Special thanks to the organization. Emma, donors, hosts, staff. A tournament capable of drawing more than 150 rby players from all over the world into a server. Over 100 players being involved between main event, play-ins and declined. Half a hundred players being willing to go through a meatgrinder hoping to qualify for the ultimate of all them grinds. Retired players coming back. Nice prizes. It looks so self-explainatory that I often forget to make a mention. The Invitational Tournament, formerly known as the last dance, is growing every year.
How to become the Invitational Champion
What did I do to earn two podium finishes, including a first place?
Let's get to the rounds.
ROUND 1 VS MDRAGON
MDragon is one of the greatest pokemon players of all time who needs no introduction. However, he played most of his RBY games during paraslam days. I expect games to last short. On what to bring, I have no clear idea. I'll use Gengar Starmie S4, Starmie Rhydon S4 (because he could be using electrics) and the evergreen Recover trio.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-778895
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Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-778926
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Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-778935
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Complicated series. Experience the dangers of going against players you know very little about what they are big on.
ROUND 2 VS SHILOH
I don't have strong feelings. I just want consistency. I end up using two Zapdos teams, one Gengar Starmie Zam and Recover trio.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-780616
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Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-780620
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Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-780624
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Game 4 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-780628
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I said that the series against MDragon was complicated, what about this? You tell me. Shiloh decided to cut me out of resources most of the time, and it was a reasonable strategy. He also tricked me with a Chanseyless Counter Jynx team. This series was a learning experience: those bomb attacks you see on the ladder can put many tournament players through some serious trouble.
Shiloh's first couple games where perfectible in terms of making progress and I predicted his Explosions when needed.
Game 2, I failed to land the sleep. Game 3 Shiloh made a brilliant plan and I fell into the trap in spite of smelling something was weird. G3 I struggled with his bomb attacks, thinking he'd be more cautious with his Explosions after the happenings of g1 and 2. Game 4, I think he needed to stay in with fully set up mono Thunderbolt Snorlax and win or lose by it. Suspecting it to be mono Ice Beam, I looked very desperate. And maybe I should have used blizzard with Tauros a bit more.
ROUND 4 VS SERPI
I stay by Recover trio and Zapdos, but this time I want to lead with Jynx because I know I could be exploited (he shows up with Exeggutor lead g1 indeed). I also notice a nice Exeggutor lead, Cloyster Zapdos team he has. When he uses it in g1 it becomes impossible for me to not bring it in game 2.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-782703
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Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-782717
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Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-782723
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This series was cheered by peers, and rightfully so. We both played great. It could've gone both ways and pretty much the same can be said about single games. Not much Serpi can blame himself for, he just got the short end of the stick and kept a brave face on it.
ROUND 6 VS ISZA
I decide to start things off with Jynx and Rhydon. I don't want to use the Starmie Rhydon S4 team again: it looks like every time I use Rhydon it's that team, I don't like that. Also, I want to use Jynx sometimes.
However, I use Reflect EQ Snorlax (instead of HB) and it's going to cost me against Starmie.
Next couple games, I go all in on Ice Beam Reflect Snorlax and Zapdos.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-784953
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Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-784959
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Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-784968
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Rhydon entered this series with a good win rate, possibly the best in the Tournament. It 0-3'd. As I have already stated, I lost game 1 regrettably, after almost having escaped an inevitable fate. Rode on the back of mighty Reflectice Lax for the counterattack and fate rewarded me in g3.
Isza's run was put to an end by the most evil move in the game: Ice Beam. If Ice Beam Snorlax is a strategic element, an immediate freeze on Exeggutor coming from Chansey is savage. Well, his run will actually continue in the lower bracket and reaching a 4th place. He actually anticipated my tips on how to get closer to the pinnacle of the Invitational: stay in the upper bracket as long as possible, get to the top 4.
ROUND 8 VS AMARANTH, best of 5 begins
A huge chunk of the audience is sleeping big time on Amaranth. I've been watching Amaranth's rebirth closely for obvious reasons, read Team Italy. Definitely an unpredictable player, who loves short games. Considering the stage of the metagame, I realize that Counter Chansey is a relevant thing. I didn't want to be at its mercy and I wanted to take advantage of its services in a sneaky way. I felt like Amaranth was not going to spam Rhydon like crazy against me, and I knew Zapdos was going to show up on both sides. Other than that, you can't make assumptions against him.
I want to use a mix of teams including Zapdos 2 or 3 times. I'll end up with Cloyster, Zapdos, Rhydon, Recover trio and Zapdos again.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787246
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Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787250
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Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787251
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Game 4 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787253
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Game 5 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787255
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Amaranth brought out his manifesto, his idea of RBY and stood by it. Got very close to the finals and potentially becoming the first two-time champion. Remember that this guy can play.
He had the better team selection, leading to better early games. Exeggutor was my only sleeper four times. This doesn't feel like a decision I would repeat.
Once again, I won a series by the skin of my teeth. I feel like neither of us played to their best extent, but it was a great show nonetheless. My Game 1 was terrible, with Snorlax using Selfdestruct being awful. Unrefined and laughable. Had I lost this series it would have been nightmare fuel. Game 4, turn 12 I didn't make the decision I needed. Game 5, I didn't handle Zapdos lead well and didn't make the best use of Exeggutor.
He failed to preserve Cloyster in game 2, and then Exploded Gengar in a spot where attacking could have been fine.
In game 3 he sacrificed Alakazam to sleep, instead of Zapdos. In game 5 he exposed Zapdos.
How to become the Invitational Champion
"Invitational players fall under two categories: those who got their rear end kicked and those who are about to get their rear end kicked very soon".
Invitational V saw no undefeated players indeed. I won on a 60% win rate, and a draw game as a side dish. That's the lowest for a winner and it's going to be record for a long while. The closest Invitational ever.
It took me five appearences, and nobody has won this Tournament more than once. Becoming a champion is all about consistency, so the most important thing to do to become the champion is to be invited to every Invitational Tournament.
Nobody has ever won this Tournament from the Loser's bracket, not even Friend of Mister Golem nor Nicole could make it. Considering that the run FOMG made was one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in this game, I claim it to be almost impossible: for someone to win the winner of Winner's bracket, they need to be lucky, good at the game and sharp through the duration of the tournament. It's that hard to win two best of 5 in a row against someone who meets these criterias, at very least to some degree. Finishing on the podium is doable even if you lose early, even though it's hard.
Is this bad? Not necessarily. If you are a top player you know what you need to do. If you aren't already, most likely your goal is to get a top 4 finish and you'll be invited again, possibly multiple times. Then you start getting somewhere from there: you'll get the chance to play in team tournaments and accumulate knowledge and experience.
Start on the ladder, play some tournaments on Smogon and get some results, get through the play-ins if necessary.
Getting bounced is part of the experience. I'm not going o ask you to embrace it, but you are remembered for the top-finishes you make. You are remembered for your your losses only if your misplays are bad enough to stand out, and even in that case people just don't care. You're the one who should. Know your place on the food chain and try to improve it.
Invitational V saw no undefeated players indeed. I won on a 60% win rate, and a draw game as a side dish. That's the lowest for a winner and it's going to be record for a long while. The closest Invitational ever.
It took me five appearences, and nobody has won this Tournament more than once. Becoming a champion is all about consistency, so the most important thing to do to become the champion is to be invited to every Invitational Tournament.
Nobody has ever won this Tournament from the Loser's bracket, not even Friend of Mister Golem nor Nicole could make it. Considering that the run FOMG made was one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in this game, I claim it to be almost impossible: for someone to win the winner of Winner's bracket, they need to be lucky, good at the game and sharp through the duration of the tournament. It's that hard to win two best of 5 in a row against someone who meets these criterias, at very least to some degree. Finishing on the podium is doable even if you lose early, even though it's hard.
Is this bad? Not necessarily. If you are a top player you know what you need to do. If you aren't already, most likely your goal is to get a top 4 finish and you'll be invited again, possibly multiple times. Then you start getting somewhere from there: you'll get the chance to play in team tournaments and accumulate knowledge and experience.
Start on the ladder, play some tournaments on Smogon and get some results, get through the play-ins if necessary.
Getting bounced is part of the experience. I'm not going o ask you to embrace it, but you are remembered for the top-finishes you make. You are remembered for your your losses only if your misplays are bad enough to stand out, and even in that case people just don't care. You're the one who should. Know your place on the food chain and try to improve it.
