Tournament SCL I PU Discussion (Prediction prize info on #20, Week 4 on #209)

Hera

Make a move before they can make an act on you
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Hi there! Seeing as regular season of SCl has passed its midway point, I wanted to analyze the usage stats so far, see what trends have been consistent, what threats have become more or less popular, and generally gauge the meta's standing during such a prestigious tournament.


SS PU

(Through Week 5)
Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Weezing | 24 | 48.00% | 66.67% |
| 2 | Tsareena | 19 | 38.00% | 57.89% |
| 2 | Ribombee | 19 | 38.00% | 47.37% |
| 4 | Ferroseed | 17 | 34.00% | 58.82% |
| 5 | Sandaconda | 16 | 32.00% | 62.50% |
| 5 | Gigalith | 16 | 32.00% | 50.00% |
| 5 | Charizard | 16 | 32.00% | 37.50% |
| 8 | Drampa | 13 | 26.00% | 53.85% |
| 9 | Aggron | 12 | 24.00% | 33.33% |
| 10 | Audino | 11 | 22.00% | 63.64% |
| 10 | Scrafty | 11 | 22.00% | 45.45% |
| 12 | Silvally | 10 | 20.00% | 40.00% |
| 13 | Quagsire | 9 | 18.00% | 66.67% |
| 14 | Clefairy | 8 | 16.00% | 87.50% |
| 15 | Jellicent | 7 | 14.00% | 71.43% |
| 16 | Whimsicott | 6 | 12.00% | 66.67% |
| 16 | Togedemaru | 6 | 12.00% | 50.00% |
| 18 | Archeops | 5 | 10.00% | 40.00% |
| 18 | Articuno-Galar | 5 | 10.00% | 20.00% |
| 20 | Scyther | 4 | 8.00% | 75.00% |
| 20 | Mesprit | 4 | 8.00% | 0.00% |
| 22 | Hattrem | 3 | 6.00% | 66.67% |
| 22 | Perrserker | 3 | 6.00% | 66.67% |
| 22 | Centiskorch | 3 | 6.00% | 33.33% |
| 22 | Wishiwashi | 3 | 6.00% | 33.33% |
| 22 | Sneasel | 3 | 6.00% | 33.33% |
| 22 | Lanturn | 3 | 6.00% | 0.00% |
| 22 | Qwilfish | 3 | 6.00% | 0.00% |
| 29 | Passimian | 2 | 4.00% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Thwackey | 2 | 4.00% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Coalossal | 2 | 4.00% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Uxie | 2 | 4.00% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Poliwrath | 2 | 4.00% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Jolteon | 2 | 4.00% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Druddigon | 2 | 4.00% | 0.00% |
| 29 | Rhydon | 2 | 4.00% | 0.00% |
| 29 | Tangela | 2 | 4.00% | 0.00% |
| 29 | Gallade | 2 | 4.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Basculin-Blue-Striped | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| 39 | Appletun | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| 39 | Carbink | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| 39 | Skuntank | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| 39 | Magneton | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| 39 | Sandslash-Alola | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| 39 | Gurdurr | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| 39 | Aurorus | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| 39 | Froslass | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |
| - | Gourgeist-* | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Miltank | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Gourgeist-Small | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Alcremie | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Vikavolt | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Swoobat | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Mawile | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Golbat | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Magmortar | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Pikachu | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Rotom | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Eldegoss | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |
| 39 | Duosion | 1 | 2.00% | 0.00% |

:weezing: :tsareena: :ribombee:
| 1 | Weezing | 24 | 48.00% | 66.67% |
| 2 | Tsareena | 19 | 38.00% | 57.89% |
| 2 | Ribombee | 19 | 38.00% | 47.37% |

