Team Preview
This matchup is the reason Trick Room is considered viable. It absolutely fucks over Smeargle. Emoxu9 is 2/2 in bringing a team which essentially autowins. I've seen the paste and it isn't standard Trick Room, but I'm not going to touch on it before that. Standard Trick Room does the same thing anyways.
Mashing has brought another Sticky Web team, but with Smeargle this time over Ribombee. Most HO teams are going to lose at preview to Trick Room, but Stone Axe will help quite a bit. Groudon is probably Eruption or Double Dance and can potentially do some stuff. Yveltal is standard fare and will be Life Orb, but what tera it is using or which coverage it will help alot. Eternatus is likely Meteor Beam which isn't horrible against Sticky Web if it can survive a hit, but that is unlikely. Zacian could be anything, but Play Rough Tera Blast Ground makes the most sense here. Whether Primal Kyogre has bulk investment or not will play a big role in whether it can live a hit from Calyrex-I or Melmetal. Some on webs are quite slow to survive +1 Zacian-C Wild Charge.
Matchup [95-5 for Emoxu9]
This is a near autowin for Emoxu9. They will likely have little issue in getting up the 2/3 Trick Rooms they need to win as Calyrex-I and Melmetal can both easily sweep and be brought back to full. Mashing isn't going to have anything besides Yveltal to attempt to prevent a Trick Room while Arceus and Cresselia both use Mental Herb anyways. Trick Room isn't a good playstyle, but near autowins v HO stuff and that is what has happened here.
Game
The game starts with Mashaing's Primal Kyogre into Emoxu9's Melmetal. Melmetal is scared out Primal Kyogre comes in and takes a third from Origin Pulse. It then survives the follow up Thunder at 6% and gets a lucky crit to OHKO Mashing's Primal Kyogre. Yveltal comes in and Cresselia comes in and shakes off the Taunt with a Mental Herb and sets up Trick Room + stores a Lunar Dance to get Melmetal in. It Tera Steels as Primal Groudon comes in and is 2HKOed. It is preserved and Smeargle is sacrificed. Mashing then allows the Primal Groudon to be sacrificed. The first Trick Room is done at Turn 9 with Tera Steel Melmetal winning the game the moment another Trick Room goes up. Yveltal comes in and scares out the Melmetal as Arceus is sacrificed. Mashing unfortunately doesn't get the 20% flinch on Hatterene and Trick Room is set again. Melmetal comes in and sweeps and it has 5 kos. Calyrex-I would have more or less done the same thing as well. That is Trick Room v HO as the game only lasts 15 turns.
Additional Thoughts
I didn't know this game happened until Emoxu9 messaged me after to discuss it. I'm not going to leak anything, but standard Trick Room has about the same outcome v everything and a slightly higher ceiling than this version imo. We didn't really get to see Mashing's team other than noticing it didn't have an Arceus forme, marking the third team without one. It wouldn't have changed much, but I'm interested to know what made Emoxu9 willing to say I'm so sure that Mashing will bring some HO so I'm going to bring a playstyle that is good into HO, but not into literally anything else. It really is a huge fish that seems far too skewed in risk-reward. If Mashing brought anything other than HO it should be an easy win.
Team Preview
Entro asked for a test game earlier and liked the team I used and asked for it. I originally made this team for Aim's Megas to High Ladder series and it is the only one I've kept. The team is older, but has enough options to make progress. It could use a polish, but is alright here. Vic's team looks fine until I see the random Arceus. It is a good mon, but this is not the team for it. I'm guessing it was something of a fish against Entro bringing HO? I'm not sure what else it woul dbe. Other than that the team looks standard at preview.
Matchup [ 55-45 Entro]
I'm not sure who this matchup favours, but Vic did not get massively punished for the Ekiller. The big factor is probably the Mega Salamence as it should get at least one opportunity to boost, but it will have to make the most of it. Zacian-C on the other hand doesn't seem to have a ton of free entry points, though Yveltal + Eternatus if this is offensive can cause Entro headaches. This ekiller also better have Taunt or not much is stopping the Zygarde long term.
