Resource [9:54 PM] emma: 6 wins = ill buy you the $100 primogems when the deals refresh

emma · Jan 6, 2023

Introduction

Welcome to the show everyone. Following my pattern of late team dumps, it's time to dive deeply into the SCL II Power Plant Dynamos' SS Doubles OU Season. Like last year, I will go into detail about our prep process each week, and hopefully, everyone can learn a bit about how to prepare in tournaments. All teams will be linked below in Spurrific's post since he deserves some likes.

Throughout the tournament, I kept tabs on what teams were being brought to SCL, Spurrific's own Self Scout, and what teams were being brought against us. I've included the finalized versions below.

Furthermore, myself, Lunar., Nails, qsns, umbry, Z Strats, and zee recorded the second annual SCL Doubles OU Smogcast, where we talked about all the DOU pairings and gave our overall ranking. Nails, Z Strats, and I also recorded weekly SCL Doubles OU Recaps videos, while myself and friends occasionally live streamed some games. All videos will be linked in under their respective weekly sections.

This will take up multiple posts because of the character limit.

Without further ado, it's time to get started.

Weekly Prep Processes

Week 1 vs. Z Strats

Final Team

Team Ideas

:latios:

Screen_Shot_2022-09-03_at_12.44.29_AM.png

Screen_Shot_2022-09-03_at_12.44.43_AM.png

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You all know the process by now. We started by gathering every single relevant Z Strats replay, including games from SCL I, DWCoP II, DPL VIII, and OSDT II. As a bonus, I also had access to every single paste from his SCL run last year (obviously) and a bunch of teams he used in OSDT. The middle two were just reusing, but OSDT showed some new developments in his scouting report, including higher Rillaboom, Mew, and Heatran usage from SCL. Many trends remained the same as SCL, including not many Trick Room, Porygon2, Tapu Fini, and Diancie.

Spurrific pointed out that every single Pokemon with >40% usage got hit super effectively by Psychic or Ice Beam, which prompted me to come up with three initial ideas: Expert Belt Mew, Offensive, Cresselia, Lati@s, and even Slowbro. Latios was the best of the four; Timid Latios outspeeds Modest Naganadel and appreciates the few Trick Room and Fairies usage.

Our secondary idea (and a lot safer one!) was utilizing Diancie + Safety Goggles Volcanion since umbry swore all the SCL I Platoon DOU Teams were weak to Diancie. So while we always had outs against Trick Room, I could see the logic, especially if we paired it with Rillaboom to invalidate Amoonguss, one of our biggest Trick Room checks from last year.

We decided to focus on exploiting Z Strats' lack of Trick Room. His Speed Control was almost always Naganadel, Mew, or Zapdos, and even in teams where he used Stakataka, such as in DWCoP Finals, there was still a Naganadel. Additionally, only his SCL I Week 1 team and his Stakataka team from OSDT didn't have Tailwind. I also knew during the last SCL that we could not build Trick Room to save our lives, so I felt confident it wasn't coming.

Narrowing down to his unlikeliness of bringing Porygon2 (& Trick Room), we started exploring Spectrier and/or Dragapult. Both Ghost-types also had the benefit of heavily pressuring his two most common Tailwind setters in Naganadel and Mew, so we liked the idea of being able to control the Speed Control game.

We decided to try out Modest Choice Specs Spectrier since it still outspeeds Landorus and Modest Naganadel (as well as OHKOing both, Urshifu-R, and Mew!) and offers a surprising way to take advantage during the game that didn't rely on Z Strats making multiple mistakes. We decided to go all in on no Porygon2 (as well as a general lack of Knock Off Rillaboom (during SCL I), Tyranitar, and Zeraora) and added Adamant Dragon Dance Dragapult to continue to take advantage of his scout.

Urshifu-R and Landorus, we felt, were mandatory partners to take on any Incineroar, Porygon2, and Diancie / Trick Room if there were to come. We also loved their offensive synergy, which fit well with the team's direction. Urshifu-R was Aqua Jet over Ice Punch since we weren't expecting Zygarde, and priority is always strong. Landorus's last move is Substitute since we felt we didn't need Psychic, and Spurrific was afraid of missing Focus Blast (a common theme this tournament). Zapdos offers a strong Rillaboom, Amoonguss, and Tapu Fini check, as well as sets Tailwind, gains momentum, and Whirlwinds out any Trick Room setters or Demon Mews (which is what Z Strats and I brought against Spurrific last season). Amoonguss rounds out the team as a comfort pick for Spurrific that redirects and sets the way for our Ghosts, stops Tapu Fini in its tracks, offers more insurance against Trick Room, and utilizes broken Spore. Amoonguss is rocking the classic duel STABS with no Pollen Puff set that Z Strats and I used a ton last SCL.

We got a bit distracted in the middle of the week by the one and only Regidrago:

Spurrific — 09/07/2022 2:32 AM
he doesnt have a single fairy type over 20% usage why cant i just scarf regidrago him

i should probably go to sleep before i build a regidrago team
gg

Spurrific also brought up Life Orb Venusaur (& Sun) since Leaf Storm, Earth Power, and Weather Ball in Sun nuke all of Landorus, Rillaboom, Urshifu-R, Naganadel, Amoonguss, and Volcanion, which were 60% of his most used Pokemon. We ended up building two Sun teams - one with Choice Scarf Regidrago and a more standard version - but decided against both because while the playstyle was cool, it was way too violate and we did not need to fish against anyone or put that much control outside our hands. Also, Regidrago might be bad.

At the end of the day, we went with Ghost Spam. It beat Animus (who also liked the team) and Nails (who was even using his SCL Week 1 team with Double Dark!) in tests, matched up very well into Z Strats' scout (Lack of Trick Room, Porygon2, and Tapu Fini, high Naganadel and Mew usage as only Tailwind setters, offense-oriented player) and functioned nicely as "Anti-Offense Offense" into someone whose comfort zone was precisely that.

I think, overall, this team is not good. This is not a team I would bring to any SS Doubles OU Tournament game, nor would I encourage others to steal and use it. However, the core idea of Spectrier + Dragapult into Z Strats' scout was quite good, and the team ended up getting the matchup advantage in the game, so I only have a few regrets about bringing it. Perhaps some of the sets should have been tweaked, or a Pokemon or two could have been replaced, but overall, the team worked into Z Strats.

