Week 2 Review:
Fun one, gotta love the Snore Sylveon sweep. Immediately though I think TC could have played that better and maybe with a little worse luck AND the wrong sets, then Sylveon wouldn't have swept so easily. If Davon could of had Poison Jab Drapion, then why would TC use his own Drapion to SD, risk the Speed tie, and then only chip it with Aqua Tail? I think it was far safer to EQ instead of SD to guarantee good chip damage vs the opposing Drapion in case it carried Poison Jab to threaten Sylveon, which would then put it into a +1 or +2 Snore range, and Tc would not have to worry about a Speed tie or switch. But it wasn't Poison Jab, nor was it Taunt Talonflame, nor was it offensive Gunk Shot Drudgion or anything of the sort; Davon had nothing for a boosted Sylveon. Even if he had, we don't know what would it have took to remove it, and then what it would take to deal with the rest of TC's team. Game was over with a good fish by TC.
Tough matchup but I think we can all learn to make sure our teams are packing the right coverage and / or phazers to avoid quick games like these.
My game this week really just came down to prep. A lot of predictions last week talked about OnArc bringing wacky mons but I did not think that was the case. OnArc barely got a win week1 and I doubted that he'd try more wack mons like Clawitzer the following week. I figured he'd try to get his bearings straight and bring something standard. That's where I got it right and from there I tried to build around what beat top tiers and trending mons. I got Tangela for all the trendy Silvally-Ground love and that paid off in spades. Besides the fact that I've been an Indeedee-F supporter since day 1, the mon and Future Sight has a lot of potential in the tier so I knew it would be a great breaker. It also deals with a lot of BS so it totally was my backup plan if I got the scout wrong. The team kind of played itself at this point. I got lucky mostly with 3 turns of sleep on Bronzong, and removing Rotom-C with Talonflame on Flare Blitz was pretty rewarding––don't forget that Talonflame can easily run this on teams where it wants to target Steel-types (aka Indeedee-F teams). OnArc did end up opting for a few off-meta sets but nothing too crazy at the end of the day and 1.) Indeedee-F checked Sirfetch'd very well and 2.) ID Bronz beat out the BU Talon.
Scouting totally has its perks and trends like Silvally-Ground stop being as good as they look when players start accounting for them more often.
Kushalos brought a very similar team as his w1 team and got a bit better of a MU. Choice Scarf Tyrantrum wants to spam Head Smash as much as possible and Sabella only had Ferroseed and Silvally-Ground as switch-ins, which did not have any passive recovery to mitigate this damage. Moreover, Xatu really shut down Ferroseed so the combo of Tyrantrum + Xatu meant that there was little room to let Tyrantrum in. Still though I can't help but to critique the Mantine plays around Xatu and Celebi; it was a very passive MU yet on these two slower Psychic-types, Sneasel got in only like 15+ turns of nothingness. On one hand yes, Sneasel wouldn't have capitalized either due to Talonflame absorbing the Triple Axel, though I figure Sabella's best shot was to make a double and lure in Talonflame with Choice Scarf Salazzle. This same play happened later in the game, because of course no one expects Scarf lazzle, but it was too late then. There was also the Sylveon sack on Tyrantrum when Silvlaly-Ground was still healthy that I don't completely get. Silvally-Ground wasn't gonna sweep past Mudsdale, and it didn't, and even wearing down Muds so lazzle could sweep was going to be complicated. I think midgame Sabella needed to be more aggressive and save Sylveon for a late-game Heal Bell vs Escavalier if needed. But hold the presses; lets not forget Tyrantrum hit every Head Smash and dodged a Scald burn. One of these could have went right for Sabella, or even the full paras, but those were more understandable as the game dragged on. Still it was a good game and it came down largely to matchup more than plays or missplays as well as a degree of luck.
Gotta use that surprise factor earlier in the game in a bad matchup or the game plays itself. I also don't like Sneasel in S-tier Talonflame meta but that's a personal preference.
There wasn't a Golurk switch-in....
I really liked Xiri's team here: it was proactive, calculated, and well-thought out. Sensei Axew had a fine team as well but the glaring flaw to me was that it was too passive. Swords Dance Talonflame looks like a great mon to build around, but supporting it offensively only with another Sword Dance user in Silvally-Ground is just a little too inefficient so-to-speak. Xiri instead had SD Groundvally with two special breakers in Dragalge and Heliolisk, which are proactive partners to wear down something like Bronzong for Groundvally; then there was Xatu in the back making sure Bronzong couldn't make any progress itself during these interactions. Let's not skim over Dragalge though cause it single handedly carried the team here. It outsped the Guzzlord and countered Defog Rotom-C, which was also the only counter measure to Toxic Spikes. In due time, Dragalge made its mark and the attempt to sweep with Talonflame was ill suited. This came down to a poor matchup and a highly thought-out team by Xiri so kudos there.
Toxic Spikes are still a thing sometimes. Don't forget about them.
Trends:
Fun one, gotta love the Snore Sylveon sweep. Immediately though I think TC could have played that better and maybe with a little worse luck AND the wrong sets, then Sylveon wouldn't have swept so easily. If Davon could of had Poison Jab Drapion, then why would TC use his own Drapion to SD, risk the Speed tie, and then only chip it with Aqua Tail? I think it was far safer to EQ instead of SD to guarantee good chip damage vs the opposing Drapion in case it carried Poison Jab to threaten Sylveon, which would then put it into a +1 or +2 Snore range, and Tc would not have to worry about a Speed tie or switch. But it wasn't Poison Jab, nor was it Taunt Talonflame, nor was it offensive Gunk Shot Drudgion or anything of the sort; Davon had nothing for a boosted Sylveon. Even if he had, we don't know what would it have took to remove it, and then what it would take to deal with the rest of TC's team. Game was over with a good fish by TC.
