Tournament Smogon Premier League XIV: SV OU Discussion

[TPP]

Hello and welcome to SPL XIV's discussion thread for SV OU!

It's the SPL season again and ten teams will be battling it out for the trophy! Every team has to play 4 games of SV OU every week, so there will be plenty games played and to discuss! In this thread you can expect to see interesting discussions, constructive analyses on metagame trends, and analyses of games. The schedule can be found here.

Here's every team's draft:

The SV OU players of each team, including support slots and substitutes looks as follows (expected starters will be bolded)

Alpha Ruiners: CrashinBoomBang, CTC, njnp, Raptor, xavgb
Congregation of the Classiest: dcae, Jytcampbell, Lunala, Luthier, MichaelderBeste2, mncmt
Dragonspiral Tyrants: apologies, dekzeh, elodin, Leo, reyscarface, Star, Will of Fire
Cryonicles: clean, crying, Ewin, Leru, ima, TJ, Vileman
Wi-Fi Wolfpack: 1 True Lycan, lax, Ruft, Savouras, talah
Team Raiders: Baloor, bbeeaa, Gtcha, RaiZen1704, zioziotrip
Stark Sharks: 3d, ggggd, Kythr, Luispeikou, mind gaming, Nat, Raichy, robjr, watashi
Ever Grande BIGs: BlazingDark, devin, fakenogal, HSA, IPF, Shafofficiel, Xrn
Indie Scooters: Beraldinho, Cicada, GXE, Kate, Quartosa, Welli0u, Yelodash
Circus Maximus Tigers: BluBirD, c0mp, erz, Fc, Finchinator, Lily, TheFranklin, TPP

Useful Links:

Power Rankings
Replays Thread
SPL XII Spreadsheet
Usage Stats

 

[Seronius]

Very excited to see how the best players implement tera into team building and strategy. I voted no action on tera because I didn't see any issue with it but I'm just a casual noob. If it is broken and needs to be tweaked or is uncompetitive, SPL will reveal Tera's true potential .Either way, SV OU will be the funniest tier to watch the season no doubt.

 

[monchooo]

Can wait to see what teams the ruiners end up bringing with two historic builders on their roster in a new chaotic meta where suprise factor is at an all time high

 

[Duck Chris]

Alpha Ruiners are definitely my team to watch. CTC always got some random heat and njnp has been so tapped in that he dropped a 10 hour discussion video on one hyper offense team. Not to mention xavgb winning the kickoff tournament with a variety of interesting stuff along the way so this definitely looks like the squad

 

[Duck Chris]

Alright week 1 is in the books! 4 slots leads to a lot of games so I only want to pick out a few key points of what's passed the eye test and what hasn't.

This is like the goat core right now and saw so much success on so many teams. The top two of course are the S rank monsters we know them to be but Rotom is really carrying its weight to an impressive degree. Start with these 3 and you'll have a solid chance in any matchup it seems.

This guy was on like one team this week and it lost? Not sure if it's just a risky pick or if its weakness to the most common ground type in the metagame is that detrimental. Either way, I'm hoping it can make some more noise next week as it's definitely an interesting pick in theory.

These guys are HIM for real. If your team doesn't have one (or two) solid answers to these guys then it's time to get packed up. Both of these pokemon took over matchups this week and also were involved in a lot of the Terastalizing choices, whether to survive a hit from one or to boost their own power to sweep. The top threats of the metagame are for sure these two.

Dirge looks like one of the most reliable defensive pokemon at the moment and you don't even necessarily need to tera. Saw success on a variety of team structures this weak, checking choice locked mons, spreading wisps, and hitting through subs.

Kingambit has seen a solid amount of success on ladder but man is he ever made for tournament play. When there's a bit more focus on every individual turn and the level of play goes up, this guy can really take over. Any missed prediction can lead to a swords dance or simply a kowtow cleave to death. Definitely a big threat.
Substitute itself deserves a special mention as a lot of teams seemed to be choosing to use sub to get around the threat of Salt Cure and other harmful status. Pretty sick to see one of the oldest and most standard strategies gaining viability once again.

Game of the week: [RAI] Kebab mlml vs crying [CRY]
This game had it all. Unconventional sets, unconventional teams, top meta threats played well, patient maneuvering, clutch ko's and it went down to the wire. BANGER ALERT

 

[Goodbye & Thanks]

The Week 1 usage stats dropped and here are my most immediate takeaways:

- 50.00% usage and 70.00% win rate
This will likely be what gets the most attention, but I don’t think there’s too much more to say that hasn’t already been said. Everyone already knows how good Chien-Pao is but 50% usage and 70% win rate is still noteworthy.

