Tournament NDFL III Set & Team Dump Thread

[hidin]

NDFL III Set & Team Dump Thread
​

The third iteration of NDFL is soon to come to an end; this makes it the perfect opportunity to post what you've done throughout the season! Whether you were a manager or a new player, anything is welcome here as long as it was within the tournament or was in consideration.

NOTE: Only criteria is that you have to ping slopcat for every post you make in the thread.

 

[LogIce]

slopcat
https://pokepast.es/80eb28a234823713

 

[ambi_]

slopcat
https://pokepast.es/80eb28a234823713

Someone ban this guy please
slopcat

 

[Pengu]

slopcat

Now that the Rillaboom's are officially out of the tour I just want to do a quick dump for DOU. Before that though, I would like to thank ARTYMASION for their support and drafting me in the first place as well as Danbear02 . Additionally, I would like to thank Astro Nation Shoe for being my fellow DOU player, I believe that I went undefeated and shoe had one loss only so we had quite the DOU slot considering we both went for 3000 flat.

W2 vs NinjaSnapple (W)
----- vs -----
https://pokepast.es/7f5e3df68b722ea0
I remember looking at the scout against ninja and figured that ice was really strong into them. My first thought was a pao + marshadow + kingambit angle of sorts, although I don't really feel confident that I could get comfortable with that team. Instead I opted for something a little more familiar; volcanion + blackrem. It ended up being a good call and resulted in a win.

W3 vs Sunrose (W)
----- vs -----
https://pokepast.es/b2876f2302acc151
Honestly, this wasn't the team I prepped to face off against. I didn't really have much info on Sunrose before our match, so I just expected something along the lines of their first 2 week teams and built something that is solid into that and has generally alright Matchups across the board. The game needed up not really mattering anyways since we already secured the win but was a fun game regardless.

W7 vs Smudge (W)
----- vs -----
https://pokepast.es/9b69511d1dd36a5e
During the scout I though that zardy looked nice so I decided to build with it... And then I forgot to finish the team until the day before when the goat arty pasted in some zardy teams, and I eventually settled upon this one and ended up winning. Unfortunately it wasn't enough and we got knocked out of the tour, but it was a fun one nonetheless.

shoe played the missing weeks and I think only lost week 1, gz shoe on that

slopcat

 

[Danbear02]

Just shoutouts, no teams because I didn't build much and will let our UU and RU players share if they'd like.

First, a big thanks to ARTYMASION and bumboclaat for inviting me to manage. Y'all are great and it was fun to work with you guys. Coming so close to Semis is a win in my book for having essentially 0 team tour managing experience.

Niadev: Of course my CO-TL has to be first here, it was great to build alongside you for the first time. Really cool to see your style and though I know you were disappointed in your play, you did great and more than anything, it was a fun season and that's what important.

SapoDaG30: Still can't believe you didn't get drafted in PL. Always great building with you boss, you're such a talented player and builder and support.

FayaWizard: Thanks for coming along. I know we didn't get you too many games (20 person team moment), but its always cool to see you in UU and I hope to continue seeing you down there. Also nice to have someone to chat with in game discussion when nobody is around :skull:

Amstan: Thanks for being an emergency UU backup. Fun to have you along.

doso749, Caesarr, Pengu, Astro Nation Shoe: All of you were 3k and all 3 of you carried our seasons. Looking forward to seeing y'all in PL next year.

YaVR_1, Galarian Blades, SirPeanutCronch, Zpice, mipc, Steorra, Minissou, AM, OceanicGamer, t.t, CrossHeart: This was a huge team. Thanks for being along for the ride, I know it was kinda chaotic but it was a lot of fun and we hope you guys had a good time as well.

deviously: Thanks for randomly joining us midseason

slug: Hope you doing well wherever you went boss.

 

[Niadev]

Been compiling this as the tour went on which is why there's so much yap so soon after we got eliminated.

Week 1 (W):

Explanation/Yap

Opp didn't seem to have played the tier before so we decided to use brokens. At first we wanted to use an Okidogi team (see the alternate teams) but ultimately decided that since I use BO so much it was time to mix things up a bit, and Moth HO is more broken anyways. The main core is Booster Iron Moth + AutoSteela, with AutoSteela weakening bulky spdef mons that are forced to come in to check it such as Mega Latias through the use of the Z, so Moth can clean up later. Plus, I always find non Z Celesteela to be hard to get going compared to Z. Booster Iron Moth is probably the most contentious mon in the tier right now, what with Discharge and Energy Ball allowing it to put conventional checks on very shaky ground, and few if any offensive mons can actually RK it, but my opinion on it is pretty much just that it's only as good as HO is, since booster sucks off of the playstyle.

