Tournament SCL II RU Discussion and Replays

Ampha

"They don’t call me Greed for nothing!"
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
OP taken from all the different variations of this thread
Approved by Feliburn


1661724984129.png

Welcome to the Smogon Champions League 2 Discussion Thread -- RU edition! This thread will be used to discuss RU in SCL II related topics, whether it’s about the players, general metagame trends, matches, predictions and so on. Teams, Replays, and Usage Stats can be found [SOON].

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RU Players Cores (starters in bold, manager support in italic)
Orange Islanders -- Ajna, Nat, pdt, gum, Sage
Uncharted Terrors -- Feliburn, Sensei Axew, Eternal Spirit, Meru, Spl4sh
Circuit Breakers -- robjr, Punny, Scottie,, Lunala, Ayaka, a rabbit
Power Plant Dynamos -- BIHI, jonfilch, Welliou
Showdown Shoguns -- Silentverse, lax, col49, Chaitanya, -Tsunami- , crying
Indigo Platoon -- McMeghan, Finchinator, Garay Oak
Arena Spartans -- TheFranklin, Charmflash
Technical Machines -- Floss, Danny
Mt. Silver Foxes -- watashi, S1nn0hC0nfirm3d, Xiri
Studio Gible -- ProDigeZz, Mac3, TJ, bb skarm, aim

Power Rankings

 
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Ajna

i tell my ppl i don't need love but
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Two-Time Past SCL Champion
a lil disappointed by the continued unwillingness of managers to draft some of the newer guys, but i'm happy 2 see ppl like floss n bb skarm gettin a shot. excited for the return of sv, n looking forward to seeing the new tour mains though
 

Feliburn

is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
RU Leader
I follow Ajna's sentiment about the draft, but what's done is done.

Really excited to finally play some of my buddies like robjr, SilentVerse, BIHI and TheFranklin on the big stage, wishing you all a good season.

Studio Gible probably has my favorite RU core with Mac3 & bb skarm having more builder experience, while joey and TJ can share ideas from their recent success in their Grand Slam runs. Will be interesting to see what they come up with for Prod to pilot, as he might also give the usual french flavor to the teams.

Circuit Breakers also has a really solid core in Punny, Lunala, rabbit being known builders in the tier, and having robjr as a solid pilot who also has enough experience to give his fair share of input on the teams.

I'd also like to mention the Orange Islanders. I know Ajna usually builds his own stuff but having the support of Nat of all people, who is known for coming up with insane stuff, is worth a lot. I can already SEE her gaslighting Ajna into using wild shit. Sage and pdt have also been closely involved with RU, so they will provide a solid backbone to throw ideas around.

Hoping to see Floss do well after his RU Open. It will be interesting to see his success translate to an official team tour.

Not much else I wanted to say. Hoping other people feel like discussing in this thread, as team tours are always a fun way to see the meta evolve.
 

Ampha

"They don’t call me Greed for nothing!"
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
Matchups for week 1 have been posted!

:toxapex: vs :mew:
SS RU: SilentVerse vs Floss

:aegislash: vs :gyarados:
SS RU: TheFranklin vs Feliburn

:gible: vs :melmetal:
SS RU: ProDigeZz vs robjr

:zapdos-galar: vs :falinks:
SS RU: BIHI vs McMeghan

:exeggutor: vs :ninetales:
SS RU: Ajna vs watashi

Who are you cheering for? and what metagame trends are you guys expecting for this week? feel free to discuss them here! :psyglad:
 
:toxapex: vs :mew:
SS RU: SilentVerse vs Floss: The old vs new, not a better way to start the season for both. It's hard for me to favour SV here given Floss recent success in Open, RULT and even RUWC, and has been really active and involved in the tier, while SV has not been touching the game at all, to my knowledge. Pokemon is however like riding a bike, nobody forgets how to ride it, so its gonna come down to if SV can find himself comfortable in the tier.

