How do U play UU: Tournament vs Ladder Play

[pokemonisfun]

no thread lock pl0x

I bet you can guess what this thread is about (hehe witty title right?).

I want to compare how you play on the UU ladder compared to how you would play in a tournament because I have been hearing a lot how generally in tournaments, especially in later rounds, you get to see a lot of higher level play more representative of the tier than a ladder game would. of course I thought this was bull shit because I took pride in my ladder stats, I am for the record generally always in the top 3 of the ladder if I am actively laddering and often keep the number one spot.

It's a Pokemon pride thing I think.

And then a couple months ago I went and did my first major tournament for a UU match and got completely thrashed in round one by a certain user who will remain nameless for privacy and I became so disappointed in myself and the ladder for giving me false confidence. Clearly either I was unlucky (I was not, if anything I haxed my opponent a tad) or the ladder and the tournaments we play in are two different beasts. But I regain confidence because my ego can't be stopped forever and I am now trying these mini tournaments the UU subforums have to see the differences - plus I am back on top of the ladder hehe.

It's a Pokemon pride thing I think.

But now as I gaze upon the ladder i think back to my first time I got my ass kicked so hard and I wonder what went wrong.

The only thing I can think of is that the ladder and tournaments are very very different, but how are they? Yes i understand tournament battles in general are much more difficult but specifically whats the difference? As in in tours you see a lot less Scarf Heracross but in the ladder seeing a Heracross pratically means for sure its scarfed.

So in this thread i want to discuss how ladder play in UU is different from tournament play both in specifics (there is more scarfcross in ladder play) and in more general strategies (in tournaments i ever use stall teams).

I hope this becomes a good resource for ladder players switching to tour battles.

 

[cim]

honestly the biggest difference is that laddering is usually easy with the occasional tough battle and tournaments always get hard at the end by their selective nature.

a lot of the fundamental differences disappeared between gen 4 and 5. around then we started playing Bo3 which everyone agrees is a universally better way to do things than Bo1. team preview also changed things. before then, surprise value legitimately won tournaments. not stupid gimmicks mind you, but an unusual coverage move or a surprise lure set would end the game for enough battles to knock your way to the top.

right now the main difference in tournaments is just in player skill, i would say. skilled players give it their all in tournaments when on the ladder they might barely give a shit at all.

 

[Notelobo]

I think the biggest difference is that tournament battles are often fought bitterly to the very last pokemon. No one is going to take the loss sitting down. They are going to hold on till you KO every last on of their pokemon.

Where as in ladder play you have things such as Gimick teams, testing ALTS, Trolls, Noobs, and people with really short attention spans. So these players are rarely paying as much attention as those who are resident in tournament battles. Because what do they care? They will just make a new ALT when their ranking gets to low.

Its all a average skill of players difference that makes Tournament Battles so much different from Ladder battles.

 

[buddhism]

I believe tournaments have people who are really serious in battling and will try to win even when on their last pokemon. However, when playing in the ladder, you will usually see teams being tested, people who just suck and weird teams that don't usually work.

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Eh, not much of a UU player, but I understand what you're saying. I'm usually in the top 30 of the OU ladder (I even peaked 2nd with a rating of 2170acre), so I considered myself a decent battler and tried out for the tournaments. I get knocked out in the first round by some guy I'd never even heard of before. This kinda taught me that ladder rating doesn't mean much, since some of the best battlers just don't bother going on the ladder. You should only really be using the ladder to test teams, not to evaluate your skill level (and to have fun obviously).

 

[Metal Sonic]

I'm a PO player, and I really have to say that PS Ladder is far much more easier than PO's ladder. Here's why: In Showdown, you do not get to specify the rating of preferred players. That means at the top of the ladder you can be facing the players at the bottom of the ladder.(Not to mention, some pros on a new alt can easily troll the people at the top ladder) Easy as pie. In PO, there's this system which allows you to specify the maximum variation of preferred players on the ladder. Which means if you're at the top of the ladder, you get top opponents!(If you're at the top you'll see many familiar faces)

In Tournaments of PS, this is different. Bad players are eliminated each round, and the good players will have to face off eventually in the finals. This is why Tournaments are more difficult than Ladders... in finals.

However, if you happen to lose to some really strong player round 1, you are obviously unlucky, and probably might have not met this player in ladder purely because of the inability to select similar skill levels of your opponent. Also maybe that player could not be bothered to ladder at all.