Tournament SCL IV NU Discussion

[etern]

Welcome to the Smogon Champions League 4 Discussion Thread -- NU edition! This thread will be used to discuss NU in SCL IV related topics, whether it’s about the players, personal player rankings, general metagame trends, matches, predictions and so on. Teams, Replays, and Usage Stats can also be found here [SOON].

Commencement
Schedule
Pricelist
Power Rankings

NU Player Cores
predicted starters in bold*

Studio Gible -- etern, tier
Orange Islanders -- Dr. PhD. BJ
Indigo Platoon -- watashi, LpZ
Uncharted Terrors -- Elias PSY, Baloor
Technical Machines -- Stories, Shengineer
Mt. Silver Foxes -- Danny, Django
Power Plant Dynamos -- McMeghan, BIHI
Showdown Shoguns -- zS, mind gaming
Circuit Breakers -- freezai, Diamonds_realm
Arena Spartans -- Thiago Nunes, Pokeslice

Some of this info is subject to change as starting lineups have not yet been released, but I'll update as things get revealed.

~ ​

 

[Tuthur]

My personal PR:
#1 Uncharted Terrors: Despite using very similar structures every week, Elias PSY managed to finish positive in SCL last season. This time he is supported by gxe who needs no introduction and should fix Elias biggest issue in team diversity. This NUPL, Elias even showed will to vary his playstyle, so there is no doubt the support should be well received.

#2 Mt. Silver Foxes: Danny + Django worked wonders in NUPL, and I trust this synergy to work again in SCL, as most slots ranked beneath don't have as much support.

---

#3 Studio Gible: Speaking of which, etern has no support. tier has a NU support is a meme since his team where only stack the broken noob farming Pokemon together and the current metagame doesn't really have that anymore. etern is a crazy builder and player, which is why he is so high with no support, but he could easily be ranked even higher if one of his teammate steps up in NU.

#4 Orange Islanders: Likewise, BJ is an amazing player and great builder. That said, he got no support, as sufys hasn't touched NU since Slowbro left the tier, and is a first time starter with a crazy price tag. I think he got the ceiling to do really good, but I'm unsure at how he handles the pressure of these tournaments.

#5 Showdown Shoguns: zS got no support and was quite lazy in his teamchoice in NUPL. That's the only reason why I ranked him below BJ and etern.

---

#6 Power Plant Dynamos: BIHI and McMeghan are without the doubt the best players in a vacuum in the pool. Though, they haven't played NU before and will compete against people who've got a deeper metagame knowledge than them. Roro has been quite unmotivated this year, so I'm unsure on how much he'll care to learn the tier. I can see them really struggling in the first 3 weeks while they figure out the metagame, and then poping off.

#7 Technical Machines: Stories is always a complicated teammate to work with, as her past two SCL shown. I don't think her level of play is as good as etern, zS, or BJ, and Shen support is worse than gxe and Django, so I can see the core just fall short of many wins.

#8 Circuit Breakers: freezai did well last year, but this time he hasn't played NU since NUPL, which had a totally different metagame. I'm also quite dubious on Diamonds support, as I was under the impression Meri was the one building his NUPL teams. Also freezai refused to prepare with pokeslice last year, so I doubt he'd listen to Diamonds.

#9 Arena Spartans: Tnunes didn't do well last SCL in NU and in NUPL this year. I also have not seen pokeslice play an SV NU game since january, even as my teammate in NUPL who I frequently tagged to get test games.

---

#10 Indigo Platoons: watashi did bad last year with zS support. This year he has no support, as I don't think anyone on the team has learned post Open (post Slowbro) NU. FLCL is also not known to care much.

 

[Rabia]

1. Studio Gible - etern even with bad support is better than the rest of the teams imo. Too good of a player on his own and naturally isn't locked in to his teamchat to figure stuff out if he is unsure about something on any given week. I don't really rate the drafting of support as a means to bump the other cores ahead of him personally, even if it will impact some of my later rankings.

2. Mt. Silver Foxes - the biggest ? here is Danny's motivation, as through much of the year he's been pretty negative mindset-wise. Nonetheless, this core of him and Django has quite the ceiling, especially if Danny simply feels good through the tournament, and Django is a nice fallback option as well for them.

---

3. Uncharted Terrors - I agree with Tuthur's post about Elias's biggest issue being team diversity and how the support on his team should help fix that. GXE + shiloh are very experimental with their team choices too, so assuming there is actually coordination going on here (there may be none LOL), I think this could be one of the most exciting team slots to watch through the tournament.

4. Technical Machines - I actually rate Shengineer support quite highly here. I think he's got a really good eye for the metagame, as does stories, so this core could be pretty cool. The primary worry I have is stories does tend to default to matchup fishing in high-pressure scenarios, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes through the tournament and how other teams try to adapt to the onslaught of hyper offense and stall that I expect. I think Shengineer's input will be key to prevent that from being too huge of an issue.

5. Orange Islanders - I worry for the PhD here because he literally has no support at ALL and this is his first major team tournament start... AND he went for the highest price. Regardless, I really do rate his creativity quite highly, and he's a super solid player that's developed quite nicely in the year since he was backing up eternally on Studio Gible. Hopefully, someone on his team can step up or he can find some undrafted people to help out to keep him prepared.

6. Showdown Shoguns - zS with no support at all is a bit dicey. Not because he requires it per se, but if this slot falls apart as a result of him struggling with the metagame, there's really no good fallback option nor voices around him to give an alternative outlook on what he should consider. Much like the Islanders, I think they'll want to hunt for some help.

---

7. Power Plant Dynamos - idk, in theory this core has the highest ceiling of any due to playing strength, but their metagame knowledge is less than that of a cabbage. Vibes tell me this core meanders to mediocrity or sits near the top of the pool by the end.

8. Indigo Platoon - very similar to the Dynamos, I am not confident in this NU slot. watashi historically has been super dominant in NU, but this is not 2016. LpZ support means nothing here to me because he never played NU for Slam in the later rounds, imo speaking to his lack of knowledge or confidence in playing and building the tier.

---

9. Circuit Breakers - freezai is going to matchup fish almost every week, much like every other NU slot he's filled for a team tour. We'll see how well it works this time around. Diamonds support is a bit weak to me because it's sort of a running theme that his teams don't work well for others. Maybe with freezai this is different given the track record? After all, Diamonds has had some pretty strong showings with innovative hyper offense structures and is not afraid to fish himself, so I can see this slot working out. I can just also see it going like 1-8.

10. Arena Spartans - slice has genuinely played very little NU lately. TNunes has been ineffective in NU for awhile. I'm not sure this slot has any chance of a strong showing unless slice can miraculously relearn the tier within the first couple weeks. Otherwise, they're probably just dead in the water.

