RU 2021 RarelyUsed Circuit Playoffs - Finals [Won by sensei axew]

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Expulso

Morse code, if I'm talking I'm clicking
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Welcome to the 2021 RarelyUsed Circuit Playoffs! This is what the entire year's RarelyUsed tournament circuit has led up to. After struggling through the year's many different versions of the RU metagame, we finally have our 16 playoff contestants. The winner of this tournament will receive the 2021 RarelyUsed ribbon as a reward for their hard work and accomplishments this year!

Having competed in many of the 2021 RarelyUsed Circuit tours, I can personally say that arriving here is not an easy task. or maybe I'm just bad '-'
Congratulations to you all for accomplishing this, and good luck in the playoffs!

SPECIFIC RULES
  • This is a standard Gen 8 RarelyUsed tournament.
  • This tournament will be SINGLE Elimination.
  • Rounds 1 and 2 will be Best of 3; the semifinals and finals will be Best of 5.
  • You may switch teams in between battles of the same set.
  • Matches are to be played on Pokemon Showdown; you must play on either Smogtours or the main server.
  • Replays are mandatory for each game you play! I recommend playing on Smogtours so that they are automatically saved. DO NOT HIDE YOUR REPLAYS.

  • Baton Pass Clause: Baton Pass is banned
  • Sleep Clause Mod: Limit one foe put to sleep
  • Species Clause: Limit one of each Pokémon
  • OHKO Clause: OHKO moves are banned
  • Moody Clause: Moody is banned
  • Evasion Moves Clause: Evasion moves are banned
  • Endless Battle Clause: Forcing endless battles is banned
  • HP Percentage Mod: HP is shown in percentages

  1. Identity: I expect many battles to be completed under alts. This can be bad for tournament security, and thus I will make this clear: If I hear any whispers of identity theft (battling as someone you are not) or proxy battling (helping someone else battle through pm) I will not be pleased and I will take severe actions.
  2. Scouting: Don't leak teams. Keep in mind when laddering and testing teams that you may encounter another player on an alt account; thus, I recommend not playing under your Smogon username. (I also recommend you use a different avatar then usual). I give permission to all battlers to ask any person spectating their battle to leave if they do not want them watching, and recommend you follow the aforementioned procedure and /modjoin or /ionext for all test games. Keep in mind that everyone will have access to your replays from earlier rounds of this Circuit Tournament.
  3. Timer Clause: Keep Battle Timer on for these games. I recommend playing on Smogtours. Battle Timeout is a rule for a reason; timer management is a necessary skill, and if you run out of time, you lose, simple as that. It does not matter what your opponent says. If you ask your opponent to turn off timer due to internet issues, etc., they can do so, but it is their right to refuse. I recommend that all such requests be made only if necessary; if it is necessary, notify your opponent before the series begins. Do not battle if you think you will have to leave mid battle, and instead reschedule for a better time.
  4. Disconnections: Finally, in the case of a disconnect, the decision is in the hands of the player who did not disconnect. The options are: redo the battle move for move, redo the battle with the same teams but different moves, or redo the battle with completely different teams. If the battle was without a doubt over, they may also take the win. Any suspicion that a disconnect was committed on purpose to redo a match may be appealed to me, and if I feel this happened there will be severe consequences. Don't do it.

1. Punny - 800
2. TheFranklin - 725.8
3. yovan33321 - 612.5
4. Mac3 - 590
5. robjr - 581.7
6. bb skarm - 563.3
7. atomicllamas - 550
8. OnArceus - 500
9. Beraldinho - 450
10. Star - 400
11. Nat - 387.5
12. Cirlo - 365
13. sensei axew - 342.5
T14. EternalSnowman - 325; more points in his best tour (250) than Feliburn
T14. Feliburn - 325; less points in his best tour (175) than EternalSnowman
16. Santu - 315 - declined invitation
17. Meru - 313.3

The spreadsheet containing the full 2021 RU Circuit results is available here.

===================================
a HUGE thank you to Pujo for the awesome player cards and to Lauriane for the amazing "vs" art!

