Smogon Premier League X: UU Discussion

[justdrew]

Approved by Sage
Drop a like for my volunteer work :)

Hey UU! With SPL X underway, this thread will be used to discuss UU related topics, whether it's about the players, general metagame trends, matches, predictions and so on. This thread will be updated frequently with each new week, player standings, and replays.

SPL Introduction
SPL Schedule
Auction Logs

UU Player Cores:
Wi-Fi Wolfpack - TDK, Welli0u, Bugzinator
Team Raiders - Pak, bro fist, SPACE FORCE meeps
Dragonspiral Tyrants - Poek, Aim, Christo, Accelgor
Alpha Ruiners - Empo, Pearl
Ever Grande BIGS - Kushalos, FLCL, Sage
Circus Maximus Tigers - Sacri, HarrisIsAwesome
Stark Sharks - Teddeh, Lycans, Tricking
Congregation of the Classiest - Finchinator, Edi0n, Shiba
Cryonicles - ABR, HT
Indie Scooters - robjr

Power Rankings:
https://www.smogon.com/articles/splx-power-rankings

Player Standings:

Replays

Week 1 - January 7th, 2019

[CONG] edi0n vs Pak [RAID]
[CRYO] HT vs bugzinator [WOLF]
[RUIN] Pearl vs Lycans [SHRK]
[TYRN] Christo vs HarrisIsAwesome [TGRS]
[BIGS] Sage vs robjr [SCTR]

Week 2 - January 14th, 2019

[RUIN] Pearl vs Christo [TYRN]
[SCTR] robjr vs edi0n [CONG]
[BIGS] Sage vs Lycans [SHRK]
[WOLF] bugzinator vs Pak [RAID]
[TGRS] HarrisIsAwesome vs HT [CRYO]

Week 3 - January 21st, 2019

[WOLF] bugzinator vs robjr [SCTR]
[CRYO] HT vs Christo [TYRN]
[BIGS] Sage vs Pearl [RUIN]
[RAID] Pak vs HarrisIsAwesome [TGRS]
[SHRK] Lycans vs edi0n [CONG]

Week 4 - January 28th, 2019

[SCTR] robjr vs HarrisIsAwesome [TGRS]
[CRYO] HT vs Pak [RAID]
[WOLF] bugzinator vs Lycans [SHRK]
[RUIN] Pearl vs Shiba [CONG]
[TYRN] Christo vs Sage [BIGS]

Week 5 - February 4th, 2019

[CONG] Shiba vs Sabella [BIGS]
[TGRS] HarrisIsAwesome vs Lycans [SHRK]
[CRYO] HT vs Pearl [RUIN]
[TYRN] Christo vs bugzinator [WOLF]
[RAID] Pak vs robjr [SCTR]

Week 6 - February 11th, 2019

[CONG] Shiba vs HT [CRYO]
[RUIN] Pearl vs bugzinator [WOLF]
[SHRK] Lycans vs robjr [SCTR]
[RAID] Pak vs Christo [TYRN]
[BIGS] soulgazer vs Adaam [TGRS]

Week 7 - February 18th, 2019

[SHRK] Lycans vs Christo [TYRN]
[WOLF] Sjneider vs soulgazer [BIGS]
[RAID] Pak vs Pearl [RUIN]
[CONG] Shiba vs Adaam [TGRS]
[SCTR] robjr vs HT [CRYO]

Week 8 - February 25th, 2019

[BIGS] vs. [RAID]
[TGRS] vs. [RUIN]
[TYRN] vs. [SCTR]
[CRYO] vs. [SHRK]
[WOLF] vs. [CONG]

Week 9 - March 4th, 2019

[TGRS] vs. [WOLF]
[CONG] vs. [TYRN]
[RAID] vs. [SHRK]
[SCTR] vs. [RUIN]
[BIGS] vs. [CRYO]


Week 10 - Semi-Finals - March 11th, 2019

#1 vs #4
#2 vs #3

Week 11 - Finals - March 18th, 2019

(#1 vs #4) vs (#2 vs #3)

 

[MunchlaxAndChill]

HarrisIsAwesome: Harris is a very solid all around player and a great builder (I taught him everything he knows). It being his first major team tour and all it'll probably be a rocky start, but if he gets comfortable I wouldn't be surprised if he puts up good numbers. If he uses the clanger, I see no reason for him to not be named unanimous MVP.

