RU RU Circuit Playoffs - Finals [Won by Pohjis]

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feen

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RU Leader
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RU Circuit Playoffs​

First of all, I'd like to congratulate everyone who has participated and qualified in the circuit tournaments. The top 16 players will face off to determine the winner of RU Circuit and will be awarded with the RU Circuit Ribbon
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!

Specific Rules:
  • This is a standard USM RU tournament.
  • Matches are to be played on PS!, preferably on the smogtours server.
  • All rounds will be a best of three in this single elimination tournament, and you are free to switch teams during your series.
  • The tier is LOCKED as of this post, and so any changes to the tier after this won't affect this tournament.
Standard Rules and Clauses:
  • Species Clause: A player cannot have two Pokemon with the same PokeDex number on his team.
  • Sleep Clause: You cannot inflict sleep upon more than one member of the opposing team.
  • Evasion Clause: The moves Double Team and Minimize are banned.
  • OHKO Clause: The moves Horn Drill, Guillotine, Sheer Cold, and Fissure are banned.
  • Endless Battle Clause: Anything capable of intentionally creating an endless battle is banned.
General Tournament Rules:
  • Identity: I expect many battles to be completed under alts. This can be bad for tournament security, and thus I will make this clear: If I hear any whispers of identity theft (battling as someone you are not) or proxy battling (helping someone else battle through pm) I will not be pleased and I will take severe actions.
  • Scouting: Next, I do not want to hear anything about counterteaming, at all. Do not complain about it. I also don't want to hear about any blatant scouting. There is a difference between "[user] is known for using stall" and "let me follow [user] around all day to watch all his battles since I am his opponent". I expect a lot of the former and none of the latter. I give permission to all battlers to ask any person spectating their battle to leave if they do not want them watching. Everyone will have access to your replays from earlier rounds though.
  • Timer Clause: As for taking long between moves, if your opponent asks you to hurry up, please oblige. If you are doing a damage calc for a key turn that is one thing, but prolonging every move is suspicious and annoying. Don't do it. Furthermore, Battle Timeout is a rule for a reason. If you run out of time, you lose, simple as that. It does not matter what your opponent says. Do not battle if you think you will have to leave mid battle, and instead reschedule for a better time.
  • Disconnections: Finally, in the case of a disconnect, the decision is in the hands of the player who did not disconnect. The options are: redo the battle move for move, redo the battle with the same teams but different moves, or redo the battle with completely different teams. If the battle was without a doubt over, they may also take the win. Any suspicion that a disconnect was committed on purpose to redo a match may be appealed to me, and if I feel this happened there will be severe consequences, don't do it.
Scheduling:
  • Use VMs to schedule with your opponent to make it easier for me to track activity calls when needed. If you use other methods to contact your opponent outside of VMs, then post in this thread confirming you're in contact with your opponent; otherwise, it's not necessary. Extensions for those with time conflicts will only be given when proof is provided of scheduling with their opponent in the beginning of the round (first 2-3 days). Do not schedule last minute expecting to be compensated in case of timezone conflicts or be given an activity win over your opponent.
Round One:

#1
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Nat vs. #16
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lighthouses
#2
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KW vs. #15
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Shiba
#3
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FlamingVictini vs. #14
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Eternally
#4
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Kushalos vs. #13
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The Leprechaun
#5
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Pearl vs. #12
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Pohjis
#6
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Robert Alfons vs. #17
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Meru
#7
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EviGaro vs. #10
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bebo7788
#8
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Eternal Spirit vs. #9
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Arifeen

The games must be public as per this.
Deadline for Round One: 25th Nov 23:59 EST
Round 2

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Nat vs
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Eternal Spirit
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KW vs
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EviGaro
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Eternally vs
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Meru
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Kushalos vs
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Pohjis

Deadline: 2nd Dec 23:59 EST
Semifinals

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Nat vs
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Pohjis
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EviGaro vs
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Eternally

Deadline is 9th Dec 23:59 EST

Finals

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Pohjis vs
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EviGaro
 
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Nat vs Lighthouses - i feel like this series is gonna be much closer than it would seem in terms of the actual games, but the atrocious user will likely get the win over the nice user (100% of the time) simply from the streak she's been having as opposed to lighthice pretty much determined to quit the game. I feel a motivated diogo would have a better chance of winning.
KW vs Shiba - i think kw cares way more about this than shiba, thus he will try harder whereas i expect shiba to collect teams from a friend and find out about them during the battle. Shiba is capable of winning if kw plays himself. I still expect kw to emerge victorious if he doesnt get too blinded by cbb's awful encouragement of trigger pulling, as u gotta be smart about it too not just pull the trigger whenever u can.
FlamingVictini vs Eternally - fv, use this since eternally wont ever set up rocks. fv is objectively better though and i expect him to go far.
Kushalos vs The Leprechaun - lep can win, i dont expect this to end 2-0, but kushalos is just better in general and has been playing more.
Pearl vs Pohjis vs the spectators - i really wanna see those games, i dont expect particularly incredible teams but i think both care just as much about this tour (not too much but just enough to want to win)
Robert Alfons vs g to the b - i still dont know who g to the b is nor have i watched any of his games
EviGaro vs bebo7788 - depends on who's trying harder to snatch some spl spot, there should be room for at least 1 new person and both are probably being mentioned
Arifeen vs Eternal Spirit - Predicting the first damaging move to be selected turn 8, after two triple switches only interrupted by stealth rocks being set up, i dont expect any super effective moves to be selected until at least 3 pokemon faint, and the game will probably end with Eternal Spirit rage quitting after he hard switches in a gligar on a mega glalie mega stoise and cant comprehend why arifeen would EVER clicks a non stab ice move vs a grass dragon type. Arifeen would then attempt to explain the play, showing why he was preparing for this sequence while scalding a toxicroak, meanwhile the spectators would be wondering what the fuck are those 2 players doing and why RU is in the tournament. a tier
 