FINALS:
Reminder: This round is Best of 5​
star_vs_sensei_axew.png

[10] Star vs sensei axew [13]
G1 / G2 / G3 / G4 / G5​

Semifinals:
Reminder: this round is Best of 5

Beraldinho_vs_sensei_axew.png

[9] Beraldinho vs sensei axew [13]
G1 / G2 / G3


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[10] Star vs Nat [11]
G1 / G2 / G3

​
​

Round 2:
Reminder: this round is Best of 3
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[1] Punny vs Beraldinho [9]
G1 / G2

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[10] Star vs Feliburn [15]
G1 / G2 / G3

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[11] Nat vs EternalSnowman [14]
G1 / G2 / G3

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[5] robjr vs sensei axew [13]
G1 / G2​

Round 1:
Reminder: this round is Best of 3


Punny.png
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Meru.png

[1] Punny vs Meru [17]
G1 / G2 / G3


TheFranklin.png
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[2] TheFranklin vs Feliburn [15]
G1 / G2 / G3

yovan33321.png
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EternalSnowman.png

[3] yovan33321 vs EternalSnowman [14]
G1 / G2 / G3

mac3.png
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SenseiAxew.png

[4] Mac3 vs sensei axew [13]
G1 / G2 / G3

robjr.png
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Cirlo.png

[5] robjr vs Cirlo [12]
G1 / G2
bbskarm.png
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Nat.png

[6] bb skarm vs Nat [11]
G1 / G2 / G3

atomicllamas.png
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Star.png

[7] atomicllamas vs Star [10]
G1 / G2 / G3

onarceus.png
GC0ZB6I.png
beraldinho.png

[8] OnArceus vs Beraldinho [9]
G1 / G2

[1] Punny vs Meru [17]
[2] TheFranklin vs Feliburn [15]
[3] yovan33321 vs EternalSnowman [14]
[4] Mac3 vs sensei axew [13]
[5] robjr vs Cirlo [12]
[6] bb skarm vs Nat [11]
[7] atomicllamas vs Star [10]
[8] OnArceus vs Beraldinho [9]


The Finals deadline is Sunday, January 16th at 11:00 PM GMT-5.

Congratulations and good luck to all participants!​
 

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I'm posting this to conceal the authors of the player summaries and get likes for my art

Punny.png


Punny has been a dominant force from the moment he arrived in the RU scene about a year and a half ago. In that time, he has posted an 18-3 record in RU subforum tournaments, finished runner-up in last year’s circuit playoffs, won the only two circuit tours he entered, and earned a trophy for winning the Smogon Grand Slam. While he is by far the most intimidating opponent in the field, there is only so much success a person can achieve. Could Punny burn out after a solid year of following the metagame and playing it at the highest level, or will he live up to his on-paper dominance and extent his remarkable streak of RU tournament victories?

TheFranklin.png


Perhaps the leader of the newest crop of RarelyUsed players, TheFranklin has had an excellent 2021. He burst onto the official tournament scene with a commanding 6-3 SCL, the best record of the entire pool, in his debut official tournament. In the past year of RU team tournaments, he proved that this was no fluke, going an astounding 13-1 between RU Snake Draft II, RUPL VIII, and RU World Cup. Arriving here right after a victory in the most recent RU Seasonal, where he came from the losers’ bracket and won four straight games in the final, TheFranklin seems to be a great player in excellent form right now. Can his remarkable streak of success continue here, or will he struggle with the pressure of a high-stakes individual tournament?

yovan33321.png


The French enigma Yovan arrives here on the big scene for the first time since RU Open finals, looking to turn around a fairly unimpressive Smogon tournament career with a high seed in the circuit playoffs. Yovan isn’t generally regarded as the most successful player; losing both sets of RU Open finals and starting 0-2 in RU Snake Draft haven’t given people the highest ability of him as a player. Regardless of reputation, the numbers don’t lie: reaching RU Open finals and earning the #3 seed in RU’s playoffs is an impressive feat. Will yovan be able to live up to this high billing and leave the tour with a career-defining victory, or will he struggle against superior competition despite their lower seeds?

mac3.png


Notorious cheeser Mac3 enters the RU playoffs with a string of recent successes; while he lacks the excellent playing reputation of top contenders like Punny or TheFranklin, Mac may be the single toughest opponent to prepare for and his stocks appear to be on the rise in recent months. Selected for SCL, Mac struggled in his debut, notching a 1-3 record but also bearing some responsibility for helping his teammate, lax, go positive. In the most recent RU subforum team tours, Mac has recorded a pedestrian 5-7 cumulative record. There are plenty of positive signs for the Swede; his peers tend to regard him as an excellent teambuilder and he reached semifinals of the most recent RU seasonal. WIll Mac be able to string enough wins together to move on with those teams, or will he follow the uninspiring pattern he has established in recent team tournaments?

