Tournaments SPL XV - ORAS Discussion

[ABR]

I decided to partake in the above experiment. Being fully serious, we are not witnessing constant sweeps with little to no support. Volcarona is a great pokemon that can obviously win some games but I don't think "the right set wins any game t1!" is an accurate statement at all. I also think it's a healthy offensive component in the tier. Anyway, the games.

~

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741031
sacked to bisharp (got flame body but yea)

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741086
lost, checked instantly by volcanion

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741068
came into metagross and was sacked

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-743004
chansey got tricked but also walled by unaware clef

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-743389
never hit the field

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-745032
let exca get up and did 47% to azu

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-744765
chipped tran but zardy 6-0d anyway

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-744745
did 31% to chomp then was sacked

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-746617
lost, didnt even click qd

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-748392
got 0 kills

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747788
never hit the field

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-748211
clicked flamethrower once

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747781
sacked to serp

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747831
swept! vs super chipped torn + para'd clef

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-750120
mirror, got some kills

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-749719
never hit the field

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-749209
lost, checked by volcanion

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751387
won in a situation where even magmortar would have won

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751427
never hit the field

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751540
lost, flinched by meta but didnt sweep anyway

~

ORAS is in a super fresh, fun, competitive state and I wouldn't wanna change any of it

 

[Bored Pikachu]

Since CBB mentioned rewatching and analyzing each game with Volcarona, I am not gonna let my goat down.

Game 1 CBB VS LUSA : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741031
Volcarona doesn't threaten except for the burn.

Game 2 GONDRA VS JON : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741086
Volcarona has like 4 checks in this game Medicham, Tyranitar, Excadrill under sand, and Volcanion not to mention that Serperior is probably hidden power rock.

Game 3 XRAY VS SEASONS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741068
Season's team is pretty good against Volcarona, it has Garchomp and Crawdaunt. The main reason for the Xray win is how he plays and perhaps the matchup is in his favour too.

Game 4 GONDRA VS COMP : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-743004
Volcarona was not scary in this game because Gondra's team had 2 Volcarona counters which are Chansey and unaware Clefable.

Game 5 XRAY VS SANTU : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-743389
Everyone and their mother already said this but yeah xray pretty much messed up by staying Metagross on Weavile. It probably would be a closer game if that didn't happen.

Game 6 GONDRA VS CBB : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-745032
Volcarona did nothing in this game and CBB probably would have won if the focus blast didn't miss.

Game 7 LUSA VS SEASONS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-744765
Lusa had a godly mu and you could replace any mon with Volcarona and Lusa would still win the game with ease.

Game 8 JON VS NIKO : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-744745
Volcarona doesn't do much in this game and iirc according to Jon and Niko, Jon would have won the game if we removed luck so yeah.

Game 9 CBB VS PJ : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-746617
Volcarona lost this game but perhaps the outcome would have been different if he hadn't missed the fire blast on Thundurus.

Game 10 LUSA VS GONDRA : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-748392
Thundurus T carried and Volcarona did nothing.

Game 11 SANTU VS SEASONS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747788
Volcarona did nothing again.

Game 12 XRAY VS PJ : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-748211
Volcarona did nothing again.

Game 13 CBB VS NIKO : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747781
Volcarona should lose this game, check turn 36.

Game 14 JON VS COMP : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747831
Volcarona deserved this win.

Game 15 SEASONS VS LONDON BEATS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-750120
Both have Volcarona so kinda useless to say analyse.

Game 16 XRAY VS NIKO : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-749719
Xray had very good mu and Volcarona did nothing again.

Game 17 LUSA VS PJ : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-749209
Volcarona lost this game.

Game 18 ABR VS GONDRA : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751387
Thundurus carried and like ABR said even Magmortar would have won.

Game 19 XRAY VS JON: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751427
Volcarona did nothing again.

Game 20 CBB VS LONDON BEATS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751540
CBB's luck is extremely powerful in this game, it is hard to tell how the game would have been but I think CBB would have won anyway.