Of all 11 weeks, this was my favorite week of prep. Z Strats and I know each other very well as players, and I highly rate his ability to prep and play in official team tournaments. Take a look at the mind games that went on during the week:

I, knowing Z Strats can't build with Porygon2, wasn't a big Trick Room / Diancie fan, didn't use much Tapu Fini, and spammed Naganadel offense, decided to use Spectrier and Dragapult.
Z Strats, knowing that I know this, preferred using good offensive Semiroom, and every team he prepared that didn't have Spectrier had a Porygon2 or Diancie.
I, knowing that Z Strats is one of the best preppers in the pool, wouldn't have been surprised if he purposely brought Porygon2 simply because he knew I wouldn't respect it but ultimately decided to bring Ghost Spam because there were too many levels of mind games and I was banking on the fact that he still couldn't build Trick Room.
Z Strats, being still unable to build Porygon2, brings Spectrier because it looks broken into my scout (which is the same as his scout!). We end up bringing the same idea into the same scout because we are intertwined forever.

emma — 09/10/2022 7:55 PM
yea
knew ud have safety goggles fire type
glad it is still drilled into u
to respect sleep
Ray — 09/10/2022 7:56 PM
LOL
I didn't wanna!
But knew it was needed

Ray — 09/10/2022 8:01 PM
LOL
i gotta learn how to build a real p2 team...
emma — 09/10/2022 8:03 PM
i know u cant build p2, not a big tr (diancie) fan, not much fini, spam naga offense
double ghosts was always it
Ray — 09/10/2022 8:03 PM
i knew u knew this and every other team that doesnt have spec has a p2 or diancie
but still couldnt find anything i liked despite trying multiple times LOL
emma — 09/10/2022 8:03 PM
i was worried
thatd ud come out with p2 or disncie just to say fuck you to me

but that was too many levels of mindgames
Ray — 09/10/2022 8:04 PM
yh that was the original plan
emma — 09/10/2022 8:04 PM
i was like if he gets it right and can build p2 then props to him
Ray — 09/10/2022 8:04 PM
Ray — 09/01/2022
Fair
Not surprising
Last year he used a really high amount of zapdos
I have very low semiroom usage and emma and I struggled making semiroom we liked last year I wonder if they try to abuse that
I'd prefer using a good offensive semiroom vs Justin or some sort of semiroom with potentially one cheese set

Week 2 vs. Toxigen

Final Team

Team Ideas

After playing the player I was most familiar with in Week 1, we were paired up with Spurrific's support from SCL I - how cute (even though they forgot to use matching avatars). Despite Toxigen having a record of 52 relevant replays to go through, all were collected, and the visual scout was created. Like last week, I was lucky to have direct pastes of everything the Breakers used in SCL I and all his DPL VIII teams.

Toxigen followed a pattern of Rillaboom or Zeraora / Fire-type / Tailwind of Trick Room / Fast Offensive Pokemon / Water-type / Steel-type or Filler. My initial idea was Nihilego since it shreds Rillaboom / Incineroar / Zapdos / Landorus / Urshifu-R / Filler. It was okay with Naganadel over Zapdos and Tapu Fini over Urshifu-R but worse into Zygarde over Landorus, Trick Room over Tailwind, and Steels. His top four most commonly used Pokemon were Rillaboom, Incineroar, Landorus, and Urshifu-R, which Nihilego loves seeing.

Genesect was brought up as a partner since it also farmed Rillaboom + Incineroar cores, was better into Zeraora over Zapdos and formed a powerful offensive pairing with Nihilego. Initially, we tried more standard versions with Mew, Zeraora, Urshifu-R, and a Grass-type, but it wasn't working as well as expected. Spurrific brought up a Rain version but also struggled - probably since it is Rain, and Rain sucks! So we tried one more team with Nihilego + Genesect but ultimately decided Genesect wasn't the play this week since Spurrific could never really get it into a good position in tests.

We gave Nihilego one more go, surrounding it with Landorus, 2 Fake Outs, 2 Assault Vests, 2 Pivots, Damage Reduction, Hazards, and multiple forms of Speed Control, which was much more Spurrific's style. Despite the Stealth Rock weakness, combined with Hazards' popularity in Week 1, Solo Nihilego was not only winning games, but Spurrific was much more comfortable with the team compared to Week 1.

However - disaster struck. Nihilego had a poor matchup into Pheromosa Psychic Spam, with five out of the six Pokemon being OHKO'd, and Pheromosa couldn't be slowed down with Fake Out. Because the Pheromosa Psychic Spam team was directly from Toxigen's scout and the SCL I Breakers auto-lost on matchup to Psychic Spam last year, we decided it was too risky to bring. Combined with the fact that we weren't sure Nihilego was a good Pokemon, it was time to go in a completely new direction two days before the game - sound familiar?

After refocusing and looking at Toxigen's scout again, Spurrific suggested Weakness Policy Diancie, which is always a classic. Volcanion and Rillaboom were thrown on as archetype staples. Instead of going with the traditional Dragon-type here, Spurrific suggested Pheromosa - the same Pokemon we had trouble with throughout the week! It worked out, as it outsped and OHKOd Landorus and matched up very strongly against Toxigen's seven most commonly used Pokemon: Rillaboom, Incineroar, Landorus, Urshifu-R, Naganadel, Mew, and Heatran. Mew was used as the secondary Trick Room setter, while Blastoise took the final spot to provide redirection for Pheromosa, invalidate Amoongusss, and offer the ability to self-activate Diancie's Weakness Policy. After a string of successful test games, capped up with Spurrific utilizing both of the team's techs to beat Z Strats using Nails' Week 1 team, we locked it in so Spurrific could go play Splatoon.

Volcanion uses Life Orb and Sludge Bomb to help against Tapu Fini and offer Spurrific a way to gain a surprise advantage that didn't rely on Toxigen messing up (seem familiar?). We went with Ice Beam over Triple Axel on Pheromosa since we were scared of missing (seems familiar?), and an expert Mew EV spread that survived Pheromosa U-Turn, OHKOd Landorus and Urshifu-R, and outsped Urshifu-R outside of Trick Room and opposing Mew within it. Blastoise is EV'd to survive 252+ Rillaboom Grassy Glide and almost always take two Landorus Earth Powers.

Since we practiced against a wide variety of teams in Toxigen's scout as well as what was winning in Week 1, not only did we thankfully scrap a team that would have had a poor matchup, but we ended up getting practice against the exact same team Toxigen ended up bringing and turned a neutral matchup into a positive one - the power of preparation! Spurrific and I clicked this week together, we brought a solid team, and we won the game and the week - can't ask for a better Week 2 than that.

Week 3 vs. Nails

Final Team

Team Ideas

:mew:

Nails - Replays

SCL I

Week 1 vs. Frania (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-579135
Week 2 vs. stax (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-580692
Week 3 vs. zee (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-581949
Week 4 vs. Spurrific (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-583907
Week 5 vs. YoBuddy (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-584448
Week 6 vs. Paraplegic (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-587465
Week 7 vs. Qwello Lee (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-588544
Week 8 vs. Mishimono (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-590208
Week 9 vs. Z Strats (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-591552

OSDT II

Round 2 vs. Givrix (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-633974
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-633978
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-633986

Round 3 vs. KyleCole (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-635849
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-635854

SCL II

Week 1 vs. Animus (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-647240
Week 2 vs. Frania (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-649330

Nails - Teams and Usage Stats

Legend: [Pokémon: % of all Pokémon (66) | % of all teams (11)]
Incineroar: 9.091% | 54.545%
Landorus: 9.091% | 54.545%
Diancie: 7.576% | 45.455%
Porygon2: 6.061% | 36.364%
Volcanion: 6.061% | 36.364%
Kyurem-Black: 6.061% | 36.364%
Rillaboom: 6.061% | 36.364%
Mew: 4.545% | 27.273%
Tapu Fini: 4.545% | 27.273%
Tsareena: 3.030% | 18.182%
Amoonguss: 3.030% | 18.182%
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 3.030% | 18.182%
Metagross: 3.030% | 18.182%
Zapdos: 3.030% | 18.182%
Genesect: 3.030% | 18.182%
Glastrier: 1.515% | 9.091%
Indeedee-F: 1.515% | 9.091%
Necrozma: 1.515% | 9.091%
Naganadel: 1.515% | 9.091%
Zeraora: 1.515% | 9.091%
Sableye: 1.515% | 9.091%
Togekiss: 1.515% | 9.091%
Spectrier: 1.515% | 9.091%
Celesteela: 1.515% | 9.091%
Tyranitar: 1.515% | 9.091%
Dragapult: 1.515% | 9.091%
Landorus-Therian: 1.515% | 9.091%
Whimsicott: 1.515% | 9.091%
Ninetales-Alola: 1.515% | 9.091%
Kyurem: 1.515% | 9.091%

