Hey, spl is (almost) over and i wanted to review how the tournament went for me. It was my first time as a full season starter in DPP, and it was certainly an experience - initially i actually didn't plan to play this year, but afterwards i decided i wanted to and had nothing to lose. I ended uh
checks notes .. 4-5, which i assume is not terrible neither amazing, but overall besides a thing or two i'm happy with the way i played this season and as silly as it sounds, i realized (even more during this spl) how winning consistently in a high stakes/high level tournament is really hard and requires a strong mentality in addition to the skill.
Anyway, in this post i'll go over each game i played, my thoughts on them and talk briefly about the approach/prep.
Week 1 - vs Snofall
Snofall was on classiest, which also had johnnyg2 and Emeral. So going into this week 1 was a bit of a challenge at first, because we were not quite sure of what to expect given the building support sno had. We just decided to bring a solid team that would match up well vs what sno had brought in the past, but also that would match up well vs what potentially johnny/emeral could cook (iirc we expected gliscor type of stuff or bruisers/some sort of mag bulky offense). I don't remember how exactly it was brought up but quagsire seemed like a really good pick and i personally really liked it after trying it out, on this team it provides rly good anti offense measures especially vs dd tar/gyara and opposing jirachi. This team is decent into opposing stall/spikes but you really need to play aggressively vs skarmory or else you're gonna get overwhelmed too easily by opposing spikes/skarm.
Going into the game, based on lead empo i wasn't sure of what was in the back but i go to clef either way. I'm kinda nervous to get my rocks up immediatly but looking back at it closely, maybe i could have tried to be aggressive and knock the empo on t2 and its potential lefties. He plays well and takes the knock with skarmory, so at this point i can already see the type of team he's running. I decide to go to jirachi immediatly and not let him get up 3 spikes for free, as my team has 3 grounded pokemon and i could get overwhelmed by skarmory/spikes quickly if i play too passively. I get a burn on skarm on t10 which was what i was looking for, and i manage to take it down with clef on t13. Now he reveals tyranitar, and honestly while dd and cb are not unheard of i was strongly expecting scarf based on what he revealed so far, so i go skarm and turns out it's dd. I'm forced to ww it out and i roll a flygon, which is definitely mixed but the question is how do i handle this - my clef is weakened + knocked and i don't really wanna switch tar in as i expect scarf latias is his last pokemon. I decide to pivot to latias on what is hopefully fire blast, and try to bluff i'm faster than mixgon, which thankfully works - i switch to clef on t17 to cover what i was assuming to be a switch to empo on his side, so that i could heal clef that way. Unfortunately i read it wrong and tar is back in, i'm forced to go quag and handle it somehow. He tries to dd twice but quag saves the day for now, turns out his last is lucario but at that point i don't know it's scarf and i analyzed the situation badly. Anyway let's just skip to the decisive turns; t31 i'm in what seems to be a good position and i decide to ice beam, i was strongly concerned by mixgon and i really thought he was going to it that exact turn. t32 i reiterate the same ice beam and kinda throws out what was looking to be a positive endgame for me. I couldn't explain nor remember how exactly i decided to ice beam twice but it was certainly a guts feeling, and i decided i could trust it. My timer was really low but i could still have used it to weigh the pros and the cons of that move, even if he went mixgon as i recovered with latias i could still handle the situation probably but yea. tl;dr i clicked too fast/didn't think enough about it and that costs me the game. I don't think the matchup was bad for me, but it wasn't exactly what i was looking for neither - it was probably even in the end. props to sno for playing solid that game
Week 2 - vs DeepBlueC
I had a hard time getting over that week 1 loss but here we are onto week 2. DeepBlueC is my opponent, great friend and great player. Honestly that week was weird, i remember trying to make work lead mixgon + spikes in particular and sticking to it no matter what, while excal gave me other possibilities. But in the end lead mixgon revealed itself to be mediocre, and i think i restricted myself too much prep wise. We also thought that dbc could bring a lot of things and that kinda made me paranoid - in the end we couldn't manage to find any satisfying prep (at least that's how i saw it). Excal gave me an old skeleton that we re worked a bit to my liking, and i thought this team was the way to go, it was fine in practice etc, but i clearly overestimated the team's ability to win vs opposing stall/spikes/latias. Looking back i think that's the only team i regret bringing, if i was to re live that week i would definitely use something else.
