SPL 7: UU Discussion Thread

[Hogg]

Approved by Hikari, original thread by aim

It's that time again! We're less than two weeks out from the start of SPL 7. This tour consistently sees some of the best UU action of the year. The drafts are all done and the teams are finalized (at least until trades/midseason drafts), so this is the place to watch replays and discuss the potential matchups, players, teams and trends.

Managers haven't released line-ups yet for week one, so matchups are still mostly guess-work, but we know the team rosters and the season schedule, so it's not too hard to extrapolate. Here's week one's schedule:

• Alpha Ruiners vs Wifi Wolfpack
• Cryonicles vs Indie Scooters
• Congregation of the Classiest vs Firebot Falcons
• Stark Sharks vs Circus Maximus Tigers
• Ever Grande BIGS vs Team Raiders

...and here are the team rosters:

rosters

• The Congregation of the Classiest Credits: 8500 | Bidders: tsunami / KratosMana / soulgamer | Players: giara / Ojama / soulgazer / panamaxis / Arcticblast / New Breed / Evuelf / Heysup / blunder / daftmau5 / IAmGingy / Zamrock / Calloflochie / Agammemnon
• The Alpha Ruiners Credits: 9000 | Bidders: Ciele / BAIKA | Players: dekzeh / idiotfrommars / Tiba / SoulWind / ABR / Bad Ass / TheEnder / mad0ka / Mazar / Kushalos / checkmater75 / Jarii / PttP / Disenchanted / TewMew / Luigi.
• The Ever Grande BIGs Credits: 3000 | Bidders: Funkasaurus | Players: boudouche / Finchinator / McMeghan / galbia / Laga / Reymedy / Malekith / metaphysical / bugzinator / HANTSUKI / MetalGro$$ / ZoroDark / d0nut / Improbable / BLINGAS
• The Firebot Falcons Credits: 6000 | Bidders: Texas / trc / reyscarface | Players: 49 / Leftiez / Tesung / Tamahome / Mr.E / reyscarface / dice / Triangles / Destiny Device / KyleCole / Ary / ZoroarkForever / fatty / Can-Eh-Dian
• The Indie Scooters Credits: 3000 | Bidders: BKC / gengar / jirachee | Players: Isa / Jirachee / xray / Go10 / cosine180 / Bedschibaer / Floppy / fitzy72 / Realistic Waters / Mael / Biosci / Windsong / xMarth / gene / liberty32 / Aurious
• The Circus Maximus Tigers Credits: 1000 | Bidders: tennisace / Sweep | Players: atomicllamas / Blast / JabbaTheGriffin / ben gay / gr8astard / Earthworm / mencemeat / Lady Bug / dodmen / ToF / Golden Gyarados / qsns / OP / Escavalier / Tokyo Tom / Sapientia / majorbowman / Honor / Tricking
• The Cryonicles Credits: 7500 | Bidders: Vinc2612 / valentine | Players: Lutra / TV-Rocka / Sweepage / Colchonero / Teddeh / teal6 / Fakes / kamikaze17 / Alexander. / GeeMick / Star. / Shoka / Scythe. / Lohgock / jira / Seeme
• The Stark Sharks Credits: 9000 | Bidders: makiri / blarajan / MDragon | Players: blarajan / Conflict / Hikari / Golden Sun / CTC / Cased / Meru / The_Chaser / GOD MARTH / reiku / Steve Angello / Smurf. / TheFourthChaser / Frizy / Alastor Law
• The Team Raiders Credits: 13500 | Bidders: Starmie / Mazinger / tdk / koko | Players: Esteemed User Ginku / Marshall.Law / TDK / CrashinBoomBang / Veteran In Love / Picollo / kokoloko / BLOOD TOTEM / Tobes / Hack / Kingler12345 / iplaytennislol / Kiyo / LuckOverSkill
• The Wifi Wolfpack Credits: 0 | Bidders: Nails / kotori | Players: aim / Lavos Spawn / PDC / Bouffalant / Braverius / Omfuga / Stathakis / Thatsjustpeachy / Mambo / Cicada / FlamingVictini / undisputed / Bomber92 / badabing / Ortheore / Afro Smash / Laurel / sugarhigh / fapking

So while we wait for week one to begin, what matchups are people most excited to see? What players are worth watching? Which team has the strongest UU line-up? Discuss away!

