OU SPL XIII SM Discussion Thread

[spell]

approved by the moderation team.

Hello all! Welcome to the SPL XIII Discussion thread where you can talk about SM! In here, you can discuss the various battles, metagame trends, sets and post predictions. I will be updating the OP every week to include each weeks' replays and usage statistics.

SPL XIII Commencement Thread
SPL XIII Spread Sheet
SPL XIII Administrative Decisions

Likely starters in BOLD, possible players will not be BOLDED.

Alpha Ruiners: Skypenguin, Malekith, MANNAT

Circus Maximus Tigers: Charmflash, Sabella, Finchinator

Cryonicles: Jytcampbell, Exiline, 1 True Lycan, Splash

Congregation of the Classiest: London Beats

Dragonspiral Tyrants: frisoeva, Rubyblood

Ever Grande Bigs: z0mOG, ez, Tace

Indie Scooters: ima, blarghlfarghl

Stark Sharks: WelliOu, robjr, suapah

Team Raiders: Punny, Vaboh, devin

Wi-Fi Wolfpack: Relous, Trosko, TALAH

Replays

Week 1:
[BIG] z0mOG vs Welliou [SHA]
[TIG] Charmflash vs Skypenguin [RUI]
[TYR] frisoeva vs Punny [RAI]
[CRY] Lusa vs Relous [WOL]
[SCO] ima vs London Beats [CLA]

Week 2:
[CLA] London Beats vs Charmflash [TIG]
[WOL] Relous vs z0mog [BIG]
[RAI] Punny vs Lusa [CRY]
[RUI] Skypenguin vs frisoeva [TYR]
[SHA] Welli0u vs ima [SCO]

Week 3:
[BIG] z0mOG vs Punny [RAI]
[TYR] frisoeva vs London Beats [CLA]
[CRY] Lusa vs Skypenguin [RUI]
[SCO] ima vs Charmflash [TIG]
[SHA] Welli0u vs Relous [WOL]

​

 

[jonas]

Very glad to see my friends skypenguin and ez drafted. Pool is pretty solid this year, should be some fun games

 

[MANNAT]

Stark Sharks: WelliOu, robjr

You guys keep forgetting suapah

 

[spell]

You guys keep forgetting suapah

On god mb suapah love u

 

[MANNAT]

talah and tace too!

 

[Paulluxx]

Returning to some sense of sanity, hyped for Big Zam to claim its role as the top mega.

 

[spell]

Week 1 is now up, let's hope for some great games from this week, and those after.

• [BIG] z0mOG vs Welliou [SHA]
• [TIG] Charmflash vs Skypenguin [RUI]
• [TYR] frisoeva vs Punny [RAI]
• [CRY] Lusa vs Relous [WOL]
• [SCO] ima vs London Beats [CLA]

Here are my predictions, I may do something fun or w/e depending on how I feel at the end of Week 1 but feel free to post yours as well.

 

[Vileman]

• [BIG] z0mOG vs Welliou [SHA] - should be obvious
• [TIG] Charmflash vs Skypenguin [RUI]
• [TYR] frisoeva vs Punny [RAI] - go frisoat
• [CRY] Lusa vs Relous [WOL] - vai lusa
• [SCO] ima vs London Beats [CLA]

 

[Ara ara]

• [BIG] z0mOG vs Welliou [SHA] - well...
• [TIG] Charmflash vs Skypenguin [RUI] -a real prophet I am
• [TYR] frisoeva vs Punny [RAI]
• [CRY] Lusa vs Relous [WOL]
• [SCO] ima vs London Beats [CLA]

 

[Gray]

• [BIG] z0mOG vs Welliou [SHA]
• [TIG] Charmflash vs Skypenguin [RUI]
• [TYR] frisoeva vs Punny [RAI]
• [CRY] Lusa vs Relous [WOL]
• [SCO] ima vs London Beats [CLA]

 

[MANNAT]

[BIG] z0mOG vs Welliou [SHA] - already happened
[TIG] Charmflash vs Skypenguin [RUI] - already happened
[TYR] frisoeva vs Punny [RAI]
[CRY] Lusa vs Relous [WOL]
[SCO] ima vs London Beats [CLA]

 

[Gondra]

• [BIG] z0mOG vs Welliou [SHA]
• [TIG] Charmflash vs Skypenguin [RUI]
• [TYR] frisoeva vs Punny [RAI]
• [CRY] Lusa vs Relous [WOL]
• [SCO] ima vs London Beats [CLA]

 

[LORD SAGIS]

z0mOG vs Welliou
Charmflash vs Skypenguin
frisoeva vs Punny
Lusa vs Relous
ima vs London Beats

 

[spell]

Usage statistics for Week 1 are here!

