Wanted to analyze and go over my prep / gameplay. Although this season my performance/commitment/prep was inconsistent I'm still overall proud of it - I've had high highs and got a clutch win in the finals and wanted to share. Before this tour, I was 2-0 in semis and 0-2 in finals, now im 2-1 in semis and 1-2 in finals, which is kinda funny. I didn't need to play my semis game but being 3-3 overall in playoffs is not bad, especially 2 of those 3 losses are santu (fml).
THERE WILL BE NO PASTES IN THIS POST, THAT WILL COME LATER I PROMISE
Quick preview of the season:
Going into this SPL, I was very aware of what people will prep for the most against me: Ttar sand and full stall, so I told myself I wanted to avoid these as much as possible and bring more varied stuff, even though my scout was already pretty varied. This included me bringing different megas as much as possible.
Mentally, I wanted to trust my gut/play more over my prep/teams.
W1 - vs. c0mp (L)
This week was kind of a blur. I had no idea what c0mp was gonna bring since he uses my teams often. He also just got off winning masters so he was hot. Was expecting some of his other teams or a known 6. I made multiple teams this week and ended up with this, which is probably the worst team I made all SPL and deleted immediately after. I mean it's a sand with Slowking and without drill. I'm not gonna comment on the serp but yeah that was idiotic as well.
The game and the prep don't really matter here. The main story this week was that earlier in the day I did not like the team and decided I didn't want to play it, but my team recommended I stick with my prep and not change last second. I deeply regret that. I did the same exact mistake of the first SPL of not trusting my gut. Of course it's good to listen to your teammates, but your gut always comes first. Never again
W2 - vs. Santu (L)
Here I trusted my gut completely and brought this team. Now, I do think this team (an edit of
craing ;_; 's SM team) is genuinely good but obviously its fishy in ORAS. I got a terrible mu, like almost unwinnable 10-90 mu, which made me want to greed the first couple turns and try to trick smth before gambiting, but that cost me two burns and honestly killed any chances I had. Somewhat I did make a comeback and had a decent chance but his clefable revealed encore which killed my chances too. Santu did choke and go chansey instead of Zapdos on Encore'd Dnite for some reason. This gave me a chance if I got para'd or if I got the roll on Zapdos, but didn't get either.
Simply my gut feeling was wrong and that happens. Santu brought smth both characteristic and not, he brought a team of mine edited basically (The Sage Mode Medicham team w/ offensive toad but with mbro and skarm over medicham and bisharp). He has almost 0 toad usage befofore this, but tbh he does have a decent amount of Gastrodon so this was prob just too fishy in hindsight.
Santu at the end used a line of mine against me which is ngl, funny af in hindsight but was really random at the time from my POV.
W3 - vs. xray (W)
Starting off SPL 0-2 heading into Xray was tough, I knew I needed a win and I needed one badly. Wanted to deviate from BO which I brought and as mentioned previously I didn't want to stall, plus xray is not one stall against tbh.
I put my feet down and put more effort this week. This team actually I ended up really liking, which is rare since I don't usually like HO teams especially if not sand ho. This one was a HO concept that kinda came to me as random inspiration, which is to load a HO with multiple overlapping types to overwhelm checks. Obviously this is nothing new, but in ORAS it's usually either full one type spam (Bird spam HO) or a balance (FWG HO, which is what I usually do). This one instead had only 1 overlap but multiple types.
Mega Gyarados + Manaphy is double water. Bisharp + Mega Gyarados is double dark. Gyarados + Thundurus is double flying. I will explain more later on this team as I'm planning to drop it. Notably
MANNAT kept me sane with not teching this team too much which I appreciate. It was a solid ass six and there was no reason to go crazy with the sets.
Regardless in game it went pretty smoothly + some luck which was nice. Not sure if I needed it as I still had hella resources but overall the team is prob one of the best I built this SPL.