- 32.50% usage and 69.23% win rate
I think that most people have come around on Pex by now. Initially, it was often dismissed as having fallen off due to losing Scald and Knock. However, with the meta becoming bulkier and after the most recent bans, Pex is certainly back. I already talked about Pex here in the viability rankings so I won’t bother restating all of it, but I sometimes think of this Mark Twain quote when it comes to Pex in SV:

- 22.50% usage and 66.67% win rate
I could be wrong but I feel like Volc usually performs well in SPL. I’ve always disliked the matchup dynamic that Volc introduces but I also think that Terastallization potentially makes Volc as dangerous as it’s ever been. To me, Tera kind feels like it gives Volc a mixture of Hidden Power coverage and a pseudo/mini Z-move all in one, when it didn’t really need any help to break through checks and steamroll teams anyway. However, the majority of Volcs seem to be the bulkier variants with Will-O-Wisp and Morning Sun, but it’s still the same scenario where Volc can always threaten to 6-0. The biggest boon for Volc from Terastallization is probably changing its type to further its ability to set up, from a more defensive approach. Boots completely removing Volc’s biggest weakness is still stupid, but it’s not like in SS where something like Heatran should completely wall it.

- 2.50% usage and 100% win rate
Glimmora was only used once in week 1. Although it did win, I feel like Glimmora, and HO as a whole, have definitely taken a big step back at the moment. Like I said, the meta becoming bulkier has hurt Glimmora and the prevalence of Pex makes its TSpikes less valuable. Suicide leads tend to pop up early on in metas and then fall off over time, and that seems to be happening with Glimmora, but maybe it can adapt back.

- 2.50% usage and 100% win rate
It feels like Dondozo has fallen off for reasons similar as to why Glimmora has become less common, although Dondozo falls on the other side of HO becoming less prominent. Earlier when the meta was more HO-focused, Dondozo was seen as a stalwart guardian that in some ways held together whatever defensive teams tried to persist. However, with HO largely giving way to bulkier teams, often featuring things like Pex, Dondozo doesn't have as much to wall while also struggling more to break through those teams.

- 2.50% usage and 100% win rate
Essentially for the same reasons as Dondozo, but Amoonguss is also seeming to decline more and more. It feels to me like while the meta has become more defensive, things like Dondozo and Amoonguss, that while defensive options, aren't fitting the popular team structures the way that things like Pex, Rotom-Wash, and Skeledirge are.

- 2.50% usage and 0% win rate
Maybe it's still too soon to make any judgements on Cinderace's place in the meta, but being only used once and appearing on the losing team isn't a good start to SPL for it. It may just be overshadowed by other breakers or offensive pivots, and maybe it's struggling with the increasing number of bulky team structures, but at least for now, it appears that the talk of it potentially solving the hazards war against Gholdengo appears not to be playing out in practice.

- Not used at all
Again, it really just highlights how much less common HO has become.

Honorable mentions:
I understand that it’s often difficult to take too much away from usage stats at face value because they don’t tell the story of how particular Pokémon function in their games, but these are a few examples that particularly had smaller sample sizes (although not small enough to hypothesize why they haven't been used much). Even though the win rate percentages for these seem notable, I don’t know if too much can be gleaned due to the low usage rates:

- 17.50% usage and 14.29% win rate
- 15.00% usage and 83.33% win rate
- 15.00% usage and 16.67% win rate

So again, I know that usage stats can be misleading and aren’t the be-all and end-all of anything, but I like looking at data and these were what most stood out to me. I wouldn’t look into any of it too deeply, but it will be interesting to keep an eye on the usage stats and see how they change in coming weeks. Hopefully some other people find it interesting too

 

[Seronius]

I greatly appreciate the usage stats being commonly available I would just like to make one suggestion for SV OU in particular. I want a usage stats of what Pokemon use terastallize, what type they terastallize. I would also like to know if it was a defensive tera or an offensive tera. example of a offensive tera is to break a defensive check. an example of a defensive tera is to wall or take away a weakness. I'd like to add just because u K.O a mon doing a defensive tera doesn't make it an offensive tera.

 

[Finchinator]

Hello Welli0u Booty Kate xavgb GXE CrashinBoomBang Quartosa njnp Fc IPF TPP Shafofficiel TheFranklin Xrn erz BlazingDark Star lax elodin Ruft Leo 1 True Lycan dekzeh talah kythr mncmt mind gaming MichaelderBeste2 Nat Lunala ggggd Luthier Ash KetchumGamer Ewin bbeeaa ima zioziotrip TJ Kebab mlml crying, you all played an SV OU game for week 1 of SPL XIV!

A recent SV OU tiering survey was posted here! It takes one minute to respond and all of you will be manually added to the group of "qualified" responses, which can help shape the future of our metagame. It would be greatly appreciated if you responded. Thank you and have a nice day!

 

[chimp]

I greatly appreciate the usage stats being commonly available I would just like to make one suggestion for SV OU in particular. I want a usage stats of what Pokemon use terastallize, what type they terastallize. I would also like to know if it was a defensive tera or an offensive tera. example of a offensive tera is to break a defensive check. an example of a defensive tera is to wall or take away a weakness. I'd like to add just because u K.O a mon doing a defensive tera doesn't make it an offensive tera.