Week 1

1. 
   SM OU
   

2. [*]+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
   [*]| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
   [*]+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
   [*]| 1    | Gliscor            |    8 |  80.00% |  50.00% |
   [*]| 2    | Chansey            |    4 |  40.00% |  50.00% |
   [*]| 2    | Magnezone          |    4 |  40.00% |  25.00% |
   [*]| 4    | Toxapex            |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
   [*]| 4    | Weavile            |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
   [*]| 4    | Rotom-Wash         |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
   [*]| 4    | Magearna           |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
   [*]| 4    | Tornadus-Therian   |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
   [*]| 4    | Latias             |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
   [*]| 4    | Ferrothorn         |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
   [*]| 11   | Greninja           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
   [*]| 11   | Mawile             |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
   [*]| 11   | Kartana            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
   [*]| 11   | Landorus-Therian   |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
   [*]| 11   | Clefable           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
   [*]| 11   | Hydreigon          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Latios             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Diancie            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Heatran            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Tapu Lele          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Tangrowth          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Lopunny            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Aggron             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Reuniclus          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Tyranitar          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Slowbro            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
   [*]| 17   | Tapu Koko          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
   [*]

Tomorrow or tonight, I will also try and do the fun activity that I alluded to previously which I have decided to be something like an award-show type thing. Haven't figured out exactly what I want categories to be yet though.

 

[Egor]

Week 1
~
Replays
[BIG] z0mog vs Welli0u [SHA]
[TIG] Charmflash vs Skypenguin [RUI]
[TYR] frisoeva vs Punny [RAI]
[CRY] Lusa vs Relous [WOL]
[SCO] ima vs London Beats [CLA]

Usage Stats

week 1

Leads / Combos / Moves and Teammates

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Gliscor            |    8 |  80.00% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Chansey            |    4 |  40.00% |  50.00% |
| 2    | Magnezone          |    4 |  40.00% |  25.00% |
| 4    | Toxapex            |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Weavile            |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Rotom-Wash         |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Magearna           |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Tornadus-Therian   |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 4    | Latias             |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 4    | Ferrothorn         |    3 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 11   | Greninja           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Mawile             |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 11   | Kartana            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 11   | Landorus-Therian   |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 11   | Clefable           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 11   | Hydreigon          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Latios             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Diancie            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Heatran            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Tapu Lele          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Tangrowth          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Lopunny            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Aggron             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Reuniclus          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Tyranitar          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Slowbro            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Tapu Koko          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

Highlights
: SPL started off with some crazy numbers — Gliscor was used the astounding 8 times in a week while winning exactly half of the games! To my memory, a 80% usage one week has never happened in SM yet, so I'm definitely surprised to see this case; especially so since its "brother" Landorus-T dropped to the all-time low of only 2 appearances a week. Gliscor's most common set is still Swords Dance, which is a very reliable defensive piece and wincon for fatter builds, but some considerable amount of utility Gliscor sets with U-turn and Defog was seen too.
: the Pokemon which was slowly but surely steaming up during the last year, Chansey begins the season with 4 appearances a week, which is more than any week of the previous SPL! Not that much time ago Chansey was considered too passive to fit anything bar hard stalls, but with this playstyle being dead, we are seeing Chansey adapting to semistalls and balances. Its abnormal bulk and access to useful utility moves are definitely the things those teams do appreciate. I'm curious how the Chansey trend is gonna last throughout the tour!
: generally not the most common Pokemon, Weavile makes a solid performance at the start of the season, winning 2 games out of 3 — thats better than any week of the past year! But the most intriguing thing is the teams Weavile is found on: 100% of times it was complementing those Gliscor + Chansey fatter teams as a progress maker and a fast mode. Not a something many would expect of such a glass cannon at the first glance!