The top 3 mons by usage are Weezing, Tsareena, and Ribombee, with Weezing having a sizeable amount more usage than the other two. This shouldn't be a surprise; Tsareena is a S Rank, while Weezing and Ribombee are both comfortably sitting in A+. However, their win rates paint an interesting story, as Weezing has a very high win rate at 66.67% (16 out of 24 Weezings won). Tsareena isn't that far behind, boasting another high win rate at 57.89% (11 out of 19 Tsareenas won). These two are most likely popular for different reasons. Weezing is a solid and splashable Tsareena switchin, with the ability to lay Toxic Spikes in a meta where the most common Toxic Spikes absorber is your own Weezing, while Tsareena as a great spinner with power, utility, and a solid enough speed tier that it threatens most of the defensive meta. However, Ribombee seems to have fallen off as of late after posting a higher win rate, winning only 2 out of 7 times during Weeks 4 and 5, which means its win rate sits at a less than optimal 47.37% (9 out of 19 Ribombees won) win rate. This win rate as of late may be due to the rise of Audino, which is a sturdy switchin to Ribombee. While Aromatherapy sets should have no problem breaking past them, the real kicker is Audino's ability to WishPass to something that can threaten Ribombee, such as Gigalith or Ferroseed. Plus, if it's running Aromatherapy, it is very likely that it is not running Psychic, allowing Weezing to potentially 1v1 it. However, it's clear that all of these Pokemon are popular, effective, and must be prepared for in SCL.

:gigalith: :charizard:
| 5 | Gigalith | 16 | 32.00% | 50.00% |
| 5 | Charizard | 16 | 32.00% | 37.50% |

PU's other top tiers have had high usage (although a bit below Tsareena), but odd win rates. Gigalith started off strong during the first two weeks, but ever since then, it has faltered. During Weeks 3-5, it only saw half the usage as it did in the first two weeks, and has won only one once out of 6 times, meaning it sits at an even win rate of 50% (8 out of 16 Gigaliths won). This may be because, due to Gigalith's popularity during the first 3 weeks, teams have begun to prepare for it more with Pokemon that can take advantage of it like Drampa and Quagsire. Might Gigalith make a resurgence? It's possible, but only if people take its low usage as a sign to stop preparing for it.

Charizard's tale, however, is much sadder. The flying fire lizard has failed to get off the ground despite a solid usage rate, and its win rate has crossed 50% only once so far, during Week 3 (where, funnily enough, it was used 3 times). This means it currently sits at a very low win rate of 37.5% (6 out of 16 Charizards won), which is the second lowest out of all Pokemon with 20% or more usage. I believe this is due to one mon: Drampa. With Drampa rising in popularity, its switchins like Clefairy and Audino have become more popular as well. All of these Pokemon can also deal with Charizard in some way, as Drampa can take advantage of Charizard no matter what the set, while Audino and Clefairy often pack Knock Off, a devastating move for Charizard, while being pretty solid switchins. This is why Charizard's wings remain clipped despite the popularity of Pokemon it should be able to take advantage of, such as Weezing and Tsareena.

:aggron:
| 9 | Aggron | 12 | 24.00% | 33.33% |

Remember when I said Charizard had the second lowest win rate out of all mons with 20% or more usage? Yeah, this one is the lowest. Aggron, despite currently sitting at A+, has a stunningly low win rate of 33.33% (4 out of 12 Aggrons won). On paper, it should do well; offensive sets outspeed Weezing and take advantage of mons currently seeing high usage such as Audino, Ferroseed, and Ribombee, while defensive sets function as solid switchins to the popular Ribombee, Drampa lacking Focus Blast, and SDvally sets not named Silvally-Ground. However, there is one factor that might be the cause of this, and this is the high win rate of both Sandaconda and Quagsire, two Ground-types that are great switchins to Aggron. Head Smash doesn't do enough to either of them due to their resistance to the move, Heavy Slam is dangerous to be locked into due to a Steel resist being on almost every team, and, in the case of Sandaconda, Aqua Tail is equally dangerous due to the popularity of Water resists like Jellicent and Ferroseed. To add onto that, while Quagsire is seeing solid usage, Sandaconda's usage is actually higher than Aggron, which means, more often than not, you're running into a solid switchin to your Aggron. It's currently not very effective, but anything can change.

