Tournament National Dex Invitational - Round 1

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Milo

I'm Your Man
is a Community Contributor
Hello, and welcome to the first National Dex Invitational. The participants of this tournament have been recognised for their skill and knowledge in the metagame and therefore will battle amongst each other to determine a winner! These participants were chosen by the forum mods, experienced users who have seen talented users come and go.

Specific Rules
  • This is a standard National Dex OU tournament
  • The format for this tournament is best of three
  • Changing teams between matches is allowed
  • All matches are to be played on Pokemon Showdown!
  • Replays are REQUIRED!!!
  • Any tier changes that occur during a round will not be in effect until the following round
Please read the general tournament rules provided in this link: Rules

All standard clauses apply:
  • 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 Pokedex Number. For example, a player cannot have two Koffing on his or her 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, he/she loses.
  • Endless Battle Clause: Any moveset on any pokemon that is capable of intentionally causing an endless battle is banned from competitive play.



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anique  vs  Kyo
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Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3

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Ryuji-Sempai  vs  Jordy
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Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3

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ez  vs  baconeatinassassin
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Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3

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Isza  vs  peap
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Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3

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astralydia  vs  nvk
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Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3

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ChrisPBacon  vs  Lameflame
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Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3

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Kate  vs  crying
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Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3

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adem  vs  Darkness 789
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Game 1 / Game 2 / Game 3


Deadline is Sunday 7th August!
 
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Anique  vs Kyo: Don't really have an opinion on either player honestly. I'm familiar with kyo due to ndpl and to be honest he didn't impress me then. However I believe his OST run combined with him being exposed to the WCOP midwest roaster can show he's improved as a player. His knowledge in the tier is also vast so going with him to take the set over anique who I'm not that familiar with.
Ryuji vs Jordy: interesting set, on one hand I think jordy is a bit of a clicker and Ryuji is a better player. However Jordy has quirky team choices with wincons that randomly 6-0s certain teams. Ryuji should take an approach to the builder that relies on slow breaking+Solid backbones to not lose to some mew/zapdos BS.
ez vs Bacon: Very good set! ez is general a good tournament player that made waves in the natdex scene earlier in the year, while bacon is regarded as one of the best nat dex players around with tons of accomplishments under his belt. I'll give it to ez seeing as bacon scout is very linear (rocks utility clef, scarf lando, water, and wincon structure) and can be taken advantage of easily. Would love to catch this live.
Astralydia  vs nvk: NVK in my opinion is one of the better builders in the community, despite his constant recycling I really liked some of his wcop stuff alot better than any other team in the tour. I'm not familiar with Astra at all since I didn't play the tier when he played, but I see he's very accomplished and respected here. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt to not lose to nvk bread and butter builds he usually uses.
Crispybacon vs  Lameflame: I can't tell if bacon is the better player here because the structure he always uses is stall. I think he's more established though so wouldn't be surprised if he won in 2. Lameflame could easily take this if he takes the time to prep for reuiniclus semi stall.
Kate vs Crying: Last time they played Kate was victorious, however crying has received a big zenkai boost since then. Making Slam semis combined with other team tour wins I'd say she's alot better of a player than she was before. And before I'd consider Kate and them even, so that says alot. Team choices will obviously be cracked, doubt Kate builds and if she does it also might be something wack. Gonna catch this live as well.
Adem  vs Darkness: Not as familiar with either of them but will give it to darkness due to tournament exposure in nat dex.
 
Never did predicts before and this seems like the event to start. Enjoy my incredibly serious and thoughtful prognostications.

Anique  vs Kyo: It's Kid Wonder vs Cool Kid on the Block. In terms of recent results, and generally on paper, I think everything suggests Kyo will win this series. But you only need to win two games to move on, and for some reason my gut says Anique pulls this out. He's a pretty versatile player in National Dex, and while I don't know how invested he has been in the format as of late, I know he is comfortable piloting a variety of different team structures, and that he's capable of stringing together some quality wins as he did in prior iterations of NDLT. Could also see this turning into a 3 game jank-fest where it's anybody's game. Maybe we see WishKiller from Anique. Maybe we see Pikachu HO from Kyo. I'm taking Anique 55/45, but If I see Seismitoad on either side the odds drop to 51/49.

Ryuji vs Jordy: Fun matchup between two solid players that have had their respective highs in tournament play over the years. I feel like both of these guys get irritated playing against stupid irrational nonsense, and given that neither of them are known to engage in stupid irrational nonsense, should be a clean series where the better player wins. Jordy is the more creative teambuilder while I would probably give Ryuji the slight edge for in-game decision making. Ryuji did offer us a Tyrantrum sighting in World Cup though, and that takes stones, so you can never write someone like that off. The game itself is a coinflip but I voted Jordy for funniest ND user and I think he got robbed, so I'm bolding his name here as a consolation prize.

Isza vs peap: When peap is confident and in-form, I think his playing ability, tour success and off-beat team choices would favor him in this matchup. I think Isza is invested in making a run in this tour though, and he'll be prepared for Pinsir, Conkeldurr & friends. Or perhaps he will succumb to the inner machinations of peap's teambuilding genius, as many have before him. Hoping peap's mid-game commentary makes an appearance this series. Realistically though, I think this series will be more determined by prep and team choices rather than playing ability. Whoever wants it more will win.

ez vs Bacon: This is the most compelling first round matchup - NDPL finals rematch, two top 5 players in the format, and two guys that are probably familiar with each other's playing styles by this point. Whoever plays better on the day will win. Ez doesn't build much, but is a competent enough pilot that I don't think that will play a factor. Bacon is definitely more in-form in National Dex at the moment, but he's also produced some quality performances even after longer layoffs from the tier, so I don't think recency bias plays a factor either. Going with ez purely because high level games are usually decided by a small handful of important turns, and I think he tends to play with a lot of confidence in the moments that actually decide games.

Astralydia  vs nvk: Bolded Astralydia because they're a tier-veteran and I can't pick against the old-guard, but realistically it's hard to pick a winner on this one. If you compare both players' apex playing and building ability throughout the years, I'd give the advantage to Lydia. NVK is definitely the right pick if you go with the "what have you done for me lately" approach though - plays a lot more, builds a lot more, and has had more recent tour success. I also think NVK has a better pulse on where the metagame is currently at, which can win you games, but I think Lydia is the more patient player, and patience is what wins you a three game series.

ChrisPBacon vs  Lameflame: Will I be defeated by fetus and friends? Tune in Friday GMT-4 at 9AM to find out. I invite my most faithful supporters to come share in glory of my victory, or alternatively, my greatest frenemies to bathe in the ecstasy of my defeat.

Kate vs Crying: I think Crying has a solid case as the best player in the format, but I think Kate plays her best when she is motivated and respects the opponent, which I would imagine is the case here. Kate is capable of some cheese in the builder but I don't think that's the move against someone who builds as creatively as Crying does. But who am I to provide unsolicited advice to The Great Kate. I expect this series to play out the same way it always does - will very much be decided on the basis of playing ability.

Adem vs Darkness: Darkness is the on-paper favorite and I feel like Adem would say the same thing, but my gut-feeling / intuition tells me that Adem's teambuilding will prevail in this series. Could see HO coming out at least once here for some speedy victories, but in all seriousness Darkness is a quality player and Adem will need to actually prep for this.
 

spell

of the void
is a Community Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
OMPL Champion
(rocks utility clef, scarf lando, water, and wincon structure)
dont worry about this kaiser ive trained him and he can now use different structures

kate/crying/bacon are my favourites, they all don't really have much weaknesses in their play and tbh they are just better than the others except maybe ez
 
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