Tournament SCL III RU Discussion and Replays

[Ampha]

OP taken from all the different variations of this thread
Approved by Feliburn

​

Welcome to the Smogon Champions League 3 Discussion Thread -- RU edition! This thread will be used to discuss RU in SCL II related topics, whether it’s about the players, general metagame trends, matches, predictions and so on. Teams, Replays, and Usage Stats can be found [SOON].

Commencement
Schedule

RU Players Cores (starters in bold, manager support in italic)
Orange Islanders -- robjr, pdt, Dugza, Danny
Uncharted Terrors -- Feliburn, Sensei Axew, Meru, Inder
Circuit Breakers -- eifo, Nat, umbry, gum, ishtar, Lunala
Power Plant Dynamos -- Beraldo
Showdown Shoguns -- bb skarm, Zs, feen, LpZ
Indigo Platoon -- Ajna, McMeghan, Finchinator, starmaster
Arena Spartans -- TheFranklin, Sage, Vulpix03
Technical Machines -- Expulso, Guille, Punny
Mt. Silver Foxes -- Floss, mncmt, Thiago Nunes, Togkey, hariyana grande
Studio Gible -- Goldcat, Clementine

Power Rankings

Replays

week 1

[ISL] robjr vs Mashing [DYN]
[BRE] eifo vs JustFranco [TMS]
[PLA] Ajna vs GoldCat [GIB]
[FOX] Floss vs bb skarm [SHO]
[TER] Feliburn vs TheFranklin [SPA]

week 2

[SPA] TheFranklin vs eifo [BRE]
[SHO] bb skarm vs robjr [ISL]
[GIB] Goldcat vs Floss [FOX]
[TMS] JustFranco vs Ajna [PLA]
[DYN] Beraldo vs Feliburn [TER]

week 3

[ISL] robjr vs GoldCat [GIB]
[PLA] Ajna vs TheFranklin [SPA]
[FOX] Floss vs JustFranco [TMS]
[TER] Feliburn vs eifo [BRE]
[DYN] Beraldo vs bb skarm [SHO]

 

[Beraldo]

hello, I will be making an RU SCL Power Ranking to get some movement in this thread. Idk if other people will do it as well but it would be fun to see other opinions ofc

1. Uncharted Terrors -- Feliburn, Sensei Axew, Meru, Inder

some ppl may disagree about putting feli above franklin, but feli is in a really good momentum after winning uu open and he has also been enjoying the current metagame, which is huge for him. Also, I am pretty sure he will be able to catch the flow of the new metagame when the quickdrops happen, so he will do his stuff to get an advantage on new meta. About his support, I don't know how much Ryan and Meru will care in this slot, but they're certainly able to provide good feedbacks, and I think avarice and shiloh may be able to help here as well. Anyway, imo Feli has everything he needs to outperform in this RU pool, and that's p much the reason I am putting him above everyone

2. Arena Spartans -- TheFranklin, Sage, Vulpix03

Franklin is obviously one of the strongest names in RU and has been like this for years. However, I have not really been impressed by his games lately, which is one of the reasons that led me to put Feli over him. Anyway, he will be pretty fine prep wise, mainly with sage and pix as his supports, which is rly good. Expecting another great season from Franklin ofc

3. Indigo Platoon -- Ajna, McMeghan, Finchinator, starmaster

Even though Ajna insists on saying that he's washed, I still think he's locked on top 3 of this pool, and I am pretty sure he will perform well as long as he doesn't tilt with the state of the tier. I don't know how much support he will receive from roro, but I have heard he is really tryhard on prep, so it might be p interesting to see how things will go here. I don't think Ajna should be placed above franklin/feli by any means, but I also don't think he should be placed below all the rest of the pool, so 3rd is a good place for him and I would expect him to go something like 6-3 for sure

4. Mt. Silver Foxes -- Floss, mncmt, Thiago Nunes, Togkey, hariyana grande

Floss had an amazing start in last year's scl but ended up dropping the ball midway. I am expecting that he will get a similar record from last year, but maybe 5-4 instead of 4-5. He doesn't have a lot of support, but Togkey and Nunes might be able to give some good feedbacks for him. Anyway I don't think anyone else should be ranked above him except the 3 prior mentioned guys, but Floss knows what he is doing and he surely has the potential to perform better than I am expecting

5. Orange Islanders -- robjr, pdt, Dugza

robjr is a tour player who can play anything at a solid level, and I am ranking him above the rest because he has a lot of experience in official tournaments and has a great support option mainly on PDT, but DugZa and Danny may be able to help here as well, so I don't think rob will suffer with lack of good teams. I think robjr's experience will count a lot and I don't think anyone would expect him to underperform in this pool, so 5th seems very fair to me

6. Studio Gible -- Goldcat, Clementine

Although it is Goldcat's officials debut and don't really having solid support, even tho I think clem, mind gaming, and the managers will help here as well, I still have more expectations on him than the bottom 3, mainly because he has been following the metagame since its beginning and he seems to enjoy the generation as a whole, which is a positive point for him. I also think his unpredictability on prep is a huge point that might lead him to get some unexpected wins during the tournament

