Metagame SCL I UU Discussion

[avarice]

format shamelessly stolen from emma

Welcome to the Smogon Champions League 1 Discussion Thread -- UU edition! This thread will be used to discuss UU in SCL I related topics, whether it’s about the players, general metagame trends, matches, predictions and so on.

Commencement Thread
Schedule

Pricelist

UU Prices

Not all of these players necessarily start/play UU in the tour.
38k - TDK
29k - Punny
25.5k - Ajna (like these first three for example)
23.5k - Adaam
23k -Eternal Spirit
22k - watash
20.5k - Luthier
19.5k - robjr
19.5k - mncmt
19.5k - umbry
19k - Finchinator
18k - Raptor
17.5k - odr
16.5k - Accel
15.5k - Poek
13k - Nat
11.5k - Bushtush
11.5k - LNumbers
10k - Gondra
7k - pdt
6k - Askov, Expulso
5.5k - Sabella
4k - avarice, hs, Santu
3k - 100% GXE, Highways, Indigo Plateau, TSR

UU Player Cores

Orange Islanders -- avarice, Eternal Spirit, Indigo Plateau, odr, pdt
Indigo Platoon -- 100% GXE, Gondra, Poek
Power Plant Dynamos -- Askov, TSR
Uncharted Terrors -- Accel, Raptor
Technical Machines -- Ajna, umbry
Arena Spartans -- Highways, mncmt
Showdown Shoguns -- Bushtush, TDK
Mount Silver Foxes -- Adaam, Expulso, Finchinator, Santu, watashi
Circuit Breakers -- LNumbers, Punny, Sabella
Studio Gible -- robjr, Luthier, Nat, hs

~

Here's to a fun SCL!​

 

[KM]

PERSONAL POWER RANKINGS

1. Mount Silver Foxes - Adaam + Expulso + finch + santu + watashi

adaam is the person on here who most checks the main three boxes of (active in the tier currently), (generally good / experienced in tournament play), (has excellent support). i'm expecting super solid and consistent play from the UU slot for the foxes. if there's anything that could hold them back, it might be an over-reliance on consistent meta teams that could be disrupted by some creative building from the other teams

2. Arena Spartans - mncmt + highways

mence is a super strong and consistent player, and highways is an excellent resource to have as uu support. they've already proven their abilities to work together in other tournaments and I'd expect to see them go positive pretty easily in this pool.

3. Technical Machines - umbry + Ajna

while umbry isn't as much of a constant presence in uu spaces as some of the other mainers, she's proven her capabilities in the tier and as an overall player time and time again. Really excited to see what she brings.

4. Uncharted Terrors - accel + raptor

boomer accel is for sure going to show a strong performance this scl -- I think the terrors could easily be ranked higher, but it all depends on how much effort accel puts into building and inventing for the tier. if he tryhards they could easily end up with one of the best win ratios.

5. Indigo Platoon - gondra + 100% gxe + poek

gondra's just a generally good player, and 100% gxe is potentially a super powerful support -- this pool has a lot of tournament heads who might rely on other builders / standard meta teams, and gxe teams have the potential to shake those standard cores. I'd definitely be scared to face this team.

6. Orange Islanders - IP + gama + ava + odr + pdt

The Islanders are in an interesting spot -- depending on how they end up building their teams IP could either roll up with some standard balance or complete crack. they could definitely pull out some upsets against higher ranked players, but it's hard to see them consistently beating some of the teams in this lineup.

7. Power Plant Dynamos -- Askov + TSR

during the draft bouff forgot to get a uuer and then fortunately snatched up askov on like round 9. that said, askov is a super capable and consistent player and i wouldn't be surprised to see him break even or even go positive -- but the overall power ranking of this team falls a little short of some of the others. tsr is solid building support but i don't expect anything too meta-breaking from this squad

8. Studio Gible - Luthier + robjr + Nat + hs

this team has godly support and luth is solid but

9. Showdown Shoguns - Bushtush + TDK

bush is a madman but he's also good at the game. a total wild card but i just think they lack the consistency of the other teams.

10. Circuit Breakers - LNumbers, Punny, Sabella

nothing about this team is bad, but the rest of the pool is just super strong. this is a pool where i doubt anyone's going 0-9 -- but I'd be surprised if the breakers end up with more than 3 or 4 wins.

 

[Lily]

I found ranking the pool for this tier really difficult due to all the new and returning faces; I think I have a different view on it than most, and perhaps some recency bias clouded my thoughts a bit too much. I don't remember exactly how I ranked everyone but I believe it was almost identical to KM's above w/ Luthier and Bush swapped.

Regardless of anything I'm excited to see that the pool is really strong again this year. I was worried it'd be in an awkward position with a lot of last year's pool (SoulWind, Sabella, Poek, myself, prob more?) not playing UU this year, but we saw some great names step up to the plate and we even have a couple strong newcomers!

I'm personally very excited to see how the people on the lower end of the PRs shake things up. People in the UU Discord were saying that pretty much everyone bar Accel/Adaam has potential to be a dark horse, and while I don't fully agree I think it'll be cool to see at least one of like, Clark/Askov/Luth/IP/Gondra put up an unexpectedly strong performance and show us that power rankings really don't mean shit as has been proven time and time again.

Bushtush thought I was named after Lillie from Pokemon and given he hasn't figured out that I predate her by many years I predict him to go 0-9, sorry Shoguns

 

[pokemonisfun]

PERSONAL POWER RANKINGS

1. Studio Gible - Luthier + robjr + Nat + hs

I like hs a lot, he's my friend and pretty funny and creative. Rob is super solid and a seasoned pro. Luthier I distinctly remember disliking for some reason but I forget now and he's rather active. Nat I dislike since they beat my friends in some tours but I respect their skill.

2. Mount Silver Foxes - Adaam + Expulso + finch + santu + watashi

Adaam is my dear friend so I put him as #2 in the PR since I don't want him to get cocky. Expulso is very active and smart. Finch is too busy overturning bans he made to play much I guess. Santu won RU classic recently iirc. Watashi is one of the best ever but also having a relatively poor 2021.

3. Arena Spartans - mncmt + highways

mncmt is a nice dude and highways has always struck me as a rather innocent hardworking thirsty guy. I kind of like that attitude.


4. Uncharted Terrors - accel + raptor

South friend Accel is experienced in this format and has more knowledge than 95% of players. But he johns people so much it annoys me. Raptor is doubtless strong.

5. Orange Islanders - IP + gama + ava + odr + pdt

My South friend IP is very professional and probably the next tier leader when TDK decides to rule all of smogon instead of just UU. However, he has a funny immature side. ODR is incredible at RU and somehow transfers skills to UU frequently. Avarice is one of the most underrated players ever, people call him a cheeser, but he wins a lot. PDT is also very smart and good, another South friend, he seems to have so much energy which is good in long team tours. Gama is known to be very good.

