Tournaments SPL XIV DPP Discussion

[Le Don]

Week 7 pairings :

[TYR] reyscarface vs DeepBlueC [RAI]
[RUI] zf vs bruno [SHA]
[BIG] twash vs Student of Sinnoh [CLA]
[SCO] Sakito vs mael [TIG]
[CRY] Kristyl vs SFG [WOL]

Week 6 Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Tyranitar | 6 | 60.00% | 16.67% |
| 2 | Heatran | 5 | 50.00% | 80.00% |
| 2 | Gyarados | 5 | 50.00% | 40.00% |
| 2 | Jirachi | 5 | 50.00% | 40.00% |
| 5 | Machamp | 4 | 40.00% | 50.00% |
| 5 | Latias | 4 | 40.00% | 25.00% |
| 5 | Azelf | 4 | 40.00% | 25.00% |
| 8 | Empoleon | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 8 | Scizor | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 10 | Suicune | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| - | Rotom-Appliance | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 11 | Magneton | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Rotom-Wash | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Gengar | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Infernape | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Crobat | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Donphan | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Milotic | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Starmie | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Metagross | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Dragonite | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Rotom-Heat | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Skarmory | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Flygon | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Clefable | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

• Missing 1 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 3 Pokemon from ZF.

Week 6 Lead Stats

	+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
	| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |
	+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
	| 1 | Azelf | 4 | 40.00% | 25.00% |
	| 2 | Empoleon | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
	| 3 | Machamp | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
	| 3 | Suicune | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
	| 3 | Crobat | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
	| 3 | Tyranitar | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

Overall Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Jirachi | 32 | 53.33% | 37.50% |
| 2 | Latias | 29 | 48.33% | 51.72% |
| 3 | Tyranitar | 28 | 46.67% | 35.71% |
| 4 | Gyarados | 23 | 38.33% | 52.17% |
| 5 | Heatran | 21 | 35.00% | 66.67% |
| 6 | Dragonite | 16 | 26.67% | 31.25% |
| 7 | Metagross | 13 | 21.67% | 46.15% |
| 8 | Azelf | 12 | 20.00% | 41.67% |
| 8 | Clefable | 12 | 20.00% | 41.67% |
| 10 | Breloom | 11 | 18.33% | 63.64% |
| - | Rotom-Appliance | 11 | 18.33% | 45.45% |
| 11 | Scizor | 9 | 15.00% | 44.44% |
| 11 | Suicune | 9 | 15.00% | 33.33% |
| 11 | Skarmory | 9 | 15.00% | 33.33% |
| 14 | Swampert | 8 | 13.33% | 37.50% |
| 15 | Gengar | 7 | 11.67% | 71.43% |
| 15 | Empoleon | 7 | 11.67% | 71.43% |
| 15 | Machamp | 7 | 11.67% | 57.14% |
| 15 | Starmie | 7 | 11.67% | 42.86% |
| 15 | Zapdos | 7 | 11.67% | 42.86% |
| 15 | Hippowdon | 7 | 11.67% | 28.57% |
| 15 | Flygon | 7 | 11.67% | 14.29% |
| 22 | Gliscor | 6 | 10.00% | 50.00% |
| 22 | Rotom-Heat | 6 | 10.00% | 33.33% |
| 24 | Rotom-Wash | 5 | 8.33% | 60.00% |
| 24 | Magneton | 5 | 8.33% | 60.00% |
| 24 | Forretress | 5 | 8.33% | 40.00% |
| 27 | Bronzong | 4 | 6.67% | 75.00% |
| 27 | Infernape | 4 | 6.67% | 50.00% |
| 29 | Mamoswine | 3 | 5.00% | 66.67% |
| 29 | Lucario | 3 | 5.00% | 33.33% |
| 29 | Aerodactyl | 3 | 5.00% | 33.33% |
| 32 | Magnezone | 2 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Milotic | 2 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Donphan | 2 | 3.33% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Celebi | 2 | 3.33% | 50.00% |
| 36 | Qwilfish | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Uxie | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Kingdra | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Cresselia | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Snorlax | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Roserade | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Blissey | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Quagsire | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Hitmonlee | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Gallade | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Crobat | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |
| 36 | Smeargle | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |
| 36 | Froslass | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

• Missing 1 Pokemon from SFG.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from AICORDER.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from OIPON.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from KRISTYL ★.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from AICORDER.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from SAKITO.
• Missing 2 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 3 Pokemon from ZF.

Overall Lead Stats

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| 1 | Azelf | 12 | 20.00% | 41.67% |

| 2 | Hippowdon | 5 | 8.33% | 40.00% |

| 3 | Empoleon | 4 | 6.67% | 75.00% |

| 3 | Skarmory | 4 | 6.67% | 75.00% |

| 3 | Zapdos | 4 | 6.67% | 50.00% |

| 6 | Heatran | 3 | 5.00% | 66.67% |

| 6 | Dragonite | 3 | 5.00% | 33.33% |

| 6 | Aerodactyl | 3 | 5.00% | 33.33% |

| 9 | Breloom | 2 | 3.33% | 100.00% |

| 9 | Suicune | 2 | 3.33% | 100.00% |

| 9 | Gyarados | 2 | 3.33% | 50.00% |

| 9 | Flygon | 2 | 3.33% | 0.00% |

| 13 | Bronzong | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |

| 13 | Roserade | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |

| 13 | Jirachi | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |

| 13 | Hitmonlee | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |

| 13 | Machamp | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |

| 13 | Crobat | 1 | 1.67% | 100.00% |

| 13 | Metagross | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

| 13 | Latias | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

| 13 | Forretress | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

| 13 | Swampert | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

| 13 | Gliscor | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

| 13 | Smeargle | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

| 13 | Froslass | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

| 13 | Tyranitar | 1 | 1.67% | 0.00% |

Good luck to everyone !

 

[Le Don]

Week 6 quick review :

The return of the meme of the week ???

SoS's Gengar be like :

​

• We saw a lot of Machamp this week and it's not very suprising : with Gengar being low in usages ( ghost types in general ) and Tar less used than before ( so no sand to chip Machamp ), it is definitly a good choice for a lot of teams rn.​
• Heatran uses = 5 / Metagross uses = 1; we even saw an Iron Head Heatran from twash !​
• It is the second time that we see a Donphan, is it the new underrated pick ? With its high defense, high atk, good typing and movepool it probably is !​
• After a few brief appearances, Gliscor is reported missing again; Lucario is still no where to be found and same for Swampert, it has been 3 weeks.​

Now time for the ...

PAIRING OF THE WEEK

​

[RUI] zf vs bruno [SHA]

I'm not the owner of these sprites, pls check this post for more informations here
4-2 <- Actual record -> 5-1
4 <- Actual winstreak -> 5
Win <- ( vs SFG ) Last week game result ( vs Sakito ) -> Win

.

They are both on fire but only one will remain undefeated !
​

zf had a rough start but was able to bounce back and the doubts have disappeared because he's undefeated since week 3. The Ruiners' player, who has the support of Laurel ( another DPP veteran ), is the only player ( with Sakito and despite the offensive tendencies ) who used stall twice this SPL ( whereas other players used stalls 1 time or never ). His teams are modern and effective and his playstyle varies a lot : Tspikes week 3, stall week 2 / 5, offense week 1 / 4 / 6. His last game was fast and clean with a Gyarados and a Jirachi being unstoppable. zf needs only one more win to be sure to finish with a positive record at the end of the regular season, it is surely his next objective.

Same as zf, bruno is undefeated but since week 2 ! He has the best current record ( 5 wins / 1 loss ). I already did an highlight on him for week 3, I was talking about the surprise effect and we have not been disappointed : we saw Donphan, Crobat, Blissey, Curse Quagsire etc. He also managed to pilot very well more standard teams ( week 3 / 4 ). bruno's preps seem perfect everytime because I have the impression that he always seems to always have a favorable MU whether the opp is. His game vs zf is for sure the POTW and I'm really really looking foward for it. Another victory will be perfect for a season already more than positive for the Sharks' player.

Which of the two will remain undefeated ?
We will see on Saturday, 10:00 AM (GMT -5). Gl to both !​

 

[Le Don]

Week 6 games review ( feat Le Don's "expert" eye )
better late than never

BKC vs twash

Game review

BKC made his return in DPP OU with an offensive team featuring 3 water types including Spin Specs Starmie. Rest is classic, DD Tar as finisher and Lati as Scarfer. twash's team is very cool and unique : having Magneton on HO helps a lot vs DDers, opposite Magneton / Magnezone and Skarm for Gyara and Machamp; SR Azelf lead means that you can run Taunt / Endure / 4 Atk on Heatran. Last mon is prob Latias / Gengar because otherwise it's very weak to Breloom.
Azelf got rocks up on a HPump miss then twash went on Gyara on another HPump to force it out. BKC had to switch on his own Gyara, taking rocks + waterfall damages ( + no leftovers ) and doubled back then on Empo on twash's Azelf to drop another HPump which this time doesn't miss. Azelf and Empo went down and turn 8 we have Starmie vs Gyara : twash went on Magneton expecting Tbolt but BKC not expecting this went for Trick to Spin after and now he has to switch on a Specs Magneton. twash went for Flash Cannon and caught a Lati expecting Tbolt forcing BKC to go on Metagross. Good news for him, he was abke get his rocks up but he took a lot of damages on Metagross in return. BKC intimidated twice twash's Gyara and Spin to setup his DD Tar on it but unfortunatly a Machamp twash revealed so DD Tar wasn't able to sweep. In order to win, BKC had to hit a lot HPump to force a potential Latias last to setup Tar ( or to force damage on Machamp if it's wasn't Latias last ) but he also needed a crit to beat the Machamp. He missed Hydro vs Heatran so it was definitly over; Machamp finished the game for the BIG's player. Magneton was huge for twash, Scarf Tbolt / Twave was scary; great call. Great teams on both sides.

zf vs SFG

Game review

We don't have a lot of informations on zf's team LOL. Prob the same structure as BKC's team but with a different approach. On SFG's side we have the well known paraspam HO but this time with the old CB Dnite set and a Focus Sash Azelf with a lot of Atk ( it did a lot to Empo, surely it was invested ).
Game started with Azelf getting rocks up and Empoleon going for Hydro on a potential Taunt. Then suprisingly, Azelf exploded allowing zf to get his rocks up then SFG sent his Jirachi and finished the 1% Empoleon. zf took the opportunity to send his Gyara to DD, SFG responded with his own Gyara ( probably Twave ) but because of rocks it was in range of an unboosted Stone Edge and SFG's Gyara went down. SFG was in big trouble at this point because nothing outspeed +1 Gyara and it's out of range of CB Extreme Speed. He had to Body Slam the Gyara first with his Jirachi to put it in range but in return he took 55% on EQ. He didn't get the para ( but it was prob Lum Berry anyway ) but now he can go on Gyara to RK it. Gyara's time is over but now it's Jirachi's time and with the perfect coverage, a Lum Berry and some flinches, it cleaned the game for zf ! SFG not taunting turn 2 was huge for zf especially when you look at SFG's team which has Gyara + Dnite. zf had also a some Lum Berries and they were excellent in this MU, allowing for example the Gyara to come and DD on the Jirachi and also allowing zf's Jirachi to be decisive.

mael vs DeepBlueC

Game review

For the POTW we have another Azelf offense vs Machamp offense ( first Machamp lead since ... well ? ). mael's team is a Mixed Offense containing Heatran Magma Storm + 3 setups + Scarf Rotom; I like Leftovers on DD Tar, it can be crucial, especially vs DBC's Scizor. DBC's team seems very similar : again Scarf Rotom, Heatran and this setup core in the back. DBC's last was for sure a fighting resist, Lati or Gliscor imo.
The Colbur Berry was crucial for mael to prevent the Machamp to go crazy but, on turn 2, DBC, not afraid of Twave, went on Rotom on the Explosion and took an early advantage. Heatran came on Heatran, on Magma Storm and DBC was able to get his rocks up but died to Earth Power. Machamp took down mael's Heatran and forced the Suicune to HPump ( preventing the CM ). The next turn, DBC had a free Tbolt vs Suicune with his Rotom so mael switched out on his Scizor and good news for him it's not a 2HKO but Rotom managed to survive to Pursuit + BPunch and that was big. He could still use the Scarf Rotom as a setup folder for his Leftovers DD Tar but DBC revealed Scizor and KOed it back. A Bug Bite crit also happened on the Cune and after this it was over ( considering a non Tbolt weak last mon on DBC's side; not even sure if Rotom OHKOs Empo ). Note that DBC revealed Aqua Jet Empoleon so it was prob SD. Imo this game was very very close : if Rotom had died on the Scizor then mael would have taken the lead; also, pretty sure it was a roll turn 11. Fast and superb game, prime DPP OU.

Student of Sinnoh vs Kristyl

Game review

I really like SoS's team, it's very similar to his week 4 team but we have this time Zor and Nape > Rachi and Loom and we all know the great synergy they have. He also had weird but cool techs like Sunny Day Gengar, boosting fire moves and reducing water moves, mostly to help Infernape. Same as SFG, Kristyl went for a paraspam HO but this time with a Scarf Lati > Dnite and with some cool techs like Refresh Jirachi ( a 6 that we already saw in the past, notably in SPL XII, mael vs Emeral ).
The beginning is standard with Azelf doing a great job as always. Gyara went for Sub so SoS is forced to let his Latias getting paralysed. On turns 10-11, Kristyl tried to pivot aroung the Suicune but SoS kept HPumping and did 88% to Machamp which was huge for him. Then, Gengar came in on the DPunch and KOed the TTar with Focus Blast ( I think Kristyl was afraid of WoW + Taunt so she didn't want to go directly on Jirachi or maybe it was Lum Tar with some SpD invests so she had great odds to survive ? ). She was forced to let his Jirachi burned in order to paralyse it but she had Refresh which reverse the situation whereas SoS went for Sunny Day to reset weather and to help Suicune vs Rachi and Gyara ( but no more sand means free Leftovers for Gyara ). Despite the para + flinch odds, Suicune was able to Toxic Gyara which could have been very dangerous; Gyara made progress regardless, knocking ot Gengar and chipping Scizor. Jirachi was still walled by Heatran but Heatran was also a free in for Lati; Kristyl got a full para on a potential Explosion and was able on the next turn to heal the Machamp because suprinsingly SoS switched out ( I suppose he wanted to keep Heatran for the Jirachi ). Turn 33, Infernape is revealed on SoS's side and an Overheat crit happened which sealed the game ( if no crit, both could have won; imo it was multiple 50/50 + prob some para odds). Kristyl had to pray for some Jirachi magic which didn't happen ( Leftovers Heatran ... ) allowing SoS to claim his second win of the season. A bit unfort for Kristyl imo but SoS played it well.

