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 (4) vs. (6) Friend Safari Pokemon Trainers
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (0) vs. (0) Friend Safari Pokemon Trainers
SS: Fakee vs. Expulso
SS: ProDigeZz vs. Meru
SS: QWILY vs. Mindnight
SM: Corazan vs. odr
ORAS: Killintime vs. Chaitanya
BW: Amukamara vs. Lunala
DPP: Raichy vs. LpZ
ADV: Plas vs. fatty
GSC: Torchic vs. Holly
Bo3: pdt vs. pokemonisfun
Safari Zone Smashers (0) vs. (0) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: udongirl vs. freezai
SS: DonSalvatore vs. Chaos23333
SS: dunoks vs. Moutemoute
SM: gondra vs. Ramolost
ORAS: pak vs. Accel
BW: Bushtush vs. Alkione
DPP: Void vs. Thiago Nunes
ADV: Shiba vs. Roseybear
GSC: Inder vs. Estarossa
Bo3: robjr vs. Adaam
Mikan Island Monsters (0) vs. (0) Iki Town Idols
SS: KSt3ve vs. umbry
SS: Indigo Plateau vs. Lyss
SS: Jeza.p vs. passion
SM: Leo vs. Santu
ORAS: Garay oak vs. Bouff
BW: Eternal Spirit vs. Finchinator
DPP: Pearl vs. col49
ADV: Ark vs. Hyogafodex
GSC: bruno vs. gorgie
Bo3: Star vs. Lily
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (0) vs. (0) Moomoo Farm Mysterious Sisters
SS: xujing691691 vs. highways
SS: Draphirion vs. sage
SS: Punny vs. beatiful
SM: Xiri vs. avarice
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Spl4sh
BW: Askov vs. dingbat
DPP: MrAldo vs. Heysup
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. crayon pop
GSC: Mr.378 vs. Jisoo
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. mncmt
The deadline for Week 4 is: Sunday, March 27th @ 11:59PM EST (GMT-5)!
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (5) vs. (5) Friend Safari Pokemon Trainers
SS: Fakee vs. Expulso (W)
SS: ProDigeZz vs. Meru (W)
SS: ez vs. Mindnight (x)
SM: Corazan vs. odr (L)
ORAS: Killintime vs. Chaitanya (W)
BW: Amukamara vs. Lunala (L)
DPP: Raichy vs. LpZ (W)
ADV: Plas vs. fatty (W)
GSC: Torchic vs. Holly (W)
Bo3: pdt vs. pokemonisfun (L)
Safari Zone Smashers (4) vs. (6) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: udongirl vs. freezai (W)
SS: DonSalvatore vs. Chaos23333 (L)
SS: dunoks vs. Moutemoute (W)
SM: gondra vs. Ramolost (W)
ORAS: pak vs. Accel (W)
BW: Bushtush vs. Alkione (L)
DPP: Void vs. Thiago Nunes (W)
ADV: Shiba vs. Roseybear (W)
GSC: Inder vs. Estarossa (L)
Bo3: robjr vs. Adaam (L)
Mikan Island Monsters (7) vs. (3) Iki Town Idols
SS: KSt3ve vs. umbry (W)
SS: Indigo Plateau vs. Lyss (W)
SS: Jeza.p vs. passion (L)
SM: Leo vs. Santu (L)
ORAS: Garay oak vs. Bouff (W)
BW: Eternal Spirit vs. Finchinator (W)
DPP: Pearl vs. col49 (W)
ADV: Ark vs. Hyogafodex (L)
GSC: bruno vs. gorgie (W)
Bo3: Star vs. Lily (L)
Safari Zone Smashers (4) vs. (6) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: udongirl vs. freezai
SS: DonSalvatore vs. Chaos23333
SS: dunoks vs. Moutemoute
SM: gondra vs. Ramolost
ORAS: pak vs. Accel
BW: Bushtush vs. Alkione
DPP: Void vs. Thiago Nunes
ADV: Shiba vs. Roseybear
GSC: Inder vs. Estarossa
Bo3: robjr vs. Adaam
Mikan Island Monsters (5) vs. (5) Iki Town Idols
SS: KSt3ve vs. umbry
SS: Indigo Plateau vs. Lyss
SS: Jeza.p vs. passion
SM: Leo vs. Santu
ORAS: Garay oak vs. Bouff
BW: Eternal Spirit vs. Finchinator
DPP: Pearl vs. col49
ADV: Ark vs. Hyogafodex
GSC: bruno vs. gorgie
Bo3: Star vs. Lily
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (3) vs. (7) Moomoo Farm Mysterious Sisters
