a loser's OMPL BH Review: Week 5
a loser vs MAMP
vs
Both sides share Zama-C, Ho-Oh, and Xerneas, but MAMP’s Regigigas, Groudon, and Eternatus could potentially stand out. Offensive Groudon with Thousand Arrows and Glance wouldn’t mind two Steel-types and a Zygarde-C all that much but we'll see what MAMP's Don is running.
The game leads off with a couple double switches from both sides. MAMP’s Xern lead likely didn’t want to be trapped by Soundproof Zyg-C and I didn’t want to be down a mon on turn 1. Next I didn’t want Zama-C going down to Groudon and didn’t want to risk Zyg-C becoming setup bait or hit on a read so I went Celesteela as MAMP set Spikes. His Ho-Oh gets in and I can see that Fire Lash / Brave Bird is going to be a pain but my Zyg-C is able to at least stall it out somewhat with threat of Entrainment but not easily. Xern is brought in again to face Zyg-C and I bring in Ho-Oh to take Boomburst and immediately double here as I didn’t want to lose Ho-Oh early to coverage like Rend or Diamond Storm and end up losing momentum as MAMP Volt Switches to bring Ho-Oh back in. I don’t have a great switch here so I waste a turn by just recovering as MAMP doubles to get the orb activated on Gigas, anticipating I switch out. I end up catching Groudon with Anchor Shot and am able to setup to +4 and KO Don with Oblivion Wing. I thought about being greedy and getting to +6 but I didn’t want to lose momentum from Topsy-Turvy, but I definitely should have after MAMP revealed Entrainment which leaves Ground STAB as the only 4th slot option.
Anyway, Etern is sent in and I wasn’t sure what it could do here to scare Celesteela. It could potentially just Volt Switch or reveal some Nasty Plot and/or Fire coverage to roast me but it ends up giving me Black Sludge via Trick and taking 30% thanks to Ice Scales. I switch out here, bringing in Scales Zama-C, but considered staying in to spam Oblivion Wing since it didn’t look like MAMP had any direct ways of countering setup. However, I still didn’t want to be further punished by Etern and would have used up all my Oblivion Wing PP trying to stall it. Etern tricks away Zama-C’s Leftovers as I get Spikes up and reveal Swords Dance while MAMP brings in Ho-Oh. Trapping Etern first instead of setting Spikes was probably a more optimal play so I could set up on it, but it also could have swapped the Shed Shell back to escape. A few turns later I end up spinning away all of MAMP’s Spikes with Ho-Oh but this allows Gigas to come in and start Swords Dancing. I send in Zyg-C to tank a +2 Facade and force it out with Entrainment and find an opportunity to heal knowing Gigas will be KO’d if it stays and attacks. At turn 30, MAMP’s Ho-Oh is in a good position though, spamming Brave Bird on -1 Def Zyg-C for around 42% and forcing me to recover. Perhaps I act too early here, but I use Entrainment trying to anticipate a second Fire Lash to further drop my defense but MAMP continues the bird spam and leaves Zyg-C at a precarious 27% (which guarantees a KO to Brave Bird). This very briefly forces out Ho-Oh and I finally find an opening to activate Xern’s Toxic Orb before getting forced out by an unknown Zama-C. Zama uses Swords Dance too and my Prankster Fini forces it out, getting Nuzzled the following turn by Gigas in exchange for Stealth Rock. I have to bring in Black Sludge Steela now to check Gigas and after being Nuzzled, MAMP brings Ho-Oh back in. I chip Ho-Oh with +2 O-wing and bring in Xern while it heals up. I’m running out of options here so I try to create an opening by setting up with Xern. So +1 Xern is facing a Jolly Regigigas and I have an 11.7% chance to 2HKO it with Moonblast and go for it. MAMP is scared off and brings Zama-C back in and gets surprised by Will-O-Wisp as it sets up. It manages to chip Xern pretty well though with Tough Claws Sunsteel before going down, which puts it in range of Ho-Oh’s Brave Bird and basically from here Ho-Oh cleans up the battle thanks to Zyg-C having no windows to heal up.
