Tournament SCL I NU Discussion [Predictions in Other Thread]

Finchinator

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Welcome to the Smogon Champions League 1 Discussion Thread -- NU edition! This thread will be used to discuss NU in SCL I related topics including the players, general metagame trends, matches, predictions and so on. Teams, Replays, and Usage Stats can be found when available if I am not lazy or if I am lazy, but then someone yells at me to stop being lazy.

Commencement
Schedule



NU Players Cores (starters in bold)

Orange Islanders -- OnArceus, pdt
Indigo Platoon -- Kushalos, Meri Berry, 100% GXE
Power Plant Dynamos -- S1nn0hC0nfirm3d, TSR, bouff (manager)
Uncharted Terrors -- Sensei Axew, lax, shiloh (manager)
Technical Machines -- Davon, Confide
Arena Spartans -- TeamCharm, mncmt, Charmflash, snaga (manager)
Showdown Shoguns -- TDK
Mount Silver Foxes -- Xiri, Finchinator, watashi, tlenit, Santu, Expulso, elodin, EviGaro (manager)
Circuit Breakers -- Sabella, Sjneider, Ren-chon, Osh (manager)
Studio Gible -- Rodriblutar, London Beats, Garay oak (manager)

[POWER RANKINGS COMING SOON]

[PLAYER RANKINGS COMING SOON]

Once Week 1 starts, we will use this thread to post every matchup, and collect all replays / usage stats. Have fun everyone and be sure to post your thoughts here!​
 

Expulso

Morse code, if I'm talking I'm clicking
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Hello, I figured I would share and write about my NU rankings to give everyone an entertaining/informative before PRs are released and build hype for SCL. Woo yeah go SCL!!

1. TDK [Showdown Shoguns]

You wouldn't pay 38K for #2, would you? After an absolutely dominant 7-0 showing in NUPL, TDK looks to take on many of the same opponents in an official. His massive amount of experience gives him an additional edge over a pool he already dominated to a great extent. However, it's very possible that things go downhill. The Shoguns drafted absolutely 0 NU support, and tko/ninjadog are really not builders; TDK's most recent lower tier showing was an absolute beatdown by Punny in the Grand Slam round of 16; and he just went negative in his most recent tour, WCOP. Sounds like a lot of flaws for a #1 rank, so I should reiterate that his NUPL was truly incredible -- with a similarly low amount of support, he was able to thrive, and the Shoguns will surely be praying that this formula works again.

2. Kushalos [Indigo Platoon, meri berry + 100%GXE support]

Kushalos returns to NU in his typical fashion, coming back for an official after a very long hiatus. Despite his appearance of being totally dormant, he's a very dedicated player during the official tours; I remember him challenging me to test games quite often last Snake. He's one of the only proven NUers here, and meri berry's support is an excellent asset -- though she may be busy supporting PU too, 100%GXE has been trying out NU some lately and can cook up some very solid defensive teams. Kushalos feels like an extremely reliable pick here, too; the only imaginable weakness is that his long time away from the tier may cause him to be caught off-guard by some techs. However, I could easily see him taking the top spot.

[VERY large gap]

3. Sensei Axew [Uncharted Terrors, lax + shiloh support]

I'm probably biased with this ranking because Sensei's a close friend of mine. However, my justification for it is that he has more experience than most of the other NU mainers due to being in last Snake (and, to a lesser extent, getting to play against the strong Bo3 NUPL pool where he went 6-2) while not being as 'crust'/inactive as the more experienced people on this list. I think he has a lot of motivation, enough experience to do well, and lax + shiloh's advice (though probably more about the mental game than in the builder) can help him perform really well.

4. OnArceus [Orange Islanders, pdt support]

OnArceus has been extremely impressive to me -- his creativity is second to none, he is far more consistent and reliable than most new players, and his individual results are fantastic across multiple tiers. He won an RU Seasonal without even trying!! However, he does have a tendency to use fairly jank teams/mons that may shoot him in the foot. He also hasn't proven himself against top players yet; 7-2 is an extremely impressive NUPL record, but the 2 losses came against the only 2 players in this pool that he fought, TDK and Sabella. His potential is sky-high but there's also room to underperform this ranking if he struggles in-game against all of the pool rather than just the formidable top 2.

