SPL XVI Pre-Tournament Series: Best Battles of SPL XV
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Art by Finchely.
As the 16th edition of Smogon Premier League approaches, our media team took the time to reach out to the community for feedback and input on what some of their favorite games from the previous SPL were. The community didn't let us down, as a wide range of games were submitted. Our team sifted through the replays and narrowed it down to the 10 games we felt best represented the tournament while covering a wide range of playstyles and strategies. So kick back, throw on one of your favorite 3 hour BKC-narrated videos in the background (there's a lot to choose from), and enjoy some of the highest level of play from SPL XV!
SV OU - hellom vs Trosko
hellom and Trosko held the top two records in SPL XV at 10-1 and 10-2, respectively! These two came into the tournament with vastly different trajectories, however, as hellom was the new kid on the block, hoping to make a name for himself, while Trosko, on the other hand, cost 23k and was a veteran looking to have another strong campaign. Paired with some fellow Spaniards and a group of experienced competitors, Trosko was hoping to lead a rebranded Tigers team into the playoffs for the first time in a long time, ditching their past infamy and rebranding as one of the powerhouses of SPL. The Indie Scooters, on the flip side, had some fresher faces playing SV OU with veteran presences spread throughout older generations. They were banking on overperformances from cheaper options, and this gamble proved worthwhile, as hellom's SPL season was superb.
This pair fought twice in the flagship metagame of SV OU during SPL XV! The first of the two contests took place during the regular season's fourth week, while the second had much higher stakes as the semifinal tiebreak decider. Both games were close, and we will touch on both in the order that they were played. Each player showcased a varied playstyle throughout the season, so we will be able to see some of the most iconic SV OU games across unique settings. Heading into the first game, both hellom and Trosko were 3-0, setting the stage for this to be an early February highlight!
Week Four
Heading into the game, we see hellom opting to use a balanced team, which is a departure from some of his prior offensive brings, and Trosko loading up a bulky-offense with some surprising picks like Heatran and Rotom-W, which have not seen much success yet this generation when compared to prior OUs. With a famous Fire / Water / Grass core, Trosko came prepared to outplay whatever was thrown his way with plenty of defensive stops and sufficient speed control in the form of Scarf Meowscarada. On the flip side, hellom opted to dictate the pace of the game with passive damage and bulky setup Pokemon, as he featured Iron Treads for hazard control, Clefable to manage status and mitigate opposing status or entry hazards, and various setup options like Swords Dance Gliscor, Iron Defense Zamazenta, and Calm Mind Latias.
In the early stages of the game, incremental progress is traded, with Trosko's Future Sight Galarian Slowking and Knock Off Meowscarada combining to force reactive play from hellom. hellom is able to break the cycle by using Zamazenta's entry and initial Iron Defense to force a Tera Poison from Trosko's Rotom-W, which is able to safely escape with the Terastallization being exhausted. With this tempo from pivoting around Zamazenta in hand, Trosko is able to turn this into an early lead as the pressure of status coupled with Hex Dragapult forces an early Clefable fodder and leads to Heatran entering safely to set up Stealth Rock. With some aggressive pivots to stifle Zamazenta's second attempt to set up, Dragapult is able to pick off another kill despite being weakened.
Taking control of the driver's seat, hellom uses his Galarian Slowking's demise to get Swords Dance Gliscor in safely. It is able to pick off a weakened Rotom-W and Meowscarada before Trosko brings in his own setup Ground-type: Great Tusk. Bulk Up + Ice Spinner is able to threaten out Gliscor and dispose of a weakened Zamazenta, leaving hellom to bring in his ace: Latias, which will be tasked with muscling past the bulk of Trosko's team with his own Tera type unrevealed if he wishes to prevail! Only one of these players can emerge undefeated, so be sure to check out the replay and find out if this will be enough for hellom to mount a comeback or if Trosko will hold strong.
Semifinals
For the second time this tournament, hellom and Trosko met on the SPL battlefield. The two combined to go 11-1 since their last match, winning every single game besides a close contest between Trosko and lax during week 5. Trosko's legend has grown enormously in recent tournaments. as he evolved from proven veteran to elite SV OU player with his WCoP win and dominant SPL in hand. Similarly, hellom's stock increased exponentially, going from intriguing rookie prospect to top player across the span of a single, currently undefeated campaign! hellom comes in at 10-0 and as the presumed favorite against anyone in the field given this record, but nobody was doubting Trosko at 8-2—both players were chosen to participate in a decisive tiebreak for a reason, as the ticket into finals was on the line for both teams.