Two weeks after fighting Z Strats, we had the pleasure of fighting the other titan of the pool in Nails, further backed by Lunar. and umbry - oh goody. With two weeks of SCL underlay, we were getting to a point where replays from the last SCL. Despite a majority of his teams falling under the Full Trick Room or Semi Truck Room umbrella, we decided to focus more on Nails' playstyle (slow and precise) and what he used so far in SCL II (Choice Band Genesect, Hazards, Mew, Tyranitar, and the general gameplan of setting hazards into pivoting into pinning).

We wanted to focus on Toxic Spikes with Offense to put a turn limit on Nails which severely restricts his ability to pivot around our offensive pins. We weren't expecting Amoonguss or Naganadel at all, and even if he did, it would force the Poison-type into Psychic Mew. While Tapu Fini wouldn't be a surprise to see, Misty Terrain is not the same as removing Toxic Spikes, and we were ready to play into it.

We also wanted to use Defog to remove Hazards and have all our Pokemon force a Special Attack Download boost against Choice Band Genesect. Furthermore, by being very well prepared against Sleep the first two weeks and my overall reputation as someone whose teams do not lose to Sleep, we were able to run Heavy-Duty Boots on our Incineroar for further protection against Stealth Rocks. Overall, our core ideas were very strong this week, and while there were other options we could have explored, I don't regret the team choice one bit.

Initially, Spurrific wanted to pair Toxic Spikes with Life Orb Dragapult since it outspeeds and OHKOs Genesect, is immune to Fake Out, can Will-O-Wisp Rillaboom, and chunks Mew, Rillaboom, and Necrozma. It also provided a fast U-Turn to pivot and potentially cycle Intimidate if paired with Incineroar. Heatran, Rillaboom, Mew, and Urshifu-R rounded the team nicely. Whimiscott was added with its incredible Prankster support kit, notably rocking Cotton Spore to combat Tailwind teams and Helping Hand to support Dragapult. Unfortunately, the team was too weak into Tapu Fini, so Naganadel replaced Dragapult. After a few tests, the team was performing better, but overall it wasn't clicking enough to bring against Nails.

We went through a soft reset on Friday night and started with Mew, Rillaboom, and Incineroar. Urshifu-R was chosen to complete the Fire-Water-Grass core over Tapu Fini to not mess with our Toxic Spikes. Initially, Spurrific posted a Hex Naganadel calc to take advantage of Toxic Spikes, but we ended up going with the real Hex user in Spectrier, which combined Dragapult's Fake Out immunity with Naganadel's strength against Tapu Fini and took the fifth slot. The team's win condition slowly morphed into getting Toxic Spikes up and hitting everything with a 130 Base Power STAB move, so we went with Snarl and Will-O-Wisp so it could status Pokemon unaffected by Toxic Spikes and fit a more supporting role with a defensive EV Spread. Landorus was added to cover Porygon2, Incineroar, and Diancie and its noted offensive synergy with Urshifu-R and Spectrier from Week 1. Without Whimsicott and Naganadel, Mew now needed Tailwind, Toxic Spikes, and Defog, which left room for one attacking move. Lone Psychic or Ice Beam is usually very passive, so Spurrific suggested Pollen Puff which worked wonders. We started this process at 7:29 PM and ended at 11:34 PM the Friday before the game - an emma classic. After going from 10 unique Pokemon in the first two weeks, we reused five Pokemon and brought our first Incineroar.

Similar to Z Strats, I respect Nails a ton in these tournaments. Throughout the week, I was curious to know how similar he was to Z Strats and would know we prep super hard and purposely deviate. He did a good job balancing sticking to his guns (Hazards, Choice Band Genesect) and shaking things up (Dracozolt, Encore Mew).

Despite the loss, I was pleased with this week of prep and the team overall. The Mew set was perfect, Spectrier and Landorus were huge threats, and I'm pretty sure if Nails isn't Encore Mew & wins the early speed tie, Spurrific blows him out - but alas. Despite the 1-2 record, I was very happy with our three weeks of preparation overall. We had also already played the two best players in the pool, so I was confident we could hit 6 wins and Spurrific would receive his Genshin Impact bonus.

Week 4 vs. qsns

Final Team

Team Ideas

:tapu-fini:

qsns - Replays

SCL II

Week 1 vs. JRL (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-647172
Week 2 vs. Animus (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-648507
Week 3 vs. Frania (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-651250

2022 Winter Seasonal

Round 1 vs. NotlPrimRose (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1492844568
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1492849703

DWCoP II

Pools vs. Akaru Kokuyo (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1454180166
Pools vs. Nido-Rus (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1454114384
Pools vs. Crunchman (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1450665114-df145sd5wv70p4wt0bcbfq1upkyt5v8pw
Finals vs. Chloe (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1472011117

qsns - Teams and Usage Stats

Legend: [Pokémon: % of all Pokémon (42) | % of all teams (7)]
Rillaboom: 11.905% | 71.429%
Incineroar: 11.905% | 71.429%
Tapu Fini: 9.524% | 57.143%
Mew: 9.524% | 57.143%
Kyurem-Black: 9.524% | 57.143%
Celesteela: 7.143% | 42.857%
Zygarde: 4.762% | 28.571%
Landorus: 4.762% | 28.571%
Metagross: 4.762% | 28.571%
Heatran: 2.381% | 14.286%
Genesect: 2.381% | 14.286%
Zeraora: 2.381% | 14.286%
Diancie: 2.381% | 14.286%
Volcanion: 2.381% | 14.286%
Landorus-Therian: 2.381% | 14.286%
Dragapult: 2.381% | 14.286%
Stakataka: 2.381% | 14.286%
Porygon2: 2.381% | 14.286%
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 2.381% | 14.286%
Naganadel: 2.381% | 14.286%

.

qsns had less to work with than our previous three opponents, but they did follow a common theme of Rillaboom / Fire-type (Incineroar) / Water-type (Tapu Fini) / Ground-type / Tailwind or Trick Room / Steel-type, with not a lot of Urshifu-R or Naganadel. Our core Pokemon idea was Focus Blast Landorus as it went in, but our prep was more focused on a core idea.

We used many unique archetypes and Pokemon over the first three weeks, notably having two Spectrier compared to zero Tapu Fini, Incineroar, and Genesect. We wanted to fall back on using something that we knew was good and Spurrific was comfortable with and just have faith that he would be able to outplay the struggling 0-3 qsns. I noticed that Tapu Fini, Incineroar, and Geneset (heh.) all had >20% usage rates and >70% (!) win rates and paired nicely with Landorus. Throw in our favorite Pokemon Mew for Speed and Hazard control, and you have a solid five of Landorus, Tapu Fini, Incineroar, Genesect, Mew, and a filler of either Kyurem-B, Tyranitar, or Rillaboom.