13/21 of Volcarona's win is being carried and 4/21 of his win is from luck.
Tldr: win rate doesn't mean shit

 

[RufflesPro]

I'm really glad that we are watching the replays and analyzing what the moth does instead of just looking at the stats. Warms my heart.

While it is important to keep in mind that the threat of volcarona in the back is also a key factor in how these matchups play, it is also means jack shit if the mon doesn't actually do anything on the field.

A lot of these winrates are inflated because HO itself has a really good winrate so far in SPL. And moth is probably the one mon that is on every HO.

What is much more impressive in my opinion are:

5 | Bisharp | 14 | 20.00% | 71.43% |
22 | Manaphy | 8 | 11.43% | 75.00% |
| 22 | Diancie | 8 | 11.43% | 62.50% |
| 22 | Alakazam | 8 | 11.43% | 62.50% |
| 27 | Hippowdon | 7 | 10.00% | 71.43% |

Not only are these high winrates, but most of these mons did a lot of work in most of their games. Some games outright winning it on their own. I think I'm also glad to see Mega Diancie and Mega Alakazam being used because I've always been of the opinion that they are some of the best megas, especially with the rise of static zapdos making lopunny less appealing. Hippowdon is a great ground type atm as the max SpD set is really good into offense, checking Zard Y, Volcarona, Mega Diancie, and Mega Zam while still being able to take a hit from bisharp or zard x


| 10 | Skarmory | 11 | 15.71% | 27.27% |
| 10 | Slowbro | 11 | 15.71% | 27.27% |
| 16 | Zapdos | 10 | 14.29% | 30.00% |
| 16 | Lopunny | 10 | 14.29% | 30.00%

Speaking of Lopunny, and other notable things here, I'm actually surprised by these winrate. Of course, these are also a little underinflated because these mons ran against HO and usually they dont boast a tremendous mu (aside from lop). I expected Zapdos to be both used higher and won with more often. Slowbro at 27% is really shocking to me but this proves that despite how splashable it is, Volcanion is proving to be most consistent vs. HO.

 

[Ithi]

Hi guys, number one volcarona hater ithi here. I will be partaking in the thought experiment of replays and further building on my previous points so you can see where I'm coming from on why I think the way I do about this controversial moth. Firstly, I think its great we're analyzing replays but we also have to remember this is a tournament setting if that means anything here. As fun as I think it would be to give a full blown analysis of each game, I will be studying volcarona from an objective pov with what it can and can't do.

My analysis of all 20 games so far, please read first before reading my final thoughts :)

Game 1 CBB VS LUSA : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741031
Had this been a proper ho vs ho game, I would have said volcarona has a very real chance to steal the game by going on skarmory for example or even thundurus behind a light screen. You only need a quiver dance before the entire team goes splat. Small note Diancie needs to be at full health to live a +1 giga drain. Anyways, volcarona did nothing here this game.

Game 2 GONDRA VS JON : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741086
Looking at preview, it is not at all unreasonable for for volcarona to do its shenanigans late game once thundurus has done its things, I guess scarf tar would be a major thorn in this plan. Then again the six is a lot more fearful of thundurus + weavile + diancie as a whole if drill isn't in to revenge kill. Even still, the major threat volcarona possesses here is extremely real once you cripple a serp, torn or even volcanion if you can grab a light screen again late game. Medi has to risk flame body burn here. Looking at the game play out itself, very nicely played by gondra in not letting Jon grab momentum to set up, though that volcarona attempt felt far too early.

Game 3 XRAY VS SEASONS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-741068
Ok, I'll be honest, I have no idea how to assess xray's six on preview, but I dig the heat that's being shown here with gengar, volcanion and volcarona, lots of heat here. The biggest worry to volcarona sweep I'd argue is exactly crawdaunt regardless of what coverage he's running. Chipping chomp is not a tall task to break past it, and can again very easily win if that clef isn't t-wave or encore e.g. Goes to show to always respect the clef since you never know for sure what the last is. That and its other major point of entry is tornadus-therian. I am very surprised volcarona was only used as a sack, but its understandable when you have exactly daunt and no serp to scare it shitless.

