kanako pivot on Water move -> Mystia on Shackle is possible, but riskier as getting either turn wrong leads to disaster.
Nemuno hard-telegraphs Scarf, so fifi sacs Mystia to scout as fiish clicks the safe Mighty Cleave. I think the probability of Ground move into Kanako is so low it can be discounted, but preserving Sukuna HP is fine as well. fifi then goes Sukuna, and fiish tanks a Gigaton with Komachi, revealing Sukuna's LO. Komachi is reasonably safe, as it is the healthiest, and Kanako's existence dissuades TPunch. fiish then scouts TPunch with Kanako, and Ice Spinner with Sukuna, but fifi gets up a Spike and then Dynamaxes with Gigaton to delete Sukuna. If fiish stayed with Kanako, this line still wins as Sukuna tanks EQ with Dynamax and Steelspike DEF boost, and Steelspike + Gigaton should easily kill non-Physdef Kanako from 60. However, I think Komachi reasonably should have Recovered instead of switching. If physdef, I think Dynamax TPunch only does ~50-60, and if it doesn't have TPunch, Komachi should win 1v1 (likely at the cost of 3 Spikes up, and being forced out by Iku / Murasa after...). At this point, fiish goes Chimata to Moonlight, as fifi switches to Marisa. I want to assume this indicates Sukuna isn't TPunch (Spirit Break + Sacred Sword?) but it's not conclusive. At this point, fiish has no switchins to Marisa as Komachi is too chipped, so Chimata takes 82 from Fire Blast to click Defog. Chimata should've been sac'd here, but fiish decides to switch Komachi in as fifi clicks a risk-free (except miss) Light of Ruin for 58. Marisa luckily hits the next move to kill Komachi, and is forced out by Nemuno. However, this is fine for fifi as Kanako is full HP, tanks the Mighty Cleave, and ejects into Sukuna. Reasonably speaking, the game is over at this point (I would say Murasa was in a winning position after Chimata ate the Fire Blast), so the rest is mostly formality.
Sukuna Gigatons the Soga switch for 70, then gets the turn right with Kanako in vs Tbolt (Kanako is roughly expendable now). Kanako uses Stone Edge as fiish pivots in Kanako, and then fifi swaps to Murasa on a predicted Life Dew. Chimata is sac'd to scout as Murasa uses Ice Spinner, then Nemuno comes in. fifi switches to Kanako (indicating Murasa not scarf? or Ice spinner doesn't kill? too lazy to calc this, pretty meaningless atp), who manages to tank 2 Leaf Blades from Nemuno and trade itself for some chip via Wood Hammer, allowing Sukuna back in. Sukuna deletes fiish's Kanako with Gigaton (doing 66...) + Spirit Break. Marisa is sac'd to Tbolt, and Iku sets up to +2 to clean the remaining 2 mons on fiish's side. Assuming Specs Soga, this is clean line as if Soga uses SBall, Marisa claims 1 kill for free, and the remaining mon cannot win vs. Iku with Multiscale intact + fifi's remaining mons.
This game was quite mysterious, as it transitioned very quickly from earlygame positioning to fifi being in a dominant position the moment Mystia was sac'd to bring in Sukuna. There was pretty limited long-term analysis, as fiish was consistently on the back foot forced to deal with the threat in front of them. The early Stone Edge miss was pretty impactful, as without Mystia sac on t8, fifi is forced to expend other resources (Sukuna HP, Kanako Ebutton) that may give fiish a line to win with correct prediction later in the game. I think fiish could have afforded to use Recover / Life Dew on Komachi / Kanako more liberally, though the Moonlight on Chimata felt like a mistake. Kanako and Komachi were far less passive / abusable than Chimata, who ended up letting in Marisa to effectively end the game. If Murasa was scarf, game was 100% done regardless, but if not, likely came down to a game of sacs, and whether fiish can catch Sukuna on the switch with Nemuno EQ.
The fact that this type of game led to 1700 words is an ill omen for what's to come...
DripLegend vs cityscapes
cityscapes has Kanako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Iku, Sukuna (blanket checks), Remilia (primary breaker?) and Shion (Scarf?) while drip has Suwako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Iku, Sukuna (blanket checks), Soga (Specs? CM?) and Mokou (Scarf?). cityscapes team seems a bit slow unless Shion is scarf, though this seems slightly suspect in MUs vs Rumia (or other Pursuit mons). Alternatively, Chimata can be Scarf for speed control, with more defensive Sukuna spread to compensate. For breaking power, cityscapes will likely have one of NP Remilia, DD Iku, or Steel/Fight/Fairy Sukuna. For driplegend, the team is slightly faster, though a scarfer is likely, as betting the Marisa MU on Soga speed tie is never a good plan. Scarf Mokou feels more likely than Scarf Chimata here, so one of Soga / Iku / Sukuna is needed to break.
The hazard situation is the classic Suwako Kanako Chimata RPS. This means that SR are probably not going to be up for most of the game, esp. if Kanako is Wood Hammer. Kanako can easily set SR, whereas Suwako has difficulty setting vs Kanako. However, drip's Chimata can easily Defog on Kanako, whereas cityscapes' Chimata has a harder time Defogging. Both teams have a strong wincon, with drip's Mokou mostly being able to spam Flare Blitz, and Shion mostly being able to spam Shadow Ball. Mokou is faster though, so drip has a lategame advantage. cityscapes needs to preserve HP on Kanako and Iku to check Mokou, and make aggressive switches into Shion to spam Shadow Balls. Both teams have Sukuna + Iku, which provide one-time answers in the midgame for opposing threats. Remilia and Soga will likely be used in the early-midgame to exhaust these 1-time options to set up for their respective endgame wincons.
For leads, Kanako vs Suwako is a reasonable lead. Even though Suwako loses to Kanako, Chimata is relatively free, and cityscapes doesn't have anything that can heavily punish it. cityscapes can choose to lead Remilia to immediately force progress into Sukuna or Iku if it has fire coverage, though it is difficult to break Sukuna without. Drip can lead Chimata or Soga to try to abuse Kanako lead, though Soga is better as it has a strong MU into Remilia as well, and Chimata has a free switchin vs. Kanako regardless. I do not hate leading Suwako as drip, as SR is very useful, but Soga might be nicest? Kanako is nice lead for cityscapes, though maybe aggro Shion is nice since it is an unfavored MU if game goes long.
drip leads Soga to take advantage of Kanako lead, as cityscapes leads Chimata. cityscapes reveals Scarf Chimata, and instantly trades its Scarf for Specs as Soga clicks Shadow Ball to try and chip Kanako (low risk as Chimata doesn't threaten Soga with anything). Soga clicks Shadow Ball again, chipping Chimata to 20 as it Volts out to Sukuna. Trading Chimata's scarf here feels fine, as Soga is now more easily checked by Iku or Kanako. Shion is already limited by Mokou, so being outsped by Soga as well is not super important. Sukuna lays a Spikes as drip goes Chimata, then switches Chimata in on Defog. drip switches Suwako fearing Volt, and cityscapes doubles Kanako. Honestly, Chimata clicking Trick here is a nice aggro play, but Kanako is a fine midground. cityscapes decides to Wood Hammer as drip goes Chimata. This felt a bit greedy, and just setting SR to force a Defog, or making an aggro switch like Chimata seems nicer. Kanako sets SR next turn and eats 50 from Make it Rain, indicating no SpDef invest. cityscapes then switches Sukuna on Defog, and sets Spikes as Chimata volts out into Suwako. Kanako switches in on SR, clicks Wood Hammmer on Chimata, and Sukuna switches in on Make it Rain to eat 40. At this point, cityscapes is losing this looping interaction hard, so I don't expect them to try and continue looping. Suwako is switched in to scout TPunch, but Sukuna throws off a Gigaton for 44, and switches to Kanako as Suwako takes the U-turn into Iku (why not Chimata?). Iku trades Fiery Dance for EQ, dealing 25 and taking 61 in return (no Multiscale?). Since Fiery didn't boost, Rev Dance might be a roll, so drip is forced into Chimata as cityscapes doubles into Chimata at the same time. drip goes Suwako as cityscapes clicks Volt to avoid letting in Soga, as Kanako is relatively low at this point. cityscapes decides to switch Remilia in as Suwako U-turns into Mokou (telegraphing scarf) and drip clicks HJK as cityscapes sacs their Chimata (sadly it had 1% HP after SR, if it died to SR then Mokou would take recoil).
At this point, each side has expended roughly half of their defensive tools. cityscapes' Kanako is basically sac fodder, and Chimata is dead. drip's Iku Multiscale is gone (was it ever Multiscale?) and Suwako is at 50. drip has a full HP Chimata, cityscapes has a Multiscale Iku, and both sides have relatively healthy Sukuna with Dynamax, though cityscapes' is slightly chipped from an earlier Chimata interaction. This position looks a bit better for driplegend, though Mokou needs a bit more than just Multiscale broken to win through Iku.
cityscapes takes the free opportunity to go Shion and throw off a Shadow Ball, which disappointingly does 38 to Sukuna. drip expends Dynamax to Steelspike as cityscapes sacs Kanako, then goes to their own Sukuna to Steelspike. cityscapes wins the first speed tie and does half to drip's Sukuna before losing the second speed tie and dying. cityscapes revenges with Iku, getting the Fiery Dance SpA boost. drip goes Soga to break Multiscale with Volt, as cityscapes scouts with Recover. Drip then goes Iku to bait another Draco on the switch to Chimata, and Volts into Mokou as cityscapes brings in Remilia. Drip decides to switch to Chimata(not sure why, Flare Blitz seems free, as it breaks Multiscale and forces Iku to recover, or takes a sac) as cityscapes switches to Iku. drip switches Iku in on Tbolt, but loses the speed tie next turn and dies to Draco. Chimata easily tanks a -2 Fiery Dance and breaks the Multiscale with Volt, bringing in Mokou. At this point, Iku is -1 so Flare Blitz is probably relatively safe, but drip decides to use HJK instead as cityscapes sacs Remilia to bring in Shion. I think in this MU that relies on sac wars, cityscapes had to make a read this turn to either stay in and Recover on Flare Blitz, or hard Shion on HJK. They did a good job (with the help of a speed tie) clawing back from 3-5 to 3-3, but allowing game to go to 2-3 is highly disadvantageous. Shion reveals CM, so it was not Scarf the whole time. It gets +2 on the Chimata pivot to Mokou, throws Malignant into Chimata, then gets to +3 and Recovers to full on another Volt to Soga. Soga is sac'd to chip Shion, then Mokou revenges with Flare Blitz. Drip goes Chimata on Iku and slow-volts to break Multiscale, before OHKOing Iku with Explosion. If cityscapes made the call to go Iku on Mokou, I think it could've won as Chimata loses the 1v1 to both Iku and Shion, and Mokou has to use Chimata as a sac to switch moves to beat both. Going Iku is higher odds as Flare Blitz has 100% acc whereas HJK has 90, so it is optimal to hope that opponent misses even if they get the read right.
The game dynamics felt like they played out pretty expectedly. Chimata was difficult for cityscapes to deal with, and Iku and Mokou became annoying after Suwako and Kanako got traded down, respectively. It is impressive how much progress both Sukunas made, basically singlehandedly setting up the endgame for their respective wincons. It is interesting that Shion ended up being CM after all and not scarf, given how slow the rest of the team was, but it lost the interaction to Mokou regardless. All in all, relatively expected outcome as I wrote in the beginning, it is very difficult for cityscapes to not die to Mokou eventually. cityscapes had 2 opportunities in endgame to make a read to win, but declined the first opportunity and lost the 50/50 on the second, so unfortunately it was doomed from there (imagine if Mokou had U-turn...).
Other 2 coming soon.
QT vs ChrisPBacon
ChrisPBacon has a Psyterrain offense team with Kanako (SR), Kogasa (Defog), Sukuna, Reisen to set psyterrain, and Clown / Patchouli abusers. QT has a green HO team with lead Yamame (maybe webs?), Youmu, Soga, Joon (NP? Abil Shield?), Larva (QD?), and Hong (DD?). For Chris, Patchouli seems like most likely scarfer here, though personally I am not a fan of scarf Patchouli. Clown could also be Scarf, though I prefer it having recovery. For a team like Psyterrain, Kanako is possibly Eject Button to maximize momentum in short games, possibly fast Taunt as well. Kogasa feels like it could also be U-turn, though no SD is slightly awkward. For QT, it feels like it is just 5 setup mons + Yamame, with Joon to block Defog and Soga to block Spin.
Yamame is the obvious hazard lead for QT. I don't think Chris has any mons to block Sash Yamame from setting Webs t1, so it comes down to removing or living with them. Joon vs. Kogasa is an interesting MU; if Kogasa is boots, it can SD on the switch and threaten Joon with Wave Crash (if it is SD). If Kogasa is not boots, it is pretty unfortunate as Joon can outspeed and threaten it out. Soga looks dangerous, as she gets free turns vs. Kanako (esp. non-Wood Hammer) and Chris has no Shadow Ball switchins. Additionally, any chance of revenge-killing with Scarfer will be denied by Webs. Chris should try to avoid this situation as much as possible (though I'm not sure how possible it is).
QT wants to lead Yamame, so Chris should try to counter-lead it. Kanako can trade hazards, and trade some damage with EQ. Clownpiece can also immediately threaten with Torch Song, though likely to explode if Yamame has a Poison STAB. It is notable that if Soga is CM, it can easily come in after Yamame dies to Kanako to start scaling, and Chris has no good answers to CM Soga if Webs are up (Dynamax w/ Sukuna and pray). An aggressive lead line is Reisen to Volt to Patchouli, though QT can T1 attack with Yamame to deny this, and try to set up Webs after (to counter this, Chris can volt to Kanako for safe Patchouli entry, though if Webs is clicked t1 this is losing).
Chris chooses to lead Reisen as QT leads Yamame. Chris Volts into Clownpiece as QT sets webs. This is a nice midground that I didn't think of, as Clown can absorb a Bug STAB easily and outspeed/kill Yamame, and +1 Clown pressures Soga enough that it is not setup fodder. Chris kills Yamame with Torch Song, then brings Larva to sash as it clicks QD. Kogasa is sac'd to Hurricane as it reveals no Boots, and Chris goes Reisen to finish Larva with Lunatic Bullet. At this point, webs are permanently up, and QT is down 4-5. The goal should be to force Sukuna's Dynamax, and then win with Soga.
QT goes Youmu and clicks SD, as Chris switches to Sukuna to preserve Psyterrain for later. Hong Meiling is sac'd into Sukuna's Dynamax turn (why not just take the chip?), and QT goes Joon. Joon NPs as Patchouli switches in, and takes 95 from Mist Ball to kill with Make it Rain (confirming scarf Patchouli). Chris revenges with Clownpiece, and QT sacs Youmu for chip on Clownpiece. QT goes to their last mon Soga, who takes 66 to set up 1 CM before killing Clownpiece. Chris then goes Sukuna, who takes 37 from +1 Discharge and kills back with Spirit Break. I believe this indicates AV, though Sukuna has 170 SpD so maybe not... I am too lazy to calc today.
Boots + Clownpiece's good speed tier allowed it to easily clean up kills with Torch Song and deny Soga setup. Clownpiece also had a very broken typing for this MU, basically denying setup from any mon on QT's team with its STABs (I didn't realize this on preview because I forgot the typing of half the mons on QT's team... oops). Ultimately, I think Youmu should have traded damage into Sukuna, even on the Dynamax turn, because Sukuna was the largest roadblock to the Soga wincon. Would it have won? I'm not sure...
(short and relatively? simple game so only 700 words)
LBN vs big tony 2014
I left this one for last because I saw it live, so I already know what happens (I analyze rest of games turn-by-turn). I think I remember most of the sets... I think.
LBN has rain offense with Sanae setter, Nitori + Iku Swift Swim abusers, Aya as Hurricane spammer, Nazrin (SR) , and Lily White (Defog, slow pivot). big tony has what I now know is a Grassy Terrain HO with Lily setter, Sub-pass Rin, and setup Kogasa, Junko, Wriggle, Zanmu (all with Grassy Seed). This reminds me of the broken Paleomons team with Gourgeist + broken Bastiodon (sadly got nerfed...). I'm personally not a fan of rain now, given the prevalence of Kanako denying Flip Turn spam, but maybe it's secretly sheist.
I don't think big tony's team has hazard removal (Defog Lily seems troll when it deletes terrain) so Nazrin can get up SR freely for some chip into big tony's team granted it doesn't let anything snowball too far for free. From other tiers though, I know Rain generally runs through HO because Swift Swim mons have the immediate power to OHKO or 2HKO HO's mons before they can set up, and can outspeed HO's +1 mons and revenge. Sanae should also have a solid MU into Lily on lead, so I think LBN should be favored. However, Gterrain means Grassy Seed will be spammed, so Nitori will have more difficulty revenging and Iku / Aya will have to do more of the carrying (esp if Nitori isn't CB). Game will come down to how hard big tony can capitalize on the turn Rain goes down to set up twice and snowball past what Swift Swim Iku / Nitori can handle.
Lead is likely just Lily vs Sanae. For LBN, even though SR are useful, it is difficult to deny Lily lead -> setup mon as he needs to spend a turn setting up Rain to outspeed, and this gives certain mons the opportunity to set up to +2 (like Wriggle) and get out of hand. For big tony, he just wants terrain set to activate the Grassy Seeds on his Pokemon so that they can potentially tank hits from Nitori. Nothing else on big tony's team leads especially well into Sanae anyways so it's not worth considering too much.
Leads are expected, Lily outspeeds and does 70 to Sanae with Leaf Storm and takes 91 in return. Sanae is out of range of SR, and Gterrain heals Lily out of SR range, ensuring at least 1 more field effect for both players. Sanae is in range of the second Leaf Storm, however, so LBN goes to Nazrin as big tony goes Kogasa for momentum, as it is less abusable than -2 Lily and can easily tank Hurricane after Surprise. Nazrin cannot set SR without dying, so PShots into Eject Button Lily, who brings in Iku after Kogasa uses Wave Crash. Lily would be the ideal switchin if she were not at 15%, but instead big tony goes Zanmu to disable Iku's Swift Swim, taking 80 from a LO Wildbolt Storm in the process. Iku is forced out as it now underspeeds Zanmu, and LBN uses Lily to tank the Wicked Blow and kill with Giga Drain. big tony could have saved Zanmu, as it is useful to disable Swift Swim later, but it would've involved tanking a hit with Wriggle or Rin (both can do it, but not ideal). big tony brings in Wriggle after, and sets up a QD as LBN goes Aya. big tony QDs again and gets OHKO'd by Hurricane (Specs I assume). I'm not sure what the Wriggle set was (I assume Stored Power / Fire Move / Dkiss or something) but second QD is a bit greedy...
GTerrain and Rain both end here, which is not ideal for big tony. Ideally, he wants a sweeper in with momentum that can click a setup move, but instead Wriggle just died, so he sends Lily to reset terrain. LBN should take this turn to go Sanae, sac it for Rain, and then go Iku to start cleaning the remaining 4 on big tony's team. Instead, he chooses to pivot Lily as big tony's Lily teleports out into Rin. Rin gets a free Sub as Lily pivots into Sanae. LBN then switches into Nitori, electing not to break the sub, as Rin passes Sub and +1 Def to Junko. Junko's seed activates, so now LBN is staring down a +2 def Junko behind a Sub. The game is over now, as Super Scope 3d does only 36 in rain, meaning Junko gets a free CM and then can easily stall out Rain with Recovers, after which Junko can alternate CM + Recover until it is ready to sweep. After some turns, Junko gets to +3 and kills Nitori with Tbolt, ending up with 54% HP. LBN sends in Lily, who throws a Leech Seed as Junko recovers, then throws a Nature's Madness before dying. LBN goes Nazrin, who flinches with Iron Head, putting Junko in range of second Iron Head + Leech Seed. Instead of fishing flinch, LBN decides try to PShot a few times first, but after sacing the whole team, still doesn't manage to kill Junko and loses. Maybe with better flinch luck something could've happened, idk. I don't really know the optimal way to play that position, but the game likely just came down to Iron Head flinches, as Iku can snipe the rest of big tony's team once the boosted Junko is down.