Game
Both players lead with Primal Groudon and both are likely to have a hazard. Entro opts to preserve his and switches into Zygarde which reveals itself to be defensive and eats a Precipice Blades. It then Glares the Primal Groudon and takes a Toxic. Primal Groudon then takes a bit of chip from Thousand Arrows to set rocks and Ho-Oh comes into another. Entro then opts to rest rather than transform and burns a sleep turn as Vic phases the Zygarde and Entro's Ho-Oh is dragged in and Defogs as Eternatus switches in. Entro scouts for Meteor Beam which chunks his own Eternatus for over half. Eternatus reveals Tera Fairy and takes most of Ho-Oh's HP before being phased out as their own Ho-Oh is dragged in. Entro then switches to Eternatus on a paralysis and Zacian-C comes in as Entro's Eternatus recovers. It then wastes its Intrepid Sword boost as Vic likely realizes that a potential Fire Blast poses a threat and switches to Arceus. A double finds Zygarde in front of Eternatus as it Tera Waters wakes up and Glares the Eternatus.
At this point Vic's Eternatus, Primal Groudon, and Ho-Oh are paralyzed, tera has been exhausted, and Entros team is in decently healthy shape. A path to victory seems difficult as Entro's Arceus-Dark uses Eternatus as setup fodder and takes most of Ho-Oh's HP before being phased into Eternatus which hits the incoming Zacian-C with a Fire Blast and then a second finishes it off. Arceus Swords Dances and finishes off Eternatus, but it is at 43% and Salamence comes in. Arceus reveals itself to be Z and Salamence as it Dragon Dances. If Entro had clicked Double Edge there the game is over. Arceus-Dark comes in and revenges it while revealing Refresh and setting up on Primal Groudon which Rock Tomb's it before going down. At +2 Arceus-Dark easily sweeps.
Additional Thoughts
It would be nice to know why the ekiller was on Vic's team. Even though Mega Salamence went down, it would have been good if it knocked out Arceus. Zygarde was also the MVP. That team could use an update though the 6 are fine enough.
Team Preview
This is the first match so far I've been able to catch live from the start so that is nice. Adem asked for a prep game this week and used a Caly-I team and we discussed it a bit after and I didn't look at that replay, but wasn't sure whether they'd tweaked some things or left it as is. After the game was over I realized that this is probably
one of my teams. It was built in December and I spent 5 minutes making minor updates before NDGS, but I felt it needed more than minor tweaks to stay relevant so I made a different Caly-I team. If this is the version updated in June it looks like it should be alright as Fogbound Lake has not brought the mons which give it major problems.
Fogbound Lakes team is interesting. Primal Groudon is Rocks, either defensive or utility SD. Yveltal is likely the hazard control and Choice Scarf, but it could be defensive. Depending on the Eternatus set, the team could be Fogless and Sucker Punch LO Yv + Zacian-C is nice for HO. Eternatus could be any set here, but I think a defensive one is more likely given the teams inability to switch into offensive Primal Kyogre. Toxic (Spikes) go a long way to preventing that from getting out of hand. An offensive set could work here, but the team looks like it is more comfortable taking a slower approach. I think it is quite likely that Arceus-Water is some sort of Calm Mind. Defog or Stealth Rock could fit here, but I don't recall the last time I saw Arceus-Water run either. Calm Mind Arceus-Water has a lot of options for both EV spreads and moves which will be tailored to the rest of the team. Zygarde could be Coil or Dragon Dance, but Dragon Dance is better on this team given that it should be alright enough into Marshadow and Primal Groudon. Tera isn't free enough on this team so Zacian-C is likely to be CC and either STAB would work.
Matchup [65-35 for ShieldPoke]
ShieldPoke definitely has a winning matchup, but the potential sets on most of Fogbound's mons complicate things. Fogbound could have an advantage if every mon was the perfect set, but that is unlikely. Still, it is far from unwinnable. Fogbound's main wincon is going to involve prioritizing setting and maintaining Stealth Rock over a plan with any individual mon. With rocks up Calyrex-I is limited and Primal Kyogre cannot safely switch into Primal Groudon. It seems most likely that a win for Fogbound lake is going to end up with Zygarde on the field if it is Dragon Dance. Zacian-C is the biggest wildcard as it could do nothing or it could blow quite a big hole depending on its moveset. It will be tough to get the turn to get that SD though. Arceus-Water likely isn't doing much this game unless it is very specific. Fogbound has some tools to use, but it is going to be an uphill battle.