What did I do to earn two podium finishes, including a first place?
First of all, I participated to every Invitational. Even in times when I wasn't sharp. Staying away from the game hurt a bit, leading to blunders. At least, playing World Cups helped me. It's very hard to become the Invitational champion without being active, and I consider myself to be an exception to this rule. Also coming from an era where all you wanted to do is to play safe, I can improve my early games. You are playing for the odds today.
Very few people believe I'm the best player out there right now, and in all honesty I'm not one of them! This (sometimes) obnoxious series of walls of text isn't about claiming that spot or trying to lure someone else into doing so. Just a way to etch some memories. Maybe some players will read this and pick up the tier. All I see is is a positive outcome.
Vito Antuofermo's punches were not particularly powerful but he made up for that with an incredible ability to absorb opponents' blows that bordered on stoicism. He never lost due to KO. However, his orbital bones were protruding so his eyebrows were weak and he sometimes lost to due to wounds. He holds the record for the most stitches: 359.
Very few people believe I'm the best player out there right now, and in all honesty I'm not one of them! This (sometimes) obnoxious series of walls of text isn't about claiming that spot or trying to lure someone else into doing so. Just a way to etch some memories. Maybe some players will read this and pick up the tier. All I see is is a positive outcome.
Vito Antuofermo's punches were not particularly powerful but he made up for that with an incredible ability to absorb opponents' blows that bordered on stoicism. He never lost due to KO. However, his orbital bones were protruding so his eyebrows were weak and he sometimes lost to due to wounds. He holds the record for the most stitches: 359.
Let's get to the rounds.
ROUND 1 VS MDRAGON
MDragon is one of the greatest pokemon players of all time who needs no introduction. However, he played most of his RBY games during paraslam days. I expect games to last short. On what to bring, I have no clear idea. I'll use Gengar Starmie S4, Starmie Rhydon S4 (because he could be using electrics) and the evergreen Recover trio.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-778895
I try to catch a switch by going Exeggutor, but Starmie stays in and throws ice: it's Ice Beam, which means Egg won't go down due to damage. I go Starmie so I can TWave Egg and somewhat push MDragon towards using Sleep Powder immediately without trying to take my Egg out. All of a sudden, I have taken the lead (one slept, one para'd vs one slept).
Chanseys meet and I feel like I want to be the passive player, the one who spams Ice Beam, mostly because my team is fresh and I have Starmie and Gengar. I use my Snorlax as the first switch in for his one, and he reveals Ice Beam. Gengar becomes my go to.
His Exeggutor Stun Spores my Starmie and reveals Rest (over Explosion). Which is an absolute wall against my team unless I want to risk switching to Tauros predicting Rest, which is something you don't want to do against a possible Stun Spore.
Jolteon screws my Chansey and I FP on a so much needed Thunder Wave, what happens next is I basically sacrifice my sleeping Egg to get Chansey back to full. On t38 I feel the need to put some pressure on his team by going Tauros on 37% Snorlax: he clicks Ice Beam because he wants to put my Gengar in Tauros range. Result: my Tauros gets frozen. Very next turn is Gengar vs Jolteon, I Explode and get the CH taking care of Jolteon. So I can now try to stall his team with Starmie and Snorlax, and Chansey as well but I don't want to let his Snorlax in. His Rest Exeggutor somewhat unfolds my plan.
At turn 84 I gain a position where I can go somewhere if my Snorlax gets some reasonable rolls and wins a couple speed ties (or crits). Every now and then I get the chance to steal a KO with a crit, a FP or a freeze, but nothing happens. We keep stalling each others until MDragon's Tauros loses his patience and scores a roll on Starmie and a CH on my Snorlax that was running out of PPs anyway.
Rest Egg, IceLax and Jolteon got me good. One could also argue I should've paralyzed Chansey at first sight, I didn't and that cost me.
That's actually a very good team built by MDragon: Counter Chansey screws monoLax, Egg and Jolteon screw Starmie and Jolteon also keeps Zapdos under control, IceLax screws Rhydon. I expected him to run some kind of offensive team and he showed up with a stall-oriented team instead.
MVP: Rest Exeggutor FLOP: SurfBolt Starmie
Chanseys meet and I feel like I want to be the passive player, the one who spams Ice Beam, mostly because my team is fresh and I have Starmie and Gengar. I use my Snorlax as the first switch in for his one, and he reveals Ice Beam. Gengar becomes my go to.
His Exeggutor Stun Spores my Starmie and reveals Rest (over Explosion). Which is an absolute wall against my team unless I want to risk switching to Tauros predicting Rest, which is something you don't want to do against a possible Stun Spore.
Jolteon screws my Chansey and I FP on a so much needed Thunder Wave, what happens next is I basically sacrifice my sleeping Egg to get Chansey back to full. On t38 I feel the need to put some pressure on his team by going Tauros on 37% Snorlax: he clicks Ice Beam because he wants to put my Gengar in Tauros range. Result: my Tauros gets frozen. Very next turn is Gengar vs Jolteon, I Explode and get the CH taking care of Jolteon. So I can now try to stall his team with Starmie and Snorlax, and Chansey as well but I don't want to let his Snorlax in. His Rest Exeggutor somewhat unfolds my plan.
At turn 84 I gain a position where I can go somewhere if my Snorlax gets some reasonable rolls and wins a couple speed ties (or crits). Every now and then I get the chance to steal a KO with a crit, a FP or a freeze, but nothing happens. We keep stalling each others until MDragon's Tauros loses his patience and scores a roll on Starmie and a CH on my Snorlax that was running out of PPs anyway.
Rest Egg, IceLax and Jolteon got me good. One could also argue I should've paralyzed Chansey at first sight, I didn't and that cost me.
That's actually a very good team built by MDragon: Counter Chansey screws monoLax, Egg and Jolteon screw Starmie and Jolteon also keeps Zapdos under control, IceLax screws Rhydon. I expected him to run some kind of offensive team and he showed up with a stall-oriented team instead.
MVP: Rest Exeggutor FLOP: SurfBolt Starmie
Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-778926
MDragon makes the Alakzam to Jynx trick and gets me, so Exeggutor goes to sleep. But that was the plan anyway. I go to Starmie trying to force a switch, but he keeps on spamming Ice; Chansey comes in and uses Sing. I TWave Chansey and go Snorlax. Game 1 I played around Counter Chansey very carefully, this time I was extremely impatient with (ReflectHB) Snorlax: I used Body Slam, got a CH and Chansey FP'd. Going Rhydon was arguably the best scouting move, but I decided to take benefit from my reputation of being (over)conservative with my plays. I don't know if that saved me, but RNG definitely did and that's even better. When Snorlax ditto happens, I switch out to Chansey: a questionable decision if you consider I had my moveset revealed (Sing Ice) and Snorlax had not. He is RestBoom and trades Snorlax for Chansey, and I'm very happy about that trade. I know he's going Alakazam and I don't want to go Starmie because Chansey would get a chance to come in and heal if I TWave (if I don't Alakazam TWaves me and switches out). Starmie could also FP, and I want to keep it fresh as much as possible. So Snorlax vs Alakazam happens, and it ends up with me trying an ambitious Hyper Beam against 96% Alakazam. It misses. At this point I go Starmie and trade Thunder Waves. He finds time to go Chansey and heal, as my Snorlax FPs. I Hyper Beam the incoming Starmie, next I paraslam it and get a crit on top of that. All of a sudden I have very little obstacle.
Alakazam crits Snorlax, Rhydon subs and Zam FPs. Now Rhydon can get a hit off against Tauros.
MDragon's Chansey has an unrevealed move and this makes things a bit uncomfortable: my best play is arguably to sacrifice Exeggutor and send Starmie; however if it's Sing and I sacrifice Exeggutor I'm going to be forced to stall with Starmie, which would be all good (more PPs) unless Alakazam comes in and puts me in a rough spot before I can send Rhydon safely.
My final decision is to go Starmie on Tauros directly, planning to Revenge kill with Tauros (100% vs 61%) as a worst case scenario. He doesn't get the CH, retreats to Chansey and Rhydon comes in. Chansey FPs and Rhydon gets the KO. Now I can sacrifice Exeggutor! Starmie comes in again, Tauros gets a CH Body Slam and a roll to KO. Tauros ditto, I miss Hyper Beam then win the speed tie. I don't know his move, but Blizzard was a very reasonable one so I decided to stay in (and stay home), especially because having Tauros go first against Alakazam isn't the best option. He needs to win mindgames and get RNG to win this game. MDragon's Alakazam FPs and packs it up for good.