Looking at Team Preview, both players brought balance, with hellom's being a bit more proactive with Ogerpon-W and Choice Scarf Gholdengo, while Trosko opted for a more conservative approach featuring Skarmory and Ting-Lu as a defensive backbone. Each side opted to use a Swords Dance Gliscor for early wallbreaking prowess, but progress on the preliminary front was dictated by hellom's maneuvers! A timely Trick from hellom's Gholdengo onto Ting-Lu and a calculated stay with hellom's Ogerpon-W on Dragapult to survive a Draco Meteor and dispose of it with Knock Off gave hellom the lead. He was able to expand on this by winning an Ogerpon Speed tie that followed, getting off a strong U-turn and then pivoting it in again a few turns later to bring Gliscor into the red with a final Ivy Cudgel before being taken out. Down, but not out, Trosko was tasked with overcoming this deficit with many of his defensive tools being out of the picture. He is going to need to maneuver precisely, get many turns right, and potentially luck out to emerge victorious and allow the Tigers to advance to the finals! Will this be possible or will hellom hold strong, continuing his undefeated rookie campaign en route to the finals for the Scooters?
SV OU - xavgb vs myjava
The stakes couldn't have been higher for the Alpha Ruiners and Dragonspiral Tyrants going into the semifinals tiebreaker series, as they were battling to determine who would face the Circus Maximus Tigers in the tournament's finals. The first game of the 3-game series was an SV OU match between xavgb, representing the Ruiners, and myjava, representing the Tyrants. To most people looking at this matchup at the surface level, this matchup seemed lopsided, with SV OU heavyweight xavgb being heavily favored against SPL newcomer myjava.
Here's the tale of the tape. Going into the draft, xavgb was retained by the Ruiners for the second year in a row, cementing himself as the franchise's ace player for his third straight year. xavgb was the consensus #1 ranked SV OU player out of 40 in the SPL XV Power Rankings, dwarfing the second-ranked player by 1.5 points and being touted as the player the Ruiners would be counting on to carry their campaign. Despite the hype and praise heading into the tournament, xavgb entered this matchup vs myjava sitting at a mediocre 3-4 record while skipping weeks 1, 2, and 5 of the regular reason. On top of that, xavgb suffered a loss to the Tyrants' Luispeikou coming into the tiebreaker.
On the other hand, myjava's story is not like xavgb's. Almost undrafted, the Tyrants took myjava for 3k late in the auction as a SV OU substitute in what would be his very first SPL. myjava was thrust into the starting SV rotation during week 4 and found a string of successes early on, sporting a 6-1 record heading into the tiebreak, including a semifinals victory over a fellow rookie, oldspicemike.
As the game begins, we already see distinctly different approaches to this game from both players. On myjava's side, the team composition points towards a bulky team with the typical stall pieces, including Unaware Skeledirge, Regenerator Alomomola, Magic Guard Clefable, and Poison Heal Gliscor. Rounding out myjava's team is an unorthodox choice of Ogerpon and the less original choice of Zamazenta. The differences between xavgb and myjava continued, as xavgb opted for a more physically offensive route, mirroring Zamazenta and an Ogerpon sporting an uncommon mask of its own, the Cornerstone Mask. These two legendaries, along with other BST-baddies—Gouging Fire, Deoxys-S, and Kingambit—are supported by Hatterene for hazard control to round out this more aggressive approach.
And with Team Preview out of the way, the stage for this match was set with xavgb, widely considered one of the best players in SV, and newcomer myjava, rising up the rankings with one of the best rookie performances of the season, facing off in what would be one of the most shocking playoff games of the tournament.
