Tournament OMPL XII - Week Two

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Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Playoffs | Finals
Information Thread | Roster | Schedule | Standings | Replays
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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 (berry, UT, and Vertigo) 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.
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The tier lineup this year is as follows:​
  • SV Almost Any Ability
  • SV Balanced Hackmons
  • SV STABmons
  • SV Mix and Mega
  • SV Godly Gift
  • SV Partners in Crime
  • SV Inheritance
  • Best of Three (AAA / STAB / MnM)
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: Both teams submit four strike choices, ranked. The hosts process both lists at the same time until we end up with three metas (if both of them strike the same meta at some point) or more likely, four unstruck metas. If there are four, the hosts randomly pick three of the four for tiebreaker.​

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.​

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.​
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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. 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.​
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Matchups

:virizion: W Virizzions [5] - [3] Dubwool Entendres :dubwool:
AAA: Sylvi vs Atha
BH: cityscapes vs Potatochan
GG: Taka vs ghostlike
Inh: Lily vs anaconja
MnM: dilllllllllllon vs hayedenn
PiC: yuki vs Smudge
STAB: avarice vs SEA
Bo3: astralydia vs Quantum Tesseract

:walking-wake: Walking Wokes [4] - [4] Rise Up Darkrais :darkrai:
AAA: Betticus IV vs shiloh
BH: Chessking345 vs TTTech
GG: Jrdn vs TPP
Inh: pannu vs DripLegend
MnM: Redflix vs TectonicDestroyer
PiC: Evie vs Chris32156
STAB: Fissure vs Kaif
Bo3: Clas vs Career Ended

:misdreavus: Malevolent Misdreavuses [6] - [2] Black Diamond Kyurems :kyurem-black:
AAA: MZ vs Stareal
BH: augustakira vs XxLazzerpenguinxX
GG: pdt vs entrocefalo
Inh: cscl vs zioziotrip
MnM: db vs Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂
PiC: zoe vs Chromate
STAB: Hacker vs Clementine
Bo3: abriel vs RoFnA

:solgaleo: Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos [2] - [6] Heart Takers :manaphy:
AAA: Lana vs hariyana grande
BH: aerobee vs Marsopa Trump & Test Rex
GG: temp vs SammyCe123
Inh: Dr. Phd. BJ vs BijouMode
MnM: Icemaster vs PociekMociek
PiC: DeepFriedMagikarp vs HiZo
STAB: Fc vs xdRudi.exe
Bo3: xavgb vs Ivar57

1716778100118.png

First meta in BO3 is AAA
Deadline:
11:00 PM (GMT -4) on Sunday, June 2nd
​
:virizion: W Virizzions [0] - [0] Dubwool Entendres :dubwool:
AAA: Sylvi vs Atha
BH: cityscapes vs Potatochan
GG: Taka vs ghostlike
Inh: Lily vs anaconja
MnM: dilllllllllllon vs hayedenn
PiC: yuki vs Smudge
STAB: avarice vs SEA
Bo3: astralydia vs Quantum Tesseract

:walking-wake: Walking Wokes [0] - [0] Rise Up Darkrais :darkrai:
AAA: Betticus IV vs shiloh
BH: Chessking345 vs TTTech
GG: Jrdn vs TPP
Inh: pannu vs DripLegend
MnM: Redflix vs TectonicDestroyer
PiC: Evie vs Chris32156
STAB: Fissure vs Kaif
Bo3: Clas vs Career Ended

:misdreavus: Malevolent Misdreavuses [0] - [0] Black Diamond Kyurems :kyurem-black:
AAA: MZ vs Stareal
BH: augustakira vs XxLazzerpenguinxX
GG: pdt vs entrocefalo
Inh: cscl vs zioziotrip
MnM: db vs Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂
PiC: zoe vs Chromate
STAB: Hacker vs Clementine
Bo3: abriel vs RoFnA

:solgaleo: Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos [0] - [0] Heart Takers :manaphy:
AAA: Lana vs hariyana grande
BH: aerobee vs Marsopa Trump & Test Rex
GG: temp vs SammyCe123
Inh: Dr. Phd. BJ vs BijouMode
MnM: Icemaster vs PociekMociek
PiC: DeepFriedMagikarp vs HiZo
STAB: Fc vs xdRudi.exe
Bo3: xavgb vs Ivar57
 
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Week 1 is hellaaaaaaaaaa fun so I'm doing predictions here. If no one's doing analysis I can also do that but let's see.

cityscapes vs Potatochan
I guess city's post in commencements thread was serious and the meta really becomes really unpleasant for her. And I think Dubwools' BH players combination is very solid. (I ranked them 2nd in Chessking's survey btw.) But it's still a challenging week for Potatochan cuz we know how good city is. Bolding Potatochan here cuz I hate love city.