MVP: my Hyper Beam Snorlax FLOP: MDragon's Selfdestruct Snorlax
Alakazam crits Snorlax, Rhydon subs and Zam FPs. Now Rhydon can get a hit off against Tauros.
MDragon's Chansey has an unrevealed move and this makes things a bit uncomfortable: my best play is arguably to sacrifice Exeggutor and send Starmie; however if it's Sing and I sacrifice Exeggutor I'm going to be forced to stall with Starmie, which would be all good (more PPs) unless Alakazam comes in and puts me in a rough spot before I can send Rhydon safely.
My final decision is to go Starmie on Tauros directly, planning to Revenge kill with Tauros (100% vs 61%) as a worst case scenario. He doesn't get the CH, retreats to Chansey and Rhydon comes in. Chansey FPs and Rhydon gets the KO. Now I can sacrifice Exeggutor! Starmie comes in again, Tauros gets a CH Body Slam and a roll to KO. Tauros ditto, I miss Hyper Beam then win the speed tie. I don't know his move, but Blizzard was a very reasonable one so I decided to stay in (and stay home), especially because having Tauros go first against Alakazam isn't the best option. He needs to win mindgames and get RNG to win this game. MDragon's Alakazam FPs and packs it up for good.
MVP: my Hyper Beam Snorlax FLOP: MDragon's Selfdestruct Snorlax
Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-778935
My Alakazam screws Jynx and cripples Exeggutor as well. I try to play around Explosion, so on turn 11 I leave sleeping Alakazam out in order to do so. MDragon's Tauros comes in, eventually I trade Starmie for paralysis on bull. I follow with Snorlax, who puts Tauros at 5% by halving its HPs. Jynx is sacrificed. MDragon's Starmie calls my Chansey in and greets it with a Blizzard; I use Seismic Toss predicting his 36% Exeggutor is trying to come in on TWave. So, we have a Chansey ditto and I hit Sing. Snorlax comes in, gets a KO and I go for a tricky exchange with Starmie. After I use Rest, I predict MDragon to use Blizzard on incoming Chansey, so I try to catch it with my sleeping Alakazam. He goes Snorlax instead, so I have to go Chansey in the awkward spot versus Snorlax. He opts out of it immediately, questionable call. He tries to wake Chansey up, and when Tauros comes in, he sacrifices his own. I go Chansey again, Thunder Wave, then go Snorlax again. In the big picture I'm winning the game unless Starmie gets a freeze, and even in that case I can still make it. He tries again to wake up, but Chansey won't so my Tauros comes in and manhandles Starmie and Snorlax. Snorlax retaliates by using Counter to take out my Tauros, but Exeggutor can't be stopped.
MVP: Alakazam lead FLOP: Jynx and RNG
MVP: Alakazam lead FLOP: Jynx and RNG
Complicated series. Experience the dangers of going against players you know very little about what they are big on.
ROUND 2 VS SHILOH
I don't have strong feelings. I just want consistency. I end up using two Zapdos teams, one Gengar Starmie Zam and Recover trio.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-780616
Jolteon beats Alakazam 1v1 thanks to CH and paralysis so I switch out at 9%. Snorlax entertains Chansey for a short time, then Leaves the floor to my Chansey. It gets slept, it wakes, it lands Thunder Wave and gets slept again.
It's one slept pokemon and an almost KO for two paralyzed pokemon. Not a good trade for me. I try to pressure his team thanks to the classic Snorlax + Exeggutor lines, that end up with him using Selfdestruct to trade Snorlax. Bad news.
My Exeggutor is faced against Taruos, so it has the chance to cripple Jolteon and to give Alakazam room to heal. I sacrifice sleeping Chansey to Tauros, then Revenge with Zapdos who takes Jolteon out. It's a 4 on 4, which is the best outcome I could get. I have Zapdos against Sing Chansey. Staying out is tempting, but I eventually figure out he's not going Tauros predicting my switch to Alakazam. He Thunder Waves and Alakazam comes in. Alakazam struggles a bit against Seismic Toss, but he doesn't dare going Tauros. Alakazam chips at Exeggutor, who reveals Double Edge. I have to expose my Exeggutor, but he shies from that matchup. QUestionable call, he had many options and even an Explosion could have been a good idea. My Exeggutor gets some RNG against his Chansey, so he calls Exeggutor Back in and I put it in Tauros/Zapdos range. I decide to sacrifice Alakazam to Egg so I can Revenge with Zapdos; he blows up instead of using Double Edge, making it easier.
For some reason I go out with Tauros first, even though Zapdos would be an idea: that reason is that by now I assume his last one is a heavy water type. Slowbro, Cloyster come to mind. He goes Chansey trying to fish for me going Egg. He lets his Tauros take the beating. His last one is Alakazam, I take courage and Explode Egg on it for the win. Beautiful game, really. And I hustled back. Shiloh put himself in trouble on turn 22, failing to assess Exeggutor, and then Alakazam. Also he didn't use his Exeggutor to the fullest, especially in a 5vs4 scenario where Explosion was going to land well.
MVP: Jolteon FLOP: Alakazam was heavily pressured by Jolteon, DE Egg, SToss Chansey
It's one slept pokemon and an almost KO for two paralyzed pokemon. Not a good trade for me. I try to pressure his team thanks to the classic Snorlax + Exeggutor lines, that end up with him using Selfdestruct to trade Snorlax. Bad news.
My Exeggutor is faced against Taruos, so it has the chance to cripple Jolteon and to give Alakazam room to heal. I sacrifice sleeping Chansey to Tauros, then Revenge with Zapdos who takes Jolteon out. It's a 4 on 4, which is the best outcome I could get. I have Zapdos against Sing Chansey. Staying out is tempting, but I eventually figure out he's not going Tauros predicting my switch to Alakazam. He Thunder Waves and Alakazam comes in. Alakazam struggles a bit against Seismic Toss, but he doesn't dare going Tauros. Alakazam chips at Exeggutor, who reveals Double Edge. I have to expose my Exeggutor, but he shies from that matchup. QUestionable call, he had many options and even an Explosion could have been a good idea. My Exeggutor gets some RNG against his Chansey, so he calls Exeggutor Back in and I put it in Tauros/Zapdos range. I decide to sacrifice Alakazam to Egg so I can Revenge with Zapdos; he blows up instead of using Double Edge, making it easier.
For some reason I go out with Tauros first, even though Zapdos would be an idea: that reason is that by now I assume his last one is a heavy water type. Slowbro, Cloyster come to mind. He goes Chansey trying to fish for me going Egg. He lets his Tauros take the beating. His last one is Alakazam, I take courage and Explode Egg on it for the win. Beautiful game, really. And I hustled back. Shiloh put himself in trouble on turn 22, failing to assess Exeggutor, and then Alakazam. Also he didn't use his Exeggutor to the fullest, especially in a 5vs4 scenario where Explosion was going to land well.
MVP: Jolteon FLOP: Alakazam was heavily pressured by Jolteon, DE Egg, SToss Chansey
Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-780620
Gengar ditto: I miss Hypnosis and he has Psychic. I go Starmie, and maybe it could have been Alakazam but I wanted to have an Ice user out. He gets the special drop, so I have to go Alakazam. Alakazam cripples Egg, who returns with Sleep Powder, Stuns Spore and Explosion on Starmie. My Chansey uses Sing forcing Tauros out; it misses against Gengar, then I use Thunder Wave and predict Explosion by going Alakazam. We have both Sing Chansey, we both miss. I decide to go Gengar, and it goes to sleep. I miss Sing once with Chansey, I use an Ice Beam, mess around a bit and I end up empty-handed as he goes Snorlax on Softboiled. I settle for Thunder Wave. I try to defend myself from Snorlax by setting Reflect up, and this is where he reveals Alakazam. He makes some nice switches so he can put his Tauros in front of my Gengar and take a KO as Gengar woke up.
I won the Tauros ditto, but Alakazam and Snorlax were all over the place.