:aegislash: vs :gyarados:
SS RU: TheFranklin vs Feliburn: Highlight of the week for sure. I like both of them a lot, and while i give the upper hand to Franklin here, most of his teams end up having similar cores and if theres someone that can exploit that well is Feliburn. Still, given recent results its hard to not go for Franklin here.

:gible: vs :melmetal:
SS RU: ProDigeZz vs robjr: lets go rob woooo

:zapdos-galar: vs :falinks:
SS RU: BIHI vs McMeghan: This is the game im the most hyped for, im really curious to see how 2 tournament players approach this tier for the first time. I am giving BIHI the upper hand here cause he has more gen 8 experience, but its mostly because im biased towards him LOL this game has potential to be wild so im really excited to watch it live.

:exeggutor: vs :ninetales:
SS RU: Ajna vs watashi: Ajna looked back in peak form during his invitational run, if he can find that motivation again for this tournament i expect him to easily not lose. wata is a great player, and the meta hasn't changed much since he last played in RUPL, so i expect him to put a good fight against Ajna.

Those are honestly the ideal matchups to start the season LOL its gonna be really fun to watch each of them, i understand theres unfortunately very poor community rappresentation but lets look at the positives. Hope for a great season to everybody.
 
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odr

kickin incredibly dope shit
is a Tiering Contributoris a Past SCL Championis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Im looking forward to simply being a spectator for this season of scl. I haven’t been following the meta all that closely lately but it doesn’t seem to have really changed much from when I was actively building. Since last year the meta has lost a bunch of offensive threats and not gotten much back in return iirc. With obstagoon, necrozma, darmanitan, volcanion, and cobalion all having left the tier, the meta seems to have slowed down a bit and favors a lot more bulky offense and balance teams. I still think spikes offense has a lot of potential, and fat/semi stall seems to be viable as well, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the player base comes up with in these early weeks.

SS RU: SilentVerse vs Floss - I don’t know much of anything about silentverse. I recently watched a bkc video of silentverse playing a bw ru game. The intro and team preview breakdown took like 15 minutes or so and by then I had lost interest and was doing something else so idk how it ended, or even how it started. Anyway I’m not really sure if this guy has played ss ru before and whenever I see floss playing recently it seems like he just wins so I’m gonna expect him to just keep winning, he seems to have a good grasp on the tier at the moment.

SS RU: TheFranklin vs Feliburn - easy highlight for week 1. Probably the two most active players in the tier atm despite one of them being in retirement. Gonna bold feli cuz I’m biased af and I wanna see him win. I’m expecting something a bit unconventional from both and have faith in feli to pull the trigger when it’s the right time and put himself into a winning position.

SS RU: ProDigeZz vs robjr - I know this prodigezz guy plays in a lot of these subforum tours but I’ve never teamed with him or talked to him or even really watched his games so I don’t have any idea what to expect really. On the other hand we have robjr who I’m not sure I’ve ever teamed with either and we don’t talk much but I see his games more often and I’ve played vs him a few times and he’s a strong guy so he’s just gonna get the bold for the sake of familiarity. Not expecting anything crazy out of this game, I think both guys favor more balanced teams so prob will be an interesting watch since I believe they play similar styles but I don’t really know for sure.

SS RU: BIHI vs McMeghan - who the hell knows what to expect here. I’ve seen roro in action so I know he’s pretty alright in ou tiers and stuff so I’m sure he will do fine. BIHI I don’t have a clue. I’m definitely sure this guy has been on the site a while and plays games n stuff but can’t recall watching a single one of his battles. No clue how good he is or what kinda style he likes or anything. They’re both new to this tier to it’ll be fun to see how they each approach this tier.

SS RU: Ajna vs watashi - easy ajna bold this guy is the actual best ru player ever and he has support from nat and other goons. Watashi is probably crust I kinda thought he was finally retiring and fading out but he’s back and he’s gonna get clapped here just watch. His best bet is to bring some obscure breaker and hope for a godly matchup but my man ajna will be prepared for the nonsense as always. I’m definitely biased but whatever.
 
