Resource SM Ubers Tournament Discussion

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BIG G CHOPPA

Banned deucer.
I'd just like to bring attention to a man who has surpassed all expectations and has proven himself to be one of the best, if not the best, Ubers player in the tournament.

What started off as an extremely elite group of players, has now turned into anyone's opportunity to pick up a bat and attempt to hit a home run. Looks like Ubers is in shambles again - a more different route than last SPL, but we seem to cross the same path again.

[BIGS] Level 56 (80) vs. (20) Mazar [TGRS] - Hard to give Level's opponents any chance, I don't think this will have the same outcome as last week.
Despite the above example of disrespect, this renowned lower tier player is now 1-0 in Ubers. After defeating the previously previously undefeated Level 56, the #3 player in the Power Rankings who happened to beat both Hack and Astounded, I think that it is safe to say that Mazar has proven himself as a very capable battler. Mazar's next 2 games will be against Gunner Rohan and whoever the Cryonicles decide to feed to this beast. I think it is very realistic that he finishes with an undefeated record, and ends up with arguably the most dominant Ubers performance in this SPL. His performance this week simply reinforces this possibility. In an act of desperation, Level 56 managed to catch Mazar off guard with an Leftovers + Swords Dance Arceus. However, with his plethora of battling experience, he knew not to panic, and swiftly defeated this threat with his Mega-Lucario. Petty tricks and surprises will not be enough to topple him. I hope Mazar's future opponents give him the respect and attention he deserves, instead of merely labeling him as a misfit who has no chance of success in this tier as they did with psychicmewtwo.

Fear not, however. If you wish to have insight as to how you can defeat this Pokemon master, our friend CasedVictory has a video that will allow you to truly transcend past all limits. After understanding this thought process, maybe the Ubers community can find a way to defeat him.
 

overdose

formerly charizardfan49
The Ubers scene in SPL 8 has a lot of expectations to live up to, especially coming fresh off the exclusion from SPL 7, and even more so with the large number of featured debuts. While I am pleased that the general reception towards these matches is positive, I feel the rose-tinted glasses need to come off and certain things need to be said regarding the quality of some of these matches. Frankly speaking, it is rather absurd to be seeing misplays of this caliber on the main stage. These games are intended to capture some of the highest level of gameplay Ubers has to offer, and to say that some of these games have really missed the mark there would be quite the understatement. A player firstly represents himself or herself, and then his or her respective team, but do not forget that the player in question also represents Ubers as a whole. Some of the draft choices were already question marks, and week 1 certainly did not set a good precedent. Moving forward I can only hope certain players do not disregard their fundamentals.

I'd also like to add that there is far too much hype surrounding the already established players. There is not a single individual in this lineup that is infallible and people need to pay more attention to users like Outrage and Gunner, as I believe they will do far greater things than what "the greats" are expected to do in this tournament. Their game will be absolutely brilliant and honestly should be the highlight match to look forward to.
It seems like this post is more applicable now than it was before. We had 3 non Uber mains play this week and the final result was 3-0 for them. This performance is creating a stigma that any OU or lower tier main can farm wins against uber mains, due to the "low skill level" of this tier. While I personally don't believe that, I would say that's the stigma that is present right now now, and I don't know if this is the impression you want to leave the rest of the Smogon community with. Speaking candidly here, I strongly advise the SPL Uber players to either take prep more seriously, especially against non uber mains or simply step up their game. And if what has been shown previously is the limits of your capabilites, then maybe it's just the reality we have to accept that SPL Uber players aren't up to par with the rest of the "Smogon Elites".

On a side note, I know this post is going to offend people and hurt my shots at UPL most likely, but I do think it's unfair that the Ubers SPL stigma, created by this years starters, is hurting the chances of prospective SPL Uber players to come.
 

Fireburn

BARN ALL
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It seems like this post is more applicable now than it was before. We had 3 non Uber mains play this week and the final result was 3-0 for them. This performance is creating a stigma that any OU or lower tier main can farm wins against uber mains, due to the "low skill level" of this tier. While I personally don't believe that, I would say that's the stigma that is present right now now, and I don't know if this is the impression you want to leave the rest of the Smogon community with. Speaking candidly here, I strongly advise the SPL Uber players to either take prep more seriously, especially against non uber mains or simply step up their game. And if what has been shown previously is the limits of your capabilites, then maybe it's just the reality we have to accept that SPL Uber players aren't up to par with the rest of the "Smogon Elites".

On a side note, I know this post is going to offend people and hurt my shots at UPL most likely, but I do think it's unfair that the Ubers SPL stigma, created by this years starters, is hurting the chances of prospective SPL Uber players to come.
This is a pretty melodramatic viewpoint. How, exactly, it is "embarassing" that people like Mazar and FAJI are beating so-called Ubers mains (or even say, NJNP getting a win in Doubles despite having like a week to learn the tier). Metagame knowledge is not the only requirement to succeed in Pokemon, otherwise everyone on this subforum could be Hack or Level 56. Pokemon as a game has general skills and gamesense that are transferrable to different metagames within a generation, is it not merely enough to know that Primal Groudon checks Xerneas. They are good players in their own right and I don't think their victories imply anything about Ubers having a "low skill level." Any tier is learnable given time, effort, and motivation, and helping your team win SPL is as good of a motivation as any.

If anything, you should be trying to support the players of your community instead of poking fun or otherwise harassing them from the sidelines, win or lose. There comes a point where, if you think things are bad and you want them to improve, you have to take it upon yourself and make something happen. Don't think the SPL players are playing up to snuff? Then train, improve yourself, be that SPL player and be the change you want to see. If all you do is complain then you'll never leave the bench, and this is true of any endeavor.

I mean yes, there are some things w/ certain draft picks etc that could be improved, but overall I think the level of competition has been fine and it's unrealistic to expect that everything will go perfectly in a game that can be as fickle as mons.

tl;dr chill
 

overdose

formerly charizardfan49
I was kinda hoping someone would take up the mantle and do this since I was busy but I guess I will now :/!

Week 8 brought the freeing of Pohjis (Hype!!!), and Kingler12345 subbing in for Hack as he takes his break for regular season.

