Lower Tiers ADV ZU Olympiad III Retrospective

[Melninja]

Hello, ZU Olympiad III just ended for us, here is my ADV ZU retrospective on the overall experience, how we prepped/played & what I learned about the meta thx to it.

First of all, I gotta shoutout the important people that made this incredible ADV performance possible. Huge shoutout to BP who vouched for me pre draft, without him I wouldn’t be making this post lol. Thx a lot to fish anemometer & a fruitshop owner for drafting me ! Glad we could make the low price picks worth the money. It was a great idea to have 2 ADV players to work together. And obviously big thx to my man bydy , we made a great team together. Having a teammate to build/sparre with was incredible to get better and have a different pov on the game. I consider my wins to be his too. Having made combined 4-1 is INSANE.

It’s great to do team tours, brings a lot of hype when anyone is playing, and it’s always cool to discover other tiers through these games. Also as I said, helps a lot not to be alone prepping for important games, mostly since I have an unconventional vision on the tier. This was my 1st experience in a team tour & I liked it a lot, even if we lost, it was a lot of fun & the team had really good vibes.

So for anyone not knowing who I am (which means everyone lol), I am Melninja, or you can call me Mel. I did not play many tourneys beforehand, but I did very well on different ladders. I topped Gen7 Monotype with ground (very fun tier), topped Gen8OU with TR, and did extremely well on other tiers like Gen7LC (Alolan grimer my beloved). Stopped playing the current OU cause gen9 sucks. And now here I am, entering ADV OU tourneys and falling into the ADV rabbit hole (thx to Jimothy Cool lol).Now, I am the new guy in the town of ADV ZU. I started playing the tier with the Gold Rush tour, where I lasted until a respectable round 6 (with the adaptation of the new meta). After that I played ladder & did well in the ROA spotlight swiss tour.

About how we played :
Week 1 JoaF

We prepped against recreations of JoaF’s teams (we did this every week), it helps to prep against things they casually play, and even though they wouldn’t play the exact teams, there are sets we can keep in mind, and mostly an overall look at their build/play style. These recreations obviously come from tons of replays we scouted.

We mostly prepped for leads like : Clamperl

Mightyena(CB & Defensive)

Anorith

. And other things based on Chungler replays since they were probably gonna help in the builder. Other common mons that would surely come in were : Tropius

Mightyena

Abra

Agility Liechy Ariados

Rhyhorn

Flaaffy

Ponyta

Corsola

The Team :


Aipom

is the best lead in the tier in my opinion (clamp is very close behind). Being fast with bp lets you pivot to anything countering the opponent’s lead. Also stab Dedge hits hard & access to a lot of utility moves to surprise oppo.

Porygon

is goated, destroys Ponyta

& Tropius

as long as you play good, also very good against some water mons like Seaking

that can always come up.

Gloom is an incredibly busted mon that can beat defensive Mightyena

& walls most Corsolas

. This gloom is made to outspeed slow Clamperl

& OHKO any clamp. After thinking about it, this set is kinda bad cause it can’t tank Ice Beam.

Mightyena

is the best mon of the tier, here as a defensive set to deal with JoaF offensive tendencies. This one has a SpDef spread to tank Ponyta

& Electrik types

, then beats them with HP Ground, which some players might sleep on since I mostly played Crunch/Fighting. Also destroys Abra.

Koffing

in the back for Rhyhorn & support against Tropius

if I use Porygon

too much.

Elekid

is the most important piece of the puzzle here. It can revenge kill Water types

& sweep teams if their Special Wall

is down. Also Ice Punch for Tropius

& HP grass for Rhyhorn.

Scariest thing was that agility liechy ariados

set, we prepped a lot to fight it since for once, I was not running Onix

. Plan was to pressure it with Aipom

& double switches.
Turns out it worked out, I fucked up hard against wailmer

, I should have lost my Porygon

on Boom. Though I had koffing in the back

, so it wasn’t that bad.