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ru-647291

I've noticed VIleplume putting in a lot of work on the ladder and this SCL game where it does a lot of damage and just blocks so much progress really made me realize how scary it can be. It attacks on so many angles and counterplay to one just seems to get beat by another, like Metagross being immune to poison and strength sap but just getting chipped away by leech seed and rocky helmet.
 

Ampha

"They don’t call me Greed for nothing!"
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
Week 1 Recap
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vs
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for the major part of the game, Floss's restalk dtail Guzz + Steelix stuffed the majority of SV's team, between eating steelix blocking rotom's volt switches, and Guzzlord knocking and phazing

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Both teams had strong wallbreakers that the other had difficult switching in (Feli's Nido, and Franklin's Sigilyph), with both managing to put a close fight, Franklin got the win with the help of Infestation Vileplume

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vs
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Rob got the pressure early on with Tsareena, but Prod managed to get the game closer with his Thunder Reun, and gastro taking Tsareena out with Rocky Helmet recoil, in the end rob's Choice Band flygon, Hera and stakataka end getting him the win by pressuring the rest of prod's team

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Vileplume go BRRRRRRRRR
, nah but seriously, Mcmeghan's Vileplume did a huge ammount of pressure to Bihi's team, even managing to do the unthinkable, soloing a crobat with the help of leech, infestation and rocky helmet chip

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Ajna brought a interesting pick in Porygon-Z and DD Aerodactyl, while watashi got a pretty normal team, with both sides trading blows in between, both pulled up a pretty close series(coming down to every single turn and predict on the end), with Ajna taking the win in the end, both sides managed to keep the pressure well and not choking/missplaying on some turns

Replays are going to be linked on main post as soon as possible! :psyglad:
 

Mac3

im reminded theres no finer place to kiss
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
| 5 | Vileplume | 3 | 30.00% | 100.00% |

a spike in vileplume usage this past week makes a lot of sense considering it beats both of the S rank mons as well as exploit how physically biased the top ranks of RU are right now. to combat this usage i expect a rise in reuni, some chandelure, as well as more taunt bat instead of defog.

crobat still mantains high usage so i expect there to be continued attempts at taking advantage of it, as we saw with plume last week. i think pod is a good way of doing this as forcing bat to roost instead of defog really fucks with it, especially if you pair it with a rocker that can get em up vs bat.

not anything else interesting i can draw on from this past week, hoping to see some fishing in w2.
 
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Feliburn

is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
RU Leader
Week 3 is up!

:toxapex: vs :melmetal:
SS RU: Chaitanya vs robjr

:gible: vs :ninetales:
SS RU: Mac3 vs watashi

:zapdos-galar: vs :gyarados:
SS RU: BIHI vs Feliburn

:exeggutor: vs :aegislash:
SS RU: Ajna vs TheFranklin

:mew: vs :falinks:
SS RU: Floss vs McMeghan

Feel free to post predicts, and comments about last week's game! Chait and Mac3 are now in the starting lineup btw, would be interesting to see if the teams each team has used will change depending on preferences.
 

C0nfiden1 0yster

ヽ(o`皿′o)ノ
is a Pre-Contributor
RUPL Champion
w2 highlights/trends/thoughts of scl

games:
[FOX] watashi vs TheFranklin [SPA]
[PLA] McMeghan vs SilentVerse [SHO]
[BRE] robjr vs BIHI [DYN]
[TER] Feliburn vs ProDigeZz [GIB]
[TMS] Floss vs Ajna [ISL]