[TGRS] Mazar vs. Gunner Rohan [SCTR]
[[RUIN] Pohjis vs. Minority [SHRK]
[WOLF] The Trap God vs Lacus Clyne [FLCN]
[RAID] Kingler12345 vs. FAJI [CONG]
[BIGS] Level 56 vs. Fireburn [CRYO]​


For Week 1, two games stand out as being obvious highlight matches, Level 56 vs Lord Outrage pairing off two of the best Ubers players over the last two years against each other right from the start, and the pairing of two veterans of the Ubers tier together in Hack and Edgar. I personally feel like Level 56 might have a very slight edge against Lord Outrage in the first matchup, with ragey having been inactive for about 4 months now, and being rusty while playing Level 56 is a difficult task, although I fully expect ragey to finish with a top 2 record this SPL, and he has the ability to go toe to toe with anyone if his rust is shaken off quickly enough.​

Meanwhile in the Hack and Edgar matchup, Hack has the upper hand, having played while Edgar was inactive, and also performing better than anyone else in Ubers, having won the Open without even dropping a game. However, Edgar is no slouch, and even though Hack has an advantage, he will need to make sure he doesn't make any mistakes.


After Week 1's results, we have 2 particularly highlight games this week, with Hack looking to build on his success from last week and start dominating by taking out the only other veteran he has not played, Problems. However Oli has frequently been Hack's bogeyman, with Hack never having beaten Oli in an official tour. History is on Problem's side, but Hack is the form player of this SPL, not having dropped a game in 6 months, and this could well be the year he breaks that no-win streak.

Meanwhile in the other highlight game, we go from veterans to rookies, at least in the SPL scene. Level 56 and Astounded are both 1-0 in their first SPL season and both of the ORAS powerhouses are going to look to make a statement here that they are just as good in Sun and Moon as they were in ORAS.



Astounded vs aim and Level 56 vs Hack are the two particular standout games of this week, aim taking over from Oli as the wolfpack's ubers player following a rather poor start by Oli, and it's not at all like he's a bad pick for the slot, having the joint best record in Ubers in the last SPL ubers was in. After a game where Astounded got unlucky against Level 56, he'll want to make sure that he returns to winning ways against the poketuber. Level 56 vs Hack is the battle of the 2-0s, where we see a repeat of the Ubers Open Finals, and we can only hope that this game is as good as the first game of that series. Could go either way on this one, but Hack is probably in better form right now.

The other three games see Psychic Mewtwo relocated after doing better than anyone thought he could and going 2-0, with Poek97 replacing him to play Gunner Rohan, who lost last week due to a crit and is playing really well. A tough Ubers debut indeed, but if Poek can pull a win against Gunner he can probably give a tough game to anyone else playing ubers as well. SiV and Lacus are playing each other after both have had rather disappointing starts to the SPL campaign, and will both be looking to pick up a victory and use it to launch their SPL campaigns to higher levels of success. Finally, Lord Outrage and Edgar play each other, both players being known for their building means I'm expecting both good and interesting teams to come of this matchup.



Two Highlight games this week, between Level 56 and Aim, and Gunner Rohan and Astounded. In the Level 56 vs Aim matchup, I've given a slight edge to Level 56 here because I feel he knows the meta more and is in a hot run of form following his victories over what many people felt, coming into the season, were the other three best players. Very few can claim the ability to go 3-0 against Lord Outrage, Hack and Astounded in consecutive weeks, and I feel he will continue his dominance, despite aim having a 90% win last week. Aim's not out of it, but Level 56 is right now staking his claim for title of best Ubers player. In the Gunner Rohan vs Astounded matchup, I flipped a coin and it said Heads. These two are practically inseparable, both have played really well this season, but with Astounded's week 3 win coming down to a freeze, I feel Gunner edges him in terms of performance.

In the other matchups, following his loss last week to Edgar, Lord Outrage has been benched in favour of Minority, who will no doubt be eager to try and stake a claim on the starting slot for ubers for the Sharks. Unfortunately for him, there are very few harder SPL debuts in the entire competition than against Hack in Ubers, and I think it likely that Hack will bounce back from his own Week 3 loss. Sin faces Edgar, who has performed well so far this SPL, and will look to continue his winning run against the only remaining winless starter in Ubers. Given the two's respective performances, I feel he probably will. And finally PsychicMewtwo returns from his trip to OU to take on Lacus, fresh off of her win last week against Sin. This is the only game this week I dont feel confident predicting either way, PsychicMewtwo has not impressed me with his builds or his playing, but the same holds true with Lacus on the most part, and PM2 has a very respectable 3-0 record, which implies he's doing something right at least.



After seasonal we saw a lot of changes in the SPL Ubers lineup. Two new additions to the SPL Ubers cast come in The Trap God, Fireburn, and FAJI. While The Trap God faces relatively unknown OU main FAJI, Fireburn has to face Hack coming off of a loss for his debut. Highlight matches include Lacus Clyne vs Lord Outrage after his 2 week hiatus and also Gunner Rohan vs Level 56 as he hopes to extend his undefeated streak. Also, Astounded looks to pick up a win to solidify his already impressive win while Edgar looks to steal a win from Astounded, after starting a bit slow, but picking up pace as the season went on


[SCTR] Gunner Rohan vs. Hack [RAID]
[CRYO] Fireburn vs Minority [SHRK]
[BIGS] Level 56 vs FAJI [CONG]
[WOLF] The Trap God vs Edgar [TGRS]
[FLCN] Lacus Clyne vs Astounded [RUIN]


[RUIN] Astounded vs. Fireburn [CRYO]
[CONG] FAJI vs. Gunner Rohan [SCTR]
[FLCN] Lacus Clyne vs. BKC [RAID]
[WOLF] The Trap God vs. Minority [SHRK]
[BIGS] Level 56 vs. Mazar [TGRS]​


Usage Stats as of the end of Week 7:

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + --- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + --- + ------- + ------- +
| -    | Arceus-*           |  69 |  98.57% |  50.72% |
| 1    | Groudon            |  67 |  95.71% |  49.25% |
| 2    | Xerneas            |  32 |  45.71% |  59.38% |
| 3    | Arceus-Ground      |  25 |  35.71% |  36.00% |
| 4    | Gengar             |  20 |  28.57% |  60.00% |
| 4    | Lucario            |  20 |  28.57% |  50.00% |
| 6    | Yveltal            |  19 |  27.14% |  36.84% |
| 7    | Lunala             |  18 |  25.71% |  50.00% |
| 8    | Salamence          |  17 |  24.29% |  41.18% |
| 9    | Ho-Oh              |  13 |  18.57% |  46.15% |
| 10   | Arceus             |  12 |  17.14% |  50.00% |
| 11   | Arceus-Dark        |  11 |  15.71% |  72.73% |
| 11   | Muk-Alola          |  11 |  15.71% |  54.55% |
| 11   | Giratina-Origin    |  11 |  15.71% |  54.55% |
| 14   | Celesteela         |   9 |  12.86% |  66.67% |
| 15   | Kyogre             |   8 |  11.43% |  37.50% |
| 16   | Zygarde            |   7 |  10.00% |  85.71% |
| 16   | Deoxys-Attack      |   7 |  10.00% |  28.57% |
| 18   | Ferrothorn         |   6 |   8.57% |  66.67% |
| 18   | Smeargle           |   6 |   8.57% |  66.67% |
| 18   | Dialga             |   6 |   8.57% |  50.00% |
| 18   | Magearna           |   6 |   8.57% |  33.33% |
| 18   | Arceus-Fairy       |   6 |   8.57% |  33.33% |
| 18   | Excadrill          |   6 |   8.57% |  16.67% |
| 24   | Arceus-Water       |   5 |   7.14% |  80.00% |
| 24   | Rayquaza           |   5 |   7.14% |  60.00% |
| 24   | Lugia              |   5 |   7.14% |  60.00% |
| 24   | Blissey            |   5 |   7.14% |  20.00% |
| 28   | Arceus-Ghost       |   4 |   5.71% |  75.00% |
| 28   | Deoxys-Speed       |   4 |   5.71% |  75.00% |
| 30   | Cloyster           |   3 |   4.29% |  66.67% |
| 30   | Slowbro            |   3 |   4.29% |  66.67% |
| 30   | Chansey            |   3 |   4.29% |  33.33% |
| 30   | Tyranitar          |   3 |   4.29% |   0.00% |
| 30   | Sableye            |   3 |   4.29% |   0.00% |
| 35   | Tapu Lele          |   2 |   2.86% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Bronzong           |   2 |   2.86% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Giratina           |   2 |   2.86% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Mewtwo             |   2 |   2.86% |  50.00% |
| 35   | Greninja           |   2 |   2.86% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Gyarados           |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Aegislash          |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Froslass           |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Metagross          |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Solgaleo           |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Forretress         |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Clefable           |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Aerodactyl         |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Landorus           |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Kyurem-White       |   1 |   1.43% | 100.00% |
| 40   | Klefki             |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Palkia             |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Shuckle            |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Arceus-Steel       |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Dugtrio            |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Gothitelle         |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Tentacruel         |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Landorus-Therian   |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Arceus-Dragon      |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Arceus-Rock        |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
| 40   | Darkrai            |   1 |   1.43% |   0.00% |
 
Week 9 is over, i wont comment individually the week just some quick replay acces from the uber community, from my perspective i've very enjoyed to watch week 5 & 9.
Place to playoff.
(if someone can help me fixing the code from usage thx)


For Week 1, two games stand out as being obvious highlight matches, Level 56 vs Lord Outrage pairing off two of the best Ubers players over the last two years against each other right from the start, and the pairing of two veterans of the Ubers tier together in Hack and Edgar. I personally feel like Level 56 might have a very slight edge against Lord Outrage in the first matchup, with ragey having been inactive for about 4 months now, and being rusty while playing Level 56 is a difficult task, although I fully expect ragey to finish with a top 2 record this SPL, and he has the ability to go toe to toe with anyone if his rust is shaken off quickly enough.​

Meanwhile in the Hack and Edgar matchup, Hack has the upper hand, having played while Edgar was inactive, and also performing better than anyone else in Ubers, having won the Open without even dropping a game. However, Edgar is no slouch, and even though Hack has an advantage, he will need to make sure he doesn't make any mistakes.


After Week 1's results, we have 2 particularly highlight games this week, with Hack looking to build on his success from last week and start dominating by taking out the only other veteran he has not played, Problems. However Oli has frequently been Hack's bogeyman, with Hack never having beaten Oli in an official tour. History is on Problem's side, but Hack is the form player of this SPL, not having dropped a game in 6 months, and this could well be the year he breaks that no-win streak.

Meanwhile in the other highlight game, we go from veterans to rookies, at least in the SPL scene. Level 56 and Astounded are both 1-0 in their first SPL season and both of the ORAS powerhouses are going to look to make a statement here that they are just as good in Sun and Moon as they were in ORAS.



Astounded vs aim and Level 56 vs Hack are the two particular standout games of this week, aim taking over from Oli as the wolfpack's ubers player following a rather poor start by Oli, and it's not at all like he's a bad pick for the slot, having the joint best record in Ubers in the last SPL ubers was in. After a game where Astounded got unlucky against Level 56, he'll want to make sure that he returns to winning ways against the poketuber. Level 56 vs Hack is the battle of the 2-0s, where we see a repeat of the Ubers Open Finals, and we can only hope that this game is as good as the first game of that series. Could go either way on this one, but Hack is probably in better form right now.

The other three games see Psychic Mewtwo relocated after doing better than anyone thought he could and going 2-0, with Poek97 replacing him to play Gunner Rohan, who lost last week due to a crit and is playing really well. A tough Ubers debut indeed, but if Poek can pull a win against Gunner he can probably give a tough game to anyone else playing ubers as well. SiV and Lacus are playing each other after both have had rather disappointing starts to the SPL campaign, and will both be looking to pick up a victory and use it to launch their SPL campaigns to higher levels of success. Finally, Lord Outrage and Edgar play each other, both players being known for their building means I'm expecting both good and interesting teams to come of this matchup.



Two Highlight games this week, between Level 56 and Aim, and Gunner Rohan and Astounded. In the Level 56 vs Aim matchup, I've given a slight edge to Level 56 here because I feel he knows the meta more and is in a hot run of form following his victories over what many people felt, coming into the season, were the other three best players. Very few can claim the ability to go 3-0 against Lord Outrage, Hack and Astounded in consecutive weeks, and I feel he will continue his dominance, despite aim having a 90% win last week. Aim's not out of it, but Level 56 is right now staking his claim for title of best Ubers player. In the Gunner Rohan vs Astounded matchup, I flipped a coin and it said Heads. These two are practically inseparable, both have played really well this season, but with Astounded's week 3 win coming down to a freeze, I feel Gunner edges him in terms of performance.