Sage: I predict them to Sage It Up. Incredibly fire individual. Rumor has it they live on the corner of Clanger Avenue and Mid Ground Street.

 

[Kink]

Since we’re tying to keep it as classy as the NU thread, bugzinator hasnt beaten me in an SPL game in 4 years and choolio smells worse than he looks haha enjoy the drama UU

 

[Adaam]

It seems like a good idea to publicly post unbiased power rankings of each player’s skills, so here I go. My rankings will go by each team’s UU core as a whole rather than just the current starter.

1. Congregation of the Classiest (edi0n, Shiba, Finch)

edi0n is not only the single UU player in the entire pool with numbers in his name, but he also has a total of 2 total posts on Smogon.com, all of which are “won ggs.” With Shiba’s support I fear we may witness the best Blissey Spikes offense of our generation.

2. Dragonspiral Tyrants (Poek, aim, Christo, Accelgor)

Ranked 2nd simple because of the Poek-aim pun even though neither of them will probably play a single game of UU this SPL.

10. Team Raiders (Pak)

Let’s be real nobody is starting over Pak. His UU abilities are nigh unmatched, but once people realize they can spike his preworkout he takes before each game it’s curtains for my man.

 

[SPACE FORCE meeps]

rated bugzinator pretty highly here tbh but heard he already lost all 9 of his matches so idk what to think now

 

[Sage]

Here with unbiased and accurate power rankings.

1. bro fist: The Raiders clearly have their priorities set on UU with the way their draft went, getting the immaculate "punisher o' plays" to start for them in a tough pool, and I applaud them for that. Members of the Terminus Taipans have this to say about vro fist:

warning: extreme gas levels

2:11 PM] AUGUST (assassin): GOAT
[2:11 PM] crow raven (assassin): YOOOOOOOOOO
[2:11 PM] sarag: JOAT
[2:11 PM] sarag: Joat
[2:11 PM] talah: NICE
[2:11 PM] crow raven (assassin): JOAT
[2:11 PM] sarag: JOHNNNN
[2:11 PM] talah: JOAT
[2:11 PM] talah: AS FUCK
[2:11 PM] Brooklyn: VROTHER
[2:11 PM] talah: @here THE FIRE TAIPANS
[2:11 PM] talah: WITH THE VRO FIST
[2:11 PM] talah: PUNISHED ALL THE PLAYS
[2:11 PM] Brooklyn: FISTING
[2:11 PM] Booty Assassin: LETS GET IT
[2:11 PM] The Sticky Bombster (assassin): GOD FIST
[2:11 PM] plas: All worked out FIRE
[2:11 PM] John: lets fucking go boys
[2:11 PM] plas: PLAYS=PUNISHED

Along with a talent unlike ever seen before, the Raiders also grabbed Conkledurr (ab)user SPACE FORCE meeps for support, who will be sure to fix any building issues John has. This is clearly the number one group to watch out for, more than 2 losses is a disappointment. Unfortunately, Pak has overdosed on pre-workout and is unable to compete. He may have finally gotten that large chest, but at what cost...

2. aim: The Draco Dropper himself, Joey is a proven force in the UU metagame, and not just in playing ability. With a list of achievements that include getting nearly every single UU Ladder Challenge achievement, calling upon his legions to take over the tier by storm in the Month of the Monkey, and putting my first tournament loss straight to YouTube and forcing me to retire early, Aim's dominance will cause many players to be shaking in fear at the mere thought of challenging him. He may have the best UU support in the pool, including the Tier Leader / Dinosaur Hogg, but this man is far more powerful than any mere Tier Leader will ever be.

3. Empo: An excellent choice for a pilot, the savior of the Mikan Island Monsters returns to the field. He dragged Pearl to a UUPL Victory last year, and should have no problem carrying him once again in SPL to a solid UU record.

4. Kushalos: The BIGs, in my once again unbiased opinion, have chosen a solid core to carry me from my bench spot. Look forward to the Chef and his aggressiveness to try and shock the more predictable players in the pool. His backup FLCL will keep him motivated with excellent anime recommendations and kind words, all 20 of them per week. I would predict this core going positive despite bringing BW UU teams every game.