6. Indigo Platoon - gondra + 100% gxe + poek

Gondra and poek are tour players I've heard of so they must be good. 100% gxe has always been nice to me and flattered me by asking for teams before. He also won UU masters last year which is something.

7. Circuit Breakers - LNumbers, Punny, Sabella

Punny just won 8 trillion RU tours and also beat me in UU trio tour so respect for that. LNumbers is our beloved council member and seems very...normal? Which is a good thing in my view. I think he's underrated. Sabella is my former m00la team tour teammate and got into UU for the sake of it which always impresses me. So why are they in the bottom half? Idk. Someone has to be.

8. Showdown Shoguns - Bushtush + TDK

I think Bush is secretly nice and just pretends to be overly tough. He's rather active which is nice. TDK is my fellow South mate (well kind of, I'm not actually on the team this year). He's silent but strong type imo.

9. Technical Machines - umbry + Ajna

Ajna was my dear RU Snake teammate and Umbry has a likeable personality from what I know. Both are smart and strong players who will doubtless prove me incredibly incorrect by ranking them in 9th place.

10. Power Plant Dynamos -- Askov + TSR

Askov is an exceptional player getting to UU Open very very late, maybe even finals, in a recent iteration. TSR is active, smart, charming, strong. blah blah. Idk I'm just writing these out to curry favor and maybe someone will draft me later. They're in 10th place because someone has to be. The pool and frankly the nature of Pokemon is that the the biggest underdogs can always win still.

 

[ramolost]

lol wtf garfield got drafted in scl??? dope

 

[Accel]

I recorded a UU Smogcast with the help of my lovely friends in Adaam, Indigo Plateau, Lilburr, LNumbers, and TSR. We plan on streaming and recording vods like these every few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for content like this in the future!

 

[teal6]

lol wtf garfield got drafted in scl??? dope
View attachment 369932

lol much like the rest of the playerbase we know what day he wont be playing on

 

[Jade]

 

[pokemonisfun]

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8uu-579124

Analysis of LNumbers vs Accel

The usual disclaimers: both players are exceptional, I'm not saying I could play better, this is just for education and entertainment, and I comment based purely on spectators' knowledge (I have not asked either player for their team).

Based on team preview you probably wouldn't be confident in assigning who has the better MU because so many of the Pokemon here can run many different sets. For example, with Toxic (or even Will O Wisp), Clark's Rotom-Heat might own the standard DD Dual Wingbeat EQ Roost Salamence. But if Rotom-H only has Defog and Pain Split (which is common), then Rotom-Heat could be pure set up fodder.

That said, it appears if Clark's Roserade can set up Spikes vs Accel's Rotom-W, and Accel's Roserade cannot set up vs Rotom-H, you probably wouldn't favor Accel on MU. Also, with Dark resist Krook, a standard Rest Talk NP Moltres-Galar is extremely dangerous as it will likely have set up opportunity vs Aegislash, and possibly Salamence, Krookodile, Roserade, and Azelf as well (yes that's basically the entire team). But it really needs Rest to do so reliably, otherwise, it will be a great final win condition but not a long term menance showing it's face.

All that said, you probably don't favor anyone but you definitely don't favor Accel on MU.

Clark grabs an early KO - turn 1 to 2

The leads are reasonably enough - Accel starts with a Krook not thinking that giving Buzzwole is a huge deal since he has multiple Close Combat deterrents and Clark's Buzzwole hasn't revealed itself to be offensive, much less Choice Band. The reveal on turn 2 is surely nasty for Accel but considering Rotom-W likely was completely blocked by Gastrodon anyways, and Accel gets a free turn on a locked Buzzwole now, it's not all bad. Surely he would have preferred to not lose Rotom-W but getting rocks + momentum+crucial knowledge means this is far from a free KO and by the end of turn 2, Accel is still in it.

Evaluation: Clark has a clear advantage still.

Accel grabs one back - turn 3 to 5

Accel decides to punish the Buzzwole with an Azelf which makes a large amount of sense to me. You don't really want to go Aegislash even though Aegislash is obviously safer as it takes literally 0% because Aegislash lets in Goltres which as discussed before is a huge threat to Accel's team, especially as Rotom is gone now. It's easy to criticize in retrospect Clark's Rotom-Heat switch in but I think he seriously should considering staying in Buzzwole - it's hard to imagine Azelf clicking Psychic or even Fire Blast when a Goltres is lurking, Knock Off is extremely obvious. Staying in would give very helpful damage on Azelf, putting it in range of everything. As it is, Clark's choice of Rotom-H lets it get killed before it can Defog even once. That sucks as Roserade is still lurking and Rotom-H had nice bulk to 1v1 almost everything on Accel's team.

Evaluation: Honestly, the game is pretty even after Accel kills Rotom-H if Clark's Goltres isn't standard NP Rest Talk.

Accel maintains pressure but Clark's threats lurk - turn 6 to 12

The next several turns are very action packed and a lot of progress is made by Accel - he gets more hazards, he gets another KO on Roserade (and Clark's objective of luring out with a neat trick Aegislash fails), However: even though it looks like Accel is the one forcing progress, it's really not that clear at all because it takes energy from Accel to do it. Think of this analogy: Clark has set up a race, Accel has to run as far away as he can so his advantage can hold back a Goltres attack. But it costs precious fuel to run away and bits of Accel's team are getting weakened (Krookodile now may be in Hurricane range for example). This is a good example where making progress is clearly desirable and good, but it's not free at all.

Evaluation:

Accel probably is slightly favored at this point, given how menacing his Mence can be, but the game itself has just progressed from turn 5, not clearly picking a winner yet. Evaluating is a bit too soon though - Goltres is in and we're going to see what it does now.

Each side's first offensive - turn 13 to 21

This middle stretch of the game sees the first offensives from both players - Clark attacks with Goltres (well kind of) and Accel attacks with Mence. Clark's attack turns out to be a dude, getting forced out by a Krookodile. I'm not sure if the Agility was correct if he was just going to switch out afterwards, however, I assume he was expecting a Knock Off. That may have justified the Agility. However, it is indeed a dud and Accel manages ot positon himself for a Salamence which is much more potent, being able to KO Jirachi and sweep past Clark's team if Gastrodon also falls. A freeze on Krookodile in the middle of the two attacks doesn't seem too consequential but it does help keep Gastrodon healthy which could be critical on Salamence's attempted sweep. The fact that Accel is willing to give up Azelf as fodder on turn 19 though instead of going to what looks like a free Aegislash still shows how threatening another Goltres attack could be - Accel desperately avoids letting Goltres in (although I think he could have if he had Toxic, Agility Goltres rarely runs rest).

Evaluation:

Accel is clearly favored, his attack seems to be yielding benefits while Clark's attack yielded nothing.

