Introduction:
GSC UU is a well-established tier with known top threats and known responses to them. It is a tier dominated by a few select Pokemon, namely the iconic big 3 of Scyther, Granbull, and Nidoqueen, as well as the various Psychic-types. This leads to a tier in which many teams must use very similar structures in order to consistently deal with these threats. For instance, essentially every team has at least one Psychic-type, at least one (if not multiple) of the big 3, either Qwilfish or Blastoise to lay or deal with Spikes, and a Normal immunity/resistance. Teams that do not have these ususally either fall into the very extreme archetypes (such as full Baton Pass teams) or are simply not consistent enough to be considered good. This all means that teambuilding in GSC UU is quite restrictive.
Now, if someone looking to play GSC UU is curious or just new to the tier, they might take a look at the list of UUBL Pokemon. They would likely be surprised to see just how large it is - GSC UUBL currently contains an astonishing 25 Pokemon. Many of these Pokemon look like they could fit in quite well in UU, or at the very least add some variety to the tier. For example, Pokemon like Aerodactyl, Muk, Lapras, and Venusaur look like they could easily fit in to the current GSC UU metagame, bringing useful traits like a Normal resistance + Ground immunity, a strong Explosion with good mixed bulk, a bulky RestTalk wall with good offensive STAB typings, and speedy Grass-type offense and sleep support, respectively. This player might wonder why these Pokemon are not currently allowed in GSC UU, and that is where this tournament comes in.
The aim of this tournament is to provide a competitive environment for the current GSC UUBL Pokemon to be played alongside UU Pokemon, with the hope of examining whether any of them could be suspected and/or freed for use in GSC UU. The tournament aims to have a metagame develop around this environment which will hopefully illustrate the suitability of each UUBL Pokemon for use in UU. If it is successful, it may even lead to tiering action on GSC UU, which will invigorate the metagame with change and new strategies, and if all goes well, lead to increased diversity in teambuilding within the tier. I hope you are all as excited as I am about this idea, and will explore the many new options this tournament allows!
General Rules/Clauses:
- Freeze Clause: If a player has already frozen an opposing Pokémon using a freeze-inducing move and that Pokémon is still frozen due to that freeze inducing move, the player cannot freeze another opposing Pokémon with a freeze-inducing move.
- Sleep Clause: If a player has already put an opposing Pokémon to sleep using a sleep-inducing move and that Pokémon is still sleeping due to that sleep-inducing move, the player cannot put another opposing Pokémon to sleep using a sleep-inducing move.
- Species Clause: A player cannot have two of the same species of Pokémon on their team, based on the National Pokédex number. For example, a player cannot have two Koffing on their team.
- Evasion Clause: Players cannot use Double Team or Minimize in any of their Pokémon's movesets.
- OHKO Clause: Players cannot use Horn Drill, Guillotine, Sheer Cold, or Fissure in any of their Pokémon's movesets.
- Timer Clause: If a player exhausts the timer, they lose.
- Cleric Clause: Pokémon must be at full health and without status conditions at the start of battle.
- SleepTrap Clause: Having a sleep-inducing move and Mean Look or Spider Web on the same moveset is not allowed.
- The tournament will begin on Monday, May 9th, 2022.
- All GSC UUBL Pokemon and lower are legal for use in this tournament.
- Games should be played in the GSC OU format.
- The format of the tournament will be Best of One if sign-ups are less than 30 entrants. If sign-ups are greater than or equal to 30 entrants, the format will be Best of Three.
- Each round will last one week.
- Replays are mandatory and must be posted by the winner to this thread.
- Extensions may be requested at any point during the week, but must be agreed to by both players.
- An extension will extend the period in which a game can be played by up to 3 days.
- After the extension period ends, if a game has not been completed, the winner will be decided via coinflip.
- The beginning of the next round will not be delayed in case of extension; the player who wins the extended match will simply join into the next round later.
Sign up by posting "in" in this thread. Sign-ups will end on Sunday, May 8th, 2022 @ 11:59 PM GMT-4.
