Tournament UU Snake Draft II - Commencement

[DugZa]

Shout-outs to lydian for the banner
Hosted by Alkione and DugZa​

Hello! Welcome to the second edition of the UU Snake Draft! Every year, 8 teams with 10 starters will fight on the big stage and try to come out on top. Who will win? Be sure to stick around and find out! As always, any feedback on the tournament and how it's being run is much appreciated.

You can sign up here.

The teams, their managers, and their tryout discord server links if they have one:

Dreamyard Diancies - Managed by Lilburr and martha
Brave Mew World - Managed by pokemonisfun and LNumbers
lily my team has decided we will not have a team name - Managed by TDK and Pearl
Meteor Falls Lunatones - Managed by TPP and Lunala
Dragon's Den Dragonairs - Managed by Indigo Plateau and Accel
Los Cherno Bouffalants - Managed by Juno and Askov
Bebo Brand Barboaches - Managed by vivalospride and Amane Misa
Lake of Outrage Sandacondas - Managed by avarice and Highways

The format for this tournament will be:

SS UU
SS UU
SS UU
SM UU
ORAS UU
BW UU
DPP UU
ADV UU
GSC UU
RBY UU

Best of luck to everyone participating! And yes, this is the place to drop any memes you may have, but please be sure to keep things civil.

 

[Raptor]

 

[Expulso]

yo heres a prediction form with 8 questions about the draft. there probably wont be a prize but i'll announce the winner after the draft

https://forms.gle/R3XucULNktVkgnwD9

(if you want me to transfer ownership to one of the hosts i'm happy to just lmk)

 

[phoopes]

RBY and GSC players be like

 

[pokemonisfun]

The team LAPRAS is managed by LNumbers and myself.

We are holding tryouts here - thanks LNumbers for making the discord: https://discord.gg/fTs6NyMm

You must use discord in order to participate in our team, should you be drafted.

Tryout rules/notes:

1) Trying out will increase your chance of getting drafted by brave mew world/LAPRAS

2) Please use a team that you will share the paste of, using the !showteam command at the end of the game so we can evaluate

3) There will be one game, gen8uu - if you do not play gen8uu, we can negotiate another format.

4) Please do not share the team we use in tryouts until after the draft, these games are private

5) We will both try to do as many tryouts as possible, I'm GMT-4 and LNumbers is GMT+1.

Let us know if you have questions, we want to do these tryouts, get to know players, and most of all treat everyone as fairly as we can.

My discord pokemonisfun#8952

 

[Accel]

If anyone would like to try out for the Dragon's Den Dragonairs, please send me a pm on Discord @Accel#3905. I'll accept tryouts for any tier and will be available for the majority of tomorrow (Friday the 4th) to play tryout games. I may be available for a few hours on Saturday the 5th, so I'll try to accommodate any of you then if Friday doesn't work for you.

 

[Raptor]

If anyone would like to try out for the Dragon's Den Dragonairs, please send me a pm on Discord @Accel#3905. I'll accept tryouts for any tier and will be available for the majority of tomorrow (Friday the 4th) to play tryout games. I may be available for a few hours on Saturday the 5th, so I'll try to accommodate any of you then if Friday doesn't work for you.

1v1 right fucking now

 

[KM]

First mock draft has been completed!

Paste of the lineups: https://pokepast.es/4a26b71589d8c462

 

[phoopes]

mfw when I go round one in the mock

 

[pokemonisfun]

View attachment 382734

The team LAPRAS is managed by LNumbers and myself.

We are holding tryouts here - thanks LNumbers for making the discord: https://discord.gg/fTs6NyMm

You must use discord in order to participate in our team, should you be drafted.

Tryout rules/notes:

1) Trying out will increase your chance of getting drafted by brave mew world/LAPRAS

2) Please use a team that you will share the paste of, using the !showteam command at the end of the game so we can evaluate

3) There will be one game, gen8uu - if you do not play gen8uu, we can negotiate another format.

4) Please do not share the team we use in tryouts until after the draft, these games are private

5) We will both try to do as many tryouts as possible, I'm GMT-4 and LNumbers is GMT+1.

Let us know if you have questions, we want to do these tryouts, get to know players, and most of all treat everyone as fairly as we can.

My discord pokemonisfun#8952

Auction is most likely Sunday, November 7th at 1 PM US Eastern / 6 PM GMT (don't forget about daylight savings) - let's finish tryouts today if possible

 

[Expulso]

yo heres a prediction form with 8 questions about the draft. there probably wont be a prize but i'll announce the winner after the draft

https://forms.gle/R3XucULNktVkgnwD9

(if you want me to transfer ownership to one of the hosts i'm happy to just lmk)

20% of respondents correctly predicted that Pak would be the first pick; he received the third-most votes behind Punny and Adaam (both 25%).

graph

30% of respondents got the 2nd pick, Adaam, getting the most votes for it (tied with Pak, also 30%).

graph

Indigo Plateau , Monky25 , and I got both of these correct.

Amaranth was the first RBYer taken and was selected with the 33rd pick. The closest guess was 37th by Koalacance; most people believed that an RBYer would go sooner. The guesses were: 1,3,8,10,11,13,16,16,19,19,19,20,23,28,37,42,60, and 67, for an average guess of 22.8 (plus "Eb0la" and "phoopes", which were wrong in more than one way).