Chessking345 vs TTTech
Both are councils and councils are bad. If I have to bold someone I tend to bold Chessking but TTTech's performance last week was really surprising.

augustakira vs XxLazzerpenguinxX
I said penguin needs time to get into the meta and he doesn't have enough time this early. He's in this slot just because he can't beat cscl. Akira needs a good mental this week and he will have that.

aerobee vs Marsopa Trump & Test Rex
Most unsure about this one. Aerobee has stresh support and cheesed to win last week. There isn't many cheeses left in the meta but I'm still looking forward to see some.
Edit: I'm wrong and it was zioziotrip who cheesed instead of aerobee. Then I'm sure aerobee will win this.
 
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Dr. Phd. BJ vs BijouMode

Bijou likes to use teams that farm uninvested players / clickers and last week PhD bought a team that really didn't impress me, maybe we'll see some better results this week tho assuming gawain recovers from his sickness and can actually help build a team


cscl vs zioziotrip
I am a BIG cscl fan, but the team they bought last week really didn't impress me outside of some cool sets, it felt incoherent. zio proved last week that he can outplay even in "new" metas so as long as he gets passed a good team i think he's got a real fighting chance, that being said cscl might just load a better team this week and win.

Inh: Lily vs anaconja
i did not like lilys team last week whatsoever. I think ana will load his usual style of solid balance core+ scary progress maker and win
 
3/3 last week lets see if i can do it again

yuki vs Smudge
yuki is broken and I didn’t really like what Smudge brought last week

zoe vs Chromate
both are good but Chromate has jasprose support

DeepFriedMagikarp vs HiZo
HiZo is a better clicker imo and has a wider range of builds.
 
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0/3 last week lets see if i can do it again
BH Predicts:
cityscapes (70) vs (30) Potatochan
As it turns out Potatochan is just taking 100% QT builds instead of building his own teams or getting teams passed by the more interesting builders on his team. I didn't like city's team last week but that less in terms of effectiveness and more bc of personal opinion. If Dubwools' other two BH players start cooking up stuff I can see their number going up but for now I think city can exploit it pretty well, especially considering Potato still lacking experience comparatively.

augustakira (30) vs (70) XxLazzerpenguinxX
Penguin unleased! I think that among the entire BH pool this year Sevag has the highest potential, especially against the top slots its some kind of built in bonus or smth. Bringing up "rust" and stuff doesn't really apply considering omwc examples and since he has played the meta at least. Normally I would say this match is closer but Akira has this bad habit of running into really bad matchups that can't even be stalled out 100 turns praying for chokes. Matchup aside should be a very close game but I would still give adv to Sev because of more tour experience.

aerobee (45) vs (55) Marsopa Trump & Test Rex why is this name so long
The numbers I give are not super representative btw. If Rex is familiarized enough in the meta to start cooking his own teams with minimal external influence I can see him outteching aerobee but if he ends up loading another Ivar-esque team I think aerobee would have the advantage since I really don't think those teams match Rex's style the best. aerobee also had a very cool team last week and piloted out the endgame accurately after securing the advantage with a crit so I think in a even matchup he probably has a slight advantage.
 
By insanely popular demand (I fished for Discord likes) I've returned

:virizion: W Virizzions [3] - [5] Dubwool Entendres :dubwool:
AAA: Sylvi vs Atha - sylvi hates me predicting for him so i'm sorta softlocked into this. however atha finds me predicting for him comical. it's a lose/lose situation
BH: cityscapes vs Potatochan - potatochan didn't like my post last week predicting for him so this is revenge
GG: Taka vs ghostlike - ghostlike is fire af, very high on them bc of their game from last week
Inh: Lily vs anaconja - lily is a cracked player, but anaconja actually plays. i dont know how developed the meta is though, i've heard mixed opinions, so i'll go w/ lily bc she's probably gonna find something cracked
MnM: dilllllllllllon vs hayedenn - dillon has about 9 extra Ls in their name. they collected one last week, so my prediction is they're collecting 8 more Ls in the tour
PiC: yuki vs Smudge - i'm convinced yuki's capable of magic irl, they just give me the vibes of someone who could probably hex their opponent for a smogon tournament. they also play pic which is magic in itself. smudge stands no chance
STAB: avarice vs SEA - surely there's at least one person who can beat avarice in stab out of the entire region of southeast asia
Bo3: astralydia vs Quantum Tesseract - both of these people came off of a loss. however qt got lucked insanely hard, the series was prob theirs if it was clean. i'll have faith. don't count lydia out though

