SCL IV UU Discussion Thread

Week 7 Replays:
[FOX] Kushalos vs TDNT [TER]
[PLA] Skarpherim vs Kenix [DYN]
[SHO] Mimilucha vs pdt [ISL]
[SPA] Mossy Sandwich vs JustFranco [TMS]
[GIB] Amukamara vs Sabella [BRE]

Code: 
+ ---- + ------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon             | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Okidogi             |    7 |  70.00% |  57.14% |
| 2    | Excadrill           |    6 |  60.00% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Tornadus-Therian    |    6 |  60.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Heatran             |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 5    | Hydrapple           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Rotom-Wash          |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Tyranitar           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Hoopa-Unbound       |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Keldeo-Resolute     |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 10   | Latios              |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Scizor              |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Lokix               |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 13   | Tinkaton            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 14   | Slowbro             |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 15   | Enamorus-Therian    |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Weavile             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Hawlucha            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 18   | Ogerpon             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Thwackey            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Iron Leaves         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 21   | Mew                 |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 22   | Ogerpon-Cornerstone |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 23   | Quaquaval           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 24   | Thundurus-Therian   |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Polteageist         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 26   | Slowking            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Gastrodon           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 28   | Krookodile          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Metagross           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Greninja            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 31   | Skeledirge          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 32   | Zarude              |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Week 8 Matchups:
:mew: JustFranco vs Amukamara :gible:
:melmetal: Sabella vs Punny :ninetales:
:exeggutor-alola: pdt vs Mossy Sandwich :aegislash:
:zapdos-galar: Kenix vs Mimilucha :kingambit:
:gyarados: Lyssa vs Xrn :falinks:

:greninja: is extremely threatening...when you quite literally get every single turn right, which is what sabella did last week and it made for quite the entertaining game. It was the choice specs protean set that was utilised here which was not the popular choice so far and yet it managed to break through a balance team with 3 dark resists in tinkaton, zarude and scarf okidogi, pair this all together with a tera water skeledirge and you would probably feel pretty safe against greninja, which has also been on the decline in terms of performance. Sabella is well aware of the matchup, as well as the fact that playing the game too passively would result in latios tearing apart his entire team, so In order to win he decided to use that same piece against his opponent, luring it on the field with his own heatran then getting the double switch right back to greninja to keep the initiative. He managed to pull off this exact play 5 times during the match without getting punished, I guess even the toughest walls can break with this many chances.

:iron-leaves: makes a return to scl uu helping tdnt to close out his game after lyssa and punny unfortunately decided to double sub -_-. The coverage option in megahorn seems to be the way to go for iron leaves to find its place back in the metagame as it's now able to threaten latios and hydrapple which would pose serious threats of revenge killing while still retanining the ability to hit opposing slowking. It is unclear whether it will pick up meaningful usage moving forward but it was still cool to see.

[TMS] JustFranco vs Amukamara [GIB]
[BRE] Sabella vs Punny [FOX]
[ISL] pdt vs Mossy Sandwich [SPA]
[DYN] Kenix vs Mimilucha [SHO]
[TER] Lyssa vs Xrn [PLA]
 
Week 8 Replays:
[TMS] JustFranco vs Amukamara [GIB]
[BRE] Sabella vs Punny [FOX]
[ISL] pdt vs Mossy Sandwich [SPA]
[DYN] Kenix vs Mimilucha [SHO]
[TER] Lyssa vs Xrn [PLA]

Code: 
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Okidogi            |    4 |  40.00% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Scizor             |    4 |  40.00% |  75.00% |
| 3    | Latios             |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Excadrill          |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 5    | Tornadus-Therian   |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 6    | Weavile            |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 7    | Slowking           |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 8    | Sandy Shocks       |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 9    | Thundurus-Therian  |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 10   | Greninja           |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Rotom-Wash         |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Slither Wing       |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Tinkaton           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 15   | Quaquaval          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Sinistcha          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Lokix              |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 18   | Manaphy            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Necrozma           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Revavroom          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Zapdos-Galar       |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 22   | Gligar             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 23   | Conkeldurr         |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 24   | Cresselia          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Deoxys-Defense     |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 26   | Enamorus-Therian   |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Volcanion          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 28   | Cobalion           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Ogerpon            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Araquanid          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 31   | Pecharunt          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 32   | Donphan            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Heatran            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 34   | Toxapex            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Zarude             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 36   | Hydrapple          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 37   | Hydreigon          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Week 9 Matchups:
:aegislash: Mossy Sandwich vs Kenix :zapdos-galar:
:kingambit: Mimilucha vs Lyssa :gyarados:
:ninetales: Punny vs Skarpherim :falinks:
:gible: Amukamara vs pdt :exeggutor-alola:
:melmetal: Sabella vs JustFranco :mew:

:tornadus-therian: featuring nasty plot and taunt was used by amukamara, I really liked that pick considering justfranco's usual tendencies. Following zapdos' departure bleakwind and focus blast is basically all you really need for offensive coverage leaving that last moveslot flexible depending on your team's needs, taunt comes with a few perks to disrupt opponents' ways of setting up or spreading statuses your way, as it happened durng the game tornadus was able to pin down franco's slowking on the field rendering it unable to use chilly reception or thunder wave, securing a pretty comfortable position for liam to convert his endgame.

I guess it could never be scl uu at this point without almost half the teams being full on cheese... a couple of these teams from last week were centered around screens :latios: getting the ball rolling, it wasn't revealed in either case but I assume the hidden tech here is memento to start your sequence right away once you surprise your opponent with screens. We've seen it completely dominate the game in kenix's case or fall apart pretty quickly in mossy's so not sure how to feel about this one just yet.

:slither-wing: has been popping back up in recent times after flying under the radar for a while, it's another case of an offensive threat being severely held back by its inability to threaten zapdos, fortunately that problem's out of the way now. Two very different sets were used last week, a setup set taking advantage of booster energy and flame charge to clean up endgames on hyper offense, and a bulky offense AoA pivot set, all in all it's a sort of hybrid pokemon possessing traits from okidogi and lokix, though it never reaches the heights of dishonesty that dogi does.

CB araquanid was heat and I hope to see more of this

[SPA] Mossy Sandwich vs Kenix [DYN]
[SHO] Mimilucha vs Lyssa [TER]
[FOX] Punny vs Skarpherim [PLA]
[GIB] Amukamara vs pdt [ISL]
[BRE] Sabella vs JustFranco [TMS]
 
Week 9 replays:
[SPA] Mossy Sandwich vs Kenix [DYN]
[SHO] Mimilucha vs Lyssa [TER]
[FOX] Punny vs Skarpherim [PLA] :blobsad:
[GIB] Amukamara vs pdt [ISL]
[BRE] Sabella vs JustFranco [TMS]

Code: 
+ ---- + ------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon             | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Excadrill           |    5 |  62.50% |  60.00% |
| 2    | Tornadus-Therian    |    3 |  37.50% |  33.33% |
| 3    | Salamence           |    2 |  25.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Tyranitar           |    2 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 5    | Heatran             |    2 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 6    | Quaquaval           |    2 |  25.00% |  50.00% |
| 7    | Okidogi             |    2 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 8    | Keldeo              |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 9    | Tinkaton            |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 10   | Zarude-Dada         |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Ogerpon             |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Pecharunt           |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Thundurus-Therian   |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Weavile             |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 15   | Manaphy             |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Gyarados            |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Hydreigon           |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Keldeo-Resolute     |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 19   | Latios              |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 20   | Scizor              |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 21   | Cobalion            |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 22   | Rotom-Wash          |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 23   | Slowking            |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 24   | Hydrapple           |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Polteageist         |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 26   | Azumarill           |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Iron Jugulis        |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 28   | Ogerpon-Cornerstone |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Revavroom           |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Sandy Shocks        |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 31   | Slither Wing        |    1 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 32   | Avalugg             |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 33   | Blissey             |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 34   | Gastrodon           |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Mandibuzz           |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 36   | Skeledirge          |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 37   | Toxapex             |    1 |  12.50% | 100.00% |

As we're in playoffs now I figured I would do something different than the usual weekly highlights and go over the players involved individually, as well as some of my expectations for the matches.

