We're past the halfway point of the SPL regular season! The sheet is filling out nicely, and we're getting a good idea of who's who. Of note, there's just two starters left who are undefeated. hellom has absolutely exploded onto the scene, lossless against top threats like lax and Trosko, and getting Comfey ranked in the process. Meanwhile, the basedlord himself, CTC, has returned to regular starting, going undefeated in four games while providing teambuilding support for the squad. At 6000 and 5500 respectively it's hard to not rate these two as the biggest steals of the auction, and I doubt it's a coincidence that the Scooters and the Tyrants live atop the table.
Now, as usual, here's some of my favorite games I caught this week.
[WOL] zioziotrip vs Separation [CRY] - both of these players are putting on proper SV1 performances this year, and we've got some sand from Separation against zioziotrip's sun for an interesting matchup. Over the course of the match, Separation is able to rack up passive damage against zioziotrip with sand and hazard chip, carefully blocking the enemy sweepers until Dragapult and Skarmory can clean house. Tyranitar in sand took barely over half from a Specs Walking Wake's Hydro Steam - seriously, that mon does not play about special defense. Red Card Alomomola was cool but it ended up giving Walking Wake a free Eject Pack after dropping a Draco on it.
[WOL] Piyush25 vs Dj Breloominati♬ [CRY] - I gotta showcase some Ash-Gren Gaming. (In the most compelling argument for the alt rule to date, heat is Dj Breloominati and neat is Piyush.) Anyways, Spitfire's Zamazenta walls most of Piyush's team, so that's a lurking threat to worry about. Greninja comes in on a paralyzed Ghost Great Tusk to secure the boost, but it looks like Piyush will be able to revenge kill with Rillaboom...until Greninja turns into a Grass type and easily survives, then kills with Ice Beam. I missed when Psychic Landorus-T became a staple but it's cool stuff that stops a dangerous Hawlucha. From here, the cleanup is straightforward between Greninja and Zamazenta, and the Breloominati claims its first win in SV.
[RUI] Raptor vs crying [BIG] - as you can see, Raptor is up 6 to 1. This Dragapult is Hex, by the way. What follows is something...sinister.
[SHA] kumiko vs JJ09LIE [TIG] - great matchup, the storied and ever-crafty kumiko against up-and-coming prodigy JJ09LIE. kumiko's got an interesting team including Moltres, a raw Excadrill, and a Keldeo. JJ09LIE starts the game very well, making a number of great switches and racking up chip on kumiko's squad. Things quickly shift on turn 23, as kumiko's 2% Moltres reads the switch from Kingambit to Wellspring and U-Turns into Sub/DD Dragapult. JJ switches around a lot as kumiko DDs twice, and eventually settles on Gliscor, who easily tanks a Tera Fire Tera Blast but misses the kill with EQ and goes down in return. Out comes Kingambit, and what proceeds is a menacing sequence that I can only describe as kumiko repeatedly lil bro'ing JJ, getting every single Sucker Punch play right and turning a winnable game into a vicious 6-0.
Now, as usual, here's some of my favorite games I caught this week.
[WOL] zioziotrip vs Separation [CRY] - both of these players are putting on proper SV1 performances this year, and we've got some sand from Separation against zioziotrip's sun for an interesting matchup. Over the course of the match, Separation is able to rack up passive damage against zioziotrip with sand and hazard chip, carefully blocking the enemy sweepers until Dragapult and Skarmory can clean house. Tyranitar in sand took barely over half from a Specs Walking Wake's Hydro Steam - seriously, that mon does not play about special defense. Red Card Alomomola was cool but it ended up giving Walking Wake a free Eject Pack after dropping a Draco on it.