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Flygon | 7 | 70.00% | 42.86% |
| 2 | Milotic | 6 | 60.00% | 33.33% |
| 3 | Vileplume | 4 | 40.00% | 25.00% |
| 3 | Registeel | 4 | 40.00% | 25.00% |
| 5 | Klefki | 3 | 30.00% | 100.00% |
| 5 | Reuniclus | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 5 | Togekiss | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 5 | Heracross | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 9 | Tornadus | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 9 | Rotom-Mow | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 9 | Seismitoad | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Pangoro | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 9 | Crobat | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 14 | Politoed | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Kingdra | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Toxicroak | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Ninetales | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Shiftry | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Charizard | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Sharpedo | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Celebi | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Raikou | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Steelix | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14 | Scrafty | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 14 | Cresselia | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 14 | Diancie | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 14 | Golisopod | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 14 | Sigilyph | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 14 | Dhelmise | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 14 | Umbreon | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Flygon | 4 | 40.00% | 50.00% |
| 1 | Reuniclus | 4 | 40.00% | 50.00% |
| 1 | Aerodactyl | 4 | 40.00% | 50.00% |
| 1 | Golisopod | 4 | 40.00% | 50.00% |
| 5 | Raikou | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 5 | Togekiss | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 5 | Steelix | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 5 | Crobat | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 5 | Metagross | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 10 | Toxicroak | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 10 | Milotic | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 10 | Rotom-Mow | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 10 | Registeel | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 10 | Heracross | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Weezing-Galar | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 10 | Guzzlord | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Barbaracle | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Mimikyu | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Dhelmise | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Gastrodon | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Eldegoss | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Xatu | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Stakataka | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Nidoqueen | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Umbreon | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Tsareena | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17 | Arcanine | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Heliolisk | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Starmie | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Rhyperior | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 17 | Celebi | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

:ss/eldegoss:
Eldegoss was used by mcm against silentverse and it did very well in the endgame. I often find people looking down on this mon which I think is undeserved as a regen spinner, electric stuffer, cleric pokemon is not bad and is unique from what other spinners offer. Though, lets not pretend like this pokemon is good as it has tons of horrible mu's and is incredibly passive, but it does have a niche and I think it showed what it can do in this game. This was a very good game in general if you haven't watched it (albeit long).

:ss/reuniclus:
We saw 4 reuns this week and Im so happy to say all 4 runs served completely different functions. Floss used an OTR reun, Silent Verse used a bulky LO attacker (3 atks + recover), McMeghan used a Future Sight Night shade defensive pivot and Franklin used a Kee Berry CM Reun. Im glad we are finally seeing people push this poke to its limits and the fun part is that there are still many untapped sets. The possibilities are really endless with reun.

:ss/aerodactyl:
Like Reun, 4 aero's were seen in this week's games though obviously there was less variance in sets. Prodigz used an LO attacker, Mcm used a rocks Aero, Feli used a boots aero, and silent verse used DD aero (ajna also used dd aero w1). Aero does well against the offensive teams of RU as its speed and coverage can tear through unprepared teams but can struggle to break, especially if boots. Despite this, Aero still has some defensive utility as it can switch into crobat and can just switch into something like Sigilyph's psychic, force it out and roost. It also is a flying type that can threaten electrics as we saw feliburn trade his aero for a huge chunk on raikou which would have won without the aero sack.

other stuff I wanted to discuss included metagross and raikou as they have done quite well. sorry for shorter read but I hope you enjoyed it
 
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Ampha

"They don’t call me Greed for nothing!"
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
Week 2 Recap

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vs
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Franklin brought a interesting set in CB Heracross, while watashi got both Xatu and stakataka, Hera did some pressure but ended up fainting to Nido, and although game was 2-4 for franklin by turn 70~, he managed to pull it a close one with it coming to Milotic vs Reuniclus PP wars in the end, with watashi winning

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vs
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Mcmeghan brought... Eldegoss? apart from that, it did a decent job by being a cleric, spinner, and just being bulky in general, SV on the other side brought a weird (in my eyes) Reuniclus set in Thunder/Shadowball/Psychic LO reun, game was pretty long but in the end McM took the win with his also unexpected Regen Helmet Reuniclus(Knock/Night shade) and Eldegoss being able to survive attacks in the end

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vs
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Pretty fast game actually, Tsareena did some pressure early game by knocking Golisopod's HDB and metagross's Choice scarf, and then coming up later to punish it before dying to meta, Flygon then DD'd once and cleaned the rest of Rob's team, getting Bihi the win

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vs
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Interesting game out, Feli brought rest Dhelmise and Toxicroak, the early game seemed like Prod was taking the advantage but Feli managed to get it back together and clean up later in the game with SD Sucker punch on his Toxicroak

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vs
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Ajna's team had a strange pick in Arcanine and floss got a setup spam Hyper offensive team with a unique strat in OTR Reuniclus, Floss started the game pretty well with Dragon Dance flygon and Raikou putting a decent ammount of pressure on Ajna, the rest of the game was pretty straight forward, with Floss setting up and killing the rest of Ajna's team
 

Ampha

"They don’t call me Greed for nothing!"
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
Week 4 is up!