5. Davon [Technical Machines, confide support]

Davon is Mr. .500 in my eyes; a very consistent player with a high floor but (relatively) low ceiling, he's almost always able to put up records around the .500 mark. He's had flashes of outperforming that, such as his Open win last year (well, not a team tour, but certainly an above-average performance rofl); he's also underperformed that, such as his 0-3/4(?) record last NUPL and the one time he should've lost to Finch in r1 of circuit playoffs but then inexplicably didn't. However, I think it's very likely he'll end up with a respectable debut record here; 4-5 is both my expectation and the probably floor for what he could put up in this tour.

6. Rodriblutar [Studio Gible, Garay Oak support]
(full disclosure -- I had flipped Rodri and Sabella's placements in the rankings I submitted. However, after thinking about it a bit more I think being with his Spaniard friends should boost his motivation enough to warrant a higher ranking).

Rodri has been v inactive and cancered on a number of recent tours, and he also needs Garay Oak to build for him, which I don't think Garay has done in a while. Shouldn't be too hard to pick up after a week or two, though I can see that becoming taxing as Garay has to do a lot of other managerial stuff to support the other slots. If everything goes right, though, Rodriblutar is more experienced than nearly all of the newcomers in this pool and could absolutely achieve a top 3 finish based off of that; the question, of course, is how things will work out in practice. I'm definitely interested to see what this duo cooks up in the builder, since absolutely any outcome is possible here.

7. S1nn0h C0nfirm3d [Power Plant Dynamos]

The most recent NU Open winner might seem a bit low in these rankings, particularly since he'd tell you that he also proved himself in team tours through a 5-2 NUPL campaign. However, after finishing 2-5 in SSD IV big questions remain about his ability to diversify team choices, execute well in-game, and whether he'll actually care or fall back on memeing in the team chat as he deals with the busy-ness of law school. His potential is definitely there, since in NU Open he cared more than anyone and executed very well to win against tough opponents like Punny, Charmflash, SoulWind, and myself. (edit: LOL im not comparing myself to the rest of the list! I just remembered playing ho3n in the tour… yall get what i mean) However, last Snake raised a lot of doubts he'll have to disprove.

8. Sabella [Arena Spartans, Ren-chon and Sjneider support]

While this ranking would look way out of place 2 years ago, Sabella has struggled a lot in recent team tours, going negative in the past two SPLs and starting last Snake 0-5. He did go 4-1 in NUPL, taking down his fellow SCL competitors Davon, OnArceus, and S1nn0h in the process, so there's definitely potential -- but there's only so much that NUPL can do to counteract the recent trend in officials. Bafflingly, he also found himself in the 1-4 bracket in NU Swiss, which certainly causes doubt about whether he's on top of the meta at this moment. Ren-chon can be a big asset in the builder, and neider possibly can too (though his motivation for doing so is probably low given his sign-up post). These two might be able to get him to his past level of success, but Sabella will need to become a lot better in the current meta and reverse a trend of underwhelming performances in officials, which all appears to make this an uphill battle.

9. TeamCharm [Arena Spartans, snaga support]

TeamCharm is a very baffling player that often uses completely wild sets and teams; in that sense, he fits well with his manager snaga, who quite often uses off-meta techs in subforum PLs and in RU last Snake (though not to the same extent as TeamCharm has). Making Slam playoffs and finals of NU Open are both very impressive achievements for a player new to the tournament scene, though these performances have come with embarassing collapses such as completely mishandling stall against CBU in the playoffs and losing to his teammate Highways clicking SD + Bullet Punch 6 times in UU Open. Snaga put up a good NUPL record for the winning NUPL team, so it's very possible that he'll be able to build quality squads to give TeamCharm an edge; TeamCharm's own building also has the potential for success, since he recently went 4-2 with it in PUPL (along with the aforementioned NU Open/Slam success). However, while an impressive performance from the newcomer is definitely possible, I think there's a very significant potential for collapse in this slot which is what compels me to give them the last place in these PRs. They are just PRs, though, so good luck; hopefully you can outperform this.