The battle begins with two Pokemon from space, and Deoxys reveals Psycho Boost + Eject Pack, chunking Clefable and bringing Hatterene in to punish any potential Thunder Wave or Stealth Rock from Clefable. Despite Hatterene's presence, myjava is able to get Stealth Rock up as it dodges a Power Whip from Ogerpon-C. xavgb has the firepower to get through myjava's team, but Stealth Rock is cutting into all of his Pokemon while myjava's Pokemon don't mind the entry hazards at all. myjava's Skeledirge takes out Gouging Fire, but not before Gouging Fire had taken out two Pokemon, nearly three as Skeledirge is hanging on for dear life. myjava manages to preserve his low-HP Skeledirge but it's unclear if it can safely come in again. Kingambit comes in against myjava's Zamazenta, and Terastallization is still available. myjava knows Terastallization is coming, and Kingambit indeed does take to the skies with Tera Flying, but now what? Skeledirge comes out. Gliscor can't do much to a Flying Kingambit, so can Zamazenta handle this if Skeledirge can't? Ironically the shield dog is myjava's last chance against xavgb's amazing pressure and precision, but you'll have to watch the replay to see what happens.
SV OU - Punny vs Fogbound Lake
The Week 7 matchup between Fogbound Lake and Punny in the Smogon Premier League was a critical test for both competitors as the tournament approached playoffs. Representing the Wolfpack in his SPL debut, Fogbound Lake entered with a 1-5 record, while Punny, a veteran for the Raiders, boasted a solid 4-2 performance this season. Punny, ranked #3 in the SV OU Power Rankings, was favored against Fogbound Lake, ranked #6, though the latter had recently made waves with a stellar 9-2 SV OU record in SCL III.
Punny's team leaned into balance with a defensive core of Skeledirge, Ting-Lu, and Skarmory alongside Dragapult and Clefable for utility and disruption, with Rillaboom providing offensive presence. Fogbound Lake countered with a versatile physical offense featuring Hisuian Samurott, Dragonite, Gholdengo, Iron Valiant, Roaring Moon, and Landorus-T, designed to overwhelm shared checks by stacking sweepers like Dragon Dance Dragonite and Roaring Moon.
The match began with Gholdengo immediately applying pressure as a smart lead against Clefable. A Nasty Plot right away as Ting-Lu came in seemed promising, but a missed Focus Blast slowed Fogbound Lake's early momentum. Ting-Lu capitalized by setting a layer of Spikes, chipping away at Fogbound Lake's core throughout the match. A key sequence saw Fogbound Lake's use of Terastallization to dispatch Ting-Lu early on, as it's often quite problematic for teams of Fogbound Lake's style.
Punny countered with methodical play, utilizing Clefable and Skeledirge to stall and recover from Fogbound Lake's attempts to gain momentum. Hisuian Samurott reveals Swords Dance, flipping the typically favorable matchup for Skarmory on its head and forcing in Skeledirge to Terastallize to take Hisuian Samurott out.
As the match reached its climax, Punny's Dragapult and Skeledirge emerged as defining factors, with Dragapult's Draco Meteor having no real switch-in and Skeledirge staying ignorant to the potential boosts of Fogbound Lake's setup sweepers. Skeledirge made this game incredibly close, as Dragonite takes out Skeledirge and succumbs to its burn, leaving both players with only one Pokemon each. This may seem like a well-earned win for Punny, as Dragapult is faster and can easily KO the weakened Gholdengo, but the Spikes Punny set up all the way back on turn 3 will actually be his downfall. Gholdengo drops to 20% HP and eats its Custap Berry for a KO on Punny's Dragapult, securing the win for Fogbound Lake in an unexpected fashion.
This match highlighted the power of game prep from both sides. Punny brought a team with a seemingly incredible matchup, with phazers, Unaware Skeledirge, and powerful speed control against a setup-centric offense. However, Fogbound Lake's innovative sets such as Swords Dance Hisuian Samurott, Taunt users like Landorus-T and Roaring Moon, and Custap Berry Gholdengo allowed him to eke out a win against one of Smogon's best.
SS OU - MichaelderBeste2 vs Jytcampbell
In a battle between two players with vastly different pedigrees, MichaelderBeste2 and Jytcampbell both come into week 6 with similar, two-loss records. Michael has conquered singles and doubles throughout his triumphant run in recent years, dominating VGC to the tune of a Worlds finals appearance while winning both Smogon Tour and Smogon Masters. Jytcampbell, on the flip side, is one of the more soft-spoken players in the pool, who has alternated between utility roles and rounding out starting lineups headed into SPL XV. Unsurprisingly, this left Jyt's pricetag at a mere 3k, while Michael was over 20k, despite a tumultuous end to his time in team tournaments in 2023.
