Week 2 PMPL Recap! Wow!
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Overall, this week was the complete opposite of last week, where instead of crazy hyper offense teams, we had a lot more balance and bulky teams, resulting in much longer games. I have to wonder if this pattern will continue for future weeks or if it'll revert back to the fast-paced games of week 1.
With that, see you next week!
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So, as you can see from Xrn's team, this is a stall game.
It lasted 118 turns.
I'm not going through 113 turns of gameplay. Both because I don't have the patience to and also because I know very little about stall, no matter the meta, so my opinions on Xrn's plays would be misinformed anyway and that's not very useful to anyone.
However, there is one specific turn that I want to look at and it might just be the single most important turn of the entire battle.
On Turn 108, swag god (formerly known as RTM) had Hatterene in on Gliscor with 41% of its HP out against Xrn's Gliscor. Xrn has 5 Pokemon left, only missing Clefable, but all of them except Alomomola and Gliscor were very weakened. Meanwhile, swag god had Hatterene, Kyurem, and Regieleki all at low HP.
This looks like the beginning of the end for swag god, but there's something important to note here: swag god's Kyurem is Specs and nothing on Xrn's team can take 2 Specs Ice Beams. swag god's Kyurem also had Focus Blast, which Blissey, the main roadblock to a Kyurem sweep, was in barely in range of at 36%. If swag god aggressively hard switched into Kyurem on this turn, this would've put Xrn in a really awkward position. It's worth noting that Xrn almost always switched Gliscor out on Hatterene, as neither of them can really do anything to each other, so it's not too farfetch'd to think that Xrn would switch. This would then guarantee Kyurem a kill unless Xrn took a massive risk, as either Blissey goes down to Focus Blast after Xrn brings it in on Gliscor's U-Turn, or something dies to 2 Ice Beams or Freeze-Dries. However, swag god stayed in with Hatterene instead, allowing Blissey to come in and Soft-Boiled back up to safety, putting Kyurem and Regieleki just out of reach of dismantling the rest of Xrn's team, giving Xrn and the Boomers their first JolteMons win. And, to be fair to swag god, staying in with Hatt was a much safer play than potentially risk your wincon to a Gliscor EQ, plus if swag god made the play, there are infinite ways the battle could've played out from there, so he might've still lost in the end.
Even in such an offensive meta, Stall is always a tough matchup, so I can't fault swag god at all for losing here. I know for a fact I would've lost much faster. The only real notable mistake he made all game was letting Houndoom get weakened by a crit Gliscor U-Turn, as Houndoom could've ran through Xrn's team after a Nasty Plot or 2 after Kyurem took out Clefable, but other than that, swag god did the best they could.
As for Xrn, in tournaments, you have to win by any means necessary and Xrn did exactly that, so I have to respect it. Curious if Xrn sticks to Stall in the future now that they got a win out of it or if they shake it up.
/ / / / / vs / / / / / So, as you can see from Xrn's team, this is a stall game.
It lasted 118 turns.
I'm not going through 113 turns of gameplay. Both because I don't have the patience to and also because I know very little about stall, no matter the meta, so my opinions on Xrn's plays would be misinformed anyway and that's not very useful to anyone.
However, there is one specific turn that I want to look at and it might just be the single most important turn of the entire battle.
On Turn 108, swag god (formerly known as RTM) had Hatterene in on Gliscor with 41% of its HP out against Xrn's Gliscor. Xrn has 5 Pokemon left, only missing Clefable, but all of them except Alomomola and Gliscor were very weakened. Meanwhile, swag god had Hatterene, Kyurem, and Regieleki all at low HP.
This looks like the beginning of the end for swag god, but there's something important to note here: swag god's Kyurem is Specs and nothing on Xrn's team can take 2 Specs Ice Beams. swag god's Kyurem also had Focus Blast, which Blissey, the main roadblock to a Kyurem sweep, was in barely in range of at 36%. If swag god aggressively hard switched into Kyurem on this turn, this would've put Xrn in a really awkward position. It's worth noting that Xrn almost always switched Gliscor out on Hatterene, as neither of them can really do anything to each other, so it's not too farfetch'd to think that Xrn would switch. This would then guarantee Kyurem a kill unless Xrn took a massive risk, as either Blissey goes down to Focus Blast after Xrn brings it in on Gliscor's U-Turn, or something dies to 2 Ice Beams or Freeze-Dries. However, swag god stayed in with Hatterene instead, allowing Blissey to come in and Soft-Boiled back up to safety, putting Kyurem and Regieleki just out of reach of dismantling the rest of Xrn's team, giving Xrn and the Boomers their first JolteMons win. And, to be fair to swag god, staying in with Hatt was a much safer play than potentially risk your wincon to a Gliscor EQ, plus if swag god made the play, there are infinite ways the battle could've played out from there, so he might've still lost in the end.
