Metagame UMPL NFE Discussion Thread + Replays

[sleid]

Hey folks! Welcome to the UMPL NFE Discussion and Replays thread! I thought it would be a cool idea to make a discussion thread for NFE in UMPL, especially since we finally have 2 slots! I will start off by listing each teams starters and support in this post, then use a following post to upload each weeks replays for people to look at! This thread is open for the community to talk about all things related to the NFE players and games participating in this tournament, including predictions, post-game analyses, and general metagame trends. Please make sure to keep discussion friendly and appropriate to the contents of this thread.

NFE Lineups (starters in bold, support and subs in italic)
Doom Desire Jirachis - PandaDoux, Zcarlett, mh
Thunderstorm Titans - sleid, neomon, doom, Celeste, DD Joe, Michael Jordan
Star Plasma Vessels - The Strap, Kingler, MethMaster4546, big tony 2014
Super Sh(a)ymin - 5Dots, TTK
United Kingdras - Horii, Ivar57, THE_CHUNGLER, LustfulLice
Oblivion Ambers - Shing, Mirbro, maybca, Shadow079
Scarlett Combustion - Dragonillis, Nakoruru_XD, lettuce
Mane Remover - vooper, Terracotta, Nashrock, PlayaBeavs

 

[sleid]

REPLAYS

Week 1

Titans vs Rachis
sleid vs PandaDoux
neomon vs Zcarlett

Vessels vs Shaymin
The Strap vs 5Dots
Kingler vs TTK

UK vs Ambers
Horii vs Mirbro
Ivar57 vs Shing

Combust vs Mane
Nakoruru_XD vs vooper
Dragonillis vs Terracotta

 

[Finchely]

68% tink usage and 0% krok usage, evidently I failed to spread the krokaganda

Singular joke aside (not really actually but-), here's the usage statistics for week 1

numbers brainrot

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Tinkatuff          |   11 |  68.75% |  45.45% |
| 2    | Quaxwell           |    9 |  56.25% |  22.22% |
| 3    | Piloswine          |    8 |  50.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Monferno           |    7 |  43.75% |  71.43% |
| 5    | Ivysaur            |    7 |  43.75% |  42.86% |
| 6    | Fletchinder        |    5 |  31.25% |  20.00% |
| 7    | Dunsparce          |    5 |  31.25% |  60.00% |
| 8    | Dusclops           |    5 |  31.25% |  80.00% |
| 9    | Raboot             |    3 |  18.75% |   0.00% |
| 10   | Seadra             |    3 |  18.75% |  66.67% |
| 11   | Drakloak           |    3 |  18.75% |  66.67% |
| 12   | Duosion            |    3 |  18.75% |  33.33% |
| 13   | Thwackey           |    3 |  18.75% |  33.33% |
| 14   | Hattrem            |    3 |  18.75% |  66.67% |
| 15   | Frogadier          |    3 |  18.75% | 100.00% |
| 16   | Eelektrik          |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Koffing            |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Servine            |    2 |  12.50% | 100.00% |
| 19   | Sliggoo-Hisui      |    2 |  12.50% |   0.00% |
| 20   | Girafarig          |    2 |  12.50% |  50.00% |
| 21   | Mareanie           |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 22   | Glimmet            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 23   | Scraggy            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 24   | Fraxure            |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Clefairy           |    1 |   6.25% | 100.00% |
| 26   | Pikachu            |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Stunky             |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |
| 28   | Pignite            |    1 |   6.25% |   0.00% |

Ivysaur had pretty massive usage this week - tied for #4 with Monferno. It's an interesting shift away from Koffing which previously was far more of a metagame staple last I remembered. While Koffing is more specialized at checking the Fire/Fightings and acting as a secondary physical check to take the burden off of Quaxwell (or the few notable cases of seadra), it seems that people are preferring that their bulky poisons be more proactive at forcing progress. Indeed, Ivysaur has a plethora of annoying moves it can click, all of which combined have no singular good switchin to; contrasting with Koffing which can often get stumped by opposing poison types as well as Tinkatuff. Furthermore, Ivysaur also compresses the role of a bulky grass type, which can free up room elsewhere to use other more niche defensive Pokemon that otherwise wouldn't fit, such as Eelektrik (which pairs rather well in theory, by alleviating the team's Ground weakness imposed by using a Ground-neutral grass type). The one thing to keep in mind however, is to build around the lessened ability to handle physical Fire-type wallbreakers. Generally this is something that has been done, by way of pairing Ivysaur with Dusclops - or in one case fletchinder. While Koffing had its own issues, it cannot be said that these new patterns of building are without fault either. If this trend of Ivysaur usage continues as it has this first week, a focal point of development will probably develop around figuring out how best to abuse the new weaknesses introduced by ivysaur cores.

 

[AM]

| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 2 | Quaxwell | 9 | 56.25% | 22.22% |

 

[TTK]

Time to cover these games in chronological order let's go!

United Kingdras vs Oblivion Ambers #1
Horii vs Mirbro
​

So watching this game back for the analysis, it's interesting to see both sides bringing a Hattrem. The hazard game is washing us rn and Hattrem is a decent response thanks to Magic Bounce as its ability. Horii has the memo of a ghost type spinblocker but Mirbro elects to not bring one and both teams aren't spikes stacking. You'll also be very surprised by how much Servine did vs a team that arguably has the most Servine answers slapped onto a team. I think I can say that the playerbase was thinking Servine fell off a cliff but it's on the comeup again, seeing how it won every game it made an appearance in. Taunt seems to be the way around grass answers like Tinkatuff specifically and Servine still possesses good utility in Knock Off, allowing it to continue to be a progress-maker. Now the game itself was pretty standard to me imo but as the game goes on, you start to notice Mirbro doesn't really have the matchup they're looking for. I feel like their team is lacking progress makers even with the probable Band Thwackey (I wasn't running calcs so correct me if I'm wrong) and only one Knock mon in Tinkatuff. I also think Linda (Fletchinder for the zoomers) without Boots is clearly a shitter because if you come in a situation where Quax can't spin, like it did vs Dusclops one point during this game, you're just losing half your HP for no reason and that's what happened to our bird right here and boom, now Mirbro is never getting rid of rocks and eventually Servine cleaned and Taunt just beat two mons that should just hard counter it.

