Tournament SPL XVII OU Discussion Thread

[cala_aa]

Welcome back! Smogon's largest official team tournament, the Smogon Premier League XVII, just began. In this tournament, 10 teams compete across metagames spanning all generations of OU, including SV! Over the next 11+ weeks, expect to see new trends and metagame shifts in the SV OU tier. This thread will highlight these trends and will likely include game discussion, links to usage stats, replay analyses, and teams shared by some of the best SV OU players on the site.

Auction Results

Expected Starters in Bold, Supports Behind
Congregation of the Classiest - Xrn, Lazuli, LpZ, Shengineer, LB
Circus Maximus Tigers - Ewin, Kate, entrocefalo, Patatexv, LOOR, Cow
Wi-Fi Wolfpack - bbeeaa, Fogbound Lake, Let's Rumble Shall We, Originality56
Dragonspiral Tyrants - Fusien, myjava, Baddy, Axzel, Django, Luispeikou, Poek, Lady Bug, SoulWind, Vert
Indie Scooters - Storm Zone, DAHLI, heileone, Pais, tko, waffle04
Stark Sharks - ATTRIBUTE, Nat, hellom, Plague, Achimoo
Team Raiders - zS, JJ09LIE, Eternal Spirit, Ash KetchumGamer, tier
Alpha Ruiners - lax, fakenagol, ACR1, sunsets, sire clod, sugarhigh, devin, Metallica126, Fakes
Ever Grande BIGS - JustFranco, Stareal, pdt, Setsu, Larry, Hiko, Mako
Cryonicles - clean, kDCA, bhkg, watashi, Dugtrio Is Broken, Luigi, MGdos16, Zokuru

Quick Links:
Commencement
Records
Schedule
​

 

[TheDuckChris]

This is a unique year for SPL. This year will feature SV OU as the current generation for the fourth time, something that has never happened before. Even with the help of DLC drops, the metagame has become as settled as current gens ever get. There has not been a suspect test in 10 months, and the available pool of pokemon staying the same means teams from past tournaments are likely similarly viable now to then, which could make team building less impactful this year.

In terms of players things are less stable. With a lot of drama under its belt, the SV community has lost a fair amount of players to permanent bans alongside the usual burnout and boredom, and as such the starters for SV this year still contain some fresh faces. Just 35 of the 57 players listed above (61% approx) have played SV in SPL before, and of those experienced only 10 have 3 or more wins over .500. We even have a few true rookies with 0 sheet games played across all team tours.

What does that mean for the tour? It means spots are open for the taking. 7 of the players above are realistically in play to grab the spot of winningest player in SPL SV. The best differential in the tier is currently Nat with +10, and there are only 16 players total with a +5 or better differential. With solid play and decent luck any single player has the opportunity to put up a good enough record to stand out as a potential SV player in future SPLs.

In terms of pokemon trends, bulky offence has taken over the metagame like in so many other past generations.
Top 5 usage from SCL: (ladder swaps in and for dnite and kyurem)
Best win rates:
Lowest win rates:

Stall is still around, but it hasn't changed much. Newer players may be tested by veterans with this style.
Weather is low but perhaps due for a comeback, with sand rising recently on the ladder.
Counter-HOs like trick room saw significant success this summer, something to watch out for.
And the best part of this years SV OU? Only 11 pokemon likely to appear are missing moving 3d sprites.