:walking-wake: Walking Wokes [6] - [2] Rise Up Darkrais :darkrai:
AAA: Betticus IV vs shiloh - shiloh won aaa in bo3 last week and eternatus isn't legal in this so he can't sludge bomb one this week. he has this unless betticus runs dragalge
BH: Chessking345 vs TTTech - "dOnT PRedIcT aGaiNSt mE AgAIn" when you say it like that i sorta have to.
GG: Jrdn vs TPP - jrdn is my boy but tpp is a godly gift among humanity. i cannot think of anyone else who's more attuned to the tier
Inh: pannu vs DripLegend - fine, i'll bold pannu.
MnM: Redflix vs TectonicDestroyer - unfortunately redflix going woke means all of us are doomed. i'm predicting him with the hopes that i'll be spared for showing him my favor
PiC: Evie vs Chris32156 - evie supported me in sending my ex "the smallest man who ever lived" by taylor swift. evie is also a renee stan. renee stans always win
STAB: Fissure vs Kaif - i love both but fissure's game last week was so fucking funny i hope he does it again
Bo3: Clas vs Career Ended - career scheduled before clas could schedule his scheduling with career and im mad as hell at him for that so out of revenge i will be bolding clas.

:misdreavus: Malevolent Misdreavuses [5] - [3] Black Diamond Kyurems :kyurem-black:
AAA: MZ vs Stareal - stareal is the michael jordan of pokemon
BH: augustakira vs XxLazzerpenguinxX - idk why but sevag's gameplay reminds me of dwight schrute from the office. however dwight schrute would be a bh god. unfortunately akira is very jim halpert in his gameplay. don't ask me about anything i've written here i've had like 2 cold brews and 3 iced lattes and am currently fighting for my life
GG: pdt vs entrocefalo - pdt is my one true love
Inh: cscl vs zioziotrip - i can't really think of anything to write here so can i tell you guys about this person i matched w/ on hinge? he asked me out after 4 days and kept on sending me hearts and gm/gn texts and i had to block him bc HOLY SHIT the red flags were red flagging
MnM: db vs Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂ - maybca asked me for predicts and i don't want to upset them so i will bold.
PiC: zoe vs Chromate - i am a zoe stan. i've also learned that chromate was created after several of the world's most powerful magicians performed an occult ritual in 1977. the ritual was meant to take 23 years and the end product was a vgc/doubles/pic demon. i'm not trying to make an enemy of the occult. i also don't recommend fact checking me on this information just trust me bro. anyway if anyone can defeat this absolute demon it's the master of the four doubles metagames, zoe (the four metagames being vgc, smogon doubles, pic and that other metagame that i'm conveniently forgetting but definitely exists)
STAB: Hacker vs Clementine - i love clementine. i am also a hacker myself and think that smogon user hacker is a FRAUD.
Bo3: abriel vs RoFnA - abriel taught me how to hack my university (UNI THIS IS A JOKE DO NOT SUSPEND ME)

:solgaleo: Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos [4] - [4] Heart Takers :manaphy:
AAA: Lana vs hariyana grande - see, if this was between lana del rey and ariana grande i'm always picking ariana. however the latter user goes by frankjosh now which i think is a downgrade (i have more twitter followers than frank sinatra ergo he is a flop) so i will be bolding lana.
BH: aerobee vs Marsopa Trump & Test Rex - i'll predict in rex's favor even though aerobee won last week. however i will not be bolding the trump part of his name
GG: temp vs SammyCe123 - temp let me down. also i have more yt subscribers than him (i'm taylor swift)
Inh: Dr. Phd. BJ vs BijouMode - bj johned bijou when they tried to rfn each other which i'm interpreting as a sign of fear. never display fear of your opponent. it empowers them. fear is a WEAKNESS.
MnM: Icemaster vs PociekMociek - icemaster stans kendrick and kendrick stans have been winning
PiC: DeepFriedMagikarp vs HiZo - you can't have unova anymore. because of hisuian zoroark.
STAB: Fc vs xdRudi.exe - realistically fc's gonna win this however i wanna bold the user named after a computer program bc i think it'll make fc mad
Bo3: xavgb vs Ivar57 - i wouldnt ever in my right mind predict against stresh this person runs away with games he has no right to win. however i also can't think of a better person to potentially beat him than ivar. this is gonna be close and is probably gonna go to game 3.