 

[etern]

SCL Week 1 Matchups:

SV NU: #7 watashi vs #3 zS
SV NU: #5 Dr. Phd. BJ vs #10 freezai
SV NU: #2 McMeghan vs #1 etern
SV NU: #8 Elias PSY vs #9 Thiago Nunes
SV NU: #4 Danny vs #6 Stories

​

SV NU: #7 watashi vs #3 zS
This is one of my highlight matchups of the week. I have a ton of respect for watashi as a player and consider him to be a strong contender for the best NU player overall on the site. I also think he's a little underrated atm considering how reliable his level of play is, as well as the fact that he's coming into this tour with a lot more information on the rest of the pool, having faced a good portion of these players in the 2023 edition. Watashi isn't someone that'll misplay or hand a game over to you, you have to beat him and take the win out of his hands, so to me he'll always be a threat to finish near the top of a pool no matter what. That being said, zS is probably the most unpredictable player in the pool because of how he innovates unorthodox anti-meta ideas and hones in on particular concepts, rather than building through a more safe / generic threat checklist approach. Sometimes it can backfire on him and he burns his food instead of cooking it, but I think this is one of the more zS friendly metas than we've had in NU in about a year. I also think zS is a fantastic player in general and he's done super well in bringing his sheet record back after a rough first SCL, w a particularly nice WcoP performance that allowed him to showcase his top tier playing ability. Ultimately this one just comes down to me believing that zS will have a better handle of the meta from w1, while it may take watashi a couple of weeks to get into the groove of things and work out what works and what doesnt. Regardless, it'll be a close one and it could go either way, both of these players are more than capable of dominating.

SV NU: #5 Dr. Phd. BJ vs #10 freezai
Let's address the elephant in the room quickly. Dr Blow costing 5 billion credits was extremely amusing, and it puts a lot of pressure on him to live up to that pricetag in essentially what can be considered his SCL Debut as a starter. He played a couple games last SCL which I don't think should be held against him, as he was thrown into them w limited knowledge of the tiers and a very short amount of time to adapt, tho that doesn't excuse switching out a +2 Bisharp that dies to SR vs Hippo, but I digress. Dr Blow imo is the most improved NU player of the year, and his NU teamtour sheet speaks for itself, he's been an absolute beast for the entire year and sports the best winrate of 2024. He's been grinding since SCL and is more in tune with the meta than anyone else in the pool, and I know for a fact that he has the ability to go toe to toe with anyone here and win convincingly. I know first-hand how much effort he'll put into this job, and I'm certain a lot of doubters will be blown away by his performance. Freezai as 10th seed is rough, but I'm personally not a fan of the teams he brought last season. I felt they were a bit too gimmicky at times, and relied too much on the surprise factor of certain sets, which can fall apart quickly against people that are lot more knowledgeable of the tier. Hyper Offense is also a fair bit weaker this time around, which means he might be forced into some playstyles that he isn't as comfortable piloting. It'd be foolish to discount him though, as he's a great competitor with more than a handful of impressive runs across Smogon tournaments throughout the years, and when his techs hit, they're deadly. However, I think Dr. Phd will be highly motivated and aware of freezai's hyper offensive setup spam style, and prep accordingly to exploit the holes in whatever he faces, so I'm going with him.

SV NU: #8 Elias PSY vs #9 Thiago Nunes
Elias has been very consistent, and he's coming into this tour with a ton of games under his belt from tours and the ladder with a reliable winrate. Suffice to say, it'll be hard to catch him off guard, especially when he himself is known for bringing the ocassional ZU mon to spice up his builds. TNunes imo has the playing advantage here, just based off of last season where I felt Elias was still fresh and ended up throwing a couple of matches that he had optimal guaranteed or near-guaranteed paths to winning. I enjoy watching TNunes play and think he's fairly solid and makes few mistakes, especially in tiers that he's well acquainted with. However, I'm not sure how well TNunes knows the current NU meta, nor do I have a ton of faith in him being able to pump out a bunch of viable scl-calibre teams this early into the tournament. To make matters worse, his support Pokeslice allegedly hasn't played NU since January and also thinks Naclstack is broken, so the teambuilding of this team is looking dire if you ask me. This is gonna be a close one, and imo a super important match for both of these guys to get some momentum from the get-go and look to make their doubters eat a shoe.

SV NU: #4 Danny vs #6 Stories
This is my highlight of the week. Danny is a great and proven player w a handful of solid SCL seasons behind him. Stories is also a great player, however she's not quite as proven, having not completed a full season of SCL despite participating in a couple seasons. These two are great friends and know eachother very well, so the dynamic they'll have in an official setting and mental games will be fascinating to watch and almost surely guarantee a quality match. I was going back on forth on who to bold here and I do think this is basically a 50-50 game, but I'm bolding Danny by a thin margin in a game that goes down to the wire. Danny is a bit more experienced on the big stage which I feel could be the deciding factor early on in the season. I also think Danny has a slightly better chance of bringing a better team overall (or at least a safer team that covers his options better) because he preps about 500 per week before he finally decides on one, whereas Stories is a bit more inclined to go wild and whip out a Terrain Squad or something else which has a bit more risk for a potentially high reward in terms of matchup. Either way, both of them are gonna finish positive imo, and I'm banking on this being Stories' official 'breakout' tour regardless of what happens this week. Very cool mu, and gl to both.

 

[Django]

Making predictions here is really hard as everyone is very close overall, with some variations coming in terms of tier knowledge vs raw skill. I think you could make a case for any of these players being in the top half of the PRs, and I would expect the overall records this year to be very close with no one particularly farming. A lot of the games are going to come down to how much old heads / tour players can catch up with the tier, vs how much the mainers can iterate and innovate. I'm excited to see what the matches bring

#7 watashi vs #3 zS
This will be incredibly close in my opinion - I think zs will have the advantage in the builder and bring something offbeat which has the potential to catch FLCL off guard. However, we did see in NUPL a few times when zs teams were taken advantage of and he lost solely on matchup, or had to make some huge plays to pull out a win. While I don't think he will get beaten on matchup, I think FLCL will bring something solid enough and not get outplayed enough, ultimately resulting in a win. Very excited to watch this

#5 Dr. Phd. BJ vs #10 freezai
I think these two are relatively equal playing wise, and the respective ratings probably more reflect their knowledge of the tier and recent developments. I'll back the PRs here and bold BJ, as I do rate him as a builder more highly than diamonds who I assume is building here. If BJ can cook up something exciting and slightly ahead of the meta, I think he'll get by with some solid play. The high price can be a bit of a double edged sword as well - will it cause BJ to crumble under pressure, or to work even harder? I get the impression it's the latter, but only time will tell.

#2 McMeghan vs #1 etern
The top two players from the PRs playing week 1 is incredibly hype, and this is a cool storyline of tour main vs NU main as well. Lacking dedicated support is a bit of a meme at this point, and I've seen roro pick up a tier from scratch and dominate before, so there's no reason he can't do it again. etern will definitely go positive in this pool, and I do rate his builds and play very highly. However, I do get the feeling that a highly motivated roro will pull off a slight upset to start off with, and bolding against him also feels very wrong.