I'll post my thoughts on the teams in a bit, but to start things off, Sharks versus Tigers could potentially have one of the best matchups of the season, with the Sharks picking up retention rights for Hikari from last year, and the Tigers packing dodmen as their likely UU pick. Anyone else hyped for this matchup?

Week One begins on January 4!

 

[HT]

Heres what the week 1 matchups will probably look like:

Alpha Ruiners (Kushalos/TewMew) vs Wifi Wolfpack (Omfuga)
Cryonicles (teal6) vs Indie Scooters (xMarth)
Congregation of the Classiest (Calloflochie) vs Firebot Falcons (dice?)
Stark Sharks (Hikari/Meru) vs Circus Maximus Tigers (dodmen)
Ever Grande BIGS (bugzinator) vs Team Raiders (kokoloko)

Nice that people are coming back to play. Hope to see some good games

 

[LRXC]

Wow cant wait to see these matches, good luck to everyone participating!

 

[Hogg]

OK, here are my initial thoughts on the teams and their potential UU line-ups:

Congregation of the Classiest: Obvious choice for UU here is Calloflochie. I'm really interested to see how he does this year - he's a veteran UUer with a ton of experience, but he's been away for some time and the meta has shifted dramatically since then. Still, talent doesn't simply disappear, and he's more than proven himself. Last year's SPL he primarily played RU, but unless the Classiest pick up some other UUers in trade or mid-season drafts, I'm guessing he's going to be their go-to choice for the tier.

Alpha Ruiners: The Ruiners have some interesting options for UU players. My best guess is that we're going to see TewMew in the UU spot, although there are a couple of other potential choices, including Kushalos and Mazar. TewMew is an incredibly consistent player, who places well in almost every tour he touches - but he rarely takes home the gold. He's a well-known semi-stall player, which can be a big disadvantage in a tour like SPL, where his opponents will have a huge amount of support and opportunity to prep counter-teams. However, TewMew himself will have that same support, and he's clearly a talented player. If he plays UU this year, I hope to see him branch out a bit and move away from his traditional teams.

The Ruiners have some other potential UU slots as well, such as Kush and Mazar, but they're more known for playing other tiers, so I don't know how much we'll see them play. Mazar in particular had a good UU Open run, bouncing out Omfuga early on in the tour, so he's definitely got some potential for taking that UU spot though - especially as there are several people that can potentially jump in for RU, his main tier. We'll have to see...

Ever Grande BIGs: bugzinator is almost certainly going to be the go-to choice for UU for the BIGs. Bugzy had a decent but not spectacular SPL run last year, ending things with a 5-5 record, but he showed a lot of depth both as a player and teambuilder. Not too much else to add here; I wouldn't be surprised to see bugzy as the BIGs' UU choice every single week.

Firebot Falcons: This is going to be interesting. The Falcons are potentially very shallow in the UU department, with most of their hopes most likely resting on dice. I was a bit surprised when I heard that dice didn't want to manage this year, and instead wanted to play (and play UU!) - he's clearly an incredibly talented player and teambuilder, with a ton of tour experience (but very little of it in UU). That said, good players are good players, and he had a solid UU Open run with a lot of inventive teambuilding to prove he wasn't kidding. I love when outsiders come into the tier with a fresh perspective, so I'm really excited to see what he brings this year. What worries me, however, is that he's not on a team with much UU support outside of himself. Considering that he'll be going up against people with an incredible amount of metagame knowledge such as Hikari, dodmen and kokoloko, lacking a large testing pool might be his Achilles' heel. Still, I expect to see a lot of good stuff come out of this team.

Indie Scooters: This is another team with a relatively shallow pool of UU players. The obvious choice here is xMarth, who is a talented UU player but who does not have a lot of major tour experience. He's certainly proven himself within the UU community, and in smaller tours such as UUPL earlier this year. Now is the time to see how he does stepping up into the bigger leagues. He may not have the same amount of support as other UU players this tour, as he has fewer people who know the tier well on his team, so there's a lot of pressure on him to perform. Luckily his experience within the UU community means that he knows the tier, and hopefully that knowledge will help him carry home some Ws for the Scooters.