MGLO Ho-Oh stole the show here but it had a highly favorable matchup against Wisp Xern and two Steel-types. I was honestly surprised MAMP didn’t bring a Prankster after I should have beat them in our World Cup match when I brought an incorrectly teched DrumBurden mon. MAMP’s team was interesting, but continues a trend of theirs that lacks setup checks (example being no spectral, prankster, etc).
Career Ended vs cityscapes
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I’m not sure why but it is kinda refreshing to see no Zamazenta at team preview. Lunala, Gigas, and Celesteela are shared by both sides. cityscapes is no stranger to Electric coverage on Xerneas so I wonder how well career’s team will hold up with Steela and Ho-Oh looking like the Xern checks. city also doesn’t appear to have a for sure Palkia check so we’ll see how that goes.
Things get interesting quickly, with a slow pivot from Ice Rider bringing in Swords Dance Gigas while career Flip Turns to bring in the “Regigigas check” Lunala. I say it like this because actual checks to this mon are few and far between these days, as it seemingly always has the right coverage to break through Ghosts, Dragons, Steels, you name it. Well career catches some luck here as city’s Gigas misses two Poltergeists in a row that allows career to set Spikes and Whirlwind it away. This was a tough break seeing as Poltergeist had a nice chance to OHKO there, but Whirlwind brings in city’s Xerneas and allows a safe Toxic Orb activation. Xern QD’s while career brings in Ho-Oh and then Xern zaps it with Zap Cannon for 70% and paralysis while Ho-Oh is seen using Dragon Dance. Xern is taken out here by city, but I’m not quite sure why other than they didn’t wanna miss Zap and randomly die or something but this gives Ho-Oh time to refresh itself with a surprise Jungle Healing. So now +1 Ho-Oh is up against Teravolt Eternatus and it blasts it for 86% with V-create, meaning Ho-Oh is Tinted Lens. This wasn’t enough for the KO though and Etern erases the damage easily with Strength Sap. Ho-Oh is brought back for Celesteela as city sets Spikes with Etern and brings in her own Steela to chip career’s with Rocky Helmet on the Rapid Spin. career’s Steela Knocks Off the helmet and continues to click Knock while city brings in an itemless Lunala to take the hit. This is really neat because it allows her Lunala to improof Poltergeist Gigas while still taking down opposing Lunala. However, it is taking mid 40s from Knock Off and is forced to spam recovery until finally hitting Steela with Glare to force it out. This winds up bringing Ho-Oh and Etern to face off again and this time career just starts spamming Dragon Dance with hopes to out PP Etern’s Sap. Sap and Dance go on for several turns before city tosses in a Sludge Bomb and gets the poison too.
At +2 now with lots of Speed, Ho-Oh starts on the offensive despite the status and chip and KO’s Steela on the switch, followed by Ice Rider who full paras on what I knew to be Ice Shard, and then Etern on the next turn to leave Ho-Oh at 3% and plenty of boosts left. city brings in Lunala next, and I didn’t realize it earlier but taking mid 40s from unboosted Knock Off means Lunala isn’t Fur Coat and this makes it vulnerable to be KO’d by V-create. city realizes this too and decides to sack Regigigas, assuming Ho-Oh will be KO’d by poison the following turn but career actually heals with Jungle Healing here and OHKOs the Gigas the next turn. Things are looking dire for city here with two mons left but three V-creates remaining, but she still has hope in getting a low roll from V-create if Lunala is running Unaware. This isn’t needed, though, as Lunala dodges V-create and forces Ho-Oh out with Glare. Here, career makes a call to bring in Prankster Tapu Fini and this ends up losing tons of momentum as it gives city an opportunity to setup again with Xerneas. Fini Flip Turns to bring in PH Gigas on the QD and from here, Xern has a 20.7% chance to 2HKO it with +1 Moonblast while Gigas, if Adamant, has a 69.1% chance to 2HKO Xern with Facade. Xern gets the mid roll twice while Gigas gets two pretty low rolls and is KO’d the next turn. Steela is brought in by career in response and city decides not to risk a 6.3% OHKO chance with Zap Cannon and brings in Lunala instead and over the next few turns is able to heal up, paralyze Fini, and spam Hex. career’s Lunala is brought in off a pivot to face city’s and her Lunala goes first hitting it with Glare and getting the full para too. It dies to Hex the following turn and career brings in Fini hoping perhaps to Flip Turn on Lunala but full paras instead, again losing momentum to Xerneas and allowing it to set up. After QDing, Xern takes down Steela with a slightly less inaccurate move in Magma Storm to KO it and cleans up the rest from there for the win.