:gyarados: vs :blobpex:
SS RU: Feliburn vs Chaitanya

:melmetal: vs :mew:
SS RU: robjr vs Floss

:falinks: vs :exeggutor:
SS RU: McMeghan vs Ajna

:ninetales: vs :zapdos-galar:
SS RU: Raptor vs BIHI

:aegislash: vs :gible:
SS RU: TheFranklin vs Mac3

Feel free to post predicts, and comments about last week's game! Raptor is in watashi's place this time around! :psyglad:
 
One thing really stood out to me in week 4. It didn't work out in the end, but Mac3's Sneasel looked like it could really work in RU. An immunity to intimidate is really useful for something whose STABs are resisted by incineroar and nothing else. It can make progress against opponents even on a resist and I think it has some niche potential in the future, I can see banded sets being scary to a good chunk of the tier. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ru-652544
 

Mac3

im reminded theres no finer place to kiss
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
seems like the meta has become a bit faster than what it used to be cause i just noticed that xurk has only had the one solitary use during the whole of scl so far. the crazy amount of gon/grass/bulky steel does seem to favor elecs faster than non scarf gon like helio and kou which can also apply better pressure to steels through scald burns or uturning on them. scarf xurk or endure salac might not be too bad on some offenses though, maybe shuca cm kou is preferred there as well however as iirc floss' team vs ajna w3 had shuca cm raikou, it atleast had a cm raikou instead of xurk that much i know.

additionally roserade has also had only 1 use, players are instead opting for plume (:srank:) as it actually 1v1's the tier's current s-ranks instead of being fodder for super fang bat or cb gon. in general people seem to be favoring grasses that threaten crobat like tsareena, dhelm, or celebi as well instead of rose - however i do like what ajna did last week (w4) with the sleep powder rose as sleeping bat does do wonders when teams rely on it so heavily as their fighting resist vs the tier's frankly amazing fighting types. anyway rose is generally worse now imo due to spikes sucking cause boots meta el oh el.

lmk yall's thoughts on past weeks of games btboy C0nfiden1 0yster GoldCat
e: everything i said about floss vs ajna and that raikou was wrong bop
 
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C0nfiden1 0yster

ヽ(o`皿′o)ノ
is a Pre-Contributor
RUPL Champion
Mac3 was begging me to do a post so here we are

