Tournament OMPL XI - Week 2

[KaenSoul]

Art by Blazenix
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Playoffs | Finals
Information Thread | Roster | Schedule | Standings | Replays
​

Useful Information

There are 8 teams this year. Each team will have have 8 players and at least 4 subs. The players are bought using the 100k credits that managers receive during the auction. Managers and co-managers will be allowed to purchase themselves as players for their team at a fixed price of 13.5k. The managers must inform the hosts (Isaiah, UT, and KaenSoul) of all self purchases before the beginning of the auction. Teams can win their matchup every week by winning 5 of the 8 matches that their players have to play.

​

The tier lineup this year is as follows:​

1. SV Almost Any Ability
2. SV Balanced Hackmons
3. SV Godly Gift
4. SV Mix and Mega
5. SV NFE
6. SV STABmons
7. SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5)
8. SV Anything Goes

It is recommended to play all games on SmogTours in the most current version of the format corresponding to those listed above. Games can be played on the Pokemon Showdown main server, but run higher risk of interference from server restarts/crashes. The result between players may be decided in a best-of-one or best-of-three at the discretion of both players involved. If there is no agreement, the result will decided in a Bo1 by default.​

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Winning a round rewards a team with 2 points, drawing 1 point, and losing zero points. In addition, the manner in which the round has been won will also be recorded i.e. the difference between a team's wins and losses in a specific week's round (referred to as "Win Differential").​

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Playoffs:​

Each team will play one another for seven weeks. Based on the final standings, the top 4 teams will enter a Playoffs Round to determine the teams appearing in the finals.​

Tiebreaker

In the event of two teams being tied for a spot in the finals based on points and win differential, or a tie in the final round itself, we will have a tiebreaker round(s).​

Tiebreaker Rules: One metagame will be picked by each manager, and each manager will also pick one metagame to strike. Additionally, each manager will submit a backup meta to strike in case their choice is the same as the opposing team's pick. The third format will be determined at random by the hosts from the remaining unpicked, unstruck metagames. In the event that the picks and strikes from each manager are the same, the hosts will determine both the second and third format at random based on the remaining options. All three metagames must be unique, so no format can be picked twice.​

Substitutes

Substitutes are to be used in the case of extenuating circumstances, whether on the first day of the week, or the last. At the same time, players should be relatively well-aware of who all are available to play in the opponent's camp. If last minute substitutes are being frequently used or abused and the hosts find explanations unsatisfactory, the hosts still reserve the right to veto them. In order to further prevent this being the case teams are only granted a maximum of two substitutes per week. Any substitutions after the second will be vetoed.​

Trades

The hosts have decided to not include trades this year due to reasons outlined in this thread - all roster decisions will be final, so draft carefully!​

Scheduling

Scheduling should be done on Smogon Profile walls, plain and simple:​

• If there is communication on only one user's behalf, the win will go to them. Feel free to call activity in this thread beforehand
• If there is a very healthy back and forth regarding potential times and one user is a no-show, a manager may take the opportunity to sub out the no-show competitor; if this is not done, the user that showed up responsibly will be awarded the win.

TL;DR: Post on your opponent's Smogon wall, schedule your matches, and be reliable. If you can't play for any reason, let your manager know so they can sub you out ASAP.​

​

Use these posts as a place to initiate discussion about bo1 or bo3 as well (or bo5 vs bo7 for 2v2)!​

Sportsmanship

Exhibitions of unsportsmanlike conduct with regards to the Other Metagame Premier League will be met with an infraction at the discretion of the OMPL host/OM mods. This is unlikely to include interactions within a team's private chat unless there is reason found to make an exception. This rule is meant to protect other users from being publicly flamed/bashed/provoked by another competitor for the duration of and following the tournament.​

​

All players must complete their matches by the given deadline. Any incomplete matches by that time will be subject to an activity decision (MAKE SURE YOU POST ON YOUR OPPONENT'S WALL); otherwise, it will be a deadgame. All matches should ideally be done on your most notable alt (the one you registered for OMPL with) to avoid confusion and all match replays must be saved and posted in this thread.​

Substitutions & Lineups

Managers, if you wish to make any substitutions, you must post here tagging both the player you're subbing out, the player you're subbing in, the manager and assistant manager of the opposing team, the substitute's opponent, and all of the hosts (Isaiah, UT, KaenSoul). This is to assure that everyone is in-the-loop and that the OP is updated accordingly to reflect the new match-up.​

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Managers, when you send in lineups, please send it in with the tier and Smogon username of each player fully written out for ease of transcription, following these guidelines exactly.​

Matchups

W Virizzions (hayedenn and Greybaum) - [3][5] - Dubwool Entendres (Redflix and Quantum Tesseract)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): tyo vs DripLegend
SV Almost Any Ability: hariyana grande vs The Number Man
SV Anything Goes: Taka vs Staxi
SV Balanced Hackmons: cityscapes vs XxLazzerpenguinxX
SV Godly Gift: gum vs Lily
SV Mix and Mega: xavgb vs Quantum Tesseract
SV NFE: Stareal vs King Leo V
SV STABmons: Sylvi vs Kaif

Photon Geezers (Tea Guzzler and ponchlake) - [4][4] - Wiggly Family (Dragonillis and Palapapop)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Krytocon vs Hugo
SV Almost Any Ability: MZ vs Osake
SV Anything Goes: Bread Sandwich vs polt
SV Balanced Hackmons: augustakira vs TTTech
SV Godly Gift: ponchlake vs Meta
SV Mix and Mega: zastra vs Clas
SV NFE: Tuthur vs ojr
SV STABmons: LBDC vs RoFnA

The Terrible Tyrants (drampa's grandpa and kenn) - [5][3] - Fluttermania (KarpeSan and adem)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): yuki vs bored_glitch
SV Almost Any Ability: shiloh vs Atha
SV Anything Goes: Inder vs Fogbound Lake
SV Balanced Hackmons: quojova vs Leru
SV Godly Gift: blinkboy vs Jrdn
SV Mix and Mega: Career Ended vs kDCA
SV NFE: lepton vs fade
SV STABmons: Fissure vs Clementine


Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos (Fc and Guard) - [6][2] - Gods as Ghold (Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂ and Eledyr)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Fragments vs Chris32156
SV Almost Any Ability: tier vs Ivar57
SV Anything Goes: Guard vs TaxFraud
SV Balanced Hackmons: PociekMociek vs Chessking345
SV Godly Gift: Dr. Phd. BJ vs Fraise
SV Mix and Mega: Icemaster vs damflame 3
SV NFE: clean vs avarice
SV STABmons: Fc vs abriel

Deadline:
10:00 PM (GMT -4) on June 4th, 2023
​

For the Bot

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): tyo vs DripLegend
SV Almost Any Ability: hariyana grande vs The Number Man
SV Anything Goes: Taka vs Staxi
SV Balanced Hackmons: cityscapes vs XxLazzerpenguinxX
SV Godly Gift: gum vs Lily
SV Mix and Mega: xavgb vs Quantum Tesseract
SV NFE: Stareal vs King Leo V
SV STABmons: Sylvi vs Kaif

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Krytocon vs Hugo
SV Almost Any Ability: MZ vs Osake
SV Anything Goes: Bread Sandwich vs polt
SV Balanced Hackmons: augustakira vs TTTech
SV Godly Gift: ponchlake vs Meta
SV Mix and Mega: zastra vs clas
SV NFE: Tuthur vs ojr
SV STABmons: LBDC vs RoFnA

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): yuki vs bored_glitch
SV Almost Any Ability: shiloh vs Atha
SV Anything Goes: Inder vs Fogbound Lake
SV Balanced Hackmons: quojova vs Leru
SV Godly Gift: blinkboy vs Jrdn
SV Mix and Mega: Career Ended vs kDCA
SV NFE: lepton vs fade
SV STABmons: Fissure vs Clementine

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Fragments vs Chris32156
SV Almost Any Ability: tier vs Ivar57
SV Anything Goes: Guard vs TaxFraud
SV Balanced Hackmons: PociekMociek vs Chessking345
SV Godly Gift: Dr. Phd. BJ vs fraise
SV Mix and Mega: icemaster vs damflame 3
SV NFE: clean vs Avarice
SV STABmons: Fc vs abriel

 

[ponchlake]

count your days wiggly crew

 

[quojova]

 

[SpaceSpeakers]

Tyranitar used Outrage!
It's super effective!
(The opposing Flutter Mane lost 100% of its health!)

The opposing Flutter Mane fainted!

 

[Taka]

 

[Ren]

Pretty sure I had sub 50% correct predicts last week but fuck it we ball

W Virizzions (hayedenn and Greybaum) - [5][3] - Dubwool Entendres (Redflix and Quantum Tesseract)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): tyo vs DripLegend - this person is a vgc god or smth
SV Almost Any Ability: hariyana grande vs The Number Man - sorry tnm i have to hype up one of my favorite artists
SV Anything Goes: Taka vs Staxi - staxi gud I think?
SV Balanced Hackmons: cityscapes vs XxLazzerpenguinxX - Erin impressed me last week and I don't ever wanna bold XxLawlzPnginxX as a name
SV Godly Gift: gum vs Lily - rwby diff
SV Mix and Mega: xavgb vs Quantum Tesseract - stresh seemed super good last week
SV NFE: Stareal vs King Leo V - tyrant blood
SV STABmons: pannu vs Kaif - Kaif didn't let me down and pannu did.

