Tournament SCL III LC Discussion Thread

Here's the the update for week 9/the final week of regular season! Pairings for the week are:

SHOGUNS (Eniigma) v (Scottie) PLATOON
DYNAMOS (tko) v (Éric) FOXES
TERRORS (wesh papillon) v (Lokifan) ISLANDERS
GIBLES (dcae) v (babyboyblues) BREAKERS
MACHINES (Elfuseon) v (goldenghost) SPARTANS




It's been two months since the tour's started and we're finally at the beginning of the end! Four of these teams will go out and the rest continue to play in 2 more weeks of games. As it stands, the Dynamos are the first team out so condolences to tko/coll, who've been great to watch and will soon be joined by 3 more pairs....

Conversely, we get at least one more week of Scottie gaming alongside the Laroxyl/wesh papillon pair as the Platoons and Terrors are guaranteed in. I can't say much about the rest for now since 3rd and 4th are still up for grabs, but I sure I can say more about week 7's games!

Week 8 Recap!

[SPA] Wail Wailord vs cleann [GIB]
The two remaining winless slots finally paired up for what might be the most underwhelming game of the season. Wail kind of loses on matchup alone, and I'm not the biggest fan of loading poisonless teams when glimmet is everywhere. Wail does prevent rocks from getting up though, but trying to taunt the Vull, not getting Flame Body burns, and getting his own Vull poisoned just meant no shot at winning. I like cleann's play though, definitely improved a lot from zero (?) knowledge in the tier to be decently capable! Props to the Gibles finally grabbing a win in this slot.
[TMS] Elfuseon vs wesh papillon [TER]
Pap finally gets his first shot at SCL gaming as Laro decides to take a whirl in OU (!), and it's vs Elfu who's been fixing up the lackings in this slot for the Machines. Pap decides to finally no longer discredit the balloon and opt for a team revolving around hazard stack + weakness policy Drifloon, while Elfu opts for the tried and tested core of Toedscool + Larvesta with a Diglett-Alola for extra breaking. It kind of goes south for Pap when he gets Spored trying to bait a Knock Off to setup Weakness Policy, from which max sleep kind of means the balloon does fuck all. Getting spored again on the Vull and sacking it eventually just leads to Pap's team being worn down and Elfu pulling a pretty decent win that might've been closer without getting those sleep turns.
[BRE] tazz vs Eniigma [SHO]
A pretty fire matchup between two of the better performing LC circuit players really delivered here (for the spectators at least!). Eniigma's team looks kind of bad, featuring Nymble and Koffing (which just doesn't seem to perform), while tazz has Numel and the other big 5. The big turns early on come in with tazz letting his foongus get knocked early, and eniigma revealing his Koffing to have Tera Ground as he KOs Voltorb. He chunks Numel too next turn with Tera Ground Blast, which is a little rough for tazz. It gets worse for the latter as Mudbray reveals RestTalk, and rolls a presumably max roll Earthquake on Foongus to KO it. Admittedly, while statistically safe to stay in, probably going Mienfoo to knock it before attacking during a different sleep turn with might've been a safer path to avoid the risk. Anyway, Mudbray keeps rolling everything it needs to win and making tazz and the breakers' chances at playoffs a little harder as the shoguns go on to win the week.
[PLA] Scottie vs tko [DYN]
I have to admit, this game had me on the edge of my seat. Scottie continues his hot run as the only undefeated LC player in the tour, and tko's been surprising everyone with a higher level of play than one might've assumed if they were only familiar with his game via LCPL. Scottie's team is super interesting. bringing the 2nd Zorua-Hisui of the week (funny sidenote: it's really amusing how many coincidental same ideas popped up weekly), and with his past few games no one should be surprised if it's an unexpected set. I think tko plays this game really well, forcing osh to react a lot more than in some of the other SCL games up to this point. Tera Electric Vullaby is a good tera for this game as it outlasts Wattrel a bit better than Ground Vullaby with its continued resistance to Elec/Flying. Ultimately the game looks won for tko, as he looks comfortably in a position to beat osh's remaining team, but of course the perfect set ends up being Scarf Zorua, which just steamrolls with Shadow Ball from there and keeps Scottie unbeaten for the 7th week in a row.