5. ABR: One of the great teambuilders of smogon, ABR will certainly be able to cook up some fire in UU as well. Scizor spreads unseen till now will be flying off the keyboard, and he will have the support of SSD1 UU player teal6 to make sure all of them are Defensive Swords Dance. I expect a middle of the pack performance, but could definitely be higher if ABR uses his East influence to make bro fist and aim throw their games.

6. Tricking: Alpha enough to win last year's UU Circuit despite being tourbanned, underestimating Tricking would be a serious mistake.

7. robjr: there isn't even enough here to make a joke, in all seriousness good luck rob!

8. TDK: Rather lost by this turn of events, after an unfortunate showing in Snake TDK attempted to return to OU where the roads are paved with gold and you can win more than 1 individual trophy a year. Despite walking behind Bro Fist and ABR's path, he finds himself once again in the nethers of UU, where he should be poised for a bounce back performance, but there is a particularly fierce pool ahead of him. We shall see if he has what it takes to survive another season of this terrible tier.

9. Finchinator: Big Finch has been scouting the UU playerbase for some time, and time will tell if it's enough to give him any matchup edges. He has the potential for some upsets if he can avoid playing any one person more than twice, we don't want a repeat of UUPL to ruin his confidence.

67. Sacri:

 

[Accel]

Here with unbiased and accurate power rankings.

1. bro fist: The Raiders clearly have their priorities set on UU with the way their draft went, getting the immaculate "punisher o' plays" to start for them in a tough pool, and I applaud them for that. Members of the Terminus Taipans have this to say about vro fist:

warning: extreme gas levels

2:11 PM] AUGUST (assassin): GOAT
[2:11 PM] crow raven (assassin): YOOOOOOOOOO
[2:11 PM] sarag: JOAT
[2:11 PM] sarag: Joat
[2:11 PM] talah: NICE
[2:11 PM] crow raven (assassin): JOAT
[2:11 PM] sarag: JOHNNNN
[2:11 PM] talah: JOAT
[2:11 PM] talah: AS FUCK
[2:11 PM] Brooklyn: VROTHER
[2:11 PM] talah: @here THE FIRE TAIPANS
[2:11 PM] talah: WITH THE VRO FIST
[2:11 PM] talah: PUNISHED ALL THE PLAYS
[2:11 PM] Brooklyn: FISTING
[2:11 PM] Booty Assassin: LETS GET IT
[2:11 PM] The Sticky Bombster (assassin): GOD FIST
[2:11 PM] plas: All worked out FIRE
[2:11 PM] John: lets fucking go boys
[2:11 PM] plas: PLAYS=PUNISHED

Along with a talent unlike ever seen before, the Raiders also grabbed Conkledurr (ab)user SPACE FORCE meeps for support, who will be sure to fix any building issues John has. This is clearly the number one group to watch out for, more than 2 losses is a disappointment. Unfortunately, Pak has overdosed on pre-workout and is unable to compete. He may have finally gotten that large chest, but at what cost...

2. aim: The Draco Dropper himself, Joey is a proven force in the UU metagame, and not just in playing ability. With a list of achievements that include getting nearly every single UU Ladder Challenge achievement, calling upon his legions to take over the tier by storm in the Month of the Monkey, and putting my first tournament loss straight to YouTube and forcing me to retire early, Aim's dominance will cause many players to be shaking in fear at the mere thought of challenging him. He may have the best UU support in the pool, including the Tier Leader / Dinosaur Hogg, but this man is far more powerful than any mere Tier Leader will ever be.

3. Empo: An excellent choice for a pilot, the savior of the Mikan Island Monsters returns to the field. He dragged Pearl to a UUPL Victory last year, and should have no problem carrying him once again in SPL to a solid UU record.

4. Kushalos: The BIGs, in my once again unbiased opinion, have chosen a solid core to carry me from my bench spot. Look forward to the Chef and his aggressiveness to try and shock the more predictable players in the pool. His backup FLCL will keep him motivated with excellent anime recommendations and kind words, all 20 of them per week. I would predict this core going positive despite bringing BW UU teams every game.

5. ABR: One of the great teambuilders of smogon, ABR will certainly be able to cook up some fire in UU as well. Scizor spreads unseen till now will be flying off the keyboard, and he will have the support of SSD1 UU player teal6 to make sure all of them are Defensive Swords Dance. I expect a middle of the pack performance, but could definitely be higher if ABR uses his East influence to make bro fist and aim throw their games.