Things were looking pretty bleak for cityscapes for a moment. Two misses early and a series of solid plays from career put her in a big 6-2 hole before luck changed and career started giving away his momentum. I thought both teams were neat and unique with uncommon coverage options seen on city’s mons and a really heat Ho-Oh set from career.
ItsChew. vs quojova
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chew's team looks like either a typical "breaker + improof" type build or a 1300s style offensive team while quojova is back to forgetting Ghost-types and is one of those without a true Xern check, at least on appearance. Depending on if it packs Bolt Strike, Kyu-B could be an issue for quojova but quojova's Palkia or Etern could easily give chew problems.
An Imposter lead tells us ItsChew is packing Simple No Retreat Lunala and quojova quickly switches out to bring in Kyogre to tank a 220 BP Stored Power for 95% and steal the boosts. This means Kyogre is most likely +Def RegenVest, which would have taken 99.5% max. Kyogre stays in and starts firing off Origin Pulses, hitting both of them to KO Lunala and chip chew's Zyg-C down enough to trigger its Sitrus Berry before it is KOed by Precipice Blades. With Unburden now activated, quojova sends in Xerneas to face Zyg-C and ItsChew reacts by bringing in Heatran to take a Boomburst. Heatran hits a Dialga switch-in with Glare before being replaced by Zyg-C, who uses Final Gambit to heavily chip Dialga and make an opening where chew brings in Solgaleo. I'm not sure why ItsChew brought Solgaleo in here to face a 29% Dialga that Xern or Kyu-B could easily remove but the Solgaleo Belly Drums while Dialga removes its ability with Core Enforcer and is KO'd the next turn by Wicked Blow. quojova brings in Imposter, meaning it is either Choice Scarf or that he doesn't have a Prankster and has to risk a Speed tie. Either way, quojova wins the tie to KO Solgaleo and chew loses all momentum having to bring in Prankster Heatran. Heatran uses Haze here but quojova smartly switches out to bring in a Poison Heal Palkia that would have hated being Glared. Palkia uses Nuzzle to cripple a switched in Xerneas and chips it with Fishious Rend before going down to Boomburst. I was thinking quojova would send Imposter back out but opts for a Simple Eternatus instead that shakes off Heatran's Glare with a Lum Berry while it removes its ability with Core Enforcer. ItsChew is forced out now so that he won't lose to Etern and he sacks Xerneas to bring Heatran back in safely. Over the next several turns, neither side click the moves I'd expect but Etern ends up paralyzed so Heatran doesn't need its ability to Haze away boosts before it gets attacked. Now it's a guessing game for chew to bring in Kyu-B or just keep stalling with Glare and ends up switching in Kyu-B and takes a Blue Flare from Etern. quojova sacks Etern here so that Chansey can come in and it spams V-create before hitting what seemed like an unavoidable critical hit to KO Heatran and the game is over not long after.