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Flygon | 25 | 62.50% | 56.00% |
| 2 | Crobat | 13 | 32.50% | 38.46% |
| 2 | Milotic | 13 | 32.50% | 30.77% |
| 4 | Vileplume | 10 | 25.00% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Togekiss | 10 | 25.00% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Registeel | 10 | 25.00% | 40.00% |
| 7 | Reuniclus | 9 | 22.50% | 33.33% |
| 8 | Golisopod | 8 | 20.00% | 62.50% |
| 8 | Steelix | 8 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 8 | Metagross | 8 | 20.00% | 37.50% |
| 11 | Raikou | 7 | 17.50% | 71.43% |
| 11 | Rotom-Mow | 7 | 17.50% | 42.86% |
| 11 | Heracross | 7 | 17.50% | 42.86% |
| 14 | Aerodactyl | 6 | 15.00% | 50.00% |
| 14 | Pangoro | 6 | 15.00% | 33.33% |
| 16 | Guzzlord | 5 | 12.50% | 40.00% |
| 17 | Toxicroak | 4 | 10.00% | 75.00% |
| 17 | Incineroar | 4 | 10.00% | 50.00% |
| 17 | Celebi | 4 | 10.00% | 50.00% |
| 17 | Dhelmise | 4 | 10.00% | 25.00% |
| 21 | Klefki | 3 | 7.50% | 100.00% |
| 21 | Sigilyph | 3 | 7.50% | 66.67% |
| 21 | Stakataka | 3 | 7.50% | 66.67% |
| 21 | Mimikyu | 3 | 7.50% | 66.67% |
| 21 | Bronzong | 3 | 7.50% | 33.33% |
| 21 | Gastrodon | 3 | 7.50% | 33.33% |
| 21 | Weezing-Galar | 3 | 7.50% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Lucario | 2 | 5.00% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Tsareena | 2 | 5.00% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Xatu | 2 | 5.00% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Tornadus | 2 | 5.00% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Kingdra | 2 | 5.00% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Sharpedo | 2 | 5.00% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Cloyster | 2 | 5.00% | 100.00% |
| 28 | Nidoqueen | 2 | 5.00% | 50.00% |
| 28 | Porygon-Z | 2 | 5.00% | 50.00% |
| 28 | Umbreon | 2 | 5.00% | 50.00% |
| 28 | Seismitoad | 2 | 5.00% | 50.00% |
| 28 | Salazzle | 2 | 5.00% | 0.00% |
| 28 | Rhyperior | 2 | 5.00% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Xurkitree | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Eldegoss | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Barbaracle | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Politoed | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Ninetales | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Shiftry | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Charizard | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Cofagrigus | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Indeedee | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Toxtricity | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Vanilluxe | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Doublade | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Arctovish | 1 | 2.50% | 100.00% |
| 41 | Starmie | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Arcanine | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Heliolisk | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Scrafty | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Cresselia | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Diancie | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Suicune | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Gardevoir | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Bewear | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Roserade | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Snorlax | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
| 41 | Sneasel | 1 | 2.50% | 0.00% |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Flygon | 8 | 80.00% | 62.50% |
| 2 | Togekiss | 3 | 30.00% | 66.67% |
| 2 | Vileplume | 3 | 30.00% | 33.33% |
| 4 | Cloyster | 2 | 20.00% | 100.00% |
| 4 | Guzzlord | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Registeel | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Raikou | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Bronzong | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Crobat | 2 | 20.00% | 50.00% |
| 4 | Steelix | 2 | 20.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Cofagrigus | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Indeedee | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Metagross | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Heracross | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Sharpedo | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Lucario | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Mimikyu | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Toxtricity | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Xatu | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Vanilluxe | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Doublade | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Arctovish | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Kingdra | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Celebi | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Incineroar | 1 | 10.00% | 100.00% |
| 11 | Stakataka | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Dhelmise | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Suicune | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Gardevoir | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Toxicroak | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Gastrodon | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Salazzle | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Bewear | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Porygon-Z | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Aerodactyl | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Roserade | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Weezing-Galar | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Reuniclus | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Pangoro | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Snorlax | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Sneasel | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |
| 11 | Milotic | 1 | 10.00% | 0.00% |

Instead of touching upon specific pokemon, I thought discussing some archetypes could be interesting. So I wanted to create a nice visual of the kinds of teams in each archetype as i think this can lead to very interesting discussion for experienced and newer players. For this I will take out teams from week 3 and 4 (if anyone wants to do the first two weeks, feel welcome). Links in sprites

Balance:
mac w4 : :snorlax::Sneasel::milotic::vileplume::crobat::steelix:
bihi W4 : :vileplume::bronzong::reuniclus::raikou::pangoro::flygon:
robjr w4 : :registeel::gastrodon::togekiss::Salazzle::Bewear::flygon:
floss w4 : :togekiss::vileplume::flygon::heracross::guzzlord::registeel:
mcm w3 ::crobat::seismitoad::umbreon::milotic::reuniclus::togekiss:
ajna w3 : :registeel::milotic::togekiss::heracross::flygon::dhelmise:
feli w3 : :vileplume::registeel::heracross::sigilyph::milotic::flygon:
mac3 w3: :reuniclus::togekiss::rotom-mow::milotic::registeel::flygon:
watshiw3: :diancie::golisopod::pangoro::reuniclus::vileplume::flygon:
chait w3 : :scrafty::cresselia::milotic::flygon::registeel::vileplume:

Bulky Offense :
arce w4: :kingdra::crobat::celebi::flygon::incineroar::bronzong:
feli w4 ::toxicroak::dhelmise::stakataka::flygon::heracross::suicune:
Floss w3: :raikou::rotom-mow::steelix::pangoro::crobat::milotic:
ajna w4 : :porygon-z::weezing-galar::aerodactyl::roserade::steelix::guzzlord:

Offense:
rapt w4 : :xatu::raikou::vanilluxe::doublade::arctovish::flygon:
chait w4 : :cofagrigus::cloyster::indeedee::togekiss::metagross::flygon:
robjr w3 : :politoed::kingdra::klefki::toxicroak::seismitoad::tornadus:

Hyper Offense:
mcm w4 : :cloyster::toxtricity::sharpedo::mimikyu::lucario::flygon:
arce9 w3 : :Tornadus::celebi::sharpedo::flygon::heracross::klefki:
bihi w3 : :ninetales::vileplume::klefki::charizard::shiftry::flygon:

From weeks 3 + 4, I've noticed some similar structures within archetypes.

On balances, its usually a combination of Milo, Regi, flygon, vileplume, and togekiss/crobat with some breakers. This isn't particularly new or earthshattering but it had to be said. What is interesting is how the meta has drastically moved away from wish passing and umbreon in general on balances, as compared to slam and last year's scl. RU has quite clearly adapted to it with Pangoro and Bewear on the rise with old breakers like Hera and Luca still being solid. Nothing revealing otherwise tho

On the offenses they've been... kinda gimmicky to be frank. Hail, sun, rain, and then a cofag... And while those teams are fine, heck the four i mentioned all won, but i'd prefer if they were less mu fishy. Preferences aside, they were all still prty cool and there really is a wide variety of teams. For newbies, mcm's HO, rob's rain, and floss' BO are the more standard of the bunch but the rest I can say are very much not so. I hope we continue to see these kinds of new offensive cores as RU has a wide pool of viable pokemon, certainly the most of all ss metagames.

Also wanted to touch on the rose slander recently. Roserade is still very much solid and spikes are still very much solid as well. People are willing call it a bad spiker bc "stuffed by crobat" but this is very much false. Like mac3 mentioned above, Rose ran sleep powder last week and paired with a fighting could make a very interesting combiation. Stun spore could also be used which could really take crobat out of the game considering the lack of true cleric's RU runs, and the most common heal bell user, togekiss, not often being paired with crobat. And even without those moves, setting a spike still forces a defog. rose still beats bulky waters very well and still spikes on umbreon and steels very well. Although, if there was a heavy emphasis on spikes I would run klefki instead of rose, if u have a core that might want spikes, rose is one of the best options there is.

hope u enjoyed reading, feel free to ping me an some ungodly hour explaining to me why x team is put in the wrong archetype, I will gladly not care
 

Ampha

"They don’t call me Greed for nothing!"
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
Week 6 is up!

:melmetal: vs :exeggutor:
SS RU: Punny vs Ajna

:gyarados: vs :falinks:
SS RU: Feliburn vs McMeghan

:ninetales: vs :mew:
SS RU: Raptor vs Floss

:aegislash: vs :blobpex:
SS RU: TheFranklin vs lax

:gible: vs :zapdos-galar:
SS RU: Mac3 vs BIHI

Feel free to post predicts, and comments about last week's game and any thoughts on metagame trends! :psyglad:
 
:melmetal: vs :exeggutor:
SS RU: Punny vs Ajna
Ajna has had some bad luck so far in terms of both RNG and getting MU fished, but he’s also brought some really interesting stuff and has shown a willingness to experiment with off-meta breakers. Punny, on the other hand, gravitates towards fatter compositions, which, as an archetype, can struggle with niche offensive threats. Both are more than capable players, but I think Ajna will rebound this week by outprepping and securing a good MU.