60% of respondents (Expulso Lyss tlenit ProDigeZz Corporate n hs (twice) BigFatMantis Indigo Plateau + 3 anonymous) correctly guessed that mncmt would be the first br off the board

graph

Team China surged past expectations with 5 players drafted, including a whopping 3 by team LAPRAS alone. While most respondents expected at least 2 players to be drafted from Team China, nobody guessed "4+":

graph

35% of respondents (Bouff Lyss ProDigeZz Lolito hs ) correctly guessed that Gondra would be the last UU SCL starter taken. I said Askov (manager) :/

graph

Nobody correctly guessed that May would be the last pick of UUSD II. The responses were: Adam's mom, Drogba in Shenuha, Finchinator, GULLY, Kst3ve, Magnum, Meru 2x, Monky25 2x, Ojr, RampageWebber, Ausma, moutemoute, scorbunnys, tlenit, and "me" 3x.


Only 30% of respondents believe that UU Majors will be won by someone that wasn't in UUSD; we'll wait to declare a winner until then, since Moutemoute and IPF can still do it.

graph

 

[Aurella]

Rooting for the Clarks.

 

[Moutemoute]

:notpickedsquad:

 

[pokemonisfun]

To my new teammates - hooray! More welcomes in our discord.

To our new opponents - good luck, have fun! Apologies in advance for any malding I do.

To those undrafted - I'm sorry, just too many people and too few slots. Competition requires discrimination, unfortunately.

To those undrafted and who are contributors to UU and/or did well in tryouts with me - I'm very sorry. I know how it feels to be undrafted and even more generally, just underappreciated on Smogon. Most people are since they aren't paid, to be honest.

It feels bad and you might, justifiably, feel bitter or jealous or otherwise snubbed. Maybe if you have a naturally good attitude you'll just be more motivated but I doubt this is the case for everyone. In these times, I find that inner strength is the most important thing - play the game and enjoy it for it's own sake and getting stronger for the sake of enjoying the game. Managers' opinions shouldn't affect what you feel about the game.

More substantively, after being selected manager I tried to be fair by quantifying everyone's contributions to the tier and their skill. It was a disaster of an attempt to say the least, not very well translated in the draft at all. I didn't have a chance to finish it for all the sign ups so I tried to prioritize people who did tryouts and were in the community. I want to put it out there not because I want credit for a really poorly made sheet but to let you know, if it feels like you're shouting into the void, well people are trying to listen, even if it's a poor job.

I can't emphasize enough how sorry I am that I never got to complete the sheet, I did fail as a manager to not give everyone a fair chance as I said I would - but it's a work in progress that I will hopefully get better at if and when I or others manage again.

Link here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...0k65Q6wNCBWoF_mV7wWsH6bVKqAUOqW10hFkS/pubhtml

 

[Finchinator]

We accept your apology, pif

 

[Pheo]

Can't wait to see Koalacance in game, it's ur time to shine rby slayer

 

[Accel]

UU Snake Draft II Power Rankings

By: Accel, Lilburr, TSR, and vivalospride

TEAM OVERVIEWS

Bebo Brand Barboaches

Hide

SS UU: Bushtush
SS UU: Meru
SS UU: ez
SM UU: Adaam
ORAS UU: Cynde
BW UU: Finchinator
DPP UU: fatty
ADV UU: r0ady
GSC UU: Leru
RBY UU: Diophantine
Substitutes: Raahel, Splash, Notily, tlenit

The Barboaches, led by infamous UU couple vivalospride and Amane Misa, looks to be a tremendously proficient conglomeration of familiar faces in previous UU tournaments. The highly touted Mt. Silver Foxes duo Adaam and Finchinator are easily the star players of this particular team and essentially cover every gen besides GSC and RBY through their prior tournament experiences. Both will inevitably be counted upon to keep the team environment popping with the latest and greatest humor trends and escapades of self-mockery, respectively. Fatty is coming off of a wonderful UU Classic run and finds himself in the familiar territory of yet another stacked DPP UU pool, expecting to do well as he typically does. In SS, the team features SCL UU starter Bushtush, UU Majors quarterfinalist Meru, and the capable ez and stands out as a potent trio with support from the manager duo and Adaam to remedy any building worries. The phonetically pleasant pairing of Meru and Leru makes a reappearance in yet another UU team tournament, with Leru trying GSC UU out again after experiencing a good degree of success in the format during the last UUPL. Diophantine helps to support Leru's GSC UU endeavors in the builder while also manning the RBY UU slot himself. r0ady, a typically strong BW UU player, finds himself in mildly unfamiliar ADV UU territory but has the utterly fantastic support of the recent ADV Cup winner in fatty. Cynde, a once familiar staple in UU team tournaments, makes a reappearance and hopes to compete in a strong ORAS UU pool with the aid of his ingenious techs and previous familiarity with the tier when it was current gen. A wonderfully strong team overall, the Barboaches are expected to perform well with top picks in various slots and foster a great environment to aid the team's success rate.

