Tournament GSC UUBL Tournament #2 - Won by pokemonisfun

:gs/aerodactyl::gs/alakazam::gs/articuno::gs/charizard::gs/clefable::gs/donphan::gs/dragonite::gs/entei::gs/espeon::gs/houndoom::gs/jolteon::gs/kangaskhan::gs/kingdra::gs/lapras::gs/meganium::gs/moltres::gs/muk::gs/porygon2::gs/scizor::gs/smeargle::gs/tauros::gs/tentacruel::gs/typhlosion::gs/ursaring::gs/venusaur:

Introduction:
The GSC UUBL tournament returns! GSC UUBL is a tier with a lot of offensive threats while still maintaining bulkier options, making for a really fun metagame. In the last tournament, we saw bulky offense teams dominate. As an introduction to the "tier", let's take a look at some of the Pokemon that saw a lot of success in that tournament!

:gs/donphan:
Donphan
Donphan performs excellent role compression for its team, combined with great physical bulk and useful defensive typing. Donphan is able to remove Spikes with Rapid Spin and Roar out setup Pokemon such as Curse-abusing Normal-types, while carrying a powerful STAB Earthquake often complemented by Hidden Power Rock or Ancient Power to nail Flying-types like Aerodactyl and Dragonite. As well, Donphan's pure Ground typing allows it to prevent Jolteon from spamming Thunderbolts, which can be helpful in pivoting around Growth variants, and allows it to pivot into STAB Rock-type attacks from Aerodactyl. Donphan does have some notable downsides, namely its poor special bulk, low Speed, and 4 Moveslot Syndrome, but still makes an excellent addition to many balance and bulky offense teams that checks a lot of boxes not easily checked elsewhere.

:gs/alakazam:
Alakazam
Alakazam is one of only two Psychic-types in GSC UUBL, and boasts the third-highest Speed stat in the tier, only outpaced by Electrode and the trio of Aerodactyl, Jolteon, and Crobat (who all speed tie). The lack of Psychic-types in the tier led many teams to carry an Alakazan to have a solid matchup against opposing Alakazam, which can otherwise spam its STAB Psychic rather freely. Alakazam has plenty of interesting offensive and utility options to make it an enigma in battle as well; options like the elemental punches, Seismic Toss, Dynamic Punch, Nightmare, Counter, Thief, and Hidden Power round out Alakazam's offensive profile, while Encore, Substitute, Recover, Reflect, Light Screen, Thunder Wave, and Disable allow Alakazam to be a utility machine. Alakazam is held back by several factors, though. Its lack of a boosting option means that it can struggle to break specially bulky Pokemon like Articuno, Porygon2, opposing Alakazam, and others, especially if it lacks the correct coverage or utility option. Alakazam is also weak to Pursuit, making it very vulnerable to Houndoom, which it cannot even 2HKO with optimal coverage options like Dynamic Punch and Hidden Power Water. Alakazam also suffers from GSC mechanics making every Pokemon at least somewhat bulky, as this allows Pokemon like Ursaring and even the Psychic-weak Muk to take a hit from Alakazam if needed and revenge KO it. That said, Alakazam proved itself to be a threat and a half in the previous tournament, and one that every team should plan for.

:gs/muk:
Muk
Muk makes an excellent Curse abuser in GSC UUBL thanks to its great natural mixed bulk, STAB Sludge Bomb, incredible coverage options (most importantly Fire Blast), and access to Explosion. Muk's bulk allows it to check just about anything in a pinch, and Explosion means every Pokemon must fear Muk's presence, even when Muk is at low HP. STAB Sludge Bomb allows Muk to abuse Curse boosts, hitting hard and spreading Poisons, while Fire Blast prevent Muk from being walled by Scizor. Like Alakazam, Muk is blessed with an excellent selection of coverage options, again including the elemental punches, Dynamic Punch, Hidden Power, and Thief, but also Giga Drain and Thunder/Thunderbolt. Muk is of course burdened by its very low Speed and numerous weaknesses, as well as its lack of a recovery move outside of Rest, but few things can make players reconsider staying in like the threat of a Curse-boosted Explosion from Muk.