Gotchu

It is a bit rough, but I tried my best. Notes are mostly vague, as I only had access to the spectator's perspective and won't try and assume I know what each player was thinking with each use of their Tera. Seems most were used defensively to surprise-live a hit from an opponent they otherwise shouldn't have, though it seemed to me like Teras that were more purposeful, like the Fairy Sandy Shocks and Water Sylveon, were typically more successful. I won't pretend to have the analysis chops to determine whether or not each Terastallization had long-lasting impacts on the outcome of each match, though. I am eager to hear from player's perspectives. Either way, seems like Fairy and Water are the most common, and anywhere a Pokemon didn't use those types was to instead boost their stabs. With some exceptions, of course.

Worth it to note that 6 teams did not use Tera at all, and Not Using Tera had a 50% win rate: 3 teams didn't use tera and still won and 3 teams didn't use tera but lost.

Also worth to note, I did this all manually so it's possible I fucked up somewhere.

 

[Seronius]

Gotchu

View attachment 486619
It is a bit rough, but I tried my best. Notes are mostly vague, as I only had access to the spectator's perspective and won't try and assume I know what each player was thinking with each use of their Tera. Seems most were used defensively to surprise-live a hit from an opponent they otherwise shouldn't have, though it seemed to me like Teras that were more purposeful, like the Fairy Sandy Shocks and Water Sylveon, were typically more successful. I won't pretend to have the analysis chops to determine whether or not each Terastallization had long-lasting impacts on the outcome of each match, though. I am eager to hear from player's perspectives. Either way, seems like Fairy and Water are the most common, and anywhere a Pokemon didn't use those types was to instead boost their stabs. With some exceptions, of course.

Worth it to note that 6 teams did not use Tera at all, and Not Using Tera had a 50% win rate: 3 teams didn't use tera and still won and 3 teams didn't use tera but lost.

Also worth to note, I did this all manually so it's possible I fucked up somewhere.

your a god. a god I say

 

[Duck Chris]

Week 2 is in the books and I have a few more thoughts to share.

First off is Tera, this week saw a whole bunch of more creative and non-standard tera usages, some of which resulted in sweeps like Water-Iron Valiant with Liquidation, Ground-Baxcalibur, Fire-Kingambit and some that just were all around good like Ghost-Ting Lu with Rest and the standard options like Fairy-Garganacl and Dark-Chien Pao.
Dragapult seems to have a set for every occasion and this week the set was Dragon Dance. Infiltrator is really nice with the increased sub usage and Dragon Darts is really handy for the increase in sash leads we seem to be seeing. Speaking of,
Meow is pretty good right now as any ladder player will tell you but it's doing well in tourney too. cinder also came back this week with more usage and some wins, notably packing will-o-wisp to good success.
Shed tail is back! Multiple teams went with orthworm this week to various degrees of success; I like the option of metal burst tho most players seemed to be aware of it. No-cc great tusk really struggle with this thing even outside of its shed tail role.
Not much else to say other than that this guy continues to dominate.
Other cool things: with Toxic Spikes, with Draco Meteor, first appearance of and

my pick for game of the week: [CRY] crying vs Beraldinho [SCO]
Bit haxy but fun with unique sets.

 

[njnp]

Hello Everyone! I hope you've enjoyed SPL Thus far and the excitement Tera has bought!



So, Blunderr/CBB in a discussion video regarding Terastalization 2 months ago stated that "I feel like the person who terastallizes second wins"

I wanted to see how the Blunderr/CBB Theory translated in high-level tournament play these beginning weeks.

Week 1 Result

Booty vs Welliou - Welliou Tera’d Second (W)

Kate vs xavgb - Kate Tera’d Second (W)

GXE vs CrashinBoomBang - (No Tera N/A)

Quartos vs NJNP - NJNP Tera’d Second (W)

FC vs IPF - (FC Terad, IPF Never Did, IPF Won N/A)

TPP vs Shafofficiel - TPP Tera’d Second (W)

TheFranklin vs Xrn - Xrn Tera’d Second (L)

Erz vs BlazingDark - (Tera’d Same Turn N/A)

Star vs Lax - Star Tera’d Second (L)

Elodin vs Ruft - Elon Tera’d Second (W)

Leo vs 1 True Lycan - (Leo Terad, 1 True Lycan Never Did, 1 True Lycan Won N/A)

dekzeh vs talah - Talah Terad Second (W)

Mncmt vs Kythr - Kythr Terad Second (L)

mind gaming vs Michaelderbeste2 - (mind gaming Terad, Michaelderbeste2 Never Did, mind gaming Won N/A)

Nat vs Lunala - Lunala Terad Second (L)

Ggggd vs Luthier - gggd Terad Second (W)

Ash KetchumGamer vs Ewin (Ash KetchumGamer Terad, Twin Never Did, Ash KetchumGamer Won N/A)

Bbeeaa vs Ima - Bbeeaa Terad Second (W)

Zioziotrip vs TJ - (Tera’d Same Turn N/A)

Kebab mlml vs crying - Kebab mlml Terad First (L)