Godstrodon halts the offensive, turn 22 to 27

Wow. Gastrodon rarely does this much work. But it manages to bluff out Salamence (Ice Beam shows itself later incapable of OHKOing Salamence so Salamence likely could have swept, but Accel likely didn't know this or want to risk it. Turn 23 is a great Ice Beam because if Accel's Roserade kills Gastrodon, Goltres can legitmately attempt a set up and counter sweep.

The freeze comes back to help Clark here, letting Gastrodon fully recover on a Krookodile making Gastrodon tougher for Salamence to take down. Finally, Clark switches out Gastrodone when deciding to fodder Buzzwole.

Evaluation:

Clark managed to neutralize the Salamence offensive. Both sides have chances but Gastrodon's immense defensive contributions means Clark is once again favored. The problem is that to kill it, Goltres is given free set up.

The Final Turns - 28 to 37

There's no doubt in my mind the miss on turn 28 helped Accel, as a Goltres sweep was imminent if Leaf Storm connected. However. Should Clark have risked it at all? Couldn't he have just stayed in with Gastrodon? I think the worry was some oddball Aegislash set but surely it was safer to keep Gastrodon in anyways. He could even have NP after Gastrodon dies, and then Agility on Mence as it switches in/kill Aegislash as it switches in). Thus, the critical turn of luck and possible inaccuracy by Clark gave Accel a chance again, if only he could set Mence up on Goltres. He does so on turn 32.

The question is, did the miss on turn 33 matter? Or rather, how much did it matter? After the miss, it was basically over bar Outrage crits which Accel likely didn't have anyways. But even if Dual Wing Beat hit twice, I think turn 34 would have been a 50-50. If Clark Agilities on a Dual Wing Beat, he wins as Goltres chews a hit and sweeps. But if Clark Agilities on a DD, he loses, as Mence KOs Goltres at +2 and wins.

So yes I think the miss on turn 33 mattered but even if it hit, Accel was not favored, it was close to a 50-50.

The most interesting part of the game to me was turns 6-12, where Accel was making clear progress but I get the feeling Clark wasn't totally disappointed with the outcome either. Making progress has become a hot topic in my view after Thundurus' ban so it's interesting to see how useful it is on one side and what the other side can be thinking about in those moments.

 

[Accel]

Adaam, Indigo Plateau, TSR, and myself went over trends, team picks, and gameplay through Week 1's UU matchups. Check it out and stay tuned for the next vid at the tail end of Week 2!

 

[Estarossa]

o/ I'll be doing usage stats and replays weekly for this thread as usual to provide easy access to particular games and help analyse trends. Will probably be posting some more commentary on some of these trends each week too, dependent on how busy I am. Just some small comments today as I have a lot of uni work to do.

Quick access links - Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Semifinals | Finals

Week One Replays

[Technical Machines] umbry vs Bushtush [Showdown Shoguns]
[Uncharted Terrors] Accelgor vs LNumbers [Circuit Breakers]
[Mt. Silver Foxes] Adaam vs Indigo Plateau [Orange Islanders]
[Studio Gible] Luthier vs mncmt [Arena Spartans]
[Indigo Platoon] Gondra vs Askov [Power Plant Dynamos]

Week One Usage Stats

SWSH Week 1

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Roserade           |    5 |  50.00% |  80.00% |
| 1    | Rotom-Wash         |    5 |  50.00% |  40.00% |
| 3    | Buzzwole           |    4 |  40.00% |  75.00% |
| 3    | Kommo-o            |    4 |  40.00% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Krookodile         |    4 |  40.00% |   0.00% |
| 3    | Aegislash          |    4 |  40.00% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Jirachi            |    3 |  30.00% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Tornadus           |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Celesteela         |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 9    | Rotom-Heat         |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 9    | Thundurus-Therian  |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Rhyperior          |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Azelf              |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Tangrowth          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 9    | Zarude-Dada        |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Seismitoad         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Mamoswine          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Ninetales-Alola    |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Arctozolt          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Amoonguss          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Moltres-Galar      |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Gastrodon          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Gardevoir          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Nihilego           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Primarina          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Slowbro-Galar      |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Cobalion           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Salamence          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Metagross          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Quick Thoughts


Roserade is continuing to be a dominant force in the tier right now with how strong spikes are and its solid matchup versus removers. Had the highest usage rate shared with Washtom this week, and won every game it was used in apart from accel vs clark due to both sides bringing it.


Jirachi is continuing to see solid usage after being the single most popular Pokemon through both Pools and Quarterfinals of UUWC. Choice Scarf remains popular for being fairly splashable speed control with great utility in healing wish.


Aegislash failed to win any games, while other Steel-types like Celesteela/Jirachi had some pretty solid usage as well and won all games. Celesteela in particular is pretty nasty right now with how many mons it actually sits on, being annoying to pivot into, and punishing aegislash pretty heavily.

 

[Freeroamer]

Week 1 Popular Picks


Yeah, where else do you start with this week! People had been talking about Roserade as a bulky grass punisher for some time but until recently it was virtually unseen in tournaments afaik, and now it’s joint top in usage albeit we’re only one week in. It's niche of checking/half checking some high usage mons such as Amoonguss/Keldeo/Kommo/Primarina/Rotom-W/Tangrowth and lay up Spikes is genuinely unmatched, with no end of offensive mons in the tier standing to benefit from the extra damage on their grounded checks. Of course when you opt into using Roserade over the aforementioned bulkier grasses, one of the tradeoffs is needing to find other mons to absorb Knock Off from Krookodile in particular, as well as take heavy physical hits which is where Buzzwole comes in (used on 3/5 Rose builds). IP’s build used a very bulky Kommo-o in a somewhat similar fashion on the defensive side of things, but I think Buzzwole was favoured by more players as it doesn't really have to give up any offensive presence to fill in those holes, allowing it to abuse Rose's spikes with it's power and coverage. This is a trend that’s hard to see going away, at least before shifts and Buzzwole's predicted rise because of how oppressive Spikes can be due to Roserade finding a lot of opportunities to lay them up and it’s good matchup vs the removal options in the tier currently.


Every game but one saw at least one of these two pokemon used as Tornadus garnered 3 uses and Azelf 2, with them filling broadly similar roles as fast offensive pivots. One of the defining features of SS as a gen has been the strength of high speed pokemon with pivoting moves, almost always using Knock Off and equipped with Heavy Duty Boots. With the Thundurus ban, these two mons were the obvious choices to step into that void. Azelf in particular had a real highlight performance, doing huge work in the game between IP and Adaam, being able to take out both Rhyperior and Zarude thanks to it's coverage and aggressive play from IP. We also saw some set variety across both mons with IP opting for Energy Ball Azelf whereas Accel used Knock Off in his game, with Psychic / fire move / U-Turn rounding out the set for both. Of the 3 Tornadus used, 2 were special and one was physical, with the tradeoff for the latter being able to use a completely accurate and strong flying move but being vulnerable to rocks due to the incompatibility of Boots and Acrobatics. The speed tier these mons reside in as well as the ability to consistently make progress as part of pivoting cores makes them great choices to build with, as they stay consistent across most matchups. Definitely expect to see more of them in the coming weeks!

