Smogon Snake Draft 2018: UU Discussion

Sage

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Snake Draft Introduction
Snake Draft Schedule

Hello UU! This thread will be a place you can discuss the tournament, be it about metagame trends, predictions, or just cheering on your favorite players and teams. I'll keep it updated as the season plays out.

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Potential UUers:

Ambrette Astrotias: Hogg, Manipulative, Tricking
Black City Mambas: McMeghan
Berry Forest Bushmasters: Accelgor, Gondra, pasy_g
Cianwood Cobras: esche, Lycans
Goldenrod Gliders: Empo, TDK
Lake of Rage Leviathans: Cynde, robjr
Lanakila Nagas: HT, kory2600, Sacri'
Shinto Ruin Serpents: Pak, teal6
Sootopolis Sidewinders: aim, FLCL, Shiba
Terminus Taipans: dodmen, Sage

1. TDK
2. McMeghan
3. Pak
4. robjr
5. Lycans
6. HT
7. Sage
8. Shiba
9. Manipulative
10. pasy_g

Sun Division

HT: 3-1
Lycans: 3-1
pasy_g: 2-2
Shiba: 2-2
TDK: 0-4

Moon Division

Pak: 4-0
Sage: 3-1
McMeghan: 2-2
robjr: 1-3
Manipulative: 0-4

Phase 2:
robjr: 4-1
Lycans: 4-1
Pak: 3-2
kory2600: 1-0
pasy_g: 0-1
HT: 1-3
Accelgor: 1-3
Hogg: 1-4


Playoffs:
kory2600: 1-0
robjr: 0-1

Overall:
Pak: 7-2
Lycans: 7-2
Sage: 3-1
kory2600: 2-0
robjr: 5-5
HT: 4-4
McMeghan: 2-2
Shiba: 2-2
pasy_g: 2-3
Accelgor: 1-3
Hogg: 1-4
Manipulative: 0-4
TDK: 0-4


 
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Freeroamer

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Nagas and Leviathans drafts particularly impressed me in terms of the options they have, from the Nagas they have 3 players I would expect to go positive in this field even though I think it’s very much going to be HT playing and the two Frenchmen in OU. It also helps that HT and Sacri’ have got have absolutely tons of experience building in UU tiers so we should see plenty of solid stuff pumped out from these guys. Rob and Cynde was a pairing that really seemed to work well towards the end of last SPL so bringing that together again looks like a smart move, rob looks strong as ever and neither of them are predictable builders, making them hard to prep for. Expect good results here. All of the likely UUers are deserving of being here, but these combinations really stood out to me as ones to watch.

aim should probably be added to the sidewinders potential uuers, I know he plays everything but I think he’s taken a particular liking to UU recently and it’s a lot more likely we see FLCL going into OU and one of him or Shiba taking up the UU slot.
 
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vivalospride

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Gz to all the uuers that were drafted, definitely hyped to see some dope matches... I've definitely got my eye on Accelgoat, esche, and Sage specifically. I'm confident they're all gonna do amazing, especially with the people on their team, dodmen + Sage is a cool pairing that we could see a lot of cool builds from, same with esche + Lycans. From my experience, esche has always been one to bring some spice on his teams, should be cool to see what they all come up with. Gl to all.
 

yeezyknows

Banned deucer.
Hey, thought I'd give some preliminary PR's a shout, doing this largely on the basis of starters+building support. I'd like to preface this by saying I'm basing some of what I say off of finch's snake preview vid, and i'd also like to say i'm rooting for sage, the future 11-0 player.

It's hard to phrase a ranking system without making perceived slights to players, and while I've tried to avoid that, take everything I say with a grain of salt. The game of mons is fickle to the point where anyone in this group can easily beat anyone else.

Goldenrod Gliders: TDK - You'd be hardpressed to find a better player than TDK, not just in the UU userbase, but in the tours community at large. I don't want to slob his knob further, but I'd fully expect the first overall pick to live up to his billing with a solid record, he's too talented and diverse of both a player and a builder not to.

Shinto Ruin Serpents: Pak - I've heard people underrating/being skeptical of Pak without Pearl's building, but those fears should be 100% assuaged by his play and his work ethic, dude can crank out teams like nobody else and despite a lackluster snake last year, he's easily one of the premier players in the UU pool. An impeccable 8-3 showing in SPL is in no way a fluke, dude should go hard.