Looking at the battle, both players seem to be using groups of proven Pokemon in fairly standard configurations. A bulkier balance from Michael with metagame staples like Heatran, Dragapult, Zapdos, and Clefable will face off against a slightly more aggressive balance with an identical cast of metagame staples from Jyt. Aside from this quartet of characters, we will also see Melmetal and Landorus-T from Jyt while Michael opts for Rillaboom and Gastrodon. It seems like Michael's Heatran will do well into Jyt if given openings, but Jyt himself will be able to make progress with any confusion, Special Defense drops, or status onto Gastrodon, which Michael needs intact for Heatran, Zapdos, and Dragapult.
As the game commences, we see Toxic Heatran from Jyt, which is a perfect set for the Gastrodon matchup. This, coupled with pressure from Dragapult, allows Jyt to pick off the aforementioned Gastrodon early on in the game. However, Michael was not going to go down without a fight! He is able to chip various Pokemon with status, Knock Off, and some help from a Dragapult of his own while using Aromatherapy on Clefable to erase further progress from Jyt. Additionally, Michael forces a Dragapult Speed tie, which he wins to take a small lead as we move into the middle of the battle. From there, it was up to Jyt and his Melmetal to force enough progress before he runs out of time against a slightly more durable opposing cast. Zapdos from Michael is weakened, Gastrodon is already taken out, and Heatran is not Flame Body, so Melmetal has its opening, but will this be enough against a scary Dragapult and healthy Rillaboom?
SM OU - DonSalvatore vs c0mp
Carrying on the hype from the first 11 weeks, the tour expectedly capped off with a huge bang in the grand finals, with one of the highlight games occuring on none other than the 7th generation of OU. With an incredible 4-0 SM OU tour record under his belt, the returning Tiger c0mp is naturally looking for a fifth win to his name, with the Tyrants' own DonSalvatore standing in his way, looking to cap off his first ever SPL in tremendous fashion after his incredible showing of the tier as runner-up in Smogon Masters I.
Both players loaded up very strong and comfortable balance teams, with c0mp utilizing the well-known combination of Pursuit alongside Tapu Bulu, Reuniclus, and the incredible Gliscor—which are likely not only setup sweepers on the team but also provide valuable defensive utility—alongside further hazard support, while Don makes use of the wallbreaking core of the Stealth Rock-weak Weavile + Kyurem-B, which are being supported by a near-unmovable defensive core to handle most of the metagame's threats. The name of the game revolves around careful and patient positioning by both players; c0mp aims to set up his hazards to limit the opposition, while Don naturally wants to Defog them away with his Double Defog core, with this constant push-and-pull interaction being recognized by both players. While Kyurem-B is known as a tremendous wallbreaker with its Z-Freeze Shock set, Don brought forth a unique Choice Band set instead, which was revealed on turn 42 as it nearly OHKOed c0mp's Toxapex. Regardless, Kyurem-B is still a potent threat, and proper predictions from Don can easily claim a KO, which it ended up getting on turn 96 against the predicted Tapu Bulu. All this time, c0mp has managed to pivot around Slowbro's Ice Beam with Skarmory and Toxapex, eventually even making correctly scouting for Subzero Slammer from Slowbro on turn 144, indicated by the lack of Slowbro's full moveset and other items like Leftovers, Rocky Helmet, and Slowbronite. From then on, Kyurem-B went on a further rampage and took care of Reuniclus, Skarmory, and Toxapex, but all good things must come to an end, as the prolonged game eventually forces Don to lose steam; the eventual Toxic Spikes finally putting Kyurem-B on a timer is the nail in the coffin, and the last-standing Gliscor cannot be threatened any longer.
This game encapsulates on of the beauty of competitive Pokemon in its purest form of long-term planning and positioning; on top of the hype and crucial predictions that can be seen from both side throughout the match, Don recognized his strongest progress making tool in Kyurem-B and thus attempted to give it entry on expected free turns and after numerous efforts to limit entry hazards, while c0mp figured out that his hazards are potent support tools in this matchup and conserved the proper resources and pieces he needed to still come out on top even when things looked bleak at first, setting the stage for his very own Gliscor to win.