Tough matchup but I think we can all learn to make sure our teams are packing the right coverage and / or phazers to avoid quick games like these.
My game this week really just came down to prep. A lot of predictions last week talked about OnArc bringing wacky mons but I did not think that was the case. OnArc barely got a win week1 and I doubted that he'd try more wack mons like Clawitzer the following week. I figured he'd try to get his bearings straight and bring something standard. That's where I got it right and from there I tried to build around what beat top tiers and trending mons. I got Tangela for all the trendy Silvally-Ground love and that paid off in spades. Besides the fact that I've been an Indeedee-F supporter since day 1, the mon and Future Sight has a lot of potential in the tier so I knew it would be a great breaker. It also deals with a lot of BS so it totally was my backup plan if I got the scout wrong. The team kind of played itself at this point. I got lucky mostly with 3 turns of sleep on Bronzong, and removing Rotom-C with Talonflame on Flare Blitz was pretty rewarding––don't forget that Talonflame can easily run this on teams where it wants to target Steel-types (aka Indeedee-F teams). OnArc did end up opting for a few off-meta sets but nothing too crazy at the end of the day and 1.) Indeedee-F checked Sirfetch'd very well and 2.) ID Bronz beat out the BU Talon.
Scouting totally has its perks and trends like Silvally-Ground stop being as good as they look when players start accounting for them more often.
Kushalos brought a very similar team as his w1 team and got a bit better of a MU. Choice Scarf Tyrantrum wants to spam Head Smash as much as possible and Sabella only had Ferroseed and Silvally-Ground as switch-ins, which did not have any passive recovery to mitigate this damage. Moreover, Xatu really shut down Ferroseed so the combo of Tyrantrum + Xatu meant that there was little room to let Tyrantrum in. Still though I can't help but to critique the Mantine plays around Xatu and Celebi; it was a very passive MU yet on these two slower Psychic-types, Sneasel got in only like 15+ turns of nothingness. On one hand yes, Sneasel wouldn't have capitalized either due to Talonflame absorbing the Triple Axel, though I figure Sabella's best shot was to make a double and lure in Talonflame with Choice Scarf Salazzle. This same play happened later in the game, because of course no one expects Scarf lazzle, but it was too late then. There was also the Sylveon sack on Tyrantrum when Silvlaly-Ground was still healthy that I don't completely get. Silvally-Ground wasn't gonna sweep past Mudsdale, and it didn't, and even wearing down Muds so lazzle could sweep was going to be complicated. I think midgame Sabella needed to be more aggressive and save Sylveon for a late-game Heal Bell vs Escavalier if needed. But hold the presses; lets not forget Tyrantrum hit every Head Smash and dodged a Scald burn. One of these could have went right for Sabella, or even the full paras, but those were more understandable as the game dragged on. Still it was a good game and it came down largely to matchup more than plays or missplays as well as a degree of luck.
Gotta use that surprise factor earlier in the game in a bad matchup or the game plays itself. I also don't like Sneasel in S-tier Talonflame meta but that's a personal preference.
There wasn't a Golurk switch-in....
OK but seriously why. We're this far into gen8NU and we're not prepping for Golurk? I mean you don't need Braviary or itemless Rotom-C on every team, but there's a ton of ways to tech it and Decidueye and forgetting to include a switch-in is just fishy. I'm surprised Golurk was sacked after it only got 2 KOs. Why not sweep the whole team, trade with Groundvally... damn. And the funniest thing of all is that ROD DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A POLTERGEIST SWITCH IN!!! Bahaha gotta love it, although I suppose Arcanine for Poltergiest and EQ switch-ins suffices lot of the time. Grounvally lost again, Future Sight was fun to see again, and Glastrier did nothing. Still again it wasn't a fair game with the Golurk MU so that's that.
Bring Ghost checks, or at least Poltergeist-proof something on your team.
Bring Ghost checks, or at least Poltergeist-proof something on your team.
Toxic Spikes are still a thing sometimes. Don't forget about them.
Trends:
- Huge Talonflame reliance. Its a wall and revenge killer in one so why not use it everywhere? And the defensive pros and popularity only makes it more inciting to use offensive sets and Steel Wing a Diancie.
- In turn, Tyrantrum is a scary good mon as well, so don't forget the basics when building with Talonflame and be weary of more than just Tyrantrum to come out of the woodworks to counter NU's newest most popular Pokemon.
- Silvally-Ground usage skyrocketed, but hey it's not Togedemaru at least! It's a cool mon but lets not forget about its lack of recovery making it a risky Ground-type in most matchups bar Rotom-C. Maybe more counters like Tangela will see use.
- About Rotom-C, NU's S-tier is seeing next to no usage and all losses. Kind of bad but the meta is packed to the brim with Grass- and Dragon-types that it doesn't make meaningful progress versus. Could be the end of an era if this thing doesn't pick up steam.
- Future Sight saw two uses and two wins, but in both games, they were overshadowed and didn't do all too much. There either could be more here or Future Sight in NU doesn't have much staying power all together.
- Despite mons like Taurous, Goodra, and Decidueye seeing little usage and success, these threats are far from bad. If anything, it's just early in the tour and players haven't gotten around building with these threats. Other low-use wallbreakers like Golurk and Exploud have been doing great, but if they didn't see use yet so far I wouldn't be too surprised either, it's just too early.