robjr.png


A circuit, subforum, and official tournament mainstay for a few years now, robjr enters the RU circuit playoffs with a great amount of interest in the tier and a recent RU Cup win under his belt. While experience is nothing but a benefit in this format, robjr’s recent official campaigns have been uninspiring, with negative finishes in his past 4 official tournaments and a 2-7 record between RUPL and RUSD. However, rob has publicly stated his enthusiasm for this tournament and recorded a victory in the most recent RU circuit tournament. Will this be enough momentum for robjr to break out of a tournament funk and put up the dominant showing he is capable of?

bbskarm.png


A new face to RU tournaments in the mold of yovan, bb skarm returns to the RU tournament scene after a second-place finish in the RU Open, the year’s biggest tour. With little experience playing in team tournaments or building his own teams, bb skarm certainly enters as a dark horse; a Round 1 contest against the far more experienced Nat doesn’t do much to help matters on this front. A lack of reputation can make one dangerous, though; will bb skarm be able to catch the field by surprise, or will he prove his unknown billing justified?

atomicllamas.png


A consummate veteran of RU tournaments for nearly a decade, atomicllamas enters the RU playoffs with a string of recent successes. After reaching finals of the recent Autumn RU seasonal and recording a 10-5 year in RU subforum team tournaments, the llama has proven that he can consistently perform against a wide variety of competition. However, mediocre official tour performances over the years seem to justify his billing as a middle seed; while always rather solid, he has not gone neutral or positive in an official team tournament since 2015. He’ll never be an easy win but may not inspire as much fear as many of the upper seeds or lower-seeded veterans; can atomic prove them wrong and finally go nuclear this tour?

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During SCL, this NU enigma earned a trophy in his home tier of NU while going undefeated in the playoffs. He’s completely unknown in RU, though; he qualified solely off of winning the winter RU seasonal in February, the only RU tour he entered. Victories in RU and NU seasonals at that time -- his first two Smogon tournaments ever, to my knowledge -- prove that he’s an extremely talented player. Will he live up to this billing or crumble when he opens his RU builder and sees a Barraskewda?

beraldinho.png


A similarly new player from Brazil, Beraldinho fought his way into the RU circuit playoffs even despite a months-long tournament ban for jokingly forfeiting to a countryman. He has shown nothing but a determination for fighting in the other few months, though, entering all the RU tours he can, grabbing the #1 seed in NU classic, and generally playing as much mons as possible. Still unproven as a player or a builder, will he be up to the big stage of RU playoffs, which is a larger jump for him than any other player in the field?

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There’s not much to say about Star that isn’t already known; he’s been one of the best players on Smogon for this year, putting up an extremely strong record in SPL, routinely going far in official tournaments, and reliably farming subforum tours to the tune of 8-2 in RU’s this year. The biggest question marks for him are teams and effort; will he and “The Jerk” friends like soulgazer and CBB be able to construct solid enough teams for him to have enough of a chance in every game?

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A years-old mainstay in RU tournaments, Nat is an excellent player who does struggle with being somewhat boom-or-bust and tilt-prone. Facing a field with many less proven opponents, Nat, who has had impressive performances like 5-0 in SPL and 5-1 in the most recent World Cup, will have very strong odds if she’s able to stick to her gameplan in the face of inevitable bad luck at some point in the Bo3 or 5 series. She’s also rather out-of-tune with the RU meta, at least publicly; although the Rurk can definitely support her, she hasn’t recorded points since the RU Classic and Ladder Tour a few metas back. (Then again… she hasn’t needed to). Will she be able to shake off any possible rust and/or hax and put together the kind of winning tournament she is definitely capable of?

Cirlo.png


A less-known Italian than Punny, Cirlo enters with the same reputation Punny once had -- very fond of stall. Qualifying largely off of a RU Ladder Tour campaign where he used it very frequently, Cirlo might have to break out of this reputation for stall in order to succeed here; will he be able to do that, or will counterteams full of stallbreakers fill Cirlo with NaCl salt?

SenseiAxew.png


The lovable RU mainer has found success in basically every other tier, going 7-3 in NU this SCL and winning random tours like a Monotype seasonal and the PU Classic. Having qualified for the RU playoffs by the skin of his teeth, he’ll finally have the chance to prove that he can get it done in his main tier. Will he finally get it done in the tier where he has managed tours and considered his primary residence for years?

EternalSnowman.png


A circuit tour farmer that plays tiers as diverse as VGC, SM UU, and Doubles, EternalSnowman can do it all pretty well. However, he isn’t as known as a builder -- at least publicly -- and also hasn’t participated in RU team tours in the past. Significant questions remain about his ability to bring good teams and play well in this meta, particularly since he qualified mostly off of a tour from February; will he be able to deliver a major upset?