Semifinals Matchups:

AHOq17Hr3y29weN9XQNQYyBhdik_UU7iOJ-A90LuniXXZ0r53U7REiMeo7JOO892qCcJ10NxVWk_c_LIfDzghrDrNTZfW-j5ubRR7jfheTYpoi31ugq3wT6R7-PCxnL_l8jJ=w80-h84
Justfranco (6-3) vs (4-5) pdt
AHOq17H3vQl8bkVGNC7gi8OIENi1HczKJaV4OqgIY-7q_97AQhN1ei1pOlHHKWQKYFE5hCpBMRTOvYpI3kVsS84T0N3jxfFub2oEAroaA6Gh5BMiee2v1bLvgJ7L4KTb8nE0=w80-h84

​
Justfranco's trajectory: you could say he had a bit of a slow start, would attribute it to him having to face the most experienced side of the pool early on in his first 4 games, since then he has had a pretty comfortable time solidifying his performance as a top 3 record in the pool, very impressive work. Still, as most of us expected, justfranco has mostly been sticking to his comfort zone this tournament and that has worked great for him, he is facing pdt now though, who is as scary of an opponent as you could have gotten when you enjoy defensive teams so it'll be interesting to see what approach he chooses here, whether he will switch it up with offense as he's done a couple times this season or find a neat balance tech to flip the matchup, as historically being on the defensive and waiting for pdt to make a mistake does not work.

pdt's tajectory: not a bad result by any means though I guess this is not the stellar performance all of us are used to as pdt finds himself in the middle of the pack at the end of the regular season. Quite at the opposite end of the spectrum here when compared to justfranco in terms of approach this season, as pdt has been trying to switch it up more than what we're normally used to see, which involves using pokemon with actual defensive stats/sets and sometimes regenerator, these choices also ended coincidentially lining up with some of his losses so maybe that's what has been holding him back a little bit. Still, when he hasn't been trying too hard to stray away from his comfort zone he has looked as good as ever, and I expect him to trust himself again here with something that resembles his usual style.
dawn-gen4pt.png
Lyssa (4-4) vs (3-1) Kenix
rancher.png

Kenix's trajectory: not the largest sample size here unfortunately due to some not so beatiful circumstances, but in what we've been able to see so far kenix has been able to hold his own well against the competition after getting bought during midseason. Normally there would be a bit of a concern with support on the dynamos but that didn't seem to hold him back as he's proved to be serviceable for the dynamos in uu despite not being an established player in the tier. Perhaps the recent okidogi ban can also be a way to level the field between the builders here in the playoffs as the metagame is now fresh once again so he really shouldn't be underestimated.

uORYcUo.png
Lyssa has looked great this season, unfortunately some ancient god had it out for her so she was cursed to only reach her trademark 4-4 record so far, perhaps due to associating too much with bouff, but still not a bad record of course. Hopefully we can see her showcase her full abilities in clean games now...

metagame update: - :okidogi: + Happiness

good luck to the players in playoffs, hoping to see some exciting matches! I will leave the updated usage stats for regular season down here as well filtered with before and after shifts.

