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Semis AAA Review by #1 Osake Hater and Redflix fan THE the butts
Playoffs are always such an exciting time to be a spectator in team tours. You get the cream of the crop of players who are all working their hardest to put the best team out there which makes for ideally some great games. Unfortunately, the two games we got were fairly one-sided, but that doesn't make the teams brought any less interesting to analyze. Before we begin, I want to shoutout
Osake for doing these for the regular season. They were loads of fun to read and I really enjoyed waking up Mondays to see a new post from you. You will not be forgiven for stopping these and telling me to do them myself.
shiloh vs PandaDoux
The first game of the day was mired in a little bit of controversy at the beginning of the week. There was some criticism levied at the Tyrantrums for benching 2-0 Potatochan in favor of (pre-game) 3-2 PandaDoux. I'm not going to get into who I thought was a better pick in this game, but it was a point of discussion before these two played.
Looking at matchup, shiloh brought a team that looks very...shiloh-y. Perhaps I'm influenced by the sheer amount of test games I've played vs him, but if I were to look at his scout pre-game, this would be a comp I would expect for him to bring. At team preview, it looks like a possible Mold
Breaker Heatran, MG or TC Zapdos-G, CB or LO Grassy Surge Dhelmise, Regenerator/Intim/Dauntless Mew, probably Regenerator Lando-T (scarf or AV) and then maybe Regenerator or PrimSea Rotom-Wash. There aren't many ambiguous picks here and the team feels fairly straightforward. On the other hand, Panda's team is a bit more interesting (but not necessarily better). Three steel-types + two fairies is an interesting composition, especially since it does feel that many of them play similar roles. Excadrill here can be either Regenerator or Water Absorb, Heatran could be Regenerator or Desolate Land (I can't really explain it but it doesn't seem like it'd be moldy here). Skarmory is likely DShield/Intim or a fire immune ability, Fini would be Regenerator, Tapu Lele could be Triage or Sheer Force (maybe Tinted but you have two ways of breaking steels) and then likely a Magic Guard, Magic Bounce, or Desolate Land Volcarona.
*AN - I'm not going to try and do a play-by-play of every game, just talk about what's interesting etc. watch it urself
T1 - We see shiloh lead Landorus-T while Panda leads Heatran. Leading Landorus definitely shows that it is likely Regenerator while the Chople Berry being knocked on Panda's side infers that it is also likely Regenerator (non-Regen sets are almost always lefties or balloon). The Chople being knocked is moderately big as it could have come in handy vs GZAp later, although it isn't huge.
T2 - Landorus reveals that it is not Scarf by clicking U-Turn, and considering it did not click Rocks, I would assume AV (also shiloh's Zap counterplay isn't great which is why AV Lando would be good here). We also see that Skarmory is DShield
T3 - Rotom-Wash is not Primordial Sea so it is likely that this is also Regenerator, which means that Mew is likely going to be a support ability such as Bounce / DShield / Intim
T4 - Fini reveals that it is Trick, which is where some of the questions regarding Panda's team come into play. Shiloh has brought GZap 2/3 times the past three weeks, and I would personally consider it to be a top three breaker in the tier. Scarf Fini NEVER lives Banded TC Brave Bird, so this means that Panda is relying on Skarmory to 1v1 GZap, which if it clicks TKick it can't (we also find out that it is Press/WW > Brave Bird which means that it cannot even pressure GZap at all). I also thing tricking the Scarf here was an awful play considering it was NEEDED to make sure that GZap cannot sweep. Now he has no speed control bar a possible Triage Lele
T6 - Heatran reveals Mold Breaker as assumed, which is also another nail on the coffin for Panda. It means that his Magma Storm switchin is pretty non-existent bar Fini which can get heavily worn down of this is a Magma + Tect set
T14 - Heatran gets crit here which is pretty sad for Panda but it likely wasn't doing much this game. It means that it cannot potentially (albeit an unlikely chance) revenge shiloh's GZap and means that Panda's entire team gets outsped by GZap.
T16 - Lele reveals Substitute which is a very cool tech. Shiloh wisp's into the sub and guarantees Lele at least two kills.
T18 - shiloh finally brings out GZap and reveals that it is MG which is very bad for Panda. MG matches up much better into his team than TC does (shiloh doesn't have to worry about what move he's clicking, he can just change moves whenever and pressure his team). It's likely the next time GZap is in it doesn't switch out, especially since the Lele is SFLO and not Triage
There isn't much left to say about the rest of the game. It's Panda desperately trying to pivot around GZap and revealing that his Skarmory has absolutely zero way to touch it. Potatochan said in call that it was Bounce Volcarona, which wasn't ever going to do much in this game anyways, and I do not remember what the Excadrill was but I assume some immunity ability. People (as in me) have already pontificated in #tournaments of whether this bring from Panda is good considering shiloh's previous usage. There was little Mold Breaker Heatran counterplay, little GZap counterplay (although there is little in general), and the Skarmory having zero ways to touch Dhelmise / GZap was also bizarre. The Bounce Volcarona was also not great IMO considering shiloh's high Mold Breaker Heatran usage. Overall, the team wasn't great, but a few set changes such as Brave Bird Skarm and then maybe MGLO or Deso Volcarona would have done much better. shiloh's team was pretty standard (by his usage) and cool, and I'm excited to see what he brings next time, especially since stresh said it was a team shiloh made!