see you guys next week (i'm being held hostage)
 
BH Predictions:

aerobee vs Marsopa Trump & Test Rex: Although I don't really know these two, honestly they are very relatable players for me because they brought teams that I would use on ladder. Standard fat bulky offence with one dedicated offensive mon and imposter. I decided to give it to aerobee because they didn't bring Arceus last week which is technically illegal but at the same time very respectable.

cityscapes vs Potatochan: I want city to win because she likes to bring weird sets which I find very interesting. Also Potatochan really brought a double degen regen team and just flip turned their way to victory last week. That has to be one of the most miserable way to lose in BH.

Chessking345 vs TTTech: Speaking of miserable ways of losing to BH, your one supposedly "unwallable" offensive mon getting walled by a weird mon is one of them. I am hoping that chessking will avenge my team this week, just bring W spirit dialga and taunt, trust me.

Let's just hope this doesn't happen again:
Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 12.54.13 PM.png
 
:virizion: W Virizzions [6] - [2] Dubwool Entendres :dubwool:
AAA: Sylvi vs Atha - I didn't like the AAA builds the Virizzions brought last week, but I certainly wouldn't count Sylvi out. Atha is just the favourite here
BH: cityscapes vs Potatochan - One of these players mains BH
GG: Taka vs ghostlike - I actually think Virizzions have the better builders so Taka might be able to etch out a win here.
Inh: Lily vs anaconja - Lily put in a fairly decent performance last week
MnM: dilllllllllllon vs hayedenn - I don't know if beauts is going to be fully up to speed with the meta yet, I think Dillon might be able to snag one this week
PiC: yuki vs Smudge - Yuki is one of the best players in the pool and I was not convinced by Smudge's performance last week
STAB: avarice vs SEA - is it bad that I don't know who sea is
Bo3: astralydia vs Quantum Tesseract - Both of these players lost last week thanks to an insane amount of unluck. I certainly don't feel comfortable bolding either way; this could be a very good match for the neutral.

:walking-wake: Walking Wokes [5] - [3] Rise Up Darkrais :darkrai:
AAA: Betticus IV vs shiloh - This will be a good watch, but the strength the Darkrais possess in their AAA building is immeasurable and I think that gives Shiloh the edge they need
BH: Chessking345 vs TTTech - TTTech will load some absolute wack shit and for some reason it will have a godly mu
GG: Jrdn vs TPP - Think TPP has the edge here
Inh: pannu vs DripLegend - Pannu is more in tune with the tier
MnM: Redflix vs TectonicDestroyer - This is the paper favourite
PiC: Evie vs Chris32156 - Evie put in an amazing performance last week, although Chris is the goat I don't think he is yet attuned to PiC fully
STAB: Fissure vs Kaif - I think Fissure has this
Bo3: Clas vs Career Ended - One of these players is luckier than the other (for legal reasons this is a joke)

:solgaleo: Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos [4] - [4] Heart Takers :manaphy:
AAA: Lana vs hariyana grande - Lana is probably the best player-builder at the moment, but hariyana is a strong player in their own right and is backed by some solid AAA support, so this is one to watch.
BH: aerobee vs Marsopa Trump & Test Rex - Aerobee put in a really solid performance last time out but I am going to bold the BH mainer
GG: temp vs SammyCe123 - One of these players is currently ripping up OM Circuit
Inh: Dr. Phd. BJ vs BijouMode - BijouMode is insane at the game, and we only really discovered his godlike powers last time out at World Cup. I think he's going to continue to have a great season here
MnM: Icemaster vs PociekMociek - These players are both great in their own rights, but Icemaster has stresh support
PiC: DeepFriedMagikarp vs HiZo - I think HiZo's greater experience in the tier should see them through, but DFM will be no pushover
STAB: Fc vs xdRudi.exe - Fc has had a great showing in Circuit so far, and is probably the paper favourite.
Bo3: xavgb vs Ivar57 - As yuki said to me during the fiora stresh set, it's one thing to play stresh, and another thing to play lucky stresh. Ivar is a great player but stresh is simply astronomical
 
Jrdn vs TPP - TPP is a bona fide scrub. He can't play! No disrespect whatsoever, but I'm sorry to tell everybody the truth. The man cannot play the game of Pokemon. He has small hands and no bitches, he can't cook in the builder, he can't really make reads even though this is all he plays, doesn't really know what he's doing, doesn't have a gameplan that he puts to memory that he can do two times in a row. He has no game whatsoever, doesn't have the heart, the passion, or anything that comes with it.
 