Feliburn.png


The “Big Sexy King” made an inspiring last-minute push into the RU playoffs and looks to get it done in this version of the playoffs after dominating all of last year’s circuit but then exiting the playoffs in round 1. He hasn’t had the strongest year in RU subforum tournaments, going 5-77 in the last 3, and he struggled for most of this year as well. However, he now seems to be rounding into form, generating meta-defining teams all RU Cup and expressing a desire to keep moving the meta forward with trendsetting mons like the Guzzlord and Jellicent that he brought to popularity in recent weeks. Entering the tour with a lower seed this time, will this be the lovable RU icon’s year to win it all?

Meru.png


The only player in the field whose Smogon account is older than the RU metagame as a whole -- maybe even twice as old? -- Meru enters RU’s playoffs after a second deep run in RU open and top-8 finish in the Smogon Grand Slam. Known as more of a team “thief” than an innovator, Meru may struggle against some of the more inventive opponents, particularly since he stares down the juggernaut Punny in Round 1. However, Meru has proven time and time again that he can get it done against anybody, putting up gaudy records such as 22-8? all-time in UU’s subforum tours. Will he be able to pull off the shocking upset and make a run for the ribbon?
 
booby skarm vs Nat (70-30) Booby skarm insists he built his own teams in open but i'm not sure his brain actually functions well enough to do that.
but the yeezyk crystal ball said Nat has a 30% chance to win.
 
Feliburn forced me to do it

Punny vs Meru: sis always has some voodoo magic in those things, and it already took down one Italian. I think it ends there but Punny was more will he won't he about playing in this tour than Feliburn about making a double for no reason so who knows. Btw Punny when do you want to play for RU Snake I'm - 5 and free Friday to Sunday
TheFranklin vs Feliburn: I am surprised and disappointed to not have been tagged for tests but W/E. I think Feli has found a new life in this meta but my god PLEASE update your teams!!
yovan33321 vs EternalSnowman: honestly coinflip but I don't want the PMs if he wins and I predict against him ROFL
Mac3 vs sensei axew : cares more about the tier currently, but sensei is still fine and has access to plenty of goons building if he really wants it
robjr vs Cirlo: honestly thinking this goes to the bitter end with some of the most ratchet matchups imaginable in this round, but really wouldn't want to miss it
bb skarm vs Nat: if she wants, the far better player. Not a slight against bb skarm but like on her day the maybe best RUer in this soo banking on it happening
atomicllamas vs Star : I'll rep the scl slot ig, I'm a total groupie for Star since I got to manage him though and finally got to understand why obii gasses him so much but I don't really like the teams the tour people tend to bring tbh, and llamas brings stuff more to my liking even when he rejects sand (I know Feliburn how dare he) and is still fairly solid
OnArceus vs Beraldinho : tossup, remains to be seen if the seasonals farmer is also a ribbon farmer, which logically is the next step. However Beraldinho is a total tryhard currently and I've seen enough of those randomly pop up in those playoffs so maybe it's them this time!
 
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scheduled times if anyone wants to watch!
times in gmt-5

saturday
[5] robjr vs Cirlo [12] - Saturday 9:30am
[2] TheFranklin vs Feliburn [15] - Saturday 1pm
[8] OnArceus vs Beraldinho [9] - Saturday 2pm

sunday
[4] Mac3 vs sensei axew [13] - Sunday 2-3pm
[7] atomicllamas vs Star [10] - Sunday 3pm
[1] Punny vs Meru [17] - Sunday 5pm
[3] yovan33321 vs EternalSnowman [14] Sunday 5:30pm

[6] bb skarm vs Nat [11] - Sunday TBD
 
ggs

I'd like to shoutout everybody who helped me this year in RU, as this is my most successful year in a tier and I couldn't have done it without the help of a few friends: Fakee mushamu outside of both generally being some of my closest friends on here, your help and thousands of tests games with me throughout the year had a really profound effect on my playing skill and confidence; Mac3 your help during open was immaculate and I attribute a lot of that run to you; Beraldinho your constant support building and testing, especially when I was in a low place with this game, was completely gamechanging and I am thankful we got to team together; other dudes who supported me and keep me company like Cam eden and Clone , I thank you guys for being for there for me

I picked up the tier just for slam all the way back in spring and ended up making the open finals; that was an awesome experience and being able to make a decent run in seasonal was pretty cool as well. Hopefully 2022 brings me qualifying for more circuits and walking out with a ribbon.
beraldo, onarceus, nat, or mac3 to win it all
 
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