In the end he tied it with Selfdestruct: it was Physlax, so had Tauros not FP'd on Hyper Beam (turn 75) I would have won.
MVP: no heroes here, nobody won FLOP: Shiloh's Alakazam, my Sing Chansey
I won the Tauros ditto, but Alakazam and Snorlax were all over the place.
In the end he tied it with Selfdestruct: it was Physlax, so had Tauros not FP'd on Hyper Beam (turn 75) I would have won.
MVP: no heroes here, nobody won FLOP: Shiloh's Alakazam, my Sing Chansey
Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-780624
Alakazam cripples Exeggutor, he sleeps and booms on my Egg on the switch. He revenge kills with Gegnar, and ends up Exploding on Chansey. 1 slept, 1 down, 1 low versus 2 KO. Not looking good. His Snorlax explodes, too. At least this time I set reflect up by winning the speed tie. Starmie Revenge kills and gets the CH. Starmies trade TWave. Exeggutor comes in and Explodes on Starmie. He saves 9% paralyzed Starmie by going Tauros. This looks like a bad move, it actually turns out to be a setup. A trap. I Hyper Beam even though I suspect something is being too easy to be true. Jynx comes in and Counters. Now I need to dodge a special drop, win the Starmie speed tie and beat Tauros. Starmie fails to perform the easiest task, the last one. Counter Jynx won the game. Brilliant.
MVP: back Counter Jynx FLOP: I'd say none
MVP: back Counter Jynx FLOP: I'd say none
Game 4 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-780628
Starmie spams some Ice, we end up trading sleep peacefully. My Exeggutor gets the upper hand in the ditto, but he's Rest. Eventually I have to give Chansey up for Exeggutor. He goes Gengar into my Snorlax, then we both get a critical hit. Good trade for me. Snorlax blows up against Zapdos, and he sacrifices Tauros in order to keep Zapdos up. As he follows with Snorlax, I realize this must be some Counter again for the way he played Tauros. I Blizzard and follow with some Body Slams as he sets up with Reflect and Amnesia. It turns out to be mono Thunderbolt Snorlax, possibly paired with Toxic Zapdos. Snorlax KOs Tauros, then Shiloh opts to switch out against Exeggutor. Questionable move, regrettable IMO. My goal was to put it in an uncomfortable position where I could get a special drop, outspeed and boom at with decent timing, then finish with Zapdos (possibly a crit against a resting Snorlax). Zapdos sets Agility up against sleeping Chansey and wins.
MVP: my Physlax FLOP: mono Thunderbolt Snorlax
MVP: my Physlax FLOP: mono Thunderbolt Snorlax
I said that the series against MDragon was complicated, what about this? You tell me. Shiloh decided to cut me out of resources most of the time, and it was a reasonable strategy. He also tricked me with a Chanseyless Counter Jynx team. This series was a learning experience: those bomb attacks you see on the ladder can put many tournament players through some serious trouble.
Shiloh's first couple games where perfectible in terms of making progress and I predicted his Explosions when needed.
Game 2, I failed to land the sleep. Game 3 Shiloh made a brilliant plan and I fell into the trap in spite of smelling something was weird. G3 I struggled with his bomb attacks, thinking he'd be more cautious with his Explosions after the happenings of g1 and 2. Game 4, I think he needed to stay in with fully set up mono Thunderbolt Snorlax and win or lose by it. Suspecting it to be mono Ice Beam, I looked very desperate. And maybe I should have used blizzard with Tauros a bit more.
ROUND 4 VS SERPI
I stay by Recover trio and Zapdos, but this time I want to lead with Jynx because I know I could be exploited (he shows up with Exeggutor lead g1 indeed). I also notice a nice Exeggutor lead, Cloyster Zapdos team he has. When he uses it in g1 it becomes impossible for me to not bring it in game 2.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-782703
My Jynx sleeps Exeggutor, then Cloyster Explodes on it. I TWave Chansey and Starmie is slept. Pretty much even game. From this point, he predicts my moves and switches very well: Thunder Wave on Snorlax, then Zapdos comes in on Rest. It's Chansey ditto again, and he's a too shy not going Snorlax. So I wake Snorlax up and Body Slam his Tauros twice guessing that would be all Snorlax could give me. I use Zapdos to get through Chansey. His Zapdos comes in on predicted Drill Peck, I go Chansey and he does the same soon after in a sequence of events that seem to bring me closer to defeat. He decides to break out of this spiral by sacrificing sleeping Exeggutor. I set Agility up. This way, his 87% Zapdos is the only obstacle (other than his 39% Tauros) to my fresh Tauros. He sacrifices Chansey and keeps 5% Snorlax. Zapdos vs Tauros happens now: I predict Thunder Wave and go Chansey. I TWave Tauros. I sacrifice Starmie, he goes Zapdos and takes it out directly. No Agility. I Ice Beam Zapdos and get a high/maximum roll, now he needs to use Agility and I Softboil. Things look good, even more as he uses Agility and I Thunder Wave. However, when things look the brightest, Zapdos beats Chansey and forces paralysis on Tauros. Gladly Hyper Beam KOs Zapdos, and his Snorlax doesn't KO Tauros with Selfdestruct. Paralyzed Tauros ditto decides the game: I need Hyper Beam, Body Slam is enough for him. I go first, but I FP.
MVP: Jynx, both Zapdos FLOP: none
MVP: Jynx, both Zapdos FLOP: none
Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-782717
Interesting lines early: he goes for Thunder Wave as I go Chansey. I try to use Sing, but can't hit. Gengar uses Hypnosis trying to predict something else switching in on a possible Explosion, but I stay in and FP on an attempted Sing. At this point Serpi realizes that I'm going to accept the trade. He revenge kills with Exeggutor, so I save Chansey and go for the speed tie. I lose it, but I wake up and win the sleep war. Then it's Snorlax vs Starmie, I get the CH on Starmie and it TWaves. I use Selfdestruct so Cloyster can go to work later. Zapdos Cripples both his Chansey and Snorlax, Cloyster wins.
MVP: Cloyster, Physlax FLOP: Gengar
MVP: Cloyster, Physlax FLOP: Gengar
Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-782723
Alakazam starts things off showing belligerancy: it messes Chansey up and cripples Jynx as well. Serpi smartly finds time to send Chansey in and TWave my Snorlax as it comes. I keep pressure with Exeggutor and Starmie, but he cheats Chansey in with a double switch and it can heal. I now need to fight Cloyster with a paralyzed Snorlax before it gets a freeze on Starmie. In the end I send Exeggutor into Snorlax's Body Slam and I get a CH Psychic to KO it. We keep stalling util my Chansey Thunder Waves Tauros. I sacrifice Alakazam, then I decide it's time to Explode and I hit Tauros indeed. Unfortunately, I get a terrible roll, so his Tauros won't be in range (35%ish roll). He sacrifices Jynx, I try to heal Chansey and hold on to it. He goes Tauros as I FP. I realize going Tauros is my only correct move, and it makes even more sense when he reveals Rest. He goes Tauros against Chansey again, and I succeed at avoiding FPs. I go Snorlax and he FPs. We trade slams, then I Rest. He FPs some more, so his Cloyster has to step in. Snorlax puts Cloyster in an awkward position. I make a double switch, so it's Snorlax vs Chansey and Cloyster is at 33% paralyzed. He has an unrevealed move, but I have a 2HKO and he's paralyzed. He misses Sing and it's pretty much game over. Starmie comes in, gets paraslammed and it FPs so Snorlax can finish it. Cloyster can now heal, but Starmie comes in immediately and it uses Surf predicting 36% paralyzed Chansey to come in. I didn't feel like going Tauros, even though his move was almost mandatory. I need a CH in two moves or a FP, I get the FP. Starmie cleans.
That team was almost impossible to take down without a Zapdos.
MVP: Starmie FLOP: Cloyster
That team was almost impossible to take down without a Zapdos.
MVP: Starmie FLOP: Cloyster
This series was cheered by peers, and rightfully so. We both played great. It could've gone both ways and pretty much the same can be said about single games. Not much Serpi can blame himself for, he just got the short end of the stick and kept a brave face on it.
ROUND 6 VS ISZA
I decide to start things off with Jynx and Rhydon. I don't want to use the Starmie Rhydon S4 team again: it looks like every time I use Rhydon it's that team, I don't like that. Also, I want to use Jynx sometimes.
