My GSC UU card impossible to complete yet very accurate
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Tournament UU Snake Draft III - Commencement Thread
- Thread starter Estarossa
- Start date
dudes there is literally 18 gsc uu signups and like 5 ppl who actually play the tier in there this pool is going to be the worst fucking thing i have seen in my life LMAO
I didn't sign up, but the last part convinced me. You're the manager to go for.
Hey there! I noticed you claim something to be the worst thing you’ve ever seen in your life. Hyperbole is fun and all, but in case you’re being serious, I challenge this claim. Not convinced? Then:
- Navigate to https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/
- In the text field labeled “Username,” input “Indigo Plateau”. I’ve circled the field below if you have trouble finding it
- Click “Search for User.” You’ll be taken to a page with various replays
- Select any replay and watch the game
All this Bingos made me want to do one for SS UU, so here it is!
S/o pokemonisfun for helping me to complete it
S/o pokemonisfun for helping me to complete it
Sorry to interrupt all the fun bingo cards/IP replay shaming here, but I do have a couple questions:
Re: ADV UU
- the vote should conclude in a few hours on ADV UU Slate 1, and everything that results from that I assume will be active for UUSD. However, Shiba was mentioning potentially testing 3 ADV UUBLs (Arcanine, Swellow, and Ninjask), and so I think it'd be good to let the managers to know for sure if that was still happening for UUSD.
Re: RBY UU
- Victreebel and Lapras are potentially dropping to RBY UU next week, after UUSD Week 1 has officially started. I assume the tier will NOT be locked, meaning RBY players will be building with Victreebel/Lapras for future weeks, but just want to confirm if that is the case. Especially since one of the teams is called L.A.P.R.A.S.
Lily Estarossa phoopes
Re: ADV UU
- the vote should conclude in a few hours on ADV UU Slate 1, and everything that results from that I assume will be active for UUSD. However, Shiba was mentioning potentially testing 3 ADV UUBLs (Arcanine, Swellow, and Ninjask), and so I think it'd be good to let the managers to know for sure if that was still happening for UUSD.Re: RBY UU
- Victreebel and Lapras are potentially dropping to RBY UU next week, after UUSD Week 1 has officially started. I assume the tier will NOT be locked, meaning RBY players will be building with Victreebel/Lapras for future weeks, but just want to confirm if that is the case. Especially since one of the teams is called L.A.P.R.A.S.Lily Estarossa phoopes
Also I should have caught this sorry but it’s called ramoment, not ramomoment, but people will understand I think
Re: RBY UU
vapicuno will be posting the OU VR tomorrow, which will contain all the drops. The tier is not locked, so all drops will be fair game effective immediately. Note however that the RBY UU Council has the power to quickban if they see fit, so that could affect some things. Announcements about all that stuff will be made in the RBY forum so keep an eye out there, but I’ll also communicate what’s happening with you too.
Slowbro, Lapras, and Victreebel all dropped to UU. However, Slowbro and Lapras were both quickbanned by the council. Victreebel will stay RBY UU.
See this post for more details.
Hello everyone, I'm fuckin bored atm and I feel like this is something that isn't done frequently. Maybe it's because it might come off as just rude to the lower people on the list but that's not my intention I just hope to entertain at least like... one or two people, if I at least entertain myself rly that's good enough for me atm. So here are my manager power rankings before the draft has even happened.
1. TDK and Pearl
The body weight of Thomas Dick Kicker is only second to the weight of his accomplishments and impact on the UU metagame over the years, and the same could be said maybe even moreso of his comanagaer Pearl. These two together symbolize the jerk that has dominated UU subforum team tours nearly since it's conception, and while rivals such as the battlegirls franchise have aged and become a relic of the past, these two continue to dominate. Thomas probably puts about 3 lines in per week at this point and is surely a shell of the former machine he came up as, but it's more than enough when he is a seasoned player and has a loyal cast and crew that continues to not be a viable draft pick for other teams bc they will probably put in a 4th of the effort if they are drafted by not the jerk. You can expect this roster to be stacked and even if they aren't the old men driving the bus will surely be able to keep it all together. To sum up these two in spot number one, you can combine any 2 names in the history of UU and it'll be difficult to debate them being a better duo than Thomas and Pearl.
2. Indigo Plateau and Sage
These two are splendid individual UUers that've had an impact on the tiering of it for a solid handful of years now. Both of them rising competitively in this tier respectively and on the forum roughly around the same time. They are surely familiar enough with each other to be great managers together and I have no doubt about that, but of course I can't imagine the synergy is on the same level of the entry above. As far as I'm aware (idk shit so don't hold me accountable if I'm wrong), these two have not been managers together yet, but the sheer relevance of the two of them individually (one of them literally being the tl) is enough to put them at number 2 and ahead of the rest of the competition. I feel these two will craft a viable team together, probably heavily resembling a gayer and furrier version of barclays.
3. Lily and Jade
Honestly I expect this pick to be controversial bc I don't feel super confident in it myself. No disrespect to Jade she has been a friend for longer than most on this site but I feel Lily does carry this duo up in the rankings in my mind at least, which tbf is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things so ye. In UUPL, Jade formed a team that on paper I felt left a lot to be desired, obviously it all doesn't fall on her shoulders or anything but she failed to strike at the right moments when it came to bidding and ended up with a whole lot of money and a lack of talent in the end. This is a snake format instead of an auction which maybe remedy that, but she also has a strong wingwoman who has experience in using her authority when it comes to this subforum. I think the two of them will complement each other well and there's enough knowledge of the UU player-base and community between them to form something unique and good. I expect something similar to if the good parts of their two uupl teams merging to be what they could cook up, not sure, idk shit, but either way these're two capable individuals who have a solid grasp of UU and can either end up surprising me in very good or very bad ways with their draft, hoping for the former.