PS. During the process of this writeup the tazz v osh seasonal game revealed the Scarf Zorua to be Tera Fairy with Trick, which is kinda heat.
[FOX] Éric vs Hacker [ISL]
Chronologically the first Zorua-H game this week, Eric loads the fun mon vs Hacker's uh, overcooked team. In an incredibly funny turn 1 that people haven't seen in a while, a Zorua fools someone as Eric burns a Foo that clicks Fake Out and fails...and it keeps putting in more work by burning Hacker's Vullaby too! From there Eric just finds a way to keep pressure on Hacker, getting 3 spikes up in exchange for using his tera to KO goth and setup hazards on resttalk Mudbray. This is by far and away one of Eric's cleaner games as he just cooks Hacker, although you gotta wonder if it might've been closer with a less absurd team (Koffing remains fraud!).

BONUS GAME(S):

[TMS] Isza vs Laroxyl [TER]
Laro decides to play OU for fun this week, as Terrors are secure in their qualified spot and opted for a lineup swap. Grassy Terrain HO is dominant during the time of the game, with Sneasler being a big threat for most teams and that's what Isza loads, while Laro brings a very safe Clef/Ghold/Zap balance. Things honestly looked dire early on for Laro, as Tera Ogerpon kind of owns him taking out CInderace while chipping Zapdos big time. The real kicker comes in as Laro finds a way to force a great comeback, making Isza continually switch on a layer of Spikes and Rocks eventually adds up as he pulls off a great win in his first official OU tour game. He's now playing again this week, so can he do it again?
[FOX] Drifting vs Wolf [ISL]
Drifting found a way to bomb a game he should've won, this was so sad to watch :( Sorry Drifting fans, see you next week!


Drop your predicts below! Will Scottie finally take an L this week before regular season? Who are the last few LCers going into playoffs? Will the goat Lokifan finally show us why he should've started ages ago?.... Here's to the last regular week! See you next week for playoff talk and a retrospective on the regular season![/SPOILER]
 