W1 Results: 8 Wins, 5 Losses, 7 N/A

Week 2 Result

lax vs ggggd - gggd Tera’d Second (L)

talah vs Nat - (Tera’d Same Turn N/A)

Ruft vs mind gaming - Ruft Tera’d Second (L)

1 True Lycan vs Kythr - 1 True Lycan Tera’d Second (L)

Xrn vs RaiZen1704 - RaiZen1704 Tera’d Second (L)

BlazingDark vs AshKetchum Gamer - AshKetchum Gamer Tera’d Second (L)

IPF vs Bbeeaa - IPF Tera’d Second (L)

Shafofficiel vs zioziotrip - zioziotrip Tera’d Second (W)

njnp vs elodin - njnp Tera’d Second (W)

Dekzeh vs xavgb - Xavgb Tera’d Second (W)

Raptor vs Leo - (Tera’d Same Turn N/A)

CrashinBoomBang vs Star - (CrashinBoomBang Tera’d, Star Never Did, Star Won N/A)

Ewin vs Kate - (Kate Tera’d, Electric Win Never Did, Electric Win Won N/A)

crying vs Beraldinho - Beraldinho Tera’d Second (W)

ima vs Welli0u - Ima Tera’d Second (W)

TJ vs GXE - GXE Tera’d Second (L)

Michaelderbeste2 vs TPP - Michaelderbeste2 Tera’d Second (L)

Luanda vs TheFranklin - TheFranklin Tera’d Second (L)

Luthier vs Fc - Luthier Tera’d Second (L)

mncmt vs erz - (Mncmt Tera’d, erz never did, mncmt Won N/A)

W2 Results: 5 Wins, 10 Losses, 5 N/A

As we can see the theory stood strong for W1 but had a rough W2. We will see how things look in W3. I didn't include replays cause we already have an amazing replay thread! Hopefully, you guys find this interesting! Will update this if so, thanks for your time!

 

[Seronius]

week 3 in the books. I liked the variety of teams this week except that one team that everyone used the same team. love the up tick of usage of Baxcalibur. Definitely see this mon getting more usage when chein-pao is banned. Also seeing more sword dance iron-valiant, I've said it when this mon first came out its really strong and versatile with a great move pool and physical and special sets. Hope it doesn't get banned for these key aspects.

Game of the week:https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-673337

Special note: loved talah team. it seems like it would even work on the ladder. Love heat sets. GG's

 

[Duck Chris]

Couple cool mons have ticked up in usage this week including as sernoius said. It's really giving CB Mamoswine vibes with the tera ground or dragon and a strong ice shard.


Not sure why so many people decided to bring this guy this week but here he is and he didn't do too bad I guess. I think the combo of volt switch and spikes is nice in theory and it's got enough bulk to come in a fair few times, but definitely just invites great tusk to switch in... not sure I'm seeing the vision.

I like Hydreigon more and more as time goes on, the movepool is just so nice as a special attacker that threatens a lot of top guys.

Volc is kinda everywhere, usage stats aren't updated yet but even as of last week it was top 10 in usage.

Budget volcarona is also everywhere this week. I mentioned toxic spikes before on this but i think tspikes as a whole are really good especially for tera type threats that go into one type and lose poison immunity like gholdengo, Corviknight, Kingambit or even other iron moth. Also helps against stuff like espathra that dont usually run boots.

Two brand new arrivals this week to highlight
Not sure what bro was cooking with this, yes I've seen the theorymon posts with tera steel or whatever but all it did in this week's battle was fire off some freeze drys (did get one freeze) but ultimately lost.
Tera fire brute bonnet on sun goes in! I'm assuming this one was loaded dice? Anyway it slapped and I hope it never comes back so it can rock a 100% win rate.

(Also can someone please explain to me how crying brought non scarf ditto and earth power skeledirge and got the perfect matchup for them)

 

[WinstonRed]

That non-scarfed Ditto Crying brought against CBB was a fucking abomination. It's the kind of set you meet in the 1400s of the ladder and only works once in a blue moon, but when it does, it does spectacularly :^) Definitely robbed the game

 

[zyzzyva]

While it's always interesting to see which mons are making an impact, I wanna take some time to discuss a mon who only won 1 game this past week: Namely, Garganacl

Indeed, looking at the 4 mons we have ranked S- or above on the VR right now, Great Tusk (30 uses), Chien-Pao (20), and Gholdengo (19) clearly have the usage numbers to demonstrate their impact on the meta game, while by comparison Garganacl (5 uses, 1 win) was largely absent from SPL games this past week. What gives?

I'd say there are a number of issues at play here.