4. KM and mence
Honestly before I thought abt it much I thought id put this duo lower because of KM alone. I fuckin love KM a lot as a human and even as a player and I'm rooting for him wholeheartedly in everything he does ever, in both mons and life. I consider him a genuine friend and not just one from the scope of smogon. Reason I say all that is because KM certainly does interesting things with his builds and his support I imagine can either be extremely helpful or extremely fuckin stupid. Like it's probably not even really a player-support connection that really matters here that'd make it more or less consistent... I think it's more like he: will either say the right dumb thing that actually ends up being rly good and just the thing that whatever build they're talking about needed... OR he will just spam useless sets and mons that do absolutely nothing and even if the user thinks it's good they will get fuckin schwacked 6-0d destroyed bc they brought aoa coba berry mankey. Mence isn't someone I've interacted with much in general, but judging by the presence he's had in the UU discord and community in general, he is more active than I would've thought he'd be in the past. I think he'll probably bring a pretty great environment to the team chat along with KM and you could argue that these two could be ranked higher, idk wtf their draft will look like.
5. pif and Aqua Jet
I do certainly have a bias towards pif, he was my original UU subforum team tour manager and I owe him a lot in both mons and life, he is my real life friend at this point. Idk anything about aqua jet, like nothing at all, whatsoever. That definitely does bring him down the rankings a bit in the sense of, if he had someone more solidified that would compliment him and balance him out in terms of draft and team building he could be extremely high on this list for sure. Pif values different things competitively than most other people on this site, he truly has a wholesome and mostly unselfish outlook on situations like these and that is both his strongest asset as a manager and his biggest weakpoint. It makes him strong because he believes in his players and truly wants them to succeed and his players will absolutely feel that being the case. It might impact the way they build or play and it will only be in a positive way because they themselves will feel more confident because of how much value pif puts in them. It hurts him because he can believe in the wrong people easily, it is more personal with him and he truly is a people person. He is not trying to build the all star team, he is gonna primarily go after the people he knows and talks to, the way he values others isn't based on anything but his own personal experiences with them and while that is a beautiful thing... it is not efficient in a team tournament/roster building setting. I think with the right structure pif can make a run with whatever team he drafts and it can turn out ANY number of ways. Drafting isn't rocket science most of the time and he can definitely surprise us with something incredible, decent, mid, bad, or anything. Also who knows maybe Aqua Jet is a fuckin beast or smth idk.
6. Highways and gum
These two might feel like im throwing shade or something by putting them here and I don't blame them bc I don't rly feel like they deserve to be this low, but this is where I've ended up with them. Idk if gum will contribute much other than a pretty good atmosphere maybe, Highways is great and has become far stronger ever since SS became cg, I haven't been very around this past year or so, maybe he is even stronger now and I am just a baffoon. I like both of these users, I just can't associate a group of users that I can imagine being the roster they end up having. No shot they get Brazil all to themselves, regardless I feel Highways has been around long enough and is strong enough of a player to make something happen and they can definitely end up with an upper-half level roster. I just can't imagine them coming up with something better than like a tb r1 playoff loss if that makes sense, but hopefully they'll prove me wrong.
7. bb skarm and Cam
I also do feel these two could definitely be higher, they are reigning UUFPL champs I think. bb skarm is a regular in the UU scene at this point and Cam is a fossil at this point, he knows the smogon community like the back of his hand and I'm sure can combine his experience as a smogon user with bb skarm's experience as a UU jerker and come up with something great. I have heard small ideas of what they might get and honestly it does not sound bad. Like I said they could definitely go higher, I would like to stress that like 5-7 is extremely close and probably very interchangeable. I think how good this team ends up almost completely depending on the star power they secure in the first two rounds. If they secure an at least solid duo that compliment each other and cover a variety of tiers and will pump out a positive record between them for sure... then they can definitely end up putting together a supporting cast around it that'd be really really nice and genuine threats to taking the whole tour. Ultimately they fall this low on this list because most of the duos above them simply hold more name-weight and have more expected of them. Which obviously isn't what managing is all about but I think it does play a role and there is a correlation when it comes to why the best managers are the best managers, if that makes sense.
8. Drew and Sirwings
I am well acquainted with drew personally and as a player for sure. I don't know a ton about Sirwings but I have no bias against him. He did knock me out of UU Open iirc and I do remember feeling like he played confidently and well. I otherwise don't know anything about him though other than that pif is partial to him which is a plus in my mind at least. I do believe they are planning on drafting themselves for this tour which I think is going to limit what they can do at least a bit unless the draft itself or games in the season go way way way in their favor. They haven't given me any reason to believe they will help carry their team to victory with S tier piloting or support, which is the bare minimum of what you'd pray for in r1 of a snake draft. Maybe they will and absolutely prove me wrong but like I said I am going off of what I have seen/know, which obviously isn't much, I am just one guy. Drew does tend to have strange takes sometimes and hasn't had the best track record when it comes to team tours, both in terms of performance and also in terms of how he meshes with the rest of his team. There's a ton of question marks above this duo and they can definitely surprise us all and I would love to see that for sure, I am rooting for them but as of right now there is definitely a gap between 7 and 8 and these two are comfortably last place for me.
Have a splendid day my fellow pocket monster players. If any of you are upset with the number beside your names, pls keep in mind I am dumber than most and due to that my opinion means less than most almost certainly B), and if you really really feel strongly abt it you can DM me for further discussion on it, I am rooting for every manager genuinely.
1. TDK and Pearl
The body weight of Thomas Dick Kicker is only second to the weight of his accomplishments and impact on the UU metagame over the years, and the same could be said maybe even moreso of his comanagaer Pearl. These two together symbolize the jerk that has dominated UU subforum team tours nearly since it's conception, and while rivals such as the battlegirls franchise have aged and become a relic of the past, these two continue to dominate. Thomas probably puts about 3 lines in per week at this point and is surely a shell of the former machine he came up as, but it's more than enough when he is a seasoned player and has a loyal cast and crew that continues to not be a viable draft pick for other teams bc they will probably put in a 4th of the effort if they are drafted by not the jerk. You can expect this roster to be stacked and even if they aren't the old men driving the bus will surely be able to keep it all together. To sum up these two in spot number one, you can combine any 2 names in the history of UU and it'll be difficult to debate them being a better duo than Thomas and Pearl.