Next Week Matchups
~
[CLA] London Beats vs Charmflash [TIG]
[WOL] Relous vs z0mog [BIG]
[RAI] Punny vs Lusa [CRY] (personal hl)
[RUI] Skypenguin vs frisoeva [TYR]
[SHA] Welli0u vs ima [SCO]

 

[spell]

Team Highlight - Week 1
Highlight Team

Lusa vs Relous - Replay



This was a really cool bring by Lusa. The team centers around the powerful offensive fairy core of Z-Move OTR Magearna, CM Tapu Lele and Swords Dance Mega Mawile with Rotom-W bringing them in via a pretty unrestricted Volt Switch as seen in the replay. I also have reason to assume that the Greninja, which remained unrevealed, was a Scarf Protean set to further improve the pivot potential of this very offensive team, and also to provide a source of speed control I guess too since the team was lacking one.

In the game, Lusa pilots this build excellently trying to bring in Tapu Lele at every chance he can find due to Relous' team being exceptionally weak to the combo of Rotom-W + Lele. Constantly putting immense pressure upon Relous' defensive backbone by spamming Volt with little to no repercussions to doing so. This as well as the other offensive Pokémon on Lusa's team, and the permanent rocks that were set up by his Landorus-T (Cool set by the way), Relous virtually had to play from backseat the entire game whereas Lusa played it very straightforward and direct, nabbing him the win.


Awards of the Week

Time for some fun little categories, or awards as i'll just call them from now on. I'll be giving them at the end of every post this SPL after I am done going over the highlight match. These will mostly be for fun and the categories featured may vary from post to post if I feel like it. But for now, the categories will be: Upset of the Week, Play of the Week, and Set of the Week.



Upset of the Week goes to... London Beats! Going off the prediction posts, the majority of posters favoured ima to win it over LB, but, in the game LB proved that he was not a pushover. Bringing a more bulky offense type build, Rotom-W again proves itself to be an annoyance alongside Defog Gliscor, Chansey and Helmet Tangrowth. Alongside these defensive walls and pivots are LB's primary progress makers in Mega Mawile and CB Weavile. Both of which, but mostly Mawile, putting in great work in breaking down ima's team. Oh, and also, his Gliscor was pretty much unkillable that entire game due to Pursuit Weavile shutting out any possibility for M-Latias to kill it with an Ice Beam (I believe). Overall, solid game, props to LB for winning what was supposed to be a wash.

Play of the Week goes to... Skypenguin! In his game versus. Charmflash, Skypenguin was put into quite a bind by Cflash's SD Gliscor, as it pretty much won the game at that point. But, as we all saw, Skypenguin's Pex was actually Z-Ice, tanked the +2 Earthquake with ease and cleanly killed it with Subzero Slammer which was taken from the move Blizzard. This play instantly put Skype back into the game, removing Charmflash's main primary wincon and effectively removing his chances to win at all. This was also more of a good teambuilding choice by Skypenguin and not just a good play, but the setup into that was pretty respectable. Great job Skype!

Set of the week goes to... Lusa! Not going to go too in-depth into the game and all but the OTR Magearna was definitely the coolest set in my opinion brought this week. It is not a super heat/creative or uncommon set, but it definitely was the most unique one shown.

Also, here are my predictions for Week 2! Again, hoping for another good week of SM.

[CLA] London Beats vs Charmflash [TIG]
[WOL] Relous vs z0mog [BIG]
[RAI] Punny vs Lusa [CRY]
[RUI] Skypenguin vs frisoeva [TYR]
[SHA] Welli0u vs ima [SCO]

Catch you all later!