Code: 
+ ---- + ------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon             | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Excadrill           |   16 |  40.00% |  68.75% |
| 2    | Hydrapple           |   12 |  30.00% |  58.33% |
| 3    | Okidogi             |   11 |  27.50% |  63.64% |
| 4    | Tornadus-Therian    |   11 |  27.50% |  72.73% |
| 5    | Hoopa-Unbound       |   10 |  25.00% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Zapdos              |   10 |  25.00% |  30.00% |
| 7    | Cobalion            |   10 |  25.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Rotom-Wash          |   10 |  25.00% |  70.00% |
| 9    | Scizor              |    8 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Gardevoir           |    7 |  17.50% |  28.57% |
| 11   | Ogerpon-Cornerstone |    6 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 12   | Tinkaton            |    6 |  15.00% |  50.00% |
| 13   | Lokix               |    6 |  15.00% |  50.00% |
| 14   | Greninja            |    6 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 15   | Tyranitar           |    6 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 16   | Revavroom           |    5 |  12.50% |  20.00% |
| 17   | Latios              |    5 |  12.50% |  60.00% |
| 18   | Mandibuzz           |    5 |  12.50% |  40.00% |
| 19   | Hydreigon           |    5 |  12.50% |  40.00% |
| 20   | Skeledirge          |    5 |  12.50% |  40.00% |
| 21   | Ogerpon             |    4 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 22   | Rhyperior           |    4 |  10.00% |  75.00% |
| 23   | Gastrodon-East      |    4 |  10.00% |  75.00% |
| 24   | Gligar              |    4 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 25   | Pecharunt           |    4 |  10.00% |  75.00% |
| 26   | Slowking            |    4 |  10.00% |  75.00% |
| 27   | Manaphy             |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 28   | Sinistcha           |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 29   | Gastrodon           |    3 |   7.50% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Thundurus-Therian   |    3 |   7.50% |   0.00% |
| 31   | Enamorus-Therian    |    3 |   7.50% |  66.67% |
| 32   | Comfey              |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 33   | Iron Jugulis        |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 34   | Sandy Shocks        |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Krookodile          |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 36   | Quaquaval           |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 37   | Keldeo-Resolute     |    2 |   5.00% |  50.00% |
| 38   | Zarude              |    2 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Zarude-Dada         |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Ribombee            |    2 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 41   | Lycanroc-Dusk       |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 42   | Toxapex             |    2 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 43   | Jirachi             |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 44   | Forretress          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Empoleon            |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 46   | Araquanid           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Azumarill           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 48   | Donphan             |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 49   | Mimikyu             |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 50   | Gengar              |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 51   | Fezandipiti         |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 52   | Suicune             |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Chesnaught          |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 54   | Hippowdon           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 55   | Iron Thorns         |    1 |   2.50% | 100.00% |
| 56   | Polteageist         |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 57   | Serperior           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 58   | Metagross           |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Chansey             |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 60   | Quagsire            |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |
| 61   | Slowbro             |    1 |   2.50% |   0.00% |

Code: 
+ ---- + ------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon             | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tornadus-Therian    |   22 |  45.83% |  54.55% |
| 2    | Excadrill           |   21 |  43.75% |  47.62% |
| 3    | Okidogi             |   21 |  43.75% |  52.38% |
| 4    | Scizor              |   14 |  29.17% |  64.29% |
| 5    | Heatran             |   13 |  27.08% |  30.77% |
| 6    | Weavile             |   13 |  27.08% |  46.15% |
| 7    | Thundurus-Therian   |   11 |  22.92% |  54.55% |
| 8    | Tinkaton            |   11 |  22.92% |  72.73% |
| 9    | Hydrapple           |   10 |  20.83% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Latios              |    9 |  18.75% |  55.56% |
| 11   | Slowking            |    9 |  18.75% |  33.33% |
| 12   | Ogerpon             |    7 |  14.58% |  42.86% |
| 13   | Tyranitar           |    7 |  14.58% |  57.14% |
| 14   | Manaphy             |    7 |  14.58% |  42.86% |
| 15   | Hoopa-Unbound       |    6 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 16   | Quaquaval           |    5 |  10.42% |  60.00% |
| 17   | Cobalion            |    5 |  10.42% |  20.00% |
| 18   | Rotom-Wash          |    5 |  10.42% |  60.00% |
| 19   | Greninja            |    5 |  10.42% |  40.00% |
| 20   | Keldeo-Resolute     |    4 |   8.33% |  25.00% |
| 21   | Slither Wing        |    4 |   8.33% |  50.00% |
| 22   | Lokix               |    4 |   8.33% |  25.00% |
| 23   | Enamorus-Therian    |    4 |   8.33% |  25.00% |
| 24   | Hydreigon           |    3 |   6.25% |  66.67% |
| 25   | Polteageist         |    3 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 26   | Ogerpon-Cornerstone |    3 |   6.25% |  33.33% |
| 27   | Sandy Shocks        |    3 |   6.25% |  33.33% |
| 28   | Skeledirge          |    3 |   6.25% |  66.67% |
| 29   | Zarude              |    3 |   6.25% |  66.67% |
| 30   | Slowbro             |    3 |   6.25% |  66.67% |
| 31   | Pecharunt           |    2 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Keldeo              |    2 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 33   | Salamence           |    2 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 34   | Revavroom           |    2 |   4.17% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Gastrodon           |    2 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 36   | Toxapex             |    2 |   4.17% | 100.00% |
| 37   | Sinistcha           |    2 |   4.17% |   0.00% |
| 38   | Necrozma            |    2 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 39   | Conkeldurr          |    2 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 40   | Cresselia           |    2 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 41   | Mew                 |    2 |   4.17% | 100.00% |
| 42   | Skarmory            |    2 |   4.17% |  50.00% |
| 43   | Zarude-Dada         |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 44   | Gyarados            |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Azumarill           |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 46   | Iron Jugulis        |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 47   | Avalugg             |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 48   | Blissey             |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 49   | Mandibuzz           |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 50   | Zapdos-Galar        |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 51   | Deoxys-Defense      |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 52   | Volcanion           |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 53   | Gligar              |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 54   | Araquanid           |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 55   | Donphan             |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 56   | Iron Leaves         |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 57   | Hawlucha            |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 58   | Thwackey            |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 59   | Metagross           |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 60   | Krookodile          |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 61   | Arcanine-Hisui      |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 62   | Gastrodon-East      |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
| 63   | Polteageist-Antique |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 64   | Serperior           |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 65   | Crawdaunt           |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 66   | Thundurus           |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 67   | Rhyperior           |    1 |   2.08% |   0.00% |
| 68   | Swampert            |    1 |   2.08% | 100.00% |
 