Replay


Week 2 Nebi

This is the hardest player to prep against.
You never know what you’ll face. Leads could be Wailmer

Nidorina

Clamperl Mightyena

Cubone

Meditite(CB & Salac)

Any CB wallbreaker

or some other new thing.
And the rest of the team could be very special too.

The Team :


Figured out Magnemite

would be the perfect lead against them. It beats Clamperl Seaking

, best Nidorina

counter in the tier, baits Wailmer

into EQ and other CB attackers

into locking Fighting/Ground moves. Also might slow sweep if played around.
Gloom is the one coming into Wailmer, it runs protect to bait BOOM. Also works well to scout CB and get some leech chip. This the same spread as week1 since it had not been revealed & since I scouted slow clamperl leads.
Porygon

is still goated & very good against most Seaking

, which would surely come out. This Pory runs some speed to outrun slow Clamperl.
Same Mightyena

, same reasoning, heal bell is necessary.
Pain Split Koffing

to get some heal to not lose against gloom. Assures a good MU against rock grounds, does good against lead Cubone.
CB Meditite

to get some pressure on slow mons and break through his defense.

Turns out, I fucked up, forgot to change Mag’s ability

after copy pasting smogon’s set for the cool spread.
Also, unfortunately it was fast Clamperl. So the Gloom got totally fucked, it was a bad call from my end, we should have played a bulkier gloom to make it safer.

Replay


Week 3 Baoba

Knowing I had to play this set stressed me out a lot. I knew the team was incredible after making it, I knew it would go very well after sparring games against the recreations, I knew I could win that match, but man it was stressing me out lol. (Probably cause it was my time to prove myself, and also the team counts on me & it’s Bo1)
When looking at the lead MU, I figured out I had to play smth new & unexpected. For once I decided to go first for the rest of the team and then decide what I would pick for lead.

The Team :


Rhyhorn

is needed against Baoba’s usual double bug. I love Onix

, but I needed the rock blast for these Sub Salac sweepers. Also helps against Ariados

and most of their team lack Ground immune/resistance, so whenever the Rhyno

hits the field, it hits the team HARD.
Lombre, my goat

. Best Clamperl check ever, also perfectly checks Baoba’s RD Seaking

sets, which does not run any physical attacks. We decided to run Fake Out to do well against the many Pinch Berry users. Also Lombre

runs RD to have an alternate wincon + gives support to the next mon.
Swift Swim Band Seaking

, not as safe as water veil, but way better pay off. Also I did not scout many Koffing

so it was ok. Also can OHKO Gloom which helps A LOT.
Mightyena

. SpDef invested + HP ground to check Ponyta.
Ariados

helps to check Gloom (worst MU of the team with Koffing

), also slow bp with HP Flying IV spread in case of Koffing. Deals with Mightyena

& sometimes can deal with Bugs

if Rhyhorn

is not feeling well.

With this I figured out the team was perfect & just needed something to get a kill or two to give me the advantage. Here comes Nebi’s Wailmer

. One of the best leads of the tier. Can bait grass types/Special walls if the oppo is not aware of BOOM.

Turns out I won turn 2, the bait worked. Anyway I was happy to trade with Medi

or any defensive mon. Even if I just chipped a Mightyena

, it was good for me, cause this makes it easier to handle for the rest of the team, though it was risky to go might/rock

type for them.
Also when I knew for sure it was not Toxic Seaking

, I could just stay in with Lombre

& click mid ground, waiting for a Pony/Seaking

missplay.
Fake Out assured the safe win in the end, without taking any risk.
Lombre is the goat.

Genuinely think the team is really good, even if triple water sounds fishy, man it’s so good. Even bad MU’s can be dealt with thx to things like CB Seaking

& slow pass Ariados.

Really proud of what we did, it was the biggest upset of the tournament.

Replay


Week 4 Jojen

Well for this we prepped for Pengu’s (original opponent) & Wooper’s teambuilding.
It kinda stressed me out, cause I couldn’t scout much from Pengu, but the few teams I found were not too hard to counter for our building habits. We tried a variant of the final team that worked very well, but not as much against Wooper’s defensive teams lol. So after some changes, mostly one, here is a look at the team.