7. Circuit Breakers -- eifo, Nat, umbry, gum, ishtar, Lunala

I am putting eifo below Goldcat mostly because I know eifo is not the biggest fan of the current metagame and generation and I think goldcat will be less dependent on his team support, but I still think he should be ranked higher than last two because he is way more involved with the tier as a council member. Even though eifo is a really solid builder, he might find trouble to build teams that he is comfortable with due to the current state of chaos in the tier. However, as a positive point, eifo has a lot of support, which means they will help him to make something good and that he is comfortable with piloting. Anyway, I am a big fan of eifo and I am really excited to see how he will perform on this tour

8. Showdown Shoguns -- bb skarm, Zs, feen, LpZ

bb skarm made a solid run in last year's SCL and has made playoffs in this year's grand slam, which shows that he's a solid player and is able to pull up good results. Despite not being too much involved with the tier as a player since he has only managed both rupl and ruwc, I am pretty sure he will adapt to this tier with ease. However, I think skarm will be a bit dependent on his teammates to be able to perform well, and his support options don't seem to be the best. Anyway, skarm is a solid player and I really hope he ends the tournament with a good record

9. Technical Machines -- Expulso, Guille, Punny

I don't know what to say really. Expulso has literally no results in SV and even though Guille and Punny are good support options, I don't think it would put him above all the rest. Definitely not someone to underestimate at all since he has already proven that he is a solid player overall, but I can't put him higher than anyone on this list Apparently JustFranco will start over Expulso, but it doesn't change anything in my rankings



Good luck everyone! I hope we all have a great tournament :))

 

[Astrø]

The pool looks extremely stacked this year, plus we finally got our favorite Scandinavians woohoo.
I'm not gonna do rankings because I haven't watched much of y'all this year but I felt like sharing my thoughts on the different players was a cool thing (I'm just too lazy to actually think about a real order):


-> Beware of Ajna. It may sound like a surprise to absolutely nobody who has watched at least 3 games of RU in the 2020s but it looks like Ajna's coming back at it crazily with his recent win in Pentathlon. Despite me not knowing anything about his motivation nor how much does he like the tier, I don't think I'm taking any risk by saying that there's huge chances he goes extra positive, taking into account McMeghan's possible support too. So yeah, Ajna is good at the game I guess.
-> I expected him to start in UU, but he ends up here (and trust me I certainly won't complain about it), here goes the brave bird Skarm. Even though, as for Ajna's, I don't know much about his motivation, he's a solid and versatile player whom we shouldn't sleep on. His Slam run proved that he's been stepping up this year and I wouldn't be surprised if we see him ending positive. I don't think he's gonna stay in RU for the whole tour though but I can only hope to see enjoyable and great games from him. YALLAH DC <3
-> Beraldo. No need to go further.
-> Glad to see eifo here but I haven't seen him play a single SV game so idk what else to say, he's a very solid player who has the experience of officials, and from what I've seen he looks motivated so I'll keep an eye on him, hope you will prove me right bro.
-> I remember Expulso was a pure beast in SS, but in SV... I don't know, probably the player I know the less among all them. However, nothing tells me that with a decent support he can't come out of nowhere and go beyond my expectations, the thing is that I just don't expect him to go crazy this season. I still wish him well though because I love surprises!
-> Ok seriously though, let's get back to Beraldo. Am I expecting him to do great? Well, kind of. He's a pretty good builder who can perform almost everywhere and I think this is what can make the difference here, his building inspiration showed almost no limits last SCL (even if it's another gen it seems like he hasn't lost it yet) and I'm curious to know what will he cook during this season. VAMOS IRMÃOOOO
-> I'm going to be honest, I think Feli and Franklin are ex-aequo the best players of the pool. They've been at the top of the mountain for a good year and a half now and I don't see how could it possibly change. Both experienced players with high quality buildings and great in-game skills, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up being MVP of the season in RU. And yeah I'm putting them two at once because I just don't know who's gonna do better lol.
-> Floss knows how to play the game and loads fire teams, couldn't ask for much else. Definitely a top 4.
-> I've always been a fan of the Guldkatt, especially of his ability to be a difficult player to prep for and his... original stalls. I'm just worried about him having a potential pressure on the shoulders, but I'm pretty hyped to see him play because he deserved a lot to get here. Hope his great regularity will pay off.
-> I don't know much about robjr honestly, sorry. I just know he's a very solid lower tier player overall that should have a great backup with pdt/Dugza/Danny behind preps, which should be sufficient for him to perform thanks to his great experience. I would see him going neutral minimum ngl.


I think that's it, I didn't even try to be objective tbh I just wanted to share my thoughts because I really like how is this pool showing up yet, and I hope we will have a great season to watch together (I just hope I didn't offend anyone in here LOL that wasn't my intention). Best of luck y'all, bring up some good food, and may the best win

 

[EviGaro]

Quick observations I guess, to me there's three clear tiers where I think placements in between are a bit of a toss up:

Tier 1: Ajna, Feliburn, TheFranklin

Sure, Ajna claims he's washed, yes yes. But obviously to anyone who saw his games in Pentathlon it's very clear that he's very sharp right now. His gen 9 was a massive question mark early in that tour, and his losses were... quite meh there. But he ended the tour very strong once he figured out how the tier works and his later games were about what you would expect from him. One bad tour in a terrible gen - that he rightly hates - doesn't change that much, and if he keeps improving not having him in this tier is foolish imo.

Some boomers go the wrong way as the realization of their boomerism becomes an inevitability. But some, like Feliburn, embrace that status and just seem more relaxed. His UU Open win out of nowhere was an example of this and was further confirmed by how valued he was in the auction. He's clearly enjoyed most of the gen, has no real weakness at this point, and is probably the most reliable player in the pool.