6. Tricking: Alpha enough to win last year's UU Circuit despite being tourbanned, underestimating Tricking would be a serious mistake.

7. robjr: there isn't even enough here to make a joke, in all seriousness good luck rob!

8. TDK: Rather lost by this turn of events, after an unfortunate showing in Snake TDK attempted to return to OU where the roads are paved with gold and you can win more than 1 individual trophy a year. Despite walking behind Bro Fist and ABR's path, he finds himself once again in the nethers of UU, where he should be poised for a bounce back performance, but there is a particularly fierce pool ahead of him. We shall see if he has what it takes to survive another season of this terrible tier.

9. Finchinator: Big Finch has been scouting the UU playerbase for some time, and time will tell if it's enough to give him any matchup edges. He has the potential for some upsets if he can avoid playing any one person more than twice, we don't want a repeat of UUPL to ruin his confidence.

67. Sacri: View attachment 153743

 

[rs]

“great post sage thanks for the laugh hahah ah xd!!! you made my night!!!1!”

 

[Hogg]

https://www.smogon.com/articles/splx-power-rankings

Power rankings are up! What did you think about UU's rankings?

 

[Cynde]

was kind of surprised edi0n wasn't ranked higher, uu open winner + finch + shiba seemed like a pretty good combination to me and maybe christo a spot higher as well, the rest seems to be what was expected. looks like a tough field so good luck to those competing

 

[justdrew]

Power rankings look good. Pearl, Pak, lycans, and rob are an obvious top 4 just based on recent success and tour activity. I'm not doubting Christo's capabilities as a UU player, because he sure is good, but it's been a minute since he's been in a UU tour. #5 is a good position for him because even though he might be a tad out of practice he has Poek, Aim, and his back up Accelgor to assist in team building. Don't forget he is managed by Hogg who happens to be the head of UU as well as a very capable and experienced UU player. HT and Sage are neck and neck with HT a little in the lead in my book. Both players are good but HT has a lot more experience. Sage has had a little more success this year and also has Kush and the former UU Open winner FLCL behind her but I believe HT to be a better player. I disagree with the last 3 spots. Bugz literally has done nothing in UU since topping ladder back in December and making a stall team with ABR. He did a little shit posting in UUPL but ended up not getting drafted. 0 recent tour success or activity makes me unconfident in his abilities. Yeah he has TDK, Tony, and Welli0u but I don't think he's at all prepared for the line up this year. I would place Bugz at #10, Harris at #9, and Edi0n at #8. I value recent success far than anything else. Getting 2nd in UU Open is no joke. He has an experienced player like Sacri to help him out which makes me confident that he can stand a chance versus the competition. I agree with everything that was said about Edi0n in power rankings. He came out of nowhere but he has performed really well. As someone who lost to him in UU Open I know first hand that he builds and battles quite well on his own. With Finch and Shiba backing him up he is definitely a force to be reckoned with. That's what I have to say. Keep the discussion fun and interesting and happy posting everyone!

 

[bugzinator]

i'm fuckin shit at uu tbh. thought i was gonna be playing against teal6 or someone. who are all these newcomers like pearl and christo??

 

[Finchinator]

Bugz literally has done nothing in UU since topping ladder back in December and making a stall team with ABR. He did a little shit posting in UU Open but ended up not getting drafted. 0 recent tour success or activity makes me unconfident in his abilities. Yeah he has TDK, Tony, and Welli0u but I don't think he's at all prepared for the line up this year. I would place Bugz at #10, Harris at #9, and Edi0n at #8.

Everyone is fully entitled to their opinion, but it should be noted that Bugzinator did not go unpicked in any tournament he actually signed up for, as far as I know. He did not sign-up last SPL and he was banned during Snake sign-ups. Personally, I think given his depth of positive past experiences and unparalleled levels of support, Bugzinator will go at least 4-5, if not positive, despite the field being ridiculously strong. However, it will not be easy and he may struggle in the initial weeks when it comes to transitioning depending upon his current form. I personally believe the situation he is in and the situation Christo is in are very similar; both are a number of months removed the game, but have high playing ceilings/positive experience and both have a lot of support. I think each of the two will be able to hold their own in this field.