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gonna do the three games im missing in one post
[Gen 9] LC: Laroxyl vs. eric versusツ - Replays - Pokémon Showdown! (pokemonshowdown.com)
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i wanted to use adig this week, as its a very strong mon imo and, from my tests w laro, he didnt use toed that much to begin with. drifting offered to build a team, but i didnt really like it (i felt it was kinda too weak to voltorb goth), so jc suggested using stunky and wattrel instead and i loved it.
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i saw this and i thought "shit, hes got an adig too". both our digletts destroyed each others team, so the difference would be which team supported it better. i thought my wattrel matched up super well into laros team but diglett (the biggest threat), but i felt more comfortable because my stunky could revenge kill it if needed
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after exchanging knocks with our lead mienfoos (i didnt need evio here bc dig 2hkoes anyway and i wall voltorb with watt, and knocking opp foo could go a long way) i decided to stay in and hjk the mienfoo. i thought, since my foo check here would be either vull or watt, he wouldnt go to foongus. whats more, going watt on a uturn would be deadly to me this early on, as it would mean his diglett gets a free kill. he ended up going vull which allowed me to make a lot of progress, even if he uturns as he did.
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many people criticized me for burning tera this early, but i disagree. no other tera felt as immediately good as resisting an attack from dig and knocking it off. this was the number one threat on laros team, and disabling it in turn 4 would be perfect. he ends up revealing sub, which works out for me as well, since he reveals he lacks an attack (if i had to guess, either sucker or iron head. i also decide to set rocks up next turn, as i think the only world in which this tink attacks is one where he switches out bc he lacks iron head, and i wanna take advantage of that.
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yes, i was sucker and yes, it killed here. however, i didnt wanna get parad this early if i could help it, especially having the games best voltorb check in the back. i also thought about double eqing predicting the double but i felt that was unnecessarily risky, so i just went wattrel and dealt with the issue.
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he makes an amazing play here and goes diglett, not immediately, but when i felt comfortable enough to roost. i decide to go stunky here because theres a high chance he rock blasts and i get out of this situation without any death. i didnt think i could let my wattrel die, as it was what held my team together against mienfoo and especially voltorb.
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i finally decided to take a risk and sucker here. there were many reasons for this: i switched out last time, so maybe he felt comfortable, tera blast tera fire/ice was definitely a play here for him, and a double was also an option. i decided 30% is not bad odds and probs itd come down to it anyway. he ends up going diglett, and i made a mistake i still regret:
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i decided to risk it and play the tie here. im aware i have sucker, but i did think i was screwed if he subbed. i didnt have much timer to calc this, so i dont hate myself or anything for not realizing, but sucker was a guaranteed win. a sub would leave him with only 2 hp left, which would mean i go tink into mienfoo and nothing dies. best case he attacks and dies obviously. eq tie was a 50% chance instead of 100% from sucker, but i admittedly didnt know that atp. game ended here for whoever lost the tie, which was me of course. it happens, but at least this was honestly an amazing game to witness, and i do think we both played incredibly well. this was probs the game i most enjoyed this season, ggs to my pokebro laro
[Gen 9] LC: eric versusツ vs. Hacker - Replays - Pokémon Showdown! (pokemonshowdown.com)
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he had been using scarf mienfoo for two weeks straight, and zorua was a mon i felt since the beginning was good and deserved the usage it wasnt getting. its really funny that in this week both scottie and i decided to use it in scl, and corck also used it in lpl, all of us with a different set, and all won. makes u think.
anyway, i had realized earlier in the season wisp from zorua was incredibly difficult to switch into (i got eliminated from last chance bc of one), and i decided to pair it with 1. spikes that it can even spinblock and 2. status (sludge bomb poison, spore, static para and toxic debris). scarf vull rounds this team off because i felt like i needed a guaranteed mienfoo kill, and also a bit of speed wouldnt hurt
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it felt sketchy ngl. i was honestly glad i had brought zorua with spikes, but i had to be weary of potential demon shellos or scarf bray. one of them was gonna be the rocker of course, but either one could win if i wasnt careful. i felt like i needed to stack as many hazards as possible, set tspikes if that bray reveals rocks and preserve vull with my life if what reveals them is the shellos.
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the funny turn. i honestly thought this was a possibility, and even if he just uturns like a normal person id have an advantage. him using fake out gave me a shit ton of both momentum, as it allowed to 1. know this is a slow foo, 2. burn and knock the mienfoo and 3. burn the vullaby (in no world he just gives me the mienfoo to a hex when he can just avoid it). massive advantage, but i couldnt let my guard down.
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i went vull on the opp vull as i would appreciate it if he knocked the scarf off, and also it was a more proactive switch in than glimmet atp, which was also as fine a play tbh.
