This tournament was in many ways a breath of fresh air. To a small extent publicly, but extensively privately, I’ve been pretty uncertain about my future in ND Ubers for a while now. I still enjoy yapping, building, and supporting people, but have not enjoyed playing it for a quite some time. Prior to this tour, I hadn’t played since NDPL as I was tired of playing due to obligation rather than desire. I told myself that I’d re-evaluate after this tour and while it has been a blast despite the final result, I’m still not sure what my future holds.
At the outset of NDUPL there was a spark of passion that I have not felt for a while. I thought about self-buying, but felt that was a good way to burn out after two weeks. Regardless, I was pretty excited to manage with Eledyr and we spent some time discussing who we wanted to draft and what sort of team environment we wanted. As mentioned in the sign up post, we just wanted to have fun and have a drama free tour and that is pretty much what happened despite falling just short.
I want to give a shoutout to every member of the Johto Fried Ho-Ohs, but first, four people deserve a massive shoutout. First,
MirrorSaMa was the driving force behind this tour and while we all had some trepidations, it was far more successful than anybody was expecting. Second, I’d like to thank our hosts
Dabman1069 and the wonderful
Murphy Lawden. Hosting is often thankless, unseen work and a tour cannot happen without hosts. While we hoped to include Draft, the slot quickly materialized due to Princess Autumn’s initiative and guidance. This was the first proper team tournament we’ve done as a community and it wouldn’t be possible without these four people.
Eledyr - You’re one of the people I respect the most on Smogon and am lucky enough to say you’re one of my closest friends on here as well. I’ve wanted to manage a tour with you for ages and it was great to finally get that opportunity! It was a lot of fun even despite some unexpected turbulence. There is a massive void with you having taken a step back, at least you’re still involved! It has been an absolute pleasure to manage with you and I hope we can do it again in the future if the motivation returns.
Princess Autumn - The work you put in pretour to help organize and make sure the draft slot went smoothly was immensely helpful and appreciated! We were then lucky enough to get to draft you for far cheaper than we expected and it has been a pleasure to watch you do your thing every weak and learn a bit more about draft in the process! I hope we will see you next year and that the slot will be a better with 8 teams since the signups year definitely proved that is doable!
a fairy - Princess Autumn wanted you for support, but we wanted you regardless and were thrilled to snag you for only 4k! There are a lot reasons we wanted you, including being a good friend, but at the end of the day… you’re awesome and make the environments you’re in better just by being you. Everyone says a fairy is the
:gogoat: for a million reasons and I’m thankful that you were along for the ride.
hybone - When discussing draft plans Eledyr had nothing but positive things to say and I was pretty unfamiliar with you. SSS had mentioned you were his student at some point and that you’ve had a lot of success in Ubers tiers. You’ve been nothing but a dream to manage and I hope that you’ll be there if we run it back next year. Not only were you happy to run whatever, you also helped others test, gave solid feedback, and building for you has been the most fun I’ve had in a while! I’m really looking forward to watching you play NDUbers throughout the rest of the year and will be rooting for you in the circuit playoffs! Your record alone was impressive, but is even more so given the horrific luck you had this tournament (minus W1).
Kunvirgo - We’ve never really chatted much before this tournament as we don’t run in the same circles. Nonetheless, you were always in our draft plans as your offensive playstyle and teambuilding choices were something Eledyr and I liked quite a bit. That Defog Mega Salamence Screens team from the circuit playoffs is still something that gives me a chuckle when it crosses my mind! While communication was difficult early on due to some technical obstacles, it has been great to get to know you a bit better, see your perspective on things, and it has been really fun teaming up. I hope we can again in the future!
sequoia - We wanted to draft you from the get go and from the beginning of the tournament felt like you were our ‘secret weapon.’ I don’t think many people realize how talented of a player you are nor the breadth of your experience so we were fortunately able to get you for a criminally low price. You were helping out with every slot and were also a wonderfully positive cheerleader for others and I hope we can team up again in the future! The is before your fantastic record this tour and there is no chance you’ll be 3.5k if you choose to sign up next year.
Sami - As you mentioned exam season lined up with the end of the season. Those are far more important than any tour, but before then it is impossible to undersell your contributions to the Ho-Ohs. You were doing scouts for everybody, providing feedback on teams, and of course playing your own slot. Even once exams ramped up you were busy, yet still managed to find time to contribute despite us telling you to focus on those and that you’d already done more than enough. It was great having you on the Ho-Ohs!