2. Indigo Plateau and Sage
These two are splendid individual UUers that've had an impact on the tiering of it for a solid handful of years now. Both of them rising competitively in this tier respectively and on the forum roughly around the same time. They are surely familiar enough with each other to be great managers together and I have no doubt about that, but of course I can't imagine the synergy is on the same level of the entry above. As far as I'm aware (idk shit so don't hold me accountable if I'm wrong), these two have not been managers together yet, but the sheer relevance of the two of them individually (one of them literally being the tl) is enough to put them at number 2 and ahead of the rest of the competition. I feel these two will craft a viable team together, probably heavily resembling a gayer and furrier version of barclays.
3. Lily and Jade
Honestly I expect this pick to be controversial bc I don't feel super confident in it myself. No disrespect to Jade she has been a friend for longer than most on this site but I feel Lily does carry this duo up in the rankings in my mind at least, which tbf is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things so ye. In UUPL, Jade formed a team that on paper I felt left a lot to be desired, obviously it all doesn't fall on her shoulders or anything but she failed to strike at the right moments when it came to bidding and ended up with a whole lot of money and a lack of talent in the end. This is a snake format instead of an auction which maybe remedy that, but she also has a strong wingwoman who has experience in using her authority when it comes to this subforum. I think the two of them will complement each other well and there's enough knowledge of the UU player-base and community between them to form something unique and good. I expect something similar to if the good parts of their two uupl teams merging to be what they could cook up, not sure, idk shit, but either way these're two capable individuals who have a solid grasp of UU and can either end up surprising me in very good or very bad ways with their draft, hoping for the former.
4. KM and mence
Honestly before I thought abt it much I thought id put this duo lower because of KM alone. I fuckin love KM a lot as a human and even as a player and I'm rooting for him wholeheartedly in everything he does ever, in both mons and life. I consider him a genuine friend and not just one from the scope of smogon. Reason I say all that is because KM certainly does interesting things with his builds and his support I imagine can either be extremely helpful or extremely fuckin stupid. Like it's probably not even really a player-support connection that really matters here that'd make it more or less consistent... I think it's more like he: will either say the right dumb thing that actually ends up being rly good and just the thing that whatever build they're talking about needed... OR he will just spam useless sets and mons that do absolutely nothing and even if the user thinks it's good they will get fuckin schwacked 6-0d destroyed bc they brought aoa coba berry mankey. Mence isn't someone I've interacted with much in general, but judging by the presence he's had in the UU discord and community in general, he is more active than I would've thought he'd be in the past. I think he'll probably bring a pretty great environment to the team chat along with KM and you could argue that these two could be ranked higher, idk wtf their draft will look like.
5. pif and Aqua Jet
I do certainly have a bias towards pif, he was my original UU subforum team tour manager and I owe him a lot in both mons and life, he is my real life friend at this point. Idk anything about aqua jet, like nothing at all, whatsoever. That definitely does bring him down the rankings a bit in the sense of, if he had someone more solidified that would compliment him and balance him out in terms of draft and team building he could be extremely high on this list for sure. Pif values different things competitively than most other people on this site, he truly has a wholesome and mostly unselfish outlook on situations like these and that is both his strongest asset as a manager and his biggest weakpoint. It makes him strong because he believes in his players and truly wants them to succeed and his players will absolutely feel that being the case. It might impact the way they build or play and it will only be in a positive way because they themselves will feel more confident because of how much value pif puts in them. It hurts him because he can believe in the wrong people easily, it is more personal with him and he truly is a people person. He is not trying to build the all star team, he is gonna primarily go after the people he knows and talks to, the way he values others isn't based on anything but his own personal experiences with them and while that is a beautiful thing... it is not efficient in a team tournament/roster building setting. I think with the right structure pif can make a run with whatever team he drafts and it can turn out ANY number of ways. Drafting isn't rocket science most of the time and he can definitely surprise us with something incredible, decent, mid, bad, or anything. Also who knows maybe Aqua Jet is a fuckin beast or smth idk.
6. Highways and gum
These two might feel like im throwing shade or something by putting them here and I don't blame them bc I don't rly feel like they deserve to be this low, but this is where I've ended up with them. Idk if gum will contribute much other than a pretty good atmosphere maybe, Highways is great and has become far stronger ever since SS became cg, I haven't been very around this past year or so, maybe he is even stronger now and I am just a baffoon. I like both of these users, I just can't associate a group of users that I can imagine being the roster they end up having. No shot they get Brazil all to themselves, regardless I feel Highways has been around long enough and is strong enough of a player to make something happen and they can definitely end up with an upper-half level roster. I just can't imagine them coming up with something better than like a tb r1 playoff loss if that makes sense, but hopefully they'll prove me wrong.
7. bb skarm and Cam
I also do feel these two could definitely be higher, they are reigning UUFPL champs I think. bb skarm is a regular in the UU scene at this point and Cam is a fossil at this point, he knows the smogon community like the back of his hand and I'm sure can combine his experience as a smogon user with bb skarm's experience as a UU jerker and come up with something great. I have heard small ideas of what they might get and honestly it does not sound bad. Like I said they could definitely go higher, I would like to stress that like 5-7 is extremely close and probably very interchangeable. I think how good this team ends up almost completely depending on the star power they secure in the first two rounds. If they secure an at least solid duo that compliment each other and cover a variety of tiers and will pump out a positive record between them for sure... then they can definitely end up putting together a supporting cast around it that'd be really really nice and genuine threats to taking the whole tour. Ultimately they fall this low on this list because most of the duos above them simply hold more name-weight and have more expected of them. Which obviously isn't what managing is all about but I think it does play a role and there is a correlation when it comes to why the best managers are the best managers, if that makes sense.