 

[spell]

Team Highlight - Week 2
Highlight Team/In-Depth Analysis

Welliou vs ima - Replay



I don't really like ima's team, but it is structurally sound I guess. Diancie being able to dent opposition in order for a cleaner Serperior/Kommo-o endgame is pretty neat considering what Well brought, which i'd say is pretty Diancie weak in general switchin wise because of the amount of free turns it gets versus a weakened Zapdos, Keldeo (as it revealed itself to be CM), and Heatran (Possibility of Earth Power was too great early on). Moving onto the game, ima played this pretty straight forward in the early and midgame, immediately leading Diancie and clicking Protect to scout the Lele set to see what move he'd click. He was also able to get good early chip on Heatran with a Pump from Rotom on a Magma Storm, quite possibly trying to hit the Gliscor? He continues to force switches from Well with Diancie, notably getting a cruical SpDef drop which allowed ima to pressure it out and immediately nail the Landorus-T pivot with HP Ice! In the endgame, Kommo-o nabbed itself 2 KO's, one on Tapu Lele (Which thankfully, was not scarf although the team composition didnt suggest scarf anyway) and one on Zapdos as a sack to get in Mega Alakazam. Ima later wraps up the game in a rather right fashion by getting a 50/50 right on turn 35.


General Analysis

Relous vs z0mOG - z0m (hokage mode) brought a psyspam team this week, most likely trying to abuse his opponents scout which does seem to be quite weak to the team z0m ended up bringing. On preview z0m had a pretty decent matchup with how much Relous' team looked to fold to his specific Greninja set. For most of it, they looked pretty even until Relous decided to start getting the ball rolling by sacking Gliscor -> Pursuit trap. Game continues to play out, eventually until the game ended when Landorus-T got Toxic'd by Heatran. Definitely a very close game, where one player could have been edged out over the other if one or two plays were made differently.

Punny vs Lusa - A personal highlight. Both teams brought are team styles that have been pretty consistent, with Lusa's team especially being fairly part of the ''ol' reliable'' sub-set of balance. With Chansey, Slowbro and Util Gliscor he seems to have the tools to deal with Punny's various threats, but was not able to effectively punish Lopunny and his dual Volt Switchers. Eventually getting over-pressured and losing as a result. Punny also gets most doubles correct so he was just able to click Volt Switch for free and go into Rotom or Lopunny.
Skypenguin vs frisoeva - KyubMage from Skype, and Weavile Stall from friso. Whenever Kyurem-B comes in it should force a ton of damage but friso gets some good chip on it after it subs by clicking Pursuit. Both of them play pretty conservatively with Skype making the more aggressive plays (obviously), and getting rewarded by getting 2 kills with his KB. But, unfortunately, Kyurem-B got killed and thus meant that Toxic Chansey could win from that position.

London Beats vs Charmflash - some pretty fat stuff coming from heatflash, and some normal defensive pivot rotom + heatranlati spikes stuff from lb. The MU is pretty favoured towards LB because of how his team just has all the right answers for what Charmflash brought, and how his team just forced a ton of pressure with Heatran and Rotom. Not to mention the 3a LO Clefable that was also showcased, being able to force recovers + banefuls out of Pex while also being able to nail Gliscor, Steela and Ferrothorn with the other 2 coverage moves. Turn 30~ they begin to exchange hazards, which is definitely far more favourable for LB than it is for Charm because of how it just invites free chip on Pex coming in on... well anything which is a pretty notable bonus. Skipping a few turns, after he got into a position where he could freely set up a Calm Mind with his Latias (turn 62), he won the game from there due to his Lati carrying Reflect Type. This let him copy Celesteela's Steel/Flying typing, and let him wall + kill every mon on Charmflash's team.

The Teams

Team Notes:
- Rotom-W alongside Magearna has been seeing common use as a pivot core to supplement powerful breakers or general strong mons:tm: such as Kartana, Mega Alakazam, and Kyurem Black.
- Gliscor has been popping up a ton this week with varied sets, and mostly pertaining to builds with Mega Latias/Serperior.
- Tapu Koko has only been used once, and we have also seen 0 AshGren usage as well.
- People are generally leaning more towards fat BOs/balances in general this week with only 2 teams truly being ''offensive'' in nature.


And of course, after all this... I almost forgot to do my predictions!

[BIG] z0mOG vs Punny [RAI]
[TYR] frisoeva vs London Beats [CLA]
[CRY] Lusa vs Skypenguin [RUI]
[SCO] ima vs Charmflash [TIG]
[SHA] Welli0u vs Relous [WOL]

Have a nice day/night/evening/whatever everyone

 

[monchooo]

With Chansey, Slowbro and Util Gliscor he seems to have the tools to deal with Punny's various threats, but was not able to effectively punish Lopunny and his dual Volt Switchers. Eventually getting over-pressured and losing as a result.