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he uturns into shellos, which makes me go to foongus to deal with it as he rocks. im relieved, bc i dont need to worry about it anymore, and i do make a tiny mistake here. i lose a bit of momentum as i spore into the vullaby, but it allows me to go glimmet anyway and set my rocks and spikes so its not that bad.
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after thinking about it, literally no other tera was as useful in this matchup as this thing, not only surviving, but getting rocks and spikes up. he did go mudbray on my spike tho, and there i definitely misplayed. i decided to take immediate damage on it (being possibly scarf) instead of just setting up more spikes. idk, i thought the bit of damage sludge provided immediately was good, but it obviously is way worse than the same damage that the second spike would get, not even talking about the third. thankfully, it revealed to be restalk, so i got all spikes and basically just won there with the zorua and the scarf vullaby.
i did admittedly get a good matchup, but lets just attribute that to flawless prep (i would). ggs to hacker, its always a pleasure to play him
[Gen 9] LC: tko vs. eric versusツ - Replays - Pokémon Showdown! (pokemonshowdown.com)
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i wanted to use numel this week, as i think its a good, fire resists shine for the absence and it can help check stuff like the electrics, while providing wisp support. i decided to use some other techs this week, like evio vull without spin to help check opposing mienfoo and vull, alongside fairy voltorb and power gem glimmet for the same purpose, while using french foongus to get the jump on opposing foongus, which im kinda weak to.
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i knew what i was gonna get into beforehand. the tkos were out of playoffs race by week 7, and i knew tko loved this axew team from tests. i came prepared tho, fairy voltorb coupled w numel was supposed to smash this. however, he decided to switch up axew for gible. it makes sense, axew sucks and it never did anything, but this was bad for me. sd scale shot gible was super scary to since the beginning, especially coupled with shellder. i decided my play vs gible would be 1. pray and 2. either kill glimm early w numel (which burns gible) and get tspikes or put it in range of fairy blast with only two rounds of rocks. against shellder, just get kills with special attackers, or try to have foongus always available at full health. difficult task but ive seen worse ig
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i lead with numel because it would burn the gible or force the glimmet to either only get one layer or deny my flame charge. it was sadly sash, so it did do both.
i decided to kill the glimmet with earth power to avoid a tspikes, but i wonder if taking it for the price of having a 14 speed numel was any good. i dont think so but id love to read your opinions on this (or whatever else you guys have to say).
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he went gible and, since i was at -2 speed, i decided to earth power insted of wisp, as i thought it had no reason not to run sub. i do not regret doing this, even if i know now its endure lol like theres no way id ever expect that.
anyway, after my numel inevitably died, i now had to deal with a +2 +1 gible. only two mons on my team were able to take on that: foongus and mienfoo. as i said earlier, i needed foongus at full health so i went mienfoo. yes, it was risky if gible had any anti-mienfoo defensive or offensive tera, but idt i could realistically do anything else. luckily for me, he only got two scale shot hits, but he shouldve endured for starters anyway to leave me in range of eq, so it evens out for my sucker dig misplay vs laro. yes, i obviously lost if he got more hits, but he also won 100% instead of 90% if he just used endure, so it is what it is.
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when gible died, he did go to offensive threat #2, which i did knock for easier checking. i sacrificed mienfoo here, but in hindsight vullaby was a better sacrifice. yes, my shellder check is at full, with tera available for me and unavailable for him, and with evio, but in case anything goes wrong, mienfoos fake out is way better in this matchup than vullabys... nothing.
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so this play has been critized, and i get it. ive been told "just tera", but the thing is i didnt want this thing terad. im tera water, and my decicated voltorb check being a water type, to me, means that i lose. yes, glimmet takes a hit, but it also needs to deal with vullaby and drifloon lowering its health. they could be dark pulse and hex for all i know, and even flying moves just hurt enough. i dont wanna play voltorb v voltorb games, and so i didnt tera. whats more, i dont think ice spear was ever what he was gonna do. in his mind, probs the thoughts of tera water and tera steel are crossing. he already has to decide, depending on his set, between rock blast, liquidation and icicle spear. he could even protect or sub too, to scout my tera. i decided my best shot at winning was just using giga, and thats what i did, and it paid off big time.
after that, i just had to make sure i never lost, only using sludge bomb with my glimmet and taking the game.
this game was a rollercoaster, and it probably shouldnt have been as close as it was. ggs to tko, you shouldve taken this one.
now i wanna get my shoutouts round, since the scl season just ended. i had an absolute blast this tour, playing under this much pressure is horrible and the best thing ever at the same time. since the start i knew i could do well, and 6-3 is something im proud of, even if the games werent as perfect as id hoped them to be. thanks Raptor and njnp for believing in me and allowing me to play, even if raptor is just a weeb who got me for the memories hes so wholesome and i loved every second of him reacting in the game discussion channel. huge s/os as well to hariyana grande and Carkoala for both being good teammates who recommended me, especially carkoala who already knew me as the reactions guy. sorry i couldnt help in your slots idk shit about ou/uu lmao. also to boulicrok (who i cant tag fsr) for believing in me since the start, recommending me and being so good at mario kart. ily bud