Squeeby - We’ve known each other for a while and I asked you to help support in NDBD to hopefully get your name out there because you’ve got better things to do than act like a fool on discord to build your name recognition. After recommending you to a lot of managers in NDPL you somehow didn’t get drafted and then showed everyone how wrong they were to do that by whupping everbody’s ass in NDFL! When this tour rolled around we really wanted to draft you and were pretty happy to have been able to. It has been a lot of fun discussing the tier and teams with you this tour and I hope it was fun for you as well. You had some very impressive wins and it was great having you on the Ho-Oh’s!
Smudge big pichu sheepie - ND Doubles Ubers is my favourite tier that I never have and likely never will play. It is a cool tier, yet Eledyr and I know we knew nothing meaningful about it and lacked the ability to help with the slot so wanted to ensure that the slot had ample support. It did suck to have three people we wanted to start every week, but only one slot and I’m sure that was frustrating for you three as well. It was great watching you three do your thing each week and I hope that the doubles slot didn’t feel as isolated as it can be on some teams. It was great to watch y’all each week and learn a bit about the metagame and hope it was a fun tour!
Player350 - I’ll do my best to try to make sure you’re at least drafted for NDFL. Almost every week you were active in almost every channel offering ideas and teams. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I saw someone with this level of enthusiasm and am glad you had a fun tour! You were low key our MVP this season and every manager would be ecstatic to have a player as passionate, enthusiastic, and willing to do anything they can to help the team! Stepping into draft after our fuck up and winning a near unwinnable matchup was awesome and my personal favourite moment of the tour. I hope this is your first team tour of many.
Zrp200 - Before the draft Anchor was talking about how I have to draft you because we’ve teamed up so many times for tours. I didn’t respond to that because yeah we really wanted to draft you, but didn’t want to get extorted and we were happy to go higher than we did. The amount of time and effort you put into ND UUbers is truly above and beyond. You are far better than your record this tour would suggest and we both learned that it doesn’t matter what tier you play… Palkia-O needs to book an appointment with an optometrist. It is always great to have a friend along for the ride even if our perfect record is no more.
Oculars - Despite some challenges irl, you were still there to cheer everybody on and that was more than enough. We drafted you because of your infectious energy and enthusiasm and that still showed up in spades when you were available. The shiestlord is shiest and I’m hoping next time we will be able to draft and get you some games. I'm a believer in Grimmsnarl Screens atm!
Rothcore Aries Dragons IMrJamesI - All of you tried out and we wanted to ensure that everybody that took the time to put themselves out there made it onto a team if possible and we were fortunate enough to snag you three. Unfortunately, we had far more people than slots available, but y’all still did a fantastic job between offering advice, teams, and tests. While I’m sad we were not able to get you games, I hope it was still a fun experience!
Jumpheart – Just wanted to shoutout a great friend who is always there, but especially when you need an ear.
Week 1
hybone v xinnobu
:groudon-primal::salamence-mega::arceus-dark::marshadow::zacian-crowned::kyogre-primal:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::kyogre-primal: [Game] [W]
:groudon-primal::giratina-origin::arceus-ground::zygarde-complete::marshadow::ferrothorn:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::zygarde-complete::lunala::marshadow: [Game] [L]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::eternatus::ditto:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::arceus-ground::zygarde-complete::eternatus::zacian-crowned::lunala: [Game] [W]
There were some nerves on my end week 1. We were really happy with how our draft turned out despite there being another half dozen players we wished we were able to draft. This was my first time interacting with hybone and was more or less given free reign which is both the best and worst thing. The freedom is nice, but if you're spending time building for somebody you want to go with something that will synergize with their playstyle, preferences, and opponent. That is a tough when you don't know them nor have a direction to go in and too much freedom can be a chain around your neck when not building for yourself. That being said, none of these teams were new.