Basically this game came down to LBN giving too many turns to Rin, leading to raid boss Junko snowballing. imo Junko is pretty broken, insane set variety, good mixed coverage, Recover, and a statline that you can't go wrong with. LBN could've kept up momentum by going Sanae instead of Lily on the turn rain went down, likely leading to a win as Iku blows through much of big tony's team for free (or maybe Junko wins the 1v1.. who knows).
I just copied this into Word, and it said it's 5046 words before this section. Honestly, I think preview analysis is kind of interesting. It mirrors the way many players spent a large portion of timer on preview to get a good gameplan (I've been told to do this too, but I genuinely cannot do it... game feels too complicated for my brain until a few turns have played out). This review ended up shorter than expected, because the last 2 games were both very fast HO MUs. I feel like if we had more balance MUs (or, god forbid, stall) this could've easily hit 6k. Maybe this was for the best.
I think I have a rough idea of the meta now, though most of it revolves around Kanako / Iku / Sukuna / Chimata / Kogasa (basically S / A+ tier VR mons). There are still a lot of mons where I have no clue what they want to do when I see them (eg. Mystia), so I hope I don't get those loaded vs me. A lot of times I have been looking for mons to be scarfers, as I expect most teams to have something to outspeed Marisa / Soga, but it seems it is sometimes fine to just rely on Sukuna / Iku to check them? I think? This feels shaky to me, but they are good at their job so idk. AV Sukuna seems interesting, I'd have to calc vs Marisa but it might live Fire Blast which would be funny.
We'll see if I keep doing these (and if I ever update the pictures). I know big tony already played this week and I skimmed the game so I'm a bit spoiled...
EDIT: I'm 3000 words in for the first 2 games... If you have any semblance of sanity, please don't read this LOL
EDIT 2: 5000 words total. Other 2 games were short, so most of those words were probably on preview. I still don't recommend reading, but if you read the first 3000... might as well finish LOL.
fiish vs fififlutters
Both players load BO teams with relatively standard backbone. fiish has Kanako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Komachi, Sukuna with Soga + Nemuno breaker core, and fifi has Kanako (SR), Sukuna, Iku with Mystia + Marisa + Murasa breaking core. Honestly, I don't know what Mystia or Murasa do at all, but I expect one scarfer on each side to outpace the key 125 speed tier. fiish's team is either Scarf Chimata or Scarf Nemuno, though Scarf Nemuno makes the team feel worse into Rumia as the team has limited breaking power w/o Soga. fifi's team feels like Murasa could be Scarf, as it is likely Iku isn't removal, so the team is either removal-less bootspam or Mystia is removal. Iku could also be Scarf Levitate, but that seems bad.
The hazard MU does not look very important, as Kanakos will likely trade rocks and Chimata will Defog them away a few times over the game. fiish's Chimata is a free Kanako answer, but fifi doesn't have a foolproof answer, likely needing to trade Kanako HP. Defog is not extremely forced, so fifi cannot take advantage of Chimata to pivot in Marisa consistently, as it is possible Chimata clicks Volt Switch instead. For fiish, Nemuno has difficulty breaking through both Sukuna and Kanako, especially if Scarf, as its best move to hit Sukuna, EQ, is immuned by Kanako. Kanako will likely be a solid midground in early-mid game switchin, though Sukuna can be used as well, and Kanako pivoted in after EQ is locked. Soga looks potent, though CM sets are limited from sweeping by potential Scarfe Murasa, and Choice sets are limited by Kanako + Marisa resisting its STABs. fifi can easily use Iku as a midground play to scout Soga, as its Multiscale is not extremely necessary for anything in this MU. For fifi, Murasa looks like a very potent breaker, as fiish has no Poltergeist resists. If Murasa is Scarf, fiish will need to preserve HP on Chimata and Kanako to not get blown through by Murasa (assuming Polt hits). Mystia is heavily limited by Sukuna, and Marisa is somewhat limited by Komachi, though if Marisa gets a turn vs Sukuna or Chimata, it is easy to U-turn into Murasa on Komachi switchin to throw off a Poltergeist. If Murasa is not Scarf, however, it has an easier time breaking through the defensive core of Chimata / Komachi / Kanako with the option to Ice Spinner on Kanako and preserve Poltergeist pp vs Chimata, but it sacrifices the MU vs Soga which may put fifi at a disadvantage. Ultimately, I think fifi is heavily favored if Scarf Murasa, and even game if not. For fifi, SR to chip Kanako + Chimata and set up for endgame Murasa clean is likely best line, and need to preserve Kanako + Marisa to punish choiced Soga. For fiish, need to soften fifi's defensive backbone with Soga so that Chimata / Sukuna / Kanako can make significant progress when they force Murasa out, before they run out of HP to check her.
For leads, Kanako is fine from both sides to immediately set SR. fiish can choose to lead Chimata to counter-lead Kanako, as SR is more important for fifi than fiish. Alternatively, Soga can be led to make immediate progress vs Kanako. fifi counter-lead Chimata with Marisa, as she can U-turn out of Kanako, and make some progress with Light of Ruin vs Chimata. Alternatively, fifi can lead Mystia to have a good MU into Kanako, physdef Chimata, and likely force Soga lead to scout Scarf. (alright... 500 words on preview... the dream).
fiish decides to lead Kanako, while fifi decides to lead Mystia. This is interesting, as this indicates fiish values early SR to some extent (which I disagree with, but SR can be useful to scout items), while fifi values chip on Kanako. Kanako instantly sets SR, as Mystia uses Brave Bird, revealing physical Tough Claws (but not CB or LO). 34% is a max roll if Kanako is PhysDef and Mystia is Jolly w/o boosting item, so it is more likely Mystia is Adamant or Kanako is not PhysDef. The next turn, Mystia does 38% with a second Brave Bird while Kanako misses Stone Edge (robbed...). This confirms Kanako is not max PhysDef, and also forces a lot of chip on Kanako, who is now at 40%, likely in range of Poltergeist after SR. If Stone Edge hit, fifi likely goes Kanako to set SR and invite Chimata to Defog, or Marisa to throw off a U-turn into Komachi. fiish likely sacs Kanako later to Murasa, but being up on sacs in this volatile MU is always valuable. The threat of another Stone Edge leads fifi to U-turn into their own Kanako to set SR, while fiish reveals Life Dew. This restores some HP, which is vital in this game for checking Murasa. fifi then sets SR as fiish pivots in Komachi. This seems risky, as Komachi is needed to check Marisa, and can be heavily chipped by Wood Hammer in the 1v1, whereas Life Dew can be clicked freely to recover to full and scout fifi's Kanako's coverage. fifi decides to preserve Kanako's HP and switches in Mystia (boots) on Spirit Shackle. This indicates Kanako likely doesn't have Wood Hammer, as that move should allow Kanako to out-trade SD Komachi in a 1v1 or at least heavily chip it to open a Marisa wincon. Mystia forces in fiish's Chimata, who tanks a Knock Off and reveals Leftovers. This should be a strong indication Nemuno is Scarf for fiish. Mystia U-turns into Marisa, allowing Chimata to Volt Switch into Nemuno. As stated in my preview section, fiish is in no hurry to Defog the hazards, so the options are between Moonlight and Volt Switch. Denying the Marisa momentum that leads to Murasa vs Komachi is very nice for fiish here, though Chimata at 48 after SR is very dangerous into lategame Murasa, and gives fifi the option to aggro Drill Run to catch Sukuna the next time Mystia is in (if she has it). Nemuno is an interesting choice. Komachi is the alternative switch here, and applies pressure since Mystia is in range of Liquidation / Aqua Cutter. fifi likely goes Iku, recovers on Kanako switch, and then is forced into her own Kanako, giving fiish momentum. Alternatively, Kanako pivot on Water move -> Mystia on Shackle is possible, but riskier as getting either turn wrong leads to disaster.
Nemuno hard-telegraphs Scarf, so fifi sacs Mystia to scout as fiish clicks the safe Mighty Cleave. I think the probability of Ground move into Kanako is so low it can be discounted, but preserving Sukuna HP is fine as well. fifi then goes Sukuna, and fiish tanks a Gigaton with Komachi, revealing Sukuna's LO. Komachi is reasonably safe, as it is the healthiest, and Kanako's existence dissuades TPunch. fiish then scouts TPunch with Kanako, and Ice Spinner with Sukuna, but fifi gets up a Spike and then Dynamaxes with Gigaton to delete Sukuna. If fiish stayed with Kanako, this line still wins as Sukuna tanks EQ with Dynamax and Steelspike DEF boost, and Steelspike + Gigaton should easily kill non-Physdef Kanako from 60. However, I think Komachi reasonably should have Recovered instead of switching. If physdef, I think Dynamax TPunch only does ~50-60, and if it doesn't have TPunch, Komachi should win 1v1 (likely at the cost of 3 Spikes up, and being forced out by Iku / Murasa after...). At this point, fiish goes Chimata to Moonlight, as fifi switches to Marisa. I want to assume this indicates Sukuna isn't TPunch (Spirit Break + Sacred Sword?) but it's not conclusive. At this point, fiish has no switchins to Marisa as Komachi is too chipped, so Chimata takes 82 from Fire Blast to click Defog. Chimata should've been sac'd here, but fiish decides to switch Komachi in as fifi clicks a risk-free (except miss) Light of Ruin for 58. Marisa luckily hits the next move to kill Komachi, and is forced out by Nemuno. However, this is fine for fifi as Kanako is full HP, tanks the Mighty Cleave, and ejects into Sukuna. Reasonably speaking, the game is over at this point (I would say Murasa was in a winning position after Chimata ate the Fire Blast), so the rest is mostly formality.
Sukuna Gigatons the Soga switch for 70, then gets the turn right with Kanako in vs Tbolt (Kanako is roughly expendable now). Kanako uses Stone Edge as fiish pivots in Kanako, and then fifi swaps to Murasa on a predicted Life Dew. Chimata is sac'd to scout as Murasa uses Ice Spinner, then Nemuno comes in. fifi switches to Kanako (indicating Murasa not scarf? or Ice spinner doesn't kill? too lazy to calc this, pretty meaningless atp), who manages to tank 2 Leaf Blades from Nemuno and trade itself for some chip via Wood Hammer, allowing Sukuna back in. Sukuna deletes fiish's Kanako with Gigaton (doing 66...) + Spirit Break. Marisa is sac'd to Tbolt, and Iku sets up to +2 to clean the remaining 2 mons on fiish's side. Assuming Specs Soga, this is clean line as if Soga uses SBall, Marisa claims 1 kill for free, and the remaining mon cannot win vs. Iku with Multiscale intact + fifi's remaining mons.
This game was quite mysterious, as it transitioned very quickly from earlygame positioning to fifi being in a dominant position the moment Mystia was sac'd to bring in Sukuna. There was pretty limited long-term analysis, as fiish was consistently on the back foot forced to deal with the threat in front of them. The early Stone Edge miss was pretty impactful, as without Mystia sac on t8, fifi is forced to expend other resources (Sukuna HP, Kanako Ebutton) that may give fiish a line to win with correct prediction later in the game. I think fiish could have afforded to use Recover / Life Dew on Komachi / Kanako more liberally, though the Moonlight on Chimata felt like a mistake. Kanako and Komachi were far less passive / abusable than Chimata, who ended up letting in Marisa to effectively end the game. If Murasa was scarf, game was 100% done regardless, but if not, likely came down to a game of sacs, and whether fiish can catch Sukuna on the switch with Nemuno EQ.
The fact that this type of game led to 1700 words is an ill omen for what's to come...
DripLegend vs cityscapes
cityscapes has Kanako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Iku, Sukuna (blanket checks), Remilia (primary breaker?) and Shion (Scarf?) while drip has Suwako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Iku, Sukuna (blanket checks), Soga (Specs? CM?) and Mokou (Scarf?). cityscapes team seems a bit slow unless Shion is scarf, though this seems slightly suspect in MUs vs Rumia (or other Pursuit mons). Alternatively, Chimata can be Scarf for speed control, with more defensive Sukuna spread to compensate. For breaking power, cityscapes will likely have one of NP Remilia, DD Iku, or Steel/Fight/Fairy Sukuna. For driplegend, the team is slightly faster, though a scarfer is likely, as betting the Marisa MU on Soga speed tie is never a good plan. Scarf Mokou feels more likely than Scarf Chimata here, so one of Soga / Iku / Sukuna is needed to break.
The hazard situation is the classic Suwako Kanako Chimata RPS. This means that SR are probably not going to be up for most of the game, esp. if Kanako is Wood Hammer. Kanako can easily set SR, whereas Suwako has difficulty setting vs Kanako. However, drip's Chimata can easily Defog on Kanako, whereas cityscapes' Chimata has a harder time Defogging. Both teams have a strong wincon, with drip's Mokou mostly being able to spam Flare Blitz, and Shion mostly being able to spam Shadow Ball. Mokou is faster though, so drip has a lategame advantage. cityscapes needs to preserve HP on Kanako and Iku to check Mokou, and make aggressive switches into Shion to spam Shadow Balls. Both teams have Sukuna + Iku, which provide one-time answers in the midgame for opposing threats. Remilia and Soga will likely be used in the early-midgame to exhaust these 1-time options to set up for their respective endgame wincons.
For leads, Kanako vs Suwako is a reasonable lead. Even though Suwako loses to Kanako, Chimata is relatively free, and cityscapes doesn't have anything that can heavily punish it. cityscapes can choose to lead Remilia to immediately force progress into Sukuna or Iku if it has fire coverage, though it is difficult to break Sukuna without. Drip can lead Chimata or Soga to try to abuse Kanako lead, though Soga is better as it has a strong MU into Remilia as well, and Chimata has a free switchin vs. Kanako regardless. I do not hate leading Suwako as drip, as SR is very useful, but Soga might be nicest? Kanako is nice lead for cityscapes, though maybe aggro Shion is nice since it is an unfavored MU if game goes long.
drip leads Soga to take advantage of Kanako lead, as cityscapes leads Chimata. cityscapes reveals Scarf Chimata, and instantly trades its Scarf for Specs as Soga clicks Shadow Ball to try and chip Kanako (low risk as Chimata doesn't threaten Soga with anything). Soga clicks Shadow Ball again, chipping Chimata to 20 as it Volts out to Sukuna. Trading Chimata's scarf here feels fine, as Soga is now more easily checked by Iku or Kanako. Shion is already limited by Mokou, so being outsped by Soga as well is not super important. Sukuna lays a Spikes as drip goes Chimata, then switches Chimata in on Defog. drip switches Suwako fearing Volt, and cityscapes doubles Kanako. Honestly, Chimata clicking Trick here is a nice aggro play, but Kanako is a fine midground. cityscapes decides to Wood Hammer as drip goes Chimata. This felt a bit greedy, and just setting SR to force a Defog, or making an aggro switch like Chimata seems nicer. Kanako sets SR next turn and eats 50 from Make it Rain, indicating no SpDef invest. cityscapes then switches Sukuna on Defog, and sets Spikes as Chimata volts out into Suwako. Kanako switches in on SR, clicks Wood Hammmer on Chimata, and Sukuna switches in on Make it Rain to eat 40. At this point, cityscapes is losing this looping interaction hard, so I don't expect them to try and continue looping. Suwako is switched in to scout TPunch, but Sukuna throws off a Gigaton for 44, and switches to Kanako as Suwako takes the U-turn into Iku (why not Chimata?). Iku trades Fiery Dance for EQ, dealing 25 and taking 61 in return (no Multiscale?). Since Fiery didn't boost, Rev Dance might be a roll, so drip is forced into Chimata as cityscapes doubles into Chimata at the same time. drip goes Suwako as cityscapes clicks Volt to avoid letting in Soga, as Kanako is relatively low at this point. cityscapes decides to switch Remilia in as Suwako U-turns into Mokou (telegraphing scarf) and drip clicks HJK as cityscapes sacs their Chimata (sadly it had 1% HP after SR, if it died to SR then Mokou would take recoil).
At this point, each side has expended roughly half of their defensive tools. cityscapes' Kanako is basically sac fodder, and Chimata is dead. drip's Iku Multiscale is gone (was it ever Multiscale?) and Suwako is at 50. drip has a full HP Chimata, cityscapes has a Multiscale Iku, and both sides have relatively healthy Sukuna with Dynamax, though cityscapes' is slightly chipped from an earlier Chimata interaction. This position looks a bit better for driplegend, though Mokou needs a bit more than just Multiscale broken to win through Iku.
cityscapes takes the free opportunity to go Shion and throw off a Shadow Ball, which disappointingly does 38 to Sukuna. drip expends Dynamax to Steelspike as cityscapes sacs Kanako, then goes to their own Sukuna to Steelspike. cityscapes wins the first speed tie and does half to drip's Sukuna before losing the second speed tie and dying. cityscapes revenges with Iku, getting the Fiery Dance SpA boost. drip goes Soga to break Multiscale with Volt, as cityscapes scouts with Recover. Drip then goes Iku to bait another Draco on the switch to Chimata, and Volts into Mokou as cityscapes brings in Remilia. Drip decides to switch to Chimata(not sure why, Flare Blitz seems free, as it breaks Multiscale and forces Iku to recover, or takes a sac) as cityscapes switches to Iku. drip switches Iku in on Tbolt, but loses the speed tie next turn and dies to Draco. Chimata easily tanks a -2 Fiery Dance and breaks the Multiscale with Volt, bringing in Mokou. At this point, Iku is -1 so Flare Blitz is probably relatively safe, but drip decides to use HJK instead as cityscapes sacs Remilia to bring in Shion. I think in this MU that relies on sac wars, cityscapes had to make a read this turn to either stay in and Recover on Flare Blitz, or hard Shion on HJK. They did a good job (with the help of a speed tie) clawing back from 3-5 to 3-3, but allowing game to go to 2-3 is highly disadvantageous. Shion reveals CM, so it was not Scarf the whole time. It gets +2 on the Chimata pivot to Mokou, throws Malignant into Chimata, then gets to +3 and Recovers to full on another Volt to Soga. Soga is sac'd to chip Shion, then Mokou revenges with Flare Blitz. Drip goes Chimata on Iku and slow-volts to break Multiscale, before OHKOing Iku with Explosion. If cityscapes made the call to go Iku on Mokou, I think it could've won as Chimata loses the 1v1 to both Iku and Shion, and Mokou has to use Chimata as a sac to switch moves to beat both. Going Iku is higher odds as Flare Blitz has 100% acc whereas HJK has 90, so it is optimal to hope that opponent misses even if they get the read right.
The game dynamics felt like they played out pretty expectedly. Chimata was difficult for cityscapes to deal with, and Iku and Mokou became annoying after Suwako and Kanako got traded down, respectively. It is impressive how much progress both Sukunas made, basically singlehandedly setting up the endgame for their respective wincons. It is interesting that Shion ended up being CM after all and not scarf, given how slow the rest of the team was, but it lost the interaction to Mokou regardless. All in all, relatively expected outcome as I wrote in the beginning, it is very difficult for cityscapes to not die to Mokou eventually. cityscapes had 2 opportunities in endgame to make a read to win, but declined the first opportunity and lost the 50/50 on the second, so unfortunately it was doomed from there (imagine if Mokou had U-turn...).
Other 2 coming soon.
QT vs ChrisPBacon
ChrisPBacon has a Psyterrain offense team with Kanako (SR), Kogasa (Defog), Sukuna, Reisen to set psyterrain, and Clown / Patchouli abusers. QT has a green HO team with lead Yamame (maybe webs?), Youmu, Soga, Joon (NP? Abil Shield?), Larva (QD?), and Hong (DD?). For Chris, Patchouli seems like most likely scarfer here, though personally I am not a fan of scarf Patchouli. Clown could also be Scarf, though I prefer it having recovery. For a team like Psyterrain, Kanako is possibly Eject Button to maximize momentum in short games, possibly fast Taunt as well. Kogasa feels like it could also be U-turn, though no SD is slightly awkward. For QT, it feels like it is just 5 setup mons + Yamame, with Joon to block Defog and Soga to block Spin.