I can already tell from that turn 1 that there are high odds dbc is running tar skarm clef lati. Defensive rotom is gonna be a bit annoying for me, because i don't have a good way of pressuring it if there's clef/lati in the back. He reveals flygon - which is 100% mixgon - as i get my rocks up with heatran, and now i'm thinking how the hell am i gonna answer this. Based on my matchup and what i assume is in the back, i decide to sacrifice my flygon to his as i assume it's the least useful pokemon in this game. I get a free calm mind with suicune but too bad it isn't gonna do shit, i decide i can maybe get some use out of it if i preserve it. I get some hazards with roserade and some chip on skarmory as he lays down 1 spike - which is already too much for me - too bad his team doesn't care about hazards, but at least tar is gonna come in only once. His last is cm roar latias and it's gonna be absolutely unkillable for me, my jirachi is the only thing that can force it out but it struggles to make progress vs defensive rotom. t16 is probably where i messed up, in the position i was at that point i was definitely behind and should have played aggressively rather than sitting back - offensive jira vs paralyzed rotom in sand is far from being an unwinnable 1v1, and it actually was in my favor. If i took part in that 1v1 and won it i probably turned the game to my advantage, but i didn't and once again didn't analyze the situation correctly. t23 i'm trying to create an opportunity for suicune vs sleeping rotom but it doesn't work, and he stays in assuming he outspeeds jirachi. On t31 he definitely gave me a winning window and didn't see that rotom outsped my heatran, so thanks to that i get to kill both lati and clef and it comes down to jirachi gaming. I needed what was looking like 3 flinches to win, unfortunately i don't get any and i lose that one. tl;dr the matchup was definitely not it for me, but i also messed up at some point when i potentially still could have gave myself the odds to win.
Week 3 - vs tamahome
I think this team wasn't planned at all vs tama initially, we were on the mixgon hype train but not convinced with the build we had. Excal put this together but with scarf lucario and lead sash tar that lures scarf, which i really liked in the end. We were a bit concerned about the clef/fat matchup, but i decided to go with that one since i liked the way it played in practice. Also lol
i'm sorry to tell you the last was not muk
The game revealed itself to be pretty straightforward. I manage to get an early spike vs what i assume to be a somewhat standard rose team, which is gonna go a long way. The non scarf tar worked out beautifully on t6 as tama was probably assuming scarf right after my sr, which gives me great damage on heatran. He reveals starmie on latias which was not exactly something i expected, but either way i just need to protect my hazards and even if he twaves my gengar i can force it out afterwards. He decides to sacrifice rose safely to get scarf tar in, which makes me think his last two are jirachi and one of gliscor/gyarados. i get the turn right and (thankfully) connects focus blast with a 3% gengar. Scarf luc is a safe choice on a double down and i don't expect a ghost as one of his lasts, i'm not sure if he expected scarf or not but i manage to take down starmie with a faster thunder punch. At this point i feel really ahead in the game and latias pretty much wins on its own with sub cm jirachi and gyarados being his last two. My matchup was definitely really good, don't have much more to say as everything went smoothly for me.
Week 4 - vs Void
Yep, week 4 team is the same as week 3 but with a diff ghost. More seriously tho, i really loved that team and it sucks it didn't have a good showing. iirc the prep took several routes before ending on that one too, it's the same six we used last year vs emeral but it got diff sets and i think this set up looked really good - cb tar + mixgon + scarf luc + spikes. We wanted to have the sheer power to dismantle opposing fat while not neglecting opposing offense - this ended with this six which i consider really good and flexible. Definitely one of my favorites from this season despite the game i had with it.
The game engages with a skarm mirror, and honestly i really wish i made a diff play here. I was juste like "there's no way it's taunt" when it didn't harm me at all to go to mixgon immediatly. I manage to get skarm in vs jirachi, and i really hate to say it like that but that full para pretty much took the game away from me. The fact that i had no hazards for the entire game forced me to play passively from the behind. I deduced based on that second tbolt that his jira had between 192 and 252 evs in spa, so i thought it was more likely for it to be superachi which is why i decided to go to my ttar. Unfortunately it reveals itself to be mixed with iron head. The rest of the game is just me fighting against the momentum so yea. I definitely should have played more aggressively even with no hazards (ie cc vs gengar on t15, make something happen somehow out of desperation lol) but it was really hard for me to do so - i was honestly a bit tilted with how the game went when i didn't need to be, as a result i just slowly lose the game.