MAero is next, weakening Hippowdon and Tyranitar, while AutoSteela can lure in Rotom-Wash to weaken it for a lategame MAero sweep. Moth also fries most of the steels that check MAero. Originally, MAero was Taunt to lure Hippowdon and keep it low, but this comp had too many issues with Sub Keldeo and Serperio to keep it, and MAero weakens Hippowdon a lot at +1 anyways. Azumarill is to stop Keldeo and Mienshao + other fast fightings from messing us up and forcing Mega Venu to take +6 AJet chip. Bisharp was originally a Shuca Aegislash, but with Azu and Moth checking MAero offensively, and problems breaking Clefable, we went Bisharp instead, with Life Orb to ensure that +2 Iron Head can KO MVenu. As a bonus, it also significantly improves the Aegislash MU, which came in handy in the game itself, especially since it didn't seem as if it had CC. I ummed and aahed about the lead, originally Excadrill to help with Clef and keep rocks off for Moth and MAero, but it was pointed out to me that Mew also stops most hazard leads, so we went for that since it's the more consistent lead against anti-HO.

You may have noticed that my AutoSteela is walled by MAero, but Giga Drain is actually not the standard set, so odds are, the opponent will assume it's Meteor Beam and send in their MBeam Steela check first, usually Washer or a SpDef Steela, but even if they know, Giga + Fly Z puts it in Moth Discharge range anyways so it works out just fine anyways.

Ultimately the opponent also brought HO, and it wound up with me getting lucky Fiery Dance boosts and OHKOing MAero with Discharge. I think it was still winnable without the RNG, but it would have come down to mindgames with Bish vs Rillaboom.

Now, you may have a case of deja vu, since someone else brought a team with the same mons, but different sets, and I think their comp is valid too since their AutoSteela isn't as prone to being walled by MAero, but it also leads to slightly more issues with Wash. Comes down to preference really.

Alternate Teams:

Spoiler

Dogi stocks are hugely up and lowkey it's kind of broken, so I decided to build around it. BU Fight Z messes up hippo and +1 Gunk Shot is still going to leave most Buzzwole reeling, plus this thing is bulky as hell physically so at +1 Buzz has no shot of KOing short of some funky Ground Z set. Most typical fighting answers fall flat on their faces vs this. Team comp is pretty much use Washtom to lure in grasses for MAero and Dogi to abuse, with Aegi acting as the fighting check and Serp to stop opposing washers. Hippo is our best ground that isn't Excadrill who, while good, has its issues, plus it can act as a backup Booster Moth check. The 40 SpDef EVs on MAero is to eat Discharge from Booster Moth.


Pretty much the same as the final team but it's a bit more solid into MAero and Serperior and worse into Aegi.


A fairly typical RillaMoth HO, making use of the Taunt MAero. I feel like RillaMAero is a bit of an anti synergy though, so I'm not super happy with this.

I did not play Week 2, so on to Week 3:

Week 3 (W):


Note: I probably wouldn't bring this into current meta, opposing Dogi kind of shamone this

Yap

Looking at the opponent's replays, we noticed a trend of balance/BO teams, specifically balance in NDUU, but also some HO, so we wanted a mon that would be good into either MU, and Okidogi seemed like the right pick. Okidogi had been a bit of a rising star these past few weeks, so what better time than now? Unfortunately, I had used the other Okidogi team outside of NDFL, so I wasn't sure if it would be scouted or not. Unlike with the Dogi paste in week 1's alternates, this time, we went with Poisonium, since Buzzwole was pretty common this week, and Hippowdon is easier to overwhelm than Buzzwole. High Horsepower is honestly just the better 4th move, since Knock doesn't hit anything HHP and STABs don't already, doing more into Aegi consistently. However, Hippowdon is still an issue for this set, so we wanted something to abuse it. Lo and behold, Rillaboom. Notably, in Grassy Terrain, Hippowdon's Earthquake does a pittance to Rillaboom after a Bulk Up, letting it farm boosts off of a mon that would otherwise check it.

Washtom + MAero is a pretty standard balance core, with Washtom inviting in grasses for Okidogi to come in on and abuse, while also being one of the tier's only passable hazard control mons. The MAero spread chosen is invested to take Booster Moth Fiery Dance with boost into Discharge better if rocks aren't up and it's at full. Hippowdon is pretty much the only bulky ground worth using right now, since Utillity Exca is often much more on paper than in practice, and we already had washer. Sand Stream hurts more than it helps here, so we went Sand Force. Last but not least is Iron Moth, mostly there to pivot on rocks for Dogi and Rilla, and abuse Celesteela and Skarmory since a) they're annoying af otherwise, and b) I figured that my replays probably hinted at a teambuilding weakness regarding Steela.