Yamame is the obvious hazard lead for QT. I don't think Chris has any mons to block Sash Yamame from setting Webs t1, so it comes down to removing or living with them. Joon vs. Kogasa is an interesting MU; if Kogasa is boots, it can SD on the switch and threaten Joon with Wave Crash (if it is SD). If Kogasa is not boots, it is pretty unfortunate as Joon can outspeed and threaten it out. Soga looks dangerous, as she gets free turns vs. Kanako (esp. non-Wood Hammer) and Chris has no Shadow Ball switchins. Additionally, any chance of revenge-killing with Scarfer will be denied by Webs. Chris should try to avoid this situation as much as possible (though I'm not sure how possible it is).
QT wants to lead Yamame, so Chris should try to counter-lead it. Kanako can trade hazards, and trade some damage with EQ. Clownpiece can also immediately threaten with Torch Song, though likely to explode if Yamame has a Poison STAB. It is notable that if Soga is CM, it can easily come in after Yamame dies to Kanako to start scaling, and Chris has no good answers to CM Soga if Webs are up (Dynamax w/ Sukuna and pray). An aggressive lead line is Reisen to Volt to Patchouli, though QT can T1 attack with Yamame to deny this, and try to set up Webs after (to counter this, Chris can volt to Kanako for safe Patchouli entry, though if Webs is clicked t1 this is losing).
Chris chooses to lead Reisen as QT leads Yamame. Chris Volts into Clownpiece as QT sets webs. This is a nice midground that I didn't think of, as Clown can absorb a Bug STAB easily and outspeed/kill Yamame, and +1 Clown pressures Soga enough that it is not setup fodder. Chris kills Yamame with Torch Song, then brings Larva to sash as it clicks QD. Kogasa is sac'd to Hurricane as it reveals no Boots, and Chris goes Reisen to finish Larva with Lunatic Bullet. At this point, webs are permanently up, and QT is down 4-5. The goal should be to force Sukuna's Dynamax, and then win with Soga.
QT goes Youmu and clicks SD, as Chris switches to Sukuna to preserve Psyterrain for later. Hong Meiling is sac'd into Sukuna's Dynamax turn (why not just take the chip?), and QT goes Joon. Joon NPs as Patchouli switches in, and takes 95 from Mist Ball to kill with Make it Rain (confirming scarf Patchouli). Chris revenges with Clownpiece, and QT sacs Youmu for chip on Clownpiece. QT goes to their last mon Soga, who takes 66 to set up 1 CM before killing Clownpiece. Chris then goes Sukuna, who takes 37 from +1 Discharge and kills back with Spirit Break. I believe this indicates AV, though Sukuna has 170 SpD so maybe not... I am too lazy to calc today.
Boots + Clownpiece's good speed tier allowed it to easily clean up kills with Torch Song and deny Soga setup. Clownpiece also had a very broken typing for this MU, basically denying setup from any mon on QT's team with its STABs (I didn't realize this on preview because I forgot the typing of half the mons on QT's team... oops). Ultimately, I think Youmu should have traded damage into Sukuna, even on the Dynamax turn, because Sukuna was the largest roadblock to the Soga wincon. Would it have won? I'm not sure...
(short and relatively? simple game so only 700 words)
LBN vs big tony 2014
I left this one for last because I saw it live, so I already know what happens (I analyze rest of games turn-by-turn). I think I remember most of the sets... I think.
LBN has rain offense with Sanae setter, Nitori + Iku Swift Swim abusers, Aya as Hurricane spammer, Nazrin (SR) , and Lily White (Defog, slow pivot). big tony has what I now know is a Grassy Terrain HO with Lily setter, Sub-pass Rin, and setup Kogasa, Junko, Wriggle, Zanmu (all with Grassy Seed). This reminds me of the broken Paleomons team with Gourgeist + broken Bastiodon (sadly got nerfed...). I'm personally not a fan of rain now, given the prevalence of Kanako denying Flip Turn spam, but maybe it's secretly sheist.
I don't think big tony's team has hazard removal (Defog Lily seems troll when it deletes terrain) so Nazrin can get up SR freely for some chip into big tony's team granted it doesn't let anything snowball too far for free. From other tiers though, I know Rain generally runs through HO because Swift Swim mons have the immediate power to OHKO or 2HKO HO's mons before they can set up, and can outspeed HO's +1 mons and revenge. Sanae should also have a solid MU into Lily on lead, so I think LBN should be favored. However, Gterrain means Grassy Seed will be spammed, so Nitori will have more difficulty revenging and Iku / Aya will have to do more of the carrying (esp if Nitori isn't CB). Game will come down to how hard big tony can capitalize on the turn Rain goes down to set up twice and snowball past what Swift Swim Iku / Nitori can handle.
Lead is likely just Lily vs Sanae. For LBN, even though SR are useful, it is difficult to deny Lily lead -> setup mon as he needs to spend a turn setting up Rain to outspeed, and this gives certain mons the opportunity to set up to +2 (like Wriggle) and get out of hand. For big tony, he just wants terrain set to activate the Grassy Seeds on his Pokemon so that they can potentially tank hits from Nitori. Nothing else on big tony's team leads especially well into Sanae anyways so it's not worth considering too much.
Leads are expected, Lily outspeeds and does 70 to Sanae with Leaf Storm and takes 91 in return. Sanae is out of range of SR, and Gterrain heals Lily out of SR range, ensuring at least 1 more field effect for both players. Sanae is in range of the second Leaf Storm, however, so LBN goes to Nazrin as big tony goes Kogasa for momentum, as it is less abusable than -2 Lily and can easily tank Hurricane after Surprise. Nazrin cannot set SR without dying, so PShots into Eject Button Lily, who brings in Iku after Kogasa uses Wave Crash. Lily would be the ideal switchin if she were not at 15%, but instead big tony goes Zanmu to disable Iku's Swift Swim, taking 80 from a LO Wildbolt Storm in the process. Iku is forced out as it now underspeeds Zanmu, and LBN uses Lily to tank the Wicked Blow and kill with Giga Drain. big tony could have saved Zanmu, as it is useful to disable Swift Swim later, but it would've involved tanking a hit with Wriggle or Rin (both can do it, but not ideal). big tony brings in Wriggle after, and sets up a QD as LBN goes Aya. big tony QDs again and gets OHKO'd by Hurricane (Specs I assume). I'm not sure what the Wriggle set was (I assume Stored Power / Fire Move / Dkiss or something) but second QD is a bit greedy...
GTerrain and Rain both end here, which is not ideal for big tony. Ideally, he wants a sweeper in with momentum that can click a setup move, but instead Wriggle just died, so he sends Lily to reset terrain. LBN should take this turn to go Sanae, sac it for Rain, and then go Iku to start cleaning the remaining 4 on big tony's team. Instead, he chooses to pivot Lily as big tony's Lily teleports out into Rin. Rin gets a free Sub as Lily pivots into Sanae. LBN then switches into Nitori, electing not to break the sub, as Rin passes Sub and +1 Def to Junko. Junko's seed activates, so now LBN is staring down a +2 def Junko behind a Sub. The game is over now, as Super Scope 3d does only 36 in rain, meaning Junko gets a free CM and then can easily stall out Rain with Recovers, after which Junko can alternate CM + Recover until it is ready to sweep. After some turns, Junko gets to +3 and kills Nitori with Tbolt, ending up with 54% HP. LBN sends in Lily, who throws a Leech Seed as Junko recovers, then throws a Nature's Madness before dying. LBN goes Nazrin, who flinches with Iron Head, putting Junko in range of second Iron Head + Leech Seed. Instead of fishing flinch, LBN decides try to PShot a few times first, but after sacing the whole team, still doesn't manage to kill Junko and loses. Maybe with better flinch luck something could've happened, idk. I don't really know the optimal way to play that position, but the game likely just came down to Iron Head flinches, as Iku can snipe the rest of big tony's team once the boosted Junko is down.
Basically this game came down to LBN giving too many turns to Rin, leading to raid boss Junko snowballing. imo Junko is pretty broken, insane set variety, good mixed coverage, Recover, and a statline that you can't go wrong with. LBN could've kept up momentum by going Sanae instead of Lily on the turn rain went down, likely leading to a win as Iku blows through much of big tony's team for free (or maybe Junko wins the 1v1.. who knows).
I just copied this into Word, and it said it's 5046 words before this section. Honestly, I think preview analysis is kind of interesting. It mirrors the way many players spent a large portion of timer on preview to get a good gameplan (I've been told to do this too, but I genuinely cannot do it... game feels too complicated for my brain until a few turns have played out). This review ended up shorter than expected, because the last 2 games were both very fast HO MUs. I feel like if we had more balance MUs (or, god forbid, stall) this could've easily hit 6k. Maybe this was for the best.
I think I have a rough idea of the meta now, though most of it revolves around Kanako / Iku / Sukuna / Chimata / Kogasa (basically S / A+ tier VR mons). There are still a lot of mons where I have no clue what they want to do when I see them (eg. Mystia), so I hope I don't get those loaded vs me. A lot of times I have been looking for mons to be scarfers, as I expect most teams to have something to outspeed Marisa / Soga, but it seems it is sometimes fine to just rely on Sukuna / Iku to check them? I think? This feels shaky to me, but they are good at their job so idk. AV Sukuna seems interesting, I'd have to calc vs Marisa but it might live Fire Blast which would be funny.
We'll see if I keep doing these (and if I ever update the pictures). I know big tony already played this week and I skimmed the game so I'm a bit spoiled...
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The beautiful, smart and well-mannered PetMod Staff has once again enforced the reasonable "No Bug Abuse" rule, fairly stripping Ryan & Ditto of his duviously deserved win. This is not the first time, and I certainly hope it won't be the last. I hope to see more excellent admin decisions from the team like this, such as banning not saying "GG" next, or maybe just ban not giving the mod team $500 dollars to confirm your win, or maybe they'll just give the win to your opponent because they felt like it. It's truly a just and fair society! This is what the founding fathers of smogon.com envisioned for us.
To all the PetMod Staff, I have a message for you: we, the people of smogon.com, will stand for this to end of time. And to the viewers reading as of this very moment, join me in my campaign to legally change our names to Noglastica and do absolutely nothing else.
Sign my stawpoll
e: OMG Thanks for the help you kind and strong mod who edited my post!
To all the PetMod Staff, I have a message for you: we, the people of smogon.com, will stand for this to end of time. And to the viewers reading as of this very moment, join me in my campaign to legally change our names to Noglastica and do absolutely nothing else.
Sign my stawpoll
e: OMG Thanks for the help you kind and strong mod who edited my post!
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Just so everyone knows i WONT be reading what runo said
I checked the poll half an hour ago and the noglastica option was at 9 votes. Thus, this means you are a nog option clicker yourself.
alternatively, multiple people exist
seems unlikely
️W4 Game Reviews, feat. dreaded Bo3
Will this break 10k words? I hope not...
Spammernoob vs rineko
Starting off easy with my own game. I load a BO team with defensive core of Eirin, Kanako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Junko, Seiga, and Mokou (Scarf). rineko has an offense team with defensive core of Kanako (SR), Kogasa (Defog?) , Alice, and Chiyari, Youmu, and Seija. I wanted to uses Seiga because it looked powerful, with solid 130 SpA, 120 Spe, and incredible rainbow coverage. Here, I opted for NP + Ice Beam + Flamethrower, though upon further thought, Seiga is too frail to reliably NP so 4a Ebelt or Choice + Trick is likely better. Scarf Mokou is speed control for Marisa, Soga, and others, and Junko is BU to break bulkier mons like Kanako, Chimata, Iku. Chimata is Physdef Leftovers to relieve pressure from Kanako when dealing with mons like Sukuna, and Kanako is Physdef with Glare + Wood Hammer because Para is broken, and Wood Hammer helps chip Soga which hard-walls the rest of the set. Meanwhile, rineko's team seems to be Physical offense spam looking to overwhelm Kanako and/or Chimata. Youmu's speed tier means a scarfer is not necessarily required. Alice is likely Physdef to check Sukuna, or offensive with Colbur. Kogasa looks like the Defogger and emergency special check. Kanako could be either Phys or SpDef, though it is more likely to by Physdef since Alice and Kogasa are both SpDef biased, even if Alice is Physdef invested. I still have no idea how to identify Kanako's 2 moves past EQ + SR, but I assume there is no Life Dew at least.
Going into this game, I didn't really know what Seija or Chiyari did, but I knew that both had physically leaning stats. Youmu is normally a Cirno support, but here I expected some SD set with STABs + 1. Since it is Phys spam with Seija and Chiyari, I know my Eirin will likely be useless, probably relegated to answering Alice for a bit before getting a Knock and being sac'd for momentum, or ideally getting a Nerve Poison para off. Chimata and . Sadly, Seiga is hard-walled by Kogasa w/o Tbolt (something I regret not loading), so I am relying a lot on Mokou to clean (pray Chiyari is chipped LOL), after Kanako, Junko, and Chimata trade down with the enemy team (preferably positively). I need Chimata to trade with some of rineko's Phys mons, but she definitely loses to Chiyari, so my goal is Chimata vs. Seija and Youmu, Kanako vs Chiyari and Kogasa (though Seija and Kogasa can go to either depending on the situation).
For leads, Kanako has a solid MU into rineko's, only really being forced out by threat of Alice Ice Beam, and setting SR on the rest (if they lead Alice, I go Eirin). Likewise for rineko, Kanako to trade SR immediately is not bad, esp. since Seija can punish my removal by getting an evasion boost. I don't really see a reason not to lead Kanako, unless Chiyari is not boots, in which case rineko should lead Alice to deny SR. I don't really see another option, but maybe Youmu can lead if she has Ice move. If she trades, Seiga would be much better, though sadly Kogasa still walls it since I'm not Tbolt.
I take my Kanako lead as rineko leads Kogasa. I was confused by this lead, but take the turn to throw off a free Glare, as Kogasa U-turns into Kanako. I click SR expecting to trade rocks, but get a lucky full para. I then aggressively switch to Seiga on SR, though this was relatively safe as I knew EQ was not getting clicked. I overthink this turn and click Dark Pulse even though I have Ice Beam, as rineko trades with EQ. Here, I expect rineko to stay in, as EQ 2HKO's Seiga and Dark Pulse does not 2HKO Kanako, so I click Ice beam as they switch to Kogasa and get a lucky (?) crit for 30%. I am walled, so I switch to Chimata, as I expect a U-turn or Play Rough and want to conserve Kanako's HP. rineko U-turns to Alice, and I Volt to Eirin to take minimal damage from Aura Sphere. More than likely, Alice is Colbur, as Leftovers aren't revealed, so I take a free Knock with Eirin as rineko switches in Kanako. I am too lazy to calc Psynoise, so I take a Chimata switch as rineko uses Glare, likely expecting the Chimata or Kanako. I am afraid of Seija switching in on Defog, and I know Kanako cannot touch Physdef Chimata (Thunder Punch does ~25%) so I decide to click Volt, as rineko goes Alice on a potential Make it Rain or Defog (is it Competitive? idk). I go Eirin again, and fire off another Knock, as I expect Knock + SR + Psynoise should kill Kanako at this range, as Alice reveals TR. In hindsight, this was obviously not Recover (surely STABs last), but I click Psynoise to deny Recover, as rineko clicks Psynoise as well for chip. I am surprised in chat here as Alice underspeeds my Eirin, though I guess it is expected if it is OTR. Eirin's Brain of the Moon minimizes damage she takes here, so she's able to remain healthy after taking 2 Psynoises and finishing Alice off with Knock Off. Here, I guess I can cope that 36% was out of range of 1 Knock, or my play stalled 1 turn of TR, or whatever...
2 turns remain of TR, and rineko sends out Kanako. Para'd Kanako outspeeds Eirin in TR, and I want to preserve the sac so I go Kanako on EQ. I think Chimata here was very obvious, so I wanted to cover a potential Chiyari double, as I didn't expect Glare to come out. On the next turn, I decide I need to preserve Kanako since it is easy to lose to a full para, so I go Chimata. Here, Volt is risk-free for me to spam, as I don't think Kanako has anything to hit Chimata, so I click it repeatedly. I figure rineko also wants to sac her Kanako here, so I just take the time to fully heal my Chimata with Leftovers, and take the kill with Make it Rain. rineko sends out Seija, and I don't really know what this is going to do (in hindsight, its obviously not SD), but I figure there's a reason it came in so I swap to Kanako on Overheat, taking 30. I really need to preserve Kanako for Kogasa (and Chiyari to an extent) so I switch to Eirin, now knowing Seija is special. Eirin tanks a +2 Dark Pulse and a +2 Overheat, but doesn't get the Nerve Poison para and dies to the +4 Dark Pulse. I am forced to go Mokou and Flare Blitz revenge, as I don't have faith Seiga can kill from 60 with a coverage move. I think here, rineko is forced to sac someone, as, even though Chiyari and Kogasa are both resists (and I am 100% clicking Blitz), Chiyari cannot tank 3 Flare Blitz (and is outsped at +1), and Kogasa is only at 47 after SR so likely cannot take 2. I'm not sure if sacing Seija is correct here, as she has a good MU into my remaining mons bar Mokou, but Chiyari and Youmu can maybe possibly beat Mokou? so it might be fine.
rineko goes Chiyari to take advantage of Mokou and set up a DD, as I go hard Junko. If Kanako was full HP, I'd go Kanako ofc but I think she is too low to contest +1 Chiyari. I click EQ as I pray my no bulk Junko can take +1 Flare Blitz, as rineko elects to DD again (to outspeed Mokou?). EQ does 75, which is great for me as rineko is forced to Flare Blitz to trade +2 Chiyari for my Junko, which I'm glad to take. At this point, I think the game is mostly over, as rineko only has Kogasa and Youmu vs 4 mons, including a Scarf Mokou. Kanako has the bests spread of MUs here, as Seiga loses to both and Mokou loses to Kogasa (and I don't want to risk full paras with Chimata). rineko reveals screens Kogasa (why were these not clicked earlier) as I click EQ, and then reveal Wood Hammer (troll play). Last mon Youmu comes in, and I click Glare so Seiga can outspeed, as Youmu reveals Lum Berry and Ice Spinner (which doesn't kill). Kanako dies to the follow-up Shadow Claw (forced, as I threaten another Glare), and I go Chimata. I have brain damage and forget that I can Defog the screens, so I click Make it Rain for 40 as Youmu SDs. Here I panic, as I realize Drain Punch probably wins, then remember I can Defog the screens so Mokou can kill. I Defog the screens as Chimata tanks a Sacred Sword, then die to the second but Mokou cleans up with Flare Blitz. If rineko used SD vs Kanako, I probably lose since Chimata will die before I remember I can Defog (maybe not? idk the Mokou vs Youmu calc at all).
Kogasa and Kanako being chipped early basically opened up the path for Mokou to clean. Chiyari is an interesting punish for all the Scarf Mokou spam, though it feels a bit volatile since you always eat 2 Flare Blitzes if you try to set up vs it. The best punish is surely Clownpiece, and the second best is Utsuho maybe (probs best if you are skilled at keeping off SR), though neither really fit this team (Clown is probably pretty good at snowballing on screens, actually). Seija was very scary in the midgame but I was lucky it only got a kill on an already useless Eirin and 30% on my Kanako. I think if rineko decided to set screens earlier, the game would've been much different, though it's impossible to say how it would've played out. I relied a lot on trading damage to check the opposing mons, so screens may have allowed Seija / Chiyari to snowball in the midgame instead of being traded out.
QT vs big tony 2014
QT has balance team with Soga + Cirno bolt-beam offensive core, Lily (Defog) slow-pivot, Sukuna + Iku blanket-checks, and Yukari. big tony has a BO team with Ran + Zanmu + Hong Meiling Psychic / Dark / Fighting offensive core, Suwako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Raiko. For QT, I expect scarf Yukari, as Marisa would otherwise need to be checked by Soga speed tie. Soga feels like it could be CM here, though if it is Specs then I assume Iku is DD. For big tony, I expect one of the PFD core to be Scarf. Chimata and Raiko are probably defensive, and Suwako is probably SpDef. Raiko is probably needed here to check Sukuna, as otherwise big tony relies on Chimata, who can be exploded by Thunder Punch (what does Raiko even do).