Photon Geezers (Tea Guzzler and ponchlake) - [5][3] - Wiggly Family (Dragonillis and Palapapop)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Krytocon vs Hugo - isn't Hugo an ubers main? Whyre they in 2v2
SV Almost Any Ability: MZ vs Osake - Osake felt pretty good last week
SV Anything Goes: Bread Sandwich vs polt - polt did pretty well last week despite the L
SV Balanced Hackmons: augustakira vs TTTech - expecting great things from augustakira from what I've heard
SV Godly Gift: ponchlake vs Meta - ponch surprised me w their play last week, didn't expect them to be that good.
SV Mix and Mega: zastra vs Clas - p sure both of these people are council so it'll be a hype match but we don't bold the vs sign here. Clas it is
SV NFE: Tuthur vs ojr - ojr is p solid and is just gonna load up something that makes tuthur hate the game. Would hate to see it happen to a fellow begin again stan though so go tuthur
SV STABmons: LBDC vs RoFnA - wasn't terribly impressed w rofna last week, lbdc seems better

The Terrible Tyrants (drampa's grandpa and kenn) - [6][2] - Fluttermania (KarpeSan and adem)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): yuki vs bored_glitch - please work I need above 50%
SV Almost Any Ability: shiloh vs Atha - shiloh playing on the volknerd alt gives u a buff
SV Anything Goes: Inder vs Fogbound Lake - inder won last week and again we played among us once so
SV Balanced Hackmons: quojova vs Leru - Leru def has the ability to win this but I also don't think he really cares
SV Godly Gift: blinkboy vs Jrdn - Jordan made me sad
SV Mix and Mega: Career Ended vs kDCA - uh idk if I've seen either of these people play mnm before but career is p good at most oms
SV NFE: lepton vs fade - jonfilch fade
SV STABmons: Fissure vs Clementine - Fissure made me sad last week and I gave Clem a heart attack once so I sorta owe a bold to Clem for the rest of the tour


Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos (Fc and Guard) - [5][3] - Gods as Ghold (Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂ and Eledyr)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Fragments vs Chris32156 - Chris numbers. Fragments hella surprised me last week but..
SV Almost Any Ability: tier vs Ivar57 - if this were any other OM bar bh I'd bold tier but AAA is a knowledge diff tier
SV Anything Goes: Guard vs TaxFraud - the irs won't catch him this week
SV Balanced Hackmons: pdt vs Chessking345 - pdt was pretty solid last week, expecting a return to top form this week
SV Godly Gift: Dr. Phd. BJ vs Fraise - bj seems like he's the type to be allergic to strawberries. fortunately he's a doctor so he knows how to help himself
SV Mix and Mega: Icemaster vs damflame 3 - hate this matchup but ice prob wins
SV NFE: clean vs avarice - clean impressed me last week by defeating stareal which has earned him a bold for the rest of the tour
SV STABmons: Fc vs PandaDoux - the fc

 

[Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂]

Sub abriel over PandaDoux Isaiah KaenSoul UT Fc Guard

 

[Chris32156]

2v2 predicts with very little thought at 2am bc i'm an insomniac
Krytocon vs Hugo -not the biggest fan of the teams kryotocon brought last week, and from what i've seen hugo/despacito seem to be tryharding the most
tyo vs DripLegend - could easily go either way, both have goated support. I think the teams driplegend brought last week were more solid and consitent where the teams vrji brought (assumedly beauts made) were more trying to build around cool shit and lost to fragments just bringing solid safe teams. Though i think tyo will outclick, i'm not too familar with driplegend's game so i could easily be wrong but they made a couple of plays i didn't like last week so im bolding tyo
yuki vs bored_glitch - I feel like last week yuki loaded 2 meme teams into a safe but very public team, risked crit for no reason g2 and g3 misplayed. If yuki was facing anyone else i would probably bold them bc i think they're very good at bouncing back, though i think bored_glitch can win in builder. My guess is glitch outtechs early in the set, yuki tries to adapt and loads tax evasion or another standard public team and glitch abuses that simillar to yuki's set last week

 

[drampa's grandpa]

Predicts

 

[LordBox]

AAA Predicts 2: Electric Boogaloo

MZ vs Osake
A decently close one match from what I can tell but Osake performed well Week 1 in terms of play and build, winning and also actually having good meta knowledge + good support from cumps to cook so I'd give it to Osake over MZ who again can click well but doesn't know the tier well and doesn't have amazing support.

Ivar57 vs tier
Arguably strongest AAA player right now versus arguably the weakest AAA team as of now. The only person I know on their team who even knows AAA would be Pociek (who mains MnM) and FC I guess? That's fine and all but against the player who has been consistently rolling other top tier players, I've got a safe bet here (but I guess anything can happen in a Bo1 so maybe they'll pull some crazy sauce)

Atha vs Shiloh
Shiloh is apparently a goated player but I'm not too impressed with them after Week 1. They have decent support as well but up against Atha it's hard to pick them over, but again, anything can happen in a Bo1.

 

[Evie]

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): tyo vs DripLegend
SV Almost Any Ability: hariyana grande vs The Number Man
SV Anything Goes: Taka vs Staxi
SV Balanced Hackmons: cityscapes vs XxLazzerpenguinxX
SV Godly Gift: gum vs Lily
SV Mix and Mega: xavgb vs Quantum Tesseract
SV NFE: Stareal vs King Leo V
SV STABmons: pannu vs Kaif

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Krytocon vs Hugo
SV Almost Any Ability: MZ vs Osake
SV Anything Goes: Bread Sandwich vs polt
SV Balanced Hackmons: augustakira vs TTTech
SV Godly Gift: ponchlake vs Meta
SV Mix and Mega: zastra vs clas
SV NFE: Tuthur vs ojr
SV STABmons: LBDC vs RoFnA

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Fragments vs Chris32156
SV Almost Any Ability: tier vs Ivar57
SV Anything Goes: Guard vs TaxFraud
SV Balanced Hackmons: pdt vs Chessking345
SV Godly Gift: Dr. Phd. BJ vs fraise
SV Mix and Mega: icemaster vs damflame 3
SV NFE: clean vs Avarice
SV STABmons: Fc vs abriel

 

[Siamato]

W1 AAA team ranking​

#1 Ivar57's team:

Abilities

Regenerator
Desolate Land
Fluffy
Volt Absorb
Earth Eater
Tinted Lens? Magic Guard? Scrappy? Adaptability?

Effectiveness: 13.5/15

Pretty solid team covering the meta really well. Even though Corviknight isn't Intimidate, Regen Tinkaton manages to keep Chien-Pao and Meowscarada in check well. EE Glimmora is an underated mon being able to remove rocks against the most common spreader, Regen Garchomp while putting Spikes against Corv. VA Corv handles Hadron Sandy Shocks, Rotom-Wash and Iron Treads prevening them all to grab the momentum. Slither Wing gives him a priority and has some defensive utility in case of emergency.
Pretty effective team both defensively and offensively being able to withstand common threats well and pressure CorvChompMothScream core effectively.
Quite weak to Fire though considering Glimmora is the only real Fire resist of the team and can be weaken quite easily. The team is also very slow being somehow at the mercy of really dynamic structures not letting it grab the momentum.

Originality: 4/5

Quite a high score for a CorvMothChomp team which is the commonest core but Ivar still managed to innovate with different sets. Indeed, Chomp was Sub SD Fluffy and not the common Regen one while Corv was VA and not the common Intimidate/Fluffy. In AAA, innovating doesn't necessarily mean changing mons but abilities! Slither has also many possible abilities making it quite unpredictable which is great in AAA. He didn't reveal the ability over the game so up to your imagination!
Glimmora and Tinkaton are 2 great mons but still not that common (see where council members put them in VRs... smh) increasing again the originality of the team.
Only Iron Moth kept a standard Desolate Land set.

Score: 17.5/20


#2 atha's team:

Abilities

Regenerator
Desolate Land
Sword of Ruin
Fluffy
Adaptability
Levitate

Effectiveness: 12.5/15

A bulky offense team putting a lot of pressure on Garchomp with Ice Spinner Iron Treads, WoW Rotom-Wash, Adaptability Kingambit and the Garchomp eraser, Chien-Pao. Ceruledge benefits a lot of their support to break. Although being offensively oriented, it's hard to find something just autowinning short-term. Overall put a lot of pressure on the opponent's team to break common cores before being broken.
The Ground MU looks still really hard even though Leviate Iron-Treads is one of the best answer to common Grounds like Garchomp or Sandy Shocks. Mixed Regen Garchomp can be terrifying for this team though (and even opposing EE/Levi Iron-Treads). I also feel the team can collapse whenever Rotom-W isn't able anymore to withstand the pressure especially against things like Iron Moth, Cinderace or Kilowattrel. Meowscarada can be extremely annoying because only Chien-Pao outspeeds it. Occa Berry Treads cool tech.

Origininality: 4/5

A quite original team fitting well atha's style oriented towards offensive stuff. Regenerator Rotom-Wash is something quite new even though it seems to appear more and more. Fluffy Garchomp is not the standard set too. Apart from that, quite common mons and sets even though Iron Treads had some style.

Score: 16.5/20


#3 The Number Man's team:

Abilities

Regenerator
Magic Guard
Desolate Land
Fluffy?
Well Baked-Body?
Sword of Ruin

Effectiveness: 11/15

Court-Change Cinderace and Defog Corv ensure a great hazard managemeng for Chien-Pao and I like that. The speed control is great with Choice Scarf Rotom-W, Chien-Pao and even Cinderace being all (much) faster than average. Solid defensive core with the golden combination of Fluffy + WBB. Although the Corv being Fluffy, Chien-Pao is still correctly handled by Tinkaton and Rotom-Wash. Palosand ensures to not autolose to Garganacl or Corrosion things like Toxapex or Clodsire. Ghost type helps vs Slither Wing being able to delete Corvi with Flare Blitz.