Looking at this in hindsight shows that ItsChew had an almost ideal matchup thanks to quojova not bringing a Prankster. This seems odd for one of the main supporters of a Belly Drum ban but sadly for him I don't think this game will help his case. This is a prime example of how tough it can be to play with setup HO as one misplay can set you back and likely lose the game. chew messed up bringing in Solgaleo when he did because Dialga was chipped to the point where the best it could do is click something like Core or Spectral Thief as recovering there verse HO would not have helped anything.
Ren vs xavgb
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Barraskewda makes its OMPL X debut in BH in the first match featuring a gentleman’s agreement to ban common paralysis inducing moves. Despite Nuzzle and Glare being gone, two Groudon and a Zekrom make appearances here. Barraskewda could be in a really nice spot here thanks to stresh's team having only one Water resistant mon.
Barraskewda leads off and Flip turns on Etern for 18%, meaning it has a Choice Band and can 2HKO Etern thanks to PrimSea. Ren brings in another PrimSea mon, Magearna, who Defogs Etern's Spikes as Groudon is brought in off a Volt Switch. Looking at it now, Ren's team doesn't have an amazing switch-in for Don so Ren sends in his own Don to take a Thousand Waves. But stresh doesn't trap it and decides to send in Yveltal, who ends up removing Zekrom's Magnet with Knock Off. After playing chicken a few times, the Groudon finally trap one another and stresh's reveals Poison Fang and this allows it to quickly eliminate Ren's Volt Switch Don. This gives Skewda a free turn in which it hits Melmetal for a massive 81% that gets cut in half the next turn thanks to Prankster and results in the fish taking two rounds of Rocky Helmet damage. Ren switches out to bring in Eternatus, who starts spamming Lava Plume as stresh brings in what is now confirmed as Ice Scales Groudon. Etern forces out Don after revealing Strength Sap and landing a burn, but stresh manages to block an incoming Strength Sap with Magic Bounce Zama-C to force out Etern. A few pivots bring in Ferrothorn who traps Yveltal with Anchor Shot but takes 80% from Aerilate Boomburst, leaving it severely chipped as Zekrom comes in to take more chip from Knock Off. Not wanting to have another Sap bounced, Ren opts for Bolt Strike but misses the incoming Zama-C and is forced to bring Magearna back to remove the Spikes.
stresh seems to have the momentum here, until Ren Teleports to bring in a heavily chipped Etern to face stresh's full health Etern and OHKOs it with what looks like Adaptability Core Enforcer with Expert Belt. stresh must not have realized Etern wasn't choiced as he brings in Xerneas who takes 93% from Sludge Bomb and gets poisoned while KOing Etern with Boomburst. stresh gets momentum back though as he ends up trapping and KOing Magearna with Anchor Shot after using Encore to lock it into Defog. This allows Ren to safely bring in Ferrothorn to heal, though, and stresh responds by bringing in Yveltal. Ren then brings in Zekrom who is chipped further by Boomburst to hang on by a thread and it goes for Bolt Strike to heavily dent Zama-C for 57%. Ren can't make any switches here without risk of losing Ferro or the fish though and has to sack Zekrom to bring in Barraskewda. stresh sacks the burnt Ice Scales Don and brings in Melmetal, which forces Ren to bring Ferro back in. Both sides decide to avoid the simultaneous Anchor Shot stall and double out to have Yveltal facing the fish. This double favored Ren and led to the fish using Knock Off to remove Melm's helmet to avoid further chip. Melm then traps the incoming Ferrothorn and Ren puts off trapping once again and winds up hitting Yveltal with Entrainment to make it much less threatening.