Game 4 GONDRA VS COMP : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-743004
Ok lets just be real, this six from gondra has absolutely nothing to fear from volcarona unless chansey somehow gets blown up and disappears from the face of the earth and crits clefable into oblivion. I guess I want to take the chance to say volcarona's problem is when you suddenly have to deal w/ it outside of stall or chansey, I'll explain my point after I'm done with replay analysis in this thread.

Game 5 XRAY VS SANTU : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-743389
Ngl, tough game as is on preview. Having to preserve volcanion exclusively for volcarona to not get steamrolled provided we expertly pilot through cloyster + mpinsir first and can keep rocks on the opposing side. We have a very hidden threat of volcarona that's overshadowed by the setters its accompanied by. Completely winnable by Xray if he can manage momentum and survive the initial onslaught of these threats and still keep volcanion by the end of it to check volcarona. Oh. Cloyster stole this game. That was a turn I did not see coming and there goes my analysis

Game 6 GONDRA VS CBB : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-745032
The only way I see volcarona winning this game is through gallade w/ screens and azu is gone. This sort of preview falls into a philosophy I've noticed where you build your team in such a way it just can't set up at all to begin with. Hilariously enough, this is your only other route if you choose to ignore volcarona and must build your team in such a way, it cannot comfortably come in without some balls to the walls plays. Honestly, azu being gone isn't the hardest ask in the world either. Truly unfortunate endgame w/ that focus miss, boy. Another game where volcarona's only chance was endgame

Game 7 LUSA VS SEASONS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-744765
What the actual fuck lol. Zard + Volcarona put immense pressure here big time and heatran can only do so much. I did not see the Y coming in, as I was fully convinced this was X and thought a double sweep threat w/ little to stop in its tracks.

Game 8 JON VS NIKO : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-744745
Interesting mu here, volcarona threat is incredibly real once it gets in on exactly ferro or clef if its not encore/t-wave to punish our silly moth. I wouldn't feel comfortable grabbing a quiver dance in front of drill w/o screens, but that's another very real point of entry to go for the win, chomp isn't hard to wear down into moth range thanks to bisharp and diggersby to an extent, but rotom is there too. But damn, what an unfortunate game there on a few turns.

Game 9 CBB VS PJ : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-746617
Volcarona is almost a non-factor here this game, it just isn't the right conditions for it to be a threat. Very unfortunate fire blast miss, could have been used later to still somehow check bisharp w/ flame body threat, RIP. Make BO3 a thing gdi

Game 10 LUSA VS GONDRA : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-748392
I'm going to be real, on preview thundurus-therian is infinitely scarier than volcarona is, but its still scary as balls here, just that thundurus is going to plow through more first for moth to pick up the scraps. Which is why I am also just as surprised to see no hp ground on volcarona, maybe it wasn't carrying hp to begin with on this six thanks to gyara. Goes to show you sometimes don't have the set.

Game 11 SANTU VS SEASONS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747788
This is an interesting game, I can't say for sure on preview if volcarona wins, this is a mu more about skill and who preserves what better to go for the win, even moreso if that ttar is spdef invested to eat a +1 bug buzz with ease. Didn't do anything this mu, but the threat really dogpiled in the game with an early faint of thundurus to no longer have that prankster t-wave.

Game 12 XRAY VS PJ : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-748211
I'm more concerned about zam this game than I am about volcarona, fat team with two of the best checks in garchomp and heatran to hopefully foil any chances it gets to dance, with no way to successfully break past both without a lot of luck. Volc didn't do much this game.

Game 13 CBB VS NIKO : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747781
All I can say is this game was robbed lol, Volcarona wasn't a factor here as the sand six was offensively tuned to just shit on it, RIP to the hammer arm miss at the end.