The Water much seems really hard considering Inteleon does a billion damages to Rotom-Wash and pretty much kills everything else. Garchomp is quite scary in this MU especially mixed one completely breaking TNM's defensive core. Fluffy also works especially with Substitute. Hadron Sandy Shocks MU is awful especially non-locked one.
Offensively I don't like much Cinderace's set relying almost exclusively on Dland boosted Pyroball + SD to make progress which is heavily MU reliant (a WBB in your face and that's over). Palossand kinda makes sense there but seems still bad with pretty much no utility.

Origininality: 4.5/5

The man brought Regen Scarf Rotom-W and PALOSSAND. You also need big balls to bring Dland SD Cinderace in a meta with Garchomp and WBB everywhere. Tinkaton still a cool mon that deserves much better than B rank.

Score: 15.5/20

#4 Hariyana grande:

Abilities

Intimidate
Desolate Land
Regenerator
Pixilate
Primordial Sea
Earth Eater? Well Baked-Body? Adaptability?

Effectiveness: 12/15

Solid CorvMothChompScream core. Kilowattrel is probably Lordbox's signature but is quite good providing above average speed control and "keeping in check" Talonflame. Kingambit provides resists to Ghost and Dark which is quite valuable as well as a priority. I like RegenLO Mixed Chomp + Kingambit to catch a Corv and make Kingambit a real threat. Note that Scream Tail being Pixilate the team can be in trouble against setup especially without any insane breaker.

Origininality: 3/5

Quite standard mons and sets but RegenLO Mixed Chomp and Kilowattrel are something bringing a little warmth. Pixilate Scream Tail was also unexpected... even though I don't think it's good it's quite original at least.

Score: 15/20


#5 Osake's team:

Abilities

Intimidate
Desolate Land
Regenerator
Unaware
Magic Guard
Sword of Ruin

Effectiveness: 12.5/15

Everything you want? CorvMothChompScream probably the strongest core allowing to deal with a wide range of things. Quaqua brings hazard control and some breaking power. Chien-Pao is the fastest highest rated mon. Not much to add tbh. However, because everything is classic, well built teams should be able to handle it nicely while not getting too much walled by such classic core.

Origininality: 1/5

Least original team ever? Every set are classics and perfectly predictable. Could be 0 tbh but I don't like to harass kids.

Score: 13.5/20


#5 Shiloh's team:

Abilities

Fluffy
Desolate Land
Regenerator
Pixilate
Earth Eater
Hustle

Effectiveness: 10.5/15

Solid core of CorvChompMothScream again? Not really because that's Scarf Pixi Scream Tail this time so less defensive utility for a doubtful speed control. EE Glimmora is good even though the team could certainly do without it there. Kingambit helps with speed control but... Hustle uh. Overall because Corv is Fluffy and Kingambit is fully offensive, the team seams quite weak to Chien-Pao. It seems Chomp was RegenVest so the team really relies on Kingambit to break and Trick Scream Tail perhaps which is not great I believe.

Origininality: 3/5

AV Garchomp and Pixi Scream are surprising. Glimmora EE good and original. Hustle Kingambit wtf just runs Adapt bro lmao.

Score: 13.5/20


#7 DugZa's team:

Abilities

Intimidate
Desolate Land
Sheer Force? Tinted Lens? Magic Guard?
Regenerator
Unaware
Magic Guard

Effectiveness: 9.5/15

Solid CorvChompScream backed up by Skeledirge Dland against Water mons. Quaqua deals with status and Garga well while providing an additionnal hazard control (even though the team isn't weak to hazards tbh).
Has flaws against special breakers like Hydreigon especially considering the poor speed control. Skeledirge + Cind is an interesting Fire core but still quite MU reliant (no Corv or Slither Wing WBB). Double hazards Chomp is not particularly good considering Corv will prevent hazard stack (unlike Ting-Lu). I hope at least one Fire mon gets WoW otherwise just get Garchomped.

Origininality: 3/5

Standard things but Skeledirge is heat as well as Cinderace still unknown set.

Score: 12.5/20


#8 MZ's team:

Abilities

Intimidate
Desolate Land
Regenerator
Unaware? Pixilate?
Magic Guard
Triage

Effectiveness: 6/15

Definitely putting this team below average in terms of effectiveness. The combination of Hatt + Scream Tail is somehow a burden defensively. Hatt set is bad considering it was Leftovers and not Life Orb, an item it somehow needs if you want it to actually revenge kill things. It seemed to be a failed attempt to give some speed control to the team. SR Scream Tail is another subpar set considering it loses to any setup able to handle Dazzling Gleam and with enough pp.
Roaring Moon is definitely a mon falling with the loss of many reasons to play it. To justify its "passivity", you really want to abuse as most as possible the only things it provides, momentum. That's not really the case in this team considering the "balanced" dynamics (not BO/Offense) as well as the fact nothing really needs momentum to switch-in (Cinderace maybe?).

Origininality: 2.5/5

Quite classic sets with the only interesting thing being MGLO Cinderace, a mon quite hard to justify using with such crazy usage of Chomper. Triage Hatterene is also cool and often underestimated but able to handle CorvMothChomp pretty well.

Score: 8.5/20


This concludes this W1 AAA team review, hope you enjoyed it! Waiting to see what's you guys are gonna cook for this one :sip: Not sure I'll make this review every week but maybe I'll find help so it can happen every week? I could ask for more people to vote too if you're interested. Just lmk and I'll spam my friends Atha, Osake, The Number Man and Ivar57 to make them vote (not for their team ofc).

 

[Tea Guzzler]

OMPL BH REVIEW: WEEK 1

TTTech vs quojova - vs
Both standard-ish teams looking at preview, however in this case, the looks were indeed deceiving.

As it turns out, TTTech bought a boat and went fishing with a full Baton Pass team. These are wildly inconsistent for a number of reasons (outlined here), and rely almost entirely on a good matchup to actually win, so it seems that TTTech was going for the win solely based on quojova not bringing many Haze users. The game starts with TTTech's Chansey getting Substitute up (and an Amnesia) before staring down quojova's Rayquaza, which turns out be Magic Guard + Life Orb. Dondozo gets pivoted in and reveals Prankster + Taunt, shutting down quojova's Chansey and forcing him to pivot into Torch Song Arceus-Ghost. This gives TTTech the chance to go to Arceus-Poison, which proceeds to set up Imprison and multiple Victory Dances, which in turn forces quojova to go to Fur Coat Zamazenta-C, which turns out to be his saving grace, as it withstands even +3 360BP Tera Dark Power Trip and manages to set up Cotton Guard, forcing Arceus out (if TTTech had Ingrain up, he wouldn't be able to switch, and so the game'd end right here). This massive loss of momentum practically seals the game, as now Flutter Mane and Rayquaza can safely get in to deny safe stat boosting (and Flutter can block Dondozo's Prankster + Strength Sap, like on turn 30). Ultimately, even despite Fur Coat Eternatus with an Amnesia boost, Rayquaza can just click its way to victory here, as there's no sufficient ways to wall it with hazards up.

Leru vs Chessking345 - vs
Some odd choices on both sides, making use of Pokemon that haven't really been meta for a while, like Eternatus and Meloetta.

If there were any game that demonstrated why we need to kill Tera in BH, this is it. Rayquaza reveals Jungle Healing, an odd tech, pretty early on, and Tera Flying lets itgrab a KO on Leru's Chansey as early as turn 5 thanks to Collision Course. Zacian @ Rusted Sword is also revealed on Chessking's side, which doesn't do much as it immediately switches out of Magic Bounce Giratina. Arceus-Fairy comes in on Leru's side and chunks Chansey with Tera Fairy Boomburst, forcing in Chessking's Arceus-Fire, onto which Substitute + Torch Song Eternatus comes in. This is instantly forced out by Ting-Lu, which allows Arceus-Fairy to switch in again, but it's forced out by Arceus-Fire revealing Calm Mind. After some switching around and Giratina bringing in Groudon, Chessking takes the window to bring in Rayquaza (who can only be hit by Mortal Spin), which results in Groudon being OHKOed. Rapid Spin Arceus-Fairy switches in and out-damages Arceus-Fire thanks to Tera, although this lets Zacian-C come in and KO the incoming Giratina with Gigaton Hammer -> Spirit Break. Eternatus tries to brawl with Zacian but gets KOed, and then Flutter Mane switches in, but it's soon scared forced out by Lumina Crash Meloetta. A surprise Facade on Arceus-Fairy KOes Meloetta but allows Rayquaza in, which KOes the last 2 mons on Leru's side with Extreme Speed.

cityscapes vs pdt - vs
If you expected a standard team from cityscapes then you were wrong; this is about as whack as sets can get, but they somehow still work, which I don't understand nor will I attempt to.

city leads Imposter into Kyogre and then both players switch out, leading to Refrigerate Arceus-Ice taking a huge chunk of Corviknight's health in exchange for being Toxiced. Kyogre then comes back in on Spikes and trades its Assault Vest for a Volt Switch on Volcanion, bringing in Eternatus to grab a spike. Stone Axe from Clodsire goes up and then Groudon comes in to remove them, succeeding in doing so (because of Tidy Up) but switching out of Goodra; Corviknight is also confirmed to be Magic Bounce here. Arceus-Ice gets a new spike up, and then after some switching, Kyogre is poisoned and Eternatus decides to take on Ice Scales Clodsire. Eternatus' reliance on Regenerator to top up its HP nearly leads to its demise, but a Volt Switch on the last turn (as city preserves Clodsire) saves it and leads to multiple Spikes on city's side. Zama-C reveals Haze but is promptly crit by Torch Song from Imposter, forcing in Kyogre and leading to it being KOed. After some switching, city copies Ice Scales Groudon and manages to remove hazards, and some switching allows Arceus-Ice to heal up. Corviknight gets trickked a Scarf and then brings in Eternatus, but doesn't get trapped for now. Volcanion reveals Chilling Reception to get Arcues-Ice in safely, which can then grab a spike, and after some switching trades damage with Groudon (but just missing out on the KO), but its healing gets denied by Corviknight, and after some more switching it happens again. After this, city remembers that the fun button exists and goes Tera Ice Arcues-Ice, OHKOing Corviknight and then winning the Imposter Speed-tie to scare out Eternatus. More switching later and Zama-C reveals Encore to temporarily limit Arceus-Ice, giving Eternatus the chance to heal. pdt's Arceus-Ghost finally comes in and reveals Calm Mind, to which city responds with Clodsire's Perish Song and Goodra's Toxic, basically neutralizing it. There's not really a lot else that happens, as city makes some safe switches and gradually wears away at Zama-C's Recover PP, although Heal Bell Arceus-Ghost manages to rack up enough boosts to take out Volcanion. Zama-C finally goes down on turn 102, after which there's nothing more that can be done.