In the other matchups, following his loss last week to Edgar, Lord Outrage has been benched in favour of Minority, who will no doubt be eager to try and stake a claim on the starting slot for ubers for the Sharks. Unfortunately for him, there are very few harder SPL debuts in the entire competition than against Hack in Ubers, and I think it likely that Hack will bounce back from his own Week 3 loss. Sin faces Edgar, who has performed well so far this SPL, and will look to continue his winning run against the only remaining winless starter in Ubers. Given the two's respective performances, I feel he probably will. And finally PsychicMewtwo returns from his trip to OU to take on Lacus, fresh off of her win last week against Sin. This is the only game this week I dont feel confident predicting either way, PsychicMewtwo has not impressed me with his builds or his playing, but the same holds true with Lacus on the most part, and PM2 has a very respectable 3-0 record, which implies he's doing something right at least.



After seasonal we saw a lot of changes in the SPL Ubers lineup. Two new additions to the SPL Ubers cast come in The Trap God, Fireburn, and FAJI. While The Trap God faces relatively unknown OU main FAJI, Fireburn has to face Hack coming off of a loss for his debut. Highlight matches include Lacus Clyne vs Lord Outrage after his 2 week hiatus and also Gunner Rohan vs Level 56 as he hopes to extend his undefeated streak. Also, Astounded looks to pick up a win to solidify his already impressive win while Edgar looks to steal a win from Astounded, after starting a bit slow, but picking up pace as the season went on















Usage Stats as of the end of Week 9:

Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + --- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + --- + ------- + ------- +
| -    | Arceus-*          |  87 |  98.86% |  50.57% |
| 1    | Groudon            |  81 |  92.05% |  50.62% |
| 2    | Xerneas            |  41 |  46.59% |  60.98% |
| 3    | Arceus-Ground      |  33 |  37.50% |  36.36% |
| 4    | Yveltal            |  24 |  27.27% |  37.50% |
| 5    | Gengar            |  23 |  26.14% |  60.87% |
| 5    | Lucario            |  23 |  26.14% |  47.83% |
| 7    | Salamence          |  21 |  23.86% |  42.86% |
| 7    | Lunala            |  21 |  23.86% |  42.86% |
| 9    | Muk-Alola          |  15 |  17.05% |  53.33% |
| 9    | Ho-Oh              |  15 |  17.05% |  46.67% |
| 11  | Arceus-Dark        |  13 |  14.77% |  76.92% |
| 11  | Zygarde            |  13 |  14.77% |  69.23% |
| 11  | Giratina-Origin    |  13 |  14.77% |  53.85% |
| 11  | Arceus            |  13 |  14.77% |  46.15% |
| 15  | Celesteela        |  12 |  13.64% |  66.67% |
| 16  | Ferrothorn        |  11 |  12.50% |  54.55% |
| 16  | Kyogre            |  11 |  12.50% |  36.36% |
| 18  | Arceus-Fairy      |  9 |  10.23% |  44.44% |
| 19  | Lugia              |  8 |  9.09% |  50.00% |
| 19  | Deoxys-Attack      |  8 |  9.09% |  37.50% |
| 21  | Arceus-Water      |  7 |  7.95% |  71.43% |
| 21  | Smeargle          |  7 |  7.95% |  57.14% |
| 21  | Magearna          |  7 |  7.95% |  28.57% |
| 24  | Deoxys-Speed      |  6 |  6.82% |  66.67% |
| 24  | Rayquaza          |  6 |  6.82% |  66.67% |
| 24  | Dialga            |  6 |  6.82% |  50.00% |
| 24  | Excadrill          |  6 |  6.82% |  16.67% |
| 28  | Arceus-Ghost      |  5 |  5.68% |  60.00% |
| 28  | Blissey            |  5 |  5.68% |  20.00% |
| 30  | Chansey            |  4 |  4.55% |  50.00% |
| 30  | Mewtwo            |  4 |  4.55% |  50.00% |
| 30  | Giratina          |  4 |  4.55% |  25.00% |
| 30  | Sableye            |  4 |  4.55% |  25.00% |
| 34  | Tapu Lele          |  3 |  3.41% |  66.67% |
| 34  | Cloyster          |  3 |  3.41% |  66.67% |
| 34  | Slowbro            |  3 |  3.41% |  66.67% |
| 34  | Clefable          |  3 |  3.41% |  33.33% |
| 34  | Tyranitar          |  3 |  3.41% |  0.00% |
| 39  | Solgaleo          |  2 |  2.27% | 100.00% |
| 39  | Bronzong          |  2 |  2.27% |  50.00% |
| 39  | Scizor            |  2 |  2.27% |  50.00% |
| 39  | Klefki            |  2 |  2.27% |  0.00% |
| 39  | Greninja          |  2 |  2.27% |  0.00% |
| 39  | Zygarde-Complete  |  2 |  2.27% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Gyarados          |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Aegislash          |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Froslass          |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Terrakion          |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Forretress        |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Skarmory          |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Mewtwo-Mega-X      |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Metagross          |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Aerodactyl        |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Landorus          |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Kyurem-White      |  1 |  1.14% | 100.00% |
| 45  | Palkia            |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Gothitelle        |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Shuckle            |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Arceus-Steel      |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Tentacruel        |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Landorus-Therian  |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Arceus-Dragon      |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Dugtrio            |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Arceus-Rock        |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
| 45  | Darkrai            |  1 |  1.14% |  0.00% |
 
Last edited:

Acacia

Tournament Banned
And then there was one. The thrilling conclusion to the Ubers scene in SPL 8 has arrived at long last.

[SCTR] Gunner Rohan vs. Mazar [TGRS]
I'm obviously biased in my prediction, so I will not post it. Good luck to both participants and close out the first major showing of our SM Ubers tier with glory. I aim to encourage legitimate discussion here, so please refrain from posting empty predictions without any justification.