Dragon's Den Dragonairs

Hide

SS UU: mncmt
SS UU: pdt
SS UU: Luirromen
SM UU: odr
ORAS UU: Chaitanya
BW UU: Amukamara
DPP UU: Accel
ADV UU: RampageWebber
GSC UU: Estarossa
RBY UU: Torchic
Substitutes: BigFatMantis, Fakee, DJ Breloominati, Mr.Aldo

The Dragon's Den Dragonairs win no awards for creativity in their naming scheme, but nonetheless, they're looking to put up another solid performance in this tournament. The fairly solid SS core is manned by mncmt, pdt and Luirromen. mncmt is an all-around excellent player who had a strong SCL performance in UU, while pdt did decently himself and always does a solid job in various UU tournaments. Luirromen is the question slot here, but with good meta-knowledge and a few solid unofficial results, he may still manage a decent run. This team has opted to slot odr in SM; he's always capable of putting himself in random surroundings and doing well, but it might be difficult for him this time around in a pretty strong SM pool. Chaitanya is here for another round of ORAS UU, and his history in the tier, as well as overall solid results, mean he's expected to do pretty well here. Resident BW main Amukamara (Liam) is expected to put up a great performance in a top-heavy pool, while Accel is subjected to the same treatment in DPP. Both have strong competition in their fields but also experience with their tiers and can be expected to put together good results. In ADV they have RampageWebber, who has played it to some success before; in a barren ADV pool, he'll likely manage a decent showing at worst. GSC is handled by Estarossa, whose enthusiasm for the tier is perhaps only rivaled by Holly; The Show is likely to put up a pretty good record if he can keep his nerves under control. Finally, in RBY we have Torchic, an RBY main who's expected to make some noise in uncharted territory. This team is strong overall; the potential scale of their result is marvelous, and as long as their more unknown slots can shed their skin and keep themselves together, it's likely the Dragonairs will find themselves as a favorite to win it all.

Lake of Outrage Sandacondas

Hide

SS UU: Punny
SS UU: sensei axew
SS UU: umbry
SM UU: Gondra
ORAS UU: esche
BW UU: Mr.378
DPP UU: Expulso
ADV UU: Garay oak
GSC UU: Trevelion
RBY UU: EB0LA
Substitutes: Magnum, Mystras Leoxes, Lord Thorx, cy

With hs, Askov, mncmt, and Highways all divided for this year of UUSD, Highways and avarice take the reigns of the Sandacondas this year without it being the de facto Brazilian team of the tournament this time. Both are proven to provide excellent building support, which will probably be a necessity for their SS starting lineup. As for the players, Punny, despite the 4-4 performance in SCL so far that is relatively underwhelming for a player of his caliber, is undoubtedly one of, and arguably the, strongest players in the SS pool. If Punny puts up the same kind of performance here that allowed him to breeze through OLT to finals and Grand Slam all the way to the trophy, he should be a near-guaranteed positive slot for the Sandacondas. Sensei axew has also put up a standout 6-2 in SCL NU so far, and if his momentum carries into this tournament well there should be no issue with him doing well too. He may end up struggling a bit to perform against the more experienced UU crowd but the task is far from undoable. Umbry rounds out the SS core and despite her rocky season as a UU starter in SCL, she should be fully capable of putting wins in the book as well. The less intense nature of UUSD will also possibly help her readjust and take in some fresh perspectives of new teammates. If all goes well this will likely be one of the SS UU trios to beat in the tour. Following up their SS is a strong list of old gen players; Gondra in SM UU is a staple for many UU team tours for the past several years and he is certainly a capable contender in the SM pool granted he has good building support, though may struggle a bit to stay on par with the ridiculously strong pool. UU old gen aficionado esche finds himself in ORAS, and after an impressive run qualifying for 4th place in UU Classic playoffs should be primed to bring his A-game to the pool after a short hiatus. His capabilities to provide support to all of the slots from gens 3-7 will surely be valuable to the Sandacondas as well. Seeing Mr.378 outside of the GSC slot is an oddity, but given the atypical lack of depth in the BW pool this time, he should prove to be a strong contender nonetheless. Expulso, while competent as a player, appears to be a bit outclassed in the DPP pool at large and may end up struggling. However he typically also brings some fresh and interesting takes into new metagames, so whether he can manage to throw the other DPPers for a loop is yet to be seen. Garay reprises his role in ADV from UUWC for the Sandacondas, this time with esche alone to support him without the all-seeing ADV eyes of Ark. Despite this, Garay stands out as possibly the strongest in the ADV pool by sheer playing ability alone and anything he could possibly lack in the top tier support he had on Team Europe he will likely make up for with a metric ton of testing until he gets it right. Finishing out the starting lineup is Trevelion in GSC and EB0LA in RBY. Trevelion is a previously less known player on the GSC UU scene but has been pulling out a fair number of wins in the tier in RoA tournaments in recent times, though how he'll stack up to the extremely strong pool in this tournament is unknown. With 378 backing the slot though, there at least is no chance that Trevelion will perform poorly due to team choice. EB0LA is a relatively strong player that plays all things RBY, with a knack for putting more prep work in than one might expect for a tier with just over 20 viable Pokemon. Usually going in with a good read on his opponent's tendencies should offer him quite an edge going into this tournament, hopefully, while also showing the non-believers a good RBY game has more to offer than Wrap wars. The subs feature Lord Thorx, a well established Ubers player that can hop into a tier and do well if need be as well as Magnum, Mystras Leoxes, and cy, three new faces to the UU team tour scene that are undoubtedly enthusiastic to get both the team and themselves on the board. Overall, the Sandacondas seem to have a consistent SS core with strong, flexible old gen players as well. With most of the team at low risk of truly underperforming, the Sandacondas are a threatening team but also do not have many of the absolute strongest players per tier and will need to remain on point to power through the stronger competition in a couple of tiers.

L.A.P.R.A.S.