Lanakila Nagas: HT - I'm likely rating HT higher than some, and I wouldn't be surprised to see other people rank him anywhere from sixth to third, but I think having Sacri as building support makes HT easily the third best option in this field, and an absolute force to be reckoned with. A respectable SPL and strong UUPL place him higher than other players with admittedly less experience in recent months, seguing perfectly into my next player.

Cianwood Cobras: Lycans - On his day, Lycans is easily one of the best UUers and one of the premier players in the tour scene as a whole. Despite having a strong 7-2 in last year's Snake and a respectable 4-5 in SPL, questions about his desire to build and a shaky 1-4 in UUPL are two glaring question marks. While esche can whip up crafty builds, his involvement with and commitment to UU are also relatively dubious. Lycans has arguably the highest ceiling in this draft, but with the caveat of having a slightly shaky floor.

Lake of Rage Leviathans: robjr - I don't think I'm alone in saying that Rob, while being able to contribute to building in multiple tiers, was a bit of a reach pick in the second round. Although the Cynde/Rob pairing in SPL was obviously successful, in large part due to the duo playing off of their respective strengths, it remains to be seen whether the pairing will work to such successes over the course of an entire season. Nonetheless, Rob's gonna provide a ton of value, it just remains to be seen whether or not he'll live up to his second round billing.

Black City Mambas: McMeghan - Admittedly, i'm not as high on Roro as other people are. While it may be sacrilegious to disparage him, as I think he's an incredible player, he's had relately average performances in both Snake and UUPL, with some of his team choices also being fairly questionable. I in no way doubt his ability to consistenly outplay and outmaneuver his opponents, but his UUPL team choices frequently left me a bit baffled. I think McM has one of the most stable floors in the tournament, as his playing ability makes it extremely unlikely he goes below 4-5, but it remains to be seen how his building will go and how that could concieveably affect his record.

Sootopolis Sidewinders: Shiba - Despite coming off of a great UUPL, question marks do exist regarding Shiba's ability to perform at the highest level, as his lack of participation in a major tournament could end up hurting him. Despite this, he's a solid builder and player, and I think he'll easily pull his weight and put up a respectable record. There's honestly not much more to say, Shiba is another high floor pick who shouldn't disappoint, despite the lingering question marks.

Ambrette Astrotias: Manipulative - At times, Manip is a tough nut to crack. Despite a solid snake last year, Manip had a lackluster UUPL and SPL, with questions about motivation also existing. It remains to be seen which version of Manip will appear for this tour and to what degree Hogg will impact him; I'd give him a decent ceiling with one of the lowest floors in the pool. It wouldn't surprise me to see Hogg starting towards midseason, but it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for Manip to have a solid record either.

Terminus Taipans: Sage - While hard to be impartial about the homie, her experience is obviously a major question mark, as her standout performance was in ULT, with a less than enthusing 0-2 in SM in UUPL. I do think building support from Pearl and Dod goes incredibly far, as partially evidenced by Pak in last SPL. I believe Sage is competent enough to pilot their builds well, but she has arguably the shakiest floor in this tournament.

Berry Forest Bushmasters: pasy_g: I think most people should be skeptical of pasy_g, as, although he's a strong ADV player, it's unclear if he's made any meaningful forays into UU. Despite having arguably the best UU building in the tour with Accel and Tony, I wouldn't put it past the Bushmasters to be starting Accel by midseason. Not intended as a slight to pasy, but having a meaningful crash course in UU is easier said than done.
 

Freeroamer

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Likely matchups for r1 of snake, sun phases stand out particularly to me but overall we should see lots of good stuff here

HT vs. Lycans
HT vs. Shiba
Lycans vs. pasy_g
pasy_g vs. TDK
TDK vs. Shiba


HT vs. pasy_g
HT vs. TDK
Lycans vs. TDK
Lycans vs. Shiba
pasy_g vs. Shiba


McMeghan vs. Manipulative
McMeghan vs. Sage
Manipulative vs. Pak
Pak vs. robjr
robjr vs. Sage


McMeghan vs. Pak
McMeghan vs. robjr
Manipulative vs. robjr
Manipulative vs. Sage
Pak vs. Sage
 

justdrew

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PUPL Champion
I am excited for these matches because they will decide who some of the best UU'ers are. The tier has changed a lot since SPL and most of these players have their own agendas. Sage being the biggest underdog in this tour has the most to prove. Although Sage is both VR and tiering council, she has not yet had a chance to showcase what she can do in head to head matches with some of UU's finest. Sage shows promise in Snake and I look forward to watching her play. Manipulative is ranked 9 but I think he is more valuable than that. He is a strong player and will prove that this tour. I am also excited to see some more off meta McMeghan teams and catch Pak's games. Best of luck to everyone!