The Team :

Lead Wartortle

, with full HP & SpDef investment & most importantly Counter. This gives us good MU against Wooper’s habit of leading Volbeat

, as well as it can defeat common Leads that are Special Attackers. Things like Seaking

Clamperl usually running HP grass get cooked. Tort also runs HP grass in case lead Clamperl tries to Sub. Also has surf to deal 45-50% to Koffing

& things like that. Protect scouts CB sets & chip heal to survive things for Counter.
Onix,

I love this guy. It’s fast, tanks Bugs

& Normal attackers

, also BOOM. We first went for Rhyhorn

, but it was too easy for Flaaffy

. Onix

made us able to switch out of Tort

to Onix

& force them to switch. Also good check to most Delcatty, being able to check Body Slam with sub, and boom on it.
Porygon

. Still checks Ponyta

Water types

Tropius

. It’s Porygon’s world & we all live in it. Also this one has more SpAtk to 100% OHKO Cubone

just in case.
Mightyena

, this one has Howl to stallbreak a bit, has enough speed to outspeed Flaaffy

and SpDef to tank it (kind of).
Ariados

. Man we needed a WallBreaker with Toxic immunity. This one is perfect, nobody expects it to be CB, mostly since I play a lot of BulkyO with a big defensive core. Also helps to gain momentum with Baton Pass, though it’s rly fast for an Ariados

lol.
Tropius

, we wanted smth that can deal with Cubone

& also can do dmg to other things like Gloom. This one is mixed with Solar Beam to kill Cubone

Clamperl Corsola

Onix

Rhyhorn

& 2HKO other things. It has HP Flying & EQ to kill grass types & OHKO Ponyta

. Perfect def to tank +2 Cubone

Double-Edge. 116 Speed Ev’s to outspeed other Tropius

.

Pengu was subbed for Jojen, who I was pretty sure took their team (turns out no lol). Never heard of that person & did not see them in recent tours, so I figured it would be easier to knowledge check them on more niche things like Counter Tort, Mixed Tropius

& CB Ariados

.
Lead was a very similar Seaking

than one we scouted.
Biggest problem was the oppo Porygon

, gameplan was to cripple it with para to make it easier for Ariados

to come in. Also they wouldn’t expect it to OHKO Pory

. Fortunately they crit Ariados

into

SWARM RANGE

, making it 100% OHKO instead of 75ish%. As soon as it was dead Tort was free. Then just had to kill Might

so Porygon

could spread para easily.

Replay


Week 5 Zpice

For this one bydy & Zpice gentlemen for a Bo3. Teambuilding would go a bit different for this one.
I proposed one team with Medi

lead, but we made plenty of different changes since it wasn’t really working well at first.

The G1 Team :


CB Jolly Meditite lead

. Always good to run it. This one has Fake Out to check things & finish some mons.
Koffing

makes us safe against their Rock Ground habits. Also can wall Phys Ariados

& Beedrill

.
Gloom is always good, this one runs stun spore to spread para as team support.
252 SpAtk Ponyta

felt rly good in some matchups. Most people expect Silk Scarf, so Overheat can take some early kills.
Clamperl, always broken, appreciates para support as much as Meditite

does.
Mightyena,

the goat, this one has Body Slam for para spread.

G1 Replay


For a Bo3 I think it was better to have some teams made around playstyle bydy is familiar with, so they don’t have to learn 3 new teams where we force things out. SO we decided to make a team around bydy’s infamous Dux

. We went for a new one since bydy’s original team already has many replays & they’ll recognize it quickly.
The team’s objective was to chip rock types & priority users so the Dux

can sweep peacefully.

The G2 Team :

Kid

invites priority

users & special walls, his main objective was to chip them or force some switches.
CB Anorith invites the rock ground types

& chip them heavily with brick break so they can’t tank Flail anymore.
Pony

& gloom bring consistency & make it feel like a normal team. Also gloom baits Pony

to come in so it can be chipped easily.
Koffing

looks like a normal mon until it clicks Memento & you figure out you’re in big problems

.
The Dux.