Even in such an offensive meta, Stall is always a tough matchup, so I can't fault swag god at all for losing here. I know for a fact I would've lost much faster. The only real notable mistake he made all game was letting Houndoom get weakened by a crit Gliscor U-Turn, as Houndoom could've ran through Xrn's team after a Nasty Plot or 2 after Kyurem took out Clefable, but other than that, swag god did the best they could.
As for Xrn, in tournaments, you have to win by any means necessary and Xrn did exactly that, so I have to respect it. Curious if Xrn sticks to Stall in the future now that they got a win out of it or if they shake it up.
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Next we have the Probopass' Gravity Monkey in his second appearance going up against the Comrades' scorbunnys. scor is a pretty constant presence in the JolteMons Discord and has plenty of experience in NatDex metagames, so this was a good bring for the Comrades here this week.
Gravity Monkey brought a standard Hail team that wouldn't look out of place in NatDex OU aside from the Galarian Moltres, while scorbunnys brought a pretty standard balance team featuring Sylveon. scor has been a big supporter of Sylveon and it has a lot of nice qualities that you will get to see in this battle, so it's nice that he got to show off what it can do here.
At a glance, scor seems to be well prepared for the Hail matchup by having a single Wishiwashi. As long as Arctozolt doesn't have Freeze-Dry, PhysDef Wishiwashi can easily shake off anything it can throw at it, with Ferrothorn being a great contingency plan. Not to mention, Wishiwashi generally walls everything on Grav's team outside of Ninetales (unless Gravity was running NP Goltres, but he wasn't), so Wishiwashi will be extremely important to keep healthy here. For Gravity, if Wishiwashi is weakened and Zolt runs Low Kick, or if it's Freeze-Dry and Ferrothorn is weakened, then Arctozolt can mow through the rest of scor's team, so his top priority is to pressure Washi and Ferro until Zolt can clean through them.
Right at the start, Sylveon proves its worth by tanking a Sludge Wave from Volcanion and putting it to sleep with Lovely Kiss, neutralizing a pretty big threat to scor's team. This brings out Scizor, who takes a huge chunk from a Mystical Fire, so Sylveon is really bringing it out of the gate.
Hail comes up a turn later as Ninetales switches into a Wishiwashi Scald, taking 45%, This reveals that Washi is PhysDef, as a max SpA Scald would definitely 2HKO, which is great for scor to handle Arctozolt and Scizor. This immediately pays off as Arctozolt comes in a couple turns later, bringing out Wishiwashi on a Substitute. Gravity reveals that he isn't running Freeze-Dry, dealing just 32% with a Blizzard, which Wishiwashi Recovers off. A -1 Bolt Beak does only 33% to Wishi on the next turn as Wishi Recovers once again. This pattern repeats for a couple more turns as Wishi is successfully able to stall out the Hail.
However, one big development occurs as Gravity is able to Toxic Wishiwashi with Goltres a couple turns later, putting scor's most important mon on a timer. Wishi does get to suppress Goltres' Regenerator this turn, however.
A few more uneventful turns go by, Hail comes back up, both sides get up a hazard, Gravity gets Aurora Veil up, and scor reveals that his Gliscor is the Swords Dance Facade set. A fairly major turn happens, however, as Sylveon comes in to tank a Freeze-Dry from Ninetales as Hail goes down, then is able to get off a Sparkly Swirl, curing Wishiwashi and scor's Goltres (and Gliscor lol) of their poisoning. This huge for scor, as Gravity now has to try to pressure Wishiwashi with brute force rather than Toxic, or find a way to KO Sylveon and Toxic Wishiwashi again, or else he won't be able to break through with Arctozolt. And that latter job gets a lot harder a couple turns later, as Gravity's Mega Scizor goes down Spikes after being severely weakened without Roosting.
However, not all hope is lost to Gravity, as a few turns of positioning leads to Ninetales getting Hail and Veil up, and Landorus pivoting on Gliscor to get in Arcozolt for free, allowing Arcozolt to take down Gliscor with a Blizzard. scor sends out Lopunny to Fake Out Arctozolt, which Gravity brings Goltres in to take. Since Goltres was revealed to be running Toxic and not Hurricane, Lopunny could've potentially stayed in and did huge damage with Close Combat, which cleanly 2HKOs Goltres and everything else on Grav's team as Lando was weakened. However, scor opted to U-Turn instead, which does give the coming in Sylveon a chance to heal with Moonlight as Goltres just Defogs. I wouldn't call this a misplay or anything, just shows that I'd make more aggressive plays than others.
