congratulations z0mog.
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Playoffs Smogon Tour 26 Playoffs - Finals [Won by z0mOG]
- Thread starter Luigi
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Congrats zom, well earned.
You've been a consistent player since the start of the year while undergoing many big games and tough moments. Your nerves seem to get the best of you sometimes but what matters is pulling out the victory in the end. Enjoy it.
Finch you played some really good pokemon throughout the year and especially in these playoffs. It isn't ideal but it's something to be proud of and remember as a motivator in the future.
You've been a consistent player since the start of the year while undergoing many big games and tough moments. Your nerves seem to get the best of you sometimes but what matters is pulling out the victory in the end. Enjoy it.
Finch you played some really good pokemon throughout the year and especially in these playoffs. It isn't ideal but it's something to be proud of and remember as a motivator in the future.
Grats to z0m, really well deserved
FINCHTOUR27 hype starts now
FINCHTOUR27 hype starts now
Sacred Wings
Banned deucer.
Congrats bro, you've shown everybody your true power now!
won, gg. (also dropping the sm replay here since it seems to be bugged and unsearchable https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ou-407307)
i have a few things that i wanted to say about the tournament, since I won this thread is my diary now right?
first, I built all of my teams on my own in all 3 tiers. the only help i received was a suggestion to use goth in semifinals from dice, and the suggestion to pair my thundy-t set with sand from 1 true lycan. other than some autopilot test games (and thanks to those willing to play me , you know who you are), i was going through this tournament all on my own. building and prep is debatably as important to me as playing, and i would feel like this was far less of an achievement if i was just taking teams from dice/bkc in BW, whoever in oras, and only worrying about SM.
after my terrible round 1 games, I was put on a huge mental tilt and was considering just bringing screens and stall in r2, nobody had really wanted me to win or expected me to anyway. I have to give a big thanks to undisputed, honchkrow, and yjh971203 for motivating me to make a run all the way to the end and actually thinking that i could do it.
speaking of r1 games; I was planning on "apologizing" to kickasser in whatever my last loss/win post was for the blatant robbery. i felt bad about stealing his chances + even moreso how i performed, but I'm also not going to discredit my own win post in the process. at least until he started babyraging and flaming me in the thread? and then taking it into tours discord to act like a crybaby retard for 2 full days. man you need to grow up, im glad that i got a chance to rob that series now lol
finch you were a great opponent and I hope you don't beat yourself up over this, your consistency as of late has been on point and i have no doubt you can take the next one
anyway, smaller thanks to the people who were hoping for me to win (for the right reasons), I still think I have a long way to go and improve, but i'm glad I can end such a dissapointing year positively
s/os cpg, grugs, and west
editing the teams i used in my run in case anyone wants them (im gonna get asked 20 times anyway) https://pokepast.es/10b383554cd4dded sm https://pokepast.es/a342ceaeb0fffb92 oras https://pokepast.es/a85e8c5b16962d44 bw
i have a few things that i wanted to say about the tournament, since I won this thread is my diary now right?
first, I built all of my teams on my own in all 3 tiers. the only help i received was a suggestion to use goth in semifinals from dice, and the suggestion to pair my thundy-t set with sand from 1 true lycan. other than some autopilot test games (and thanks to those willing to play me , you know who you are), i was going through this tournament all on my own. building and prep is debatably as important to me as playing, and i would feel like this was far less of an achievement if i was just taking teams from dice/bkc in BW, whoever in oras, and only worrying about SM.
after my terrible round 1 games, I was put on a huge mental tilt and was considering just bringing screens and stall in r2, nobody had really wanted me to win or expected me to anyway. I have to give a big thanks to undisputed, honchkrow, and yjh971203 for motivating me to make a run all the way to the end and actually thinking that i could do it.