Game 14 JON VS COMP : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-747831
Volcarona seems poised for success, lots of early game threats to punch holes with thanks to the likes of kyurem-b forcing guessing games, soft checking serperior barring +3 and above hp rock that it tries to eat on the switch. There's also the other immediate threat of Gyarados this sand six has to contend with, which thanks to cresselia can also just be brought back from the dead. Sometimes you just have everything and there's nothing you can do to stop it, this is a lesser extreme case of volcarona just auto winning, but is something more realistic at higher tournament level play as opposed to regular play if that makes sense.

Game 15 SEASONS VS LONDON BEATS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-750120
Volcarona feels like a non factor from seasons' side due to how london beats is just so stacked against it with not only aero, chomp and even azu to stuff it. Not too much else I can realistically say here. Wow, volcarona did a lot more this game than I thought from either side. Very fun game to watch

Game 16 XRAY VS NIKO : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-749719
Considering this is all a volcarona analysis, this moth can't literally do anything until gallade removes chansey, and by that point Gallade itself probably cleans the rest of the game on its own. Manaphy was the star of the show

Game 17 LUSA VS PJ : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-749209
My comment on this comes on exactly turn 20, I really can't say what the volcarona set was, but that third quiver dance was hella greedy no matter how you look at it. You trade and move onto the next attempt to win the game. Lusa's team is generally fine into volcarona w/ that volcanion + thundurus + weavile to get the offense going. I'm sure the game would have gone very differently at that point if PJ clicked their coverage move.

Game 18 ABR VS GONDRA : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751387
Immediately on preview my mind goes volcarona food. Thundurus food too, but volcarona food more importantly if its hp ground especially. They both just went ham once thundurus got the plot off game was over tbh.

Game 19 XRAY VS JON: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751427
This is a really fun game to analyze off preview with how volcarona can win, it has exactly one shot on the latias if its lum to grab a dance and wreak havoc behind screens to go for game. Ultimately its probably cloyster that's the deciding factor with volcarona being used to just fthrower the bisharp I guess. Looking at the game xray prevailed with sd bisharp

Game 20 CBB VS LONDON BEATS : https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-751540
I mean, CBB already looks stacked into moth. but gah-damn CBB went ham with all this hax, I would have loved to see this game be less hax reliant and more sacky to see how close this would have been, truly unfortunate b/c I really do think that t-wave thundy and possibly dying to v-create would have made the game infinitely closer.

My final thoughts on modern day is this - I will fully admit it. Volcarona did a lot less than I imagined during all of these games which I think is a good thing considering this is a high level tournament, it would speak in bad faith if they lost to volcarona so easily on the spot because it is A mon that has solutions and that's exactly the problem I want to dive in on. The solutions it demands are exactly two paths - you run its limited checks that must answer it at +1 and play something I would argue for the most part is incredibly mu fishy outside of a bo1 team tournament setting and for general play, or you just decide to build a team that absolutely doesn't let it set up. I highly think both of these solutions are toxic in the builder. Another argument that only just came to me as I only typically analyze the moth in a vacuum is the teammates its paired with and how volcarona can invalidate perfectly valid answers to these pokes such as ferro e.g. invalidating the likes of manaphy or even dnite to an extent on hyper offense should it somehow lack fire punch. I fully believe Volcarona is a toxic presence both in builder and in game due to its russian roulette mechanic, and in almost all of the games I pointed out its very real threat of winning on the spot.

Its one of those mons that's difficult to see why its so broken until you start to understand the intricacies of what it fits on and what its able to deny in the builder and in game. I would also like to state there is literally no negative volcarona brings once gone despite what some may believe that its somehow the one thing preventing spikes balance structures from overruning the metagame. This is simply false and entirely uninformed where you have threats like bisharp, manaphy, volcanion, thundurus, zard y + x, cloyster, zam, medicham. Before you say - spikes can do this and such! Remember, its not a tall ask to bring in mons that annoy those teammates to for an offense or even bulky offense to just win the war of attrition into such. Taunt gliscor for example can also do a bunch of work.