The still sleeping Volcanion comes in on Sylveon's Moonlight, with scor bringing in Lopunny on Volcanion's guaranteed sleep turn, putting Gravity in a similar situation to a couple turns before. However, Gravity gets out with minimal damage done as Volcanion wakes up on its first possible turn, KOing Lopunny after taking a massive chunk from Return. This is extremely unfortunate for scor as Lopunny could've 2HKO'd or OHKO'd Grav's entire team and chip Arctzolt with Fake Out in a pinch. The safer play would've been to bring Wishiwashi in on the guaranteed sleep turn and potentially predicting a Ninetales switch-in by Scalding, but to be fair, if Volc stayed asleep for one more turn, then scor would've been in an amazing position. The next turn, scor reveals that their Goltres is Nasty Plot + U-Turn, which is interesting.
Sylveon comes back in on Gravity's Goltres a couple turns later and immediately swings momentum back in scor's favor, first dodging a Toxic, then putting Goltres to sleep, and then KOing a very weakened Volcanion with Sparkly Swirl and healing its own poison (though Power of Alchemy gives it the effects of Natural Cure anyway). scor then switches Goltres in on a Landorus EQ and KOes the switching in Ninetales with a Fiery Wrath. However, this brings in Arctozolt, who's in a decent position to turn this game on its head, first weakening the Ferrothorn switch-in with a Blizzard, then nearly KOing Wishiwashi with Blizzard into Bolt Beak. However, Wishi barely holds on and heals with Recover, putting a stop to Arctozolt's best chance to sweep.
On a predicted Recover, Gravity brings in Landorus to try to Toxic Wishiwashi, but scor brings in Ferro to take in, before Ferro goes down to an EQ. This brings in Goltres for scor, who nearly KOes Arctzolt on a Fiery Wrath, which actually doesn't quite KO it. Then, to my surprise considering that scor's Goltres is Nasty Plot, Zolt actually outspeeds out of Hail and destroys Goltres with a Bolt Beakm giving Gravity the lead. As if thing couldn't get worse for scor, Arctozolt's Blizzard on the sent in Wishiwashi freezes it and scor didn't Scald that turn, which would've thawed them out. Next turn, Arctozolt lands a big Bolt Beak to put Wishi in KO range, but scor actually doesn't go for Scald to thaw out, instead getting lucky and thawing out and getting off an extremely important Recover. Wishi then KOes Zolt next turn with Scald, now sitting at a decent 36%.
However, scor does make what I might call a misplay, switching the weakened Wishiwashi out on the incoming Landorus, who 2HKOes Sylveon with EQ, though I imagine that scor didn't think that EQ would 2HKO. If scor sacked Wishi here, Sylveon could've tanked 1 EQ from Lando and would've just needed to land a Sparkly Swirl to KO it, then it could 1v1 the sleeping Goltres, since it could heal Toxics off with Sparkly Swirl.
Wishiwashi comes back in, Intimidating the Landorus. This means that Wishi can probably take 1 EQ at 36%, so Gravity switches to Goltres in response as Wishi Recovers. You'll see why later, but this turn decided the game. Goltres sleeps for 2 turns, which also ends up mattering a lot, before being able to Toxic Wishiwashi, putting it and scor's hopes of winning on a timer. Goltres lands a soft Fiery Wrath as Wishi KOes it with Scald, bringing in Landorus on a Wishiwashi with 40% HP. Landorus goes for EQ and it only does 35% as Wishiwashi KOes Landorus with one last Scald, giving a hard fought victory to the Comrades and scorbunnys.
That turn where Landorus switched out on Wishi did end up deciding game, as if Gravity stayed in to Toxic Wishi, more Toxic damage would've accumuluated by the time Goltres wakes up and that plus Fiery Wrath would've been enough to KO Wishi and give Gravity the win. However, I can't fully fault Gravity for taking the Goltres route, as he might've not thought to Toxic a weakened Wishiwashi, but he also likely knew that EQ wouldn't kill and gave Wishi a free Recover and/or kill on Lando. Hindsight is 20/20 and, if nothing else, this game was a shining example of how Pokemon is a game of inches and just 1 turn can make a world of difference.
