Tournament UUPL VI - Week 6

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Hogg

Hogg

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(Banner by the always talented HotFuzzBall)​

UnderUsed Premier League VI - Week 6
STANDINGS​

(3) Blackthorn City Battle Girls
vs
Mikan Island Monsters (6)
SM UU: Sage v Poek
SM UU: martha v TDK
SM UU: YouthBerry v Empo
SM UU: Ernesloru v FLCL
ORAS UU: Rodriblutar v Arii Stella
ORAS UU: Pohjis v Nat
BW UU: EviGaro v Eternal Spirit
DPP UU: Heysup v Pearl
ADV UU: Mazz v bro fist
GSC UU: MrAldo v Kaori

(7) Safari Zone Smashers
vs
Silph Co. Spies (2)
SM UU: Shiba v Bushtush
SM UU: HT v lighthouses
SM UU: Zukushiku v Renny
SM UU: yeezyknows v Sabella
ORAS UU: Pak v Teddeh
ORAS UU: Freeroamer v Garay oak
BW UU: Finchinator v We Three Kings
DPP UU: fatty v Hamhamhamham
ADV UU: Plas v teal6 (activity)
GSC UU: Bomber. v BKC

(3) Driftveil City Doctors
vs
Route 30 Youngsters (3)
SM UU: DrReuniclus v dodmen
SM UU: Eyan v cb jose altuve corvettes (activity)
SM UU: Cynde v Void
SM UU: robjr v Superior91
ORAS UU: YABO v dingbat
ORAS UU: xMarth v lax
BW UU: Chill Shadow v choolio
DPP UU: Hikari v col49
ADV UU: eden's embrace v Kushalos
GSC UU: cb aaron judge v Bedschibaer

(2) Moomoo Farm Cowgirls
vs
Dewford Town Delinquents (7)
SM UU: Serpi v reyscarface
SM UU: Gondra v McMeghan
SM UU: HANTSUKI v Indigo Plateau
SM UU: Welli0u v Arifeen
ORAS UU: J0RIS v Sam
ORAS UU: The Goomy v Dundies
BW UU: snagaa v kokoloko (activity)
DPP UU: Tricking v Christo
ADV UU: Ark v Sam I Yam
GSC UU: NaCl v Lavos

Reminder: Baton Pass is BANNED in Adv and DPP UU.
Deadline May 20, 2018 at 11:59 PM EST.​
 
Last edited:

pokemonisfun

Banned deucer.
McMeghan said:
won v. gondra, gg
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7uu-748955696
Click to expand...
Great playing for both sides! Im going to comment on both sides so I can try to understand the ideas better. Can either of you respond if you think my comments are fair?

Gondra brought a a standard looking but powerful Volt-Turn offense while Roro (McMeghan) brought an unorthodox balance team that used low usage Pokemon like Dragalge, Blastoise and Mandibuzz - although Sylveon forming the heart of the defenses is still typical for UU balance.

From preview alone, neither side had a big edge in matchup - Roro looked a little weak to Manectric since it quickly revealed HP Ice which badly damages or OHKOs his only Volt Switch immunity plus Heracross was a big threat for slow balance like Roro's team. But Gondra had his own problems, it would be difficult to break through Roro's tough defenses with only moderately powerful attackers (with the exception of Heracross

When the game started, Gondra tried to gain momentum immediately by leading with Manectric while Roro tried to get his Stealth Rocks up and activate Gliscor's Toxic Orb early on. Some smart switching by Roro allowed him to activate the Toxic Orb for free while Gondra's free Mega Evolution wasn't as important. After this tickle, both sides get SR up by turn 6 and the match looks fairly even. Even though Roro faced pressure with Latias against Gliscor, the Stealth Rocks helped him more than Gondra because Gondra's team was much more liable to being chipped down with no recovery.

Turn 7 was possibly a mistake for Roro, going to Dragalge didn't really make much sense and Gondra gets some good free damage on it. The only way to justify this move was if Dragalge was just useful for death fodder to scout Latias' set (although Scarf would have been a good guess anyways). Sylveon was probably better a switch in here overall.

Gondra can't quite get the KO and Sylveon ends up countering Latias, and then I think another mistake is made, this time by Gondra, who lets Dragalge get the Wish Recovery. Roro does have to make a small concession though, as Empoleon can Defog the hazards away which again, were likely more damaging to Gondra than Roro at this point.