... Except for TheFranklin, who has been great in the past two iterations of this tour. I have less to say about him LOL but he clearly has to be in that top 3 imo, very good player with enough playstyle variety if he doesn't use dumbass sun (but if he wants to use Hwish Vulpix I think we can talk...)

Tier 2: Beraldo, Floss, GoldCat, robjr

Beraldo and GoldCat are kinda in the same boat for me, as they don't really have much experience starting in RU in officials. I think GC has a bit of an edge in experience and gameplay based on what I have seen, but his team discord is honestly incredibly wild LOL and I do think it might be a factor if things go a bit South for them. Beraldo has little clear support, but I do think it's possible that esteemed B+ manager tko tryhards in support there, and tko support is honestly extremely undervalued by zoomers.

Floss could probably go four or fifth in this pool, but I do feel a bit cold on how he ended last tour. I was there once, and it's kinda way more tilting than finishing a tour strong for the same record. That being said, Floss has been super consistent this year in the Circuit, which seems to indicate he's past that. But he also has not won anything really, so 4-5 to 6-3 is a roughly good estimate for me.

robjr I am a fan of in general, but I also think this is a slot that is a slam dunk for a 4-5 to 6-3. I value Floss' RU skills slightly more at this point, but again, interchangeable slots.

Tier 3: bb skarm, eifo, JustFranco

Because I need to put people there smh, and I do think those three for various reasons are a step behind this year.

bb skarm has been very good this year in tour, with qualification in the Slam Playoffs as his big achievement. I will say though, that Slam isn't exactly the best indicator of tournament play imo, so it's great but not everything (Evi you never qualified for Slam Playof- STFU). That being said, my general worry with bb skarm is that I am unsure on his ability to end games. No, it's not just that infamous game, but I have seen a tendency here to speed up end games that might end up biting him really bad. He has really good support for building though, with feen somehow being extremely on top of the meta right now (FEEN GOT DRAFTED??? GOAT GOAT) so yeah, not really a worry there.

eifo should be higher, honestly. Bottom 3 is stupid, I agree. But, it's painfully obvious he HATES gen 9, and almost everyone else on that list really likes it. Even Ajna who hated on tera about as much has improved dramatically in a short time to bring his gameplay to his standards in the gen, but eifo never actually did that. It's way too harsh of a placement for, according to Tinder, THE 2022 RU Circuit Champion, but until I see otherwise - and I hope I do! - I think he has to be there.

JustFranco is honestly a sorry don't know you moment. I think their support is also a tad underwhelming? But like clearly they have to be decent to be drafted, and who knows! Clearly not me.

 

[Feliburn]

I was originally going to do a post similar to Evi, but I wasn't gonna call it tiers. It just so happens that there are a few players in very similar positions.

The proven mainers

TheFranklin has had the best record in the last 2 iterations of SCL in the RU tier, and those are also his first 2 RU official tours, which is pretty epic. Since winning the RU kick off tour, Franklin has been p quiet in the scene although at the same time he has been traveling & enjoying life so he's still winning...

I don't doubt that he'll pull off another good record, as he already proved that officials for him are just another day at the office. He has the right prep and ideas, & w/ his good execution it'll be hard to stop him.

Ajna has not been around much. He revived during RUPL to play some ORAS RU and that's pretty much it, similarly to what he did in the last couple of years. However, he signed up for the RU pentathlon this time around, and his SV gaming went from "idk what I'm doing" to "ur team is bad" in the span of 6 rounds. He did his usual stuff and solved his playstyle for SV RU very quickly, giving him yet another RU tournament under his belt. This is a new gen, and with it comes a new Ajna, & as an Ajna fan (perhaps the biggest one out there) I'm positive he'll get in the right mindset to own this tour as well.

First RU official

We didn't think it was possible, but GoldCat finally did it...

It was expected, as not only has GoldCat been a feared name in the eyes of the RU mainers for some time now, but he also won the RU ladder tour earlier this year, showing he is on top of the meta (or at least was some months ago). In my opinion, he is the biggest wildcard, not because of his play, but because of his way of building. He is a bit more of an extreme mac3 (if that makes sense) so it'll be up to him if his ideas are a hit or a miss.

Beraldo is not as new to officials, as he was a helper for the idr the names last year, and he played in SPL earlier this year. There is a difference between playing the new tier tho, and signing up to play ur home tier, and idk if Beraldo feels the difference in pressure that representing ur home turf brings, but knowing him he probably wants to do well to establish his name even more. I'm more confident in the combination of building + playing that he has over some other names, so it's just seeing if he can execute as he usually does.

Not my first RUdeo (ROFL I'm sorry)

eifo is not a new name by any means, but I'm p sure this is the first time he is actually a starter in one of these. I know a lot of people see him as the #1 SV Tera hater, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he'll be able to do his tour prep normally. I'm sure earlier in the year he was frustrated because his teams weren't doing as hot as he's used to, but it is always a different case in officials. You don't have to make a team that can beat all, just a team that can beat ur opponent this week, and I give eifo a higher edge on prep than the others based on experience. Just gotta get in the right mentality.