Circus Maximus Tigers: You can't really talk about UU players right now without talking about dodmen. There are very few players right now who can be said to know the tier as well as dod, and he has clearly demonstrated that he has some serious chops when it comes to both playing and teambuilding. This will be his first SPL but not his first tour, and earlier this year he went an impressive 7-0 during the regular season of UUPL (not a major tour, granted, but a huge showing all the same). I think most people are expecting a decent record out of him. However, this is probably going to be the toughest competition he's faced in the tier. I think we're going to see a lot of good things here.

The Tigers could also potentially field atomicllamas, who found himself playing UU a couple of times last SPL, but I would be very surprised if they didn't primarily lean on dodmen for UU.

Cryonicles: The Cryonicles picked up boy wonder teal6 for their UU slot. Of all the potential UUers, teal6 is probably the newest to the tournament scene, with this year's recent UU Open being his first major tournament. But despite this, he has taken the scene by storm, placing second in UU Open and already doing well in the (currently ongoing) Grand Slam playoffs. He's also been showing off his playing chops in non-UU tours lately, placing consistently well in various Seasonals and more recently in the RoA Major Leagues tour. He's also a UU regular, meaning he knows the tier better than most. If he continues on the path he's begun, he should have an excellent run this year - but his relatively short tour experience makes him a bit of a question mark.

Stark Sharks: I said that there were few people with as much metagame knowledge as dodmen. Well, one of those few is Hikari - and he has tour experience to boot, including an impressive 4-1 run in UU last SPL. There's no question that Hikari is one of the most dangerous UU players in SPL this year, as reflected by the money the Sharks spent for his retention rights. That said, he isn't the only UUer with a lot of experience - the Sharks also picked up Meru, who has primarily been playing other tiers recently, but mained UU in last year's SPL with a solid 4-3 record. This one-two punch makes the Stark Sharks especially deadly, and I'd be surprised if they don't end up with a decent score in UU this year.

Team Raiders: When your team is managed by one of the current UU tier leaders, and being played by the previous leader, you know you can expect some decent games. The Raiders' primary UU player is looking to be kokoloko, the previous tier leader who handed Sam and Hikari the reigns. koko knows the tier well, plays well under pressure, and his team has a lot of potential UU support to help him build, test and hone his teams. He's been relatively quiet since retiring from TL, but I'm excited to see how he performs this year, and I think the Raiders are looking like a strong contender in UU.

Wi-Fi Wolfpack: If I had to pick the team with the deepest UU roster, I'd pick the Wolfpack. In addition to a manager with a ton of experience in UU, their players include people like Bouffalant, Omfuga, badabing, Laurel - they have a ton of people that could potentially step into the ring and bring home a W. If I had to guess who is playing UU, my money would be on Omfuga. I believe fuga has said that he wanted to play some other tiers besides UU this year, but out of the lot, he is probably the one with the best record of success in the tier, while Bouff has been really excelling at other tiers (as evidenced by his very impressive Grand Slam run). However, the depth of their bench can be a singular advantage, both in getting to choose who they field and in the amount of support that their main UUer will have when it comes to building and testing.

 

[Kingler]

Dice/hikari/koko obviously have a lot of tour experience and probably will do well; dodmen is another very good UUer albeit with less tour experience comparatively. I expect these guys to end up with the best records.

Wolfpack also have a bunch of uu people potentially; not sure how well that translates to performance, but we'll see

 

[TSR]

alright i guess I can put in my two cents about some of the players here:

Before i get into the main UU players i thought I'd mention the yootoob legends aim and mencemeat. Now i'm not just trying to hype them up and really not trying to appear as a fanboy lol. This is SPL season, a time to be halfway serious about mons imo. If you watch a vid or two you can see that they have an intrinsic ability (maybe learned or not) to understand pretty much any metagame they play very well, and I think if they field in lower tiers for any reason they'll have a fighting chance at winning.

Calloflochie- I'm pretty new to smogon relatively but I'm not dumb enough to not know about this guy. Lol he's pretty much a legend - despite being inactive for a while now I expect him to be a little unfamilar with the current meta but he should easily be able to adapt as he's got an entire team if for some reason he can't. Expect to see a great showing from him either way. As hogg said, talent doesn't just disappear and he should be perfectly capable of racking up W's for The Classiest.