Back to my point though and running over that theory of volcarona somehow being the sole gatekeeper and bringing anything healthy to the builder/ingame. There's always the russian roulette and very exploitable holes that your teams will suffer if you decide to answer volcarona, threats like zam, diancie, thundurus, dragonite now all of a sudden can become a gajillion times scarier if you decide to answer volcarona. there's also the indirect exploit of simply running excadrill hate to further bolster your volcarona wincondition. Just because something can be checked, does not make it healthy. Anyways, I said my piece on the subject now. I really do encourage everyone to think on the points I brought up, and if I'm wrong, please explain why you think I'm wrong. I want to encourage healthy discussion because I love this metagame just as much as you all do, and there's a reason why top level players think the way they do, so I wanna hear that. Ty for reading my literal thesis.

 

[xray]

I truly don't think the meta is very beneficial to Volcarona right now. Priority users are everywhere (TWave, Fake Out, Aqua Jet...), everything and their mother run HP Rock, Chansey is quite popular, and because of Volcanion and Heatran not running HP Ground is a thing you rarely wanna do (limiting you to only one of Giga/Buzz). Not to mention HP Ground does not even reliably let you kill those, it just means you can touch them. They'll usually have Roar or some move to deal damage. We've seen tons of SDef Slide Hippos, Lando-T and Chomp will also often carry the rockmove. Sand is obviously still good and as long as they're not no bulk scarf Tar, Volcarona can rarely do more than just trade for a kill. I think some things such as Red Card are even underexplored and could also make life hard for our beloved moth, but yeah. Oh, I also forgot all the mons carrying Taunt that are running around. Being limited to only one item also makes Volcarona much less versatile, it would pretty much want all of Sitrus, LO, and Lum.

Overall, I think that the tier is in a pretty cool state rn. Many playstyles are possible and there are cool offensive threats. The most busted mon to me atm is Serperior, but I feel like we've already seen more Amoonguss again recently bc of its rise.
I won't comment on the games because it's been done already and I also think 20 games is a small samplesize.

 

[fade]

This gen w/o volc is fucked btw only like 3 ppl build it and your hero (me) would load up 9x variations of clefable spikes without anymore fear and since im the best and most influential oras player everyone will follow in my footsteps and now the tier is stale

 

[xray]

Glad to end the season with a solid record in a strong pool despite the tough start, although I think the record is definitely below my capabilities. I had lots of fun building and playing in this tier, some weeks I tryharded, some weeks I did not touch the game at all, surely was a good mix for me and what I need after so many seasons. Proud to be on top of the All-time SPL ORAS records list again (that is updated by the way: https://pokepast.es/8702c4bfa61c0498). Wanted to take this moment to thank two people in particular: Sylvi and RufflesPro. Sylvi built my week 7 team and was a person I talked to constantly about the metagame. I really like your development over the past year, great job and keep going! Ruffles was my main building partner and was always there to talk about ideas with me. I ended up changing his builds quite a bit, but 4 of my 9 teams I'd consider "his" builds. Thanks a lot for that. Small thanks also to Zaza for the w8 inspiration and the ev fixing :)

Probably gonna go more in depth about my teams after seasonal or a potential ladder tour, peace out

 

[Sylvi]

Circus Maximus Tigers (0) vs (0) Indie Scooters
ORAS OU: London Beats vs Niko (55/45)