Floss had a very scary start last year if you were one of his opponents, having a strong 4-0 from the get go. It kind of just slipped and snowballed into a record I'm sure he wishes he didn't have, but I've seen hundreds of cases like that one. Since then, I had the opportunity to team up with him in RUPL and I was a huge fan of his prep and idea execution. He also started doing well in other tours and I feel a much more confident vibe from him. Evi also mentioned his consistency throughout the year, having high points from all the circuit tours hosted so far.

The non mainers

I wanted to include robjr in the other group but whatever. Robjr is not really someone we'd call an RU mainer since he doesn't really build or actively engages with the community, but he has had way more of a presence than many in the tier. He recently won RU generations, and he also played RU in SCL last year. I remember he had struggles building or feeling confident in his teams last year. I'd like to say I hope he is able to fix that this year, but his actual support is a bit less involved with RU than what he had last year, tho I'm sure he can still get thrown suggestions. I've always been a robjr fan, so I'm sure he can perform well with the right settings.

bb skarm is starting in RU this time around. He is another guy I wouldn't really consider an RU mainer, but he is somewhat more involved than rob is. From my experience with him, he is not afraid to build a team based off what he knows from the tier, but it usually takes a more experienced builder to polish his ideas. He has people to support him, tho not anyone that I'd call solid one. Feen being the closest one with his recent involvement in the tier, but it's still left to see if he can get a grasp of the changing metagames to provide the rightful support. Back to skarm, he made Slam playoffs, so he shows he's been keeping up a lot with the tiers this gen. The only thing left to see is if he can outperform some of the players ranked above him, which I see very likely with how shaky some of the names feel.

JustFranco is someone I've seen around, but not someone I've seen pop off many times in any of the metas, so it's not my place to really talk of him as a player. My motto is if you were drafted & started, then it's for a reason so just gotta do ur thing. I will talk more about his support, which is incredibly interesting. On one hand he has Punny, someone who has shown dominance in RU before, with very unorthodox meta picks. On the other hand there's Guille, someone who has done well recently with even more incredibly unorthodox meta picks, you see where I'm going with this? They'll have a huge advantage if they manage to grasp the quick drops and pull up with anti meta picks, as there's nothing more annoying to play against than that, tho for that to happen JustFranco will need to learn the tier in detail to know what to expect, and how to use the teams. Expulso I'm sure will learn the tier as well to provide support & a more standard point of view for the team.

Fun pool overall, I don't think I've ever seen such a mainer vibe pool before for this tier. Hope everyone has fun and looking forward to an epic season.

 

[Nat]

1. ajna - the god damn goat of ru. show some respect.
2. franklin - 6-3 savant, definitely the best of newer ru generation. dont think have ever seen him go insane peak but probably most consistently good player in lowers, let alone ru, and that translates to 6-3 seasons.
3. feliburn - least threatening of the bully trio, beloved by all except that 1 guy he shittalked ruthlessly in wcop. a bit overpriced if purely off play but probably an amazing teamchat addition. can slide to uu if needed w/ multiple options to ru, too.
4. floss - don't think he'll go 4-0 to 0-5 again. weaker pool than last year imo, and would be surprised if not 5-4 at worst. seems pretty consistently good like franklin though at a generally lower plane.
5. robjr - im a fan of rob i think he's good. had a good rupl, always can jump into whatever. long range of skill from lowers to adv to dabbling in cgou. nice guy im curious abt his activity haven't seen him around in a minute.
6. beraldo - hard to say much abt beraldo, cost a lot & even tho i said weaker than last scl, still a good lowers pool. same thoughts abt feli price wise but maybe im old and hating and haven't kept up.
7. bbskarm - a competent player, very motivated. if there were 2 ranks in my mind that are equal it's him & beraldo. 7th is moreso a reflection of the pool to me and not a negative on him.
8. justfranco - a fine clicker of moves. doing well enough in OLT games besides 1 rlly heinous series. evokes mons is mons playing energy.
9. goldcat - someone has to be last and to me it's surely the only of 10 here with 0 official games/indiv playoff games. i know him as thefranklin's friend with the goofy builds but he's surely well beyond this now. mentally to me he kind of fits the old mold of KW & could go off his 1st tour like KW did too. nonetheless 1st tours can easily be daunting af for many, so yea.

 

[Ampha]

Week 1 is up!
vs
robjr vs Beraldo
vs
eifo vs JustFranco
vs
Ajna vs GoldCat
Vs
Floss vs bb skarm
vs
Feliburn vs TheFranklin

Who are you cheering for? and what metagame trends are you guys expecting for this week? feel free to discuss them here!

personal predicts

robjr vs Beraldo
eifo vs JustFranco
Ajna vs GoldCat
Floss vs bb skarm
Feliburn vs TheFranklin

 

[Sneakyplanner]

My mostly blind guess predicts:
robjr vs Beraldo
eifo vs JustFranco
Ajna vs GoldCat
Floss vs bb skarm
Feliburn vs TheFranklin

 

[Beraldo]

[BRE] eifo vs JustFranco [TMS] - I am honestly p curious to see how this matchup will develop, since I've not seen eifo playing the tier that much lately, while justfranco has little to no experience in the meta. Anyway, bolding eifo is the obvious move in this matchup, but franco could pull up a vital win here and make it a great start for his season

[PLA] Ajna vs GoldCat [GIB] - Despite feli vs franklin being the clear highlight of the week, I think this is the game I am more excited to watch. I am really curious to see what kind of teams both will bring, but more specifically, I am curious to see what goldcat will bring against one of the strongest players in the pool. Ajna is the favorite to win this game, however, having last season in mind and how tilted he got about the team choices of his opponents, I think goldcat has a good shot at winning this one with some bullshit. Good luck to both, I expect this to be a great watch

