The World Cup of Pokémon 2021 - Round 1 [Tiebreakers on posts #323/#331/#352]

Status
Not open for further replies.
Tony

Tony

is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Top Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Two-Time Past SPL Champion

Because you asked so nicely..

Garay oak (2-1) / Tace (2-1) / elodin (1-2) / Finchinator (1-2)

elodin vs. Finchinator - God, this group really is one of the all-time great groups. Starting us off is one of the most exciting games of the first round in elodin vs. Finch. These guys have a storied history and have both actually won this tournament before. I'm going with elodin here, because I think he's gonna use some insane shit like Hatterene or Golurk after Gama has surgically consulted random.org, while Finch's team preview tilt gradually progresses into a larger overall tilt with a missed Hurricane here, a low roll there, etc. Finch is also coming off disappointing Smogon Tour and Grand Slam runs considering his high qualifying standard. This tournament does provide Finch with an excellent opportunity to bounce back and to lead by example, particularly with the usual US Northeast leaders being comfortable with their substitute roles (after losing up to as many as, and this is true, seven (7) games in SPL this year).

elodin vs. Garay oak - See, I think Garay will be less affected by elodin's brand of nonsense. Garay to me is more composed and I think he'll account for unsets and unteams better than Finch "that should be Scarf on this team" inator. I feel like Garay is good at getting a read on these things in the team builder, too. He won't be lazy (from 48 hours before the scheduled time onward, at least) and I think he'll withstand the Brazilian sauce coming at him. Both Brazil and Spain seem motivated coming into this tour going off of their participation in tournaments like Mono WCoP and POWC, given that most of their key players here played in those tournaments as well. In fact, if we don't hear from Poek in the next few days I think it's safe to assume Malekith already personally addressed the hubris on display against Niko yesterday. As for this game, Garay's no-nonsense approach and ambition to end a tournament with a +3 differential for a change make me believe in him a little bit more.

elodin vs. Tace - I'm curious to see how Tace is going to recover from the walloping he had to endure against elodin's teammate, Lusa, in Smogon Tour. In my experience teaming up with Tace in SPL, though, he usually bounces back really well. I think the cheesier team choices are going back to Box 24, whereas staples like Slowking and Tapu Koko will make their return to the party. Tace has just been so consistently successful between all team- and individual tournaments in SS that I simply have to back him against his much less versed in SS opponent, elodin. The Burger obviously does have an overall experience advantage, but Tace has played in a LOT of tournaments already in his short time since breaking out, winning both SPL and SSD (as a starting OU player) in the process. Out of the four players in this group he has the most high level SS OU experience by far and I think it'll show in this game.

Finchinator vs. Garay oak - Creativity and inspiration will be the deciding factor here, I think. Garay comes up with smart ideas for his teams and knows how to make them work in his games, too. Meanwhile, if you asked Finch for his favorite 10 Pokemon to use, he'd ask if he could maybe make it a top 9 instead. That's obviously an exaggeration, but Finch does like what he likes, and that's obviously okay. The good Pokemon do perform better more consistently, after all. In a best of 1, however, the clever team choice and set changes can turn a game completely. I think Garay will nab this one in the team builder, as both are very consistent players that should be fairly evenly matched on that front. This should be obvious, but if Garay's team sucks I think he's gonna get washed, because Finch won't bring a bad team ever.

Finchinator vs. Tace - Tace might still be a middle schooler, but he does have more years on this planet than Finch had points in Smogon Tour this season. Alright Finch, I promise that was the last one. These two players know each other very well, having been teammates and having formed an SS OU core together in this year's SSD. I think that element to this game benefits Finch more than it does Tace, as Tace is more hit or miss with his team choices than Finch is, in my opinion. Finch is also the player than can keep up with Tace the most in terms of metagame familiarity, even if Finch can't match the pure SS OU results Tace has achieved. Finch is also better at clicking and Tace can sometimes get caught up in the playing speed of his opponent. I swear prime Finch's timer only goes down to calc after getting crit to see if the crit mattered. It appears I lied before, but I really do think that's king shit.

Garay oak vs. Tace - Zoomers. Garay can't go 3-0, because that would mean he'd be +3 in the tournament and Spain might miss playoffs if Poek keeps going rogue like this. Another reason is the aforementioned SS OU experience Tace has, as well as the extremely competitive and motivated environment of US Midwest. Say what you will about their Smogtours presence, but they clearly care a LOT about this tournament. Spain seems motivated too, though the lineup is like half the same as it was in the late 90s still. Then again, Malekith shut down a generation of aspiring Spanish talent with one meme, so maybe they're about to go nuts this year. I don't think they will in this game, though. Tace won their bout in this year's SPL playoffs and I think he'll win this game as well. More dedication in prep and more familiarity with metagame trends being the deciding factors for me.

Alright there you go, elodin. Gl hf to all four of you, as well as everyone else in the tournament. :psyglad:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

  • ... and 1 more.
    • Top