:gs/qwilfish:
Qwilfish
Spikes. That's what Qwilfish does. Qwilfish is the best Spiker in GSC UU, and it's also the best Spiker in GSC UUBL (though it does face more competition in UUBL, thanks to Smeargle's presence in the tier). Spikes are the only entry hazard in GSC, and despite being limited to one layer, they are still incredible for making progress, especially in the face of the increased bulk Pokemon have in this generation from EVs being maxed out accross the board. Outside of Pursuit, Spikes are a team's only way to punish switches (outside of attacking), making them extremely valuable for all kinds of teams. That being said, Spikes were less common in the previous UUBL tournament when compared with their utter dominance in UU. Is UUBL a tier in which Spikes are less necessary? Time will tell. Qwilfish itself can do a few things outside of laying Spikes, namely resetting boosts with Haze, boosting with Curse, and packing a handy Poison resistance and Toxic immunity, but Qwilfish's stats are less suited to the UUBL metagame than they are to the UU one, forcing Qwilfish to be more careful switching in and taking hits, and in turn causing it to have less of a presenece (outside of Spikes) in UUBL games compared with UU ones. When considering Qwilfish, it is also important to consider that UUBL not only has access to more viable Rapid Spin users than UU does (i.e. Donphan and Tentacruel are usable in UUBL), but that Haunter is much harder to justify in UUBL games, meaning that maintaining Spikes is more difficult in UUBL than in UU. This means that teams should be careful to consider whether Spikes are really necessary for their team to function, as Qwilfish itself is not a very useful Pokemon outside of setting Spikes in UUBL.

:gs/ursaring::gs/kangaskhan::gs/porygon2:
Ursaring / Kangaskhan / Porygon2
These 3 showed themselves to be the most popular Curse-abusing Normal-types in GSC UUBL, a quality which helps give UUBL its unique offensive flavour. When comparing these 3 (along with the other Normal-types in the tier), it is useful to look at their stats all together:


  • Ursaring packs the highest Attack stat of the 3, at a whopping Base 130, making it a threat to even Pokemon that resist its STAB Returns, especially when considering GSC's 1/16 critical hit rate. It is also decently bulky, but is notably exploitable on the special side, and carries few special coverage options of its own. Ursaring is also the slowest of the 3, but this ends up mattering very little when all 3 aim to boost with Curse anyway. Ursaring is therefore the best choice for teams that want immediate power from their Normal type.
  • Kangaskhan is the midground choice, being bulkier than Ursaring but also less immediately threatening, due to its lower Base 95 Attack. Kangaskhan carries great coverage options like Fire Blast, Surf, and Thunder that help to differentiate it from Ursaring and allow it to break through the tier's Normal resists in Aerodactyl and Scizor, but its low Special Attack means the Normal resists are not actually in danger of being OHKO'd by Kangaskhan from full HP. Kangaskhan is also decently fast by UUBL standards, allowing it to revenge KO in certain scenarios where the other Normals could not. Kangaskhan is therefore the best choice when you need a better blend of bulk and offense than Ursaring or Porygon2 offers.
  • Porygon2 is not as bulky as Kangaskhan on the physical side and has comparable special bulk, but in practice is much more difficult to KO than Kangaskhan thanks to its access to GSC Recover, which has a mind-boggling 32 PP. This means Porygon2 is the most difficult of the 3 Normal-types mentioned here to break through raw attacking, and allowing Porygon2 the easiest time snowballing of the 3. Porygon2 also has utility options like Thunder Wave and Nightmare that allow it to cripple other Pokemon without directly attacking. One final benefit of Porygon2 is that its superb longevity allows it to fish for Ice Beam freezes, which can open the door for it or its teammates to set up boosts and sweep. Porygon2 has some notable downsides as well, though. Since it usually does not run Rest, Porygon2 is very vulnerable to status, particularly Toxic. Porygon2 is also not nearly as immediately threatening as the other 2, needing multiple boosts to scare most Pokemon with its STAB Return. Finally, Porygon2 is fairly slow, allowing many Pokemon the chance to revenge KO even an unboosted Porygon2 if it is brought to low HP. Porygon2 is the best choice for teams that prefer to play longer game or that have other offensive Pokemon that can make up for Porygon2's lack of immediate offense.