8. Drew and Sirwings
I am well acquainted with drew personally and as a player for sure. I don't know a ton about Sirwings but I have no bias against him. He did knock me out of UU Open iirc and I do remember feeling like he played confidently and well. I otherwise don't know anything about him though other than that pif is partial to him which is a plus in my mind at least. I do believe they are planning on drafting themselves for this tour which I think is going to limit what they can do at least a bit unless the draft itself or games in the season go way way way in their favor. They haven't given me any reason to believe they will help carry their team to victory with S tier piloting or support, which is the bare minimum of what you'd pray for in r1 of a snake draft. Maybe they will and absolutely prove me wrong but like I said I am going off of what I have seen/know, which obviously isn't much, I am just one guy. Drew does tend to have strange takes sometimes and hasn't had the best track record when it comes to team tours, both in terms of performance and also in terms of how he meshes with the rest of his team. There's a ton of question marks above this duo and they can definitely surprise us all and I would love to see that for sure, I am rooting for them but as of right now there is definitely a gap between 7 and 8 and these two are comfortably last place for me.
Have a splendid day my fellow pocket monster players. If any of you are upset with the number beside your names, pls keep in mind I am dumber than most and due to that my opinion means less than most almost certainly B), and if you really really feel strongly abt it you can DM me for further discussion on it, I am rooting for every manager genuinely.
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how did you draft a team better than the team with pdt umbry robjr kek insane
Cuz I’m good
SS DugZa
SS Ausma
SS pannuracotta
SM Amukamara
ORAS Elfuseon
BW Eden
DP Raichy
RSE Parpar
GSC HSA
RBY May
SS Ausma
SS pannuracotta
SM Amukamara
ORAS Elfuseon
BW Eden
DP Raichy
RSE Parpar
GSC HSA
RBY May
We did another mock with a different person drunk this time!
My LU -
SS: Fc
SS: Bushtush
SS: Floss
SM: Passion
ORAS: Elfuseon
BW: Amukamara
DPP: Bouff
ADV: RampageWebber
GSC: Mystras Leoxes
RBY: AM
Sub: Magnum, Kitoothe, hydronics, Mr. Bossaru
BFM's Roster - https://pokepast.es/38a74291a9c17f1d
Luis Ramen
Hey there! I followed the steps you mentioned. I found a replay of said “Indigo Plateau” playing someone called “iwillbeatyou69.” Not sure who this is, but I liked their username. Linking the replay below for reference:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8uu-578673
I was wondering how Indigonous Platano won this game despite an absolute min roll on Draco Meteor last turn, but then I noticed he got a lucky poison Turn 1. You were right; this was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. Whoever “iwillbeatyou69” is must have a hamster for a brain to lose to this idiot.
I am going to go off on a limb here and say that the Dragon's Den Dragonairs have one of the strongest if not the strongest oldgens lineup out of all the teams. Besides DPP and BW which I don't play or know next to nothing about (choolio and Finch are the only BW names I know and they have one of them), Shellnuts, HSA and Liam are absolutely terrifying. If there is a team whose hopes of winning rounds relies on their oldgens, then they are going to have a really tough time. I hear they also have good SS core which I know very little about but have watched from time to time and dabbled in myself.
As for the GSC player pool, I don't think it will be too different from UUFPL. It has the potential to be way better in fact with players that have either had impressive results within the last year or have played in high stakes tournament games like UUPL or last years UUSD and the Silver Wing Invitational, among others (Raichy, Inder, Robjr, Torchic, Vani, Garay Oak). Add to the mix rising stars like Celebii and more than established players like Holly and HSA as well as those who have played GSC OU/UU for a while like Choolio, Aliss, Lax (and I think even Meru but my amnesia is kicking in here) and there probably a lot to look forward to. Lastly, I don't see much of a downside in having a "low player pool", in fact, should most of these players decide not to play that only leaves more room for other players to get their feet wet in GSC UU and since more team tournaments have been including GSC UU it has started to be on a slow rise in popularity, which makes me happy.
So which teams are (potentially) the strongest in GSC for me?
Not in any order I present...
Lake of outrage Sandacondas:
Holly, Celebii, Meru
in UUFPL II Celebiii proved his worth with a solid positive record in what I believe to be his debut team tour in this tier (feel free to correct me if it wasn't your first) and has been quite active. He's definitely been learning and will make for a good partner with Holly.
in UUPL X holly showed that her encyclopedic knowledge and deep understanding of matchups in GSC UU is not something to be trifled with. This was her first time mainlining GSC UU in this tournament series (in the previous year she debutted on the same team as Esta) and though the record didn't turn out to be a positive one (a few unfortunate games), she easily boasts some of the most impressive wins against some of the strongest players in that pool like gorgie and HSA, having taken them down like it was absolutely nobody's business.
Add to the fact that they have at least two other people to test games with and I think that this team is going to escalate in power throughout the season.
Dragon's Den Dragonairs:
HSA
The 3 letters really say it all. There is a reason I am a fan of his. HSA is one of the strongest players when it comes to low tiers. Although my knowledge of his feats are limited to GSC only, he is one of the few people ever to have won a major singles tournament in nearly all the GSC tiers known to man (the other person off the top of my head would be Earthworm). GSC UU cup and UUPL X are the most relevant wins that this player has under his belt, but he's been a main stay in UUPL for longer than I can remember and it's always been a treat to watch, and any loss should be considered an upset. I may quite safely say that he may be the best GSC UU player in the world. Needless to say that if you want to learn how to play GSC Underused pay attention to HSA.
Wild Wordle Wurmples:
Raichy, robjr
Raichy was two times attendee at the GSC OU invitational, and kicked my ass back to back in my tier in Silver Wing Invitational. Also I can't remember whether or not he played GSC UU in any of the recent team tours. Just a solid player over all and I would be surprised if he weren't going to mainline GSC this season.
robjr may very well have other goals to set his mind on, like fairy gens. But a lot of people may have glossed over the fact that he is a good player in whatever he sets his mind to.Also he won GSC UU cup last year and kicked my ass in Semis because I didn't respect LK Granbull.
