Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
- Baton Pass is banned ADV UU.
- All standard tournament rules apply
- Best of 3 tiers include SS UU, SM UU and ORAS UU. Both players can decide what tier to play first, and if they can't agree, then the first tier will default to SS UU. Loser picks the tier after that.
Matchups
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (7) vs. (3) Mikan Island Monsters
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (0) vs. (0) Mikan Island Monsters
SS: Fakee vs. jeza.p
SS: Snowy vs. Indigo Plateau
SS: TSR vs. KSt3ve
SM: Corazan vs. Leo
ORAS: Killintime vs. Garay oak
BW: Amukamara vs. Eternal Spirit
DPP: Raichy vs. Pearl
ADV: Plas vs. Micciu
GSC: Torchic vs. bruno
Bo3: pdt vs. Star
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (0) vs. (0) Safari Zone Smashers
SS: xujing691691 vs. udongirl
SS: wuqianying vs. DonSalvatore
SS: Punny vs. dunoks
SM: Xiri vs. Gondra
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Pak
BW: Askov vs. Bushtush
DPP: MrAldo vs. Void
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. Shiba
GSC: Mr.378 vs. Inder
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. robjr
SS: EviGaro vs. pokemonisfun
SS: Highways vs. Expulso
SS: Sage vs. Mimilucha
SM: avarice vs. odr
ORAS: Spl4sh vs. Chaitanya
BW: dingbat vs. Beraldinho
DPP: Heysup vs. LpZ
ADV: crayon pop vs. fatty
GSC: HSA vs. Holly
Bo3: Jisoo vs. TJ
Iki Town Idols (0) vs. (0) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: umbry vs. freezai
SS: Lyss vs. Raptor
SS: passion vs. Moutemoute
SM: Santu vs. ramolost
ORAS: Bouff vs. Accel
BW: Finchinator vs. Alkione
DPP: col49 vs. Thiago Nunes
ADV: Hyogafodex vs. Roseybear
GSC: gorgie vs. Estarossa
Bo3: Lily vs. Adaam
The deadline for Week 4 is: Sunday, April 06th @ 11:59PM EST (GMT-5)!
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (4) vs. (6) Mikan Island Monsters
SS: Fakee vs. jeza.p
SS: Snowy vs. Indigo Plateau
SS: TSR vs. KSt3ve
SM: Corazan vs. Leo
ORAS: Killintime vs. Garay oak
BW: Amukamara vs. Eternal Spirit
DPP: Raichy vs. Pearl
ADV: Plas vs. Ark
GSC: Torchic vs. bruno
Bo3: pdt vs. Star
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (3) vs. (7) Safari Zone Smashers
SS: xujing691691 vs. udongirl
SS: wuqianying vs. DonSalvatore
SS: Punny vs. dunoks
SM: Xiri vs. Gondra
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Pak
BW: Askov vs. Bushtush
DPP: MrAldo vs. Void
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. Shiba
GSC: Mr.378 vs. Inder
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. robjr
Iki Town Idols (6) vs. (4) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: umbry vs. freezai
SS: Lyss vs. Raptor
SS: passion vs. Moutemoute
SM: Santu vs. ramolost
ORAS: Bouff vs. Accel
BW: Finchinator vs. Alkione
DPP: col49 vs. Thiago Nunes
ADV: Hyogafodex vs. Roseybear
GSC: gorgie vs. Estarossa
Bo3: Lily vs. Adaam
Last week I was only 50% correct with my predictions (if you count Mr.378 vs Jisoo as me predicting the former to win I was technically correct, even though the opponent was supposed be HSA).
Week 5 predicts:
GSC bruno vs Torchic Lol I forgot the guy Torchic is facing this week is Kratosmana (proof of my blunder in the spoiler). Torchic has been playing nicely and I still don't know how familiar his opponent is with this tier, whereas I'd have fewer doubts were this a game of GSC OU. Still I think Bruno might be the winner but I am unsure.
GSC Holly vs HSA I feel like she can do it! I know that HSA isn't unbeatable and I want to believe this.
GSC Gorgie vs Estarossa In terms of experience Esta wins, but Gorgie is on a streak and is unpredictable on the field, yet consistent. I honestly think that Gorgie is going to have a positive record this season (same goes for Esta).
GSC Mr.378 vs Inder Sorry for Inder but his win streak will be cut short. Always happy to be proven wrong.
