Smogon Premier League XII - Week 2

[Merritt]

>Spreadsheet<
>Games Schedule<
>Season Schedule<​

Welcome to the twelfth iteration of SPL, SPL XII. In this tournament, 10 teams containing the most bestest players on Smogon duke it out every week, attempting to gather as many wins as they can to reach playoffs. Many of them will fail, while some will bloom. Whatever the case, the matches will be exciting, so without further ado, here are tournament rules and the matchups!

Tournaments Rules and General Guidelines

Matchups

Team Raiders (7) vs (3) Alpha Ruiners

SS OU: FlamingVictini H.M.N.I.P vs mncmt
SS OU: Samqian vs Separation
SS OU: Eeveeto vs Ox the Fox
SM OU: frisoeva vs Aurella Empo
ORAS OU: Luigi vs Gondra
BW OU: Jimmy Turtwig vs Frania
DPP OU: BIHI vs Emeral
ADV OU: CyberOdin✝ vs Hclat
GSC OU: FriendOfMrGolem120 vs Hyogafodex
RBY OU: MetalGro$$ vs Heroic Troller

Congregation of the Classiest (5) vs (5) Wi-Fi Wolfpack

SS OU: Garay oak vs Tace
SS OU: Luthier vs Bloody alfa
SS OU: lax vs talah
SM OU: Tamahome vs Relous
ORAS OU: Isza vs Dragon Claw
BW OU: obii vs shawyu 1313
DPP OU: august vs mael
ADV OU: Fakes vs Star
GSC OU: TDK vs ABR
RBY OU: rozes vs SMB

Indie Scooters (6) vs (4) Stark Sharks

SS OU: Gefährlicher Random vs 1 True Lycan
SS OU: Niko vs xray
SS OU: Sacri' vs reiku
SM OU: Corazan vs Welli0u
ORAS OU: Santu vs jonfilch
BW OU: Caetano93 vs SoulWind
DPP OU: snøfall vs Void
ADV OU: thelinearcurve vs Endill
GSC OU: false vs Fear
RBY OU: Serpi vs Kiichikos

Ever Grande BIGS (3) vs (7) Cryonicles

SS OU: Storm Zone vs Lusa
SS OU: ima vs bro fist
SS OU: FMG vs Leo
SM OU: Eternal Spirit vs z0mOG
ORAS OU: ElectricityCat vs Sjneider
BW OU: Insult vs Finchinator
DPP OU: DeepBlueC vs Malekith
ADV OU: McMeghan vs umbry
GSC OU: Zokuru vs TC
RBY OU: Tiba vs Nails

Circus Maximus Tigers (2) vs (8) Dragonspiral Tyrants

SS OU: Bushtush vs Eo Ut Mortus
SS OU: beatiful vs John W
SS OU: watashi vs 100percentpureheat
SM OU: robjr vs Omfuga
ORAS OU: BK vs CrashinBoomBang
BW OU: dice vs elodin
DPP OU: ToF vs Christo
ADV OU: Golden Sun vs Gilbert arenas
GSC OU: gorgie vs Conflict
RBY OU: SaDiSTiCNarwhal vs spies


Deadline: January 24th, 10 PM EST (GMT-5)

Predictions Format

Team Raiders (0) vs (0) Alpha Ruiners
SS OU: FlamingVictini vs mncmt
SS OU: Samqian vs Separation
SS OU: Eeveeto vs Ox the Fox
SM OU: frisoeva vs Empo
ORAS OU: Luigi vs Gondra
BW OU: Jimmy Turtwig vs Frania
DPP OU: BIHI vs Emeral
ADV OU: CyberOdin✝ vs Hclat
GSC OU: FriendOfMrGolem120 vs Hyogafodex
RBY OU: MetalGro$$ vs Heroic Troller

Congregation of the Classiest (0) vs (0) Wi-Fi Wolfpack
SS OU: Garay oak vs Tace
SS OU: Luthier vs Bloody alfa
SS OU: lax vs talah
SM OU: Tamahome vs Relous
ORAS OU: Isza vs Dragon Claw
BW OU: obii vs shawyu 1313
DPP OU: august vs mael
ADV OU: Fakes vs Star
GSC OU: TDK vs ABR
RBY OU: rozes vs SMB