Regular Season

Thoughts and Rambles

London, the 1-2 ORAS Starting player for playoffs from the Circus Maximus Tigers, is facing Niko, the undefeated Player by Week 5 trying to reclaim his glory after his 4 Game loosing streak.
Looking at this Tournament's usage Niko has been using a mix of HO, Fat, Stalls and 2 BOs. While the latter two didn't work out for him as he wished. Niko's win are accumulated by his best archetypes during ORAS Invitational II run, getting 2nd at this prestige individual tournament. During this tournament he invented the Cresselia HO archetype which was saw this SPL as well.
Will we see the return of that archetype which worked for him when he needs? Or will we see again a known fat but with a twist of his own liking? In my opinion we will see one of those two or a third option but with a Niko Mon like Diggersby, Manaphy, Weaville.
London on the hand only showed 3 teams so far with c0mp getting the starting position over him in the first weeks. London's sample size is small but historically known for HO's and Sands. While this HO's are not his once trusted 2x Screen Users they try to adapt to the metagame of SPL XV giving him his one win. For the game itself London could bring a different variety of Teams, while having preferences as stated before he is a versatile player. A flagship Team like the one vs xray or something new can come to counteract with the Italian from Indie Scooters.
Two creative Teambuilder clash in this Pair of the SPL Semi-finals and it's everybody game, in my personal opinion the one week break gives London more fresh air for new ideas comparing with the down trending Niko.


Dragonspiral Tyrants (0) vs (0) Alpha Ruiners
ORAS OU: CrashinBoomBang vs pj (51/49)

Regular Season

Thoughts and Rambles

CBB with a suprising 2-7 record is coming to challenge pj with the upward trending pj with 4-5.
CrashinBoomBang no stranger to anyone who follows ORAS for a bit longer, 2nd best ORAS Record all time, multiple SPL Final winning Apparencies and Inventor of many great Metagame staple sets of the past and present like Scarf Volcanion, his youngest flagship. Coming in to the Semi-finals with the Dragonspiral Tyrants aiming to get his first trophy and ending his curse.
On the other sight we have someone who popping up recently in success with a good record in SPL XIV, 3rd finish in ORAS Invitational I and the Winner of ORAS Invitational II. It's make it or break it time for the Indian from the Alpha Ruiners to manifest him as one of the best ORAS players in current times.
CBB's tournament run was portrait by MU and Variance, while the game vs London was a Christmas Present the Game vs Niko was pure horror. CBB staying loyal to his unique playstyle and not shying away combining interesting synergies with likes of Life Orb Cloy and Bisharp with Wish Chansey or Secret Sword -less Keldeo which had to face the Blissey. You can say what you want but CBB proved to show up with his own answers to the metagame and trying to innovate despite the harsh loosing streak.
PJ as well has unusual tendencies with Mega Heracross Jellicent Webs and Special defensive Skarmory on Fat. The difference between those two is that pj doesn't shy away taking using Structures from others and not always finding the answers in his own builder. While pj is for me a typical BO Player he only brought it in the first Week and in the last two, getting his wins together in latter two brings.
Will pj pivot back to his favourite playing style from recent successful games or will he find a new exciting team to overthrow CBB's creativity. Talking about the madman, he will cook something for sure but will the dish be oversalted?
I can't really decide who has the edge here but my gut goes with CBB, both are crazy chefs but one of them did this job for longer.
​

 

[Sylvi]

Hello my dear ORAS OU fans,

with the upcoming ORAS Ladder Tour, first Cycle starting this sunday 10 pm (GMT+2), I decided I am gonna share all the Teams I made during SPL so there is more open resource for the Ladder!

This threat is to showcase my own work and talk a bit about the ORAS run of the Classiest piloted by the one and only Lusa. I won't write to much to every Team but feel free to use them and ask me in DMs, Showdown or Discord if u have questions. Some Teams might be not perfect as I stopped working on them once it was decided they are not going to be brought to SPL. Maybe others can use it as inspiration for their teams!
Will try to credit everyone, since I think work should be highlighted I am sorry if I forget somebody!!
(click images for the paste link)

Teams played in SPL

Lusa W1 vs CrashinBoomBang



This was originally a Team centered around Serperior setting up Screen made by xray.
I got inspired by CrashinBoomBang to use Mystic from his original 6 ( ). While Mystic Water lacks the damage on Secret Sword, it compensates it by letting you switch moves and force a Taunt to off to deny Healing / Hazards. Of course Lusa had the final word so small edits from the OG Paste, mainly creating a Counterplay line with Scarf .