:gs/aerodactyl:
Aerodactyl
Aerodactyl is like Donphan in that it checks a lot of very useful boxes. Aerodactyl is one of only two Normal resists in the tier, and unlike Scizor, Aerodactyl sports a Ground immunity, allowing it to act as a very reliable Ursaring check. Also similar to Donphan, Aerodactyl is able to phaze out setup Pokemon with Roar or Whirlwind. Aerodactyl additionally ties Jolteon and Crobat for the fastest Pokemon in the metagame, making it a great revenge KO option and helping to keep speedy offensive Pokemon like Alakazam and Espeon in check. Aerodactyl also doesn't mind running RestTalk on many sets, allowing it to be more resilient against status and letting it check Normal-types repeatedly. Aerodactyl's Flying typing makes it immune to Spikes, too, making it harder to punish Aerodactyl for switching in. Finally, Aerodactyl can muster some offense of its own with Ancient Power/Hidden Power Rock, Wing Attack, and Earthquake. Wing Attack in particular helps Aerodactyl in longer games thanks to its seemingly-endless 56 PP, making it very hard to stall out. Aerodactyl's downsides come in the form of its many exploitable weaknesses to Ice, Electric, Water, Rock, and Steel, its relative passivity without Curse, and perhaps most significantly, its 4 Moveslot Syndrome, as it would like to run all its coverage moves, RestTalk, and a phazing option, but must choose between these.

With all that said, following the success of the previous tournament and the potential for further exploration in the "tier", I hope to see plenty of entrants and lots of cool teams! Good luck!

General Rules/Clauses:
  • Freeze Clause: If a player has already frozen an opposing Pokémon using a freeze-inducing move and that Pokémon is still frozen due to that freeze inducing move, the player cannot freeze another opposing Pokémon with a freeze-inducing move.
  • Sleep Clause: If a player has already put an opposing Pokémon to sleep using a sleep-inducing move and that Pokémon is still sleeping due to that sleep-inducing move, the player cannot put another opposing Pokémon to sleep using a sleep-inducing move.
  • Species Clause: A player cannot have two of the same species of Pokémon on their team, based on the National Pokédex number. For example, a player cannot have two Koffing on their team.
  • Evasion Clause: Players cannot use Double Team or Minimize in any of their Pokémon's movesets.
  • OHKO Clause: Players cannot use Horn Drill, Guillotine, Sheer Cold, or Fissure in any of their Pokémon's movesets.
  • Timer Clause: If a player exhausts the timer, they lose.
  • Cleric Clause: Pokémon must be at full health and without status conditions at the start of battle.
  • SleepTrap Clause: Having a sleep-inducing move and Mean Look or Spider Web on the same moveset is not allowed.
Tournament-Specific Rules:
  • The tournament will begin on Monday, August 22nd, 2022.
  • All GSC UUBL Pokemon and lower are legal for use in this tournament.
  • Games should be played in the GSC OU format.
  • The format of the tournament will be Best of Three.
  • Each round will last one week.
  • Replays are mandatory and must be posted by the winner to this thread.
Rules for Extensions
  • Extensions may be requested at any point during the week, but must be agreed to by both players.
  • An extension will extend the period in which a game can be played by up to 3 days.
  • After the extension period ends, if a game has not been completed, the winner will be decided via coinflip.
  • The beginning of the next round will not be delayed in case of extension; the player who wins the extended match will simply join into the next round later.
Sign-Ups
Sign up by posting "in" in this thread. Sign-ups will end on Sunday, August 21st, 2022 @ 11:59 PM GMT-4.
 
Last edited:

pokemonisfun

Banned deucer.
if anyone wants a bye they can have my bye and sub me in for them

First round is up! Have fun!

Pairings
Celebiii  vs  Fluore
Monky25  vs  VoltyPichu
BigFatMantis  vs  giove97
DiannieRatson  vs  Slip
LORD SAGIS  vs  Totomon
Estarossa  vs  StarFalcon555
A Welcome Guest  vs  romanji
Mr.Bossaru  vs  cherryb0ng

Byes
NoahDeKnight
pokemonisfun
MultiPokemon
Daydream Lover

Remember that you have until Sunday, August 28 @ 11:59PM GMT-4 to finish your games, and replays are mandatory!
 

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