i also wanna thank all of my teammates, especially those who i got to talk more with, like Thiago Nunes the goat, Togkey who wont read this but i loved your bits of help in my channel and Ann Akaru Kokuyo por putos (el canal de dou era mi favorito de todo el server).

special shoutous as well to all my tests partners Laroxyl tazz babyboyblues tko goldenghost Lokifan. yes, this is pretty much the entire pool, but you guys were all helpful and i hope i was as well to you, except bbb who i only tagged to annoy.

shoutouts to all my supporters like DC sometimes, Daruma and ojr always, and everyone else who actively or passively cheered for me. it feels really nice to play when you know theres people that are happy when you win. stan twice.

thanks from the bottom of my heart to daunt vs whos a bitch but i love so much, and was so helpful when building with little quirky things about ev spreads, and always making sure my team was optimal. i would never be here if it wasnt for you, and i absolutely hate you for avoiding me when im in your city. also s/os JuanSG jcbc Mike Cometa por aguantarme este tiempo lol

lastly, special shoutouts to Drifting. you guys all clowned on him when the season started, and he not only took it, but made sure to always be helpful to me. he built with me, he tested a lot, he did everything he could, even helping other slots. i appreciate you so much pokebro, wouldnt have changed my lc partner at all. thats it, see you in lcwc
 
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PLAYOFF SEASON BABY! CONGRATS TO THE TEAMS THAT MADE IT TO SEMIS! Pairings for the week are:

GIBLES (ninjadog) v (Scottie) PLATOON

TERRORS (laroxyl) v (Hacker) ISLANDERS



It's been a fun regular season to watch, with our pool popping the fuck off not only in LC but even racking a few wins across some other tiers too. The final 4 are now here, consisting of the guy who went undefeated, another guy fresh off a tierlock, a guy who went 2-0 in OU for fun and a guy formerly named door money.

That being said,

Week 9 Recap!

[SHO] Eniigma vs Scottie [PLA]
Shoguns' playoff contention hinged on the performance of other team, and a must win week vs the undisputed number 1 seed in Platoons. Eniigma unfortunately has to close his season out vs number 1 LCer in the tour Scottie, with an upset looking more unlikely with each week for the latter. Either way, Eniigma finally loads something he's more known for, like Houndoom to play into Osh's safe looking builds packed with a surprise. This week's one is Choice Scarf (Band?) Mienfoo, based on the damage rolls and the CC/HJK combo, which kind of owned long term anyway into this type of build. Without much of a reasonable structure to play against Osh's team other than a good pick in Balloon Dig-A this was never a winning matchup for Eniigma without a big choke.
[DYN] tko vs Éric [FOX]
Dynamos' season was over going into this, but they somehow found themselves 5-0 up at the time of this game. Eric's team desperately needs to tie to keep Foxes in after a much better season than anyone predicted after the draft ended. In a pretty unremarkable game, tko's gible failing to roll enough on scale shot ultimately lets Eric win, but ultimately the Foxes' hopes would be dashed one game later as they lost the week and ended their season. Hats off though to the Eric+Drifting duo, y'all did better than anyone would've thought and you deserve the plaudits for sure.
[TER] wesh papillon vs Lokifan [ISL]
Pap gets one more week of game time as Laro continues to farm OU for fun, while Islanders FINALLY free Lokifan. Pap's double steel should have some good outs into Loki's semi-hail team, and the initial sequence of turns has Loki force a Tera to preserve his Mienfoo vs Pap's Gothita (with an unseen Tera Ground), and then manages to force Pap to sack his Mienfoo. Pap's +2 Pawniard manages to flinch Foongus afterwards, and kind of actually just threatens to chunk the team — but he switches for some reason as the Mienfoo comes in (presumably keeping his tera to play Sandshrew instead of attempt to Pawn sweep?). He does in fact do that, but not much comes of it as Water Tera makes his Foongus matchup worse and once Pawn gets sacked there's not much he can do to force his way through the remainder of Lokifan's team. A win here eventually contributes to a week win for the Islanders who lock a playoff slot, and ironically must repeat the week vs the Terrors (but with the starters back in this tier).
[GIB] cleann vs babyboyblues [BRE]
BBB subs in for tazz, as the Breakers have stopped caring having been eliminated. While the rest of the team has general apathy and basically handed the week to Gibles, this game had real effort put into being legitimate. BBB's team is a double ground structure, while cleann brings a double flying goth core. Arguably, cleann could've had clean(n)er (i resisted a pun for too many weeks) turns and potentially won, an early Tera might've been his undoing in the long run as bbb had electric Vullaby to handle Wattrel. BBB ultimately does get the win off being able to play the matchup better, racking up chip and using Tera more advantageously. Gibles ultimately make it in, and cleann will now go to other flop slot in the Gibles lineup (RU), while veteran LCer ninjadog comes free from tierlock to play Osh in what we can only hope is as hype as we think.
[TMS] Elfuseon vs goldenghost [SPA]
You gotta be happy for ksg who gets his first win and only win this season (in LC, don't forget his PU arc!!). Elfuseon brings a week 1 Hail team, presumably thinking Machines had it in the bag...which aged poorly as they imploded a near lock slot for 4th seed playing an eliminated Spartans. A good tera steel stops a tera ice Sandshrew wreaking havoc, and from there it's not really much to say as Elfu's team lacks strong outs into the rest of ksg's team, with the loss ultimately contributing to the Machines' exit from SCL.