luisin vs astralydia
The second game, only an hour later, was vs best record in the pool luisin and undefeated aaa lydia, two very good players. Looking at team preview, we see two blobless teams, which is interesting considering the both of us love building with blobs (chansey is my goat). Luisin's team has an interesting pick in Suicune, which I chose as it's a Regen water that can eat Cinderace U-Turn and, with Regen, has infinite subs essentially throughout the game. The rest of the team is pretty standard with the Regenerator Ferrothorn, likely Adapt Zygarde (although maybe not) (it wasn't), ambiguous Heatran but likely Moldy, MGLO or Pixi Koko, and DShield/Unaware Mandibuzz. Lydia's team was also fairly standard bar the Latias, with the tried and true GZap + Keko core, likely RegenVest Swampert, Bounsu/Regen Latias, likely Flash Fire Corviknight, and ambiguous Heatran.
Regarding the teams, I like both (lol) but each team does have some weaknesses. Our GZap mu really was kinda dire if it was CB TC. Our switchins were limited and were basically "hope it clicks BB". As Lydia said in my dms, Helmet Cune was likely best here to mitigate that issue. With Lydia's team, her Zyg-10 mu is truly awful. She (spoilers) has RegenScarf Latias but that is not a switchin if it ever gets Glared. Her own TC Zap mu isn't great either and it's basically a 50/50 whenever GZap switches in. Overall, it seems both teams were made to beat opposing BO, so let see which one comes out on top!
T1 - Luisin leads with the very likely MGLO Koko while Lydia leads with GZap. She pivots into Swampert which, based on U-Turn damage, reveals RegenVest.
T2 - Luisin reveals Substitute on Suicune which appears to be very threatening for Lydia's team. She Flip Turns into Koko, which is Pixilate. This Koko can't really break Suicune as it just proceeds to Scald a few times and PP stall some roosts before luisin goes into Ferrothorn
T6 - Luisin reveals that Ferro is Spikes which is not very good for Lydia has the potential Band Adapt Zygarde-10% appears to have a very good matchup into her team, exacerbated by potential hazards.
T8 - Likely the biggest turn in the game, luisin is able to Knock Off the CB Tough Claws GZap which makes it infinitely less threatening for him to deal with. Lydia and I talked a little after the game and she said that looking back on it she wishes she had gone Heatran here as (spoilers) it didn't really need it's Life Orb.
T12 - Lydia reveals Latias is Future Sight, which leads me to think that it's definitely some Regenerator set (although it could be Bounsu) while Heatran reveals Mold Breaker Rocks, which again is not good for Lydia as her removal (Corv) doesn't mu well into Luisin's team bar being able to Fog on Mandi/Ferro
T16 - Luisin catches the Latias on the switch with Glare from Zyg-10 which is very very dire for Lydia. If this is CB Adapt, the game is basically over right here as this is her main switch-in to it.
T39 - After twenty turns of pivoting around, Zap-G dies having basically done nothing the entire game. It was this sort of situation that really shows why it having its CB is so important, as even though t was able to change moves and pressure luisin some, it was still fairly easy to play around.
T40 - Zyg-10 reveals leftovers which means that it is incredibly likely that this is Power Construct. It's just a matter of time then before luisin wins then, as Zyg is able to set up on three of Lydia's 5 mons remaining (Corv/Tran/Pert)
T47 - The Zygarde is able to switch in on Heatran as it sets up two Coils as Corv switches in aaaand the game is over.
Finally, after eight weeks of OMPL, we have a game where Zyg-C is actually able to put in a solid amount of work, ironically from the person who does not like Zyg-C at all (edit bc Osake is annoying: YES Adapt Zyg was also rlly good here, although ZygC did something so f u). I don't really want to get too much into my team and prep as tiebreak is around the corner (although I will explain more once OMPL is over as I'm sure I'll make some yuge AAA post). The team was built around originally the idea of CM/Scald/Weather Ball Suicune as a fat regen Water that is able to make progress vs DesoLand fires. It's difficult building blob-less defensive cores and I think Zyg-C has a niche role as a special wall that is solid into Primal-weather and other special attackers. I thought Lydia's team was very cool, and she definitely had a chance if Gapdos didn't get parad. ZapG continues to be threatening AF and the Scarf Regenerator Latias was cool, although I think maybe Bounsu would have been better considering even CB Adapt Dog and ZygC are running Glare to beat RegenScarfers.
Overall, while the games were a bit one-sided, I enjoyed seeing everyone's teams and hope to see more cool stuff in the potential tbs and finals :-]