However, I use Reflect EQ Snorlax (instead of HB) and it's going to cost me against Starmie.
Next couple games, I go all in on Ice Beam Reflect Snorlax and Zapdos.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-784953
Jynx loses to Gengar, I bait Explosion by going Chansey and go Rhydon. I can't land Sing, also because I use Softboiled a bit too conservatively and this will eventually cost me a lot.
Snorlax comes in and I settle for Thunder Wave, after eating a CH Body Slam. I fail to realize he is Reflect HB, and it's a good time to go Rhydon into predicted HB. Also, I don't want to switch Rhydon into Body Slam because this could be the Gengar, Starmie Zapdos team. I go Snorlax, trade some blows and eventually get a CH on Starmie so Chansey can switch back in and heal. Chansey versus Snorlax, I FP. I send Snorlax and set Reflect. He tries to switch Tauros in on predicted Rest, but I Slam. He fishes for CH Body Slam, I FP but I end up using Rest anyway.
This is where the game takes a bad direction: I feel like going Chansey would be so predictable that I don't want to do that, also the reward for that would be to try and use Sing through paralysis as Snorlax was coming in. He goes for Thunder Wave, I get the paraslam i don't want (considering he used Thunder Wave). At this point my strategy is to go back to chansey and possibly Thunder Wave Snorlax as well so Rhydon can get to work. Ironically he gets FP'd twice, which would have been ideal had I stayed in with Snorlax. Turn 39 I had a chance to switch to Rhydon, especially considering my opponent's Starmie is likely to be Psychic Thuderbolt. Chansey is now walled, so I try to use Substitute with Rhydon: unfortunately his last one isn't Zapdos, it's Exeggutor. At this point I just try to get damage on Exeggutor so I can put it in Tauros range. Also, I pray for him to not be Stun Spore, which he is. Rhydon fails against Exeggutor and Chansey fails to Thunder Wave Snorlax, but Rhydon comes to the rescue with a CH on Snorlax. Now Starmie comes in, and trades Thunder Waves with Chansey. Now I need Snorlax to muscle through Starmie. On turn 112 he gives me an unnecessary opening, we go back and forth for a while and I end up with Chansey out there against Snorlax, and it's in range. He doesn't go for Hyper Beam, so I get Thunder Wave off and an Ice Beam too. Starmie forces Snorlax out, leaving it crippled and vulnerable to Tauros. On turn 135 Snorlax gets to work again, and this time it's looking like it can make progress. It's about to clame Chansey just as its PPs are running out, and this is where Isza goes to Starmie and decides to spam Recover without using Thunder Wave first. Eventually I run out of PPs, but I put Starmie at 33% and go Tauros; Starmie FPs and I can take it out once and for all. All of a sudden, I'm in a good spot, and even more when my Tauros beats his 71% Tauros without taking damage.
Turn 154 is the turn of the game.
I have Tauros vs 51% Exeggutor: Hyper Beam is a roll, the other moves need a critical hit and I know he has Stun Spore.
My Starmie can be an obstacle to his Snorlax, but I feel like my Tauros is the one who has to win the game so I keep it away from paralysis.
I have the option to try to wake up with Jynx: if it does, it basically wins me the game. In case it doesn't, Snorlax can come in and it threatens to OHKO with Hyper Beam, which would force me to go Starmie. Also, this line leads to uncertainty as he can set up with Reflect as I sleep forcing the matchup against Starmie.
He Explodes Exeggutor on Starmie so the game comes down to Tauros against crippled Reflect Snorlax, and it loses.
I think I should've tried some Blizzards here and there. Other than that, I'm not sure I did everything in the best possible way. It was a very complicated endgame. One I haven't seen in a long while.
First three series of the Tournament were complicated and losing g1 was a key to that. So why not losing game 1 again, for the third time out of four?
MVP: Starmie, Reflect HB Snorlax FLOP: Sing Ice Beam Chansey, the struggle against Starmie is real
Snorlax comes in and I settle for Thunder Wave, after eating a CH Body Slam. I fail to realize he is Reflect HB, and it's a good time to go Rhydon into predicted HB. Also, I don't want to switch Rhydon into Body Slam because this could be the Gengar, Starmie Zapdos team. I go Snorlax, trade some blows and eventually get a CH on Starmie so Chansey can switch back in and heal. Chansey versus Snorlax, I FP. I send Snorlax and set Reflect. He tries to switch Tauros in on predicted Rest, but I Slam. He fishes for CH Body Slam, I FP but I end up using Rest anyway.
This is where the game takes a bad direction: I feel like going Chansey would be so predictable that I don't want to do that, also the reward for that would be to try and use Sing through paralysis as Snorlax was coming in. He goes for Thunder Wave, I get the paraslam i don't want (considering he used Thunder Wave). At this point my strategy is to go back to chansey and possibly Thunder Wave Snorlax as well so Rhydon can get to work. Ironically he gets FP'd twice, which would have been ideal had I stayed in with Snorlax. Turn 39 I had a chance to switch to Rhydon, especially considering my opponent's Starmie is likely to be Psychic Thuderbolt. Chansey is now walled, so I try to use Substitute with Rhydon: unfortunately his last one isn't Zapdos, it's Exeggutor. At this point I just try to get damage on Exeggutor so I can put it in Tauros range. Also, I pray for him to not be Stun Spore, which he is. Rhydon fails against Exeggutor and Chansey fails to Thunder Wave Snorlax, but Rhydon comes to the rescue with a CH on Snorlax. Now Starmie comes in, and trades Thunder Waves with Chansey. Now I need Snorlax to muscle through Starmie. On turn 112 he gives me an unnecessary opening, we go back and forth for a while and I end up with Chansey out there against Snorlax, and it's in range. He doesn't go for Hyper Beam, so I get Thunder Wave off and an Ice Beam too. Starmie forces Snorlax out, leaving it crippled and vulnerable to Tauros. On turn 135 Snorlax gets to work again, and this time it's looking like it can make progress. It's about to clame Chansey just as its PPs are running out, and this is where Isza goes to Starmie and decides to spam Recover without using Thunder Wave first. Eventually I run out of PPs, but I put Starmie at 33% and go Tauros; Starmie FPs and I can take it out once and for all. All of a sudden, I'm in a good spot, and even more when my Tauros beats his 71% Tauros without taking damage.
Turn 154 is the turn of the game.
I have Tauros vs 51% Exeggutor: Hyper Beam is a roll, the other moves need a critical hit and I know he has Stun Spore.
My Starmie can be an obstacle to his Snorlax, but I feel like my Tauros is the one who has to win the game so I keep it away from paralysis.
I have the option to try to wake up with Jynx: if it does, it basically wins me the game. In case it doesn't, Snorlax can come in and it threatens to OHKO with Hyper Beam, which would force me to go Starmie. Also, this line leads to uncertainty as he can set up with Reflect as I sleep forcing the matchup against Starmie.
He Explodes Exeggutor on Starmie so the game comes down to Tauros against crippled Reflect Snorlax, and it loses.
I think I should've tried some Blizzards here and there. Other than that, I'm not sure I did everything in the best possible way. It was a very complicated endgame. One I haven't seen in a long while.
First three series of the Tournament were complicated and losing g1 was a key to that. So why not losing game 1 again, for the third time out of four?
MVP: Starmie, Reflect HB Snorlax FLOP: Sing Ice Beam Chansey, the struggle against Starmie is real
Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-784959
We trade Thunderbolt and he gets the critical hit. We both go Exeggutor and I win the speed tie. He has a backup in Sing Chansey and I don't, but I have to try. I use Recover with Starmie and TWave Chansey, that sleeps Starmie. I try to unleash IceLax, but it FP's more than I can afford and Starmie is coming at me again. I finally manage to trade Thunder Wave with Starmie, and paralyzed Reflect Chansey can now get to work. Snorlax meets Snorlax and it can finally make some progress. I reveal Ice Beam and he goes immediately to Starmie, but I predict that and Body Slam it on the switch. He FP's twice and I get to move, scoring a KO. This is almost game over if you consider that his only available special move is Tauros' Blizzard. My Snorlax is fueled with anger and gets the immediate freeze on his Snorlax, on top of a CH and takes Chansey out without taking damage. However, Tauros stops his run with two CH Body Slams and two FPs. I don't want to expose Chansey immediately, and I can't reveal Zapdos because he's very likely to have Rhydon. I go Exeggutor and I go for Psychic instead of Stun Spore because I don't want to miss. I get two off, and at this point I have the feeling he's going to use Hyper Beam: going Zapdos is a very good move, but I feel like I can't rule Blizzard out so I decide to leave Exeggutor out. I follow with Chansey in a spot where i can just attack instead of using Thunder Wave for his Exeggutor and Rhydon to come in for free. Rhydon comes in and Chansey gets two Seismic Tosses off, so Rhydon is in Tauros range. I assume this is a Rest variant, that doesn't run Substitute, and it pays the price for not being good enough against Chansey. He sacrifices Snorlax and next we have Tauros ditto: I win the speed tie, but Body Slam misses. His Hyper Beam doesn't get a CH, so my Tauros is going to have two shots with Blizzard, most likely. Tauros beats sleeping Exeggutor and Rhydon, Zapdos stays unrevealed.