Edit: I second Aim’s interest in triple fetus, Pak needs to bring the heat.
 
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aim

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I’m excited to see what Sage uses, especially with Pearl/dodmen helping out. Pearl’s builds have been super solid (I would know, I’ve been stealing them from replays). And she has some sick matchups from the get-go. Really looking forward to her fight with Mcm. Loved watching him play uu last year as he used whatever he wanted which I admire very much. Expecting some cool builds or variations of stall. Hopefully we see solosis, duosion, reuniclus + mag. Gonna do my best to support shiba :]
 

Sacri'

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MUs and predictions

Sun Division:
HT vs Lycans
HT vs Shiba
Lycans vs pasy_g - straightforward call here, id expect them both to bring decent teams but I feel like Lycans' ever agressive style should be able to throw pasy off his game thus leading him to victory
pasy_g vs TDK - apparently the first blood in UU? interested to see what teams are brought as I feel like Tony and Accel wouldnt let pasy play early unless they were very comfortable with their team choice, that aside TDK is the better builder and player here so expecting him to take it in a fairly straightforward bo vs bo game. edit: they're not playing early so nvm, hope pasy gets smashed for false advertising
TDK vs Shiba - also excited to see what aim and Shiba come up with but much like vs pasy, I doubt TDK will struggle much in game

Moon Division: i find this division a bit more exciting and i expect tighter games to come out of these mus, mainly thanks to the potential innovations that all of these players/builders core should be able to bring to the table

McM vs Manipulative - if roro has the motivation required to do well, he'll most likely bring something interesting yet solid enough to beat Manip without much trouble. that being said, i'm interested in seeing what Hogg comes up with for this mu as hes been in touch with roro regarding UU from what ive gathered so I'm expecting an educated team choice on his end
McM vs Sage - one of my personal hls, I believe Sage has a lot of potential with Pearls and dodmens support, if she struggles it'll most likely due to roros superior playing abilities but expecting this to turn out pretty close
Manipulative vs Pak - as you may have noticed, i'm basically predicting according to my personal rankings but thats what to be expected from the very first predictions of the tour, if Pak remains in spl shape he'll outmanoeuvre Manip in an otherwise fairly tight match up
Pak vs robjr - another HL here, both are well rounded players and robjr has more support thanks to Cynde whereas I believe Pak to be a little bit better playing wise? this should be close as fuck regardless, if one match up can go either way its clearly this one
robjr vs Sage - quite fond of this match up as well and my guts tell me that sage will have such an important edge building wise that robjr wont be able to overcome it as long as sage remains focused and plays decently, could also go either way i suppose
 
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Cynde

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MUs and predictions

Sun Division:
HT vs Lycans
HT vs Shiba
Lycans vs pasy_g - straightforward call here, id expect them both to bring decent teams but I feel like Lycans' ever agressive style should be able to throw pasy off his game thus leading him to victory
pasy_g vs TDK - apparently the first blood in UU? interested to see what teams are brought as I feel like Tony and Accel wouldnt let pasy play early unless they were very comfortable with their team choice, that aside TDK is the better builder and player here so expecting him to take it in a fairly straightforward bo vs bo game. edit: they're not playing early so nvm, hope pasy gets smashed for false advertising
TDK vs Shiba - also excited to see what aim and Shiba come up with but much like vs pasy, I doubt TDK will struggle much in game

Moon Division: i find this division a bit more exciting and i expect tighter games to come out of these mus, mainly thanks to the potential innovations that all of these players/builders core should be able to bring to the table

McM vs Manipulative - if roro has the motivation required to do well, he'll most likely bring something interesting yet solid enough to beat Manip without much trouble. that being said, i'm interested in seeing what Hogg comes up with for this mu as hes been in touch with roro regarding UU from what ive gathered so I'm expecting an educated team choice on his end
McM vs Sage - one of my personal hls, I believe Sage has a lot of potential with Pearls and dodmens support, if she struggles it'll most likely due to roros superior playing abilities but expecting this to turn out pretty close
Manipulative vs Pak - as you may have noticed, i'm basically predicting according to my personal rankings but thats what to be expected from the very first predictions of the tour, if Pak remains in spl shape he'll outmanoeuvre Manip in an otherwise fairly tight match up
Pak vs robjr - another HL here, both are well rounded players and robjr has more support thanks to Cynde whereas I believe Pak to be a little bit better playing wise? this should be close as fuck regardless, if one match up can go either way its clearly this one
robjr vs Sage - quite fond of this match up as well and my guts tell me that sage will have such an important edge building wise that robjr wont be able to overcome it as long as sage remains focused and plays decently, could also go either way i suppose
 