Sakito vs bruno

Game review

Cool teams on both sides. Sakito's team is based on Mixed Flygon with Spikes and Scarf Ttar as rocker ( we don't have the exact information but imo it is notably to help vs Starmie and Gengar ). We also have para support with Twave Clef, Secret power Skarm ( and prob Twave Lati also ? ). Restalk Jirachi ( yes ) was added as Breloom check and lategame para/spikes abuser. bruno's team is particular but I see the idea : Double breaker core aka Specs Tran and CB Tar with Donphan to prevent hazards ( helped by Tar which can trap ghost types ) and Wish Jirachi to keep them healthy; Crobat represents the speed control.
A crit turn 1 happened ( Tar is now in range of Overheat after rocks ) and bruno also revealed Donphan it's absolutly not a good start for Sakito because as we can see, he doesn't have a ghost to prevent the spin and both of his EH setters do not pressure Donphan. Things are not going to get any better : on turn 9 Heatran came in on Skarm, on the Secret Power but Sakito didn't get the para and went on Lati but it dropped on an Overheat crit and now Heatran is free to spam fire moves. Even if he was unable to get his EH up, Sakito was still trying to make progress with Flygon and thx a full para, he was able to leave the Milotic at 11% so bruno doesn't have a good answer to it. Regardless of that bruno was still in a very good position with Specs Tran and CB Tar doing their job. Donphan was prob the MVP, preventing EH, threatening the Flygon with Ice Shard and pretty much walling the Jirachi thx to its high defense. At the end, Sakito had to catch bruno's switch on Heatran with his Flygon but it never happened and turn 49, Flygon was KOed by Ice Shard sealing the game. I still think that bruno would have break without the crits because Lati gets trapped by CB Tar and the rest of the team is 2HKO or drop on Specs Overheat / Flamethrower ( except Tar but it doesn't have recovery so ... ). Hard game for the scooters player; nice prep by bruno.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​

Week 8 pairings :

[WOL] Luigi vs twash [BIG] Sunday, 2:00 PM (GMT -5)
[SHA] bruno vs Kristyl [CRY] Saturday, 7:00 PM (GMT -5)
[RAI] DeepBlueC vs Sakito [SCO]
[CLA] oiponabys vs Jirachee [TYR] Sunday, 4:00 PM (GMT -5)
[TIG] mael vs zf [RUI] Sunday, 9:00 AM (GMT -5)

Week 7 Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Latias | 7 | 70.00% | 57.14% |
| 2 | Jirachi | 6 | 60.00% | 50.00% |
| 3 | Gengar | 5 | 50.00% | 40.00% |
| 4 | Heatran | 4 | 40.00% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Empoleon | 4 | 40.00% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Clefable | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| - | Rotom-Appliance | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 7 | Claydol | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 7 | Tyranitar | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 7 | Skarmory | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 7 | Flygon | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 7 | Gliscor | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Breloom | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Suicune | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Infernape | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Rotom-Wash | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Scizor | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Rotom-Frost | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Metagross | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Hippowdon | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Magneton | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Qwilfish | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Raikou | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Weavile | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Machamp | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Gyarados | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Camerupt | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Swampert | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

Week 7 Lead Stats

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| 1 | Claydol | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Gliscor | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Rotom-Frost | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Metagross | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Latias | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Hippowdon | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

| 1 | Heatran | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

| 1 | Qwilfish | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

| 1 | Machamp | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

| 1 | Rotom-Wash | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

Overall Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Jirachi | 38 | 54.29% | 39.47% |
| 2 | Latias | 36 | 51.43% | 52.78% |
| 3 | Tyranitar | 30 | 42.86% | 40.00% |
| 4 | Heatran | 25 | 35.71% | 64.00% |
| 5 | Gyarados | 24 | 34.29% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Dragonite | 16 | 22.86% | 31.25% |
| 7 | Clefable | 15 | 21.43% | 46.67% |
| 8 | Metagross | 14 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| - | Rotom-Appliance | 14 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Breloom | 13 | 18.57% | 61.54% |
| 10 | Gengar | 12 | 17.14% | 58.33% |
| 10 | Azelf | 12 | 17.14% | 41.67% |
| 12 | Empoleon | 11 | 15.71% | 63.64% |
| 12 | Skarmory | 11 | 15.71% | 45.45% |
| 12 | Scizor | 11 | 15.71% | 36.36% |
| 12 | Suicune | 11 | 15.71% | 36.36% |
| 16 | Swampert | 9 | 12.86% | 33.33% |
| 16 | Flygon | 9 | 12.86% | 33.33% |
| 18 | Machamp | 8 | 11.43% | 50.00% |
| 18 | Gliscor | 8 | 11.43% | 50.00% |
| 18 | Hippowdon | 8 | 11.43% | 25.00% |
| 21 | Rotom-Wash | 7 | 10.00% | 57.14% |
| 21 | Starmie | 7 | 10.00% | 42.86% |
| 21 | Zapdos | 7 | 10.00% | 42.86% |
| 24 | Infernape | 6 | 8.57% | 50.00% |
| 24 | Magneton | 6 | 8.57% | 50.00% |
| 24 | Rotom-Heat | 6 | 8.57% | 33.33% |
| 27 | Forretress | 5 | 7.14% | 40.00% |
| 28 | Bronzong | 4 | 5.71% | 75.00% |
| 29 | Mamoswine | 3 | 4.29% | 66.67% |
| 29 | Lucario | 3 | 4.29% | 33.33% |
| 29 | Aerodactyl | 3 | 4.29% | 33.33% |
| 32 | Magnezone | 2 | 2.86% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Milotic | 2 | 2.86% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Donphan | 2 | 2.86% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Claydol | 2 | 2.86% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Qwilfish | 2 | 2.86% | 50.00% |
| 32 | Celebi | 2 | 2.86% | 50.00% |
| 38 | Uxie | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Kingdra | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Cresselia | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Snorlax | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Roserade | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Blissey | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Quagsire | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Hitmonlee | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Gallade | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Crobat | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Rotom-Frost | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 38 | Smeargle | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Froslass | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Raikou | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Weavile | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 38 | Camerupt | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |

• Missing 1 Pokemon from SFG.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from AICORDER.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from OIPON.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from KRISTYL ★.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from AICORDER.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from SAKITO.
• Missing 2 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 3 Pokemon from ZF.

Overall Lead Stats

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Azelf | 12 | 17.14% | 41.67% |
| 2 | Hippowdon | 6 | 8.57% | 33.33% |
| 3 | Empoleon | 4 | 5.71% | 75.00% |
| 3 | Skarmory | 4 | 5.71% | 75.00% |
| 3 | Heatran | 4 | 5.71% | 50.00% |
| 3 | Zapdos | 4 | 5.71% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Dragonite | 3 | 4.29% | 33.33% |
| 7 | Aerodactyl | 3 | 4.29% | 33.33% |
| 9 | Breloom | 2 | 2.86% | 100.00% |
| 9 | Suicune | 2 | 2.86% | 100.00% |
| 9 | Metagross | 2 | 2.86% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Latias | 2 | 2.86% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Gyarados | 2 | 2.86% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Gliscor | 2 | 2.86% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Machamp | 2 | 2.86% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Flygon | 2 | 2.86% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Bronzong | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Roserade | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Jirachi | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Hitmonlee | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Crobat | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Claydol | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Rotom-Frost | 1 | 1.43% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Forretress | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Swampert | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Smeargle | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Froslass | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Tyranitar | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Qwilfish | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Rotom-Wash | 1 | 1.43% | 0.00% |

Good luck to everyone !

 

[Le Don]

Week 7 quick review :

Spinning in DPP OU in 2023 be like

​

• Well uh, only 2 Tyranitars LOL. We can explain this by simply looking at the teams : a lot of Gengar, Rotom, Latias etc all these pokemons don't like sand so pairing them with Ttar can be seen as contradictory.
• Weird but Claydol appeared twice ... ground typing, bulky spinner, pretty similar to Donphan but way more passive and it can be trapped. As we can see here, Claydol has Trick so you can run Choice Scarf to annoy Azelf / Hippo / Clef but also Iron Ball for Skarmory.
• Gengar is back with 5 appearances and nothing has changed, it's still terrifying for almost every teams.
• Empoleon was played a little more than usual; we even saw a Yawn Empoleon to force out special walls like Clef / Lati / Bliss.

Now time for the ...

PAIRING OF THE WEEK

[CLA] oiponabys vs Jirachee [TYR]

I'm not the owner of these sprites, pls check this post for more informations here
1-3 <- Actual record -> 1-6
Week 1 vs bruno <- Last win -> Week 2 vs zf
Win <- ( SoS vs twash ) Last week game result ( ADV, vs McMeghan ) -> Loss

.

Let's see which one of the two will get back on tracks !

​

oiponabys, author of a remarkable debut ( he's the only one who beat bruno for now ), struggled to get more than one win. Between bad luck and bad MUs ( notably week 3 vs DeepBlueC or week 5 vs zf ), his first season has been complicated. He has been subbed out for multiple weeks and his teammate ( Student of Sinnoh ) managed to win all his games. Regardless of that, he's the Classiest's DPP starter for this week proof that his managers are still trusting in him, giving a confidence boost for his game especially since this week is very important because his team can still qualify for POs. Even if his opponent is prob less confident than he is, Oipon knows that you can't underestimate him; tricky game in perspective.

Jirachee has also been in difficulty this season. Despite his big experience bag and the impressive DPP support he had, the Tyrants' player never found the solution. Whatever the tier, Jirachee has been defeated ( same as Oipon, he has been unlucky overall ); even BKC, who was the DPP starter for week 6, lost his game. It remains to be seen whether he still has the energy to reverse the trend and claim an unexpected victory that may be able to save the honour even if the season is probably already to be forgotten. Like oiponabys, we have mostly seen him use very offensive teams so I'm very exicited because surely this game is gonna be a banger.

Which of the two will be able to find back the taste of victory ?
We will see on Sunday, 4:00 PM (GMT -5). Gl to both !
​

PS: games review tomorrow when I have time to do it

 

[Lily]

even if u don't play dpp it's hard not to enjoy these posts and the enthusiasm that goes into them. I'm sure a lot of people have been singing your praises Le Don but just wanted to tell you that you've made this SPL DPP super engaging for myself and a lot of other DPP noobs I'm sure. Love seeing ppl keep threads like this alive. Thanks a ton for the hard work!!

 

[QuickBH]

Really curious as to why Hitmonlee was used over Hitmontop in Sakito's week 5 team. Is it seriously just Limber? There's nothing else relevant that Hitmonlee speedcreeps, outside of Heatran, and the attack drop with Intimidate seems much more useful. I don't think it beats D-Nite either but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[bruno]

Yeah the main target was probably lead azelf, as its twave set is quite common at the moment while psychic is not. Bulk up can also be pretty decent vs some jirachi, and maybe you can find some mileage of it midgame through blissey or something. Having a lead spinner capable of annoying a lot of common stealth rock leads opens up a lot of potential for scarf zapdos, as seen through the game

 

[Le Don]

Week 7 games review ( feat Le Don's "expert" eye )
Apologies for the delay, my weeks are busy but dw all the posts will be done and tysm for all the support !

DeepBlueC vs reyscarface

Game review

On DeepBlueC's side we have a Spikes less stall team with a Magneton. CM Latias and CM FlameT Clefable form a excellent offensive and defensive core in the same time supported by the prob the best stallbreaker in the tier Taunt + Knock Gliscor; we can also note the presence of RestTalk Jirachi for better status absorbing. reyscarface came with a team already brought by Christo for last SPL but with some moveset changes; triple Trick into Tormant Heatran seems weird but once you tricked waters / Clefable then Heatran can go crazy.
Game started and right from the start, Hippo got tricked by the Claydol which got rocks up just after while DBC, forced out, went on Gliscor. Then Gliscor knocked the bulky Scarf Latias reyscarface didn't expect that; one Clef lure less. On turn 6, DBC went on Magneton on the Trick to trap the Jirachi; that play was suprising because Jirachi could have went for Body Slam for ex but pretty sure that DBC knew the team ( no Leftovers helped a lot to determine the item too ). But Rachi trapped = free spin for Claydol and Hippo is already disadvantaged vs Claydol if not running Ice Fang but with a Scarf it's even worse. A few turns after, he had Clef ( Bold because only 30% on Facade from Breloom ) vs Gengar : DBC went first for Flamethrower on a potential Taunt / Sub, he got the right predict first but then rey decided to Focus Blast on the CM and now DBC is big big trouble. Imo at this point it was just a matter of time before a Gengar sweep; Breloom was also very strong in this MU with Facade + Leech. But on turn 47, DBC revealed his other wincond aka CM Latias and thx to HP Fighting it could 1v1 the Tormant Heatran. rey was in trouble but he saw a path : forcing a kill with DPulse and then go on Gengar to pp stall the tormanted Latias. DBC, aware of that, started to spam HP Fighting on the Claydol but reyscarface went on Gengar on a turn where DBC went for another CM; very ballzy but necessary to prevent a Lati sweep, well played by rey. After this, SubSplit Gengar forced out the tormanted +6 Lati and with Breloom, they were unstoppable allowing the Tyrants to claim their second DPP OU win of the season. Gengar proved its strength once again and Claydol ( yes a UU and very very niche pokemon ! ) was decisive.

zf vs bruno

Game review

For the MOTW we have mixed offense vs semi-stall. zf's team is standard : Heatran + Ghost to help vs Starmie with Breloom as water + ground resist and with CM Rachi ( prob HP Ground for Heatran ) + Occa SD Zor as winconds. bruno's team is kinda suprising because normally in this kind of structure you have defensive Gliscor x Scarf Tar but here it's Scarf Gliscor ( assuming Scarf because no item ) x CB Tar; rest is standard with again a CM FlameT Clef as wincond.
zf, expecting a fast Gliscor with prob EQ / Taunt, switched on Gengar but unfortunatly, bruno revealed U-Turn Gliscor and allowed Ttar to come in and Sand was up. bruno's Ttar was CB so Gengar outspeeded it so Ttar was forced out. So bruno went on his Lati, on the Focus Blast and managed to paralyse it despite taking 60% on Shadow Ball ( that turn was a bit tricky but imo it was in favor of bruno because even if Gengar reveals Taunt you can still try to pivot on Empo and if zf switches, he surely goes on Tran / Loom so Lati has the advantage ). Empo was now safe vs Gengar and got rocks up but allowed a free Breloom entry and a free Spore. Gliscor fell asleep and Skarm came in on the Seed Bomb so free spike layer. After Heatran KOed the Lati with Fire Blast Ttar came on the field and a Superpower went off destroying the Breloom; zf wasn't probably expecting CB. Ttar being locked meant free Gengar and free Focus Blast / WoW. bruno went first on Gliscor on the WoW and stayed once to finally go on Skarm on the second Shadow Ball ( zf expected bruno to sack Gliscor because Breloom was down ). Skarm went for the safe Brave Bird on the Heatran which got then rocks up and exploded on the Tar, locked now on Stone Edge aka free CM for Jirachi. But as expected bruno last was Clefable; it could have been standard utility Clef but bruno revealed CM Clef which not good news for zf especially because he doesn't have Leftovers on Jirachi ... CM after CM, Flamethrower Clefable won his 1v1 and was able to finish the game. Cool game and cool teams on both sides !

twash vs Student of Sinnoh

Game review

Week was over so twash loaded his best heat team featuring Qwilfish lead and Weavile. Double Hazards with abusers like Roar Raikou is interesting but twash forgot his ground resist / immu, Scarf Flygon is a massive problem for this team. SoS came with a standard weatherless Spikes balance centralised on CM Clef as lategame sweeper; Scarf Flygon was prob Roost > TPunch because : 1) to help against opposite Clefable 2) imo you don't need TPunch when you have Bold Tbolt Clef in the back.
On turn 1, an important SBall crit happened as twash attempted to absorb the Tbolt with his Raikou but it's also a free Heatran for twash on the next turn which get up rocks. Lati came in and Twaved it but was trapped by the Magma Storm. Heatran then exploded and Weavile finished the weakened Lati with Pursuit; great news for Suicune and Infernape. Skarm got one important spike layer up and was forced out by the Raikou : SoS went on Flygon on a potential Tbolt / SBall but Flygon was Roared out and Skarm was back on the field. This time SoS went on Rotom and good news Flygon was dragged out and Raikou fainted despite Shuca Berry ( that's why the turn 1 crit mattered ). Suicune CMed and did a nice 58% to the Skarm but SoS was still able to force it out and then was able Roost on the Qwil. Qwil out Nape in, SoS sacked his Rotom who dodged a Fire Blast to get important damages on the Nape. Flygon koed another one and on turn 19, twash made a nice double switch on his Nape on the Jirachi ( yo it's me again ^_^ ) and he too got his 3rd KO. Surprinsingly, SoS went on his Clef instead of Flygon to take down the Infernape, leaving Jirachi as the only Ice Shard / Surf switch in. Suicune was back again; twash could CM or Surf, he decided to Surf and did a nice amount of damage to Flygon which went for Outrage but didn't OHKO the Weavile. Flygon and Weavile went down leaving the Suicune in 1v2 but SoS had the advantage thx to Twave. But yellow magic didn't happened and now SoS has to get a para to win the game. He got it on the first turn and was able to finish the game ! Honestly I'm a bit confused about some plays but overall they both played well. Respect to twash for bringing such heat / weird team.