Here stresh makes a big mistake by bringing in Zama-C and healing instead of trapping the Ferrothorn. It would have been ugly had Ferro stayed in, but it would have at least cut Barraskewda's health in half. However, I do see why stresh might have done this as Melmetal being at 80% means Fishious Rend is a roll to KO on the switch. So in order to get momentum back, stresh has to correctly guess when to send Yveltal in so it can pressure Ferro. He fails to do so, though, coming in on an Entrainment yet again and this time stresh gambles hoping that Ren doubles to bring in the fish. But alas, Ren keeps Ferrothorn in to Anchor Shot Yveltal and it goes down after a couple of turns meaning it likely had Strength Sap as recovery. Things only get worse for stresh when Ferro reveals Topsy-Turvy, meaning that it has 4 more PP than Melmetal which allows it to outlast it until it Struggles. stresh attempts to carry out the PP stall in vain before finally realizing the battle is over.
As I mentioned, stresh has the momentum for a while until suddenly throwing it all away when he lost Etern and Xern in the span of two poor turns. stresh had a chance to claw his way back in with Yveltal but everything would have had to go right and Ren was able to win all the mind games in the back end, making nice double switches and staying in at the right times.
Metagame Observations
Xerneas led the way in usage this week, again, with six uses and Etern was right behind with an OMPL X high of five uses. Regigigas had a sharp decline compared to recent weeks, only being used three times total and was only seen in half of the matches. These two matches were the only ones of the tournament to not have Gigas on either team. So far, I've been pretty surprised at Yveltal's usage in this tournament. It only got one use this week but overall it is a top 10 mon in overall usage (but has still be used 4x less than Xerneas).
Swords Dance, and not just on Regigigas now, is rising. It is a pretty neat move that I’m honestly surprised took so long to see this usage. Shift Gear and Dragon Dance have been the staple physical setup moves for so long but SD is standing out in a paralysis heavy meta as a strong alternative. And paralysis… It is no secret that paraspam is the rage lately and I’ve generally been ok with this. However, despite voting to keep Nuzzle in my last council action, I’m beginning to see how the para heavy team archetypes are becoming very overarching in teambuilding. It makes threats like Swords Dance + Coverage Gigas honestly silly to check while keeping viable mons on your team. This is definitely something that needs a hard look at but there is also no easy answer for tiering decisions here.
The battles were much shorter this week, averaging 68 turns per battle and this could have been more had stresh not stretched out the endgame and forfeited earlier.
Upcoming Matches
TTTech vs a loser - TTTech came out victorious in our playoff battle last season and since then I bested them in three games in the BH Open. Our battles are generally pretty close or get blown out by terrible matchups so I'm hoping for something in between for this one (but I mean, I'll take a busted matchup ngl).
cityscapes vs xavgb - Finally, the two best BH players we have face off. stresh is coming off his first loss in the "no para" game and city is on a four game winning streak, so far keeping her word after losing to me in the first week. I personally hope no pre-game agreements are made in this battle and am looking forward to seeing this matchup since I haven't seen it many times (city dodged stresh last OMPL [but don't @ me cause I dodged city last year too])
Career Ended vs quojova - career played his best battle yet in an interesting, fairly haxy game this week so hopefully that can be a silver lining in an otherwise bummer of a season. However, another cloud is rolling in in the form of yet another very tough opponent.
Nihilslave vs MAMP - Nihilslave is coming back after missing two weeks and hopefully all is well with them. MAMP ended their two game slide against me this week and will be looking to get back into their strong form we saw in the early weeks. I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of cheese from Nihilslave here and I am surprised MAMP hasn't called the dogs yet this OMPL (Zacian and Zamazenta's Hero of Many Battles formes have yet to see usage).
Lastly, here's a peak at the BH player rankings so far this season.
The Malding Mavericks (Morgan and IBM) - [5][3] - The Honey Linoones (aesf and Catalystic) 
The Temper Tyrantrums (OM and drampa's grandpa) - [4][4] - The Wiggly Family (Dragonillis and Osake) 
The Spinda Wheels (xavgb and in the hills) - [5][3] - The Larping Lopunnys (adem and DerpyBoi) 
The Uh Oh Kommo-os (XxSevagxX and willdbeast) - [2][6] - The Hammered Hawluchas (astralydia and Dr. Phd. BJ) 