MVP: Reflect Ice Beam Snorlax FLOP: Rhydon didn't find time to shine
MVP: Reflect Ice Beam Snorlax FLOP: Rhydon didn't find time to shine
Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-784968
We trade Thunderbolt, then I go Chansey. I don't have Sing, I'm just trying to spam Ice Beam. He goes Exeggutor, which tells this is the Rhydon team: if I hit Sing, he's ok because Exeggutor is the sleep bait and Chansey is the backup sleeper. I use Ice Beam instead, and get the freeze. I go Exeggutor immediately, and he lets Starmie take the sleep. Exeggutor lands Stun Spore on Chansey, then goes to sleep. I follow with Snorlax and I click an extremely conservative Ice Beam instead of Body Slam, scouting for Counter. I get a CH and follow with Chansey and I fish for another CH. I get Chansey to 100% and go back to Snorlax: I have lost some momentum, but it's not going to be easy for him to deal with my Snorlax anyway. His Chansey FPs twicw. I have the chance to set Reflect up on turn 20, which protects me from the Hyper Beam set. However, I want to get to the endgame and we eventually come to a Snorlax speed tie and I win it. He Revenge kills with Tauros, so I switch to Chansey. He interprets this as a sacrifice, and rightfully so. I switch again, revealing Zapdos: I know he has Rhydon, so it's the best time for the bird to do something. Tauros gets a CH, not a KO, and Zapdos lands Thunder Wave. I know he is going Rhydon, and I don't want to leave room for Substitute. So I switch Chansey into Tauros, Rhydon comes in and Chansey facing Rhydon calls his Chansey backin again. I also get a CH on Chansey, that falls down to 21%. Consider I still have an active Starmie, and this basically guarantees he's not doubling to Rhydon so he can punish my switch to Snorlax. So, all I need to do is to go Snorlax, set Reflect up and use Rest. Snorlax takes out Chansey and Tauros, then I use Ice beam against Rhydon and revenge kill with Chansey who has a clear path.
MVP: Ice Beam freeze on Exeggutor.
MVP: Ice Beam freeze on Exeggutor.
Rhydon entered this series with a good win rate, possibly the best in the Tournament. It 0-3'd. As I have already stated, I lost game 1 regrettably, after almost having escaped an inevitable fate. Rode on the back of mighty Reflectice Lax for the counterattack and fate rewarded me in g3.
Isza's run was put to an end by the most evil move in the game: Ice Beam. If Ice Beam Snorlax is a strategic element, an immediate freeze on Exeggutor coming from Chansey is savage. Well, his run will actually continue in the lower bracket and reaching a 4th place. He actually anticipated my tips on how to get closer to the pinnacle of the Invitational: stay in the upper bracket as long as possible, get to the top 4.
ROUND 8 VS AMARANTH, best of 5 begins
A huge chunk of the audience is sleeping big time on Amaranth. I've been watching Amaranth's rebirth closely for obvious reasons, read Team Italy. Definitely an unpredictable player, who loves short games. Considering the stage of the metagame, I realize that Counter Chansey is a relevant thing. I didn't want to be at its mercy and I wanted to take advantage of its services in a sneaky way. I felt like Amaranth was not going to spam Rhydon like crazy against me, and I knew Zapdos was going to show up on both sides. Other than that, you can't make assumptions against him.
I want to use a mix of teams including Zapdos 2 or 3 times. I'll end up with Cloyster, Zapdos, Rhydon, Recover trio and Zapdos again.
Game 1 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787246
Early game is Starmie vs Jynx, with Amaranth going Chansey on T1 Thunder Wave. I put Jynx to 60% and this is what I get for cenceding the sleep. I go Cloyster and try to clamp Chansey; I don't know he's 3KO Chansey, so he has no way to touch me. I miss Clamp and he FPs, a couple times. This allows him to keep his moveset unrevealed. Finally, Cloyster calls Starmie in and I catch the switch by going Snorlax. I get TWaved and FP. This is where you can tell I haven't even got a plan that can work against most teams. Turn 14 I use Selfdestruct trying to make Cloyster a threat if he stays in, which is not going to happen. I catch his Snorlax on the switch, and this was very likely to happen. What I'm trying to do is to use Cloyster and Exeggutor as means to setup for Tauros, hoping he's Jynx Starmie Rhydon. He reveals Exeggutor, switching on Tauros. I get no RNG, but on turn 21 it looks like finding a way to deal with Starmie and one hit on Exeggutor is all I need to setup for Tauros and force a ditto. So, I put Exeggutor in front of Starmie on turn 22, and I realize he's going to switch 100%. Stun Spore looks like a good choice, but I decide to click Psychic again. Jynx comes in, and at this point it feels like switching to Snorlax is almost free for him. So I go Cloyster, Jynx hits CH Blizzard and I go Chansey. Chansey's special drops, so Thunder Wave is the best way I have to stop Snorlax. It comes in and I go Cloyster. Selfdestruct and Cloyster goes to 3%. Cloyster goes down, and now it's Exeggutor on the attack. He goes Chansey, and I almost get the KO. Almost isn't good enough, though. Eventually I use Chansey to force Jynx to sleep. My Tauros and Amaranth's Chansey meet, I pull back and he reveals Counter. We go back and forth, turn 47 I generate the chance to put his Exeggutor in Tauros range but my Chansey FPs. I use Starmie to lure Tauros in, so I can go Egg on the offense again. I capitalize by healing Chansey up again, he loses his patience and tries to muscle through my Chansey with Tauros. I land TWave. However, Chansey gets crit to 19% in the process. Exeggutor vs Chansey again, and with his Chansey in difficulty I decide it's better to heal Chansey up instead of pushing with Egg. Amaranth's Tauros FPs a couple times and Starmie wakes, turning the tides. I have two options: Blizzard (fishing for the CH) or go Chansey, the sleep blocker, with Exeggutor being a middle ground option that doesn't lead too far. Amranth uses Explosion, which makes a lot of sense knowing he has Sing Chansey. Turn 63 is where we enter the endgame: I don't have Chansey anymore, his Chansey is crippled and his Tauros is paralyzed. If I can force paralysis on Starmie, I can be happy for how the game had started. He goes Chansey, who falls to 37%. I go Tauros, fishing for a FP; also Body Slam is basically a KO from there. He reveals his last move, and hits Sing through paralysis. By this time, his Starmie's moveset was still unrevealed. So, with Tauros slept, he just fishes for a freeze on Starmie with Chansey; meanwhile I try to get special drops and force paralysis on Starmie before I run out of PPs. Starmie is Blizzard Thunderbolt, with Exeggutor just outside of Blizzard range. So, he decides to keep pushing with Chansey instead of using Starmie. This way I have multiple turns to try and wake with Tauros, but it doesn't happen until it's too late.
MVP: Amaranth's Chansey FLOP: PhysLax
The bad part of losing this game is that his Chansey couldn't touch my Cloyster, and all it could do to Snorlax was Ice Beam (at least if I'm cautious enough to use Earthquake). This team likes Snorlax to have a way to deal with Zapdos, and at the same time it needs Earthquake for Counter Chansey and possibly Gengar. However, it can't afford to use Physlax. It really needs Rest. Physlax is the set you can't use, even something like Body Slam, Earthquake, Hyper Beam, Rest would be better.
The early Selfdestruct was an absolute disgrace, I 2 for 1'd myself. On top of that, his Chansey was about to be an absolute liability in this matchup and I bailed him out instead.