For Week 1, two games stand out as being obvious highlight matches, Level 56 vs Lord Outrage pairing off two of the best Ubers players over the last two years against each other right from the start, and the pairing of two veterans of the Ubers tier together in Hack and Edgar. I personally feel like Level 56 might have a very slight edge against Lord Outrage in the first matchup, with ragey having been inactive for about 4 months now, and being rusty while playing Level 56 is a difficult task, although I fully expect ragey to finish with a top 2 record this SPL, and he has the ability to go toe to toe with anyone if his rust is shaken off quickly enough.

Meanwhile in the Hack and Edgar matchup, Hack has the upper hand, having played while Edgar was inactive, and also performing better than anyone else in Ubers, having won the Open without even dropping a game. However, Edgar is no slouch, and even though Hack has an advantage, he will need to make sure he doesn't make any mistakes.


After Week 1's results, we have 2 particularly highlight games this week, with Hack looking to build on his success from last week and start dominating by taking out the only other veteran he has not played, Problems. However Oli has frequently been Hack's bogeyman, with Hack never having beaten Oli in an official tour. History is on Problem's side, but Hack is the form player of this SPL, not having dropped a game in 6 months, and this could well be the year he breaks that no-win streak.

Meanwhile in the other highlight game, we go from veterans to rookies, at least in the SPL scene. Level 56 and Astounded are both 1-0 in their first SPL season and both of the ORAS powerhouses are going to look to make a statement here that they are just as good in Sun and Moon as they were in ORAS.



Astounded vs aim and Level 56 vs Hack are the two particular standout games of this week, aim taking over from Oli as the wolfpack's ubers player following a rather poor start by Oli, and it's not at all like he's a bad pick for the slot, having the joint best record in Ubers in the last SPL ubers was in. After a game where Astounded got unlucky against Level 56, he'll want to make sure that he returns to winning ways against the poketuber. Level 56 vs Hack is the battle of the 2-0s, where we see a repeat of the Ubers Open Finals, and we can only hope that this game is as good as the first game of that series. Could go either way on this one, but Hack is probably in better form right now.

The other three games see Psychic Mewtwo relocated after doing better than anyone thought he could and going 2-0, with Poek97 replacing him to play Gunner Rohan, who lost last week due to a crit and is playing really well. A tough Ubers debut indeed, but if Poek can pull a win against Gunner he can probably give a tough game to anyone else playing ubers as well. SiV and Lacus are playing each other after both have had rather disappointing starts to the SPL campaign, and will both be looking to pick up a victory and use it to launch their SPL campaigns to higher levels of success. Finally, Lord Outrage and Edgar play each other, both players being known for their building means I'm expecting both good and interesting teams to come of this matchup.



Two Highlight games this week, between Level 56 and Aim, and Gunner Rohan and Astounded. In the Level 56 vs Aim matchup, I've given a slight edge to Level 56 here because I feel he knows the meta more and is in a hot run of form following his victories over what many people felt, coming into the season, were the other three best players. Very few can claim the ability to go 3-0 against Lord Outrage, Hack and Astounded in consecutive weeks, and I feel he will continue his dominance, despite aim having a 90% win last week. Aim's not out of it, but Level 56 is right now staking his claim for title of best Ubers player. In the Gunner Rohan vs Astounded matchup, I flipped a coin and it said Heads. These two are practically inseparable, both have played really well this season, but with Astounded's week 3 win coming down to a freeze, I feel Gunner edges him in terms of performance.

In the other matchups, following his loss last week to Edgar, Lord Outrage has been benched in favour of Minority, who will no doubt be eager to try and stake a claim on the starting slot for ubers for the Sharks. Unfortunately for him, there are very few harder SPL debuts in the entire competition than against Hack in Ubers, and I think it likely that Hack will bounce back from his own Week 3 loss. Sin faces Edgar, who has performed well so far this SPL, and will look to continue his winning run against the only remaining winless starter in Ubers. Given the two's respective performances, I feel he probably will. And finally PsychicMewtwo returns from his trip to OU to take on Lacus, fresh off of her win last week against Sin. This is the only game this week I dont feel confident predicting either way, PsychicMewtwo has not impressed me with his builds or his playing, but the same holds true with Lacus on the most part, and PM2 has a very respectable 3-0 record, which implies he's doing something right at least.



After seasonal we saw a lot of changes in the SPL Ubers lineup. Two new additions to the SPL Ubers cast come in The Trap God, Fireburn, and FAJI. While The Trap God faces relatively unknown OU main FAJI, Fireburn has to face Hack coming off of a loss for his debut. Highlight matches include Lacus Clyne vs Lord Outrage after his 2 week hiatus and also Gunner Rohan vs Level 56 as he hopes to extend his undefeated streak. Also, Astounded looks to pick up a win to solidify his already impressive win while Edgar looks to steal a win from Astounded, after starting a bit slow, but picking up pace as the season went on











