Resource PUWC III - Team / Set Dump

For all the controversy that came with it, I really enjoyed PUWC and it was great seeing so many people engaging in and playing PU! I didn't build a huge amount for this tour but I did finish up 5-0 so I figured I'd share my teams week by week and talk about the games and just detail my PUWC experience a little bit. As a bit of a preamble the confidence was a bit shot going into this tour after a few poor tour results and then riding bench all scl (not that there was any reason for me to go in with z0m killing it all tour) so it was nice to put together a decent run. Shame we weren't able to make it to playoffs but I'm really happy with what we were able to do with team UK.

W1 vs passion
:centiskorch: :audino: :gigalith: :sandslash: :tangela: :ribombee: vs :cinccino: :articuno-galar: :gigalith: :sandslash: :doublade: :whimsicott:
(click my pokemon for the paste and the week heading for the replay)
For some reason, everyone was on a Centiskorch craze this week and I was no exception, as it's fantastic at ripping holes in common Gigalith + Sandslash builds. The idea with this team was to make use of Skorch's surprisingly beneficial defensive typing to get in often to break, while using Audino to keep it healthy. The other 4 basically just fill holes, with Gigalith + Sandslash being one of the strongest pairings in the tier, Tangela being a very good Doublade answer and general physical sponge and Ribombee being the Scrafty counterplay. I opted for Scarf bee on this team because grassy terrain was making some waves at the time and I wanted to be strong into that. I also wasn't super reliant on it to deal with Scrafty as Tangela can at least deal with it in the early game so I wasn't worried about Ribombee having the Scarf knocked off. I really don't like HBD Sandslash generally but felt it was needed here due to my lack of a Toxic-Spikes absorber and I couldn't really figure out how to fit a poison. The team was also a bit passive offensively so I made the Slash an offensive Jolly natured set to help keep pressure up.

Passion brought their own GigaSlash build with Cincinno and Articuno-Galar as the main breakers, as well as a Whimsicott, which was revealed to be Specs Hurricane. I think I had a reasonable matchup, but I wouldn't say it was favoured, as the Specs Whimsicott made it so that there was very little I could get my Centiskorch in on and my lack of recovery on Sandslsash, combined with their Doublade, made it very difficult for me to win the hazard war. In hindsight, I wish I had given Gigalith Toxic instead of Earthquake to help pressure Slash a bit more as one of the main challenges this game was pressuring Slash. On the bright side though, I did in theory have defensive answers to all their pokemon, so I would probably be able to outlast them as long as the hazard situation didn't get too dire.

The pivotal turn in this game was probably Turn 28, where my Jolly Sandslash was able to outspeed and kill their Cincinno thanks to the Rapid Spin speed boost. Adamant would normally get outsped here which was what Passion was expecting so that was a huge advantage to be able to grab early on. From there I mostly set up for a win with Audino, determining I'd be able to pp stall the Whimsicott out of Giga Drains late game if it came to it. The challenge was their Sandslash as it had an easy time healing with Leftovers and the Spikes were a huge issue. I was finally able to get it knocked on turn 42 which put me in a great spot and from there the game really came down to me Wishing with Audino and trying to position myself to remove the hazards with Sandslash. Eventually, I got that done and Audino was able to just barely beat Whimsicott as the last pokemon.

I definitely feel I misplayed a lot during this game, especially Turn 87, where I inexplicably throw away my Ribombee instead of Centiskorch, when Bee would've been much more useful in the endgame against Whimsicott. I also probably could've been a bit more aggressive with my Wish passing, as my early passiveness forced me into tough spots where I needed to make win 50/50s to get back on top. Ultimately though I was happy enough since I established early how I'd be winning and was able to execute that.

W2 vs MichaelderBeste2
:gourgeist: :stunfisk-galar: :lycanroc: :weezing: :whimsicott: :wishiwashi-school: vs :eldegoss: :stunfisk-galar: :ribombee: :wishiwashi-school: :scrafty: :articuno-galar:
(click my pokemon for the paste)
This is a team I had made a few weeks prior and was really liking how it was performing in testing. The star is Gourgeist-Super as it's a potent offensive threat while being one of the few guaranteed switch-ins to Sandslash in the tier. Stunfisk-Galar is the rocker since Geist really doesn't appreciate Gigalith's sand, Lycanroc is there as an offensive answer to Zard, Weezing is there to blob and set T-Spikes, pairing really well with Geist as it can run Neutralizing Gas due to Geist answering to Slash, and Geist spin-blocks for it. I'm still not sure why I added Whimsicott next since I think it's a terrible do-nothing mon, but it's there anyway, and Wishi rounds things out to give me more support into fire types as well as a soft-check Doublade.

Michaelder's follows the same general idea, though his main threat is the Articuno-Galar + Scrafty combination. Thankfully it ended up being Banded Scrafty because I'm not sure I would've had the tools to deal with Bulky DD. The defensive core he has is very similar to what I have in Stunfisk + Wishi + Fairy + Grass. In hindsight knowing it's CB Scrafty, I really feel like I had a favourable matchup going into this one. Weezing should get easy T-Spikes, while Gourgeist should apply a lot of pressure. On the other side, I should be able to answer defensively to everything he has, especially with the Scrafty being banded.

This match leaves a particularly sour taste in my mouth because of the way it ended and because I know I played exceptionally poorly, especially in the early game. I still cringe when I see turns 1 and 3, where I first let my Whimsicott get Paralyzed in order to knock the Stunfisk's leftovers, and then let my own Stunfisk take 50% just to get Rocks up. The Whimsicott play was super needless as nothing in my team struggles into Stunfisk, and so the value of getting rid of its recovery isn't that high and I get heavily punished with Thunder Wave, making it so that I can't check Scrafty anymore or revenge kill a low health Guno. The fact that I had an amazing switch-in in Wishiwashi sitting right there as well made it even worse. A side note here is that this also makes it so that I can't hit Fisk with Poltergeist, which is both a builder and a gameplay blunder.

Somehow though, the turn 3 play was even worse, where I cut half the health off of my Gunfisk, my only Articuno-Galar switch-in, just to get up Rocks against a team with 3 boots mon. This puts me incredibly far behind only 3 turns in, and it all could've been avoided by just going Wishi turn 1. From here the game plays out as expected with us exchanging turns of firing off attacks with our threats. A turn 11 Wisp miss onto the Guno was annoying but not a huge deal and I'm able to burn it later on. The big problem is that my Gunfisk just isn't healthy enough to deal with Guno anymore and I'm fumbling for answers, while also struggling to keep hazards up as Michaelder does a good job of getting his Eldegoss in to spin on turns where Future Sight is in the air.

The Gunfisk and Weezing eventually go down and I'm forced to start making plays with Lycanroc to try and force an end game where Gourgeist is able to pick off everything with Shadow Sneak, while also acknowledging that I might have to play for a Hurricane miss onto Gourgeist (and also recognising that Michaelder will take lines to avoid that endgame so I can sorta use that to my advantage). An Accelerock gets Ribombee into that sneak range and a decent double allows me to take out his Wishiwashi. I'm forced into my Wishi on Guno then and I have to hope for 1 out of 2 hurricanes to miss in order to get the chip that would put Guno into Sneak range. I don't dodge either and so at this stage I know that if I can't get a Swords Dance off and then crit the Eldegoss with my 14% Lycanroc I'll be playing for the Hurricane miss. Turn 37 I get the Swords Dance off but don't crit and so it's only a matter of waiting for the pivotal turn 50, where Hurricane goes left and I take Articuno out with two Shadow Sneaks.

A terrible way to end a terribly played game, but I do at least feel I played the endgame well and maximised my odds of winning from like turn 27 on. I definitely wasn't favoured with the endgame odds though and I didn't feel good at all about this win. On a more personal note as a player, this replay was particularly frustrating for me as I've always felt I play endgame situations quite well (ignore the previous game D:) but that most of my losses come in the early game where I make these mindless plays and incorrectly identify what I need for a game and how I need to win. This was one of those games and it's really frustrating seeing the same mistakes over and over again, especially in a game I cared about, because it makes me feel like I'm stagnating as a player. Even though I'm doing TL and more admin stuff nowadays, I obviously still have a huge emotional connection to actually playing this game and wanting to play well and so these types of games where it's very evident to me that I'm playing poorly do really upset me, much more than getting lucked anyway. Not a game I'm proud of anyway and I hope I'm able to at least take something out of it going forward.

W3 vs pichus
:trevenant: :vikavolt: :gigalith: :sandslash: :ribombee: :mareanie: vs :gigalith: :sandslash: :scrafty: :ferroseed: :weezing: :ribombee:
(click my pokemon for the paste)
So this team was actually built for the PU Teambuilding Lab and can be seen in more detail in this post. I'm not going to bother going into detail on it since I'd just be copying over from that post anyway but basically the idea is that Trevenant and Vika break very well and the other 4 patch up holes.

Pichus' team was very standard for the meta at the time, with the big 5 + Ferro. I actually like the idea of moving Spikes responsibilities off of Sandslash and onto Ferro as this opens up Sandslash to serve as more of an offensive utility spinner, which I think is one of its stronger roles. The drawback of that however comes from running a grass type that doesn't answer into Sandslash, which I find can be a bit of a death sentence with Gigalith builds as you allow opposing Slashes in so easily. Fortunately for me, my team is somewhat designed to eat this kind of build as they tend to struggle with Vika + Trevenant in general, and my Mareanie is teched with Infestation to try and trap bulky mons like Weezing. Additionally, my Sandslash is very offensive, which can be hard for these builds to handle.

Early on I have two priorities; pressure the Weezing with Trevenant and get up Toxic Spikes with Mareanie, as I know by the build that it's Levitate Weezing. The first will make Sandslash a huge issue to deal with and the second will make Vikavolt a nightmare to switch into as Gigalith hates getting poisoned. I manage to do both by turn 8 and then turn 13 I'm able to trap the Weezing with Infestation Mareanie. The primary issue I have to contend with is their Scrafty, but I decide to be very stubborn about going hard into my Ribombee every time it gets sent in to prevent it from getting two dragon dances off. I know that if they manage to remove the Ribombee on the switch I'll at least be able to immediately revenge kill it with Trevenant so it's somewhat safe and I manage to send Bee in on it four separate times throughout the game.

By this point in the game I'm well positioned to win through a number of different avenues and so for a while I'm mainly just cruising, waiting for an opportunity to open itself up. I eventually get one with Sandslash on turn 28 and manage to sweep the weakened team by Rapid Spinning and then Swords Dancing to be able to clean up with Earthquake. I do get a crit on turn 30 which may or may not have been a roll, depending on investment, but even if it was it would've died to poison at the end of the turn anyway and I would've been well positioned with Vikavolt and Trevenant to win from there so I was happy taking the risk.

This is a game I really felt I won in the builder and then was able to make use of the advantages the matchup granted me. It felt very clean playing it out and I feel confident enough in this one looking back on it. A nice bounce-back game after the mess of the previous week.


W4 vs Excal
:trevenant: :vikavolt: :gigalith: :sandslash: :ribombee: :mareanie: vs :pincurchin: :haunter: :ribombee: :gigalith: :ferroseed: :avalugg:
(click my pokemon for the paste)
This match has a bit of history to it as I was initially slated to play jonfilch but wanted to play against Excal if possible. We had tested a decent amount during SCL and I was a huge fan of everything he'd done within the tier. I would've been happy playing Jon but running a proper tour game with Excal would've meant a bit more to me so I asked if we could swap slots and he obliged.

Teams wise I was really confident (and still am!) in the Trev balance team so I brought that again since I felt I could play any matchup with it. Excal brought something a bit more exotic, with the Pincurchin, Haunter and Avalugg really standing out. The Pincurchin was especially odd since it didn't really seem like there were any E-Terrain abusers so I really wasn't sure what to expect from it. We don't actually end up seeing it in the game but I think it was a Volt Absorb Spikes setting set in the end.

Honestly, this game was hugely decided on turn 1, where Excal went for a roll with their Modest Specs Haunter and didn't get it, leading to the Haunter dying to Vikavolt's Volt Switch.

From there I'm kind of free to feel his team out, get up Toxic Spikes since there's no opposing poison, and sacrifice my Trevenant (which is useless in the match-up) into an Avalugg to allow me to get a heal off with Vikavolt. A Sandslash sweep felt somewhat inevitable after that and there's not a whole lot Excal can do to stop it since it's very difficult for him to directly pressure me without his Haunter. Slash eventually gets in on a sleeping Gigalith on turn 29 and cleans after two Swords Dances. The Avalugg had already revealed it didn't have Avalance so the flinch didn't mean anything.

This game was hugely decided on T1 and probably in the builder as well as Excal's team seemed to have too many ideas going on to be coherent. It was fun getting to play Excal properly though, and I want to say Excal , even if we have our disagreements on PU tiering, I really appreciate everything you've given to the tier and respect everything you've done. You're amazing brother and I'd love to see Puval Pat come back next SCL, you pushed the tier forward a lot and it was great having you around these past few months!

W5 vs Danny
:gigalith: :sandslash: :scrafty: :tangela: :ribombee: :mareanie: vs :lapras: :ribombee: :ferroseed: :qwilfish: :claydol: :charizard:
(click my pokemon for the paste)
Another game with a bit of greater context. Prior to this Danny and I had just played a fairly long and stally ZU circuit series and due to scheduling constraints, we were transitioning straight into this game from it so we were both fairly tired. It was also a do-or-die week for both of us as the winning team got to advance into the Semis.

The team I brought week was a bit of an evolution on the Trevenant one, built with the loose goal of "breaking" the meta. It really was just the four best Pokemon in the tier, paired with a strong regenerator core. The only real interesting aspect of it is the offensive Tangela which does a surprisingly good job at pressuring teams, mainly on account of it getting in so easily. Funnily enough this team showed up again in a mirror match a few days after I passed it around to a few people.

I'm not entirely sure what Danny was going for with his team as the Lapras and Claydol are two very off-meta picks and we don't get to really see what they do in the game. Either way, the match up seems stacked in my favour as there's very little to stop Sandslash and Tangela + Scrafty can both do a really good job pressuring. The only real worry is some Perish Trap nonsense from Lapras so I just need to make sure I'm careful about my positioning into it.

The game ends up being very uneventful as I lead with Scrafty into his Claydol, click Dragon Dance as Danny makes a poor Stealth Rocks decision, and the game is basically over, with a forfeit coming by turn 6.

Not a whole lot to say about this one, it's just an example of how punishing Scrafty was into any kind of misplay and also maybe something about how off-meta teams are really hard to justify in SS PU with how strong some of the top-tier threats are.

And that's all of them. Sorry for the long rambly post and I hope I at least gave some teams to rob! I never made a post after we got knocked out of WC so I kind of wanted to use this one to wrap things up on it. Thanks to all the UK folk except yogi for being great teammates and big thanks to astralydia for co-managing. As I said above it was a huge blast and I was glad to be a part of it. We almost had it at the end there and it was great to be in with a shot all the way to the end.

Ty so much for hosting Theia ur the goat for putting up with us and it was so disappointing to see all the abuse that got hurled at you, especially after you've done so much for us in terms of hosting. At the very least you know we love you and appreciate everything you do <3
 

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