QT has no SR setter that I can see, and likely Defog Lily. Tony has SR Suwako and Defog Chimata. This is nice for QT, as Lily can always deny SR from Suwako, which is valuable as Cirno appreciates no SR up. QT also has a strong MU with Sukuna, as it can outtrade most of big tony's team with the combination of Fairy move + Thunder Punch. I don't really see a nice wincon for big tony, but if QT opted for Spikes on Sukuna then it might give big tony a chance with whichever Scarfer he has. Suwako is a very nice defensive piece for big tony, though Cirno is dangerous with Freeze Dry.
For leads, QT can lead Cirno or Lily to immediately deny Suwako's SR. There's no hazards on this side (unless Sukuna Spikes, but that is not a good lead here) so QT should try to counterlead big tony's setter. big tony can lead Chimata to counterlead Cirno and Lily, and threatens a Volt Switch for immediate momentum. Thus, QT's best lead might be Soga, as if Chimata leads it is threatened out immediately, and if Suwako leads, QT can go straight to Lily to Defog (though big tony goes Chimata on Lily and gets the Volt Switch momentum...).
QT leads Soga, as big tony leads Hong Meiling. I think lead Hong Meiling telegraphs not DD, probably wants to U-turn T1 so probably Scarf. Alternatively, it could be SR, but this seems terrible when Suwako is on the team. QT has a very safe Lily switch. For big tony, the only clickable moves are U-turn and Knock. If big tony clicks U-turn, he can go Suwako on stay-in, or appropriate answer on switch (likely Chimata on Lily, then has to guess Volt / Make it Rain). If big tony clicks Knock Off into Lily, Lily gets a free Teleport for momentum. Big tony decides to click Knock Off, as QT decides to stay in to Volt (???) taking 95 and losing Specs. QT goes Cirno for offensive pressure, and Hong is forced out due to being locked into Knock. Cirno clicks Ice Beam as Raiko switches in and instantly explodes to a crit. big tony goes back to Hong (other option is Chimata, but lower pressure) and clicks Meteor Mash as QT brings in Lily, taking 90 from a crit (I did not know it got that). QT is threatened out and goes Yukari, as tony goes Ran expecting Iku switchin. I think Yukari is a fine switch to preserve Multiscale, but Iku is fine too since she can Recover -> go Lily on Suwako the next turn to get Regenerator. Yukari is a telegraphed Scarf, but big tony clicks U-turn for 65 as QT clicks Glare. I think Dark Pulse once is a fine click here, as Zanmu or Suwako are the safe switchins for big tony, and Suwako lets in Lily (Zanmu is a bit of a problem though, esp. if Lily is not max Speed). big tony decides to go into Hong as she is the only one that outspeeds Scarf Yukari, and clicks U-turn for free as QT goes Lily, and brings in Zanmu (Lily Regen denied).
So far, it's been impressive how well big tony has done despite the massive bombs of Sukuna and Cirno that threaten a KO every time they enter. Soga is at 5% and Lily is stuck at 17% for one more switchin, which puts incredible pressure on QT to keep off SR to not lose to Hong Meiling CC spam. However, it is not a clean line for big tony, as setting SR with Suwako invites Lily to get Regen healing, so this will need to be played with some finesse. This is relevant here because QT now has the option of sacing Lily to bring in Cirno to trade a kill, or make a switch to Sukuna or Iku. If Lily is sac'd, Soga instantly dies to SR, so QT is forced to hard in against Suwako to trade, and only has Sukuna Dynamax + Iku Multiscale as options against Hong Meiling and Iku Multiscale will need to be aggressively leveraged (Cirno double) to not lose to Suwako. However, if Lily is preserved, QT can leverage Iku's Multiscale to force out Hong Meiling, and use the opening to heal Lily. I'm not sure how exactly the sac war would turn out if Lily is sac'd, but it would lead to a pretty short game from here and likely depend on if Chimata is SpDef or PhysDef.
Instead, QT decides to go Sukuna as Zanmu clicks Substitute. This seems a little suspect as Zanmu can EQ for major chip on Sukuna, which would instantly make this game very difficult (though taking the Lily preserve path is already difficult). Instead, big tony opts to put up Sub, and then Wicked Blow does 30 to Sukuna as it breaks sub with PRough. big tony is forced out into Chimata, as QT reveals Spikes, so it is not likely to be TPunch (usually Tpunch is run with Ice move). QT clicks Gigaton as Chimata volts out into Ran, and QT sacs Lily to Fire Blast to bring in Soga. This line feels relatively autopilot for big tony, but it is very difficult for QT. Unless the Gigaton was important for Cirno kill ranges, I think it is better to go hard Lily to get a Regen proc or sac to Make it Rain. If big tony Defogs the Spike, it is a happy Regen proc and QT can go Iku the next turn to force Chimata to Volt into Hong or Suwako, which puts big tony in a guessing game scenario. If Chimata instead Volts, Lily either secures a heal or Zanmu lets in Sukuna again and we loop a bit. If Chimata uses Make it Rain, it is kinda cope but Soga or Iku can come in and then hard to Cirno on Suwako and try to secure a kill. I think some scenarios are better than this one, but only if the chip on Chimata doesn't matter for Cirno (I can't be bothered to calc, esp. since idk the Cirno set... Specs maybe?).
big tony goes Zanmu on Shadow Ball, then tanks Tbolt and kills with Wicked Blow. QT has option to go Cirno here, which seems ideal to me. Instead, they go Iku and DD as Zanmu clicks Pain Split, healing from 11 to 58 while taking Iku to 57. I think this is the end of the game psychologically, as I would insta-tilt in this position. If Iku has Recover, it should be spammed until she is out of Wicked Blow range, then another DD clicked, but instead Dclaw is clicked on the Ran sac (indicating no Recover, though not a surprise for DD). big tony goes Hong, and collects a free kill with CC on Iku. QT is forced to Sukuna, and big tony goes Chimata on Prough. Chimata heals with Moonlight as QT reveals Sukuna has Wish. Sukuna continues to chip at Chimata in vain as Chimata volts to Suwako. QT goes Cirno (only option) on EP and eats 65, but scares big tony out with Freeze Dry. big tony decides to sac Zanmu as she loses to the rest of QT's team, then goes Hong to threaten another CC. QT switches in Sukuna and takes 63, sitting at 35 after Lefties (out of range of another CC if Dynamax). big tony takes the safe Chimata switch as QT burns Dynamax, and game is basically over. I fear QT had to aggro Cirno in here, as they are so behind they need to claw back sacs, but it might be too late. We know Chimata underspeeds Sukuna, so she can slow Volt into Hong Meiling for free and claim a kill. Instead, big tony decides to Make it Rain as Sukuna uses Wish (living on 1%). big tony opts to throw another Make it Rain as QT goes Yukari, barely tanking the -1. Yukari clicks Glare (def pointless atp) as big tony goes Suwako. EP finishes the 7% Sukuna, Suwako is sac'd to Cirno, Hong revenges, and Chimata is sac'd to reset Yukari's Intimidate so Hong can cleanly kill with a CC.
I am surprised that big tony won given the Fairy weakness vs triple Fairy, though no Tpunch on Sukuna made the MU harder since Chimata walled it and got free momentum. Hong sniped both its CC switchins immediately, making the game much easier for big tony. I think the critical turn was Zanmu vs Lily, as I think sac Lily -> Cirno would've simplified the game greatly (is this in big tony's favor? since he's ahead? but I would do it in QT's place since I have a small brain). Main questionable play from QT was T1, I think Hong is never SR on a team with Suwako so should accept losing momentum to U-turn and just go Lily (though ig Meteor Mash exists...) or maybe Sukuna... copium.
fiish vs DripLegend 2014
fiish has a Cirno team with Letty (Snow support), Iku, Suwako (SR), Kogasa (Defog), and VIVIT (Booster?) while Drip has a team with Sannyo, Takane, Joon, Tenshi, Reimu, and Luna. For fiish, Cirno is an obvious Slush Rush with Letty's Snow support. I don't think Letty has a pivot move, so fiish will rely on Suwako slow pivot or Eject Button / Pack to get Cirno in safely, or have Veil on Letty (seems bad). Since Cirno is so fast in Snow, VIVIT has the freedom to forgo Booster Energy and possibly play a pivot role, though Booster is very useful when Snow goes down as a mon sets up, as resetting weather often lets the sweeper get +2 and outspeed your Cirno. The team feels very Ground-weak, so I expect Iku to be Levitate, and Suwako is hopefully Physdef spread so team has better MU into Sukuna. I'll be honest, I have no clue what Luna and Takane do. Seeing Joon makes me think there is the possibility of hazard-stack, but who knows...
For hazards, fiish has Suwako SR + Kogasa Defog (unless its Defog Iku...), while Drip has Tenshi SR (?) + Luna? Reimu? Defog. From the MU, I doubt Drip will be able to set SR easily, which is good for fiish as Cirno is likely Specs, not HDB (and Letty is Icy Rock). Tenshi can only really set vs VIVIT kinda, and Iku kinda (not without losing a lot of HP due to low SpDef), and Kogasa can easily come in immediately to threaten it out. Drip does have Joon to block Defog, though Wave Crash is a free click into Tenshi anyways and Joon does not appreciate taking 2 of them. Meanawhile, Suwako has solid MU into most of Drip's team, so SR are likely to go up at some point, though their impact will be relatively low. Luna can probably remove more easily than Reimu, so hopefully that is the removal for Drip. For wincons, Cirno is the obvious one for fiish. Drip has one Ice resist in Joon, and her poor SpDef makes her liable to getting blown up by Cirno Blizzard anyways. fiish's goal will be to position Cirno to claim kills as often as possible, ideally by chipping Drip's team into Blizzard range with various pivots and/or hazards. On the other hand, Drip relies more on attrition, esp. with Sannyo and hazards, and doesn't have a clear wincon on preview. If Joon is Scarf, there is a chance (small) that she can pressure hard enough to slowly pick off components of fiiish's team. If Reimu is CM, it is possible to set up vs Suwako and possibly snowball, assuming VIVIT is not Physical or is dealt with, and Kogasa is dealt with as well. Ideally, Drip's line should be to pressure Suwako with Sannyo chip + Joon, then aim to wear down Kogasa so CM Reimu can win, though this is awkward as Suwako is Reimu's easiest setup fodder but it is also protecting Kogasa from having to answer Joon (maybe VIVIT can do it instead).
For leads, fiish can either lead Suwako or Letty, though I kinda prefer Suwako since SR can set up Cirno to secure some KO ranges, and delaying Snow until needed is nice as it means Snow lasts until a later turn. For Drip, Sannyo or Takane seem OK, though Sannyo covers Letty better and can get chip on Suwako immediately. I'm not sure what set Takane is. I know she can deny SR from Suwako, though I'm not sure if there is anything to be done vs Letty if fiish leads it. Tenshi can be led to try to catch Letty, though Suwako owns it so hard I wouldn't bother...
fiish leads Suwako while Drip leads Tenshi. Throwing away Tenshi t1 seems OD, so even though SR or EQ on opposing SR is tempting, Drip takes safe switch to Takane as fiish U-turns immediately to Cirno and threatens a Freeze-dry kill. fiish clicks the safe Freeze-dry as Drip is forced to Joon and takes 35, and Recovering to full as fiish goes Suwako. fiish clicks EQ instead of SR for some reason as Drip goes Reimu. fiish clicks Scald, which seems pointless into status immunity, as Reimu uses CM, then deals 28 to Suwako on the slow U-turn into VIVIT.
This next turn is kind of interesting. Drip has +1 Reimu in against VIVIT. VIVIT threatens Electric STAB or Missile. Reimu can stay in and Aura Sphere, switch to Tenshi, or Takane. If VIVIT uses Double Shock on Reimu, Reimu should explode unless fully Physdef. However, if Drip decides to switch in Tenshi, she lives Missile and can force up SR which can't be removed due to Joon. If VIVIT uses Missile into Reimu, she likely explodes to Aura Sphere, but the chip should put it in range of most things on fiish's team, and can't really Recover on anything except Suwako. Takane is a safe option that covers both Electric STAB and Missile, and can U-turn the following turn at the cost of her own HP. Drip opts for the safe Takane midground as VIVIT uses Double Shock for 38. VIVIT U-turns out into Letty the next turn. reducing Takane's Synthesis healing to 25%. Takane being low means the next time VIVIT comes in, she can likely secure a kill, as no one else on Drip's team switches in well to VIVIT. fiish now aims to safely bring in Cirno ASAP, while Drip aims to prevent this. fiish pivots in Iku as Takane misses a Leaf Storm, and clicks Fiery Dance (no boost) as Takane U-turns into Tenshi (good time to force SR). The Leftovers healing telegraphs Iku is Levitate, which is not surprising given this build. Iku does 27 to Tenshi with Revelation Dance and takes 47 back from Mighty Cleave, indicating Tenshi is AV (I think). Iku does another 27 to Tenshi as Drip predicts the VIVIT with EQ, and whiffs into Levitate. I guess this is not a terrible click, as it is clear Iku is getting outtraded by Tenshi, but Suwako is also a safe switch as Tenshi's best move to hit it is Sacred Sword. Iku is out of range of Mighty Cleave now, while Tenshi is in range of 2 Revelation Dances, so Drip takes the switch to Luna Child to immune the Rev Dance, and clicks Night Daze into a VIVIT switch-in, revealing VIVIT's Leftovers. VIVIT clicks Missile as Drip pivots in Joon, then clicks Missile again as Joon throws a Toxic. Joon realistically always has Fire coverage to not be walled by (non-Sukuna) Steel-typpes, so clicking Missile again seems dangerous. Double Shock should secure a large amount of damage, or U-turn can be clicked to pivot out into Suwako who should wall Joon. Drip clearly clicked Toxic expecting Suwako, but now that Toxic is revealed, Suwako is less likely to come in. Drip uses Recover, likely expecting a Double Shock, as fiish instead U-turns to Kogasa to get a Surprise proc. fiish then U-turns back to VIVIT expecting Toxic, and takes 43 from Flamethrower instead. fiish now U-turns into Suwako in a second Flamethrower, and U-turns again as Drip sacs Takane. Takane was already low, so being sac'd for momentum is not bad; additionally, if fiish gets greedy w/ SR or attacking that turn, Takane should be able to regain momentum easily against Suwako, as Takane forces Suwako out, likely into Letty, and Drip can take a U-turn into one of his offensive threats (Tenshi? Joon?). Since Drip has second choice, fiish decides to just go Letty to set Snow. This seems fine, as Letty gives value regardless of having to switch next turn. The alternative is Suwako to set SR, but this gives Drip the opportunity to set up with Reimu, which is dangerous. Drip chooses to go Tenshi, and uses SR as Letty kills with Blizzard. Turns out if was not AV after all, Iku is either minimal SpA invest or Tenshi has a lot of SpDef.
fiish is ahead 6-4, but Sannyo and Joon are both full HP to tank 1 Blizzard, and fiish's only answer to Joon is Suwako (who can be set up on by Reimu). This situation seems favored for fiish, but the game still is relatively close, especially since SR now puts Cirno and Letty on a timer. Game should come down to how much resources Drip can extract from fiish before Cirno gets an in vs. Reimu or Luna. Joon and Sannyo can both force out Cirno from full, but this means Drip needs to sac each time, so only can force her out 3 times max. On the other hand, fiish has struggled to safely get Cirno in all game, so it likely won't come to that.
Drip sends in Joon to threaten Letty. Letty doesn't threaten Joon with anything, so she is safe to throw a Toxic as fiish goes Kogasa (this seems troll, Kogasa is probably walled). Kogasa eats 50 from Make it Rain as Defog reveals Joon's Abiility Shield, and fiish reveals not reading sheet. fiish U-turns out to Suwako as Joon clicks Make it Rain again for minimal damage. fiish clicks EQ fearing Toxic, as Drip takes a switch to Reimu. I think the EQ is fine here? since Suwako is appreciated to trade into Sannyo. I have been mentioning that Reimu takes advantage of Suwako for a while now, and here she gets a CM on the U-turn, forcing fiish to VIVIT. VIVIT throws Double Shock, dealing 90 and dying to Aura Sphere, indicating max Physdef Reimu. I think before, Drip was more cautious due to potential boosting item, but after Leftovers revealed, he knows Double Shock doesn't kill. fiish has the option of Iku, Kogasa, and Cirno. Kogasa is easily walled by Joon, Iku should be walled by Luna, and Cirno is unreliable, as she relies on Blizzard to 2HKO Joon or Sannyo, which is not ideal. I think Iku is the nicest in here, as doubling to Letty on Luna to set up Cirno is a nice possible line. fiish instead chooses to go Kogasa and click Wave Crash on the obvious Joon switch, but only does 28 which is very dire. fiish U-turns to Iku as Joon recovers, then does 50 with Fiery Dance (no boost) as Joon throws off a Toxic. Drip goes Luna to wall Iku, as fiish reveals the second Defog to clear SR. This is the perfect opportunity to Letty in -> Suwako -> U-turn Cirno, but fiish elects to go Suwako first, going down to 44 to slow-pivot in Letty, then going back to Suwako as Drip switches in Joon. Drip makes the smart call to Recover here as Suwako U-turns, as EQ is never getting clicked into potential Reimu. fiish is forced into Iku and throws a Fiery Dance into Luna, doing a whole 14... walled... fiish pivots Suwako on Moonblast, then U-turns into Cirno as Luna Moonlights for 25 in Snow... Cirno is now set up to a kill... 20 turns since the last kill. Sannyo is sac'd, and Joon is forced in.
At this point, fiish is up 5-3, but Iku and Kogasa are both Toxic'd, and Suwako is at 40. For Drip, Luna and are both low, and Joon is full HP. Ideally for fiish, a mon is sac'd (like Kogasa, Iku in and Fiery Dance boost to victory. The unfortunate issue is that Luna takes 14, so Discharge does 21 unboosted... 2 Discharge won't kill and gives her a chance to heal while Iku ticks out, and Fiery Dance needs the 50% boost and good rolls to deny Moonlight. fiish takes this line, sacing Kogasa as Drip doubles to Reimu expecting Suwako. fiish can't risk Reimu Recovering, so clicks Wave Crash as Drip goes into Joon. Drip clicks Recover to stay out of Cirno Blizzard range if Kogasa decides to suicide, as fiish smartly clicks U-turn into Suwako. Drip clicks Toxic as Suwako clicks U-turn fearing Reimu. If Suwako EQs on Reimu, Reimu clicks Recover on U-turn to Cirno, and fiish can click Freeze Dry, and play the long game to burn Junko's 3 remaining Recovers (which is possible) to set up Moonblast sweep, or risk Blizzard acc. I think this is not a terrible line? and if Joon stays in fiish wins on the spot. fiish decides to go to Iku to click Fiery Dance as Drip goes Luna, and misses the boost, which is disastrous. Luna now threatens the Moonlight, so fiish goes Letty to deny full value, and Drip doubles to Reimu on this. Reimu only takes 50 from Blizzard, so can easily Recover-stall Letty. fiish goes Cirno on another Recover and forces the Luna sac. fiish tries to sac Kogasa again as Drip doubles back to Reimu, eats 50 from Prough and Recovers to full as Kogasa dies of poison. fiish goes Cirno and 2HKOs Joon with Blizzard, but Snow ends as Reimu comes out.
Reimu proceeds to dodge 2 Blizzards, set up to +2, and win. 70% accuracy moment.
Drip kinda lucked out multiple times, with no SpA boost from Iku vs Luna, Blizzard miss, and no EQ from Suwako on 2 times vs Joon. If fiish just used calc instead of Blizzard w/ Letty on T47 the game was won, but no way I would've used calc there (I'm lazy af). The fact that the game went to T61, even though Cirno had no good switchins and was able to secure a kill every time it came in, is because fiish did not have enough slow pivots to get her in safely. Only Suwako could do it, and she had her own deal of problems to worry about. This is a case for using Eject Button and / or Teleport Lily on Cirno teams to get her in more reliably to spam Blizzards and win. The fact that Joon pressured fiish so hard is dire, as imagine how much worse the game would have gone if Drip had a Sukuna...