Hide

SS UU: hs
SS UU: KM
SS UU: Raptor
SM UU: pokemonisfun
ORAS UU: xujing691691
BW UU: Sabella
DPP UU: Shiba
ADV UU: Cam
GSC UU: LpZ
RBY UU: Drogba In Shenhua
Substitutes: Axelsior, ojr, daunt vs, Indulge in dreams

LAPRAS is a team managed by two UU legends on the opposite end of the spectrum; pif is known for his constant success across many generations of UU, while LNumbers (Clark) is one of the most accomplished zoomers in recent times, stringing together a lot of success in a very short time. They opted to draft pif instead of Clark, who will be manning the SM slot; as one of the strongest SM UU players of all time, he can be expected to put up a great performance. The SS core of hs, KM and Raptor is perhaps the most dangerous in the entire tournament; hs has had a lot of success lately after a strong SCL showing, and KM, while not playing himself, was a key supporting member of mncmt's succesful SCL run too. They both have the potential to perform excellently and are joined by OU mainstay Raptor, whose generally great playing abilities will let him stand up to anyone in this pool despite unfamiliarity with UU. In ORAS, LAPRAS has decided to slot xujing691691, a Chinese player who is somewhat of a question slot; their general skill level is quite high, but we have not seen them in ORAS UU before. Still, their UUWC performance inspires some confidence. In BW we have Sabella, a generally strong tournament player with a history of solid showings in SS UU - it's unknown how he'll perform in BW UU, but in a weak overall pool he can be expected to put up a good record for his team. Shiba is manning the DPP cannon this time around, a tier he'll no doubt be able to hold his own in; the DPP pool is strong, though, and Shiba is considered to be on the lower end of it as a result. Cam is taking the ADV slot; he's put up decent showings in that tier in the past, and the ADV pool this tournament is much more questionable than it's ever been, so it's fairly likely he puts up a strong performance. GSC is held down by Brazilian army knife LpZ, a player known for playing every untier under the sun; the UU Classic winner's GSC prowess is quite good, and he receives a generous ranking as a result. Finally in RBY we have Drogba in Shenhua, another Chinese player who doesn't have much of a history with the tier they're playing; couple that with current RBY UU being a relatively new tier and the UU community's lack of results in it, and it becomes overall very difficult to see how they'll perform. This team is very boom or bust overall; they have high highs and low lows, so it'll be interesting to see how their season progresses.

Los Cherno Bouffalants

Hide

SS UU: Luthier
SS UU: mushamu
SS UU: Lyss
SM UU: robjr
ORAS UU: Bouff
BW UU: Nalorium
DPP UU: Thiago Nunes
ADV UU: Jisoo
GSC UU: vani
RBY UU: phoopes
Substitutes: The Strap, LLH, wuqianying, termi

Juno and Askov emerge from the depths of the Dynamos' UU channel to take over the Chernos this year of UUSD. Leading off their current-gen core is Luthier, a longtime brethren of the Brazilians who at the time of writing has already started off his team's season well with an impressive win over Bushtush. Mushamu, formerly Decem, has in recent times expanded horizons to playing just about any and all tier(s) you can think of. With an overall good game sense and a willingness to get creative in any tier he delves into, this should all translate into him having no problem with putting up a pretty decent record for the Chernos as well. Lyss rounds out the SS core in slot 3, who similarly has an excellent grasp on building for the gen 8 metagame that should put up a good record of her own while also being able to support the other two slots well if need be. Overall, the Cherno's current-gen seems to be among the more consistent trios in the tier and should be able to put up a good number of wins if all goes well. Jumping to old gens next, the SM slot is filled by long-time UU veteran robjr, who would be fierce competition in most slots of this tournament, but is especially dominant in his history with this tier in particular. The SM UU metagame has seemed nearly tailor-made for his preferences as a player and builder, and with his historically excellent performance in the tier, he easily qualifies as a top contender in the pool. The ex-manager and namesake of the team Bouff finds himself in the next slot this year as a newfound ORAS enjoyer. Despite him having a much more dense history in the ADV tier, his impressive performance in this year's iteration of UU Classic should show that he's capable of taking home some wins in the tier regardless. Unfortunately, the overall lack of depth in most of the pools for the various gens does leave some question marks somewhere for most rosters, and Nalorium finding himself in the Chernos BW UU slot is one such example. He undoubtedly has an enthusiasm for the weather wars of the same gen's OU and Ubers tiers while also being a decent player in his own right, but how well this will translate to the chaotic nature of the BW UU tier's fast-paced slugfests has yet to be seen. Thiago Nunes fills out the DPP slot this tour. Nunes is often rated as somewhat of a dark horse in the DPP UU pools of various UU tournaments, where his abilities often go underrated despite past performances making it clear that he is more than capable of slaying giants. Still, with powerful competition from the likes of Eo Ut Mortus, fatty, and Watashi in the pool, it's hard to say who exactly will manage to come out on top in DPP. The ADV and GSC slots for the Bouffalants appear to be a bit more up in the air performance-wise, though through little fault of the individual players. Jisoo has quite a bit to prove as a member of this ADV pool, though with Bouff's support for the slot, there should be little to blame in the way of subpar team choice through the weeks. Vani is also a good player, but being matched up against the likes of HSA, LpZ, lax, and Estarossa in the GSC UU pool will likely prove to be a tall mountain to climb. Phoopes rounds out the starting roster as the designated RBY player, who should manage to be competitive within the pool as most of the players of the tier seem to be pretty evenly matched with each other from past showings. The Cherno subs include The Strap, whose presence on the team will undoubtedly cause a deluge of The Strap memes to make their way into battle chats, Pokemon's nicknames, and of course, the weekly threads. LLH, Chinese newcomer wuqianying, and termi round out the team as subs. Although only LLH is a UU specialist in this list of subs, all are undoubtedly solid players that can likely drop in on short notice and have a good shot of securing a win if need be. Overall, the Bouffs are likely off to a good season via the strength of their solid SS core, excellent SM, a few extra strong old gen slots, and of course, The Strap's blessing.