XxLazzerpenguinxX vs Tea Guzzler - vs
Both of these teams have one outlandish wincon and the rest being relatively standard. However, my outlandish mon (Enamorus) is one that has seen use, just not recently; Sevag's Iron Moth is from nowhere.

It's probably easier for you to understand this game if I explain what my team is meant to do. The main idea is that Tera Ice Bundle has an easy time cleaning up if you take out the specially defensive Zacian or non-Imposter Chansey on the other side, as the opponent probably won't have any good special walls left; this is what Explosion Enamorus tries to do. The part where this doesn't work is if, for some reason, you can't get the Explosion onto the target you want (in this case Dialga-O), which is why Iron Moth is basically a losing matchup here. If Explosion can't connect with the target, then winning is still possible (thanks entirely to Tera Ice), but you need to get probably 4+ predicts in a row and it isn't possible if the target you missed was Chansey (Ice Scales Chansey is a hard L, Prankster Chansey can be recover-stalled but only if the opponent decides to not make any progress).

For what it's worth, the only thing i'm ever scared of on Sevag's side is the Groudon (specifically Toxic from it): Flutter Mane and Iron Moth deal negligible damage to Chansey, and I didn't know Arceus was Nasty Plot until the game was already over. The game starts with some pivoting and Groudon being Toxiced / Chansey being tricked Specs, as my only goal at this point is to get Enamorus in and see what I can do. It gets shut down pretty quickly by Iron Moth on turn 13, foricng me to dance around it, and I click Explosion on turn 23. In hindsight this is probably a mistake, as if I leave it alive then I have feasible odds of PP stalling Iron Moth's Recover and thus getting the Explosion off as desired, but with Toxic Groudon and a poisoned + tricked Chansey the chances of me actually living to see that happen are basically 0. The rest of the game is pretty much just an attempt to make a comeback, which doesn't end up working out as Bundle dies on turn 40; I think I believed that I could PP stall Iron Moth and go for a late-game Groudon win, which is why I kept on playing, but I threw in the towel when Sevag realized that copying Regenerator Chansey was an infinite stalling machine.

might edit in predicts later today idk

 

[Shing]

Nfe predicts before going to the gym. Overall score: 1-3(thanks for winning that one jr)

SV NFE: Stareal vs King Leo V - Where have I seen this matchup before... I swear they should have played against each other at some point, but I don't remember. I am sure that they know each other as Stareal borrowed Leo's team to win NFE Seasonals in 2021, so it'll be an exciting one to see them facing each other regardless. Now I think Stareal should be the obvious one to predict winning due to the building factor alone, but I am not too sure it's a one-sided matchup as I believe the game is more decided on who will be the better player than the team matchup, as far I've seen what they've been bringing. Stareal and Leo are very even in skill aspect so I would believe it's one of those games where they will have some of the tightest late/endgames. It can be also very one-sided for Stareal only if they get a favorable MU which is possible since Leo's teams are more vulnerable to getting matchup checked, which is definitely possible as far as I've seen in Leo's W1 game. But I do not trust that to be the case since based on what Greybaum has brought through the whole Gen 9 NFE, they've not impressed me enough to where I can see his teams properly exploit Leo's vulnerability (Prove me wrong, I am very confident in this aspect rn). This matchup will be very close due to the player vs player mu but can be MU-favored at teams for Stareal and not Leo because Leo doesn't really build to get a super favorable MU this early. So an easy pick to give it to Stareal in here which I believe so.

I don't know who took the loss worse in week 1 by the way. Stareal got hella vibe checked by Clean bringing up a new tech that exploits teams that uses Eel as their Tinkatuff switch-in and usually a mon that can win 1v1 or get momentum out of it. Just wanna point out that if Stareal used Dazzling Gleam against that Gabite switch-in at T25, they could have won that game I believe unless the Drakloak was specs based on the calc, then it was just over regardless. Leo didn't get vibe checked like Stareal, but damn he fr lost to a public team by mine smh smh smh, pretty damn bad if I would say so rofl. Will say Leo has some cool ass structures such as Hatt + Spin Toedscool as Hatt helps Toedscool by mitigating the Mareanie and Frogadier MU for example. Will say the Iron Head Gabite was the wackier part, like what??? Bro Leo, we don't have Tera Fairy Missy anymore smh smh smh. As for Stareal/Greybaum, it looked like they brought pretty simple things, however, the Glimmet on such a team like that is very interesting. I've experimented with defensive Glimmet myself because the potential against hazard control is kinda bonkers in a very unfair way and it got the key bulk + typing to create chaos. Based on the calcs, I am very sure that Frogadier was scarf, which makes sense so it synergizes with CB Fraxure. Cool stuff, hope to see what yall will bring for this one-week meta without Magnemite and before home comes to change everything.


SV NFE: Tuthur vs Ojr - Congratulations to both players for their W1 OMPL win, especially Tuthur for their first OMPL win! Now I do think this could be the worst possible outcome and timing for Tuthur to face. They used my public team to win last week which was a good strategy for Leo since they were just recently back playing Gen 9 NFE(for the first time?). However, against Ojr that knows my teams in and out as I wake up and see them DM me about my sets, they can't be pulling another one of those against him. Pretty confident that Ojr to win this one, but there's still a lot of possibility for Tuthur to win with the support of 5dots. But regardless I think Ojr has a strong advantage on this week if Tuthur doesn't bring a whole new team.

Jr brought the Dragmag in Gen 9 NFE, and I find that absolutely hilarious that works. Then again Magnemite essentially unleashes a new whole genre of ways to approach the game as I have been preaching about haha. Now besides that, I want to quickly talk about something at Jr vs Lepton game. And that's even if you have Hattrem+Defogger in your team, you're not able to be bulletproof from Glimmet's hazard game and that says something about how utterly stupid that mon is lol. Just running Tank Glimmet with Double Stack + Power Gem and Toxic with the ability Toxic Debris makes you able to beat 90% against the hazard control tbh. Corrosion Glimmet is also another good option for the Tink+Mareanie switch-ins but makes you weaker against Eel and Hattrem teams. I'm glad to see Glimmet being pulled out since I experimented with it myself weeks ago.


SV NFE: Lepton vs Fade - I don't think both of them have faced each other at all, so this will be a treat to watch. Fade should take this win solidly by being a better player despite some critical turns he did at mid-games and I don't think the teambuilding MU is such a big difference. Lepton got hella vibe checked by bringing defensive Tinkatuff, and then had to face Glimmet. Despite having a seemingly good hazard control, the problem within Hattrem+Defog again is it feels almost required to have your team run with grounded poison type due to Glimmet's existence, especially when your whole team isn't immune against t-spikes and you are actually using Fletchinder(goofy ass mon), which kind creates a lot of difficulties to fit in the offense mons right after at the same time if you're looking for making your teams have a lot of longevity. Besides that, I still don't like the teams Lepton has brought. I see the synergy in offense in the way of wanting to build a team based on cleaning the game as fast as possible, but that's extremely difficult in a bulky meta like this. Their defensive synergy has quite of holes but I do like the key aspect she makes a team that makes it incredibly hard to set up overall. As for Fade, their team looks pretty cool, although I see repeat cores with Eel + Frog + Tink + Dartrix + Gabite. Specs Gastly is a neat option as it has the ability to 2HKO its checks once its Evolite is removed. The biggest issues I would say are that the speed control is very suspectable and that the endgame mons look like such a big problem Thankfully enough they got a good MU as PD didn't bring any endgame sweepers.
Besides going in too much criticizing the teams, I think this player MU can be a close one. Especially when the Magnet Pull is now banned, I can see Lepton pulling out teams with more solid defensive synergy, but I am still confident to bet on Fade winning this game. They just need some NFE knowledge so they don't get mixed up by Ice Beam Dunsparce and they're taking the game in my book.


SV NFE: Clean vs Avarice - Avarice with Mite teams would be one of the scariest types of players considering they can pilot these types of straightforward teams. Unfortunately, Avarice can't pull out and I see this meta being extremely slow-paced, and heavily centralized around Tinkatuff and Mareanie defensive cores for this only week. Idk how Tinkaton is in SV NFE, but if it's mainly used to check threats due to its typing and utility moveset then expect similar things here. I think Clean should take this win in a solid fashion, as I've been impressed by their game from week 1 except for that endgame. Their team looked very basic at first hand, but some huge key changes such as Sub Tinkatuff changed a lot of interactions that lead him to the win despite the poor endgame. I trust their ability to build and play to take another win again, just get some NFE experience and ask me or others questions about NFE stuff if needed both of you two :))


This will probably be my last NFE prediction until playoffs because I don't like predictions after from a whole ass new meta, and I'm not interested enough to care especially since I take hours to write something since I am so slow. There are also other things I want to care about and may interfere so yeah tbh I'm not gonna any of the other weeks.