Spurrific was very busy this week, but my classes were super easy, so the SCL II Power Plant Dynamos's Doubles OverUsed slot finally became THE EMMA SHOW. I spent a lot of time playing tests and thinking through what the last slot should be, and eventually presented options of Tyranitar, Rillaboom, and Dragapult to Spurrific. Tyranitar lets Mew run Spikes, is extra insurance against Rain and Psyspam, offers Ice coverage, and clicks Dragon Tail. Rillaboom is Rillaboom - lets Mew drop Fake Out, uses U-Turn, and it's good against Tapu Fini. Dragapult is fast and pivots, immune to Fake Out, and lets Genesect run Gunk Shot for Tapu Fini. The general gameplan was to set Stealth Rocks (& perhaps Spikes), pivot around with Choice Band Genesect, Incineroar (& perhaps Rillaboom or Dragapult), and find opportunities for Landorus to pick up KOs and Tapu Fini to Calm Mind and win. Other options included replacing Landorus and running Rillaboom and Dragapult or running Choice Scarf Landorus with U-Turn and flexing in Rillaboom. qsns was also lacking a bit in Tapu Fini checks besides their Rillaboom, so I liked the game plan.

Spurrific was a fan of using the broken mons and winning the mirror because we had Tapu Fini that outsped Pheromosa in Tailwind and Heavy-Duty Boots on our Incineroar. Hazard Spam with pivots, pinpointers, and a win condition was the best archetype in the metagame, and it was unlikely the Foxes would figure out how to stop it since their teams seemed a bit dated.

While testing, we discovered you need Tyranitar, or Rain was a major issue. However, not using Rillaboom left the door open for Tapu Fini to be a weakness, and without Dragapult, the team was a bit slow. We tried using Naganadel to patch all three holes at once, but that opened the door for Psychic Spam. Ultimately, I had to stop coping and realized Landorus was a luxury we could not afford. We resorted to using Nails' six from Week 1 but with some different sets, including Ice Beam + Earth Power Mew and forgoing Chople Berry for Heavy-Duty Boots on Incineroar. I spent 41 minutes trying to make Offensive Tyranitar with Crunch or Lash Out work, but I had to stop coping once more and just use a standard bulky Tyranitar with Ice Punch and Roar. Defog and Nihilego were the big threats, but we were pretty confident neither was coming (and they didn't). We were able to queue into a strong matchup, and Spurrific picked up his second win of the season.

Week 5 vs. Animus

Final Team

Team Ideas

N/A

Despite Animus playing in OSDT II and Fall Seasonal, we were only working off four replays since we agreed that the circuit tours were just reusing known teams and not reflective of what he actually liked or his SCL tendencies. He was very clearly a big Fire-type / Water-type / Grass-type / Dragon-type archetype fan but used three unique Fires, three unique Waters, two unique Grasses, and four unique Dragons. Notably, he lacked Mew, Genesect, Tyranitar, and Pheromosa usage and only had Ice Wind Blastoise as speed control in Week 4.

Our first (and only...) idea was Stealth Rock + Nihilego + Tapu Fini. Nihilego is very strong into Fire-type / Water-type / Grass-type cores, eats up Kyurem-B, performs well against his Steel-types, and outspeeds OHKOs Landorus and Urshifu-R after Stealth Rock at +1. Incineroar and Rillaboom formed our own Fire-type / Water-type / Grass-type core and provided overall Intimidate (which, combined with Misty Terrain, opened up opportunities for Nihilego against Rillaboom), Fake Out, pivoting, Knock Off (for Heavty-Duty Boots specifically), Psychic Spam insurance and priority. At first, Zapdos was the team's Tailwind setter, but then I remembered Mew is legal and broken and replaced it with Mew. Dragapult rounds out the team to provide fast U-Turn to once against fit the strategy of set Stealth Rocks, triple pivot with Dragapult, Rillaboom, and Incineroar, and line up opportunities for Nihilego to pin and Calm Mind Tapu Fini to win.

Animus was also lacking in Tapu Fini checks a bit, and relying on Rillaboom was not too reliable because if you threaten with Tapu Fini, then the Rillaboom is forced to come in and takes too much damage with Stealth Rocks and Moonblast chip so it can only come in about twice max. We were also using Max Attack & Max Speed Rillaboom so we would get the fast U-Turn and deal around 40% for additional chip damage.

Unfortunately, Spurrific and I were both very busy this week, so this was the only team we tested. This team is not bad, but the Spartans did an excellent job calling out our tendencies, getting a great matchup with Eject Button Whimsicott, and effectively winning the game turn one. This is the one week we got beat in the builder and ran into an auto-lose matchup. Whimsicott would then become a common bring against us later in the season after this week. Like my Week 5 last year, sometimes you get complacent and need to be punched in the mouth to get back on track.

emma · Jan 6, 2023

Week 6 vs. Frania

Final Team

Team Ideas

:rillaboom:

Welcome to Week 6 of SCL II - the one where emma goes insane over Whimsicott and Tailwind Offense! This week we shifted our prep focus to less on what Frania's brought and more on what we have (& haven't brought), what people have brought against us, and what was winning (& losing) overall in SCL. Our opponent had brought (in order) Tailwind Offense, Psychic Spam, Sand, Tailwind Offense, and Tailwind Offense, so it was clear people were trying to run over Spurrific's generally balanced playstyle and standard teams. All three of our losses had also been to Ghost-types (Spectrier, two Dragapults), all of which have had great matchups. Additionally, nobody had brought Incineroar against us.

I also went through usage stats to see which Pokemon won together, and it was apparent that combinations of Mew, Incineroar, Tapu Fini, Rillaboom, and Genesect were at the top. We also noticed that Hazards teams were beating non-Hazards teams. We also didn't want to go Mew / Incineroar / Rillaboom / Water-type for the fourth straight week, but we ended up going Mew / Incineroar / Fire-type / Tapu Fini regardless - oops!

Our first idea was to use Porygon2 to turn the tables against Tailwind and pair it with Choice Band Genesect to guarantee a favorable Download boost. The rest of the team fell into place quickly - Rillaboom, Volcanion, and Mew are standard Trick Room Pokemon, and Landorus is important to OHKO Urshifu-R and apply general offensive pressure outside of Trick Room. Since Whimsicott was living absolutely rent-free in my head this week, we also tried Tsareena to block Encore, OHKO it with Triple Axel, and break Protect while the dimensions were twisted with Feint so opponents couldn't stall out turns.

The options were underwhelming, so we also considered copying Nails' strategy from Week 2 and using our modified version of Whimiscott + strong legendaries. We wanted to use Tsareena to get the upper hand against opposing Whimsicott since, again, I was absolutely terrified of losing to Tailwind Offense. Despite the addition of Tsareena, fighting opposing Whimsicott still felt like a coinflip, and at this point, I was actually losing my entire mind over how strong Whimsicott was.