Meteor Falls Lunatones

Hide

SS UU: KSt3ve
SS UU: Feliburn
SS UU: beatiful
SM UU: Ark
ORAS UU: Scalescale
BW UU: ninjadog
DPP UU: Eo Ut Mortus
ADV UU: Roseybear
GSC UU: HSA
RBY UU: pac
Substitutes: col49, Mac3, Fc, ProDigeZz

The Meteor Falls Lunatones are managed by newcomer managerial duo (to UU, at least) TPP and Lunala, who are aiming to put up a solid performance with a well-rounded team. They started the draft off with Eo Ut Mortus, perhaps the most accomplished player in recent Smogon history, who will be handling the DPP slot; his historic prowess in the tier alongside his excellent recent form nets him a first-place ranking. Speaking of first-place rankings, the Lunatones also opted to draft HSA, one of the greatest GSC UU players of all time; these two oldgen slots may have to carry a lot, though, because the rest of the team is a bit more shakey. SS is handled by KSt3ve, Feliburn, and beatiful; KSt3ve is famous for reportedly slave building every single one of TDK's slots on his winning team in the last edition of this tournament, but we have not seen much of him as a player. However, if he can support Feliburn and beatiful - two solid players with great synergy - this team's SS core may still have the potential to pop off more than expected. SM is handled by Ark, who surprisingly received a last-place ranking; this is not truly reflective of his capabilities but speaks more to the strength of this year's SM pool. His season could easily prove that he's much more than his ranking suggests. In ORAS we have Scalescale, a Chinese player who dominated ORAS UU in the most recent UUWC; despite this, they received a low ranking, likely due to them being an unknown quantity. The BW slot is handled by ninjadog, a strong LC player. Whether or not he'll make an effective transition to BW UU is anyone's guess, but only time will tell. Roseybear is a generally strong tournament player looking to make a mark on a weak ADV pool, and pac is an enthusiastic RBY UU main who has had some weak performances but certainly has the potential to do well. This team can easily go far beyond what their ranking would suggest if things play out well for them; expect a possible dark horse performance from the Lunatones.

Paniola Primarinas

Hide

SS UU: Star
SS UU: Lilburr
SS UU: Monky25
SM UU: Santu
ORAS UU: DrReuniclus
BW UU: SOMALIA
DPP UU: Heysup
ADV UU: Hyogafodex
GSC UU: Holly
RBY UU: Koalacance
Substitutes: EternalSnowman, xavgb, Mimilucha, Beraldinho

Lily and martha come together and don't draft nearly as many women as expected with a generally impressive draft if everything goes right. The highs of this draft are very high, if Lily plays at her best she will absolutely be worth that round one pick, but even if she doesn't she has Star to slave for and Star will take whatever he is given and pilot it to the best of his ability, which is very good. It is on her to give him winnable matchups and it's on him to play to his outs the way he does best. The draft doesn't get less impressive from there at all though, Heysup R3 is a great kick-off to their old gens roster. Heysup has more experience with UU old gens than a lot of people do with every gen combined, and he is more than proven as a player and performer over the years of experience he has gotten under his belt, he is guaranteed upper half of his viable pools. Hyogafodex is solid and should perform well in a generally underwhelming ADV pool without question. Santu has performed incredibly in SM tiers in general for a while now and is always picked up to play SM UU, getting him in the round they did I think was lucky for them. The SM pool is very scary though so who knows what will happen, he is surely up to the task, although I don't know what he'll use with the lack of SM support. DrReuniclus is one of the best users of all time and it makes me smile more than it should seeing him go in the seventh round here, he will absolutely perform well as I believe in him, but bias aside, he is objectively a great presence to have in a chat and should mesh with Lily and her vision extremely well from the get-go regardless. Monky25 is getting a chance in the spotlight as their SS3 slot, standing tall next to two big names, I remember enjoying some of his ideas in a team rating competition a while back, it will be exciting to see how he has grown as a builder and player since then. xavgb and esm are incredible options sitting on the bench and could take over for any SS slot if need be, individuals solidified as players worth having, at least IMO. Ultimately, this team is very threatening and can potentially be top-tier if everything goes right. If Star meshes well with whoever slaves for him, if Lily plays well, if Santu has teams that don't suck, and IF they tame the god SOMALIA, they can very well win this whole thing. That's a whole lot of ifs tho, and if the friends couldn't tame SOMALIA... how is bumass Lilith Burr gonna do it :weary:

TDK Today at 22:01 lily my team has decided we will not have a team name

Hide

SS UU: Aliss
SS UU: TJ
SS UU: EviGaro
SM UU: Xiri
ORAS UU: Pak
BW UU: Raichy
DPP UU: watashi
ADV UU: eden
GSC UU: lax
RBY UU: Amaranth
Substitutes: May, Specs, dunoks, choolio