Usage Stats (updated as of Semifinals):
Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + --- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon            | Use | Usage % |  Win %  |
+ ---- + ------------------ + --- + ------- + ------- +
| -    | Arceus-*           |  91 |  98.91% |  50.55% |
| 1    | Groudon            |  84 |  91.30% |  51.19% |
| 2    | Xerneas            |  43 |  46.74% |  62.79% |
| 3    | Arceus-Ground      |  34 |  36.96% |  38.24% |
| 4    | Lucario            |  25 |  27.17% |  48.00% |
| 4    | Yveltal            |  25 |  27.17% |  40.00% |
| 6    | Gengar             |  24 |  26.09% |  58.33% |
| 7    | Salamence          |  22 |  23.91% |  45.45% |
| 7    | Lunala             |  22 |  23.91% |  40.91% |
| 9    | Muk-Alola          |  16 |  17.39% |  50.00% |
| 10   | Zygarde            |  15 |  16.30% |  60.00% |
| 10   | Ho-Oh              |  15 |  16.30% |  46.67% |
| 12   | Arceus-Dark        |  14 |  15.22% |  71.43% |
| 12   | Celesteela         |  14 |  15.22% |  57.14% |
| 14   | Giratina-Origin    |  13 |  14.13% |  53.85% |
| 14   | Arceus             |  13 |  14.13% |  46.15% |
| 16   | Ferrothorn         |  12 |  13.04% |  50.00% |
| 17   | Kyogre             |  11 |  11.96% |  36.36% |
| 18   | Arceus-Fairy       |   9 |   9.78% |  44.44% |
| 19   | Lugia              |   8 |   8.70% |  50.00% |
| 19   | Deoxys-Attack      |   8 |   8.70% |  37.50% |
| 21   | Deoxys-Speed       |   7 |   7.61% |  71.43% |
| 21   | Arceus-Water       |   7 |   7.61% |  71.43% |
| 21   | Smeargle           |   7 |   7.61% |  57.14% |
| 21   | Magearna           |   7 |   7.61% |  28.57% |
| 25   | Arceus-Ghost       |   6 |   6.52% |  66.67% |
| 25   | Rayquaza           |   6 |   6.52% |  66.67% |
| 25   | Dialga             |   6 |   6.52% |  50.00% |
| 25   | Excadrill          |   6 |   6.52% |  16.67% |
| 29   | Blissey            |   5 |   5.43% |  20.00% |
| 30   | Mewtwo             |   4 |   4.35% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Chansey            |   4 |   4.35% |  50.00% |
| 30   | Giratina           |   4 |   4.35% |  25.00% |
| 30   | Sableye            |   4 |   4.35% |  25.00% |
| 34   | Tapu Lele          |   3 |   3.26% |  66.67% |
| 34   | Cloyster           |   3 |   3.26% |  66.67% |
| 34   | Slowbro            |   3 |   3.26% |  66.67% |
| 34   | Clefable           |   3 |   3.26% |  33.33% |
| 34   | Tyranitar          |   3 |   3.26% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Solgaleo           |   2 |   2.17% | 100.00% |
| 39   | Bronzong           |   2 |   2.17% |  50.00% |
| 39   | Shuckle            |   2 |   2.17% |  50.00% |
| 39   | Scizor             |   2 |   2.17% |  50.00% |
| 39   | Klefki             |   2 |   2.17% |   0.00% |
| 39   | Greninja           |   2 |   2.17% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Gyarados           |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Aegislash          |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Terrakion          |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Forretress         |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Blaziken           |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Metagross          |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Aerodactyl         |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Landorus           |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Kyurem-White       |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Skarmory           |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Froslass           |   1 |   1.09% | 100.00% |
| 45   | Palkia             |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Arceus-Steel       |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Gothitelle         |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Tentacruel         |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Landorus-Therian   |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Arceus-Dragon      |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Dugtrio            |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Arceus-Rock        |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
| 45   | Darkrai            |   1 |   1.09% |   0.00% |
 
Since there isn't a snake discussion thread I'll share my phase 1 match analyses here. I'll also share some teams/team selection process later as well as phase 3 and playoff match analyses. Hopefully this gives some insight to higher level ubers gameplay and I also thought It'd be fun to explain my thought process a bit as well as some small details that I noticed people commenting on. Hopefully its not too boring for you guys. Enjoy.

edit: helps to have match open alongside the analysis to get a visual of whats going on

replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ubers-315531

team preview:

I see 3 potential u-turn users so I know he is running something that abuses free turns. I know thimo is capable of running pretty much anything
so it could be anything from a choice band zygarde to specs yveltal to eruption primal groudon. I don't want to give him too much room to start u-turning and I figure a Pheromosa lead is most likely as it is fast and can u-turn or use another attack freely vs my entire team. Another thing that I'm paying attention to is which defogger is he using? I assume because his team has some passive mons that allow hazards to go up the Arceus or the Scizor is the defogger. If its defog Arceus, the matchup is pretty bad as z geo won't be able to do anything as the scizor is likely SD. If its an offensive or SR arceus form it tells me the Scizor is probably defog and in the case of SR arceus, the Groudon is offensive and could be anything from RP to SD 3 atks to Eruption. Glare Zygarde with specs yveltal seems like a real possibility as well to cover support arceus forms etc (particularly fairy).

match notes:
I get turn 1 right with the lead matchup. I have a couple options here. I could predict a u-turn and try to kill the pheromosa with a life orb shadow sneak (63% chance to kill), I could predict him to attack me with something other than u-turn and stay in thus clicking spectral thief to ensure a KO, or I could close combat to cover a switch into yveltal though I might take u-turn chip damage doing so. I know he won't risk me clicking sneak on his phero and i don't think phero has coverage to hit marsh (and if it does i still don't think he'd risk the sneak) so I fire off a close combat and catch his yveltal with a crit. I calc the close combat crit damage on 0 bulk yveltal to see that he has investment for sure. He has no item revealed though and bulky yveltal has always been trash so I'm assuming the only possible set at this point is bulky scarf. I don't want to risk a shadow sneak roll since I don't know his exact EVs based on one roll. I end up switching out to my own yveltal on a u-turn because i don't expect him to let his yveltal get trapped by goth and PP stalled into setup fodder.

So now on turn 3 we have a new interaction with 2 completely healthy mons on the field. I also see fairyceus revealed which I like as it means his scizor is almost surely defog. This means if I trap the fairyceus, trap the yveltal locked into owing, or trap a zygarde lacking dtail, I can use them as setup fodder for my z geo xern. I also know fairyceus can be a huge threat if I lose mindgames with it and allow it to stay in the game. I have a mence, marsh, and yveltal which all get dicked by fairyceus so at this point I think its best to try and catch him doubling. He goes for SR on my Oblivion Wing which sucks for me because now he gets his rocks up. In my head I'm thinking that sacking yveltal is ok in this situation as I will be able to trap fairyceus with gothitelle anyway and use it as setup fodder if he kills my yveltal. Spamming Owing may have looked like an attempt to catch a switch, which it was, but it was also a catch all play as even if I lose my yveltal I'm in a good position trapping fairyceus for my DD dtail mence/Life Orb Marshadow. He lets his fairyceus get down to 33% which is good for my mence and marsh, but it also means I'll have to wait to trap something with goth. After letting his fairyceus get low, he sacks his yveltal and then brings out phero.