ORAS OU - Gondra vs Santu
Gondra and Santu enter a week six contest with two of the best ORAS records! Santu is an impressive 5-0, dominating some of the best players the sixth generation has to offer, while Gondra is still holding his own at 3-2 despite a strong schedule thus far. Santu's Cryonicles and Gondra's Raiders both had 4 points through 5 weeks headed into this matchup, so each team was fighting to stay in the mix headed into the stretch run, too. With records and team standing on the line, both players put their best foot forward in one of the most intriguing ORAS contests of the season.
Looking at Team Preview, Santu opted to use a comfortable balance team featuring a new-age ORAS trend of Cofagrigus alongside trusted competitive Pokemon staple Skarmory, which provides Spikes while Cofagrigus can block Rapid Spin. This physically defensive duo is paired with specially defensive walls Chansey and Gastrodon, revenge killer Mega Lopunny to control the game flow against offense, and glue Clefable, which often serves as a wincon on these structures. On the flip side, Gondra is using a more aggressive balance team featuring the sand core of Mega Tyranitar plus Excadrill. This pair has a surprise partner of Magnezone, which is used to remove pesky walls like Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Mega Scizor for these two to break through teams. A couple of Regenerator Pokemon in Tornadus-T and Slowbro round out the team alongside Clefable, which can either be a Stealth Rock setter or Calm Mind sweeper on this build.
In the early stages of the game, incremental progress is king. Chip and status reign supreme across the first few dozen turns, with Santu's Cofagrigus narrowly escaping death against Excadrill only to go down in the face of Pursuit Mega Tyranitar a bit later. Thankfully for Santu, this was only after major chip to half of Gondra's team, keeping the field mostly level. However, Gondra still has Magnezone to trap Skarmory and a somewhat healthy Excadrill, while Santu has a healthy Mega Lopunny and his Clefable remains intact. Will either side be able to leverage their resources better than the other? Will Mega Lopunny be able to clean things up or will Slowbro and Clefable hold it off despite hazards and status?
BW OU - dice vs sensei axew
dice and sensei axew, who now goes by Finnick Odair, played in BW OU for week 6 of SPL XV! At this point in the season, both the Wolfpack and Tigers were desperately needing to find momentum and string together some wins in order to contend for a playoff spot. Additionally, this matchup is infamous for sensei playing on an unregistered alt that was hijacked mid-game the year before, leading to a premature forfeit resulting in a dice victory. With a fresh start and a new lease on humor, sensei elected to play on the—thankfully registered—alt "this is unregged" for this contest. dice, seen as a perennial top player in BW OU, is suiting up for the Wi-Fi Wolfpack, who are one of the best franchises in the history of SPL and have been home to many top players. On the flip side, the Tigers, who drafted sensei to play BW this season, have been a bottom-of-the-barrel franchise that have been trying to change the narrative this season. With his hands full, sensei is tasked with pulling an upset in this BW OU matchup.
Looking at Team Preview, dice opted to use an aggressive weatherless offense, while sensei elected to use a bulky offensive sand build. dice had some flashy picks like Cloyster and Volcarona, which have been two of the most dynamic and controversial sweepers in the metagame. sensei, on the other hand, brought some titans of the tier like Tyranitar, Latios, and Ferrothorn to hold down the fort. Keldeo accompanied these usual suspects for sensei, too, and it also tends to have a positive matchup into weatherless offense, as these teams frequently lack a switch-in to Keldeo. dice does have big threats to sensei's team like Swords Dance Scizor and Technician Breloom, however, making this a fair fight.
From the jump, both sides elect to lead with their Stealth Rock-setting Ground type—Landorus-T and Excadrill. Excadrill is Focus Sash, allowing for it to set hazards and clear the field before being taken out. From there, Breloom takes a KO and some chip damage in exchange for Landorus-T getting up Stealth Rock, Latios revenge kills Breloom, and Scizor uses Latios to set up and KO the incoming Ferrothorn. This type of trading continues as Excadrill stomachs a boosted Bullet Punch to take out Scizor, chips Cloyster, and is taken out by +2 Icicle Spear from there. As we approach the endgame, every single turn has the weight to swing the game—both players have seemingly equal chances to win with variables both within and outside of their control dictating how the game flow will proceed. A healthy Tyranitar could save the day by tanking hits and getting final KOs for sensei axew, or a boosted Dragonite could clean the game for dice. sensei also has a chipped Latios in the back as a revenge killing mechanism, too, if it is able to stay alive. What will happen and who will come out on top?