Just wanted to say that I'm also looking forward to seeing Sage's performance and growth throughout this tour. Being mentor by two of UU's best in Pearl and dodmen is truly a blessing for any up and coming player. Also interested in what cool builds TDK will bring to this competition.

aim, leave the Solosis, Duosion, Reuniclus core to Pak. This year's UU haul will be fun to watch. :]
 
HT vs Lycans
HT vs Shiba
Lycans vs pasy_g
pasy_g vs TDK
TDK vs Shiba

McM vs Manipulative - would typically predict the opposite but i remember manip getting lucked my mcm last time
McM vs Sage
Manipulative vs Pak
Pak vs robjr

just used ou? superstar sacri's list. didnt rly expect like half the people on this list playing uu but im also clueless. anyway none of these matchups look close other than lycans ht tbh. wheres hogg and dodmen and shit lol?
 

Sage

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Hey y'all gonna open up some discussion for the tournament as the first two games have been played, with Pak vs Manip and myself vs Rob in the books. They were some pretty interesting games in my opinion and I have some random assorted thoughts on each.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-392883

Both Pak and Manipulative have chosen a Celebi as their win con of choice, which certainly does have its merits in the meta right now, being a great way to bust common Hippo + Empo balance / BO cores, as well as thriving vs stall and defensive teams in general. They both have set up a voltturn core to support it, with Pak's being slightly more aggressive, more relying on Empoleon as the glue of the team with Hydreigon and Oven to grab momentum along with Gligar. He gets a slot for Band Terrakion in order to exert immediate pressure which comes in handy this game. Manipulative has a more traditional balance core of a Steel-Mega (in this case Steelix), a Florges and Tentacruel rounding out tons of role compression and defensive value. He has a Scarfed Infernape for some speed control that also doubles as Scizor check, and Taunt Hydreigon as his main way of supporting Celebi to wear down walls. Overall I think Manipulative definitely had a matchup advantage here due to Taunt Hydreigon being very scary vs Pak's Fairy-less team and Infernape having a good spread vs Pak's offensive pokemon. Manip would have to be wary of free Terrakion switches, but he has enough to try and win some 50/50s while limiting its switch in opportunities. Both of these Oras UU teams were in my opinion relatively well crafted, I think Manipulative's probably has more overall synergy as Pak's was very weak to threats like Hydreigon and even the wrong CM Latias variant.

Looking at how it played out, I don't think Manipulative played to his team's strengths well enough in this game. He was hesitant to bring out Taunt early for some reason when it really could have helped such as with preventing Gligar roost on turn 24 would have opened up the game for Infernape to start using its great coverage vs Pak and claim a kill with proper prediction. He also got greedy with his Steelix but was bailed by an Overheat miss. In the mid to late game you could start to see the great pressure Hydreigon placed on Pak, forcing him to sac his Celebi and his Emp finally started taking damage once Taunt was revealed, but Pak gained a leg up in the early game with getting Terrakion in play often, forcing Manip into 50/50s where he lost a mon with the wrong prediction. A fun way to start the tournament, thanks to both of you for interesting team selections and a relatively enjoyable game.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-392941

For my game vs rob, I knew there were two big archetypes I wanted to watch out for, Scizor / Hippo / Aero bulky offenses, and the nasty semistall teams he'd been using with Chesnaught and Reuniclus. I thought Jellicent would be a great pick vs both of those, as Wisp helped give me insurance vs his Offensive breakers of choice as well as being a BP resist, and Taunt gave me an out vs his slower teams. The rest of the team was mostly built around covering Jellicent's shortcomings. It definitely played a huge role in this game. Z-Focus Blast Hydreigon also was a huge pick for me, I mainly had it for Empoleon has having to hard Jellicent into Toxics was annoying but it came into play on Coba here too. The rest of the team is relatively simple BO stuff, Aggron for Rocks and Steel-type, Florges in a Cleric role, Krook for trapping + speed, and Nihilego as my second annoyer to his fat teams with Toxic Spikes and Black Sludge. Rob's team was in my opinion a cool variant on his usual BO, I liked the idea of dual Steel SD a lot, although he got unlucky in his draw with Mega Aggron Jellicent covering those well, as well as my Hydreigon luring Cobalion. Slowbro once again is showing its dominance in the meta currently as his stallbreaker, and just in general being a great pivot. I definitely got a significant matchup advantage this game, with Jellicent + Hydreigon going in hard vs Rob's Fairy-less dual Steel team.