Turn 6 is an important turn to note as I now have my yveltal vs his Phero. I'm not scared of a quiver dance or setup phero as Sucker Punch isn't common in the first place and I know any reasonable player would expect the yveltal user to click Owing on a sack. I'm ok with sucker punching in this position as it will put Phero in 100% ko range of sneak. Basically landing sucker here means Phero is never a threat for the rest of the game as I'll have a Pdon, sneak marsh, and defensive xerneas to deal with whatever set he is running. I crit sucker which is big, but not game outcome changing which I'll explain later. Also my yveltal drops to an Ice beam meaning the remaining moves are likely HJK/Low kick, Spin/Pjab, U-Turn, unless he is some Quiver Dance set.

I feel safe to go for a sneak as he really lacks solid Mixed Marsh answers at this point in the game. Phero is a non threat to my team so I sneak to ensure he doesn't try to attack me whilst sacking his Pheromosa. He ends up bringing in his Zygarde which proves to be defensive and unless he is SpD invested, I know hp ice is a favorable roll for me at this point in the game. I go for an HP Ice as he stays in, which surprised me as he has a Scizor/Phero Sack to scout. He ends up getting rewarded for this inherently risky play though by living on 1 percent and getting his complete form off and Toxicing my Marsh which is important to note as he may lack dtail. The Sucker Punch crit allows me to risk my Marshadow's health here anyway as it is less important to keep it healthy for Phero since Pdon will kill it with SR. Had I not crit, I'd probably have gone xerneas or gothitelle to preserve marsh. Despite this, I know he won't risk Zygarde now though and if he tries to save it, he would probably rest. At this point I feel I should take my free turn to switch to Primal Groudon and get my rocks up. He ends up switching to his fairyceus so my switch pays off and I trade rocks while taking a Toxic.

This next interaction is important to note as it is the 1 play in the game where Thimo actually catches and calls out one of my plays. I get lazy here and go with an obvious switch to Gothitelle. The reason this play was so choreographed is because not only is my Pdon toxiced, but it is also favorable for me to trap fairyceus rather than kill it. He doubles to Sciz which works out really well for him as it forces my Pdon back in to take damage that I was trying to avoid. Its a scenario where caring too much about Pdon's health leads to losing health and momentum, whereas I could have always fired off a free plume and potentially caught that switch.

So now I'm thinking about end game and I want to just play this linearly if possible. I don't want something like xerneas taking a toxic even though it appears to be a free switch. Instead I go with a Pdon roar to catch a double or phase zyg out on an attack/rest. I end up roaring out the Phero onto SR which is good in the case that he is a defog Scizor. It means phero is out of the game and won't come into play in the end game.

Now on Turn 14 I go to my Gothitelle because I want to see if he has Dtail. Also, I can taunt allowing my Xern to come in without taking toxic. He reveals that he isn't sleep talk which means... drats, he's probably dtail. For some reason he wakes up and chooses to start clicking Thousand Arrows rather than phasing me out. I charm him a few times and realize that he wants to Toxic and force rest, then dtail. At this point however, I have lowered his attack as much as possible and Taunted after taking the toxic. This means my xerneas can come in now with taking close to 0 damage anyway. He clicks dtail on the switch and it looks like an insane play, though there was no reason for me to ever rest, as Xern could come in and win from this position.

Turn 21, I Z Geomancy up as he goes Scizor and I'm thinking to myself, "shit he's really SD with spin phero as hazard control instead". He however starts to bullet punch and at this point I know there is nothing he can do to win. Had he been SD Scizor, I could have always revenge killed it and played for the dd dtail mence win condition though my Xern ends up winning, as it cannot lose unless he gets a lucky crit.


replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7ubers-317110

preface:

There isn't a lot to analyze this game as its ho vs ho. There are a couple interactions which are noteworthy, though overall it was a straightforward matchup.

team preview:

I have a bad matchup but I feel I can make it work. Despite having a goth that will do close to nothing, I have anti offense countermeasures such as geoxern, sucker yveltal, and Marshadow. I know flyceus will basically end my Marshadow's hopes and dreams but maybe Salamence can get something going as well. I'm thinking about how I want to start the game and my 2 options are Marshadow cc + sneak or Plume Pdon and fish for burn vs cloy. I dislike the Marshadow route as it invites flyceus in for free if lacus chooses to switch, which puts me in an awkward position where lacus can easily double or fire off a free judgment. Lacus can also opt for free damage on Marshadow instead of Tspiking up which makes me uncomfortable as well. Tspikes are bad when using offense with no poison or hazard removal, and I have no way to stop cloy from setting them up so I go with Pdon turn 1.

match analysis:

Turn 1 I get the plume burn on Cloy to prevent from taking chip after tspikes went up. Tspikes are down though which immediately means I have to make moves. Lacus of course immediately brings the DD Zygarde in. She chooses to DD up though I had used my current team vs Thimo a couple days prior and revealed max defense xern so this play made little sense to me as you would generally want to go for chip here on a Pdon which stays in/xerneas coming in. I opt to roar in the case of sub. If I switch pdon out it wont be able to check anything later anyway as it will take tspikes and lose to each of lacus's mons individually. My best use is to roar and try to get up stealth rock while I'm not poisoned. I roar and bring her Pdon out which is pretty good for me as if I blades here, my own geoxern/mence become a huge threat. I know I can get free rocks here since Lacus won't risk pdon health especially under the assumption of z geo.

Turn 4 now and we have Zyg vs Pdon again. This time Lacus opts to make the level headed TA play and my plume unfortunately doesn't get a burn. Now my best play is to spam roar and I end up bringing xern out. Lacus knows im going to spam roar so chooses to just moonblast away which is pretty good for me. I only have sucker/sneak/attacking on set up to deal with xerneas now that pdon is dead so I choose to force an interaction which lets me kill Lacus's xern right here.

I run a lot of speed on my Xerneas so I feel comfortable in a geo war as I can geo and double moonblast alongside lacus's geoxern. By bringing in my own xern which is a huge threat, Lacus is forced to trade Xerns here which is really good for me. We double down and now we're 4v4 mons wise. I'm still slightly behind as one of my mons is gothitelle and tspikes are up on my side of the field, though i have rocks up for opposing flyceus which is decent.

Turn 10 and its her Pdon vs my Yveltal. These are the expected mons to come out as they both put a huge amount of pressure on the mons left on each side. I go with a taunt to prevent rocks from going up while Lacus reveals rock tomb. I live another tomb so I can go for dpulse into sucker taking Lacus's Pdon down to 9% while losing yveltal.