Both sides should be proud of this game, both made some great plays and some misplays and both very easily could've won, so both should be feeling more confident heading into the next 3 weeks.
/ / / / / vs / / / / / Next we have the Probopass' Gravity Monkey in his second appearance going up against the Comrades' scorbunnys. scor is a pretty constant presence in the JolteMons Discord and has plenty of experience in NatDex metagames, so this was a good bring for the Comrades here this week.
Gravity Monkey brought a standard Hail team that wouldn't look out of place in NatDex OU aside from the Galarian Moltres, while scorbunnys brought a pretty standard balance team featuring Sylveon. scor has been a big supporter of Sylveon and it has a lot of nice qualities that you will get to see in this battle, so it's nice that he got to show off what it can do here.
At a glance, scor seems to be well prepared for the Hail matchup by having a single Wishiwashi. As long as Arctozolt doesn't have Freeze-Dry, PhysDef Wishiwashi can easily shake off anything it can throw at it, with Ferrothorn being a great contingency plan. Not to mention, Wishiwashi generally walls everything on Grav's team outside of Ninetales (unless Gravity was running NP Goltres, but he wasn't), so Wishiwashi will be extremely important to keep healthy here. For Gravity, if Wishiwashi is weakened and Zolt runs Low Kick, or if it's Freeze-Dry and Ferrothorn is weakened, then Arctozolt can mow through the rest of scor's team, so his top priority is to pressure Washi and Ferro until Zolt can clean through them.
Right at the start, Sylveon proves its worth by tanking a Sludge Wave from Volcanion and putting it to sleep with Lovely Kiss, neutralizing a pretty big threat to scor's team. This brings out Scizor, who takes a huge chunk from a Mystical Fire, so Sylveon is really bringing it out of the gate.
Hail comes up a turn later as Ninetales switches into a Wishiwashi Scald, taking 45%, This reveals that Washi is PhysDef, as a max SpA Scald would definitely 2HKO, which is great for scor to handle Arctozolt and Scizor. This immediately pays off as Arctozolt comes in a couple turns later, bringing out Wishiwashi on a Substitute. Gravity reveals that he isn't running Freeze-Dry, dealing just 32% with a Blizzard, which Wishiwashi Recovers off. A -1 Bolt Beak does only 33% to Wishi on the next turn as Wishi Recovers once again. This pattern repeats for a couple more turns as Wishi is successfully able to stall out the Hail.
However, one big development occurs as Gravity is able to Toxic Wishiwashi with Goltres a couple turns later, putting scor's most important mon on a timer. Wishi does get to suppress Goltres' Regenerator this turn, however.
A few more uneventful turns go by, Hail comes back up, both sides get up a hazard, Gravity gets Aurora Veil up, and scor reveals that his Gliscor is the Swords Dance Facade set. A fairly major turn happens, however, as Sylveon comes in to tank a Freeze-Dry from Ninetales as Hail goes down, then is able to get off a Sparkly Swirl, curing Wishiwashi and scor's Goltres (and Gliscor lol) of their poisoning. This huge for scor, as Gravity now has to try to pressure Wishiwashi with brute force rather than Toxic, or find a way to KO Sylveon and Toxic Wishiwashi again, or else he won't be able to break through with Arctozolt. And that latter job gets a lot harder a couple turns later, as Gravity's Mega Scizor goes down Spikes after being severely weakened without Roosting.
However, not all hope is lost to Gravity, as a few turns of positioning leads to Ninetales getting Hail and Veil up, and Landorus pivoting on Gliscor to get in Arcozolt for free, allowing Arcozolt to take down Gliscor with a Blizzard. scor sends out Lopunny to Fake Out Arctozolt, which Gravity brings Goltres in to take. Since Goltres was revealed to be running Toxic and not Hurricane, Lopunny could've potentially stayed in and did huge damage with Close Combat, which cleanly 2HKOs Goltres and everything else on Grav's team as Lando was weakened. However, scor opted to U-Turn instead, which does give the coming in Sylveon a chance to heal with Moonlight as Goltres just Defogs. I wouldn't call this a misplay or anything, just shows that I'd make more aggressive plays than others.
The still sleeping Volcanion comes in on Sylveon's Moonlight, with scor bringing in Lopunny on Volcanion's guaranteed sleep turn, putting Gravity in a similar situation to a couple turns before. However, Gravity gets out with minimal damage done as Volcanion wakes up on its first possible turn, KOing Lopunny after taking a massive chunk from Return. This is extremely unfortunate for scor as Lopunny could've 2HKO'd or OHKO'd Grav's entire team and chip Arctzolt with Fake Out in a pinch. The safer play would've been to bring Wishiwashi in on the guaranteed sleep turn and potentially predicting a Ninetales switch-in by Scalding, but to be fair, if Volc stayed asleep for one more turn, then scor would've been in an amazing position. The next turn, scor reveals that their Goltres is Nasty Plot + U-Turn, which is interesting.