Moving on, I am really interested to see how this tier plays out. I think that Pearl is clearly the top dog, followed by Pak, Lycans, and likely robjr in that order. The thing is that I feel like none of these four are "sure things" because if they are not at their peak for any given stretch, then they will struggle to win games consistently just given how strong their opponents will be. Looking down the list, the people ranked at the bottom dominated the most recent big official in UU, being HarrisIsAwesome and edi0n. That speaks a lot to the depth of this playerbase, in my opinion. Obviously, you still favor the supposed top dogs to win more than not, but with pools like this, the specific form of individual players at any given time, their motivation, and their teambuilding really become difference makers. I love that about the UU pool this SPL and I hope we see a lot of close games, interesting teams, and metagame evolution as a byproduct of this all.

If I had to make a bit of a personal prediction, I would say that the top 4-5 record-getters will all be around 5-4/6-3. I don't see anyone truly running away with UU. I think 7-2 is going to be really hard to pull off in this field, but a couple of these guys have a high enough ceiling to make it work. Regardless, I think it will be a challenge for Lycans and Pak to replicate their success from SSD2 specifically, but they should still at least go even. I just believe that guys like Bugznator and Christo are not too far off from them overall seeing as they are arguably just as good, if not better, in-game. Finally, I'm really excited to see how edi0n and harris follow-up their Grand Slam runs. I'm personally working with the former and it has already been really fun talking with him and Shiba about potential teams and whatnot, but the games themselves will be even more exciting I'm sure. Good luck everyone!

 

[justdrew]

Everyone is fully entitled to their opinion, but it should be noted that Bugzinator did not go unpicked in any tournament he actually signed up for, as far as I know. He did not sign-up last SPL and he was banned during Snake sign-ups. Personally, I think given his depth of positive past experiences and unparalleled levels of support, Bugzinator will go at least 4-5, if not positive, despite the field being ridiculously strong. However, it will not be easy and he may struggle in the initial weeks when it comes to transitioning depending upon his current form. I personally believe the situation he is in and the situation Christo is in are very similar; both are a number of months removed the game, but have high playing ceilings/positive experience and both have a lot of support. I think each of the two will be able to hold their own in this field.

For some reason I always end up typing UU Open instead of UUPL. Bugz posted his sign up in the commencement and not in the sign ups so I guess he wasn't allowed to be picked in the draft. The reason I place Bugz last is simply because of my UU experience. I've only played since last August so I have witnessed none of Bugz's notable performances. I have only seen him ladder for a bit and then go inactive until now. I'll admit I have no educated gauge of Bugz's skills and can't rate him fairly. For that reason I place him 10th. I really look forward to seeing Bugz play as I know nothing about him and he may very likely deserve a spot at #8 or #7. I value recent performance and activity highly in how I rank. Many can argue that past successes count more than recent successes and that is fair. I look forward to watching all these games because this looks like an extremely competitive UU pool and a fun meta to work with.

 

[Christo]

News flash Bros, playing Pokémon actively doesn’t affect preformance. Bugzi and I don’t need months of practice to adjust to Gliscor being out of the tier. Let’s have a good season boys

 

[Freeroamer]

First week predictions! I’m probably gonna mostly go by PR here as the official one was very close to my personal one, but hopefully I can explain why and make it a bit more interesting.

SM UU: edi0n vs Pak - It’s hard to predict against Pak, with him being so highly regarded within the pool this year and this being edi0n’s first UU team tour game (unless you’re a conspiracy theorist). However this is one I’m quite intrigued to watch as I haven’t been able to see a huge amount of edi0n’s games since he came onto the scene. I do know he tends to fall into fairly repetitive building from time to time, but I would back Finch and Shiba to push him away from that and give Pak a really good game, as I think his in game execution is actually pretty nice.

SM UU: HT vs bugzinator - I actually found this one quite hard to call as these guys tend to contrast a lot. HT tends to underperform in official team tours compared to his performance outside of them, but has been active in SM throughout while bugz tends to show up for tours even if he doesn’t play a huge role in the community or actively play the tier. I’ve given the edge to HT here because I think it might take bugz a week to get fully up to speed with playing on the big stage again, but an interesting matchup for sure.