:gyarados: vs :falinks:
SS RU: Feliburn vs McMeghan
Our hero Feliburn came out of retirement earlier this year and is as in-tune with the meta as anybody. Feli is a very competent player and builder, and I’ve really liked his builds this tour. Normally I would favor his meta experience, but McMeghan is arguably one of the best players of all time. You never want to pick against the protagonist, but I have a bad feeling about this one.

:ninetales: vs :mew:
SS RU: Raptor vs Floss
This is probably the most interesting match of the week to me, and the predict I’m least confident in. Raptor is not a mainer but has performed really well so far (2-0 in RU, 3-0 overall). On the other hand, I have loved Floss’s builds this tour. He’s produced some fresh offenses with cool techs while still remaining fairly sound defensively. Raptor has brought semi-weather both times, and I don’t know how much that will factor into Floss’s prep but I trust Floss to gain an advantage through a cool tech or core. Raptor has made some really fire reads in this tour though idk idk idk

:aegislash: vs :blobpex:
SS RU: TheFranklin vs lax
Anybody who knows me saw this predict coming a mile away. Franklin is the best RU player right now in my opinion, but he’s also a good pal of mine so I’m pretty clearly biased here. :blobshrug:

:gible: vs :zapdos-galar:
SS RU: Mac3 vs BIHI
BIHI’s teams have been pretty offensive so far, and Mac3 prefers fatter balances and semistalls that are much better suited for longer games. I really hated Mac3’s team last week because it seemingly lost to Guts Hera on preview, but all’s well that ends well.

That said, Mac3’s fat balances tend to be a bit weirder and more flavorful than the average Weezing-Galar/Umbreon fat balance. I’m not sure who is supporting BIHI here, but exploiting Mac3’s building style won’t be as easy as loading one of the usual fat-breakers and clicking buttons.
 

McMeghan

Dreamcatcher
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnusis a Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis the 5th Smogon Classic Winneris the Smogon Tour Season 14 Championis a defending SPL Championis a Past SPL Champion
Big Chungus Winner
Once SCL is over I will make a post going over all the teams I used in the season and how they came to be. Hoping it'll be done by other RUers.

Gotta say I joined SCL and since I wasn't interested in OU/didn't play any low tier, I picked RU as it looked the most balanced/attractive to me based on the VRs, and now after 6 weeks of play/building/playing, I have completely fallen for it, it's a really cool meta with plenty of viable options. Maybe a shiny new toy feeling, but I haven't enjoyed digging into a tier like this in a while.
 

Mac3

im reminded theres no finer place to kiss
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
alright so i think we have a new :srank: in the meta. reuniclus is such a easy mon to add to any team with its ability to choose what to beat it is able to win vs to make up for a team's shortcomings. example being colbur focus blast for goro, no item for dhelm, LO thunder vs pod/milo/np toge, nascar LO vs gastro, yall get the idea. furthermore, reuni can also be a knocktox version with either ability that beats most of the usual cm counters 1v1 if mguard, if regen it will likely outlast them (as mcmeghan has shown). there are also rising offensive sets like OTR brought by floss and other 3 atk options which make reuni extremely daunting to switch in versus. there are also nicher options available such as kee berry, acid armor, or sticky barb that also have the ability to cheese past its counters. biggest positive reuni has is that these differing options are usually all very effective cause you can tailor reuni to the counter that your team doesnt deal with.

also rain is really good ive realized, i personally think the team i brought vs BIHI is better than the kingdra/torn stuff because of the ability to function pretty damn well outside of rain as well through shark. no i will not make it fully physical GoldCat. in general though HO is in a better spot rn than it has been for a long time, even if that might just be that people are truly exploring the options now after some innovation from nonmainers during scl.

also gonna echo mcmeghan in that i will be posting all the teams and sets and stuff ive toyed with during scl after its done.
 

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