Scarlett Combustion vs Mane Remover #1
Nakoruru_XD vs vooper
​

I told y'all not to sleep on the former TL but no one ever heeds my words... Anyway, vooper loads tspikes into no grounded poison but has Linda for Defog, boots Raboot, and floating eel so it's not the end of the world. I do like Nakoruru's team because Seadra is the GOAT but Linda is so mid imo. Though braindead banded Piloswine from Nakoruru's side applies quite a bit of pressure into a team with no ground immunity. The game is honestly quite a back and forth of momentum, whether that's from Quaxwell's Flip Turn, Seadra's Flip Turn, Linda's U-turn etc and it culminates into a close end-game where vooper is frankly at the mercy of banded Piloswine but a ill timed crit from Quaxwell's Flip Turn bailed him out of losing a mon and in the end, Servine clutches another game with spamming Leaf Storm. Bro is really on a generation run right now.

Doom Desire Jirachis vs Thunderstorm Titans #1
PandaDoux vs sleid
​

One of the most hyped games of the week vs two strong players. Team wise, PD's team catches my attention. Two of the goats in Eelektrik and Fraxure is always nice to see. The latter I feel always gets passed up in the builder but SD is still quite a dangerous set in the lategame when everything is chipped. Switcheroo Frogadier with Life Orb of all items was interesting to see and for a hazard stacking team that's lacking a ghost-type, sleid was never really able to get off the hazards with Quax. Turns out the Fraxure was actually DD and took out a few mons before dying to Monferno's Vacuum Wave. Now the game went pretty south for sleid, who was in a winning position when Fire Blast missed on Ivysaur and then Ivysaur proceeded to 1v1 both of sleid's last mons Quaxwell and Dunsparce. What a tough position to be in that I know too well, you basically won the game but the hax said "no". I think we had good showings from Fraxure and both Monfernos, which was cool

Scarlett Combustion vs Mane Remover #2
Dragonillis vs Terracotta
​

I'll have to admit the Best Cook Awards for Week 1 have to go to the Mane Removers, 2-0 in their slot using formerly washed mon Servine and two first-stage pokemon. Idk if I call this an upset but seeing Dragonillis lose week 1 was not in the cards. I think Terracotta got the ideal matchup with them using hazard stack and of course, Quaxwell is not removing anything vs a Dusclops and Corrosion Glimmet being the standout set. I've always wanted to use it on a more defensive structure because you can just outlast your opponents with the right mons and the fact you see the two poison immune mons die to Toxic damage, that's just amazing. In the end, Bulk Up Scraggy decided to shmix vs Coil Dunsparce and we all know how that one ends. Brilliant prep all around, let us see if Terracotta can continue this performance as the tournament goes on.

Doom Desire Jirachis vs Thunderstorm Titans #2
Zcarlett vs neomon ​

neomon still proving he has the sauce in this format and we finally get our first Linda win, maybe I'm overblowing this mon's midness. In any case, Raboot unfortunately is still proving to be the worst of the fire starters that are usable as it receives its second loss (this will continue later). I just think it can't really do much into a lot of mons on the comeup right now like Linda, Drakloak (needs sucker), and Seadra, as shown perfectly in this game. Seadra stocks are through the roof, its longevity with Rest and its ability to bring in yet another banded Piloswine applies a lot of pressure to Zcarlett's team, who honestly kinda gets folded by this set but that's what happens when your ground immunity is a Tinkatuff. It's hard for me to defend Piloswine in this economy when you need to spam ground immunity + fat mon (Dunsparce/Dusclops) to check it efficiently but it's fine guys trust Piloswine is balanced! Honestly, I don't think either player played all that crazy, it simply came down to team diff in my opinion.

United Kingdras vs Oblivion Ambers #2
Ivar57 vs Shing ​

I did testing with Shing and I faced his squad and Stunky was pissing me off so I was hoping it was gonna put in some work but unfortunately Stunky lost. I think Ivar57 obviously had the more consistent team but Shing losing his Linda to a Thunder Punch para probably didn't help things to be honest. My issue is at least in my perspective, Shing probably needed to use Pignite more to force some progress because the team is very passive outside of Pignite and somewhat Stunky but it's not so easy when Hattrem + Quaxwell can keep Pignite contained. Overall, I don't have much to really add about this game, it was well played bring from Ivar57. Let's see if they can manage to replicate this success this week.

Star Plasma Vessels vs Super Sh(a)ymin #1
Kingler vs TTK ​

If you thought I would go in depth about my own prep, you're absolutely wrong because I'm going to be as vague as possible! I'll say a few things though, like many of the other Duosion users in week 1, we clearly saw some of its innate traits and considered it to be worth using. What I liked about my own team is that I could forgo removal because I have two Magic Guard mons and two boots mons so I'm not really concerned with hazards much, which comes into play a little bit even though I'm not facing spike stack. Also, only Clef user this week and Clef has been struggling for a while let's be honest but seeing how I was using it to good success in SM NFE in NFEPL, even though SV and SM are night and day metas, I still saw the potential. My game was the longest turn-wise, and it was a fun and challenge game for me, the sort of game where every turn mattered.