[FOX] Floss vs bb skarm [SHO] - I don't think floss will let the comments about his last season shake his mind, and this first week seems very important to him, more important than any other player I would say. Anyway, skarm is also a strong player ofc, so should be a good game (I'm personally rooting for skarm tho, lgi bro)

[TER] Feliburn vs TheFranklin [SPA] - The greatest game of the week (but Im more excited for ajna gc). This matchup could obviously go either way, but I am bolding feli because I trust on his building more rn and I think this gives him a small edge. Should be a great watch tho, gl both

 

[Ampha]

Week 2 is up!
vs
TheFranklin vs eifo
vs
SV RU: bb skarm vs robjr
vs
SV RU: GoldCat vs Floss
vs
SV RU: JustFranco vs Ajna
vs
SV RU: Beraldo vs Feliburn

Who are you cheering for? and what metagame trends are you guys expecting for this week? feel free to discuss them here!

personal predicts

TheFranklin vs eifo
bb skarm vs robjr
GoldCat vs Floss
JustFranco vs Ajna
Beraldo vs Feliburn

review soontm

 

[EviGaro]

TheFranklin vs eifo: wouldn't be surprised to see an upset, as I think their playstyle suits the other quite well, but TheFranklin had a better build and was more on top of the meta imo.
bb skarm vs robjr: just think he's a more seasoned version of what bb skarm aims to be as a player, and it showed w1.
GoldCat vs Floss: going for the underdog here, I liked their team w1 and how they played, but going 0-2 might put a bit more urgency that would fit how they prep and play.
JustFranco vs Ajna: Although ngl I really hope JustFranco has another bait up their sleeve. Ajna's reaction would give the fans everything they need.
Beraldo vs Feliburn: rutl diff vs virgin council member

 

[Ampha]

Week 1 Recap!

vs

Mashing subbed in for beraldo and brought a interesting team with some setup options in SD Bisharp and NP rotom, meanwhile rob brought a Weavile team which ended up being very helpful in getting him the win overall.

vs

Im not gonna lie, this probably was the funniest interaction this week, Franco turned out the game on the last second with Aeral ace Krookodile, Eifo's team had a more offensive approach, while franco more of a balanced one, overall this match was nice

Spoiler

vs

Ajna picked up on some more nicher techs which seem nice overall, Ditto is still a cool mon to see at times and Specs switcheroo Noivern did some progress overall by taking off Forretress's leftovers, overall this was a very close game with Ajna clutching up in the end with Swords dance Tera dark Bisharp

vs

Both teams were kinda similar, I do like skarms Idea on Jolteon there and I do also think Dragalge's approach is quite good on floss's side, it's nice to see some copperajah action post DLC and this game was also a very close one

vs

And for last, but not least, the hype game of the week, Feli brought a interesting pick on Hisuian Braviary which was being discussed on the server on same day, which ended putting up some work against Frank's team bar some misses there, overall the game was close but feli got a bit unlucky with some rolls and a crit on a bad timing, I think this was my favorite match of the week along with the Aerial ace krook.

Replays are going to be linked on main post as soon as possible!

 

[Lime]

PREDICTS!

vs
TheFranklin vs eifo

vs
SV RU: bb skarm vs robjr

vs
SV RU: GoldCat vs Floss

vs
SV RU: JustFranco vs Ajna

vs
SV RU: Beraldo vs Feliburn

 

[Rarelyme]

TheFranklin vs eifo --> definitely a very cool serie however franklin do appears to be in very good shape atm and doesn't show any sign of slowing down so I think he's the favorite here. To me eifo has nothing to envy to franklin in matters of level in-game so this game will probably come down to who can keep themselves together the best.

bb skarm vs robjr --> skarm had a really close game last week so I feel like if he succeeds at managing his stress he can beat anyone + I think his team support is underestimated.

GoldCat vs Floss --> at one point gk will bring a new snow team and will just start winning everything rult style, so I'm all in for that.

JustFranco vs Ajna --> apparently ajna is back so ig there is nothing to do sorry franco. I don't know them very well tho so can't go any further.

Beraldo vs Feliburn --> the new guard is here mr burn, I think beraldo will tryhard more for this match so slight edge for him. He definitely has what it takes to win here however feli brought a very cool team last week using braviary-h so I think it'll be hard to prep and predict what he'll pick this week hence the "slight" edge.

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

TheFranklin vs Eifo: I like turtles

Guldkatt vs Floss. Gk voted no ban on Politoed, Floss voted ban. Floss votes ban on Politoed right before they're matched to play Gk? Do we really think this is a coincidence? Is Floss such a corrupt and devious council member that they conspired with the other council members through bribes just so that Gk couldn't use rain? Or, did they spread propaganda beforehand to unfairly affect the outcome of the vote? If the villain is Floss, then let's cheer for the hero, Guldkatt! Also, #freePolitoed

JustFranco vs Ajna: I did not like Franco's team that was used last week very much and I know Ajna is a strong player

Beraldo vs Feliburn: Feliburn did not change the server profile to a potoo, so here is a potoo. Feli also called Bellibolt a potoo, which it isn't. Despite this, I do think Feliburn has a bit better or about as good grasp at building in this tier.