As for how it played out in game, I was mostly content to let my defensive backbone do its work while I waited for the opportune times to use my Z move. I used Defog early on Hydreigon to hopefully trick rob into thinking it was Dragonium-Z, and I was able to catch Cobalion with it on the switch. Jellicent lead kept rocks off Turn 1 and would help me scout his Hydreigon set early. The Wisp vs Hydreigon was a midground I felt safe taking, as it covered U-turn and I had my Colbur Berry. I used Intimidate to soften Coba's potential damage vs Jellicent, as a +2 Corkscrew Crash could do me in from where my Jellicent was at. The Toxic misses on my Jellicent were unfortunate for Rob but I did have Heal Bell on my Florges and it didn't change my endgame plan. With Cobalion gone and my team having a much better sustain than Rob's currently, I felt safe saccing my Nihilego to prevent a potential SD scizor sweep. Nihi didn't have coverage for Slowbro or Hippo and with Hippo already Toxiced just wasn't worth much for me at this point in the game. Catching Aero as I believe he tried to trap my Jellicent was huge for me and pretty much sealed the game provided I didn't choke. The wisp on drei helps me take it out with my own, and I get the necesarry chip on his Scizor to avoid a sweep. With Aggron Krookodile and Jellicent in the back I wasn't super worried, but saccing Hydreigon let me scout Scizor's item and determine my next move safely, and it also covered the second SD. Life Orb just let me use my sacs to let it kill itself, while Iron Plate or Metronome would have meant Krook comes immediately for Intimidate into Aggron after should Krook die (I had a little defense so i believe it was a low mid roll on non-LO). After that Jellicent endgamed, great game Rob I enjoyed your team although you ran into a very tricky matchup for it, Scizor + Coba with both being SD is a neat idea I haven't seen.

One last thought I think 4/4 Hydreigons was pretty funny to see, I think its incredibly dominant rn and I will be pushing it for S rank on the new VR coming soon.

Looking forward to the rest of the tournament, good luck to everyone and let's see some great games!

#DodsPlan
 

Freeroamer

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Quick thoughts on Pak Manip while I’m on the train, will watch sage rob later and maybe give some more thoughts about that. I agree that on paper Taunt Hydreigon had the potential to be super scary but I think Pak has covered Hydreigon about as well as you can if you opt to go fairy-less in this metagame, with Empoleon soaking up the Draco’s and Terrakion providing an incentive not to click Pulse or Taunt, which actually makes it harder than it seems on Manipulative’s end to get really good value out of his Hydreigon despite on paper it having an excellent matchup. Agree that something like CM boltbeam Latias seemed like it ate stuff up but then again once it expends the Z move on Emp, Terrakion can easily live +1 Thunder and do huge damage while Hydrei finishes the job, while non recovery variants would need to be played kinda flawlessly to outright sweep although they could definitely do damage in the meantime.

Was definitely surprised the Taunt didn’t come out vs Gligar, I can’t say I really agreed with that at all because although taking U-Turn or seeing Terrak there would’ve been irritating, keeping Gligar healthy and switching the hazard game into Pak’s favour there was so defining that you have to take that risk. Another interesting topic to note is the choice of filler on their waters, with Pak opting for Roar Emp while Manip went with Knock Tenta. In my mind these mons have 3 mandatory slots (Scald/Tox/Sr or Defog and Scald/Spin/Haze respectively) while you can change it up in the last, I usually like Knock a lot precisely for these kinds of matchups, knocking the opposing Tenta or Empoleon can go such a long way in grinding it out, better than just sitting there aimlessly scalding that’s for sure. Roar definitely showed why it can also be a good option here though, keeping a WishTect Florges that otherwise wasn’t hugely pressured low and breakable.

Overall this was a decent watch and a good way to kick off snake games, apologies if some of this is rambling I’m on phone on my way back from a festival
 
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Adaam

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https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-394140

HT and Lycans just played and the game ended up being a lot closer than I thought it would after the midgame. I like reading people's postgame analysis so I thought I'd offer my own.