Sakito vs mael

Game review

Camel offense vs Claydol ?_? offense, heatmons on both sides ! Sakito went for offense this time with a Bulk Up Machamp lead and a Camel to support Gyarados / Scizor / Empoleon, all weak to electric moves in general; Explosion is also very appreciate. mael's team, uh well I wish I had more infos on the Ttar set and on the Claydol' set but it wasn't Iron Ball ( we had the info, faster than Scizor ); it looks like to a physical spam with GK Nape as water remover for ( DD ? rocks were on Claydol ) Tar and SD Empoleon. Really cool teams on both sides.
Right from the start, Metagross got an atk raise on MMash while Sakito went for BU and now Machamp just dies to another MMash. Scizor came in, took a lot on +1 EQ and revealed CB U-Turn ( did 50% to Meta ) and Sakito went on Gyara. Both players switched out : Sakito went on Gengar on a potential EQ while mael went on Claydol. Ofc Claydol out Tar in but it died on SBall + FBlast and as you can see mael is in trouble now. He has his Empo which can survive and fireback with water move. Waterfall was revealed so it was SD Empoleon on mael's side and afraid of EQ, mael went on Rotom but Sakito did a nice Waterfall and then switch out on his Camel on the Tbolt to get rocks up. But on turn 11, everything changed : Sakito didn't get rocks up : he double switched on his Scizor in order to trap the Claydol coming in, which it did, but Claydol revealed to be faster and revealed rocks and thx to this mael was back into the game. mael managed to take down the Gyara and then after sacking his Meta to the Camel, Empo was back once again and KOed the Camerupt ( he needed to be full to have a chance to sweep with it ). Sakito went on his own Empo but mael's Empo was faster, SDed thrice and cleaned the game thx to Aqua Jet + Waterfall. Strange ending, I suppose it wasn't a tie and mael was definitly faster but if it really was a tie then it's just unfort. I'm not even sure if going Gengar first was better. Unexpected comeback from mael and Claydol being decisive again ?! Wow.

Kristyl vs SFG

Game review

Special offenses ! Kristyl's team is classic but seems very solid overall : Latias / Heatran / Suicune / Gengar / Rachi all pressuring special walls and last is Flygon as Scarfer and elec immu. SFG had the same idea but the team seems more bulky overall and we have Rotom + Gengar which is very interesting; he also had Yawn Empoleon to force out special walls and Swampert as elec immu.
Modest Draco did 56% to Empoleon which can now Yawn twice and Lati fell asleep; note : Kristyl went on Heatran on the Empo prob because she was Passho Berry. Latias asleep, free Sub for Gengar but Suicune took it well and was able to chip the Rotom then. Suicune stayed in once to scout the Sub and the turn after, Kristyl switched out on the Pain Split to get rocks up. Heatran went down, her Gengar is now free to spam SBall because Empo was KOed earlier and SFG was forced to sack his Rotom. But then, SFG's Jirachi was able to take down her Gengar because she, prob not aware of a potential special Rachi, went for WoW. Because of that, she had to go on her own Jirachi and CMing. SFG had a Sub CM Rachi so it cannot win the 1v1 vs the Superrachi if it has HP Ground / Fire ( he also didn't have the info on Kristyl's item ) so he simply went on his Lati to Trick it and to HWish his Jirachi to be sure it can win the 1v1. On turn 21, Flygon was locked into EQ so Kristyl predicting the Gengar went on Jirachi but instead she faced a Swampert. Rocks went up, allowing the Suicune to come freely ( not sure if it was the play, maybe SFG predicted Lati into Cune ) and didn't miss a single HPump and almost KOed the Swampert. SFG kept it, tried to fish for an Hydro miss but didn't get it and Tbolted the Suicune. Flygon was back, SFG kept Swampert to sack it on U-Turn. To win the game, Kristyl has to chip the Jirachi in order to win with Outrage Flygon. She didn't even need to burst her way through the Jirachi with Flygon because she got para + full para on the second Tbolt and a crit on the third, sealing the game.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​

Week 9 pairings :

[CRY] Kristyl vs mael [TIG]
[TYR] Jirachee vs Sakito [SCO]( but it's apparently gonna be a deadgame because both Tyrants and Scooters are 100% out )
[CLA] Student of Sinnoh vs Luigi [WOL]
[RUI] Laurel vs DeepBlueC [RAI]
[BIG] twash vs bruno [SHA]

Week 8 Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Tyranitar | 6 | 60.00% | 50.00% |
| - | Rotom-Appliance | 5 | 50.00% | 60.00% |
| 2 | Starmie | 4 | 40.00% | 75.00% |
| 2 | Jirachi | 4 | 40.00% | 50.00% |
| 2 | Gyarados | 4 | 40.00% | 25.00% |
| 5 | Infernape | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 5 | Latias | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 5 | Rotom-Heat | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 5 | Azelf | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 5 | Breloom | 3 | 30.00% | 0.00% |
| 5 | Heatran | 3 | 30.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Skarmory | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Machamp | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 11 | Metagross | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 11 | Scizor | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Dragonite | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 16 | Zapdos | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Blissey | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Gengar | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Weavile | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Rotom-Wash | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Rotom-Mow | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Gliscor | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Quagsire | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Clefable | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 16 | Cloyster | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 16 | Raikou | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

• Missing 2 Pokemon from RAICHY.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from DEEPBLUEC ❣.

Week 8 Lead Stats

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| 1 | Azelf | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |

| 2 | Skarmory | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 2 | Zapdos | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 2 | Starmie | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 2 | Tyranitar | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |

| 2 | Machamp | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

| 2 | Cloyster | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

| 2 | Heatran | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

| 2 | Dragonite | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

Overall Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Jirachi | 42 | 52.50% | 40.48% |
| 2 | Latias | 39 | 48.75% | 51.28% |
| 3 | Tyranitar | 36 | 45.00% | 41.67% |
| 4 | Heatran | 28 | 35.00% | 57.14% |
| 4 | Gyarados | 28 | 35.00% | 46.43% |
| - | Rotom-Appliance | 19 | 23.75% | 52.63% |
| 6 | Dragonite | 18 | 22.50% | 27.78% |
| 7 | Metagross | 16 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Breloom | 16 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 7 | Clefable | 16 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 10 | Azelf | 15 | 18.75% | 40.00% |
| 11 | Gengar | 13 | 16.25% | 61.54% |
| 11 | Skarmory | 13 | 16.25% | 53.85% |
| 11 | Scizor | 13 | 16.25% | 30.77% |
| 14 | Empoleon | 11 | 13.75% | 63.64% |
| 14 | Starmie | 11 | 13.75% | 54.55% |
| 14 | Suicune | 11 | 13.75% | 36.36% |
| 17 | Machamp | 10 | 12.50% | 50.00% |
| 18 | Infernape | 9 | 11.25% | 55.56% |
| 18 | Gliscor | 9 | 11.25% | 55.56% |
| 18 | Swampert | 9 | 11.25% | 33.33% |
| 18 | Flygon | 9 | 11.25% | 33.33% |
| 18 | Rotom-Heat | 9 | 11.25% | 33.33% |
| 23 | Rotom-Wash | 8 | 10.00% | 62.50% |
| 23 | Zapdos | 8 | 10.00% | 50.00% |
| 23 | Hippowdon | 8 | 10.00% | 25.00% |
| 26 | Magneton | 6 | 7.50% | 50.00% |
| 27 | Forretress | 5 | 6.25% | 40.00% |
| 28 | Bronzong | 4 | 5.00% | 75.00% |
| 29 | Mamoswine | 3 | 3.75% | 66.67% |
| 29 | Lucario | 3 | 3.75% | 33.33% |
| 29 | Aerodactyl | 3 | 3.75% | 33.33% |
| 32 | Magnezone | 2 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Milotic | 2 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Blissey | 2 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Quagsire | 2 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Donphan | 2 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Claydol | 2 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 32 | Qwilfish | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |
| 32 | Celebi | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |
| 32 | Weavile | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |
| 32 | Raikou | 2 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 42 | Uxie | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Kingdra | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Cresselia | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Snorlax | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Roserade | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Hitmonlee | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Gallade | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Crobat | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Rotom-Frost | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Rotom-Mow | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |
| 42 | Smeargle | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |
| 42 | Froslass | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |
| 42 | Camerupt | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |
| 42 | Cloyster | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |

• Missing 1 Pokemon from SFG.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from AICORDER.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from OIPON.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from KRISTYL ★.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from AICORDER.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from SAKITO.
• Missing 2 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 3 Pokemon from ZF.
• Missing 2 Pokemon from RAICHY.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from DEEPBLUEC ❣.

Overall Lead Stats

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| 1 | Azelf | 14 | 17.50% | 42.86% |

| 2 | Hippowdon | 6 | 7.50% | 33.33% |

| 3 | Skarmory | 5 | 6.25% | 80.00% |

| 3 | Zapdos | 5 | 6.25% | 60.00% |

| 3 | Heatran | 5 | 6.25% | 40.00% |

| 6 | Empoleon | 4 | 5.00% | 75.00% |

| 6 | Dragonite | 4 | 5.00% | 25.00% |

| 8 | Aerodactyl | 3 | 3.75% | 33.33% |

| 8 | Machamp | 3 | 3.75% | 33.33% |

| 10 | Breloom | 2 | 2.50% | 100.00% |

| 10 | Suicune | 2 | 2.50% | 100.00% |

| 10 | Metagross | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |

| 10 | Latias | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |

| 10 | Gyarados | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |

| 10 | Gliscor | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |

| 10 | Tyranitar | 2 | 2.50% | 50.00% |

| 10 | Flygon | 2 | 2.50% | 0.00% |

| 18 | Bronzong | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |

| 18 | Roserade | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |

| 18 | Jirachi | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |

| 18 | Hitmonlee | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |

| 18 | Crobat | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |

| 18 | Claydol | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |

| 18 | Rotom-Frost | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |

| 18 | Starmie | 1 | 1.25% | 100.00% |

| 18 | Forretress | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |

| 18 | Swampert | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |

| 18 | Smeargle | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |

| 18 | Froslass | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |

| 18 | Qwilfish | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |

| 18 | Rotom-Wash | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |

| 18 | Cloyster | 1 | 1.25% | 0.00% |

Good luck to everyone !

 

[twash]

Figured I'd post my teams now that my season is over, except week 4 which is someone else's. Not suggesting any of them are good in general play - after all, in week 7 or 8 I realised that only one of the teams used Leftovers.

week 1: mael
week 2: DeepBlueC
week 3: Sakito
week 5: Kristyl
week 6: BKC
week 7: Student of Sinnoh
week 8: Luigi
week 9: bruno

 

[Excal]

as spl is ending, we should definitely do a huge sample team revamp. figured this will be easier to coordinate via forums. we have a lot of very old teams on there, a lot of which have not been meta for some time, and not enough of the really iconic ones people will always recognize. independent of which we should remove from current samples (almost all of them imo), what do people consider to be the "iconic" dpp teams, whether they should be represented in samples or not, and which archetypes should be represented in the samples? we should also aim to not have very specialized/weird sets & techs on there.

 

[Oatmon]

as spl is ending, we should definitely do a huge sample team revamp. figured this will be easier to coordinate via forums. we have a lot of very old teams on there, a lot of which have not been meta for some time, and not enough of the really iconic ones people will always recognize. independent of which we should remove from current samples (almost all of them imo), what do people consider to be the "iconic" dpp teams, whether they should be represented in samples or not, and which archetypes should be represented in the samples? we should also aim to not have very specialized/weird sets & techs on there.

I think that SPL should finish before everything gets finalised, but before then it’s fine to discuss what we would like to include.

I would include at least one stall, such as the one you and BIHI wrote up with a quagsire on it. Although it has dropped in usage, so maybe with some tweaks? I don’t think it is as effective as it once was because everyone preps for it, but it is an iconic structure.

I also wouldn’t mind including a paraspam of some kind. It will teach new players how to manage probability better. The team type has been around for several SPLs now, but has never been a sample… Conspiracy? It really was. Some people admitted to keeping it off the samples because they don’t want to face it too often on the ladder. There seems to be enough support for its inclusion now though, so I mention this for it to be a part of recorded DPP history.

I would also like to see some of the SPL teams that are easy to use, make it to the samples. Twash’s team in their match against BKC comes to mind, since with a few changes I think it would be self-explanatory. I would alter the set on machamp for instance, and probably drop IH on tran too. All up to discussion of course.

 

[mael]

here's a whole ass podcast on my week1 game, i might do more if the feedbacks nice and it turns out to be fun

 

[Le Don]

Week 8 quick review :

Another tap in ... Spikes in 2023 be like

And it's not even 100% true because of twash and zf LOL

• Sand kicked up 6 times because Tyranitar is back ! ​
• Less Latias and more Starmie. Outspeeding Gengar / Latias and spinning for pokemons like Machamp / Infernape is the key. They usually did a great job.​
• Cloyster lead uh ? Well Spin + Spikes/Tspikes + Boom seems cool. Another mon that can prevent a lot of Azelf to get rocks up ( still harder without Limber ).​

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Week 8 games review ( feat Le Don's "expert" eye )

Luigi vs twash

Game review

If you want twash's team check this post : https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/spl-xiv-dpp-discussion.3714192/post-9548787

On Luigi's side we have double fighters + Tar, the team seems overall very standard; the Jirachi seems to be some kind of offensive set like sub or 4 atks and that would make sense with double fighters pressuring physical walls + Specs Lati pressuring steel types. twash opted for a Spikes HO with double fighters + Tar again but this time it's Infernape > Breloom and Starmie to help against potential hazards for Nape and Champ.
Game started very well for twash as he broke through twice the confusion so he was able to setup Rocks + 1 Spikes layer (4 grounded on Luigi's team) and chip the Machamp. Starmie came in just after, KOed the Machamp and then twash traded his Starmie for a TWave on the Lati. Luigi had to switch out but was his Breloom was caught by an excellent Fire Punch from twash's TTar and died; with Lati paraed and Breloom down, Infernape is already a huge threat. On turn 9, Tar can trap the Scarf Rotom but instead Luigi went for Superpower meaning that he prob didn't have it and he was able to get nice chip on twash's Champ. Rotom in, on the Dynamic Punch, then Luigi tried to predict the Tar but his Jirachi got Paybacked and that pretty much sealed the game. With Rotom forcing damage on Luigi's Ttar, Infernape was able to KO it with Grass Knot and almost burst his way through the Lati. Rotom-Heat cleaned the game with Shadow Ball despite the weird Nape sack ( by doing this, twash indirectly revealed that his TTar was DD because if it's not DD you have no reason to sack it so it was a win even if Rotom lose the tie against opposite Rotom ). Luigi was behind the entire game ( the Spike layer was insane ) and didn't get the early lucky breaks with his Machamp to take early advantage.