SS: xujing691691 vs. highways
SS: wuqianying vs. sage
SS: Punny vs. beatiful
SM: Xiri vs. avarice
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Spl4sh
BW: Askov vs. dingbat
DPP: MrAldo vs. Heysup
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. crayon pop
GSC: Mr.378 vs. HSA
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. mncmt
Safari Zone Smashers (4) vs. (6) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: udongirl vs. freezai pia mod bonus, she saved Aegislash for sure
SS: DonSalvatore vs. Chaos23333 my friend and doing incredible in tours currently like masters
SS: dunoks vs. Moutemoute dunoks is top 5 ladder player this gen
SM: gondra vs. Ramolost he will eat gondra
ORAS: pak vs. Accel pak haxed my teammate, accel got bailed by a huge throw tbh
BW: Bushtush vs. Alkione i predicted this before they played
DPP: Void vs. Thiago Nunes idk
ADV: Shiba vs. Roseybear love shiba
GSC: Inder vs. Estarossa inder is cool
Bo3: robjr vs. Adaam the god
Mikan Island Monsters (3) vs. (7) Iki Town Idols
SS: KSt3ve vs. umbry - whoever wins this one will win the series
SS: Indigo Plateau vs. Lyss 0-x vs not 0-x
SS: Jeza.p vs. passion passion gang!
SM: Leo vs. Santu going for an upset imo
ORAS: Garay oak vs. Bouff bouff: bouff
BW: Eternal Spirit vs. Finchinator finch rooted for me in my last game
DPP: Pearl vs. col49 col is my south teammate
ADV: Ark vs. Hyogafodex - ark did some soul searching i am 100% sure after his throw last week and is either going to be stronger or his tournament goes horrible now
GSC: bruno vs. gorgie wynaut
Bo3: Star vs. Lily tl bonus
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (9) vs. (1) Moomoo Farm Mysterious Sisters
SS: xujing691691 vs. highways - my dear friend vs my good friend
SS: wuqianying vs. sage i will beat sage in smpl and tilt her so wuqianying will win
SS: Punny vs. beatiful punny is legendary
SM: Xiri vs. avarice - i said xiri needed to win last week but i changed my mind
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Spl4sh - scale is my good friend, spl4sh is too but like, idk
BW: Askov vs. dingbat - idk, i think commanders get a comeback here
DPP: MrAldo vs. Heysup - again, predicting the comeback
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. crayon pop - this game will happen when week is over
GSC: Mr.378 vs. HSA - i am a masochist which is why i predict against hsa
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. mncmt - esm has had it bad and i think mncmt will underestimate him (this is your wakeup call)
We're back again with another UUPL X coverage vid, many thanks to esche, Indigo Plateau, LNumbers, Sage, and TSR 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: 53/80 = 66.25%
Cinnabar Arcade Stars (3) vs. (7) Friend Safari Pokemon Trainers
SS: Fakee vs. Expulso
SS: ProDigeZz vs. Meru (flip!)
SS: ez vs. Mindnight
SM: Corazan vs. odr
ORAS: Killintime vs. Chaitanya
BW: Amukamara vs. Lunala
DPP: Raichy vs. LpZ
ADV: Plas vs. fatty
GSC: Torchic vs. Holly
Bo3: pdt vs. pokemonisfun
Safari Zone Smashers (6) vs. (4) Camphrier Town Ladies
SS: udongirl vs. freezai (turtwig buff)
SS: DonSalvatore vs. Chaos23333 (aegi agenda)
SS: dunoks vs. Moutemoute (aegi agenda)
SM: gondra vs. Ramolost
ORAS: pak vs. Accel
BW: Bushtush vs. Alkione (caught it live!)