The original version is below:



Lusa W3 vs Seasons

Lusa asked me to build a Team that bluffs since we believed that would be te correct call. I succeded with the alternative version
(linked below) exactly that after failed attempts. Though Lusa liked the Garchomp line more and the Rest is History. Thanks again CrashinBoomBang for giving me the mental strength to run double fire since he did with it before. The Team goes in a full different direction but it was a good argument when I was defending my Team against the non believers within my Team.

Alternative Version:


Lusa W4
pj W1 German pl (bonus)

After being attacked by Lusa as the Screenshot shows Lusa convinced me quickly that is correct into Santu. I made the Stall breaker and with AV the trading demon. This Team was finally when Lusa and I both realized that every Pokemon which learns Taunt on Offense is usuable and it is a shame this Team didn't win so i linked pj winning with it. My personal favourite Team I did in SPL after Lusa pitching the idea. Thanks BluBirD for inspiring us


Lusa W5 vs Gondra



Lusa and I had a funny relationship, where the Team i didn't like piloting he loved and vice versa. I still cannot believe we loaded this Team but here we are, I originally used it vs Santu Week 9 SPL. We did some modern Tweaks to it. Also I am sorry Lusa I manipulated you this week, hater will say that is the sole reason why after Week 5 we stopped using Teams close solely build by me.

Missing Weeks
Week 2 we used last second change a team by CrashinBoomBang featuring , Week 6 we used a Team Lusa found edited a bit, Week 7 Lusa used a Team by devin with Lusas and my edits to feature and last week whole Team gaslighted Lusa not to use his trusty anti stall Team and load the triple bunnies by him instead,
Week 9 I played myself but dont want to show my Team, as I still wanted to win for my personal sheet but the Team was guaranteed out, so went with a bit more fun.

The London arc
After around Week 5 I started immensely talking to London about the Metagame and what conclusions I did arive to in my last Month building and playing tests. While I kept him updated with all my work this Time we started to build together.

London W7 vs Seasons



London took a liking in my view of the Metagame and we sat down in voice and made this Team together. I was just happy somebody was willing to play Azumarill unlike my beloved teammate Lusa still madge. London took my idea and did the groundwork I did final tweaks like changing Iron Tail from LOL

London W8 vs CrashinBoomBang



I remeber we were in call and like struggling what we wanna play into CBB, maybe Balance? maybe :Weaville: Bulky Offense or Stall? Then in a moment of being desperate I opened a Box where all the Ideas London and gathered are. I was always a Believer since the McMeghan vs ABR Stours Finale. Figured it might be a good start and now put 4 broken HO Pokemon + Speed Control, voila the Team was done. The Team overperformed for a silly joke and we started to tweak it to our anticipation what CBB might bring, unfortnately the Game was not meant to be to played out, hopefully this Team redeems itself in the future as I strongly believe in it's Potential.

The xray Arc
I randomly asked xray for a test in Week 1 and since when it kind of clicked between each other and we kept talking the whole SPL sharing ideas, pastes and getting each other opinions.

xray vs fade W7



This is not the team xray brought. He did some small tweaks and don't wanna show them w/o his permission.
This Version which was the final one I proposed to Lusa to play vs xray in Week 2 but Lusa ended up didn't liking it while xray find it very nice. I did multiple alternative versions somehow to persuade Lusa to play the structure

Alternatives:
https://pokepast.es/99d9c3462a417952 thundi bish
https://pokepast.es/4763803c7068fdfb azu bish lando
https://pokepast.es/c22646b8ff577bce garchomp dnite

Now the remaining Teams are Bonus and Fun Stuff, with one two words about them

mint cherrry blue offense - wanted to do some edits to the blue offense known as
https://pokepast.es/db17f6477fd30eb0

Fun - made this very early after Lusa passing me a Team from Eternal Spirit, mainly fun
https://pokepast.es/09c96aef0addba3e

Sand - first attempts at rebuilding known stuff never tested enjoy with own cautious
https://pokepast.es/456b8b940662c1cd