speaking of r1 games; I was planning on "apologizing" to kickasser in whatever my last loss/win post was for the blatant robbery. i felt bad about stealing his chances + even moreso how i performed, but I'm also not going to discredit my own win post in the process. at least until he started babyraging and flaming me in the thread? and then taking it into tours discord to act like a crybaby retard for 2 full days. man you need to grow up, im glad that i got a chance to rob that series now lol
finch you were a great opponent and I hope you don't beat yourself up over this, your consistency as of late has been on point and i have no doubt you can take the next one
anyway, smaller thanks to the people who were hoping for me to win (for the right reasons), I still think I have a long way to go and improve, but i'm glad I can end such a dissapointing year positively
s/os cpg, grugs, and west
editing the teams i used in my run in case anyone wants them (im gonna get asked 20 times anyway) https://pokepast.es/10b383554cd4dded sm https://pokepast.es/a342ceaeb0fffb92 oras https://pokepast.es/a85e8c5b16962d44 bw
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Good job z0m
amazing teams and play from zomog
enjoy the sweet champion!
enjoy the sweet champion!
Losing sucks. There's no way around it; losing just sucks. And today, I lost. So yes, it does suck and yes, it feels suckish. Any further questions? I hope not. If you do happen to have any, feel free to consult my personal post-narration here. It's brutally honest and pretty blunt, so if you already don't like me or my normal "antics", then I wouldn't bother clicking it. You've been warned.
I do have some words to add, anyway. Would it really be a Finch post without it? No way, exactly.
I feel like ever since WCOP, I have improved pretty significantly as a player. For a number of years prior, I hit some sort of plateau. I was good enough to go (barely) positive in tournaments like SPL and sometimes qualify for individual tournament playoffs, which was definitely not a bad level to be at. However, I knew there was still room for improvement and despite that I kept the same mindset, so I never untapped that new potential. They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over-and-over again, but expecting different results. Well, that's exactly what I was doing, so I guess I was insane.
A large part of my recent improvement is because of a shift in attitude towards the game. I think being a part of Northeast this WCOP helped me gain a healthier and more logical philosophy towards the game, actually. Instead of my sole/main reaction to a lot of losses being "damn, if only X didn't happen" with X being some luck element or "questionable" move my opponent made, my focus shifted to "damn, what if I did X instead of something" or "damn why did I do X instead of Y" -- stuff that is self-reflection based. I reflected on wins, too, as a lot of them were not played ideally as well. I found flaws in my gameplay, flaws in my mindset, and even flaws in my teambuilding perspective. I think that I'm the most complete player I have ever been and I hope to keep improving moving forward.
Unfortunately, I am still far from perfect. Hell, I don't even think I am a "top" player quite yet, but I'm getting there and one day soon I will be there. Mistakes that I made in this series depict some the reason why I think I'm not fully there yet perfectly, unfortunately. The only two that I feel I really made in this series were both based off of misunderstanding my opponent's position and taking poor risks because of that. In ORAS, I thought that him letting Manaphy get low that early would not be worthwhile, so I clicked Ice Punch predicting a switch. I should have just taken the safe mega evolution and attacked what was in front of me that early in the game. In SM, I thought that he got in a hole early and would want to take advantage of Thundurus-Therian as the good set got a kill every time it came in, but I ended up risking Magearna when I did not need to do that at all. Had I just made the safe play in both instances, we would likely be looking at a different result. Moving forward, I will try to be less careless when considering what the opponent may prioritize and what I need to play more conservatively earlier in games.
I feel like if everyone in the community had a mindset more focused on self-improvement instead of blame deflection, then tournaments would be a much more welcoming and enjoyable place. I have been a large part of the problem for years now and I acknowledge that. I just hope that in the future I can maintain this healthy mindset, focus on getting better myself, and avoid directly putting down others when I could have done more in specific situations. I do not think z0mOG played perfectly and I have given my honest thoughts about how everything went down when asked and in my narration, but when I make a mistake, I need to own up to it and look to improve upon it instead of finding other things to blame. The SM loss was on me. I hope that at least a few people read this, learn from it, and can use this to start improving moving forward.
Moving on, I would like to thank a number of people for helping me along the way. These aren't really shoutouts, but idk what to really call them, so whatever. I will include all of this in the HIDE tags as to not clog this thread anymore than I already have to.
I plan to post my teams from both Snake and STour playoffs in the Overused subforum after my finals week. I have a lot of thoughts to provide on them as well as some commentary on the metagame, so stay tuned for that. As for BW, I will also try to circulate the teams I used at some point as I think there are a lot of cool things I was able to make use of, but I'm not quite sure when/where. Maybe I'll wait until SPL and group everything, but we'll see.
