Just wanted to go over some of my games and the thought process I had going into them. Not gonna delve into the games themselves a ton but just a general idea of my mindset.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-502081 snowfall L (but got cheated vs and haxed so fuck them)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-500338 emeral W
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-496963 marshall W
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-495530 we three kings W
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-493067 umbry L
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-489214 kushalos W
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-487532 sharow L
started off 1-2, kinda poor but then went 3-1 (4-0) at end. Vs sharow I knew he had BKC support behind him so I thought he might go with something kinda fat. Unfortunately against Osgoode's advice I changed my trick iron ball uxie to standard t wave psychic right before game, and ended up facing skarm lead. Iron ball would've been a nice tech there. But ultimately didn't get the high roll I needed at end to prevail. Going hard Zapdos on Suicune may have helped too but I went right for game with the roll. Shoutout Tama for the variation of his team I made.
Vs Kushalos I knew he had Mannat support so I was expecting some bulky offense. Once I saw the protect on Loom, I knew it was leech seed and couldn't harm my specially offensive swampert, and managed to take it out of commission early. He had no set up sweepers, the biggest threat was band gyarados. Once I weakened that enough, Swampert just won. Zapdos and swampert are always good picks vs some offense. So just went with an Osgoode bulky O myself with good defensive pivots.
Vs Umbry I wasn't really entirely sure what to expect. I've seen him use multiple styles effectively and kinda went for a matchup fish with some stall and ended up having an iffy matchup myself. Could've played this better still though. Zapdos could've been a lot better if I didn't let it get tricked. But still would've been a tough road with it paralyzed. Worst L of all time for me.
Vs W3k I wasn't sure what to expect either. Seen him use t spikes, fat, offense, all quite nicely so I just went with some boom spam of osgoode's that shawyu used in spl. It had solid breakers for stall, and could handle its own vs offense too. Ended up facing cradily stall and ddtar ended up coming in clutch after keeping hippo weakened.
Vs Marshall I expected fat shit all the way. He's known for bringing unorthodox picks and the team he brought wasn't very standard either imo. I went with a t spikes build of osgoode's that is specially suited for fatter teams. Once I blew up the clef with defensive heatran (boom is so good on lefties tran for this reason) rotom and suicune and anything took over at that point.
Vs emeral I was expecting for him likely to bring fat, as emeral loves his bulky teams. One of his old alts is called defense core, and I run into him on ladder a lot. He loves his skarmory semi stalls especially. Almost pulled the trigger on seed bomb into his swamp double when staring down a lati, but couldn't bring myself to do it. Also, I fire blasted his skarm, and next turn he roosted on my double expecting him to go swamp. That play ultimately set me behind quite a bit but I managed to keep jirachi healthy and spam fire punch enough for a couple crucial burns. barelyyy managed to squeak this one out vs a tough opponent. Went with an old team that tama used in classic playoffs last year. It had some good tools vs fat stuff like breloom and lefties swampert. So I thought itd be a good pick.
Vs snofall, I was expecting some fat shit or para spam, so I went with a midground with a fat team myself with some wincons vs fat and that didnt mind para. ultimately i lost to freeze and they cheated vs me, so all my prep was invalidated for the replay shortly after. luckily we smacked their team and again in the playoffs.