At 9:38 PM, two nights before the match, Spurrific saved the season:

Our first variation included Assault Vest Zygarde, Mew, Incineroar, Rillaboom, Tyranitar, and Naganadel. We dropped Incineroar since that Pokemon was simply not it (and we wouldn't use it the rest of the year) and added instead Tapu Fini, which blocked Grassy Glide for Zygarde, checked Urshifu-R, and benefitted from Coaching. Heatran and Dragapult replaced Tyranitar and Naganadel because that's what came to my mind at 11:59 that night.

We ended up with Spurrific playing through Nails piloting every single team Frania brought in SCL (major thanks!), and saw good results to lock in the team. For some reason, Frania brought Psychic Spam against us, which was a great matchup with Assault Vest Zygarde, Rillaboom, Tapu Fini, and Pollen Puff Mew. After losing my mind the entire week, Spurrific turned the week on its head, and we clawed back to 3-3.

Week 7 vs. JRL

Final Team

Team Ideas

:tyranitar:

Welcome to Week 7 of SCL II - the one where emma goes insane over Psychic Spam! JRL had nine variations of Psychic Spam used throughout SCL II and OSDT II and had already brought the archetype twice to SCL. Based on the scout, we decided we could not lose to Psychic Spam, Rain, Sand, Diancie or Stakataka Trick Room, Sleep, or Pheromosa. We also noticed that for the first three weeks, he reused a public team he's used before with slight modifications, while in Weeks 4 and 6, JRL reused a team he's used before, the latter with subtle changes.

Our initial idea was Tyranitar to provide great insurance against Weather and general Hyper Offense. Nobody had brought Tyranitar into JRL yet, and we had only used the Pokemon once. We also wanted to pair it with Dracozolt to take care of the slow goodstuffs, especially since he had only zero Landorus (one Landorus-T) and one Zygarde. Some other initial ideas included Snarl + Will-O-Wisp Mew, Fake Out + Snarl + Knock Off Assault Vest Zeraora, Steel Roller + Bullet Punch Assault Vest or Shuca Berry Metagross, and Choice Band Zygarde with Coaching and Tailwind support.

Whimsicott, Tapu Fini, and Genesect were staples of the evergrowing Sand archetype and easy additions, but we had a few options for the last slot. Toxigen used Rillaboom, zoe used Incineroar, and Nails used Dragapult, but we decided on Pheromosa to check Ground-types, Rillaboom, and Porygon2 for Dracozolt, while also benefitting from Tapu Fini blocking Grassy Glide. Unfortunately, the Trick Room mode of teams was causing trouble, so we replaced Pheromosa with Rillaboom, but the whole structure was underwhelming besides Tyranitar. We tried one more version without Dracozolt, but what we had was simply not it.

It was Wednesday night at 10:12 PM and we were stuck so I had to turn my thinking around. So instead of lasering in on Psychic Spam and Trick Room, I wanted to find a cool idea and build around it while accounting for JRL's tendencies.

The first thing that came to mind was our zero Kyurem-B usage, which I wanted to pair with Tapu Fini and Incineroar since that was a core I found success with it last SCL. Choice Band Genesect was the modern Steel-type to add, while Whimsicott and Zeraora added Fake Out, Tailwind, and Coaching. Mew replaced Whimsicott to free up Coaching on Zeraora for Snarl and set Stealth Rocks. Metagross replaced Genesect to be better into Diancie and provide Steel Roller support, and then Landorus replaced Zeraora because the team didn't look like it could do enough damage. Zygarde replaced Kyurem-B because the latter didn't like the high Heatran and Incineroar usage, which the former minded a lot less and overall was better against Psychic Spam. At the same time, Zeraora took back over for Landorus to avoid using both Ground-types. Tyranitar replaced Metagross as well to provide Stealth Rocks (and free up Spikes on Mew), Sand chip, Dragon Tail utility, and to beat Kyurem-B. Rillaboom replaced Zeraora since Mew + Zeraora was historically passive, and to keep Will-O-Wisp on Mew and Tapu Fini on the team, I needed secondary terrain control. Lastly, at 11:35 PM, Genesect (good Pokemon) replaced Incineroar (bad Pokemon) to offensively check Rillaboom, take on Diancie, and provide a strong U-Turn. After going insane for an hour, I was confident one of these versions had to be viable.

The team performed well despite a Choice Band Genesect weakness. JRL only had 3/22 Genesect, and all three were Choice Scarf, so we felt fine taking the risk. Landorus was also a threat since that Pokemon is insane, but JRL has zero usage, so we felt okay with the six. Unfortunately, JRL brought the exactly one Celesteela set that would win the game, and combined with some Muddy Water misses and a key misplay, we dropped to 3-4 and continued our trend of Lose - Win - Lose - Win - Lose - Win - Lose. We now needed to make playoffs to hit six wins, but at the very least, we wanted to finish off strong and go 5-4 (which is still impressive! Winning in SCL is hard!).

Week 8 vs. Grandmas Cookin

Final Team

Team Ideas

:urshifu:

Grandmas Cookin - Replays

SCL II - played by Ninja

Week 1 vs. JoeUX9 (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-646963
Week 2 vs. Z Strats (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-648762
Week 3 vs. Toxigen (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-651151
Week 4 vs. Nails (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-651615
Week 5 vs. dnagerbdager (W) https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-653863
Week 6 vs. Animus (L) https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-655234
Week 7 vs. Frania (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-656883

DOU Majors II

Pools vs. Mishimono (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1674730167-np53cdqorad74xvhlah2dmg8j895qecpw
Pools vs. ECPkmn (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1670074017-l7r7pig2hchv6tqcxf3k0tg0nodyzeqpw
Pools vs. MZB (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1670021047-6dcz6b0uff5uxdxsz0qysbhln43zol7pw
Pools vs. ADF Test (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1681236442
Pools vs. Frixel (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1670136810-q0kuog9h5uj7ekv4zkwtxj9yr55eym1pw
Tiebreaker vs. MZB (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1685189740-adqbopq7jsk33ryp90bnwy3i30wvf7opw

DOU Fall Seasonals

Round 1 vs. NinjaSnapple (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-645223
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-645225
Round 2 vs. Memoric (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1656295250
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1656297860
Round 4 vs. MZB (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1667371681-q70zkdql94azppxbnb5973j2e3sced7pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1667384041-3nkp5s96ysi661o6ywiftclctnm8te9pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1667397057-pcah4ojksu26qrdcqgfypucfso3rqt5pw
Round 5 vs. SMB (L)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1675065482-duaxr1qbc36255z70b3fi0599cwd1lzpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8doublesou-1675071063-tvt0tm83r3juuhbwul8ebocgups7edxpw

Grandmas Cookin - Teams and Usage Stats

SCL II Only

Legend: [Pokémon: % of all Pokémon (42) | % of all teams (7)]
Rillaboom: 11.905% | 71.429%
Volcanion: 9.524% | 57.143%
Incineroar: 7.143% | 42.857%
Mew: 7.143% | 42.857%
Pheromosa: 7.143% | 42.857%
Naganadel: 7.143% | 42.857%
Genesect: 4.762% | 28.571%
Zygarde: 4.762% | 28.571%
Tyranitar: 4.762% | 28.571%
Landorus: 4.762% | 28.571%
Tapu Fini: 2.381% | 14.286%
Zapdos: 2.381% | 14.286%
Excadrill: 2.381% | 14.286%
Amoonguss: 2.381% | 14.286%
Celesteela: 2.381% | 14.286%
Spectrier: 2.381% | 14.286%
Tsareena: 2.381% | 14.286%
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 2.381% | 14.286%
Porygon2: 2.381% | 14.286%
Dragapult: 2.381% | 14.286%
Diancie: 2.381% | 14.286%
Kyurem-Black: 2.381% | 14.286%
Dracozolt: 2.381% | 14.286%