Good luck to everyone playing in SCL. Go Foxes & Xiri :heart:
 
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Expulso

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Davon vs TDK - better player; no shade to davon but tdk's shown the ability to play at a far higher and more dominant level in this tier. possible that his lack of support hurts him over the course of a season, but Davon doesn't exactly use his meta knowledge to craft teams that exploit this; rather, he crafts teams that are generally solid, which is good to avoid losing much but not enough to gain an edge vs an opponent like TDK.

sensei axew vs Sabella - more active in nu right now. sabella started last snake 0-5, luck may have played a role in some of those (genuinely can't remember) but the start of the season will be a big predictor for him, i think.

Rodriblutar vs TeamCharm - teamcharm will use plenty of techs from the past few months like skill swap diancie and steel move on any breaker resisted by diancie. this doesnt necessarily give away his whole plan though; teamcharm was perhaps the first person to use it in a tour during Slam/NU Open, so he can clearly innovate* new ways to exploit rodri's lack of meta knowledge week 1.
*yes, Togkey, i know this was your tech

Kushalos vs S1nn0hC0nfirm3d - this differs from the above because: a) kush is a bit better and more consistent; b) meri berry will spam 100 tests with every concievable version of ho3n HO and work really really hard to nail the prep for this one
 
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GW

I may be warrior
is a Tiering Contributor
Davon vs TDK - I love Davon, but TDK has supposedly had a great 2021 so far in the big stages and had a great showing in NUPL with his creative teams and dominant performances. I think this is slightly in TDK's favor.
Sensei Axew vs Sabella - Sensei Axew is the type of dude to ask someone on his team for 20 test games a day until he feels confident with his team, and is very motivated for mons atm. Sabella is a solid overall player
Xiri vs OnArceus - Goat
Rodriblutar vs TeamCharm - If TeamCharm gets teams, he will probably win as the more experienced player in SS NU tours/community.
Kushalos vs S1nn0hC0nfirm3d - Ho3n may have once been known as the guy who can only use teams with SS Toise or similar mons, ever since NU Open/NUPL, he has switched up the variety in his teams and has been playing solid lately. I expect this can be a winnable match for him, despite Kush being a very scary potential matchup here.
 

emma

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DPL Champion
[TMS] Davon vs TDK [SHO] -- Whenever I check in on any forum PLs I always see TDK going like 6-1 and winning the tournament
[TER] sensei axew vs Sabella [BRE] -- sensei axew almost beat Ezrael in Doubles one time
[FOX] Xiri vs OnArceus [ISL] -- Goat??
[GIB] Rodriblutar vs TeamCharm [SPA] -- TeamCharm69 is a funny username
[PLA] Kushalos vs S1nn0hC0nfirm3d [DYN] -- The Chef can't possibly lose to the worst name change on this site
 

Oathkeeper

"Wait!" he says, do I look like a waiter?
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Davon vs TDK (8-0 in NUPL and I don't see him slowing down)
sensei axew vs Sabella (love both here, but gotta go with my boy sensei)
Xiri vs OnArceus (2 of my best NUPL players and as much I like OnArceus, I think Xiri ekes one out here)
Rodriblutar vs TeamCharm (go TeMCharm)
Kushalos vs S1nn0hC0nfirm3d (go Clutchalos?)
 