TDK and Pearl team up yet again to draft the typically formidable lineup that has come to be expected from the pairing. With the number 1 pick in the 2021 UU Snake Draft II draft, the 'TDK Today at 22:01 lily my team has decided we will not have a team names' select Cade Cunni...oops wrong draft. In actuality, ORAS UU overlord Pak was taken with the first pick and looks to lead the team with his resoundingly strong play and support via his familiarity in the SM - DPP generations. Recurring tournament players in lax and watashi were drafted next and are capable of playing any tier well due to their fantastic game sense and playing abilities. For the time being, lax will be starting in GSC UU while watashi will find himself spearheading the DPP UU slot. With no clear GSC UU support on the team besides choolio and Raichy, it may be tough to supply lax with the latest and greatest strategies in the setting. On the other hand, watashi will have the support of a DPP UU mastermind in Pearl and is expected to fare well in a stacked DPP pool. Xiri mans SM UU with TDK, Pearl, and Pak to support any of his needs and typically performs very, very well in SM UU throughout recent UU team tournaments. One of the overall RBY greats in Amaranth finds himself taking hold of the RBY UU starting position with previous experience coupled with support from May to back up what is expected to be a successful campaign. lover Raichy has superb support from one of the BW UU greats in choolio to complement his typically stellar play in UU old generations throughout past tournaments and with his knowledge of ADV UU, can also complement ADV OU professor eden quite well. The TDKs seemed to prioritize drafting severely strong old gen picks instead of choosing to fortify their SS core early, and ended up picking Aliss, TJ, and EviGaro pretty late into the draft. All three players have experienced success in other formats, though they are all question marks when it comes to their expected performance in SS UU. It will be interesting to note if there will be any lineup changes to remedy the possibility of any of these players struggling early, though general lineup flexibility will surely prove to be a massive determining factor to this team's well-being. Regardless, the team has an immense amount of star power to operate as one of the favorites to win the tournament and will undoubtedly prove to be a nightmarish force for other teams to deal with going forward.

PLAYER RANKINGS

SS Rankings

1. Star

2. Punny

3. mncmt

4. Luthier

5. Bushtush

6. Lilburr

7. pdt

8. umbry

9. hs

10. mushamu

11. Meru

12. Lyss

13. Feliburn

14. EviGaro

15. beatiful

16. Raptor

17. KM

18. KSt3ve

19. TJ

20. sensei axew

21. ez

22. Luirromen

23. Monky25

24. Aliss

SM Rankings

1. Adaam

2. robjr

3. pokemonisfun

4. Xiri

5. Santu

6. Gondra

7. odr

8. Ark

ORAS Rankings

1. Pak

2. esche

3. Bouff

4. Chaitanya

5. DrReuniclus

6. xujing691691

7. Cynde

8. Scalescale

BW Rankings

1. Finchinator

2. Amukamara

3. SOMALIA

4. Raichy

5. Mr.378

6. Sabella

7. Nalorium

8. Ninjadog

DPP Rankings

1. Eo Ut Mortus

2. Accel

3. watashi

4. fatty

5. Heysup

6. Thiago Nunes

7. Shiba

8. Expulso

ADV Rankings

1. Garay Oak

2. Cam

3. eden

4. Hyogafodex

5. Roseybear

6. r0ady

7. RampageWebber

8. Jisoo

GSC Rankings

1. HSA

2. lax

3. Estarossa

4. LpZ

5. Leru

6. Holly

7. Vani

8. Trevelion

RBY Rankings

1. Amaranth

2. EB0LA

3. Torchic

4. phoopes

5. pac

6. Diophantine

7. Drogba In Shenhua

8. Koalacance

OVERALL RANKINGS
And the moment everyone's been waiting for...

Hide

Please remember that PRs are a very thankless task and purely for entertainment purposes. It's impossible for four individuals to rank everything with 100% accuracy, but we hope that everyone enjoys the read and good luck to all teams in the next 7-9 weeks! Go Dragonairs!

 

[pokemonisfun]

Thank you Meru and scorbunnys for maintaining the replay/usage thread.

Analysis of Week 2 game, pokemonisfun (me) vs Xiri: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7uu-593849

Disclaimers: I do not know Xiri's team but the Bisharp he used is revealed to be Taunt Shuca Berry and the Maero he uses reveals to be Hone Claws

Preview and matchup

Hide

The match up looks fairly reasonable for both players. On preview, it looks maybe a tad better for pokemonisfun because he should have fairly solid counters to all of Xiri's Pokemon except for Nidoqueen, which can be checked by most of his Pokemon still, but Xiri will have with Rotom-H. However, in actuality the match up is probably more balanced than closer to actually benefitting pokemonisfun as Bisharp's Shuca Berry Taunt + Hone Claws Mega Aerodactyl means Mega Aerodactyl is very hard to stop from sweeping, plus pokemonisfun's Bisharp doesn't even have Sucker Punch.

Early turns (1-10), a critical hit and a first KO - advantage to pokemonisfun

Hide

So the Hippowdon vs Nidoqueen lead is interesting because Hippowdon is the most important part of my defensive core and Nidoqueen is the most important part of his offensive core - Xiri shows more reserve here than pokemonisfun by declining to get "greed rocks" which is precisely what Pokemonisfun does on turn 3. "Greed rocks" can be described as when a player tries to set up SR to get a large advantage instead of playing a safer move to maintain the "balance" of a position. "Balance" of the position just means holding the position's evaluation relatively level.

The SR was based on two incorrect ideas on turn 3 by Pokemonisfun: 1) the aforementioned greed and 2) the incorrect belief that Chesnaught could not seriously harm Hippowdon.

However, a very lucky critical hit on turn 8 keeps the balance slightly in favor of Pokemonisfun still by the end of turn 10 - yes Rotom-H, which was pokemonisfun's biggest threat, is KOd but Nidoqueen is on the ropes and Chesnaught is eliminated as well, taking away the pressure of Spikes.