• Everyone has some tech for it (Covert Cloak, random Sub + set-up moves [Dragapult, Skeledirge, Rotom], Regenerator mons) -- Random thought, but I think cryingg's Ditto may have been Covert Cloak, which would be a pretty funny (but also effective) way to counter Garg.
• Doesn't wall much w/o Terastallizing, which is a pretty big opportunity cost when you see the value people are getting from Terastalizing Chien-Pao, Kingambit, Valiant, etc.
• Does a pretty poor job of keeping Rocks up as it really hates getting Knocked Off, contributing to the idea that Garg is a pretty "selfish" Pokemon

The metagame has evolved quite quickly against Garg; a couple weeks back I probably would have said Protect/Rocks is its best set, but now that set feels borderline unviable as it gives free switch-ins to the omnipresent Cloak Gholdengo and is taken advantage of by too many things. But what is its best set? Not sure, but I'd like to discuss two sets that we saw in SPL this past week.

Tera Water Curse/EQ
The "Gholdengo Killer", as it were. Leo brings this set and just so happens to face a Gholdengo that this Garg should be primed to counter: Shadow Ball/MIR/NP/Recover with no Cloak. So Garg can Tera, resist all of Gholdengo's moves, and chip it consistently with Salt Cure. Easy money, right? Wrong. On Turn 47, Leo switches in Garg as the Tera Flying Gholdengo Nasty Plots. Gholdengo then boosts up to full, Recovers, forces Garg out and ends up punching massive holes in Leo's team, effectively securing the win for kythr.

Now, a number of things went wrong for Leo for this to happen--Shadow Ball SpDef drop, trying to Taunt the Gholdengo, Skeledirge rolls... but the fact remains that this Gholdengo counter did a pretty poor job of countering Gholdengo even under the best of circumstances. If that Gholdengo had been Cloak instead of Balloon it would have looked even more hopeless.

This game also shows two more weaknesses of Garg. One, it gets Knocked Off early on in the game and its effectiveness from that point on is inhibited significantly. Perhaps Leo should have switched, but the inability to stay in on Knock Off is a crucial point against Garg. And two, Garg repeatedly has to switch out in front of Ting-Lu early game because its Salt Cures and Curses are meaningless in the face of Ting-Lu setting up hazards (the same hazards that Leo never managed to remove, that severely limited Garg's effectiveness throughout the game in conjunction with its having been Knocked Off).

Block/Curse Covert Cloak
Garg's lone win of the week (against another Garg, funnily enough) came from BlazingDark's Block Curse Garg, which was able to effectively trap and remove GXE's Toxapex and Garg. It did burn use up all its Recovers in the process, limiting its effectiveness for the rest of the match, but this is clearly a pretty good return on investment and perhaps Block sets deserve some more exploration as a way for Garg to force progress against the Regenerator mons and other passive walls that like to switch in on it. Notably this set does nothing to solve the Cloak Gholdengo problem, but at least the potential is there in some capacity.

---

Overall, maybe this is much ado about nothing, SPL players are simply undervaluing Garg and it will be on top of the Usage charts with a good win rate next week--Curse Garg can definitely be a potent win condition. But my current read on the SPL meta is that everyone would rather find ways to counter Garg than find ways to make Garg work, and would-be Garg players will have to get creative if they want to find counterplay to the counterplay.

 

[njnp]

Hello Everyone! I hope you've enjoyed SPL Thus far and the excitement Tera has bought!



So, Blunderr/CBB in a discussion video regarding Terastalization 2 months ago stated that "I feel like the person who terastallizes second wins"

I wanted to see how the Blunderr/CBB Theory translated in high-level tournament play these beginning weeks.

Week 1 Result

Booty vs Welliou - Welliou Tera’d Second (W)

Kate vs xavgb - Kate Tera’d Second (W)

GXE vs CrashinBoomBang - (No Tera N/A)

Quartos vs NJNP - NJNP Tera’d Second (W)

FC vs IPF - (FC Terad, IPF Never Did, IPF Won N/A)

TPP vs Shafofficiel - TPP Tera’d Second (W)

TheFranklin vs Xrn - Xrn Tera’d Second (L)

Erz vs BlazingDark - (Tera’d Same Turn N/A)

Star vs Lax - Star Tera’d Second (L)

Elodin vs Ruft - Elon Tera’d Second (W)

Leo vs 1 True Lycan - (Leo Terad, 1 True Lycan Never Did, 1 True Lycan Won N/A)

dekzeh vs talah - Talah Terad Second (W)

Mncmt vs Kythr - Kythr Terad Second (L)

mind gaming vs Michaelderbeste2 - (mind gaming Terad, Michaelderbeste2 Never Did, mind gaming Won N/A)

Nat vs Lunala - Lunala Terad Second (L)

Ggggd vs Luthier - gggd Terad Second (W)

Ash KetchumGamer vs Ewin (Ash KetchumGamer Terad, Twin Never Did, Ash KetchumGamer Won N/A)

Bbeeaa vs Ima - Bbeeaa Terad Second (W)

Zioziotrip vs TJ - (Tera’d Same Turn N/A)

Kebab mlml vs crying - Kebab mlml Terad First (L)

W1 Results: 8 Wins, 5 Losses, 7 N/A

Week 2 Result

lax vs ggggd - gggd Tera’d Second (L)

talah vs Nat - (Tera’d Same Turn N/A)