Davon vs TDK -> Davon is a competetent player that I think will end with an average record, but seems tdk has being on fire on this tier, whic doesnt surprise me, so I think he will take this one.
sensei axew vs Sabella -> I wanted bold sabella but reading other predictions seemed he isnt on form. Im going trust them by the moment until I see him playing. Anways I always have liked sensei since he wasnt know in fact so Im p happy he has been consilidated as a good player.
Xiri vs OnArceus -> My winner horse there, people are p hight on this guy and Im included, after all the record he has have he should do p well this tour.
Rodriblutar vs TeamCharm -> idk how I will manage to bring the win vs a mainer who has play a lot the tier but lets see how it goes.
Kushalos vs S1nn0hC0nfirm3d -> P happy to see kushalos again playing, Im gonna wait for the week we play. Sinnonh is a hard work guy who was my subtitute last snake( although he was the titular practicaly) so I know he will put a lot of effort on this but the main reason Im bolding kushalos and probably will do all the tour is because he has meri berry(who is the person I wanted to be supporting me) helping him. His builts+kushis play are too strong.
 

S1nn0hC0nfirm3d

aka Ho3nConfirm3d
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Week 1 Review:

Both teams had a similar Vaporeon-based bulky offense, but TDK's wallbreakers (Sirfetch'd and Silvally-Ground) were better fit than Davon's (Dragalge and Tauros). TDK also made some really good plays like the doubles on Wish turns and punishing the Xatu switch-in with SD into Rock Slide. Still though I think a lot of these turns were largely facilitated thanks to having just the better wallbreakers. A turn to setup with Swords Dance really helps punish these cores that rely on Protect and Wish, and Davon simply lacked that mechanic altogether. That meant it was going to take longer for Davon to break down TDK's team, whereas TDK was able to play much more opportunistically. As far as hax goes, I saw some talk regarding the Effect Spore late-game, which essentially guaranteed the win for TDK, but lets be real here; Tauros hit Flame Body / Effect Spore4 times. You'd expect one of the good statuses to trigger at this point. Also, Tauros + Dragalge alone wouldn't really have made a comeback anways.

So what did we learn? When its fat offense vs fat offense, something like SD Groundvally is going to go a longer way than Taurous, least in the context of these two teams.

What a crazy game. This one's a nailbiter from start to finish. So much could have went one way or the other, and both players had what looks like to me at least a very stressful game. Gotta say both played well given what we saw near the end and really it just came down to a lot of 50/50s and maybe a little luck. Sensei outplayed and scouted the Goodra very well, but ended up being punished by that Tbolt para, meaning it would be harder to stop Celebi. Sabella's major missplay mid-game imo was the Escavalier sack; Boomburst damage vs Goodra should have been evident it wasn't Choice Specs, and I don't think there was reason to believe it was Choice Scarf given the team structure, so Sabela ended up being down a mon unfortunately. The Musharna vs Comfey matchup basically caused eachother to neuter themselves, although no Draining Kiss critical hit was really tough given Sabella had a great chance to win thereafter. The end-game ended up being another bout of 50/50s, although Talonflame ended up lacking Will-O-Wisp so it wasn't going to be easy for Sabella. Still, this is probably where having Escavalier for a sack to slow down Toxic would have helped no doubt.

So what did we learn? Gotta say it was a good game where both players innovated and where rewarded for it. Guess you can also say to know your calcs and to not always assume something is Choiced.

This game was unfortunate all around... OnArceus brought a very fishy team that got 6-0'd by Drapion, and moreso he still, arguably, ended up missplaying around it do to the Talonflame and Diancie sacks. I don't outwright believe the team was awful, but when playing a team like that vs what was a very clear weakness, there totally could have been better plays––hindsight 20/20 obviously. Xiri brought a safer team and played very well in the early-game. It ended up coming down to a crucial blunder where everyone's favorite problem child Blastoise took advantage of. Later in calcs, we found out that burned Drapion was very likely to KO Blastoise with Knock Off into Earthquake after it Shell Smashes consecutively. If Blastoise only gets to +2, then Drapion would still have done enough damage for Choice Scarf Heliolisk to have KOed. But Xiri made an NU beginner's mistake: relying on Choice Scarf Heliolisk to counter Blastoise. This simply does not work and Blastoise coutnersweeps when this play occurs. That's what happened and OnArceus got the dub. Maybe you could argue that OnArceus setting Stealth Rock with Diancie and sacking Haunter gave Xiri a false sense of security to improve Xiri's chance of choking. Honestly that's not the worst idea when you're that far behind, but end of the day I think that OnArceus coulda loaded up something better and never had to get there.