:whimsicott: :togedemaru: :archeops: :articuno-galar: :mesprit:
| 16 | Whimsicott | 6 | 12.00% | 66.67% |
| 16 | Togedemaru | 6 | 12.00% | 50.00% |
| 18 | Archeops | 5 | 10.00% | 40.00% |
| 18 | Articuno-Galar | 5 | 10.00% | 20.00% |
| 20 | Mesprit | 4 | 8.00% | 0.00% |

This may seem like an odd group of mons, but allow me to explain. These are all the A+ and A ranks currently below 20% in terms of usage. One would think that Whimsicott, Togedemaru, Archeops, Galarcuno, and Mesprit would see much higher usage due to their ranks, but for one reason or another have been left off of teams. Out of all of these mons, Whimsicott is the only one I would call an underrated pick base on this data, being highly effective with a 66.67% win rate (4 out of 6 Whimsicotts won). Despite that, the popularity of Ferroseed and Weezing must hurt it a bit, as well as competing with Tsareena for the role of an offensive Grass-type on teams, with both of them posting significant draws over the other. Ultimately, it seems that teams have liked Tsareena more, but I wouldn't count out Whimsicott yet.

From there, it gets more depressing. Togedemaru hasn't been bad, with a 50% win rate (3 out of 6 Togemarus won), but hazard stacking teams have been getting considering more popular ever since people realized "holy shit Ferroseed is really good", and having two Steels on a team clashes in terms of synergy. Choice Scarf sets have been seeing a resurgence due to the rise of Passimian, so there may be hope for the rat yet. Similarly, Archeops has been disappointing in both usage and win rate, posting a moderately low 40% win rate (2 out of 5 Archeops won). After being used 3 times during Week 1, it was silent during Weeks 2 and 3, before seeing usage once per week during Weeks 4 and 5. Like Togedemaru, it has been affected by Passimian rising, but in a negative way, as Archeops lost a solid partner in which it could spam U-turn with. Its downfalls such as 4MSS and low bulk do not do it any favors, and in a meta getting fatter by the week, a mon that hates chip damage and can be effectively dealt with in common mons like Ferroseed and Sandaconda, the bird is starting to lose its footing in the meta.

The last two are just kinda sad imo. Galarcuno was a very hyped drop when it first came in July, immediately gaining an A rank position (after a few weeks of being NEW) and recently rising to A+...which makes its low usage and even lower win rate all the more surprising. Not only in Galarcuno barely grasping to a 10% usage rate, its win rate is an extremely low 20% (1 out of every 5 Galarcunos won). I don't really use Galarcuno so I can't say exactly why this is, but if I had to guess, it would be more teams preferring consistency and fat more than ever right now. Galarcuno's main strategies involve either FS + breaker (and ever since Passimian left, Fighting-types aren't that popular) or FS + phazer (an inconsistent strategy but highly rewarding when it works), while its main STAB is a 70% accurate move with common resists in a tier where specially defensive walls are on almost every team due to the popularity of Drampa and Charizard, while fat balances have ways of dealing with it with Knock/Gigalith/standard chip. As for Mesprit, it has both the lowest usage and win rate out of all of these mons, boasting a 0% win rate (I think it's obvious how many Mesprit won here) and single digit usage rate. I'm not going to sit here and try to explain why I think this, because quite frankly, I'm not sure. I think Mesprit is pretty underrated with a wide variety of options at its disposal. Maybe someone who uses it more can explains its flaws, because I'm kinda stumped here.

:hattrem: :skuntank:
| 22 | Hattrem | 3 | 6.00% | 66.67% |
| 39 | Skuntank | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |

These two are the only UR mons to have won a game (RIP Pikachu, Mawile, and Duosion). Hattrem's niche may be a bit explanatory if you look at it. Magic Bounce, in a tier with low hazard removal options, is a boon for HO play styles like Grassy Terrain, defensive play styles like stall, and even some balances. It's been mildly effective in the games it has been in with a decent 66.67% win rate (2 out of 3 Hattrems won), and I hope to see more of the cute hat mon and experimentation of sets, such as RestTalk, Calm Mind, and Healing Wish. As for Skuntank, I personally think this mon is unviable, but clearly whomever used it thought otherwise. This is the replay showing Skuntank to its full potential on a stall team, where it got Tricked and clicked Foul Play 3 times, KOing a chipped Qwilifish while chipping Whimsicott. Judging from this, my guess is that it was a PhysDef set that compressed the roles of Toxic Spikes setter, Defogger, and secondary Ghost resist into one. I would say that Skuntank didn't really contribute that much, but the team worked so I guess I can't bash it too much.