Not sure if im missreading something but Lusa won vs Punny

 

[spell]

Not sure if im missreading something but Lusa won vs Punny

Oh true lol 4am moment

 

[Egor]

Week 2
~
Replays
[CLA] London Beats vs Charmflash [TIG]
[WOL] Relous vs z0mog [BIG]
[RAI] Punny vs Lusa [CRY]
[RUI] Skypenguin vs frisoeva [TYR]
[SHA] Welli0u vs ima [SCO]

Usage Stats

week 2

Leads / Combos / Moves and Teammates

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Gliscor            |    5 |  50.00% |  80.00% |
| 1    | Landorus-Therian   |    5 |  50.00% |  20.00% |
| 3    | Rotom-Wash         |    4 |  40.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Latias             |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Heatran            |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Alakazam           |    3 |  30.00% |   0.00% |
| 4    | Magearna           |    3 |  30.00% |   0.00% |
| 8    | Serperior          |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Weavile            |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Chansey            |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 8    | Toxapex            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Ferrothorn         |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Kommo-o            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Volcarona          |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Kartana            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Tapu Lele          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Clefable           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Diancie            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Jirachi            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Sableye            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Skarmory           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Mawile             |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Slowbro            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Magnezone          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 17   | Ditto              |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Celesteela         |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Keldeo             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Zapdos             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Kyurem-Black       |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Lopunny            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Tapu Koko          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 17   | Greninja           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

overall

Leads / Combos / Moves and Teammates

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Gliscor            |   13 |  65.00% |  61.54% |
| 2    | Rotom-Wash         |    7 |  35.00% |  57.14% |
| 2    | Landorus-Therian   |    7 |  35.00% |  28.57% |
| 4    | Chansey            |    6 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 4    | Latias             |    6 |  30.00% |  50.00% |
| 4    | Magearna           |    6 |  30.00% |  33.33% |
| 7    | Weavile            |    5 |  25.00% |  80.00% |
| 7    | Toxapex            |    5 |  25.00% |  60.00% |
| 7    | Ferrothorn         |    5 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 7    | Magnezone          |    5 |  25.00% |  40.00% |
| 11   | Heatran            |    4 |  20.00% |  75.00% |
| 11   | Kartana            |    4 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 13   | Mawile             |    3 |  15.00% | 100.00% |
| 13   | Clefable           |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 13   | Greninja           |    3 |  15.00% |  66.67% |
| 13   | Tapu Lele          |    3 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 13   | Tornadus-Therian   |    3 |  15.00% |  33.33% |
| 13   | Alakazam           |    3 |  15.00% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Diancie            |    2 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 19   | Serperior          |    2 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 19   | Kommo-o            |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Volcarona          |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Slowbro            |    2 |  10.00% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Lopunny            |    2 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Tapu Koko          |    2 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 19   | Hydreigon          |    2 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Jirachi            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Sableye            |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Skarmory           |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Latios             |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Tangrowth          |    1 |   5.00% | 100.00% |
| 27   | Ditto              |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Celesteela         |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Keldeo             |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Zapdos             |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Kyurem-Black       |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Aggron             |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Reuniclus          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |
| 27   | Tyranitar          |    1 |   5.00% |   0.00% |

Highlights
: compared to the last year's first two weeks, Mega Alakazam has made a poor showing so far: only 3 appearances and 0 wins. The recent popularity of Chansey and Mega Latias being arguably the best Mega available for balances might be the factors cutting into Mega Alakazam's usage. Well, a Chansey matchup has happened only once for it actually Mega Alakazam is definitely still a threat to accout for, and I believe its current numbers do have the potential to change in the future.
: the washmachine, on the other hand, is making waves just like the last year, albeit making successful appearances on fatter structures kinda more than on offensive ones. Rotom-W grants these teams a good way to annoy the opposition via multiple ways like status, Volt Switch, Pain Split, Defog and to overtake the momentum, getting an important defensive piece or a strong progress maker into the game, all while making a solid contribution to the team's backbone.