 

[Hugo]

The official HTH 2v2 predictions list so you know whats gonna go down this week

tyo vs DripLegend - even tho Drip did lose his set last week that still doesn't change my opinion about him, I think he is gonnapick himself up this week and put in that little extra thats gonna make him win this time

Krytocon vs Hugo - while Chris said we seem to be tryharding the most I must admit that last weeks prep existed out of 1.5 hours in a vc where 50% of the time was spend on nicknames and dumb irl stories and the other 50% was looking at which teams to recycle so idk about this. I do know Kry's support tho and thats what I am the most scared off since I just know he is gonna bring the ultimate teams and counters to push my shit in :)

Fragments vs Chris32156 - even tho Fragmants did win last week (I did not expect it but I was very happy to see it :)) Chris is just a really good 2v2 player, while fragments did prove me wrong last week I feel like if he wants to do the same again this week he really has to pull some big moves and strats

yuki vs bored_glitch - I feel like this time yuki might be really set on the win and he will pull out a bit more special sauce to secure that win then normal so I have the feeling its gonna end up in a 3-2 or something like that but I do feel that this might be the closest set of the week

 

[Atha]

Video analysis of my Week 1 game ! Subscribe, leave a comment, ring the bell, my goal is 7 subscribers by the end of ompl !

 

[Chessking345]

BH Predicts:
Last week I got 2/3, turns out rather than Tea Guzzler muing Sevag after joining their test game he gets mued instead.
cityscapes (40) vs (60) XxLazzerpenguinxX
City is good but Sevag is still more familiar with the meta, has better support, and also likes to bring unorthodox stuff to match city's crazy sets. Also clearly Sevag is incredibly good at prepping from last weeks result.

augustakira (51) vs (49) TTTech
Highlight game of the week. Very evenly matched players with styles that will likely end up being matchup dependent game, either TTTech brings fat and Akira fishes for the right breaker or TTTech brings Onyx style team and fishes for matchup. I need to predict someone though so I'll give the edge to Akira since its his OMPL debut game.

quojova (90) vs (10) Leru
quojova is one of the most consistent players here so should have no issues against whatever Nihilslave prepares for Leru and will likely just grind the game slowly to a win. quojova also appears to be having some secret support in scouting games based on his last week CT against TTTech so he won't be surprised by any crazy techs and instead CT whatever Leru ends up bringing.

 

[Taka]

not doing predicts bc the pool doesn't feel super distinctly outmatched/outbuilt, but make sure to watch Guard vs TaxFraud, will most likely have some creative sets + team comps

 

[ojr]

its back, OMPL Week 1 NFE games coverage

Metagame Talk

Pokemon	Usage w1
Tinkatuff	7​
Frogadier	6​
Dartrix	4​
Drakloak	3​
Eelektrik	3​
Gabite	3​
Arctibax	2​
Fraxure	2​
Glimmet	2​
Hattrem	2​
Raboot	2​
Vigoroth	2​
Crocalor	1​
Dunsparce	1​
Fletchinder	1​
Gastly	1​
Girafarig	1​
Mareanie	1​
Pikachu	1​
Sneasel	1​
Toedscool	1​

Thoughts about w1:
Only 1 team with no Tinkatuff. The one without Tinka also lost. We truly live in the metagame of Tinka, knock is such a big factor in NFE, and mainly its sheer versatility is unmatched. Tinkatuff can make any team better in my opinion and I expect it to become as dominant as Vullaby / Piloswine last generation.

Frogadier seems overused to me. I know it's like the 2nd best mon in the tier behind tinka but 6 is still a lot. It's obviously a premier spiker and speed control generally but it's still quite frail and not THAT strong if we are being honest.

Dartrix leading the line as hazard control should be no surprise. The bulk is amazing, knock is amazing but I think people will prep more for it.
Eelektrik is overused imo, pretty do-nothing mon to me. We did see the funny endgame solo vs PandaDoux but I think that is also because PD didn't bring a Tinkatuff which essentially knocks it every game making it significantly easier to deal with.

Gabite actually seems underused to me which is surprising. SD Adamant Gabite is still one of the best mons in the tier imo and I honestly expected it to be 3rd in usage.

Arctibax usage is inflated. Still, a funny mon that could maybe be viable after mags departure with evio SD.

Crocalor, I expected more of. This is a rare case of a defensive mon in the meta that can still run boots viably in a hazard-dominant metagame. I wonder if we will see it come back with more use in w2 or if it's that hard to fit apparently.

Mareanie is madly underused. Seriously what the fuck?

Toedscool is kinda not as good as it is seen on the VR (S rank). 1 usage might be stretching it though, Im kinda on the fence on how good this mon really is rn but I find it surprising to still see it only once

fade vs PandaDoux

On preview:
fade is bringing a relatively standard-looking team with gastly as a surprise pick. The overall structure of this team looks very solid and this is very promising for fade's season as before the season started there were some question marks if the building would be good enough. I'm personally not super sold on gastly here but hey if u wanna click specs shadow ball and win I can't blame you.
PandaDoux is bringing a bit less standard-looking team. With oddball picks like dunsparce and scarf arctibax. 1 thing that obviously stands out is no tinka which is surprising. Honestly Im personally not quite sure about scarf arctibax on a balanced team like this here I think it really shines more on offense with scarf and mag support. Besides that, there are also obvious positives from this team, raboot and frogadier form a very strong offensive core with lots of momentum which results in bringing in the supposed breaker of this team: arctibax. Fast ice type with spikes is definitely a potent idea so I like that from them.
Honestly, on preview, I think the matchup might actually be in favor of PD. Raboot looks like an enormous threat especially if that is SD. On the other hand, I think fade's biggest tool is rest eelektrik if you manage to keep it not knocked it seems super hard to kill if physdef.

The game:
We start this game off with a pretty big turn on t3 already. Ice hammer + knock significantly chips dartrix which is definitely very needed to be alive for PD. Following up PD gets unlucky with para's vs eelektrik and it's already looking very shitty for PD defensively. fade does kinda give gabite away just to get up rocks which is fair since it removes dart from the game and basically secures that rocks will stay up for the rest of the game unless they decide to fog them away with their own dart and it makes sure eel is never getting knocked in this game. Now it does become very apparent that fade doesn't have the best counterplay left to raboot after sacking the gabite and is forced to sack dartrix which looked pretty useless in this game anyways. after this PD gets the surprise KO with scarf bax. and we seem to already be trading into an endgame a few turns later of gastly and eelektrik vs the rest of PD's team. Gastly gets to poison sparce with sbomb which is honestly pretty huge but on the other hand eel would para sparce at some point. I think the poison is more beneficial though as it finally looks like a potential eelektrik solo. First PD fishes for the freeze odds which he does receive but the thaw is right on time as sparce dies to poison. Maybe hard switching out was more optimal? I don't know why PD goes for the u-turn into croc play as this risks two turns of rest talk instead of 1 but it ends up paying off. This results in a PP stall where the eel obviously wins but doesn't have a lot of rest pp left so there is maybe a chance for PD. Then PD goes for the spike + hydro pump route before just clicking ice beam which I think might be unoptimal. I think you just spam ice beam here right off the bat. In the end, it results in a pretty cool Eelektrik solo here which could've probs gone either way had some luck swung / a different series of plays.

Tuthur vs King Leo V

On preview:
Tuthur brings a pretty standard team just like fade above which is very similar in team structure. I personally do like this version more with drakloak who can actually spinblock as opposed to gastly. Vigoroth is also a very threatening mon here depending on the set but that never gets really revealed. Overall the team looks good as expected from Tuthur and 5Dots even though it seems to be stolen from Shing.
King Leo V is back! Leo is known for some unorthodox building and this team looks a bit less offensive than what I expected from him. Overall the team doesn't look that bad but it does seem to require some very offensive playing around opposing frogadier since the surf resist looks to be quite poor as it seems to be hattrem who gets u-turned on quite freely and is very pressured.
I would say the matchup is in Tuthurs favor if he manages to be smart enough with how he plays his frogadier. I'd say Leo's own frogadier would be his best tool to win here or raboot if it's sucker punch it could be a threat.

The game:
We see a hyperaggressive turn 1 spike from Tuthur expecting the Tinkatuff to stay in which does cost him his boots, this could bite him later in the game. Then we see rocks go up on both sides but apparently, Tuthur's dartrix is a threat with night shade. Then he reveals rest talk Tinka which seems very interesting and new (really proving tinka can literally do anything you want). But the u-turn on t10 from Tuthur seems to put Leo really far back as the spike is really starting to sting at Leo. The Dtail miss is just very unfortunate for Leo as it pressured dartrix a lot, who is a big pain for Leo to switch into. As night shade picks up Toedscool at the cost of his hazards which definitely seems good for Tuthur. As Leo reveals to be CB raboot which does have issues vs defensive rest drakloak here and that revealed really makes it hard for Leo as flare blitz isn't going to be as free as you thought it would be. I then don't understand why hattrem is sent out on tinka rocks, did you forget about mold breaker? And then there is the weird iron head gabite which will haunt Shing for eternity since he cannot stop thinking about why this is a set. I don't understand the rationale behind iron head either tbh. Then Tuthur solidifies his position until he sends out dartrix on hattrem which feels unneeded as it's now only going to get 1 night shade off. But at this point, Tuthur seems to be way ahead to a point where it likely doesn't matter. There is a brick break crit but that doesn't seem to matter much I think. But then ice beam freezes Eelektrik and the game becomes interesting again. But in the end, Tuthur still wins the game. This seemed to be quite the dominant win for Tuthur as I hope Leo bounces back.

clean vs stareal

On preview:
clean brings a very standard non-frogadier looking balance. Sneasel is a cool mon here that can be pretty dangerous later in the game when tinka gets worn down by its partner drakloak and his own tinkatuff. Overall one of my favorite teams of the week even though it's bog-standard and this also bodes pretty well for clean as pre w1 there were doubts about the building capacity of this team's NFE slot.
stareal brings a very cool team as well which looks to be a more bulky offense type of team with glimmet. glimmet can free up the move slots of tinka and frogadier which could lead to some spicy techs. girafarig is also very interesting but without magnemite support, I'm surprised that it's here.
As far as the matchup goes, the fraxure from stareal looks really threatening if sneasel isn't ice shard. Finding the setup opportunity will be tough though. On the other hand the sneasel could go on in from clean if the tinka gets low. I think it's pretty even of a matchup overall with a slight edge to clean.