 

[pokemonisfun]

Week 1 Popular Picks


Yeah, where else do you start with this week! People had been talking about Roserade as a bulky grass punisher for some time but until recently it was virtually unseen in tournaments afaik, and now it’s joint top in usage albeit we’re only one week in.

I won UU low budget tournament last month with Stun Spore Roserade just FYI: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...n-by-pokemonisfun.3686879/page-4#post-8959007


But okay, I agree it's good.

 

[Estarossa]

Week Two Replays

[Technical Machines] umbry vs mncmt [Arena Spartans]
[Orange Islanders] pdt vs Askov [Power Plant Dynamos]
[Circuit Breakers] LNumbers vs Gondra [Indigo Platoons]
[Showdown Shoguns] Bushtush vs Luthier [Studio Gible]
[Uncharted Terrors] Accel vs Adaam [Mt. Silver Foxes]

Week Two Usage Stats

SWSH Week 2

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Kommo-o            |    5 |  50.00% |  60.00% |
| 1    | Thundurus-Therian  |    5 |  50.00% |  60.00% |
| 1    | Roserade           |    5 |  50.00% |  60.00% |
| 1    | Celesteela         |    5 |  50.00% |  40.00% |
| 1    | Buzzwole           |    5 |  50.00% |  40.00% |
| 6    | Jirachi            |    4 |  40.00% |  75.00% |
| 6    | Krookodile         |    4 |  40.00% |   0.00% |
| 8    | Necrozma           |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 8    | Rotom-Wash         |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 10   | Seismitoad         |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 10   | Barraskewda        |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Aegislash          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Amoonguss          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Zygarde-10%        |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Salamence          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Grimmsnarl         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Gyarados           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Nihilego           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Azelf              |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Moltres            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Raikou             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Slowbro-Galar      |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Mienshao           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Tangrowth          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Reuniclus          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Rotom-Heat         |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Azumarill          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

-----------------

It's like 3am here so not going to write any comments really this week, might make a separate post later though. + teams keep on their supremacy though as a huge metagame defining trait, while is winless again for another week. and are again proving to be popular picks in 's stead in this current metagame and continue to perform on form, while is getting seriously popular now as cool pivot and replacement while being p neat as an emergency fogger on some teams too with its speed + switches it forces and ok mu vs bunch of setters inc 2hkoing rose on switch in.

 

[Accel]

I had the pleasure of hosting another UU cast to highlight team trends and gameplay from Week 2 as well as predictions for Week 3 with my dear friends Adaam, Indigo Plateau, LNumbers, and TSR. Timestamps are in the description if you are interested in certain areas more than others. Enjoy the vid, and we'll see you after Week 3's all wrapped up!

 

[pokemonisfun]

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8uu-580719

Analysis of Askov vs pdt , SCL week 2

Normal disclaimers, this is just for fun, no shade is thrown, I am writing for a spectator's perspective (the players have not shared their teams with me).

I'm trying to be precise with my language - throughout the analysis when I say inaccuracy/inaccurate, I mean a turn that was suboptimal but had no alternative that was clearly better and game changing. When I say mistake, I mean a turn that was suboptimal and had a clear possibly game changing alternative.

On the match up alone, I guessed that pdt had a very large advantage because of Zygarde-10% - it can find openings on revenge kills as it outspeeds most of Askov's team plus it can come in on the (now common) Roserade w/o Grass STAB and the Thundurus-Therian, both of which only need to be slightly weakened to get OHKOd. If Askov's Kommo-o and Necrozma are offensive (and 2HKO by Thousand Arrows), the game seems over on MU actually. That said, if Askov isn't losing to Zygarde, Spikes Roserade is going to be very helpful and pdt lacks any Psychic resist.

So it's clear to me pdt is either close to winning with Zygarde or it's going to be a close fight as both sides have major threats.

Turns 1-9, Scouting and early KOs

I think both players start off well - pdt gets critical Stealth Rock (SR) up which may put Pokemon like Necrozma into 2HKO range from Zygarde and Askov gets nice damage on Jirachi, which I assume he predicted was the SR user. Askov tries to open a hole with Thundurus-T but U-Turn Jirachi manage to keep momentum and put Thundurus into OHKO range from Thousand Arrows. pdt knows Zygarde is a big threat but Askov is able to limit the Zygarde from doing much too much damage by immediately Draco Meteoring on turn 4; it also reveals defensive Kommo-o which can somewhat stop Zygarde for a while.

The first inaccuracy I notice is U-Turn by pdt on turn 5. Of course it's easy to call it an error in retrospect but Jirachi wasn't doing much anyways and going for some more damage on Kommo-o to ensure Zygarde can 2HKO (or even OHKO) later would have been helpful. Going for flinch hax also made prevent SR a real possibility, which would have made it extremely hard for Askov to pressure pdt. Going for a clean sweep with Kommo-o is understandably tempting but was never likely with Necrozma around. So pdt chose to go into a position where he looked strong and would likely be up 5-4, but in a position where his only decent Celesteela answer, Rotom-W, gets owned by Roserade. So it's far from an easy position for him by the end of this Kommo-o sequence, he still has to be very active to try and win with Zygarde.

Turns 10-22, Pyrrhic Victory

Much of the action in this game happens in this section. Turn 10 Askov makes a nice prediction to get some Spikes up and put some real pressure on pdt. Most of the time Flip Turn is a mindless clickable move but it took guts for Askov to click it since if Zygarde stayed in, it likely meant another KO for pdt and him going up 5-3, a rather big lead.

In my view, turn 11 is inaccurate from pdt - Askov is pretty clearly going for Spikes to put Zygarde in Barraskewda range and keep Amoonguss low. PDT has to take an opening with Zygarde here, he really cannot pressure Roserade with Salamence unfortunately because Askov has Celesteela which perfectly counters the Salamence set (Outrage/DualWingBeat/EQ/DD). Furthermore, with Thundurus-T gone and Askov's team becoming more compact (smaller and less likely to give up KOs), Zygarde is not having many openings apart from this crucial first spikes.

That said, a nice double on turn 13 means pdt is in business. but I think his position is already worse by now - Askov just has such perfect counters to pdt's Pokemon and Askov can do more chip with Spikes. The will-o-wisp on turn 14 is interesting and not great; it does put some chip on Kommo-o (Roserade was unlikely to come in as a Volt into Zygarde would have been severely unpleasant for Askov), but there was also the option to Volt on Kommo-o and go to Salamence - Askov is forced to constantly decide whether to switch in Celesteela (and get doubled again) or stay in and risk losing Kommo-o and probably getting Zygarde swept. Will-o-Wisp seemed like pulling the trigger to me except the gun didn't shoot much.