Drip is a fucking lucker and this game kinda makes me mad, but he played to his outs ig (Reimu cheese...)
The dreaded Bo3...
I'll just give some thoughts on Bo3 before I get to the games. I used to be better at Bo3, often losing G1 and winning G2 G3, but now I'm washed and always win G1 lose G2 G3... I think G1 going for aggressive MU fish is probably a good line, and then G2 G3 play safe if you lost G1, and G2 play aggro if you won G1. I often don't reuse in Bo3, but I think if you have a particularly strong team you can occasionally reuse as a surprise.
Bo3 is a much better format than Bo1, and I'll gladly Bo3 anyone in future weeks if they want (building this tier is fun).
about15gals vs fififlutters G1
about has a Ghost-spam offense with Murasa + Soga breakers, Suwako (SR), Chimata (Defog?), Iku, Clownpiece support. fifi has an Utsuho team with Suwako (SR), Chimata (Defog?), Iku (Defog?), Yukari, Kasen. For about, double Ghost breakers seems a bit soft into Rumia, though Clownpiece can take advantage of Rumia and is generally difficult to deal with. Chimata is the main Sukuna answer I assume, though most of the team can take a hit and trade with Sukuna. There is possibility Iku is DD for about to supplement the special Clown + Soga, though special helps break for Soga so it is not too bad either. Murasa or Chimata could be scarf, but Chimata likely isn't to preserv good Sukuna MU, so it is either Murasa scarf or slow team that copes w/ tie vs Marisa (can get away with it with Clown + Iku + Murasa tbh, esp. if Iku is DD). For fifi, the team is very slow, so Scarf Yukari is pretty telegraphed. Double removal with Iku + Chimata is likely given Utsuho. This means the primary breaking power is Utsuho + Kasen, so we could see Kasen BU... more than likely just 4a though. Utsuho is probably 3a Roost with STABs + Dazzling, that set is the most consistent in my experience.
For hazards, both players have Suwako with SR, so neither can really set SR without trading. Obviously, fifi needs SR off more than about, as there is an Utsuho on their team. Chimata has a poor MU into Suwako unless it is Trick Scarf, in which case it can cripple Suwako by disabling its slow pivot capabilities and making SR a major momentum sink. If fifi's Iku is Multiscale, removing SR will be very annoying as Suwako can easily pivot back in to reset SR immediately. For threats, fifi's Utsuho is very powerful in midgame, as nothing switches in well. Kasen is kept a bit in check by Clownpiece, though Clown gives entries for Utsuho which is very dangerous. about's 2 Ghosts are also extremely threatening, since fifi has no Ghost resist. If Murasa is scarf, she outspeeds Yukari scarf in endgame which is big in the MU. Both Suwakos will be very annoying. and likely end up trading, as nothing enjoys switching in to Suwako (though fifi can threaten it much more immediately with Kasen; about just has to cope with slow chip). fifi has better trading capabilities since their mons are bulkier, so it comes down to how efficiently fifi can force trade-downs from about before getting too chipped and losing to ghosts. I do remember another game where I expected Scarf Murasa and it was revealed to not be Scarf though, so maybe that is the case here, in which case Scarf Yukari is about to farm.
For leads, fifi can only really lead Kasen to deny SR, or scarf Trick Yukari (or Chimata?). I don't really like tossing Scarf immediately in this MU, but crippling Suwako is so important for keeping off SR (and winning) that it should be worth it. about can lead Suwako, but Kasen is so obvious that Clown is not a bad lead. Clown immediately threatens Wisp, and doubling to Suwako t1 on Suwako / Utsuho is great. I don't think fifi can afford to lead Suwako and trade SR t1, so I think Clown lead is ideal.
fifi leads Kasen as expected, and about leads Murasa. I calc'd and max Atk Polt from Murasa actually OHKOs Kasen... fifi goes into Chimata (physdef) as about doubles into Clownpiece (or is fearing Scarf?). This play is very confusing to me as Polt seems relatively free (unless miss) and Clown is obvious invitation for Suwako. fifi goes Suwako on Torch Song, and about decides to stay in to Wisp as Suwako does 90 with Scald. Clown is sac'd (???) to get 26 with Moonblast, and Murasa is brought back in. Wave Crash is clicked into Chimata, doing 55 which reveals CB Murasa (so slow team). fifi opts to sac Chimata, chipping Murasa to 30 with Helmet + recoil. This makes t1 extremely confusing, as Poltergeist would have easily killed Kasen and 2HKO'd Chimata. Why was this not clicked? Murasa's ability sets rain, so fifi can only go Iku or Scarf Yukari to revenge. fifi opts for Iku, and about absorbs a Draco with Suwako. about opts to U-turn instead of setting SR as fifi pivots in Kasen to get the Wicked Power charge. So far, this game has been extremely confusing from about, as they have not only given up a free kill with Polt T1, but also pointless Clown sac and not taking a free SR set vs Iku (esp. after Chimata down). about opts to go into Chimata, and fifi opts to go Suwako instead of trading damage (fears potential Hurricane?) and easily tanks Make it Rain, and takes advantage of about's rain to fire a Scald into about's Suwako, dealing 50% and burning. about can now trade HP on Suwako with Scald, or throw up SR (likely not staying up since Suwako is in 2HKO range of Iku). fifi makes an aggressive switch to Utsuho expecting SR, as about instead U-turns to Murasa. fifi decides to sac Utsuho to Wave Crash, trading out with Murasa.
Here, the game is 4-4, with both Suwakos low. Hazard control is no longer a priority for fifi as Utsuho is down. Both players have Iku Multiscale preserved (unless about is using Swift Swim on ultra greed). For speed control, Yukari Scarf should outspeed about's team and threaten 2HKOs on everything with unresisted Dark Pulse. Kasen is oddly nice as she should be able to trade with any one mon on about's side, maybe not Chimata. Both Ikus are in a nice position with Suwakos low, though fifi's Iku is Draco which means it cannot snowball, which may be a problem in lategame. In the double-down scenario, Soga is unviable to send as she immediately loses momentum to Yukari. Suwako is tempting to take advantage of rain, but Kasen is annoying for about's Suwako. I could see arguments for any of fifi's mons to come out here, but Chimata and Iku only for about. fifi opts for Suwako as about selects Chimata. This should be a poor MU for Chimata in general. fifi fires off a Scald, which is risk-free as worst-case it breaks Iku Multi, but about reveals Trick Scarf. This situation is not ideal for Suwako, as it can't lock into a move that beats both Chimata and Iku.
Suwako spams Scald as Chimata dies, rain ends, and about brings in Iku. fifi switches in Iku as about's Iku spins. I guess the Spin Iku is expected as Chimata is not Defog. I'm not sure why Iku's Multiscale was tossed here, maybe fearing DD? but Scald burn chance is scary for DD Iku, so I do not see an issue with staying to spam. fifi then sacs Suwako to Revelation Dance, and brings in Yukari. Iku crits Rev Dance for 68 (46 without crit) as Yukari breaks Multiscale with Dark Pulse, doing 28. This indicates Yukari does not 2HKO with Dark Pulse, but also Iku shoulldn't normally 2HKO with Rev Dance. fifi then sacs Iku and goes Kasen, aiming to trade Kasen for Iku and try to win with Scarf Yukari. Kasen tanks Fiery Dance and misses HJK, and about cleans with Iku.
The luck in the last 5-ish turns was horrific, but this could have been averted if fifi sac'd Suwako and preserved Iku's Multiscale. about kind of threw the earlygame, but getting chip into Suwako ended up being nice, and Iku spin allowed them to win lategame by going over the top of scarf Yukari. fifi felt ahead after the Utsuho v. Murasa trade, though I underestimated Iku cheese ability. I feel like fifi would've been ahead still if Iku Multiscale wasn't thrown but...
about15gals vs fififlutters G2
Going into G2, I expect a safer team from fifi and possibly more aggressive MU fish from about. Instead, I see another Utsuho team...
fifi has Utsuho supported by Iku + Lily (likely double removal), Tenshi (SR), Rumia for Pursuit, and Alice. about has Aki (SR), Komachi, Iku, Alice, Rumia, and Clownpiece. Both teams look relatively slow, so both Rumias look like Scarf. For fifi, Iku is likely just Spin + Multiscale to support Utsuho. For about, Iku feels like Levitate to not lose to Hurricane Kanako. It is either Spin, or Court Change Komachi + DD Iku (seems nice as team lacks a bit of power).
For hazards, about has Aki setter and Komachi or Iku removal, while fifi has Tenshi setter and Iku + Lily removal. fifi's goal is to keep off SR for Utsuho, so Tenshi setting is not a priority, especially since about's team is pretty resistant to SR. Aki will likely never stick SR, as Lily comes in to Defog for free every time, and Utsuho can also switch in on Aki to instantly claim a kill. Utsuho has a very strong MU here for fifi, getting a free switch vs Clown and Aki, and also being able to outtrade Rumia and Alice. Iku and Komachi cannot switch in on the wrong moves either (Iku can't switch in on anything really) so it is really quite dangerous for about. For about, Levitate Iku should be able to win with some setup if Lily is gone and Iku's Multiscale is broken, but this is difficult as they will need to contend with Lily's Regenerator and constant Utsuho pressure.
For leads, about is pressured by potential Utsuho lead to lead Iku or Komachi. Otherwise, Utsuho instantly snipes a kill if it is using 3a + Roost (BB + Flamethrower + Dgleam). Komachi is awkward as it can be heavily chipped by Rumia, making it unable to check Utsuho later, but Iku commit early when it is the primary wincon seems unwise. For fifi, Utsuho is an easy lead, though Lily can also be led to have a positive MU into Iku and Komachi. In this case, Lily only has a poor MU into Alice and Clown, and Clown is an easy switch-in for Utsuho. Alice is a bit more annoying, as fifi needs to correctly pivot Rumia or Utsuho in on some hard reads (or go their own Alice), but it is not that bad overall. I'd expect Lily or Utsuho lead from fifi, and probably Komachi lead from about (maybe Iku but unlikely).
fifi leads Utsuho as about leads Aki. Utsuho threatens an immediate kill, so about switches in Komachi, taking 33 from Fusion Flare. Perhaps there is no Brave Bird, or it just doesn't do much into Physdef Komachi. fifi switches to Rumia as about goes Iku. I am not really sure what the thought process here was, to be honest. about decides to preserve Iku to check Utsuho later, and switches in Clown as fifi goes Tenshi, possibly expecting about to trade. fifi takes the free switch to Utsuho on Clown, as about decides to go into Aki. fifi catches the Iku switchin with Dazzling Gleam, but only does 44 and Iku reveals Leftovers. The second Dgleam doess 46, confirming Levitate, and also bulky Iku, as standard offensive takes a lot more (60-80?). Iku spins to outspeed Utsuho, then wastes some Recovers as fifi continues to Dgleam. 3 Recovers later, about pivots to Clown, hoping to Encore Utsuho into Dgleam, but fifi doubles into Alice. I suppose fifi wanted to take advantage of Iku spamming Recover to get a free click with Alice, though I feel like spamming Gleam to waste Recovers is not bad. This is a winning MU for Clown if it has SpDef invest, and a losing MU if not, as Clown likely gets 3HKO with Torch Song, but needs bulk to avoid 2HKO from offensive Alice. Both players stay in to trade, and Alice 2HKOs Clown with Psynoise + Flash while barely avoiding the 2HKO.
about sends in Rumia (no Dark Aura) which telegraphs Dark Border + BU, so fifi switches in Lily as Rumia clicks BU to preserve a sac. BU Rumia was something I was considering on preview, as about's team is lacking a bit of breaking power, but it was also a bit slow so I discounted it. I don't think there is any other possible Scarf on about's team, so Utsuho now outspeeds the about's entire, which is dangerous. Rumia can safely BU again due to Dark Border, as Lily uses Nature's Madness, then Moonlights to full as fifi U-turns to Utsuho. This is actually kind of dire as Dark Border halves the damage of Dgleam and Fusion Flare, and Brave Bird (if she has it) is attacking into +2Def. about Knocks for 56 as Dgleam does 23, then opts to kill Utsuho as Fusion Flare does 26, not risking the crit (though the HP would be nice). I think clicking Moonlight here was surely correct, as even if Utsuho clicks Roost, it is easy for Rumia to BU more to threaten >50% damage with Knock, and Rumia can sit on Utsuho forever as she is maybe getting 5HKO'd after Leftovers. Realistically, Rumia can probably end this interaction at +6 with 80% HP if about wanted to more often than not. Instead, Rumia ends up at 36 and is picked off by Draco Meteor from Iku.
about goes Alice on the -2 Iku and sets Spikes as fifi switches in their Alice. Spikes Alice should win this interaction, as I don't think Alice runs coverage for other Alice, but I am surprised fifi clicks Psynoise instead of Recover, and about clicks Flash Cannon instead of setting more Spikes. fifi's Alice can still throw off Psynoises vs Komachi and Iku if she's at 50, and about's Alice is not really immediately threatened so setting Spikes seems relatively free (there is Rumia, I guess...). fifi takes the free switch to Rumia, and clicks Knock, exploding about's Alice. Realistically, there is no Rumia Knock switch, so about sacs Alice to bring in Aki. Aki is surprisingly good here since Utsuho is gone, and gets an Apple Acid on the Lily switchin. about decides to set SR here, which seems a bit pointless as it just gives more Defog value, as Lily uses Nature's Madness. Aki Synths on the Defog, Apple Acids again on Nature's Madness, and now Lily U-turns to Rumia on expected Synth as Aki instead clicks EP. Rumia Knock only does 35, and Aki Synths twice to full as fifi is forced back into Lily. Aki can't sit forever vs Lily as she only has 5 Synth pp left, so about goes Iku on Nature's Madness, and Lily is no Fairy STAB so she is forced to U-turn out to Iku on Recover. This seems pretty aggressive, but fifi's Iku still has Multiscale and likely outspeeds about's, so the only disaster scenario is if about clicks Spin (and is Fiery Dance + Rev Dance, no Elec STAB, which I don't think is common). fifi Fiery Dances to try to catch Aki, as about pivots to Komachi, and then sacs it to a Tbolt the following turn.
I think the game has been over for a while now (since Alice went down?), as Aki has not been able to break Lily at all, and about's Iku and Komachi both lose to fifi's Iku. Komachi dying just speeds this up. Even if about gets a Spin with Iku, she is likely not getting past Tenshi, as we saw in previous replays Tenshi outtrades Iku heavily and likely burns through her Recover PP before running out of Morning Sun PP.
about goes Aki, and fifi pivots Lily to click Nature's Madness + U-turn into Rumia to burn another Synth. Realistically, Iku would win if she got a safe switch, but fifi is limited by her Lily being too fast. Lily pivots in again and Nature's Madness into Iku, then U-turns into Rumia as Iku clicks spin. Iku is so slow she underspeeds Rumia, and dies to Knock, and about15gals forfeits as there is not enough Synth pp to break Lily + 3 sacs.
Utsuho surprisingly did less than I expected thanks to Dark Border BU Rumia, but Rumia also did less than I expected because she wasn't preserved. I think about15galls had a good chance of winning if Moonlight was clicked instead of Knock on t17, and Alice not being sac'd t21 was also vital to not losing (apparently Aki could switch in after all), since otherwise Lily trolls the rest of the game for free. Interesting game, Utsuho looked broken on preview 2 games in a row and barely trades in both, so maybe this mon is actually a fraud.
about15gals vs fififlutters G3
Final game of Bo3 with everything on the line, I expect to see standard Kanako Sukuna Iku from both...
fifi loads Marisa Balance with Kanako (SR), Iku, Chimata (Defog), Rumia, and Star Sapphire (who?) about has a standard Cirno offense with Youmu for Chilly, Kanako (SR), Sukuna, Komachi, and Iku. I don't think Cirno can get away with just Court Change as removal, so I expect spin Iku from about. It feels like fifi needs Physdef Helmet Chimata to answer Sukuna well and Scarf Rumia speed control, but then the team's breaking power is reliant on Marisa, which is a loss against Rumia teams. I have no clue what Star Sapphire does, and she looks like she has 0 stats even though somehow she has 500 BST. Mayby it is just Physdef Chimata, Scarf Rumia, and Cosmic Power + Stored Power Sapphire... fifi's Kanako is likely Wood Hammer since the team looks weak to Suwako otherwise.
For hazards, about has probably Iku removal and Kanako setter, while fifi has probably Chimata removal and Kanako setter. fifi wants to maintain SR to pressure Cirno, and about's ability to keep SR off heavily hinges on whether Iku is Multiscale or Levitate. However, even if Iku is Multiscale, about still threatens hard Cirno on Kanako. Cirno has 0 switch-ins on fifi's side, which seems like a death sentence for fifi, but remember the similar situation in DripLegend vs fiish where Cirno could not cone in safely. about seems to have a similar issue with no slow pivots, so hopefully an Eject Button exists somewhere to give a free in. Interestingly, I think fifi is actually incentivized to click EQ with Kanako over SR, as about's only switchin to EQ is Kanako (if Iku is Multiscale). If I'm right about fifi's Kanako being Wood Hammer, about should be able to outtrade it with their own Kanako, hopefully, but if not, it might be bad.
For leads, about should lead Iku if she is Levitate. Levitate Iku has a good MU into Chimata and Kanako, and nothing really switches in to 1v1 her except Sapphire. This is a bit dangerous into Marisa though, as she can threaten Light of Ruin and force in Komachi, who can subsequently be trappd by Rumia. For fifi, Chimata seems like a solid lead to cover Cirno + Youmu + Kanako, though loses to the aforementioned Iku (has to go Sapphire, but this seems OK).
fifi leads Chimata as expected as about leads Youmu to set snow immediately. about fears Scarf Make it Rain, so hard switches to Sukuna as fifi Volts to Marisa. fifi goes back into Chimata as about burns Dynamax immediately to Max Knuckle, doing 18. This indicates Chimata is Physdef max, and since no Leftovers revealed, likely is Helmet as well. Sukuna sets Spikes as Chimata Moonlights, then Spikes again on Defog. Sukuna throws off a Gigaton for 41 as Chimata slow-volts into Marisa, and about decides to predict U-turn (or pray for miss?) and stays in, instantly exploding to Fire Blast. about has a solid Marisa answer in Komachi, so this seems a bit suspect but Sukuna might be giga walled by Chimata after losing +1 boost so it is not like this is a hyper throw. Life is a bit harder vs Rumia, Star Sapphire, Iku kinda but realistically Sukuna only gets up a Spike and pivots out on Chimata Defog every time at best.
about goes Youmu and clicks Sacred Sword, sadly dealing only 27 to Chimata and taking Helmet in return. about does not try for the roll / crit, instead bringing in Iku on an obvious Moonlight. Iku can likely make some progress, as it is not really abused for momentum by anything on fifi's team (no Suwako) though SpDef Kanako is a problem, as is SpDef Sapphire. fifi decides to go Kanako, and threatens a 50/50 on EQ / SR. about pivots in Kanako as fifi reveals the expected Wood Hammer, and then switches to Star Sapphire as Kanako sets SR (surprised no Cirno double from about).
Star Sapphire OHKOs Kanako with Tera Starstorm, then OHKOs Youmu as she tanks a Shadow Claw. Perhaps Sukuna needed to be preserved...about goes into Cirno to revenge 25% Sapphire, as fifi sacs Chimata and brings in Marisa. about goes Komachi on Double Edge but can't do anything as Marisa U-turns to Rumia, who proceeds to 2HKO Komachi. Cirno comes back in, and fifi sacs Saffire to bring in Marisa, who OHKOs Cirno with Double Edge. about brings in last mon Iku, who tanks Light of Ruin with Multiscale and gets +1/+1 with Spin + Fiery Dance while killing Marisa. +1 Draco kills Kanako, but Rumia tanks the next Draco and finishes Iku.