DPP OU - Le Don vs Dridri457
With the first game of the SPL XV finals, we were met with a high-octane back-and-forth matchup between two SPL rookies. Le Don, representing the Circus Maximus Tigers, faced off against Dridri457, of the Dragonspiral Tyrants. Heading into the SPL draft, Le Don was considered a shoe-in as a starter for his first SPL, in large part due to his finals appearance in the 2022 DPP Circuit and an 8-1 2023 RoAPL performance. Dridri, on the other hand, was a late-round pickup by the Tyrants and the 10th ranked player in the power rankings. They were a relative newcomer to the scene, focusing mostly on individual tournaments, being crowned the 2023 DPP Circuit Champion.
For the SPL finals kickoff game, Le Don entered the finals match with a formidable 6-5 record, while Dridri boasted a 6-3 campaign of his own. In week 7 of the regular season, the two met for the first time in a tense game where Le Don and his unorthodox weatherless stall team was defeated by Dridri's more standard approach.
As the game kicks off, you could immediately tell this was going to be very different from their week 7 meeting, as we see the rare turn 1 Breloom vs Breloom stare down. Breloom was once seen as a niche lead option when paired with Choice Scarf, but it is not uncommon nowadays to see variations with Focus Sash and, occasionally, Toxic Orb. The game opens with LeDon's Breloom outspeeding the opposition and landing Spore. From here, the game truly starts as Le Don begins a hazard stack strategy with his Skarmory while Dridri sets up Stealth Rock of his own with Metagross. By turn 5, the back and forth begins as Dridri makes an excellent prediction to break open the game by firing off a Draco Meteor with Dragonite, anticipating Le Don switching out Skarmory.
It's important to call out a few things here:
- Dridri understands he is potentially on a timer to finish the game quickly with a sleeping Breloom and behind on the hazard war.
- With a Breloom lead and Skarmory being the Stealth Rock + Spikes variant, it's safe to assume that Le Don has an answer to Fire-type attacks. It's common practice to pair a Spikes offense structure like this with a Dragon such as Latias, Dragonite, or Flygon or offensive Water-type like Starmie, Suicune, or Gyarados. This makes Draco Meteor a logical play this early on in the game.
- Le Don has a huge advantage this early on, essentially being up 6-5 with a Spike advantage. This puts the pressure on Dridri, as one wrong misplay could snowball the game out of his control. Understanding the risk/reward scenario, Dridri chances the Draco Meteor, catching the incoming Flygon switch-in and creating a more even playing ground for the two competitors.
What happens between turns 5 and 10 is pure chaos, with a combined five Pokemon being knocked out between the two players. Following the Dragonite and Skarmory trade, we see yet another mirror, this time with Metagross. Because Dridri already revealed Stealth Rock on their Metagross earlier, this gives Le Don enough information on what the set could be, allowing a safe switch to Rotom-W and resulting in a wasted Explosion from Dridri. By turn 12, it's a 3v3, and we are met yet again with a Breloom mirror. This is interesting because on Le Don's side, his Breloom is at -1 Attack, while Dridri took the opportunity to get sleep turns out of the way. During the final turns of the game, Le Don is able to lock the opposing Tyranitar into +1 Crunch by Tricking it a Choice Scarf. This allows Le Don to find an opportunity for a late-game Dragon Dance from his own Tyranitar. LeDon's +1 Dragon Dance Tyranitar is the final hope versus Dridri's unrevealed last Pokemon. Can LeDon get the final kill with his late-game setup strategy, or will Dridri outlast the Tyranitar and give the Tyrants their first win of the series?