Askov notices nothing on pdt's team can take Dracos comfortably and he starts to spam it and this is where he makes major progress - weakening Salamence and Amoonguss greatly, which make Roserade and Barraskewda mucg bigger threats. I think turn 16 and turn 17 is almost proof that turn 14 was poor from pdt - if only he volted on turn 14 instead, he could have got nearly the same position less a burned Kommo-o but with a Salamence with 60% more health and an Amoonguss with 30% more health.

Turn 19 is a simultaneous double I think that ended up working for Askov - I assume Askov wanted to come in on a Rotom but Zygarde works and he gets to spam Draco Meteor some more as Zygarde doesn't want to lock itself into Outrage (a time where Scale Shot Zygarde could have perhaps been great). I don't know what the right move was for pdt on turn 20 but letting his last healthy mon get weakened by Draco Meteor seemed...unpleasant - especially as Rotom needed to beat both Celesteela and Barraskewda at that point. pdt finally gets another KO on turn 22 but it comes at a huge cost - his team is now badly weakened by a rampaging Kommo-o and liable to be swept by Barraskewda or Roserade or walled by Celesteela.

At the end of turn 22, I believe Askov has a very large advantage - truly masterful play by him starting on turn 10, arguably getting all of these moves correct and making massive progress.

Turns 23-32, Conversion

Perhaps the only decent thing about pdt's position was his timer - Askov was around 40 seconds to pdt's 150 seconds which is a big difference. But Askov clearly identified on turn 23 that Barraskewda was his threat and attempted to win with it by spamming Psychic Fangs, a reasonable choice. But this reasonable choice could have been a minor inaccuracy - if he Ice fanged, which was revealed later, on turn 23, then with Mence dead it would have been one less sacrifice for pdt to have. This turns out to be important on turn 28. But Ice fang didn't kill Amoonguss in that range, so it would havebeen a huge call out to risk it there on a predictable but still game risking Salamence switch in.

Obviously he didn't want to rack up too much Rocky Helmet damage on turn 25 but I think this is a clear inaccuracy or mistake - Barraskewda is going to have to take Rocky Helmet at some point most likely, and it's possible that Askov will have to play the 50-50 with Extremespeed/Thousand Arrows on Zygarde.

Still, to some extent, it works out for Askov as he catches an attempted double on turn 26 (pdt likely predicted a switch to Celesteela) - this doesn't hurt pdt too much as Zygarde can revenge but it would have been good for him to get Rotom-W on Celesteela.

By turn 29, the endgame is pretty much set. Askov's best bet is to hope for an Extremespeed roll that doesn't kill Barraskewda and if it does, hope Celesteela doesn't get high roll crit by Zygarde. He does miss using Protect on turn 30, which (depending on EVs) could have guaranteed him a win even with a critical hit. But it's clear Askov was immensely favored until the end - put simply, pdt got lucky.

So I was critical of pdt's play on many turns but I'd say I was more wrong than him in evaluating the game - as a spectator, I thought pdt won on match up with how strong Zygarde seemed. Indeed, Askov had a couple threats that wouldn't die and wouldn't stop killing pdt's team. Moreover, what I enjoyed most about this game was the extremely skillful display from Askov on turn 10-22 (really turn 10 to the end), where I only pointed outvery few arguable inaccuracies. He prophylactically stopped Zygarde from making much progress and managed to cultivate his own attack with Kommo-o making progress.

I'd be happy to discuss this game or other SCL games, particularly on forums, with anyone.

 

[Accel]

Got the gang together for another recap video, many thanks to Adaam, Indigo Plateau, KM, LNumbers, and TSR for joining me! Timestamps are in the description if you are interested in certain areas more than others. Enjoy the vid, and we'll see you again after Week 4's done!

 

[Adaam]

Dead thread gg

Bushtush vs Adaam

This replay features two bulky offenses with Celesteela as the defensive backbone. No doubt, Celesteela has emerged as a staple this tournament being a rock solid check to a bunch of Pokemon like DD Salamence, Aegislash, Roserade, and many more. Also notice both teams brought Leech Seed blockers in Tentacruel and Reuniclus as an adaption to its rise, alongside matching up well against the common Buzzwole + Roserade combo. Bush's team seems to revolve around Future Sight (I think) + Mienshao + a possible Roar Krookodile (I think?) to break with Spike support, while my team is built around Double Dance G-Moltres with Tentacruel to deny Celesteela recovery and some fast breakers/pivots to initiate early game progress. Matchup is about even, since Mienshao is a massive nuisance to me while Bush has no decent Diggersby switch in, and Azelf + G-Molt pressure his Celesteela well.

However, the game takes a huge swing at just turn 1, where my Kommo is caught by a Roserade Dazzling Gleam. Losing Kommo so early put Bush so far ahead, as I now have no way to switch into Krookodile, and I will eventually lose rocks to Volcanion. From there, Bush remains in cruise control, although he does make a sussy play by hard switching Mienshao on an Azelf turn 16 instead of letting go of the 20% Krook, but I fail to punish it. Nice lure by Bush and the Shoguns, and we saw some cool anti-meta picks in Volcanion and Reuniclus.

LNumbers vs robjr

Kommo-o no bro

Indigo Plateau vs Gondra

A very nice game by IP with a team that looks a lot like the one I used. We see another G-Molt + leech blocker core with Scarf Diggersby as the team's speed control and Kommo-o for rocks. However, IP opts for CM Reuniclus and Aegislash as his last 2 mons, which give a much stronger matchup against Fighting-types in exchange for a worse DD Mence matchup. However, Aegislash is an incredible pick here, as Gondra's sole Ghost-type resist is a Scarf Diggersby, which fails to generate any sort of momentum against King's Shield. Gondra's team in general looks like a lot of what we've seen in previous weeks. It features the classic Rose + Buzz + Jirachi core with Primarina to shore up the team's Dragon-type MU and Defog Thundy to not autolose the Spikes mirror. Again, we see a Scarf Diggersby, which has taken off this week as the most common Scarfer (no surprise, since it's strong, has Knock Off + Uturn, and a nasty STAB combo).