Indie Scooters (0) vs (0) Stark Sharks
SS OU: Gefährlicher Random vs 1 True Lycan
SS OU: Niko vs xray
SS OU: Sacri' vs reiku
SM OU: Corazan vs Welli0u
ORAS OU: Santu vs jonfilch
BW OU: Caetano93 vs SoulWind
DPP OU: snøfall vs Void
ADV OU: thelinearcurve vs Endill
GSC OU: false vs Fear
RBY OU: Serpi vs Kiichikos

Ever Grande BIGS (0) vs (0) Cryonicles
SS OU: Storm Zone vs Lusa
SS OU: ima vs bro fist
SS OU: FMG vs Leo
SM OU: Eternal Spirit vs z0mOG
ORAS OU: ElectricityCat vs Sjneider
BW OU: Insult vs Finchinator
DPP OU: DeepBlueC vs Malekith
ADV OU: McMeghan vs umbry
GSC OU: Zokuru vs TC
RBY OU: Tiba vs Nails

Circus Maximus Tigers (0) vs (0) Dragonspiral Tyrants
SS OU: Bushtush vs Eo Ut Mortus
SS OU: beatiful vs John W
SS OU: watashi vs 100percentpureheat
SM OU: robjr vs Omfuga
ORAS OU: BK vs CrashinBoomBang
BW OU: dice vs elodin
DPP OU: ToF vs Christo
ADV OU: Golden Sun vs Gilbert arenas
GSC OU: gorgie vs Conflict
RBY OU: SaDiSTiCNarwhal vs spies

 

[Finchinator]

LGI CRYOS!!!

 

[Heroic Troller]

Thursday 9:30 pm gmt +1

 

[Jordy]

wrawn

 

[Posho]

Rooting for the Nailses

 

[bbeeaa]

 

[Jisoo]

Wolfpack full of baddies good luck kings

 

[shawyu 1313]

Wolfpack Lets Go！
scheduled wiz my friend obi on sat 11:00am -5

 

[ima]

Rooting for the EVER GRANDE BIGS.

 

[blank]

predictions

Team Raiders (5) vs (5) Alpha Ruiners

SS OU: FlamingVictini vs mncmt
SS OU: Samqian vs Separation
SS OU: Eeveeto vs Ox the Fox
SM OU: frisoeva vs Empo
ORAS OU: Luigi vs Gondra
BW OU: Jimmy Turtwig vs Frania
DPP OU: BIHI vs Emeral
ADV OU: CyberOdin vs Hclat
GSC OU: FriendOfMrGolem120 vs Hyogafodex
RBY OU: MetalGro$$ vs Heroic Troller

Congregation of the Classiest (1) vs (9) Wi-Fi Wolfpack

SS OU: Garay oak vs Tace
SS OU: Luthier vs Bloody alfa
SS OU: lax vs talah
SM OU: Tamahome vs Relous
ORAS OU: Isza vs Dragon Claw
BW OU: obii vs shawyu 1313
DPP OU: august vs mael
ADV OU: Fakes vs Star
GSC OU: TDK vs ABR
RBY OU: rozes vs SMB

i think if the lineup was what was intended in the draft this would be 3-6. also the tace garay game is like 50/50. would be a pretty close series, just unfortunate with the signup mistake!

Indie Scooters (4) vs (6) Stark Sharks

SS OU: Gefährlicher Random vs 1 True Lycan
SS OU: Niko vs xray
SS OU: Sacri' vs reiku
SM OU: Corazan vs Welli0u
ORAS OU: Santu vs jonfilch
BW OU: Caetano93 vs SoulWind
DPP OU: snøfall vs Void
ADV OU: thelinearcurve vs Endill
GSC OU: false vs Fear
RBY OU: Serpi vs Kiichikos

sharks draft was really top heavy, but with those top heavy parts working out nicely and the cheaper buys mostly looking solid, i think this team will continue to dominate.