The TDKs:
Garay Oak, Aliss, lax TDK?, Finch?
I could be completely missing the mark with this team as they all have potential do be good support elements and capable players but I don't feel like going to see their signups.
All of the listed players have either played quite a bit of GSC UU or are at least proficient in GSC OU. Which of these will play is an absolute toss up because I don't know if their interest for GSC OU would necessarily carry over to UU, which many find to be too slow paced.
I do think that a positive record is more than possible if they make a collective effort to bring solid teams
The Hydrophobic Volcanions:
Torchic, Vani
Torchic is I believe an RBY main but did went against my expectations doing an impressive job as a GSC player in UUPL X. Unfortunately for his record, he couldn't dodge the inevitable matchup against HSA in the finals and from what I heard he got stalled for 500 turns. He may have to improve his building and matchup knowledge to keep up with the pool.
vani is simply a solid GSC player, was a GSC OU invitational invitee, and has also participated in past team tournaments as a GSC UU player, including UUPL X, UUFPL I and I believe GSC PL II and I. He has experience having with Estarossa backing him up in past tours.
L.A.P.R.A.S. :
Inder
Inder also had some nice wins in UUPL X. I don't really know how far this may take them, nor am I sure if they will even compete in GSC this season.
The other two teams, Sinistea Ministry and Paniola Primarina's, don't strike me in terms of GSC power but I am curious to see how they will do.
As for the GSC player pool, I don't think it will be too different from UUFPL. It has the potential to be way better in fact with players that have either had impressive results within the last year or have played in high stakes tournament games like UUPL or last years UUSD and the Silver Wing Invitational, among others (Raichy, Inder, Robjr, Torchic, Vani, Garay Oak). Add to the mix rising stars like Celebii and more than established players like Holly and HSA as well as those who have played GSC OU/UU for a while like Choolio, Aliss, Lax (and I think even Meru but my amnesia is kicking in here) and there probably a lot to look forward to. Lastly, I don't see much of a downside in having a "low player pool", in fact, should most of these players decide not to play that only leaves more room for other players to get their feet wet in GSC UU and since more team tournaments have been including GSC UU it has started to be on a slow rise in popularity, which makes me happy.
So which teams are (potentially) the strongest in GSC for me?
Not in any order I present...
Lake of outrage Sandacondas:
Holly, Celebii, Meru
in UUFPL II Celebiii proved his worth with a solid positive record in what I believe to be his debut team tour in this tier (feel free to correct me if it wasn't your first) and has been quite active. He's definitely been learning and will make for a good partner with Holly.
in UUPL X holly showed that her encyclopedic knowledge and deep understanding of matchups in GSC UU is not something to be trifled with. This was her first time mainlining GSC UU in this tournament series (in the previous year she debutted on the same team as Esta) and though the record didn't turn out to be a positive one (a few unfortunate games), she easily boasts some of the most impressive wins against some of the strongest players in that pool like gorgie and HSA, having taken them down like it was absolutely nobody's business.
Add to the fact that they have at least two other people to test games with and I think that this team is going to escalate in power throughout the season.
Dragon's Den Dragonairs:
HSA
The 3 letters really say it all. There is a reason I am a fan of his. HSA is one of the strongest players when it comes to low tiers. Although my knowledge of his feats are limited to GSC only, he is one of the few people ever to have won a major singles tournament in nearly all the GSC tiers known to man (the other person off the top of my head would be Earthworm). GSC UU cup and UUPL X are the most relevant wins that this player has under his belt, but he's been a main stay in UUPL for longer than I can remember and it's always been a treat to watch, and any loss should be considered an upset. I may quite safely say that he may be the best GSC UU player in the world. Needless to say that if you want to learn how to play GSC Underused pay attention to HSA.
Wild Wordle Wurmples:
Raichy, robjr
Raichy was two times attendee at the GSC OU invitational, and kicked my ass back to back in my tier in Silver Wing Invitational. Also I can't remember whether or not he played GSC UU in any of the recent team tours. Just a solid player over all and I would be surprised if he weren't going to mainline GSC this season.
robjr may very well have other goals to set his mind on, like fairy gens. But a lot of people may have glossed over the fact that he is a good player in whatever he sets his mind to.
The TDKs:
Garay Oak, Aliss, lax TDK?, Finch?
I could be completely missing the mark with this team as they all have potential do be good support elements and capable players but I don't feel like going to see their signups.
All of the listed players have either played quite a bit of GSC UU or are at least proficient in GSC OU. Which of these will play is an absolute toss up because I don't know if their interest for GSC OU would necessarily carry over to UU, which many find to be too slow paced.
I do think that a positive record is more than possible if they make a collective effort to bring solid teams
The Hydrophobic Volcanions:
Torchic, Vani
Torchic is I believe an RBY main but did went against my expectations doing an impressive job as a GSC player in UUPL X. Unfortunately for his record, he couldn't dodge the inevitable matchup against HSA in the finals and from what I heard he got stalled for 500 turns. He may have to improve his building and matchup knowledge to keep up with the pool.
vani is simply a solid GSC player, was a GSC OU invitational invitee, and has also participated in past team tournaments as a GSC UU player, including UUPL X, UUFPL I and I believe GSC PL II and I. He has experience having with Estarossa backing him up in past tours.
L.A.P.R.A.S. :
Inder
Inder also had some nice wins in UUPL X. I don't really know how far this may take them, nor am I sure if they will even compete in GSC this season.
The other two teams, Sinistea Ministry and Paniola Primarina's, don't strike me in terms of GSC power but I am curious to see how they will do.