Week 5 - vs Christo
I was a bit tired of using skarm mixgon honestly, and i wanted to have a change of pace. We were trying a lot of different offenses this week, and i really wanted to use dnite + gyara. As a result excal just gave me this team as a suggestion, and i really vibed with it. I think this team has sick synergy: dd nite lead opens up holes early and benefits the whole team, heatran is aimed to boom on latias/clef for jirachi and gyarados while dd tar usually cleans houses. Gengar adds up another anti fighting measure, and i think it's even more needed on offense with the rise of scarf luc. The set is really flexible, i was taunt + destiny bond on this one because gengar is usually bound to trade with opposing jirachi/heatran/mixgon or whatever really.
One particular lead matchup that we were having trouble figuring out was flygon, because it's never clear if it's gonna u-turn or dragon claw turn 1. Thus i was not sure if i should dragon dance or straight up outrage it back, could cost me an early lead if i get it wrong. For some reasons i had a feeling that it was also possible that they use lead mixgon, so i just decide to outrage as a result and it actually reveals itself to be mixgon, which i take down thanks to my sash. He goes jirachi to revenge which gives me a free heatran and free rocks. With defensive latias revealed i can tell it's very likely he has at least skarmory and scarf tar. I'm thinking i can't let any pressure go down, so i keep playing as aggressive as i can and call the skarm switch with heatran. Unfortunately latias is actually a big pain for me and i'm pretty much forced to blow up on it, which i end up doing. Honestly the gengar on the double down was a bit more risky than it needed to be considering he could just go scarf tar, which he does, but thankfully i get the turn right and get to keep my gar for now. I'm trying to keep the momentum on my side with the jirachi double on skarm and the calm mind on the latias sac, so i get to chip his tar enough to have it dead to rocks the next time it comes in. As it locks itself on earthquake, on t16 i have two possibilities; i either go to gengar or gyarados. At this point both are looking terrifying, but i decide to go gengar because i thought without scarf tar in the equation it would do best. Maybe that was a misplay and the gyarados line would have gave me better odds to win considering his potential last, but it was likely shuca jirachi on his side so nothing was done yet. I think In the end it comes down to a gengar tie no matter what line i take, and he wins it. Honestly was an interesting game and i think i played to the best of my ability so i have no regrets, not that the mu was bad but it was not an easy one neither.
Week 6 - vs BIHI
Prep wise, that one was quite a mess. i didn't have a lot of time that week so i couldn't contribute as much as i would have liked. excal gave me some suggestions but tl;dr i didn't feel comfy enough with them, so i decided at the very last min to change and pick a team i liked/knew better. i can't say that was the smartest move on my end, it was definitely a rushed decision when i could have gotten more time to think about it. this team is somewhat old now, it does well vs offense but it does very poorly vs fat in general, especially hippo clef lati. i regret a bit not bringing another ver of that team that would have done better in this actual game but that's on me obviously.
I think going for trick on t1 was my best play considering people often let hippo absorb the trick to preserve their jirachi, and scarf tar is not switching into a modest specs draco. forry takes it instead which in that case also preserves hippo. I can tell very quickly that my matchup is quite terrible, so i'm hard struggling to get past clef + hippo and i lack the longevity to make any progress. Although gengar is my best weapon it's on a timer everytime it comes in with sand + rocks up, making the task particularly difficult. On t16 i manage to have my flygon knocked off, which unironically is gonna help me a lot to take on clef repeatedly. Hitting two hydro pumps through para flinch helps me take care of his jirachi, and since i have healing wish on latias i can eventually give suicune a second life altho it will need a lot for it to actually just sweep. i'm thinking his last is defensive latias so depending of the set and with some luck, superachi could maybe do it even tho it's unlikely at that point. I get suicune a second chance with healing wish and get it in on forry, but it comes way too short to take down clef and now it's pretty much done unless i get lucky, which won't happen. Latias reveals itself to be faster than flygon anyway so that makes sense and it just sweeps on the spot. Not much to say honestly i don't think i was ever winning that matchup unless i got ridiculously lucky, i just threw in the builder here
Week 7 - vs Kristyl
Excal had a precise idea in mind for that week and i thought it was funny: ancient power jirachi. After some other drafts and after dabbling with some offense, i decided to stick with the original idea with spikes as a bonus. the team revealed itself to be nasty in practice, and it was a nice change of pace after these past two weeks.
