Tournament UPL XII - Week One

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Maia

Maia

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  • Follow all rules listed here.​
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>>Spreadsheet<<
Courtesy of the wonderful Nyx
>>Replays and Usage<<
>>Commencement<<

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Dangerous Dracovish (6) vs (6) Eternal Voyagers
SV Ubers: Shuwri vs Mashing
SV Ubers: zuzhouwawa vs Kate
SV Ubers: myjava vs elodin
SS Ubers: Icemaster vs lotiasite
USUM Ubers: Rhmsitb vs Tenebricite
ORAS Ubers: keys vs Lasen
BW Ubers: Evuelf vs Hack
DPP Ubers: susciety vs robjr
ADV Ubers: Heysup vs temp
GSC Ubers: Enigami vs BigFatMantis
RBY Ubers: YBW vs Unowndragon
Multigen Bo3: baconeatinassassin vs pdt

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vs
Devastating-Dialgas-2.png

Manly Melmetals (5) vs (7) Devastating Dialgas
SV Ubers: 7u9i2 vs Yellow Armchair
SV Ubers: fade vs RichardMillePlain
SV Ubers: emoxu9 vs LouisIX
SS Ubers: Beraldo vs QWILY
USUM Ubers: Gondra vs Master Chief
ORAS Ubers: skimmythegod vs freezai
BW Ubers: The Dovahneer vs Monai
DPP Ubers: Piyu vs shrang
ADV Ubers: 64 Squares vs MMII
GSC Ubers: vani vs cyberacc
RBY Ubers: NotVeryCake vs King Billu
Multigen Bo3: lax vs entrocefalo

Defiant_Durians-1.png
vs
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Defiant Durians (6) vs (6) DaReal Drizzlers
SV Ubers: Frozoid vs Taka
SV Ubers: bbeeaa vs Skyiew
SV Ubers: TPP vs Geomancy
SS Ubers: SiTuM vs Manaphy
USUM Ubers: March Fires vs Zesty43
ORAS Ubers: Royal1604 vs Hoopas Dad
BW Ubers: LpZ vs Blim
DPP Ubers: Staxi vs Inspirited
ADV Ubers: Fogbound Lake vs Raph369
GSC Ubers: crying vs Conflict
RBY Ubers: BlazingDark vs Farce Of The Death
Multigen Bo3: Larry vs Ainzcrad

choice-bandits-png.png
vs
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Choice Bandits (5) vs (7) Void Villains
SV Ubers: Frito vs SoulWind
SV Ubers: Nyx vs JJ09LIE
SV Ubers: Lana vs tier
SS Ubers: Aberforth vs Fc
USUM Ubers: The Strap vs Paycard
ORAS Ubers: Cam vs Ayu
BW Ubers: Kebabe vs Li Xiao Long
DPP Ubers: Dave vs London Beats
ADV Ubers: Vileman vs Mako
GSC Ubers: Rubyblood vs spell
RBY Ubers: Ctown6 vs Torchic
Multigen Bo3: Trade vs Gtcha

The deadline for this round is Sunday, June 9th at 11:59 PM GMT-4.​
 
Instead of predicts, which will be done by Waruchuu and the fellow community gang. I'll post some HL MUs not in the sense of the best versus the best, but moreso in terms of how interesting the storylines are to me.

~:dracovish:Bo3:eternatus:~

baconeatinassassin vs pdt​
These two have faced off in many iterations of AG. Moreover, both of them have found success in tiers outside of Ubers. It's simple enough to say that these two are good players in their own right, but it will definitely be an interesting slot to watch out for. With, specifically, Kate's support, pdt will likely put in a lot of effort to try to bring the Voyagers to the playoffs. Despite his overall good showing in SS related tiers, it will be interesting to watch pdt play SV after his showing from last year's UPL. Bacon, on the other hand, has just come off an amazing run in ULT, and a solid SS showing in UWC. If there's any tier that will dictate the flow of the series, it will definitely be SS, and it will 100% be a wild game.
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~:marshadow:SS:darkrai:~

Aberforth vs Fc ​
There's not much to say about this series that hasn't already been said. Aberforth and Fc are mainstays in whatever CG Ubers there is. Despite this, both of them seem to have fallen in love with a tier that many people consider boring and stale. These two players are some of the most solid players in the builder and in game. They've had many games together and many YEN core interactions. These two have built together, argued amongst themselves and battled each other. At this point, this sounds like a fanfic between two TLs. But with two players who know each other so well, it's no doubt that this will be a fun time.
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~:ferrothorn:USUM:kyogre:~