So what did we learn? Know your calcs and don't bring a team that weak to an A+ rank mon.

I don't want to talk about this game LOL. Of course I'm referencing Synchronize Xatu, which is a mistake that should never happen at this level of NU play. Now watch me end up doing something stupid like that later this tour x) Besides this blunder, I also didn't like Rod's team because it was another instance of being really fat with limited wincons, and in NU that's a risky gamble given all of our wallbreakers. Case in point: TC's Silvally-Ground. This mon could have easily tore through the team if it simply wasn't risked way too early. IMO it shoulda been brought out late-game after a lot more scouting, reads, and conditioning. There were a handful of scenarios vs mons like Xatu and Articuno where Silvally-Ground could have setup, but risking the SD vs Toge's Toxic was going to be very hard to come back from. Toxicroak had a really nice shot at sweeping though after the poison on Mudsdale, but Rod ended up sacking way too many mons to it when Toge lived the +2 Low Kick and could have switched into Gunk Shot. This was totally another instance of simply not knowing the tier and sets, because a mainer would likely have assumed that SD LO Croak on this team would have had Low Kick for Mudsdale to help out Silvally-Ground. Rod had 2 big blunders this game: one should have been completely avoidable, the other was a result of not knowing the meta as much.

So what did we learn? Check your teambuilder and the damage calc lol.
My game highlights the potential of balance and how to maneuver with a dedicated wincon. Kush had what looked like to be a precarious looking offense while I brought a standard-ish balance. What I didn't agree with was sacking his Ground-type turn2 when I had an unidentified Tyrantrum in the back. This could either mean I was going to spam hefty Head Smashes or I would have had a window to clean. This window is even more apparent when Kush revealed offensive Talon, which is probably the #1 safest mon for Tyrantrum to setup versus. So to lose Pallossand that early meant that I had little left to do to secure a sweep. It's why I played passively versus it, as if Talon ended up being offensive, then I had a really easy wincon to pursue. Eventually, all I had to do was get Salazzle in safely, setup, force Talonfalme to revenge kill, then DD with Tryrantrum. There wasn't much else to that game other than the Scale Shot miss and potential Flame Body burn on Close Combat, which also implies it wasn't Gale Wings and who knows honestly.

So what did we learn? Don't underestimate potential wincons and sweepers like DD Tyrantrum.

––––––
Well those are my ramblings and thoughts on the games. Can't wait for week 2! Please stop using Toge! Good luck everyone!
 

Expulso

Morse code, if I'm talking I'm clicking
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predictions... with text! wow!:v4:

[TMS] Davon vs TeamCharm [SPA] - Despite the wk1 loss (which was vs the strongest opponent in pool) I definitely rate Davon more highly and think his general solid-ness is nice in contrast to TeamCharm's crackhead tendencies. He might need to be more proactive than he usually is in order to preempt TeamCharm's setup strats, though it is possible that this is obviated by one of his defensive walls just sitting on like 4 of tc's mons.
[ISL] OnArceus vs S1nn0hC0nfirm3d [DYN] - I rate S1nn0h C0nfirm3d extremely highly now; first he won Open and now he looks like one of the two most composed and competent players after week 1. Short sample size, of course, but certainly an encouraging sign for the Dynamos. Judging by his wk1 team composition, OnArceus will roll up with idk a Persian-Alola?? and struggle against what will hopefully be another very solid and well thought-out team by Ho3n.
[BRE] Sabella vs Kushalos [PLA] - Don't love the team meri/kush made last week, Talonflame without removal is a general "ick" of mine, so to speak. I found kush's play more objectionable than the team, though; losing Palossand on Turn 3 versus a team with Tyrantrum is definitely not a good move. I thought that going Scrafty on the Escavalier would be better, since you can Knock it while eating the rather obvious knock aimed at talon. However, Sabella's game was a bit poorer, tossing out escavalier vs a clearly non-Specs Exploud and making a poor overprediction to throw out the Goodra that outsped and pressured every mon on Sensei's team after it got a tbolt para; this resulted in a loss coming from what seemed like a great matchup.
[SHO] TDK vs Rodriblutar [GIB] - If tdk's #1 ranking, NUPL performance, and price weren't enough to convince me, his use of goated Silvally-Ground would win me over anyways. Jolly Copperajah also shows that he's able to make the small innovations that are capable of putting his opponent on the backfoot, giving him even more of an edge vs most people than his greater skill and experience would indicate. Rodriblutar used unviable togedmaru and also fucked around a bit too much vs toxicroak, leading to some unnnecessary sacks that made the endgame unwinnable.
[TER] sensei axew vs Xiri [FOX] - go foxes
 

Danny

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Had all picks right last week let’s see if I get it again. Gonna put a bit of reasoning as well this time 0.0

[TMS] Davon vs TeamCharm [SPA]
TC is my homie and if he sticks w the builds provided to him and doesn’t bring the wack shit he texts me ab at 1am then he should take this over a Davon who although is still very good, has been stalling in the team builder from the looks of it. What I mean by that is Davon’s most recent tournament teams have been extremely similar and been picked apart by smart scouting by his opps. Nonetheless this is going to be a good one as Davon is no slouch and a great player.
[ISL] OnArceus vs S1nn0hC0nfirm3d [DYN]
Another match between two of my friends, I’m hype for this one. OnArceus’s pick last week was questionable and only won the game off a choke by Xiri not knowing tier interactions well enough. I still think Onarceus is one of the nuttiest and best players here, but Ho3n wins this so long as he preps well for OnArceus’s crackhead strats which have been effective in ruining top tour player’s days. I’m excited and honestly don’t know who has this but I favor ho3n off recent results alone.
[BRE] Sabella vs Kushalos [PLA]
Both played questionably in their games, but I think Sabella has this just due to my experiences playing with and building for them back in NU Snake Draft. Very close one but I think Sabella’s ingenuity in the builder will win this.
[SHO] TDK vs Rodriblutar [GIB]
TDK is by far #1 seed and Rodri’s team last week and plays last week vs tc make me question why they’re even starting in this pool. Sry but TDK wins this 9/10 times
[TER] sensei axew vs Xiri [FOX]
sensei is amazing and although last week was sloppy from both, considering sensei just bopped me in both NU Swiss and PTPL, i can’t help rooting for him. He’s also a homie so gl fam!
 

Pokeslice

Thanks for the Dance
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[TMS] Davon (49) vs (51) TeamCharm [SPA] - Besides the terrible Silvally plays, TC looked solid last week, and I expect he starts to really warm up as the season goes on. At the same time, Davon's defensive cores feel easy to abuse and hard to make work with the multitude of breakers in the meta that TC could bring, but that doesn't mean this will be an easy game. Davon is more than capable of outbuilding or creating a core that stops TC's weird techs and teams, so I expect this to be a closer one, but I have to go with my boy TC.
[ISL] OnArceus (40 vs (60) S1nn0hC0nfirm3d [DYN] - I love OnArceus as a player and builder, but frankly, he got lucky last week and his team was deeply flawed. I think he'll hit his stride and find a balance of heat and meta, but Ho3n will take this week. He's proven to be more than a one trick pony and someone willing to prep and play at a high level, and I think he'll do great.
[BRE] Sabella (45) vs (55) Kushalos [PLA] - Neither impressed me last week, both sacking their (probably) surefire answers to an easier game with Sabella not calcing Boomburst and Kush throwing away the Palo early, but I still like Kush just because with support and a solid team, he should be able to beat out any weird mons Sabella comes up with. Sabella's earlier Swiss failures also make it hard for me to pick them so far, but that NU rust should be gone in the future.
[SHO] TDK (80) vs (20) Rodriblutar [GIB] - I don't think TDK loses this any day of the week. He looked great while Rodriblutar just didn't. Ignoring the unfortunate Xatu, his plays, especially in the endgame, were a little bit terrible. Instead of winning, he sacked an extra mon or three to Croak because of a lack of metagame knowledge, calcs, and just bad plays. I have no doubt he can potentially pick it up as the season goes on, but right now, against the favorite #1 seed, I don't think there's a chance.
[TER] sensei axew (40) vs (60) Xiri [FOX] - VERY surprised with Xiri last week. That was the first time I've ever seen the man make the wrong play by not staying in with Drapion against Stoise and not calcing the Heliolisk T Bolt and I don't think he does it again. sensei axew is no slouch, but I can't bring myself to bet against Xiri. He's just so...solid.
 