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (0) vs. (0) Mikan Island Monsters
SS: Fakee vs. jeza.p
SS: Snowy vs. Indigo Plateau
SS: TSR vs. KSt3ve
SM: Corazan vs. Leo
ORAS: Killintime vs. Garay oak
BW: Amukamara vs. Eternal Spirit
DPP: Raichy vs. Pearl
ADV: Plas vs. Ark
GSC: Torchic vs. bruno
Bo3: pdt vs. Star
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (0) vs. (0) Safari Zone Smashers
SS: xujing691691 vs. udongirl
SS: wuqianying vs. DonSalvatore
SS: Punny vs. dunoks
SM: Xiri vs. Gondra
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Pak
BW: Askov vs. Bushtush
DPP: MrAldo vs. Void
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. Shiba
GSC: Mr.378 vs. Inder
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. robjr
Iki Town Idols (0) vs. (0) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: umbry vs. freezai
SS: Lyss vs. Raptor
SS: passion vs. Moutemoute
SM: Santu vs. ramolost
ORAS: Bouff vs. Accel
BW: Finchinator vs. Alkione
DPP: col49 vs. Thiago Nunes
ADV: Hyogafodex vs. Roseybear
GSC: gorgie vs. Estarossa
Bo3: Lily vs. Adaam
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (3) vs. (7) Mikan Island Monsters
SS: Fakee vs. jeza.p
SS: Snowy vs. Indigo Plateau
SS: TSR vs. KSt3ve
SM: Corazan vs. Leo
ORAS: Killintime vs. Garay oak
BW: Amukamara vs. Eternal Spirit
DPP: Raichy vs. Pearl
ADV: Plas vs. Ark
GSC: Torchic vs. bruno
Bo3: pdt vs. Star
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (3) vs. (7) Safari Zone Smashers
SS: xujing691691 vs. udongirl
SS: wuqianying vs. DonSalvatore
SS: Punny vs. dunoks
SM: Xiri vs. Gondra (W)
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Pak
BW: Askov vs. Bushtush
DPP: MrAldo vs. Void
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. Shiba
GSC: Mr.378 vs. Inder
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. robjr (L)
Iki Town Idols (4) vs. (6) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: umbry vs. freezai
SS: Lyss vs. Raptor
SS: passion vs. Moutemoute
SM: Santu vs. ramolost
ORAS: Bouff vs. Accel
BW: Finchinator vs. Alkione
DPP: col49 vs. Thiago Nunes
ADV: Hyogafodex vs. Roseybear
GSC: gorgie vs. Estarossa
Bo3: Lily vs. Adaam
my predix were lookin a little dire last week til yesterday's games
Time to review week 4 matches of GSC. I'm early this time and hopefully this will free up my week. I started UUFPL so I don't know how the pacing for future contributions will be.
READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO AUTO LOSE TO GORGIE NEXT WEEK.
I think the success of the game lies in Gorgie's team. Once again, we are being reminded that you can be facing a standard Scyther +Granbull offence team like always, only to discover it was a Baton Pass team all along. Scyther is a superb lead/anti lead as it threatens Psychic leads+ forces early switches, revealing valuable information about bruno's team and his ability to handle a phazer. The next thing he can do is take out said phazer/hazer and start the real setup once Hypno is asleep or something. Girafarig comes in on Hypno, passes agility and the rest is history.
The funny thing is that Gorgie won this game by using 3 pokemon that all used Frustration. The end.
Solutions for BP: to this are quite hard. You could bring reflect Hypno, which could help, use a sleeper. Not leading with a Psychic type can help if your opponent chooses scyther (Piloswine could be nice). Curse Granbull is also an incredible check to many Agility/Barrier pass to Belly Drummer teams, as it can sort of disregard the opponents boosts and set up/attack the opponent and the BP user has no choice but to attempt to pull off the sweep while you continue to smack them (BP teams lack defences most of the time). Encore Jumpluff is beneficial but it doesn't stop agility passers with Encore, it instead has to use Stun spore. Keeping Gyarados or Qwilfish in the back can also be helpful.
CONTAINS SPOILERY REMARK Well this certainly an eye opener of a set. Not only do we have the show being beaten in his prime by someone other than HSA, but now he and Inder break even in scores by the end of week 4. This is yet another interesting take on how stall vs offence works in GSC. Estarossa may have thought he was making a good call but even stall teams can have their loose ends and I don't think any game can say it more than this one (though even his week 2 game he was the one that nearly defeated his opponent's stall team by merely critting the opponent).
Estarossa brought a solid Electabuzz+Quagsire + 4 pokemon you see on any solid stall team, Chansey, Crobat, Blastoise and Shuckle. Each one of these last 4 can be argued as the glue that holds the team together as they each have a fundamental role as special wall/support, Scyther check/Toxic spammer, Rapid Spinner/Ground type check and the Normal type check/PP Staller, respectively. As you can already see though that structure in and of itself can have one weakness, such as not having a means to apply pressure when switching outside of Toxic or the occasional Thief, because Spikes are extremely difficult to fit. Unlike in GSC OU, UU stall teams often (but not always) forgo the main means of dealing damage to the opponent, meaning that a good offence team can play it very slowly as long as they prevent their opponent's offence win conditions. Inder happens to bring the absolute most threatening core for a stall team with Rest Gyarados being the prime threat. It is able to 1v1 the majority of Estarossa's team and even has access to Rest, meaning it can absorb status. Pair this with the fact that its outstanding mixed coverage paired with Spikes means his opponent will not find many opportunities to fight back. With the spin blocker in Haunter and unusual Magneton to boot, the team is unlikely going to be hindered by Toxic. I could go on forever about why this team is so threatening maybe some other time I'll talk about it.