The better zig. Rly fun mon to build around. It needs ton of support, but he can totally sweep under good conditions

G2 Replay


We wondered a bit about the 3rd team. I made some propositions, but these were kinda weak teams. So bydy decided to go for a Wooper team we scouted the week before & that we enjoyed a lot after it stomped our week 4 first draft in sparring.

The G3 Team :

Basically this is a very defensive team with 3 potential Heal Bell users.

Delcatty Wish

is the central pillar of the team. It can make Koffing

look broken thx to Wish support.
Also some breakers like CB Volbeat,

Cubone

& Howl Mightyena

. These can abuse the para spam from the 2 Heal Bell users & love cleaning against teams that have hard times getting through the defensive core.

G3 Replay

bydy played really well in this set. It was hype to watch.
Though the Dux didn’t work out, I think it can still do the work & take most players by surprise.
3rd game had a lot of haxx in it, but that’s kinda usual for long games against para abusing teams. I think bydy had it anyway, this was a rly good team choice.


Quick thought on the metagame :

I like the tier a lot, except for Clamperl , this thing is too strong, it’s only true counters are weak mons (like my man Lombre

).
Thx to bydy I have better vision on things like Elekid

that I did not value much & SpAtk Ponyta

that I don’t see often.
Also I’m still very shocked that I was the only one to bring Aipom

lol.
Thx to this tour opportunity I have been building many teams and so I’ve kinda gone above some of my building habits. Though Porygon

still feels to be the safest mon to add to a team. Mostly because people like Ponyta

spamming. I’m gonna try building less with it, but man it’s just a free pick to beat any team with Ponyta.
Can’t wait to see more crazy stuff from everyone, many improvements can be made on some mons !


I'd love to also know more about what were your thoughts & overall experience in the tour !
Don't hesitate if you want to talk about the teams & games here, I'd be glad to share more details on specific stuff if you're interested !

 

[Melninja]

Teampastes have been added !
Feel free to use the teams or you can critique them here lol
Don't hesitate if you need any info on why we used certain moves or specific spreads !

 

[JoaF]

While I ended up underperforming in the tour, I had a lot of fun building with my team and felt that my teams were some of the strongest I’ve built regardless of my not so strong play.

Week 1 vs Melninja: https://pokepast.es/e2807e9c87384ac3

The plan here was to catch Mel off guard with an offensive Houdini Wailmer lead then overwhelm him with a strong balance of offensive Pokemon.

Week 2 vs Wooper: https://pokepast.es/3752df644f3ac369

I didn’t overcook for this week. I was mainly focused around some paraspam to enable Clamperl and allow Anorith to spam Rock Slides. Endure was a unique addition that to Anorith that should have allowed it to take on CB Volbeat that otherwise crushes it. Close game but ultimately a misplay at the end and some unfortunate rolls cost me.

Week 3: Did Not Play

Week 4 vs Baoba: https://pokepast.es/c5dd3490a70fba96

This was the week I probably prepped the most for which ultimately paid off. Ultimately Doduo was the star of the show because of the damage it does with Choice Banded STAB Double Edge. Seaking’s EVs were carefully spread to allow it to do a number of things including taking a hit from Clamperl, 2HKOing Mighty even after an intimidate, and checking Ponyta throughout the game thanks to Rest + Sleeptalk. A fast Flaaffy ended up as the lead of choice due to the threat of Clamperl and it paid off.

Week 5 vs Nebi: https://pokepast.es/40e3ebbfb1b12aba

Nebi was the toughest to prep for because of his unique style of building. The one pattern I saw in their teams was a weakness to Cubone. The team was built around setting up an end game for Cubone but unfortunately rng got the better of me this game alongside Nebi’s strong play and uncommon agility Porygon set.

Fun games all around, and ggs to all my opponents. Wish I performed better but that’s how Mons in a BO1 format goes sometimes. And thanks to my team and everyone else that assisted with building and testing.