BH Game Reviews - Week 1

TTTech vs augustakira - :ho-oh::arceus-ground::audino-mega::chansey::empoleon::giratina: vs :necrozma-ultra::solgaleo::ferrothorn::audino-mega::ho-oh::arceus-fairy:
Matchup: Biased (TTTech's Favour)

Both teams have fairly odd defensive Steels at preview, with Solgaleo being rare but not unseen, but both Empoleon and Ferrothorn being novel. Empoleon reveals a likely RegenVest fairly early on, while Ferrothorn reveals Helmet + non-Fur Coat. The next few turns are spent jostling for position with a few statuses being spread but no substantial progress being made. PrimSea Solgaleo is revealed on turn 21, presumably being a hard-counter to TTTech's Ho-Oh, and the rare Pixilate Arceus-Fairy is also revealed on Akira's side, taking a sizeable chunk off of Empoleon. The next 10 turns are just spent pivoting around until TTTech's Arceus-Ground gets in and sets up a surprise Victory Dance on Ho-Oh's V-create, and then proceeds to Spirit Shackle it the next turn, which when combined with Jungle Healing, Leftovers, and Good as Gold gives it a free window to get to +6 and close out the game.

Good as Gold setup is always a risk to run into, especially when not using Haze, and TTTech positioned it well to sweep by setting it up on a weakened, non-threatening target; should Akira have gone Arceus-Fairy there, the sweep wouldn't have occured, but the set wasn't known at this point, and with Audino's ability revealed as Fur Coat (from Solgaleo's Flip Turn damage on turn 27), it would make sense for Arceus-Ground to be Ice Scales due to the team otherwise lacking a check to Sheer Force Ultra Necrozma.

zioziotrip vs Marsopa Trump & Test Rex - :flutter mane::chansey::alakazam-mega::arceus-fairy::blissey::ho-oh: vs :garchomp-mega::arceus-electric::celesteela::eternatus::audino-mega::chansey:
Matchup: Biased (Zio's Favour)

Neither team looks particularly outlandish at preview: Arceus-Electric is common but not unseen, but the presence of Mega Garchomp implies Celesteela is very likely Fur Coat or physically defensive Regenerator, as a solo Fur Coat Arceus-Electric wouldn't be able to handle Impostered Mega Garchomp. After an interaction of all time for the first 12 turns, Blissey is revealed to have Baneful Bunker and Rex's Celesteela is scouted to be the expected Regenerator. Arceus-Fairy's set is scouted but not revealed, but its 3 layers of Spikes are sent back via Court Change, leading Zio to set up another layer before Eternatus comes in, revealing Magic Guard on the Blissey but dealing heavy damage with Secret Sword. Then, for some reason, Mega Alakazam is brought in and takes a massive amount of damage, then proceeding to get the predict right but miss Blue Flare. Mortal Spin Ho-Oh clears Zio's Spikes before another brazen Alakazam play is made, which sees it survive an extra turn and Trick Rex's Imposter its Choice Specs. Blissey is sacked to the inbound Psycho Boost, and then Flip Turn Ho-Oh finally brings in Flutter Mane, which reveals Normalize + Taunt + Nasty Plot, allowing it to get to +4 safely. After Zio wins the Speed tie, Flutter Mane takes the Audino KO, and although it loses the next Speed tie against Imposter, it takes the KO and can simply switch out of Celesteela's Knock Off, allowing Ho-Oh to KO it in return. Mega Garchomp comes in and sets up a Shift Gear, but Fur Coat Arceus-Fairy handily shuts it down and closes the game.

This game shows the power of Normalize when left unchecked; it's shocking how easily it can spiral out of control. This was eccentuated by Arceus-Electric never switching in (as, if it were the most common variant in Take Heart + Ice Judge, it could set up beforehand and prevent Flutter from switching in) and Audino lacking Topsy-Turvy; one interaction that a Normalize user with this sort of set suffers from is, when set up, the constant 50/50 of whether to Taunt to stop Topsy or Entrainment to stop something like Salt Cure. Having no fast option to chase Flutter out, such as Mega Alakazam, also helped it out in simply sitting on the field mostly undisturbed.

cityscapes vs aerobee - :palkia-origin::aegislash::arceus-ground::audino-mega::aerodactyl-mega::chansey: vs :ho-oh::celesteela::eternatus::necrozma-ultra::swampert-mega::chansey:
Matchup: Even