Turn 13 and I obviously won't try to setup mence vs rock tomb pdon meaning my marshadow has to come in to revenge kill. This means flyceus will come in afterwards and I can go goth and confide spam. I hp ice because a double would quite literally finish the game so I choose to attack once to try and call a double out. The only zyg set that makes sense on this team would be sub dtail as it abuses tspikes. The point of Lacus's team is to get tspikes up and then dd with zyg and sub down vs support arc allowing tspikes to put it in range of TA/zmove, while dtailing opposing phasers. If this is Lacus's set then she has to double on that turn to have a chance, as goth would otherwise trap flyceus allowing mence to set up and win. A lot of people pointed at that as a choke, though it was a play i had to make.

After spamming confide into taunt with goth, I was able to go marsh and spec thief flyceus boosts away. This allows mence to set up with a dd and then kill flyceus as it would be in range of +1 Dedge. Next, Mgar comes in and I EQ it allowing Mence to finish off the zyg with Dedge. Lacus however reveals espeed at the very end and gets rewarded for ruining a great concept build. I also had no bulk on mence, and having bulk would have allowed me to survive and win. It was an interesting game and I have to give props to Lacus for getting the matchup right, though I think if you're trying to cover the whole meta, you're better off using sub + dtail on that team, especially since thats what the concept is built around.


replay: https://hurrderrderp.github.io

team preview:

I don't feel amazing about this matchup as Fireburn's Ogre can do a lot of work and his Yveltal is probably scarfed which means SD Groundy won't be able to win. I feel scarf xern looks solid vs him as it would probably force his pdon in if i bring it in on gira/ygod. This is beneficial for my ogre and I can see a scarf xern wincon if his arc isnt poison, normal, or steel. My main sweeper on the team is SD Groundceus and knowing that it cannot win means I have to be effecient in breaking his team before he can break mine. I feel a scarf ygod lead incoming as it matches up pretty well vs everything so I'm thinking scarf xern lead is ok. It will also show me if his arceus is something to deal with xern.

Match analysis:

turn 1 I lead my xern. Fireburn switches out fearing a turn 1 geo/zgeo/specs. He wants to play it safe so he goes poisonceus. This is good information to have, as it could have caught me off guard late game, though having to deal with a poisonceus makes it even harder to find a win condition. I had switched out into Pdon which puts me in a weird spot. I know fireburn is thinking kyogre here, but blading into a gira o is pretty bad too if fireburn wants to call out my play. However, he goes into his kyogre which is a solid move since pdon doesn't want to click blades there usually, fearing gira o switchin. I would have had to make a ballsy play to blades but now I'm in a bad spot because I went for SR. I have to switch into ogre fearing the water move and Fireburn goes with an aggressive thunder. Even worse position.

Turn 3 I gain more valuable information. We both switch into our primal groudons but I find out my Kyogre is faster than his because it is withdrawn first. Here, I don't mind going for a blades as I can catch ogre potentially as well as chip pdon if he chooses to stay in. He goes Gira O though so I just go with a plume to fish for burn/chip for sd groundceus. I get the burn which was good but now I'm in a tricky spot. He can easily go ogre since blading a gira o is absurd and if i stay in my play is to plume or SR. My main switchin to gira o is also xerneas so Ogre can get momentum vs that. I want to blades here in order to punish an aggresive ogre but instead I feel going to my own ogre is pretty safe as I would also catch Pdon if he tries to predict Xern. I catch the pdon and now I'm in a good spot. The tides are turning and I can finally get some momentum.

I choose to go with a safe waterfall as his 2 resists (ogre and gira o) don't really want to come in here. I go with an ice beam after the gira o takes good chip damage, because I'd still chip pdon and be able to EQ if it comes in. I earthquake on an overheat miss, which wasn't too big of a deal since ogre easily lived. I then clean up pdon with an ice beam in case he wants to go back to gira o and dance around ogre.

Turn 12 is a huge misplay from fireburn as he sacks his gira o. My ogre was always going to be faster there since I was extremely fast and Gira-O ate ogre's waterfall to well to be fast. For some reason people thought it was a speed tie because of turn 7:

Turn 7
Fireburn withdrew is spook (Giratina-Origin)!
Fireburn sent out is dinosaur (Groudon-Primal)!
burgundy, come back!
Go! mantra (Kyogre-Primal)!
[mantra's Primordial Sea!]
A heavy rain began to fall!

This turn showed his gira o was faster than my pdon but the only thing that revealed hints about my ogre speed is that it was faster than fireburn's ogre on turn 3.

Moving forward, he brings in Diancie and fires off a diamond storm vs my Phys def Celes switchin. He misses but it didn't make a huge difference, as I would have healed back up. I leech the next turn on his switch to poisonceus, because I want to try and heal my ogre if possible. I know poisonceus runs cm flamethrower and knowing that celes is in, i expect him to fire off a flamethrower or cm up. I hard ogre to try and heal but he doubles out to ygod. Like I assume from preview, I assume it is scarfed so I switch to avoid being ko'd by foul play. Bringing xern in is also good to force poisonceus in, allowing groundceus or pdon to come in.

I moonblast the poisonceus and then realize that my best play is to not switch pdon in directly because an ogre double means I lose momentum. I also don't want groundceus to potentially be burned or poisoned so I realize Mence is most expendable here and is my best punish to poisonceus/pogre double. Most people would hard pdon or groundceus and get caught by ogre so I feel this was a particularly good turn.

I'm ok with sacking mence for damage, and I also know that there isn't a good switchin. I trade mence in for 75% of ogre's health. The turn 3 info that my ogre is faster means I can revenge kill with ogre which has no switchins, unlike xern/groundceus (some spectators wondered why I "risked" ogre there). Fireburn is forced to sack his ogre and then Diancie comes in. I choose to switch Groundceus in since fireburn can either diamond storm or double to poisonceus expecting celes. He diamond storms and gets a crit and defense raise. I call him out choosing to stay in since he can live an EQ and he might predict stone edge. I fire off my z move which was a hard read and now he only has scarf ygod/poisonceus left. I know that xern and pdon would close this game out but I choose to use my kyogre first vs poisonceus and pick off the kill. Then xern picks ygod off for the final kill.
 
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