Ever Grande BIGS (6) vs (4) Cryonicles

SS OU: Storm Zone vs Lusa
SS OU: ima vs bro fist
SS OU: FMG vs Leo
SM OU: Eternal Spirit vs z0mOG
ORAS OU: ElectricityCat vs Sjneider
BW OU: Insult vs Finchinator
DPP OU: DeepBlueC vs Malekith
ADV OU: McMeghan vs umbry
GSC OU: Zokuru vs TC
RBY OU: Tiba vs Nails

Circus Maximus Tigers (5) vs (5) Dragonspiral Tyrants

SS OU: Bushtush vs Eo Ut Mortus
SS OU: beatiful vs John W
SS OU: watashi vs 100percentpureheat
SM OU: robjr vs Omfuga
ORAS OU: BK vs CrashinBoomBang
BW OU: dice vs elodin
DPP OU: ToF vs Christo
ADV OU: Golden Sun vs Gilbert arenas
GSC OU: gorgie vs Conflict
RBY OU: SaDiSTiCNarwhal vs spies

some personal highlights:

SS OU: Eeveeto vs Ox the Fox
bringing it fairly close in a long and drawn out game against one of the best team tour players around in your first SPL is impressive regardless of the outcome. i think ox is a great player: i have some OU room bias here, but the guy has a great understanding of the metagame, he plays really well, and he builds awesome teams. eeveeto is THE wildcard player, and a pretty good (albeit swingy) one at that. still, it feels like lately he's been trending more towards standard stuff, both in snake and in his game vs storm zone. against sz i was expecting two absolutely insane teams, yet we only got one really. i do think ox is more sensible than his ladder brother when it comes to team choices, and given how sz's idea last week was almost there but just 1 move off, maybe people are getting better at cracking the code when it comes to prepping vs eeveeto. or maybe i'll be completely wrong here and he'll roll up with a carnavine trick room.

SS OU: Luthier vs Bloody alfa
both played really great games last week, despite one of them losing. what's interesting here is the prep dynamics: luthier, hailing from the mannat jerk, will be deprived of support from two of its strongest pieces in tace and talah, as they are pack members. the wolfpack SS core did prove successful with prep last week, but i would say the classiest did as well: both teams losses were not due to team choice. i see both of these players bringing fairly sensible teams, and i doubt either of them fucks up considerably in game plan. i favor luthier slightly because i do think he played a little better than bloody last week, but this is a very close and exciting one.

SS OU: Gefährlicher Random vs 1 True Lycan
really just highlighting this one because of the baron. dude played a crazy game last week. i was skeptical about the price tag but i get it now. madness.

SS OU: beatiful vs John W
cannot think of a time where i have unironically predicted against john w, but here we are. really high on both of these guys as players: i rank them both similarly high at the top 5 or so in the pool. i think bea has gotten more comfortable with the DLC 2 meta than john has, which makes me ultimately favor him. i think john's one of the best builders on the site, but his prep has been a little off since DLC 2 dropped. i would also say his builds a lot more predictable than bea's, especially lately. nonetheless, this one will be really tight.

SM OU: robjr vs Omfuga
both are really great: omfuga beating one of the goats after a 2 (?) year hiatus is a pretty big deal, especially when it's done in such a crazy fashion. fuga played an incredible game, genuinely just outplaying tama. rob played a nice game too, but man i just wanna be excited about the return of omfugod.

good luck everyone!

 

[ima]