As mentioned before, preview favors IP very well since Aegislash puts so much pressure on its own. Reuniclus hard walls Gondra's Buzzwole, and G-Molt late game can win on its own if Prim ever decides to click Rest. Not to mention, Roserade is a liability this MU, as it can't keep spikes up against Tentacruel nor touch Kommo-o. Gondra manages to stay in the game with some lucky breaks (a Hurricane miss on Prim and Toxic miss on Thundy), and he makes a big mistake not killing Reuniclus turn 55. I understand the fear of Double Dance G-Molt winning from there, but Reuniclus was never going to die later, so at that point you have to take it out and hope Thundy/Prim can take care of the Moltres. From here, Aegislash goes on a rampage and kills half the team, giving IP a win.

mncmt vs Askov

mncmt brings a very unique team with a cool pick in Mudsdale + SubDD Gyarados as a wincon. On preview, Gyarados is a massive threat if it has Bounce, threatening to win on a moment's notice. Askov's team on the other hand is a bit unfocused, with no clear wincon outside of breaking stuff with Specs Keldeo and Azelf. He did have a cool pick in AV Amoonguss, which is a fantastic Thundurus check, but with already a Scarf Jirachi, Specs Keldeo, Rotom-H, and Azelf, I think Spore would have been better here.

Anyway, big MU goes to mncmt because of Gyarados, and the game goes back and forth for a bit until Keldeo claims a kill and mncmt immediately pounces and DDs with Gyarados. At this point Askov's only hope is praying it is Ice Fang, but it is not, and Gyarados kills all 4 remaining Pokemon. The big misplay was letting Scarf Jirachi take a Shadow Ball from mncmt's Jirachi, as it was the only hope in stopping Gyarados from sweeping. In any case, it was very hard to stop it, and kudos to mncmt and Highways for the team choice.

Accel vs umbry
Accel brings a nice looking BO featuring god Bulu on Hex Chandelure. We see yet another Tentacruel, showing how players are adapting to the rise of Rose + Steela. umbry brought a revamp of IP/pdt's Dragspam team from week 2, with a fantastic Kommo-o set that gives umbry a huge lead turn 1. However, Accel keeps his cool and slowly claws back with nice plays with Chandelure (poisons both Kommo and Zydog), Celesteela, and Bulu. I think umbry's team had a couple of overall flaws, the main one being no way to pressure Celesteela or deny it recovery. The team is Dragon spam, but none of them besides Mence actually lures in Celesteela. Nothing also blocks Leech Seed, and Prim does not even have Scald to fish for burns on it. A blocker like Tentacruel or a secondary breaker to lure in Steela would have been huge, as Mence was forced to sack itself to try and chip it down.

Eventually, Accel outlasts her threats with Celesteela + Bulu and some good breaking with Diggersby. He does blunder massively by switching out a 94% Diggersby from a +1 24% Salamence, but umbry did not play for the choke and Outraged instead of DWB. Overall, Accel did very well to come back from the turn 1, while umbry had some cool techs that were not enough to overcome the behemoth that is Celesteela.

To finish, everyone is respecting Rose more. I don't think a single team, besides the HOs and mncmt, forewent removal. In addition, Kommo-o, Celesteela, and Buzzwole are dominating the meta, and I expect that to remain this week until shifts come. God I hope I win this week

 

[Accel]

Went live with the goons for another recap vid, thanks to Adaam, KM, LNumbers, and TSR for joining up! Timestamps are in the description if you're interested in any particular sections of the vid, and we'll see you again after the close of Week 5.

 

[Adaam]

This thread is so dead it's sad :(. Let's get some actual discussion going on here people! All thoughts are welcome here. Here is my recap for Week 4:

Adaam vs Askov
I talked about my team choice in the UU cast above (and if you haven't seen it yet, what are you even doing reading this? Support us...or else!), but to rehash it, I didn't have much data to go off of prep wise. My team was thus built around anti-meta strategies involving SubCM Keldeo + Aegislash with Bulu support. The rise of bulky Roserade and Celesteela bodes extremely well for Keldeo, as both turn into setup fodder and can snowball quickly if a free sub is obtained. Sub Aegislash can also be dastardly to face, but I sadly ran into a hard hard counter in Zarude. A cool pick I used was Crobat, which functions as crucial Spike remover that beats Roserade, and also speed control. It drew a fantastic MU here, facing the one Steel-type with no passive recovery or U-Turn resist in Scarf Jirachi + a Mudsdale that cannot touch it + Zarude/Kommo-o.

Askov uses a balance team with a cool Zarude set in BU Acrobatics, a set I did not expect. In the cast, TSR mentioned the Zarude + Kommo-o core relied on respecting the coverage that they dropped (Power Whip for Zarude and EQ for Kommo-o). We see another Tentacruel, an adaptations for Roserade, a Mudsdale as a reliable rocker that serves as a catch-all to all physical attackers, and Togekiss + Scarf Jirachi for speed and a defensive backbone.

The key players in this game were Keldeo and Crobat on my side, and Zarude + Jirachi on his. Keldeo's turn 1 sub already puts immense pressure on Askov. While Rapid Spinning turn 2 might seem ideal, Askov had no way of knowing my spread by then, and if it turned out I had more bulk than I did, he would be in a disastrous spot if Sub didn't break. In any case, I make a lot of progress in the first few turns until the surprise Zarude set comes in. I mentally called out the lack of Whip, because who would run a Bulk Up Zarude walled by Buzz and Kommo in this meta? Doing so allowed me to survive its initial onslaught without losing a mon, and Crobat continues to be an MVP by regaining momentum on Mudsdale and Zarude. Togekiss flinches my Aegislash to avoid Toxic, and I later crit burn it with Keldeo to get it out the way. I fumble the end game however, by letting Bat take an Iron Head (I was scared of Aegislash taking a Trick and losing to Togekiss), and later sacking Crobat to Zarude instead of Bulu. However, I manage to avoid some poisons and win the game from there. A close game with some cool sets on both sides.

mncmt vs Accel
A boring game only because the turn 1 removed any shot Accel had from winning. While he was always on the backfoot with the looming threat of Polteageist, losing Rocks + a sack + Intimidate was enough to end the game barring Jirachi extreme hax. Accel should have definitely at least tried to flinch down his team with Jirachi instead of letting Kommo set up twice, but the odds were low anyway.

Cool set watch: Play Rough Lycanroc lmfao I am done, Kommo-o on all our minds...

Bushtush vs Indigo Plateau
The first (and probably) last rain of SCL! And it hilariously drew Bulu + Gyarados. MU seemed sort of even, as Bulu was there to keep Barra at bay, Gyara flips momentum the momentum Keldeo kills something, and Moltres-Galar abuses rain for accurate Hurricanes. However, Barra long term can easily overpower IP's team, so he needs to be careful.

An interesting choice is to use no removal on IP's team. He relies on denying Rose chances to Spike up, as everything hits it extremely hard, and since most Roses drop Grass STAB, Rhyp probably walled it. In any case, Keldeo gets a kill and Gyarados immediately comes in to turn the tide. A lucky flinch puts IP far ahead, but some people claim he should have Bounced turn 12. It definitely would have put him in a near insurmountable position if it hit, but there always was the option of hard Jirachi into Twave/Tpunch, so it was not totally free.