Overall awkward game for about. Sukuna burning Dynamax early when fifi had a safe answer in Physdef Chimata was probably a misplay, as Komachi was relativly safe into Marisa. Worst case Rumia is pivoted in, but Komachi demonstrated she could tank a Knock Off and Recover to scout the Rumia, then switch to Sukuna or trade as necessary. The game was over after Youmu died, as about lost both sources of speed control in snow Cirno and Youmu herself and folded to Marisa. Star Sapphire was stronger than I expected, though part of that was due to Sukuna getting sac'd early. I think if about didn't have something on Kanako to hit Chimata (pref. Glare) it was likely doomed, but with Glare anything is possible. Also, Marisa + Rumia is really a nasty combo...
Fun week, though I'm kinda behind given we're on W6. This dodged the 10k word count due to some short games, even though we were on pace for it earlier... I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad.
Something interesting to look at is Rev Dance vs Draco on Iku. I feel like I've seen Draco backfire more times than it's helped this week, though I haven't iinvestigated it carefully. Maybe we should stop using Draco on Iku...
Will this break 10k words? I hope not...
Spammernoob vs rineko
Starting off easy with my own game. I load a BO team with defensive core of Eirin, Kanako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Junko, Seiga, and Mokou (Scarf). rineko has an offense team with defensive core of Kanako (SR), Kogasa (Defog?) , Alice, and Chiyari, Youmu, and Seija. I wanted to uses Seiga because it looked powerful, with solid 130 SpA, 120 Spe, and incredible rainbow coverage. Here, I opted for NP + Ice Beam + Flamethrower, though upon further thought, Seiga is too frail to reliably NP so 4a Ebelt or Choice + Trick is likely better. Scarf Mokou is speed control for Marisa, Soga, and others, and Junko is BU to break bulkier mons like Kanako, Chimata, Iku. Chimata is Physdef Leftovers to relieve pressure from Kanako when dealing with mons like Sukuna, and Kanako is Physdef with Glare + Wood Hammer because Para is broken, and Wood Hammer helps chip Soga which hard-walls the rest of the set. Meanwhile, rineko's team seems to be Physical offense spam looking to overwhelm Kanako and/or Chimata. Youmu's speed tier means a scarfer is not necessarily required. Alice is likely Physdef to check Sukuna, or offensive with Colbur. Kogasa looks like the Defogger and emergency special check. Kanako could be either Phys or SpDef, though it is more likely to by Physdef since Alice and Kogasa are both SpDef biased, even if Alice is Physdef invested. I still have no idea how to identify Kanako's 2 moves past EQ + SR, but I assume there is no Life Dew at least.
Going into this game, I didn't really know what Seija or Chiyari did, but I knew that both had physically leaning stats. Youmu is normally a Cirno support, but here I expected some SD set with STABs + 1. Since it is Phys spam with Seija and Chiyari, I know my Eirin will likely be useless, probably relegated to answering Alice for a bit before getting a Knock and being sac'd for momentum, or ideally getting a Nerve Poison para off. Chimata and . Sadly, Seiga is hard-walled by Kogasa w/o Tbolt (something I regret not loading), so I am relying a lot on Mokou to clean (pray Chiyari is chipped LOL), after Kanako, Junko, and Chimata trade down with the enemy team (preferably positively). I need Chimata to trade with some of rineko's Phys mons, but she definitely loses to Chiyari, so my goal is Chimata vs. Seija and Youmu, Kanako vs Chiyari and Kogasa (though Seija and Kogasa can go to either depending on the situation).
For leads, Kanako has a solid MU into rineko's, only really being forced out by threat of Alice Ice Beam, and setting SR on the rest (if they lead Alice, I go Eirin). Likewise for rineko, Kanako to trade SR immediately is not bad, esp. since Seija can punish my removal by getting an evasion boost. I don't really see a reason not to lead Kanako, unless Chiyari is not boots, in which case rineko should lead Alice to deny SR. I don't really see another option, but maybe Youmu can lead if she has Ice move. If she trades, Seiga would be much better, though sadly Kogasa still walls it since I'm not Tbolt.
I take my Kanako lead as rineko leads Kogasa. I was confused by this lead, but take the turn to throw off a free Glare, as Kogasa U-turns into Kanako. I click SR expecting to trade rocks, but get a lucky full para. I then aggressively switch to Seiga on SR, though this was relatively safe as I knew EQ was not getting clicked. I overthink this turn and click Dark Pulse even though I have Ice Beam, as rineko trades with EQ. Here, I expect rineko to stay in, as EQ 2HKO's Seiga and Dark Pulse does not 2HKO Kanako, so I click Ice beam as they switch to Kogasa and get a lucky (?) crit for 30%. I am walled, so I switch to Chimata, as I expect a U-turn or Play Rough and want to conserve Kanako's HP. rineko U-turns to Alice, and I Volt to Eirin to take minimal damage from Aura Sphere. More than likely, Alice is Colbur, as Leftovers aren't revealed, so I take a free Knock with Eirin as rineko switches in Kanako. I am too lazy to calc Psynoise, so I take a Chimata switch as rineko uses Glare, likely expecting the Chimata or Kanako. I am afraid of Seija switching in on Defog, and I know Kanako cannot touch Physdef Chimata (Thunder Punch does ~25%) so I decide to click Volt, as rineko goes Alice on a potential Make it Rain or Defog (is it Competitive? idk). I go Eirin again, and fire off another Knock, as I expect Knock + SR + Psynoise should kill Kanako at this range, as Alice reveals TR. In hindsight, this was obviously not Recover (surely STABs last), but I click Psynoise to deny Recover, as rineko clicks Psynoise as well for chip. I am surprised in chat here as Alice underspeeds my Eirin, though I guess it is expected if it is OTR. Eirin's Brain of the Moon minimizes damage she takes here, so she's able to remain healthy after taking 2 Psynoises and finishing Alice off with Knock Off. Here, I guess I can cope that 36% was out of range of 1 Knock, or my play stalled 1 turn of TR, or whatever...
2 turns remain of TR, and rineko sends out Kanako. Para'd Kanako outspeeds Eirin in TR, and I want to preserve the sac so I go Kanako on EQ. I think Chimata here was very obvious, so I wanted to cover a potential Chiyari double, as I didn't expect Glare to come out. On the next turn, I decide I need to preserve Kanako since it is easy to lose to a full para, so I go Chimata. Here, Volt is risk-free for me to spam, as I don't think Kanako has anything to hit Chimata, so I click it repeatedly. I figure rineko also wants to sac her Kanako here, so I just take the time to fully heal my Chimata with Leftovers, and take the kill with Make it Rain. rineko sends out Seija, and I don't really know what this is going to do (in hindsight, its obviously not SD), but I figure there's a reason it came in so I swap to Kanako on Overheat, taking 30. I really need to preserve Kanako for Kogasa (and Chiyari to an extent) so I switch to Eirin, now knowing Seija is special. Eirin tanks a +2 Dark Pulse and a +2 Overheat, but doesn't get the Nerve Poison para and dies to the +4 Dark Pulse. I am forced to go Mokou and Flare Blitz revenge, as I don't have faith Seiga can kill from 60 with a coverage move. I think here, rineko is forced to sac someone, as, even though Chiyari and Kogasa are both resists (and I am 100% clicking Blitz), Chiyari cannot tank 3 Flare Blitz (and is outsped at +1), and Kogasa is only at 47 after SR so likely cannot take 2. I'm not sure if sacing Seija is correct here, as she has a good MU into my remaining mons bar Mokou, but Chiyari and Youmu can maybe possibly beat Mokou? so it might be fine.
rineko goes Chiyari to take advantage of Mokou and set up a DD, as I go hard Junko. If Kanako was full HP, I'd go Kanako ofc but I think she is too low to contest +1 Chiyari. I click EQ as I pray my no bulk Junko can take +1 Flare Blitz, as rineko elects to DD again (to outspeed Mokou?). EQ does 75, which is great for me as rineko is forced to Flare Blitz to trade +2 Chiyari for my Junko, which I'm glad to take. At this point, I think the game is mostly over, as rineko only has Kogasa and Youmu vs 4 mons, including a Scarf Mokou. Kanako has the bests spread of MUs here, as Seiga loses to both and Mokou loses to Kogasa (and I don't want to risk full paras with Chimata). rineko reveals screens Kogasa (why were these not clicked earlier) as I click EQ, and then reveal Wood Hammer (troll play). Last mon Youmu comes in, and I click Glare so Seiga can outspeed, as Youmu reveals Lum Berry and Ice Spinner (which doesn't kill). Kanako dies to the follow-up Shadow Claw (forced, as I threaten another Glare), and I go Chimata. I have brain damage and forget that I can Defog the screens, so I click Make it Rain for 40 as Youmu SDs. Here I panic, as I realize Drain Punch probably wins, then remember I can Defog the screens so Mokou can kill. I Defog the screens as Chimata tanks a Sacred Sword, then die to the second but Mokou cleans up with Flare Blitz. If rineko used SD vs Kanako, I probably lose since Chimata will die before I remember I can Defog (maybe not? idk the Mokou vs Youmu calc at all).
Kogasa and Kanako being chipped early basically opened up the path for Mokou to clean. Chiyari is an interesting punish for all the Scarf Mokou spam, though it feels a bit volatile since you always eat 2 Flare Blitzes if you try to set up vs it. The best punish is surely Clownpiece, and the second best is Utsuho maybe (probs best if you are skilled at keeping off SR), though neither really fit this team (Clown is probably pretty good at snowballing on screens, actually). Seija was very scary in the midgame but I was lucky it only got a kill on an already useless Eirin and 30% on my Kanako. I think if rineko decided to set screens earlier, the game would've been much different, though it's impossible to say how it would've played out. I relied a lot on trading damage to check the opposing mons, so screens may have allowed Seija / Chiyari to snowball in the midgame instead of being traded out.
QT vs big tony 2014
QT has balance team with Soga + Cirno bolt-beam offensive core, Lily (Defog) slow-pivot, Sukuna + Iku blanket-checks, and Yukari. big tony has a BO team with Ran + Zanmu + Hong Meiling Psychic / Dark / Fighting offensive core, Suwako (SR), Chimata (Defog), Raiko. For QT, I expect scarf Yukari, as Marisa would otherwise need to be checked by Soga speed tie. Soga feels like it could be CM here, though if it is Specs then I assume Iku is DD. For big tony, I expect one of the PFD core to be Scarf. Chimata and Raiko are probably defensive, and Suwako is probably SpDef. Raiko is probably needed here to check Sukuna, as otherwise big tony relies on Chimata, who can be exploded by Thunder Punch (what does Raiko even do).
QT has no SR setter that I can see, and likely Defog Lily. Tony has SR Suwako and Defog Chimata. This is nice for QT, as Lily can always deny SR from Suwako, which is valuable as Cirno appreciates no SR up. QT also has a strong MU with Sukuna, as it can outtrade most of big tony's team with the combination of Fairy move + Thunder Punch. I don't really see a nice wincon for big tony, but if QT opted for Spikes on Sukuna then it might give big tony a chance with whichever Scarfer he has. Suwako is a very nice defensive piece for big tony, though Cirno is dangerous with Freeze Dry.
For leads, QT can lead Cirno or Lily to immediately deny Suwako's SR. There's no hazards on this side (unless Sukuna Spikes, but that is not a good lead here) so QT should try to counterlead big tony's setter. big tony can lead Chimata to counterlead Cirno and Lily, and threatens a Volt Switch for immediate momentum. Thus, QT's best lead might be Soga, as if Chimata leads it is threatened out immediately, and if Suwako leads, QT can go straight to Lily to Defog (though big tony goes Chimata on Lily and gets the Volt Switch momentum...).
QT leads Soga, as big tony leads Hong Meiling. I think lead Hong Meiling telegraphs not DD, probably wants to U-turn T1 so probably Scarf. Alternatively, it could be SR, but this seems terrible when Suwako is on the team. QT has a very safe Lily switch. For big tony, the only clickable moves are U-turn and Knock. If big tony clicks U-turn, he can go Suwako on stay-in, or appropriate answer on switch (likely Chimata on Lily, then has to guess Volt / Make it Rain). If big tony clicks Knock Off into Lily, Lily gets a free Teleport for momentum. Big tony decides to click Knock Off, as QT decides to stay in to Volt (???) taking 95 and losing Specs. QT goes Cirno for offensive pressure, and Hong is forced out due to being locked into Knock. Cirno clicks Ice Beam as Raiko switches in and instantly explodes to a crit. big tony goes back to Hong (other option is Chimata, but lower pressure) and clicks Meteor Mash as QT brings in Lily, taking 90 from a crit (I did not know it got that). QT is threatened out and goes Yukari, as tony goes Ran expecting Iku switchin. I think Yukari is a fine switch to preserve Multiscale, but Iku is fine too since she can Recover -> go Lily on Suwako the next turn to get Regenerator. Yukari is a telegraphed Scarf, but big tony clicks U-turn for 65 as QT clicks Glare. I think Dark Pulse once is a fine click here, as Zanmu or Suwako are the safe switchins for big tony, and Suwako lets in Lily (Zanmu is a bit of a problem though, esp. if Lily is not max Speed). big tony decides to go into Hong as she is the only one that outspeeds Scarf Yukari, and clicks U-turn for free as QT goes Lily, and brings in Zanmu (Lily Regen denied).
So far, it's been impressive how well big tony has done despite the massive bombs of Sukuna and Cirno that threaten a KO every time they enter. Soga is at 5% and Lily is stuck at 17% for one more switchin, which puts incredible pressure on QT to keep off SR to not lose to Hong Meiling CC spam. However, it is not a clean line for big tony, as setting SR with Suwako invites Lily to get Regen healing, so this will need to be played with some finesse. This is relevant here because QT now has the option of sacing Lily to bring in Cirno to trade a kill, or make a switch to Sukuna or Iku. If Lily is sac'd, Soga instantly dies to SR, so QT is forced to hard in against Suwako to trade, and only has Sukuna Dynamax + Iku Multiscale as options against Hong Meiling and Iku Multiscale will need to be aggressively leveraged (Cirno double) to not lose to Suwako. However, if Lily is preserved, QT can leverage Iku's Multiscale to force out Hong Meiling, and use the opening to heal Lily. I'm not sure how exactly the sac war would turn out if Lily is sac'd, but it would lead to a pretty short game from here and likely depend on if Chimata is SpDef or PhysDef.
Instead, QT decides to go Sukuna as Zanmu clicks Substitute. This seems a little suspect as Zanmu can EQ for major chip on Sukuna, which would instantly make this game very difficult (though taking the Lily preserve path is already difficult). Instead, big tony opts to put up Sub, and then Wicked Blow does 30 to Sukuna as it breaks sub with PRough. big tony is forced out into Chimata, as QT reveals Spikes, so it is not likely to be TPunch (usually Tpunch is run with Ice move). QT clicks Gigaton as Chimata volts out into Ran, and QT sacs Lily to Fire Blast to bring in Soga. This line feels relatively autopilot for big tony, but it is very difficult for QT. Unless the Gigaton was important for Cirno kill ranges, I think it is better to go hard Lily to get a Regen proc or sac to Make it Rain. If big tony Defogs the Spike, it is a happy Regen proc and QT can go Iku the next turn to force Chimata to Volt into Hong or Suwako, which puts big tony in a guessing game scenario. If Chimata instead Volts, Lily either secures a heal or Zanmu lets in Sukuna again and we loop a bit. If Chimata uses Make it Rain, it is kinda cope but Soga or Iku can come in and then hard to Cirno on Suwako and try to secure a kill. I think some scenarios are better than this one, but only if the chip on Chimata doesn't matter for Cirno (I can't be bothered to calc, esp. since idk the Cirno set... Specs maybe?).
big tony goes Zanmu on Shadow Ball, then tanks Tbolt and kills with Wicked Blow. QT has option to go Cirno here, which seems ideal to me. Instead, they go Iku and DD as Zanmu clicks Pain Split, healing from 11 to 58 while taking Iku to 57. I think this is the end of the game psychologically, as I would insta-tilt in this position. If Iku has Recover, it should be spammed until she is out of Wicked Blow range, then another DD clicked, but instead Dclaw is clicked on the Ran sac (indicating no Recover, though not a surprise for DD). big tony goes Hong, and collects a free kill with CC on Iku. QT is forced to Sukuna, and big tony goes Chimata on Prough. Chimata heals with Moonlight as QT reveals Sukuna has Wish. Sukuna continues to chip at Chimata in vain as Chimata volts to Suwako. QT goes Cirno (only option) on EP and eats 65, but scares big tony out with Freeze Dry. big tony decides to sac Zanmu as she loses to the rest of QT's team, then goes Hong to threaten another CC. QT switches in Sukuna and takes 63, sitting at 35 after Lefties (out of range of another CC if Dynamax). big tony takes the safe Chimata switch as QT burns Dynamax, and game is basically over. I fear QT had to aggro Cirno in here, as they are so behind they need to claw back sacs, but it might be too late. We know Chimata underspeeds Sukuna, so she can slow Volt into Hong Meiling for free and claim a kill. Instead, big tony decides to Make it Rain as Sukuna uses Wish (living on 1%). big tony opts to throw another Make it Rain as QT goes Yukari, barely tanking the -1. Yukari clicks Glare (def pointless atp) as big tony goes Suwako. EP finishes the 7% Sukuna, Suwako is sac'd to Cirno, Hong revenges, and Chimata is sac'd to reset Yukari's Intimidate so Hong can cleanly kill with a CC.
I am surprised that big tony won given the Fairy weakness vs triple Fairy, though no Tpunch on Sukuna made the MU harder since Chimata walled it and got free momentum. Hong sniped both its CC switchins immediately, making the game much easier for big tony. I think the critical turn was Zanmu vs Lily, as I think sac Lily -> Cirno would've simplified the game greatly (is this in big tony's favor? since he's ahead? but I would do it in QT's place since I have a small brain). Main questionable play from QT was T1, I think Hong is never SR on a team with Suwako so should accept losing momentum to U-turn and just go Lily (though ig Meteor Mash exists...) or maybe Sukuna... copium.
fiish vs DripLegend 2014
fiish has a Cirno team with Letty (Snow support), Iku, Suwako (SR), Kogasa (Defog), and VIVIT (Booster?) while Drip has a team with Sannyo, Takane, Joon, Tenshi, Reimu, and Luna. For fiish, Cirno is an obvious Slush Rush with Letty's Snow support. I don't think Letty has a pivot move, so fiish will rely on Suwako slow pivot or Eject Button / Pack to get Cirno in safely, or have Veil on Letty (seems bad). Since Cirno is so fast in Snow, VIVIT has the freedom to forgo Booster Energy and possibly play a pivot role, though Booster is very useful when Snow goes down as a mon sets up, as resetting weather often lets the sweeper get +2 and outspeed your Cirno. The team feels very Ground-weak, so I expect Iku to be Levitate, and Suwako is hopefully Physdef spread so team has better MU into Sukuna. I'll be honest, I have no clue what Luna and Takane do. Seeing Joon makes me think there is the possibility of hazard-stack, but who knows...
For hazards, fiish has Suwako SR + Kogasa Defog (unless its Defog Iku...), while Drip has Tenshi SR (?) + Luna? Reimu? Defog. From the MU, I doubt Drip will be able to set SR easily, which is good for fiish as Cirno is likely Specs, not HDB (and Letty is Icy Rock). Tenshi can only really set vs VIVIT kinda, and Iku kinda (not without losing a lot of HP due to low SpDef), and Kogasa can easily come in immediately to threaten it out. Drip does have Joon to block Defog, though Wave Crash is a free click into Tenshi anyways and Joon does not appreciate taking 2 of them. Meanawhile, Suwako has solid MU into most of Drip's team, so SR are likely to go up at some point, though their impact will be relatively low. Luna can probably remove more easily than Reimu, so hopefully that is the removal for Drip. For wincons, Cirno is the obvious one for fiish. Drip has one Ice resist in Joon, and her poor SpDef makes her liable to getting blown up by Cirno Blizzard anyways. fiish's goal will be to position Cirno to claim kills as often as possible, ideally by chipping Drip's team into Blizzard range with various pivots and/or hazards. On the other hand, Drip relies more on attrition, esp. with Sannyo and hazards, and doesn't have a clear wincon on preview. If Joon is Scarf, there is a chance (small) that she can pressure hard enough to slowly pick off components of fiiish's team. If Reimu is CM, it is possible to set up vs Suwako and possibly snowball, assuming VIVIT is not Physical or is dealt with, and Kogasa is dealt with as well. Ideally, Drip's line should be to pressure Suwako with Sannyo chip + Joon, then aim to wear down Kogasa so CM Reimu can win, though this is awkward as Suwako is Reimu's easiest setup fodder but it is also protecting Kogasa from having to answer Joon (maybe VIVIT can do it instead).