Predictions

SS OU: FlamingVictini vs mncmt - Just as I got my rematch from OST Top 8, looks like mncmt is able to get his rematch from the OST Finals as well. However, despite me thinking both of these players are in the top 3 of the pool, I think FV will come out of this one in a tense fight. I trust FVs take on the metagame and his building skills more than mncmt. If mncmt can bring a team he actually likes, he will definitely bring this to a tight one.
SS OU: Samqian vs Separation - It seems like sammy is struggling in getting a good take on the meta right now. I believe he's a solid player, but his builds can be exploitable and Separation is not one to be messing around with in the builder.
SS OU: Eeveeto vs Ox the Fox - Eeveeto seems to have a good grip on the builder. He's more experienced than Ox, and has showed to be very solid from past matches. He's improved from the past year or so and I'm pretty impressed. Ox seems to have a good grip on the meta, but I was unimpressed with the team he brought against John last week. He needs to get in his comfort zone here to win.
SM OU: frisoeva vs Empo - Empo has looked way too dominant this year. Smogon tour trophy, world cup and last SPL is stlil sitting on his profile. Not to mention the Smogon Championship, which he sadly got a poor ribbon instead of a chad black trophy. I expect Empo to win pretty handily. Frisoeva is solid, and maybe with the help of Clicking, he can grab a good matchup and defeat Empoor. I worry that friso will not be able to keep up the pace with Empo in the long term. I'm going to go with the hotter hand here.


SS OU: Gefährlicher Random vs 1 True Lycan - The Gsdifphsdoifhewiotfgh3w random defeated watashi last week, which is a pretty big deal. He seemed comfortable with his team and knew what he was doing in game. His game was more convincing to me and I'm going to trust him to keep the momentum going against The Baron.
SS OU: Niko vs xray - xray's game against talah was a disaster on his end

, but his team looked pretty sexy anyway. I don't know Niko that well, but his game against bush was super weird and the team he brought seemed a bit awkward. I trust xray's take on the meta more.
SS OU: Sacri' vs reiku - reiku got twave'd in his last game, which lost the whole game. Pretty unfortunate, however now he's up against Sacri, who went 7-3 (almost 8-3!) in the last edition of the Smogon Snake Draft. He looked dominant in that whole tournament. He did lose to bea last week, however. If I were to predict who would have the higher chance of getting their momentum back, I would predict Sacri any day. I believe Sacri is the more solid player and has relatively good takes on the metagame. He's also not afraid to spice things up, which I love a lot.
SM OU: Corazan vs Welli0u - Both players are great at SM, however I was more impressed with the way Well played against Relous. Corazan brought a cool team last week, but his play seemed a bit too passive, thus making his techs not hit as hard as they should have. He's gonna have to step his game up here, especially against the well. This should be a great game.


SS OU: Garay oak vs Tace - This is a close one. I trust Garay's play more than Tace, but both have the same amount of strengths and weaknesses to me. I think this is going to come down to the builder, rather than the game itself (unless someone plays like a complete animal). Should be a good one as I think both are pretty solid.
SS OU: Luthier vs Bloody alfa - Luthier lost last week, but he seems motivated and ready to prove himself in the SS pool. I trust him to bring a win against Bloody alfa, who won last week but unfortunately not as clean, as he had to get some yellow magic to win in the end. Luthier has a good take on the meta, and I trust him to bring it into the SPL light this week.
SS OU: lax vs talah - Lax had his tech hit last week, which is what you love to see. Talah is obviously a great builder, and he can make the plays when he needs to, but I wonder if it's enough to take down lax. Lax seems really dominant as of late, getting his revenge against Eo from snake, and at the same time defeating rank #1 in the SS pool. Talah had a really nice horse team last week, so if he can catch lax off guard then I can see something happen.
SM OU: Tamahome vs Relous- Tamahome lost to Omfuga last week, who had a really nice return. However, I'm not sure if Relous is going to be able to do the same. Relous seems like hes been slacking as of late, and I'm not sure if he builds his teams or he's fed them, but I do believe that something needs to change if we want to see the Relous win another game. I'm going to trust Tamahome here, since I know he has the techs and he's also a strong veteran who wont go down so easily.