Notable issues with this team is that if there's a Washtom on the other team, Rilla is basically only a U-turn bot since it's the only mon that even wants to try to come in on Washer, but our opp didn't seem to be a massive fan of teams washer fits on. I also pretty much have to Toxic Mega Latias with Hippo or else it just kind of mogs me, but it's not an unplayable MU what with nothing that gives it an in lacking a pivoting move to bring in Hippo.

Of course, ultimately, my opp brought Trick Room, which was one of the worst MUs possible for this team, but I managed to claw a W since Rilla Wood Hammer was unbelievably free and Okidogi cleaned with an in, Cresselia weakened, and Trick Room gone, which I managed to pull off.

Alternate teams:

Spoiler

Ultimately, most of these are just variations and cores with Okidogi. Rather than spend time going over the build process for each, I'll just list the general premise and why it got scrapped.


This was originally FuturePort Slowbro over Washtom with Fight Z Okidogi (to hopefully force Buzzwole to take Future Sight) but FuturePort+Fighting is so 2022, plus this team also just kind of got shamoned by hazards with Slowbro. Washtom also brought in Okidogi better. This got rejected because speed control kind of sucks here and there's pretty much no immediate breaking power worth a damn. It has a Hoodra though so that's cool.


This is pretty much the final team but with Hoodra over MAero. We tried Rilla over Serp for speed control, but I didn't like the fact it was still so slow, but this is still better than the first draft.

You'd think I then went with the final team afterwards but nah, here's some more drafts.


Not even a team bruh, it's just a skeleton :sob:. Rejected because Celesteela just sits on this till the sun dies. Specs Hydrapple is probably cool though, just more with a Zone or smth.


I figured hey, BO wasn't working, so why not balance? ... Yeah building balance in this meta is a nightmare. I couldn't fit enough pivots and my ass still gets shamoned by too much. Plus, again, no immediate breaking power. And this one's still steela weak. Pass.

Week 4 (L):

Yap

My opp for this week was observed to be weak to fairy spam so specs Enamorus looked like it went hard into them. We also expected them to bring Garganacl like they did previous two weeks, but this was the week they didn't I supose. Unfortunately they brought Aegi, but Enam basically killed it so eh, it still got rid of a big ass threat. Mienshao stuffs Salt Cure spam and is checked by a lot of things Enamorus abuses, meaning it can click U-turn on those and we can theoretically get a free kill. We already had a breaker and needed speed control so scarf was the obvious choice. Washtom is our best defogger besides maybe Mega Latias, but this wasn't shaping up to be a balance team, so we made Washtom the fogger. It also pivots on grasses like Hydrapple and Rillaboom (not super great if we run into mega venu but w/e we can still kill it), so that's cool. Mega Latias was next for a reliable Iron Moth answer which would otherwise farm the previous 3, plus it took care of the Mega Venusaur that would have troubled this squad. We ummed and aahed about the set, going from CM to Draco 3A before ultimately settling on Psychic + Mystical + Aura since Steela was still looking annoying if they brought it.

Hippowdon is a given, I think I've already made my opinion on utility Excadrill obvious from previous yap seshes in this post and how Hippowdon is pretty much the only decent defensive ground worth running on BO rn. Rotom-W is honestly pretty ass Steela counterplay and a pivot that could bring enam in on Hippowdon and Tyranitar looked nice to bring, so Iron Moth was the logical outcome. Plus, the team was looking like it struggled for wincons other than Enam getting into position to mash Moonblast, so that was a nice bonus. It would also have won if they weren't Life Orb Zeraora of all things. Mega Venu still looked pretty annoying since it comes in on Enam aside from Psychic predicts, so we decided to run Sand Stream on Hippo to limit recovery, which meant that Morning Sun was kind of a dead slot on Moth, so we opted for EBall to weaken Garganacl.

Unfortunately, I fumbled the bag this week, but it was real close anyways so I'm not too bothered about it. I guess I probably would have won if it wasn't LO Zera but going my won Zera into Rilla was the better play since if I'd calced I'd have confirmed it was AV. Always calc folks, and remember that 90 seconds isn't 9 seconds.