DPP: Void vs. Thiago Nunes
ADV: Shiba vs. Roseybear
GSC: Inder vs. Estarossa (show buff)
Bo3: robjr vs. Adaam
Mikan Island Monsters (5) vs. (5) Iki Town Idols
SS: KSt3ve vs. umbry
SS: Indigo Plateau vs. Lyss
SS: Jeza.p vs. passion
SM: Leo vs. Santu
ORAS: Garay oak vs. Bouff
BW: Eternal Spirit vs. Finchinator
DPP: Pearl vs. col49
ADV: Ark vs. Hyogafodex
GSC: bruno vs. gorgie (boomer buff + older than clark)
Bo3: Star vs. Lily
Snowpoint Temple Commanders (1) vs. (9) Moomoo Farm Mysterious Sisters
SS: xujing691691 vs. highways
SS: wuqianying Draphirion vs. Sage
SS: Punny vs. beatiful
SM: Xiri vs. avarice
ORAS: Scalescale vs. Spl4sh
BW: Askov vs. dingbat
DPP: MrAldo vs. Heysup
ADV: A Hero's Destiny vs. crayon pop
GSC: Mr.378 vs. HSA
Bo3: EternalSnowman vs. mncmt
Setup sweepers was the name of the game this week, showing very mixed results (Holly vs Vani was awkward setting up for both, HSA's sweeper got crit and Esta lost and more success was found with Gorgie and Garay Oak)
Few Psychics also this week, partly justified by the presence of Chansey as a wall or the option to go for Hyper offence.
So many different approaches to offence and some people have shown they prefer safety the safety of Piloswine over mixed offence, while others prefer having the threat of a Belly Drummer (or 2) over the S tier mon herself. Notably Quagsire (Best winrate of the week at 75%) has had a better week than when KratosMana brought the froggy in SPL XI finals vs Fomg! But this time we have sleep talk in the mix as well.
Time to add my GSC Predicts. Last week I was 75% correct leaving me with a total of 83.3% correct overall. Holly vs Torchic I haven't confirmed this yet but I believe Holly is favored in this week 4 matchup. Though Torchic was pretty good in terms of play.
Inder vs Estarossa I don't see Inder winning this unless robjr pulls the ultimate team for him and a miracle happens gorgie vs bruno I don't know bruno. Curious to see. Mr.378 vs HSA If there is one guy who can stop the unstoppable it's Mr.numbers.
Guessing lower tier king HSA didn’t have time to build or just wanted to go with something cool. I get the feeling that it’s not going to be the last time we see Holly’s team used throughout this tournament, as it’s already the second time. Torchic also brought something really similar to Gorgie’s week 2 team but it’s a pure coincidence. A balanced sort of team with 2 baton passers rather than 2 Belly Drum sweepers. Can’t say I recommend it unless your are confident you can keep the pressure up against the likes of Piloswine, Lanturn or other threats like Gyarados, becoming ever more popular nowadays (especially behind light screen). I vouch for more defensive teams that still grant me with the wriggle room to pull off a sweep in the right scenario but that’s me. Torchic’s Scyther may have a very hard time in the matchup vs such a bulky and threatening team as Piloswine, Lanturn, in addition to the Haunter and Jumpluff who can threaten it or stop it in its tracks. His Gyarados also looks as though it may suffer from similar issues, with Lanturn being a naturally great check to it. Hidden Power Water Magneton seems like a nice choice though, due to how common Swine is.
I don’t really agree with Torchic’s plays. He switches in and stays in with Qwilfish on a Lanturn, from a Gyarados??? Furthermore he knows that his opponent can spin away the Spikes, so not exactly warranted. In his defense though his team has a poor matchup vs Lanturn in general. Later, he also sets up with Scyther rather than attacking the Jumpluff that was likely going to try to stop it with Encore. Rather (un)fortunately (You are going to see Piloswine go for this a lot), Torchic’s Gyarados gets frozen but the battle’s not lost. I believe it might have been nice to go for some extra Earthquakes/Sludgebombs when facing the Jumpluff and catch his opponent switching. Though the game kind of ends quickly once his setup passers are overwhelmed by the power house that is Piloswine Lanturn.
I am a little bit upset at a couple of the modifications made to Garay Oak’s stall team. I’m all for trying new things but beating Estarossa with a nearly identical team to HSA’s from the week before, when Estarossa had already played excellently was already not going to prove to be easy. To make matters worse, those very tweaks made to the team are mostly detrimental. Counter Blastoise not only is purely reaction based (therefore virtually unviable against someone who knows what he is doing) but it also leaves his Rapid Spinner susceptible to status and getting weakened in the long run (HSA at the very least gave Blastoise some super effective coverage to hit Qwilfish harder and also played it safer). Estarossa’s team, on the other hand, looks even better equipped for stall this week. Mr.mime is not baton pass this time, the Granbull, the Wigglytuff AND the Qwilfish are curse sweepers (the bane of Rest Talk Blastoise).