March Fires vs Zesty43 ​
March Fires and Zesty43 are two players I respect a lot when it comes to USUM. Both of them have played the tier since its inception and have undoubtedly had to deal with each other on different occasions. Zesty is coming off a bit off a rough run in UWC, but saying that without mentioning his incredible run in last year's UPL is a bit disingenuous. So, when it comes to this MU, we're very likely going to see solid teams and good gameplay from these oldhead USUM players.
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~:melmetal:ORAS:dialga:~

skimmythegod vs freezai ​
Freezai is probably the bigger storyline in this MU. Coming off a hot record in a tier he probably only touched once or twice before, freezai is on most people's radars. Meanwhile, his UWC teammate, skimmythegod has also had success in a variety of ORAS Ubers cups in previous years. Considering, these two have probably even tested with each other, it will be an interesting sight to see them face off in a tournament setting. Both of them will probably have to build or be passed something new to keep each other on their toes.
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~:dracovish:BW:eternatus:~

Evuelf vs Hack​
Evuelf has been really good in classic Ubers tiers for a long while now. Seeing him back in team tours is definitely cool, and I don't doubt he'll get a good positive record back in BW. Hack probably needs no introduction for long time Ubers players. He's a pioneer in the BW Ubers scene and will probably farm a number of the pool again this year. This MU is a battle of the classic tier monsters, and is a great start to a tier that seemed to be lacking in the early signup days of UPL XII.
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~:melmetal:DPP:dialga:~

Piyu vs shrang​
An MU we've already seen from UWC, but one that will definitely still be fun to watch. Both of these players did well in that tournament with some breakout performances. On one hand, shrang's been playing this tier for longer than I've been on the site. On the other, Piyu plays any and all other tiers. After UWC, both of these players ended up playing in DPPPL, but only shrang was slotted to play Ubers. This MU pits a long time lover of the tier with someone who had an amazing showing in one tour. Will shrang keep up his consistency or will Piyu prove that UWC wasn't a one time thing?
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~:ferrothorn:ADV:kyogre:~

Fogbound Lake vs Raph369​
Raph369 is a mainstay in ADV Ubers, and his history with the tier will certainly play a part in his probabilistic positive record in this tour. You pay for Raph, and you're likely going to see him in ADV... simple as that. The bigger question mark is Fogbound Lake in ADV. To most people, this might seem like a waste as Fogbound has done spectacularly in SS, and could even arguably take the Bo3 role in his team. Despite this, Fogbound has found pretty good success in ADVPL, helping lead his team to playoffs with his record. This series will definitely be a good watch.
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~:melmetal:GSC:dialga:~

vani vs cyberacc​
Vani is a name that is associated with GSC Ubers itself. Vani is someone who has pushed the meta for the tier in many tournaments in the past few years. Cyberacc on the other hand isn't necessarily a new name, but has been openly endorsed and is currently being mentored by Isa. While the experience between the two in GSC Ubers isn't quite one to one, it will be fun seeing how much Isa's influence will play a role in helping cyberacc with their team's GSC slot.
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~:marshadow:RBY:darkrai:~

Ctown6 vs Torchic ​
When you think of Fc's RBY slot, you think of Torchic. This user is not new to the tier at all, boasting an almost undefeated record from last year's UPL, and a decent positive record in the Ubers slot of RBYPL, Torchic will definitely use their experience to their advantage. Ctown6 is just one of the best RBY players in general with some of the cleanest lines in RBY OU. This expertise does lend itself to Ubers as well with a fairly good record in RBY Ubers. This will be an exciting match for RBY fans (which doesn't really overlap with the Ubers community all that much).
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Ending notes: I'm not a journalist or reporter. If I've got mistakes in spelling or content, let me know and I'll amend them.
 
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Just wanna comment on the adv games, might start doing this regularly. Just my 2c from my limited perspective.

Heysup vs temp
Heysup is very well known to everybody and his games are always fun to watch. He likes to be diverse and use builder surprises while also playing clean as fuck. Honestly, he could play against an empty chair and it'd still be fun to watch. Fortunately, the chair this week is occupied by temp. He's technically the underdog in this matchup due to being (sorta) the new guy, but temp already has a solo tournament win within the just last year as well as a solid advpl run. UPL is a comparatively bigger stage so I'm interested to see how temp adjusts and if he'll start off the season with a win. It's also worth mentioning that he has (I assume) hg, iry, AND hack support.