 

[Flareblitzkreig]

in an attempt to not let the scl hype die out 3 weeks in, predix
(none of these have any competent reasoning behind them whatsoever)

beraldo vs bb skarm- bb skarm is in prime position for majority of the game only for beraldo to turn into 2021-2022 real madrid and somehow pull off a win in the last 10 turns of the game (my source for this is that I made it the fuck up)

eifo vs feliburn- feliburn is HIM

TheFranklin vs Ajna- "why are people saying that TheFranklin is going to beat Ajna? TheFranklin is good yes, but Ajna's the RU pentathlon champion"(s/o angelthesaucegod for the original quote)

Goldcat vs Robjr- Goldcat tried to remove the potoo emote from the ru discord. Case closed.

Floss vs JustFranco- it's the battle of the undefeateds this time and someone's 0 is going to drop. both players have shown consistently high level of play so far (as can be seen by their v good records). I'm predicting Justfranco to win by the barest of margins since he's been in great form right now and obviously understands the tier incredibly well, coupled with the fact that floss looked a wee bit shaky against goldcat.
FLOSS GOING UNDEFEATED THE WHOLE SEASON RAHHHHHHHH

i beg someone else makes actual good predix so that this dumpster fire isn't the only one in this thread ty

 

[Feliburn]

Posting the w4 matchups to not let the thread die out in the middle of the tour:

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SV RU: JustFranco vs robjr
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SV RU: ninjadog vs Beraldo
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SV RU: bb skarm vs Feliburn
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SV RU: TheFranklin vs Floss
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SV RU: eifo vs Ajna

I just wanted to get the matchups up. I might post some thoughts on the trajectory of the teams so far later on if enough ppl post their thoughts/predicts

 

[Beraldo]

[TMS] JustFranco vs robjr [ISL] - franco is having an incredible season so far and is showing that everyone was wrong about him being ranked low. However, rob is a really respectable opponent, and I think this is the point where franco's streak will briefly stop. I would say Franco has beaten stronger opponents than rob in this tournament, however, rob is still an experient player and has proven that he can beat anyone in any tier. Personally, what makes me favor robjr in this game is the fact that I have not been a fan of franco's teams, and I think his tendences have been showing, which is a strong point for rob if he knows how to exploit them. Surely will be a good watch with both having good chances to win, but I will favor rob's experience and picks.

[SHO] bb skarm vs Feliburn [TER] - I have been liking the teams both of them are bringing so far. However, I think Feli is on top of the meta and is creating new waves, while skarm doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table, which is something to take into consideration, since Feli is also rly strong as player. However, skarm is a fucking tryhard and I'm p sure he's not content with his performance so far, so he will try his best to win in the builder and also in game. Should be a good watch, gl both.

[SPA] TheFranklin vs Floss [FOX] - Of course nobody expected Franklin to be winless, I don't think anyone is expecting him to continue winless, and Franklin himself is probably the one who wants the most to break this bad streak, and I think the time is now. Floss is a strong opponent for sure, but so is Franklin, who's also more experienced and generally better player imo. I think it's pretty safe to just keep bolding Franklin until he inevitably wins, but this seems to be the perfect week for him to make his comeback. However, personally, I have been liking Floss' teams way more, which means that he seems to be more comfortable with building in the current meta, so that seems a good point that might lead Floss to a win. Highlight of the week for sure, and I rly hope this won't be another boring ass vaporeon or altaria or whatever gaming

[BRE] eifo vs Ajna [PLA] - I think Ajna has been my favorite player in this tournament so far. His playing is still on point, and his teams have been really really good. In the other hand, I have also liked eifo's teams, but his only win was abusing of a broken mon, which is not convincing enough. I am expecting ajna to continue his good performance, but I would say this week is rly decisive for eifo, so I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to win this one.

 

[Ampha]

Weeks 2 & 3 Recaps!

Prepare for trouble!
And make it double!
Double recap this time because yours truly was travelling last week and couldnt do it (i'll be brief this time since it's 2 weeks though)

Week 2

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Franklin opted for a bulkier team overall, while Eifo went with a more offensive approach on the other side, Moltres pretty much showed a lot of what it was capable of before it was banned in this battle, where it punished the bellibolt for going with Volt switch and cleaned up.

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This time around both sides had more offensive teams, robjr's tera ghost diancie was able to lure the bb skarm's moltres which was pretty interesting, the game pretty much ended being really close until the very end, where Copperajah survived on 1% HP

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Goldcat brought a interesting tera option on Feli Wo-chien in Water, while Floss brought a different option for Dragalge in tera fairy, Goldcat got a bit unlucky on the game but both sides played the game really well

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Franco brought the yet underexplored, Rest Natural cure Pawmot, Pawmot in this game was able to put a lot of work due to its increased longevity in this game in general, and clutching him the win, something to also note on Ajna's side is he brought a pretty unexpected tech which ended KOing Krookodile in Leaf Storm Wochien.