Kristyl vs Raichy

Game review

Cloyster lead ! Spin, TSpikes, Boom etc with Magma Storm Heatran as trapper and rocker; Raikou + Gyarados as winconds, CB Zor as trapper and DD Tar revenge killer and Scarf Lati adding as always utility and HWish; TSpikes are bad atm but are still cool for pokemons like Quagsire that can wall both Gyara and Raikou with Haze / Encore. Raichy went for the standard Blissey paraspam ( lasts = Machamp and Loom ? With HP Ice Zapdos imo you need Loom to help against Swampert ); Starmie seems very strong in this MU.
Cloy was forced out by the Zapdos and right from turn 1 Lati got paraed but was still able to Trick the Jirachi. Raichy double switched back on Zapdos to fire off a HP Ice predicting the Lati so Kristyl had to go on her Heatran. Rocks are up but Heatran too got paraed by the Zapdos because Raichy revealed TWave. Blissey dodged Magma Storm and got rocks up while Kristyl went on Cloyster to Spin and set TSpikes. Cloyster was able to spin, the Starmie as well but at the cost of getting pursuit trapped. On turn 20, Kristyl went on Cloyster prob predicting the Jirachi on a Soft-Boiled ( Explosion ) but Raichy clicked SToss and because of Cloyster poor HP stat and rocks it's a 2HKO ( no Spin and no TSpikes ). Raikou was in but without TSpikes it's hard walled by Blissey so on turn 28, Kristyl went on Scizor to force damage. CB U-Turn did 49% but surprisingly Raichy didn't Soft-Boiled, leaving the Blissey at 30% ( 18% next time it takes rocks ) and now Raikou can be very dangerous. Gyara tried to make a Sub but a Body Slam crit happened and Gyara went down after a second BSlam. With one wincond down, Kristyl had to go for a Raikou sweep but first she needed to heal it with HWish. She first went on her Scizor predicting the Blissey who can heal up on an unboosted Raikou but Jirachi stayed in and KOed the Zor and paraed again the Raikou on turn 36, winning the game for Raichy. Really cool team from Kristyl but alas without a ghost, Starmie ( any spinner ? ) can be a pain depending how you manage Cloyster.

DeepBlueC vs Sakito

Game review

Offensive Starmie lead to force special walls / TWave mons that usually check it like Latias; it's also very good into HO thx to its moveset; Tar as Lati remover, Meta as rocker, prob DBond Gengar to help against Suicune / Swampert etc and Lati as Scarfer as always; a nice bulky offense. On Sakito's side we have the standard Azelf lead with FWG core but this time Scizor as second Steel type and MixNite as breaker and adding another priority move since his team doesn't have a Scarfer.
Azelf got rocks up while DBC went on his Tar and for Crunch: Sakito clicked Taunt because he was afraid of rocks as he had Gyara + Dnite in the back. Sakito had the info on TTar's set so Breloom was free to Spore smthing and the Sub. Metagross took 60% on Focus Punch but was able then to get the important rocks up. Heatran was in and revealed Choice Specs Eruption so Tar was sacked but now Starmie can be very very annoying. Sakito was in trouble and had 0 infos on the Starmie set, he went first on Breloom predicting a Spin / Trick but got Surfed instead and then he tried to go on his Scizor but it died on double Surf. Sakito still had a plan : he tried to fake the Wacan Berry to force out the Starmie but unfortunalty it revealed TWave and was able to spin right after. Meta was sacked but survived thx to a full para and dragged with him the Breloom to the Arceus' realm. DBC didn't rush the end game : he sent first his Gengar to chip the Dnite, then he forced the ESpeed and Dnite went down because of LO recoil. Starmie cleaned the game for Raiders' player. That was rough for Sakito ngl; this Starmie set was a very good call. DBC's last ? I guess it's a pokemon like SD Gliscor / DD Gyara because they add bulk and they benefit well of Scarf Lati ( HWish ) and CB Tar trapping bulky Lati; Toxic / Hp Grass Suicune can also work I think. Cool teams from both sides.

oiponabys vs Jirachee

Game review

The POTW ! Oipon came with ( another ) Azelf lead featuring Nape + Weavile and that's a nice alternative to trap Lati / Rotom because as you can see, 5 pokemons of Oipon's team are affected by Sandstorm so I'm not sure if you want it; Wash as Scarfer, Gyara ( 99% Wacan ) as setup and Shuca Rachi as offense killer / revenge killer. Jirachee's team is an specially offensive team with LO Tran lead, Specs Mie as breaker; rest is classic, not the first we see that structure.
Azelf survived LO Overheat thx to the Focus Sash and was able then to get rocks up while Jirachee went on Tar to KO the Azelf with sand. Unfortunatly for him, Infernape is revealed and he had to pivot to get his Starmie in and be able to force it out ( he didn't go on Starmie first in case of U-Turn ). Starmie went for Trick, giving Specs to a Weavile which can now trap the Starmie, allowing Oipon to keep his rocks up. Starmie went down so Jirachee had free Heatran and free rocks allowing the Nape to come on the field. Rotom-Heat was able to force it out but because of rocks + sand it was now in range of Weavile. Oipon used his Rotom-W to check Jirachee's Rotom-H and fireback a HPump KOing the Heatran but now Jirachee can setup his CM Jirachi. Oipon had to go first on Weavile and chip it with Night Slash and then Infernape was able to take it down. A few turns after, we had Gyarados vs Breloom; Jirachee Spored the Gyara and then went on Tar to use it as setup folder but Oipon revealed Jirachi. Depending on the set, Jirachee could have win at this point but it was a physical Rachi so it's a 2HKO with Iron Head. Tar didn't get flinched so was able to DD but Oipon had the Shuca Berry for this situation and didn't get crit by the Loom and was able to win the game. I wonder what the Tar moveset, if it had Fire Punch or not because then Breloom can win but I suppose Jirachee didn't have it. A very nice game; cool stuff.

mael vs zf

Game review

mael brought a very interesting HO with Azelf in the back ( maybe with Dual Screens ? ) and DD Nite as lead; we also have the uncommon Nasty Plot Infernape which is a cool addition and rest seems standard. zf's team is the opposite teamstyle : standard hard stall, same 6 as in this game for Smogon Classic VII ( august vs frisoeva ); Quag seems to be important for Gyara / Tar / Meta whereas Grass Knot Nape can be a pain if well used.
Dnite went for DD and Fire Punched the Skarm but went down because of an unexpected Counter. Nape in, trouble for zf who risked his Tar and then double switched on his Rotom to scout the Mach Punch while mael went on Azelf to get rocks up which he did but his Azelf got crit. Infernape was back, revealed Nasty Plot but was unable to get a kill because it missed Fire Blast which was huge for zf who had to sack at least one pokemon ( if it's NP Close Combat Nape, only Tar can RK it, if it's Vaccum Wave then only Clef can revenge kill it so zf had to choose well; assuming Grass Knot Nape. ). Despite the miss, mael could still count on his DD Tar to make progress and was able to KOed the Skarm and the Gliscor. Now that Ttar is at 30%, Quag can finish it with EQ. mael kept his Tar and pivoted well to get Metagross in but Rotom was still alive so mael couldn't boom on it. On turn 17 Tar got a def drop but was KOed by the Quag and it was still not enough to 2HKO the Quag with EQ. Despite the Rotom mael managed to remove the Quag with Explosion so he was allowed to DD on Scarf TTar but he didn't get the flinch and zf won the game for the Ruiners. Nape miss was really unfortunate but on the other hand I think zf played this game very well as he didn't risk his Quag on the +1 DD Tar because he knew that Quag was important for a potential Gyara / Meta.

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​

Week 9 quick review :

​

• Magnezone reappeared !!! The old Sub Charge Beam was used by DBC but got crit unfortunatly and a Chople Berry Zone was used by bruno.​
• LUCARIO OMG !! How many weeks since Lucario's last appearance ? 6 weeks ? wow.​
• Less Gyarados than usual and 0 Starmie / Gengar; players seem to prefer Latias / Rotom overall.​

Week 9 Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Jirachi | 6 | 75.00% | 33.33% |
| 2 | Latias | 5 | 62.50% | 40.00% |
| - | Rotom-Appliance | 4 | 50.00% | 50.00% |
| 3 | Clefable | 3 | 37.50% | 66.67% |
| 3 | Breloom | 3 | 37.50% | 66.67% |
| 3 | Tyranitar | 3 | 37.50% | 33.33% |
| 6 | Hippowdon | 2 | 25.00% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Rotom-Wash | 2 | 25.00% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Scizor | 2 | 25.00% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Machamp | 2 | 25.00% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Heatran | 2 | 25.00% | 50.00% |
| 6 | Magnezone | 2 | 25.00% | 50.00% |
| 12 | Skarmory | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Gyarados | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Flygon | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Empoleon | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Rotom-Mow | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Lucario | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Dragonite | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Staraptor | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |
| 12 | Zapdos | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |
| 12 | Forretress | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |
| 12 | Vaporeon | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |
| 12 | Froslass | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |
| 12 | Rotom-Heat | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |
| 12 | Azelf | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |
| 12 | Infernape | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |

• Missing 1 Pokemon from STUDENT OF SINNOH.

Week 9 Lead Stats

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| 1 | Skarmory | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Machamp | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Flygon | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Staraptor | 1 | 12.50% | 100.00% |

| 1 | Zapdos | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |

| 1 | Froslass | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |

| 1 | Latias | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |

| 1 | Azelf | 1 | 12.50% | 0.00% |

Overall Usage Stats

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Jirachi | 48 | 54.55% | 39.58% |
| 2 | Latias | 44 | 50.00% | 50.00% |
| 3 | Tyranitar | 39 | 44.32% | 41.03% |
| 4 | Heatran | 30 | 34.09% | 56.67% |
| 5 | Gyarados | 29 | 32.95% | 48.28% |
| - | Rotom-Appliance | 23 | 26.14% | 52.17% |
| 6 | Breloom | 19 | 21.59% | 52.63% |
| 6 | Clefable | 19 | 21.59% | 52.63% |
| 6 | Dragonite | 19 | 21.59% | 31.58% |
| 9 | Metagross | 16 | 18.18% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Azelf | 16 | 18.18% | 37.50% |
| 11 | Scizor | 15 | 17.05% | 33.33% |
| 12 | Skarmory | 14 | 15.91% | 57.14% |
| 13 | Gengar | 13 | 14.77% | 61.54% |
| 14 | Empoleon | 12 | 13.64% | 66.67% |
| 14 | Machamp | 12 | 13.64% | 50.00% |
| 16 | Starmie | 11 | 12.50% | 54.55% |
| 16 | Suicune | 11 | 12.50% | 36.36% |
| 18 | Rotom-Wash | 10 | 11.36% | 60.00% |
| 18 | Infernape | 10 | 11.36% | 50.00% |
| 18 | Flygon | 10 | 11.36% | 40.00% |
| 18 | Rotom-Heat | 10 | 11.36% | 30.00% |
| 18 | Hippowdon | 10 | 11.36% | 30.00% |
| 23 | Gliscor | 9 | 10.23% | 55.56% |
| 23 | Zapdos | 9 | 10.23% | 44.44% |
| 23 | Swampert | 9 | 10.23% | 33.33% |
| 26 | Magneton | 6 | 6.82% | 50.00% |
| 26 | Forretress | 6 | 6.82% | 33.33% |
| 28 | Bronzong | 4 | 4.55% | 75.00% |
| 28 | Magnezone | 4 | 4.55% | 75.00% |
| 28 | Lucario | 4 | 4.55% | 50.00% |
| 31 | Mamoswine | 3 | 3.41% | 66.67% |
| 31 | Aerodactyl | 3 | 3.41% | 33.33% |
| 33 | Milotic | 2 | 2.27% | 100.00% |
| 33 | Blissey | 2 | 2.27% | 100.00% |
| 33 | Quagsire | 2 | 2.27% | 100.00% |
| 33 | Donphan | 2 | 2.27% | 100.00% |
| 33 | Claydol | 2 | 2.27% | 100.00% |
| 33 | Rotom-Mow | 2 | 2.27% | 100.00% |
| 33 | Qwilfish | 2 | 2.27% | 50.00% |
| 33 | Celebi | 2 | 2.27% | 50.00% |
| 33 | Weavile | 2 | 2.27% | 50.00% |
| 33 | Froslass | 2 | 2.27% | 0.00% |
| 33 | Raikou | 2 | 2.27% | 0.00% |
| 44 | Uxie | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Kingdra | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Cresselia | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Snorlax | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Roserade | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Hitmonlee | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Gallade | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Crobat | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Rotom-Frost | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Staraptor | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |
| 44 | Smeargle | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |
| 44 | Camerupt | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |
| 44 | Cloyster | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |
| 44 | Vaporeon | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |

• Missing 1 Pokemon from SFG.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from AICORDER.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from OIPON.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from KRISTYL ★.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from AICORDER.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from SAKITO.
• Missing 2 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from TWASH.
• Missing 3 Pokemon from ZF.
• Missing 2 Pokemon from RAICHY.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from DEEPBLUEC ❣.
• Missing 1 Pokemon from STUDENT OF SINNOH.

Overall Lead Stats

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| Rank | Leads | Use | Usage % | Win % |

+ ---- + ----------------------- + ---- + ------- + ------- +

| 1 | Azelf | 15 | 17.05% | 40.00% |

| 2 | Skarmory | 6 | 6.82% | 83.33% |

| 2 | Zapdos | 6 | 6.82% | 50.00% |

| 2 | Hippowdon | 6 | 6.82% | 33.33% |

| 5 | Heatran | 5 | 5.68% | 40.00% |

| 6 | Empoleon | 4 | 4.55% | 75.00% |

| 6 | Machamp | 4 | 4.55% | 50.00% |

| 6 | Dragonite | 4 | 4.55% | 25.00% |

| 9 | Latias | 3 | 3.41% | 33.33% |

| 9 | Aerodactyl | 3 | 3.41% | 33.33% |

| 9 | Flygon | 3 | 3.41% | 33.33% |

| 12 | Breloom | 2 | 2.27% | 100.00% |

| 12 | Suicune | 2 | 2.27% | 100.00% |

| 12 | Metagross | 2 | 2.27% | 50.00% |

| 12 | Gyarados | 2 | 2.27% | 50.00% |

| 12 | Gliscor | 2 | 2.27% | 50.00% |

| 12 | Tyranitar | 2 | 2.27% | 50.00% |

| 12 | Froslass | 2 | 2.27% | 0.00% |

| 19 | Bronzong | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Roserade | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Jirachi | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Hitmonlee | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Crobat | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Claydol | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Rotom-Frost | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Starmie | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Staraptor | 1 | 1.14% | 100.00% |

| 19 | Forretress | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |

| 19 | Swampert | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |

| 19 | Smeargle | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |

| 19 | Qwilfish | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |

| 19 | Rotom-Wash | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |

| 19 | Cloyster | 1 | 1.14% | 0.00% |

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COMING SOON ( before Wednesday)

Week 9 games review ( feat Le Don's "expert" eye )

COMING SOON ( before Wednesday )

lol before wednesday I said ? uh ...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEMIFINALS PAIRINGS

I'm not the owner of these sprites, pls check this post for more informations here

[RAI] DeepBlueC vs Laurel [RUI]

5-4 <- Actual record -> 1-1 ( 1-0 in DPP )
Loss <- Last official confrotation : Week 9 SPL XIV -> Win

.