This is the sort of game that can happen when both players bring bulky teams and neither has a stellar way of making progress against the other. As becomes obvious in the first few turns (after the lot of switching), both teams are anti-hazard fat, meaning it's largely down to the wallbreakers alone to make short-term progress; some unconventional sets are revealed though, such as Take Heart Mega Audino, MG + Stone Axe Mega Aerodactyl, and an apparent Boots + Fur Coat Palkia-O. The Palkia-O not being offensive is quite significant here, as aerobee's defensive options into any Nasty Plot Palkia-O essentially don't exist. Eternatus is revealed as Fur Coat fairly early on, and Necrozma doesn't take Spikes, likely implying Magic Guard (also revealed in chat after it OHKOes Palkia-O with Dragon Energy and gets scouted); its set is V-create/Volt Tackle/Dragon Energy/Shore Up, which presents difficulties with both Imposter-proofing (as Mega Swampert, despite being Ice Scales, is poisoned) and breaking the opposing Arceus-Ground. Aegislash is soon revealed as a support set with Ruination (and Ho-Oh as MG + Leftovers). Then, after this, a lot of turns of relative nothing happen; aerobee's Celesteela is not equipped to handle Imposter very well at all (as, in this game, Knock Off alone simply doesn't cut it), allowing Imp to farm Regen and undo Court Change very easily. city almost loses Imposter to Magma Storn Eternatus on turn 51, but manages to stay alive and recover its HP via Regen over the next 17 turns; after this, however, Celesteela gets caught with Thunder Cage and is KOed, stopping that infinite Regen cycle. Not long later, Ultra Necrozma reads an Audino switch and crits V-create, taking a KO; it also lives Aerodactyl's Brave Bird on 2% and KOes that too (presumably Life Orb + max roll on Naive Necro). The next section mostly involves city safely pivoting between Arceus-Ground and Imposter Ho-Oh, but losing Arceus-Ground after an incorrect predict on Volt Tackle. The endgame involves a little more stalling and aerobee's Imposter getting dangerously low, but this turns out to be a blessing, as they deal a good bit of damage on Aegislash and can then sack it to hazards to block Chansey's Imposter for a turn, getting Ho-Oh in without the threat of Imposter and allowing V-create to close the game.

Superman teams generally operate by trying to run down the opposing team with hazards and repeated switches. In a superman mirror, this doesn't work, and the only things you really have to make progress are Knock Off (if the opponent has majority Boots) or backup wincons, and in both cases the backup wincons largely didn't have clean ways through. This is why the game went as long as it did; it took until the V-create crit on Audino for the defensive core to start crumbling.

Potatochan vs Chessking345 - :chansey::kyogre-primal::eternatus::arceus-electric::dialga-origin::koraidon: vs :eternatus::lunala::iron valiant::arceus-fighting::blissey::chansey:
Matchup: Even

Similar to the above, this is a long game that eventually ends in Imposter Regen cycles, but stuff happens at the start. Kyogre and Imposter trade Knock Offs, removing a redundant Spooky Plate, and after a couple more turns, Rocks go up before Iron Valiant gets in on Kyogre. Raw (no accuracy boosting) Population Bomb has its consistency issues and they come to fruition here, as only 6 hits land (6 or less being ~52% chance I think), keeping Kyogre alive and putting Valiant on a poison timer; it chunks Arceus-Electric with Boomburst, which then gets Sapblocked by Chansey, but no death occurs. Arceus-Fighting's set is revealed as Fur Coat + Take Heart, which can potentially pose a large threat if it gets set up and can shake Imposter + chip damage; this isn't the case though, as it switches to Unaware Eternatus. This is where the Blissey hardswitch into Ogre loop starts, as with no Rocks up, it's a net gain of HP; Lunala also reveals Defog as the only non-Imp hazard control. Iron Valiant manages to get another solid chunk on Arceus-Electric, but short of Salt Cure, no large damage occurs for a while, let alone anything permanent. Potatochan's Eternatus has Shell Side Arm, which unfortunately flops into Regen Chansey, meaning there's no easy way through it. The Koraidon is the Magic Guard set from Akira's sample, which can't break Arceus-Fighting at all, although it does drag in Iron Valiant with Dragon Tail, forcing it into attacking and ending up with another poor Population Bomb. What follows is a fairly long sequence of Regen pivoting, as Potatochan's Eternatus can't really do anything to Lunala except fish for poisons; that's until it sets up on Arceus-Fighting and wins an Imposter Speed tie. More pivoting then ensues with Potatochan mainly using Imposter to scare off Chessking's Eternatus, but in the end, Potatochan's manages to set up on Arceus-Fighting again and rounds off the game.