:regirock: :cofagrigus: :hitmontop: :palossand: :trevenant: | :arctovish: :aromatisse: :claydol: :galvantula: :haunter: :kabutops: :lycanroc: :sandslash:

These are all the Pokemon ranked B or above that have not seen any usage so far, with a line separating the B ranks from everything else that's higher. Regirock is the one with the highest rank compared to the others, sitting at A-, but has bad matchups against a special heavy meta, with breakers like Drampa and Toxic Charizard being popular, and its inflexible moveset making it more susceptible to chip compared to Gigalith, where a well timed Tect and the small recovery of a free 6% can be the difference between life and death. Not having Sand also sucks. Cofagrigus is a bit baffling to me, considering it should be at least decent against the many fat teams popping up, with its ability to setup on Tsareena without Knock (and sometimes Tsareena with Knock depending on the set), and inability to be worn down with status because of Rest. But upon further thought, the popularity of Drampa and its ability to completely ruin Cofagrigus if it gets in safely does make Cofagrigus not as popular as it should be. Hitmontop is a very cool Fighting-type, with the unique combination of priority, solid coverage options in Earthquake and Triple Axel, and utility in Rapid Spin. However, it faces competition from Tsareena as a spinner, Gallade as a Fighting-type breaker, and being walled by the #1 most used mon, Weezing, means that Hitmontop can be seen as not worth it. Palossand is kinda like Cofagrigus in that it's underrated with unique role compression and options, but one look at the usage stats should indicate with Palossand isn't popular. Two out of the three most used mons take advantage of it (Tsareena and Ribombee), while simply being on the field creates a free turn for Drampa most of the time, which you do NOT want to do. Trevenant actually matches up well with the majority of the most used mons, breaking past Weezing with an item, Gigalith, and Quagsire while crippling Ferroseed with a Trick, and being able to tank a Tsar hit and kill it while having Drain Punch for Drampa. I think Trevenant's non-existent usage actually comes from the available counterplay to common cores (for example, WeezFerro cores can have Weezing go itemless, and suddenly it's harder for Trevenant to make progress), which ties back into what I said about consistency. Why use Trevenant, a powerful but mildly inconsistent breaker, over something like Ghostvally, a slightly less powerful but more consistent breaker? That question may answer itself, but that answer for all teams so far seems to be in favor of Ghostvally. As for the B ranks, there are so many of them that I really do not feel like typing about them, but their reasons for no usage should be similar to existent reasons (inconsistency, bad MU against fat, gives a powerful breaker a free turn, etc).

:basculin-blue-striped:
| 39 | Basculin-Blue-Striped | 1 | 2.00% | 100.00% |

Not sure who it was but thank you for using the superior Basculin sprite (and winning!)



Never know how to end these long posts so thanks for reading! Good luck to all PU players in SCL!
 
Last edited:

Hera

Make a move before they can make an act on you
is a Social Media Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
PUPL Champion
chlo vs Greybaum
termi vs Excal
TJ
vs Raiza
Sjneider vs tlenit
false
vs lax
 

Expulso

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chlo vs Greybaum
Termi vs Excal
TJ vs Raiza
Sjneider vs tlenit
False vs Lax
 

LNumbers

When it's all been said and done, I'm still my #1
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
chlo vs Greybaum
Termi vs Excal
TJ vs Raiza
Sjneider vs tlenit
False vs Lax
 

HANTSUKI

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week 8

PU: chlo vs TJ
PU: Sjneider vs termi
PU: z0mOG vs Greybaum
PU: xavgb vs Excal
PU: tlenit vs Specs
 

AM

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LCPL Champion
PU: chlo vs TJ
PU: Sjneider vs termi
PU: z0mOG vs Greybaum
PU: xavgb vs Excal
PU: tlenit vs Specs
 

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