Had some free time so compiled usage stats from week 1

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Talonflame         |    7 |  70.00% |  57.14% |
| 2    | Celebi             |    4 |  40.00% |  25.00% |
| 3    | Copperajah         |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 3    | Xatu               |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Togedemaru         |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Diancie            |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Mudsdale           |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 8    | Silvally           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Guzzlord           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Vaporeon           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Escavalier         |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Tyrantrum          |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Scrafty            |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Vileplume          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Sirfetch’d         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Thwackey           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Exploud            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Musharna           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Clawitzer          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Blastoise          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Haunter            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Toxicroak          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Bronzong           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Mantine            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Salazzle           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Dragalge           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Tauros             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Comfey             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Goodra             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Golurk             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Drapion            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Heliolisk          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Articuno           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Garbodor           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Palossand          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Edit: had them by mons and not by teams originally, updated
 
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Pokeslice

Thanks for the Dance
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
HUGE thanks to Phantomistix for compiling the usage stats for this week. I wanted to focus on one or two interesting trends.

:ss/togedemaru:
| 3 | Togedemaru | 3 | 5.00% | 33.33% |
Why. This mon is essentially unviable in my eyes since, on paper, it seems like a really cool Mowtom answer, Steel, pivot, and cleric, but in reality, it doesn't do any of that consistently and is extremely abusable. In the games this week, it did nothing in one time, was set up fodder in another (good Toxic play though Rodriblutar), and had to be very cautious as the scarf in another game or it let Groundvally in once again. Not a great showing and should've been 0-3 but OnArceus is the goat. You'll never be satisfied by using Togedemaru, try out other Mowtom answers such as Grass resist+Ground+Faster mons to revenge, Dragons like Goodra or Guzz, Grasses like Plume or Dhelm, or even stunfisk-galar. Just never Togedemaru. It's so bad.

:ss/silvally-ground:
| 8 | Silvally-Ground | 2 | 3.33% | 100.00%
On the other side of interesting usage stats, this mon proved itself to be awesome. Powerful breaker, cool sweeper, and should have won two games on the spot this week besides for a misplay by TC. The bulk and its ability as a Ground to heavily punish Xatu and non scarf Mowtom really puts it in the limelight and I think this week showed how brutal it is at dismantling balance. We always theorize Silvally forms, but Groundvally looks like the real deal, and has been for a few weeks before this. Just cool to see it on a larger stage.

