Official Smogon Tournament XX - Quarterfinals

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Welcome to the twentieth edition of the Official Smogon Tournament! The OST is one of Smogon's longest standing traditions in tournaments and has crowned many great Pokémon players as its champions across five generations. Over the next few months, over a thousand (!) players will compete to the best of their ability as they attempt to join the exclusive ranks of the OST trophy holders. Only one of those players will succeed in their journey and earn the recognition that comes with their victory, along with the iconic OST trophy.

The tournament will have a best of three format. This means that players will play until one of them wins two games. Players are allowed to switch teams in between games, or use the same team throughout the set; it is completely up to the player. If players only partially complete a series before the deadline, it will be considered an uncompleted match and action will be taken accordingly (either an activity win or a coin flip).

Just like last year, there will be a cash prize for this tournament! The winner of this year's Official Smogon Tournament will receive 200 USD!

If there are any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me or a tournament director!

OST Specific Rules
  • This is a standard SV OU tournament.
  • The tournament will be single elimination.
  • Players will play a best of three series of games each round
  • Matches are to be played on Pokemon Showdown!. If you can't agree on which server to play on, the Smogtours server is the default option.
  • Liking this post increases the accuracy of your Focus Blasts.
Standard Rules and Clauses
  • Species Clause: A player cannot have two of the same Pokémon on their team. For example, a player cannot have two Koffing on his or her team.
  • Evasion Clause: A player cannot use the moves Double Team or Minimize in their Pokémon's movesets.
  • OHKO Clause: Players cannot use Horn Drill, Guillotine, Sheer Cold, or Fissure in any of their Pokémon's movesets.
  • Team Preview: Players must turn on the Team Preview feature where players can view the opposing team's Pokémon and choose their lead Pokémon.
  • Timer Clause: If a player exhausts the timer, he/she loses.
  • Endless Battle Clause: Any moveset on any Pokémon that is capable of intentionally causing an endless battle is banned from competitive play. Check this thread for more information.
  • Baton Pass Clause: The move Baton Pass is banned outright.
  • Uber Clause: Players may not use any items, moves, abilities, or Pokemon that appear on Smogon's OU Ban List. If the tiers change or new items, abilities, moves, or Pokemon become available in the middle of a round, the changes will take effect in the following round. There will be an announcement in the relevant round if this occurs.
About Activity Decisions

Activity Decisions / Coin Flips
: In the event that there is an uncompleted match at the deadline, it will be coin flipped unless one or both of the players involved in the match specifically request an activity win and explain sufficiently why they deserve to win over their opponent. Attempting to schedule a battle is required in order to receive the win by activity. To make it clear that you are requesting an activity win when you post, you must open your post with "Activity Win Request" in bold.

For example, if you believe your opponent is making an unfair request and that they don't deserve the activity win over you, you can either make your own request or quote their post and explain why they don't deserve it. You should try to make your activity win request posts at least 24 hours before the deadline to give your opponent a reasonable opportunity to contest it with their own activity win request.


In case of disconnections, if you played in the SmogTours server, call a Tournament Director as soon as possible and we'll see about the possibility of having a rematch.

General Tournament Rules

Substitutions

Players may sign up as a substitute if they didn't join in time. If you are eliminated from the tournament (i.e. you lose your games, are substituted out, or drop out), you may not sign up as a substitute. I will endeavor to substitute players in whenever a player drops out, and one week before the round 1 deadline, I will look through all players and activity win requests and replace any inactive players with substitutes. Given the size of the bracket this year, there might be two substitution waves. There is a good chance that you will get to play if you sign up as a substitute. Substitutes will only be allowed into the tournament during round 1. Substitutes will be implemented on a mostly first come, first serve basis, but if you are inactive after you sign up as a substitute then you're at risk of not being substituted into the tournament.

To sign up as a substitute, please use the substitute signup thread.

Please read this guide if you're unsure how to schedule with your opponent! Alternatively, watch this video made by teal6:

Now then, without further ado..

QUARTERFINALS

Antonazz  vs  Rubyblood
Twixtry  vs  Storm Zone
Maxouille  vs  DugZa
Thiago Nunes  vs  zS

Deadline is Sunday, March 24th at 11:59 PM EDT (GMT-4).

REPLAYS MUST BE POSTED FOR YOUR WIN TO COUNT!! SEE THE ANNOUNCEMENTS THREAD FOR INFO
 
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Antonazz (15-5) vs. Rubyblood (15-2)
Last round: Antonazz lost with Grassy Terrain Offense vs balance, then won with two different Gliscor Offenses vs similar balance and bulky strcutures.
Rubyblood lost with a fat Volcarona team vs Spikes Offense, then won with a zapdos Offense and Volcarona HO vs the same bulky Ursaluna team each time.