Ruft vs mind gaming - Ruft Tera’d Second (L)

1 True Lycan vs Kythr - 1 True Lycan Tera’d Second (L)

Xrn vs RaiZen1704 - RaiZen1704 Tera’d Second (L)

BlazingDark vs AshKetchum Gamer - AshKetchum Gamer Tera’d Second (L)

IPF vs Bbeeaa - IPF Tera’d Second (L)

Shafofficiel vs zioziotrip - zioziotrip Tera’d Second (W)

njnp vs elodin - njnp Tera’d Second (W)

Dekzeh vs xavgb - Xavgb Tera’d Second (W)

Raptor vs Leo - (Tera’d Same Turn N/A)

CrashinBoomBang vs Star - (CrashinBoomBang Tera’d, Star Never Did, Star Won N/A)

Ewin vs Kate - (Kate Tera’d, Electric Win Never Did, Electric Win Won N/A)

crying vs Beraldinho - Beraldinho Tera’d Second (W)

ima vs Welli0u - Ima Tera’d Second (W)

TJ vs GXE - GXE Tera’d Second (L)

Michaelderbeste2 vs TPP - Michaelderbeste2 Tera’d Second (L)

Luanda vs TheFranklin - TheFranklin Tera’d Second (L)

Luthier vs Fc - Luthier Tera’d Second (L)

mncmt vs erz - (Mncmt Tera’d, erz never did, mncmt Won N/A)

W2 Results: 5 Wins, 10 Losses, 5 N/A

As we can see the theory stood strong for W1 but had a rough W2. We will see how things look in W3. I didn't include replays cause we already have an amazing replay thread! Hopefully, you guys find this interesting! Will update this if so, thanks for your time!

Week 3 Result

Beraldinho vs IPF - (Beraldinho Tera'd, IPF Never Did, Beraldinho Won N/A)
Welli0u vs devin - Devin Tera'd First, Welli0u Tera'd Second (L)
GXE vs BlazingDark - GXE Tera'd First, Blazing Dark Tera'd Second (W)
Kate vs Xrn - Xrn Tera'd First, Kate Tera'd Second (L)
Baloor vs mncmt - Baloor Tera'd First, Mncmt Tera'd Second (W)
Kebab mlml vs Luthier - Luthier Tera'd First, Kebab mlml Tera'd Second (W)
bbeeaa vs Lunala - Lunala Tera'd First, bbeeaa Tera'd Second (W)
Ash KetchumGamer vs MichaelderBeste2 - (MichaelderBeste2 Tera'd, Ash KetchumGamer Never Did, Ash KetchumGamer Won N/A)
CrashinBoomBang vs crying - crying Tera'd First, CrashinBoomBang Tera'd Second (L)
Raptor vs TJ - Raptor Tera'd First, TJ Tera'd Second (L)
njnp vs Ewin - (njnp Tera'd, Ewin Never Did N/A)
xavgb vs ima - (ima Tera'd, xavgb Never Did N/A)
TheFranklin vs 1 True Lycan - 1 True Lycan Tera'd First, TheFranklin Tera'd Second (W)
TPP vs Savouras - TPP Tera'd First, Savouras Tera'd Second (L)
Fc vs talah - Fc Tera'd First, Talah Tera'd Second (L)
erz vs lax - lax Tera'd First, erz Tera'd Second (L)
dekzeh vs robjr - (dekzeh Tera'd, robjr never did, robjr Won N/A)
Star vs Nat - (Tera'd Same Time, Nat Won N/A)
elodin vs mind gaming - elodin Tera'd First, mind gaming Tera'd Second (W)
Leo vs kythr - (Tera'd Same Time, kythr Won N/A)

W3 Results: 6 Wins, 7 Losses, 7 N/A

Mixed results this week. Teraing First edges again though. We shall see how things pan out in W4!

 

[Duck Chris]

Week 4 is done! This week was sneaky good, while everyone was busy watching the super bowl and debating ban candidates down to the last second we got some really cool matches.


Chien pao exits the tier with one of the most dominant usage stats in a while
| 3 | Chien-Pao | 67 | 42.41% | 61.19% |
A strikingly high win percentage for how much it was used, the tier will surely look much different without the number 3 most used pokemon.

The ostrich picked up a little steam this week, winning 4 out of 5 outings. Even with people prepared for it it kept winning, glad to see it go.

What do these three have in common this week? Under 40% win rate. While definitely strong pokemon getting good usage, it seems like most players are building their teams with these guys in mind. Over prepared for and underachieving? Or is it just noise

Funny how we totally forgot this was grens first week. 4 wins in 5 outings definitely isn't bad, let's see if he can keep it up

Orthworm | 6 | 15.79% | 83.33%
Eyes emoji!!!

Game of the week: [CRY] crying vs elodin [TYR]
Two un mons makes for a cool battle even if it ended fast.