Based on the u-turn damage i figure out turn 1 that this flygon is cb, and i get my rocks up on the incoming suicune. I quickly get a clear picture of the team kristyl is running after roar reveals latias and empoleon in the back - i was strongly expecting at least scarf rotom and heatran or jirachi at this point. Specs latias is actually not easy to deal with for me as i don't have scarf tar or a very safe switch in, so i decide to sacrifice hippo in exchange for a free spike on my end - which is very worth it. Heatran is in, and honestly on t8 i should have just used soft boiled i think it was relatively free and didn't cost me that much since i was ev'd to always take -atk heatran boom. I safely sac my clef on latias to get my jirachi in on t11 as she reveals scarf rotom, unfortunately doesn't get the ancient power boost but i get some chip which is always welcomed. On t13 i was actually going to click thunder wave, but after thinking properly i thought dragon pulse was extremely free and as a result i get to kill flygon which is amazing. That draco miss the next turn definitely helps me, i decided to whirlwhind because i thought i was not getting 3 spikes so the second wasn't very useful + i get to chip even more the rotom coming in. I roll empo on t17 and i decide it's a good time to go on my mag here as she probably didn't expect it all, so i just take it out and from there my winpath is pretty much locked in - Scarf magneton just cleans the game. I'd say the matchup was slightly favored on my end, specs lati and scarf rotom were actual threats tho
Week 8 - vs Malekith
The idea vs malekith was planned weeks ago, we just made a ton of several changes back and forth to find the "perfect" sets and evs on this team. I really liked the u-turn glisc excal cooked here, it offers a ton of flexibility in game and it also compresses a lot of key roles for the team.
I see gliscor lead funnily enough and i assume it's gonna be u-turn like mine, but probably faster. Malekith instantly reveals starmie, unfortunately for him my glisc just gets a really free u-turn into scarf tar and i take down starmie on t2 which is great for me. I sac my tar to sleep because i assume it's gonna be pretty useless, i also have double sr so i'm not worried about getting them back up soon. As he reveals leech loom i know my glisc is gonna wall it so i just get my sr back up, and this is where 0 speed u-turn gliscor shines as it just slow turns out of everything. Nothing really happens until he reveals his own jirachi and i'm not sure what set it is, but either way i decide to go to my tar on what i assume to be ice punch and then i pivot to my own jirachi to check the set. I get a burn on both his glisc and his jira which definitely helps me, eventually i reveal skarmory and honestly i'm just in a very commanding spot at this point. The reason i didn't reveal skarmory earlier is because i was not sure if he had mag in the back, so i just played it safe and waited for the right moment to go to it. I get 3 spikes and he reveals alakazam, but i'm too ahead and i just win the game. That was definitely a favorable matchup for me here, kith's team was just not designed to play vs fat.
Week 9 - vs mael
That was the last week and no stakes were up so i didn't make it hard for myself here. i picked a team i built weeks prior that i thought was cool yet probably improvable, and rolled with it. The initial gengar set here is somewhat weird, the idea is clef is annoying so i had mean look + perish song to lock it in and get rid of it, in combination with cm iron head jirachi to not get walled by both lati and tar the teams got a good flow. I ended up removing the gar tech because i thought it wouldn't be useful in this actual game vs mael, so i changed to taunt + destiny bond + boom (no focus blast lol) because i value those moves that much on gengar. rest of the team is classic and it's a lot of fun to play with it.
The one time i ev my azelf differently than enough phys bulk to take on machamp i face one, so unfortunately i'm not gonna be able to get both rocks and boom here. i surprisingly see a magnezone so my jirachi is just walled, but i need to wear it down as fast as i can given that my team is actually electric weak lol. Destiny bond gengar comes clutch the next turns to trade with machamp - thankfully i changed to that or i would have been probably cooked. He reveals what seems to be offensive cune, and i get my boom on ttar which gives me a free dragon dance with gyarados. The crit on suicune definitely helps me, altho i was wacan so nothing was done yet - he struggles to handle the gyara with cres as he reveals scizor last, which will be slower than my empoleon so i win that one.