The first is the Defog Mega Salamence team that is now a sample that would have been built around a year ago and is likely the most successful and arguably best team I've built. While the initial concept was promising, the structure is deceptively rigid if you want it to be consistent. This team is and I think is 15-3 or something in tours at this point, but every time I've deviated from this six more holes have opened than solved. The second team needed some more time in the kitchen and is more usable than good in its current state. The last team was something I initially built for Jumpheart in NDCL, but went unused and wasn't public at the time. This is a type of structure I'm pretty high on right now and will touch on it in a metagame discussion post in a couple of weeks, but we ended up iterating on or just reusing this team a couple of times. Hybone was immensely unlucky throughout NDUCL, but finished with one of the best records in the tour despite that. This week was the only one where he did get lucky and Xinnobu deserved to win this week. The Ho-Oh's generally were pretty unlucky this tour so it is only fair to aknowledge when we benefitted from it.
Week 2
KunVirgo v Omar
:deoxys-speed::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::zacian-crowned::mewtwo::kyogre-primal:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::salamence-mega::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::lunala::deoxys-attack: [Game] [W]
Kunvirgo wanted a HO team and this is what I ended up coming up with. It isn't anything particularly ground-breaking, but it felt weird to be 'fine' without Ultra Necrozma on a Hstack HO. Despite having an earned reputation for sticking nearly exclusively to boring balances and bulky offenses, I'm comfortable and enjoy building just about anything. Deoxys-A was incredibly scary here and I'm not sure how the game would have gone if it wasn't thrown away. Offensive Primal Kyogre EVs are somehow still one of the most underexplored aspects of the tier and they're super flexible. Here they are tailored for Marshadow. Hybone did not use my teams this week and Sami built for himself.
Week 3
hybone v Runo
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::necrozma-dusk-mane::kyogre-primal:[Paste] vs
:dondozo::ho-oh::arceus-fairy::eternatus::sableye-mega::chansey: [Game] [W]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::calyrex-ice::kyogre-primal:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-fairy::zygarde-complete::yveltal::necrozma-ultra: [Game] [L]
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::garganacl::zacian-crowned::necrozma-ultra:[Paste] vs
:smeargle::yveltal::arceus::zacian-crowned::chi-yu::kyogre-primal: [Game] [W]
Runo is one of the more fun opponents to build and prep against as he has a distinct style while keeping you on your toes with unorthodox and experimental sets or compositions. Out of the Bo3 pool Runo is probably the most fun to prep for as he is honest enough while keeping you on your toes so I was really looking forward to this week. This week was extremely hectic as dealing with the ND Champions stuff + some other fires both on Smogon and work didn't leave much time to build and we recycled again. Despite looking forward to this set, it wasn't a great due to how heavily matchup was a factor in pretty much every game. The G1 team is from NDPL and is a near autowin against stall, but this specific one is even better than most due to the lack of Arceus-Dark and Giratina-O making Necrozma-DM not really need to think. Game 2 wasn't an impossible matchup, but it is incredibly rough the moment you're caught out of position against this specific team and Runo played with Yveltal and Arceus-Fairy. The third team was originally made for MirrorSaMa to use against Runo in NDCL and I don't know if he recognized it at preview. The matchup definitely favoured Hybone, but the game at preview felt determined by how much work Primal Kyogre was going to be able to do. I doubt anybody would have predicted the sequences that happened, but one thing I did like about this game was how it showcased the flexibility in Choice Scarf Yveltal's last move as Knock Off ensured a win minus a Sucker Punch crit.
Week 4
hybone v Beastardarsh
:groudon-primal::salamence-mega::arceus-dark::eternatus::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane:[Paste] vs
:smeargle::tapu-lele::hatterene::lunala::necrozma-dusk-mane::lunala: [Game] [L]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::yveltal::kyogre-primal:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-fairy::zygarde-complete::yveltal::ferrothorn: [Game] [W]
:deoxys-speed::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::zacian-crowned::eternatus::necrozma-ultra:[Paste] vs
:smeargle::yveltal::arceus::zacian-crowned::chi-yu::kyogre-primal:[Game] [W]
This was the first week where I didn't have ten million things going on and was able to focus on the prep aspect a lot more. Squeeby ended up soloing with
Arceus-Dragon Lunala and Sami loaded some tomfoolery into some nonsense. We were expecting to face Entro, but Beast ended up subbing in. The first game was probably the most frustrating of the entire tournament to watch on my end. Hax is frustrating enough already, but when you're facing a beyond cheesy team that doesn't hit the matchup it is looking for and still wins solely due to hax that is far more infuriating. I think I would have succumbed to tilt, especially given Game 2 still had some bad luck, but nothing egrigious and hybone at least dodged a Precipice Blades. The Game three team was one I built during the tutoring sessions with Beast so I assume he recognized it while I was scared shitless about whether or not hybone recognized this team since Primal Kyogre is EVd to live Wild Charge and that could easily decide the game. Rocky Helmet Deoxys-S once again showed why it is so often needed.