 

[Vastus]

Week 4 is done! This week was sneaky good, while everyone was busy watching the super bowl and debating ban candidates down to the last second we got some really cool matches.


Chien pao exits the tier with one of the most dominant usage stats in a while
| 3 | Chien-Pao | 67 | 42.41% | 61.19% |
A strikingly high win percentage for how much it was used, the tier will surely look much different without the number 3 most used pokemon.

The ostrich picked up a little steam this week, winning 4 out of 5 outings. Even with people prepared for it it kept winning, glad to see it go.

What do these three have in common this week? Under 40% win rate. While definitely strong pokemon getting good usage, it seems like most players are building their teams with these guys in mind. Over prepared for and underachieving? Or is it just noise

Funny how we totally forgot this was grens first week. 4 wins in 5 outings definitely isn't bad, let's see if he can keep it up

Orthworm | 6 | 15.79% | 83.33%
Eyes emoji!!!

Game of the week: [CRY] crying vs elodin [TYR]
Two un mons makes for a cool battle even if it ended fast.

Think you linked the wrong replay brother

 

[Duck Chris]

Think you linked the wrong replay brother

Ty fixed

 

[njnp]

Week 3 Result

Beraldinho vs IPF - (Beraldinho Tera'd, IPF Never Did, Beraldinho Won N/A)
Welli0u vs devin - Devin Tera'd First, Welli0u Tera'd Second (L)
GXE vs BlazingDark - GXE Tera'd First, Blazing Dark Tera'd Second (W)
Kate vs Xrn - Xrn Tera'd First, Kate Tera'd Second (L)
Baloor vs mncmt - Baloor Tera'd First, Mncmt Tera'd Second (W)
Kebab mlml vs Luthier - Luthier Tera'd First, Kebab mlml Tera'd Second (W)
bbeeaa vs Lunala - Lunala Tera'd First, bbeeaa Tera'd Second (W)
Ash KetchumGamer vs MichaelderBeste2 - (MichaelderBeste2 Tera'd, Ash KetchumGamer Never Did, Ash KetchumGamer Won N/A)
CrashinBoomBang vs crying - crying Tera'd First, CrashinBoomBang Tera'd Second (L)
Raptor vs TJ - Raptor Tera'd First, TJ Tera'd Second (L)
njnp vs Ewin - (njnp Tera'd, Ewin Never Did N/A)
xavgb vs ima - (ima Tera'd, xavgb Never Did N/A)
TheFranklin vs 1 True Lycan - 1 True Lycan Tera'd First, TheFranklin Tera'd Second (W)
TPP vs Savouras - TPP Tera'd First, Savouras Tera'd Second (L)
Fc vs talah - Fc Tera'd First, Talah Tera'd Second (L)
erz vs lax - lax Tera'd First, erz Tera'd Second (L)
dekzeh vs robjr - (dekzeh Tera'd, robjr never did, robjr Won N/A)
Star vs Nat - (Tera'd Same Time, Nat Won N/A)
elodin vs mind gaming - elodin Tera'd First, mind gaming Tera'd Second (W)
Leo vs kythr - (Tera'd Same Time, kythr Won N/A)

W3 Results: 6 Wins, 7 Losses, 7 N/A

Mixed results this week. Teraing First edges again though. We shall see how things pan out in W4!

Week 4 Result

Mncmt vs Welli0u - Mncmt Tera'd First, Welli0u Tera'd Second (L)
Lunala vs Kate - Lunala Tera'd First, Kate Tera'd Second (W)
Luthier vs Beraldinho - Luthier Tera'd First, Beraldinho Tera'd Second (L)
MichaelderBeste2 vs GXE - MichaelderBeste2 Tera'd First, GXE Tera'd Second (W)
ima vs Star - Ima Tera'd First, Star Tera'd Second (W)
TJ vs Leo - Leo Tera'd First, TJ Tera'd Second (L)
crying vs elodin - Elodin Tera'd First, crying Tera'd Second (L)
Ewin vs apologies - apologies Tera'd First, Ewin Tera'd Second (L)
Nat vs Fc - (Nat Tera'd, Fc Never Did, Nat Won N/A)
mind gaming vs TheFranklin - Mind Gaming Tera'd First, TheFranklin Tera'd Second (L)
kythr vs erz - Erz Tera'd First, Kythr Tera'd Second (W)
robjr vs TPP - TPP Tera'd First, Robjr Tera'd Second (L)
devin vs njnp - Devin Tera'd First, njnp Tera'd Second (W)
BlazingDark vs xavgb - BlazingDark Tera'd First, Xavgb Tera'd Second (W)
IPF vs Raptor - IPF Tera'd First, Raptor Tera'd Second (W)
Xrn vs CrashinBoomBang - (No Tera N/A)
talah vs bbeeaa - Talah Tera'd First, bbeeaa Tera'd Second (W)
Savorus vs Ash KetchumGamer - Ash KetchumGamer Tera'd First, Savorus Tera'd Second (W)
lax vs Kebab mlml - Lax Tera'd First, Kebab mlml Tera'd Second (L)
1 True Lycan vs Baloor - (Baloor Tera'd, 1 True Lycan Never Did, 1 True Lycan Won N/A)

W4 Results: 9 Wins, 8 Losses, 3 N/A

Sorry this is so late was busy tryna adjust to this new meta. Mixed results once again this week. Teraing Second edges though unlike last week. Extremely low N/A most of the matches had both players utilizing Tera. Currently, as it stands Teraing Second and Teraing First are tied 2-2 throughout the 4 weeks. We shall see how things pan out in W5!