Next Week Matchups
~
[BIG] z0mOG vs Punny [RAI]
[TYR] frisoeva vs London Beats [CLA] (personal hl)
[CRY] Lusa vs Skypenguin [RUI]
[SCO] ima vs Charmflash [TIG]
[SHA] Welli0u vs Relous [WOL]

 

[Egor]

Week 3
~
Replays
[BIG] z0mOG vs Punny [RAI]
[TYR] frisoeva vs London Beats [CLA]
[CRY] Lusa vs Skypenguin [RUI]
[SCO] ima vs Charmflash [TIG]
[SHA] Welli0u vs Relous [WOL]

Usage Stats

week 3

Leads / Combos / Moves and Teammates

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Landorus-Therian   |    4 |  40.00% |  25.00% |
| 2    | Ferrothorn         |    3 |  30.00% | 100.00% |
| 2    | Gliscor            |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 2    | Tornadus-Therian   |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 2    | Clefable           |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 2    | Medicham           |    3 |  30.00% |  66.67% |
| 7    | Volcarona          |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Greninja           |    2 |  20.00% | 100.00% |
| 7    | Toxapex            |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 7    | Latias             |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 7    | Magearna           |    2 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 7    | Tyranitar          |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 7    | Heatran            |    2 |  20.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Alomomola          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Celesteela         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Rotom-Wash         |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Charizard          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Serperior          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Kommo-o            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Mew                |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Metagross          |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Swampert           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Pelipper           |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Manaphy            |    1 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 14   | Magnezone          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Tapu Bulu          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Tapu Koko          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Hawlucha           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Kyurem-Black       |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Gastrodon          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Skarmory           |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Reuniclus          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Scizor             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Tapu Lele          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Golem-Alola        |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Mantine            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Kartana            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Tapu Fini          |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Zapdos             |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 14   | Jirachi            |    1 |  10.00% |   0.00% |

overall

Leads / Combos / Moves and Teammates

+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use  | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1    | Gliscor            |   16 |  53.33% |  62.50% |
| 2    | Landorus-Therian   |   11 |  36.67% |  27.27% |
| 3    | Rotom-Wash         |    8 |  26.67% |  62.50% |
| 3    | Ferrothorn         |    8 |  26.67% |  62.50% |
| 3    | Latias             |    8 |  26.67% |  50.00% |
| 3    | Magearna           |    8 |  26.67% |  37.50% |
| 7    | Toxapex            |    7 |  23.33% |  57.14% |
| 8    | Chansey            |    6 |  20.00% |  66.67% |
| 8    | Clefable           |    6 |  20.00% |  66.67% |
| 8    | Tornadus-Therian   |    6 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Heatran            |    6 |  20.00% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Magnezone          |    6 |  20.00% |  33.33% |
| 13   | Weavile            |    5 |  16.67% |  80.00% |
| 13   | Greninja           |    5 |  16.67% |  80.00% |
| 13   | Kartana            |    5 |  16.67% |  40.00% |
| 16   | Volcarona          |    4 |  13.33% |  75.00% |
| 16   | Tapu Lele          |    4 |  13.33% |  25.00% |
| 18   | Mawile             |    3 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Serperior          |    3 |  10.00% | 100.00% |
| 18   | Kommo-o            |    3 |  10.00% |  66.67% |
| 18   | Medicham           |    3 |  10.00% |  66.67% |
| 18   | Tyranitar          |    3 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 18   | Tapu Koko          |    3 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 18   | Alakazam           |    3 |  10.00% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Diancie            |    2 |   6.67% | 100.00% |
| 25   | Slowbro            |    2 |   6.67% |  50.00% |
| 25   | Celesteela         |    2 |   6.67% |  50.00% |
| 25   | Skarmory           |    2 |   6.67% |  50.00% |
| 25   | Jirachi            |    2 |   6.67% |  50.00% |
| 25   | Lopunny            |    2 |   6.67% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Hydreigon          |    2 |   6.67% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Reuniclus          |    2 |   6.67% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Kyurem-Black       |    2 |   6.67% |   0.00% |
| 25   | Zapdos             |    2 |   6.67% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Latios             |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Tangrowth          |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Sableye            |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Alomomola          |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Charizard          |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Mew                |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Metagross          |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Swampert           |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Pelipper           |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Manaphy            |    1 |   3.33% | 100.00% |
| 35   | Aggron             |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Ditto              |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Keldeo             |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Tapu Bulu          |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Hawlucha           |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Gastrodon          |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Scizor             |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Golem-Alola        |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Mantine            |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Tapu Fini          |    1 |   3.33% |   0.00% |