#8 Elias PSY vs #9 Thiago Nunes
I actually rate TNunes really highly, watching him play (and farm) in PUPL was a joy. I also really rate Pokeslice as a builder no matter how much he's played the tier since January. I think the 9 ranking is harsh and reflects how close the the NU pool is. Elias isn't a pushover however but I'm unsure if they will be able to do well enough in the builder to outweigh what I perceive to be an advantage TNunes has in terms of playing ability. Both of these players are probably unfavored in several other matchups, so it'll be huge for either of them to win in what is ultimately a very even and winnable game for both.

#4 Danny vs #6 Stories
Obviously

 

[Danny]

please stop predicting me to win

 

[Phantomistix]

Since no one's done coinflip predicts so far imma do it.

#7 watashi vs #3 zS
#5 Dr. Phd. BJ vs #10 freezai
#2 McMeghan vs #1 etern
#8 Elias PSY vs #9 Thiago Nunes
#4 Danny vs #6 Stories

Best of luck to everyone (except Danny)

 

[skierdude101]

#7 watashi vs #3 zS : zS sometimes brings things that make me wonder how he's good, but generally speaking I think zS is just stronger in the modern stage of Pokemon.
#5 Dr. Phd. BJ vs #10 freezai I think some people are missing the mark by thinking Freezai is just a pilot and will be just by default using a builders teams. Freezai builds his own stuff with interesting techs. I can see something landing and this being an upset W.
#2 McMeghan vs #1 etern ngl idk who McMeghan actually is, the discord name shenanigans confuse me so idk who's who. Etern was super strong last SCL and has been a consistently good SVNU player the whole gen.
#8 Elias PSY vs #9 Thiago Nunes IDK just coin flip this one.
#4 Danny vs #6 Stories Danny is a smelly ugly loser. Stories is a good smelling, pretty winner

 

[Rabia]

please stop predicting me to win

#4 Danny vs #6 Stories

 

[Lilo]

Being completely honest this might be my favorite week for NU in this scl.

We have old vs new, friends facing each other, top 2 in prs, a mcdonald’s or a 3 star michelin cook vs a medium rare picanha cook (very safe can never go wrong) and lastly, a Dr. trying to claim a victim instead of saving one.

GL to everyone.
We want eternally weekly reviews

 

[Django]

First round of games is done! We saw some cool teams, some terrain, and some other teams. We also saw some big plays, and some very small indeed plays. Here I'll be ranking the 9 teams from my favourite to least favourite, and separately ranking the 9 players level of clicking. I'll be leaving my own teams player out of this because they are obviously top for both.

Side note: I'm inferring a lot here about sets and teams, so if I'm wrong don't hate me, but also don't assume I've got inside knowledge here of what people are running, it's all best guesses based on calcs and vibes.

Team Rankings

1. zS
For me, this is the best team of the week. Porygon-Z has been seeing a lot more usage recently, and it makes sense with the rise of Bronzong to counter Flygon. With that, building teams where you stack weaknesses with Bronzong + Ghost type becomes hard, so a lot of teams will have a steel type as their only Normal resist, and also their main Flygon counterplay. Porygon-Z can therefore put a lot of pressure on Steel types which it's teammates benefit from - here we see Munkidori being the main beneficiary. Zong + Incin is a very strong and common backbone right now, which gives good counterplay to much of the meta. Water Absorb Quagsire gives a much needed water immunity and more hazards, and Toxic to hurt potentially dangerous bulky set up mons. It also has more physical bulk than Gastrodon who could perform a similar role. Scarf Mienshao is a bit of a throwback, and has declined in popularity since the Slowbro metagame, which is interesting as in theory it lost one of its biggest counters. Here it's a reliable cleaner and one of 3 pivots for Porygon-Z. Interestingly there is no hazard removal here, but 3 boots mons, 1 Levitate, and 1 Regenerator, and one grounded Poison type mean most hazards aren't having a huge impact. Porygon-Z is the most vulnerable and teams can easily put it on a timer here with hazards. There's also only one Fighting resist in Munkidori, who is not the most durable, so we must assume there are several Fighting resistant or immune Tera types throughout this team.

Overall this feels like a nice read on the current meta, without too many glaring weaknesses. It also forgoes by far the most popular mon in Flygon, which I don't mind as you would expect that to be over-prepared for in W1.

2. Dr. Phd. BJ
This team has a similar take on the metagame, revolving around DD Flygon, and mons which pressure the checks to that. Here we see Munkidori (which I assume is Scarf) who can easily Trick a Bronzong, or simply U-Turn to keep momentum against it. Taunt + Flare Blitz Talonflame is a fun tech which keeps pressure on Steel types, while also stopping Incin from using SD, or Vaporeon from using Wish (I'm sure there are other targets which look to take advantage of Talonflame). Vaporeon, Copperajah (or any Steel to be honest) and Talonflame form a neat defensive core, and this makes me feel suspiciously like I'm watching SSNU, which may confuse some given I've ranked this number 2. However, I like this team as I think it reflects the current state of the metagame well, and is effectively the new balance structure to beat. It also had enough technology on it to beat the matchup it needed to. We didn't see Breloom hit the field, but any number of sets would be useful here to break open physical walls for Flygon. There's also very few majorly terrible defensive matchups here. The lack of a Dark type may render this somewhat Psychic or Ghost weak, so perhaps there are some matchups there that need fine tuning.

3. Thiago Nunes
This feels like another SSNU team with Vaporeon / Talonflame / Steel type, and it's no surprise given Pokeslices influence in the builder here. Here we see the offensive core of a powerful Normal special breaker (Toxtricity is a Normal type) alongside Flygon. In this case it's Scarf Flygon rather than DD to give the team some speed control as it otherwise lacks priority. Scrafty rounds out the team which gives it a powerful Knock Off user, and also a different route to breaking through fatter teams. I'm not sure this choice is justified across the metagame generally, but feels like a good pick into the opponent they had. We didn't see too much variation in set choice here, with the Scrafty pick seemingly being the innovation made based on scouting. Defensively, the team is solid and can handle most of the metagames threats.

These three teams to me felt like overall the most solid teams, with all having similar metagame takes going into week 1. They're relatively boring and safe, but I don't hate that going into week 1. We also saw all three of these pick up wins so there is justification behind how they built. We'll see similar themes going into the other teams, but I think there will also be more weaknesses to large threats and larger issues to address.

4. McMeghan
Going into this game I was convinced that terrain was terrible. That may still prove be the case, but usually these teams would be running Hitmonlee or Oricorio-Pom-Pom, and instead McMeghan opted for CM / Strength Sap Drifblim and Scarf Aerial Ace Breloom. These both had a large impact on the game, and showed there is more life in terrain teams than the current builds, which is nice movement to see. Drifblim in particular was able to muscle past SD Incineroar, an impressive feat which maybe indicates there is a viable mon here after all? For me the higher ranking here is based on taking an existing structure and showing an alternative and viable take on it. I think there is more exploration to be done on terrain, and this team shows that it hasn't been solved yet.