Fogbound Lake vs Raph369
I'm very pleasantly surprised to see Fogbound Lake starting in adv this upl. I don't know if he has played the format much prior to this recent advpl but he did really well there and the simple fact that he has the confidence to self-buy himself as a starter for the meta is really cool to me. Playstyle wise, he seems to have a bit of an affinity for blissey stuff but the sample size that I'm considering is small. On the other hand, raph has a solid history of adv play and is definitely very far from being a fan of fatter archetypes. Raph is probably the best example of the fact that you can just play whatever you like in adv ubers as long as you pilot it well. Knowing that raph is going to bring some sort of offense isn't going to make the game any easier for Fogbound Lake.

Vileman vs Mako
Vileman had a positive upl run last year and is clearly looking to continue that streak here. He seems to stick with the tried and true when it comes to archetypes, which is a very good habit in adv ubers. Contrary to that, I have never seen Mako play a single game of adv ubers. This may be my fault, I've certainly been inactive for the almost entire last year and it's not like I pay much attention to the general smogon tournament scene. I'm not worried about her in the slightest, though. I have a lot of faith in mitana's ability to scout for new talent and even more faith in their ability to support their players. I think Mako is going to be a very scary dark horse in this tournament so this is probably the game that I'm interested in the most this week.

Vs 64 Squares
Not too long ago, for at least a year (maybe more) I'd have said with absolute confidence that 64 Squares is the best adv ubers player. He might very well still be, I'm kinda counting on a bit of rust being there. This is the first time ever that I get to play vs 64 in tournament, so I'm very grateful for this opportunity. Even without hiding my prep, it's basically impossible to anticipate what he might bring he's clearly comfortable with a wide range of archetypes. I won't even get the benefit of a bo3, I'll have to do my best to make the one game count. Good luck, have fun.

Edited this post to clean up a few things and add my own mu this week. I'll try to do quick post-match reviews/analysis next week. My goal with these posts is to try to make adv games more appreciable for the uninitiated. I'm not going to be doing a very good job for the time being but my hope is that I improve through experience. Feel free to yell at me for anything that smells like bullshit.
 
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Hello and welcome to Keys' Corner, where we will be discussing the ORAS games for the week in UPL and looking at any developing stories/trends related to the tier. For the first week, there seems to be one very interesting game and a few fairly lopsided ties:

ORAS Ubers: skimmythegod vs freezai - Probably the highlight of the week in ORAS? The two team India players have started to make a name for themselves in ORAS Ubers very recently and it's hard to tell how much of it is undeserved hype and how much is actually here to stay. Skimmy has actually done a solid job for a minute, having reached finals of the ORAS invitational a couple years ago and having had some decent records in team tournaments so I'll believe that he's just solid and can pose trouble for most of his opponents. Meanwhile on the other end, freezai is a very strong pokemon player but his metagame knowledge really does need to catch up with the rest of the pool if he wants to repeat his UWC performence in this UPL pool. The skill ceiling seems much higher for freezai and these two probably know each other pretty well given how they worked together on team India so this should be a great game of cat and mouse where I could see either player finding a way to win depending on the team choices and a few key plays. I do personally trust freezai a bit more when it comes to gameplanning and pulling out results so I'll give him the nod here but he really has to make sure he's locked into ORAS and gets more involved with the tier if he wants to best skimmy this week. Either way spectators should have a good one here and this is a close call regardless.

ORAS Ubers: Royal1604 vs Hoopas Dad - Maybe this is mean but I don't have much to say here, Royal has been one of the most consistent ORAS players when it comes to results and records in recent years, doing well in almost every tour he's played while Mysterious M (Hoopa's Dad) has struggled in every team tournament I can remember since like UPL 6 (we're on UPL 12 for those unaware). I might be being a little too harsh on Hoopa's Dad here but he really needs to bring his best here and have a killer team to beat Royal who's someone who rarely makes mistakes and just sees out good matchups very well. One side needs to be essentially near-perfect while the other just has to do what they normally do so that's a no-brainer predict for me. Feel free to prove me wrong and I will switch my tune accordingly. Not super excited for this one.

ORAS Ubers: Cam vs Ayu - Normally I would be excited for this one because I rate Cam highly as a player and I think Ayu has had "some" results in ORAS in the past but with how much Cam despises ORAS these days (he begged me not to put him in ORAS both times I drafted him in UWL) and how busy he's been in recent years, I cannot truly see him putting in the time and effort required to truly challenge in this tier and give Ayu a good game. He will probably roll up with an old team while Ayu will spend the entire week concocting a perfect cteam, so I don't believe this will be a particularly interesting game even though I believe Cam is a great player in general. I expect a bit of a snoozefest decided at preview and I don't really care to watch that at the moment.

Best of luck to all the players and go Vish!
 