Bush kept his composure, however, and claws back with Barraskewda and Wish Jirachi. IP's Bulu being unable to touch Jirachi ended up costing him, as he could not deny it from healing Barraskewda back to full and eventually lost.

LNumbers vs umbry
Clark rolls out with this abomination featuring RU staples in Raikou, Reuniclus, and Milotic LOL. However, he also draws the greatest Milotic matchup on the planet, as it quite literally 1v1s umbry's entire team. And we see that Turns 4-28 as it simply does not die until umbry gets a lucky SpDef drop on it with Aegislash. Nonetheless, with Aegi low, Reuniclus becomes mighty unkillable, and when Lycanroc reveals Sucker Punch, umbry seems to be in a terrible position. However, she dodges Focus Blast and crits Reuniclus, so all is not lost. That is, until Lycanroc has no way to finish off the low Reuniclus and it heals back. Clark cruises from here, and has a mini choke at the end by not Recover spamming on the Crunch-less Lycanroc, but he wins anyway.

robjr vs Gondra
Another haxy game, as a turn 1 flinch puts Gondra in an awful spot. Anyway, we see another Gyarados + Kommo-o HO by Gondra, but robjr has the techs in Thunder Punch Jirachi. It is hilarious to me how one game last week, mncmt vs Askov, showed how strong Gyarados is, and now we see 6 in one week + techs just for it. There is no way to know how this game would go if Keldeo took damage turn 1 (maybe Aegislash kills a Pokemon, for example), but it didn't, and rob did fantastic job of capitalizing from there.

Some trends...

Holy moly, 6/10 Gyarados! Not only that, we saw Protect/Sub Bulu and TPunch Jirachis too. What a come up for our resident sea snek. I expect a drop in usage though, now that we have Skarm and Mandi here. Also 3 Keldeos! Wow! And they all won! This might also be the last time we see him with Lati and Slowking back. Lastly, we saw a surge in HO in recent weeks - will this continue in a new meta? Or will our new defensive toys put a stop to this madness. Find out soon!

 

[pokemonisfun]

Weeks 1-4 cumulative stats

SS UU

Moves and Teammates | Combos | Leads

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Kommo-o            |   19 |  47.50% |  47.37% |
| 2    | Jirachi            |   17 |  42.50% |  58.82% |
| 3    | Krookodile         |   15 |  37.50% |  20.00% |
| 4    | Roserade           |   13 |  32.50% |  69.23% |
| 5    | Thundurus-Therian  |   12 |  30.00% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Celesteela         |   11 |  27.50% |  63.64% |
| 6    | Buzzwole           |   11 |  27.50% |  54.55% |
| 6    | Aegislash          |   11 |  27.50% |  18.18% |
| 9    | Gyarados           |    9 |  22.50% |  44.44% |
| 10   | Rotom-Wash         |    8 |  20.00% |  37.50% |
| 11   | Azelf              |    7 |  17.50% |  42.86% |
| 12   | Salamence          |    6 |  15.00% |  50.00% |
| 13   | Reuniclus          |    5 |  12.50% |  80.00% |
| 13   | Rotom-Heat         |    5 |  12.50% |  60.00% |
| 13   | Moltres-Galar      |    5 |  12.50% |  60.00% |
| 13   | Tentacruel         |    5 |  12.50% |  40.00% |
| 17   | Seismitoad         |    4 |  10.00% |  75.00% |
| 17   | Keldeo             |    4 |  10.00% |  75.00% |
| 17   | Nihilego           |    4 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Diggersby          |    4 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Tapu Bulu          |    4 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Necrozma           |    4 |  10.00% |  25.00% |
| 23   | Tornadus           |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 23   | Amoonguss          |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 23   | Barraskewda        |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 23   | Mienshao           |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 23   | Rhyperior          |    3 |   7.50% |  33.33% |
| 23   | Tangrowth          |    3 |   7.50% |   0.00% |
| 23   | Primarina          |    3 |   7.50% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Grimmsnarl         |    2 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 30   | Raikou             |    2 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 30   | Zygarde-10%        |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Mudsdale           |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Scolipede          |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Lycanroc-Dusk      |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Zarude             |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Zarude-Dada        |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Slowbro-Galar      |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Mamoswine          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Ninetales-Alola    |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Arctozolt          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Gastrodon          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Moltres            |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Chandelure         |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Volcanion          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Nidoking           |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Milotic            |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Pelipper           |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Polteageist        |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Crobat             |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Gardevoir          |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Cobalion           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Metagross          |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Azumarill          |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Entei              |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Togekiss           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |

This metagame is over with the tier drops and is probably not going to come back, a few points after these 40 games

1. The lack of stall teams is surprising as stall is a great playstyle, I'm going to guess people were scared of Spkes Roserade but Salamence/Crobat can stop that as well as an extra Heavy Duty Boots or two. This was disappointing that SCL didn't represent this part of the metagame
2. I regret not asking for a Kommo-o suspect test. It's not that I immediately want the head of the most used Pokemon but there were multiple games where it just cheesed a sweep and more or less 6-0d, most notably in this game where Lnumbers won vs Robjr: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8uu-581950 - this is no substitute for a thoughful tiering post but I'd start by saying Kommo-o is both unhealthy and broken
3. Roserade, Buzzwole, and Celesteela have had much typing spilled over them already and I won't contribute much more except to say they were the breakout mons in my view
4. Lesser breakout mons to me were Moltres Galarian, Gyarados, and Tapu-Bulu which always made their presence felt in games, even if they lost - for example here Umbry's main threat here was Gyarados vs Lnumbers, even though she ended up losing, perhaps Gyarados had winning chances vs Milotic https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8uu-583874
5. People are super comfortable with offense - as mentioned, stall hasn't been picked once and the overwhelming majority of teams have been bulky offense or hyper offense. Balance isn't high but that might change in the new metagame with very good defensive Pokemon introduced.

Separate from the meta, a look at the fortune of the players:

Smogon Power Rankings:

1. Adaam
2. Accel
3. Umbry
4. Gondra
5. mncmt
6. Luthier
7. Bushtush
8. LNumbers
9. Indigo Plateau
10. Askov

Should we care that much about scores? Absolutely not, there's a ridiculous amount of luck in this game and a small amount of games doesn't actually mean much over a short period of time. For example, I did think Askov played masterfully in this game but it counts for a big fat nothing in his records because of large amounts of luck: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8uu-580719

But people care so I'll still write about it.

Smogon's power rankings were obviously horrifically off this year, probably more off than usual - two of the top players (Adaam, Umbry) are actually at the bottom right now and two of the bottom players (LNumbers, Indigo Plateau) are actually at the top now. Nevertheless more than half of the tournament has yet to go still so everything can correct itself and I'll root for my friend Adaam until the end. Maybe the only thing the power rankings guessed right as of week 4 was the middle of the pack (Luthier, Bushtush were expected to be average and they are).