Saturday, 3:00 PM (GMT -5)​

DeepBlueC finished the regular season with again another positive record; not negative but not excellent, a bit like his previous seasons. Raiders finished first of the regular season and just beat Ruiners for last week but, same as last season, DBC lost his week 9 game just before POs. Despite that DBC has been in good form with some heat teams at the beginning and now with more standard and modern teams; he seems to follow the metagame by using these new sets like RestTalk Jirachi. Facing Laurel again will not be easy but I'm sure it will boost his motivation to take revenge. Back to back time for the Raiders ? Maybe !

​

In the shadows since the beginning and propelled to the forefront because of Mikmer's ban, Laurel had a timid start in ADV but bounced back and won his DPP game for week 9. The DPP Cup III winner is now the Ruiners' DPP slot and has to do as good as zf did during the regular season. Laurel faces again the Raiders and again DeepBlueC but this time for semfinals and we all know that playoffs are different : not the same stakes and not the same atmosphere. Laurel's previous victory over DBC will boost his confidence boost for sure despite Ruiners losing vs the same Raiders last week ( he's, btw, one of the few Ruiners' players who won his week 9 game ). Time for Laurel to shine again as he did in the past !​

[CLA] Student of Sinnoh vs bruno [SHA]

4-0 <- Actual record -> 7-1
4 <- Actual winstreak -> 7

.

Sunday, 1:30 PM (GMT -5)
​

Do you need a lot of experience to win ? By defeating all his opps during regular season for his first SPL, Student of Sinnoh proved that no, you don't need to have 1-2-3-4 SPL in your exp bag to be efficient and thx to his huge perf he's the starter for the semifinals to the detriment of oiponabys who has been more in difficulty this season despite a good start ( 2-3 ). The question is how ? Simply by playing well and by bringing solid and modern teams every week. He's still below on the paper because his games were not perfect with few mistakes here and there and his opp is the best DPP player of this season; the challenge is not impossible but ofc the frenchman will have a lot to do.

#1 of Excal's PRs and being on his own, bruno did not disappoint and even shocked everyone by winning players like DeepBlueC / mael / zf i.e. players that also have been on fire this season. Always having the good prep against each of his opps, he also does not seem to rule out any option when preping because as we saw he's clearly not afraid of bringing heat pokemons like Staraptor lead. bruno is one of Stark Sharks' pillar this season and he surely wants to take his revenge because his only loss was for week 1, a timer loss against the Classiest, against oiponabys. Will history be the same again or will we assist to the 8th victory of bruno this season ? One thing is for sure : only one will be able to keep his winstreak.​

Good luck to the four teams remaining !
​

 

[Student of Sinnoh]

This season is over to me so I am going to make a review of all my games + share my teams.

Paste : https://pokepast.es/c391b965604a8850 - Replay : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-674838

I decided to run lead Suicune because I think it's a really good lead and the way how it can pressure stall is always appreciated in this kind of BO (forcing damage to Clefable help Heatran/Gengar ; forcing damages on defensive Latias help Breloom, etc.). I decided to couple it with SpDef Heatran because it can pivot into Suicune checks, like Zapdos/Rotom/Latias/Jirachi, forces boom on Latias/Clefable... And vice versa Suicune is able to switch into waters, grounds, etc. Heatran + Breloom is a really good combot and a classic one; I always feel proactive with these two in my teams (and nice synergy with Suicune because it can deal against threats such as Metagross/Heatran/Dragonite, etc.). Latias defensive role is + speed control + Healing wish is much appreciated here. Gengar as my second fight/ground immunity, and good synergy with Jirachi because it can pivot into Earthquake, burn grounds/waters. Jirachi here as my second steel, late game cleaner and can rk SD Lucario.

When Sakito has revealed Azelf lead I knew I was in troubles because I was potentially facing HO, which my team is not really ready. At turn 8 I realized that Suicune was a big threat to his offensive core and I had to keep it for mons like agility Metagross later in the game. Heatran was useless in this MU anyway because all his team is faster and have Earthquake, so I decide to sac it + gengar which was also not really valuable to keep. I think my mistake here was to send Breloom on turn 15. Keeping his HP would have been useful because his last could be Scizor/Gliscor, etc, but I always tend to keep sacs as much as possible and I was close from being punished (and I also didn't notice the def drop which could have been a choke if flygon was banded lol). Crazy game anyway even if I was lucky to not miss Hydro Pump 5 times.

Paste : https://pokepast.es/df0beba6c14d5439 - Replay : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-677550

This is my favourite team of the season even if it was a bit similar to what I brough against Sakito. I didn't know what to except from Kristyl and honestly I didn't care, I just wanted to use this team. More specifically, Infernape really likes SpDef Heatran support because it adds rocks up, prevent skarmory from adding hazards up, can switch into threats like scarf Rotom, defensive Zapdos, Latias, which can scare ape. And it's also able to boom into Starmie/Milotic/Latias. Even if it gives mixgon free turn, I still infernape/gengar and Suicune that can punish. I coupled ape with Toxic Suicune for Gyarados/Latias (and especially CM set), quagsire, etc, sunny day gengar (you can opt for a more standard set) to remove sand, and Pursuit Scizor as my second DD Ttar check/steel/trapper. The team might have troubles to switch into Tyranitar that's why WoW Heatran can help. if you don't like Infernape it's possible to run Jirachi instead (with earth power Heatran), but it's important to note that it's the only mon that can replace Infernape because you need to rk SD Lucario (and mons like Gliscor/Rotom can't fit here imo).

When I saw Azelf lead I knew Infernape was a threat to her offensive core if I manage to remove mons like Dragonite/Scarf Latias/Gyarados, etc, so that was my gameplan from t1 : clean with ape in endgame. When she revealed Machamp I immediately knew the team was using (hence why I used Focus blast on turn 12). I think my main mistake is that I kinda let everything get parad to keep up momentum and make progress (turn 13 for example), but I often forget how threatening machamp/jirachi can be in endgame. Overall I played a solid game (aswell as Kristyl) I think, but me not missing toxic/Hydro Pump was really lucky even if the para on turn 30 sucked because I used Explosion and Infernape was finally able to clean (basically I knew Latias was the last and even if she sacs Machamp on boom I have more sacs than her so my odds to win were hight). After that I made a very weird play that I still regret now : I decide to switch latias into a potential surf. But this was a mistake because healing wish was obvious, and if she goes surf I can punish by going latias and use heal my Suicune. Anyway, I got a lucky crit and I don't know how much it mattered but this would have def been hard to win. Well played to Kristyl anyway.

Paste : https://pokepast.es/2cf3a312e7fd2d42 - Replay : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-678530

Twash scout looked kinda shaky to me and i felt like stall was safe against him. I think this is the kind of team where Flygon fits best imo, because on offense not only it's useless vs stall (and it's really hard to justify roost imo) but it also gives free turn to Skarmory. Couple it with Magnezone is a good idea but you kinda need to fish non shed shell skarmory. Talking about magnezone, it was originally occupying Rotom slot, but it made the team too weak to starmie and breloom. Anyway, the goal of the team is to setup cm Clefable in endgame after you managed to remove his threats.

On turn 15 I decided to sac Rotom to scout infernape evs. By judging Fire Blast damage, I knew it was SpA invested so Clefable was able to take a hit. And if I manage to kill Infernape, my Jirachi had good chances to clean (and i'm not gonna lie, I didn't except lum Suicune at all.), that was my gameplan. I think I played a good game but once again I got lucky by dodging fire blast with my Rotom (also if you're wondering why I use Rotom-Frost without Blizzard, it is just to bait Gliscor and Dragonite). Cool game.

Paste : https://pokepast.es/dbb1e614d9fc4353 - Replay : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-681613

This week I excepted Luigi to use stall, which is why I added some tools anti-stall on this team (bulk up machamp abuse scarf ttar lead, pressure hippo, etc. Loomtran is a great way to pressure defensive teams and Jirachi endgame + healing wish support is always scary), and in case he was bringing offenses I still had tools to deal with it anyway. Not much else I can say about this one since it's a standard paraspam.

This was a fun game overall. The main mistake I made is to twave the latias on turn 12, assuming he was scarf locked into surf (I still regret this play but not that much because it's not common at all and scarf would make a lot of sense in this kind of team anyway). I figured out that my Jirachi was a big threat to his team and my goal was to find an opportunity to use heal my Jirachi with Latias to finish the game. I had a good opportunity to heal my Jirachi on turn 31 but due to timer low, I couldn't think and decided to finish the game with jirachi. But it was risky and going latias instead was for sure the safest way of finishing this game.

Paste : https://pokepast.es/93c4c62d36fdc83a - Replay : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-682786

After 10 weeks (oiponabys inclued) I finally decided to use the broken Tyranitar for the first time. This was a weird week because I spent a looot of times building teams, but they were all mediocre and I was in lack of ideas. Then I was inspired by BIHI Rotom special offense (the one with swampert/skarmory./cm jirachi..) and wanted to give it a try with another approach. I spent 10 seconds to make this 6 and I was like... "actually this team might work". After having made the sets I really liked the team until I realised that Clefable was annoying (but still managable). But this was too late anyway and I didn't have time to build another team. The team really likes the support of Rotom because it can burn Tyranitar and pp stall Clefable. Shuca Heatran with WoW is a good Ttar partner because it allows you to lure and burn annoying mons like Swampert, Gyarados, Suicune, Hippowdon, Gliscor, etc. Rain dance Suicune is crazy but actually I think it's good if you can fit it because it can pressure Clefable, and removing sand mean physical Jirachi can't wall you. DD Tyranitar is also not the kind of mon you can easily fit imo, but when you can it can be a really good breaker. Added Taunt for stall MU and passho for Suicune and Starmie

When I saw the Tyranitar t1 I knew I was in troubles because on paper the team kinda struggles against Clefable like I said. My goal was to setup Tyranitar in endgame. Overall I played good I think, but the three WoW misses and crit on gengar/jirachi made this almost impossible. I think the MU vs a "more standard" stall is managable (pain split Rotom/WoW Heatran/Taunt Tyranitar/Rain Dance Suicune/Healing wish Jirachi...) if you play this MU perfectly, but there Bruno had some insane techs like SpDef Toxic Tyranitar/Wishtech Clefable and especially Scarf Latias in which all these sets were good against my team even if they're actually not common. My main mistake was to use DD on turn 42. I don't remember what was my reasonning exactly, but I think that I excepted Skarmory to be SpDef (with bulky Tyranitar/SpDef Clefable...) so that Tyranitar could kill it. But crunch was surely the play there. Anyway, this was a good game and bruno played this really good.

Bonus :

(sets can be tweaked but from my version : SpDef wishtect Jirachi/Spdef Ice beam Clefable/max def Donphan/max def sub-nasty plot Togekiss/max def zapdos HP grass/SpDef/def Tentacruel)

Wanted to share this team because I think it has potential. Togekiss really likes donphan support because it can spin and pivot into toge checks like Jirachi/Tyranitar/Metagross, etc. Jirachi as steel, specs latias check, para spreader, etc, Clefable as second spdef tank, para spreader and restalk rotom check. Tentacruel is not the kind of mon you usually see, but it fits really well here because it can spin (so it allows you to use another bird), pivot into water moves, and especially tspikes which is really valuable here because it helps Togekiss/Jirachi and Clefable a lot. Zapdos as my second breloom check, metagross/gyarados check too.


I'd like to thanks Emeral oiponabys Excal and especially DeepBlueC for the massive help they gave me during all my season. I had a lot of fun playing this SPL and while I have made a few mistakes, this was definitively a positive experience and I would've not gone that far without your help. I look forward to improving in the future and seeing how I do in other tournaments or if I end up playing next SPL. Thank you for reading.

:LeDon:

 

[oiponabys]

Since we're out, I guess it's my time to post my stuff.

I will start by thanking Amaranth and d0nut for their trust. They built a winner team, and contributed with the rest of the Classiest to make my first SPL a great experience. Ending on 2-3 result, I ended up playing the styles I wanted to bring and I am glad of the teams I used.

One of the issues with being an SPL first timer is the amount of tournaments you have to enter to get there in the first place. This made my replay count fairly high (around 30+ only in 2022) and my first fear was to get counterstyled. I was very weary of my uses at first, then eventually cooled down as the tournament progressed. You can see that shift in perspective between week 2 and 3.

Week 1: Bruno


With no information on Bruno, I figured he would recycle a team and try to stall me, as non dpp mains usually do when they end up in filler duty. I decided to focus on my own scout to see team patterns and try to not get a bad matchup. I did no want to load a defensive team as (apparently?) I have a reputation for being a huge stall spammer. Instead I looked for a polarizing pokémon, a pokemon that either someone uses or doesn't. There are a couple of those in my opinion which either revolve around methods of hazard control (Suicide leads, Starmie, Forry), susceptibility to passive damage (Zapdos, Blissey, Celebi) or accuracy issues (Suicune, Gengar). With very low Gengar usage and since I had experienced Gengar lovers in my team I figured I could use that and go from there. This is a fairly standard offense, looking to weaken opposing waters and Skarmory for Gliscor at the end. It took this build is from Emeral so I won't reveal the exact spreads and movesets.

I have a greater inclination towards teambuilding than playing games, so I won't elaborate too much on that point. On the 13th turn, I was hit by a brutal critical strike, and I believe the outcome would have been determined by a (favorable) dice roll if Bruno had not timed out.

Week 2: Mael


I had chosen a team early in week, but after terrible results in tests I ended up switching the day of the match. Since Mael dislikes Gengar, I have decided to use Scarf Lucario, in spite of the Copycat nerfs. This is again an Emeral build so I won't share it.

I used Roar multiple times early on to gather information about Mael's team. I didn't expect Will-o-Will on a presumably Scarf set and but I thankfully dodge it. I make a missplay on turn 6 going for roar as I had enough information and I could go to my Taunt Skarmory to try and pressure his Tyranitar and Jirachi with a layer of Spikes. Instead I drag in a Starmie a eat a bad Grass Knot. This is where the lack of practice with the team comes in a makes me lose a hefty amount of health on Gengar. After the Focus Blast miss, I needed either a +2 setup and a crit on Tar or a +1 crit depending on his investment and roll. Mael does not let that happen and Tricks my Jirachi, sealing the game.

Week 3: DeepBlueC


As I said earlier in this post, each player has preferences regarding their way to deal with hazards. DeepBlueC typically does not use Suicide leads (will he in finals ?) and instead he tries to apply offensive pressure and make progress. This meant he was one of the few players who could be beaten by an unconventionnal lead: Smeargle. Smeargle sits at the bottom of the viability rankings because of its lack of consistency and inability to provide defensive or offensive utility later in the game. However, while it has abysmal matchups against Suicide leads (Roserade..), it shines against Bulky Leads like Swampert, Uxie or non Lum Metagross as it can easily get Stealth Rock + one layer of Spike + Sleep early in the game.
To make up for being down 5 to 6, I decided to use Dragonite + Suicune, 2 pokemon with high power and bulk that can easily force 2 for 1. With the added support of Spikes, I chose to make Dragonite Naive, which allowed it to outpace defensive Latias and pave the way for Suicune. Scizor was an obvious addition as it offered Dragon resist + U-turn + revenge killing option in one slot. Overall I was quite happy with the team.

During the game I get the matchup I was expecting, and I am able to get a full stack of hazards. I do not Superpower the Bronzong Turn 11 in fear of losing momentum to Gliscor. I get a great opportunity to clean the game with Suicune on turn 16 but unfortunately miss. Going to Gengar on the Self Destruct was an alternative option, at the cost of losing my setup attempt. I wished Smeargle would've won; it was a slept on pick with all these Trick Iron Ball Metagross, Bulky Offense and Hippo Stall that are currently being used. The Smeargle here was Taunt, but I could have used U-turn or Explosion aswell.