Overall

Legend: [Pokémon: % of all Pokémon (66) | % of all teams (11)]
Rillaboom: 12.121% | 72.727%
Mew: 9.091% | 54.545%
Pheromosa: 7.576% | 45.455%
Incineroar: 6.061% | 36.364%
Volcanion: 6.061% | 36.364%
Porygon2: 6.061% | 36.364%
Kyurem-Black: 6.061% | 36.364%
Tapu Fini: 4.545% | 27.273%
Zygarde: 4.545% | 27.273%
Naganadel: 4.545% | 27.273%
Landorus: 4.545% | 27.273%
Genesect: 3.030% | 18.182%
Tyranitar: 3.030% | 18.182%
Amoonguss: 3.030% | 18.182%
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 3.030% | 18.182%
Diancie: 3.030% | 18.182%
Zapdos: 1.515% | 9.091%
Excadrill: 1.515% | 9.091%
Celesteela: 1.515% | 9.091%
Spectrier: 1.515% | 9.091%
Tsareena: 1.515% | 9.091%
Dragapult: 1.515% | 9.091%
Dracozolt: 1.515% | 9.091%
Heatran: 1.515% | 9.091%
Tapu Lele: 1.515% | 9.091%

Just like last year's Week 8 - my second term at university was starting, as well as a new extracurricular project, so I was extraordinarily busy. I was not too involved in Weeks 8 or 9 (as you'll see) and had to resort to prepping at 11 PM and later while exhausted after we qualified for playoffs. Thankfully, Spurrific would hard carry both weeks, finish 5-4, and secure the Power Plant Dynamos' spot in SCL II playoffs with minimal help from me. The pressure was on - if he lost either of these games, we didn't qualify - but when it mattered most, he delivered.

For the first of two weeks in a row, we faced a player who was subbing in to play their first game of the season - how fun. I gathered all of the Showdown Shoguns' Doubles Replays regardless since Grandmas Cookin was building for Ninja, as well as four new teams from his play in the circuit. We noticed that the teams generally fit a pattern of Grass-type (Rillaboom), Fire-type (Incineroar or Volcanion), Primary Speed Control (Tailwind or Trick Room), Fast and hard sitting secondary Speed Control (Choice Scarf Pokemon, Pheromosa, Dragapult), Win Condition (Shift Gear Genesect, Excadrill, Meteorb Beam Celesteela, Diancie, Dragon Dance Kyurem-B) and a secondary breaker or support Pokemon (Choice Band Zygarde, Landorus, Urshifu-R). Despite Grandmas Cookin having a formulaic building approach, we wanted to branch out from our tendencies because we had brought Rillaboom, Mew, and Tapu Fini for the past four weeks. There were also a ton of cool Pokemon that we had minimal or zero usage of (Landorus (2), Urshifu-R (0), Diancie (1), Naganadel (0), Whismicott (0), Celesteela (0), and Porygon2 (0).

Our first idea was to copy Nails, use Assault Vest Urshifu-R, and then pair it with a Trick Room mode since we hadn't used that archetype too much, and fat Urshifu-R took Landorus out of the picture. We chose Stakataka as our Trick Room win condition, Tsareena for protection against Whimsicott, U-Turn, and Feint, Naganadel for its speed, good matchup into Rillaboom and Volcanion, and threatening Zygarde and Landorus with OHKOs outside of Trick Room. Incineroar brought stability and insurance against Psychic Spam, while Landorus was fast outside Trick Room and paired well with Naganadel, and set Stealth Rock. Before even playing a game, I did not like the team's vibe and threw it away. It was Wednesday night, and we had no fleshed-out team ideas, so Spurrific again saved the day.

Still wanting to use Assault Vest Urshifu-R, Spurrific pointed out that Rillaboom was its best partner and made for an easy partner. He then wanted to throw on Heatran to beat Naganadel, and you already had insurance with the Urshifu-R set. The speed tier for all three was middling, so adding Tailwind and then Diancie with Trick Room for anti-Tailwind was a good idea. He also liked Mew to provide Stealth Rock, Coaching, and Tailwind support. This was now the third week in a row of using Coaching, but that's because it's that good. Naganadel took the last spot to deal with Volcanion and kill Rillaboom. We debated using Zeraora over Mew since we already had Tailwind, but we decided Mew's Stealth Rock and good matchup into Naganadel was worth it.

The last thing we did was figure out what Download boosts we were giving out since always fighting +1 Porygon2 was not ideal. We shuffled around some EVs so that Rillaboom would always give a Special Attack boost, Diancie would always give an Attack boost unless paired with Rillaboom or had Diamond Storm boosts, Urshifu-R would always give a Special Attack boost unless paired with Diancie, Heatran would give attack with Mew or Naganadel, while Naganadel and mew would give Special Attack together. We also noticed a tough Dracozolt matchup, but there was no way he used Sand a third time and in back-to-back weeks, we had just used Zygarde and Tapu Fini two weeks in a row and had Incineroar or a Ground-type every week but one, and sometimes both. We were also not expecting Psychic Spam since our scout against it was very strong, so we were not too prepared for it.

This was our second bad matchup of the tour, but I feel strongly that it was because Grandmas Cookin brought a random sample team rather than because of anything we could have controlled (we were literally 2-0 against Psychic Spam so far!). Thankfully, Spurrific was able to outplay, move to 4-4, keep the Dynamos season alive, and need one more win to finish positive. Unfortunately, he would have to do so with zero emma involvement!

Week 9 vs. Leo

Final Team

Team Ideas

N/A

emma — 10/30/2022
i think no matter who we play
its supposed to be a "just bring something solid that wont get cheesed and believe you can outplay"
Spurrific — 10/30/2022
agreed
maybe also try to bring something not in our scout
memo knows how to scout

Spurrific — 11/02/2022
gm
I think i probably want to try some kind of whims ho

[18:12:48] +Bbeeaa: Leo te tengo una cita en tinder con la hermana de soulwind
[18:12:50] +Bbeeaa: si la tiras
Spurrific has 210 seconds left.
Leo has 5 seconds left.

Leo lost due to inactivity.

Spurrific won the battle!