W4 - vs. Poek (L)
Coming off a much needed and first win I was excited to get my second, and I honestly knew exactly what I wanted to load this week. I wanted to load a talon BO since Talonflame was making headway in SPL and looked good. I didn't mind my opponent scout as much this week and just picked a team I'm very confident on.
It worked and I got a good mu, then to top it off I was getting pretty lucky too. And then I shit the bed, no real other way to put it. I made a series of terrible mistakes like paralyzing the scizor, sacking my lop and my talon, and letting Scizor set up, and lost in probably what is the most embarrassing way possible. It did not go over my head that this looked really bad. I apologized severely to my team, and was fully expecting to be subbed. Thankfully my managers, much love to
MAVERICK SHOOTERS twash Laurel did not sub me in, and still believed in me.
I think what happened here is a mistake that I later realized is a pattern for me, which is that - when I'm very ahead with resources (especially after lucking), I tend to take my foot off the gas pedal or make stupid mistakes thinking I still have plenty of resources. But in mons, its really not about the quantity but about the right resources as seen in this game and later in my game vs. King.
I'm not gonna comment on the exchange we had at the end. It was both unexpected and rude from my opponent imo, but it's also possible he was just tilted from the luck earlier but meh. It did do smth in me though, I think without it I would have just felt so bad after this loss and lose motivation, but that comment REALLY made me want to win.
W5 - vs. Noname (W)
Going into this week it was probably the lowest I felt all season, being 1-3 after having the most embarrassing loss of my career ever. To top it all of, Noname has my entire builder and in side tours it usually goes to him like 60% of the time since
Zaza's dumbass chooses to help him instead of being neutral like a proper friend.
However I wanted the comeback really badly. I knew I had to make a new team this week and wanted to use smth Noname would never expect. I told him before SPL earlier that I want to avoid both ttar and stall so he knew that too, but also could have contributed to some mind games of him thinking I was gonna trick him and load them anyways who knows LOL.
This team is not full stall which is the kind I was trying to avoid, but instead like a Semistall with offensive tools. This is a known six.
ABR used this last SPL (or the one before i forgot) or in WCoP somewhere but lost on it to
pj, and
Vileman uses a similar six with Chansey over Blissey. The team has issues from my perspective, but I knew with some edits I can learn to like it. I tested with my edits and rocks garchomp was really annoying, so I switched to Defog Scizor and 3 atk zapdos instead of the original defog Zapdos and SD scizor, and honestly that made the team feel MUCH better, to the point that I actually really like it now. Weavile on fat pretty great ngl
In game I did get a bit lucky but also I did have a good mu and play well. Game was very straightforward, but I did have to make a couple calls and I got them right which was nice.
W6 - vs. London Beats (W)
This week's prep was kind of similar to W4 prep, where I knew I just wanted to load a very solid team instead of trying to game the opponent's scout. The Gengar team I also have been wanting to load and considering almost every single week, and decided this would be the week. I'm gonna drop this team so I won't spend too much time on it.
I was happy to see
London Beats being subbed in as he deserves to start, but also I wish it happened in a week I didnt have to play him lol.
The game itself is like an even MU that's back and forth. He absolutely has the tools to overwhelm me but Gengar is a fantastic lead against his team. I ended up getting haxed quite a bit by missing Wisp on Bisharp and later again on Landorus, both of which would have gave me more resources, like keeping my Gengar or Rotom-W. Later on his Shadow Ball dropped my Hippo's SpD which put me in a very bad spot, but I did have an out with Ferrothorn. Focus Blast hit and we survived to eliminate Zam. I had to balance my resources well because I needed Hippowdon for Thundurus, Ferrothorn of Manaphy, Latias for Serp, and so on.
Overall this is one of my favorite games this SPL because its one of the best games I ever played. I got haxed, but I got so many turns right and stayed composed to clutch the win.
W7 - vs. Metallica (W)
We played often in side tours, so I was expecting he brings some anti fat team with an electric, but I had nothing much else on him really. I had many options and was strongly considering this one. I was hesitant because it was Mega Aerodactyl which is like a C tier mega at best, but this team genuinely felt good, courtesy of
Zaza, and after a couple edits I was really happy with it both overall and into Metallica.