for the people

#1 Nat vs. #16 lighthouses - For as much of a perceived gap as one might observe in this match-up, I think that both players here have a very similar ceiling in gameplay, and their grasp of the metagame (regardless of application) is also comparable. That said, Diogo to me has always showcased record lows interspersed a bit too frequently alongside those sky highs, and post-snake I'm not sure if I can interpret his closing game v.KW as an ascent to form or an outlier in an otherwise unbecoming trough. This, alongside a building approach that skews a smidge more exploitable by someone such as Nat that's bound to do her research leads my to favor top seed here.

#2 KW vs. #15 Shiba - To speak nothing of ebb and flow, hot streaks, or what have you, Shiba here is in a bit of an odd position as part of a group of players that spring-boarded themselves into play-offs through Slam success, which to me is a very different animal. Not at all to discredit his success, as I feel Shiba has been sneakily quite solid for some time now, and has really polished his gameplay over time and is absolutely deserving of this slot. However, to ignore that a handful of players here, himself included, eked out more than a couple bo3's via some "match-up fishing" via Tapu Koko would hardly be fair, and historically this kind of approach is punished at this stage, where the opponent is intimately familiar with such habits and the lack of tier depth from the original user comes to light. KW is more than capable of punishing sloppy prep from his opponent here, and his offkilter playstyle I feel will compound on Shiba's difficulty in adjusting for the play-offs environment, and will require him to make some pretty drastic readjustments and set the pace early by calling some of the more aggro plays if he wants to take this one.

#3 FlamingVictini vs. #14 Eternally - In theory, one of the more interesting match-ups here for the clash of playstyles. FV is, to me, the stronger player, and has ironed out a well-founded and smart balance of risk management and timed aggro plays, which Eternally shares to some extent, but has in my eyes come across as a bit less flexible and has shown to not be above a high-profile choke here and there. However, I feel that Eternally has just enough secondary factors going for him to edge out advantage here. Most notably, motivation plays a big factor here, as FV has by all sources exhibited himself to be at peak disinterest in competition and RU specifically, with his presumably more valuable Slam run coming across as more a chore than anything and his RU engagement seeming to be non-existant for some months, bridging the gap with support from players like Alpha Rabbit. Eternally has, by contrast, shown significant interest in performing and has been one of the more experimental of NU transplants that have taken up RU on the side, which I might view as a significant boon against a player who might struggle to identify the niche of a more obscure pick in this set. Should be a tight one, though of course all these points are moot if Eternally brings Mantine.

#4 Kushalos vs. #13 The Leprechaun - In spite of a horrific team selection in Seasonal Finals, wherein he managed to pick the one G1 / 2 only team for G3 alongside some no Speed control, do a complex switch dance every time Blastoise comes in team, Kush made some excellent picks for his Loser's Finals set, and for that I have to give him this game. But at risk of sounding super dismissive, Kushalos to me strikes me as varying degrees of better than Lep in every field; both have a similar grasp on the metagame, construct teams that reflect that and potentially showcase some interesting ideas but oftentimes lack the depth to fully capitalize on them or just don't quite have that nuance to elevate them from usable to good / great, and pound for pound Kush has exhibited himself as a stronger pilot in-game. This should be a fun game, since both have some cool ideas and they have a pretty deep history, but outside Kush achieving peak choke I can't see him losing here.

#5 Pearl vs. #12 Pohjis - Impossible to call. Like Kush v. Lep, this is a series that has occurred on main hundreds of times before, but as players I feel both are neck and neck. Bearing all that in mind, Pearl's success in the RU field has for better or worse been linked somewhat significantly to yours truly, and regardless of how you feel about that it does certainly give someone like Pohjis a decent baseline of what to expect (especially if they had, say, a 11k wordcount post detailing how I feel about the tier alongside a variety of teams for reference). This would, as I might perceive it, prompt Pearl to diversify his portfolio in a similar fashion to Shiba as I had mentioned prior, which could offer Pohjis that little extra push to edge out the match-up. That said, highlight of the round hands-down, hoping for a good one.

#6 Robert Alfons vs. #11 g to the b - Act win into a Meru sub into act win, nobody but the genius Robert Alfons could have devised such a sinister and brilliant scheme.