umbry i'm here to save you

:mew: JustFranco vs pdt :exeggutor-alola: 51/49

Franco has had a very good past 12 months, winning UU circuit, being the best of the pool remaining, and most importantly, winning last week with Avalugg stall. (VAMOS AVALOLOS) Though he has been using his trademark Slowking balance/BOs. I would not be surprised if he can change it up slightly, given that in his game vs Liam, he did get beat in the builder on that occasion. pdt has not had the best of tournaments, especially for his high standards, but he has been in this situation before, winning in finals last year, so he has the ability when the pressure is at its max. In this case, I’m just gonna go with the hot hand here. I expect Franco to switch it up a bit, catching pdt off guard a bit, giving him the ever so slightest advantage, but this is extremely close.

:gyarados: Lyssa vs Kenix :zapdos-galar: 55/45
Now that Reina has gotten to her mandatory 4-4 out of the way, she can now be unleashed again in playoffs. Looking to shake off the vtuber semis curse, she is coming off a bounce back from her rough start, where her record doesn’t really reflect her good building/play as of late, but to get there, she has to get her way through the UU farmer Don Eduardo Carapinga. Kenix has been the Dynamos savior after their 40k UU core got sent to the shadow realm. He has kept up well, farming his way through the only having his streak ended by Mossy last week. As Alyssa alluded to in her op, I believe this is going to be where the Dynamos are really going to miss the “mainer builder” and Reina is gonna be able come away with the win.
 
Semifinals Replays:
[TMS] JustFranco vs pdt [ISL] :blobsad:
[TER] Lyssa vs Kenix [DYN]

Finals Matchup:

AHOq17Hr3y29weN9XQNQYyBhdik_UU7iOJ-A90LuniXXZ0r53U7REiMeo7JOO892qCcJ10NxVWk_c_LIfDzghrDrNTZfW-j5ubRR7jfheTYpoi31ugq3wT6R7-PCxnL_l8jJ=w80-h84
JustFranco (6-3) vs (4-1) Kenix
rancher.png

Unfortunately for all of us spectators, we didn't get a chance to witness justfranco vs pdt last week as machines went on an incredible run to dominate semifinals 6-0. Still, the morale for justfranco and the machines is surely at an all time high which will be an aid when dealing with the pressure of a finals, he also managed to keep his scout untouched so we don't have any idea yet as of whether he's looking to switch things up for the new metagame. It'll be interesting to see what he cooks up for this game as he approaches the wild card.

On the other hand we have Kenix, who played and won his game last week taking dynamos to finals with a very cool team featuring a defensive :quaquaval: as the spinner, which ended being such a big threat to lyssa's team and also 1v1'd a skarmory leaving me and several other people surprised. It's good to see the dynamos have found their footing with team building and kenix is still putting forth solid in-game executions. Overall this should be a high quality match and deserving of a finals so I'm be excited to hopefully catch it live.

Good luck to both players and their teams! I'll be posting usage stats for playoffs after finals are over.