Somehow I had some spots to get back in the game with Exeggutor but it didn't get the KO on Chansey and I didn't click Explosion against it when I really should have. So it eventually was an inevitable (and bad) loss.
Also Exploding Cloyster on Chansey on turn 9 to 11 would have given me good odds, but I didn't go for it. This team was somewhat of a boom spam (with Starmie lead instead of Gengar, but still a boom team) so you have to Explode sometimes. Especially when your opponents signal they're willing to stay in.
Losing game one is my signature move, so no big news here. The bad part is that I played this game against my best interest.
MVP: Amaranth's Chansey FLOP: PhysLax
The bad part of losing this game is that his Chansey couldn't touch my Cloyster, and all it could do to Snorlax was Ice Beam (at least if I'm cautious enough to use Earthquake). This team likes Snorlax to have a way to deal with Zapdos, and at the same time it needs Earthquake for Counter Chansey and possibly Gengar. However, it can't afford to use Physlax. It really needs Rest. Physlax is the set you can't use, even something like Body Slam, Earthquake, Hyper Beam, Rest would be better.
The early Selfdestruct was an absolute disgrace, I 2 for 1'd myself. On top of that, his Chansey was about to be an absolute liability in this matchup and I bailed him out instead.
Somehow I had some spots to get back in the game with Exeggutor but it didn't get the KO on Chansey and I didn't click Explosion against it when I really should have. So it eventually was an inevitable (and bad) loss.
Also Exploding Cloyster on Chansey on turn 9 to 11 would have given me good odds, but I didn't go for it. This team was somewhat of a boom spam (with Starmie lead instead of Gengar, but still a boom team) so you have to Explode sometimes. Especially when your opponents signal they're willing to stay in.
Losing game one is my signature move, so no big news here. The bad part is that I played this game against my best interest.
Game 2 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787250
His Gengar leaves the floor to Exeggutor, who does everything it does best: Sleep, Stun, Explsion. With Zam slept and Chansey out of the way, I go Exeggutor trying to land the sleep. Amaranth's Cloyster scores a CH Blizzard, and my Zapdos returns the favor. He revenge kills with Tauros, and I'm not sure I'd use Tauros instead of Snorlax were him. We trade Body Slam and TWave, then I decide to go Snorlax because I want to save Zapdos for later. His Tauros goes hard and my Snorlax goes home, leaving Tauros in range at least. Zapdos comes in again, takes down Tauros and lands Thunder Wave on Gengar. I want to keep Zapdos, so I'm going to switch out; if Gengar doesn't Explode, I'm going to try Tauros and its luck against Gengar or whatever switch in. What happens is that I predict Explosion and this is the turn that will eventually prove to be decisive. Reflect Alakazam vs Zapdos, one fp is all I need to get past it with Agility up. I land a Thunderbolt on Snorlax, and I also get paralysis. From this point, many things can happen depending on his moveset. If he has Reflect I'm happy to get a CH, but if he has Counter I definitely don't want to; if he has Selfdestruct he still has a 20% chance to KO and tie. I get a CH and he is fully paralyzed, for good measure.
MVP: Zapdos FLOP: Gengar
He went extreme in this game: 21 turns, 2 Explosions (Cloyster didn't get enough time and maybe the same could be said for Snorlax) and a grand total of ONE switch. Definitely a record. If he's anguished, I can't smile either: I almost got down two games.
MVP: Zapdos FLOP: Gengar
He went extreme in this game: 21 turns, 2 Explosions (Cloyster didn't get enough time and maybe the same could be said for Snorlax) and a grand total of ONE switch. Definitely a record. If he's anguished, I can't smile either: I almost got down two games.
Game 3 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787251
I try to land LK but Zapdos denies it with TWave into FP. Now I need to go Rhydon, and I don't want to switch and get caught so I stay in. He does the same so Jynx vs Exeggutor results in his Alakazam taking the sleep, which means Rhydon is going to wall Zapdos. What happened here is that maybe he didn't feel comfortable enough with his theoric best moves: Zapdos getting the sleep (it was at risk of eating ice) and Exploding Exeggutor against para'd Jynx to avoid the sleep + ice threat. Jynx followed with CH Ice Beam on sleeping Alakazam, CH and freeze on Snorlax. I trade Jynx for a hit on Tauros. His Tauros can't beat my Snorlax, leaving it at 41%. Rhydon doesn't have Rock Slide, so I struggle a bit more against Exeggutor. Eventually Rhydon, Starmie, Snorlax and Tauros are going to be enough to beat Persian and Zapdos. Highlight of the game is Persian using Body Slam instead of Hyper Beam (which he obviously didn't have) fishing for a CH and ending up short on the unlikely roll. Considering his moveset, I think his chances for a comeback were very bad due to his Persian being unable to try CH Hyper Beam on Tauros. Still, his 13% Exeggutor being FP'd against my Surf Thunderbolt Starmie definitely made it safer…
RNGynx won the pivotal game of the series.
MVP: Jynx FLOP: Zapdos
RNGynx won the pivotal game of the series.
MVP: Jynx FLOP: Zapdos
Game 4 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787253
Amaranth comes back with revenge in mind, and his feelings translate into a turn 1 Blizzard freeze. RNG doesn't lie. I try to rush Egg in, as I predict him to switch predicting Sing Chansey. He goes for Blizzard instead, I cross my fingers and Exeggutor makes it. I heal up a bit with Mega Drain, and he eventually goes easy on me by landing Sleep Powder on my crippled Exeggutor instead of trying to take it out (or trying to predict Explosion). My Starmie and his Exeggutor trade paralysis and a Psychic, I predict Explosion. I'm still behind if you consider I have 3 fresh pokemon and he has 4, but at least I'm getting closer. This is a good time to go Counter Chansey, right after an Explosion, looking for either a well timed counter or a Thunder Wave to set the tone. I eat his Snorlax with Counter.
Turn 12 is a series-defining turn. He revenge kills with Tauros, and I have to make a decision without knowing two of his pokemon. In praticular, Chansey's moveset. I have three options:
- going Starmie, that can tank Hyper Beam, but it surrenders to Body Slam
- going Snorlax, but CH Hyper Beam means all Snorlax does this game is hitting a Body Slam on Tauros
- sacrificing sleeping Exeggutor
- staying in with Chansey, at the price of going down to Hyper Beam, and that's something I don't like so that's why I said three.
In hindsight going Starmie was ok: it was dispensable and I expected him to use Hyper Beam for the aforementioned reasons.
Instead I sacrifice sleeping Exeggutor and I plan to use para'd Starmie to block sleep, in case. Basically, I tried to go for the move with the highest ceiling (play a 4vs3, making up for the 67% paralyzed Starmie and 64% Chansey).
He opts out of Tauros vs Snorlax by going Chansey, so I send mine. I decide that I want to land Thunder Wave, and if he is Sing I'm going to risk it. I feel like going Starmie is predictable and if he doesn't have Thunderbolt on Chansey he might go to his unrevealed last pokemon (possibly Zapdos). Switching around trying to let him reveal his moveset can also lead to bad things. So I basically put my fate into him not having, or not using, or missing Sing on first attempt. Even with that, I can win without Chansey. With that being said, I lose the speed tie and get slept. So, I go Starmie and paralyze Chansey. He goes Tauros and I sacrifice Chansey. Snorlax takes out his sleeping Starmie and it's 3vs3. I go Starmie to block sleep and he reveals his final move: Counter, getting in the driver's seat. I decide to use Tauros to deal with Chansey, but it misses Hyper Beam twice in a row. Well, I try to win the game with Snorlax, hoping his last one would be Rhydon without Leer. It's Dragonite instead, and it flops: it misses immediately, I set Reflect up. Later it misses again and gets paraslammed. Finally, it's 44% Snorlax (Reflect up) against Tauros. If I can use Rest I can make it. Amaranth's Tauros gets the KO.
MVP: Amaranth's Sing, Counter, Seismic Toss Chansey. FLOP: Dragonite, the choke artist
My Counter Chansey was about to make history as well. Let's say this was the Counter Chansey show. In hindsight I regret the decision I made on turn 12. I could have avoided game 5. It also enabled his Chansey to do great things while it was supposed to suck in this matchup considering my Snorlax was Reflect Earthquake.