Mazar/Kushalos- putting these two in the same slot here because if I'm not missing something, these guys mainly play RU. However, from UU open we can see that at least Mazar, but probably both of them, are very capable in UU. I can expect some good matches from Mazar if he doesn't lose to timer In all seriousness, they both were in the 3-way RU Open finals so it's very clear they have a understanding of the general game and battling and should be able to function just fine in UU.

TewMew- Yes, he's kind of predictable- to a point. He does pretty damn good in every tour he signs up for, until of course he reaches the final rounds and people are more adept at counterteaming and playing in general. TewMew personally cut my RU open run short- and from personal experience I could expect the style of team he would bring and I thought i had correctly prepared for it. What really throws you off against him is his sets. I distinctly remember DaSpoofy (rip) losing to a similar team the round before (not vs. TewMew though). at team preview, it looked like I had predicted correctly- a defensive core with an Emboar on the side. I had built a team focusing on overpowering passive teams with a combination of Exploud + Medicham with Alomomola to allow slightly more reckless play with them. About 30 turns into the match (g2 btw), I switched in Alo on Emboar, what I thought was a safe play to fire off a Scald. Substitute Emboar. I know Alo's Scald is really weak but it couldn't break a sub with a single scald. I proceeded to get blown the fuck back by a SpD SubToxic Emboar with Focus Punch.
tl;dr- his overall playstyle can be predictable at times, but his teams are always prepared to a degree for counterteaming. In a team format like this he could possibly expand his playstyles with his teammates, making him even harder to predict, even at team preview. Obviously knows the metagame well so I can see him playing quite a bit for the Ruiners.

Bugzinator- I'm assuming he's a good choice for the Bigs off of what Hogg has said. Unfortunately he's one of the ones i'm not familiar with so I can't give much input. From what I've heard so far he is indeed a very competent UU player.

xMarth- ^

dice- I think dice is a pretty decent choice for his team to play UU but overall the UU line up is especially weak for the Falcons. dice is an overall good player that can grasp a majority of tiers, but he may not perform too well when he has to go up against teal, koko, Omfuga, and other top UU players. I can see Tesung or maybe 49 playing UU if need be. Nothing against dice ofc, he just may have to much pressure on him to play against the best of the best UU players every week. I'm 0-1 in farm league due to accidental counterteaming week 1 but i scared all 6 of my other opponents away draft me midseason

atomicllamas / dodmen- I thought i might as well group them together because they're both gonna be playing for the tigers. dodmen has proven to be a great UU player many a time. While llamas plays the ever living shit out of lower tiers, I definitely see dodmen as the superior UU player, and llamas will rarely play over him in UU. RU will probably be going to llamas a majority of the time though.

teal6 & Scythe- both great UU players as we saw by this year's Open finals. The fact that they both made it to finals as opponents but are now likely collaborating with each other should probably be scary for other teams. I think the combination of these two make for the most solid overall UU lineup for all the teams, probably about tied with the combination of Hikari & Meru for the Sharks.
~on a less serious note, teal's posts in the SPL thread stand out among the shitstorm of WhiteQueen trolling and memes, and combined with his current avi, made for some pretty damn good laughs.

Hikari & Meru- As i said before, the Sharks and the Cryonicals have what i think are the strongest lineup of UU player among the teams. Not to say players like Omfuga and Calloflochie aren't threats but I think these two teams have an overall solid cast of UU players (even if it 's only two).

kokoloko- As we've seen, koko is a great UU player that I somehow forgot to mention as a threat in my short thoughts on Hikari and Meru, but nonetheless, he's proven to be a competent UU player and tier leader in the past. Judging from past tours (yes I did some research) he seems the most experienced in these tours and is probably the one on this list that can play best under pressure. Tennis also plays some decent UU but I can't possibly see the situation in which the managers choose him for UU over koko.

badabing- see xMarth

Laurel- Haven't seen him play much UU outside of the recent suspect test, not too sure of what he's gonna be capable of in this tier if he does play.

Bouffalant- Apparently he's prone to choking? Idk I haven't been around long enough to see a lot of his past results but if his GS run is any representation he should be a great pick for the wolfpack and should be flexible for many tiers.