Code: 
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Latios             |    2 |  50.00% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Skarmory           |    2 |  50.00% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Quaquaval          |    2 |  50.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Ditto              |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 5    | Donphan            |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 6    | Fezandipiti        |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Toxapex            |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Azumarill          |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 9    | Excadrill          |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 10   | Greninja           |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 11   | Mew                |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 12   | Polteageist        |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 13   | Clodsire           |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Enamorus-Therian   |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 15   | Metagross          |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Tornadus-Therian   |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Zarude             |    1 |  25.00% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Heatran            |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Hoopa-Unbound      |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Thundurus-Therian  |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
| 21   | Zarude-Dada        |    1 |  25.00% |   0.00% |
 
Last edited:
Gonna make a prediction post for finals. Was planning on doing some predicts for semis too but I’ve been pretty sick for a long time and over the last 3 weeks I’ve felt horrendously ill. I didn’t have the energy to write a long post for semis even though I wanted to. Felt a bit better today so gonna try to write an informative predictions post. Also no one else made any predictions for finals and I think it’s always nice to have at least 1 predictions post. I enjoy reading predicts myself regardless of who people think will win so kudos to people who made prediction posts in this thread already. They were nice to read throughout the season. Even though I didn’t make a post for semifinals, I would have predicted Franco and Kenix to win their games.


Franco > Kenix


Franco was the second person I was cheering for in this scl season (right after amuker) A lot of people were pretty hard on him and didn’t expect much from what I read early on before the season started. This is probably my bias talking cause I like Franco. I’ve teamed with him in the past and I think he’s pretty good. A lot of people just call him a stall/fat spammer but I think he actually mixes up his team choices a decent amount. A good example was his game against Lyssa. Franco’s known for bringing super fat teams and his W1 game vs punny had double regen + gastro. Franco is pretty aware of his rep known for using fat so he pulls a 180 against lyssa and brings HO screens which was such a good call in prep. He runs into triple boots with gastro, sd zarude and scarf garde so you can already tell lyssa was expecting to face a super bulky team. The game was over pretty quickly. His manaphy just setups behind screens and 6-0s. Like I said, I’m probably bias cause I like Franco a lot. I’ve teamed with him before and watched him play a good amount. I know a lot of people were pretty critical of him at the start of the season after he lost to punny W1 but tbh I don’t even think that was that bad. The matchup on preview was always gonna be pretty tricky. Scarf gard vs fat teams is always gonna be tough cause 1 mon is forced to take the scarf and because gard is faster than most of the team even without a scarf, it can constantly switch in and trace regen so you can’t even make progress with hazards. Despite that, the game is actually really close and comes down to a tera end game scenario. I don’t even think that tera poison was a bad play, punny was just very cognizant of the situation. Even when I watch that replay again, I still think franco played pretty good despite losing. I'm not really a results driven person so that loss didn't really change how good I think franco is. I think he had a pretty good season overall. Didn't get to watch all of his games though cause I was pretty sick and missed a few of them but I thought he played well in the games that I did get to watch.

Kenix has had a really good season too. The uu farmer has been living up to his name and has been farming the uu pool ever since he started playing at the midseason. I haven't checked but 4-1 has gotta be one of the best records in uu because I know the pool has been pretty competitive. He also has the psychological side of the game down too. Every time something goes in his favor, he types a carapinga. Gets a crit? Carapinga. Focus Blast miss? Carapinga. That is all you will see. Do you know how much mental damage that does to someone? Pokemon is not only a game of skill and luck but it's also a battle of opposing minds. I don't see anyone talk about that aspect of the game but it's definitely real thing and kenix has a lock on that.

Overall I still think franco is slightly favored and I am cheering for him to win since there's no amuker in poffs.

Speaking of liam, I do have to say I am very proud of him for his excellent run this scl. I know it sucks to not make playoffs but I hope he's proud of himself for what he did this season. 7-2 is the highest record out of all the players who played every game in the regular season. Seeing you ranked dead last in so many prs actually motivated me to write a post, which is something I very rarely do, but I felt like I had to. I'm very happy to see you do well this scl. I would be a lot happier if I wasn't so sick, but I'm still very happy that you were able to show people that you aren't just nasty at old gen uu tiers, but sv too.

Tldr hoping that franco wins and congrats to liam for the awesome scl run this year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top