Tournaments SPL XII - DPP Discussion Thread

[Tomahawk]

Approved by Lutra
Thread maintained by mael and myself

Hello and welcome to SPL XII's discussion thread for DPP OU!

It's the SPL season again and ten teams will be battling it out for the trophy! In this thread you can expect to see interesting discussions, constructive analyses on metagame trends, and analyses of games. We will also be updating it ourselves with weekly replays, usage stats, and some of our own commentary. The schedule can be found here.

Here's every team's draft:

The DPP OU players of each team look as follows (with likely starters bolded):

Alpha Ruiners: Emeral, Hyogafodex, Raichy
Congregation of the Classiest: august, Tamahome, Fakes, soulgazer
Dragonspiral Tyrants: Christo, Gilbert arenas, Eo Ut Mortus
Cryonicles: Malekith, roystopror
Wi-Fi Wolfpack: mael, GaryTheGengar, shawyu 1313, ABR
Team Raiders: BIHI, H.M.N.I.P, Altina
Stark Sharks: Void, SoulWind, byronthewellwell
Ever Grande BIGs: DeepBlueC, Sakito
Indie Scooters: snøfall, Windsong
Circus Maximus Tigers: ToF


Replays

Week 1
[RAI] BIHI vs DeepBlueC [BIG]
[TIG] ToF vs Snøfall [SCO]
[TYR] Christo vs august [CLA]
[CRY] Malekith vs Emeral [RUI]
[SHA] Void vs mael [WOL]

Week 2
[RAI] BIHI vs Emeral [RUI]
[CLA] august vs mael [WOL]
[SCO] Snøfall vs Void [SHA]
[BIG] DeepBlueC vs Malekith [CRY]
[TIG] ToF vs Christo [TYR]

Week 3
[RAI] BIHI vs ToF [TIG]
[TYR] Christo vs DeepBlueC [BIG]
[CRY] Malekith vs Snøfall [SCO]
[SHA] Void vs august [CLA]
[WOL] mael vs Emeral [RUI]

Week 4
[RAI] BIHI vs Snøfall [SCO]
[BIG] DeepBlueC vs august [CLA]
[TIG] ToF vs Emeral [RUI]
[TYR] Christo vs mael [WOL]
[CRY] Malekith vs Void [SHA]

Week 5
[RAI] BIHI vs Christo [TYR]
[CRY] Malekith vs ToF [TIG]
[SHA] Void vs Sakito [BIG]
[WOL] mael vs Snøfall [SCO]
[RUI] Emeral vs august [CLA]

Week 6
[RAI] BIHI vs Malekith [CRY]
[SHA] Void vs Christo [TYR]
[WOL] mael vs ToF [TIG]
[RUI] Emeral vs Sakito [BIG]
[CLA] august vs Snøfall [SCO]

Week 7
[RAI] BIHI vs mael [WOL]
[RUI] Emeral vs Void [SHA]
[CLA] august vs Malekith [CRY]
[SCO] Snøfall vs Christo [TYR]
[BIG] DeepBlueC vs ToF [TIG]


Usage stats

Overall

DPP OU

Hide

Leads / Combos / Moves + Teammates

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tyranitar          |   29 |  58.00% |  37.93% |
| 2    | Jirachi            |   27 |  54.00% |  44.44% |
| 3    | Latias             |   21 |  42.00% |  52.38% |
| 4    | Swampert           |   14 |  28.00% |  57.14% |
| 4    | Breloom            |   14 |  28.00% |  35.71% |
| 6    | Heatran            |   12 |  24.00% |  66.67% |
| 6    | Magnezone          |   12 |  24.00% |  50.00% |
| -    | Rotom-Appliance    |   12 |  24.00% |  41.67% |
| 8    | Suicune            |   11 |  22.00% |  63.64% |
| 9    | Gengar             |   10 |  20.00% |  90.00% |
| 9    | Metagross          |   10 |  20.00% |  40.00% |
| 11   | Flygon             |    9 |  18.00% |  88.89% |
| 11   | Gyarados           |    9 |  18.00% |  44.44% |
| 11   | Gliscor            |    9 |  18.00% |  22.22% |
| 14   | Roserade           |    8 |  16.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Clefable           |    8 |  16.00% |  25.00% |
| 16   | Starmie            |    7 |  14.00% |  42.86% |
| 16   | Dragonite          |    7 |  14.00% |  28.57% |
| 16   | Rotom-Wash         |    7 |  14.00% |  28.57% |
| 19   | Empoleon           |    6 |  12.00% |  83.33% |
| 19   | Azelf              |    6 |  12.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Skarmory           |    6 |  12.00% |  33.33% |
| 22   | Scizor             |    5 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 22   | Zapdos             |    5 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 24   | Rotom-Heat         |    4 |   8.00% |  75.00% |
| 24   | Blissey            |    4 |   8.00% |  25.00% |
| 26   | Lucario            |    3 |   6.00% |  66.67% |
| 26   | Bronzong           |    3 |   6.00% |  33.33% |
| 26   | Nidoqueen          |    3 |   6.00% |  33.33% |
| 26   | Machamp            |    3 |   6.00% |  33.33% |
| 26   | Celebi             |    3 |   6.00% |   0.00% |
| 26   | Infernape          |    3 |   6.00% |   0.00% |
| 32   | Kingdra            |    2 |   4.00% | 100.00% |
| 32   | Uxie               |    2 |   4.00% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Hippowdon          |    2 |   4.00% |  50.00% |
| 32   | Milotic            |    2 |   4.00% |   0.00% |
| 36   | Ludicolo           |    1 |   2.00% | 100.00% |
| 36   | Cresselia          |    1 |   2.00% |   0.00% |
| 36   | Forretress         |    1 |   2.00% |   0.00% |
| 36   | Rhyperior          |    1 |   2.00% |   0.00% |
| 36   | Rotom-Mow          |    1 |   2.00% |   0.00% |

 

[Kristyl]

Kristyl's SPL DPP Power Rankings!

Introduction!

Welcome! This is such an exciting year for DPP and we're starting off with what I consider to be one of the best DPP pools we've seen in SPL.
I really think this is such a talented group of players who can all do very good any one of them could exceed my expectations. Please don't take offense if I rank you lower then other players, I really don't wanna ruffle any feathers like I said I think everyone in this pool is great and this is just my opinion.

1. August

Hide

One of the best to touch DPP returns after a 1 year hiatus! This really excites me, it should go without saying that August is a great player who we can expect to do great. Typically after someone leaves for a bit then returns people expect them to underperform and while I do agree with this to an extent in this case he has all the DPP support someone could want. With Fakes,Tamahome,Soulgazer and himself we can expect great teams and up to date metagame knowledge. I really look forward to August's season and his take on the Dugtrio free metagame!

2. ToF

Hide

ToF has cemented himself as one of the most reliable and consistent DPP players he had a great SPL last year ending with a 6-3 record I think he can pull it off again. He does tend to prefer bulkier builds but make no mistake he can certainly play aggressive, he knows when and how to switch it up which makes taking him down quite the task. Before SPL started I had him #1 but the difference in support is what makes him just fall short of that #1 spot. (also wtf how did he only go for 8k that's such a steal)

3. DeepBlueC

Hide

I've always been a believer in DBC maybe I overhype him but he's probably my favourite builder in the tier and I love his approach to DPP. He has great metagame knowledge and is incredibly versatile using some pretty unique Pokemon such as the SD Breloom or SD Empoleon we seen last year he really knows how to make a well thought out team that sets up it's win condition very well. His manager is Excal who has made a splash with his creative builds too and these 2 will certainly make for a very very good DPP core. DBC has fallen a bit short of my expectations the last 2 SPLs going 4-5 and 5-4 but I think this could be the year he really excels.

4. Emeral

Hide

Perhaps I am a bit bias but having been a friend of Emeral's for the last year I think his 3-3 SPL record and r1 DPP Cup exit is not reflective of his skill in this tier. He's had great performances in unofficial tournaments and his metagame knowledge has improved a lot so we can expect great teams from him. Overall just a very good player who knows when to pull the trigger and when to play passive. I expect the Frenchie and his trusty Machamp to put up a solid performance this SPL.

5. Mael

Hide

Mael returns to his home tier this SPL after having shuffled through many different tiers over the years. Mael has been playing a lot of DPP in unofficial tournaments over the last year so we can expect him to not be behind on the metagame and with BKC's support should be getting some great teams that he can put his own creative twist on, these 2 should make for a great DPP core and have been friends for awhile if I remember correct. I really like Mael he's a great player and could very well exceed my expectations.

6. BIHI

Hide

BIHI had a very solid SPL campaign last year and he's French so you know he's good at the tier. BIHI is an excellent pilot, one of the best in this pool in my opinion but what places him lower then you might expect is I'm just unsure how good his teams are. It'd totally be unfair to write off his success last year just because "lol he doesn't have BKC support now" but it does make things a bit more unsure. I expect BIHI to do well and I think I'm underrating him but this is just how I'm feeling at the time, I'm hoping we get to see BIHI prove the doubters wrong and show he doesn't need BKC to do perform good in DPP.

7. Malekith

Hide

I think this is the one people will disagree with the most, Malekith is coming off a Finals appearance in Callous's Tournament that consists of BW/DPP/ADV and went undefeated in DPP up until finals. This is all very impressive and I'd probably argue Malekith is the best pilot in this pool but I'm simply not a fan of his teams that's really all it comes down to. He brings some pretty weird picks which can work against him but the surprise factor could also help him we will just have to wait and see. There's a pretty good chance that Malekith does much better then I'm ranking him because as I said he's probably in my opinion the best pilot in the tier.

8. Void

Hide

As much as Void likes to complain about DPP he's really quite good at it and when I was first getting into DPP was my favourite player. He's always put up solid performances in SPL but it's his first time playing the tier in a bit so things could go south for him. I am a believer in Void he's a great player but we just don't know how good he is at DPP right now. Really wishing him the best as he's one of my idols in the tier.

9. Christo

Hide

I know very little about Christo but I know even less about Christo in DPP. He's proven that he can be versatile and play new tiers before so he could show this off again and put on another great performance but for now I don't really know where he stands in DPP.

10. Snofall

Hide

I believe this is Snofall's first SPL so as it goes with being a newcomer he lands low on my power rankings. I've played Snofall a lot in DPP over the last year and he's really quite solid at the tier he also plays in a lot of DPP unofficial tournaments always putting up solid performances. I always get excited to see a someone new playing, I'm very happy that he got drafted and I think he deserves it he's a good player who should be able to put up a solid performance. Unfortunately for him he's going up against a very tough pool so things could get dicey but I feel there's a good chance that he does better then people are expecting. Show em your skill snofall and prove us all wrong I know you're capable of doing it.

Thanks for reading! I plan on posting throughout SPL, this is really going to be a significant SPL for DPP so everyone give it your all I can't wait to watch. Everyone stay safe and have a great rest of your day, may your Jirachi's flinch and your Machamp's confuse.

 

[mael]

Week 1 match-ups are out!

• [RAI] BIHI vs DeepBlueC [BIG]
• [TIG] ToF vs Snøfall [SCO]
• [TYR] Christo vs august [CLA]
• [CRY] Malekith vs Emeral [RUI]
• [SHA] Void vs mael [WOL]

A great set of matches, with many good players. We can safely say that great games are expected!

One of the games I personally am looking forward to BIHI vs DeepBlueC in particular, because they're amongst the players whose style I love the most. DeepBlueC is known to bust out very creative and thoroughly crafted teams, that can be very surprising, yet not gimmicky. Never know what to expect. Going to be great.

I think another Highlight Match this week is Malektih from the Cryonicles against Emeral from the Ruiners. They're both incredibly good players but what will make this very exciting to watch will be team choices. Very contrasting players with vastly different styles and preferences. Malekith most famous in DPP for his Solar Beam Flygon against Emeral, with a very No-Nonsense and Good Stuff approach (when he doesn't bring Feraligatr lmao). Curious to see the teams these guys will bring and who's gonna come out on top.

Anyone is invited to post predictions, highlight match-ups or opinions on literally anything dpp spl related.

 

[Loki]

GL to all, hope to see some interesting games this season. rooting for my boys tof and august of course

 

[Altthiel]

Let's try to predict \o/
My shot:

• [RAI] BIHI vs DeepBlueC [BIG] | The BKC's "bye, hi" pronouncition gets me every time
• [TIG] ToF vs Snøfall [SCO] | ToF played dpp for so long he might as well be in the credits of the actual games
• [TYR] Christo vs august [CLA] | hard to put Christo on top here but hey, being the underdog can be an advantage!
• [CRY] Malekith vs Emeral [RUI] | the """" newest in the revolving door of French DPP talent after Vay and Raspberry"""" to take them all
• [SHA] Void vs mael [WOL] | Imho, given equal support mael has already the edge here. Add to that the rather great dpp support provided by the wolfpacks and I'm pretty confidently bolding mael here

 

[Kristyl]

Week 1 Predictions

BIHI vs DeepBlueC

Hide

As Mael mentioned this is for sure a highlight of the Week! I believe DBC + Excal can produce a better build but BIHI is a bit of a better pilot who is also a very capable builder really tough one to predict. Should make for a great battle good luck both.

ToF vs Snøfall

Hide

This has a lot of potential to be great, it's the classic SPL veteran vs an SPL newcomer. I think Snofall is gonna be hungry to prove that he deserves to be here so things might not be that easy for ToF. I've got to predict the more proven player at least until we see more from Snofall.

Christo vs august

Hide

Christo is an excellent player in general but August has much more experience in DPP. I do think there's potential for an upset here since it's difficult to predict what Christo could be cooking up for DPP this season. With that being said though August should be able to take this with his superior metagame knowledge and building.

Malekith vs Emeral

Hide

I'm curious what Malekith we'll be seeing this SPL, will he stick to his unpredictable style that we've seen from him many times or play it a bit more safe? Either way I believe in Emeral to take this but there's a good chance Malekith could catch Emeral off guard with another unorthodox set or Pokemon.

Void vs mael

Hide

It's nice to see both of these players return to the tier they're most known for! I believe either of them could take it but I'll give a slight edge to Mael since I've seen more of his DPP over the last year and seems to be in solid form. There's a good chance for Void to take this too, he's an excellent player. Good luck both, give it your all.

Ty for reading have a good day.

 

[Windsong]

Really fun set of matches this week. Gonna be following DPP pretty closely this year -- I think the pool's really strong and the tier is in a great place as of now, so I expect some creative teams and well played games over the next eleven weeks. I also think there's a ton of parity here, and I expect a lot of 5-4s and 4-5s this season -- I don't think anyone is going to go undefeated over a full 9 weeks. I'd say going 6-3 with this pool would be pretty stellar.

Obviously pulling hard for Snø; I think he's an excellent player, and while I don't think the preseason rankings are hugely unfair what with his lack of prior SPL experience, I think he's going to do extremely well.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Emeral play. He's just gotten better and better since we played for RoAPL a year or so ago, and he was already a really solid player then -- as with Snø, expecting a better season from him than the preseason rankings might suggest.

Rooting for my boys mael and Aug, as always.

 

[shade]

[RAI] BIHI vs DeepBlueC [BIG]
[TIG] ToF vs Snøfall [SCO]
[TYR] Christo vs august [CLA]
[CRY] Malekith vs Emeral [RUI]
[SHA] Void vs mael [WOL]

particularly looking forward to malekith vs emeral, i was following malekiths PSI run and his dpp in that was really top drawer and he is not shy of bringing some mad stuff. i expect emeral to be bringing clefable like 7/9 weeks so it will cool to see how the styles match up. both good players/builders and most importantly both european so i will be able to catch this live.

pretty big edge to the boomers and i will be supporting them throughout, always good to see the blokes who i saw smashing tours back when i was just a 15 yr old troll on shoddy battle still top of the tree.

looking forward to some good dpp this spl

 

[SOMALIA]

[RAI] BIHI vs DeepBlueC [BIG]
[TIG] ToF vs Snøfall [SCO]
[TYR] Christo vs august [CLA]
[CRY] Malekith vs Emeral [RUI]
[SHA] Void vs mael [WOL]

 

[Tomahawk]

The OP has been updated with replays and usage stats.

Week 1 Recap

A quick recap on the games of the first week: we had some exciting and unpredictable games. In fact, the bottom 3 players from the power rankings all won their game!

Looking at the usage stats, we notice that four mons share the coveted #1 slot: Jirachi and Tyranitar are to be expected, but Breloom and Gliscor join the ranks as well being used in half the teams so far. Looking at the teams in general, this seems to be in part due to their flexibility regarding playstyle: both have been used on the fatter teams as well as the more offensive teams. Especially with DPP in a more balance-oriented place right now, and these mons fitting well in these kind of teams as well as matching up nicely against them, it makes sense.

Week 1 Usage Stats

DPP OU

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Breloom            |    5 |  50.00% |  40.00% |
| 1    | Tyranitar          |    5 |  50.00% |  40.00% |
| 1    | Jirachi            |    5 |  50.00% |  40.00% |
| 1    | Gliscor            |    5 |  50.00% |  20.00% |
| 5    | Latias             |    4 |  40.00% |  75.00% |
| 6    | Metagross          |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 6    | Magnezone          |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 6    | Suicune            |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 6    | Clefable           |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 6    | Heatran            |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 6    | Starmie            |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 12   | Gengar             |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Swampert           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 12   | Empoleon           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 12   | Zapdos             |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Roserade           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Flygon             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Kingdra            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Lucario            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Celebi             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Blissey            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Forretress         |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 16   | Infernape          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

BIHI

vs

DeepBlueC

It's fair to say that this game was pretty lopsided with BIHI in a favourable position starting from turn 1: both players brought a relatively unconventional lead which worked out perfectly for BIHI, allowing him a free Substitute and KO on Magnezone. With BIHI's own Magnezone able to take out DeepBlueC's Jirachi, the game was much in BIHI's favour and he was able to solidly close it out. As DBC had quite a fat team (a structure which we have seen a lot lately with the likes of Clef / Loom / Rachi / Mag), being two important team members behind was always gonna be tough. BIHI also had a DDTar with Ice Punch in the back which eventually won the game, which I think always was gonna be very threatening for DBC's team with Breloom, Gliscor and Jirachi all getting hit by coverage moves.

ToF

vs

Snøfall

Snofall played well in his SPL debut, with a nice and solid, relatively standard Toxic Spikes team. I think the Gengar in place of Rotom was also a very nice call, and it really showed how threatening it is in the current meta (as long as it can hit its moves!!), in this game as well. ToF also had a solid showing, so it will be interesting to see how both players do this upcoming week.

Christo

vs

august

The main thing here I'm gonna note is Christo's ridiculous Chople + HP Flying Clefable. Although it seems to me a very weird set, it almost pulled off its luring job perfectly: it tanked the Superpower from Breloom and nearly KOed it. However, this wasn't enough and thanks to no sand and Poison Heal Breloom ended up back at full health later in the game. One might wonder if Christo had saved that moment until Clef had a Calm Mind boost, it might have simply won the game right there. The problem of course being, that Spore is always on the table.

For the rest of the game, it seemed like august had the winning position, but Christo was able to turn the tables and win the game.

Malekith

vs

Emeral

Emeral brought back the long forgotten Forretress. I personally think Forre / Zap / Gliscor is great right now, and Emeral seems to agree. The team in general is set up very defensively, aiming to tank hits, set up an enormous hazard advantage with Forretress and win the game by attrition. A noticable missing Pokemon on Emeral's team is Tyranitar: Forretress without Pursuit support can have a hard time spinning. However, we do not know Forre's last move (which can be either Payback or Toxic, perhaps?). It could also be a scouting choice from Emeral, noticing a lack of Ghost-types on Malekith's end and a problem with the strong defensive core he set up. This unfortunately meant he couldn't deal with the free spins from Starmie though, however. Sticky Barb Clef is also a very nice tech.

Malekith's team is relatively standard but certainly solid, sporting 3 (or 4?) of the most used Pokemon this week. One can reasonably expect the last Pokemon to be a steel type with Sash Empoleon as the only other Steel-type slot. The one thing that surprises me is the Starmie slot, there does not seem to be a huge advantage to Rapid Spin (or Thunder Wave) for this team, and other bulky Waters have generally been given the nod nowadays unless this specific support is needed. It could very well be that Malekith expected a Ghost-less, Pursuit-less hazard stacking team as Emeral did indeed bring.

Malekith played his Mixed Custap Tyranitar nicely to KO 3! different Pokemon with it, after which he was able to close out the game.

Void

vs

mael

This was a very entertaining game with two offensively strong teams going at it. Void brought probably the most off-meta team with his mixed offense, but he showed that it can for sure still do work. mael brought a cool team sporting a classic FWG core, with Specs Starmie and Infernape as as its fastest threats.

Because the two teams were offensively focused, each turn was important and this resulted in perhaps the most exciting game of the five. Empoleon was especially nice in this game, walling SpecsDra very reliably while also being able to pick off Flygon when it was forced to Outrage. Breloom, although slow, was still able to threaten Void's team as it could come in on Swampert very nicely as well as Protect to abuse the Choice-locked Flygon. On the other hand, Void used the always-threatening Lucario to KO half of mael's team without ever needing to set up (makes you wonder if Swords Dance is even needed...), supported by Choice Band Flygon and Choice Scarf Metagross deterring Gliscor from switching in and putting it in KO range.

mael was in a winning position near the end of the game, but Void had several outs (Swampert waking up, ExtremeSpeed crit, Hydro Pump miss) as Pokemon is of course a Probability-based game. He wisely played for the odds which paid off for him.

Week 2 Matches

[RAI] BIHI vs Emeral [RUI]
[CLA] august vs mael [WOL]
[SCO] Snøfall vs Void [SHA]
[BIG] DeepBlueC vs Malekith [CRY]
[TIG] ToF vs Christo [TYR]

Some very exciting matches this week once more! After last week's games, it feels like any game could go either way. I'm personally particularly excited for the first two games, where I feel each player will bring something solid and innovative, and we can expect some great games there. However, the next three games should also be great. Snofall, Void and Christo surely want to prove their wins are not flukes and continue their run, while ToF and DBC want to prove the opposite.

Please feel free to add to this thread with discussion, predictions, highlight matches, notes on played games, or anything else!
​

 

[Sakito]

Really cool games this week, some surprises here and there, I thought mael's team and emeral's in particular were interesting.

[RAI] BIHI vs Emeral [RUI]
[CLA] august vs mael [WOL]
[SCO] Snøfall vs Void [SHA]
[TIG] ToF vs Christo [TYR]

Honestly each MU could go to either player, it's really hard to predict what's gonna happen there, esp in DPP.

My personnal highlight for this week is BIHI v Emeral, Two of the top french DPPers. These two have known each other for a very long time, and thus they probably know each other pretty well in the builder too. I have a lot of respect for both players, really looking forward to that one and how it turns out.

august v mael promises to be interesting as well. I see them as the veterans of this tier (more so aug) and it's always a blast to watch their games. They also bring juicy teams everytime I get to see their games so hope we'll see some cool stuff.

gl to all players

 

[shade]

great post Tomahawk i pretty much agree with all of your assessments, enjoyed all of the games this week! i thought BIHI was pretty dominant against DBC. malekith also played really well, its gonna be hard to look past him in any of the games this week. i think a steel type is where i was going with kith's last too, but agree that it makes starmie a match-up selection to avoid getting pressured by spikes. whatever last was, how the game was played we know it loses to zapdos.

[RAI] BIHI vs Emeral [RUI] - looking forward to this game the most, especially seeing what both players bring. BIHI kinda smashed DBC last week, but think this one is gonna be pretty close. emeral played a good game and tbh got a bit unlucky at potentially big moments so he is definitely in with a shout.
[CLA] august vs mael [WOL] - this game should be great too, hope for mael's sake he hits all his hydros that was a rough way to lose
[SCO] Snøfall vs Void [SHA] - both players played well last week, coinflip
[BIG] DeepBlueC vs Malekith [CRY] - biggest edge based on week 1
[TIG] ToF vs Christo [TYR] - thought ToFs MU was rough, gengar + cmcune just throttled his entire team. both played pretty well week 1 so should be a good game again

great games last week, dpp in spl promises to be good viewing this year

 

[SOMALIA]

Man all 10 dppers are bosses, all i know for sure is that the spectators will be in for a treat, rooting for my brothers snofall and emeral and dbc.

 

[Kristyl]

Malekith vs Emeral

Hide

I don't have too much to say about this game, Emeral didn't play all that well letting his Jirachi get paralyzed early on by Starmie and risking Forretress were plays I don't really agree with. Unfortunate start for our French friend but I don't expect him to rush a game like this again. Emeral is fully capable of turning his season around and I'm interested to see if Malekith will keep up the momentum.

Snofall vs ToF

Hide

This was a solid debut from Snofall he played good and his team choice makes sense as Substitute Suicune beats the bulkier builds ToF is more known for quite comfortably. Suicune can struggle more against the weather stall builds which ToF likes, but Gengar somewhat makes up for this as it's also an excellent stall breaker that isn't invalidated by Weather. ToF brought a solid build that he's used in the past, he played a good game but the early Overheat miss ended up sucking in the endgame as Suicune was able to clean up quite nicely. I can't imagine someone as consistent as ToF will have a bad season so I expect him to be able to pull it back for the coming Weeks.

BIHI vs DBC

Hide

This was a very one sided game BIHI's in game performance was great and his team was really cool. Leading with Clefable was a nice idea but unfortunately for DBC he faced the worst thing you could face while using lead Clefable, Sub Punch Breloom. Was a rough start for DBC Breloom + Metagross managed to punch a hole in his team very early on that he couldn't recover from after Jirachi was trapped. Then some smart plays by BIHI managed to let him setup his Tyranitar then clean the game up nicely. Excal and DBC's team was a nice take on the Clefable + Magnezone builds that Excal really likes. Typically you don't see Tyranitar on these builds but it works well as with the weather support Sub Suicune becomes way less threatening. I'm sure that's not the only reason to use Tyranitar on a build like this but it is what stands out to me. I think highly of both of these players and it's nice to see BIHI get off to a good start, expecting them both to have a good season.

Void vs Mael

Hide

This was probably my favourite game of the Week, it's very refreshing to see 2 offensive squads like this. We also got to see some cool sets like Specs Starmie which I adore and Scarf Metagross who has made a name for itself as an excellent Scarfer who can disrupt stall. Both players played well but it was an unfortunate ending for Mael as Void's Lucario managed to dodge Hydro Pump then finish off the Starmie with Extreme Speed. While this was quite unlucky I can't help but feel Mael got a bit too comfortable and didn't take the win path that gave him the best odds. I thought switching to Starmie wins in every scenario except one where Void goes for Meteor Mash and gets boosts which would be really unlikely. I like the idea of Mael's team double fighting + U-Turn Gliscor is really cool but I would've rather seen something other then Empoleon here. Was an interesting game nonetheless wishing both players the best in coming Weeks.

Christo vs August

Hide

Idk what to say about this game Christo brought some insane Chople HP Flying Clefable to try and bait Breloom which is just an insane idea. August had a really nice position playing the early game quite well but seemed to lose his footing a bit after seeing the madness that was Christo's Clefable. August's team is an interesting take on the Jirachee Blissey Offense build. It sacrifices some offensive power for a bit of a better backbone with a Leftovers Metagross instead of Scarf then what I imagine is Scarf Heatran instead of the usual Specs. Christo's team was a nice idea I like Toxic Jirachi quite a bit and using it with Curse Swampert + CroCune is smart but it's just a bit too matchup fish for my liking. Also I can't imagine that Chople Clefable idea is very consistent as we seen in this battle Breloom simply lived so I guess he was expecting to be at +1 when this scenario came up. Very weird battle and rough start for August but I imagine he'll start winning in future weeks since he's August. Also the comments Christo made at the end were clearly unnecessary...

Highlight Sets

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Serious Nature
- Protect
- Spore
- Superpower
- Seed Bomb

Hide

Protect on Breloom is nothing new but typically you see it on a Leech Seed set. Instead Mael decided to use it on a more offensive set which fits the team better, the extra longevity can be really annoying. Also being able to spore Specs Latias then Protect on the Sleep Talk is really huge since Latias is then forced out. It's a small change but I'm a fan and I hope we see more of this from Mael in the future!

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body

Hide

I LOVE this set over the last Month or so Leftovers has been my favourite item to use on it so seeing it being used on the SPL stage not once but twice is really awesome. With Leftovers this thing becomes so difficult to take down for stall builds and it can easily get force big damage and more often then not gets at least one kill. PhysDef Jirachi can no longer flinch you down to 1v1 you since you heal off the Iron Head damage which is huge. I'm definitely forgetting a lot of this sets attributes but I can assure you this it's awesome and you should try it out for yourself if you haven't already. I'm not sure who deserves credit as the one who originally made this but I expect to see more of it this SPL.

Clefable @ Sticky Barb
Ability: Magic Guard
IVs: 0 Atk
Trick

Hide

Emeral used this set this Week but we've seen it before from Excal in Classic. Putting the common Clefable switch ins on a timer is nice but I believe this is supposed to act more as a Trick absorber. It's niche but does the job well.

Predictions

BIHI vs Emeral

Hide

Baguette wars...

august vs mael

Hide

Slight edge to August as I think he's just a bit of a better player then Mael but room for an upset.

Snøfall vs Void

Hide

I'd be really impressed if Snofall took down ToF then Void it seems possible, Snofall did look pretty good last Week but I trust in Void more to keep up the momentum

DeepBlueC vs Malekith

Hide

Still not crazy about Malekith's builds and I was a pretty big fan of the team DBC brought last Week so I'll go with him for now.

ToF vs Christo

Hide

no clue what to think of Christo after Week 1, I'll trust in ToF to comeback strong after Week 1

Got lazy with the predictions but oh well hope you enjoyed the read have a good day and good luck to everyone!

 

[mael]

The OP will be updated with replays and usage stats.

Week 2 Recap

interesting set of games, some very creative teams and some close games, coming down to rolls and similar. unfortunately also some rather one-sided affairs too, but the 10 teams that we see have all been exiciting and include some not so common picks, like scizor and rhyperior. my personal highlight set this week that has been revealed must be sub trick gengar, cause i have only really seen trick wow used a lot and sub trick seems hella nice to kinda alleviate the focus blast odds situation. gengar and swampert keep their winning streaks alive while clef and gliscor seem to underperform, but 10 games is way too little to read anything into any stat, especially given the context of some of these games.

BIHI

vs

Emeral

BIHI once again with a rather convincing victory. this is a bulky offense with spikes roserade against a spikeless bulky offense with rhyperior. BIHI got a break here and there that made the game easier for him but with 3 water weak mons and not a single resist Emerals rather slow team was fairly weak to swampert and didn't have the tools to handle it.

august

vs

mael

Not a pleasant watch. 2 freezes put a rather unsatisfying end to a game that could've been interesting, considering the teams that were brought.

Snofall

vs

Void

Very interesting game, arguably the most interesting one to watch this week. Snofall brought a good team, played smartly and got rewarded in the end. I feel like Void could've played for more rng with machamp or went latias instead of jirachi against the heatran to preserve the rachi and get better odds out, but overall this was just a very solid performance by snofall.

DeepBlueC

vs

Malekith

Another exciting game with a very cool sub trick gengar set, designed to beat jirachis. With the tran being passho magma storm with taunt and that gengar to take out jirachi, this match up was always going to be tough for DeepBlueC, he did well and played himself into a position where i think had he cm'd one more time he might've won. passhotran + that offensive swampert seems to be a really interesting combination to break up defensive teams. good game, definitely worth checking out. good example of how to break down defensive teams.

ToF

vs

Christo

Christo got a good lead match up and managed to play out the initiavite he got from that turn quite effectively. scizor is not a mon you see often these days in dpp so it's cool to see that too. i feel like with how behind tof was after taking down that cune he should've played a little more aggressive on some turns (like the wow into magnezone, christo was never going to risk that mon there) to catch up but it was a tough game from there anyway.
​

Week 3 Matches

• [RAI] BIHI vs ToF [TIG]
• [TYR] Christo vs DeepBlueC [BIG]
• [CRY] Malekith vs Snøfall [SCO]
• [SHA] Void vs august [CLA]
• [WOL] mael vs Emeral [RUI]

Another really exciting bunch of games. Lots of players trying to get redeem themselves and improve their recorder while others will try and ride the wave. Malekith vs Snøfall is probably my personal highlight. Snøfall has been proving the PRs wrong af and played some stellar games so far, so this is gonna be interesting.

Please feel free to add to this thread with discussion, predictions, highlight matches, notes on played games, or anything else!

 

[Sakito]

some quick thoughts about DPP in general:

• I feel like it's now clear that Gengar has established itself has a huge, huge threat in this metagame (if it was not already the case before). It might have been looked at like a liability in some occasions in the past, because Focus Blast never hits and stuff, but it's accurate to say that Gengar has much more to offer in general like Will-O-Wisps and Substitutes, incredible typing and speed. We have even seen Sub Trick which is a rare set but remains very effective at doing what it does. Gengar is excellent at messing with defensive/slightly passive teams, especially if they lack one of the true safe answers to it: Scarf Tyranitar. I'm expecting a lot more Gengar usage for the upcoming weeks, I think it's a fantastic Pokemon and it's not hard to use since it can fit on a wide variety of teams.

• The ban of Dugtrio in DPP has been effective for almost 3 months now, I think we can all say that it has been a very positive move for the metagame overall, I can't identify anything negative about it. People can now safely use Brelooms and Heatrans, which have been used a pretty decent time already. I also think Stall and defense overall is less powerful than it used to be, at least in the metagame's current form. It seems like DPP has been moving to a slightly more fast paced route, and surely the disappearance of Dug has something to do with that.

• Magnezone, while not having crazy usage so far, has been a very positive presence in the metagame for some times now, and has helped dealing through a bunch of common defensive teams that usually includes Skarmory and/or Wish Protect Jirachi, which is surely one of the tier's best Pokemon. Magnezone enables extremely nicely some of the tier's best offensive Pokemon like Metagross, Dragonite, Gengar and DD Tyranitar which proved itself to remain a top tier threat in the metagame. I also think it is worth noting that since Dugtrio has been banned, Scarf Magnezone with Hidden Power Ground has caught the interest of some people, as it is an effective way of getting rid of Heatran, which has resurfaced quite nicely since Dugtrio's ban.

• Special mention to Roserade, which is naturally still a very good Pokemon. It has always been there but I feel like it has showed to be a very good pick with incredible utility in this metagame, provides not only Toxic Spikes but Spikes, which is very effective and easily annoys a lot of teams (especially Scarf Mag balances, that have been popular for a while).

week 3 predicts

• [RAI] BIHI vs ToF [TIG]: BIHI has been very dominant so far, wouldn't be surprising if he wins this one
• [CRY] Malekith vs Snøfall [SCO]: Snofall is currently 2-0, which was not to be expected by a lot of people. Malekith is a very good player, looking forward to that one
• [SHA] Void vs august [CLA]: giving august the edge here, but wouldn't be too surprised if it goes the other way in game depending on the teams
• [WOL] mael vs Emeral [RUI]: mael has been playing pretty unfortunate games so far, and Emeral didn't have the chance to prove himself too much yet this spl. This is gonna be a close one probably, it will also break someone's lose streak here

 

[Kristyl]

BIHI vs Emeral

Hide

This was yet another one sided victory for BIHI, very dominant showing he has really been on fire the last 2 Weeks! I'm hoping he can continue his dominant streak for the coming games. Now moving onto the game itself, BIHI got an early lead after trapping Rotom with his what I assume is Scarf Tyranitar based on the damage. Gengar proved to be a massive threat for Emeral's rather slow team and punched a hole that Emeral couldn't recover from, Swampert then cleaned up quite nicely. Unfortunately for Emeral a critical hit and flinch from Swampert killed any winning chances for him. Scarf Tyranitar on a Roserade build isn't very common but it's a nice idea, it gives you room to use Gengar instead of Rotom because Tyranitar can trap Starmie so the spin blocking prowess that Rotom offers over Gengar is unnecessary. Given the matchup I don't believe Emeral had much of a shot, this certainly is not the type of team you'd like to face with Rhyperior. You could also argue that's fault of Emeral's unconventional team but I can appreciate the creativity that went into it and it certainly could've gotten a win for him.

august vs mael

Hide

Well I wont focus much on the game since this wasn't much of one to be completely honest. August got 2 Freezes early on that ended it swiftly, which is unfortunate as both players seemed to have winning chances given the matchup. Not that you can blame August, this is the game we play. Anyway lets focus more on the teams, August brought what seems to be a rather standard Roserade build but with a twist! Typically you'll see a special sweeper as the last on these teams and that can be Suicune,Empoleon or Jirachi (not limited to these of course but this is what comes to mind). While we have seen physical sweepers such as Metagross instead of those common pokemon something that I personally have never seen is a Dragon Dance Tyranitar. I really like this twist as it adds a bit of unpredictability to a rather common and well known archetype. We also see Rocks Swampert here as it gives August room to use a now excellent stall breaker with Magma Storm Heatran. I would also like to point out that we seen yet another Spikes Roserade weather or not it's Toxic Spikes too I do not know but this seems to have caught on as the standard for Roserade. Spikes in a metagame with very very limited and ineffective hazard control is just so excellent. Mael's team is a classic Clefable/Magnezone stall build, they're very effective and against August this was a smart call I think. There's less to say about this team, it's proven and very effective breaking it is quite challenging. We've seen different Pokemon instead of Gliscor but I like it a lot here, it actually is a somewhat decent Magma Storm Heatran switch in since it avoids the Spikes or Toxic Spikes damage that would make something like Milotic less effective as a switch in. As I already mentioned Magma Storm Heatran is an excellent stall breaker so a bit of a better backbone against it is much appreciated for a team such as this. Not much else to say but I'd like to mention that this Breloom did not reveal Spore when it had the opportunity to so perhaps it is a Sporeless Breloom. I'm not particularly a fan of Sporeless but it can prove to be quite an effective breaker with an SD or Bulk Up set. It seems to be something worth exploring potentially! Wow that was long as hell sorry for my rambling.

Snøfall vs Void

Hide

Snofall going to 2-0 after facing 2 very tough opponents is really impressive I'm very happy for them keep it up. This was an interesting game, Mixed Flygon proved to be a massive threat to Void's slow paralysis focused team. Void managed to stay in the game with some good plays though and reached an endgame which I thought he was favored in if he went Latias or Machamp instead of risking Iron Head. Going for Substitute on the switch to Heatran could also have worked. He would still lose if it's +Speed Flygon but you lose anyway if it is so I figured he had to go for it. Maybe he had to fish more with Machamp too but Snofall managed to breakthrough 2 parafusions which was quite unfortunate as the game was basically over if he got one to be honest. That really shows just how fast Machamp can snowball out of control with the right support. Void's team is a different take on the Double Fighting + Gliscor that we seen from Mael last week. It sacrifices the speed that Mael's team had with Starmie and Infernape but makes up for it with a lot of paralysis support, this has proven to be an effective strategy over the last year. Snofall's team is a bit fighting weak but it features 2 excellent and potentially underrated sets in the metagame currently Sub Petaya Empoleon and Specs Heatran. The power of Specs Heatran is insane and I don't think there's anything more satisfying then clicking Specs Overheat. It also can't be understated how dangerous Sub Petaya Empoleon is, when it gets into Torrent and has +1 from Petaya it cleans unprepared teams with ease. I have no doubt that Void can rebound and I hope Snofall continues to kill the competition!

DeepBlueC vs Malekith

Hide

Malekith continues to be strong in current DPP with another great showing! Maybe DBC could've won with his Clefable in the end but I'm unsure, Malekith really piloted his Gengar very well and showed off just how good it can be (when it's not constantly missing...). Trick Black Sludge really did come in handy here, was a nice call by him for sure. His team also features another great set in SpDef Empoleon, this time with Knock Off with Spikes it can really be a pain to take down. Typically I'm not a fan of Malekith's teams but this weeks was much better in my opinion so I hope he keeps it up, great job. It also the third Spikes Roserade of the week! DBC and Excal's team is an interesting take on trying to adapt his ever so popular "ipanema" to a Dugtrioless metagame. It features a HP Ground Magnezone which on this team has a clear plan of baiting in opposing Magnezone to trap it with your own. Then Jirachi becomes an absolute nightmare to deal with for teams that rely on Magnezone to trap it. I'll talk more about this set later. I don't have any issues with the team really, but I was hoping to see something a bit different from them this Week. They've stalled the first 2 Weeks and it hasn't worked so I expect them to pull out the big guns for Week 3. I don't think there's reason to doubt DBC's ability to bounce back after and 0-2 start, we can expect some more great teams from him.

ToF vs Christo

Hide

Christo beats 2 DPP veterans to start off his season, he brought a weird team Week 1 and his Week 2 teams suggests that he has no plans of stopping. Lead Suicune is an absolute beast and I really want to see more of it, it snowballs out of control so fast if you get the right lead matchup. Christo brought another unseen threat with SD Scizor which can often be forgotten in the builder. Though I don't necessarily like seeing these 2 pokemon in this fashion (by that I mean on this team) I am happy to see them nonetheless and unpredictability for a no team preview metagame goes a long way. Philip is a good example of someone who proved this using the no team preview to his advantage very much so. ToF decided to play it safe against the wild Christo and brought a pretty standard yet effective Roar Latias / Skarmory / Clefable spikes build. I'm not a huge fan of Latias Skarmory builds, I typically think Milotic Skarmory are much more cheese proof and defensively sound against the likes of CB Tyranitar or Swampert for example. You can't really go wrong with Skarmory though and his team choice makes sense. I don't think anyone would've expected ToF to drop to 0-2 but he's still one of the best to touch DPP so I fully expect him to be able to bounce back. Christo on the other hand is now 2-0 which is really impressive against a tough pool and it being his first season of DPP. Honestly he has been pretty entertaining to watch.

Highlight Sets

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
Timid / Naive Nature
IVs: 3 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Hide

I think this is something that could start to catch on over the next year. The idea behind it is pretty clear, it lets you revenge kill Offensive Heatran and even SpDef Heatran after a bit of chip. You can also trap opposing Magnezone (this is how it was intended to be used for DBC and Excal's team I believe). It comes with little drawbacks as the Hidden Power for Scarf Magnezone is interchangable, you only really need HP Fire for Scizor or if you're trying to threaten out Breloom I suppose. There's definitely room to use HP Ground as a filler move on some teams and I hope we get to see more of it in the future.

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick

Hide

We've seen this set before and it always seems to do great. Gengar has tons of good options for a filler move but what I believe this one aims to do is punish stall builds that over rely on Jirachi as its Gengar answer. This was highlighted beautifully in Malekith's game against DBC. Being able to put things on a timer is really great for Gengar and leads to it or one of its teammates being able to clean up the game with ease. You truly can't go wrong with Gengar, it's proving to be an excellent pokemon in this metagame. Not that it's a huge sample size but currently it is boasting a 100% winrate with 6 uses! I'm a big fan of this set, hoping to see it again.

Tyranitar
Ability: Sand Stream
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Aqua Tail
- Crunch
- Fire Punch

Hide

I'll only touch on this briefly since I wouldn't necessarily consider this creative or underrated. We didn't see Fire Punch in the game but I'm assuming this was the last on August's Tyranitar. I just wanted to point out that this has somewhat become the standard for Magless DD Tyranitar builds. Fire Punch lets you still hit the steels Magnezone is supposed to trap and Aqua Tail is so you aren't walled by Heatran but can still hit Gliscor. Was a good call by August.

Predictions

BIHI vs ToF

Hide

BIHI has been on fire so far! This is one of the highlights of the Week for me, as much as I'd like to bold ToF I've got to go with what we have seen this SPL. ToF's bulky approach has proven to not be as effective this year unfortunately for him. Not that statistics mean much especially with a small sample size but I would like to point out that stall hasn't won a game yet. Obviously this doesn't mean stall is bad or unviable but compared to last years meta this is a bit surprising. I think all this means is a different approach might have to be taken but I'm not really sure as I said statistics do not mean much. ToF is fully capable of playing anything and he's damn good at it so even with a rough start there's reason to believe he could pull out a victory against BIHI.

Christo vs DeepBlueC

Hide

Okay so maybe I'm a bit biased for not bolding the 2-0 guy against the 0-2 guy but hear me out. Something I've always admired and envied about both DBC and Excal's builds is their ability to see synergy beyond simple things like "Breloom is good with Tyranitar for xyz reason". I don't think this is something that they've been able to showcase too much thus far and that's proven by the rough start that they have had. Knowing this I'm expecting them to show off this skill in this coming Weeks. Christo really is a wildcard though so preparing for him will be a difficult task, I feel DBC and Excal are up to the challenge though. Hoping they both have the motivation to turn this season around. Christo's approach to DPP is certainly unique and has proven to be effective the last couple weeks. Thishis match has lots of potential to be great with unique pokemon and techs therefore it is tough to predict who will win or lose.

Malekith vs Snøfall

Hide

Both are 2-0 going against the previous doubts that I had, props to them both. I've said it before but even if I don't like Malekith's teams they work well for him so who am I to judge? Also his team this Week I thought was pretty good so I think I'd be dumb to doubt him now. I trust Malekith's piloting abilities a bit more then Snofall's so that's what gives him a small edge for me. There's a good chance for Snofall to win this though as he has displayed a good understanding of matchup with his last 2 teams I feel.

Void vs august

Hide

While yes I do absolutely believe in Void I think he's great, I don't have any reason to think he wont have a great season. With that being said though, when you're going up against someone of August's caliber there's reason to believe this might not be the Week he starts winning more. Both have brought good teams thus far so I expect that to continue with this Week. The reason August has the edge over Void is that he's historically the better player. I think Void can win for sure, but I'm going to believe in August's ability to keep up the momentum after last Weeks victory.

mael vs Emeral

Hide

Both are 0-2 and will certainly be looking to turn their season around this Week. Lots of potential for a great match good luck both.

Recap

Hide

Sakito and Mael covered everything I would've covered better then I could've so go check out their posts.

I have a lot of fun writing them and analyzing the games + teams of great players/builders. I'll try to keep these posts coming each Week, I'm very passionate about DPP (for some reason...). Thank you for reading I really hope you enjoyed take care and have a great day!

 

[august]

• [RAI] BIHI vs ToF [TIG] - bihi has looked unbeatable this spl, gotta bold him but i think big daddy ToF is just warming up and i think that he'll prove me wrong
• [TYR] Christo vs DeepBlueC [BIG] - good builds, good execution
• [CRY] Malekith vs Snøfall [SCO] - sno has been really impressive so far, but so has my main man malekith
• [WOL] mael vs Emeral [RUI] - both have the potential to bounce back from 0-2, but i've liked mael's builds more so far

right side lookin strong. at this rate malekith and bihi will be having a competition to see who reveals less monsters this spl

 

[Windsong]

• [RAI] BIHI vs ToF [TIG] - bihi has looked excellent, and ToF apparently thought heatran's overheat did 90% to a suicune.
• [TYR] Christo vs DeepBlueC [BIG] - Christo's made really good tech calls so far, but I don't know if they'll catch DBC off guard. Highlight.
• [CRY] Malekith vs Snøfall [SCO] - we're cooking up some fire teams this week + Snofall's mastered double switching and idk if anyone can stop him now.
• [SHA] Void vs august [CLA] - Void's good, but August isn't gonna let himself get cheesed.
• [WOL] mael vs Emeral [RUI] - Everyone's mentioned that mael's 0-2, but nobody's pointed out that if he weren't unlucky as sin he'd be 2-0. Emeral's looked very shaky the last two weeks -- I think he'll make a comeback at some point this spl, but a determined mael is gonna make for a tough start.

 

[ToF]

ToF apparently thought heatran's overheat did 90% to a suicune.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Heatran Overheat vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 166-196 (41 - 48.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

i get he's your teammate, good on you for team spirit. don't be a dumbass and spread false information that it didn't affect anything. part of the game though - snofall played a great game, no discredit, and week 2 did more of the same, showing he's ready and able to play at an spl level.

 

[afterburn]

Fuck, I’ve loved all the variety of teams so far in this SPL. I know that protect palm loom set has been out for a couple months but only now I’m seeing it a lot on ladder. Aqua f punch dd tar is also a very interesting tech.

dug ban has been going great.

 

[shade]

man only just managed to catch maels week 2 against august. the week 1 hydro miss was a killer because it was final turn but not that unlucky because its hydro but then to follow it up next week with 2 freezes is brutal. this man has angered the pokegods. i also think that, whilst not as obvious, rng has not been kind to emeral on the whole. hoping these two have a clean match i like watching them both dpp.

 

[Aria IV]

guts machamp?

 

[Tomahawk]

The OP has been updated with replays and usage stats.

Week 3 Recap

Jirachi is hot right now, at first place with 80% usage! What is interesting with Jirachi is the high number of Mixed or Specially-based Jirachis this week, with 4 Jirachi's having shown a Special move or more. It seemed that most players wanted to change it up from what was seen last weeks, as the succesful Roserade + Gengar teams from last weeks were not seen once: 0 Roserade usage this week. A final note on the usage of this week: 2 Blissey, 0 Clefable. Will be interesting to see the winner of the pink blob war at the end of this SPL!

Week 3 Usage Stats

DPP OU

Leads / Combos / Moves + Teammates

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Jirachi            |    8 |  80.00% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Latias             |    6 |  60.00% |  66.67% |
| 2    | Tyranitar          |    6 |  60.00% |  33.33% |
| 4    | Swampert           |    4 |  40.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Breloom            |    4 |  40.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Dragonite          |    4 |  40.00% |  25.00% |
| 7    | Gyarados           |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| -    | Rotom-Appliance    |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 8    | Scizor             |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Magnezone          |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Blissey            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Machamp            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Zapdos             |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 8    | Rotom-Wash         |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Skarmory           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Rotom-Heat         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Empoleon           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Flygon             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Gengar             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Azelf              |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Infernape          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Metagross          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Nidoqueen          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Suicune            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Heatran            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Starmie            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

BIHI

vs

ToF

In a very closely contested game, BIHI won out, netting him an impressive 3-0 record while ToF is at an unfortunate 0-3. Both players brought a set of six relatively standard Pokemon, with Infernape being the most unconventional Pokemon in this game. Sharing the Breloom / Latias / Jirachi core, both teams handled the sets a bit differently as well as how they finished the team. BIHI focuses on Spikes, with Skarmory setting them and Rotom aiming to keep them up, but is more offensively geared with the rest of his team: with Specs Latias, offensive Breloom, and Calm Mind Jirachi all having some notable firepower. The Calm Mind Jirachi is an interesting addition, changing up on the now super-standard Iron Head Jirachi to potentially surprise ToF, and also being able to nab a KO with Psychic on the now super common Gengar through Will-O-Wisp. ToF seemed to have a more balance based team with Infernape as the most notable offensive piece. Defensive Force Palm Breloom, although I usually see it on fatter teams (those along the lines of WishTect Rachi, Clef, etc), allows Zapdos and Latias some more options without being needed to check Breloom and sleep absorb like BIHI's Latias has to. This allows Trick, Recover and Thunder Wave all as utility moves on Latias. Protect Zapdos is also an interesting tech move, although giving up Roost seems to be very notable especially without a Spinner and with sand being most likely up removing the recovery from Protect.

Christo

vs

DeepBlueC

This game is already exciting from turn 1, with Dragonite and Gyarados being two of the most offensively oriented leads in the meta. It's nice to see the change in team from DBC bringing him a win after changing it up from his fatter builds from the first two weeks. The game itself is overy very quickly, after Gyarados is able to set up on Swampert and crits Latias it is able to clean house in a pretty straightforward way. As for the teams, I like the idea of DeepBlueC's team of double physical water attackers with DD Gyara + SD Empoleon (with the latter having Drill Peck to punish the high usage of Breloom this SPL). Christo's team does not seem to be as offensive as its Dragonite lead promises, although we do not find out the sets of any of its team members except of Swampert and Jirachi: I generally expect Dragon Dance + Yache Dragonite in the lead slot nowadays, but it might as well be the classic MixNite.

Malekith

vs

Snofall

First thing to note for this game is that these are for sure the most unique teams of the week, I definitely don't consider either team to be 'standard' but they are absolutely interesting. It would be interesting to know how much of it is a general meta call vs prepped specifically for the opponent. Especially when you consider for example, Snofall's MixRachi set which just cleant house to win the game with its 4 different moves hitting the 4 remaining Pokemon from Malekith's team (albeit 1 with a lucky crit). Snofall's team looks like a take on the Classic DragMag style, which we haven't seen a lot of lately: although Magnezone is very common and often paired with a Dragon, doubling up is not as common in my experience. Scizor and Thunder- or Thunderbolt-less Jirachi really add onto the Magnezone reliance (one might wonder if this team just folds to Shed Shell Skarm). Blissey is also a nice call on this team, it allows a lot of defensive utility in just one mon, and still good even in our Clefable days. Malekith's team is also a bit offbeat but cool: Nidoqueen I find to be pretty uncommon on balanced or offensive teams, but it also allows condensing of Stealth Rock + Toxic Spikes on one Pokemon, and Malekith might want to avoid Roserade too with how common it's been. SubCM is a really good choice to abuse the Toxic Spikes, and when looking at the matchup it looks like if the game had gone a bit differently it could have just as easily won the game for him.

august

vs

Void

Another fun game of offense vs offense, which truly came down to the wire. august has a nice take on the Dragon Dance spam archetype, with what it seemed like DDNite / DDTar / DDGyara to really stack up on physical offense, with Pert / Tran / Rachi as solid additions. Magma Storm Tran and special or mixed Rachi also function as lures or breakers to open up potential scenarios for the DDers by taking out bulky waters and well, whatever Jirachi was tuned for. Void has a really interesting take on Mag offense in my opinion, Choice Band Tar is a unconventional but cool lead choice that can really surprise in the lead slot and break apart teams and it's followed by 4 solid, synergestic offensive mons + Mag. Just like week 1, he showed he knows how to play for the odds in a seemingly unfavorable mid/endgame, and got the win.

mael

vs

Emeral

With both players unfortunately starting off with 2 losses, it should be no surprise that both brought out the always-reliable paraspam. What's interesting is the two different takes on the archetype: I would say that mael's style is the more conventional interpretation of today, with a very threatening dual Fighting-type core, and a solid core of 4 defensive mons that are able to spread the paralysis and take hits. Emeral had an interesting more offensively-based version, which seems like it can shift gears to a regular offense team if it seems to be the better route: with for example Azelf being both just a good lead on offense and a paralysis spreader, Dragon Dance + Thunder Wave Gyarados being solid for both gameplans, etc. It would be interesting to see multiple games of this team to see the difference in playstyle depending on the opposing team. The game seemed to be mostly in favour of Emeral during the midgame, with mael only being left with Blissey and Jirachi vs all of Emeral's team but Azelf. However, with Machamp having 0 DynamicPunches left, and Tyranitar paralyzed, he was almost able to sweep with his WishTect Rachi. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be and in the end as a game of paraspam vs paraspam a couple of successive full paralyses ended the game.

Week 4 Matches

[RAI] BIHI vs Snøfall [SCO]
[BIG] DeepBlueC vs august [CLA]
[TIG] ToF vs Emeral [RUI]
[TYR] Christo vs mael [WOL]
[CRY] Malekith vs Void [SHA]


More very exciting matches this week! I am personally most excited for BIHI vs Snofall, with the two undefeated players being pitted against each other, it will be interesting to see who is able to maintain this record. Malekith vs Void is also a highlight match for me, with both having played well as well as showing their own take on the current meta with their teams, I think this match should be very fun to watch.

Please feel free to add to this thread with discussion, predictions, highlight matches, notes on played games, or anything else!
​

 

[Kristyl]

BIHI vs ToF

Hide

This game certainly met my expectations, it was a thriller! BIHI continues his dominance boasting an impressive 3-0 record, he has a strong grasp on the metagame. BIHI played this game very aggressively but his aggression always seemed calculated and with good reason. Staying in on Zapdos with Skarmory ended up having huge payoff against ToF's hazard weak team, really well played. BIHI was able to close out the game with his CM Jirachi, this is an interesting pick as it really fell off due to Clefable,Dugtrio and Fire Punch Jirachi running wild. I think it performs well in this more offensive metagame though and I believe we will see more of it in the future. I think ToF's team is a really interesting take on the Zapdos + Fighters archetype that used to be very popular before Dugtrio became popular. The first thing you might notice when looking at his team is the lack of Starmie, this is unusual since the spin support is typically seen as necessary for Zapdos. I believe this change is fine if you're intending to use Zapdos for it's offensive capabilities rather then it's defensive ones. Unfortunately for ToF though he faced Skarmory which is not what he would've liked to see when using no Starmie... It also has an Infernape which seems to be making a bit of a comeback as it's no longer just Dugtrio food, on this team it's carrying Leftovers but I'll talk about that more later. Overall really cool teams from both and an exciting game too, perhaps my favourite thus far. I hope BIHI keeps up his win streak as he's playing some very entertaining and excellent DPP, It's really something to keep your eye on. I'm sad to see ToF drop to 0-3 but he's still one of the best at this tier, I don't think we should start doubting his capabilities.

Christo vs DeepBlueC

Hide

This was a classic DPP offensive slugfest, I always enjoy seeing teams of the same archetype but with different approaches. Christo made some really smart reads this game that got him a nice position in the early game. Unfortunately dealing with the threat that was Empoleon while also keeping his Gyarados check proved too much for his team. DBC then seized his opportunity to setup with his Gyarados thus cleaning up the game in quick fashion. I can't really blame Christo for this game the Gyarados matchup was quite rough. Christo's team was fairly standard but overall very good, hoping we can see more of this in the future. It featured some cool sets like Special Swampert to make up for the lack of Magnezone, the item is a mystery though, if I had to speculate I'd say Custap but this is really uncommon. Lum Jirachi was also a nice touch. DBC brought a different version of Excal's SD Empoleon team from last SPL. It's a creative take on Water Spam, the star of the show being SD Empoleon of course. I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of this set but it has gained popularity over the last year as a potent late game sweeper. I'm really happy to see DBC and Excal go in a more offensive direction as I think it's where their excellent team building and creativity gets to shine the most. Great teams by both keep it up! DBC seems to be turning his season around and I wouldn't be shocked if we seen him go on a winning spree. Over the last few Weeks Christo has shown to be good at DPP so there's no reason to count him out yet.

Malekith vs Snøfall

Hide

Both were 2-0 going into this game but there could only be one winner! Snofall proved to be SPL ready and has an impressive 3-0 record going into Week 4. The game itself was standard, MixRachi proved to be a massive threat to Malekith's team and Snofall won convincingly. Not sure how Malekith could've played this differently, Snofall played smart and gave him no openings. What was not so standard about this game though was both teams, they're really unconventional and have some pokemon that are typically unseen, Blissey,Scizor and Nidoqueen. Malekith's team is an interesting balance, I like the idea of Nidoqueen + Sub Suicune but I believe if you're going to use Substitute Suicune it should be weatherless. Snofall's team is a really interesting take on Blissey Offense, it features 2 hard hitting dragons with Dragonite and Flygon backed up by Magnezone. It's very easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer offensive power this team has with it's dragons. SD Scizor makes for a nice late game cleaner on this team after Dragonite and Flygon have punched a hole in the opposing team. It's too fighting weak for my liking but I'm always a fan of Blissey Offense, this is a unique way of doing it and it got the job done. Both players are showcasing some unique teams and great playing abilities, I think they'll both continue to have a good SPL.

Void vs august

Hide

This game was really down to the wire and featured 2 explosive offensive builds. Void played a good game setting up his Scizor win condition really well, I don't think this is what August expected after seeing Tyranitar,Gengar,Swampert and Latias. Void's team features a Scizor + Magnezone combo which has to my surprise been used 3 times and won 3 times. It's similar to Christo's Week 2 team but has more of a defensive backbone with Swampert > Suicune. It's not my favourite version of Magnezone offense but it has a clear plan that has shown to be effective over the last 2 Weeks. It also has another HP Ground Magnezone which ended up saving the game for him, really well done. I believe August is using a Tamahome team, It's a nice take on Magless physical offense. Heatran > Magnezone gives the team even more offensive power and a bit more of a defensive backbone. Swampert and what I think is Shuca Jirachi is a non traditional way of dealing with Dragon Dancers, it sacrifices a Scarfer for more offensive power. Really nice team from August, this style packs a punch and is very effective. Nice teams from both and an enjoyable game from 2 of the best.

mael vs Emeral

Hide

These are 2 builds of the same archetype but with completely different approaches, Emeral's is a more offensive take while Mael's is much more defensive. This game is how I imagine most people who don't play DPP imagine the tier, Iron Heads,Body Slams and Dynamic Punches galore. Emeral barely made it out of this one alive but won in a well played game. Mael really can't catch a break this Week his Machamp was the wrong ability, I can only describe this is a very unfortunate oversight. Mael's team is the standard paraspam that got spammed during Classic last year, there's many different versions with things such as Clefable or Togekiss instead of Breloom. Mael brought what I consider to be the best version with Breloom though. It might even be Sporeless SD which is something that has been seen before on this build and outside of it a bit but is generally an uncommon pick. You can't go wrong with Machamp + Paralysis it's effective and annoying, I'm curious to see how the meta will adapt to it. I hope Mael's series of unfortunate events ends here and he can start winning some games, this 0-3 record is deceiving and not really deserved. Emeral bounces back after starting 0-2, keep up the momentum!

Highlight Sets

Jirachi @ Lum Berry
Ability: Serene Grace

Hide

It's not a big change but it does have some nice uses. Curing a paralysis from Magnezone or opposing Jirachi can be big in giving you the upper hand against them 1v1. Also switching into defensive Latias without the fear of being paralyzed is helpful. Being a 1 time Breloom switch in is always nice too for dealing with the stupidity that is sleep moves. It has some nice synergy on Christo's team with Swampert too for this reason. Nothing huge but a nice tech.

Infernape @ Leftovers
Ability: Blaze

Hide

I've seen this discussed many times over the last year but it has finally seen the big stage! Infernape has a plethora of issues in my opinion but this set helps a lot. You do miss not having the extra power from Expert Belt sometimes but the extra longevity really goes a long way. The passive damage from Stealth Rocks,Sand and Spikes adds up quickly and Infernape often dies before it gets to do anything noteworthy because of it. With Leftovers you become much harder to deal with for teams that over rely on the hazards and weather as their way of beating Infernape. Really nice set and I wouldn't be surprised if this caught on as the standard.

Predictions


BIHI vs Snøfall

Hide

Both are 3-0 this is a very hype match. I give BIHI the edge since I've liked his teams a bit more and his game last Week really impressed me. Snofall has done great thus far so there's a good chance he could win too.

DeepBlueC vs august

Hide

This was a tough one to predict they're 2 of my favourite players ever but August has historically been better so I'm going with him. DBC's team last Week was nice. He's good at identifying what is going wrong then turning his season around and getting in a rhythm, so there's a good chance he wins this. Exciting match good luck both.

ToF vs Emeral

Hide

gl both

Christo vs mael

Hide

Mael doesn't deserve to be 0-3 at all the first 2 Weeks were really dumb and I don't think we've gotten the chance to see his full capabilities. It wouldn't feel very fair of me to predict the 0-3 vs 2-1 though and I don't want to discredit Christo's achievements so far. This is a really close one good luck both, you know that I know you're fully capable of turning your season around Mael.

Malekith vs Void

Hide

Both have had a good tournament and this is definitely one to look forward to.

Apologies if this one was a bit rushed, just busy this Week. Good luck everyone lets see some great battles!

Hope you enjoyed reading see you next Week