Week 5: Zf


Since Zf was not a DPP main and he had been using known teams I expected him to load either paraspam, Big 5 or offense. I knew this team had a fine matchup against all of these so I simply went for it, with minor tweaks in it. Suicune had Ice Beam for Dragonite and Breloom, while Jirachi's spread shifted towards Special defense, to better deal with Heatran-Suicune-Gengar structures. If facing stall, I knew that this team would do well, as Resttalk Rotom a) isn't very popular b) was unlikely to be used given that I had only used offensive teams, with no emphasis on hazard control so far.

Right at the start of the game, I expect a Magnezone Stall given that Skarmory has not Taunted my Hippo, so I Earthquake predicting zf to try and limit the hazards on his side. After a few turns, the game looked quickly difficult as not only Zf had a Magnezone, but also a Resttalk Rotom and a faster Encore Clefable. With Suicune carrying Ice Beam I felt I had no hope to win barring some Iron Head and freeze magic going. Turn 39 I get a decent opportunity to flinch Rotom a down with Jirachi but get burned instantly. In retrospective I might have had to wait another round of Rocks to try my luck, and brought a Latias who does better in the tournament environment than Crocune does.


Week 8: Jirachee


Tyrants were out so I expected Jirachee to load some offensive team. When looking at his scout, he had a strong emphasis on FWG core and heavy Latias use, so I figured Special MixApe + Pursuit support was a good core. I brought an old standard offense, with Rotom because no matter how I tweaked it, I always ended up weak to Gyarados.

During the game, Jirachee ended up being very weak to ape, with a Scarf Rotom as his scarfer this time. I do not pull the trigger of using Fire Blast, but I have a solid enough matchup to win the game risk free.


Other builds I liked:

Cress rain:

I made this before SPL, as I noticed a lot of teams did not have a good switch in to offensive Zapdos. Modest Magnet Thunder allowed to weaken Latias, 2HKO Tyranitar, 2HKO roll on Clefable and demolish Steel Types like bulky Jirachi. Once these have been weakened, Kingdra comes in and claims, supported by Lunar Dance support. I wasn't able to find a proper 6, and my opponents weren't good rain targets so it stayed unfinished.

Bagarre:

Just a cool team I made while I sat on the bench. The team is very straighforward: Trick Skarmory and beat down opposing pert with Ttar, then clean with Scarf Jirachi and Gliscor once the Ground and Steel checks have been removed. It's a very intuitive team it feels good to use. I think Scarf Jirachi is a bit underexplored with its ability to threaten both offense and stall.

That's all I had to say. Final thanks to Student of Sinnoh, Emeral, Leandro and Triangles for the test games, and anyone who supported me during this SPL. And big shoutouts to le Don who made this thread alive: these posts play a significant role in making the tour fun for everyone :) .

 

[Christos]

The 2023 season has concluded when it comes to DPP and here are the visuals of the teams used every week. At first, I didn't have the motivation to make them, as my free time is more limited nowadays and I can play less than I used to, but that changed as I was watching the replays because this season turned out to be a banger in every aspect, so I decided to make this post as a token of appreciation.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Playoffs

 

[zf]

vibekiller (Latias) (F) @ Draco Plate
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 240 Atk / 64 SpA / 204 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Thunder / Recover / Thunder Wave / Tailwind / Healing Wish / your pick

draco as your main stab kinda sucks... i find specs and scarf lati to be medium at best.

i came up with this set because it lets you drop a draco once, then swaps to a powerful outrage once at -2 SpA. spread 2hkos pretty much every clef with draco + outrage. eq still lets u check tran p well, all said and done.

240+ Atk Latias Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Jirachi: 172-204 (42.5 - 50.4%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock, 1 layer of Spikes, and Leftovers recovery

also does shit like this to jira (ofc i was using it with spikes + wisp gar to really put the pressure on)

last slot is flexible... thunder was my choice, hits gyara and skarm. with mag support, you can use p much anything tho.

Underrated set for sure.



vibekiller (Froslass) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 112 HP / 252 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Trick
- Thunder Wave

almost loaded this in the lead slot week 1. spread ensures u live scarftar crunch + sand from full. trickscarf is obviously good vs aero or azelf. worst case u just click spikes.


KING (Empoleon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 56 SpA / 200 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Protect
- Stealth Rock


KING (Empoleon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 56 SpA / 200 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Knock Off
- Roar
- Stealth Rock

emp's typing is just amazing for a defensive pivot. easily gets up sr, modest actually packs quite the punch... ice beam is p underrated on support with a bit of investment - scares away loom, hits the dragons, etc. tect lets u live forever vs jira, scouts choiced mons, turns doubles into real recovery.

Then u have knock + roar, which is a different type of utility. annoys fat much more, single utility check vs many offensive mons

the spread shown here is a really basic one. I find emp to be very customizable - some def investment lets u soft check gyara, for example.

custap 3 atks sr is also quite strong, go with some more mixed def on it to really surprise dders.

 

[Excal]

some ideas brought to spl

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Earthquake
+

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion

these two pkmn have great offensive synergy. the threat of fire punch is often enough for loom, taunt ddtar is wonderful on these azelf hos to further deny rocks + force damage vs fat grounds like swampert and mess up skarm/rotom, all of which are a pain for agiligross to deal with. ttar can switch into rotom wisp/tran plume aimed at agiligross; agiligross can switch into breloom spore aimed at ttar. in addition, agiligross can remove fat grounds/loom/gliscor with boom to help ttar. agiligross speed is for max speed scizor and to speed creep a lil bit but spreads are highly flexible. also worth mentioning we used a similar core with ibgross + scarf flygon in week 4. one of my fav offensive cores to build with this spl, def give it a try if u haven't already.

---


Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Discharge
- Will-O-Wisp

i liked spd rotom on the standard hippo stall team bc it gives you nice counterplay vs starmie, mixgon, a surprisingly good gengar pivot, and helped to combat specs lati draco short term (click rest as they draco to take em by surprise, helps more than you'd realize when u don't have tar). not bad to use vs special attacking waters like suicune/empo in a pinch either. i knew kristyl liked starmie a lot and august historically liked mixgon against me so it felt like a cool choice. bihi rec'd discharge which i quite liked, even with wisp. much better vs tran/jira, among other mons

---


Hitmonlee (M) @ Lum Berry/Custap Berry/Ganlon Berry
Ability: Limber
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up/Natural Gift/Fake Out/Knock Off/Counter (anything you want)
- Close Combat
- Foresight
- Rapid Spin

+


Zapdos @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
- Heat Wave

we wanted to use scarf zapdos week 5 bc we knew sfg would load offense, and we knew aerodactyl lead was very likely coming given our first 4 leads, so aero ho was at the top of our minds. scarf zapdos is extremely hard to build and requires a spinner who can keep off vs azelf/aero early game while simultaneously spinning short term consistently. hitmonlee's limber to block azelf twave coupled with its decent special defense, foresight spin, and good lead mu against scarftar made for the perfect spinner to support scarf zapdos. if aero is doubled into, scarf zap could lure it into staying in. also scarfzap kills gyara from full thru wacan.

the only other spinner who did what i wanted besides lee was donphan, but lee is much more offensively threatening and hard to predict. we put bulk up on to pressure fat cores and to bluff custap berry against aero, which worked perfectly in the game. you can use lum + fake out for sash loom lead, ganlon + natural gift for gliscor, anything really. i think you can find spots for this mon outside of scarf zap, ofc the mon is not that great, but it can do well into ho/stall with proper tbuilding which was good enough for me.

this was easily the most interesting/best prep we did this tour, really happy this one worked out bc my team would have had my head on a pike for griefing the game with hitmonlee lead lmfao

---


Gyarados @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 156 Atk / 132 Def / 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Bounce
- Earthquake/whatever you want

these evs let you eat flygon tpunch from full without needing wacan. i rly fuck w bounce gyara to truly force out loom and prevent the spore, do good damage to suicune/opposing gyara, fish for paras, etc. has decent surprise value and is def underrated.

---


Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: highly flexible
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch/Body Slam/Ancient Power

i think rest talk jira is a future staple on some defensive teams. it helps a lot against opposing loom (esp to open the game vs sash loom), opposing jira (stall out/1v1 phys jira), and a lot of status inducers. u can't just slap it on every team without thinking but god damn helping vs loom is so nice. wishtect is more desirable if you can afford it but sometimes it isn't easy -- think a zap + mie + jira team where either you have to sleep sack one of zap/jira or you can consider rest talk for a more secure answer. if you have the proper support, ancient power is insane on this set, as you can get several boosts with a lot of ancient power pp and bullshit ur way through teams. you'd think i'm a dick for not providing evs, which i kinda am, but it's really team dependent so idw mislead w the evs. try this set out for sure if you haven't already, you won't be disappointed.

---


Machamp @ Custap Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / rest customizable
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Dynamic Punch
- Payback
- Ice Punch

bulk up champ is an insane opening vs ttar lead squads. takes two meta mash after bulk up, but the nastiest line is bulking up vs azelf t1. you can eat an explosion at +1 and be put into custap berry. you can put some evs to eat modest specs lati draco if you want, the rest of the evs are up to u.

---


Gengar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

credits to johnny for this idea. lum on gar is awesome to switch into loom (esp lead loom once again), take a random twave from jira/lati/clef/mie, etc. ur likely getting knocked by clef anyway so it's not always super detrimental to not have lefties.

---


Cloyster @ Lum Berry/Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 176 Atk / outspeed azelf with icy wind, rest is flexible
Naive/Adamant/Naughty Nature, w/e's best really
- Spikes/Toxic Spikes
- Icy Wind/Ice Shard/Payback/Surf/Ice Beam/Rock Blast, w/e u want outside of lead
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion

i explored cloyster A LOT this tour and afterwards and at this pt have built a ton with it. it's a really cool lead that can deny up vs azelf/aero. it's surprisingly not bad at spinning, esp if you opt for payback/surf/ice beam. you can use it outside of lead and it's quite decent there too imo. great synergy with a ton of mons, like ibgross (can force stuff to take the spikes damage), weather clear teams (set the tspikes early to put ttar on a timer), strong grounds that like ibgross support and want a backup offensive loom/gyara check, and camerupt who can switch into its bad lead mus very well and loves cloy's spin + good mu vs gliscor. 176 atk guarantees ko on gyara at -1.

when you think about it, a lot of offense is centered around physical mons and it's rly difficult to kill cloy w a phys move. it even eats champ dpunch, nice backup gyara check in a pinch, can switch into loom spore if lum is preserved, etc. the mon is not just novelty imo, it's really a solid option to consider, and extremely unexplored. i posted a team for the teambuilding competition that you can give a try, which shows some of cloyster's strengths. kristyl also brought a great cloy team to spl and had a p good mu into paraspam (keep the tspike up and boom bliss, which was feasible in the game, and sub cm raikou is extremely likely to win on the spot). compressing spikes, spin, and boom on a mon that is deceptively fast, has unique typing not 4x weak to anything, and has insane pdef is rly interesting. good pkmn to have against standard ho and has decent utility in most mus i can think of. definitely try building w it, even if u don't fuck w it, the mon is rly fun to experiment with

s/o to Sakito for running it back with me. while in contention you did more than your fair share and had a decent record, especially for a 3k starter. it's not easy to get wins after 1 year of not playing pkmn against such a competent dpp pool, let alone on an spl team that's struggling. you did great and i'm really proud of your season. i hope one day you give spl another go. you're one of the tier's best builders and it'd be amazing to see you delve into that even more.

was a lot of fun to build and play dpp these past few months, ty to bihi, johnny, and tama as well for making it a lot of fun in scoots and to everyone else who grinded test games w me. i can't wait to play this tier in tours again bc it genuinely feels more fun than it's ever been. also leave this tier as is for the foreseeable future pls. pce

 

[zf]

Some more comments…

with dd spam offense back in vogue, and metagross everywhere, i think defensive pert can be an amazing pick in the current meta (and to a lesser extent, quagsire fat)

Spikes/tspikes have really dropped off recently on offense, meaning protect pert can be unbelievably tough to kill… it’s one of the more solid ddtar checks and compresses a lot of utility into a singleteamslot. Also not the worst sr user withdefensive starmie having died out completely.


Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
252 HP / 228 Def / 20 SpD / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Surf
- Roar
- Protect
- Stealth Rock / Toxic



Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
252 HP / 16 Atk / 224 Def / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Protect
- Stealth Rock

i think adamant is neat on support pert to guarantee the 2hko on ddtar thru shuca. Also makes ice punch hurt more vs loom and lati. Tect obviously makes this unkillable for dd spam…honestly the crux of support pert sets imo. otherwise just run offensive

obviously physically offensive 3 atks sr is still good, likewise for specially offensive sr.

i was also a big fan of mixed 4 atksthis season and brought it vskristal


Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
76 HP / 44 Atk / 252 SpA / 136 Spe
Rash Nature
- Earthquake
- Focus Punch
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam

obviously much like emp, EV spreads r very customizable. Max spa is mandatory and i like a bit of atk to hit ttar and clef a bit harder… speed can be anywhere from skarm creep to max… and then pert can be EVd to live all types of hits with the remaining bulk EVs




Swampert @ Light Ball
Ability: Torrent
252 - XXX HP / 252 Atk / XXX Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Waterfall
- Fling

This spl was the first time I’ve played a serious dpp match since classic playoffs in 2016… and i was never much of a dpper.I used to love cb pert back then, but these days, it’s not really viable… (and rightfully so). But I found fling light ball to be a great offensive set that fills a similar role. Easily fits onto para spam squads and can hitmany high-value para targets becauseof the surprise factor and unique typing for a para spreader. Of course, it’ssingle use, butmany times, that’s good enough

 

[mael]

i recorded some videos. one for every spl week, altho some are shorter and some longer, depending on what i have to say.

Hide

 

[DeepBlueC]

Well, this SPL has been a rollercoaster of emotions. There’s so many things I want to talk about: my pre-SPL thoughts, my preparation approach, my future, my analysis of my games, and some cool sets. Given that there’s so much to talk about, I will cover all my thoughts in two or more posts.

Pre-SPL thoughts:

Most of my close circle of friends know that I wasn’t keen on playing DPP. The reason being that I’ve played way too many games where I’ve seen players achieve victory through favourable rolls with Jirachi/Machamp/paralysis. This made me develop a dislike for the tier because it didn’t make much sense to me to put a lot of effort if the outcome was always going to come down to luck. Moreover, with my limited playing experience, I didn’t feel this to be an issue with ADV/BW when I played in classic, so I wanted to primarily play either of those tiers for SPL. My ideal situation would’ve been to play ADV/BW while supporting a good DPP pilot (like Roscoe or Fakes (just an example)). I’m not saying that these guys are incapable of building, but I think it would’ve been nice to provide good pilots like them with the tools to win games. At the same time, I felt that if I wasn’t performing well in ADV or BW, and/or the DPP pilot wasn't doing well, then by omitting DPP from my signup, I didn’t want to hinder my manager from switching me to DPP. I thought by indicating my willingness to provide DPP support, I would still be looked on favourably by managers. But it was later that I realized that a lot of managers construed this as me not wanting to play DPP at all, because of which I was not considered by them and it drove my price down. This wasn’t something that crossed my mind, because my focus was mostly on looking at what would be best for me and my team based on my ability to contribute. Around a week prior to SPL signups being up, I also moved to a new city for a new job, and since I wasn’t sure about how much time I would be able to commit, I felt that if I signed up for ADV/BW, I would be given more support. Those who have teamed up with me know the amount of effort I put in for DPP, and since I wasn’t able to put in that same level of effort this season, I thought it made sense to sign up for a tier where my managers know that I’d need support. After I signed up, Tricking messaged me asking me if I would still be willing to start for DPP. I told him that I would be willing to do it; however, I also let him know that I would be better off with ADV/BW. He took that into consideration, but let me know that if he were to buy me, it would be for DPP because he felt that it would take me some time to pick up a new tier. I knew when I got bought that I would be playing DPP. All roads led back home.