From the outset, it looks like both players brought balance/BO teams. HT is using the classic Hippo-Emp-Aero defensive core with Infernape and Lati as breakers. Suicune looks pretty scary, as Vincune can sub up on Bronzong/Tentacruel freely, and Crocune is just a pain to break since Mega Manectric is the only thing that hits it super effectively. A worn down Tentacruel could also allow Nape to win if it's either Scarf or NP. On Lycans' side, he has a strong Bronzong/Tenta/Togekiss defensive core with Terrakion as the main breaker supported by Mega Manectric as a pivot and Krookodile to trap Lati. IMO matchup is fairly even, as both players have the tools to break the others' core and nothing outright threatens the entire opponents' team.

t1-5 Both players lead with their rockers, but HT switches into Empoleon to avoid Toxic. Here Lycans reveals Tentacruel to be Z-Haze, as it has no Sludge, so Terrakion is also revealed to be CB (most likely). Classic Scald war shit ensues with Lycans winning by getting the burn on Emp. I think Lycans misplayed here, however, letting Tentacruel get so low with an unrevealed Infernape in the back.

t8 This could have been a huge turn if HT revealed NP Nape, but it instead reveals LO Mixed Nape. I think Lycans misplayed again here by Protecting and potentially giving a free boost to it. At the same time, I can see why he Protected since there was no concrete switch-in at that point. Fortunately, it was not so it could be checked by Togekiss.

t13-15 Tentacruel has yet to find a turn to Z-Haze and HT brings Nape back in. It proceeds to chip Tentacruel and Togekiss to near death, putting HT in a really good position.

t24 HT gets a super useful crit on Manectric, leaving it at 33%. At this point HT could control the game with Suicune once rocks are up since Mane's switchins are numbered.

t25 This IMO is a big misplay by not getting SR up with Hippo. At this point Toxic on Hippo is fine since Manectric is so low, and the rocks would stay up since Tentacruel dies to them. Pressuring Togekiss every time it comes in is also huge considering it revealed Babiri awhile back.

t30-31 Lycans gets 2 big flinches on Hippowdon to prevent rocks, which again keeps Tentacruel alive and lets Manectric come in for free on Suicune later on in the game.

t37-38 Lycans plays well by forcing Suicune to Rest, and thus, finally finds a turn to bring in Tentacruel for free. It heals itself back to full with Z-Haze. HT was already in a losing position at this point, but these few turns made it even worse. He needed to find a turn to get rocks up with Hippo to allow Suicune to potentially win, but with it so low it's tough.

t47-48 Scarf Krook is in on Infernape, forcing a sort of 50/50. HT loses it by going Hippo, presumably predicting Knock Off. However, I think he should have just sacked Nape and then gotten SR up with Hippo or Slack Off. Nape was fairly useless at this point.

Lycans slowly kills HT's team for a while, leaving just Suicune and Lati.

t74-83 Lycans allows HT back in the game by letting Togekiss nearly run out of Air Slashes to Suicune. It took too many turns for him to get off another Nasty Plot, so Togekiss could no longer check Suicune. He's still in the better position by far, but this game should have ended here.

t84-89 Lycans makes the right play by sacking Tenta and Terrakion to ensure Manectric can kill it with Tbolt.

t91-92 HT Roosts on the Volt Switch as Lycans goes to Krook, which was a good play on both. Ice Beaming would let Mega Manectric win, and going into anything else gives Suicune a potential Rest or lets Lati set up. Lati is sacked to Krook, bringing the 50/50 end game.

t93 The biggest turn in the game. If HT Scalds there on the Manectric switch, he wins as Togekiss has one Air Slash left that does not kill, so Suicune could Rest. EQ also does not do 36% to it so Krookodile is also fodder. However, Scalding on the Knock loses to Manectric, so we had a textbook 50/50 at the end, and I think both players realized as we saw their timers get low haha. Lycans ends up winning the 50/50 and thus the game.

Well played by both players. I don't mean to sound nitpicky by pointing out misplays as I had the benefit of hindsight when looking at the replay. Hope to see more good games this weekend
 
t25 This IMO is a big misplay by not getting SR up with Hippo. At this point Toxic on Hippo is fine since Manectric is so low, and the rocks would stay up since Tentacruel dies to them. Pressuring Togekiss every time it comes in is also huge considering it revealed Babiri awhile back.
Idk if HT has double defog but if not then SR is pretty risky there imo since Lycans can bring in his Tenta that turn and get tspikes up which then can't be removed. I can see why HT didn't want 3 of his remaining mons poisoned at that stage in the game even though it may have been the right play idk. Saccing emp was probably a middle-ground play since you don't want to eq a bronzong.
 

Sacri'

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Idk if HT has double defog but if not then SR is pretty risky there imo since Lycans can bring in his Tenta that turn and get tspikes up which then can't be removed. I can see why HT didn't want 3 of his remaining mons poisoned at that stage in the game even though it may have been the right play idk. Saccing emp was probably a middle-ground play since you don't want to eq a bronzong.
Tenta had already revealed Knock by then, thus meaning that it didnt have t-spikes (and even if it did sr up meant Lycans had pretty much no way to beat Suicune + Roost Aero). In hindsight, it is fairly obvious that clicking SR on that turn would have pretty much guaranteed a Suicune sweep given that it still managed to be a 5050 away from winning the entire game pretty much on its own. I have talked about it with HT, he basically noticed how good Hippo was vs Manec/Krook/Terrak and thus decided to keep it healthy at all cost but he wasn't able to exploit it all because he simply played way too defensively. This tends to happen when you have 2 mons that are quite good vs the oppos team (in this case Suicune and Hippo) and you decide to keep both at all cost. In this case though, Suicune was far more important and fully realizing that would have probably allowed HT to take the game. HT's prep was pretty spot on (I hardly contributed at all) so I'd expect more good stuff from him this season :toast:
 
Last edited:
SM UU Phase 1

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Krookodile         |   10 |  50.00% |  60.00% |
| 2    | Hydreigon          |    8 |  40.00% |  37.50% |
| 3    | Aerodactyl         |    5 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 3    | Slowbro            |    5 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 5    | Empoleon           |    4 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Infernape          |    4 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Rotom-Heat         |    4 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 5    | Latias             |    4 |  20.00% |  25.00% |
| 9    | Tentacruel         |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Terrakion          |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Gligar             |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Scizor             |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Cobalion           |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Aggron             |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Celebi             |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Nihilego           |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 9    | Primarina          |    3 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 9    | Hippowdon          |    3 |  15.00% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Suicune            |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Manectric          |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Bronzong           |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Togekiss           |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Magneton           |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Amoonguss          |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Mantine            |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Stakataka          |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Steelix            |    2 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Moltres            |    2 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Kyurem             |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Sharpedo           |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Klefki             |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Registeel          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Florges-Blue       |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Blissey            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Alomomola          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Haxorus            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Doublade           |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Palossand          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Kommo-o            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Altaria            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Rotom-Mow          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Jellicent          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Florges-White      |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 29   | Articuno           |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Beedrill           |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Reuniclus          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Barbaracle         |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Metagross          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Froslass           |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Silvally           |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Azelf              |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Tornadus           |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Florges            |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 29   | Blastoise          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
 

pasy_g

Banned deucer.
SourPls I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST SourPls LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS SourPls TO CATCH THEM IS MY REAL TEST SourPls TO TRAIN THEM IS MY CAUSE SourPls I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST SourPls LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS SourPls TO CATCH THEM IS MY REAL TEST SourPls TO TRAIN THEM IS MY CAUSE SourPls
 

Pak

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These were posted above, but phase 2 matchups are officially up and as follows.

Sun:
HT [NAGA] vs. pasy_g [BUSH]
HT [NAGA] vs. TDK [GLID]
Lycans [COBR] vs. TDK [GLID]
Lycans [COBR] vs. Shiba [SIDE]
pasy_g [BUSH] vs. Shiba [SIDE]

Moon:
McMeghan [MAMB] vs. Pak [SERP]
McMeghan [MAMB] vs. robjr [LEVI]
Manipulative [ASTR] vs. robjr [LEVI]
Manipulative [ASTR] vs. Sage [TAIP]
Pak [SERP] vs. Sage [TAIP]

Good luck to everyone and I'm really looking forward to both my games this phase, as well as some others like HT vs TDK, Lycans vs Shib, and rob vs Roro (plz give times). Also I might post again at some point to focus a bit more on my phase 1 games if I'm not lazy as hell.
 

Pak

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is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
Incoming non-lazy double post:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-392883
Phase 1 vs Manip

Loose plan: I realized early on that for me to have a chance at breaking through his fat core, I would absolutely need to get my CB Terrak into favorable positions while not unnecessarily risking it. This mostly applied to getting it in on his non scarf Hydreigon, which became apparent after Infernape revealed a presumably Scarf set turn 1. Hydreigon was the primary foe that gave Terrak free turns, but if Manip ever got me with a Draco as I tried to pivot into it from Emp or anything else then I would most likely lose on the spot.

Turn 1: At preview, I was kind of like "oh shit Infernape leads off well vs everything not named Gligar", and Gligar wasn't really actively pressured by anything else on his team while it was at full health, so it was a fairly easy decision to lead with it. Infernape U-turning out turn 1 was a huge relief, as any ordinary set up variant would've given me a lot of trouble, while also revealing that his Hydreigon was most some kind of specs/taunt/z variant so I had to watch out for that in the future.