The game:
Early on rocks go up from both sides as we get into a tinka vs tinka war with a cool sub SD tinka from clean which is a problem for stareal. There is a big miss for stareal which lets this tinka from clean spiral completely out of control since stareal lacks good revenge killing options which is a big issue. eelektrik and frogadier both fail to ko it which puts stareal super far back. sneasel gets it ko by living power gem which is pretty surprising to me. first impression from fraxure does revenge sneasel and it indicates that this is probably a cb fraxure. then the positioning from clean in the endgame here is a bit suspect which makes this game way closer than it should've been after that early lead. In the end clean does manage to convert this to a win which is kinda an upset.

ojr vs lepton

On preview:
Yep, I brought dragmag. Honestly don't think there is much to explain about this team it's very straightforward in concept, you trap tinka and go wild with your dragons. glimmet is there for hazards and tinka because it's tinka.
lepton brings pikachu bulky offense, the team looks very offensively threatening but seems to be flawed defensively imo. For example, an opposing frogadier would've already been very annoying to play and it seems even less resilient against frogadier than leo's team. you could say the team is supposed to "win before the opponent wins" but even then you would still need to apply some kind of defensive security if you aren't going full-out offense.
I think the matchup is very much in my favor unless the tinka is like sd brick break and even then it would probs need healing wish support or something. I think it is this straightforward because the general defensive backbone after tinka to these dragons is nearly nonexistent.

The game:
I draco turn 1 to guarantee that the tinka comes in. then I get the trap off in the following turns where I honestly get kinda unlucky with no para's so it's a forced double down instead of getting to keep my magnemite alive as sack fodder. then I get to knock at the most annoying mon from lepton left to me imo which is vigoroth but there is a nice tech of thief which I didn't expect. But I do get the tspike activated which will pressure the hattrem and vigoroth. lepton gives me the tspikes poison on vigoroth after a double which puts me really far ahead now. glimmet gets to take a kill which follows in scarf arctibax locking into outrage and lepton forfeiting consequently. I am surprised lepton clicked x there because maybe with some luck or choke from me the game could've still been won from there.

 

[Osake]

AAA Review: The Return of the King (me)

gm gm as you might know I'm a likewhore and people gave me likes soooo here I am to do the most entertaining review for the most entertaining tier of this tournament : AlmostAnyAbility-but not for Chomp, Moth, and Corv (yes, it's the true name)
I'll try to analyse a bit the AAA games that happen every week, also giving some hindsights on my building/building of people I talk a lot with (if any of the players wants to give explanations you're free to pm me before or after any review!), and without further ado, let's start !
note that I usually don't proofread me and my english is sometimes doubtful, apologies for that, but don't hesitate to pm me if you notice typos/mistakes :3

Teams this week were a bit disappointing as almost no one really tried to innovate and brought really really standard stuff, and it was not really interesting outside of 2 or 3 teams. Playing wise, I can't say it was particularly stunning either, some games were 'over' at the preview or really early, so I made the choice of doing a long analyse on what was the HL of the week, and also the first blood, Ivar vs Atha, and being shorter on other games that were less entertaining imo

atha vs Ivar57

game

After 4-0'ing Atha in Money's Tour Finals (and stoling his money, although he says it's UT's money..), Ivar57 was facing once again what could be his favorite victim depending on the result of this game. After his shocking defeat, even if Atha and Ivar are close in strenght, although I ranked Atha first in my PR, losing 4-0 after such an impressive run motivated Atha to tryhard and prove that he was more than the inventor of Pixilate Koko (and everyone hates him for that). I chose to present team Atha's team with the actual paste, although you couldn't guess all the sets at preview but it makes more sens in how he plays afterwards even if Ivar had to guess a bit at the beginning, whereas Ivar team has some techs that were hidden so I'm giving what could be Atha's view on his team. He decided to bring a fairly offensive team with many physical attackers to outdamage the checks around Banded Pao + LO Ceruledge which are both excellent breakers that share different checks and who will probably find ways to break. Since they're both weak to hazards, he paired them with the best spinner in the tier aka Levitate (or Earth Eater) Iron Treads, since it cannot be spin block by Ceruledge/Skeledirge but can also pivot, knock items, etc, so it has a very good utility as well as offensively checking Garchomp and Sandy Shocks and being able to Volt Switch against almost everyone. Garchomp was Fluffy Rocky Helmet which once again stacks offensive utility with SD and full Attack while taking hits and wearing down Corviknight with Hazards + Rocky Helmet which is a nice tech to put Corv in range of Banded Pao, Kingambit with Adaptability was there to put even more pressure on Corv, offering another strong priority, and overall being a particularly good mon esp in a team that can pressure Corviknight. Lastly, Rotom-W was a glue that was super annoying in tests, it can Will-o-Wisp everything, gives momentum, takes hits.. it just cannot really damage Iron Moth since it lacks Thunder Wave, but it's a good utility mon that fits really well her, with a solid structure overall with momentum and offensive power. Ivar on the other hand brought an apparently classic team with Corv-Chomp-Moth, and Slither Wing as its only physical breaker, which was a good choice since it owned Atha in the finals of the Money Tour and he's often weak to it. Glimmora was assumably Earth Eater and Tinkaton Well Baked-Body, and the preview was good for Atha as Pao + Rocks could probably outdamage Corv, and if Rotom was able to get a burn on Garchomp Ceruledge was threatening too.

The game starts with atha leading on Rotom since it kinda threaten everything outside of Chomp (if it's EQ LO, otherwise you live), and Ivar struggles a bit to play around it but gets all the plays right while revealing Corv being Volt Absorb and not Intimidate. It seems like an odd pick because you have a regen chomp and an Earth Eater Glimmora (presumably), so you don't struggle that much against Electric Attackers (except Pawmot I guess but it would be weird), and you immediately become way more weak to Chien Pao, as well as Slither wing, Meowscarda, and other threats.. unless there's something we're missing :p but Atha prob realised the team was a bit less classic than he thought at that moment. Anyway Ivar is able to bring Garchomp against Rotom's Volt Switch which could have been a key turn as Will-o-Wisp was a play here and Chomp being burned would have changed a lot of things later in the game. Atha told me he feared Iron Moth clicking Fiery Dance and then quickly becoming threatening, forcing Rotom to take major chips and unable to soft check it or Slither Wing later in the game, which is an understantable play, and wow would've been so good here but it's easier to say after the play was made kek. Atha sends out Treads immediately certainly fearing EQ LO as Ivar is known to use that set, and Garchomp reveals Substitute which is a rare move which is usually used to take advantage of Corv loops to avoid Intimidate and potentially keep the Sub. Treads is very obviously Earth Eater/Levitate, and Ivar reveals that he prob lacks a Fire move on his Chomp so he switches in Corv which is safe. Atha makes a bad play by clicking Ice Spinner (which he had over Knock Off to hit better Chomp, both choices are fine and it was a bet, he lost it, Knock would've been fine here to remove the Rocky Helmet) and being down at 36% after the Body Press, revealing no Leftovers which makes the situation dire. A couple of turns later, Garchomp revealing Rocky Helmey and Slither Wing taking a solid 82% on Gambit Iron Head which seems to say that he doesn't really have a switch in, Garchomp comes back on the field after Rotom weakened a bit Corv and reveals that he isn't Regenerator which is surprising. Atha probably realizes here that his MU is way more hard than he thought, as you can assume that Tink is Regenerator now, so it kinda hard walls Chien-Pao, and Garchomp is probably Fluffy (with Leftovers it's probably not Adapt or Dragon's Maw) ; everything is a real team but you could guess it only from now. Chomp could've switched on Gambit since it was Fluffy, but maybe Ivar didn't want to weaken it/wanted check the set/was afraid of Earth Eater (as his Chomp can't damage it at all) (but it would've been weird since Treads had at 99% a Ground Immunity. I also thought during the game that it couldn't be possible since Levitate and Earth Eater are similar abilities in my mind but ig healing/spikes immunity is different enough to not fall in the SAC Clause). Ivar heals Corviknight while Treads reveals that it's Levitate, which is best here as it doesn't take the Spikes, but it also means it has 0 ways of healing so clicking Earthquake with Garchomp just gives a dead turn instead of a potential good turn for Atha. Atha is forced to Spin and to take more RH chip while Ivar reveals Defog, which makes me wonder if he had Mortal Spin on Glimmora. I think so, but it maybe feels like "too much" of hazards control when you have MG Slither + 2 steel types + one flying + boots Moth, but it's always good to have good hazard control (and im not even sure glimm had MSpin). Atha is finnaly able to bring Ceruledge and clicks SD while Ivar bring in Garchomp. Bitter Blade would've been good here to weaken Chomp as it was super important, but covering Glimmora also made sens. BBlade was prob the better play though. Ivar clicks Rock Slide which is really weird because if for some reasons Ceruledge stayed in he kinda lost on the spot I think? Whereas Rock slide does 6% do a Threads that isn't healed by Earthquake anyway, I guess it gives one Spin less due to RH damage but it feels like a too much risk/reward, esp since Ivar's position was really good at this point. Glimmora manages to put a layer of Spikes, lives Gambit IHead which feels crazy but you actually have a 100% chance of living if you're full Defense (which he wasn't, but prob very bulky). Atha then clicks Swords Dance like a king (where we expected either Sucker or IHead), Chomp comes in, and Ivar clicked Rock Slide again against a +2 Gambit which is weird, for the same reasons that Ceruledge, and now you aren't neither killing Treads or putting it in the rang or the Rocky Helmet, so it just feels like a useless risk to me, but Atha switches out so everything's fine. Treads weaken the Chomp with a solid 42%, and it would've been fairly low if it took hits from Ceru/Gambit (but Ivar prob would've played differently too and not letting chomp going too low). Pao finally comes on the field, Tinkaton reveals to full Defense taking only 51% on a crit, and almost certainly Regen. Atha goes for the flinch which is his only way now with his dire MU + Treads being dead, but misses and now it's over. With Rocks up Ceru and Pao are just dying to quickly, Pao misses again but it doesn't matter, and Atha tragicly loses to inactivity (it mattered!!!). I think that even if Atha had the crit-flinch combo the first time (and not the miss), he was losing by too far at this point and Ivar had enough mons to sacrifice to bring back Tinkaton to full life and still wall Atha (obviously he could've get 5 flinches, but even then Slither + Chomp was probably cleaning or it would've required absurd luck).