I think that's about it for now, but I do want to say that no matter what the end result was, I had a lot of fun throughout this run and I am glad that is the case. FINCHTOUR27
I do have some words to add, anyway. Would it really be a Finch post without it? No way, exactly.
I feel like ever since WCOP, I have improved pretty significantly as a player. For a number of years prior, I hit some sort of plateau. I was good enough to go (barely) positive in tournaments like SPL and sometimes qualify for individual tournament playoffs, which was definitely not a bad level to be at. However, I knew there was still room for improvement and despite that I kept the same mindset, so I never untapped that new potential. They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over-and-over again, but expecting different results. Well, that's exactly what I was doing, so I guess I was insane.
A large part of my recent improvement is because of a shift in attitude towards the game. I think being a part of Northeast this WCOP helped me gain a healthier and more logical philosophy towards the game, actually. Instead of my sole/main reaction to a lot of losses being "damn, if only X didn't happen" with X being some luck element or "questionable" move my opponent made, my focus shifted to "damn, what if I did X instead of something" or "damn why did I do X instead of Y" -- stuff that is self-reflection based. I reflected on wins, too, as a lot of them were not played ideally as well. I found flaws in my gameplay, flaws in my mindset, and even flaws in my teambuilding perspective. I think that I'm the most complete player I have ever been and I hope to keep improving moving forward.
Unfortunately, I am still far from perfect. Hell, I don't even think I am a "top" player quite yet, but I'm getting there and one day soon I will be there. Mistakes that I made in this series depict some the reason why I think I'm not fully there yet perfectly, unfortunately. The only two that I feel I really made in this series were both based off of misunderstanding my opponent's position and taking poor risks because of that. In ORAS, I thought that him letting Manaphy get low that early would not be worthwhile, so I clicked Ice Punch predicting a switch. I should have just taken the safe mega evolution and attacked what was in front of me that early in the game. In SM, I thought that he got in a hole early and would want to take advantage of Thundurus-Therian as the good set got a kill every time it came in, but I ended up risking Magearna when I did not need to do that at all. Had I just made the safe play in both instances, we would likely be looking at a different result. Moving forward, I will try to be less careless when considering what the opponent may prioritize and what I need to play more conservatively earlier in games.
I feel like if everyone in the community had a mindset more focused on self-improvement instead of blame deflection, then tournaments would be a much more welcoming and enjoyable place. I have been a large part of the problem for years now and I acknowledge that. I just hope that in the future I can maintain this healthy mindset, focus on getting better myself, and avoid directly putting down others when I could have done more in specific situations. I do not think z0mOG played perfectly and I have given my honest thoughts about how everything went down when asked and in my narration, but when I make a mistake, I need to own up to it and look to improve upon it instead of finding other things to blame. The SM loss was on me. I hope that at least a few people read this, learn from it, and can use this to start improving moving forward.
Moving on, I would like to thank a number of people for helping me along the way. These aren't really shoutouts, but idk what to really call them, so whatever. I will include all of this in the HIDE tags as to not clog this thread anymore than I already have to.
Everyone who I tested with/discussed with briefly/randomly throughout - You guys know who you are! Not going to list everyone, but thanks a ton for everything. Hmu if you guys ever need me to return the favor.
ABR - Ridiculous help in ORAS both of the last 2 rounds and really in general. Your presence and mind for the game/building stays unmatched. I hope to continue working with you and I know you'll win one of these yourself soon enough. As will I.
LL - I tested a fuckton with you. You can be a real idiot, but you're also incredibly determined and improving at a pretty rapid pace. I don't think you're SPL level quite yet, but you'd make for an incredible substitute either very soon or at least not too far down the road. Keep thinking through what you say in public arenas and try to work on executing long-term gameplans. You'll find yourself playing with the best in no time. Hmu if you ever need to talk about anything.
TPP Indigo Plateau Leo - FUCK GMars. Anyway, I love all of you and my mod team is absolutely the best, but you three gave me a ton of tests and kept me sane. Thanks for this.
BKC - Idk if you read this, but thanks for everything. You've been a great help in general for a while and I am anticipating your comeback.
obii - You're way smarter than any record will EVER indicate. I mean that genuinely. You were super insightful and even gave me a couple good games. Thanks bro.
roscoe - The hardest road involves multiple tries, trust me dude.