Ultimately, this game boils down to Esta's ability to maintain a good footing and positioning, and by positioning I imply that he needs to make sure that he can avoid his pokemon not taking too much damage, the main source of which is often times Spikes. If for any reason his Blastoise were to go down before his opponent's Qwilfish, it would mean a lot more than simply losing some ground check. His team would fail to defend itself and Inder would more easily reach certain thresholds. Esta also has to put his opponent on a timer, which, without any spikes of his own, will be very difficult.
The first 6 turns Inder does a very good job of waiting for the cue for his opponent's Blastoise to use Rest before laying his hazards. [When using Sleep Talk Blastoise is much harder to control and it can very easily call upon the wrong move in a certain situation, like Rapid Spin when there are no Spikes or when facing a ghost type.] Its merely a matter of defending these hazards now for Inder. Here is where things get interesting. By the end of Turn 6 Inder's spin blocker is facing the only Pursuit user in the tier, Electabuzz. Haunter being gone would normally mean Blastoise can easily spin. Offence teams also rarely ever have a second normal Resist. But we see Inder boom. Next thing you know Estarossa brings his Blastoise in and Inder chooses to bring in Magneton. Inder starts spamming the hell out of Thunderwave making Chansey quite uncomfortable. Magneton makes for a great status absorber and a nice switch in to the likes of Esta's Shuckle too, leaving Esta with the only real option to go either to Chansey or Quagsire. His chances of bringing in Blastoise and spinning are thinner.
Turns 15-18 and all the way to 26 Inder is always making sure he brings in something that deals at least neutral damage to his opponent's team. Shuckle and Chansey will even be forced to occasionally stay in in order to fulfill their support roll by spreading toxic or using Heal Bell. Chansey only has 8 heal bells and if paralysed it can already be quite taxing to full para. It's reasons like this that Inder made a good show of facing stall. Even though Estarossa manages to get rid of the spikes, it's really only for a brief moment and you can already notice that his Granbull check in Shuckle is losing lots of HP. Turn 55 Esta's Shuckle doesn't full para and recovers its health with Rest, just surviving by the skin of its teeth. Inder also makes an aggressive switch to Qwilfish, forcing Esta to switch out his Chansey. Turn 66 things are looking quite dire for Esta suddenly. Chansey is at less than half, Spikes are down, his Blastoise is in crit range from just about anything with 2 turns of sleep left to burn, same goes for Shuckle and Quagsire, and his Crobat is facing a 3 eyed Killing machine.
Many switches later and on turn 100 Esta's Quagsire gets a Belly Drum. Time to kill something. Inder sack's his Granbull, probably the least useful mon. He then proceeds to use Haze with Qwilfish, just stopping the sweep short and switches to the power house that is Piloswine. Blastoise of course comes in. It's now or never. Despite the nice Surf against Piloswine, it responds and crits the Blastoise. Woop-dee-fuckin-doo-stall-is-poo.
By the time we reach a point where Piloswine doesn't even need to use Rest to gain its Health back, you start to realize that Esta doesn't have much to fight back with.
I believe that esta could have attempted one or two more Belly Drum sweeps with Quagsire, perhaps abuse the gen2 mechanic where its HP is below 50% and it gains a free +2 attack boost. I think that this game might have gone differently if Esta hadn't contiuously decided to play it safe. He hasn't had the best of luck, but the stall in GSC UU is really prone to getting haxed as the offence meta just improves over time.
Torchic and Inder have made a collective effort to ruin my prediction records, to which I say "oof".
Torchic brought a really, really strong meta pick in Light Screen Hypno offence + a good anti meta pick, that is double Bug, specifically Hidden Power Ground Pinsir which can dunk on Qwilfish and Magneton/Haunter or severely damage Gyarados. These 4 are common checks to Scyther, who can follow suite and sweep. As if that weren't bad enough, Pinsir is also excellent at switching in on Piloswine. Holly brought a core that she is known for in Haunter+Lanturn+Pilo+Qwilfish+ Psychic type and a Granbull.