This game was a bit sad for Atha as his team was really cool and I struggled against it in tests, but he completely got outprepped/MU'd. I don't know the whole reasoning behing Ivar's team, and it was really solid while innovating and he probably had a bit of luck with such a good MU, but it was prob part of the prep, I just don't know how much Atha got owned, but VA Corv to completely stop Treads and Rotom to win momentum + Rocky Helmet to stop the spin, full Def Regen Tinkaton which is the best (or the only?) check to Chien-Pao (and which made total sens as it stops Pao and Meow since he wasn't using Intim Corv), and Fluffy Chomp which offers a solid backup against both gambit and ceru.. that was a bit sad. However, as I said, if Chomp got burned on Turn 4, it would've been really different ; Atha made a couple mistakes with Ice Spinner vs Corv and not hittinh Chomp when he had the opportunity, but even then it was a really hard game and he was always behind and never looked to have a chance. But with Chomp burned (either on Turn 4 or maybe later, but Ivar was prob gonna wall Rotom with Corv once he knew how good Garchomp was in this MU), Ceruledge and Gambit were way more threatening, it couldn't hreal, etc.. It was a different game, but Ivar got the right plays so congratz to him, I don't think it was a bad turn on either of both sides (maybe Ivar shouldn't have risk it but this early but ehh I think it's a valid play), I'm just mentioning it cuz the game looks like a stomp by Ivar who completely owned Atha, and if he did outprepped him, it could've been way different and close with a few plays that didn't happen.

Damn that was long. First review, maybe I will do shorter next times LOL it's prob a bit long to read for non-aaa mainers sorry :c

EDIT : Ivar pm'd me and I encourage any players in this review if they want to precise things/correct me, anything, to explain that he feared Iron Treads to be Boots Earth Eater and he didn't want to give free heal to Iron Treads, which makes sens tbh. He told me he didn't thought of Levi + Berry which is to me more common in Offense builds, but I absolutely didn't think of EE Boots which is weird but.. no item treads is weird anyway. Could've been Boots, could've been AV, could've been a random berry, Iver was afraid of a particular set and preferred to play safely which makes sens. I personally still think that not risking a hit by Gambit/Ceru on Chomp was more important in this MU than healing a bit Treads but it's debatable, and Ivar only thought of EE Boots which I understand and completely explains his play, thanks for pointing it out <3

shiloh vs Osake

game

This game was supposedly another heat MU between what was seen as the best potential player of the pool with probably the best in-game but lacking meta knowledge and building support, shiloh, against a relatively known face of AAA, myself. We both brought very classic teams with standard Corv-Chomp-Moth with a Scream Tail, a Banded breaker (Pao and Gambit), and a spinner (Quaquaval and Glimmora). All my sets were guessable at the preview the only question being around what kind of Garchomp is it, while Shiloh was probably Earth Eater Glimmora and SD Kingambit, but it could've been an offensive Glimmora. I can kinda explain my prep here because well I did it ; I do not like my team as I find it really boring and as I said, all my sets are guessable from the preview but unlike Ivar I had almost 0 tech/changes that significally changes the team. And I do not like that kinda of teams, because they aren't hard to counter if you spam it and has very little tools to outplay a bad match-up against a good player, it's basically a ladder team. However the reasoning was that I had 0 idea of what shiloh could bring, I tried to theorize around what the kind of team they brought in last OMPL, I scouted Career Ended as they were the most obvious support, I also wondered if they were just gonna use some QT's team/reuse their fat, but that was super hard to tell what they could actually bring, esp in the first week, so I decided to go with a very annoying team with a broken breaker to take advantage of my knowledge of the metagame and their probably unoptimal building, with the idea of Rocky Helmet Garchomp + Chien-Pao to put Intimidate Corviknight in the range of Icicle Crash (that was the only 'tech'). I saw the preview and knew that was I bit short against Iron Moth, and I could be in danger if it was offensive Glimmora, but Chien-Pao seemed to have a decent match-up and Corviknight didn't look that hard to chip esp. since I could try to block Mortal Spin with my Corviknight.

I immediately lead with Chien-Pao as it threatens out 3 of the 6 opposite mons, 2 of the remains cant pivot so they can't pressure me, and the last is Corv but then I'm fine cuz I can send Garchomp and put my plan in place. Shiloh leads with Glimmora and then immediately switches out to Corv which is weird because they happened to be defensive, which lives 100% of the time even if it's just full HP and I'm Adamant so I assume an offensive set, but they also reveal to not be Intimidate Corviknight which means, unless they're Thick Fat (lol), that it's almost over, because I should be able to have the momentum and just click funny crash move with Pao and as long as I don't miss, I win. Since I'm level 99 Corv (I expected shiloh to not be 99 so that was good, otherwise I'm not playing that 98-97 game), I keep the momentum up and reveal Glimmora's Black Sludge so I assume it to be defensive now (which is good cuz farmed by Quaqua), Quaquaval's damage reveal that Scream Tail isn't bulky, neither Leftovers, which confused me a bit, but I expect Trick + Unaware or Pixilate and goes Moth, and I overall play really safely until Scream Tail manages to Trick my own after I tried to scout it's set and if it had Psyshock or Flamethrower, but it was Encore so I was fine, and pretty much nothing happen until Turn 40 because I played really safely and I'm finally able to bring Chien Pao on the field. Shiloh sends out Corviknight, takes a solid 52% showing his lack of meta knowledge tbh, Kingambit is severely weakened to and reveal no Leftovers which is even better for me as Pao just have 0 middle ground now. Kowtow manages to crit my Corviknight, which is a bit annoying but I was winning by too much. I play the endgame very safely, sacking my useless mons to win with Chomp + Quaqua + Pao, and despite Stone Edge and Icicle misses, shiloh just can't stop Chien-Pao from winning. Funny Sucker Punch miss at the end revealing Band Hustle Kingambit, which is a set I forgot cuz I did all my calcs with Adaptability but the damage output isn't that valuable.

This game was really really straight forward and not really interesting, it lasted long because I made the safest plays ever to guarantee my win but it was over on turn 2 when Corviknight revealed to not be Intimidate. I won this in 'the builder' but not cuz of an amazing prep or anything, and I was a bit disappointed with shiloh's team tbh, it was standard but without Intim Corv for some reasons? At least we saw that Chien-Pao doesn't need any buff to be super good lol

MZ vs The Number Man

game

This game will be quick. MZ brought a team that was just bad, I'm not saying it to blame him/whoever builds it, sometimes you build or bring a bad team and it happens, but it meant he just never had his chance because his team was struggling against too many things, Cinderace and Chien Pao among others. The double Fire-double Fairy/Psychic Core was just not solid and couldn't break. I honestly don't think there is much to say, the crit on Scream Tail makes the game quicker but there was 0 path for MZ. We can congratz TNM for bringing Palossand though, which managed to do 15% to Roaring Moon before dying ! Just kidding, against an Assault Vest and particularly Roaring Moon it has a tough time but it was a good annoyer in tests. I hope MZ is able to build/find better teams for next weeks so we can have fair games (if you want to bring something bad against me I'm fine tho :D)

hariyana grande vs DugZa

game

Finally the last game ! This match-up was the least heat on paper between two players that aren't known to play AAA but who are both decent pilots from what I know. hariyana grande also has a pretty cool name, I must say, although it reminds me of hariyama which is not good. Both brought really standard teams with Corv-Chomp-Scream Tail, Moth for hariyana and Skele for DugZa, and overall no spicy pick. All sets were kinda guessable from preview, only questions being around Kingambit which was probably either Earth Eater or Adaptability, and Cinderace which could be Turbloblaze, Magic Guard, Desolate Land.. Both Scream Tail could be Pixilate even if in those structures Unaware is almost strictly better.