Star Plasma Vessels vs Super Sh(a)ymin #2
The Strap vs 5Dots ​

5Dots did quite a bit of testing compared to what I did I'll be honest. Not to say I was that confident with my team but I'm a busy guy, I schedule 6/7 games for Sunday so you know my testing time is quite limited. Anyway, first Pikachu appearance of the tour and I think the mon really can do stuff on paper but in practice, it just never really delivers. Its inability to deal with Grass types like Ivysaur really lets it down. But I wouldn't consider that a weird choice in the builder. Rest Talk Tinkatuff is the more interesting choice and not in a good way. Resttalk Dusclops works because at least it has Night Shade so it's not passive into a tier where the average hp stat is like mid 60s. Tinkatuff's main attacking move is a non-STAB option coming off of 55atk uninvested. It's more passive than a mon that has been known to be passive since 2002. Like a mon you could arguably debilitate like Girafarig, you're just asleep so you cannot do anything to anyone. Like PD said in his predicts, very weird option to bring. I liked Band Raboot because you can actually deal with Quaxwell via HJK and seeing how 5Dots' team lacked a solid fire resist, surely it could cook but the dreaded tspike into a team with no grounded poison... Disaster struck. It was only a matter of time before poison + Blitz recoil just sent Raboot to the graveyard and even in its best mu yet this week, it failed to bring home a win.

 

[TTK]

Week 2

Thunderstorm Titans vs Star Plasma Vessels #1
neomon vs Kingler
​

First game of the week and cook of the week has to go to Kingler. Taunt Swords Dance Fraxure really was quite strong into neomon's bulkier structure. Fraxure is one of the strongest setup sweepers in the tier and being able to Taunt the Haze mon and the mon that will burn you is very good and by turn 7, two of neomon's members are just dead thanks to the dragon. Kingler then proceeds to set up Reflect and Light Screen on Glimmet and Drakloak respectively and basically just overwhelmed neomon with the rest of the setup sweepers, which include Nasty Plot Girafaring and Swords Dance Thwackey and Monferno. This game highlighted that bulkier teams can be overwhelmed by straight offence if the right mons are in the equation.

Thunderstorm Titans vs Star Plasma Vessels #2
sleid vs The Strap ​

I don't think anyone wanted the timeline of 0-2 sleid but that's the reality we're living in right now. Strap managed to bring respect back on Stunky's name after Shing could not get the win with it in week 1. The game came out to a very fun start when Strap just sacks his Frog turn 1 to Drakloak for some reason... The game goes on as intended and Stunky with Taunt + Temper Flare 1v1s Tinkatuff and makes great progress knocking off Monferno's Eviolite. Unfortunately, the hax cannot let go of sleid as Piloswine, who ended up being faster than Pignite for some reason missed the 95% accurate High Horsepower and almost dies in the process. The rest of the game pretty much goes downhill from there, Stunky kills knocked Quaxwell, sleid is forced to sack Ivysaur against a Pignite that should've been dead and Piloswine just doesn't have enough HP to stick around. #PrayForSleid

Mane Remover vs Doom Desire Jirachis #1
Terracotta vs PandaDoux ​

This game wasn't as flashy as the previous two, both bring relatively safe teams with lesser mons like Eelektrik and Krokorok on Terracotta's side. Hard to do by-the-by commentary for this one unless I want to go over every turn but by turn 36, Terracotta is down two mons and PD has only lost his Seadra to Krokorok but Terracotta is certainly at a disadvantage, their team just can't really break Linda + Sliggoo-H and even Piloswine. Linda is doing a lot of work in the current meta as we forcibly like to slot it onto teams just for some respite from hazards but hardwalling Raboot is beneficial for this game. Terracotta's game is frankly quite passive and lacks any immediate breaking power outside of Krokorok and Raboot. Taunt Knock EQ certainly would annoy a bulkier team like neomon brought, but PD's team is more balanced and with mons that aren't necessarily screwed over if Taunt is clicked. But yeah, the game ends how it was expected, Terracotta just can't get past Linda and Drakloak can pressure Quax with Twave + Hex.

Oblivion Ambers vs Scarlett Combustion #1
Shing vs Nakoruru_XD
​

I managed to watch this game live and I had some thoughts about the game state when live so watching it back is useful for the paragraph I'm about to write. Shing is very greedy with relying on Linda as his only removal option. Pretty much every Linda team has a Quaxwell because if you get knocked (which you will seeing how the mons you check can just click it against you), if Linda dies, you're in for a rough time vs hazard stack but Nakoruru elects not to bring hazard stack so Shing gets away scot free. A few turns in and Rocks have already gotten up on both sides but Quaxwell cannot spin vs Dusclops (surprise surprise) and the greatest 1v1 of the century occurs between the two which Dusclops is always gonna win so once it's below 50% HP, Quax flips into Linda but Linda does not Defog but instead U-turns on Dusclops resting into Banded Pignite? Ngl I would've just fogged then U-turned next turn but anyway. Pignite does lock into CC at one point so you know what that means.. One turn that irks me is that it's Frog vs Thwackey on turn 23 and obviously Frog is swapping out, realistically Linda is the only switch in but you U-turn into burn. Now obviously thats unlucky but Knocking would've gotten so much more mileage, again that's Shing's only removal and having permarocks up after Linda dies would've been good but Nakoruru can still keep momentum because Quax always flips on Dusclops. Now turn 45 to about turn 49 just left me feeling confused watching it back today. First, you literally could just Quaxwell on Frog and either roost like you do 3 turns later or just spin, it's always going to get poisoned if Linda can't come in but Thwackey takes an unnecessary Ice Beam. But yet again, I think it's another situation where Nakoruru can't break past Shing's last mons because Raboot is hardwalled by Linda

Oblivion Ambers vs Scarlett Combustion #2
Mirbro vs Dragonillis
​

A shame Mirbro couldn't pick up the W because this team when I faced it in a test was geniunely annoying and I thought there was no way out for me, that was a very long game btw (100+ turns). Note the first mon of Mirbro died at turn 76 so there really wasn't much I can say about the previous 75 turns. In any case, Marill dying to Pignite and having a knocked Dusclops is not a good sign for Mirbro. This is genuinely the third game I've talked about for this week where Raboot doesn't do anything because Linda is there to stop it, we might need to run Smack Down or something (ik Cinderace gets that). Eventually, Seadra takes down Hattrem, Glimmet, and Raboot. THAT'S MY GOAT SEADRA

Super Sh(a)ymin vs United Kingdras #1
TTK vs Ivar57
​

I'm annoyed with how this game went for me but I am aware of what went wrong. Rapid Spin is not droppable on Quaxwell and this game showed it, especially when there wasn't any ghost. I also have to say Tinkatuff outrunning my invested Quaxwell was something I expected but I suppose I should just assume more likely than not, my Quaxwell is always going to be slower. Vullaby is something I believe can genuinely work. It's on the passive side quite a bit and you're lacking moveslots (Brave Bird would be nice) but the rise in Ghost usage and it's still a knock spammer that can keep mons like Thwackey in check. I've already analysed my play and build on the Discord and it's not like I played egregiously (I got 6-0d but that doesn't tell the full story) but ye, main issue is just no Spin on Quaxwell because banded Piloswine had many opportunities come in and click buttons into a team with no ground immune it's just rocks applied too much pressure to my sole removal option and the team was Raboot weak. Shame too, cuz I had this team in testing quite a bit but the most obvious flaw was something I elected to do intentionally. Swords Dancing on the Koffing turn 28 was 100% the play, I force 1 kill, still have Vullaby sack for Thwackey and can get my Quax healthy again and my Ivysaur can check Thwackey.

Super Sh(a)ymin vs United Kingdras #2
5Dots vs Horii
​

Horii always has to bring the sets no one was expecting. We all thought 5Dots has this in the bag but boom, SD Linda came out of hiding and it cleaned in the end game. Though before that even happened, it was a pretty even game. 5Dots lost Servine early and Quaxwell was gone too thanks to Glimmet and the sadness began when Scraggy missed HJK on Tinkatuff turn 26. We needed Scraggy's HP. It was good when we had Dusclops Healing Wished because now at full HP it can just wisp Banded Piloswine. idk if I can say it's a hindsight thing or not but I don't think sacking Glimmet was the play. Even if we didn't see SD on Linda coming, surely you still need Glimmet more than Krokorok imo. Though at the end of the day, Linda still kinda uses Dusclops as setup fodder but you'll force a roost one point or another then go hard Glimmet.

Mane Remover vs Doom Desire Jirachis #2
vooper vs Zcarlett ​

I like both teams here and yet again, Seadra picks up a win. A LOT of these games are lasting almost 100 turns. We do see another Banded Piloswine from vooper's side, which was kept in check by Seadra to an extent and it was a close game all things considered. Drakloak continues to be annoying with its spamming of Night Shade which does consistent damage.

Fun week, fun games. Shoutout Nakoruru_XD for being the only one not to bring a grounded poison. Great sign of how building is going right now in this metagame!

 

[TTK]

Week 3 (Working from home today so I can finally get around to doing this)

Doom Desire Jirachis vs Star Plasma Vessels #1
PandaDoux vs Kingler ​

Interesting teams from both sides, can't complain about Eelektrik usage but PD's first loss of the tour, part of me thinks Kingler could go undefeated if I didn't win in week 1, but look at where I am now. Anyway! Monferno had a good start in the early game applying the pressure with Knock Off and killing Stunky but now that PD lost his grounded poison, Tspikes are gonna be a pain in the ass as Kingler is prepared to just sack Glimmet on the Thwackey switchin. We see the Specs Drakloak on Kingler's side as well, definitely one of my favourite sets to run on the guy and in this scenario, PD is screwed thanks to Tspikes limiting Fraxure, which easily could've won this game imo. But by turn 20, the game is pretty much a wrap but PD almost brought it back because all he needed was a 25% pull on paralysis. I must say Moxie Scraggy is very greedy, imagine if Wisp Drakloak came..

Scarlett Combustion vs Super Sh(a)ymin #1
Nakoruru_XD vs TTK ​

I probably have to mention that this isn't a metagame thread post, so I'm not going to air any of my grievances out about the tier in its current position. All I can say is "Banded Piloswine yipee!!" But in any case, I wanted to bring Hisuian Growlithe but I think it was a particular oversight on my end to not bring a more offensive squad vs a player that leans more in the offensive direction rather than the contrary because against slower teams, Growlithe is in its prime. I must admit, Hisuian Voltorb is very annoying and a rise in Electric offence when Linda + Quaxwell are so common now can just enable a mon like Banded Piloswine to do its thing, despite the fact that half my team can theoretically check and I say "theoretically" because without Dusclops realistically, it's a tad bit shaky. I think I played the game to the best of my ability, though ik a Head Smash land on turn 13 would've put me in a great spot since it was SpDef Dunsparce and I was gonna 2HKO and I wouldn't have to worry about hazards. The Voltorb would still be annoying sure but who's gonna complain about having one less mon to deal with. Also sacking Quaxwell on Surf wasn't necessarily a missplay, it's hard to tell what attacks it's gonna be and I guessed I just rolled incorrectly since I was considering Flip Turn + Triple Axel instead of Surf + Flip Turn. I was satisfied with Dunsparce's performance too, if I didn't have to waste Roosts from dealing with Piloswine, I could've ended up winning via Toxic stall. Bro also just has other crazy sets and in the current landscape, I think Dunsparce should be used more. Zpice will be taking up my mantle while I proceed to untilt/recalibrate. Maybe I'll be back next week, who knows? I still want to build successful teams in this metagame but it's just frankly annoying tbh.

United Kingdras vs Thunderstorm Titans #1
Ivar57 vs doom ​

neomon has seemed to be benched for this week, he's off to an alright start of 1-1 but perhaps he was unavailable so doom has been released from the treacherous bench. Both teams are as standard as standard can be but Grimer-A has decided to pull up to its first game of the tour. Shit really peaked in SM and did nothing afterwards but I have to admit, I've considered this guy in the builder multiple times and even brought him in seasonal so the cook potential is there. Thief Fletchinder was a very interesting tech which kinda didn't work out too well because the Sliggoo was 100% Specs if you just saw the damage it did vs Grimer and now Linda has like the worst item it could ever ask for. I was also very surprised when Ivar57 sacked his Ivysaur vs Linda when Quaxwell or even Dunsparce were free switchins. Ivar57 fights back with his Banded Piloswine dealing with a paralysed Quaxwell and Dunsparce deals with Grimer. Honestly, this is the second game where I'm starting to believe Triple Axel Quaxwell is just kinda dooky. Surf to deal reliably with Piloswine should be the objective rn. But unfortunately, by turn 30, I think the game is just over since Girafarig cannot deal with Quax + Dunsparce. Fun game from both, Ivar57 overloading with choiced wallbreakers and arguably the most annoying ones to switch into in this tier, it just ended up making more process vs doom than vice versa.

United Kingdras vs Thunderstorm Titans #2
Horii vs sleid ​

Surprised it only took 4 games to see Dusclops this week but it seems like it was enough for sleid since he got his first win finally, the fight back allegations have finally subsided. Also haven't seen Wartortle in a hot sec, you would think one of the scariest setup sweepers in the tier would be used more but it's not an easy mon to just win with, it requires ideal positioning most of the time. I like Taunt Rocks Krokorok on sleid's side, keeps the rocks up for himself. We see a solid duration of Krokorok vs Tinkatuff action, with the burned Krok losing that 1v1. We do see a fast asf Wartortle which was able to outspeed defensive Linda and kill it with Surf, keeping rocks up for the rest of the game on Horii's side. sleid also keeps keeping up momentum by going Thwackey on Seadra every time, and Horii is running out of LO Wood Hammer switchins so Tinkatuff had to be sacrificed for the cause. Now I have no idea if Dusclops won a speed tie vs Grimer or had like 4speed but it obviously worked well v well for sleid so he didn't lose his Eviolite and in this position, he's in a winning spot by turn 28. The final stage of the game is taking advantage of Seadra rest turns to reveal a sub Shell Smash Wartortle which thanks to Torrent boosting Surf, just OHKOs Seadra from 88 and deals with Drakloak.

Scarlett Combustion vs Super Sh(a)ymin #2
Dragonillis vs 5Dots ​

5Dots managed to not make our NFE slots go 0-2 again idk how he does it bu9t obviously, I believe 5Dots can win every game he plays. I think our team was already behind asf so Chinchou had to brought out of hiding for the first time this generation. Do I know what Chinchou is capable of? Kinda? But it's aura to bring a "shitter" like it anyway so all good with me! They also agreed for no Toxic Spikes or a Tinkatuff in their game if you see the custom rules in the replay. I wonder what that suggests perhaps hmmmmmm. It's just a theory, a game theory.... Anyway, Dragon brings some semi-stall ass looking shit so I know watching this replay back is gonna be a pain. Normal Gem Stantler is also some tweaker shit but I have to respect the cook. Nothing has been declared cook of the week though but so far, 5Dots is in the lead out of all of the games so far.

Mane Remover vs Oblivion Ambers #1
Nashrock vs Mirbro ​

Mane Removers decided to place Nashrock in this week and unfortunately, Mirbro has experienced his third loss so far in this tour. Shame really, in testing, the teams feel solid but you never know NFE is gonna go these days honestly. No idea if Nashrock is building themselves but whatever source their team came from, just looks like a "safe" sort of team you know? Up the eel usage! Glimmet was dealt with turn 1 by the random High Horsepower. I won't say it's particularly random but ig if you want to hit opposing Pignite or other fires for more damage than CC then fair but idt I would've even expected that. Rocks + Spikes vs Quaxwell removal only team would've gone CRAZY. One play I don't get is Mirbro sacking his Drakloak to the banded Pignite. Now I'm never running calcs when watching these games but 56% to non Eviolite Hattrem certainly is choiced, especially when you have two fighting mons in the back and one is a 4x resist. Mirbro did have a chance of winning with a DD Scraggy but a paralysis from Eelektrik's Discharge and full paras killed the hopes and dreams of many. Now it didn't reveal whether it was Moxie or Shed Skin but I had a feeling it was Moxie. Don't greed with Moxie kids, too much status flying around just for an extra atk boost.

Mane Remover vs Oblivion Ambers #2
Terracotta vs Shing ​

I don't particularly have anything to say regarding the team compositions so let's just point things out about the game itself. Dunsparce experiences some early game full paras but Shing trades that back for Knocking off Hattrem with Ivysaur. Dunsparce is still unable to heal itself due to para but Quax is able to spin as Drain Punch Pignite is revealed. Shing is finally able to Roost with Dunsparce but what I was confused about is why Krokorok swapped out of Monferno. Like Terracotta had the freest Knock of all time on turn 22 and going Quaxwell just was weird ig? I can see they were expecting maybe a Piloswine switchin or Quax but even then, smth is gonna lose its Eviolite if you click Knock and you could've killed Dunsparce. Especially when you go Krok again 2 turns later and end up knocking Dunsparce anyway. In any case, Shing gets in you guessed, a banded Piloswine who ends up beating up an Eviolite-less Quaxwell. Shing now does have to respect a Bulk Up Pignite in the face of an Ivysaur but he still has an Eviolite Quaxwell in the back at a decent amount of HP. The early poison from Sludge Bomb really messed up Terracotta's sweep but I think Quaxwell had it anyway since Surf was gonna do 10 million. But yet again, Piloswine is in and forces a kill on the Tinkatuff. Specs Sliggoo-H reappears again and at this point in the game around turn 45, all Shing has to do is pivot in the breakers and just click buttons. I don't want to say that was just a banded Pilo game because Sliggoo-H did just as much but honestly, I feel like teams aren't sturdy enough to handle both of them simultaneously, especially when you can just spam Knock on Ivysaur and Monferno. 4 out of 6 members lost their items via Knock Off and that's just how it seems to go right now.

 

[TTK]

Week 4

Star Plasma Vessels vs United Kingdras #1
Kingler vs Horii ​

So Kingler decides to bring a frog spikestack team this week and Horii brings what you would expect as just a standard team but looks can be deceiving, as we'll later on. Krokorok got burned by Dusclops but manages to remove its Eviolite as well as Quaxwell's. Horii does managed to catch up Kingler a few times, especially on Turn 13 where he attempts to Roost but Horii just taunted which Kingler should've expected and even he acknowledges this in chat. By turn 16, the defensive pieces on Kingler's team are just incredibly chipped, though Dusclops could potentially Rest on a Monferno SD or Pignite lives a hit and revenge kills back, which Kingler intends to do after sacking Tinkatuff. Drakloak and Ivysaur proceed to 1v1 each other for a little bit before Horii's Ivysaur comes in to click Sunny Day of all things and proceeds to sweep. Not something I was expecting whatsoever but as a late-game wincon, this seems to have done its job incredibly.

Thunderstorm Titans vs Scarlett Combustion #1
neomon vs Nakoruru_XD ​

idk if I'm the only one that finds it crazy that Nakoruru and Horii almost have the same 6? Building is in an interesting spot right now, not that I'm a particular fan at this current moment in time. In any case, neomon is back after doom subbed in last week and unfortunately lost to Ivar57. Nakoruru had some early momentum with Monferno knocking Koffing's Eviolite and managing to chip it down with Ivysaur's Leech Seed but the momentum shifts once neomon is able to get Raboot in freely on Ivysaur. But the turns starting from turn 11 to turn `5 are probably one of the funniest interactions I've seen in this metagame. Tinkatuffs at war stealing the Eviolite from one another like hot potato. Though once neomon got the Eviolite, he swapped into Koffing and Pain Splitted some HP back. After Nakoruru's Tinkatuff eventually dies, his Monferno is revealed to be Choice Band as it did 41% to Quaxwell which is insane and that's going to put in a lot of work this game seeing how Koffing is Evioliteless and Thwackey is pressured by Monferno. Not if Duosion has anything to say about it, it takes CC quite comfortably. neomon makes a great double into Thwackey, realising Krokorok was coming in on Turn 26 and it seems like every Thwackey is just LO these days. Certainly better than Banded rn due to the ability to swap moves and you can go SD. Once again, neomon is keeping momentum by doubling in Thwackey on Krokorok (Turn 33) which allows neomon to deal with Ivysaur with U-turn. Though Krokorok reveals Moxie which I should've noticed since there's no Intimidate and neomon decides to sack Quaxwell to Monferno. The Duosion that was able to take Monferno CC seemed like dead weight until Calm Mind came out with Acid Armor but being mono Psyshock means Krok always wins. Now it's Monferno's turn to be sacked and Thwackey should be in a prime position to win but again, that's not the case. Since neomon keeps letting Duosion in, Krok gets a free switch every time, especially when you are not winning the 1v1. After quite a few turns of PP stalling, which was futile in the long run, Nakoruru makes a pretty good play on Turn 73 by going Drakloak because he knows Duosion is never clicking Psyshock though at that point, hindsight is 20 20 but you might as well had clicked the damaging move because there's no difference between Psyshock and clicking CM/Acid Armor and it covers the play that I think won Nakoruru the game, though Quaxwell was at 88% and Wood Hammer would've killed Thwackey itself.

Super Sh(a)ymin vs Mane Remover #1
5Dots vs Nashrock ​

THE GOAT 5DOTS back with some funny stuff aka Murkrow, the mon is lowkey shiest and I've always wanted to use it. I genuinely cannot recall the last time I saw Gabite, Strap used in Week 2 but none were used in Week 3. Seems like Fraxure is the Dragon of choice these days and Krokorok has replaced Gabite as the Ground Rocker due to Intimidate + Taunt + Knock Off. 5Dots lets Wart rip very very early into the game into just thudding into Ivysaur. But Nashrock subbing on a mon known to have Encore is a choice of all time. I would've just EQ'd for chip, even with Gterrain up it's a 2HKO. proceeds to glaze 5Dots section BUT 5DOTS THE GOAT DID THE SAME THING SUBBING ON A MON WITH ENCORE BUT TWAVE WAS CLICKED INSTEAD HOW DOES HE DO IT??? Gabite unfortunately gets sacked for the cause but I think Wart was probably better no? Ice Beam breaks the sub while Frax is locked into Stomping and idt Stomping would do that much? It's 75BP non-STAB on a mon with base 80def + Eviolite. So Ivysaur is the next to fall to Fraxure via Outrage and since Tink is at 6%, it can't even block the Outrage so yeah, good luck. Quaxwell takes it quite well enough to Roost on Outrage confusion and Nashrock takes the opportunity to Spin while 5Dots takes the opportunity to bring in the mon that beats Quaxwell. Big crit on turn 16 on Pignite but Scarf Pignite ftw. idk if 5Dots calced the damage or not but even if you realise it's not Eviolite, no one is expecting Scarf. Tinkatuff finally dies and Fraxure is yet again free to click Outrage. But 5Dots took the risk of no Axel (seems like no one is Axel anymore), DD again and deals with Quaxwell. Did Fraxure actually kill every mon on Nashrock's team?

Doom Desire Jirachis vs Oblivion Ambers #1
PandaDoux vs Shing
vs ()
() vs
vs ()​

I'll be so honest guys, I'm not going in-depth with bo3 sets. I already have to look into 8 games and this week is 12, it's just not happening sorry to disappoint. I'll mention some things about each game but that's all I'm doing. Game 1 went quicker than anticipated. Shing really does love using Sliggoo-H, especially against a Tinka-less team, Draco Meteor is gonna get spammed to high heavens but there's also no switch to Flash Cannon so that's just as spammable. Game 2 PD brings what I'm assuming to be Morgrem screens with setup mons while Shing brings Webs, you forget sometimes that this tier can run team structures like this from time to time. Another fast asf game where Scraggy just beats up Shing's team since Scraggy does just beat mons like Dusclops, Sliggoo-H, and Dunsparce. Finally game 3, PD decides to bring the same team again but it seems like I was wrong about Screens Morgrem, it's actually screens Drakloak. Scraggy is in prime position to sweep yet again as it takes out Eelektrik behind both screens but Koffing the MVP manages to 1v1 it since Knock can only do so much and HJK is resisted. Now Turn 16 of g3 is why I stopped running Nasty Plot Monferno because when you need to click Focus Miss, it Focus misses. 3 Focus Blast misses, I would've just ff'd personally but there's only so much you can do about RNG.

Super Sh(a)ymin vs Mane Remover #2
Zpice vs Terracotta ​

Stantler is definitely one of the most underrated pokemon in the metagame and when it does end up coming, it seems to be picking up wins. Now, I'll admit I certainly could've helped a bit more and I must apologise to my team but I'm not currently deriving any enjoyment from building in this metagame. My motivation was high for the first 3 weeks but it just kept going down. Back to the game at hand, fast Quilladin to kill the Banded Piloswine is some scary shit and no doubt Piloswine would've just cooked because that's what it always does but the trade was worth it for Terracotta. This is the issue that I'm finding right now as I'm watching this game, Raboot is easily checked if mons like Mareanie, Drakloak and potentially Linda come to the table and outside of that, Zpice's team is very passive outside of the Banded Pilo. Like the moment it died, my first thought was "Well we ain't breaking shit anymore." It's the sort of skew in matchup that is probably the reason why fast Quilladin even exists on this team because Banded Pilo will just 6-0. In the end, Sub CM Stantler (which is a gas set btw) just ends up winning.

Star Plasma Vessels vs United Kingdras #2
The Strap vs Ivar57 ​

6-0ing Strap in 15 turns I wonder how this happened? There's only so much I can cover for 15 turns but let's give it a try. So Stunky knocks Dunsparce's Eviolite and gets the paralysis. Dunsparce Thiefs the switchin, which best case scenario, came out the Ghost type and tbf, stealing a Specs is not the best item you could ask for but so be it. Once Stunky died, and Glimmet took a hit from Raboot, the dreaded Tspike struck and when the world needed removal the most (Quaxwell), he vanished aka Drakloak is a free switch every time.

Thunderstorm Titans vs Scarlett Combustion #2
sleid vs Dragonillis ​

sleid is really on his comeback and getting a win from Dragonillis is a big one, finally breaking even with the record. And he did it with Lampent of all mons (it was here for just vibes). Dragon is off to a good start, dealing with Glimmet by turn 5 and making sure Scraggy doesn't start sweeping yet but it always happens eventually... We see the screens from Morgrem and nice Taunt before it dies. Fraxure gets in with SD but Mud Shot halving its speed over two turns certainly stops the snowball for only a little while. Drakloak revenge kills and guess who's behind screens again? Scraggy. It manages to survive Linda's Brave Bird and it manages to 1v1 Wart and Tinkatuff thanks to Taunt and ye, Scraggy wins another game. Mon is crazy rn

Doom Desire Jirachis vs Oblivion Ambers #2
Zcarlett vs maybca
vs ()
() vs
() vs ​

No idea what to make of this Bo3, unmon testing centre or something. Why do I see a Mudbray and Floette on my screen? Mienfoo might have some potential.. Is this "cook of the week" worthy? Curse Mudbray certainly has to be "cook of the week", it was going toe to toe with Dunsparce of all mons. Servine somehow dealt with 5 mons but when you're at +6 spatk, anything is possible and Monferno low rolled Flare Blitz. G2 seems like Floette loaded into the wrong MU seeing how it did nothing in the long run thanks to AGrimer. Can't really see the vision with Floette, it can beat poisons with CM thanks to Psychic but the poison types that are psychic immune? Good luck. Game 3 the deciding game, you would think maybca doesn't want to win because there's a Hippopotas but if Mudbray can work, Hippo can work amirite? maybca is just lacking momentum all game seeing how Krok was putting in overtime by just spamming Knock Off. I don't want to say the team was bad, but the team wasn't good. No removal is probably the biggest thing here and like the team is just hella passive.

Hope I will continue to feel like writing these up as the tour goes on.

 

[Shing]

tl;dr shouldn't have played umpl because I opted to reuse teams, and I didn't really have much time for theorymonning. First time getting to playoffs with NFE as a whole is nice for my first UMPL, but my performance and builds overall are a disappointment to my standards in NFE, even if it's on the tiers I dislike.


- Originally had Gunk Shot > Temper Flare, .
Stunky is very underrated and should be pushed more, but the team can be optimized, and I played the game awfully. Still didn't get why I went Gunk Shot and why he literally threw his CB Piloswine so early, because if I knocked there, Ivar would have struggled to pressure Quaxwell in the long term. IMO, Stunky sets should at least have their speed be higher than 242, and everything else can be customized to your liking.

Stunky @ Eviolite
Ability: Aftermath
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Taunt
- Temper Flare / Gunk Shot
- Toxic Spikes / Sucker Punch / Gunk Shot


Fished af Nakoruru because he brought too much pivot slop, so I fished with the anti-pivot core on the last three mons, and wanted to try T-spikes since I saw 5dots get mileage out of it. The biggest controversy was Roar > Icicle Crash, which was because I knew I had insane opportunities to grime him out with Roar Piloswine against his spam on Defog Fletch / Spin Quaxwell, which was v weird to play around bc that core actually was very effective against Dusclops + Koffing, specifically lol. I think Nako was the better player, but since I got some key opportunities and he made major mistakes at the end which let me get a secured win at the end.

Vs Terracotta, I was too busy with school and struggled to theorize any ideas vs him, so I asked Ivar to get his team and won from there. Maybe I'll get a more enjoyable game vs Terra next time. Otherwise, this is probably the point where I became more negative and uninterested in NFE in UMPL.


Really wanted to try pivoting spam. I think that archetype is really weak because pivots mons themself have a problem maneuvering around vs Dusclops, Dunsparce, and Fletchinder team, which is why I rarely brought these type of teams. Either way, I really liked this team by the sole fact it has Scarf Piloswine, which is actually a set I believe has viable uses. Since ground immunities are pretty dogshit even vs the normal set, and I think fletchinder can be exploited like hell, Fast Piloswine should hypothetically sweep teams that is overwhelmed by ground spam, especially when it relies on speed to counteract against Piloswine. Obviously, the big 3 make this set a niche these days, but Scarf Piloswine showcases a side where it can actually overwhelm and counteract against frail offense.


Kinda auto-piloted here into letting Scraggy sweep on my team lmao. The MU was tough to begin with bc since the only way to stop Scraggy was by relying on Charjabug's Lunge, but otherwise the team is cool in concept since I think Webs had exploration as I came to build a lot more of it at the near end of UMPL.

Got bailed af by Monferno missing Focus Blasts, which could have been avoided if I committed to Draco the damn Monferno zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Otherwise, the team can work, but def a bit of a struggle vs like Thwackey IMO.


Team is pretty flawed by the lack of Serv and Wart coverage, but I let Sificon roll me like that. Will point out that Sifi should have won this game by t30 and I don't get why he switched out there... Either way, probably the worst match I had performance-wise in UMPL.

Reused the NFEPL final team I either built or made adjustments for Stareal vs Sleid. Will say I made more adjustments to make mons like Ivysaur 210, because we all love speed creeping on Pignite because either you let it rock on you, or you make it nearly unusable by speed creeping it lol. Obviously not happy I had to reuse once again, but irl was my bigger priority, so I couldn't care less tbh.


Horii gave me a disappointed look bc after this match, he dm'd me that he didn't like my team, which is very fair because I built with no testing and tried to omega cook, but then Flow just got cooked by Hattrem, and I got owned lmao. Still though, I think with some minor adjustments like a smth the paste below, I could have a better time and make a legitimate good team since the concept interested me af.





Changed the glimmet set rlly, but it does make a significant change even if it's worse vs Ivysaur. While the second team is designed more vs Scraggy in exchange for weaker MU vs Piloswine.

Since I'm gonna clean up NFE from my teambuilder, I'll post the teams I built as alternatives and ones I made in UMPL Finals/After UMPL, and some before UMPL. You could thank Zcarlett and Plague for dragging me back for SV NFE, and since I'm in SS Council, I can't leave NFE Discord(well, I'll do it when I know it's not that mandatory or I really want to drop out of SS Council lol) thanks to Pandadoux. SV NFE is still a trash meta, but the community is very awesome, and I applaud them for keeping it alive. With that said, back to school and ignoring the tier, until someone new I met asks me about NFE again, somehow.

https://pokepast.es/268182d2adfc3cf1 - v.1.2
https://pokepast.es/f64daca3eff3c476 - v1.1
https://pokepast.es/fb595c2a1ae7224e - v1






- Roar cheese F-Sight to fish F-sight on Servine checks lol. Can be explored more btw and serv can easily just be sub/knock, taunt, and synthesis tbh.

https://pokepast.es/d67a72d4a11bb85e - Charjaloak v2
https://pokepast.es/b4a48cbf5af7808a - Charjaloak v1
https://pokepast.es/b9cf6932b496aa93 - CharjaClops



Note: That Thwackey is Light Ball.

Right here is when I built the teams at the near end of UMPL.​

https://pokepast.es/258b1cad77b2171b - Tinkasix
https://pokepast.es/34b4f496f4434b36 - ServDun.

https://pokepast.es/61a30e55ba31a414 - Scarfvine + CM Dunsparce
https://pokepast.es/a1b1d119fe312fcb - U-turn fletch + Boot + Scarf Serv
https://pokepast.es/1dcae4cc93527d8f - Scarfvine + SD Fletchinder


Scarf cutiefly + Setup spam(and double rest-talk lmao)

Hazard stack w Wish Clef support and SD Defog fletch and Scarf Serv.

https://pokepast.es/65ee758f00aa5493 - Triple Rest talk w Scarf Monf and Bulky Serv
https://pokepast.es/371f7501361efee4 - Same as above, but Scarf Girafarig and boots sub hakamo.


Webs-Spikes balance, not OFFENSE.

https://pokepast.es/5e82165cb814e53c - v2
https://pokepast.es/2f32d7dde2cb0f5b - v1

https://pokepast.es/1e90da227e603494 - Light ball Thwack + Wish balance ft Piloswine
https://pokepast.es/47b150b36308e364 - Light ball Thwack + Wish balance ft Gabite

https://pokepast.es/e855858e4e6b56e7 - Wish Spam Setup v2
https://pokepast.es/aff7bef704a1d9ce - Wish Spam Setup v1
https://pokepast.es/4f3bc206a77b17f8 - actually not all or nothing lul
https://pokepast.es/6d68b429a5413232 - Weird triple setup bulky balance or offense idk lmao



- Actually setup spam towards more offensive lol.


- Ass but fun

https://pokepast.es/1198e5f44f988ffc - w Dunsparce
https://pokepast.es/1ff2ba4f27c7db85 - w Girafarig