#7 EviGaro vs. #10 bebo7788 - I think of the crop of new faces that the recent Slam dredged up, bebo stands out to me as one with the most promise; I enjoyed a fair bit of what he brought to the table with his games, and he seems to have fostered an interest in the tier after the fact, so I'm excited to see what he has to offer here. In spite of this, I tend to slightly favour Evigaro here, whose building I feel is more developed and clear-minded and has a slight edge in experience. However, as much as Ajna might swear by it, I have a similar concern with Evi as I do Diogo in regards to inconsistency, as for every flash of greatness there is your "oh yeah, I guess I don't have a Zygarde switch-in" where I have observed some more stability from bebo in such a regard. Nonetheless, two players I have high aspirations for, probably my second favourite match-up after Pearl v.Pohjis.

#8 Eternal Spirit vs. #9 Arifeen -
SM RU: Arifeen vs Eternal Spirit - Predicting the first damaging move to be selected turn 8, after two triple switches only interrupted by stealth rocks being set up, i dont expect any super effective moves to be selected until at least 3 pokemon faint, and the game will probably end with Eternal Spirit rage quitting after he hard switches in a gligar on a mega glalie and cant comprehend why arifeen would EVER clicks a stab ice move vs a grass type. Arifeen would then attempt to explain the play, showing why he was preparing for this sequence while scalding a toxicroak, meanwhile the spectators would be wondering what the fuck are those 2 players doing and why RU is in the tournament.
Click to expand...

Fwiw, I think it is worth acknowledging how far Arifeen has come in ironing out the issues observed of him in his earlier tour career, and while there are still turns that might prompt a conversation afterwards, he gets my "why would I even need a green light from this washed (BAN ME PLEASE) anyway" seal of approval. Nonetheless, I can't help but shake the feeling that Gama is the slightly more polished player of this trigger-happy, establish a major gap in the early-game mold from which Arifeen has based his play. As a spectator none too privvy to the inner workings of teams like the Astrotias, what may be the deciding factor is the prep work; Gama has shown himself to be none too keen on the tier at this time, so I can only speculate on whether the teams he ran (which, while none too special, were surely sound and conscious of the metagame, rather than just being afterthoughts from months prior) were his own, Arifeen's, slurmz's, etc. Most common conclusions reached here might suggest that Arifeen will be more self-sufficient in the pre-game, and to me the deciding factor for him will be if that proficiency can overcome Gama's ability to just pick and run with something standard to effect.

gl to all competing, hoping for some good games
 
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Won against Bebo, ggs

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ru-411054
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ru-411060
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ru-411064

Ok I know the game 2 team is really bad at first glance, but like I know Bebo, I fully expected a Noivern headed BO since we built a lot together and I talked so much about Noivern being like S rank or close, + Gurdurr being a somewhat workable wincon against his builds. Unfortunately he read right through me and brought the other dragon ROFL gg friend though you'll kick arses in WC.
 
It has been brought to my attention that FlamingVictini has been purposely evading his opponent with the excuse of his laptop being broken. However, he has been asking for and playing test games this week, which proves that he is very much capable of finishing his series before the deadline.
Hence, Eternally gets the win and will face Meru in round 2.
 
Arifeen said:
It has been brought to my attention that FlamingVictini has been purposely evading his opponent with the excuse of his laptop being broken. However, he has been asking for and playing test games this week, which proves that he is very much capable of finishing his series before the deadline.
Hence, Eternally gets the win and will face Meru in round 2.
Click to expand...
LMFAO hell yeah finally someone put this pathetic user in his place, well done
 
Arifeen said:
It has been brought to my attention that FlamingVictini has been purposely evading his opponent with the excuse of his laptop being broken. However, he has been asking for and playing test games this week, which proves that he is very much capable of finishing his series before the deadline.
Hence, Eternally gets the win and will face Meru in round 2.
Click to expand...

????

A. originally scheduled time is 5 hours from now, hasn't even passed yet. I can still play at the originally scheduled time, I only asked for the possibility of pushing it back further because I won't be able to use my laptop with my teams, and I'm sick. I would still play today at the original time if needed. You could have just said no last night and moved on, but I was greatly appreciative of you agreeing.
B. Original time is only this late because I was busy with the holidays in the week, and eternally had no available times in the weekend, which is ridiculous in itself, but we agreed to Monday which worked. I obviously could not foresee leaving my charger at home and falling sick.
C. You think me preparing for my game = evidence that I am purposefully evading my opponent? what the fuck? How is that grounds for giving me a loss? The logic here is completely broken, but if you just think i'm lying about my laptop, I'm not sure what to tell you cuz that's ridiculous. Either way, stopping me from playing at the originally scheduled time today makes no sense.

e: if my intent to play this game is not apparant enough, I am online on smogtours and have been since 10 minutes before our scheduled time. I also VMd Eternally to let him know, though I doubt he will show up as he has no reason to unless you say otherwise. I am fine with playing later, but this decision is really quite ridiculous and should be overturned.
 
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