This is probably the only time this SPL where I got a very lopsided mu in my favor. Frankly speaking, if I just don't make any blunders Metallica cannot win this except if he plays exceptionally good or gets exceptionally lucky. Andddd he got exceptionally lucky. Like genuinely so much here mattered and at some point I just got very tilted.
However, I took 30 seconds, composed myself, and mf locked in and focused hard, and I utilized every single resource I could think of, and made many correct plays, to be able to actually clutch the win. This was easily the best game I played in my entire career and I'm proud of that. I'm proud of my composure esp under tilt. I'm proud to win with fucking Mega Aerodactyl. Both this game and the one before was nice because I don't think I played a single mistake or unoptimal turn, and was getting so many turns right, it felt really good.
W8 - vs. BluBirD (W)
I was feeling good now, from 1-3 to 4-3 with 3 wins in a row. My prep this week was load something already built and solid. This SPL I tried hard to get away from the bad habit I have sometimes of trying to game the opponent's scout too hard, as that often backfired in SPL and was too time consuming. Loading smth solid and confident in was a good play proven by this season, especially when the opponent is very unpredictable like BluBirD.
MANNAT was actually helpful because even though I was very confident in this team (i'm like undefeated on it in side tours),
Paprikaflow didnt like it and advised me against it, but Mannat saying he really liked the team gave me the final straw of confident to just load it, and I'm glad I did. I've been meaning to load this team for a while as I think it's very good, and was happy to get an SPL win on it.
I will also be dropping this team later. The game itself I think was pretty straightforward, I knew BluBirD liked to make aggressive plays so I had to mix my plays with midgrounds to catch them and that worked really well. I'm overall happy with how I played this aside but I did make a couple turns where I could have played something more optimal.
W9 - vs. KingofKing (L)
I really had the toughest schedule because I also played the subs I least wanted to play (BluBirD, London Beats,
kingofking). King mainly because I used to coach him, he has many of teams and knows what kind of techs and playstyles I like. I was gonna load smth pretty wacky, but ended up changing last minute to just loading smth solid and comfy on, even if it's something I brought before. I do want to take this moment also to s/o
NoName6293 and
Zaza since they helped me trust me gut more through discussing my thoughts with them. This turned out greatly tbh I'm very glad I trusted my gut (something that has been working since W3) and got a good mu.
The early and mid game I actually played well and I kept getting the turns right, it felt good. But then, the same mistake I made vs. Poek (although on a much less embarrassing scale) - I got a bit lucky and was ahead in resources, and then stopped thinking and let go of the gas pedal. And it really bit me back because one turn wrong and I lost the whole game.
In hindsight, I didn't even get that lucky. If he hit the second Magma I never have the opportunity to choke, and a favorable roll to live Aqua Jet on Keldeo didn't go in my favor. To me, this loss instantly made me realize that the mistake I made vs. Poek wasn't a one time thing, but a very bad and deadly habit. I must learn from this.
Semis - vs. Santu (L)
This week was won and we didn't need to play, and thoughts creeped into my head of just deadgaming since I didn't want to lose the 5-4 SPL record or my 2-0 record in semis that I have. But, as proof of my strong mental this SPL, I didn't want to back down from a fight. I wanted this.
There is nothing much to say here. Santu brought some heat, while I brought a team I helped xray make a week before in case his team made playoffs and he had to face Santu. Iended up getting a bad MU simply because I made some greedy edits that were good into Santu's fat but bad into something like this, which was pretty funny.
His techs got me. I never expected Thunder Wave to come out from Thundurus-Therian in a million years, nor did I expect SubPuP lop. I discussed this loss w/
craing ;_; and I realize that there were things I could have absolutely done better but I got too tunnel visioned. It was a second valuable but important lesson I learned from this SPL.