Omfuga- Honestly one of the best players UU has to offer, but for some reason he said he doesn't want to play UU. I'm sure he will at some point, and I highly doubt he'll be lethargic about it; however there is still the possibility that he's 100% serious about not wanting to play the tier. Still, there's no way that teams won't be wary of who they send in for UU when facing the Wolfpack. Fuga will be a valuable asset to his team, especially now that he's displayed his ability to play other tiers well, especially because of his OLT run.

 

[Tymano]

My thoughts for week 1 match-ups (Bolded are winners and responses)

Alpha Ruiners (Kushalos/TewMew) vs Wifi Wolfpack (Omfuga): Even though Omfuga has more tier experience, the wolfpack is a little bit of a mess right now, and Kushalos/TewMew, while being predictable to an extent, will probably come out on top.
Cryonicles (teal6) vs Indie Scooters (xMarth): As we saw from the open, teal6 is a very competent UU player and will probably come out on top.
Congregation of the Classiest (Calloflochie) vs Firebot Falcons (dice?): Although Lochie has been out a while, I feel he will easily adapt to the new UU enviroment and come out on top.
Stark Sharks (Hikari/Meru) vs Circus Maximus Tigers (dodmen): No opinion has been formed yet, still on the ropes.
Ever Grande BIGS (bugzinator) vs Team Raiders (kokoloko): While bugz has proven to be a good player, koko is simply, better (sorry bugs).

King UU:

Moment of silence for our dear King UU everybody.

 

[teal6]

my pre-season review:

Calloflochie - has a cool avatar, definitely predicting to do well.
TewMew - he's french, for the longest time i thought he had an alt on PS where he was incredibly savagely rude to his opponents, but turned out that was badabing actually lol, tewmew is good anda nice man.
Omfuga - nobody can stop the young god himself.
xMarth - well an important thing to note is the x in front of his name, reminds me of BMX / Extreme Sports in general, the sort of stuff on ESPN midafternoon on a thursday. that'll definitely help him going forward.
teal6 - perhaps the most handsome user on the list
Hikari - perhaps the second most handsome user on the list
dodmen - if i recall correctly dodmen used to have several numbers after the end of his username. they were possible "the funny numbers' (i.e. 69, 420, etc.) but im not sure. hopefully for him chopping the numbers off of the end of your username is not akin to when samson's hair was cut, thus losing all of his power. definitely predicting to do well.
kokoloko - when i was a new user on the scene i had an idea for a thread or some such and i PMd several of what i thought were TLs/Auth to see if i could do it, at the time koko had already left the position and he was still the only one to answer and for that he has my utmost respect. predicting him to do well.
bugzinator - i still laugh when i think of "bigzinator" .
badabing - hes really good, + has the most memorable insult ive seen thus far in the online pokemon battling community.
Bouffalant - i feel like bouffalant will really ascend if he adds a number at the end of his username, good choices would include: 4, 12 or my personal favorite, 6.

 

[Thisbemyalt]

Dodmen and Hikari should be a really good series, I would honestly say this will be the battle between the two best uu players that were drafted, unless we see this matchup later down the road this might just be the best uu series. The other player I am excited to see play is teal6 who has proven himself to be one of the best players in the tier and I predict him to prove it even more throughout SPL, he might even have the best record in all honesty. Omfuga and tewmew are the only other two people I think could really have strong records by the end in the tour, assuming omfuga actually decides to play uu. The rest are by no means bad players they just haven't done all that well in ORAS UU tours with the exception of like one tour, they all have been known to do well in tours and some specifically for uu so I assume all could do really well, but I don't think most will.

Also in response to teals post and anyone who talks about Bouffalant chances are he won't be playing UU as I believe he only signed up for NU and was drafted specifically for NU so I doubt he would be made to play UU unless they need a sub.

 

[Hogg]

Also in response to teals post and anyone who talks about Bouffalant chances are he won't be playing UU as I believe he only signed up for NU and was drafted specifically for NU so I doubt he would be made to play UU unless they need a sub.

He signed up for "ORAS UU / ORAS NU / ORAS OU / BW OU / anything that isn't RU". Like you, I also assume that we're primarily going to see Bouff playing tiers other than UU, but he's there as a potential player or as a sub, and he definitely helps add to the strength of the Wolfpack's overall UU roster since he knows the tier. After all, it's not just a question of who is physically playing any given game - it's also a question of how much support each player has, with testing/scouting/building/ghosting support being a huge part of what can make any given player successful.