BONUS GAME(S):
[DYN] BIHI vs Drifting [FOX]
drifting earns a deserved spot on the bumwatch list for choking a 3rd OU game :(

[TER] Laroxyl vs Rubyblood [ISL]
Laro continues to be on form playing one of the better OUers in the pool in Rubyblood. A few unlucky series of paralyzes from Zapdos' Static looked likely to cost Laro the game, but his Grassy Terrain offense team managed to pull a good comeback with some well timed Ogerpon turns (and some worse misplays from Rubyblood, who ultimately blames a meaningless crit as he loses). Shame we won't see Laro continue OU for fun, but the LC fans will be happy to see him back in the field here as he plays Hacker in the playoffs version of Terrors vs Islanders.
Click to expand...

Drop your predicts below! Which two LCers make it to finals? Will ninjadog suddenly show up osh without any games played in this tier? Will Hacker outshine Lokifan and beat Laro in the same matchup?

Also, how do you feel about your PRs before the start of the season vs the end now? What would you revise? Discuss away folks, see you when finals goes up (or if I have time I'll make a stat breakdown of the season before then...)
 
ninjadog vs scottie: i am a ninja fan. in fact, when i made my prs back before draft even happened, i had him in the top 5, before realizing he sadly locked out of lc. i also am not one of those to think not having played in month=bad, but going against 9-0 scottie, who i already thought was the best ss lc player and seems to be continuing that title, is tough. dont get me wrong, im super excited for this matchup. im sure ninja has been following this tier, at least his lc slot (specially after the multiple subs had to happen), so im positive it will be closer than some might think, and i wouldnt be surprised if ninja takes it.

laroxyl vs hacker: laro is on fire right now. i dont remember him having a particularly good lcpl, and i did admittedly put him in a bottom spot in my prs (because i didnt think him pairing with pap as a builder would work, which was clearly wrong), but he has been playing so well, with such solid teams, i think he will be hard to stop. on the other hand, i havent been all that impressed by hackers builds lately. i became a hackerer (from the official hacker fan club) in lcpl after seeing him work, but in scl weve seen teams that were at least not immediately good to an outsider eye. he has been playing well tho, i do remember his scarf mienfoo games which i really liked how he set it up. however going against who id say is one of the most solid svlcers rn will be tough, and i think laro will put up to his reputation
 
TIEBREAKER TIME! Pairings for the tiebreak are:

GIBLES (ninjadog) v (Scottie) PLATOON

TERRORS (laroxyl) v (Hacker) ISLANDERS


You gotta love to see it....both semi-final matchups ended in 5-5 result and it means this week is now tiebreaker week. Platoons opted for the OU/PU/LC tiebreaker, giving Osh a chance to potentially outdo Lavos' (yes, that one) record. A little disappointed to see LC wasn't picked by the Terrors, given that Laro is 8-2 but we can't deny their OU/UU/DOU selections are strong as well.

Semi-Finals Recap!

[PLA] Scottie vs ninjadog [GIB]
Ninjadog is now free to salvage the Gibles' LC slot, having been tier locked during regular season. The ever-dominant Osh is fresh off an undefeated regular season, so it's do-or-die time for the Gibles to figure something out here. Ninja brings screens HO, which seems reasonable when your opponent's been bringing fairly standard balance type teams. Osh's brought Zorua-Hisui again, alongside double flying and double poison, including Foongus and Wattrel which'll help into Shellder (which looks very dangerous here).