5. etern
I can't in good conscience rank a team that lost to Drifblim any higher than this. However, there are enough elements of this that I like to give it a middling ranking. Here we see the Incin / Bronzong core repeated, and DD Flygon making another appearance. Toxicroak is a nice offensive check to both Scald and Knock Off (Muk-A in particular) which can be difficult for offences to deal with. Araquanid brings much needed speed control with Sticky Web, and I think we see more variations on this as it seems to be a better mon than Galvantula in general. Mismagius I also find intriguing, as often I find myself wanting both the Fighting and Ground immunity while also retaining a good speed tier. We didn't get to see how this would matchup vs the more typical metagame teams, so I can't comment too much on how effective it would be. However, I can see the vision and think there's potential here.

6. stories
Personally, I don't vibe with this team as much as the others. There are parts of it I like - Specs Toxtricity alongside Flygon looks similar to earlier teams, but this time Flygon is the one using Stealth Rock and it doesn't have a Dragon STAB, so the pairing with Toxtricity feels less impactful. Trick Scarf Cresselia with Lunar Dance gives a lot of set up opportunities for dangerous sweepers, but the mon that needs free turns the most is Dundunsparce which feels like it could be something much more dangerous to take advantage of those turns. Defensively, Milotic and Muk-A make a good core, but they leave the team vulnerable to powerful Normal (PZ / Tox) and Dragon (Dragalge, CB Flygon) types. Overall I feel like there were a few different ideas here which ended up in a single team. It's obviously not horrible, but it does leave some room for improvement compared to the other efforts this week.

7. Elias PSY
This team I find both interesting but also underwhelming. On the one hand, it's dedicating half the team to support slots to make sure Rain stays up and can be pivoted into, with Tornadus, Klefki, and Eject Button Slowbro-G all having little impact outside those support functions. The combination of Special Basculegion and Toxicroak is nice, with Vaporeon being the hardest counter for Basc who Toxicroak can then take advantage of. Kilowattrel with 100% accurate Thunders is also scary, but I'm not sure this is quite worth the investment from the supporting cast. It feels to be like this team would have more success if it could compress some of the supporting roles and open up a slot for one more rain abuser, particularly another one which gets Swift Swim.

8. watashi
This is another team that I was not a fan of. Using Diance as the only Normal and Dragon resist simply isn't viable right now, especially if it's playing on a slower spike stack team like this where it will get chipped as it needs to set up hazards. Rocks Helmet Uxie also doesn't seem like it's particularly good to me, particularly when there are other viable rocks users on the team. Based on calcs this looks like CB Swampert, which explains the lack of rocks, but without any removal that (and Dragalge) are both very vulnerable to hazard chip as we saw in this game. Mienshao and Kilo can definitely make a great voltturn core, and Dragon Tail Dragalge should in theory be able to hurt things switching into Spikes. However, the lack of a spin blocker, or a mon to punish Talonflame clicking Defog, makes me question how viable this really is as a team.

9. freezai
I'm off the opinion that HO in this style is not particularly viable right now, other than in very specific matchups. This team in particular also needs free turns for every single mon on the team to do anything, and struggles to generate them. It's lacking in both speed and immediate power that other mons like Tauros-Aqua, Kilowattrel, or even Flygon could bring. This feels like a very weird take on the meta right now, and I can't decipher what it's attempting to do. Double Red Card is an interesting idea but it doesn't feel like it's right time for it - to me that would have made sense when we had a lot more HO threats running around the tier. I do hope that a structure for HO can be found here, so I respect the attempt here, but unfortunately this one was not it.

Clicking rankings
1. watashi
2. Dr. Phd. BJ
3. zS
4. McMeghan
5. stories
6. etern
7. Elias PSY
8. Freezai
9. Thiago Nunes

I will not elaborate on the above.

 

[Django]

Predicts for week 2 3/5 for week 1 not too bad, confident I get 5/5 this week.

Stories vs Dr. Phd. BJ
BJs play was very clean in the first week and his teambuilding was solid as well. There wasn't too much in the way of big plays required to win the game, but it was still clean nonetheless. Stories on the other hand played pretty well, and had some interesting ideas on their team. If they can lock in on a solid idea / structure and make a few big plays, this could easily go the other way.

Thiago Nunes vs watashi
I was very impressed with foolys play, and less impressed by the team. I will back them to bring a better team this time around, especially now we see a meta emerging inside SCL. Thiago conversely had a good team but played worse. I expect a similarly good team, but predict they will get outplayed. I know Thiago has a high ceiling for clicking though, so if they can bring that it will be super close.

etern vs Elias PSY
I expect etern to bounce back from losing to Drifblim, and his mentality will be important in doing so. There's a chance that Elias brings another weather team to tilt etern, and personally that's something I would love to see. In reality though I'm sure they'll revert back to something more typical for them, and I expect etern to be able to prep well for that.

freezai vs McMeghan
The goat showed last week that Drifblim terrain is the meta secret we've been waiting for. Really though their team had a more cohesive structure than Freezai's, but they didn't really have to make too many big plays to get the win. I rank them higher as a clicker as well so I expect this to result in 2-0 for McMeghan.

zS vs Danny
Of course

predictions format for others

Stories vs Dr. Phd. BJ
Thiago Nunes vs watashi
etern vs Elias PSY
freezai vs McMeghan
zS vs Danny

 

[Tuthur]

Ending the Django monologue with my own predicts

Stories vs Dr. Phd. BJ
Both just won their week 1 game and this is the game I'm the most excited to see, as both have high profiles as players. Both played well but BJ's won by a bigger margin than Stories imo, though Danny was a harder opponent than freezai.

Thiago Nunes vs watashi
I originally wrote that both lost last week, but Nunes actually won, beating the washed allegations. Though, as pointed out by Django in his clicking rankings, watashi's plays were far more convincing (as well as team). pokeslice will build another SS NU team with like Toxicroak or Vileplume, and I will stop there before it gets too uncomfy.

etern vs Elias PSY
After calling me naughty for banning Unburden from ZU, etern got owned by the same core that traumatized ZU. Jokes aside, etern and Elias are two excellent NUers who I ranked high on my PR, which I don't regret despite both losing week 1. I believe etern is a better player than Elias, but etern seems to struggle a bit with finding good ideas in the meta, while Elias, GXE, and shiloh should be able to cook something together. I think than in SV, teambuilding is more important than playing right, so giving the edge to Elias here.

freezai vs McMeghan
Bad HO vs good HO. I think the games they played last week speak for themselves.

zS vs Danny
I rate zS's teams and plays higher than Danny's. zS is a more threatening opponent than Stories imo, so Danny will have to step up from last week's mistakes.