Time for my shitty predictions again that will exist solely to piss people off :D reminder that I still don't know a lot of the old gens players and I will pick the funny options that make people mald <3 will write comments where it's funny

Dangerous Dracovish (7) vs (4) Eternal Voyagers
SV Ubers: Shuwri vs Mashing - still shocked that he went for that much late in the auction, sniping Fc is a great thing though and should be encouraged
SV Ubers: etern vs Kate
SV Ubers: myjava vs elodin
SS Ubers: Icemaster vs lotiasite - Self proclaimed monkey vs other self proclaimed monkey, we love hivemind mentalities
USUM Ubers: Rhmsitb vs Tenebricite
ORAS Ubers: keys vs Lasen - If Lasen loses it'll be his 13th reason
BW Ubers: Evuelf vs Hack
DPP Ubers: susciety vs robjr - I don't know nor care abt DPP
ADV Ubers: Heysup vs temp
GSC Ubers: Enigami vs BigFatMantis
RBY Ubers: YBW vs Unowndragon - I don't like 1996 4 bit games
Multigen Bo3: baconeatinassassin vs pdt - pdt wins SM, bacon wins SS, and bacon just won ULT so...

Manly Melmetals (4) vs (7) Devastating Dialgas
SV Ubers: 7u9i2 vs Yellow Armchair
SV Ubers: fade vs RichardMillePlain
SV Ubers: emoxu9 vs LouisIX - louis + entro has plot armour
SS Ubers: Beraldo vs QWILY - Beraldo in SS sounds wrong
USUM Ubers: Gondra vs Master Chief
ORAS Ubers: skimmythegod vs freezai
BW Ubers: The Dovahneer vs Monai
DPP Ubers: Piyu vs shrang
ADV Ubers: 64 Squares vs MMII
GSC Ubers: vani vs cyberacc
RBY Ubers: NotVeryCake vs King Billu
Multigen Bo3: lax vs entrocefalo - I don't know what entro's old gens are like but simultaneously who's building for lax in SS

Defiant Durians (3) vs (7) DaReal Drizzlers
SV Ubers: Frozoid vs Taka
SV Ubers: bbeeaa vs Skyiew - He'll out tech him/know specific interactions better
SV Ubers: TPP vs LBN - :fibh:
SS Ubers: SiTuM vs Manaphy
USUM Ubers: March Fires vs Zesty43 - Could easily be zesty but it's hard to not bold Tape
ORAS Ubers: Royal1604 vs Hoopas Dad - WOAT name change
BW Ubers: LpZ vs Blim
DPP Ubers: Staxi vs Inspirited - idk DPP
ADV Ubers: Fogbound Lake vs Raph369
GSC Ubers: crying vs Conflict
RBY Ubers: BlazingDark vs SaDiSTiCNarwhal
Multigen Bo3: Larry vs Ainzcrad

Not going to usually comment on Bandits sets but London says he liked seeing me bold against him so
DPP Ubers: Dave vs London Beats
1717548893983.png

Reverse psychology and now Dave has another reason to try win.
 
As Luna's tour banned now enters my summer vacation training arc, I shall participate in the way I know best! Rolling a dice for every ORAS matchup based on who will miss the important precipice blades! Rules for predicts are as follows, if i think your gonna lose, odds are it's for a stupid reason and don't take it seriously, if you get mad at predicts just know it's funnier for The Narrative if you lose. (Will also not be covering drizzlers matchups as my allegiance has not swayed) I will skip matchups if i dont know the players well enough to make jokes for.

SV Ubers: Shuwri vs Mashing Shuwri is a great player, but truthfully i haven't seen him play much. Mashing is a funny person, and the funny person tax dictates that they will not win this game.
SV Ubers: zuzhouwawa vs Kate As impossible as it sounds, kate is probably top 2 in the pool, alongside entrocefreezevictim (i will be making these jokes all season) and i have zero idea who zuz is, but kate would be favored even if i did, consistently on the top of this miserable tier
SS Ubers: Icemaster vs lotiasite Icemaster betrayed me in my time of need and decided that Getting His Jokes Off took the highest priority, and thus his downfall will be prayed for, and it'll feel delectable
USUM Ubers: Rhmsitb vs Tenebricite Tene has been an amazing player everytime i've teamed with him for SM OU / played him in SM OU, and I think his proficiencies in SM will carry over, meanwhile rhmn has been a mainstay, but every paste i have from rhmn has been concocted with marijuana in the system, and idt that'll work on tene. We talking z-hydro cannon arc waters like its dire out here
ORAS Ubers: keys vs Lasen Here we have 2 players known for losing games, and lasen's consistent bad luck in UPL will unfortunately continue, even if bolding keys goes against my religion
BW Ubers: Evuelf vs Hack While bolding against hack is blasphemous, everytime i've teamed with evuelf they have done nothing but succeed without the interference of critical hits, and thus my bias will get him bolded.
DPP Ubers: susciety vs robjr Jumpluff is not good as much as i wish it was, getting me lead 6-0d by aber darkrai was so foul i hope u lose
ADV Ubers: Heysup vs temp (they already played but i'd always pick heysup regardless so im giving myself a point for this)
GSC Ubers: Enigami vs BigFatMantis BFM invests a ton of effort in the most random tiers, and it pays dividends as he's always a consistent get whenever he signs up for something, and tbh i barely know anything about enigami besides that he's good, so i'll be following my bias once more
RBY Ubers: YBW vs Unowndragon You will not catch me predicting RBY because that tier is about as skill-based as landing facefirst after falling off a skateboard, replace it for SV4 IMO TBH
Multigen Bo3: baconeatinassassin vs pdt I think i remember bacon beating the dogshit out of one of my teammates in AGPL, and thus he gets bolded. (mighta been loti who did that idr all ik is my reimu custom is gas)


Manly Melmetals (1) vs (1) Devastating Dialgas
SV Ubers: 7u9i2 vs Yellow Armchair I can make alot of quality puns with the name yellow armchair, just as you can make jokes about luna's tour banned now, so as fellow meme name havers i shalt gift you a bolded name
SV Ubers: fade vs RichardMillePlain (they already played but i'd have bolded richard, i guess you could said say richard caught the... fade = DDDD)
SV Ubers: emoxu9 vs LouisIX Not a clue in hell who emoxu is, but louisix is very good at this tier iirc and i'll bold him.
SS Ubers: Beraldo vs QWILY While beraldo is among my better friends on this site, QWILY is more well versed in the arts of Miraidon Terrorism, and is more than willing to commit felonies to get wins, and i expect that here.
USUM Ubers: Gondra vs Master Chief Gondra does not lose, gondra does not fall.
ORAS Ubers: skimmythegod vs freezai Youtuber Tax
BW Ubers: The Dovahneer vs Monai Dovah will win
DPP Ubers: Piyu vs shrang Shrang put in all star numbers last UPL out of nowhere, people seem to somehow still sleep on this grandpa for his terrible tiering takes but he's very good at DPP, and i will always value mainer knowledge or general pilot skill, even as good as piyush is.
ADV Ubers: 64 Squares vs MMII I trust squares that man is extremely consistent even in a luck tier like ADV.
RBY Ubers: NotVeryCake vs King Billu trash tier nobody wins in RBY
Multigen Bo3: lax vs entrocefalo If you think im bolding entro a single time you gonn be wrong because the jokes will write themselves here, token handouts into losing anyway is nasty work im prayin for u big dog


Choice Bandits (0) vs (0) Void Villains
SV Ubers: Frito vs SoulWind Soulwind is just plain out better.
SV Ubers: Nyx vs JJ09LIE Predictions tax, i don't gotta worry about that though because im tourbanned.... man this summer vacation boutta be CRISP
SV Ubers: Lana vs tier Tier will win this.
SS Ubers: Aberforth vs Fc This is the highlight mu for the week by a mile, one is probably the guy i've teamed with more than anybody else on the site, and the other is Australian. Both fantastic players but FC has midas's touch, as in whatever he touches won't get to move the next turn because he's so lucky n bad. And as i've painfully learned, even when you win, you lose. So i'm bolding aber.
USUM Ubers: The Strap vs Paycard Even if strapper Got His Jokes Off, he's still the better player.
BW Ubers: Kebabe vs 3d 3deez nuts, you think im giving a serious nom in BW?
DPP Ubers: Dave vs London Beats Dave is straight up one of the best ppl on the site, and i'll prolly never bold against him, he got more rings than a jeweler and all he knows is victory, triumph and giving me my tb = I
ADV Ubers: Vileman vs Mako i got to go prep for my grandma's birthday celebration so im speeding this up, just like how VILEMAN will slow his opponent down with 3 thunder paras
GSC Ubers: Rubyblood vs spell Good Snooze Chat is a boring tier, miss me with serious noms in this unless amaranth steps in, and i won't be bolding conflict since im not touchin drizzlers noms.
RBY Ubers: Ctown6 vs Torchic Nobody wins in the RBY slot
Multigen Bo3: Trade vs Gtcha Trade is my guy, im picking trade.
 
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