Although again, Askov was ranked at the bottom and although he is near the bottom, I think he still played the best game of the tournament so far vs pdt.

So yeah, it's been a tournament with many good games, a few ridiculous games, and plenty of time to change anything for everyone.

I think it's clear though we shouldn't be putting anyone or any tournament on a pedestal and my previous posts along with Accel's and particularly Adaam's posts prove critical analysis of games is far more important to understanding the metagame and gameplay that cursory analysis of records/usage stats.

 

[Accel]

Week 5 recap vid is up, many thanks to Adaam, Indigo Plateau, KM, and TSR for joining me again. This week we made an effort to catch Askov vs LNumbers live though unfortunately, it was the sort of game that couldn't be properly analyzed live. Hopefully, we can try catching any future games live and redeem ourselves that way!

 

[Adaam]

Week 5 Recap

This was the first week of the new meta! Nobody really knew what to expect, so prep was certainly interesting. Speaking for myself, I didn't bother scouting and instead focused on "using the brokens" as one of my teammates eloquently put. That said, let's get down to business:

Accel vs robjr
In this match, we have balance mirror, with Accel using what will prove to be the new meta's standard. We see a triple Regenerator core with Scarf Mienshao, Amoonguss, and Slowking with breaking done by Latias. His hazard core consists of new mons Excadrill and Mandibuzz. However, his matchup looks quite dire. Skarmory + Diancie hard stop both breakers Accel has, while Nidoking with Thunderbolt has the potential to 2HKO his team.

The rest of the game is a fantastic example of why games should never be called early. After a couple turns of nothing, both sides get up hazards, and from here, Accel decides he will defeat Skarmory through nothing but double switches. He first avoids crisis when Nidoking comes in by switching in Excadrill on a Sludge Wave, then immediately doubles into Latias to pressure Skarmory, and doubles again to catch Diancie. The best part of this sequence is it quite literally happens again just 5 turns later. All that work led to 25% chip on Skarmory, which allowed Accel to claim a kill turn 26 with his Scarf Mienshao. While rob could not have foreseen this exact sequence, in hindsight letting Latias take the Spore was suboptimal. The previous Excadrill conditioning came in handy, as Accel then goes Slowking on Nidoking's attempt to revenge kill with Earth Power. This game is a perfect example of why Nidoking sees such low usage despite it's offensive power. It's middling speed and offensive coverage means if it attacks into a faster immunity, it wasted a turn.

Turn 30 Accel finally pulls the trigger and takes down Nidoking with Drill, and from here it's cruise control. A very nicely played game by Accel, but I do wonder how the game plays out if the Nidoking turns played out differently.


Adaam vs umbry
My previous comment on Accel's team being standard wasn't a slight on him. umbry quite literally brings the exact same 6 with Tangrowth > Amoonguss, and I imagine we will see a lot of similar structures in the future. I brought another Bulu BO, but this time, I debuted the power of Papi (Conk) in Buzz-free meta. Bulu's terrain support gives Conk crazy longevity, and I paired it with Scarf Latias as an anti-cheese measure and HW support. Moltres I've found is a solid pick in this meta, being a sturdy Drill check, remover, and Fighting-type check (as we see it burn a Mienshao later).

To be blunt, my matchup this game is incredible. Conk kills umbry's whole team, with only Latias standing up to revenge it. My Bulu was SD Megahorn, so she also has no Bulu check after an SD, of which there are plenty of opportunities to find. Lastly, her breakers in LO Latias and Mienshao can make progress, but Moltres dissuades Mienshao from clicking anything, and Latias has to guess between Bulu + Aegi + Lati what move to click.

After I get Rocks and Toxic Mandibuzz, I take advantage of my position by catching Tang with Megahorn and then doubling into Conk on the Mandi switch in. While I get phazed out, it still cripples Mandibuzz and has many more chances to come in. Turn 13 I go back to Conk as she goes Shao, and I stay in since I live Close Combat (granted, she did crit), and even a 35% Conk is a massive threat to her overall slow team (plus I could HW it back). I get a somewhat lucky burn 19, but Conk again lives CC even without the burn, so the gameplan remained the same, and Conk/Lati clean the rest up.

Askov vs Clark (tie)
Clark vs Askov
Not touching the first game lol, and second game is pretty lackluster too. Lead NP Thundy kills 3 mons, and then Kommo cleans the rest up because it had Poison Jab. A team like that probably needed Unaware, but good pick by Clark to call out the stall re-run.

Indigo Plateau vs mncmt
IP is the first to use HO in this new meta, featuring new picks in Sash Drill, while the other 5 are all familiar faces (yet still terrifying). mncmt brings a balance without a Fairy, so he is in tremendous danger of both a Kommoment, and also of G-Molt from sweeping. G-Molt in general is slept on and a potent sweeper with its bulk + STAB combo. However, mncmt keeps IP's initial attacks at bay, partly due to the worst play in the tournament in which IP tries Belly Drumming on a LO Mienshao. However, mncmt makes an inaccuracy letting Raikou take Aqua Jet and putting it in range of +2 G-Molt. This is important turn 9, as he can no longer stay in to attack G-Molt for fear of triggering Berserk on Agility. He has to go Jirachi and Trick his Scarf, which allows Kommo to sweep later.

Yes, Kommo-o is crazy strong, but I think there were outs to prevent the sweep from happening (mainly not letting Kou take damage early on).

100%GXE vs Bushtush
We see our second Papi this week from GXE, and like it does every game, it has tremendous matchup. The only Facade switch in is Moltres, which takes a ton of damage of course (and drops in just 1 via a crit later). GXE has plenty of pivots to bring it in safely too, while Bush's breakers are snuffed by Colbur Slowking and Chansey. I won't go in depth here, GXE is always in control as his team pick was far superior. The only danger he could have faced was mixed Clangorous Soul Kommo, but since it lacked Close Combat, Chansey countered it easily.

Overall Thoughts
We saw all playstyles this week, from full stall to HO. Looks like Regen cores are here to stay, with Slowking always being the CEO of momentum. Latias, while didn't kill many mons on its own, offered good support in all its games by defensively checking some dangers and forcing in obvious switch ins to exploit (see Accel vs rob). Conk is dumb as fuck. Oh, and we saw 0 Hydreigons. I attribute this to opportunity cost with Latias more than anything. It's still Hydreigon. It's going to be good.

 

[Accel]

Another week another recap vid, thanks to Adaam, KM, and LNumbers for joining up! We've got some hype matchups lying in wait for Week 7 and I look forward to covering them by the end of the week.

 

[Accel]

Wow, dead thread. In the future, I'll try to go over some games in detail similar to fantastic posts from Adaam and pokemonisfun in particular. Many thanks to Indigo Plateau, KM, LNumbers, and Wanka for joining me in covering Week 7's madness.