 

[Phantomistix]

Coin went 3/5 last week, week 2 time

Stories vs Dr Phd. BJ
Thiago Nunes vs watashi
etern vs Elias PSY
freezai vs McMeghan
zS vs Danny

 

[Dr. Phd. BJ]

Stories vs Dr. Phd. BJ
Thiago Nunes vs watashi
Last week, Thiago Nunes brought probably my favorite team among the NUers. While I was a fan of his team choice, I was left a little confused as to why he never sent in Talonflame against Toxicroak. There was a Kilowattrel (in rain), Glowbro, and special Basculegion. As someone who pilots a lot of these types of teams, I thought that Bronzong on Toxicroak and then going into Talon was a relatively safe line. You catch CC/Sucker from Toxicroak which can't really make the Gunk play in front of Bronzong thanks to Psychic Noise. He got very greedy with a Flip Turn against Klefki just for Elias to punish with a hard Toxicroak. To make matters worse, Thiago also did not scout the Kilowattrel Tera and nearly got reverse swept at the end thanks to nearly losing Flygon from Confusion. However, the two things I think he did very well in his game against Elias were maximizing Toxtricity value, and he sniped Toxicroak with an albeit risky Tera from Bronzong.

On the other hand, watashi loaded a very unique bulky offense with lots of pivots and bulk. If Elias and zS had a baby, it would probably be this watashi team. Watashi honestly played pretty well, and unless I am missing something the game came down to a Mienshao speed tie that zS won. However, the watashi team had meh speed and no removal. Boots can circumvent a lot, but I still am personally not the biggest fan, especially when Swampert is very likely to take Knock from Incineroar in practice. Ultimately, watashi's team was good enough to win this week and he played well enough to win but it just did not turn out that way.

I am gonna pick watashi to snag a win because his play was miles better than Thiago Nunes play last week. While I do not expect a repeat play wise from Thiago, I am still curious as to what both players will bring, as I am unsure of Thiago's teams long term since Slice has been inactive since January and will inevitably have to attend 36 weddings a week. I trust watashi to bring something good enough, and I trust his play more to secure a win.

*etern vs Elias PSY*
To me, this is the highlight match of the week. Not because of bias or because of player skill being comparable, but because I think there is a rather intriguing narrative for both players this week. After rewatching last week's game against McMeghan, I can't help but be left with a bad taste in my mouth. Etern had the best possible turn 1 happen when McMeghan led Thorns trying to catch Araq, but etern instead led flygon presumably to get Rocks or maybe even predicting Thorns. He EQ'd as McMeghan bewilderingly stayed in and died. What proceeded after was a Drifblim 1v1'ing an Incineroar which I thought immediately was bound to happen with Tera. However, I think etern actually beats Drifblim with Incin if he continues to SD instead of starting to attack immediately into getting Sapped + Tera'd on. Now obviously it is much easier to say that in hindsight as a spectator, but I feel as though etern was very fortunate to even kill Drifblim afterwards the way that interaction was played. I was actually a fan of what etern brought, but sometimes you just get got.

Now it is time to talk about the other player in Thiago Nunes game: Elias Psy. I am a bit worried about Elias team selection going forward because he brought Toxicroak Rain, which is by no means a bad play style nor bring. The reason I am worried is that he has not branched out at all since NUPL or even tours before when it comes to team selection. I fully expect him to start using Registeel Glowbro Wishpass stuff again, but I am left wondering if he feels comfortable with that in this meta. I don't know how much time GXE is going to put into building current NU this tour, especially considering he has to learn PU in a pool full of titans and shifts will nuke PU shortly and he will have to adapt from there. Shiloh builds some weird stuff, and the type of stuff he uses might not be for Elias. He was loading some Ditto stall during NULT and using a lot of other's teams/ideas. On paper, I think Elias has amazing support. But in practice, I am kind of worried for the bloke, especially since he loaded a Rain team with a million inaccurate moves off rip. I also think that he got very fortunate week 1, as he had great chances with Toxicroak + Kilo + Basculegion. I personally think he should've just Tera'd Toxicroak and nuked Bronzong early, as that is what I assumed happened when I was watching the game for the first time as if I never watched it. He got into this weird sorta mind game early with Nunes where he was sending in Bronzong to check Croak and never used Talon. I think Nunes forgetting what a Talonflame is kind of threw Elias off, and it led to him baiting himself into letting his best asset killed to Psychic Noise. I believe Tera'ing Croak would've made that game exponentially easier, and instead it got spent on a Kilo when the game was over. His play was not bad though, I just fundamentally disagree with the route he took which almost worked because Nunes played poorly.

Now to add more context, etern and Elias both went positive last SCL, and etern made a mistake prepping for Elias last tour which should have costed him, but his CM Jolteon crit through a CM Chansey which saved him. One of these two players will start the tour 0-2, and many people had these two as top 3 players in the pool going in. I think etern will learn from his mistake last SCL that he quite literally can't make because Chansey isn't NU. However, I think Elias is mysterious right now, and while he may have been predictable in the past, he is coming off a loss using something similar to what he used against Wadley during NUPL. This is probably the week where it is toughest to actually nail down the way Elias approached this meta, but this week might cement where he is at within the meta.

freezai vs McMeghan
I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about freezai's week last week, as he played me. But to keep it short, he loaded some double suicide lead HO that never really had a chance to get any openings against Taunt Talonflame + DD Flygon. He got unlucky last SCL in some games, but he played well for the most part and loaded some cool stuff. He also went positive during NUPL loading weather half the time. My biggest concern with freezai now isn't in his play, but rather his eclectic team selection that seems to only include of different balls to the wall offenses.

Lots of people expected McMeghan to lose to etern week 1, as he does not have a ton of experience in the tier asides from maybe spectating a couple games. McMeghan loaded up some terrain, which also happens to be what he loaded up week 1 of last SCL in UU. Conceptually, I was a big fan of Drifblim + Cresselia, as they in theory can overwhelm Incineroar. Thorns is also a stupid win con, you just have to commit to Tera in order to pull it off. The Scarf Breloom was a nice wrinkle, it certainly caught me off guard and the Toxicroak it Aerial Aced. To me, I think using Grassy Terrain was a great call and I was actually a fan of McMeghan's team more than others. It looks as if he understood that his best bet against etern wasn't to pick up the tier in a week and go toe-to-toe in a balance war, not that he is incapable, but rather he knew how to throw off etern's game and maximize his odds. The only thing that was really confusing about his play was the turn 1 with Thorns. Supposedly smogtours messed up the Thorns spread which junked IVs, but also the spread should give it the speed boost and not attack boost? Asides the ominous Thorns, very convincing win from McMeghan.

I think this game has potential to be very good, but just based off last week and accolades on the site, it is really difficult to not bold McMeghan.

zS vs Danny
I think many people were surprised to see zS starting in NU including zS himself. He was not expected to start in NU, but I for one am really happy he is, especially after he posted a dominant 6-2 during NUPL. Now when I saw his team against watashi, I immediately disliked it at a glance. My thoughts were filled with "Is that a Quagsire" "Why is there a Quagsire" and "What the fuck is that Water Absorb". However from looking at the team more, I actually came around to liking it. I personally probably would've went with Flygon + Inteleon/Toxicroak somewhere here, but at the end of the day zS has spikes and a highly threatening offensive core that is trying to win games first. And for that, I respect the hell out of zS. He played solidly, I think he is quietly getting off the hook though because watashi brought a weird 6. The Mienshao tie that occurred later on was pretty much for game, as zS just lost to Kilowattrel otherwise I'm pretty sure. Someone please correct me if that wasn't a tie, because that changes a lot. I expect zS to load something solid that gives him the chance to play proactively.