My general preparation approach/mentality:

As always, my goal is to bring a “good” team. The term “good” can have a subjective or objective meaning. It can be subjective in the sense that a player is really good with that kind of team, despite it not meeting certain criteria (like having a fighting resist, enough ground immunities etc.). It can be objective in the sense that it can handle the top pokemon in the metagame (like having a switch-in to Specs Latias or a plan against Clefable). When I would see my opp’s scout, I would try to build teams around multiple ideas and then test these teams out. I made things hard for myself by focusing on too many ideas and then using a process of elimination to weed out the bad teams or bad ideas. The most difficult part in this process is analyzing why a team/idea is not working. It also does not help when you play too many test games versus a plethora of players whose playstyles are diverse. I played test games with my Raider comrades (Tricking, false, Alice, Pietro, Mashing), Kristyl, Mael, Student of Sinnoh, Excal, Pideous, and so many more. If only a team could win against all those opps consistently, would I have felt confident in bringing it to my game. And I felt that by this I was imposing an incredibly difficult standard on myself and the team because it’s not easy to build a team that would fare well against each of them. Thereby, I continued to make things harder for myself, but to me, the struggle was worth it because I wanted to bring a team that I felt confident in. However, as I mentioned earlier, bringing a team that consisently beat my testers was a very difficult standard to meet, and so there were a lot of SPL weeks where I brought hit-or-miss teams.

I didn’t know how to prep otherwise, and since this is what I’ve continuously done in the past, I stuck with the process. I am also an over-thinker, so prior to my game or when building a team, I go through a series of “what ifs”, like what if my opp brings X or a combination of X and Y. If I do not have an immediate answer/response to X or the combination of X and Y, then the doubt starts to creep in. X or Y can either be offensive mons, support mons, or defensive mons. An example of a support mon would be Mag, and the paranoia of my opp running Mag against me was partially a reason for me running zero Skarmory (I dislike Shed Skarm too) this season. At times I also wonder how my opp must be preparing for me or just preparing in general. Do they put in the same effort as me, or do they just pick what they feel comfortable with and say “fuck whatever happens next, this is the team”? As the general cycle goes, the wins make you feel confident in your prep, whereas the losses make you stress about your prep. And when the losses are mostly because of you bringing an inferior team, then the stress builds up. With team-tours, it becomes all the more important to figure out what’s going wrong because as the losses start to increase, you now become more of a liability to your teammates. I found that my preparation was also difficult because of certain tier-specific issues: difficulty of spinning hazards away, dealing with Jirachi + Machamp + yellow magic, relying on inaccurate but necessary moves (like Magma Tran or Focus Blast Gengar). At times I also get a mental block in my head where I feel that if I am facing off against fat or a paraspam team, then I am immediately at a disadvantage. For me to overcome that mental block, I try to test my team specifically against those playstyles to ensure that I have ways to overcome them. For example, when I was facing the Wolfpack, I asked Fakes to test the Machamp-Loom blob paraspam against my HO, and so I brought it only after I was able to win against him. The idea of knowing of how to play a certain matchup beforehand gives me a sense of comfort, because at least whatever mistakes (if any) I make in my test game, I can then avoid in the actual game.

When I lost my games, I would pick myself up and just focus on the next game. I’d try to see what mistakes happened in my prep/in-game, and then learn from it. In some situations it worked, and in some situations it didn’t. Even though there were moments during the season where I was struggling with confidence after a loss, especially when I brought what I deemed to be a good team, I didn’t want to vent or complain, thereby worrying my teammates because as it is, we were quite handicapped with a lot of bans. I don’t mean for this to sound like my teammates weren’t helpful at all, because their support was immense, but there were a lot of internal problems that I needed to address with my confidence, which was entirely a “me” issue.

My future:

Given all of this, and with my irl responsibilities increasing with time, I know that my previous approach is not going to cut it for any future iterations of SPL. How my approach/thinking should change, is something that requires a lot of introspection. And if I can’t change it, then this could mean the end of team tours for me, in which case, so be it.

Playing DPP in SPL has been an incredible journey. I think back to around 7 years ago where an amateur messaged mael asking him to tutor him, and mael took a chance on him and helped him learn the tier. I also think back to somewhere around the same timeline where tamahome helped this amateur get into SPL on the premise that the amateur is tama’s DPP support, when he (tama) actually didn’t need it. And now, this amateur has the red coveted trophy.

I will always be grateful to my Raider comrades for helping make this happen and for their endless support. I love you all. I could not have asked for a better group to cover for me when I slipped up. I also want to make it known that throughout this journey, the red trophy isn’t my only victory; the other victories being all the friends that I have made along the way. I know that by now this post sounds way too cringey/ cliché, but I genuinely mean this. So many of you have constantly cheered for me, believed in me more than I believed in myself, and you all were the primary reason that I kept going. I’m glad that I was able to entertain those who watched my games, regardless of the result.


I'll later post my thoughts regarding each game and some of the cool sets that I considered.

 

[DeepBlueC]

Thank you for the reacts in the previous post all, I appreciate it. As promised, here is my analysis of my games. I'd say the analysis would largely focus on my approach, and any in-game analysis would focus on crucial turns. Also, for a change, I'll also be posting my teams so that it's easier to follow through on my analysis. A small disclaimer: I sometimes use whack EVs or random EVs, mostly because I try to give my mons as much bulk as I can, but feel free to improvise with them. For example, for a lot of my scarfers, barring Jira or Lati, I tried to hit the 264 speed stat to outspeed most DD'ers at +1, with the remaining evs in bulk. I don't remember if all the sets are 100% accurate because sometimes after a game, I make a modification or two in order to make the team better.

W1: vs Kristyl
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-670059
Team: https://pokepast.es/6ff1e9a7bd7a6dab

I was expecting some sort of fat playstyle from Kristyl. I also noticed that Sash Spore Loom was becoming trendy, so I wanted to use a lead that could deal with them both. Hence the Lum Sub DD Dnite lead. If I were to face a Scarf Loom Lead, then I could sub on the spore, and then get free DD's, in which case I would be able to possibly win the game on T1. On Scarf Jirachi, I hate that when you want to include U-Turn, it means you end up missing out on one of them Thunderpunch or Icepunch. I don't remember if I had U-Turn on the team, but the paste has the elemental punches. The rest of the team stucture/sets are quite explanatory.

Facing off against a sash Empo was one of the worst possible leads for me. I know that there are some Empos that drop Ice Beam so that they can run Hpump / Aqua Jet / Grass Knot as the offensive moves, but I didn't want to risk it. The plan was to go to Meta on an Ice Beam or Rocks, and then trick it so that I could potentially scout the item (Leftovers or Sash). It was likely Sash since the Empo stayed in vs Dnite, but I wanted to be 100% sure. I needed the Empo to miss Hpump, but my meta put up a good fight. I brought out my Swamp vs the Empo, and it reminded me a lot of a scenario 2 SPLs ago vs August:

In the game vs August, because I stayed in to rocks, I lost a completely healthy Swampert. This time, I tried to avoid making the same mistake, but when I EQ'd, Kristyl switched her Gyara in, which meant more momentum loss. I don't really know if there's a takeaway here, but if there is one, then I would say that a turn being a mistake is very subjective/relative, because it varies depending on your opponent. My team was also quite Gyara weak, so not getting up rocks was even more tough. Eventually after a few tradeoffs, I managed to take out the Gyara with Swamp, leaving me with TTar in the back vs Scizor + Rotom + Unrevealed. It wasn't the worst situation possible, especially if her last was Jirachi, but it being Infernape just ended the game there. Cool team from Kristyl and she played well.

Also, I will reiterate this here, you were worth the retain, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.


W2: vs twash
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-670968
Team: https://pokepast.es/dfec357e46150633

I saw twash's replays in DPP Cup, and while his teams were unconventional, I also saw how good of a player he was. He's definitely the kind of player to surprise you with an unorthodox mon/set, and my principle has always been that if you're facing someone that you lack data on, it's best to go with something safe, aka fat. However, I thought I'd bring a little surprise of my own. I believe Torment Tran started to see a decline with Clef's increasing usage, but I wanted to bring this mon back because it can be really scary against offense. Excal helped me with building an older version of the team which had Gliscor > Hippo. I wanted Explosion Forretress as a Clefable lure, but he suggested using Leftovers Lunar Dance Cress to also deal with opposing Clef (by LD'ing into my own Clef to win the PP stall). He made his own revamp of it, which had Hippo > Gliscor, and I felt that that was better because sand is an incredible tool for fat to deal with scary mons like Gyara, Gengar, and Suicune (this mon is still the goat for me). During the test games, I realized that leftovers Cress wasn't doing much and that I also rarely ever got the opportunity to use Rest. So it struck me to use Scarf Cress. This helped a lot as it provided me with some form of speed control, and tricking scarf itself has a lot of utility. The Cress is ev'd to outspeed +1 DD TTar, but you can re-ev it to outspeed Gyara too, if you wish.

T1 vs twash, I wanted to play it safe with my Hippo vs Zap. I was phys def Hippo, so if it was Specs Zap, then a crit t1 meant that I would never get rocks up. So I played it safe here because I felt that I could do so. When I saw item-less Suicune, my first thought was whether he was something like Rest-Chesto Suicune, in which case it would be difficult to handle without Clef. With a few lucky paras, I was ahead in the game. However, t17, twash made a great play to pursuit trap my Clefable, because of which my ability to deal with Suicune was now becoming tougher. T22, when it was Heatran vs Suicune, I was able to torment the Cune on the Hydro Pump, which meant that I could now switch my Cress in on a CM or a Ice Beam, and then LD into my Clef. He ended up going to Zap, and because of this I was able to heal my Clef, which reenabled me to be good against his potential Rest Cune. Thankfully for me he wasn't Rest Cune, because of which the remaining turns of the game could be autopiloted.

This was one of the teams that I've felt confident with, so not a stressful week in terms of prep. You have some refreshing takes on the meta, twash, and I speak for almost everyone when I say that I hope you continue to stick around.


W3: vs oipon
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-673130
Team: https://pokepast.es/9d3c62f000c9f544

Oipon is also quite the unpredictable player, so I wasn't sure how to approach my prep for him. Pre-SPL, I was trying out more Specs Heatran teams out. One thing that always scared me about using Specs Heatran was giving a free Flash Fire boost to an opposing Heatran, in which case I now needed my own Pokemon to absorb the boosted fire moves from opposing Heatran. I didn't want to be a normie by using TTar, so pre-SPL, I tried experimenting with Thick Fat Snorlax and Trace P2. Trace P2 is also nice for dealing with Gyara, but I always got the impression that it's a mon that would hate facing stall. Snorlax on the other hand could be threatening to almost every playstyle. If you've seen Curse Snorlax destroy Skarm in ADV, then there isn't a need for me to explain much about the moveset. Crunch is nice to hit Latias harder, but more importantly Gengar/Rotom. The Lum is for Wisps from either Ghost, and this is really nice for Metagross when facing Rotom. Lum is also great vs Breloom. You can give Body Slam if you're feeling lucky with Snorlax, but do remember that if you're at -1 speed, you may still not outspeed a lot of paralyzed mons, so use it if you're feeling lucky with yellow magic. I don't remember the purpose of the Snorlax EVs (see above disclaimer), but you can EV it for different benchmarks (like living a Superpower from Loom after -1) etc. Depending on the structure you fit Snorlax in, you can forego Crunch for something like Fire Punch. The Latias was incredibly bulky because I wanted it to be my physical swampert switch-in. Scarf Gliscor provided me with an additional EQ immunity + fighting resist, and also the surprise value. I went with a LOT of bulk on Meta because I was focusing on outspeeding Scarf TTar at +2. You can re-ev this Meta to outspeed Scarf Magneton too. The bulk on Meta can be clutch in certain situations.

T1 with Smeargle vs Zong, I really thought "shit, he's going to get a lot of hazards up" and that he did. I expected Scarf Flygon / CB Scizor in the back, as I've seen these Smeargle lead structures that set up hazards and try to gain momentum with U-Turn. I ended up calling the Scizor correctly though. At t15, Lati vs Dnite, I wanted to use Surf so that the Scizor wouldn't be able to trap me. But when he brought out CM Cune, I felt that it was omega over. I went to my Lax on the Cune, and I got incredibly lucky with a Hydro Pump dodge, because of which I was back in the game. At this stage of the game, I wasn't sure of what his Jirachi item was. I thought it was Scarf or Shuca, but I was leaning towards the former because I didn't see another Scarfer from him. So I played with my Metagross under the assumption that he was Scarf Jira, but t20 I realized that he was likely Shuca when his Jira was not locked into Fire Punch vs the Lati. T21 you can see how crucial that Metagross bulk turned out, because the standard agility meta probably never lived it (but I wouldn't need that additional bulk if I played with Meta smarter). Now +2 Meta vs Jira + Gar in the back, I could explode and let it come down to Gliscor vs Gengar, in which I have the upper hand. But if explode and he goes Gengar (because if he is not shuca Jira, he could fish for miss with Gengar), then I likely lose. I play it safe and EQ into the Shuca Jira. T23, I get incredibly lucky (again) with a Thunderfang flinch on his Ice Punch Jirachi, which made me win.

I can't say that I was confident about this team. This would definitely fall under the "hit-or-miss" category. You were definitely deserving of the win, oipon. I hope to see you play in future SPLs.


W4: vs SFG
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-674539
Team: https://pokepast.es/7171cb470cb40cd1

I wasn't sure what SFG would be bringing. I know that he prefers using offense, but his managers have the tendency to fall back on good ol' paraspam, and so this week I wanted to ensure that I had plenty of tools to deal with it. Lead Azelf is generally difficult for some non-TTar/non-Rotom fat teams to deal with. The twave on Azelf makes Jirachis think twice about switching into Azelf. Gyara, Dnite, TTar, and Meta are usually stapes on this structure. The last slot is quite flexible. I brought an HO like this against Roro in DPP Cup, but I realized how weak this was to Scarf Rotom, so for the last slot, I tried to think of various pokemon that could take advantage of Scarf Rotom. I had LO Swamp (3 physical attacks + HP Elec), SD Passho Rhyp, and SD Gliscor in mind. I appreciated SD Passho Rhyp's ability to be very threatening to stall, so I initially chose this. Twave Immunity + Sand Spdef Boost allows this mon to deal with Twave Lati/Zap very reliably, which most set up mons have difficulty against. However, last minute Tricking made a valid point about how my teams have been quite weak to Ape, and so we decided on Scarf Lati being the best fit here.

T1 was quite the surprise, because I never expected Scarf Froslass. With a tricked Azelf, it was looking tough because I now had limited utility with my Azelf. T4 I managed to gain some momentum back by paralyzing the Jirachi. T15 I got lucky with dodging a paraflinch, which could've been game-changing. T20, SFG made a great play to DD with his own TTar and force the speed tie. T23 also SFG made a great play by luring me to Fire Punch the Jirachi to give the Heatan a flash fire boost, by which it could've taken out my Dnite with a crit. But I also had additional insurance in the back in the form of DD Gyara, so that paved the win for me.

This week too I felt more confident with the team. Thank you for all the help you offered me in the playoffs stage, SFG. Just know that I am always here to return the favour.