 

[bludz]

Volcarona is so damn good. It jumped to 3rd place in usage for week 4, and although its win rate was under 50%, it left its mark on many games.

It's always been a matchup dependent pokemon, since hard stops to it exist depending on the set. Primary examples are Skeledirge and Ceruledge. But reasonable variety in its sets + Tera allows it ways around some typical answers.

This replay from week 5 shows Volc 1v1 a Clodsire with a Sub + Tera Grass set:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-675342

here's another replay from week 4 with presumably the same set, putting in massive work:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-674634

This set can also 1v1 Toxapex in many circumstances and allows nice setup opportunities on predicted Earthquakes and even Salt Cure from Garg after you Tera.

We've also seen some psychic Volcaronas, and even 3 double moth teams in week 4 (they went 1-2, but ironically one of them was swept by an opposing Volcarona).

I also think we've seen less bulky wisp Volc with the relevance of Tera Fire Kingambit, a metagame adaptation that allows it to beat Volc (among eating other wisps and beating other fire types/1v1ing Valiant).

EDIT: and Volcarona already striking back at Tera Fire Gambit with Tera Ground, which also hits Clod/Moth/Pex, and even fire types like Skeledirge and Ceruledge

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ou-675603

 

[zyzzyva]

Garg bad blah blah blah

2 weeks have passed since I talked about Garg's low usage in SPL, so I just wanted to make a quick follow-up. In each of the past 2 weeks, Garg has been used 3 times, going 1-2 in week 4 and 2-1 in week 5 for a total record of 3-3 the past 2 weeks, and 4-7 the past 3 weeks. 11 usages in the past 3 weeks means it's under 10% usage over that time frame, and the recent bans of Chien-Pao and Espathra do not seem to have persuaded SPL players to start using Garg.

The usage stats for this week aren't out yet, but at a glance it seems like the more popular defensive options at the moment are Rotom-W, Skeledirge, and Ting-Lu--none of which are especially passive, I would say--, with Amoonguss, Clod, Garg, and Dondozo being a little more niche. Overall the meta is perhaps too offensive for players to want to bring Garg or other purely defensive options when faced with the prospect of Weather, Psychic Terrain, Shed Tail, Covert Cloak, and the myriad Substitute users that aim to take advantage of more passive Pokemon. And as much as Garg can profit off of a timely Tera, the opportunity cost of not being able to Tera the truly threatening sweepers of the tier (Volc, Kingambit, and Valiant especially) is perhaps too high. I guess we'll see if this trend holds, or Garg manages to find a breakthrough in the weeks to come.

 

[Duck Chris]

Shorter round up from past week as it's a bit late but some cool stuff to touch on.

As others have said volc is finally taking over as we might have expected. Seems like a bit of a dice roll to figure out tera type though its also possible that teams just aren't prepped enough for it. Low usage of clodsire in particular helps it out.

Eject pack has been a pretty cool item going around, with usage on Gholdengo's make it rain, great tusk's headlong rush and cc, and others. Offense is quite good right now since you can run six threats without having to sack something to Chien Pao every other turn and eject pack really keeps the momentum going.

He only showed up a few times but I'm liking pawmot on HO styles and weather teams especially. As an archetype weather often seems to be on a clock where all your most threatening sweepers and your weather starter eventually die while taking out their checks so Pawmot can really help keep it interesting. Double shock is no joke also and mach punch is especially useful considering the prevalence of Kingambit.

It's strange to put this in as a talking point when the most noticeable aspect is how absent it's been. It's kind of crazy the dissonance between how broken people claim this mon to be vs how little it's being used. I don't think it's bad per se but there is something to be said about how building around a pokemon that needs to tera to avoid being Great Tusk weak doesn't really fit on a lot of team structures.
It only had 3 uses this week total, and it currently has a 34% win rate on the season, the 4th lowest of any pokemon with "OU" usage in tourney (about 35 mons total)

100% win rate overall he's the goat!!!

 

[Rootb]

He only showed up a few times but I'm liking pawmot on HO styles and weather teams especially. As an archetype weather often seems to be on a clock where all your most threatening sweepers and your weather starter eventually die while taking out their checks so Pawmot can really help keep it interesting. Double shock is no joke also and mach punch is especially useful considering the prevalence of Kingambit.

Double Shock is the real deal. People love playing Leppa Berry sets, but there is a very real mon there to work with - one that's more than functional even holding Revival Blessing as its fourth move. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it keeps increasing in usage.