Danny had a forgettable week 1 to say the least. I loved the team he brought. It isn't creative by any means, but it definitely optimizes Oricorio's bullshittery with Scarf Cress + TWave Registeel + Intimidate 2x. Danny played pretty well for the most part asides the end game. The Flygon sequence wasn't bad, he just got unfortunate with 4 hits and the way it turned out. The Oricorio definitely should've swept, but similarly to etern, he got got when Stories went hard Flygon on Rev Dance. I think it was mentioned in NU cord by zS, but Danny probably should've spammed Roost at the end. Honestly, even just double Rev Dance earlier probably sufficed imo but maybe I'm trolling. Danny lost week 1 last SCL and this NUPL, and managed to have solid tours following. I trust his building going forward, and I think his play will be a nonissue long term.

This MU is kinda hype, players were ranked 3rd and 4th respectively pre-SCL and we just had 1st and 2nd duke it out last week. They were also teammates during NUPL, posting a combined 11-5 record. I think we have a lot of scoreboard watchers in here that just look at records and insta bold zS, but this game is really fucking close. I happen to be bolding zS because I am convinced this game will come down to play, and zS playing wise has shown more than Danny both in NUPL and week 1. Don't be surprised if Danny loads something super solid and gets the win.

 

[Pokeslice]

Stories vs Dr. Phd. BJ - taking the cowards route here by saying this is a toss up, but I really don't know who to pick. I think both are really strong players who will tryhard in the builder and bring something saucy. It sort of comes down here to who can make the other mald first with their cool ass tech. This is the personal hl match for me this week and I can't wait for the spirit of prime togkey to take over whichever players loses this week in the discord.
Thiago Nunes vs watashi - please don't play in class again nunes, everyone thinks we're washed :sob:
etern vs Elias PSY - I have to bold eternally here, but I'll be honest, I hope Elias brings another jank offense but with a Drifblim and makes magic happen...
freezai vs McMeghan - Truthfully, I disliked both teams last week and it's clear that both are building without much support. I think that mcm will end up bringing something more standard this time around and I value him more as a clicker so I have to bold him. Freezai can win this by totally knowledge checking roro, but I agree with others who've said that the style of teams that freezai likes to bring don't work well in this meta. Put freezai in OU where he dominates and free DR.
zS vs Danny - surely Danny doesn't go 0-2. This is the game that sets the mood of the tour for him, so I'm rooting for him. Momo can very very possibly win though

 

[Django]

Week 2 teams and clicking ranking let's gooo

Before getting into it, I've found it interesting that there is definitely a solid meta and team structure becoming obvious around Flygon and Bronzong. These two both were used on 7/10 teams this week, and it feels like there is more standardisation than in week 1. Will more reliable counterplay for Flygon emerge, or will teams find ways to take advantage of Bronzong more to discourage it being by far the most popular Steel / rocker / Flygon check. The teams brought this week overall felt much closer together in terms of quality, with no real outliers, so the rankings here I found a lot harder to call. Particularly in the lower half, so sorry to anyone who's offended by getting ranked low again

Team rankings

1. watashi
I like this team a lot as I feel it combines elements of the metagame which is emerging, while also moving things forward in interesting directions. Toxtricity is still a big threat as we saw last week, and here it forms a strong volturn core with Pads Miensho, a nice choice to enable free pivots on Talonflame and Vileplume, which Toxtricity loves to be in against. Scarf rocks Flygon is something which I personally struggle to use effectively, but here it gives a lot of role compression which allows potentially greedy choices such as running Mienshao and Tox without either of them being scarf. Bramble revealed max HP (or close to it) based on Psychic Noise damage, so I'd be interested to know if it's also running full def and this is a SpDef Vaporeon, or if Klefki is holding SpDef investment. Either way this is a nice core that gives removal, longevity, hazards and further speed control. As seen in the game SD Incin is a big threat to this team, but it can be played around. The last move on Vaporeon was not revealed, but I think we can assume it's Haze or Ice Beam to better check Flygon which does otherwise look a little scary. To me this is a nice evolution of the team watashi ran last week, with a fast paced spike stack + lots of momentum. I'm interested to see how this plays out in future weeks, and whether we see different styles, but for now I'm pleased to see something that isn't Bronzong balance perform well.

2. Dr. Phd. BJ
Speaking of Bronzong balance, bj was one of 7 players to run it this week. In this case he loaded up DemonZong, a personal favourite of mine, so there is at least some variation there. Salazzle and Scrafty are interesting takes on this team style which would more regularly run Toxicroak, Incineroar, or Muk-A in those slots. Both these mons have growing niches in the tier, and it's nice to see them pick up more usage as they should. Brambleghast makes another appearance here alongside what I can only assume is Water Absorb Quag - this is an option I personally really like at the moment, and I think Brambleghast will continue to pick up more usage as a very good role compression option. Overall I'm ranking this team mostly on how it looks as the game didn't really play out enough to show off the team, but I like the meta progression and more options to the "standard" structure this brings.

3. McMeghan
For the second week in a row McMeghan brings what is probably the weirdest team of the week, and for the second week in a row he gets the W. While I don't think this is necessarily a great option for laddering or winning vs large portions of the metagame, I do think it was a really good bring into the typical Freezai teams. Interestingly it didn't quite get the exact matchup it wanted, but it still did enough to win. Naclstack is the standout mon here, and it certainly puts in a lot of work. I do like this mon as an alternative to Steel types when looking to check powerful special attackers Porygon-Z, and Salt Cure is so broken as a concept that is enables it to be successful. Endeavour seems cool on Salazzle, Toxic Spikes less so with the amount of grounded poison types running around. P2 and Avalugg form a core similar to ChanseyLugg, while Quagsire brings a much needed Volt Switch immunity, and Unaware makes it able to stop a fair few set up sweepers. Ditto checks pretty much everything on this type of team as well, and I potentially think it's better to run Water Absorb Quagsire here, as threats like Inteleon, Basculegion, or wetbull could put this team under a lot of pressure. Overall this team has more hits than misses though, and I respect not being afraid to bring something different. Excited to see what comes next in roros games.