Gondra allows the Toxic Spikes to stand, which is likely a mistake because it badly hurts Manectric Mega, so it would have been better to Defog on turn 12, especially since Scald did not get a burn. Gondra shows just how weak he is to Suicune by having to use what appears to be Choice Scarf Latias to counter it - if Suicune was a Vincune set, the game could already be over. In this sense, Roar may have been a much better teambuilding choice for Gondra but it's clear now that Roro had a pretty big advantage in matchup, even if preview didn't reveal it.

When Gliscor gets a free KO on Heracross on turn 18, the position looks pretty much completely lost for Gondra and nothing changes much over the next several turns where Roro just grinds out the huge advantage. Gondra understandably forfeits a little after Empoleon gets burned as it becomes pretty clear he will never break through the defenses.

Overall I don't think both sides were fairly evenly matched in terms of play (though the beginning and middle make me think Roro played a little better) but the matchup was actually hugely in Roro's favor. This wasn't obvious from preview (I didn't forsee Acrobatics Gliscor for example) but once the game got going, I think Roro held or increased the advanatage the whole time.

Looking back, what I learned/recieved more evidence for is that if you're using an offensive team without much recovery, you should really apply as much pressure as possible before your opponent gets their defenses comfortable (in retrospect, it's easy to say Volt Switching on Gliscor was pretty obvious for example).

Thanks to both players for a good fight. I hope you don't mind spectators trying to learn and improve on your games.
 
McMeghan

McMeghan

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I don't mind the commentary at all pokeisfun, gonna add some thoughts regarding what you said.

So when the game started, I established I had to mostly look out for those threats: potential SD Gliscor, Heracross and CM Latias. I was confident in my ability to win a long game if I didn't let those threats pressure me too much.
I led with Gliscor because I had Knock Off on it, and wanted to get a potential Knock Off on his Gliscor turn 1, as I wouldn't rly have the opportunity later, plus it felt overall safe against everything else.

My plan was the following: I don't mind playing with rocks up, while Gondra will obviously wants to get rid of Tspikes if they'd go up. Since his only mean of removal was Defog, it'd force his Empoleon to repeatidly come on the field. Everytime it'd come in, he'd pressured to Defog at some point. I could capitalize on that in two ways:
- get a Scald burn on it, or knock off his leftovers. This way, every damages would stick until it's dead and I can end in a situation where I have my hazards up while he has none.
- get Suicune on the Empoleon, for which he had no real answer.
That was my overall plan this game. Keep in mind I played reckless with Suicune by bringing it on Scalds, but between Wish and Heal Bell support, I wasnt too scared of potential side effects.

On turn 4, his Gliscor reveals to be Stealth Rock, so that's something to care less about already. Went Gliscor and got my own Rocks up because I think playin with hazards up advantages me more than him, so he'd more hard pressed to Defog than me. Which means Empoleon would have to come on the field, and I could capitalize on that like I said earlier.

You talk about turn 7 and I'll explain my thought process there. So when he went Latias on my Gliscor, there were two possibilities for me. It'd either be Scarf (which made sense considering the team) or a CM Z-move (maybe less likely because that'd mean no scarfer but he had Manec+Priority in Scizor so not impossible imo). A set that actually scared me was a potential CM BoltBeam Latias. Going hard Sylveon on a CM meant he could go for game and take it from there. I decided I'd go Dragalge because I had Dragon Tail on it. If he was scarfed, he wouldn't be able to kill me and I could always heal it later (I had Rest so I could come on Empoleon and heal it). If he was CM Boltbeam, I could shuffle it away while doing decent damages. If he turned out to be CM Psy, it was gonna be grim no matter what.

The other big turn of the game was when he felt safe going Heracross on Gliscor. Maybe he thought I had physdef Mandi with Brave Bird to handle it, but I decided to use Acrobatic Gliscor as I prefer to handle Loom/Heracross this way (especially Breloom, since Mandibuzz is slower and doesn't really wanna switch on SD Loom with Rocks up). The game was pretty much won there as he didn't get anything out of Heracross and I had all my tools to deal with his Pokemons (Blastoise/Cune both faster than Zor, Mandi with a lot of physdef and Foul Play, Taunt Gliscor so SD Zor couldnt become troublesome).

Looking back, what I learned/recieved more evidence for is that if you're using an offensive team without much recovery, you should really apply as much pressure as possible before your opponent gets their defenses comfortable (in retrospect, it's easy to say Volt Switching on Gliscor was pretty obvious for example).
Click to expand...
This is a great lesson btw, which can be applied to any game in any generation. That's something every player should keep in mind when facing defense in general. Formulate a gameplan as clear as possible* and go for it asap, before it's too late.
*this involves making proactive plays and not relying on odds such as spamming Scald to get a burn when you could make more optimal moves!
 
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