Turns 8-9: I basically a free double to my Terrak, as he was either going to his Hydreigon (which completely walled by Celebi set) or his Steelix as a middle ground. Terrak would obviously get a free hard hit off vs Hydreigon, and applied enough pressure vs Steelix that he would be forced to attack. The latter of which ended up happening and I got a free switch to Rotom with rocks up.

Turns 10-11: With rocks on his side and me possessing all the momentum, I had no reason to predict any switch he could make, but still chose to try and Toxic Hydreigon or Florges on the switch to put on even more pressure. The next turn I missed my Overheat which was really frustrating since I could spam banded Stone Edge if Steelix was low, but I should've attacked it the turn before anyway so it was on me in a way.

Turns 13-14: Florges revealing it was WishTect caught me off guard, and it made the matchup much more playable, as I could keep any real damage on Florges later on by going to Emp and clicking Roar whenever it tried to heal up.

Turns 15-16: Terrak was essentially a free switch again since there was no world where he would Scald there, and it would give me a free hit on whatever. I opted to go for the safe edge on knocked out his hazard control option.

Nothing meaningful happens for a while.

Turn 35: Taunt Hydreigon is revealed, which was probably a top 3 threat I noticed when preparing the team I used. As mentioned earlier, it would be really hard for me to ever justify risking going from Emp to Terrak on a predicted Dark Pulse, and it honestly didn't seem too necessary with the decent lead I had heading into the latter half of the game.

Turn 52: Hey look, another risk-free switch to Terrakion. Between Toxic and Life Orb recoil, attacking into my incoming Terrak instead of Roosting would KO his Hydreigon. If we were to double down, the combination of Gligar + Empoleon looked just fine in dealing with his remaining members, so it looked like a fine play on my end to really put on the pressure down the stretch.

Turn 58-end: I just needed to get my Terrakion back in on his Hydreigon and throw out moves at this point, making my Hydreigon a fine play against his since he likely wouldn't go for Draco Meteor, and if he did, then Terrak would be inside.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-394535
Phase 1 vs Rob

Loose Plan: Ugh this was a weird one. He had some huge threats to me in Moltres and Mega Blastoise (hell, even Empoleon), and it was hard to formulate any meaningful gameplan early on. However, once his Moltres went down it was pretty clear that my way of winning would be trapping his Latias and cleaning later on with Krook since no more ground resists would remain.

Turns 4 and 6: Maybe my only big regret in this game was not doubling to Rotom-C to either absorb whatever Emp would go for, or to catch a Mega Blastoise switch. Letting Blastoise in was really stupid since Ice Beam variants tore me to shreds. He caught my Rotom-C on turn 6 and it was looking real bleak at that point.

Turn 8: I got Stak in to set up rocks so this Moltres destroys me a little less, but went for Toxic since I didn't think there was a reason to risk Moltres here when it abused a couple of my remaining mons and probably got kills as a result. Toxic would let me wear down his Blastoise a bit, as I would sack my Slowbro the turn after and maybe trade Stak for suicide rocks against it later on. Instead, I dodged and got all the momentum with rocks going up the turn after, which was obviously really unfortunate for rob.

Turns 18-20: I was still behind at this point, but I had realized my aforementioned way of winning, meaning I had to lure in his Latias somehow. Getting in my Infernape on Emp would do just that while also pressuring Emp out, something the rest of the team couldn't really do. Given that Nihilego had Protect, I kind of made a gut decision that Emp would have it too, letting it scout my presumably choiced Ape's move. I CC'd into Protect on turn 19 to make him think Lati was the play the following turn, and then nabbed it when U-turn to get a free trap. (SD Z-move U-turn is a hot set)

Turn 29: If Nihilego got a hypothetical Speed boost from killing Altaria, I would lose on the spot, so Krook was a play I had to make. It also let me keep my Earthquake deterrent to keep the endgame more firmly in my favor.

Turn 31: Hard switching to Altaria was a guaranteed win if he were to stay in, as it blocked Earthquake and any move that KO'd it gave either Infernape or Krook a free KO of their own. Infernape punished Knock Off and Krook punished Stone Edge.

Turn 34: I had to lose a Speed tie and get crit to lose, so luckily it worked out.

This was a really fun one and it was a pleasure to play rob again after I caught an L in SPL finals. gg to both my phase 1 opponents.
 

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