UUSD III RBY UU Unofficial Power Rankings
Howdy! I unfortunately couldn't muster the commitment to play in UUSD this year, so I will instead show my support by providing an Unofficial Power Ranking for the tier, this being my first one since UUFPL I. Before I begin, I want to say this is probably the most stacked tournament for RBY UU so far. I say this about seemingly every tour, but that's only because it continues to be true as the level of competition rises and the size of the player base enlarges. However, this makes making a good PR pretty difficult, as most of these players seem to be pretty much on the same level overall. I really can't say that I suspect any player will dominate and I think the best record will probably be like a 5-2 or something. I could see most players beating most of the others due to the homogenous skill level and the way certain players' playstyles happen to matchup. It's so close, I could see this PR end up being way off, despite my best efforts. Anyhow:
#1 L.A.P.R.A.S
Starter: Unowndragon (R4)
Support: pokemonisfun
Unowndragon has been a very dominant player in RBY UU recently, garnering a terrifying 8-1 record in the now concluded UUFPL II. He has demonstrated proficiency with a wide variety of teams and playstyles, so I see him as probably the most difficult to exploit player out of the whole bunch. He has also been playing the tier for a quite a while now, so he's gathered his fair share of experience, accomplishments, and good wins. I think we'll see a diverse array of powerful an innovative teams from him throughout the entire tournament. He also has some pretty solid support in pokemonisfun. While not exactly a RBY UU main, they've gotten a few good wins so far with an overall no-nonsense approach to teambuilding. I hope they'll be a good practice partner for Unowndragon. Additionally, rumor has it that May will be supporting Unowndragon in this tournament, and considering she helped him get that 8-1 record... the rest of the pool should prepare themselves.
#2 Paniola Primarinas
Starter: juoean (R6)
Support: Lily
This might be a bit of a hot take, as juoean doesn't have the longest history in RBY UU and she was drafted relatively late when compared to the other players of the tier. She takes a pretty unique approach to teambuilding, being able to catch players new and old off guard and dominate. I don't totally find myself agreeing with her approach to the tier, but it very clearly wins, so I can't really judge it poorly. She claimed victory in the RBY UU Invitational, despite not even being invited (she also won the Last Chance Qualifier). She is very clearly a competent player that can win under pressure against basically anyone. And as I said, she has very particular tastes in teambuilding, so I look forward to seeing a few niche picks show up and possibly rise on the VR thereafter. I think she'll win a bunch of games. She also benefits a little from having a teammate in occasional RBY UU player and comrade of LGPE OU Lily, who I hope will help juoean practice for her matches and build some strong teams.
#3 The Hydrophobic Volcanions
Starter: Torchic (R3)
Support: N/A
Much like Unowndragon, Torchic has a pretty long history with the RBY UU tier and has his fair share of accomplishments, perhaps boasting even more than him. He's probably the best player in the pool in an "overall" sense, but Unowndragon and juoean have more dominant results in recent memory, so I put them ahead. Regardless, he took the Bronze in the 2021 RoA Olympics in RBY UU and had an excellent RoAPL for RBY OU, so I think he is still an active and fearsome competitor. I think "the Godslayer," as some have affectionally dubbed him, will claim his fair share of victories given his intense tier experience and standard but reliable approach teambuilding. The only downside is that I really don't see anyone on his team who even casually plays RBY UU, so I hope he can find good practice games somewhere, though he probably needs them the least.
#4 Sinistea Ministry
Starter: stunner047 (R8)
Support: Ika Ika Musume
Perhaps another unconventional pick, I have stunner047 at a strong fourth. They don't have the most experience with RBY UU to my knowledge, but they had a great start with UUFPL, boasting a strong 5-2 record. They have a ton of tour experience in RBY in general as well, so I have no worries for them in this tournament. They're the kind of player that I really don't see losing to a weaker player. They seem to fall in line with Torchic in that they play pretty reliable standard teams in a very sound manner, so I think they'll probably end up with a positive record overall and possibly grab an upset here or there. Ika Ika Musume is also a pretty talented RBY player. They tend to lean more towards OU and NU, but I don't see them struggling too much with swapping over to UU if needed. If stunner047 needs to be benched for whatever reason, I think the Sinistea Ministry will remain in good hands (or tentacles idk). Anyhow, I think stunner047 will play just fine and they have a good resource for teams and games by their side.
#5 Dragon's Den Dragonairs
Starter: Shellnuts (R5)
Support: Sage
I feel bad ranking long-time sparring partner and RBY UU enthusiast Shellnuts this low. He's a very solid player and I believe he probably "knows" the most about the tier in a general sense. He has played for quite a while at this point and has dedicated a lot of time and energy to analyzing the tier. The pool is just that strong, however. Shellnuts is coming off a decent 2-2 record in UUFPL II and had a pretty decent performance in the Invitational, but he lacks that big recent result of his peers above. Regardless, I could see him channeling his 4-1 from UUFPL I and going positive once again. Again, this pool is incredibly strong and close, so that's why I could easily see the fifth player on this list grabbing such a good record. In particular, he and stunner047 were really close to split, but I gave it to the latter for recency reasons and support options. He's a classic yet fairly experimental player and I always enjoy watching his games. Additionally, while I suspect Sage will have other things to tend to, I know she knows the tier and could potentially offer some warmups for Shellnuts.
#6 Wild Wild Wurmples
Starter: AM (R10)
Support: BigFatMantis, cam, robjr
I kind of love this team for RBY UU. After AM, it happens to have just a hodgepodge of people that just kind of casually dabble in RBY UU, meaning AM has some of the most interesting support options available (assuming they are willing to indulge the tier). Anyhow, AM is a unique player in RBY UU. I believe UUFPL I and II are his only major forays into the tier, where he went 3-1 and 1-2, respectively. He doesn't have the largest archive of victories and I find some of his teams and game plans to be a bit too straightforward, perhaps similar to someone like juoean or pokemonisfun, though with fewer major accomplishments. I'm pretty confident he or one of his teammates will grab a good upset or two though. If he gets his position early on in the game, he is usually able to dominate from there, given his preference for offense. I'm looking forward to seeing this group of players and AM's unique take on the meta.