:ss/xatu:
| 3 | Xatu | 3 | 5.00% | 33.33% |
People were heavily prepped for Zong this week, with 3 teams hoping to shut it and Muds down. In the one game it actually got that matchup, it had Synchronize, which was depressing, but Xatu put in work for TC. I think Xatu showed that it has a lot of potential in the right mu, but trends like Groundvally, Guzz, and Drap showing how potent they could be at times means I expect less of this next week, and maybe some more Zong?
:ss/talonflame:
| 1 | Talonflame | 7 | 11.67% | 57.14% |
Super interesting to see this mon at the top of the list by a long shot, but it makes sense. Often filling the roll of speed control, Talon can pivot, spread status, revenge kill Pokemon, Defog, etc. Flame Body is also broken 30% of the time. I don't think this trend drops off anytime soon.
 

shiloh

is a Member of Senior Staffis a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Past WCoP Champion
Tiering Lead
Hello, as you may notice we have split the NU thread into two different threads. One will be solely for predictions with no writeups, and this one will be for any predictions that do have descriptions, or for any other posts related to NU in SCL Any prediction posts made in this thread will still count when it comes to the prediction game, so there is no need for you to post in both threads (unless you want to). They still have to follow the same rules though, i.e. no editing, etc.

With that being said, happy posting and good luck to everyone in the tournament n_n

heres a link to the other thread as well
 
Usage stats week 2

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Talonflame         |    7 |  70.00% |  57.14% |
| 2    | Celebi             |    4 |  40.00% |  25.00% |
| 3    | Copperajah         |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 3    | Xatu               |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Togedemaru         |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Diancie            |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Mudsdale           |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 8    | Silvally           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Guzzlord           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Vaporeon           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Escavalier         |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Tyrantrum          |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Scrafty            |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Vileplume          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Sirfetch’d         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Thwackey           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Exploud            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Musharna           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Clawitzer          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Blastoise          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Haunter            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Toxicroak          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Bronzong           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Mantine            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Salazzle           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Dragalge           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Tauros             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Comfey             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Goodra             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Golurk             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Drapion            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Heliolisk          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Articuno           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Garbodor           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Palossand          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Talonflame         |    6 |  60.00% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Sylveon            |    5 |  50.00% |  40.00% |
| 2    | Bronzong           |    5 |  50.00% |  40.00% |
| 2    | Silvally           |    5 |  50.00% |  20.00% |
| 5    | Vaporeon           |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 6    | Xatu               |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 6    | Celebi             |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 6    | Passimian          |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 6    | Mantine            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Guzzlord           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Diancie            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Drapion            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Rotom-Mow          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Mudsdale           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Tyrantrum          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Escavalier         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Indeedee-F         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Tangela            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Uxie               |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Stunfisk-Galar     |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Dragalge           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Heliolisk          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Golurk             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Arcanine           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Ferroseed          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Sneasel            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Salazzle           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Sirfetch’d         |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Druddigon          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Starmie            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Tsareena           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Copperajah         |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Glastrier          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Talonflame         |   13 |  65.00% |  53.85% |
| 2    | Silvally           |    7 |  35.00% |  42.86% |
| 3    | Celebi             |    6 |  30.00% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Bronzong           |    6 |  30.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Xatu               |    5 |  25.00% |  60.00% |
| 5    | Sylveon            |    5 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 5    | Vaporeon           |    5 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 5    | Diancie            |    5 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 9    | Guzzlord           |    4 |  20.00% |  75.00% |
| 9    | Mudsdale           |    4 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Copperajah         |    4 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Tyrantrum          |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 12   | Escavalier         |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 12   | Mantine            |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 12   | Drapion            |    3 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 12   | Togedemaru         |    3 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 17   | Passimian          |    2 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Salazzle           |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Sirfetch’d         |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Dragalge           |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Heliolisk          |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Golurk             |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Rotom-Mow          |    2 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Scrafty            |    2 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Indeedee-F         |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Tangela            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Uxie               |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Stunfisk-Galar     |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Arcanine           |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Vileplume          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Thwackey           |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Exploud            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Musharna           |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Clawitzer          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Blastoise          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Haunter            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Toxicroak          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Ferroseed          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Sneasel            |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Druddigon          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Starmie            |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Tsareena           |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Glastrier          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Tauros             |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Comfey             |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Goodra             |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Articuno           |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Garbodor           |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Palossand          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |

AF63CD56-C0EA-45DD-A1DF-6A1742EF464C.jpeg
 
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