Week 5
Squeeby vs Bello Figo
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::pheromosa::garganacl:[Paste] vs
:deoxys-speed::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::zacian-crowned::eternatus::groudon-primal: [Game] [W]
We didn't have a ton to go off and Squeeby wanted to go in an anti-HO direction. Later in the week we were still having trouble nailing down a team and went with this. The Meteor Beam miss was big, but I think Squeeby would have won this regardless given how much Bello's squad struggled with Zygarde + Garganacl + Pheromosa.
Hybone v Cancel Cult
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::marshadow:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dragon::ting-lu::alomomola::garganacl: [Game] [W]
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::eternatus::kyogre-primal::necrozma-ultra:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::giratina-origin::arceus-dark::alomomola::diancie-mega::marshadow: [Game] [W]
I was pretty excited for Cancel Cult to get to play as he is one of our most passionate and engaged community members. There isn't really much to say about G1. Cancel apparently didn't expect Arceus-Dark to stay in, but even with Garganacl, the team is very weak to Zygarde long term and crumples without it. G2 might have been my favourite game of the tournament because prep paying off absolutely perfectly is always an amazing feeling. I wanted to share the team after the game, but didn't because it felt like something we might use in the playoffs.
Semi-Finals
Squeeby vs Seraphz
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::eternatus::ditto: [Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::eternatus::fezandipiti: [Game] [W]
This was an edit of the W1 team and I don't like it because I'm not a believer of para spam. Paralysis is great, but despite nearly every Pokémon in the tier getting it, para spam ends up being pretty awkward in the builder and in game. Furthermore, I really dislike Thunder Wave on the Primals, particularly Primal Groudon. It is a good para abuser, but most of the time its switchins are going to be Arceus-Ground, Giratina-O, or Zygarde and that is an issue. However, sometimes you go with what your player wants if it makes them comfortable isn't that egregious. I was really nervous watching this game once Zygarde went down since it kind of just won with some help from Ditto. Squeeby played amazingly to win this and it is probably the most earned win of any of the games in this post.
Hybone vs Iride
:grimmsnarl::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::mewtwo-mega-y::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane:[Paste] vs
:deoxys-speed::lunala::arceus::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane: [Game] [W]
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::garganacl::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-water::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::ferrothorn: [Game] [L]
:groudon-primal::giratina-origin::arceus-grass::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::marshadow:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-ground::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::yveltal: [Game] [W]
Iride is nervewracking to face because she is an excellent player with a keen eye for techs and surprises that hit. You're not wrong...that is a double mega team. That also wasn't intentional, I fucked up and the original team had a Yveltal that I ended up swapping for Mega Salamence and somehow forgot that the team was built around MMY. This is the sort of stuff that shouldn't happen and there isn't an excuse for and a far bigger fuck up than Pressure Ho-Oh or Aura Break Zygarde which every player will inevitably do if they play long enough. Despite this, hybone still managed to win and got every play right to close out a nailbiter of a game. G2 ended up being one of those games where it doesn't matter how well you play if hax prevents you from being able to even try. Despite that, it was somehow still winnable until shockingly late. The G3 team was an update to make the Arceus-Grass team Jumpheat, R8, and I actually decent and Iride felt like the right person to bring it against. While the crit on Zygarde was the flashy thing, the Hex crit into Ho-Oh phasing in Marshadow to fire off an immensely free low kick was the big thing imo. It gave momentum that was going to be near impossible to recover from given how chipped the team was. At the time I didn't like the Tera Ground on Zygarde since Tera Ghost Marshadow felt like a guarenteed win and it could always get in on the inevitable rest and would easily be able to trade down.
Finals
Kunvirgo vs Swas
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::eternatus::ditto:[Paste] vs
:lunala::kyogre-primal::arceus-ground::eternatus::zacian-crowned: [Game][W]
It feels weird to have a hazardless structure, but repurposing Primal Groudon to be more of a wallbreaker for this matchup felt like the right call and the results were mixed. That Arceus-Ground remaining alive was annoying, but it also dodged a Sacred Fire. Winning the Eternatus speed tie definitely helped, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that made given how Ditto weak Swas's team was.