-----
Some sets i like:
Tyranitar (M) @
Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
It is true that you would rather have a berry as your item choice on dd tar, however focus sash has actually cool utility especially on pure ho in which you can prevent rocks from going up. In a metagame where scarf lucario has become one of the top tier revenge killers, sash dd tar can help luring it - like wacan dd gyara would help luring scarf flygon or scarf lati - which highly benefits offense as a result.
Infernape (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-
Taunt
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- U-turn
This is my favorite infernape set as of right now. This set is meant to be used in a very aggressive way, Taunt + U-turn means it is excellent at keeping latias at low health early game - and not only latias - which can be taken advantage of by other teammates like gyarados. flare bllitz is used instead of fire blast because of the accuracy + the nature that doesn't lower any defenses compared to traditional mixed ape.
Gengar (M) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-
Mean Look
-
Perish Song
- Shadow Ball
- Destiny Bond / Taunt / Pain Split
I think the times with focus blast being mandatory on gengar are now gone. Let's be real, focus blast is a shitty move and gengar has so many criminally useful utility moves outside of its traditional coverage. Here gengar aims to lure clef and remove it entirely from the game, with both mean look and perish song. This is not as easy as it sounds, because sand + rocks can come into play and knock off actually does quite enough damage to limit the strategy. That's where the 4th move usually comes into play; with destiny bond you can ensure a trade no matter what the situation is, as for pain split well it's pretty straightforward you just heal to ensure clef goes down before you does. I like taunt a lot personally and i rarely drop it, just depends of your team mostly.
just to rant more about focus blast less gar, i tried other combos like taunt / sball / dbond / boom. i think a lot of things can work
Lucario (M) @ Salac Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
-
Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
Just something i was trying to fit on some teams at the start of spl, i think it has potential. Substitute is pretty much always unexpected on lucario and salac has good synergy there, ideally you wanna pair this set with a lot of para spreading. Leftovers is possible for more longevity vs fat shit (owns wish tect jira)
Heatran (M) @
Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
Hasty Nature
-
Taunt
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
I'm not taking full credits for that one i think excal or abr does, but i actually really like that set. Focus sash enables you to play heatran in a very aggressive way, taunt follows the same process and prevents healing, hazards and set up which is extremely key for an offensive team.
green april (Dragonite) (M) @
Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
I think abr gets credit for that set in particular, he used it in classic finals and honestly i'm a big fan. Sash makes a ton of sense against leads like latias and flygon, and it can even lure scarfers early which other sweepers always appreciates. Just sick synergy all around
cry out (Gliscor) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
-
U-turn
- Roost
Excal's set, he already talked about it so i won't say much, but i think this glisc is a future certified classic on not only defense but even offense. It's such a good set and has insane synergy with a lot of shit (i've never seen such an easy way to trap gengar, you can pretty much switch into it without fear and guarantee a free scarf tar switch in). i'm curious to see how it's gonna be used in future tournaments
zankyo sanka (Skarmory) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
-
Counter
- Roost
This set is far from being unheard of and i know it has been talked about, yet it's actually so effective. I'm a big fan of skarmory in general but counter with a full spdef spread actually turns the table against so much shit - trick meta, offensive jirachi, dd gyara, dd nite, dd tar... It covers a lot on paper just needs some help from its teammates, but it's really easy to get fucked up by this when you don't expect it.
Gallade @ Lum Berry
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-
Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Close Combat
- Night Slash
With the tar leads being around, fighting leads in particular stands out among others - and gallade is not an exception. Taunt shutdowns leads like uxie and rotom where gallade does not shine vs, while preventing healing, hazards and set up. Playing around close combat + burn is actually a pain, and night slash just offers a good coverage move for the likes of starmie, gengar, azelf and latias.
Well, this post is already long as hell so i'll end it here. Thanks for reading if you did, and shoutouts to
Excal for helping me the whole season. You know i couldn't have done it without you and i'm very grateful for everything you did for me. Thanks to those who helped me in one way or another during this season as well, i always appreciate it.