4. zS
Another deviation from Bronzong balance, this time a webs offence making use of a few under appreciated threats - Braviary-H, Chandelure, and Iron Thorns. Braviary and Chandelure hit stupidly hard, and overlap a lot of checks with Muk-A and Incineroar immediately coming to mind. Braviary in particular has a combination of STAB moves that the regular Dark types in the tier don't want to switch into, while also packing Heat Wave for Bronzong. Umbreon is seeing very little usage so this mon can potentially punch huge holes in teams which Munkidori and Chandelure take advantage of. Iron Thorns is another big threat which doesn't see much usage - some games it goes completely crazy and others it can't find enough spots to set up. Webs can mitigate issues all of these mons have with speed tiers, so I can see the vision for this team. Flygon is also pretty much mandatory on offence so this is no surprise. However, recently a lot of teams have been forgoing removal and running a lot of boots, so on a team like this I would expect to see at least one Knock Off user to ensure webs can gain traction. There's also a big shared Dark and Ghost weakness which might make some matchups very tricky, but those types don't currently tend to have too many fast mons spamming those moves. Overall I like the thinking behind this team, and I like the attempt to bring some more threats into the meta. It didn't work out this time, and maybe the ideas here need to be refined a little bit, but it's fun to see.

5. etern
This team has a few elements I particularly like, especially into the opponent etern had. Bulky set up options (Scrafty, Bronzong) as well as a fast Encore from Uxie are typically great to overcome fatter structures. Knock / Flip Turn / Toxic Tentacruel can also cause a lot of issues vs slower teams and is another mon I like because of how much role compression it brings. Choice Band wetbull also has very few switchins, but in this game it has a not so great matchup vs Basc and Water Absorb Quag. I think there are some nice ideas in this team, and it feels like solid prep into the scout. In this case etern got unlucky so I'm looking forward to seeing him bounce back next week.

6. Elias PSY
This feels like back to safety for Elias, with MukLugg performing a similar role to the infamous ChanseyLugg core. Basculegion + Kilo makes another appearance, this time without rain support, and these two are certainly difficult to keep in check, outside of good prediction and running the right immunities. Bronzong potentially feels a little redundant with Avalugg stopping most Flygon sets in their tracks, it would have been interesting to see an alternative option in this slot. Quagsire provides a valuable Water immunities and more hazards. This team feels like it can be overwhelmed by some bulk set up options, which see nearly see happen with Scrafty in the game, but Elias gets bailed out with some flinches. For this looks like it's too easy to take advantage of based on previous information we know about how Elias likes to build, so I'll be interested to see if they continue down this route or look to iterate further.

7. stories
I'm giving this one a very mid - low ranking mostly because it a) looks very standard and b) we didn't get to see much of it used as intended. It got fully rolled over by DemonZong, which Encore Scrafty would have nicely checked, but that ended up losing out to some unfort Shed Skin rolls. I like the overall look of this structure, with the lack of removal compensated by 2 Spikes immune mons and 2 mons who are happy to take Knock Off. I'd prefer to see boots on Plume over helmet in this case. I wish I had more to say about this but I can't read too much into the sets to make a solid judgement.

8. Thiago Nunes
At first glance this team feels unremarkable and relatively standard. Incineroar / Bronzong is the standard balance backbone, while IntelCroak has existed as an offensive core for an age. Flygon and Kilo are pretty much the best momentum grabbers and bring great immunities as well. When you throw it all together you have an OK team but nothing special. The low ranking here reflects that, and also reflects a few flaws which stick out to me. The lack of fighting switch in makes me concerned playing this vs threats like Mienshao and wetbull, and that's what we see play out in this game. Non choiced versions of these mons in particular become a nightmare, with one wrong move potentially spelling disaster. Defensive teras such as Ghost and Fairy can do some of this work, but it's not always enough. Further, lack of removal and no boots on Inteleon or Croak makes this relatively weak to Spikes, which we may see make a bit of a comeback. The low ranking here reflects a team that almost feels one step behind the current metagame, which got punished this week.

9. freezai
While freezai comes in last again, I will say I think this team is a large improvement on last week. Decidueye is certainly a threat, and I think Toxicroak also has a lot of merit in the metagame currently. Talonflame and Umbreon were previously very solid options, but recently it feels like they've dropped off with the rise of Incineroar and just generally not being proactive enough. This team also lacks solid speed control outside of a few priority moves, which I think is a hard position to be in when your team does give away quite a few setup opportunities. Mudsdale is also an interesting option as a ground type and rocker, but it feels hard to justify in many games over Flygon. I like the direction these builds are moving in though, and interested to see what we get this week.

Week 2 Clicking rankings
1. watashi
2. etern
3. McMeghan
4. Dr. Phd. BJ
5. zS
6. stories
7. freezai
8. Elias PSY
9. Thiago Nunes

Week 3 predicts​

watashi vs etern
etern hasn't had the best luck thus far, and this is a really tough matchup to bounce back with. watashi has been clicking really really well, and the teambuilding is also moving in the right direction. It also feels like etern hasn't quite found a style that he is fully clicking with in this meta. I am very excited to watch this though, and it could very easily go either way. Etern will be very motivated to avoid 0-3, but watashi is the NUoat for a reason.

McMeghan vs Stories
I haven't been blown away by either of Stories games thus far, and McMeghan has shown a willingness to target their opponents in a way that has been very successful thus far. I expect the offbeat team choices to continue, and being a better clicker overall will give McMeghan the edge. Stories does have a lot of potential to go big this year though, and a win against McMeghan would be a big statement. We could potentially see two very wacky teams here, so inevitably it'll be a Bronzong mirror.

Elias PSY vs freezai
Maybe a controversial pick given all my ratings lol. But freezai ultimately is good, and I think is moving in the right direction. Elias however went from trying something new to going back to comfort, and getting rewarded for it. If they are too complacent, freezai's improving teams will take advantage of this. Another very close match.

Danny vs Dr. Phd. BJ
It's inevitable

zS vs Thiago Nunes
Both zS play and teams have been more impressive to me over the two games we have so far. I think this is the most lopsided matchup this week, and we will need to see a big improvement from TNunes in order to get the win.

 

[Phantomistix]

Coin went 3/5 last week, 6/10 in total

W3 Coin Predicts:
watashi vs etern
McMeghan vs Stories
Elias PSY vs freezai
Danny vs Dr. Phd. Bj
zS vs Thiago Nunes

 

[Tuthur]

watashi vs etern
Regardless of RNG, I've been disappointed at etern's games so far, as I feel like he could have definitely won both regardless of RNG with some better plays. His builds have felt less creative than last year, and I think that does hurt him a lot. Both FLCL and etern have been bringing solid teams, so bolding watashi for his more consistent plays, as much as I want etern to win.

McMeghan vs Stories
Better plays vs better teams. Preparing for roro might be really tough though, as he brought two really non standard and cheesy builds that worked well. I can see Stories saying fuck it and bring her own cheese, while Roro moves to more standard structures.

Elias PSY vs freezai
freezai is really hindered by bad teams. He has been playing well for the past two weeks, but not much you can do against good opponents with solid teams with what he brought. I'm not really sold on Elias' teams so far and I'm not feeling the GXE input in the slot, so I could see an upset here.

Danny vs BJ
It's inevitable.

zS vs Thiago Nunes
Both players having similar trajectories in winning week 1 and losing week 2. I haven't been liking Nunes teams and plays so far. I didn't really like the lines zS took last week, and I don't think they showed how good his wacky looking team was, but if he gets back to something he is more comfortable using, he should be fine.

