2 wins in the bag, I was on my way to get the third. We made it to Semifinals and I had to keep things going.
Building
I had a fun session to discuss on what I could bring against Jordy, going from his full scouter to a playstyle I could use.
With all of that I wanted to use Torracat. It was a mon I considered to be enough against the type of build could use based on his scouter. It helped with Intimidate in most cases, it could pivot, it could set up easily if wanted... A good general pick.
It was also a mon not seen enough for me to know its full utility... It has Taunt, Will-O-Wisp... and Nasty Plot??
I wanted to play a Bulky Sword Dance set in this case, and
beauts helped me (thank you very much) adjust the rest of the team.
The
first version of the team reminded me of my Grand Finals team in NFE SSNL with Hakamo. beauts suggested to have something for a potential Mareanie and Hattrem was a partner of choice for Torracat. For me, using a defensive Hattrem would make the team too shallow so I made it Healing Wish to give it a better utility and make the team more offensive.
Ferroseed was a reliable check and hazard setter, Koffing would help vs Mareanie's Regenerator and Knock-Off, and Eletabuzz + Hakamo-o would help keep pressure. I was very proud of this team even incomplete because of how I could see it do well with what I knew playing the tier. But the team wasn't enough since it lacked a hazard removal and it was based on being offensive which would put me in a high risk high reward scenario against Jordy who is unpredictable.
Then I made a
second version based on a Duosion, following the pattern of the first version. Duosion was a mon I didn't use and I thought it would be cool if it was a surprise factor. Knowing Jordy, it would be an everyday NFE thing but for me it was still worth it.
Duosion would be a classic Future Sight set paired with a Brave Bird Vullaby to help against Gurdurr.
I also wanted to keep the idea of Healing Wish Hattrem support and made a
third version using Acrobatic Thwackey and offensive Roselia with Leaf Storm.
Both teams were one-dimensional and that wasn't good. beauts then proposed a
fourth version, combining the two teams which was very cool. It used Magic Guard Duosion and SpDef Gabite to better handle a potential hazard war. Tweaked it a little and the team was accepted from there.
I wanted to keep offensive Roselia because it could be another surprise factor with no cost against Jordy. Then beaut mentioned that Piloswine could be a problem but I was more afraid of a Gurdurr since it could Knock Off for free on my team and Piloswine was less scary to face. We then opted to replace Electabuzz for a Machoke. It could prevent Piloswine from coming in, resulting in other important opposing mons to be handled; it helped the team being more offensive which was what I wanted, and could easily be placed on the field with Torracat's U-Turn.
It allowed me to make Gabite defensive and Roselia SpDef in the
fifth version, that I then changed to the final version with 200 Spe Roselia because of a potential fast Choice Band Piloswine I couldn't handle directly if it was against Roselia. The team was good to go and it was cool.
In battle
Teampreview, I'm somewhat confident; I know Corsola-Galar is annoying, the Gurdurr call that gets to Knock-Off everything is there, I can't touch Linoone-Galar much which was a good call from him, Piloswine + Roserade is standard and means the potential hazard war is there... I kind of had trouble knowing what I had to do at first.
Turn 1 - I lead Vullaby because of a easy lead Linoone since it doesn't care of my team except Machoke and can just use Parting Shot. He leads his Vullaby and it was a similar scenario. we trade Knocks and I find it strange his Vulla is faster since mine has 8 evs in speed. He reveals Brav Bird and I know it will not be good for my Vulla since he's faster. Then I decided to temporize in order to not reveal my Brave Bird for his Gurdurr since it could easily come in on a Roost.
Turn 6 - Gurdurr comes in and is Flame Orb. I know Roserade can take a hit to outspeed and KO after. I wasn't sure at first because me going Roselia on Gurdurr seemed odd and I could easily be faster, and looking at the timer showed he had already clicked after Roserade came in so it confirmed that he was confident in staying so I got KO his Gurdurr after.
Turn 9 - I got to bait his Linoone to knock Roselia into Double Edge on Gabite, chiping it and forcing him to not knock my Gabite which is what I wanted. Taunt on me wanting to Stealth Rock was surprising, I wanted to Earthquake but traiding rocks with Piloswine seemed more good for me, so it was well played.
I assumed he would knock my Gabite so I go Vullaby to bait another knock into Double Edge but I get Parting Shot and face Piloswine which is immediately not good for me. I go Torracat as a midground play on rocks but he stays on my U-Turn to EQ on Duosion.
Turn 15 - I know he can't do much against Duosion so I use that to get Machoke in. I got to Knock Off Corsola-Galar but it resulted in Machoke being weakened, which wasn't ideal of a play to make looking it back.
Turn 23 - My Roselia gets to recover and it allows my Vulla to defog after. Torracat got to burn Pilo, opening my Roserade to Spikes and my Vullaby to tank hits from it.
Turn 34 - Vulla vs Vulla again, and I decide to keep playing the scenario until I get
something like a little opening for me to place one of my mons. I got to defog and place Torracat on his Roost and I want to keep pressure from there so I Sword Dance and take out Pilo which I found just benefiting him. Gabite go out on Linoone and a that point I lost on what I could do to win.
Turn 63 - I try to Toxic his Vulla to help mine but I realize I could have done it since the start. Roselia trade Spikes, Torra gets poisoned trying to RK and doesn't get to take out Corsola; I lose from there.
In the end, I was happy with this match. I got to fight Jordy and to show my team what I could do. My biggest regret is not handling Corsola with Duosion or Roselia and instead making Machoke unusable the entire match. I didn't visualized correctly the things that could have happened and basically throwed the game.
But of course, they are just simple mistakes that can be corrected.