Semifinals vs. Nails

Final Team

Team Ideas

:whimsicott:

Nails - Replays

Week 1 vs. Animus (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-647240
Week 2 vs. Frania (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-649330
Week 3 vs. Spurrific (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-651154
Week 4 vs. Ninja (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-651615
Week 5 vs. Memoric (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-654264
Week 6 vs. Z Strats (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-655078
Week 7 vs. Tenzai (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-656075
Week 8 vs. JRL (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-657592
Week 9 vs. zoe (W)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8doublesou-659520

Nails - Teams and Usage Stats

Legend: [Pokémon: % of all Pokémon (54) | % of all teams (9)]
Rillaboom: 11.111% | 66.667%
Mew: 9.259% | 55.556%
Genesect: 9.259% | 55.556%
Incineroar: 7.407% | 44.444%
Tapu Fini: 7.407% | 44.444%
Tyranitar: 7.407% | 44.444%
Dragapult: 5.556% | 33.333%
Whimsicott: 5.556% | 33.333%
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 5.556% | 33.333%
Volcanion: 3.704% | 22.222%
Landorus-Therian: 3.704% | 22.222%
Dracovish: 3.704% | 22.222%
Kyurem-Black: 1.852% | 11.111%
Dracozolt: 1.852% | 11.111%
Amoonguss: 1.852% | 11.111%
Tapu Lele: 1.852% | 11.111%
Pheromosa: 1.852% | 11.111%
Zeraora: 1.852% | 11.111%
Metagross: 1.852% | 11.111%
Heatran: 1.852% | 11.111%
Landorus: 1.852% | 11.111%
Ninetales-Alola: 1.852% | 11.111%
Arctozolt: 1.852% | 11.111%

Against all odds, the Dynamos were in SCL Playoffs and we had an opportunity to be the only player to take down Nails. More importantly, Spurrific gained an opportunity to hit 6 wins and earn his primogems bonus.

I was very excited for a chance to slay 9-0 Nails. A 5-4 regular season is not bad at all; in fact, it is quite good, but our record did not reflect the high expectations I had for our group. I knew taking down the best player in the pool, who was having one of the most impressive official team tournaments of all time and getting to six wins, would turn everything around, so I was more than willing to play Pokemon starting at 10 PM every night. While this was not good for my sleep schedule, it ended up paying off.

We unlocked a lot of help this week - Toxigen joined our chat after being eliminated and Z Strats was a huge theorymonning and testing partner this week, thank you both!

Prepping for someone a second time in the same season was interesting. Despite facing the same player, the scout was different, and the metagame had evolved quite a bit since Week 3. We had also already used one of our stronger ideas all tour last time we faced off, so we'd have to come up with something new. We also wanted to keep some Pokemon in mind that Nails had yet to use, but we knew he was high on: Zeraora, Nihilego, Diancie, Ferrothorn, and Celesteela.

Our core idea was Whimsicott + Galarian Zapdos + Tapu Fini. Whimsicott had become the most potent archetype in the format, and we felt we could get an edge in the mirror with Cotton Spore. Nature Power was also very strong into Dragapult and Dracozolt. Galarian Zapdos was temping into Nails' high usage of Choice Band Genesect, Assault Vest Tapu Fini, and Tyranitar. He had also brought Rillaboom + Incineroar / Heatran four of the past five weeks and five of nine weeks overall. He also had Intimidate on six of nine teams to activate Defiant. Tapu Fini rounds out the core as a top three Pokemon in the format, providing Terrain Control, stability, and comfort. Our first version was a six Enzonana. posted in the chat, with noted sets of Electroweb Zeraora for surprise Speed Control and to synergize with Assurance Galarian Zapdos and Choice Specs Tapu Fini since Spurrific didn't want to grind our a Calm Mind Tapu Fini endgame against Nails.

Through tests, Galarian Zapdos struggled mightily into Fake Out, and Nails had an average of at least 1.3 Fake Outs per team. Furthermore, it couldn't fit Protect because it needed Choice Band to do enough damage. Tsareena + Trick Room was also a problem, but that was less relevant. We tried a version with Tsareena, but at the end of the day, Galarian Zapdos was not it. Even if it got to +1 via Defiant, it was still only trading one for one, which was not worth it.

We reset at our core idea of Cotton Spore Whimsicott, Choice Specs Tapu Fini, and Shift Gear + Extreme Speed Genesect, which we were pretty sure was good. Nails' biggest checks to Genesect included Volcanion or Heatran, Urshifu-R, Landorus-T, and his own Genesect, so we decided to try our own Urshifu-R and go double Water-type. It also provided insurance for Nihilego. This did leave a Rillaboom hole, which is why we would have loved it if Galarian Zapdos was legal, so we added Heatran as a Grass-type killer. Coaching Zeraora rounded out the team with two excellent targets, but we were worried about the team being too passive with Whimsicott and Zeraora.

Our secondary idea was Trick Room with the one and only Lurantis. Z Strats and stax were testing it earlier in the season, and it matches up very well into Nails' Incineroar / Heatran / Tapu Fini / Urshifu-R / Rillaboom / Tyranitar / Genesect / Intimidate / Tailwind or Fast Weather usage. Even Mew dropped to Stealth Rock into Superpower into +1 Knock Off. We decided to go with Volcanion over Incineroar as our Fire-type for offensive pressure and Mew over Porygon2 as our secondary Trick Room setter with Diancie to avoid a Urshifu-R weakness. Rillaboom was added with Lurantis running Grassy Glide so it could be used outside Trick Room, as well as helping facilitate Trick Room with Fake Out and U-Turn. Dragapult rounded out the team to help us pivot and pin, and provide Speed Control outside Trick Room.

We ran both ideas into tests (but with Landorus over Urshifu-R on the first option) against Z Strats, and Lurantis was unironically fire. We then specifically played Lurantis into teams Nails had already used in SCL, and, as expected, it matched up very well into the scout. One change we did make was giving Volcanion a Shuca Berry since Landorus was a threat.

Throughout the next two days, we ran additional tests into me with mock teams and Z Strats using whatever was in his builder. Notably, on Friday, I beat Z Strats using Dracozolt Sand, Whimsicott Offense, and Porygon2 using Lurantis, which really made me confident with the team. The team was good, had a great matchup spread against Nails, could win against other archetypes, and was unique with techs, so I was very excited to bring it. After spending Saturday playing final texts against Toxigen and finalizing the EV spreads to minimize Stealth Rocks and give us the Download Boosts we wanted, we were ready to lock in the team.

The team performed precisely how it was supposed to (with the aid of winning a 48/52 roll), beat 9-0 Nails, and gifted Spurrific Nahida in Genshin Impact. This was the week I was most proud of in prep. With our backs up against the wall, facing the best player in the pool, and my limited time, we delivered. On Monday, I could log on to Discord at 8:26 PM, and Spurrific and I worked until 11:45 PM. On Tuesday, it was 9:11 PM to 1:03 AM. On Wednesday, it was 8:46 PM to 12:25 AM. On Thursday, it was 8:59 PM to 12:49 AM. And on Friday, it was 7:05 PM to 10:50 PM, with additional work on Saturday and the previous Sunday. The Power Plant Dynamos were now one win away from a trophy.

Finals vs. Z Strats

Final Team

Team Ideas

:genesect:

I couldn't imagine a better final boss than Z Strats - what a way to send off SS Doubles OU. Like last week, I was super excited for a chance to redeem myself and secure the second-best Doubles record with a win. Z Strats was the player I've worked with most in my life, and it was time for the student to surpass the master. Unfortunately, this week I was very stressed with my research proposal and exams so I had to rely on others for more help than before.

We unlocked further help with Nails joining our team chat, thank you! He immediately provided us with what he thought the best team in the format was (which included Shift Gear Genesect + Assault Vest Urshifu-R + Coaching Zeraora) and what he was planning to use against Z Strats (Assault Vest Genesect + Calm Mind Tapu Fini).