Alternate Teams

Spoiler

Most of these were attempts to fix some of the weaknesses of the first team. However, I didn't like their inability to make real progress without relying heavily on Enam, so I eventually stuck with the final one and figured I'd just outplay any bad MUs since nothing was an unplayable MU. Luckily they didn't bring any of the major threats.

The main issues with the first squad were that it got kind of shamoned by Curse Garganacl anyways since Washtom Hydro only does half. Buzzwole was also a big issue if it was offensive and anything other than PJab/EQ for coverage. Pecharunt handled most of those but opened up a lot of weaknesses Mega Latias resolved, so Scizor was added to fix that. Unfortunately, this version has very few ways to quickly make progress, not helped by Bug Z Scizor being the most aggressively do-nothing mon in the tier. Danbear dropped this:

Which was a little better, but now this kind of got shamoned by MAero.

I did have a different concept focusing on Clefable since it also looked great into the opp's scout, paired with Steela since they seemed to have an affinity for unga bunga big damage fairies like Mega Garde and Lele in NDOU (not NDUU but most players tend to like similar stuff regardless of tier):

I don't think there's anything inherently flawed with this comp besides Rilla being able to bag one every time it comes in if it gets the predict right vs Steela? Just felt Specs Enam was the better bring.

Week 5 (L):

Yap

Self scout revealed I get cripplingly mogged by unga bunga fairies so it was Celesteela week. Hydrapple + Celesteela is one of the all time goat cores so that was obvious. Typical Dragonium Hydrapple since my opp also didn't like bringing steela. Slowbro to stop Mega Aerodactyl shamoning (foreshadowing) plus answer the fightings that also shamoned me except Poison Z Okidogi (more foreshadowing). Psy Noise is so that Sub Z Okidogi didn't just lead on team preview and win (not foreshadowing). Tyranitar was chosen since the team needed reliable immediate power plus a moth check, and this week was the week I finally brought Exca as my bulky ground because offensive sand rush is kind of cheeks and Hippo would have turned this into a slow fest. To help with the slow fest we brought... Yeah ok this was Danbear's idea, but since the team was a bit of a passive fest besides TTar, we decided to bring Scarf Okidogi. Adamant since it didn't outspeed Jolly MAero anyways and the only other thing in that general speed bracket was Jolly Zera which we weren't expecting the opp to bring. Underspeeding MAero was fine since we had Slowbro (even more foreshadowing), and the Psychic Fangs would help with RKing Okidogi (foreshadowing 4x combo).

... So yeah I played like flaming ass this game, the play was always to go Scarf Dogi on their Dogi until they revealed the set fully, but my dumbass decided to try and Teleport the third time because 'oh hey, they have Drain Punch, they're probably black sludge, they can't stop me telepor-' nah. So Gunk into Z Poison raw KOs Slowbro and guess what they hit me with every time on the switchin. Then I got tilted at myself and it was pretty much a wrap after that, going hard Steela on MAero was NOT the play though. Should have just gone Exca since bro wasn't doing much anyways even if they EQd. Bringing Scarf Shao instead was probably the play to at least get momentum which this team kind of lacked. Could also have maybe chipped Okidogi and revealed that it was not sludge.

Only alternate team is just this with standard scarf shao over Okidogi, nothing special to say really.

Week 6 (L):

Yap

So we were expecting TBIC to bring either stall or HO, so we figured that double Taunt + an unga bunga big damage number breaker would go hard into both. Turns out he expected us to expect that and brought somethig else, but we'll get to that in a bit. Admittedly, I didn't build most of this team, my only contribution was going Pecharunt over Buzzwole to avoid getting mogged by Mega Aerodactyl while not type stacking with Keldeo (like we would have with Slowbro). We were pretty confident in this team, so long as they didn't load any Celesteela + Mega Gardevoir type teams.

... They loaded Celesteela + Mega Garde BO :sob:. Legit, over half their team had a great MU into this. Heinous MU. Worse, they had Rotom-W + Mamoswine, vs a team with the one grass that Mamoswine definitively uses as cannon fodder, other than maybe Amoonguss, when Washtom Volts on it. It was by no means an unwinnable MU, even without hax, and I could have won since MAero lives any Ice Shard not from a Choice Band Mamo from full, but TBIC made all the right reads, so I couldn't get Steela low enough. I probably should have stayed in on steela and gambled for a fourth crit though. I could also probably have stood to U-turn more with Victini but I knew I wanted Washtom low for MAero lategame. Just a shitty MU, it happens.

Bonus

And yes, I did get my insane crit RNG from this game paid back to me lmao: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldexuu-2469744469-mxan9xlas961hj6h8i22e0su7552nogpw

Week 7 (W):


NDRU Jumpscare.