Hybone vs Entrocefalo
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::calyrex-ice::kyogre-primal:[Paste] vs
:lunala::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::necrozma-dusk-mane::zacian-crowned::kyogre-primal: [Game] [L]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-water::zygarde-complete::necrozma-dusk-mane::pheromosa:[Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus::zygarde-complete::eternatus::yveltal: [Game] [L]
This set was pretty frustrating to watch. Entro is great player and always scary to go up against. It is tough enough to beat him on any given day and nearly impossible when you have some bad luck. That Behemoth Blade crit put Primal Groudon in range +2 Zacian-C later on and the Mega Salamence crit more or less sealed the deal since Zygarde was Tera Water. G2 had its frustrating moments as well with paralysis and Eternatus's 100% poison rate, but not Dragon Tailing the Ekiller was definitely a mistake. Yes Arceus-Water would have been poisoned eventually, but it should have done a lot more. This was a frustrating series to watch.
Kunvirgo vs Glory
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::ditto: [Paste] vs
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::zygarde-complete::eternatus::yveltal: [Game] [L]
This was not a good week for me and we didn't start building until fairly late and Kunvirgo wanted to use Arceus-Fairy, but we ended up scrapping that Saturday night because of the issues that Pokémon has and reworked it into this. Yeah this game should have been an easy win even with the misplays and terrible luck at the end. At the end of the day mons is mons, but the skullduggery preceding the battle really made the tour end on a sour note regardless of the result. It was scummy, makes our community look terrible, and in stark contrast to everything this tour was supposed to be about.
Teams Loaded
:deoxys-speed::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::zacian-crowned::mewtwo::kyogre-primal:[Paste]
:deoxys-speed::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::zacian-crowned::eternatus::necrozma-ultra:[Paste]
:grimmsnarl::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::mewtwo-mega-y::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::salamence-mega::arceus-dark::marshadow::zacian-crowned::kyogre-primal:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::salamence-mega::arceus-dark::eternatus::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::eternatus::kyogre-primal::necrozma-ultra:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::garganacl::zacian-crowned::necrozma-ultra:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::garganacl::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::giratina-origin::arceus-ground::zygarde-complete::marshadow::ferrothorn:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::giratina-origin::arceus-grass::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::marshadow:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::eternatus::ditto:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::calyrex-ice::kyogre-primal:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::yveltal::kyogre-primal:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::pheromosa::garganacl:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::marshadow:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::eternatus::ditto: [Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::eternatus::ditto:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::calyrex-ice::kyogre-primal:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-water::zygarde-complete::necrozma-dusk-mane::pheromosa:[Paste]
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::ditto: [Paste]
Unused Teams (click sprites for paste)
:deoxys-speed::yveltal::arceus-ground::kyurem-black::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane:
:smeargle::yveltal::arceus-ground::zacian-crowned::chi-yu::kyogre-primal:
:glimmora::salamence-mega::arceus-ground::zacian-crowned::eternatus::necrozma-ultra:
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::eternatus::zacian-crowned::diancie-mega:
:groudon-primal::yveltal::arceus-ground::eternatus::zacian-crowned::diancie-mega:
:groudon-primal::yveltal::Arceus-ground::zacian-crowned::necrozma-dusk-mane::garganacl:
:groudon-primal::giratina-origin::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::zacian-crowned::garganacl:
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-fairy::zygarde-complete::eternatus::ditto:
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::marshadow::kyogre-primal:
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::necrozma-dusk-mane::kyogre-primal:
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-fairy::zygarde-complete::marshadow::zarude:
Concepts
:groudon-primal::ho-oh::arceus-rock::zygarde-complete::pheromosa::kyogre-primal:
:groudon-primal::giratina-origin::arceus-dark::zygarde-complete::garganacl::ditto:
:groudon-primal::rayquaza::arceus-dark::lunala::eternatus::zacian-crowned:
That is a sizeable portion of my builder, but this tier is pretty easy to build and small tweaks drastically change the way a team plays anyways and the metagame is always evolving. Hopefully this dump helps somebody. Again, shoutout to the Ho-Ohs and thanks for a fun two months! It has been a while since I can say can honestly say I've enjoyed the tier in a tour. If anybody wants more info about any specifics on the teams feel free to give a shout.
Edit: added commentary