Highlights
: Ferrothorn has been regularly appearing all 3 weeks, and now, after a great showing last week, it managed to catch up todays big presences like Mega Latias and Rotom-W, tying with them for the 3rd place! Ferrothorn's impressive utility enables it to shine on popular balanced structures, solidifying itself a strong niche in the current metagame. Spikes especially are really strong now in this fat-infested environment!
: among the 4 appearances of Volcarona, SubSwarm + Leftovers — the set many wouldn't expect at first — makes up for the most used variation! This set, while suffers from coverage issues and doesn't have a one-time nuke in Z-move, opens up otherwise risky setup opportunities on the likes of Thunder Wave Clefable and Toxic Heatran as well as complicates the revenge killing task. That's definitely an interesing take on Volcarona which yet again proves its flexibility and fishing capabilities!

Next Week Matchups
~
[RUI] Skypenguin vs z0mOG [BIG]
[RAI] Punny vs Welli0u [SHA]
[WOL] Relous vs ima [SCO]
[CLA] London Beats vs Lusa [CRY]
[TIG] Charmflash vs frisoeva [TYR] (personal hl)

 

[Clementine]

so Charmflash really brought Metagross but no one even considered Camel even though it smashes at least half of the teams brought up until now huh...
Jokes aside, great pick on their part, I think Metagross is a very underrated mon in the metagame right now with very unique traits making it a worthy addition to some teams struggling with Psychics.

Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 148 HP / 252 Atk / 108 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Bullet Punch​

This is what I'd run on Metagross, this bulk allows it to eat 2 Shadow Balls from MegaZam, 2 HP Fires from Specs Modest Lele and the HP investment gives it over 96% chances of eating 2 EQs from MLatios. Pursuit is its most appealing trait, making it a more than decent switch in to the aforementioned Lele, Zam and Mega Latios. Its typing and bulk make it a great check to Magearna, Diancie, Clefable, and even some Magnezones. Thanks to Meteor Mash and its chance to raise the Atk, Metagross can quite easily turn Latias lacking twave into set-up fodder, Mashing it over and over to get Attack boosts or Pursuit trapping it. If its lack of longevity and relative poor bulk will prevent it from checking everything at once, it will definitely get in the way of at least one of the aformentioned mons in a game, and pairing it with Wish support can easily fix the longevity issue. If not the easiest mon to use and fit on a team, Metagross deserves recognition for its unique niche in the current metagame, and huge props to Charmflash for making it work in this game.

 

[spell]

Missed Week 3 so i'll just do a brief note on teams n stuff

Team Notes:
- A lot more balance-esque teams this week with Clefable+Latias being the definitive core.
- Pursuit Tyranitar/Metagross (scarf rachi on the well team too iirc) to help cope with Mega Alakazam which shockingly has seen 0 use this week. Pursuit Metagross especially is quite the pick due to AV letting it take a few hits, and it isn't weak too with STAB Meteor Mash. Takes advantage of the Lati+Clef teams that I talked about earlier, though they normally run Twave which can annoy gross quite bad but besides that, pretty sound pick into those types of teams since their only real response to Metagross often ends up being what we see in Punny's team: Steel/Flyings like Celesteela and Skarmory which obviously get pwned pretty hard by Medicham and get toyed with by Tornadus too.
- Volcarona looks ever so threatening versus a majority of these teams bar the Rain and the KokoLucha HO tbh. Only brought twice but ended up cleaning in one of them with the underrated SubSwarm set.
- Lack of Magearna this week which is odd, only brought twice. Some of the games (mainly highlighting zom's) I can see that Magearna actually would put in a decent amount of work, despite the existence of Magnezone. Think Shift Gear Z honestly would have been amazing into that team, but I think really any offensive fairy type would hurt him. Mega Altaria just wins on preview too.


Now, onto week 4.