Unfortunately for Garay, I believe that after the first scuffles, had ultimately lost many options to counter play his opponent. After turn 36, Estarossa was quite comfortable to play it slowly and just react, while Garay Oak was in a position where he’d need something even greater than predictions to make small progress. It’s not even entirely his fault, really. The man from UK knows how to put on a show and really patched up all the missplays he had made playing vs this stall team last week (eg. turn14 the switch to Pilo is a sign that Esta learns from his mistakes not to scout for Chansey Thunder). Turn 21 Blastoise revealing Counter is a misinterpretation of a scenario because he would probably be using Rest here and the opponent would likely go for spikes, especially if they can count on their own spinblocker to prevent Rapid Spin (see the paragraph above).
Garay Oak may have pre-emptively exposed himself to risks too early on, something we did not see between HSA and Esta from HSA’s end. Not too long after this exchange on turn 28, since the spinner was unable to hold its own, the stall team could not do its job and got bullied by Earthquakes and Returns. Don't let the turn length decieve you, Estarossa probably thought it was in his best interest not to get crit, and may have been playing slowly as a reaction to his previous match.
Vani is showing that his preferred playstyle is on the offensive side. Pilo Gyara are a strong core of mixed attackers that become very threatening with the spikes down, Haunter is the Granbull check and spin blocker, packed with Thief to get the most value out of residual damage, Granbull and Hypno are your bread and butter sweeper and sleep talker, respectively. Gorgie, on the other hand, never runs out of surprises, bringing something along the lines of a semi-stall-ish type team. I don't think his team choice really gave him a huge advantage. His team didn't have much physical offence with which to immediately threaten the opposing team, and though he had a Lanturn which looked really strong, it didn't have Rest and Sleep Talk to stick around for a long enough time to matter. Toxic on Lanturn can be nice but I think it's not be-all-end-all.
This game is proof that Vani should not be slept on. It's very frustrating to see that he lost to a timer (I hope not in frustration), seeing as he put himself in a good position to take this home. First couple of turns there's a lot of dancing and each player is getting a feel for the opponent. Ultimately though the back-and-forth left Vani having to scramble for his spikes (without which the matchup would have been too much). Vani's Hypno was Reflect, managing to hold off against both Lanturn and Piloswine. He does lose it to a Present Chansey, though fortunately, he manages to make a slow comeback and it doesn't matter too much. The spikes Shuffling a la Raikou in GSC OU was really beneficial but it would have been that much better if he hadn't allowed his opponent to spam Toxic and perhaps switched to Qwilfish, who I think was in the right speed tier to actually get some nice chip on Gorgie's team. Gorgie's Surf Gyarados is a little bit underwhelming, but Vani has to respect it nonetheless. We'll never really know how it could have gone down. Real shitty ending to an interesting game.
Super quick game with both players bringing offence oriented teams. Holly's Pikachu slaps and is pretty fast, but not that fast. It's function is to come in, hit something and switch out, revenge kill, rinse and repeat, kind of like ADV OU Aerodactyl. The Mr.Mime lead makes a lot of sense in this context as it was 90% a Thief lead Mime and stealing leftovers from something like Hypno would greatly assist Pikachu. Haunter too has Thief, and the Spiker in Qwilfish + Piloswine Gyarados makes plain sense. Inder not only brought a team that hints to me that he got support from his captain Robjr, but he even used an avy that I remember robjr used in GSC UU cup (which he won last year). So I feel like I can relate to Holly when facing this wall breaking Granbull lead (which robjr smoked me with in the semis of that same tour). Wall breaker bull is really unpredictable and can run a plethora of things, it's all a matter of how you respect it and figuring out what it's doing the breaking for, be it Pinsir, Wigglytuff, or in this case Victreebell. Swords Dance Victreebell is a lot of fun to use.
The game went by rather quick. Though Holly was taken aback a bit by the Curse Shadowball bull lead and lost 2 mons rather quickly, she swiftly brought it back to 4 vs 5. Inder's Nidoqueen got a crucial para on Gyarados, but at least Pikachu could now threaten a sweep. Perhaps respecting that there could be some unforseen sweeper in the back, Holly decides to go to Pika turn 13, costing it a bit of health which it won't get back. In just under 5 turns, the situation seems reversed and now Holly is up 4 vs 3. I am not sure what was the idea behind turn 18 though. Probably cost her the game which ended not long after.
General lack of defensive teams (hence why so many were susceptible to Lanturn this week). Players preferring to allocate a slot to an extra attacker rather than a more defensive sleep talker like Hypno to contribute to the defensive backbone. Still, players will most often want to have Piloswine as a safety measure, in spite of how common Gyarados is.
Granbull is good not just as a wall breaker or sweeper but also at fending off the threat of a Belly Drum sweep (even though Garay Oak's Quagsire turned out to be a Curse set).