Sylveon comes back in on Gravity's Goltres a couple turns later and immediately swings momentum back in scor's favor, first dodging a Toxic, then putting Goltres to sleep, and then KOing a very weakened Volcanion with Sparkly Swirl and healing its own poison (though Power of Alchemy gives it the effects of Natural Cure anyway). scor then switches Goltres in on a Landorus EQ and KOes the switching in Ninetales with a Fiery Wrath. However, this brings in Arctozolt, who's in a decent position to turn this game on its head, first weakening the Ferrothorn switch-in with a Blizzard, then nearly KOing Wishiwashi with Blizzard into Bolt Beak. However, Wishi barely holds on and heals with Recover, putting a stop to Arctozolt's best chance to sweep.
On a predicted Recover, Gravity brings in Landorus to try to Toxic Wishiwashi, but scor brings in Ferro to take in, before Ferro goes down to an EQ. This brings in Goltres for scor, who nearly KOes Arctzolt on a Fiery Wrath, which actually doesn't quite KO it. Then, to my surprise considering that scor's Goltres is Nasty Plot, Zolt actually outspeeds out of Hail and destroys Goltres with a Bolt Beakm giving Gravity the lead. As if thing couldn't get worse for scor, Arctozolt's Blizzard on the sent in Wishiwashi freezes it and scor didn't Scald that turn, which would've thawed them out. Next turn, Arctozolt lands a big Bolt Beak to put Wishi in KO range, but scor actually doesn't go for Scald to thaw out, instead getting lucky and thawing out and getting off an extremely important Recover. Wishi then KOes Zolt next turn with Scald, now sitting at a decent 36%.
However, scor does make what I might call a misplay, switching the weakened Wishiwashi out on the incoming Landorus, who 2HKOes Sylveon with EQ, though I imagine that scor didn't think that EQ would 2HKO. If scor sacked Wishi here, Sylveon could've tanked 1 EQ from Lando and would've just needed to land a Sparkly Swirl to KO it, then it could 1v1 the sleeping Goltres, since it could heal Toxics off with Sparkly Swirl.
Wishiwashi comes back in, Intimidating the Landorus. This means that Wishi can probably take 1 EQ at 36%, so Gravity switches to Goltres in response as Wishi Recovers. You'll see why later, but this turn decided the game. Goltres sleeps for 2 turns, which also ends up mattering a lot, before being able to Toxic Wishiwashi, putting it and scor's hopes of winning on a timer. Goltres lands a soft Fiery Wrath as Wishi KOes it with Scald, bringing in Landorus on a Wishiwashi with 40% HP. Landorus goes for EQ and it only does 35% as Wishiwashi KOes Landorus with one last Scald, giving a hard fought victory to the Comrades and scorbunnys.
That turn where Landorus switched out on Wishi did end up deciding game, as if Gravity stayed in to Toxic Wishi, more Toxic damage would've accumuluated by the time Goltres wakes up and that plus Fiery Wrath would've been enough to KO Wishi and give Gravity the win. However, I can't fully fault Gravity for taking the Goltres route, as he might've not thought to Toxic a weakened Wishiwashi, but he also likely knew that EQ wouldn't kill and gave Wishi a free Recover and/or kill on Lando. Hindsight is 20/20 and, if nothing else, this game was a shining example of how Pokemon is a game of inches and just 1 turn can make a world of difference.
Both sides should be proud of this game, both made some great plays and some misplays and both very easily could've won, so both should be feeling more confident heading into the next 3 weeks.
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Next we have a matchup of 2 winners from last week, with the Union's dex against JolteMons veteran Beaf Cultist of the Gourgs. dex brought the second Hail team we've seen this week, never thought I'd say that, while Beaf brought the fattest balance team I've seen in my life with Empoleon and Cresselia. Chansey is also an interesting pick here, as while Chansey is very viable, Blissey is very usually preferred, so I do wonder why he brought it. Also both sides have an Empoleon, so you can expect this game to last awhile, and it does, but not for the reason you would've guessed.