Osh's t2 letting Glimmet take too much from Steel Beam potentially has him on track to lose the game, but he preserves it as he switches to Mienfoo which lets Ninja setup Shellder. Foongus has to Tera Steel to Spore or Giga Drain Shellder, but the Protect lets Ninja scout. Osh's Glim sack opens up a toxic spike, and the Shellder switches out (presumably being Rock Blast/Icicle Spear without Liquidation). Numel comes in next and grabs a kill in Vullaby, before being put on low with Hex from a Zorua. Said Zorua burns Vullaby, only to have the bird reveal special, which turns Electric once Wattrel comes in. Osh definitely gets lucky in this moment, hitting a Hurricane and confuse inflicting damage to keep Vull low and killed by a second Hurricane, which dashes Ninja's comeback as the former remains undefeated. Given how close it was here, the tiebreak might be even more intriguing as the Platoons feel confident in their dominant LC slot to guarantee their chances.
[TER] Hacker vs Laroxyl [ISL]
Terrors are down 0-3 when this game goes up, with Laro on pressure to deliver a win and put the Terrors' finals hopes alive. Hacker returns to this slot after trading with Lokifan in the same series the week before, looking to re-establish why he's the starter as the Islanders look to try and wrap up the week fast. Hacker's double ground + electric pivot has a good matchup into Laroxyl's team.

It already gets tough for Laro as Hacker's Vullaby highrolls a Knock Off, but gets Rocks up. After forcing Diglett to take a Brave Bird, Hacker sends out Vullaby again to Defog and get his own rocks up not too long after. Turn 14 sees Hacker use his Tera as Fire Voltorb is strong now to remove the Foongus and Magnemite. Hacker has no trouble forcing some pressure and a kill with it, taking out Laro's Mudbray, and knocks the Foongus in exchange for getting Spored. Laro plays around some clever Regenerator doubling to claim a KO back, before getting flinched on Mienfoo and forced to sack Foongus after. Scarf Mag then puts Voltorb juust low enough as Laro trades to let Vullaby come in, and a lucky 2-turn sleep and no poison means he's eventually 1 on 1 with Voltorb. Tera Electric and some spdef investment then seals the deal as Laro finally starts the Terrors comeback, who would eventually tie as well in this series.


Not much else to say this week, dramatic pause before we enter finals (obviously drop your predicts before that...) and we'll see you next week for tiebreak recaps + rooting for the final pairing!!
 
WE'RE AT THE END! The pairing for the final LC game of Smogon Champions League III is....

GIBLES (ninjadog) v (Hacker) ISLANDERS

Good luck to both these players and their teams! Here's to hoping for an exciting final on what's been a fun LC season to cover.



Tiebreaker Recap!

[PLA] Scottie vs ninjadog [GIB]

In a thrilling tiebreak series, Osh's team is down 0-1 and the Platoons look to him to continue being invincible versus the (near) winless slot.

Ninja opts not to cheese in the rematch, bringing the triple poison + remover Toed, aiming to play the hazard game as Osh hasn't brought notable removal all season. On the flip side, Osh's team is featuring Shellder again, which seems like it might be threatening into the matchup.

Turn 5-7 the hazard stack starts while Osh tries to chip down Glimmet with his Vullaby, before revealing Defog (seasonal watchers may have caught this detail watching him reuse the SCL teams) and taking out Glimmet. Ninja's Stunky comes in as Osh trades for some chip, and a Gunk Shot miss effectively ends the game for Ninja on the spot as Shellder sets up and sweeps, revealing an unprecedented clever Tera Fighting on a good predict vs Steel Foo to wrap it up. Unfortunately while this win kept the Platoon's hopes alive a little longer, OU tier leader Finchinator would eventually lose his set and Gibles end up in the finals. Big shame too, as we won't see a Osh-Laro rematch (the two best records of the tour). Osh does end at an insane 11-0, which is tied best individual record in an official team tour, a crazy statistic and one that's absolutely deserved.

Drop your final predict, and thanks for following along with my coverage, see y'all next year (or in DLC2 and LCWC, which is basically next year if you ignore the next 2 weeks!)

i will add a recap to slander Hacker if he loses though ;)
 
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