Both lead Garchomp and hariyana reveals Draco Meteor Life Orb, so mixed Garchomp, which is a good pick and a good breaker even if there is a Scream Tail which is one if its best checks. However this first turn is very weird, DugZa didn't check Draco Life Orb which as we'll see later in the game was a roll (if you're full SpD you live, but this Chomp was not so it's a mistake), but on the other hand most mixed Chomp aren't full Speed so you may lose a tie or just be slower against another mixed Chomp, and hariyana not checking if the other chomp could be faster mixed Chomp is also a mistake unless they are full Speed which would be weird but maybe. Both had a full Scream Tail and a Corv in the back, so risking one of the most consistant progress maker in this MU was weird. Anyway both put rocks up, and hariyana's Scream Tail reveals its Pixilate, which is a bit weird and also not have a good MU here bc of Skeledirge so sad. Kilo comes on Skele and manages to para Scream Tail with Thunder which makes the situation already bad for DugZa as it's the only check to Garchomp, but this was forced by Chomp being low and letting Kilo comes in freely which were questionable plays. After a few turns, Kilo is once able to come in and severly weaken Corviknight as DugZa is unable tou heal Garchomp, but they finally manage to do it against Corv and even force Defog so they heal their own Corv as well. However Scream Tail is low and that's the main problem in this game as Garchomp LO will wallbreak at some point. Hariyana plays safely and doesnt click Fire Blast against Corv to wallbreak, but it's gone postponed as Garchomp comes in later and this time OHKO's opposite Garchomp. It's looking pretty good for hariyana, but Cinderace comes again Iron Moth and OHKO's it which reveals it's probably Choice Band, maybe with Tinted Lens ? If it's Tinted it has a pretty good match-up, if it's not then idk what it is, maybe SFLO ? with offensive Chomp on the other side you're able to do solid damage anyway. However, since Scream Tail is still low, Garchomp has 0 switch-in and is able to put Corviknight then Quaquaval fairly low (after DugZa chose to hard it on DM which is weird bc Gambit is now really threatening). Cinderace also reveals to be not banded, and also don't take hazards, which means it probably is Tinted Boots, so maybe it has a chance to break before Garchomp but it looks hard. And indeed, Kingambit comes on Corviknight, clicks Swords Dance, and with Quaquaval weakened, it dies on +2 Sucker Punch at 59% and hariyana wins (although the burn on Corviknight, which I didn't mention, made the situation really bad for DugZa).

It was a bit of a weird game and I feel like DugZa could/should have won this because Scream Tail is a very good check to mixed Chomp whereas, if it was Tinted Cinderace, you have an interesting MU once you know Garchomp is offensive. Both players played relatively safely but hariyana was able to put the pressure and to never allow Scream Tail to heal, which was good, punishing DugZa original missplay. Still a fine showing by both because there were not terrible plays just weird one, but those are normal for people who don't know the meta yet and both teams were solid, even if not super original (even if Tinted Ace, if it's the set, is a cool pick), so I think both have decent chances of winning in later weeks even against more experienced player (at least for hariyana since DugZa got subbed out).

Also doing predicts for the incoming AAA games cuz why not

hariyana grande (30) vs (70) The Number Man
While hariyana did a fine showing last week with a solid build, The Number Man feels like a better play, more experienced but also with a less exploitable building style. Last week sets were pretty straightforward but against a less classic team and a better opponent who will prep for Corv-Chomp-Moth, I think hariyana will either lack support to make an efficient team or ingame experience to defeat TNM who is doing a great return, and I don't really see him losing here, but who knows! beauts told me hariyana might be the new luisin..

shiloh (35) vs (65) atha
Will my man atha get farmed in the first two weeks of OMPL ? Let's find out ! After losing to Ivar despite an interesting building, atha faces once again a strong player who also lost their first game. However, I was way more convinced by atha's team than by shiloh's one, and he managed to beat shiloh in the money tour when they both brought their own teams (I think?) and games were a bit weird. However, in a one-time-game, shiloh has still the highest ingame skill, and they might bring a solid team as we saw atha crumbled 5 times against classic teams with a few changes (or they could as well bring something completely different). This game can be really hype if shiloh takes it seriously, or just be an atha's demonstration if not. I would say the second possibility is the most likely to happen, which is why I'm giving this advantage to atha, but it would be a 55/45 for shiloh if they come back to their best level.

tier (20) vs (80) Ivar57
I'm ngl I have 0 idea of tier's level outside of AAA, but I will assume that if they didn't start W1, SSSSS aare pretty sure about their AAA slot. Considering they lack support, don't know the tier well, and weren't the first choice of their team, whereas Ivar did a pretty strong game last week, I don't see him losing here, esp. since he uses solid teams that aren't prone to crumble against some random threat unlike some atha's teams, so you can't really fish him unless you play really well for 50+ turns, which I don't think tier will be able to do, at least for their first week.

And that's how it ends ! I know it was a bit long, let me know if it was too long/too short/the good length/if you enjoyed or didnt enjoy reading it and if you have any advices on how I can improve this (if you're interested in reading AAA reviews obviously, if you don't care it's normal you didn't enjoy it :p). Maybe I should've made the first analyse shorter, the 3rd one longer ? Was the reviews of the teams that useful after Siamato's post ? (fuck u btw, I'm bringing Eelektross next week) maybe not (I reduced the last ones for that reason). Tell me

Thanks for reading, as always, and I hope everyone will have a good day and a good OMPL

 

[Dragonillis]

Schedule week 2 vs Photon Geezers (Tea Guzzler and ponchlake) : (GMT=0)

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5) : Krytocon vs Hugo : Saturday 3 PM
SV Almost Any Ability : MZ vs Osake : Saturday 2 PM
SV Anything Goes : Bread Sandwich vs polt : Saturday 10 PM
SV Balanced Hackmons : augustakira vs TTTech : Wednesday 3 PM
SV Godly Gift : Ponchlake vs Meta : Friday 6-7 PM
SV Mix and Mega : zastra vs Clas : Wednesday 9:30 AM
SV NFE : Tuthur vs ojr : Thrusday 7:30 PM
SV STABmons : LBDC vs RoFnA : Sunday 7 PM


Let's go Wiggly !

 

[zastra]

first blood, won gg
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9mixandmega-694888

 

[Akira 153]

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9balancedhackmons-694891
unfortunate freeze for tttech but game clearly could have gone either way regardless

 

[Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂]

Schedule week 2 : Gods as ghold vs Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos
Sv 2v2 double ( best of 5) : Chris32156 vs fragments : Friday 11 pm - 1m saturday
Sv Almost Any Ability : Ivar57 vs tier : Saturday 9 pm
Sv Anything Goes ( finally guard don’t want bo3 also it’s a bo1) : TaxFraud vs Guard : Saturday 8 pm
Sv Balanced Hackmons : Chessking345 vs Pdt : sunday 7 pm
Sv Godly Gift : fraise vs Dr. Phd. Bj : Saturday 1 pm
Sv Mix and Mega : Damflamme vs ice master : Sunday 5 pm
Sv Nfe : avarice vs clean : Saturday ≈ 3 pm
Sv Stabmons : Abriel vs Fc : Monday 1 am

All schedule are in +0
Good luck All player for the week
Go Gods as ghold !

 

[longhiep341]

GG Week 1 Review: Bleed Red
I didn't want to do this but due to popular demand I guess I will do a short one cause I get to explore Home meta.

Lily vs ponchlake

From preview, ponchlake's team looks like it will have to rely on Hatterene and Scream Tail as wincon, provided that they have a Fire move for Gholdengo, especially since Scream Tail can take advantage of sun. If Miraidon is pivot and Gholdengo is Trick then they can also wear down/cripple Ting-Lu, overall a comp that tries to overload Ting-Lu. Lily has good potential to win by spamming U-turn, essentially making Toedscruel pretty useless. She needs to be quick though as Miraidon can clean late-game if Ting-Lu is too worn down and she loses too many speed ties.
Lily got the pressure early, and Toxic Spikes on Meowscarada was huge. I was surprised she didn't commit to Gholdengo after Toedscruel would drop to poison though, like yeah it risks Earth Power but since Scream Tail is a more defensive variant and poison severely hampers Hatterene, and Koraidon can still be Tera Fire to keep things in check. The Tera Ground against Miraidon that got read after made the game so much harder with no Fairy answer. Then Lily misplayed by sacking Ting-Lu instead of Gholdengo, and then after that didn't even try to win the speed tie with Slither Wing (She didn't even need, just sending in Koraidon on turn 30 to activate Protosynthesis was enough, or even after she still could just sack Ghold). All in all Lily had a messy game with too many misplays after a strong start, she would need to improve on this in later weeks.

gum vs drphdbj

gum's team looks pretty disadventageous on preview, with no way to clear hazard, so Miraidon and Dragapult will need to win quickly, Iron Leaves won't do much cause of Gholdengo unless Fire Tera Blast but then it loses to Dondozo. Meanwhile BJ even has Hatterene as potential wincon.
BJ quickly revealed Scarf Koraidon. Clodsire got Tricked which made the game that much harder. Although Ting-Lu got worn down quickly, it got Rock+Spike and with the prediction also some HP back to hopefully take an extra hit. Gholdengo winning speed tie into crit killed Mirai which was huge. Pult could still win there but after not getting the prediction the game was over with unclearable hazards.

Fraise vs jrdn

Both players opted for offense with VoltTurn in Slither Wing. Fraise should be more comfortable cause Alomomola + Ting-Lu offers more longevity but can still go either way.
Well, this game can only be described as prediction masterclass. Constant correct predictions put Fraise way ahead, with Fraise's Tera read and usage shutting down jrdn completely. I'm sorry for ever doubting you Fraise, you are now A- just like the rest of the French.

Meta vs Blinkboy

Blinkboy will keep hazards due to Gholdengo. Koraidon looks potent as well with predictions. Both incredible gen 8 BH players would surely give us a clash of long term management. On turn 14 Blinkboy could have predicted the obvious Ting-Lu switch-in and KOed it with Overheat but didn't. Meta Tera to absorb TSpikes later. Game was pretty uneventful but Blinkboy displayed superior talent in winning speedties so he ended up with the well deserved victory. Overall, I'm pretty split (evenly) on the outcome, both players were equally good so in terms of skills they might be exactly 50/50.

Thoughts on meta (No, not the player): Can't wait for Home meta w3. But alas we have an extra week of pre-Home, so Idk if I will do this week 2 unless the people call for it.