#7 TDK Today at 22:01 lily my team has decided we will not have a team name
Starter: phoopes (R9)
Support: Aliss
It's been a rough season for phoopes. He certainly knows RBY UU and has gotten some good victories in the past (see UUFPL I or RBYPL II), but he had a very tough time in both the Invitational and UUFPL II. He has a pretty bad bunch of records he needs to claw back from. He definitely has the capacity as a player to win, but he needs to catch up with the meta and hunker down. I know he's a solid player and I'm not counting him out, but again, this is a tough pool with a lot of really strong recent history, so I'm pretty much forced to rank him down here. My apologies to the phandom; I'll root for the upsets. I'm not too sure if Aliss is overly familiar with RBY UU, but she's a strong OU player to my knowledge, so perhaps she could help out a little here and there.
#8 Lake of Outrage Sandacondas
Starter: emma (R10)
Support: holly, Celebiii
So this is an interesting one. While emma may be undefeated in SPL, she was certainly a surprise pick from my perspective. The Player Signups Pool was very deep and I think a lot of really solid players were unfortunately glossed over. Meanwhile, emma doesn't really have a history in RBY UU that I can talk about here. Like she is obviously a good player in a general sense, but against a pool of elite players that have played this tier for years at a tournament level... I'm not sure how I could rank her anywhere else. She needs to read up on the meta as soon as possible and try to beat her opponents with pure strategy, because I think she's going to be bested by most of them in terms of metagame knowledge. This isn't insurmountable, but I don't think it'll be easy. Thankfully, she has holly and Celebiii who are at least decently familiar with RBY UU to set her in the right direction and offer her some practice.
Still Swimming
As I said, I think the RBY UU Player Pool was very good. Unfortunately, not every player was drafted, so I wanted to take a brief moment to talk about some players that I think were missed. There were a lot of these players, but I decided to cut it down to two for brevity.
May is a pretty significant representative of the RBY UU Community with a reasonably long tournament history at this point. Admittedly, she doesn't have the greatest set of records to her name, so I understand the hesitancy to draft her in some ways. However, I believe she is a capable starter and a very solid support player. She is easily one the best scouts in competitive Pokemon and a pretty solid teambuilder and practice partner. Big missed opportunity to not grab her as an extra player. After all, she guided Unowndragon to such incredible heights in UUFPL II.
iKiQ is a very seasoned player from the early days of RBY UU. With relatively few recent records, I can see how he flew under the radar; however, I still think he would have been a very strong competitor going into this tournament. I think he would have held his own and secured a nearly even or winning record, despite having not played in a bit. It's a shame that we won't get to see a member of the Old Guard give it another go in tournament.
Well that was long. I wish everyone the best of luck going into this tournament. The competition is incredibly strong, so I truly believe this could be anyone's tournament. I could probably make this PR again tomorrow and have a totally different list; it is just that close. I look forward to seeing some great games and superfluous chess comparisons, it should be a lot of fun. Expect a Midseason PR; I plan on making another after like Week 4 or 5, depending on my schedule. Cheers!
Howdy! I unfortunately couldn't muster the commitment to play in UUSD this year, so I will instead show my support by providing an Unofficial Power Ranking for the tier, this being my first one since UUFPL I. Before I begin, I want to say this is probably the most stacked tournament for RBY UU so far. I say this about seemingly every tour, but that's only because it continues to be true as the level of competition rises and the size of the player base enlarges. However, this makes making a good PR pretty difficult, as most of these players seem to be pretty much on the same level overall. I really can't say that I suspect any player will dominate and I think the best record will probably be like a 5-2 or something. I could see most players beating most of the others due to the homogenous skill level and the way certain players' playstyles happen to matchup. It's so close, I could see this PR end up being way off, despite my best efforts. Anyhow:
#1 L.A.P.R.A.S
Starter: Unowndragon (R4)
Support: pokemonisfun
Unowndragon has been a very dominant player in RBY UU recently, garnering a terrifying 8-1 record in the now concluded UUFPL II. He has demonstrated proficiency with a wide variety of teams and playstyles, so I see him as probably the most difficult to exploit player out of the whole bunch. He has also been playing the tier for a quite a while now, so he's gathered his fair share of experience, accomplishments, and good wins. I think we'll see a diverse array of powerful an innovative teams from him throughout the entire tournament. He also has some pretty solid support in pokemonisfun. While not exactly a RBY UU main, they've gotten a few good wins so far with an overall no-nonsense approach to teambuilding. I hope they'll be a good practice partner for Unowndragon. Additionally, rumor has it that May will be supporting Unowndragon in this tournament, and considering she helped him get that 8-1 record... the rest of the pool should prepare themselves.
#2 Paniola Primarinas
Starter: juoean (R6)
Support: Lily
This might be a bit of a hot take, as juoean doesn't have the longest history in RBY UU and she was drafted relatively late when compared to the other players of the tier. She takes a pretty unique approach to teambuilding, being able to catch players new and old off guard and dominate. I don't totally find myself agreeing with her approach to the tier, but it very clearly wins, so I can't really judge it poorly. She claimed victory in the RBY UU Invitational, despite not even being invited (she also won the Last Chance Qualifier). She is very clearly a competent player that can win under pressure against basically anyone. And as I said, she has very particular tastes in teambuilding, so I look forward to seeing a few niche picks show up and possibly rise on the VR thereafter. I think she'll win a bunch of games. She also benefits a little from having a teammate in occasional RBY UU player and comrade of LGPE OU Lily, who I hope will help juoean practice for her matches and build some strong teams.
#3 The Hydrophobic Volcanions
Starter: Torchic (R3)
Support: N/A
Much like Unowndragon, Torchic has a pretty long history with the RBY UU tier and has his fair share of accomplishments, perhaps boasting even more than him. He's probably the best player in the pool in an "overall" sense, but Unowndragon and juoean have more dominant results in recent memory, so I put them ahead. Regardless, he took the Bronze in the 2021 RoA Olympics in RBY UU and had an excellent RoAPL for RBY OU, so I think he is still an active and fearsome competitor. I think "the Godslayer," as some have affectionally dubbed him, will claim his fair share of victories given his intense tier experience and standard but reliable approach teambuilding. The only downside is that I really don't see anyone on his team who even casually plays RBY UU, so I hope he can find good practice games somewhere, though he probably needs them the least.