For leads, fiish can either lead Suwako or Letty, though I kinda prefer Suwako since SR can set up Cirno to secure some KO ranges, and delaying Snow until needed is nice as it means Snow lasts until a later turn. For Drip, Sannyo or Takane seem OK, though Sannyo covers Letty better and can get chip on Suwako immediately. I'm not sure what set Takane is. I know she can deny SR from Suwako, though I'm not sure if there is anything to be done vs Letty if fiish leads it. Tenshi can be led to try to catch Letty, though Suwako owns it so hard I wouldn't bother...
fiish leads Suwako while Drip leads Tenshi. Throwing away Tenshi t1 seems OD, so even though SR or EQ on opposing SR is tempting, Drip takes safe switch to Takane as fiish U-turns immediately to Cirno and threatens a Freeze-dry kill. fiish clicks the safe Freeze-dry as Drip is forced to Joon and takes 35, and Recovering to full as fiish goes Suwako. fiish clicks EQ instead of SR for some reason as Drip goes Reimu. fiish clicks Scald, which seems pointless into status immunity, as Reimu uses CM, then deals 28 to Suwako on the slow U-turn into VIVIT.
This next turn is kind of interesting. Drip has +1 Reimu in against VIVIT. VIVIT threatens Electric STAB or Missile. Reimu can stay in and Aura Sphere, switch to Tenshi, or Takane. If VIVIT uses Double Shock on Reimu, Reimu should explode unless fully Physdef. However, if Drip decides to switch in Tenshi, she lives Missile and can force up SR which can't be removed due to Joon. If VIVIT uses Missile into Reimu, she likely explodes to Aura Sphere, but the chip should put it in range of most things on fiish's team, and can't really Recover on anything except Suwako. Takane is a safe option that covers both Electric STAB and Missile, and can U-turn the following turn at the cost of her own HP. Drip opts for the safe Takane midground as VIVIT uses Double Shock for 38. VIVIT U-turns out into Letty the next turn. reducing Takane's Synthesis healing to 25%. Takane being low means the next time VIVIT comes in, she can likely secure a kill, as no one else on Drip's team switches in well to VIVIT. fiish now aims to safely bring in Cirno ASAP, while Drip aims to prevent this. fiish pivots in Iku as Takane misses a Leaf Storm, and clicks Fiery Dance (no boost) as Takane U-turns into Tenshi (good time to force SR). The Leftovers healing telegraphs Iku is Levitate, which is not surprising given this build. Iku does 27 to Tenshi with Revelation Dance and takes 47 back from Mighty Cleave, indicating Tenshi is AV (I think). Iku does another 27 to Tenshi as Drip predicts the VIVIT with EQ, and whiffs into Levitate. I guess this is not a terrible click, as it is clear Iku is getting outtraded by Tenshi, but Suwako is also a safe switch as Tenshi's best move to hit it is Sacred Sword. Iku is out of range of Mighty Cleave now, while Tenshi is in range of 2 Revelation Dances, so Drip takes the switch to Luna Child to immune the Rev Dance, and clicks Night Daze into a VIVIT switch-in, revealing VIVIT's Leftovers. VIVIT clicks Missile as Drip pivots in Joon, then clicks Missile again as Joon throws a Toxic. Joon realistically always has Fire coverage to not be walled by (non-Sukuna) Steel-typpes, so clicking Missile again seems dangerous. Double Shock should secure a large amount of damage, or U-turn can be clicked to pivot out into Suwako who should wall Joon. Drip clearly clicked Toxic expecting Suwako, but now that Toxic is revealed, Suwako is less likely to come in. Drip uses Recover, likely expecting a Double Shock, as fiish instead U-turns to Kogasa to get a Surprise proc. fiish then U-turns back to VIVIT expecting Toxic, and takes 43 from Flamethrower instead. fiish now U-turns into Suwako in a second Flamethrower, and U-turns again as Drip sacs Takane. Takane was already low, so being sac'd for momentum is not bad; additionally, if fiish gets greedy w/ SR or attacking that turn, Takane should be able to regain momentum easily against Suwako, as Takane forces Suwako out, likely into Letty, and Drip can take a U-turn into one of his offensive threats (Tenshi? Joon?). Since Drip has second choice, fiish decides to just go Letty to set Snow. This seems fine, as Letty gives value regardless of having to switch next turn. The alternative is Suwako to set SR, but this gives Drip the opportunity to set up with Reimu, which is dangerous. Drip chooses to go Tenshi, and uses SR as Letty kills with Blizzard. Turns out if was not AV after all, Iku is either minimal SpA invest or Tenshi has a lot of SpDef.
fiish is ahead 6-4, but Sannyo and Joon are both full HP to tank 1 Blizzard, and fiish's only answer to Joon is Suwako (who can be set up on by Reimu). This situation seems favored for fiish, but the game still is relatively close, especially since SR now puts Cirno and Letty on a timer. Game should come down to how much resources Drip can extract from fiish before Cirno gets an in vs. Reimu or Luna. Joon and Sannyo can both force out Cirno from full, but this means Drip needs to sac each time, so only can force her out 3 times max. On the other hand, fiish has struggled to safely get Cirno in all game, so it likely won't come to that.
Drip sends in Joon to threaten Letty. Letty doesn't threaten Joon with anything, so she is safe to throw a Toxic as fiish goes Kogasa (this seems troll, Kogasa is probably walled). Kogasa eats 50 from Make it Rain as Defog reveals Joon's Abiility Shield, and fiish reveals not reading sheet. fiish U-turns out to Suwako as Joon clicks Make it Rain again for minimal damage. fiish clicks EQ fearing Toxic, as Drip takes a switch to Reimu. I think the EQ is fine here? since Suwako is appreciated to trade into Sannyo. I have been mentioning that Reimu takes advantage of Suwako for a while now, and here she gets a CM on the U-turn, forcing fiish to VIVIT. VIVIT throws Double Shock, dealing 90 and dying to Aura Sphere, indicating max Physdef Reimu. I think before, Drip was more cautious due to potential boosting item, but after Leftovers revealed, he knows Double Shock doesn't kill. fiish has the option of Iku, Kogasa, and Cirno. Kogasa is easily walled by Joon, Iku should be walled by Luna, and Cirno is unreliable, as she relies on Blizzard to 2HKO Joon or Sannyo, which is not ideal. I think Iku is the nicest in here, as doubling to Letty on Luna to set up Cirno is a nice possible line. fiish instead chooses to go Kogasa and click Wave Crash on the obvious Joon switch, but only does 28 which is very dire. fiish U-turns to Iku as Joon recovers, then does 50 with Fiery Dance (no boost) as Joon throws off a Toxic. Drip goes Luna to wall Iku, as fiish reveals the second Defog to clear SR. This is the perfect opportunity to Letty in -> Suwako -> U-turn Cirno, but fiish elects to go Suwako first, going down to 44 to slow-pivot in Letty, then going back to Suwako as Drip switches in Joon. Drip makes the smart call to Recover here as Suwako U-turns, as EQ is never getting clicked into potential Reimu. fiish is forced into Iku and throws a Fiery Dance into Luna, doing a whole 14... walled... fiish pivots Suwako on Moonblast, then U-turns into Cirno as Luna Moonlights for 25 in Snow... Cirno is now set up to a kill... 20 turns since the last kill. Sannyo is sac'd, and Joon is forced in.
At this point, fiish is up 5-3, but Iku and Kogasa are both Toxic'd, and Suwako is at 40. For Drip, Luna and are both low, and Joon is full HP. Ideally for fiish, a mon is sac'd (like Kogasa, Iku in and Fiery Dance boost to victory. The unfortunate issue is that Luna takes 14, so Discharge does 21 unboosted... 2 Discharge won't kill and gives her a chance to heal while Iku ticks out, and Fiery Dance needs the 50% boost and good rolls to deny Moonlight. fiish takes this line, sacing Kogasa as Drip doubles to Reimu expecting Suwako. fiish can't risk Reimu Recovering, so clicks Wave Crash as Drip goes into Joon. Drip clicks Recover to stay out of Cirno Blizzard range if Kogasa decides to suicide, as fiish smartly clicks U-turn into Suwako. Drip clicks Toxic as Suwako clicks U-turn fearing Reimu. If Suwako EQs on Reimu, Reimu clicks Recover on U-turn to Cirno, and fiish can click Freeze Dry, and play the long game to burn Junko's 3 remaining Recovers (which is possible) to set up Moonblast sweep, or risk Blizzard acc. I think this is not a terrible line? and if Joon stays in fiish wins on the spot. fiish decides to go to Iku to click Fiery Dance as Drip goes Luna, and misses the boost, which is disastrous. Luna now threatens the Moonlight, so fiish goes Letty to deny full value, and Drip doubles to Reimu on this. Reimu only takes 50 from Blizzard, so can easily Recover-stall Letty. fiish goes Cirno on another Recover and forces the Luna sac. fiish tries to sac Kogasa again as Drip doubles back to Reimu, eats 50 from Prough and Recovers to full as Kogasa dies of poison. fiish goes Cirno and 2HKOs Joon with Blizzard, but Snow ends as Reimu comes out.
Reimu proceeds to dodge 2 Blizzards, set up to +2, and win. 70% accuracy moment.
Drip kinda lucked out multiple times, with no SpA boost from Iku vs Luna, Blizzard miss, and no EQ from Suwako on 2 times vs Joon. If fiish just used calc instead of Blizzard w/ Letty on T47 the game was won, but no way I would've used calc there (I'm lazy af). The fact that the game went to T61, even though Cirno had no good switchins and was able to secure a kill every time it came in, is because fiish did not have enough slow pivots to get her in safely. Only Suwako could do it, and she had her own deal of problems to worry about. This is a case for using Eject Button and / or Teleport Lily on Cirno teams to get her in more reliably to spam Blizzards and win. The fact that Joon pressured fiish so hard is dire, as imagine how much worse the game would have gone if Drip had a Sukuna...
Drip is a fucking lucker and this game kinda makes me mad, but he played to his outs ig (Reimu cheese...)
The dreaded Bo3...
I'll just give some thoughts on Bo3 before I get to the games. I used to be better at Bo3, often losing G1 and winning G2 G3, but now I'm washed and always win G1 lose G2 G3... I think G1 going for aggressive MU fish is probably a good line, and then G2 G3 play safe if you lost G1, and G2 play aggro if you won G1. I often don't reuse in Bo3, but I think if you have a particularly strong team you can occasionally reuse as a surprise.
Bo3 is a much better format than Bo1, and I'll gladly Bo3 anyone in future weeks if they want (building this tier is fun).
about15gals vs fififlutters G1
about has a Ghost-spam offense with Murasa + Soga breakers, Suwako (SR), Chimata (Defog?), Iku, Clownpiece support. fifi has an Utsuho team with Suwako (SR), Chimata (Defog?), Iku (Defog?), Yukari, Kasen. For about, double Ghost breakers seems a bit soft into Rumia, though Clownpiece can take advantage of Rumia and is generally difficult to deal with. Chimata is the main Sukuna answer I assume, though most of the team can take a hit and trade with Sukuna. There is possibility Iku is DD for about to supplement the special Clown + Soga, though special helps break for Soga so it is not too bad either. Murasa or Chimata could be scarf, but Chimata likely isn't to preserv good Sukuna MU, so it is either Murasa scarf or slow team that copes w/ tie vs Marisa (can get away with it with Clown + Iku + Murasa tbh, esp. if Iku is DD). For fifi, the team is very slow, so Scarf Yukari is pretty telegraphed. Double removal with Iku + Chimata is likely given Utsuho. This means the primary breaking power is Utsuho + Kasen, so we could see Kasen BU... more than likely just 4a though. Utsuho is probably 3a Roost with STABs + Dazzling, that set is the most consistent in my experience.
For hazards, both players have Suwako with SR, so neither can really set SR without trading. Obviously, fifi needs SR off more than about, as there is an Utsuho on their team. Chimata has a poor MU into Suwako unless it is Trick Scarf, in which case it can cripple Suwako by disabling its slow pivot capabilities and making SR a major momentum sink. If fifi's Iku is Multiscale, removing SR will be very annoying as Suwako can easily pivot back in to reset SR immediately. For threats, fifi's Utsuho is very powerful in midgame, as nothing switches in well. Kasen is kept a bit in check by Clownpiece, though Clown gives entries for Utsuho which is very dangerous. about's 2 Ghosts are also extremely threatening, since fifi has no Ghost resist. If Murasa is scarf, she outspeeds Yukari scarf in endgame which is big in the MU. Both Suwakos will be very annoying. and likely end up trading, as nothing enjoys switching in to Suwako (though fifi can threaten it much more immediately with Kasen; about just has to cope with slow chip). fifi has better trading capabilities since their mons are bulkier, so it comes down to how efficiently fifi can force trade-downs from about before getting too chipped and losing to ghosts. I do remember another game where I expected Scarf Murasa and it was revealed to not be Scarf though, so maybe that is the case here, in which case Scarf Yukari is about to farm.
For leads, fifi can only really lead Kasen to deny SR, or scarf Trick Yukari (or Chimata?). I don't really like tossing Scarf immediately in this MU, but crippling Suwako is so important for keeping off SR (and winning) that it should be worth it. about can lead Suwako, but Kasen is so obvious that Clown is not a bad lead. Clown immediately threatens Wisp, and doubling to Suwako t1 on Suwako / Utsuho is great. I don't think fifi can afford to lead Suwako and trade SR t1, so I think Clown lead is ideal.
fifi leads Kasen as expected, and about leads Murasa. I calc'd and max Atk Polt from Murasa actually OHKOs Kasen... fifi goes into Chimata (physdef) as about doubles into Clownpiece (or is fearing Scarf?). This play is very confusing to me as Polt seems relatively free (unless miss) and Clown is obvious invitation for Suwako. fifi goes Suwako on Torch Song, and about decides to stay in to Wisp as Suwako does 90 with Scald. Clown is sac'd (???) to get 26 with Moonblast, and Murasa is brought back in. Wave Crash is clicked into Chimata, doing 55 which reveals CB Murasa (so slow team). fifi opts to sac Chimata, chipping Murasa to 30 with Helmet + recoil. This makes t1 extremely confusing, as Poltergeist would have easily killed Kasen and 2HKO'd Chimata. Why was this not clicked? Murasa's ability sets rain, so fifi can only go Iku or Scarf Yukari to revenge. fifi opts for Iku, and about absorbs a Draco with Suwako. about opts to U-turn instead of setting SR as fifi pivots in Kasen to get the Wicked Power charge. So far, this game has been extremely confusing from about, as they have not only given up a free kill with Polt T1, but also pointless Clown sac and not taking a free SR set vs Iku (esp. after Chimata down). about opts to go into Chimata, and fifi opts to go Suwako instead of trading damage (fears potential Hurricane?) and easily tanks Make it Rain, and takes advantage of about's rain to fire a Scald into about's Suwako, dealing 50% and burning. about can now trade HP on Suwako with Scald, or throw up SR (likely not staying up since Suwako is in 2HKO range of Iku). fifi makes an aggressive switch to Utsuho expecting SR, as about instead U-turns to Murasa. fifi decides to sac Utsuho to Wave Crash, trading out with Murasa.
Here, the game is 4-4, with both Suwakos low. Hazard control is no longer a priority for fifi as Utsuho is down. Both players have Iku Multiscale preserved (unless about is using Swift Swim on ultra greed). For speed control, Yukari Scarf should outspeed about's team and threaten 2HKOs on everything with unresisted Dark Pulse. Kasen is oddly nice as she should be able to trade with any one mon on about's side, maybe not Chimata. Both Ikus are in a nice position with Suwakos low, though fifi's Iku is Draco which means it cannot snowball, which may be a problem in lategame. In the double-down scenario, Soga is unviable to send as she immediately loses momentum to Yukari. Suwako is tempting to take advantage of rain, but Kasen is annoying for about's Suwako. I could see arguments for any of fifi's mons to come out here, but Chimata and Iku only for about. fifi opts for Suwako as about selects Chimata. This should be a poor MU for Chimata in general. fifi fires off a Scald, which is risk-free as worst-case it breaks Iku Multi, but about reveals Trick Scarf. This situation is not ideal for Suwako, as it can't lock into a move that beats both Chimata and Iku.
Suwako spams Scald as Chimata dies, rain ends, and about brings in Iku. fifi switches in Iku as about's Iku spins. I guess the Spin Iku is expected as Chimata is not Defog. I'm not sure why Iku's Multiscale was tossed here, maybe fearing DD? but Scald burn chance is scary for DD Iku, so I do not see an issue with staying to spam. fifi then sacs Suwako to Revelation Dance, and brings in Yukari. Iku crits Rev Dance for 68 (46 without crit) as Yukari breaks Multiscale with Dark Pulse, doing 28. This indicates Yukari does not 2HKO with Dark Pulse, but also Iku shoulldn't normally 2HKO with Rev Dance. fifi then sacs Iku and goes Kasen, aiming to trade Kasen for Iku and try to win with Scarf Yukari. Kasen tanks Fiery Dance and misses HJK, and about cleans with Iku.
The luck in the last 5-ish turns was horrific, but this could have been averted if fifi sac'd Suwako and preserved Iku's Multiscale. about kind of threw the earlygame, but getting chip into Suwako ended up being nice, and Iku spin allowed them to win lategame by going over the top of scarf Yukari. fifi felt ahead after the Utsuho v. Murasa trade, though I underestimated Iku cheese ability. I feel like fifi would've been ahead still if Iku Multiscale wasn't thrown but...
about15gals vs fififlutters G2
Going into G2, I expect a safer team from fifi and possibly more aggressive MU fish from about. Instead, I see another Utsuho team...
fifi has Utsuho supported by Iku + Lily (likely double removal), Tenshi (SR), Rumia for Pursuit, and Alice. about has Aki (SR), Komachi, Iku, Alice, Rumia, and Clownpiece. Both teams look relatively slow, so both Rumias look like Scarf. For fifi, Iku is likely just Spin + Multiscale to support Utsuho. For about, Iku feels like Levitate to not lose to Hurricane Kanako. It is either Spin, or Court Change Komachi + DD Iku (seems nice as team lacks a bit of power).
For hazards, about has Aki setter and Komachi or Iku removal, while fifi has Tenshi setter and Iku + Lily removal. fifi's goal is to keep off SR for Utsuho, so Tenshi setting is not a priority, especially since about's team is pretty resistant to SR. Aki will likely never stick SR, as Lily comes in to Defog for free every time, and Utsuho can also switch in on Aki to instantly claim a kill. Utsuho has a very strong MU here for fifi, getting a free switch vs Clown and Aki, and also being able to outtrade Rumia and Alice. Iku and Komachi cannot switch in on the wrong moves either (Iku can't switch in on anything really) so it is really quite dangerous for about. For about, Levitate Iku should be able to win with some setup if Lily is gone and Iku's Multiscale is broken, but this is difficult as they will need to contend with Lily's Regenerator and constant Utsuho pressure.