And I definitely agree with you - at least on paper, I think dod v Hikari has the potential to be the best UU matchup in the whole tour.

 

[Christo]

Round 1 matchups:

TewMew vs Omfuga / Badabing

TewMew: Extremely good battler and builder in pretty much any tier. Unfortunately, TewMew is notorious for bringing Semi-Stall and usually never succeeds with other playstyles. I expect him to do decently overall, but not against the other dominant UU players who will have good teams to counteract his playing style. TewMew will win his games vs the guys who are coming back from the dead and the people that do not actually main the UU tier based off TewMew simply being better. (If Mazar or Kush are starters i will be surprised. Both definitely are not qualified)

Omfuga: One of the few who I find to be truly dominant in the tier. If he chooses to play UU he will have a lot of success and prove people that he is more than his previous SPL record.

Badabing: Might actually be Jesus Christ himself. I expect great things.


teal6 vs xMarth

teal6: teal6 is a pretty solid UU battler and definitely a deserving pick up for this SPL. Not 100% sure on how well he will do as he builds one UU playstyle well(Offense) and he is almost always reliant on help from myself with teams and such. I am taking a break from smogon until midseason so I do not plan on building teams for teal. I am interested to see how things turn out for him this SPL. He might open some eyes, or might close some eyes, lets wait and see.

xMarth: Was not expecting on xMarth getting picked up this SPL due to his inactivity these past months. I am not sure how he will do this SPL. Before his hiatus, xMarth was easily one of the best UU battlers on the site and did quite well in the recent UUPL. He builds his own teams which is always a plus and his teams are always different, making it hard to counter-team. Assuming that he plays like he use to, i expect some good results. Although, his hiatus might effect him as the meta has shifted a good amount recently. It is hit or miss on how xMarth will do this season, another one i am interested about.


Calloflochie vs dice

Calloflochie: Use to be a pretty good battler I suppose, I am quite new and do not have much insight. I do know ORAS UU quite well though, and I have not seen him play at all. Based on that fact, I do not expect him to do very well. Maybe he can surprise me, I really do not know.

dice: Pretty decent UU player and has tour experience. I do not expect anything amazing this year for him if he plays UU each week(only possible UU option on the Falcons, anyone else is ghosted). I do expect him to win this matchup though based off what i said about Calloflochie

Hikari vs dodmen

Hikari: From what I have seen, Hikari is a very solid UU player. I have not seen him play too much mainly because I am a PS! tryhard and he isn't, but he builds very solid teams and knows how to win. I expect a very good record from him this season.

dodmen: Imo the best UU battler out of them all. He is very consistent, builds his own teams, and knows how to win games. He has the whole package when it comes to what a manager would want in their UU slot. No way he is not getting a positive record this year unless SPL nerves make him choke on dicks. HL match this week.

bugzinator vs kokoloko

bugzinator: Pretty solid overall UU battler. I expect him to do pretty well this season. Not much to say other than that he is a pretty good UU pick imo.

kokoloko: Another guy from back in the day that is a toss up on how well he will do. I have seen him play here and there for the past few months. He has been doing decently, although not jesUUs status or anything. I expect him to have an even record this year, but maybe he can surprise me since he has experience.

Overall, I am not really impressed with the pool this year(not that my opinion matters). Half because I am bias since i wasn't drafted, and half because its simply true.

Edit: Bouffalant is an option for the Wolfpack if Omfuga isnt playing. Bouff is a decent UU player, I would start Omfuga 9 times out of 10 though.

 

[Marshall.Law]

Sorry but I'll UU this year

 

[col49]

i'm ghosting dice until we can pick up king uu @ midseason. sorry for the confusion

 

[dice]

good luck everybody

 

[Mazar]

Omfuga

 

[YABO]

ORAS UU: [Ruiners] Mazar vs Omfuga [Wolfpack]
ORAS UU: [Cryos] teal6 vs xMarth [Scooters]
ORAS UU: [Classiest] Calloflochie vs dice [Falcons]
ORAS UU: [Sharks] Hikari vs dodmen [Tigers]
ORAS UU: [BIGS] bugzinator vs kokoloko [Raiders]

Week one matchups!