Twixtry (14-1) vs. Storm Zone (13-4)
Last round: Twixtry won with Garganacl Offense vs balance, and Skeledirge Gliscor balance vs setup spam HO. Storm Zone won with Garganacl unaware balance vs Spikes Setup Offense, lost a Glimmora HO mirror, then brought back the Garg team to vanquish the same Glimmora HO.

Maxouille (12-4) vs DugZa (10-1)
Last round: Maxouille lost with Volt Turn offense vs a bulkier offense, then won with Tera Fire Zamazenta Balance and Tera Steel Zamazenta Balance vs two grassy terrian bulky offenses. DugZa won with Garg Balance/BO vs dark spam offense, and got the forfeit with stall vs Gliscor Balance.

Thiago Nunes (13-2) vs zS (12-3)
Last round: TNunes lost with Glowking/Heatran BO vs Zamazenta/Darkrai BO, then won with Grassy Terrain vs Sun and Ogerpon-W Bulky Offense vs Grassy Terrain + Garganacl. zS won a webs mirror and a dragonite HO vs grassy terrain.
 
Antonazz  vs  Rubyblood - Ruby's not had the best SPL, but he had a strong SCL and a good run here thus far. One thing I find to standout with Ruby is how well he handles longer games, loading balance or bulky teams comfortably. His knack for finding priorities and sorting out the optimal lines not only for the immediate turn, but also projecting forward, allows for him to consistently take down less prepared opponents or people who prioritize instant gratification plays (aka clicking). I think this skillset can shine in this metagame and even this deep into the pool, too, as the tier is starting to permit some fatter builds. I think this will put the onus on his opponent to build with this in mind. As for Antonazz, I think he is very strong and his teams have been cool, too. The whole crop of French players have so much potential and are growing increasingly polished, but I particularly like how Antonazz was able to make quick work of two offenses in R6 vs Trogba -- I think he showed some good gameplanning and made the right tera conscious maneuvers. I believe his last round against Tace was not the cleanest series, but there were still some positives to takeaway. I do think that Antonazz struggled a bit more in those drawn out games though and I worry about a repeat of this against Rubyblood, who I will favor here.

Twixtry  vs  Storm Zone - Storm has to be the favorite at this point, making this another tough draw for Twixtry after getting blunder. I think we are playing a metagame that is constantly evolving and puts an emphasis on knowing the common sets, combinations, strategies, etc. -- we see so much movement across the weeks now after all, so Storm frequenting the metagame on the ladder and in other tournamnts is really starting to show. This experience coupled with his unique teambuilding approach can go a long way, and it has begun to show across tournaments. Storm is now comfortably positive on the sheet and this is not his first individual tournament rodeo either; I think he has displayed better judgement with team choices, elevating his game from good to great over the last couple of years. Twixtry is a capable opponent who maybe is not the most connected to tournament circles anymore, but he was a regular some years back and always was competitive. I do think that he has a shot if he can show his form is similar to that of when he made ST POs or had his good WCoPs; defeating blunder is a good sign that he is in that area, too, but we will need to see more given the strength of Storm Zone as an opponent. Hoping for a 3 game set as this is probably my personal highlight of the round.

Maxouille  vs  DugZa - Bolding this one strictly so everyone in the semifinals has an open scheduling wall for the spectators... :bloblul: DugZa is solid though and I have more experience with his play than Max. If DugZa avoids bringing repeats or being too predictable, I will give them the edge just based on firsthand knowledge.

Thiago Nunes  vs  zS - Huge fan of zS from his NU days and always impressed with his attitude, but he will have his work cut out for him admiteddly. Thiago has been around OU in tournaments since late last year now with scattered results, but he tends to use good and mostly proactive teams, which should give him a chance to outplay-to-win in most scenarios. Thiago is a solid opponent and I am impressed with his transition to this level of OU and run so far. I actually really like how zS has been playing lately, too, and I think if he can continue to make smart team decisions, then he may have the higher ceiling of the two. I think zS is continuing to develop in the tier and has some good connections to help him progress, too, so I will go with him putting out his best product and emerging victorious in what may be the closest of the four sets.
 
Antonazz  vs  Rubyblood - Ruby's not had the best SPL, but he had a strong SCL and a good run here thus far. One thing I find to standout with Ruby is how well he handles longer games, loading balance or bulky teams comfortably. His knack for finding priorities and sorting out the optimal lines not only for the immediate turn, but also projecting forward, allows for him to consistently take down less prepared opponents or people who prioritize instant gratification plays (aka clicking). I think this skillset can shine in this metagame and even this deep into the pool, too, as the tier is starting to permit some fatter builds. I think this will put the onus on his opponent to build with this in mind. As for Antonazz, I think he is very strong and his teams have been cool, too. The whole crop of French players have so much potential and are growing increasingly polished, but I particularly like how Antonazz was able to make quick work of two offenses in R6 vs Trogba -- I think he showed some good gameplanning and made the right tera conscious maneuvers. I believe his last round against Tace was not the cleanest series, but there were still some positives to takeaway. I do think that Antonazz struggled a bit more in those drawn out games though and I worry about a repeat of this against Rubyblood, who I will favor here.