SM UU: Pearl vs Lycans - I respect all the dudes playing, but this is definitely the highlight matchup of the week for me with 2 of the top 3 in the pool squaring off straight away! I think a lot of this will come down to the teams utilised, particularly on Lycans end as their playing ability isn’t it question by this point. By now everyone knows how well Pearl can build, but while Lycans has definitely shown himself to be more self sufficient as time goes on, there’s perhaps still a question mark over whether he can really be considered as someone who has real variety in their building across playstyles and mons choices. Both of these players are definitely capable of pulling out the “wow” plays in game too so lots to be excited for, hopefully we see a real good one!

SM UU: Christo vs HarrisIsAwesome - I’m looking forward to seeing Christo back in the game, as he was always one of the dudes that I thought was super difficult to take games off when he was back playing before. Very rarely misplays and has great support with teams from the Tyrants, not to mention he was more than a solid builder himself when he previously played. I’d love for Harris to win as he’s a nice guy with great enthusiasm for the tier, but if Christo plays like he did prior to his Fortnite hiatus, this is a really tough first assignment for him.

SM UU: Sage vs robjr - This went the other way in Snake, which I feel like is only going to give Rob more motivation to make sure he nabs this one, especially with him presumably being keen to avoid the slow start he had in snake and really get off to a flier this time. This will be anything but straightforward though, as while I feel like Sage’s builds focus too much on the concept rather than ensuring the team’s defensive solidarity at times, it’s definitely a strategy that can pay out and produce some excellent matchups like the one we saw early last Snake, which she also played out well so like all the games this week, this should be an intriguing one to watch.

5/5 in favour of the PR

 

[obii]

bugzinator is the best uu player of all tieme

 

[yeezyknows]

i was gonna make some articulate prs but i stopped after writing one and decided to just speak off the cuff bc its impossible and asinine to directly rank and quantify anything when the pool's this deep. i just have a few noteworthy armchair points i'd like to put out because it's cool to create narratives for this meme of a pseudo esport we all love. below is yeezy's guide to the spl x uu pool.


- christo, dude went fucking 1990s karl malone mode in spl last year and the meta legitimately hasn't changed enough to where UU GOD KING workhorse accel can't teach him the new techs. dude's been laddering too so he's picked up enough cancerous new ideas to reassert himself as the pre-war industrial magnate of UU that he is. gonna be cool to see how he adapts to the new metagame as a whole.

- ht, 3k is a steal for someone who's gone positive or .500 in every iteration of uu tour play since last spl. no reason to see why he won't continue that streak this spl. steady hand, boss.

- edi0n, i gassed him up after he dumpstered itsjustdrew during uu open but i still dk how he won the whole thing. it remains to be seen whether he'll bring klefki BO every game but i fw this guy. even though ive privately stated shiba's gonna be starting by mids, edi0n could legitimately surprise. despite this, i don't think his ceiling is that high and his floor is shakier than an indonesian fault line but he can clown on dudes occasionally, it just remains to be seen whether he can do that versus actual tournament players.

- sage, homie went for more than double rob based on four snake games and a ULT run. absolutely wild. she has the talent ceiling though 100%, but it still remains to be seen whether her showing in snake was a fluke. 3-1 and decently cucked by mu vs pak, talent floor is high as fuck and with bushtush support she easily has the ceiling to show out.

- pearl, best builder in UU, bar none. however, despite his skill floor, he does have question marks. dude hasn't played uu in teamtours in over a year and went 4-5 in last years snake. it remains to be seen whether big pearl goes vasco de gama on his competition or does his best post- 1600s impression of portugal on the big stage. impossible to go against a fellow diancie wielder and slam winner with his tournament pedigree though.

- rob, solid. dude's solid, man. idk him enough to say much else. kinda formulaic team choices but he's wet as fuck in piloting them. dude is the definition of solid. he's like the robert covington of uu and 6.5k is the second most egregious steal of the draft based on his playing floor.

- lycans, mega fire. does what edi0n did in uu open vs tournament players. not much more to say.

- harris (love u boss u washed me out of uu open during the mvenu meta and never held it against me that i raged at u when u dumpstered me with roarcune on ladder a while back) has some big question marks in terms of building and playing over the course of a 9 week season with his main means of team support being gama and sacri. dude has no prior teamtour experience either so its gonna be cool to see whether he fucks these dudes up or gets smacked himself. i feel like he has an insane ceiling with his slam run showing he can clown on dudes in multiple tiers but it remains to be seen whether he can do that against the best players in the uu field.