For leads, about is pressured by potential Utsuho lead to lead Iku or Komachi. Otherwise, Utsuho instantly snipes a kill if it is using 3a + Roost (BB + Flamethrower + Dgleam). Komachi is awkward as it can be heavily chipped by Rumia, making it unable to check Utsuho later, but Iku commit early when it is the primary wincon seems unwise. For fifi, Utsuho is an easy lead, though Lily can also be led to have a positive MU into Iku and Komachi. In this case, Lily only has a poor MU into Alice and Clown, and Clown is an easy switch-in for Utsuho. Alice is a bit more annoying, as fifi needs to correctly pivot Rumia or Utsuho in on some hard reads (or go their own Alice), but it is not that bad overall. I'd expect Lily or Utsuho lead from fifi, and probably Komachi lead from about (maybe Iku but unlikely).
fifi leads Utsuho as about leads Aki. Utsuho threatens an immediate kill, so about switches in Komachi, taking 33 from Fusion Flare. Perhaps there is no Brave Bird, or it just doesn't do much into Physdef Komachi. fifi switches to Rumia as about goes Iku. I am not really sure what the thought process here was, to be honest. about decides to preserve Iku to check Utsuho later, and switches in Clown as fifi goes Tenshi, possibly expecting about to trade. fifi takes the free switch to Utsuho on Clown, as about decides to go into Aki. fifi catches the Iku switchin with Dazzling Gleam, but only does 44 and Iku reveals Leftovers. The second Dgleam doess 46, confirming Levitate, and also bulky Iku, as standard offensive takes a lot more (60-80?). Iku spins to outspeed Utsuho, then wastes some Recovers as fifi continues to Dgleam. 3 Recovers later, about pivots to Clown, hoping to Encore Utsuho into Dgleam, but fifi doubles into Alice. I suppose fifi wanted to take advantage of Iku spamming Recover to get a free click with Alice, though I feel like spamming Gleam to waste Recovers is not bad. This is a winning MU for Clown if it has SpDef invest, and a losing MU if not, as Clown likely gets 3HKO with Torch Song, but needs bulk to avoid 2HKO from offensive Alice. Both players stay in to trade, and Alice 2HKOs Clown with Psynoise + Flash while barely avoiding the 2HKO.
about sends in Rumia (no Dark Aura) which telegraphs Dark Border + BU, so fifi switches in Lily as Rumia clicks BU to preserve a sac. BU Rumia was something I was considering on preview, as about's team is lacking a bit of breaking power, but it was also a bit slow so I discounted it. I don't think there is any other possible Scarf on about's team, so Utsuho now outspeeds the about's entire, which is dangerous. Rumia can safely BU again due to Dark Border, as Lily uses Nature's Madness, then Moonlights to full as fifi U-turns to Utsuho. This is actually kind of dire as Dark Border halves the damage of Dgleam and Fusion Flare, and Brave Bird (if she has it) is attacking into +2Def. about Knocks for 56 as Dgleam does 23, then opts to kill Utsuho as Fusion Flare does 26, not risking the crit (though the HP would be nice). I think clicking Moonlight here was surely correct, as even if Utsuho clicks Roost, it is easy for Rumia to BU more to threaten >50% damage with Knock, and Rumia can sit on Utsuho forever as she is maybe getting 5HKO'd after Leftovers. Realistically, Rumia can probably end this interaction at +6 with 80% HP if about wanted to more often than not. Instead, Rumia ends up at 36 and is picked off by Draco Meteor from Iku.
about goes Alice on the -2 Iku and sets Spikes as fifi switches in their Alice. Spikes Alice should win this interaction, as I don't think Alice runs coverage for other Alice, but I am surprised fifi clicks Psynoise instead of Recover, and about clicks Flash Cannon instead of setting more Spikes. fifi's Alice can still throw off Psynoises vs Komachi and Iku if she's at 50, and about's Alice is not really immediately threatened so setting Spikes seems relatively free (there is Rumia, I guess...). fifi takes the free switch to Rumia, and clicks Knock, exploding about's Alice. Realistically, there is no Rumia Knock switch, so about sacs Alice to bring in Aki. Aki is surprisingly good here since Utsuho is gone, and gets an Apple Acid on the Lily switchin. about decides to set SR here, which seems a bit pointless as it just gives more Defog value, as Lily uses Nature's Madness. Aki Synths on the Defog, Apple Acids again on Nature's Madness, and now Lily U-turns to Rumia on expected Synth as Aki instead clicks EP. Rumia Knock only does 35, and Aki Synths twice to full as fifi is forced back into Lily. Aki can't sit forever vs Lily as she only has 5 Synth pp left, so about goes Iku on Nature's Madness, and Lily is no Fairy STAB so she is forced to U-turn out to Iku on Recover. This seems pretty aggressive, but fifi's Iku still has Multiscale and likely outspeeds about's, so the only disaster scenario is if about clicks Spin (and is Fiery Dance + Rev Dance, no Elec STAB, which I don't think is common). fifi Fiery Dances to try to catch Aki, as about pivots to Komachi, and then sacs it to a Tbolt the following turn.
I think the game has been over for a while now (since Alice went down?), as Aki has not been able to break Lily at all, and about's Iku and Komachi both lose to fifi's Iku. Komachi dying just speeds this up. Even if about gets a Spin with Iku, she is likely not getting past Tenshi, as we saw in previous replays Tenshi outtrades Iku heavily and likely burns through her Recover PP before running out of Morning Sun PP.
about goes Aki, and fifi pivots Lily to click Nature's Madness + U-turn into Rumia to burn another Synth. Realistically, Iku would win if she got a safe switch, but fifi is limited by her Lily being too fast. Lily pivots in again and Nature's Madness into Iku, then U-turns into Rumia as Iku clicks spin. Iku is so slow she underspeeds Rumia, and dies to Knock, and about15gals forfeits as there is not enough Synth pp to break Lily + 3 sacs.
Utsuho surprisingly did less than I expected thanks to Dark Border BU Rumia, but Rumia also did less than I expected because she wasn't preserved. I think about15galls had a good chance of winning if Moonlight was clicked instead of Knock on t17, and Alice not being sac'd t21 was also vital to not losing (apparently Aki could switch in after all), since otherwise Lily trolls the rest of the game for free. Interesting game, Utsuho looked broken on preview 2 games in a row and barely trades in both, so maybe this mon is actually a fraud.
about15gals vs fififlutters G3
Final game of Bo3 with everything on the line, I expect to see standard Kanako Sukuna Iku from both...
fifi loads Marisa Balance with Kanako (SR), Iku, Chimata (Defog), Rumia, and Star Sapphire (who?) about has a standard Cirno offense with Youmu for Chilly, Kanako (SR), Sukuna, Komachi, and Iku. I don't think Cirno can get away with just Court Change as removal, so I expect spin Iku from about. It feels like fifi needs Physdef Helmet Chimata to answer Sukuna well and Scarf Rumia speed control, but then the team's breaking power is reliant on Marisa, which is a loss against Rumia teams. I have no clue what Star Sapphire does, and she looks like she has 0 stats even though somehow she has 500 BST. Mayby it is just Physdef Chimata, Scarf Rumia, and Cosmic Power + Stored Power Sapphire... fifi's Kanako is likely Wood Hammer since the team looks weak to Suwako otherwise.
For hazards, about has probably Iku removal and Kanako setter, while fifi has probably Chimata removal and Kanako setter. fifi wants to maintain SR to pressure Cirno, and about's ability to keep SR off heavily hinges on whether Iku is Multiscale or Levitate. However, even if Iku is Multiscale, about still threatens hard Cirno on Kanako. Cirno has 0 switch-ins on fifi's side, which seems like a death sentence for fifi, but remember the similar situation in DripLegend vs fiish where Cirno could not cone in safely. about seems to have a similar issue with no slow pivots, so hopefully an Eject Button exists somewhere to give a free in. Interestingly, I think fifi is actually incentivized to click EQ with Kanako over SR, as about's only switchin to EQ is Kanako (if Iku is Multiscale). If I'm right about fifi's Kanako being Wood Hammer, about should be able to outtrade it with their own Kanako, hopefully, but if not, it might be bad.
For leads, about should lead Iku if she is Levitate. Levitate Iku has a good MU into Chimata and Kanako, and nothing really switches in to 1v1 her except Sapphire. This is a bit dangerous into Marisa though, as she can threaten Light of Ruin and force in Komachi, who can subsequently be trappd by Rumia. For fifi, Chimata seems like a solid lead to cover Cirno + Youmu + Kanako, though loses to the aforementioned Iku (has to go Sapphire, but this seems OK).
fifi leads Chimata as expected as about leads Youmu to set snow immediately. about fears Scarf Make it Rain, so hard switches to Sukuna as fifi Volts to Marisa. fifi goes back into Chimata as about burns Dynamax immediately to Max Knuckle, doing 18. This indicates Chimata is Physdef max, and since no Leftovers revealed, likely is Helmet as well. Sukuna sets Spikes as Chimata Moonlights, then Spikes again on Defog. Sukuna throws off a Gigaton for 41 as Chimata slow-volts into Marisa, and about decides to predict U-turn (or pray for miss?) and stays in, instantly exploding to Fire Blast. about has a solid Marisa answer in Komachi, so this seems a bit suspect but Sukuna might be giga walled by Chimata after losing +1 boost so it is not like this is a hyper throw. Life is a bit harder vs Rumia, Star Sapphire, Iku kinda but realistically Sukuna only gets up a Spike and pivots out on Chimata Defog every time at best.
about goes Youmu and clicks Sacred Sword, sadly dealing only 27 to Chimata and taking Helmet in return. about does not try for the roll / crit, instead bringing in Iku on an obvious Moonlight. Iku can likely make some progress, as it is not really abused for momentum by anything on fifi's team (no Suwako) though SpDef Kanako is a problem, as is SpDef Sapphire. fifi decides to go Kanako, and threatens a 50/50 on EQ / SR. about pivots in Kanako as fifi reveals the expected Wood Hammer, and then switches to Star Sapphire as Kanako sets SR (surprised no Cirno double from about).
Star Sapphire OHKOs Kanako with Tera Starstorm, then OHKOs Youmu as she tanks a Shadow Claw. Perhaps Sukuna needed to be preserved...about goes into Cirno to revenge 25% Sapphire, as fifi sacs Chimata and brings in Marisa. about goes Komachi on Double Edge but can't do anything as Marisa U-turns to Rumia, who proceeds to 2HKO Komachi. Cirno comes back in, and fifi sacs Saffire to bring in Marisa, who OHKOs Cirno with Double Edge. about brings in last mon Iku, who tanks Light of Ruin with Multiscale and gets +1/+1 with Spin + Fiery Dance while killing Marisa. +1 Draco kills Kanako, but Rumia tanks the next Draco and finishes Iku.
Overall awkward game for about. Sukuna burning Dynamax early when fifi had a safe answer in Physdef Chimata was probably a misplay, as Komachi was relativly safe into Marisa. Worst case Rumia is pivoted in, but Komachi demonstrated she could tank a Knock Off and Recover to scout the Rumia, then switch to Sukuna or trade as necessary. The game was over after Youmu died, as about lost both sources of speed control in snow Cirno and Youmu herself and folded to Marisa. Star Sapphire was stronger than I expected, though part of that was due to Sukuna getting sac'd early. I think if about didn't have something on Kanako to hit Chimata (pref. Glare) it was likely doomed, but with Glare anything is possible. Also, Marisa + Rumia is really a nasty combo...
Fun week, though I'm kinda behind given we're on W6. This dodged the 10k word count due to some short games, even though we were on pace for it earlier... I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad.
Something interesting to look at is Rev Dance vs Draco on Iku. I feel like I've seen Draco backfire more times than it's helped this week, though I haven't iinvestigated it carefully. Maybe we should stop using Draco on Iku...
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We're (over) halfway through the season, so I wanted to share some usage stats for Best Wishes from YB, as the YB in question, along with my own Viability Rankings based on what I've seen so far.
[Gen 5] Best Wishes from YB Weeks 1-5 Usage Stats
Lead
Meta Manipulation Quick Notes:
- Sand is far and away the best weather, with Gigalith channeling Gen 3-4 TTar being #2 in usage and having amazing support with the likes of Excadrill and the Landoruses. Sun has gotten a couple wins but has overall performed worse than I expected, Rain has been WAY worse than I expected and is probably straight up bad, and Snow has kinda expectedly been very absent
- With the lack of Hidden Power in the tier, a lot of Pokemon with 4x weaknesses and a million other good traits have risen to the top, with the Landoruses, Ferrothorn, and Genesect (and Escavalier to a lesser extent). Fire and Ice moves aren't very common without Hidden Power but because of that, we've seen a couple instances of teams not having anything for stuff like Flamethrower/Ice Beam Genesect or Flamethrower Hydreigon
- Hydreigon has been a top performer, having a super good typing, deep movepool (buffed by adding Stealth Rock), and getting STAB on Dark Gem boosted moves, yielding the perfect combo of damage and utility
- Speaking of Dark Gem, I knew it was probably best Gem but I was surprised to see stuff like Dark Gem Foul Play Thundurus pop-up to use its item removal effect, which is really neat
- Terrakion has also risen as one of the scariest breakers to come up against, with its amazing Speed tier, high power in spite of a small Attack nerf, and great typing into most things
- Musharna has won 7/8 games oh nah
- A couple other Pokemon have been more common than I expected but for very understandable reasons, like Amoonguss being a really good check to a lot of the strongest physical attackers in the tier and Kyurem's strong Ice moves being really hard to a lot mons to handle with Ice moves being so uncommon
- The metagame is overall quite bulky, with some offensive demons like Sand Force Excadrill, Landorus-I, Keldeo, Hydreigon, Terrakion, and Sun as an archetype, but for the most part sturdier balance teams seem to the reign supreme
- Sandile is undefeated so far, best mon (ignore the fact that it's done, like, half of a thing across its two games)
With all of the above in mind, here is my personal Viability List through Week 5:
That's all, good luck to all the Best Wishes players!
Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Landorus-Therian | 21 | 55.26% | 57.14% |
| 2 | Gigalith | 17 | 44.74% | 47.06% |
| 3 | Hydreigon | 15 | 39.47% | 66.67% |
| 3 | Terrakion | 15 | 39.47% | 60.00% |
| 5 | Ferrothorn | 13 | 34.21% | 38.46% |
| 6 | Genesect | 12 | 31.58% | 58.33% |
| 7 | Excadrill | 11 | 28.95% | 45.45% |
| 8 | Musharna | 8 | 21.05% | 87.50% |
| 8 | Amoonguss | 8 | 21.05% | 50.00% |
| 10 | Thundurus | 7 | 18.42% | 42.86% |
| 11 | Landorus | 6 | 15.79% | 66.67% |
| 11 | Jellicent | 6 | 15.79% | 33.33% |
| 11 | Reuniclus | 6 | 15.79% | 16.67% |
| 14 | Volcarona | 5 | 13.16% | 40.00% |
| 15 | Escavalier | 4 | 10.53% | 75.00% |
| 15 | Kyurem | 4 | 10.53% | 75.00% |
| 15 | Conkeldurr | 4 | 10.53% | 50.00% |
| 15 | Keldeo | 4 | 10.53% | 25.00% |
| 19 | Heatmor | 3 | 7.89% | 66.67% |
| 19 | Seismitoad | 3 | 7.89% | 66.67% |
| 19 | Kyurem-Black | 3 | 7.89% | 66.67% |
| 19 | Haxorus | 3 | 7.89% | 66.67% |
| 19 | Unfezant | 3 | 7.89% | 66.67% |
| 19 | Mandibuzz | 3 | 7.89% | 33.33% |
| 19 | Basculin | 3 | 7.89% | 33.33% |
| 19 | Victini | 3 | 7.89% | 0.00% |
| 19 | Meloetta | 3 | 7.89% | 0.00% |
| 19 | Tornadus-Therian | 3 | 7.89% | 0.00% |
| 29 | Sandile | 2 | 5.26% | 100.00% |
| 29 | Throh | 2 | 5.26% | 100.00% |
| 29 | Maractus | 2 | 5.26% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Gothitelle | 2 | 5.26% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Vanilluxe | 2 | 5.26% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Serperior | 2 | 5.26% | 0.00% |
| 29 | Scolipede | 2 | 5.26% | 0.00% |
| 29 | Tornadus | 2 | 5.26% | 0.00% |
| 29 | Bisharp | 2 | 5.26% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Alomomola | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Garbodor | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Zebstrika | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Swanna | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Durant | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Sawsbuck | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Emolga | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Zoroark | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Thundurus-Therian | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Cinccino | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Stunfisk | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Golurk | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Sigilyph | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Mienshao | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
Code:
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Landorus-Therian | 4 | 10.53% | 100.00% |
| 1 | Genesect | 4 | 10.53% | 75.00% |
| 3 | Gigalith | 3 | 7.89% | 66.67% |
| 3 | Hydreigon | 3 | 7.89% | 33.33% |
| 3 | Victini | 3 | 7.89% | 0.00% |
| 6 | Amoonguss | 2 | 5.26% | 100.00% |
| 6 | Ferrothorn | 2 | 5.26% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Unfezant | 2 | 5.26% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Keldeo | 2 | 5.26% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Garbodor | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 10 | Swanna | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 10 | Thundurus | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 10 | Sandile | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 10 | Gothitelle | 1 | 2.63% | 100.00% |
| 10 | Scolipede | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Conkeldurr | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Reuniclus | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Excadrill | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Serperior | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Basculin | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Golurk | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Vanilluxe | 1 | 2.63% | 0.00% |- Sand is far and away the best weather, with Gigalith channeling Gen 3-4 TTar being #2 in usage and having amazing support with the likes of Excadrill and the Landoruses. Sun has gotten a couple wins but has overall performed worse than I expected, Rain has been WAY worse than I expected and is probably straight up bad, and Snow has kinda expectedly been very absent
- With the lack of Hidden Power in the tier, a lot of Pokemon with 4x weaknesses and a million other good traits have risen to the top, with the Landoruses, Ferrothorn, and Genesect (and Escavalier to a lesser extent). Fire and Ice moves aren't very common without Hidden Power but because of that, we've seen a couple instances of teams not having anything for stuff like Flamethrower/Ice Beam Genesect or Flamethrower Hydreigon
- Hydreigon has been a top performer, having a super good typing, deep movepool (buffed by adding Stealth Rock), and getting STAB on Dark Gem boosted moves, yielding the perfect combo of damage and utility
- Speaking of Dark Gem, I knew it was probably best Gem but I was surprised to see stuff like Dark Gem Foul Play Thundurus pop-up to use its item removal effect, which is really neat
- Terrakion has also risen as one of the scariest breakers to come up against, with its amazing Speed tier, high power in spite of a small Attack nerf, and great typing into most things
- Musharna has won 7/8 games oh nah
- A couple other Pokemon have been more common than I expected but for very understandable reasons, like Amoonguss being a really good check to a lot of the strongest physical attackers in the tier and Kyurem's strong Ice moves being really hard to a lot mons to handle with Ice moves being so uncommon
- The metagame is overall quite bulky, with some offensive demons like Sand Force Excadrill, Landorus-I, Keldeo, Hydreigon, Terrakion, and Sun as an archetype, but for the most part sturdier balance teams seem to the reign supreme
- Sandile is undefeated so far, best mon (ignore the fact that it's done, like, half of a thing across its two games)
With all of the above in mind, here is my personal Viability List through Week 5:
Unordered within tiers unless stated otherwise
S
Best of the Best (ordered)
A
Staples
B+
Close to being staples, great mons with obvious flaws or are amazing but only on certain teams
B-
Mons that have a place on a number of teams but have a number of issues that keep them from performing better
C
Similar to the above rank but either their use cases are more specific or they (or the teams they fit on) are less consistent
D
Niche mons, have specific traits that can give them an edge on certain teams or in very specific situations but are mostly middling
"Untapped"
Unranked mons that are probably bad but I believe in them (or they're funny)
be so fr
Mons that even I wouldn't tell you to use right now
Banned
S
Best of the Best (ordered)
A
Staples
B+
Close to being staples, great mons with obvious flaws or are amazing but only on certain teams
B-
Mons that have a place on a number of teams but have a number of issues that keep them from performing better
C
Similar to the above rank but either their use cases are more specific or they (or the teams they fit on) are less consistent
D
Niche mons, have specific traits that can give them an edge on certain teams or in very specific situations but are mostly middling
"Untapped"
Unranked mons that are probably bad but I believe in them (or they're funny)
be so fr
Mons that even I wouldn't tell you to use right now
Banned
That's all, good luck to all the Best Wishes players!
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