Yap

Some background first: So yeah this week I was put on NDRU for throwing three weeks in a row so that the opps would have a harder time scouting us since my NDRU scout is barren compared to my NDUU one and we needed to win. I'm not new to NDRU, though, I've built some teams and played some matches before, so it's not like I'm a stranger to the tier, but I hadn't played in a little bit so I was a bit rusty on sets. Shoutouts team for the help. We were anticipating some sort of bulky comp based on friendlies Danbear did with the opp, but going by past week trends, the opp never brings what we expect them to, so I wanted a comp that was good into BO and Balance too. Originally we were going to run a Fascu comp since that looked strong into what they ran last week but Blissey is here and pretty strong so that did not look ideal. We brainstormed a sub set but figured it had too many holes into Cyc. We sifted through ghosts until we came to Sub Sinistcha, which we wanted to a Krook comp for but that wound up being too passive and had too many holes.

With the ghost arc over, we went with an LO MixApe Infernape comp instead, EVd to OHKO max def Blissey with CC and nuke everything else with Fire Blast (we did debate running Overheat but that would have meant a worse MU into Gligar). The first comp had Slowking to bring in Infernape more easily, but we wound up running AV Prim over it as it still offered a slow pivot while having more offensive presence. MAggron because it checks most common mons faster than Infernape here + rocks + it's the best mon in the tier, Cyclizar for checking the faster mons that MAgg doesn't, then we went with Scarf Diggersby (originally Scarf Shocks but Shocks sucks lmao) to go for a Spikestack approach + fast pivot, and to add onto that, Sinistcha to handle Tapu Bulu and Slither Wing while also Spin Blocking. ... Yeah we ran it anyways. Lmao.

At this point, we had two comps - the final one and the one with Slowking and Shocks over Prim and Diggersby. We tested the fat MU and found that the Prim one was worse into it, but found it was better into all of the other ones. Learning my lesson from past weeks, I went with the Prim one and wow did it pay off. The true training arc was pattern recognition all along, huh.

Yeah I'm not gonna lie, we had a pretty good matchup going into this. Only iffy MU was Infernape (which they sacked turn 3 from what I can only assume is a misclick because I learned that they weren't Gunk Shot after the game so they had no reason to ever do that, but I wanted to catch a possible bulu switchin with burn in case it was SD Rock Z which it was so I think that was the play) and Diggers only needed chip on Sandaconda and Bulu to just mash Frustration a lot, so that was the game plan. Sneasel was also a bit of a dead slot into me other than Sinis which it would have 1v1d anyways if it weren't for Para Moment:tm:. Ah well, it gave Infernape a free in to just pulverise something and I had it in the bag at that point anyways. Either way, thus ended my loss streak, and my W/L returned to even.

Alternate Teams

Works on paper but Scarf Shocks is fraudulent af, I should probably have named it Nero because this shit was deadweight in test games. No real offensive presence other than Infernape too.

Final Thoughts:
Yeah I'm not gonna lie, this was a pretty scuffed NDFL run for me. Week 4 was just close and I didn't calc when I should have, Week 6 was a really rough MU, but nah there's no excuse for Week 5. Definitely learned some lessons this run, namely that I've been prepping too hard for the opp to bring a specific playstyle and paying for it. Not a single opp loaded a playstyle we expected vs me and it messed me up at least once. It's even more annoying since we tied a lot of those weeks and I can't help but feel I'm partly to blame for that, but eh, that's probably what everyone else who lost those weeks is thinking.

Just gotta get some Ws in upcoming tours to redeem myself ig and come back next year to go x-0. Ultimately I went even on my overall W/L, so it's not like it's the end of the world, but I went negative in the tier I'm Co-TL of so that's not great.

Overall, still a fun tour though. Also how tf did Sapo not get drafted for PL

Mentions:
Danbear02 - was great building with you goat, hoping next time we're both in PL next year (and I remember to actually sign up this time). Playing v you taught me a lot about how I play too (esp that I should never play near midnight because oh lordy).
FayaWizard - Ty for the tests goat
salmonelephant - You as well goat
SapoDaG30 - Ty for helping by filling out most of the sets for me in week 7 goat, I probably would have been cooked without you since my set game has fallen off since last time I played NDRU

#worrywhirl channel - For being our island, our emotional shore. It was a short existence you lived, but thank you, goat.

Didn't interact with most of the rest of the team besides posting 'nice' and 'unfort' when the goats won/lost sadly :[.

 

[Fleance]

will give my thoughts on this soon.