Twixtry  vs  Storm Zone - Storm has to be the favorite at this point, making this another tough draw for Twixtry after getting blunder. I think we are playing a metagame that is constantly evolving and puts an emphasis on knowing the common sets, combinations, strategies, etc. -- we see so much movement across the weeks now after all, so Storm frequenting the metagame on the ladder and in other tournamnts is really starting to show. This experience coupled with his unique teambuilding approach can go a long way, and it has begun to show across tournaments. Storm is now comfortably positive on the sheet and this is not his first individual tournament rodeo either; I think he has displayed better judgement with team choices, elevating his game from good to great over the last couple of years. Twixtry is a capable opponent who maybe is not the most connected to tournament circles anymore, but he was a regular some years back and always was competitive. I do think that he has a shot if he can show his form is similar to that of when he made ST POs or had his good WCoPs; defeating blunder is a good sign that he is in that area, too, but we will need to see more given the strength of Storm Zone as an opponent. Hoping for a 3 game set as this is probably my personal highlight of the round.

Maxouille  vs  DugZa - Bolding this one strictly so everyone in the semifinals has an open scheduling wall for the spectators... :bloblul: DugZa is solid though and I have more experience with his play than Max. If DugZa avoids bringing repeats or being too predictable, I will give them the edge just based on firsthand knowledge.

Thiago Nunes  vs  zS - Huge fan of zS from his NU days and always impressed with his attitude, but he will have his work cut out for him admiteddly. Thiago has been around OU in tournaments since late last year now with scattered results, but he tends to use good and mostly proactive teams, which should give him a chance to outplay-to-win in most scenarios. Thiago is a solid opponent and I am impressed with his transition to this level of OU and run so far. I actually really like how zS has been playing lately, too, and I think if he can continue to make smart team decisions, then he may have the higher ceiling of the two. I think zS is continuing to develop in the tier and has some good connections to help him progress, too, so I will go with him putting out his best product and emerging victorious in what may be the closest of the four sets.
"Im rooting for my friends"
1710809130383.png
 
Honestly I wasn't even aware of this tour and all the players participating, but at the moment I saw Thiago Nunes in the fucking top 8, I couldn't hold myself and I just feel so proud.

It's just reliefing for me seeing one of my oldest friends in the game achieving so high in one of, if not THE best singles tournaments in the whole Smogon Forum in a new tier like that. It just reminds me of how we used to play so many tournaments together or against each other and suddenly (of course not suddenly but u get me), u achieved a whole new level that I just couldn't follow up anymore, u developed wings and can now CONSISTENTLY (and that's a Key word for it, trust me!) Fly even higher. It honestly makes me so envious, but at the same time, EXTREMELY Proud for ur entire journey.

Rooting for you not only in this round bro, but also in all further tournaments and accomplishments in your whole life ❤
 
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Honestly I wasn't even aware of this tour and all the players participating, but at the moment I saw Thiago Nunes in the fucking top 8, I couldn't hold myself and I just feel so proud.

It's just reliefing for me seeing one of my oldest friends in the game achieving so high in one of, if not THE best singles tournaments in the whole Smogon Forum in a new tier like that. It just reminds me of how we used to play so many tournaments together or against each other and suddenly (of course not suddenly but u get me), u achieved a whole new level that I just couldn't follow up anymore, u developed wings and can now CONSISTENTLY (and that's a Key word for it, trust me!) Fly even higher. It honestly makes me so envious, but at the same time, EXTREMELY Proud for ur entire journey.

Rooting for you not only in this round bro, but also in all further tournaments and accomplishments in your whole life ❤

te amo toinha, vou fazer um s/o mais organizado qnd acabar, mas vc sabe o qnt representa p mim irmão, obrigado por todo o apoio ❤️
 
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https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-755057?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-755060?p2

give devwin devin a trophy for these fire builds this man's pure fire, s/o all my br guys (Beraldo , siras , LpZ , toinha ) and everyone who supported

also just wanna say great run from my brother zS, i always loved ur builds and ur work with arco and other friends, hope u get other great results bro u deserve it
GOAT GOAT GOAT LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOO
 
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-755057?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-755060?p2

give devwin devin a trophy for these fire builds this man's pure fire, s/o all my br guys (Beraldo , siras , LpZ , toinha ) and everyone who supported

also just wanna say great run from my brother zS, i always loved ur builds and ur work with arco and other friends, hope u get other great results bro u deserve it
No Storm Zone vs zoneStorm :blobsad:
 
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