 

[r0ady]

mazar vs omfuga even tho mazars the one who ended fugas open run i still think fugas got it

teal6 vs xmarth teals been getting better and better while im nt sure how well marths adjusted to the current meta

Calloflochie vs dice i wouldnt say either are very up to date with the meta, but takng a year off from mons isnt the most helpful thing in tours (prolly wrong on how long its been)

Hikari vs Dodmen highlight match of the entire season week one, gotta give it too dod

bugsy vs koko both arent exactly outstanding players from what ive seen in the past few months but i think bugsy has it here

 

[KyleCole]

 

[kokoloko]

at the risk of sounding salty,

LOL

 

[Sacri']

ORAS UU: [Ruiners] Mazar vs Omfuga [Wolfpack] They are both really solid but I feel like Omfuga wanna make up for his poor SPL record last year which means he'll be totally prepared
ORAS UU: [Cryos] teal6 vs xMarth [Scooters] teal is much more experimented with this metagame
ORAS UU: [Classiest] Calloflochie vs dice [Falcons] as funny as it sounds they are both "newcomers" to this metagame but I like Callo better just because he already shown how good he can be at UU, even if it was XY
ORAS UU: [Sharks] Hikari vs dodmen [Tigers] They are both great players and they are both really good at ORAS UU but I think Hikari's SPL experience will win him this match
ORAS UU: [BIGS] bugzinator vs kokoloko [Raiders] I feel like koko is really underrated for this SPL but in fact he never stopped playing and building in UU so if he prepares well I think he'll do very well this year

I feel like any of those games could go either way, definitively looking forward to watching how it goes

 

[Tymano]

Grats to Lochie for claiming the first SPL blood by defeating Dice

 

[Hogg]

On mobile atm, so I'll add my thoughts later, but here is the replay of dice v lochie:

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-uu-111835

 

[DiscoDucky]

Thought while watching the game:
1) Did that Shaymin have Dazzling Gleam? If yes, he could've murked Hydreigon ages ago.
2) That burn was super-unfortunate if that Shaymin has Rest.

 

[Thisbemyalt]

Honestly the first thought going through my head when I saw this replay was how well Dice needed to play Coba to win as there was an immense amount of pressure on it. Coba was the only real switchin to mamo and scarf hydrei that Dice had while also being completely hardwalled by cune and uxie one of which fired off scalds and the other gaining free momentum with u-turn. Mega Absol was also a massive threat which Dice had no real way of handling outside of catching it pre mega or being in rain and being healthy with pert. Throughout the match Flochie plays pretty well with his hydrei and comes in to get free dracos multiple times while also luring out coba just to hard wall it with ease, Flochie was easily able to break Dices team through doing this enough times. Honestly Dice had a pretty awful matchup but throughout the game Flochie certainly kept the pressure on making it much harder for Dice to mount any sort of comeback. I think what really gave Flochie the win was his better building and how well he kept the pressure on Dice to make plays. Also the burn on Shaymin was unfortunate as if I had to guess it was almost certainly carrying recovery or HW however I think Flochie was just too ahead at that point, unless Dice suddenly started outplaying like a lot I doubt the burn mattered too much.

 

[Hogg]

This first match was interesting. dice brought a cute Froslass spikestack team that looked to be built around a Mega-Pert sweep, with some fun surprises like LO Flash Cannon Hydreigon, while lochie brought an interesting bulky offense team with some nice anti-balance 'mons like Venomoth and Mamoswine.

That being said, this was a tough matchup for dice. His only Draco switch-in was non-SD Cobalion, which is shaky at best, as even Scarf Hydreigon does around 45% to it. Meanwhile Suicune was a huge problem for every member of dice's team except Shaymin, who was packing LO and was fairly easy to wear down. If his Cobalion was SD instead of Taunt I think he could have put a bit more pressure on lochie's team, as even Suicune doesn't like taking a +2 Close Combat when rocks and spikes are down, and it would have meant more of an opportunity cost to keep lochie from spamming Hydreigon's strongest attack so freely. But hindsight is 20/20 and all that, and in the end lochie's Hydreigon just worked too many holes into dice's team. The Scald burn that killed off Shaymin hurt, but I think at that point the game was solidly in lochie's favor anyhow.