[WOL] Piyush25 vs Dj Breloominati♬ [CRY] - I gotta showcase some Ash-Gren Gaming. (In the most compelling argument for the alt rule to date, heat is Dj Breloominati and neat is Piyush.) Anyways, Spitfire's Zamazenta walls most of Piyush's team, so that's a lurking threat to worry about. Greninja comes in on a paralyzed Ghost Great Tusk to secure the boost, but it looks like Piyush will be able to revenge kill with Rillaboom...until Greninja turns into a Grass type and easily survives, then kills with Ice Beam. I missed when Psychic Landorus-T became a staple but it's cool stuff that stops a dangerous Hawlucha. From here, the cleanup is straightforward between Greninja and Zamazenta, and the Breloominati claims its first win in SV.
[RUI] Raptor vs crying [BIG] - as you can see, Raptor is up 6 to 1. This Dragapult is Hex, by the way. What follows is something...sinister.
[SHA] kumiko vs JJ09LIE [TIG] - great matchup, the storied and ever-crafty kumiko against up-and-coming prodigy JJ09LIE. kumiko's got an interesting team including Moltres, a raw Excadrill, and a Keldeo. JJ09LIE starts the game very well, making a number of great switches and racking up chip on kumiko's squad. Things quickly shift on turn 23, as kumiko's 2% Moltres reads the switch from Kingambit to Wellspring and U-Turns into Sub/DD Dragapult. JJ switches around a lot as kumiko DDs twice, and eventually settles on Gliscor, who easily tanks a Tera Fire Tera Blast but misses the kill with EQ and goes down in return. Out comes Kingambit, and what proceeds is a menacing sequence that I can only describe as kumiko repeatedly lil bro'ing JJ, getting every single Sucker Punch play right and turning a winnable game into a vicious 6-0.
SV OU: JJ09LIE vs shiloh
SV OU: S1nn0hC0nfirm3d vs zioziotrip
SV OU: Trosko vs Fogbound Lake - knowing how well Fogbound Lake can play in peak form makes the fact that his first win was last week with some fortune even harder to understand. Is it the lack of mind gaming buff? Maybe. In any case, Trosko is coming off of two losses so if there's any time for Fog to strike it's now.
SV OU: Storm Zone vs Taka - oh, cool, Taka's in. There's been quite a few substitutes coming in and taking wins off of starters, and I'm gonna wager he can do it here too.
SV OU: CTC vs lax - heater matchup alert! Former members of the shogunate clash in what should be a battle for the ages. CTC has played really well thus far, he's in his zone, think he's the favorite here.
SV OU: Rubyblood vs kumiko
SV OU: myjava vs tko - myjava's probably one of the best 3k grabs of the auction.
SV OU: Luispeikou vs Carkoala - gonna be honest I was not keeping an eye on Carkoala but apparently he's 2-0 and brought Iron Crown last week? Neat.
SV OU: Gilbert arenas vs Kushalos - did not expect to see both of these players at 3 losses. After transforming into Low Tier Gilbert last week marcop's passive lightning field will be activated - that might give him the edge.
SV OU: crying vs hellom - oh my god I was hoping for this matchup. hellom, the unstoppable force taking down SV1 after SV1, against crying, the immovable object outcooking her last three opponents in dramatic fashion. Against anyone else I would bold hellom but crying legitimately has some kind of mind control ability. If hellom wears a tinfoil hat he should be fine.
SV OU: Savouras vs Akalli - OST R1 rematch! I rock with both of these players - think Akalli has been slightly more precise over the last few matches, though.
SV OU: MAVERICK SHOOTERS vs Xrn
SV OU: mncmt vs oldspicemike - unstoppable force vs unstoppable force. Both of these are players I would easily put down for 6+ wins in regular season. Don't imagine there will be anything meta-breaking in this game, just good gameplay.
SV OU: Beraldo vs xavgb - the stresh button has been pressed once again as the Ruiners find themselves just outside of the top 4. Thinking he'll have a bit more motivation seeing that the playerbase has shown itself willing to ban stuff, lol.
SV OU: Thiago Nunes vs Raptor - TNunes, relax, your replays are too hidden, they'll ban you. I cannot in good faith bold Raptor after losing to Dondozo from up 6-1, but he'll be back next week.