Team Notes:
- Serperior Screens and just Offense in general this week has had a gigantic boon in usage. The overall pace of all the teams too has risen dramatically to where the only really slow-paced team still has Greninja, CM Reuniclus and SD Gliscor.
- Medicham and Kartana have picked up from where they left off in W3 with 3 uses, and all 3 uses were pretty much the same formula. Rotom-Wash + Fire + MediKart. Medicham especially seems to be great in this current field. Limited switchins as always and Fake Out + Bullet Punch being able to hurt fast offenses greatly alongside Scarf Kartana is pretty potent.
- 1 Ashgren, pretty low in usage once again and also didn't really accomplish much other than laying Spikes. The trend of Ash Greninja being shunned for Protean has been consistent since Week 1, will this continue?
- Rotom-W again has been a staple on Medicham VoltTurns, sharing its usage with those team styles.
edit: oh and zam also hasnt been used this week, guess all the ho has dissuaded using the thing


[CRY] Lusa vs Sabella [TIG]
[SCO] ima vs frisoeva [TYR]
[BIG] z0mOG vs London Beats [CLA]
[SHA] Welli0u vs Skypenguin [RUI]
[WOL] Relous vs Punny [RAI]

week 5 predix

 

[Skypenguin]

Edit: Apparently MSC is his friend and he never corrected me in the past 2 years…

Yo, I thought I'd go over some of the teams I used this season.

Slowbro @ Psychium Z
- Scald
- Future Sight
- Flamethrower
- Slack Off​

This is one of my favourite teams, made by the goat MSC. In my opinion Slowbro is one of the most underrated mons given its amazing versatility. You can customize the mon to do whatever you want, be it luring pex/HO mons with Z Fsight, clicking counter vs grounds, using colbur, rindo, twave, and even Z zap cannon for rain and fini. It can be really hard to answer manaphy and tspike with a slowbro team, but its unique defensive profile and vast movepool to avoid being passive often make it worth it. I've run like 500 versions of this team since you can change the moves that lati/bro/kommo/sd glis run pretty freely.

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Roost​

Believe it or not, that's a Zard X! Definitely a hot take, but I think it's the best mega in SM right now; it's just literally impossible to counter Fire/Dragon/Ground coverage outside of running Fini or Mega Bro. I went into this week wanting a gliscor lure because I was going against a "dishonest" player who almost exclusively used broken gliscor or HO, which led me to counter slowbro (also worked well because I had used another Z Fsight bro set that gets countered by gliscor the week before). I just put a bunch of megas alongside it in the builder and figured zard worked well. This set is cool since you get perfect coverage as well as recovery, which nullifies a lot of teams' strategy of letting charizard wear itself down, and it has a nice defensive backbone to help. Some important things to note are taunt roost LO koko for HO/Stall and confide chansey for clef/reuni/mag.

https://pokepast.es/eb926e8fb336f9c3​

This is what I was planning to use in week 9 after I decided I valued going 7-2 more than using sable talon. I originally built around specs Blacephalon and added a Zard-X to exploit a fire weakness, but the team was super inconsistent. Surprisingly, blaceph is so unviable that replacing it with another fire type immediately makes a team good. Imprison lando is cool for being able to go uturn directly into a fire type on opposing ground types. I honestly don't remember my reasoning, but I came to the conclusion that I only needed reflect and that I could play around w this koko. Qwily suggested nature's and it's probably the best set for this team. This ended up really similar to zom's team and is similarly weak to rain, but it's not as weak to stall as it seems.

https://pokepast.es/0d467177f785562b​

This got called a matchup fish which I'm not thrilled about since this was one of my least prep-heavy weeks lol. I was going for either boltbeam clef or spin drill and this was the most viable team of the bunch. I'm just sharing this one since I think cm keld and sd skarm are super underrated (moreso the former)

Kommo-o @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 248 HP / 188 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Drain Punch
- Roar
- Toxic​

I'm honestly really surprised no one ever brought sub cm spam against me, since I was weak to it arguably every single game other than this one. Roar Kommo is cool since it can actually run rocks unlike roar tran making it much easier to fit, and you don't really miss protect/flame/rock slide/eq. It's a free win vs those bad HO teams and you can even get some nice roars going vs mons like mawile and sub kyub. Draco Lati bc it's a great move to nail medi/gren/kyub/zam and careful gliscor so that you beat modest zam when you don't get burned.