Matchup-wise, Beaf does have to worry about Arctozolt, as on paper, even his extremely fat team can get torn apart. However, since Chansey, Cresselia, and even Empoleon (Unimpressed moment) can tank 1 Bolt Beak, if any of them can land a Toxic or Scald burn on it, Beaf should be in the clear. Beaf also doesn't really have a good way of beating Corvinknight either, unless he's running Banded Weavile or Fire Punch DNite. As for dex, he just needs to get all of Beaf's fatmons low and be sure to not let Dragonite get too many DDances and he'll either out bulk or sweep his way through Beaf's team.
dex immediately leads with Ninetales to get Hail up, while Beaf leads Empoleon. dex hard switches to Corviknight while Beaf Defogs, predicting Aurora Veil. A few turns of pivoting leads to Empoleon getting a Knock Off off on Chansey, immediately making it way more susceptible to Arctozolt and Mega Diancie. Chansey gets Rocks up while Empoleon pivots out with a huge Flip Turn that 46%. The rocks immediately come back to bite Beaf, as the rocks give the incoming Arctozolt an Attack boost from its Coal Engine, which was a very cool item choice.
Arctozolt goes on a mini rampage, taking out Chansey, then taking about Cresselia who's only able to Toxic it. Though, the fact that Cresselia took only 51% from a +1 Bolt Beak is kinda insane and it's not even like its type change helped it do that, Cress is just that fat on its own, though it's clear that Beaf had significant physical bulk investment to make this possible, as 0 Def Cress would've taken 66% minimum.
After Cress goes down, Dragonite comes out, which threatens out Arctozolt due to EQ, which is exactly what Beaf does, chunking the incoming Ninetales. However, Ninetales is still able to get off an Aurora Veil, saving itself from dying to a 2nd EQ. Beaf brings in Galarian Slowking to tank a possible Blizzard or Freeze-Dry, but dex reveals Pain Split on Ninetales, getting Ninetales back up to 60% while Glowking goes all the way down to 56%. This also allows Empoleon to come in for free as Glowking just Future Sights.
Dragonite comes in on a Knock Off, getting rid of Dnite's boots, and unknowingly kicking off the most insane sequence of the entire tournament for JolteMons so far. You see, with Beaf's team so weakened and dex's Empoleon being shown to potentially not have Scald, which Beaf does correctly assume as dex reveals that he's running Rocks on it, Beaf starts DDancing all over Empoleon. This brings out Corviknight, who can wall Dragonite's EQ and likely Dual Wingbeat, but can't exactly stop DNite from setting up because it lacks Toxic or TWave or anything like that (thank God), so Beaf is free to get to +6. And that's exactly what Beaf does, with Corviknight powerless to stop it.
So, one would think that this is a win for Beaf right? Except, Corviknight only takes ~52-58% or so from a +6 Dual Wingbeat and dex is smart. On the first Dual Wingbeat, he clicks Roost. Roost is dex's ticket out of this scary situation, as the combination of Roost and Pressure means that dex is saved as long as he can stall out the rest of Beaf's Dual Wingbeats. However, Beaf has an out too, as if he can stall out dex's Roosts if he wastes enough time DDancing or Roosting himself. And dex is pressured to Roost every turn because, if he doesn't, then Corv gets 2HKO'd by Dual Wingbeat and dex loses the game. However, dex can also counter Beaf's counter-stalling by using Defog to waste time and not waste Roost PP.
And so begins a giant game of chess that I cannot give justice to in this analysis, you should go watch on a high Speed, it starts on Turn 32. If you don't mind spoilers, TL;DR, through an absolutely insane amount of correct predictions on tens and tens of 50/50s, including one period where I swear he got like 10 right in a row, dex is able to successfully PP stall Dragonite. This stall war was definitely in his favor from the start, but he needed to make a lot of good plays to finally get it. However, on the last possible turn, he almost lost it, as on Turn 52, Beaf uses his second to last Dual Wingbeat to get Corv low as dex finally guesses wrong and Defogs. However, dex catches a game saving break as Beaf predicts a switch to waste his last Dual Wingbeat PP and goes for EQ to KO a switch-in (since Landorus was gone at this point). However, dex stays in and Roosts to win the stall war in the craziest way possible. If I was Beaf's shoes, upon looking like I finally won the stall war, I honestly would have tunnel visioned and click Wingbeat there to kill Corv and win the game, but now that I think about it, I think I agree with Beaf's play here, as switching to waste the last PP would've been the perfect backup plan to allow dex to win the stall war. And, even if he EQs, Beaf would have to go through that 50/50 multiple times, giving dex 2 more chances to win the stall war. However, dex took a risk and stayed in and it paid gangbusters. However, dex wasn't completely in the clear yet as DNite's +6 Struggles could've ripped through at least 2 of his Pokemon, but a Corv Brave Bird into a smart Ninetales sack to get Hail chip allowed dex to come out of it with just 1 mon down.