Another idea I had was a Mental Herb Trick Room setter. I knew Z Strats was primarily an Offensive player that has outs against Trick Room, most notably offensive pressure, only letting Trick Room get set up once, and Taunt. The thought process was Mental Herb Bulky Mew, or Offensive Cresselia would get around both and allow us to set Trick Room multiple times, and if you can set Trick Room multiple times against Z Strats, you usually win.

The team Nails was going to use into Z Strats had six good Pokemon and was overall very similar to what we had run over the bulk of the season (notably the Rillaboom / Tapu Fini / Mew trio), but with some variations of sets we hadn't used yet (High Horsepower Rillaboom and Fake Out Mew). Assault Vest Genesect seemed very strong and hadn't been used yet. Focus Sash Landorus and Volt Switch Mew were cool techs that could catch him off guard and help us gain an advantage. It also followed the game plan of pivoting into pinning into winning with our win condition, but the only real pinner was Focus Sash Landorus. On paper, Naganadel, Genesect, Whimsicott, and Fast Tailwind offense seemed annoying, which deterred me from wanting to bring it. Considering the fact that I knew Z Strats thought our scout was weak to Genesect, we could not bring this team.

We pivoted instead to a variation of what Nails thought was the best archetype in the metagame: Shift Gear Genesect, Assault Vest Urshifu-R, and Coaching Zeraora. The team was similar to what Nails pasted, with Tapu Fini and Landorus rounding out the team, but we went with Mew in the flex spot to provide Fake Out, pivoting, and Tailwind support. We also removed the Focus Sash from Landorus and gave it Life Orb while adding Blaze Kick to Zeraora to snipe Genesects and Whimiscotts. We also used Trick Choice Scarf Tapu Fini to snipe Z Strats' fast offensive Pokemon (notably Landorus) and Trick the Choice Scarf to any Demon Mew sets we thought were likely enough to bring.

Overall, I think the team is quite good, although Mew maybe should have been Cotton Spore Whimsicott, even if Z Strats knew about it. This game was well within reach, but a key critical hit, losing a 50/50 on which slot Encore forced an attack, and a key misplay at the end let it slip away. I was very upset to not be as active as I would have liked this week because of everything I had to deal with, but at the end of the day, we brought a good team and had strong odds to win, so I can't complain too much.

Set Dump

Spectrier @ Spell Tag
Ability: Grim Neigh
EVs: 172 Def / 84 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Snarl
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect

+

Mew @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pollen Puff
- Defog
- Toxic Spikes
- Tailwind
Week 3 vs. Nails

Toxic Spikes, Will-O-Wisp, Snarl, and Hex all have excellent synergy, allowing Spectrier to fire off 130 Base Power STAB moves and help with damage reduction. Defog is also super underrated, and I'm surprised only we brought it this season. Pollen Puff is an excellent last move on Mew if you only have space for one attacking move since lone Psychic / Ice Beam is often underwhelming.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 144 SpA / 64 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Muddy Water
- Moonblast
- Protect
Week 4 vs. qsns
Week 5 vs. Animus
Week 6 vs. Frania
Week 7 vs. JRL

Speed kills. This set outspeeds Pheromosa by three in Tailwind and almost always outspeeds other Tapu Fini. Being faster in the mirror is good.

Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Grassy Glide
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Week 5 vs. Animus

We only ran this out of spite, but always outspeeding other Rillaboom and knowing you have the faster Fake Out comes into play in certain situations.

Rillaboom @ Assault Vest
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Fake Out
- Grassy Glide
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Week 7 vs. JRL

This set outspeeds Pheromosa by two points in Tailwind and almost always outspeeds other Tapu Fini. Being faster in the mirror is good. This is one point slower than our fast Tapu Fini so Grassy Terrain gets set.

Zygarde @ Assault Vest
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Thousand Waves
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Tail

+

Mew @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Pollen Puff
- Coaching
- Tailwind
Week 6 vs. Frania

Assault Vest Zygarde saved our season. Paired with Pollen Puff, Coaching, and Tailwind support - it's a demon. Thousand Waves is also super underrated because trapping is broken.

Genesect @ Life Orb
Ability: Download
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Shift Gear
- Iron Head
- Leech Life
- Extreme Speed
Week 9 vs. Leo
Finals vs. Z Strats

Shift Gear + 3 Attacks Genesect is nasty. Extreme Speed notably goes before Whimsicott can Tailwind or Encore.

Lurantis @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 SpA / 0 Spe
- Grassy Glide
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- Protect
Semifinals vs. Nails

With the season and primogems on the line, we went with *checks notes* ...Lurantis. This Pokemon is definitely real - it matches up well into Incineroar / Tapu Fini / Rillaboom / Mew / Tyranitar cores, and Grassy Glide provides utility outside of Trick Room.

Whimsicott @ Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nature Power
- Cotton Spore
- Encore
- Tailwind

Cotton Spore Whimsicott is great in the Offense mirror match, and we almost brought it multiple times throughout the season, including in both playoff games. Whismsiott overall is one of the best Pokemon in the tier - who would have thought.

Conclusion

Final Team Dump

We ended up building 48 teams altogether. Overall, I am very proud of our prep throughout this tournament, especially considering the internal and external adversaries we faced. We got to six wins, slayed 9-0 Nails in Semifinals, and only had two bad matchups all tour, with one of those being dumb luck. After my disastrous SPL XIII and overall terrible first half of 2022, I'm very proud of bouncing back and being 13-7 over my past two outings in SCL.

I already posted shoutouts, but again thank you to Excal and Luthier for being willing to spend as much as you did on me and putting faith in our slot to deliver every week and Spurrific for an excellent season of SS Doubles OU. I had a ton of fun building and playing with you this year, and I'm delighted we ended up together. See everyone in SCL III.

Spurrific · Jan 6, 2023

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a big thanks to emma for all the work she put into this season and the write up. I had a lot going on in my personal life this season and I don't think I would have been able to go positive if not for her prep every week. Also want to thank Luthier and Excal for investing so much into the Doubles slot to get both me and emma, Enzonana. for also being a key contributor in prep, and Toxigen and Nails for joining us after their teams were eliminated. Finally, here's the team dump:

Team Dump

Week 1 vs. Z Strats

Final Team

Team Ideas

Week 2 vs. Toxigen

Final Team

Team Ideas

Week 3 vs. Nails

Final Team

Team Ideas

Week 4 vs. qsns

Final Team

Team Ideas

Week 5 vs. Animus

Final Team

Team Ideas

N/A

Week 6 vs. Frania

Final Team

Team Ideas

Week 7 vs. JRL

Final Team

Team Ideas

Week 8 vs. Grandmas Cookin

Final Team

Team Ideas

Week 9 vs. Leo

Final Team

Team Ideas

N/A

Semifinals vs. Nails

Final Team

Team Ideas

Finals vs. Z Strats

Final Team

Team Ideas

Grandmas Cookin · Jan 6, 2023

Enzonana. · Jan 7, 2023

emma said:

Z Strats i hate you twice

Resource [9:54 PM] emma: 6 wins = ill buy you the $100 primogems when the deals refresh

emma

Popular in Life and Death

emma

Popular in Life and Death

Spurrific

Grandmas Cookin

Enzonana.

EL NANA.