SS OU: Bushtush vs Eo Ut Mortus - Bush had a strong start after being banned for a couple years, which you love to see. We stan a king. However, this week he is up against Eo Ut Mortus, who went sicko mode in the Smogon Snake Draft. I'm so happy for him cause he finally has a trophy :heart_eyes: . I did not like Eo's week 1 team if I'm going to be blunt. He's going to have to switch things IMO in the long run if he wants to grab the wins. But I know he can when he wants them. Bush is up 1-0 after a strong start against Niko, however during that game it felt like he wanted to lose at some points and made some poopy plays. I'm going to trust the man who was ranked #1 in the pool here, as I believe his play to be more solid, but I do see the Tush unveiling some heat here and winning. We'll see.
SS OU: beatiful vs John W - bea has had a fantastic run last year, and has entered the tournament scene quite recently, even winning the Smogon Snake Draft. John W is also a new face if I'm being honest. I trusted KING JOHN W's teams a lot during DLC1, as his take on the meta was pretty damn good. However, he's up against bea, who had a really cool team last week. John kinda got smashed by a kartana last week, which sux. I think bea's play is more refined right now and should be able to take the game off John, but I can see this being close if John gets a solid team that he likes.
SS OU: watashi vs 100percentpureheat - This might be an "upset" to people, but I would disagree with them. I'm not sure who is building for fooly this SPL, maybe it's bea, or maybe he's just building some heat himself. But the question is if it's going to be 100 percent pure heat. I've been talking to 100p for quite some time, making teams with him and playing on the ladder. He has an amazing take on the builder and knows how to make really good teams. I think he's one of the greatest builders in SS right now. I think fooly needs to step it up a bit here or else he's going to fall. This is either going to be a wash or a really close one. I'm really looking forward to this game.
SM OU: robjr vs Omfuga - rob looked great last week, however Omfuga looked way better. Beating Tamahome in his returning game is a huge deal, and it's enough to make me bold him. I'm going to favor Fuga here 60/40, but I'll say that I've teamed up with rob for like two or three tours already and he's been an amazing teammate each time. I have no doubt he can pull off something here. Also a game I'm looking forward to.

I'm looking forward to people doing their own predictions. I love reading every single one and seeing your own takes on the player pools and the metagames itself.

I'm going to start streaming games every Sunday and maybe Saturday, commentating with none other than lax . We've done most of the games this week, you can watch them on my twitch channel here. I'm going to be posting them to YouTube ASAP, so be sure to check my YT out as well bop. Gonna take this a bit more serious now so if you're interested be sure to drop by as I'm going to be analyzing a shit ton of games in the upcoming months lol.

Here is the VOD I will be uploading to YT this week. Good luck to everyone and GO BIGS BABY

 

[Endill]

Playing thelinearcurve Thursday 7pm -3

 

[Fener]

Rooting for Malekith and Emeral!

 

[CyberOdin✝]

Opp contacted, GOOOO TEAM WE CAN THIS !!!

 

[Raahel]

Rooting for TC and the Cryonicles!

 

[Gefährlicher Random]

prediction for this week

 

[Leo]

predicts

SS OU: FlamingVictini vs mncmt - fire matchup, both brought some cool teams last week and I expect the same this time. That being said I feel like FV was on top of his game barring him forgetting U-Turn turned him into a Bug-type at the end of his game while mncmt looked outmatched during the greater part of his against Lusa. This ost finals rematch could go either way but I'll take FV due to his strong start last week
SS OU: Samqian vs Separation - sammy had an odd w1 game, he started out great but then slowly gave away control of the match with some unwise decisions that cost him the win. Meanwhile Sep played what I think was mostly a great game, he made a couple mistakes but he made up for them with smart and aggressive play and got very close to a win. Would be a little shocking for him to start 0-2
SS OU: Eeveeto vs Ox the Fox - Ox let what would've been a solid win against the punisher slip out in a very straight forward endgame, not the best look but also understandable considering he had to play bro fist in his spl debut. Eeveeto may not stand out as a top ss player but I think hes consistently in the better half of the pool, he builds solid teams and plays solid as proven last week. Should be a close game, but favoring Eeveeto here

SS OU: Garay oak vs Tace - tough call, Tace is a good player but his game last week was a bit off-puting. Risking the tran against unrevealed clef t1 seemed fine when he landed the magma, which would guarantee the removal of clef if it was Taunt. Instead he got the short end of the stick in that exchange and coupled with how susceptible his team was to hjk bunny it became and uphill battle for him. Garay played solid and even if his matchup was very favorable he made the plays he needed to make to ensure John got no openings, going with him for this 1
SS OU: Luthier vs Bloody alfa - another very close game, neither was particularly impressive week 1, I liked Luthier's team more but some of the finer details looked like they could use some optimization. Bloody brought some Blissey double grass sand that looked like kart food and in general had trouble switching into strong knocks. I think Bloody has a higher ceiling as a player when compared to Luth and he'll need to step up his game to win this, favoring Luth otherwise
SS OU: lax vs talah - Both are coming off solid week 1 wins with good teams thought I liked talah's better, the techs hit and neither had much trouble in their games. That said lax is still lax and talah is still talah so I don't see a different outcome to this, should be interesting to see what they bring against each other after teaming last snake

SS OU: Gefährlicher Random vs 1 True Lycan - lowkey a highlight for this week, Felix had a great win vs flcl last week and seems to have a solid grasp of the metagame. Lycan took home a solid win off tace without much resistance thanks to a favorable matchup and crushing turn 1. Definitely wouldn't count Felix out but I feel like Lycan always puts up good records and he's not gonna stop now that he's getting more recognized as a top player
SS OU: Niko vs xray - xray didnt have the best showing last week, havent really watched the game other than some turns here and there but Ive heard he made some wrong calls that led to talah taking the upset. Now he's matched up against what should be an easier opponent so I'd expect him to turn things around here. Niko had a solid position vs bush after the early game but then some misplays and some bad luck took it away from him, I think hes better than people give him credit for but hes definitely outmatched here
SS OU: Sacri' vs reiku - Sacri can be one of the most dominant players in the field when he has the meta figured out, last week he brought a very offensive team and ran into a rather poor matchup against a Zeraora of all things. reiku definitely shouldve won his game last week but now against a much tougher opponent it doesnt look like hes gonna be able to turn things around

SS OU: Bushtush vs Eo Ut Mortus - Eo brought his signature Blissey Slowbro Zapdos fat last week and was met with a pretty bad matchup against lax, word on the street has it he's saving the heat for when he needs it and decided to give lax the confidence boost week 1 so I'm hoping to see a good game here. Bush won last week fairly convincingly but he should be no match for eo
SS OU: beatiful vs John W - bea pulled off a win against Sacri in dominant fashion last week with a zeraora that had as good of a matchup as it couldve asked for. John's team looked cool but he definitely shouldve had a Skarm instead of that Corv and it cost him the game against a SD Synthesis Kart. He's gonna need to be more careful with his team choice if he wants a chance against bea, this is a must watch
SS OU: watashi vs 100percentpureheat - flcl was very close to having the perfect gear matchup last week to prove how broken it is but he turned out to be cm psplit and after a very odd pain split turn and later a poison on torn his winning chances got erradicated. 100p hasnt quite lived up to the hype after a messy game vs Luth last week but I trust his building to bring him a win vs flcl.

 

[Golden Sun]

won

wigglytuff edit: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen3ou-537573

 

[juan123juan]

i predict Leo will lose

 

[Dave]

 

[ziloXX]

 

[z0mOG]

You fools better prepare for his 8th gate, gate of Landorus-Therian

 

[elodin]

BW OU: Jimmy Turtwig vs Frania - Even though both these players started with an 0-1 record I feel like one would be irresponsible to not consider this match a highlight for the week. While Jimmy played a fine game and lost mostly due to an unfavorable matchup, I do believe there were lines he could've followed that would've allowed him to win his match. Meanwhile, Frania definitely played his match against Finch in the most optimal way possible, with barely any missplays whatsoever, yet lost the game due to unfortunate circumstances. That said, I do feel like Jimmy's team had a much more consistent approach to the metagame while Frania's was more matchup-fishy. And while I do favor Frania right now due to how well he played last week, I still think Jimmy is the better player if he gets back to his prime form. Should be a very good match either way.

BW OU: obii vs shawyu 1313 - Next up we have obii vs shawyu. I honestly hadn't heard of shawyu until this tournament began, and I have to admit I was extremely impressed with his match vs SoulWind for week 1. Until turn 5. Everything kinda went downhill for him after that sequence, and even though I understand the pressure of playing your first (?) SPL match vs one of the best BW players in the history of the site, it's still bad looks when you can't manage an advantage like the one he had due to very poor and unnecessary decision making. On the other hand, obii had a match where he didn't really make many mistakes, but he did play too passively given the bad luck he got early on. This also hurt him because his team's ground resist was a max Attack Breloom, which is not a very good way to approach a tier dominated by Ground-types imo. I do think obii played more solid than shawyu all things considered, and if he brings a solid team and plays aggressively, I do think experience will come a long way into helping him nail his first win here.

BW OU: Caetano93 vs SoulWind - This one is kind of a no brainer to me. I was recently extremely surprised by Caetanos rise in the rankings when it comes to community perception regarding his BW skill, and while I am aware he pulled a very impressive record last SPL, I still didn't understand why he was rated so highly because I was absent for a while from the community. After watching his week 1 performance, I finally understood the community is either blind or incredibly stupid. That was 100% one of the worst BW performances from any player in the history of all SPLs. It was painful to watch as he sacked multiple win conditions in a matchup he had no business losing, while also wielding a team so bad it made me wanna poke my eyeballs out just to keep me from the pain of seeing that combination of 6. I have never seen a bail out so insanely lucky as the one he got vs dice, who, in counterpart, played a very fine match. SoulWind, on the other hand, came back from an insane deficit early on and killed his entire opponent's team with a single Latios. Don't need to dwell on him too much because everyone knows he's the player to beat in this tournament, and I guess if there is one way to beat him it would be through critting all his Pokemon, but I do not see a world in which this is even remotely close if SoulWind doesn't get extremely unlucky.

BW OU: Insult vs Finchinator - If I think Caetano had the worst performance last week, Finch's was definitely right next to it. It had been a while since I disagreed with so many plays from Finch in a single match, but while he didn't look very good in my eyes, he still had a decently solid gameplan in mind and he did go for his most optimal win path after the mistakes he made. Honestly, it's very hard playing around Volcarona in BW to begin with, and it's also very easy to judge player performance while ignoring his opponent, so props to Frania for playing a fine match. Insult had a solid team matchup and I honestly couldn't see him losing that game unless he got heavily outplayed by Nasty Plot Thundurus-T or if he got very unlucky. Jimmy didn't really create space for either those things to happen though. And even though Insult managed a solid win week 1, he still kinda fucked up by letting a Politoed fuck around for way too long vs his team. I'm expecting Finch to win this one because it's unlikely he plays as badly as he did 2 weeks in a row. He's a more consistent player and I appreciate his builds and metagame perceptions more than I do Insult's. I do like Insult as a player a lot though, and I think he can definitely pull a win here as well, especially if Finch plays like he did week 1. Looking forward to this one.

BW OU: dice vs elodin

 

[lax]

As someone undefeated in RBY Best of Three's, I feel like my predictions will be 99% accurate with the 1% accounting for RNG in games.

RBY OU: MetalGro$$ vs Heroic Troller - Troller is just better than everyone except maybe me idk he probably wins

RBY OU: rozes vs SMB - I mean I never thought I'd find myself ever bolding rozes in any tier... but because we finally unlocked the fisherman avatar, idk if I can realistically ever see rozes lose a single game in this tier. This will be a close matchup but we have the upper hand avatar-wise.

RBY OU: Serpi vs Kiichikos - Kiichikos is actually rly solid in RBY (this is just based off my experience as an RBY player and an RBY player who's undefeated in RBY Best of Three's) and has more experience than Serpi. I think Serpi won last week but he was also a lot luckier overall, probably a close match up regardless

RBY OU: Tiba vs Nails - this game is super close cuz Nails is good as fuck and Tiba is good as fuck, but Tiba doesn't have the highest winrate in RBY of all time for show

RBY OU: SaDiSTiCNarwhal vs spies - new era vs old era, kinda hoping this ends up like Tace vs Jayde where Jayde just got haxed like crazy

 

[Windsong]

finch pic

you could've left the eyebrows unedited