From here, dex is able to clean Beaf's team with Arctozolt, aside from Beaf's Phys Def Protector Empoleon that avoids getting 2HKO'd by Bolt Beak and Toxic stalls Zolt to KO it (what a disgusting sentence lmao), but Beaf's Empo can't win the stall war between it and dex's Empo and Corviknight, giving dex and Union the win.
This was an absultely crazy game and a 100% deserved win for dex. While dex was in control for most of the game, Beaf almost pulled it out in the end and if 1 turn went differently, he would've gotten it, so it was a super respectable effort on his end, showing that he's still a threat in this tournament. As for dex, I have to applaud him, other than messing up literally only 1 turn where he should've Roosted, he played that DNite interaction perfectly, it was crazy to watch live, and I'm excited for his future Jolte games.
/ / / / / vs / / / / / Next we have a matchup of 2 winners from last week, with the Union's dex against JolteMons veteran Beaf Cultist of the Gourgs. dex brought the second Hail team we've seen this week, never thought I'd say that, while Beaf brought the fattest balance team I've seen in my life with Empoleon and Cresselia. Chansey is also an interesting pick here, as while Chansey is very viable, Blissey is very usually preferred, so I do wonder why he brought it. Also both sides have an Empoleon, so you can expect this game to last awhile, and it does, but not for the reason you would've guessed.
Matchup-wise, Beaf does have to worry about Arctozolt, as on paper, even his extremely fat team can get torn apart. However, since Chansey, Cresselia, and even Empoleon (Unimpressed moment) can tank 1 Bolt Beak, if any of them can land a Toxic or Scald burn on it, Beaf should be in the clear. Beaf also doesn't really have a good way of beating Corvinknight either, unless he's running Banded Weavile or Fire Punch DNite. As for dex, he just needs to get all of Beaf's fatmons low and be sure to not let Dragonite get too many DDances and he'll either out bulk or sweep his way through Beaf's team.
dex immediately leads with Ninetales to get Hail up, while Beaf leads Empoleon. dex hard switches to Corviknight while Beaf Defogs, predicting Aurora Veil. A few turns of pivoting leads to Empoleon getting a Knock Off off on Chansey, immediately making it way more susceptible to Arctozolt and Mega Diancie. Chansey gets Rocks up while Empoleon pivots out with a huge Flip Turn that 46%. The rocks immediately come back to bite Beaf, as the rocks give the incoming Arctozolt an Attack boost from its Coal Engine, which was a very cool item choice.
Arctozolt goes on a mini rampage, taking out Chansey, then taking about Cresselia who's only able to Toxic it. Though, the fact that Cresselia took only 51% from a +1 Bolt Beak is kinda insane and it's not even like its type change helped it do that, Cress is just that fat on its own, though it's clear that Beaf had significant physical bulk investment to make this possible, as 0 Def Cress would've taken 66% minimum.
After Cress goes down, Dragonite comes out, which threatens out Arctozolt due to EQ, which is exactly what Beaf does, chunking the incoming Ninetales. However, Ninetales is still able to get off an Aurora Veil, saving itself from dying to a 2nd EQ. Beaf brings in Galarian Slowking to tank a possible Blizzard or Freeze-Dry, but dex reveals Pain Split on Ninetales, getting Ninetales back up to 60% while Glowking goes all the way down to 56%. This also allows Empoleon to come in for free as Glowking just Future Sights.
Dragonite comes in on a Knock Off, getting rid of Dnite's boots, and unknowingly kicking off the most insane sequence of the entire tournament for JolteMons so far. You see, with Beaf's team so weakened and dex's Empoleon being shown to potentially not have Scald, which Beaf does correctly assume as dex reveals that he's running Rocks on it, Beaf starts DDancing all over Empoleon. This brings out Corviknight, who can wall Dragonite's EQ and likely Dual Wingbeat, but can't exactly stop DNite from setting up because it lacks Toxic or TWave or anything like that (thank God), so Beaf is free to get to +6. And that's exactly what Beaf does, with Corviknight powerless to stop it.