Turn 12 is a series-defining turn. He revenge kills with Tauros, and I have to make a decision without knowing two of his pokemon. In praticular, Chansey's moveset. I have three options:
- going Starmie, that can tank Hyper Beam, but it surrenders to Body Slam
- going Snorlax, but CH Hyper Beam means all Snorlax does this game is hitting a Body Slam on Tauros
- sacrificing sleeping Exeggutor
- staying in with Chansey, at the price of going down to Hyper Beam, and that's something I don't like so that's why I said three.
In hindsight going Starmie was ok: it was dispensable and I expected him to use Hyper Beam for the aforementioned reasons.
Instead I sacrifice sleeping Exeggutor and I plan to use para'd Starmie to block sleep, in case. Basically, I tried to go for the move with the highest ceiling (play a 4vs3, making up for the 67% paralyzed Starmie and 64% Chansey).
He opts out of Tauros vs Snorlax by going Chansey, so I send mine. I decide that I want to land Thunder Wave, and if he is Sing I'm going to risk it. I feel like going Starmie is predictable and if he doesn't have Thunderbolt on Chansey he might go to his unrevealed last pokemon (possibly Zapdos). Switching around trying to let him reveal his moveset can also lead to bad things. So I basically put my fate into him not having, or not using, or missing Sing on first attempt. Even with that, I can win without Chansey. With that being said, I lose the speed tie and get slept. So, I go Starmie and paralyze Chansey. He goes Tauros and I sacrifice Chansey. Snorlax takes out his sleeping Starmie and it's 3vs3. I go Starmie to block sleep and he reveals his final move: Counter, getting in the driver's seat. I decide to use Tauros to deal with Chansey, but it misses Hyper Beam twice in a row. Well, I try to win the game with Snorlax, hoping his last one would be Rhydon without Leer. It's Dragonite instead, and it flops: it misses immediately, I set Reflect up. Later it misses again and gets paraslammed. Finally, it's 44% Snorlax (Reflect up) against Tauros. If I can use Rest I can make it. Amaranth's Tauros gets the KO.
MVP: Amaranth's Sing, Counter, Seismic Toss Chansey. FLOP: Dragonite, the choke artist
My Counter Chansey was about to make history as well. Let's say this was the Counter Chansey show. In hindsight I regret the decision I made on turn 12. I could have avoided game 5. It also enabled his Chansey to do great things while it was supposed to suck in this matchup considering my Snorlax was Reflect Earthquake.
Game 5 https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen1ou-787255
He leads with Zapdos, I go Chansey and get paralyzed by Thunderbolt. I risk staying in instead of going to Zapdos. I really wanted to keep it unrevealed and fresh, and you don't necessarily want to switch Zapdos into a Zapdos with Rest, but I really had to. With Chansey heavily crippled I decide it's time to go Zapdos. He uses Rest, I stay in fishing for a CH. I don't get it, but luckily I don't FP either. I don't go for the speed tie, which is something I might regret. He goes Chansey, I go Snorlax. Going Chansey isn't safe enough, so I go Exeggutor and he uses Thunder Wave. Luckily I get the sleep immediately. On Chansey. We both go Snorlax, we both set Reflect and I try to get a freeze with Ice Beam while also throwing a random Body Slam into the mix to catch a possible switch. I use Rest, he useds Selfdestruct. he goes Zapdos, I sacrifice Chansey and revenge kill. I paraslam Starmie, then I go Snorlax and he doesn't try to get the KO with Starmie on turn 23. Instead, he goes Tauros. I decide to sacrifice Zapdos and use Starmie. I need to figure his Starmie's moveset but the same can be said for him. He clears a special drop by going Chansey, I try to catch a stay by going Tauros but this proves to be a bad idea. I need to find a way to deal with Starmie, meanwhile I learn his moveset at the price of getting Exeggutor screwed up for good. So I go Starmie, and he Thunder Waves it. We enter a Psychic war, where I can get a chance to cheat Snorlax in and squeeze something out of it. Even better than that, he tries to predict Recover by going Zapdos, so I get the KO. This misplay will cost him a lot. So, Starmie vs Starmie again, I try to put it in range for Tauros. Eventually he Thunder Waves my 2% Snorlax so I end up using Rest instead of just trading it for half of Starmie's life. Starmie ditto again, I end up getting my Snorlax back. At 74%. Turn 63, I get a chance to use Explosion with my Exeggutor but I am too afraid to hit his sleeping Chansey and I just go Snorlax trying to catch a switch to Chansey. He doesn't allow me that, and reveals Exeggutor instead. This was clearly a pokemon that was not going to make easy progress, considering the way he was playing. I leave my Starmie out against his Exeggutor, signaling I can now accept a trade with a 74% Snorlax and a fresh Tauros. The next time they meet, the trade happens and we enter the endgame. I start with Snorlax out, landing two Body Slams on Tauros, then sacrifice Exeggutor.
Tauros ditto, I lose the speed tie but his Tauros is gone. It's 51% Tauros and 26% Snorlax against para'd Starmie. My Tauros can't make it, but it drops the ball to Snorlax leaving Starmie at 47%. Snorlax has 134 HP, which means it can only tank 11 Psychic rolls. Amaranth's Snorlax has just 5 Psychics (and 7 Blizzards) left, meaning he needs to get an early special drop and use them carefully. Also, if his Chansey somehow wakes up that's going to be a long way to win this game. This isn't an easy call: theoretically, PP stalling looks doable. On the other hand, if I let Starmie heal up I give up my (roughly) 50% chance to win instantly for something uncertain to say the least. His Starmie had not FP'd for a long while, and after thinking long and (not so much) hard I decided I'd take the quickest route to end the game. His Starmie was fully paralyzed, and I won. His Chansey woke up as I claimed the title of Winner's bracket winner.
MVP: Amaranth's Zapdos lead FLOP: Amaranth's Exeggutor.
Amaranth had this game, after I had failed to handle Zapdos lead. The Snorlax trade worked poorly for him and Exeggutor didn't leave the mark on the game. Letting me KO his Zapdos allowed me to do whatever I pleased with my Snorlax at the mere price of sacrificing those pokemon I had mistreated badly.
Tauros ditto, I lose the speed tie but his Tauros is gone. It's 51% Tauros and 26% Snorlax against para'd Starmie. My Tauros can't make it, but it drops the ball to Snorlax leaving Starmie at 47%. Snorlax has 134 HP, which means it can only tank 11 Psychic rolls. Amaranth's Snorlax has just 5 Psychics (and 7 Blizzards) left, meaning he needs to get an early special drop and use them carefully. Also, if his Chansey somehow wakes up that's going to be a long way to win this game. This isn't an easy call: theoretically, PP stalling looks doable. On the other hand, if I let Starmie heal up I give up my (roughly) 50% chance to win instantly for something uncertain to say the least. His Starmie had not FP'd for a long while, and after thinking long and (not so much) hard I decided I'd take the quickest route to end the game. His Starmie was fully paralyzed, and I won. His Chansey woke up as I claimed the title of Winner's bracket winner.
MVP: Amaranth's Zapdos lead FLOP: Amaranth's Exeggutor.
Amaranth had this game, after I had failed to handle Zapdos lead. The Snorlax trade worked poorly for him and Exeggutor didn't leave the mark on the game. Letting me KO his Zapdos allowed me to do whatever I pleased with my Snorlax at the mere price of sacrificing those pokemon I had mistreated badly.
Amaranth brought out his manifesto, his idea of RBY and stood by it. Got very close to the finals and potentially becoming the first two-time champion. Remember that this guy can play.
He had the better team selection, leading to better early games. Exeggutor was my only sleeper four times. This doesn't feel like a decision I would repeat.
Once again, I won a series by the skin of my teeth. I feel like neither of us played to their best extent, but it was a great show nonetheless. My Game 1 was terrible, with Snorlax using Selfdestruct being awful. Unrefined and laughable. Had I lost this series it would have been nightmare fuel. Game 4, turn 12 I didn't make the decision I needed. Game 5, I didn't handle Zapdos lead well and didn't make the best use of Exeggutor.
He failed to preserve Cloyster in game 2, and then Exploded Gengar in a spot where attacking could have been fine.
In game 3 he sacrificed Alakazam to sleep, instead of Zapdos. In game 5 he exposed Zapdos.
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