Catching some ZZZZZs (turns 11-20) - advantage to pokemonisfun

Hide

The next series of moves sees Xiri start another major offensive with Scizor, but with a rather misplaced Z U-Turn on turn 13, it's clear Xiri is lacking some breaking power afterwards. Another route would have been to just use Swords Dance on turn 12 and then cleanly eliminated Amoonguss without having to take HP Fire or Rocky Helmet damage. The clear reason for the early Z U-Turn is that Xiri did not expect the unusual Bisharp set, and was worried Bisharp could sweep given Chesnaught was already dead.

However, even if my Bisharp was a typical SD set, it cannot KO Scizor at +2 while Scizor will always OHKO at +2 Z Uturn. Again, he could have went for this. It's pretty likely that my Bisharp is not Z move as Hippowdon has revealed no Leftovers nor Rocky Helmet, meaning it is likely Z move.

Pokemonisfun willingly goes to Sylveon on Aero, knowing Scizor will likely come in, but it does give Hippowdon a chance to heal from Sylveon's Leftover which is worth it as I seem to need it for Bisharp and Mega Aero. The Z Earthquake on Hippowdon means I am a fairly decent Scizor check. That is something Xiri definitely should have scouted for on turn 20, but I imagine he was aware Z Earthquake was very likely. It seems as if he "outsmarted himself" so to speak here, I assume he knew that I knew Z Earthquake was likely, so I wouldn't blow it quite yet. It's not really clear when to blow the Z move, I won't say SD was wrong by Xiri there or Z Earthquake was right, if it didn't work (i.e. if Xiri Roosted there, there is no doubt Scizor won long term without serious hax).

Conversion hiccups (turns 21-28) - advantage to pokemonisfun

Hide

So as Pokemonisfun begins to convert the advantage he builds it a bit more first with Pidgeot on Nidoqueen, to preserve important health on Hippowdon. Turn 22 is a clear mistake though. Hurricane is the best move on turn 22 because it claims Nidoqueen or does big damage to Aerodactyl. I used U-Turn as I expected a Roost Aerodactyl to come in but Roost Aerodactyl wasn't actually a big threat to the team as it never gets past Sylveon. Hurricane would have punished Hone Claws Aerodactyl greatly by putting it easily in 2HKO range from Bisharp's Knock Off or Sylveon's Hyper Voice. I end up not getting much damage on Tentacruel, which proves crucial later.

A flinch on turn 24, which is both less important and more likely than the previous Overheat critical hit on Nidoqueen, plus a tech reveal of Taunt on turn 25 is what Xiri goes for and keeps Hippowdon in possibly Aqua Tail range (and guaranteed if the Mega Aero is Adamant). However, I bail with Hippowdon and sack Pidgeot for huge damage on Bisharp, meaning I do not need to lock myself into Scarf Low Kick to KO Bisharp anymore.

Ending (turns 29-39)

Hide

The question is what to lock yourself in with Scarf Bisharp on turn 29 to revenge kill the weakened Bisharp. Iron Head was the correct idea here and I'm critical of preserving Bisharp from Xiri assuming 1) his Bisharp had Sucker Punch and his Aero had Earthquake or 2) his Aero had EQ, Aqua Tail, and Stone Edge. I think though, he still may not have been aware the Bisharp I was using was Choice Scarf, but if I set up Swords Dance there, I won almost for sure anyways so he pretty much had to assume I was Choice Scarf.

Scenario 1: If Xiri had Sucker Punch on his Bisharp, he just needs to do that to put my Bisharp in Earthquake range from Aero so he can sweep like that, as Mega Aero is highly favored to beat Sylveon 1v1 (Hyper Voice only 2HKOs 9% of the time not factoring in crits and +1 Stone Edge always 2HKOs (can OHKO with crit), so he can set up Hone Claws on Sylveon and beat it.

Scenario 2: If Xiri did not have Sucker Punch, he could just sack Bisharp there to my Iron Head or Knock Off. If I Knock Off, setting up with Aero wins again if he has EQ like in scenario 1. If I Iron Head, he goes back to the Tentacruel play he did earlier except he eats one less Iron Head, letting him have another turn to wake up on and one less critical hit chance to lose to.

Anyways, we get something closer to scenario 2 where Xiri has to avoid a flinch, crits on 3 tries, and get a 1st turn wake up to have a chance as he needs damage on Bisharp or else Bisharp just sweeps. He gets that and more with a burn critical hit, which almost seals the game for him, even if I stayed in with Bisharp on turn 32 and crit Tentacruel or got a super roll to kill it or flinched it, his Aero can come in and sweep. For example, he kills me on turn 33, I go to Sylveon, and we get back to scenario 1 above, where Aero most likely beats Sylveon one on one and even if he doesn't, he has another shot to win with Bisharp flinch on Hippowdon.

Basically, I always need Bisharp to be out of Aero range to avoid getting into scenario 1, which means Bisharp has to be at 100% if his Aero has EQ which I assume it did.

After Tentacruel wakes up, a bit more hax on Sylveon means Sylveon cannot heal Bisharp's burn or try to 1v1 the Tentacruel, giving Xiri a clear 100% win.

I think the hax was relatively balanced with both sides getting important luck, but it's pretty clear that the prep trapped me (Mega Aero + Bisharp set to try and force a Mega Aero set up/sweep) while my prep might have made Xiri misplay (Scarf Bisharp psyching him out and making him blow the Z move early). Fairly close and enjoyable game, thank you to my opponent, would be happy to hear his thoughts.

 

[BigFatMantis]

With the final week of the season coming soon (tm), I decided to do...