Breakdown
Holly didn't play bad but got swiftly overwhelmed by somewhat of a bad matchup. Curse Granbull over her usual Jumpluff may have cost her dearly. Not to mention that her decision to go Qwilfish and lay spikes when facing a +2 Pinsir may have been slightly on the greedy side. As we saw, switching preemptively to Haunter turned the game in 5v6 then basically 4v6. It was fast and effective from torchic's end and HOlly didn't have any real way to stop her opponent from setting up anymore.
Love this game.
It's not so much what these two players brought so much as how the game was played, by someone in particular.
Jiso brought a Screens+Agili pass Drum offence. Electrode is the fastest mon in the game and sets up both screens for free and booms normally, only to immediately end the turn and expose the opponent to a check of the Electrode user's choosing.
Mr.378 brought a really strong Qwilfish+Gyara+Pilo core topped off with a thief Encore mime and Curse Granbull and Haunter. (Ok so maybe it is about the team matchups because literally everything on this man's team can beat Baton Pass).
Mr.Numbers proved to be extremely patient and made all of the right calls. Since he knows how telegraphed many HO teams with an Electrode team is he decides not to go for early spikes and to preserve his Qwilfish. This is already one of the most important plays any offence team can make against HO, as Qwilfish is more valuable for its speed creeb and ability to use Haze and cut a setup short. For as long as needed he would instead rely on other options to throw a wrench in Ms.Jisoo's plans, who will constantly attempt to gain a favorable position with Mr.Mime and Girafarig so as to pass a +2 Speed or Spdef or Def stat to the likes of Quagsire and Qwilfish.
Ms.Jisoo kind of played in a predictable way, which might be an indication of less experience as she may or may not have been aware of her opponent's outs. Mr.378 never conceded any free turns and was either occupied stopping the setup passers in their tracks with moves like Encore, Explosion, Roar or Haze, or dealing heavy damage with the likes of Piloswine and Granbull (an excellent anti-BP threat because it can just disrespect both BP users and setup sweepers with its bulk and high damage output).
Things really started to play in his favor when he managed to catch the Explosion with Haunter on turn 23 and then answered back with a boom of his own (poggers).
The teams
Lot of missing pokes.
Fun facts:
King on top (Granbull), Jack is back (Scyther), Queen no where to be seen.
7 Psychics, 5 Granbull, 5 Spikers (at least), 4 Piloswine, 2 Girafarig, 3 Haunter. Leads are about as standard as it gets (Psychics, Spikers, Screen setters, Scyther and Thief Buzz), 1 Spinner.
Lightning quick games. Lots of baton pass and Hyper offence. Scyther leads prove to be a wild card as they can gain valuable information for the HO user on how their opponent would respond to setup.
Despite Qwilfish's winrate of 60%, its spikes hardly played a role with the exception of the game between Inder and Estarossa.
We're back again with another UUPL X coverage vid, many thanks to esche, Indigo Plateau, LNumbers, and Wanka for joining up. Bit of a longer one but you can skip to any of the timestamps in the description of the vid if you'd like. Enjoy the vid!
Current prediction rate: 73/120 = 60.83%
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (5) vs. (5) Mikan Island Monsters
SS: Fakee vs. jeza.p
SS: Snowy vs. Indigo Plateau
SS: TSR vs. KSt3ve
SM: Corazan vs. Leo (coinflip)
ORAS: Killintime vs. Garay oak (drapion buff)
BW: Amukamara vs. Eternal Spirit
DPP: Raichy vs. Pearl
ADV: Plas vs. Ark
GSC: Torchic vs. bruno
Bo3: pdt vs. Star
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (4) vs. (6) Safari Zone Smashers
SS: xujing691691 vs. udongirl (turtwig buff)
SS: wuqianying vs. DonSalvatore
SS: Punny vs. dunoks
SM: Xiri vs. Gondra
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Pak
BW: Askov vs. Bushtush (coinflip)
DPP: MrAldo vs. Void
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. Shiba
GSC: Mr.378 vs. Inder
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. robjr
SS: EviGaro vs. pokemonisfun
SS: Highways vs. Expulso
SS: beatiful vs. Mindnight
SM: avarice vs. odr (wanka's baby momma)
ORAS: Spl4sh vs. Chaitanya
BW: dingbat vs. Lunala (ding gets bolded if luna is subbed out)
DPP: Heysup vs. LpZ
ADV: crayon pop vs. fatty
GSC: HSA vs. Holly
Bo3: mncmt vs. Meru
Iki Town Idols (5) vs. (5) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: umbry vs. freezai (subscribe to freezai)
SS: Lyss vs. Raptor
SS: passion vs. Moutemoute (stonque)
SM: Santu vs. ramolost
ORAS: Bouff vs. Accel
BW: Finchinator vs. Alkione (EXODIA)
DPP: col49 vs. Thiago Nunes
ADV: Hyogafodex vs. Roseybear
GSC: gorgie vs. Estarossa
Bo3: Lily vs. Adaam