ADV OU - McMeghan vs M Dragon
Despite being two of the most successful and renowned players in Smogon history, this would only be the third time M Dragon and McMeghan faced off in an official tournament match. Both Smogon Tour winners, former SPL champions, and known for their oldgen prowess, this game naturally drew a lot of attention from spectators and players alike, especially as it would happen on the battlefields of Hoenn, perhaps the generation where both players are at their absolute peak. The season was relatively fresh, only the second week, and there were a lot of questions waiting to be answered. M Dragon debuted this game, having skipped the first week, while McMeghan was coming off a tough loss to Mako, falling to a decisive last-turn Meteor Mash miss. The stakes were definitely still high though, as M Dragon's Circus Maximus Tigers were on game short of winning the week, being up 6-2 up at this point.
The game opens with a Suicune standoff. This has the potential to turn ugly, depending on the Speed investment and if one or both parties pack Roar. It can also reveal a lot about the teams, seeing as a more offensive Suicune will usually indicate an offensive team and vice versa. McMeghan chooses not to engage in the face-off, instead switching as M Dragon does in fact reveal Roar. This lets him see both a Celebi and a Blissey from McMeghan, indicating that McMeghan is likely running a stall structure. McMeghan reveals Skarmory, only to instantly switch, scouting a Magneton from M Dragon. M Dragon reveals a Snorlax, which McMeghan can stop short-term with Celebi and Skarmory; however, they're both prime targets for M Dragon's trappers in Magneton and Houndoom. McMeghan's ace in the hole is Dugtrio, which could with a single double switch, trap either one, leaving the job that much harder for M Dragon to finish. With two players of this caliber, the margin for error is slim, and it was anyone's guess who would come out on top in this back-and-forth dance to see who could trap who first.
GSC OU - Rubyblood vs Siatam
With the score at 1-1 in the semiffinals match between the Alpha Ruiners and the Dragonspiral Tyrants, we got a blast of a GSC game. Representing the Tyrants was Rubyblood. The Belgian had started the season in SV, but with a poor record of 1-5, he was moved to GSC. This had proven to be a great move so far, as Rubyblood ended up having a redemption arc, being 2-0 in the tier going into this game. His opponent Siatam was having a strong season, sporting a 6-3 record. He had, however, already lost to Rubyblood's teammate BlazingDark earlier this season and was looking for revenge.
Just like thousands of games before it, this GSC game starts with a Snorlax Cursing turn 1 of the game. Siatam's response to this is Golem, which takes around 70% from an Earthquake before forcing Snorlax out with Roar. This not only puts a dent in one of Siatam's potentially key Pokemon, but it also almost certainly confirms a more offensive team for Siatam. Not long after, Rubyblood gets another opportunity to push forward with Snorlax, letting it make even more progress with a little bit of luck before Siatam is ultimately forced to let his Golem go in order to safely scare out Snorlax. Faced with Starmie against his Machamp, Siatam makes an aggressive play in an attempt to get back into the game and Cross Chops into it, catching Rubyblood's incoming Marowak with a critical hit, leaving it at about 20% and effectively taking out Rubyblood's best progress-maker, marking a turning point that helps tip some of the matchup disadvantage back into Siatam's favor.
The battle wages on, and as more of each player's team is revealed, we see Rubyblood using an edit of a very known team that usually features Swords Dance Marowak and Belly Drum Snorlax, with both having Rest, alongside a Heal Bell Miltank. A very effective team at dismantling other stall teams; however, Rubyblood has changed his Snorlax to Curse, which proves even more effective into Siatam's team, whicih is leaning more towards the offensive side of the spectrum, with a plethora of Pokemon that can learn Explosion or Self-Destruct, as well as a Machamp, one of the hardest-hitters in the tier. Siatam manages to get Spikes up and reveals Crunch Raikou, a rare move that lets it excel against other Raikou. A Special Defense drop forces Raikou out as Spikes dig into Snorlax, a surprisingly big deal in a game of inches like GSC. Machamp lands a nasty critical hit on Skarmory, forcing it to Rest early. Taking advantage of the situation, Snorlax hit the field to get a relatively safe Belly Drum against Miltank, securing the KO on it. The two Snorlax force incredible progress upon each other's team, but a timely Explosion from Siatam's Cloyster leaves Snorlax's HP, and Rubyblood's odds, at a sliver. Siatam commands the long game with his surplus of resources and eventually cleans up the game, showcasing a lesser-known mechanic with GSC's Belly Drum.
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