Thundurus Incident - London Beats softchecks Mega Lopunny right?
https://pokepast.es/8880eb6bb3815d2d

vision - Luthier got smoked by it in 10+ tests one of the best evenings I had in this SPL
https://pokepast.es/ffebacfd4aa6b0f3

BO rework with my Take how to solve Setup Issues with Encore
https://pokepast.es/6871ac8ce84f06ce

Bulky Offense build
https://pokepast.es/a59678870e81f846

Inspired by Will of Fire Sand Team, thank you Excal for the inspiration of doing a rework
https://pokepast.es/50ae92fb3fac47b2

Originally Punny's Team but reworked all sets. My inspired take on Semi Stall
https://pokepast.es/1b881ee0138d6c7d

To celebrate the rebirth of here the original sets made by MichaelderBeste2 and me!
https://pokepast.es/9e6d89258c737f1e

 

[RufflesPro]

As I was Xray's building partner, I have faced / gotten hold of couple of Sylvi's team pastes indirectly and I will say Sylvi has improved quite a bit from last year and some of his builds are quite good. I'm not generally a fan of HO, but his HO builds (esp ) are really good and annoying to face.

Inspired by Sylvi's team dump, I'm here to share as well. However, I'm not as generous so I'll share one team only xD. Half my teams are co-owned by xray or being used by multiple people and I also plan to use them in the future, so I'll keep them for me for now.

- Mental Models, Mvenu Heatran Weavile

Explanation

- I'm a huge mega venusaur fan. Consistent keldeo/serperior counter, good blanket check, AND tspike absorber. Modest venu is quite a beast as well as it can literally sweep unprepared teams once Tornadus-T is poisoned or a steel type is weakened. Originally, it was Knock Off, but since the team has two other Knock Off users, I made it Growth, which has an excellent mu into stall or fatter teams. 5 growths allows Giga Drain to heal more than seismic toss from chansey. 56 Speed is for Crawdaunt and cheeky 0 speed rotoms that sometimes try to stay in for wisp. 248 HP / 124 Def avoids 2HKO from Weavile's Icicle crash
- I'm gonna say this here and now. Pressure has very little utility in ORAS. Pickpocket is better. It allows weavile to switch in on opposing weavile knock off even. Also, 4 Def is better than 4 SpD.
- The slept on beast. Taunt + Magma is standard criminal activity, and one of the rockers that doesn't let drill spin on it, or at least threatens it. Max speed timid for bisharp, zapdos, and ada drill.
& - standard sets for the most part. SD on drill to further break apart fat, and Toxic on Slowbro for Rotom-W and Tornadus-T. Originally it was t-wave but that actually helps tornadus-t vs. mega venusaur more than it benefits us. Also originally it was eject button for weavile pursuit combo + once it was used slowbro can be used as a midground for weavile. However, after seeing PJ use leftovers i was convinced that was better.
- slower w/ extra bulk for zam. The team counters volcarona by having either heatran or tornadus-t check it. If its bulky roost, heatran checks it, if LO or offensive no roost, tornadus-t should deal enough damage. Also very little lets it set up.

- I really like this team since it has tools to win vs. every mu. The fatter the team, the stronger this team's mu is.
- Mega Venusaur teams have become quite rare especially outside of stall, and I think this team tells a different tale.

Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-678429 - Originally gave this team to Spl4sh last SPL. He made some adjustments like T-wave Slowbro and HP Ice TornT. I still like my version better, but interesting to consider. The replay showcases the incredible offensive pressure Mega Venusaur puts.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen6ou-735568?p2 - Spl4sh leaked his builder post ban and many people saw the team and took it. That's part of the reason why I just stuck to the original version of mine. Idk how, but pj used it and has the same techs on my originaly version + he tech'd growth > knock off on vensuaur. He also popped off in this replay. He also convinced me (indriectly through the replay) of using lefties > eject button on slowbro.


An extremely consistent team. Hope it benefits you in the upcoming ORASLT