Salt Cure was arguably Potatochan's strongest asset in this game, as it both punished Blissey for switching in to steal Regen and kept Eternatus' Dragon Energy power down enough to allow for safe pivots into Imposter. Chessking's questionable hazard removal also similarly helped keep the chip up. Iron Valiant likely wins long-term if it KOes Kyogre at the beginning; Eternatus is the only safe switch-in, but it takes over half from Boomburst and would run out of Recover PP very fast.

Key takeaways:
  • 2 games were decided by setup threats that the opponent was (largely) ill-equipped to contain
  • In both cases where it was possible, insufficient Improofing of Regenerator users led to drawn-out cycles
  • Imposter was on 7 of 8 teams, with two teams opting for double blob; the next most common mons were Eternatus/Ho-Oh
  • Zero Choice Bands were present, with only one confirmed Choice Specs
 
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GG reviews, bet you didn't expect that (note that Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂ and Les2BG helped me)
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While we have Temp, using a standard Zac C with a speedy Ghold team, Taka is using a rather original Etern team with Blastoise and Regular Pao who seems to be really threatning. Temp lost his Zac C very quickly to a speed boosted Hands, and after losing his Garg to a Psychic Dgleam Hat holding a red card, which is a very unusual set, it let Pao shred through Temp's team after tera dark and an SD. Taka ended it by safely finishing off Ting Lu
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We can see two very different types of styles, Sammy using a KB offense with an WOger which can deal massive damage, while entrocefalo plays a much bulkier team with an Arceus Ground who seems to be his only physically offensive mon. Helectrode looks to be really dangerous for Sammy as his only grass resist is KB and the only mon outspeeding it is a possible scarfer. However, WOger could be real trouble for entrocefalo. After the opening turns it looks like Sammy won't be much of a threat, losing his scarf on Lando T and dice on KB, but after an aggressive tera from KB demolishing the Garg and Torn a few turns later it is looking a lot more doable. However, Helectrode has become a huge threat because there is no longer grass resist and it still outspeeds everyone. Sammy lets his Zama get paralized and gets full para’d instantly which meant it wasn't able to kill the Helectrode. The RBolt reveals tera blast tera water and the game seems over, but Zama tanks the hit and reveals roar. An unfortunate para on WOger from Helectrode almost makes Sammy lose, but in the end he manages to win 1 of the 2 needed 50/50s and is able to clean with KB after
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Jrdn is using a "weird" HO team with Infernape and Valiant which are two really uncommon mons, while Ghostlike uses a sort of rain team with Etern as a god and Talon spamming hurricane under rain. While Ghostlike dominates the hazard game, Jrdn’s EKiller manages to set up to +6 and it seems over. Tera ghost revealed on Etern managed to save the game and after breaking Ghold’s ballon it leads to an exca sweep after losing Valiant and using tera poison on Mana
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Career decided to bring KB HO with sticky and medium fast strong attackers while Pdt brings an Etern team with a surprising Darkrai in HP. Ribombee paralyses the opposing Baxcalibur manages to get up sticky web. WOger and Serp try to break through with set up, Etern forces tera on WOger and while outspeeding it due to running boots is still forced to sacrifice itself to weaken it. Scarf Lando I outspeeds the entire team of Career and manages to RK or weaken threats, and in the end due to boots Darkrai outspeeding everyone and with Taunt stopping DD on GFire it manages to win, after switching to Prima one more time to weaken Ghold’s damage output forcing it to use Make it Rain repeatedly. This let Darkrai sweep after getting a NP
 
yuki's Partners in Crime Review

Week 1 gave us a pretty good round of games in what I would consider a pretty decent PiC player pool. I think after seeing this week, I'm even more excited for the rest of the season as I think competition this season could end up fairly close overall.

yuki vs DeepFriedMagikarp
:porygon2::chien-pao::iron hands::gholdengo::landorus-therian::sinistcha: vs :chien-pao::zapdos-galar::ursaluna::entei::gholdengo::tornadus:
Covering my own game first, damn I got away with this one. Overall, I really didn't like the look of the matchup at preview. Landorus-T seemed pretty frozen out of the action due to the presence of both Entei and Zapdos-G, and ultimately the presence of Extreme Speed and the fact I only had a single Taunt blocker meant I wasn't actually as confident in Trick Room as I could have possibly been. This ends up being clear in the fact that, despite getting off to as good of a start as I realistically could hope for, the endgame came down to a position that could have easily been lost had one turn gone the other way. Really happy with my early game, and DFM found a really nice way to stabilise in the middle game after I miss my read and he lands the Sucker Punch into my Chien-Pao. I end up getting away with the endgame, and after seeing the Gholdengo go down, I know it's a matter of a single KO and resetting my Fake Out to win the game, which I do handily.