- pak, workhorse, punishes plays. 6'1 210. corn fed. burly as fuck. unreal playing floor, solid building and innovative team choices.

- bugzi, idk enough abt you to say much other than you played well in snake 1 and have good building support with tony/tdk and solid tournament pedigree. cool attitude too. just gonna be interesting to see building choices/playstyle after such a long hiatus.

 

[Nakeeb]

go sage

 

[DiscoDucky]

effect preformance.

But it seems to "effect" spelling.

 

[Christo]

Flexing grammar on a Pokémon forum

 

[Adaam]

Quick thoughts on all the games so far:

Christo vs Harris
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-406701

Not much to say here as Christo won in a dominant manner. I'd say he had slight MU advantage since his defensive core didn't leave much breathing room at all for either of Harris' breakers to operate, but Harris could have definitely done damage with Primarina if he chipped Emp with his Krook or if he found a turn to SD with Terrakion on Christo's Emp or Krook. Anyway, Harris ends up getting solid chip on Empoleon early with Primarina but misplays hard on turn 10 by letting it get Knocked. Christo didn't really have a reason to switch out, especially with Emp not fully scouted (could have Protected there for example). Without Specs, Harris pretty much lost as SD Terrakion was not going to win against Krook/Sylv/Aero/Lati. I just wanna quickly mention how I really hate slapping Protect on random Pokemon. Rock Polish could have done some damage here especially since it was Rockium-Z.

edi0n vs Pak
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-406716

I loved this game cause not only did it feature Pakmasta winning but also displayed some one million IQ bluffs to secure the win. From preview, edi0n's Cobalion was a big threat if SD, especially since it later revealed Steelium-Z. Pak's Celebi, however, could easily sweep if Lati got Pursuit trapped by his Scizor, and Gligar looked to be very annoying to take down. Fairly even MU imo, maybe leans very slightly to edi0n cause of Steelium Coba. First 6 turns they take turns tickling each other, but then edi0n's Coba puts Gligar at 2% and has an SD boost. However, he misplays hard by using Iron Head on the 2% Gligar instead of CC. There was no reason to believe Celebi was Scarf, and Iron Head let Hydreigon live at 24% and force out Cobalion. Hydreigon being alive let Pak force out Coba again and gave him an extra sack. Anyway, Latias ends up Toxiced + Pursuit trapped as predicted and Pak later flexes SCARF SCIZOR as it took out the Cobalion oml. However, this gave M-Alt free turns to DD twice and potentially win, but edi0n misplayed again by not Roosting on the first BP since it looks like it avoided the 2HKO. Volcanion couldn't take it out either since it looked like it was Refresh.

Pearl vs Lycans
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-420262

Lycans prepped very well for this game because he had phenomenal MU. Twave Togekiss (with what looks like Charti Berry), SubRest Suicune, and Fight-Z Drei all were great picks. Togekiss getting the chip on Sylvally-Fairy (Pearl why LOL) early made the Drei threat level 10000, as it later cleaned the rest of the team minus Infernape. Pearl's best shot of winning was probably with Infernape claiming a bunch of kills but M-Aero kept it honest and it couldn't set up again later. This game had some cool picks in it, I loved the Seismitoad and Drei sets in particular.

Edit: Turns out the Togekiss was actually Scarf, I had no idea.

HT vs bugzi
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-420286

This game was as even as it gets IMO for matchups with the Fairy/Drei/Sciz/Tenta/bulky Ground + 2 fillers mirror match. The key difference here is that HT's Fairy-type wasn't a Fairy without mega evolving, so he had to find a turn ASAP to evolve his Altaria. Leading might have been too obvious, so I see why he lead Tentacruel (beats Sylv/Scizor anti leads), but I think he should have doubled into Altaria instead of using Knock Off as he invited Hydreigon in which was then going to claim a kill. Losing Tentacruel so early made hazards too much to handle, as they slowly chipped away at his team and ultimately lost to Scizor. His own Scizor could have won, but Tentacruel got Wish support and by the time it died, his team was too weakened to find a set up turn.