SV OU: pdt vs Fc
SV OU: Finchinator vs ACR1 - ACR1 is on a great streak, they've certainly showed that their first SV win wasn't a fluke. Finchinator is on vacation or something this week so I don't know how heavy his prep is gonna be. That said, Finch going negative would be unheard of stuff and we've seen his peak SV performance. Switch the bold to Finch if he posts some good looking wings on vacation.
SV OU: Separation vs Punny
SV OU: Srn vs procorphish
SV OU: Dj Breloominati♬ vs Sylveon used calm mind - okay I think Sylveon took blunder's advice too literally lol. Their team choice so far has been either the German team or deranged hyper-offense. Spitfire has found footing in SV, I'm a big believer in his playing ability and with more time in the meta the results are only gonna improve.
SV OU: S1nn0hC0nfirm3d vs zioziotrip
SV OU: Trosko vs Fogbound Lake - knowing how well Fogbound Lake can play in peak form makes the fact that his first win was last week with some fortune even harder to understand. Is it the lack of mind gaming buff? Maybe. In any case, Trosko is coming off of two losses so if there's any time for Fog to strike it's now.
SV OU: Storm Zone vs Taka - oh, cool, Taka's in. There's been quite a few substitutes coming in and taking wins off of starters, and I'm gonna wager he can do it here too.
SV OU: CTC vs lax - heater matchup alert! Former members of the shogunate clash in what should be a battle for the ages. CTC has played really well thus far, he's in his zone, think he's the favorite here.
SV OU: Rubyblood vs kumiko
SV OU: myjava vs tko - myjava's probably one of the best 3k grabs of the auction.
SV OU: Luispeikou vs Carkoala - gonna be honest I was not keeping an eye on Carkoala but apparently he's 2-0 and brought Iron Crown last week? Neat.
SV OU: Gilbert arenas vs Kushalos - did not expect to see both of these players at 3 losses. After transforming into Low Tier Gilbert last week marcop's passive lightning field will be activated - that might give him the edge.
SV OU: crying vs hellom - oh my god I was hoping for this matchup. hellom, the unstoppable force taking down SV1 after SV1, against crying, the immovable object outcooking her last three opponents in dramatic fashion. Against anyone else I would bold hellom but crying legitimately has some kind of mind control ability. If hellom wears a tinfoil hat he should be fine.
SV OU: Savouras vs Akalli - OST R1 rematch! I rock with both of these players - think Akalli has been slightly more precise over the last few matches, though.
SV OU: MAVERICK SHOOTERS vs Xrn
SV OU: mncmt vs oldspicemike - unstoppable force vs unstoppable force. Both of these are players I would easily put down for 6+ wins in regular season. Don't imagine there will be anything meta-breaking in this game, just good gameplay.
SV OU: Beraldo vs xavgb - the stresh button has been pressed once again as the Ruiners find themselves just outside of the top 4. Thinking he'll have a bit more motivation seeing that the playerbase has shown itself willing to ban stuff, lol.
SV OU: Thiago Nunes vs Raptor - TNunes, relax, your replays are too hidden, they'll ban you. I cannot in good faith bold Raptor after losing to Dondozo from up 6-1, but he'll be back next week.
SV OU: pdt vs Fc
SV OU: Finchinator vs ACR1 - ACR1 is on a great streak, they've certainly showed that their first SV win wasn't a fluke. Finchinator is on vacation or something this week so I don't know how heavy his prep is gonna be. That said, Finch going negative would be unheard of stuff and we've seen his peak SV performance. Switch the bold to Finch if he posts some good looking wings on vacation.
SV OU: Separation vs Punny
SV OU: Srn vs procorphish
SV OU: Dj Breloominati♬ vs Sylveon used calm mind - okay I think Sylveon took blunder's advice too literally lol. Their team choice so far has been either the German team or deranged hyper-offense. Spitfire has found footing in SV, I'm a big believer in his playing ability and with more time in the meta the results are only gonna improve.