ShieldPoke has a decent number of ways to win, but needs to focus on keeping off Stealth Rock. It limits Calyrex-I so much which is amazing in this game and should put in a lot of work. Glacial Lance is free early on and can reveal information about the Arceus-Water while chunking everything else for a lot of damage. Shield can keep rocks off a midgame aroma can be clutch and Caly-I can Trick Coil Zygarde and trade with Dragon Dance if it is healthy. Shield's path to victory is probably going to be through Eternatus + Primal Kyogre. Eternatus can beat every one of Fogbound's mons 1v1 and should leave enough wreckage in its wake for Primal Kyogre to clean. Regardless Primal Kyogre probably can clean as long as its HP isn't squandered early game. Zacian-C may end up sitting this one out, but can probably gather some important info at a minimum.
Game
The game begins with Shield's Primal Groudon v Fog's Eternatus. Fog boldly stays in to Toxic the Primal Groudon as it sets up Stealth Rock. This shows it is defensive Eternatus and likely doesn't have Toxic Spikes as they should have been set there given Primal Groudon isn't an issue for Fogbound's team yet. Shield then brings in Primal Kyogre to absorb a Dynamax Cannon which then takes a Toxic as Ice Beam reveals Eternatus does not have much if any SpD investment. Primal Kyogre then opts to Rest as Eternatus Recovers. Fogbound brings in Primal Groudon as Shield doubles in Calyrex-I. It is scared out and Primal Kyogre burns a turn of sleep before Shield goes to Ho-Oh.
I think you either go straight to Ho-Oh if you suspect defensive Primal Groudon rather than burn the turn and have rocks go up. The next turn also baffles me as Shield opts to Tera Grass Ho-Oh in front of Primal Groudon. I'm not sure why this came out unless as this only hurts. Zacian-C is now massively opened up as it should find a turn to SD later given the Primal Kyogre situation and now Eternatus can't revenge it in a pinch, same with Caly-I for a late game tera. This should hand the game to Fogbound as Shield switches out to Primal Kyogre to absorb a Toxic.
Zacian-C uses this as an entry point and takes an Ice Beam as Primal Kyogre wakes up and is then scared out. Fogbound has squandered most of their lead as Zacian-C now is not going to be doing much. Fog brings in Primal Groudon to absorb a hit as Shield doubles in their own Primal Groudon which misses blades to an incoming Yveltal that reveals itself to be boots. Fog switches to Eternatus as Shield goes to Ho-Oh which is scared out into Zacian-C which Swords Dances as it scares it out and fails to get the roll to finish off Primal Groudon with CC and dies to Overheat. This is again showing the issue with that premature Tera Grass.
Shield uses this to get Eternatus in and Dynamax Cannons into Yveltal as Fog saves the Primal Groudon for sac fodder. Zacian-C switches in to absorb another Dynamax Cannon then dies to Swords Dance as it uses Swords Dance. Fog uses this opportunity to get in Arceus-Water as Primal Kyogre comes in. They then hand the game back to Shield as they elect to Tera Poison their Arceus-Water. This means that unless Fog gets a timely crit Primal Kyogre will win.
Some Calm Minding ensues and I'm assuming that fog thought switching in Primal Groudon to die to rocks would reset the weather, but it doesn't. Eternatus comes in and Toxic's Primal Kyogre which Rests and Zygarde comes in and reveals itself to be Dragon Dance. Eternatus scares it out and cleans up.
Additional Thoughts
This game was funny to watch in a very bad way as both players put in their best effort to hand the game to their opponent on a silver platter. I'm also surprised to see Shield load this team as R8 and Adem would likely have objections to the lack of an Arceus forme. In December when this team was made it could get away with one, but I don't think it can in the current metagame. I'll update it at some point. Last, I'm not sure why the Zygarde did not come out earlier. It absolutely smoked, especially if Tera Ground it easily 6-0s if Rocks are maintained.
Predicts
Maybe by week 3 we get a week with 100% Arceus use.
Age of the Starmies (3) vs Galarian Phoenix (7) 
Always Midnight Absols (6) vs Glaring Gengars (4) 
Wired Weaviles (4) vs Shiesty Shell Smashers (6) 
Unrelenting Unmons (2) vs Vice City Victinis (8) 
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