Chromate vs HiZo
:moltres-galar::clefable::gholdengo::porygon2::volcanion::landorus: vs :regidrago::walking wake::venusaur::arcanine-hisui::tornadus::torkoal:
In prep for this week, I was helping test with HiZo and the plan of "Sun him" looked to be a promising one. Double Dragon with Regidrago and Walking Wake generally ends up being pretty promising as most teams only really have Gholdengo as a sole Dragon resist, let alone having any immunities due to a real lack of fairies in this tier. Unfortunately for this plan, Chrome has pretty much the best possible time into the team brought. Volcanion, Clefable, and a Tera Fairy Porygon2 creates a perfect storm for him to take the initiative pretty early on. Overall, I really like Chrome's team. Berserk + Download offers a hell of a lot of passive setup which allows him to stay on the front foot more often than not. Landorus receiving a Flying move from Moltres-G is always exceptionally helpful, and the support pieces on this team allow the offense to thrive. For me, I find a Torkoal lead against Porygon2 teams less than ideal as it's begging to give Porygon2 and co a SpA Download boost as seen in the game. Overall, team advantage and early initiative let Chrome keep control of the game practically the whole way through.

Smudge vs Evie
:okidogi::chien-pao::gholdengo::rotom-wash::incineroar::comfey: vs :zapdos-galar::landorus-therian::chien-pao::raging bolt::gholdengo::farigiraf:
As far as I can tell, Smudge is using one of HiZo's Triage teams (which I've since seen used by other players as well) and it gets pretty unlucky to roll into the matchup it does. Farigiraf is usually a huge blocking point for the Triage teams, especially with the absence of Ogerpon-H on the team. On top of this, majority of Evie's team plays really well into Okidogi, which is the team's main setup threat. Lastly, Incineroar ends up being not as helpful in this matchup as Zapdos-G can hit the field at any point, and Fake Out is never really a proper option due to Farigiraf. It does have to be said that Evie also plays a really exceptional game, though. 2 KOs in the first two turns and setting up Trick Room was simply always going to be too much to overcome, and she found a really nasty endgame lock with Armor Tail and Imprison with Chien-Pao on the board blocking both Comfey and Chien-Pao from really doing much of note. Smudge is a really good player though, and I have no doubt they're gonna bounce back this season (though not this week as they're facing me, and I don't like losing).

Chris32156 vs zoe
:Tornadus::Landorus::Ogerpon-Wellspring::Chien-Pao::Incineroar::Gholdengo: vs :Tyranitar::Excadrill::Zapdos-Galar::Latios::Amoonguss::Tinkaton:
Chris is using a pretty standard looking balance team overall, and zoe loaded sand. Cue probably my favourite game of the week despite the matchup billing not usually sounding super entertaining. Matchup ends up being fairly even overall, as if Latios ever goes down, there's not really much in place to stop Landorus from just tearing through the rest of the team (which ends up being a fairly common issue for sand in general). Turn 1 I think Chris gets a little too aggressive overall, with zoe likely reading for some form of Earth Power + Sacred Sword double into the slot trying to take advantage of Zapdos-G's somewhat vulnerable position. She gets rewarded in taking down the Chien-Pao, and Landorus getting a Sub won't be a long term issue with the presence of Latios and one of its best checks gone. In the middle game, Chris does end up missing a Sandsear Storm into the Excadrill after well-engineering the position to take down first Latios then the Excadrill through any potential Sashes. This inevitably shows the risk of not running Earth Power on Landorus. But then cue Turn 11. As I said immediately after the game, take a bow. Anything you want to attribute to luck via the earlier miss, forget it, this is a super high caliber play and Zoe found the self-kill with Fake Out so quickly. At this stage of the game, I'd argue if she can't get Tyranitar and Excadrill on to the field together cleanly, she's actually slightly behind overall as the Landorus behind the Sub is becoming a problem fast. That being said, she's not out of the woods at this stage and with help from a bizarre Turn 13 double Protect from Chris, she manages to convert a kinda tricky looking endgame. And, for as much crap as I will give Assault Vest as an item here, it worked wonders for Zoe. It's hard to say that its presence in the game didn't help Zoe win so I guess I can get behind it this time.
 
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