So, one would think that this is a win for Beaf right? Except, Corviknight only takes ~52-58% or so from a +6 Dual Wingbeat and dex is smart. On the first Dual Wingbeat, he clicks Roost. Roost is dex's ticket out of this scary situation, as the combination of Roost and Pressure means that dex is saved as long as he can stall out the rest of Beaf's Dual Wingbeats. However, Beaf has an out too, as if he can stall out dex's Roosts if he wastes enough time DDancing or Roosting himself. And dex is pressured to Roost every turn because, if he doesn't, then Corv gets 2HKO'd by Dual Wingbeat and dex loses the game. However, dex can also counter Beaf's counter-stalling by using Defog to waste time and not waste Roost PP.
And so begins a giant game of chess that I cannot give justice to in this analysis, you should go watch on a high Speed, it starts on Turn 32. If you don't mind spoilers, TL;DR, through an absolutely insane amount of correct predictions on tens and tens of 50/50s, including one period where I swear he got like 10 right in a row, dex is able to successfully PP stall Dragonite. This stall war was definitely in his favor from the start, but he needed to make a lot of good plays to finally get it. However, on the last possible turn, he almost lost it, as on Turn 52, Beaf uses his second to last Dual Wingbeat to get Corv low as dex finally guesses wrong and Defogs. However, dex catches a game saving break as Beaf predicts a switch to waste his last Dual Wingbeat PP and goes for EQ to KO a switch-in (since Landorus was gone at this point). However, dex stays in and Roosts to win the stall war in the craziest way possible. If I was Beaf's shoes, upon looking like I finally won the stall war, I honestly would have tunnel visioned and click Wingbeat there to kill Corv and win the game, but now that I think about it, I think I agree with Beaf's play here, as switching to waste the last PP would've been the perfect backup plan to allow dex to win the stall war. And, even if he EQs, Beaf would have to go through that 50/50 multiple times, giving dex 2 more chances to win the stall war. However, dex took a risk and stayed in and it paid gangbusters. However, dex wasn't completely in the clear yet as DNite's +6 Struggles could've ripped through at least 2 of his Pokemon, but a Corv Brave Bird into a smart Ninetales sack to get Hail chip allowed dex to come out of it with just 1 mon down.
From here, dex is able to clean Beaf's team with Arctozolt, aside from Beaf's Phys Def Protector Empoleon that avoids getting 2HKO'd by Bolt Beak and Toxic stalls Zolt to KO it (what a disgusting sentence lmao), but Beaf's Empo can't win the stall war between it and dex's Empo and Corviknight, giving dex and Union the win.
This was an absultely crazy game and a 100% deserved win for dex. While dex was in control for most of the game, Beaf almost pulled it out in the end and if 1 turn went differently, he would've gotten it, so it was a super respectable effort on his end, showing that he's still a threat in this tournament. As for dex, I have to applaud him, other than messing up literally only 1 turn where he should've Roosted, he played that DNite interaction perfectly, it was crazy to watch live, and I'm excited for his future Jolte games.
Overall, this week was the complete opposite of last week, where instead of crazy hyper offense teams, we had a lot more balance and bulky teams, resulting in much longer games. I have to wonder if this pattern will continue for future weeks or if it'll revert back to the fast-paced games of week 1.
With that, see you next week!
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Hoopa(-Unbound)
Keldeo
Florges
Jirachi
Deafening Shriek will be nerfed to 100 BP and Gourgeist will lose Moonblast and gain Disarming Voice
Alomomola, Hoopa, Keldeo, Florges, and Jirachi will lose Life Dew 
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S- -> S
A -> A+
A -> A+
B- -> B
C- -> somewhere higher (probably C+/B-)
UR -> C-
A+ -> A
A -> A-/B+
A -> much, much lower rank (probably B, hell even lower)
A -> B+
B+ -> B
B -> B-
(though we still went to 2nd place so that's like really good), plus I don't feel like editing my old post for the 1000th time.
A+ -> S-
UR -> C+
Altaria-Mega
Breloom
The ability Counterfeit has finally been coded! This does come with some caveats, which you can see here on the JolteMons Discord, but most useful non-consumable items can be traced by the ability, making it a fun new addition to the metagame.
In bigger news, JolteMons Random Battles are now live on DragonHeaven! If you just want to jump into some JolteMons madness without having to build a team, then Random Battles is the perfect place for you. Please let me know if there are any particularly bad sets or any bugs, not only to improve the format on DH, but because JolteMons Random Battles will also be on the main Pokemon Showdown server as this season's Leader's Choice! While it's not the main metagame, having JolteMons on the main server in any capacity is super exciting for us and I can't wait to see some main server JolteMons content!
Soul Blade will remain unchanged
UU -> UUBL
UU -> UUBL