Sage vs robjr
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-420066

Loved both teams here, I thought Sage had good MU with Spikestack + Doggy against a Rotom-H build. If she could maintain hazards then Sharpedo also had a fantastic chance to clean late game, especially with EQ. She starts off fantastically by poisoning the Slowbro and getting a layer up, however, turns 5-7 are big for robjr as he not only removes the Spikes but gets Toxic on Zydog. Sage should have definitely Taunted on turn 5, keeping up Spikes is priority #1 on any Froslass build and Dbond was too greedy I think. I also think sacking Zydog so early to Krook hurt since it was so good against Rob's team with Bro Toxiced. Focus Miss hurt her a lot too, since Rotom-H ended up being a huge pain and Doublade could have maybe won if it was chipped by what I presume was LO Cobalion. That being said, Rob played this game really well, dude is on absolute fire right now.

Overall, good games so far. Hydreigon and Sciz look absolutely dominant while Latias was a bit more quiet. Hydreigon in particular won 2 games on its back, and its effect on building is evident with 8/10 teams rocking a Fairy-type, and one of the two teams without one was balls-to-the-wall HO.

Also zero Blisseys so far

 

[edi0n]

edi0n vs Pak
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-406716 ...

just for clarification reason on this game:
generally agree with ur analysis, among other turns not CCing the gligar was as stupid as a play can be, but not roosting after the 2nd DD was no misplay at all. BP was never revealed and since he's scarf scizor there was a high chance of him running iron head over BP; if he is iron head and i roost first i loose a turn and can't roost off the damage afterwards; if he is BP it basically comes down to 50/50 damage roll slightly in paks favor.
After taking all things in consideration that endgame gave me the best odds of winning.

 

[dingbat]

I better see a shedinja from Christo at some point

otherwise i will be disappointed and sad and angry

 

[Adaam]

Week 2 thoughts since the last one got me so many likes got well-received:

Pearl vs Christo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-421637

Probably my favorite game this week since it was clean and the closest. Pearl has slight MU advantage with his own Scizor being a big threat if Manectric gets chipped, and he has defensive answers to Christo's Hydreigon, Mamoswine, and Scizor. However, if he plays Primarina or Azelf well early on he can break through. He manages to in fact get Prim in turn 6 but mispredicts the Tentacruel coming in and ends up doing nothing to the incoming Slowbro with Psychic. Christo then tries to regain momentum and and on turn 14 he gets his CB Sciz in on Pearl's chipped LO Sciz. Idk their spreads but this was the biggest turn of the game since a fast Superpower takes out Pearl's Scizor but switching out also would die to Pursuit. It looks like Pearl was confident he would outspeed or at the very least speed tie Christo's Sciz since he goes for Roost and dodges the KO. From here Pearl only has to play it safe since Rotom-H and Scizor are too much for Christo's team to handle. I think Flash Cannon on Drei could have been a good pick with how much Pearl likes to use Diancie, I believe it was Poison-Z instead.

This game also had some cool sets, with Firium-Z Rotom-H and Christo flexing the Adrenaline Orb NP Azelf (unfortunately it didn't get activated that game though).

HT vs HarrisIsAwesome
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-421643

HT did his homework here because Kyurem claims a kill every time it comes in, and boy does it get to come in a lot against a Toge/Emp/Amoonguss/Clanger build. Harris does get off to a nice start by KOing HT's Prim immediately but unfortunately all it does is let HT get his own kill with Kyurem. Roar Empoleon would have been massive for him as it could at least delay the kill claiming till the late game but instead it just wrecks havoc, first killing the Krook, and later the Toge and Amoonguss. There really was not much he could do to avoid losing unless M-Aero was Pursuit.

robjr vs edi0n
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-421620

Robjr also did some aweome prep in picking NP Gleam Celebi against edi0n who tends to use bulky Grounds and non-Scarf Drei. That being said, the MU was not as hopeless as HT vs Harris as Aero in the sand is a decent check to it and some proper play can limit it to one kill as Aero gets Celebi with Pursuit. For that reason, I disagree with going Suicune turn 6 and then using Substitute instead of immediately going Aero or Cobalion. That gave Celebi the free boost it needed and kept it out of Aero's range, so the rest of the game was just Celebi clicking buttons.

Lycans vs Sage
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-421855

Unfortunately an early confusion basically ended this game for Sage, as losing Florges so early lets Blastoise claim a kill every turn. Otherwise the game could go either way.

bugzinator vs Pak
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-421609

ungame

Still no Blisseys