Ske - You're really underrated. While I think your generic builds could use some variety to them, I feel like your mind for the game is ridiculous and you should keep involving yourself in as much as possible. I loved talking to you and I think that you've got a bright future ahead of you. NJ REP!
FMG - shut.
ABR - Ridiculous help in ORAS both of the last 2 rounds and really in general. Your presence and mind for the game/building stays unmatched. I hope to continue working with you and I know you'll win one of these yourself soon enough. As will I.
LL - I tested a fuckton with you. You can be a real idiot, but you're also incredibly determined and improving at a pretty rapid pace. I don't think you're SPL level quite yet, but you'd make for an incredible substitute either very soon or at least not too far down the road. Keep thinking through what you say in public arenas and try to work on executing long-term gameplans. You'll find yourself playing with the best in no time. Hmu if you ever need to talk about anything.
TPP Indigo Plateau Leo - FUCK GMars. Anyway, I love all of you and my mod team is absolutely the best, but you three gave me a ton of tests and kept me sane. Thanks for this.
BKC - Idk if you read this, but thanks for everything. You've been a great help in general for a while and I am anticipating your comeback.
obii - You're way smarter than any record will EVER indicate. I mean that genuinely. You were super insightful and even gave me a couple good games. Thanks bro.
roscoe - The hardest road involves multiple tries, trust me dude.
Ske - You're really underrated. While I think your generic builds could use some variety to them, I feel like your mind for the game is ridiculous and you should keep involving yourself in as much as possible. I loved talking to you and I think that you've got a bright future ahead of you. NJ REP!
FMG - shut.
I plan to post my teams from both Snake and STour playoffs in the Overused subforum after my finals week. I have a lot of thoughts to provide on them as well as some commentary on the metagame, so stay tuned for that. As for BW, I will also try to circulate the teams I used at some point as I think there are a lot of cool things I was able to make use of, but I'm not quite sure when/where. Maybe I'll wait until SPL and group everything, but we'll see.
I think that's about it for now, but I do want to say that no matter what the end result was, I had a lot of fun throughout this run and I am glad that is the case. FINCHTOUR27
Congratulation z0mog. But I think Finchinator did a good job in same way. Unfortunatelly, only and only one can win...
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grats z0mog, as a frenchman I was a bit mad after Kickasser's defeat against you (and I still disagree with bashing one of your previous opponents in a Smogon Tour win post), but the rest of your run was very impressive and I really enjoyed watching your videos in live conditions for the games I could not catch.
Finch : As annoying as the FinchtourXX meme is, I'm really fan of both your teams and plays in BW and I think you can really be called one of the tier top players right now, and it is not the finals game which will have changed my mind. I can't agree more about the "self-improvement" thing as well ; if you are not satisfied of how this game goes for you, you should look at what you can improve on your side instead of ruining everyone's fun by going mad. But eh, without those emotions we would not be able to appreciate Pokémon as much as we do (sometimes), so it can't be helped.
Finch : As annoying as the FinchtourXX meme is, I'm really fan of both your teams and plays in BW and I think you can really be called one of the tier top players right now, and it is not the finals game which will have changed my mind. I can't agree more about the "self-improvement" thing as well ; if you are not satisfied of how this game goes for you, you should look at what you can improve on your side instead of ruining everyone's fun by going mad. But eh, without those emotions we would not be able to appreciate Pokémon as much as we do (sometimes), so it can't be helped.
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I thought z0mog was a meme, I have been deceived.
Congratulations!
Don't worry Finch, you're the best in my heart, and that's all that matters
Deflecting the blame is something intrinsic in the human brain, yes, you can change it, yes, you have to change it, but it will take some hard work, and with how lazy our brain is, don't expect too many people to follow your advice, no matter how damn good it is.
Congratulations!
Don't worry Finch, you're the best in my heart, and that's all that matters
Deflecting the blame is something intrinsic in the human brain, yes, you can change it, yes, you have to change it, but it will take some hard work, and with how lazy our brain is, don't expect too many people to follow your advice, no matter how damn good it is.
Congratulations
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