Overall, I didn't regret not deadgaming this and was proud that I went through with this. There will always be a next time to finally beat Santu
Finals - vs. Mgdos16 (W)
My record up to this point is 5-5, and as much as I wanted to win to make my record positive this SPL and to fix my 0-2 record in finals, I was on vacation and had next to no time to prep. I did have many helpers which I was thankful for.
My prep had to be simple and it was, I wanted to deviate from my scout, and I wanted to bring a new mega. This whole SPL I was trying to load MXard and Mega Venusaur, considering them almost every week as I think they are both underrated megas atm, but never had the chance or confidence. However, I knew Mega Venusaur was just not the play here, as I did not want to load anything aside from offense (to deviate from my scout). So I quickly decided that I will bring a MXard team which I think simplified the prep quite a bit.
I had 4-5 teams I was considering, including this one, and then honestly 2 days before the game I just literally had like a random inspiration "use bulky manaphy behind screens." This team was already screens so I just edited the Manaphy set and some other things and boom. Simple and quick but I was tremendously confident in it.
The game itself I could've gone in 2 ways, I could have either played MXard for the late game win (as soon as TTar is chipped I can force a kill every time and then switch out on Drill) or just kamikaze my MXard into Mttar, which is what I ended up doing because I did not want to risk blundering the game by letting the ttar set up a DD and just lose, especially since my Thundurus is not Twave.
I'm glad I took that line and the Manaphy prophecy came true!
Overall
I think the way I approach this game in both building and prep is very systematic and organized, but that can also become too rigid and can hold me back. This SPL, I decided to break 4 rules I usually abide by, which ended up working out greatly:
1) Bring only my own teams - This rule is here mainly because I have ego and want to bring my teams only, but realized that is holding me back. This SPL I brought 5/11 teams that were not mine, even though I edited all of them. 1 Ben Gay team, 1 ABR team, 2 Zaza teams, and 1
xray team. I won 3/5 times and both losses were my fault. I think this helped me keep my scout varied and my brings unpredictable.
2) Do not bring the same teams over and over - This rule is for me to stay unpredictable, but in an odd way made me more predictable. This SPL I brought a hippo team after I just brought one last week, or brought that W9 team that is balance even tho I brought balance like 3 times in a row. This approach worked.
3) Stick to what has been working with me - This rule is here to keep me from getting too crazy, and I should have abided by this rule in w1 for example, but overall even before SPL started I wanted to avoid Ttar sands and I think this approach made me harder to prep for.
4) Always bring a new team - This rule is kind of crazy and I have it mainly because, again, I want to stay unpredictable. But like, plenty of good players like Santu or Fade bring recycled teams and dominate, it really is not that big of a deal. I brought 2 teams I brought before.
Overall, I think the only prep I regret was w1 and w2, and the only bad mu's I got were W1, W2, and Semis. I dont regret my prep for semis, and this means the only week I didn't trust my gut (w1) was bad, and all the other weeks I trusted my gut I was happy with the results 9/10 times. I got neutral luck mostly, good luck around 3 times, and bad luck around 3 times? So considering everything, I had very much the tools to go at least 8-3, but I just shit the bed. I talked about this more
here, but my final thoughts are a combination of 1) considering how busy/stressed I was IRL, 6-5 is pretty good, 2) considering that at least 4/5 of my losses were very winnable and my fault, It means I still have room to improve and that gives me hope, and 3) I'm very happy with my mental resilience this SPL.
I will make a post sometime next week of analyzing my favorite teams of the past 2 years and dropping around 8 teams I think. I think this is the plan for now, drop 8-10 teams every 1-2 years or smth. Until then, cheers everyone
Thank you for so many people who supported and cheered for me along the way, and thank you for reading this
- Piyu, London Beats, DJ Breloominati♬; blank
- NoName6293, Zaza
- Persephone,kingofking, Fear; Gondra
- Poek, BlazingDark, tenebricite; ABR, blunder 
- Ox the Fox, BluBirD; DugZa
- Santu
- Ruffles, MANNAT
- pj, Metallica126, devin, ACR1
- xray; Vulpix03 
- c0mp, Zokuru
(unaware)
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