THE ROAD TO THE PLAYOFFS
produced in collaboration with Dodrio, DJ Khaled, and BigFatMantis​

So how is the playoff picture looking? Let's take a look:

TDK Today at 22:01 lily my team has decided we will not have a team name
RECORD: 4-0-2
POINTS: 10
DIFFERENTIAL: +14

They're in already. Literally nothing can keep them out. They COULD however lose the #1 seed to the Dragon's Den Dragonairs if they have a total collapse (lose at least 3-7) and the Dragonairs have a dominant win (7-3 at least) or some other similar combination. Could it happen? Of course! Will it? Probably not.

Dragon's Den Dragonairs
RECORD: 3-1-2
POINTS: 8
DIFFERENTIAL: +10

They're (We're) not 100% in, but it will take a cataclysmic collaps combined with the perfect storm of events to keep the Dragonairs out of the top 4. Basically, the Dragonairs would need to lose by at least 2-8 to the Bouffs. Additionally, the Primarinas would have to WIN by at least 8-2 to L.A.P.R.A.S. To top it off, the Lunatones would have to win or at least tie v. the TDKs. If ALL of those things somehow happen, then the Dragonairs would be out, and Indigo Plateau would contemplate what his life has become.

Meteor Falls Lunatones
RECORD: 3-1-2
POINTS: 8
DIFFERENTIAL: +4

The Lunatones are looking pretty secure, but they unfortunately face the top seeded TDKs this week, so holding on to 3rd place will not be easy. Despite this, both the Bouffs and the Primarinas would have to win the week, combined with a Lunatones loss, for the Lunatones to be out. Additionally, if it's a straight 4-6 loss to the TDKs, and a straight 6-4 win by the Primarinas and Bouffs, it would force a 3-way tiebreaker for 3rd and 4th place, however that works. But it's very possible, so don't expect this team to take any steps back.

Los Cherno Bouffalants
RECORD: 1-1-4
POINTS: 6
DIFFERENTIAL: +0

The future is in your hands - that's basically the Bouffs situation. There's five ways they can make it in:
#1: Win against the Dragonairs by a margin of at least 8-2. This shoots them over the Dragonairs in the standings and guarantees a playoff spot, no matter what else happens.
#2: Win against the Dragonairs by a better margin than the Primarinas win against L.A.P.R.A.S. (for example win 7-3 while Primarinas win only 6-4). This would also guarantee at least a 4 seed.
#3: Win against the Dragonairs by any margin, while the Lunatones lose to the TDKs. This would at least force a tie with the Lunatones, or would leapfrog them over the Lunatones if the win was by a greater margin.
#4: Lose to the Dragonairs, but not as bad as the Primarinas lose to L.A.P.R.A.S. (so lose like 4-6 only, while Primarinas lose 3-7). BUT in order for this to work, the Barboaches need to lose or tie to the Sandacondas. So long as this happens, it would push the Bouffs to at least a 4 seed.
#5: Both the Bouffs and the Primarinas tie the week, or win the week by 6-4 each or by 7-3 each (assuming the Lunatones tie or win v the TDKs). This would at least force a play-in series for the #4 seed.

Paniola Primarinas
RECORD: 1-1-4
POINTS: 6
DIFFERENTIAL: +0

The Primarinas are fighting for the final playoff spot, and they lucked out with facing the last place L.A.P.R.A.S. this week. It won't be a walk in the park, but there are several ways they can get in (queue copy pasta from the Bouffs):
#1: Win against L.A.P.R.A.S. by a margin of at least 8-2. No matter what happens with anyone else, this would guarantee them a spot in.
#2: Win against L.A.P.R.A.S. by a better margin than the Bouffs win against the Dragonairs (for example win 7-3 while Bouffs win only 6-4). This would also guarantee at least a 4 seed.
#3: Win against L.A.P.R.A.S. by any margin, while the Lunatones lose to the TDKs. This would at least force a tie with the Lunatones, or would leapfrog them over the Lunatones if the win was by a greater margin.
#4: Lose to the L.A.P.R.A.S., but not as bad as the Bouffs lose to the Dragonairs (so lose like 4-6 only, while Bouffs lose 3-7). BUT in order for this to work, the Barboaches need to lose or tie to the Sandacondas. So long as this happens, it would push the Primarinas to at least a 4 seed.
#5: Both the Bouffs and the Primarinas tie the week, or win the week by 6-4 each or by 7-3 each (assuming the Lunatones tie or win v the TDKs). This would at least force a play-in series for the #4 seed.

Bebo Brand Barboaches
RECORD: 2-3-1
POINTS: 5
DIFFERENTIAL: -4

The Barboaches are down, but they are not out yet! There are three possible ways that they could actually clinch a top 4 spot:
#1: Win against the Sandacondas, while both the Primarinas and the Bouffs lose for the week. Easy peasy lemon squeezy if you ask me!
#2: One (or both) of the Primarinas or Bouffs finish the week with a Tie (or one wins and one ties), while the Barboaches win against the Sandacondas by at least 8-2. This would give enough of a differential to put them past both the Primarinas and Bouffs. IF they only win 7-3 and this happens, they can still force a play-in series for the final seed.
#3: Tie the Sandacondas, while the Primarinas and Bouffs both lose very badly. If they lose 3-7, then it forces a tie for the final seed. If they lose 2-8 or worse, then the Barboaches are in.

Thanks for reading, and remember:

“The important thing is not how long you live. It’s what you accomplish with your life.”
- Grovyle ​

 

[pokemonisfun]

Here’s how LAPRAS can still make it to playoffs: