Tournament OMPL XI - Week 3

[UT]

Art by Blazenix
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Playoffs | Finals
Information Thread | Roster | Schedule | Standings | Replays
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Useful Information

There are 8 teams this year. Each team will have have 8 players and at least 4 subs. The players are bought using the 100k credits that managers receive during the auction. Managers and co-managers will be allowed to purchase themselves as players for their team at a fixed price of 13.5k. The managers must inform the hosts (Isaiah, UT, and KaenSoul) of all self purchases before the beginning of the auction. Teams can win their matchup every week by winning 5 of the 8 matches that their players have to play.

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The tier lineup this year is as follows:​

1. SV Almost Any Ability
2. SV Balanced Hackmons
3. SV Godly Gift
4. SV Mix and Mega
5. SV NFE
6. SV STABmons
7. SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5)
8. SV Anything Goes

It is recommended to play all games on SmogTours in the most current version of the format corresponding to those listed above. Games can be played on the Pokemon Showdown main server, but run higher risk of interference from server restarts/crashes. The result between players may be decided in a best-of-one or best-of-three at the discretion of both players involved. If there is no agreement, the result will decided in a Bo1 by default.​

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Winning a round rewards a team with 2 points, drawing 1 point, and losing zero points. In addition, the manner in which the round has been won will also be recorded i.e. the difference between a team's wins and losses in a specific week's round (referred to as "Win Differential").​

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Playoffs:​

Each team will play one another for seven weeks. Based on the final standings, the top 4 teams will enter a Playoffs Round to determine the teams appearing in the finals.​

Tiebreaker

In the event of two teams being tied for a spot in the finals based on points and win differential, or a tie in the final round itself, we will have a tiebreaker round(s).​

Tiebreaker Rules: One metagame will be picked by each manager, and each manager will also pick one metagame to strike. Additionally, each manager will submit a backup meta to strike in case their choice is the same as the opposing team's pick. The third format will be determined at random by the hosts from the remaining unpicked, unstruck metagames. In the event that the picks and strikes from each manager are the same, the hosts will determine both the second and third format at random based on the remaining options. All three metagames must be unique, so no format can be picked twice.​

Substitutes

Substitutes are to be used in the case of extenuating circumstances, whether on the first day of the week, or the last. At the same time, players should be relatively well-aware of who all are available to play in the opponent's camp. If last minute substitutes are being frequently used or abused and the hosts find explanations unsatisfactory, the hosts still reserve the right to veto them. In order to further prevent this being the case teams are only granted a maximum of two substitutes per week. Any substitutions after the second will be vetoed.​

Trades

The hosts have decided to not include trades this year due to reasons outlined in this thread - all roster decisions will be final, so draft carefully!​

Scheduling

Scheduling should be done on Smogon Profile walls, plain and simple:​

• If there is communication on only one user's behalf, the win will go to them. Feel free to call activity in this thread beforehand
• If there is a very healthy back and forth regarding potential times and one user is a no-show, a manager may take the opportunity to sub out the no-show competitor; if this is not done, the user that showed up responsibly will be awarded the win.

TL;DR: Post on your opponent's Smogon wall, schedule your matches, and be reliable. If you can't play for any reason, let your manager know so they can sub you out ASAP.​

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Use these posts as a place to initiate discussion about bo1 or bo3 as well (or bo5 vs bo7 for 2v2)!​

Sportsmanship

Exhibitions of unsportsmanlike conduct with regards to the Other Metagame Premier League will be met with an infraction at the discretion of the OMPL host/OM mods. This is unlikely to include interactions within a team's private chat unless there is reason found to make an exception. This rule is meant to protect other users from being publicly flamed/bashed/provoked by another competitor for the duration of and following the tournament.​

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All players must complete their matches by the given deadline. Any incomplete matches by that time will be subject to an activity decision (MAKE SURE YOU POST ON YOUR OPPONENT'S WALL); otherwise, it will be a deadgame. All matches should ideally be done on your most notable alt (the one you registered for OMPL with) to avoid confusion and all match replays must be saved and posted in this thread.​

Substitutions & Lineups

Managers, if you wish to make any substitutions, you must post here tagging both the player you're subbing out, the player you're subbing in, the manager and assistant manager of the opposing team, the substitute's opponent, and all of the hosts (Isaiah, UT, KaenSoul). This is to assure that everyone is in-the-loop and that the OP is updated accordingly to reflect the new match-up.​

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Managers, when you send in lineups, please send it in with the tier and Smogon username of each player fully written out for ease of transcription, following these guidelines exactly.​

Matchups

Fluttermania (KarpeSan and adem) - [2][6] - Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos (Fc and Guard)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): bored_glitch vs Fragments
SV Almost Any Ability: Atha vs tier
SV Anything Goes: Fogbound Lake vs Guard
SV Balanced Hackmons: Leru vs pdt
SV Godly Gift: Jrdn vs Dr. Phd. BJ
SV Mix and Mega: iapt vs pichus
SV NFE: fade vs clean
SV STABmons: Clementine vs Fc

Wiggly Family (Dragonillis and Palapapop) - [2][6] - W Virizzions (hayedenn and Greybaum)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Hugo vs Vrji
SV Almost Any Ability: cumps vs hariyana grande
SV Anything Goes: polt vs Taka
SV Balanced Hackmons: TTTech vs cityscapes
SV Godly Gift: Mossy Sandwich vs gum
SV Mix and Mega: Osake vs xavgb
SV NFE: ojr vs Stareal
SV STABmons: RoFnA vs pannu

The Terrible Tyrants (drampa's grandpa and kenn) - [5][3] - Photon Geezers (Tea Guzzler and ponchlake)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): yuki vs Krytocon
SV Almost Any Ability: shiloh vs MZ
SV Anything Goes: Inder vs Farce Of The Death
SV Balanced Hackmons: quojova vs Tea Guzzler
SV Godly Gift: Instruct vs ponchlake
SV Mix and Mega: Career Ended vs db
SV NFE: Shaneghoul vs Tuthur
SV STABmons: lepton vs LBDC

Dubwool Entendres (Redflix and Quantum Tesseract) - [4][4] - Gods as Ghold (Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂ and Eledyr)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): DripLegend vs Chris32156
SV Almost Any Ability: The Number Man Ivar57
SV Anything Goes: Frito vs TaxFraud
SV Balanced Hackmons: XxLazzerpenguinxX vs Chessking345
SV Godly Gift: Lily vs Fraise
SV Mix and Mega: Quantum Tesseract vs damflame 3
SV NFE: King Leo V vs PandaDoux
SV STABmons: Kaif vs avarice

Deadline:
10:00 PM (GMT -4) on June 11th, 2023
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For the Bot

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): bored_glitch vs Fragments
SV Almost Any Ability: Atha vs tier
SV Anything Goes: Fogbound Lake vs Guard
SV Balanced Hackmons: Leru vs pdt
SV Godly Gift: Jrdn vs Dr. Phd. BJ
SV Mix and Mega: iapt vs pichus
SV NFE: fade vs clean
SV STABmons: Clementine vs Fc

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Hugo vs Vrji
SV Almost Any Ability: cumps vs hariyana grande
SV Anything Goes: polt vs Taka
SV Balanced Hackmons: TTTech vs cityscapes
SV Godly Gift: Mossy Sandwich vs gum
SV Mix and Mega: Osake vs xavgb
SV NFE: ojr vs Stareal
SV STABmons: RoFnA vs pannu

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): yuki vs Krytocon
SV Almost Any Ability: shiloh vs MZ
SV Anything Goes: Inder vs Farce Of The Death
SV Balanced Hackmons: quojova vs Tea Guzzler
SV Godly Gift: Instruct vs ponchlake
SV Mix and Mega: Career Ended vs db
SV NFE: Shaneghoul vs Tuthur
SV STABmons: lepton vs LBDC

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): DripLegend vs Chris32156
SV Almost Any Ability: The Number Man vs Ivar57
SV Anything Goes: Frito vs TaxFraud
SV Balanced Hackmons: XxLazzerpenguinxX vs Chessking345
SV Godly Gift: Lily vs Fraise
SV Mix and Mega: Quantum Tesseract vs damflame 3
SV NFE: King Leo V vs PandaDoux
SV STABmons: Kaif vs avarice

 

[hayedenn]

what even is a cumps ?? Dragonillis Osake

 

[longhiep341]

GG Week 2 Review: Nobody Home
I sympathize with OMPL players getting stuck in pre-Home meta, should have rfn real quick to enjoy the new one.

blinkboy vs jrdn

Wow 2 whole different Pokemon on preview.
blinkboy was a bit eager and burned Tera early, thankfully he won the speedtie again so all is well. jrdn played well and got good chip with Ruination and read Tera correctly, but what can you do in this meta?

ponchlake vs Meta

ponchlake has a good matchup on preview. With quite an anti-meta Pokemon in Atk Toedscruel completely invalidating Sandy Shocks and Glimmora punishing U-turn, Meta will have to make multiple good predictions to turn the tide, especially when his team can be severely weakened by Hatterene as well. Meowscarada should be his out with Flower Trick looking pretty threatening, if it has Play Rough and catches Koraidon then he just needs to wear down Hatterene enough for it. Ideally Talonflame should also get the burn on ponch's Koraidon to relieve the pressure.
Thing went downhill pretty early, as Toxic Spikes went up and Meta tried to stay in with Ting-Lu against Hatterene, letting it get an extra boost and deal more damage. The game ended after Double Dance Tera Ghost Koraidon tech was revealed, though admittedly even without Tera ponchlake would still have won anyway. Meta couldn't really afford to switch out or do much at that point.

fraise vs dr. phd. bj

From team preview, I already want to put Fraise back into B for bringing Flutter Mane. Nevertheless, Baxcalibur seems like it can sweep with a DD or two. Greninja in Sun is weird to say the least. BJ's team looks more solid so as long as he can contain Baxcalibur he should win comfortably.
Fraise attempted to win immediately with Baxcalibur, but Gholdengo was Balloon so had to switch out. Ting-Lu vs Miraidon was the highlight, with Fraise completely outplaying and he came out on top with a half HP Poison Ting-Lu. Flutter Mane got some chip and just didn't do much, which also caused Greninja to take extra damage due to lowered Def. Then Fraise doubled for no reason and lost Flutter Mane, throwing the game from there. The last ditch Gholdengo prediction also failed. Overall a weird game with big outplay from Fraise into a throw, Flutter Mane might actually have won surprisingly but in that meta it's just a huge risk.
Edit: BJ pointed out that Fraise tried to catch a Rotom-Wash sack with the double, but I don't think Fraise needed to be in that position in the first place. From turn 20 on, Ting-Lu could stall Gholdengo and Greninja out and same for Flutter Mane with Roaring Moon until sun ran out, then sack Torkoal to get sun back and Flutter Mane cleaned from there.

gum vs Lily

Lily brought rain which does seem to fare pretty well into Koraidon and gum's team in general. In particular Barraskewda and Iron Jugulis can get heavy damage every time one of them comes in, especially when Ting-Lu can't do much back to Iron Jugulis. gum brought Ditto which really wasn't good there considering the lack of offense required to make sure the team didn't get overrun. If it could copy Barraskewda in rain then that could be scary.
Ditto into Pelipper lead but then Iron Jugulus immediately came in to wreak havoc. Heavy Slam didn't do enough and Gholdengo was forced to take a Specs Hurricane. Then Jugulis came back with the help of Eject Pack Amoonguss and force Cinderace sack. Ting-Lu then dropped to Specs Draco from Miraidon so looks like it's close to ending now. Then fucking Bright Powder Ditto came out of nowhere (I see you, Instruct). It was funny, but because of that Miraid(itt)on couldn't even force speedtie against Iron Jugulis. In fact, it worked against gum even later on, as gum laughed so hard and forgot to Tera Koraidon, losing the game in the process. It might not have won either way if Amoonguss had Foul Play so if someone can confirm the information (Amoonguss's moveset and Koraidon's spread) I'd appreciate it.

So that concluded a dark chapter of GG, a meta with only 2 viable gods... (Thanks Game Freak for moving the third legend to DLC, gen 8 still had 3) Though there could be some creativity here and there, the meta ultimately revolved around Koraidon and Miraidon too much with very limited answers. Of course, that also lead to the dreaded 135 Speed ties (GF heard us complain about 130 Speed ties in gen 8 and solved it).
Home meta is now, and meta development is just accelerating. From ladder games, I can already see a diverse meta, though the biggest outlier is clearly Magearna. Feel free to challenge me to games when you see me online.

 

[Dr. Phd. BJ]

Then Fraise doubled for no reason and lost Flutter Mane, throwing the game from there.

Doubling into flutter isn’t a throw btw. Fraise tried to catch a rotom sac -> roaring skoom dd win. Fraise played very well and that play was far more thought out than you’re giving him credit for

 

[Ren]

Fluttermania (KarpeSan and adem) - [3][5] - Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos (Fc and Guard)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): bored_glitch vs Fragments - Fragments has been on fire so I'm gonna take the guaranteed correct prediction
SV Almost Any Ability: Atha vs tier - tier proved to me last week that he's secretly a god
SV Anything Goes: Fogbound Lake vs Guard - we don't bet against the IRS
SV Balanced Hackmons: Leru vs pdt - Leru is SO fucking fire
SV Godly Gift: Jrdn vs Dr. Phd. BJ - realistically, bj will win, but if there's a week jordan wins its the week home drops
SV Mix and Mega: kDCA vs Icemaster - icemaster will prob have a
SV NFE: fade vs clean - #1 clean fan here, one of 1989's best songs
SV STABmons: Clementine vs Fc - Fc orders pizza with pineapple on it

Wiggly Family (Dragonillis and Palapapop) - [3][5] - W Virizzions (hayedenn and Greybaum)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): Hugo vs Vrji - Hugo won their series yesterday and proceeded to haha my predicts post where I predicted him to lose. I was unable to show my face in public for the rest of the day. I will not make that mistake again.
SV Almost Any Ability: cumps vs hariyana grande - hariyana is so good
SV Anything Goes: polt vs Taka - polt is on fire
SV Balanced Hackmons: TTTech vs cityscapes - city has tech's number
SV Godly Gift: Meta vs gum - bright powder ditto
SV Mix and Mega: Osake vs xavgb - wait wtf wasnt osake in aaa
SV NFE: ojr vs Stareal - tyrant
SV STABmons: RoFnA vs pannu - rofna seems slightly better

The Terrible Tyrants (drampa's grandpa and kenn) - [7][1] - Photon Geezers (Tea Guzzler and ponchlake)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): yuki vs Krytocon - coinflip. bolding the vs is for cowards
SV Almost Any Ability: shiloh vs MZ - shiloh will not forget the alt again
SV Anything Goes: Inder vs Farce Of The Death - among us
SV Balanced Hackmons: quojova vs Tea Guzzler - gonna predict in favor of the guy whose name I can't spell. Tea is also British
SV Godly Gift: Instruct vs ponchlake - punch lake
SV Mix and Mega: Career Ended vs db - db's career is about to be ended
SV NFE: Shaneghoul vs Tuthur - haven't actually seen shaneghoul play this so I'm gonna predict him. bet he's like some secret nfe god since those seem to come by every tour
SV STABmons: Lasen vs LBDC - lasen wins this if he manages to stay out of trouble until they play

Dubwool Entendres (Redflix and Quantum Tesseract) - [5][3] - Gods as Ghold (Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂ and Eledyr)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): DripLegend vs Chris32156 - again, it's a guy named drip legend. I can't predict for them
SV Almost Any Ability: The Number Man vs Ivar57 - gut read, though I do think Ivar is better
SV Anything Goes: Staxi vs TaxFraud - FBI OPEN UP
SV Balanced Hackmons: XxLazzerpenguinxX vs Chessking345 - sevag is prob gonna win but I feel like chess is gonna think I hate him if I predict against him 3 weeks in a row after he won twice
SV Godly Gift: Lily vs Fraise - rwby diff
SV Mix and Mega: Quantum Tesseract vs damflame 3 - better player
SV NFE: King Leo V vs PandaDoux - spg8rin2ir7bjrj2ktohpg9euh4f idfk but I love panda so
SV STABmons: Kaif vs avarice - kaif let me down last week. He will not do so again I have faith

 

[Osake]

PREDICTS (you'll get the AAA review later, maybe, if you're nice)

This week predicts are very sus cuz with home it'll depend a lot on how quickly players can catch up the new meta, which is uncertain

Fluttermania (KarpeSan and adem) - [3][5] - Soul-Stealing Seven-Star Solgaleos (Fc and Guard)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): bored_glitch vs Fragments - I didn't watch the replays but I think Fragments 3-0'd both of their opponents and they look fire, it's also a cool name
SV Almost Any Ability: Atha vs tier - ok Atha sucks and got owned 2 times, tier had a very strong showing last week (I'm quite impressed tbh), BUT I still believe in my boy, man I've ranked you #1 on PR don't let me down..
SV Anything Goes: Fogbound Lake vs Guard - I know nothing about AG except that 4 Koraidons per game is normal, but I actually watched Guard's games so
SV Balanced Hackmons: Leru vs pdt - Leru won using a pdt set, but I was not particularly impressed otherwise, he just had a really good MU I felt ; idk how much pdt is motivated though, I saw him losing to Chessking in the fun game they made, but I still believe he's the more experienced player in BH
SV Godly Gift: Jrdn vs Dr. Phd. BJ - Is BJ rly gonna destroy the pool when he only wanted to be a support? kinda weird to see him start all the weeks but well he's on fire and Jrdn is out of form - maybe Home will motivate him again. Seeing Atha + Jrdn going in 0-4 is a bit shocking though I must admit
SV Mix and Mega: kDCA vs Icemaster - Icemaster smoked Damflame with Metagrossite Corv (?? bro why) while kDCA got their career ended last week (how many times this joke is gonna be made..). I liked Icemaster games so far and I think he'll be able to adapt to the home meta p quickly
SV NFE: fade vs clean - didn't watch clean games although they looked fine, but fade is on their way to do a 6-1 again (and their lose is gonna be vs ojr)
SV STABmons: Clementine vs Fc - Clementine has been on fire (even if he got helped by Fissure last week) whereas I wasn't convinced by Fc so far, I would have bold Fc if it was W1 but Clementine impressed me + I think he's the kind of player that will adapt quickly to home

The Terrible Tyrants (drampa's grandpa and kenn) - [5][3] - Photon Geezers (Tea Guzzler and ponchlake)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): yuki vs Krytocon - idk bolding the player who won last week
SV Almost Any Ability: shiloh vs MZ - p impressive comeback by shiloh with a heat team, it'll depend on how much Career Ended, who seems to be the builder, is able to learn the new meta while learning MnM (esp. since shiloh said they didn't have time to test the team before their game against Atha I think?), but MZ has been a bit disappointing so far so I'll bold the w
SV Anything Goes: Inder vs Farce Of The Death - Inder is in 2-0 and is a good player overall ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
SV Balanced Hackmons: quojova vs Tea Guzzler - Quojova got the MU W1 and didn't W2, idk if their teams are MU fish, idts but I don't know BH enough, however I still see them as a better play than Tea
SV Godly Gift: Instruct vs ponchlake - he's been waiting Home for too long to lose now.
SV Mix and Mega: Career Ended vs db - better player I think, but it'll depend on how much time he has esp. with the AAA support
SV NFE: Shaneghoul vs Tuthur - I wasn't super impressed but Tuthur won 2 solid games, and with 5Dots support I don't think he'll lose here
SV STABmons: Lasen vs LBDC - LBDC has been out of form recently but I think he's a better player than Lasen

Dubwool Entendres (Redflix and Quantum Tesseract) - [4][4] - Gods as Ghold (Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂ and Eledyr)
SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5): DripLegend vs Chris32156 - ok yeah I just don't know, I'll bold Chris for his past showing in OMPL
SV Almost Any Ability: The Number Man Ivar57 - Really really tough MU, TNM kinda owned both of his opponents, although they weren't the best, whereas Ivar did a pretty strong game against Atha and then underestimated tier and lost. I would still bold Ivar in a pre-home meta because I think he can be really good if he knows his opponent, it's never easy to play against someone you don't know ; however I'm not sure how both players will adapt to Home meta, but I think Ivar is slightly better. Really cool game though, HL of the week in AAA
SV Anything Goes: Staxi vs TaxFraud - Staxi won't show up (I can see the future)
SV Balanced Hackmons: XxLazzerpenguinxX vs Chessking345 - wtf are those names.. Sevag has been in fire though, and beating Tea then City is more impressive than beating Leru for his first game and placuszek
SV Godly Gift: Lily vs Fraise - Fraise played quite well but I really liked Lily's team last week and I think she's a bit better in game
SV Mix and Mega: Quantum Tesseract vs damflame 3 - QT is just better, and damflame didn't play really well last week
SV NFE: King Leo V vs PandaDoux - I love Leo but.. wtf was that Tink set.. Panda did a good game W1 and I think he deserved to win, maybe Home will be the factor that makes Leo broken but I think Panda is better
SV STABmons: Kaif vs avarice - Losing to burns after your opponent refused to play without timer for X reason was pretty silly, but Kaif is a really good player and I don't see him losing here. Kinda sad to not see the a Kaif vs abriel game though, it would've been fire

Good luck everyone

 

[Chessking345]

BH Predicts:
Last week I got 2/3 again, turns out quojova lost his scouting support to Leru paying more and got fished. 3 interesting games this week.

Leru (40) vs (60) pdt
Interesting matchup with both players bringing stuff like Giratina + ZamaC in post Slaking meta and Griseous Orb Giratina + max Atk Chansey last week. pdt did not play last week but I'm going to give him the edge because Leru fished with a (pdt?) set that I don't find very inspiring. Also Nihilslave appears to have retired.

TTTech (51) vs (49) cityscapes
Another interesting matchup. On one hand TTTech structures are solid enough so they should matchup reasonably into cityscapes sets. OTOH city has a ton of playing experience to navigate against TTTech structures (or Onyx structures if they choose to go that route). I'm going to bold TTTech because I want to see him get a W.

quojova (100) vs (0) Tea Guzzler
This is a very even matchup (see their history). Tea has the slight support edge and seems to be freed up this week (and likely won't end up playing during meetings). Thus this would be a 49-51 matchup (edge to Tea because I want to see him get a W) ... except we all know Tea will load into an unwinnable matchup while the Akira team in the back had an unloseable matchup.

XxLazzerpenguinxX (100) vs (0) Chessking345
Sevag has been making crazy sets that have crazy matchups and is on a winning streak. His opponent on the other hand has made some of the worst plays leading to some of the worst BH games recently.

 

[Tea Guzzler]

finally done w/ my exams woohoo

OMPL BH REVIEW: WEEK 2
cityscapes vs XxLazzerpenguinxX - vs
No outlandish mons at preview here, although city's team has a notable lack of defensive options.

The game starts with a Snow Warning Iron Bundle lead from city, revealing itself as a "Tower of Power" set (Dual Screens; usually it refers to Light Screen + Reflect + Prankster, but here, it's Snow Warning + Aurora Veil). The threat of Sevag's Imposter being locked in brings in Dialga-O, which provides an avenue for Ursaluna to switch in, which then gets Toxiced after 1-hitting Groudon (also revealing Magic Guard) and then severely denting Imposter. Palkia-O switches in to sapblock it. city reads the Dialga switch and brings Ursaluna back in, KOing Dialga the next turn. Rayquaza comes in and threatens Boomburst, bringing in and KOing city's Arceus-Ghost at the cost of a lot of HP. Sevag decides to use Imposter Rayquaza as an avenue to get Substitute/Victory Dance/Iron Head/Salt Cure Good as Gold Arceus-Steel in, managing to accrue a Substitute and 2 boosts before city's Whirlwind fails. From here, city only really has one out, being to sack something to break the Substitute, have Imposter copy it, and then predict right + win 2 Speed ties to force it out and potentially reverse sweep (the end result needs to be the same; the real Arceus is Salt Cured, city's is not, and city has a Substitute up). Before this, though, Ursaluna comes in after the Palkia sack and attempts to crit through the boosts to no avail, with a hard-switch into Imposter leading to city being Salt Cured, sealing the game.

augustakira vs TTTech - vs
The one time that Regieleki is considered for a tournament game and it loads into a Ting-Lu, a Chansey, AND a Giratina. Not looking good at preview.

The first few turns are fairly standard RegenVest stuff, with Ting-Lu being poisoned and chipped in exchange for revealing Rocky Helmet Dondozo. Stealth Rock goes up on both sides, and then Regieleki switches in; Regieleki seems poised to wallbreak here, but reads the Corviknight's Parting Shot with a U-turn into Koraidon, pressing the advantage against Chansey. Koraidon just Flip Turns on the Arceus-Poison and reveals Akira's Arceus-Fairy, with the former's set being revealled as Calm Mind + Thunder Cage. Some more switching happens and then Corviknight reveals Prankster Spikes, being promptly cleared by Arceus-Fairy, and with it also using Tera Steel to block Chansey's Toxic. Corviknight goes for Spikes again, with a Regieleki switch ensuring it stays dangerously low, and then Chansey gets frozen by Ice Beam (as it would turn out, Rapid Spin Chansey is TTTech's hazard removal, which means Stealth Rock stays up). Corviknight gets chipped down to "13%" by Dondozo as Koraidon comes back in, and then Akira's Chansey comes in on Arceus-Poison, giving Giratina a window to switch in and use Court Change. This doesn't end up mattering, as Rocks go right back up, and then Regieleki gets the absolute minimum roll to miss the KO on Arceus-Poison; Koraidon now has 0 healthy checks, however. Some more pivoting gives Koraidon free entry and forces Arceus-Poison to KO itself, and then Corviknight (as the "13%" was actually below 12.5% but rounded up), closing the game.

quojova vs Leru - vs
Double blob is unseen in Gen 9 BH, and for the most part, so is Heatran.

quojova's Imposter lead reveals Magic Bounce Chansey on Leru's side, and then shortly after, Blissey reveals Imposter. Groudon takes its Covert Cloak for basically free, with Flame Orb Arceus being brought in but switching out of 1v1'ing Groudon even though it absolutely would have with Facade. Imposter copies Heatran and reveals Leech Seed before switching out, with Arceus switching in but taking Flip Turn + burn chip and being forced out by quojova's Flutter Mane. It doesn't do anything into Chansey, which Groudon switches in on, but Leru stays in and U-turns back into Arceus. Flutter Mane successfully limits Strength Sap healing and then Tera Fairy Boombursts into Chansey, which still isn't enough to 2HKO, with Chansey opting to stay low and pivot to Imposter Blissey. Trick gives Blissey an Assault Vest and importantly removes it from Dialga, which takes 50% from Boomburst but then almost KOes back with Gigaton Hammer. Heatran comes in to sponge the hits, managing to take out Arceus in the process, but Leru's Flutter Mane switches in and then reveals Nasty Plot + Normalize. It wins the Speed tie with quojova's Flutter Mane and then there isn't anything left that can handle it (supposedly; Heatran could maybe Leech Seed it, but only if it was Pixie Plate), ending the game.

PociekMociek vs Chessking345 - vs
Kyogre is a relatively odd choice, as is the second Heatran of the week.

Lead Imposter reveals that Eternatus is Mold Breaker + Toxic Spikes, however PociekMociek switching out gives a window for Kyogre to activate Flame Orb. Arceus-Fairy comes in and reveals Torch Song + Pixilate Boomburst, heavily chunking Zacian, before Eternatus comes in and grabs a Toxic Spike, which Mortal Spin Kyogre promptly removes, poisoning Giratina. Kyogre reveals Calm Mind, and with the help of Tera Ground, 1v1s the Eternatus; since it's now Ground-type and mono-Revelation Dance, it now gets walled by Levitate Heatran, which is revealed to have Heal Bell on the next turn. Arceus-Ghost reveals Nasty Plot but is still stopped by non-Imposter Chansey, leading to both players hard-switching into their special attackers, with Flame Orb Flutter Mane being promptly KOed by a Tera Fairy Crit Boomburst. Imposter comes in and thus brings in Soundproof Groudon to shut it down (not blocking Strength Sap though), with some more pivoting around allowing Arceus-Fairy to heal. Arceus-Ghost reveals Knock Off after some switching but still can't break Chansey, and what follows is a very long-winded PP stall, even though Zamazenta-C reveals Wandering Spirit. The general gist is that Arceus-Fairy will eventually beat Zacian, but it needs to keep Spikes off to do so, and Imposter can scare it off if it gets too many Torch Song boosts, healing off of Groudon in the process. Nothing really happens until turn 115, even with Chansey revealing Metal Burst, as PociekMociek trades away an absurd amount of HP with Imposter Heatran for no real reason, meaning Spikes can now prevent it from entering. The end-game takes many turns to play out but there's ultimately nothing that can be done to recover, as Heatran is never able to remove against Arceus-Ghost, with the game basically becoming a waiting room for Heatran to inevitably fall.

 

[LordBox]

Week 2 AAA Reviews!
So ends the pre-home meta. Definitely a fun and wild ride although towards the end it could be said to get a little stale but what can you do about pre-DLC and Home with a limited dex ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Also, Osake hasn't done reviews yet and I'm free so I decided to take the opportunity to create my own AAA reviews because the French seem to be secretly conspiring to take over AAA content.

hariyana grande vs The Number Man

hariyana grande vs The Number Man

From the outset, we have an immediate spooky mon in Hawlucha which no one has any clue what is and could be doing. Outside of that, both teams look similar, both are fairly balanced with somewhat predictable sets, mandatory Corviknight and other popular mons like Regen Chomp, SS Garg and Scream Tail. Both teams do seem to lack a great Ceruledge answer so it seems likely be a war to get the opposing breaker in position while both teams also seem to have fairly solid spinners although Quaq is annoyed by Ceruledge while Glim has a fairly good matchup here with nothing to really block Mortal Spin well.

First turn TNM immediately leads Ceruledge into a Quaquaval, scouting Wisp or Solar Blade hariyana switches into Scream Tail only to be Wisped which will become painfully important later. Hariyana then reveals non-Hadron Washtom which is most likely Regenerator, Garchomp manages to setup Stealth Rock first and reveals Rocky Helmet managing to chunk Corviknight quite severely in the process. A few more turns of switching, TNM manages to once again get Ceruledge into prime position and get a Swords Dance off which could potentially spell trouble with no real way to beat it. Hariyana reveals Choice Scarf and manages to trick Ceruledge, mostly neutralising the threat to the team while TNM uses this as a opportunity to freely let Hawlucha enter. Swords Dance and the later lack of Brave Bird recoil reveals it's offensive MGLO Hawlucha, which while walled by Scream Tail is pressured heavily by Burn chip neutralising Leftovers recovery + the constant Stealth Rock damage and also the passivity of Scream Tail itself. TNM manages to continue to get good predicts and constantly put Hawlucha in a position to pressure Scream Tail. MGLO Quaq reveals itself and also reveals Brave Bird, denting Ceruledge severely. TNM through a bit of switching gets Glimmora in and then double into Hawlucha on the Quaquaval and with Scream Tail too low Hariyana is forced to sack Corviknight. Washtom manages to land a Hydro Pump but it unfortunately doesn't do enough and Glim is able to clear rocks and Ceruledge manages to come in for free on a Rotom switch and gain all its HP back, continuing to be a immense nuisance for Scream Tail which could otherwise try to go for the desperate 6-0 sweep. Finally Quaquaval manages to spin away rocks and Ceruledge manages to get into position against Scream Tail which reveals to be Pixilate Boomburst and crits taking a significant chunk of Ceruledge's HP away. Ceruledge clicks Close Combat on Garchomp and reveals LO and also OHKO'ing Garchomp. However Hawlucha comes back in to threaten it out as +2 Shadow Sneak unfortunately doesn't kill from full with no chip accrued even from potential burnt Salt Cures which in hindsight would've mattered. Scream Tail hangs on for dear life against the Brave Bird spamming Hawlucha until TNM uses it as an opportunity to eventually bring in Glim on a Garganacl double and set up Spikes. Scream Tail threatens Calm Mind and hariyana manages to get a double into Ceruledge with Quaquaval which it threatens out and spins away Spikes. From here Hawlucha continues to come in and continue being a threat. Hariyana decides to sack Ceruledge given its low HP meaning it realistically can't come in on much outside of a predicted Corviknight and deal chip to Hawlucha presumably. From here hariyana's only option is to desperately go for the Scream CM sweep but Ceruledge provides issues and TNM's Scream Tail reveals Trick and hariyana gets the predict wrong and gets tricked and from this point it's over as Hawlucha and the rest can just clean.

Overall I think the game was winnable for both sides although it wasn't the best matchup for hariyana ultimately with how much annoying pressure Ceruledge and Hawlucha provided although it could be said our Ceruledge was also similarly threatening although we just couldn't get it into position too often. The crit wasn't game ending although it was annoying the extra chip along with it being Pixie Burst but oh well. TNM managed to play well keeping up rocks and presssure and got his predicts right, Ceruledge living and also Glim as well which would've died to Salt Cure (I think?) was quite unfortunate. Wisp on Scream Tail also sucked tons although there wasn't realistically it probably couldn't been avoided without hindsight. The burned Salt Cure chip on Hawlucha actually would've mattered as well funnily although really you couldn't see this without prior hindsight (and they probably could've gone into STail as well?). Nothing else much to say, fairly balanced and well played game with nothing amazingly outstanding about the luck or matchup.

Shiloh vs Atha

Atha vs shiloh

This definitely is a preview of all time. Haxorus, Toxtricity, Chesnaught, Donphan are all on the more uncommon side regarding mons used but perhaps during the game we'll see them prove their potential. Otherwise it's hard to tell off preview the game given the unorthodox picks. Shiloh's team seems very offensive with very little defensive switch-ins outside of like Washtom/Gambit/Talonflame maybe? Comparing to Atha's team, it appears far more balanced most likely with Regen Donphan. Rotom-Wash could potentially be scary and perhaps Haxorus could go crazy assuming it's SD/DD with whatever ability Atha doesn't have a great answer but let's see.

Starting off, Haxorus leads into Donphan and immediately reveals LO Protean, chunking Donphan in exchange for around half its HP, also revealing Donphan's Ice Spinner. Washtom and Toxapex double in, with Pex forced out into Garg showing Atha doesn't seem to have a great Rotom answer, letting Garg get wisped and chunked by Hydro Pump and also reveals Washtom as non-Hadron non-lefties or Scarf, most likely Regen HDB. Haxorus manages to come in through Volt Switch and Atha doesn't have a good answer, with Talonflame switching in most likely predicting CC/EQ but instead Hax Dragon Dances, forcing in Donphan and Hax picks up a kill on Garg coming in, dying itself to LO recoil and Sandstream chip. A few turns later Atha reveals Mummy Rocky Helmet Toxapex... which definitely is a set of all time and Shiloh reveals Moldy Ace which does nothing into the Pex. Shiloh manages to keep up the pressure against Atha with a U-turn into Toxtricity, doubling into Washtom on Donphan bringing in Talonflame on Chesnaught, doubling into Kingambit on a Pex and a final double into Rotom Wash... which is fun and all but eventually Shiloh breaks the eventual stalemate by going for Wisp onto Chesnaught who reveals WBB which uses the +2 to put Washtom onto the brink of death and then stalemate continues as Talonflame switches in and then Pex does and so on so forth... eventually however Rotom Wash manages to stay in on a Donphan and kill it with Hydro Pump while Talonflame from Atha comes in, with Kingambit switching implying WBB. Kingambit manages to get an SD odd and outspeed and surprisingly kills Chesnaught, revealing Tinted Lens. Gambit gets Wisped however the damage is done. Atha down to 3 mons doesn't have much of a way to make progress and gets slowly whittled down without great switch-ins to most offensive mons. Here Shiloh also reveals Taunt Ace which can prevent Pex from healing and accelerates doom which gets Pex dead and Tox goes for a Shift Gear to finish off the low mons.

Definitely both sides pulled out some unorthodox techs here, which I think ended up not benefitting much in Atha's favour much and the unorthodox sets on Atha's side didn't end up actually doing too much. Generally not a great matchup with DD Hax with no clear answer and WBB Chesnaught nearly completely nullified by Shiloh's Fire types lol. I imagine Atha cteamed the meta and the unorthodox sets on Shiloh's side ended up paying off but that's just my guess. Shiloh managed to pilot it well and manuever the team fairly cleanly to a final win in the endgame once Kingambit and Washtom picked off Chesnaught and Donphan as well.

Ivar57 vs tier

Ivar57 vs tier

From the get-go something seems very odd... Oh Tier brings... an Atha team? The same person who was 4-0'd and then beaten again by Ivar, so, odd pick there but it turns out to work very well. Team for reference, which Atha used in the money tour I think? The team might be slightly changed but appear to be the same anyway. Ivar57 brings a very generic team that fits within his trademark style that isn't really a secret anymore. Generic ChompMothCorvScreamTail core with EE Glim to support hazards up and Meow to actually force progress although does seem just a bit passive with nothing too explosive here. Assuming the same team off preview, Defiant Kingambit proves immensely dangerous as Intim Corv seems to be the only real defensive answer to normal Gambit but lets see...

Moving into the actual game, Tier leads with Kingambit into a EE Glim trying to setup hazards early. Glim is forced out to Corviknight and what do you know it was Defiant Kingambit, gaining a +1 Attack and Corv now gets 2HKO'd by Kowtow Kleave. From here on it's messy for Ivar who tries to stop Kingambit but ends up sacking both Scream Tail and Meowscarada and getting Corv, Garchomp and Iron Moth horribly low due to a variety of failed predicts. At this point the damage had already been done and Ivar has essentially lost the game right off the bat given everything is too low and Ceruledge and Talon are free to whittle down everything while Ivar can't do too much although mixed Chomp does provide somewhat of a scare but is ultimately not enough as Tier pilots it well enough to consolidate a win and an upset.

So what happened for an upset like this to occur? Essentially Ivar just got super cteamed lol. Ivar's teams pre-Home were basically an open secret and had seemingly gone unpunished here and bringing an ultra generic team into what seemed like an opponent that wasn't going to be too bad given this wasn't even their starter and I don't think they even signed up for AAA with no great support. However they managed to scout out properly and just get a great matchup with Defiant Kingambit to essentially just win as Ivar didn't bring much to counter the tech. I guess Atha ultimately did get his revenge.... well through his spirit and his disciple? (Is this an anime where Ivar is the final boss and Atha is the old authority figure with a grudge against the final boss?).

Osake vs MZ

Osake vs MZ

Upon preview, Osake appears to bring a more unorthodox structure to the table that suggests a more offensive balanced team. Meowscarada is linear with CB/Scarf SoR or Queenly Majesty sets, Volc is a bit uncommon and can offensive or defensive sets, Washtom can be Regen or Hadron, Treads has a variety of immunities and Slither Wing is usually offensive with some niche defensive sets. MZ on the other hand brings a fairly generic but seemingly solid balance team. Corv, Regen Ting-Lu, Scream Tail, DesoLand Moth serves as a mostly solid defensive core while Inteleon acts as a very potent breaker with Slither Wing as another offensive mon presumably that threatens Inteleon checks like Roaring Moon. Compared to one another, MZ seems have a decent MU with Inteleon and Slither Wing seemingly lacking good switch-ins, depending on the sets Osake and MZ is using.

Getting started, Osake leads with Rotom-Wash with no Hadron Engine present signalling a fairly obvious Regenerator into an unknown Slither Wing. MZ predicts a Wisp but doesn't get the second predict and gets his Ting-Lu burnt which is annoying chip and lets other mons come in easier. Iron Treads confidently switches in which indicates it is likely Earth Eater which makes Ting-Lu incredible exploitable with no real way to touch Iron Treads and it removes hazards for mostly free. Slither Wing comes in aggressively which seems a bit unnecessary and could've resulted in a Knock and accrue annoying chip. Osake reveals the rarer defensive Intimidate Slither Wing which eats Slither Wing's CC indicating most likely MGLO or other weaker offensive ability as Tinted CB/TC CB does more. A few more turns of switching around get a layer of Spikes on the side of Osake and Tinkaton switching in on Iron Moth signals Well Baked Body while also setting up rocks. Inteleon manages to find itself in on Tinkaton which can be a nuke with Specs depending if Volcarona is DesoLand. MZ however lets Inteleon get paralysed which turns out to be a major mistake... Washtom comes in to take one Surf and threaten out now that Inteleon is slower, getting a free Volt Switch on Moth that eventually converts into Volcarona coming in, revealing Turboblaze and Life Orb, chunking the Ting-Lu and proving as a very dangerous sweeper for MZ. This also meant Inteleon was crazy here and nothing switched in but the para means it can just be outsped by Washtom. Osake continues to keep up the pressure and MZ breaks the seeming lull by aggressively switching Slither Wing in on a predicted Iron Treads spin, accumulating more chip. He manages to predict the Intim Slither Wing and reveals Flare Blitz 2HKO'ing Osake's Intim Slither Wing. Slither Wing gets sacked being too low to be useful anymore and Washtom comes in to revenge and MZ accepts the revenge? Weird play as Slither didn't have a good switch-in but I guess MZ was afraid of Volc sweeping with Quiver if Slither got a pick maybe and sacked it? Down Slither Wing and with a para'd Inteleon it becomes tougher for MZ to break. From here on out Osake just continues to whittle down MZ as he has little way to make progress, trying to setup with Scream Tail but Osake reveals Trick Meowscarada for the worst case alongside para RNG. Scream Tail eventually goes down to paralysis and Gigaton and with no way to win, MZ forfeits giving Osake the W.

Overall I see somewhat big mistakes on the end of MZ. Slither Wing sack I didn't like although perhaps was somewhat justifiable, getting Inteleon paralysed though really hampered its ability to break what was otherwise very dangerous for Osake to navigate given Washtom dies to two Surfs through protect with minor chip or just Hydro Pump. Volc was definitely a major presence assuming it had Quiver as it could've possibly swept unless Scream Tail can win or Iron Moth if it didn't have Psychic. Generally Osake managed to play well and keep the pressure up to take the W despite an annoying MU given a bit of leeway in mistakes which Osake capitalised on, although MU wasn't bad for Osake.

Since I'm here I might as well continue my AAA predicts...

AAA Predicts 3: Revenge of the French

Atha vs tier
Despite last weeks upset I'm still not entirely convinced of the AAA greatness of the Solgaleo's but I guess the safe bet made me go 1-2 for last weeks predicts soooo. Ivar's teams being similar isn't exactly too much secret and it appears tier prepped properly for Ivar.... by using an Atha team??? Somehow, it worked though. But in a post-home meta where you can't scout much, I'm still going to believe in Atha.

shiloh vs MZ
Shiloh impressed me last week against Atha, albeit at the cost of my prediction. MZ on the other hand hasn't exactly being too great, Week 2 had a few questionable plays and losing a seeming pretty good matchup, although MU wasn't as bad for Osake as I thought because of Volc pressure since Moldy ignores Unaware which is funny. In a post-home meta however who knows, nobody knows what they're doing as of so far so shrug (and I was proven wrong last week)

The Number Man vs Ivar57
Exciting game that I'm sure will be the highlight of the week for those with a severe gambling addiction. Both are respected and strong players in terms of AAA although TNM is a bit more out of touch, the very different meta most likely will erase this advantage and also has strong support in QT. Going to vote for TNM just so if I'm right I have an excuse for making a terrible call last week.

 

[Dragonillis]

Schedule week 3 vs W Virizzions (hayedenn and Greybaum) : (GMT=0) :

SV 2v2 Doubles (Best of 5) : Hugo vs Vrji : Saturday 11:59 AM
SV Almost Any Ability : cumps vs hariyana grande : Sunday 7 PM
SV Anything Goes : polt vs taka : Sunday 7 PM
SV Balanced Hackmons : TTTech vs cityscapes : Thrusday 11 PM
SV Godly Gift : Meta vs gum : Sunday 11:59 PM
SV Mix and Mega : Osake vs xavgb : Sunday 8 PM
SV NFE : ojr vs Stareal : Sunday 1 PM
SV STABmons : RoFnA vs pannu : Friday 11 AM


Let's go Wiggly !

 

[Guard]

pichus in over Icemaster
adem KarpeSan UT kDCA

 

[ponchlake]

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9godlygift-696099
ggs to friend instruct. sorry about the burns

 

[KarpeChan]

kDCA out, iapt in
UT, Isaiah, in the hills, pichus, Guard, Fc

 

[Dr. Phd. BJ]

won gg s/o Kris
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9godlygift-696133

 

[cityscapes]

won in the game of all time

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9balancedhackmons-696175

 

[pannu]

won ggs
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9stabmons-696204

 

[Maybca☆〜ゝ。∂]

Schedule week 3 vs duwbool entendres all schedule are in gmt 0
SV 2v2 Doubles ( best of 5 ) : Chris32156 vs DripLegends : Sunday Midnight
SV Almost Any Ability : Ivar57 vs The number man : Sunday 6/7 pm
SV Anything Goes : TaxFraud vs Staxi : Sunday midnight
SV Balanced Hackmons : Chessking345 vs XxLazzerpenguinxX : Sunday evening -4 don’t have time sry
SV Godly Gift : Fraise vs Lily : 7pm Saturday
SV Mix And Mega : Damflame 3 vs Quantum Tesseract
SV Nfe : Pandadoux vs King Leo V : 7 pm Saturday
SV STABmons : Avarice vs Kaif : 3 pm Saturday

Go Gods As Ghold
Gl all player of this week have fun all !

 

[shiloh]

volknerd rides again, gg

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9almostanyability-1881365313

 

[Fragments]

Won ggs
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen92v2doubles-1881420807-vb0m7ozp1elbb9v7y2vacy8sfopyq0zpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen92v2doubles-1881423230-ec0ziymlpq0xmdpkyzdwzg6x5xm37cepw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen92v2doubles-1881425957-wwtauxxg4ly0emhag5f79e63naskps4pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen92v2doubles-1881428490-pbyxy62kp5crl2203te6ugyyn3brlnrpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen92v2doubles-1881430693-9m0265etec5qjylp1jggiqz2pl3ibk0pw

 

[Farce Of The Death]

calling act, opp was unable to play at the scheduled time and sub wasn't provided

Proof

 

[Hugo]

won in 3, ggs
g1: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen92v2doubles-1881862636-5r8z2enjc21fmk9o32kr9saxtfqvis4pw
g2: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen92v2doubles-1881864557-z3nk233owg7sygptr28lnaldkxg740cpw
g3: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen92v2doubles-1881866201-cw0x0d9jpxv22zun7bjrjx3shvrry1upw

 

[drampa's grandpa]

calling act, opp was unable to play at the scheduled time and sub wasn't provided

Proof

View attachment 524650
View attachment 524652

Managers are now online and aware of the situation. We are willing to provide a sub, and would cater to your availability.

 

[Fc]

won ggs
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9stabmons-696393

 

[avarice]

won gg
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9stabmons-696404

 

[Atha]

Better late than never, here's my video analysis of my week 2 game against Shiloh. Might review other games if I find the time