#4 Sinistea Ministry
Starter: stunner047 (R8)
Support: Ika Ika Musume
Perhaps another unconventional pick, I have stunner047 at a strong fourth. They don't have the most experience with RBY UU to my knowledge, but they had a great start with UUFPL, boasting a strong 5-2 record. They have a ton of tour experience in RBY in general as well, so I have no worries for them in this tournament. They're the kind of player that I really don't see losing to a weaker player. They seem to fall in line with Torchic in that they play pretty reliable standard teams in a very sound manner, so I think they'll probably end up with a positive record overall and possibly grab an upset here or there. Ika Ika Musume is also a pretty talented RBY player. They tend to lean more towards OU and NU, but I don't see them struggling too much with swapping over to UU if needed. If stunner047 needs to be benched for whatever reason, I think the Sinistea Ministry will remain in good hands (or tentacles idk). Anyhow, I think stunner047 will play just fine and they have a good resource for teams and games by their side.
#5 Dragon's Den Dragonairs
Starter: Shellnuts (R5)
Support: Sage
I feel bad ranking long-time sparring partner and RBY UU enthusiast Shellnuts this low. He's a very solid player and I believe he probably "knows" the most about the tier in a general sense. He has played for quite a while at this point and has dedicated a lot of time and energy to analyzing the tier. The pool is just that strong, however. Shellnuts is coming off a decent 2-2 record in UUFPL II and had a pretty decent performance in the Invitational, but he lacks that big recent result of his peers above. Regardless, I could see him channeling his 4-1 from UUFPL I and going positive once again. Again, this pool is incredibly strong and close, so that's why I could easily see the fifth player on this list grabbing such a good record. In particular, he and stunner047 were really close to split, but I gave it to the latter for recency reasons and support options. He's a classic yet fairly experimental player and I always enjoy watching his games. Additionally, while I suspect Sage will have other things to tend to, I know she knows the tier and could potentially offer some warmups for Shellnuts.
#6 Wild Wild Wurmples
Starter: AM (R10)
Support: BigFatMantis, cam, robjr
I kind of love this team for RBY UU. After AM, it happens to have just a hodgepodge of people that just kind of casually dabble in RBY UU, meaning AM has some of the most interesting support options available (assuming they are willing to indulge the tier). Anyhow, AM is a unique player in RBY UU. I believe UUFPL I and II are his only major forays into the tier, where he went 3-1 and 1-2, respectively. He doesn't have the largest archive of victories and I find some of his teams and game plans to be a bit too straightforward, perhaps similar to someone like juoean or pokemonisfun, though with fewer major accomplishments. I'm pretty confident he or one of his teammates will grab a good upset or two though. If he gets his position early on in the game, he is usually able to dominate from there, given his preference for offense. I'm looking forward to seeing this group of players and AM's unique take on the meta.
#7 TDK Today at 22:01 lily my team has decided we will not have a team name
Starter: phoopes (R9)
Support: Aliss
It's been a rough season for phoopes. He certainly knows RBY UU and has gotten some good victories in the past (see UUFPL I or RBYPL II), but he had a very tough time in both the Invitational and UUFPL II. He has a pretty bad bunch of records he needs to claw back from. He definitely has the capacity as a player to win, but he needs to catch up with the meta and hunker down. I know he's a solid player and I'm not counting him out, but again, this is a tough pool with a lot of really strong recent history, so I'm pretty much forced to rank him down here. My apologies to the phandom; I'll root for the upsets. I'm not too sure if Aliss is overly familiar with RBY UU, but she's a strong OU player to my knowledge, so perhaps she could help out a little here and there.
#8 Lake of Outrage Sandacondas
Starter: emma (R10)
Support: holly, Celebiii
So this is an interesting one. While emma may be undefeated in SPL, she was certainly a surprise pick from my perspective. The Player Signups Pool was very deep and I think a lot of really solid players were unfortunately glossed over. Meanwhile, emma doesn't really have a history in RBY UU that I can talk about here. Like she is obviously a good player in a general sense, but against a pool of elite players that have played this tier for years at a tournament level... I'm not sure how I could rank her anywhere else. She needs to read up on the meta as soon as possible and try to beat her opponents with pure strategy, because I think she's going to be bested by most of them in terms of metagame knowledge. This isn't insurmountable, but I don't think it'll be easy. Thankfully, she has holly and Celebiii who are at least decently familiar with RBY UU to set her in the right direction and offer her some practice.
Still Swimming
As I said, I think the RBY UU Player Pool was very good. Unfortunately, not every player was drafted, so I wanted to take a brief moment to talk about some players that I think were missed. There were a lot of these players, but I decided to cut it down to two for brevity.
May is a pretty significant representative of the RBY UU Community with a reasonably long tournament history at this point. Admittedly, she doesn't have the greatest set of records to her name, so I understand the hesitancy to draft her in some ways. However, I believe she is a capable starter and a very solid support player. She is easily one the best scouts in competitive Pokemon and a pretty solid teambuilder and practice partner. Big missed opportunity to not grab her as an extra player. After all, she guided Unowndragon to such incredible heights in UUFPL II.
iKiQ is a very seasoned player from the early days of RBY UU. With relatively few recent records, I can see how he flew under the radar; however, I still think he would have been a very strong competitor going into this tournament. I think he would have held his own and secured a nearly even or winning record, despite having not played in a bit. It's a shame that we won't get to see a member of the Old Guard give it another go in tournament.
Well that was long. I wish everyone the best of luck going into this tournament. The competition is incredibly strong, so I truly believe this could be anyone's tournament. I could probably make this PR again tomorrow and have a totally different list; it is just that close. I look forward to seeing some great games and superfluous chess comparisons, it should be a lot of fun. Expect a Midseason PR; I plan on making another after like Week 4 or 5, depending on my schedule. Cheers!
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col49 we're gonna have their tea
two years going now 8))) just keeping tradition going