W5: vs bruno
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-675465
Team: https://pokepast.es/6ed2e164a3e9f23a

This week was a mess with regards to prep. I had so many ideas in mind, like a SD Loom paraspam, a Sub CM Jirachi Fat Team, and a Lati-Mag offense. None of the teams felt really consistent in test games vs opps, so Tricking suggested that I use the team that Kristyl used against Sakito. I was a fan of that team, but I wanted to make a couple of changes that were more suited to me + also didn't give away that it was the same 6 that she used. With twave Gyara becoming prominent and also how a lot of players rely on paralysis to beat Gyara, I thought Sub DD Taunt Gyara could do the trick. I gave this Gyara a lot of bulk because I wanted its sub to absorb body slam from Jirachi. I don't remember if the EVs help it absorb neutral 168 attack EVs Jira, but you can calc this. Explosion lefties tran with sub is nice for luring the Clefable.

I was able to maintain momentum in this game for a large part with the help of Serene Grace Rotom, but seeing him have Quagsire in the back was just hope-shattering when I loaded a purely physical Jira + mono Gyara. His Latias was also tough to deal with after my Heatran died, so I was reliant on Rotom to pressure it. Even with all my lucky shadow ball breaks, I still needed more luck to win the game in the form of sleep turns. A rough matchup for me, and this loss was a hard pill to swallow because I felt that I brought a good team and I played well for the most part (if you don't focus on only the luck). I later learned that TDK chose to use Quagsire because he knew I had a CroCune fetish . I love you, TDK, but fuck you too.

Congrats on the stellar season, bruno. I didn't get the sense that you were nervous, but after reading your thread, it helped to know that someone of your calibre also had moments of anxiety/self-doubt, which makes me feel that any negative emotion that I went through is probably normal.


W6: vs mael
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-677372
Team: https://pokepast.es/c5acf693d0e231f1

Mael was doing well this SPL season, and since my last opp brought a team that took advantage of my tendencies, I knew I had to get out my comfort zone. I forced myself to use mons that I rarely used. I had some mons like Machamp, defensive Zapdos, and Infernape in mind. I tried my level best to make some infernape teams work. I made teams around SD Infernape, Mixed Infernape, and NP Infernape, but this mon's lack of defensive utility makes you really question whether you want to use it over something else. However, most Ape teams did not seem to me to be reliable, so I decided that Machamp lead offense was the way to go. Lead Machamp with BP usually lacks coverage against Gliscor or Gyara, so I decided to forego with BP, and ensured that I had coverage against both. I genuinely don't remember much about the building process for the remaining 5, but Empoleon was the last slot that was pending. My reasoning for wanting Empoleon was that I wanted a pokemon that could revenge kill a weakened TTar and could deal with Jirachi. While special shuca empo can generally do the trick, SD is better at sweeping and doesn't care all that much about paralysis.

I was really happy with my matchup here. T2 was definitely a tricky turn, because if he paralyzed my Rotom, that would've spelt trouble. Thankfully I got this big turn correct by switching my Rotom into the Explosion. T12, I got a huge crit which took took away any chance he had at coming back.

I can't say I was confident with the team from the looks of it, but this team functions quite well. Thank you for everything, mael brah. There isn't anything else for me to say, because you know how I feel about you.

============================

I'll do W7 to Playoffs tomorrow

 

[DeepBlueC]

This should be the second-last installment of my posts, with the last one being the cool/underrated sets that I wish to reveal.

W7 vs Rey:
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-678440
Team: https://pokepast.es/fe0b51a0cf7efb36

Normally when you're facing a player that you lack data on, it's much safer to resort to fat. Roro also told me that Rey's 'bread and butter' used to be fat, so using CM Clef made sense. What I like about Gknot + Flamethrower coverage is being to deal with Swampert+TTar and steels, respectively. Phys Offensive Swampert can be threatening for most fat teams, so having Gknot Phys Def Clefable gives you a decent answer vs it. Since I decided early on about using a CM Clefable team, the prep was mostly focused on what kind of CM Clefable team to use. I finally went with this one, which I felt had plenty of tools to deal with stall. You have Magneton for any opposing Wish Jirachi/Skarm/Fort, you have Knock Taunt Gliscor which I feel is underrated, and CM Clefable itself. Although I didn't need the extra insurance vs DD TTar, I went with HP Fight over Surf on Lati. Rest-Talk Jirachi is nice to deal with Loom, so that way you don't have to worry too much about the lack of Loom coverage on Glisc.

As the game began and I saw that he revealed Claydol, I realized that this could be the team that Christo used vs tama around a year or two ago. So it was nice knowing his 6 from the start itself. He had Scarf Claydol, and Claydol was always going to spin vs Hippo, so I let Hippo take the Scarf, which was fine to me. Later on when I trapped his Jira with my Mag, I really felt like I was in a winning position. However, there were a couple of tweaks in his sets that I didn't see, like the Sub on Gengar and the Loom set. The Sub on Gengar proved to be really detrimental for me because without Surf, I couldn't beat his Gengar while my Lati was tormented. My Gengar weakness was even more showing when my Clefable got smashed by the Focus Blast.

This was a painful loss because I was ahead at one point, and then I proceeded to lose. And this week too, I felt I brought a good team, but I ran into a lefties torment Heatran with Clefable coverage that couldn't touch it and a Latias set that couldn't touch a Sub Painsplit Gengar that was paired with Torment Tran. I'll have to look through the replay again to see where I could have done better, but I'm ngl, this was painful to rewatch. Rey played well and deserved the win.


W8 vs Sakito:
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-679432
Team: https://pokepast.es/9529e734527a4df4

I'll be honest: 90% of this week's win is all credits to Roro. He gave me the following idea:

He also gave me the idea of Charge Beam Zone, which is a set that I completely forgot about. So for this week, I had three mons already decided: Starmie, CB TTar, Zone. The rest of the idea was based on patching up weaknesses, like having an answer to Breloom, a Scarf User, EQ immunity etc. To make things easier for myself, I looked at what roles I needed to fill and what pokemon could fill said roles. For example, I needed a rocker, a scarfer, a fighting switch-in, and a Latias switch-in. I ended up creating different variants of this team, where I had Scarf Rotom + Lati as scarfers, Metagross and Zong as the Rockers while also fulfilling the role of Latias-switch in. For the fighting resist, I had Gengar and SD Gliscor iirc. I tested all the team variants of the core (Starmie + TTar + Zone), and I ended up liking Meta/Lati/Gengar for the last 3 slots.

For the choice of my spreads, it is largely influenced by my mentality where I hate to give up momentum easily vs an opp. I absolutely hate how much on the backfoot you are when using Swamp/CB TTar, and then you face a Loom. So here, I wanted to use a speedy TTar that could perhaps deal with a slower Loom if it tried to switch in on a crunch. The speed on TTar is also nice to lure Bold Rotoms, which Metagross appreciates a lot. For the Zone, I went with this ev spread because since the cabal likes Magneton, they may use it to revenge kill my Starmie or Gengar, in which case I could use their Magneton as bait for my Zone. With these EVs, the opposing Magneton is unlikely to break the sub on my Zone.

I don't think there's much to analyze with this game. I'm happy with the way I played and also happy with the matchup that I got. Sometimes I get way too much in my head where I feel that whatever I bring, it has to be fanciful. In reality, it's okay to stick to what is 'tried-and-true'.


W9 vs Laurel:
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-681544
Team: https://pokepast.es/f0d69c9d08522d26

This was Laurel's first DPP game this season, and I didn't want to use stall because I felt that he'd be prepared for it since I used it vs him a couple of years ago. I also felt like I wasn't piloting stall well this year, and since I won a lot with offense, I thought it'd be best to stick it. Additionally, since I didn't reveal that Charge Beam Magnezone set last week, I thought I could use it this week again. I liked using Specs Lati + Scarf Rotom as a combo, because Specs Lati can chip TTar well enough that TTar can then no longer trap Rotom easily. As I wanted to use Mag, I was now set on 3 mons. For the 4th mon, I wanted to use NP Mismagius. Mismag, to me, felt great vs something like Gliscor / Twave Clefable. Essentially, I thought of it as playing the role of Gengar on a team, except that it was capable of setting up with NP. I was wrong af. I spent a lot of time trying to make a team around Mismagius work, but it just wasn't good enough. The physical defense on this mon is pitiful, but the lack of seed bomb immunity was worse. Having a lower base SpA than Gengar also costs you some crucial kos. If you saw the meme of Roro changing the Mismag to Gengar in the SPL commencement thread, it was in response to me trying to figure out why the team wasn't working out. I finally ended up replacing the Mismag with Jira.

I was a little unsure of using Jirachi because, even though I'm not a superstitious person, I lost my last 6-7 games when I used Jirachi, so I considered this mon as bad luck. And well, let's just say that my superstitions were not something to be scoffed at. T2 Laurel made a great play with Scizor to superpower the Heatran as he predicted me to use rocks. I was surprised at its speed, but I wasn't 100% certain that was Scarf Scizor since I was using a slow Heatran myself. T4 was a very controversial turn, where Laurel roar'd my Mag away on my Sub. I was expecting one of Surf or Knock Off that turn, and I thought me using Sub was fine incase he knocked because I wanted to keep my lefties. It didn't make much sense to me that he'd Roar the Mag when he could've possibly got a crit with Surf while in Torrent range (at least that is what I thought he'd consider from his perspective) or Knock off the Mag item, but later I realized that the roar was so that Empo could be preserved as a Lati sack. I got lucky t6 with a Fire Punch burn on his Empo. When I saw the lefties Rotom, I was thinking it'd be a sub/wisp/tbolt set, so I made sure to switch my Jirachi out. It was only later that I realized that he too had a charge beam mon, which ended up winning the encounter. At T27, I felt I was still in this game, but once he revealed that Dnite, it felt omega over unless I got a bunch of 50/50s right, which I didn't get.

I liked the team I brought, but again, not winning sort of makes you go back to the drawing board and figure how to proceed next. Laurel played well and stepped up for his team when they needed him, so kudos for that.


Semis vs Laurel:
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-683304
Team: https://pokepast.es/ae1efcf8e42cb620

At this stage in SPL, I was actually feeling a bit burnt out. SPL was also feeling like a test of endurance/attrition, and so I even asked my friends if there was a week break between week 9 and playoffs.

Mana's response summed it up.

Since I felt that Laurel's last week team was weak to stall, and as he lost to stall to me a couple of years ago, I thought it was time to bring it back. The issue then was to decide what kind of stall to run. The team I brought doesn't like Modest Specs Lati, and fsr I was fairly confident that he wouldn't bring it ( ). I went with max hp/max spdef Clefable because that bulk is extremely useful vs Timid Specs Lati. Milotic helps reduce Twave Gyara's ability to bullshit its way through, but having my own sand user can be a bit counterintuitive in that regard. The rest of the team was self-explanatory.

I felt that as long as I didn't face Skarm + spin blocker, I would be in a good spot, but yeaaaaa. Facing a potential Modest Specs Lati was not it. I got lucky with a draco miss t1, but Laurel played nicely to stay in and draco again. As this game was progressing, at each turn I was facing a mon that I desperately did not want to face. First Modest Specs Lati, then a mixed Jirachi with Gknot, then a Skarm, then a Roar Swamp, and then a spin-blocker. Although my Clefable was able to apply some pressure, him having all the hazards down + two roarers, was just difficult to overcome. Once my CM Lati proceeded to set up, I felt that I was in a position where I could win with some luck. I would've needed some crucial luck like paralysis on his Skarm and/or a crit on his TTar, It was quite the long shot especially with Jirachi constantly applying pressure with Ice Punch and having a chance to freeze. But I wasn't able to come out victorious.

Post-game when I spoke to Laurel, he said he anticipated me bringing stall because he was aware of how stall-weak his week 9 team was. He definitely won the psychological warfare and deserved his win. The team definitely has issues with dealing with hazards, but outside of that, I think it is defensively sound.


Finals vs bruno:
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-684243
Team: https://pokepast.es/bb60e18921d76f58

Even though I was on a losing streak, I didn't have much doubt in my playing ability . Looking at bruno's teams, I spotted two weaknesses: i) Machamp; and ii) Mamo + Mag. Mamo+Mag is one of those combos that can beat a team single-handedly or can just get destroyed. For this reason, Tricking felt a team oriented around Machamp is what was best.

The new-wave (pun intended) paraspam offense teams with Lead Loom + Twave Gyara + Scarf Lati structures was something I liked, but never used often. And since TDK knew most of my tendencies, I decided to go with something that he wouldn't expect. The premise of the team is very simple: spread para and try to bs your way through with Machamp + Gyara. Grass Knot Jirachi was my insurance incase he chose to go with Quag again. I definitely came into this game with unclean hands and a tainted soul.

As for what I expected anti to bring, I was largely expecting something offensive, because he brought Clef for a series of weeks, and he'd know that I'd be prepared for it. I just wasn't sure of what kind of offense he'd bring. If he did end up running fat, I knew that it'd be with Mag.

With respect to the game, I would urge you to watch BKC's video on my game, even though it may be quite a long one. He dissected the game much better than I could have. As for his analysis, I agree with most of what he said, and for whichever part I disagreed with, I addressed it in my post in the DPP discord (which is publicly accessible): https://discord.com/channels/855831230690754572/855831231128010753/1091777615532150935 Anti brought a team with nice techs that caught me offguard.

This game was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back . As much as anti deserved to win the game, I also felt that I did because I didn't do anything egregiously wrong like a choke. After the loss, I kept thinking what I could've done differently, but I just couldn't identify a 100% win path without hindsight bias. And even though this was quite a close game, it just didn't sit right with me that I had nothing to show after 3 weeks. As much as I was confident in my teammates carrying me, it sucked letting them down (again) and that too in the most important week.

I meant what I said in my previous post that there's so much that I still have to learn: like how to prep, how to be mentally strong after a loss etc. There are elements of inherent unfairness in this game, like the accuracy distribution for certain types of moves, and where you know that your only chance of winning comes by putting yourself in a disadvantageous position by being forced to hit a Magma Storm or Focus Blast. I hope that in the interim period I come out wiser and better! Thank you for reading so far, we're close to the finish line!

 

[SFG]

Better late than never, here's my post. That was my first SPL as a starter, and, even if I ended with a terrible reccord, I really enjoyed the whole tour, and had a lot of fun building. The teams I'll post are mine, with the terrific support of 16bit , ABR and Tony

Im not rly good at doing some long posts, so I'll just keep it short

Week 1 vs Jirachee


I rly wanted to bring Mamoswine. Ngl I don't think this team is good to use in general since it's just lose to shed skarm, we just assumed Jirachee would never load it

Basically, don't play this team for serious games, unless your opponement isn't a stall user at all. But it's fun to use for sure



Week 4 vs DeepBlueC

Super standard HO with scarf trick Froslass, which is super good tbh. ABR gave me theidea, and I think it'sthe bestLass set so far. If you love clicking, I also built another standard HO for the week 5 vs Sakito https://pokepast.es/1a6566e0b72ed351




Week 7 vs Kristyl

Ngl, that is the team I rly wanted to share, because I fucking love it. Once again I'm lazy so I won't write much, but I wanted to use lead wow Rotom + CM rachi+ Taunt Ggar. Rotom can wow ttar / pert, chip tias, and check steel types, which is rly cool for cm rachi. Pert for rocks + dd ttar check, latias to rk dders and hwish on rachi. Empo was basically "uh, let's add smthing that can take a hit from tias,can threat Heatran, and if we can have smting else than tias for dders/ agility gross, it would be nice, so here we are. I rly think this kind of team as some potential!

The other teams are either not mine or I don't really like them afterwards.As I said, I'm bad with this kind of post, but if you have any question, feel free to dm me on discord, Ewen#8965


Have a good day you all

 

[SFG]

Re:

I forgot to post the best moment of this SPL, ty BKC