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And for last but not least, we had our HO for the week, Beraldo ended up bringing a more unexpected pick in Venomoth which ended being really nice on this particular matchup, as it was able to Quiver dance and punish a lot of Feli's mons without, in the end the HO overwhelmed most of Feli's team and ended clutching beraldo the win


Week 3

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everyone watching the match:

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Franklin brough a cool pick in Flamigo, while Ajna brough a offense with one of the techs which picked up in both this and one more replay, in tera blast Sylveon, which it ended putting a lot of work for Franklin's team and pretty much won Ajna the game

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Both sides ended up bringing some form of trapping this time around, Franco ended up bringing a different tech in Sand tomb Mudsdale, which ended up trapping 2 of Floss's pokemons, while Floss brought the good and old Perish trapping Altaria, some silly interactions ended up happening due to floss bringing Skill Swap Diancie into parting shot the already swapped Clear body Mudsdale

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Feli brought 2 interesting techs on this game, in Competitive Killowattrel and Protect Armarouge, eifo also brought a interesting pick in Overqwil which is a cool mon overall, game ended being pretty straight forward after Feli lured the Altaria with Tera Blast Ice Killo, Armarouge picked up the rest after it got a boost on Slither's U-turn

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The other replay I mentioned up there, Beraldo brought a pretty nice team with Hisui Typh, while bb skarm brought the new tech of Tera Blast Sylveon, we didn't have a chance to see what tera type Sylveon was using, but Beraldo's Typh did a lot of work in this game in particular, as the Fire resists were a bit frail.

Replays are going to be linked on main post as soon as possible!

 

[Feliburn]

Week 5 is up!

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SV RU: Floss vs ishtar
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SV RU: Feliburn vs Ajna
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SV RU: robjr vs TheFranklin
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SV RU: Beraldo vs JustFranco
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SV RU: bb skarm vs ninjadog

Krook had a 50% winrate w/o facing another Krook last week. Noivern saw the most usage last week, something that also happened during w1. Seems like these 2 are trading back and forth as the most used mons in the tier at this level so far. Krook does feel like the best mon in the tier imo but I can see why ppl would want to not use it as much, as the more common mons become the most abused as well. Noivern has seen a more utility oriented set become popular in recent weeks, with Super Fang seeing more usage with each week.

 

[Sneakyplanner]

My predictions, lightly influenced by who I am cheering for. Feli vs Ajna and Ceraldo vs Franco are the two games I am looking forward to the most.
Floss vs ishtar
Feliburn vs Ajna
robjr vs TheFranklin
Beraldo vs JustFranco
bb skarm vs ninjadog

Krook had a 50% winrate w/o facing another Krook last week. Noivern saw the most usage last week, something that also happened during w1. Seems like these 2 are trading back and forth as the most used mons in the tier at this level so far. Krook does feel like the best mon in the tier imo but I can see why ppl would want to not use it as much, as the more common mons become the most abused as well. Noivern has seen a more utility oriented set become popular in recent weeks, with Super Fang seeing more usage with each week.

It's kind of difficult to make judgements from one week of usage stats. That's just 5 games and 10 teams and every week gets more inbred than the last as builders try to counter more specific threats. Krook and noivern are definitely the two most splashable pokemon in the tier though, noivern just has a wonderful grab bag of moves and krookodile will literally always be a threat in every game.

Krookodile is pretty clearly the best mon in the tier to me, and over the past week or so I have been increasingly understanding the appeal of a ban if the meta isn't completely shaken up by dlc drops in a week. There are very few answers to krookodile, slither wing, wo-chien, water tauros (though it's a pretty sketchy check) and umbreon are basically the only things that can switch in, take both an earthquake and knock off, don't instalose with their item gone and don't get koed by gunk shot. And all of those answers have to be very afraid of at least something krook can do to beat them. Wo-chien gets forced to tera with the threat of gunk shot, and can't run most of its popular tera types like ghost, poison and fairy because they still get owned by krook's common coverage. Slither wing is always one gunk shot poison away from being a non-answer and umbreon can be 2hkoed by close combat with just a little bit of chip.
One particular move I hope to see brought to SCL in the future is taunt. From that list of passable krook answers, wo-chien and umbreon are the most sturdy, but they both get absolutely destroyed by taunt. Taunt krookodile just completely invalidates umbreon and while wo-chien can hope to at least win the long game with knock off and ruination, foul play sets will similarly get ruined by a taunt and a chipped wo-chien that can't heal vs krook with its item removed won't be reliably switching into anything once a few hazards are up. Rocks can easily be put on something like bronzong copperajah or diancie, and then krook gets to run 3 attacks + taunt and absolutely ruin a lot of fat teams.

Noivern is a much more inoffensive, friendly and honest splashable offensive utility mon. It's not forcing progress on literally everything, it's just helping you switch into fighting types, revenge kill and support the team. There is one move I want to spotlight though: super fang. Super fang noivern made a big showing in week 4, with 3 noiverns revealing the move, but it has gone surprisingly unused up until now. Super fang can solve a lot of issues that standard noivern sets have.

• It is reliable damage vs diancie, and once diancie has been taken to 50% health then it really struggles to switch in vs things it's supposed to wall. There are so many pokemon that appreciate a chipped diancie like staraptor, arcanine, rotom-heat, kilowattrel and thundurus.
• Additionally, running super fang lets you remove some offensive investment for bulk, helping a lot vs u-turn spam from slither wing or taking close combats from the bugbear or pawmot. I've found that even with offensive investment lots of your attacks end up being 2hkos, so why not invest in bulk and then kill with a super fang into draco meteor instead of two hurricanes? You're certainly more likely to hit the 90 accuracy moves. Some bulk benchmarks you can hit are 92 hp to always live a life orb pawmot double shock, 152 to always live a +2 bisharp sucker punch and take <50% from a hyphlosion shadow ball and 200 hp which lets you take <50% from kilowattrel thunderbolt.
• Finally, super fang helps you a lot vs what noivern normally struggles vs: fat teams. Fully offensive noivern can help a lot with revenge killing frail offensive pokemon, but when you see sylveon and wo-chien on team preview it really feels weak. Taunt noivern has really grown on me as a way to beat those fat walls, and super fang along with taunt makes you into an excellent stallbreaker. You do miss out a lot vs offense with two attacks and the inability to ko anything above but that's what pokemon is like sometimes.

 

[Beraldo]

[FOX] Floss vs ishtar [BRE] - Despite her loss against Ajna, I think ishtar brought a good team and played really well until the end game and has showed that she won't be an easy opponent by any means. Eifo getting subbed out makes me think that this slot will count with less one support, since even though eifo can still help I don't think he will have enough motivation to be as solid support as he would be if he was motivated, but ishtar is a good builder so she might not need too much support at all. However, Floss is doing a great tournament and I don't see him losing this week. Good luck to both, hoping to see a good one.

[TER] Feliburn vs Ajna [PLA] - Last week I said Ajna was probably my favorite RU player so far, but after that boring and unfun shit he brought last week I will say he is not that person anymore. Both had a comparable season so far and they have the same record, while they are rly comparable players skill wise, so it is pretty safe to say this is anyone's game, but I won't bold ajna after that shit he brought against Ishtar. Smash that guy, Feli. I trust you.

[ISL] robjr vs TheFranklin [SPA] - Okay, I didn't think Franklin would be 0-4, but surely he won't be 0-5. Surely. Anyway, as I said last week, it is pretty safe to just keep bolding him until he inevitably wins, but I would say rob seems to be the perfect opponent for Franklin to start his comeback. His teams also seems to be getting better, so I suppose he will finally bring something that will win.

[SHO] bb skarm vs ninjadog [GIB] - Both slots aren't having a good tournament, but I will say the 1-3 slot is more likely to win than the 0-4 one. Ninjadog brought an interesting team against me but I feel like he will just load some standard stuff this time and get punished for it, so if skarm manages to get a good matchup he should be able to take this one, and he will put a lot of effort to do so.

 

[Feliburn]

Week 6:

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SV RU: Dr. Phd. BJ vs Feliburn
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SV RU: JustFranco vs bb skarm
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SV RU: TheFranklin vs Beraldo
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SV RU: ishtar vs robjr
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SV RU: Ajna vs Floss

 

[Rarelyme]

Dr. Phd. BJ vs Feliburn > ngl I have no idea of the Dr's level in RU but it is the third Gible player on this slot and they are 0-5 so something is not right and I don't think they have what it takes to fix it. Moreover Feli seems to enjoy this meta and manage to consistently bring interesting teams that he plays very well so it might be a no match here for me. Though to be fair, given how effective are cheesy HOs in this meta, an upset can happen very easily. 30/70

JustFranco vs bb skarm > I am a skarm believer since week 1 so I won't stop now. Though Franco has been killing it recently in various other tournaments, I think skarm has the strongest willpower of the pool and might be one of the biggest tryharder so they have the edge here to me. 40/60

TheFranklin vs Beraldo > Definitely the highlight of the week. Both are established talented RU players and have shown lots of good stuff throughout the tournament so far. They both are able and ready to play anything, however, one of them is 4-0 and the other is 1-4 and I think Beraldo's momentum will be very hard to stop at that point. Nothing Franklin can't do for sure don't get me wrong. I just feel like sometimes Beraldo decides not to lose and just doesn't. 40/60

ishtar vs robjr > I don't know rob very well but what I know is that ishtar is an incredible builder which is continuously growing as a player lately. She had a rough tournament so far but I very much believe that she will not finish with such record and her losses from previous weeks against top threats in the pool only made her stronger. 60/40

Ajna vs Floss > The other highlight of the week. They both are 4-1 and lost to the same player if I'm not mistaken. Their in-game seems evenly matched so I think this will come down to whoever manage to build something able to surprise the other and get away with it. Floss has great support from their teammates so I would guess that they would be able to achieve this more consistently however we all know that Ajna turns up for these big games and often delivers sooo I'd say that my brain thinks Floss is taking this one but my heart tells me Ajna will do it. 50/50 are boring so I'll still give the edge to Floss. 45/55

 

[Sneakyplanner]

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SV RU: Dr. Phd. BJ vs Feliburn
No offense to Blowjob M.D. but if it's someone I have never heard of before being tossed into RU to try and make somethingwork for a losing team vs Feli, I'm betting on Feli.
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SV RU: JustFranco vs bb skarm
I'm cheering for Skarm because he has brought more Copperajah than anyone else, but Franco has been real clean so far. All of his teams except the one week he brought a Dudunsparce have been great. This matchup can definitely go either way though, it'll be good.
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SV RU: TheFranklin vs Beraldo
Beraldo is undefeated so far, so by bolding him I will either be right or have brought about his downfall.
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SV RU: ishtar vs robjr
I'm cheering for Ishtar, but it's hard to tell how well she will do with only two weeks to look at. Robjr has been good though and I even liked the teams he lost with, so she'll have to bring something good.
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SV RU: Ajna vs Floss
Both players have solid records, but only Floss won with A sub+flame charge typhlosion so I'll go with him.