 

[Be13costa]

Week 2 teams and clicking ranking let's gooo

Before getting into it, I've found it interesting that there is definitely a solid meta and team structure becoming obvious around Flygon and Bronzong. These two both were used on 7/10 teams this week, and it feels like there is more standardisation than in week 1. Will more reliable counterplay for Flygon emerge, or will teams find ways to take advantage of Bronzong more to discourage it being by far the most popular Steel / rocker / Flygon check. The teams brought this week overall felt much closer together in terms of quality, with no real outliers, so the rankings here I found a lot harder to call. Particularly in the lower half, so sorry to anyone who's offended by getting ranked low again

Team rankings
View attachment 671539
1. watashi
I like this team a lot as I feel it combines elements of the metagame which is emerging, while also moving things forward in interesting directions. Toxtricity is still a big threat as we saw last week, and here it forms a strong volturn core with Pads Miensho, a nice choice to enable free pivots on Talonflame and Vileplume, which Toxtricity loves to be in against. Scarf rocks Flygon is something which I personally struggle to use effectively, but here it gives a lot of role compression which allows potentially greedy choices such as running Mienshao and Tox without either of them being scarf. Bramble revealed max HP (or close to it) based on Psychic Noise damage, so I'd be interested to know if it's also running full def and this is a SpDef Vaporeon, or if Klefki is holding SpDef investment. Either way this is a nice core that gives removal, longevity, hazards and further speed control. As seen in the game SD Incin is a big threat to this team, but it can be played around. The last move on Vaporeon was not revealed, but I think we can assume it's Haze or Ice Beam to better check Flygon which does otherwise look a little scary. To me this is a nice evolution of the team watashi ran last week, with a fast paced spike stack + lots of momentum. I'm interested to see how this plays out in future weeks, and whether we see different styles, but for now I'm pleased to see something that isn't Bronzong balance perform well.

View attachment 671542
2. Dr. Phd. BJ
Speaking of Bronzong balance, bj was one of 7 players to run it this week. In this case he loaded up DemonZong, a personal favourite of mine, so there is at least some variation there. Salazzle and Scrafty are interesting takes on this team style which would more regularly run Toxicroak, Incineroar, or Muk-A in those slots. Both these mons have growing niches in the tier, and it's nice to see them pick up more usage as they should. Brambleghast makes another appearance here alongside what I can only assume is Water Absorb Quag - this is an option I personally really like at the moment, and I think Brambleghast will continue to pick up more usage as a very good role compression option. Overall I'm ranking this team mostly on how it looks as the game didn't really play out enough to show off the team, but I like the meta progression and more options to the "standard" structure this brings.

View attachment 671534
3. McMeghan
For the second week in a row McMeghan brings what is probably the weirdest team of the week, and for the second week in a row he gets the W. While I don't think this is necessarily a great option for laddering or winning vs large portions of the metagame, I do think it was a really good bring into the typical Freezai teams. Interestingly it didn't quite get the exact matchup it wanted, but it still did enough to win. Naclstack is the standout mon here, and it certainly puts in a lot of work. I do like this mon as an alternative to Steel types when looking to check powerful special attackers Porygon-Z, and Salt Cure is so broken as a concept that is enables it to be successful. Endeavour seems cool on Salazzle, Toxic Spikes less so with the amount of grounded poison types running around. P2 and Avalugg form a core similar to ChanseyLugg, while Quagsire brings a much needed Volt Switch immunity, and Unaware makes it able to stop a fair few set up sweepers. Ditto checks pretty much everything on this type of team as well, and I potentially think it's better to run Water Absorb Quagsire here, as threats like Inteleon, Basculegion, or wetbull could put this team under a lot of pressure. Overall this team has more hits than misses though, and I respect not being afraid to bring something different. Excited to see what comes next in roros games.

View attachment 671533
4. zS
Another deviation from Bronzong balance, this time a webs offence making use of a few under appreciated threats - Braviary-H, Chandelure, and Iron Thorns. Braviary and Chandelure hit stupidly hard, and overlap a lot of checks with Muk-A and Incineroar immediately coming to mind. Braviary in particular has a combination of STAB moves that the regular Dark types in the tier don't want to switch into, while also packing Heat Wave for Bronzong. Umbreon is seeing very little usage so this mon can potentially punch huge holes in teams which Munkidori and Chandelure take advantage of. Iron Thorns is another big threat which doesn't see much usage - some games it goes completely crazy and others it can't find enough spots to set up. Webs can mitigate issues all of these mons have with speed tiers, so I can see the vision for this team. Flygon is also pretty much mandatory on offence so this is no surprise. However, recently a lot of teams have been forgoing removal and running a lot of boots, so on a team like this I would expect to see at least one Knock Off user to ensure webs can gain traction. There's also a big shared Dark and Ghost weakness which might make some matchups very tricky, but those types don't currently tend to have too many fast mons spamming those moves. Overall I like the thinking behind this team, and I like the attempt to bring some more threats into the meta. It didn't work out this time, and maybe the ideas here need to be refined a little bit, but it's fun to see.

View attachment 671537
5. etern
This team has a few elements I particularly like, especially into the opponent etern had. Bulky set up options (Scrafty, Bronzong) as well as a fast Encore from Uxie are typically great to overcome fatter structures. Knock / Flip Turn / Toxic Tentacruel can also cause a lot of issues vs slower teams and is another mon I like because of how much role compression it brings. Choice Band wetbull also has very few switchins, but in this game it has a not so great matchup vs Basc and Water Absorb Quag. I think there are some nice ideas in this team, and it feels like solid prep into the scout. In this case etern got unlucky so I'm looking forward to seeing him bounce back next week.

View attachment 671538
6. Elias PSY
This feels like back to safety for Elias, with MukLugg performing a similar role to the infamous ChanseyLugg core. Basculegion + Kilo makes another appearance, this time without rain support, and these two are certainly difficult to keep in check, outside of good prediction and running the right immunities. Bronzong potentially feels a little redundant with Avalugg stopping most Flygon sets in their tracks, it would have been interesting to see an alternative option in this slot. Quagsire provides a valuable Water immunities and more hazards. This team feels like it can be overwhelmed by some bulk set up options, which see nearly see happen with Scrafty in the game, but Elias gets bailed out with some flinches. For this looks like it's too easy to take advantage of based on previous information we know about how Elias likes to build, so I'll be interested to see if they continue down this route or look to iterate further.

View attachment 671541
7. stories
I'm giving this one a very mid - low ranking mostly because it a) looks very standard and b) we didn't get to see much of it used as intended. It got fully rolled over by DemonZong, which Encore Scrafty would have nicely checked, but that ended up losing out to some unfort Shed Skin rolls. I like the overall look of this structure, with the lack of removal compensated by 2 Spikes immune mons and 2 mons who are happy to take Knock Off. I'd prefer to see boots on Plume over helmet in this case. I wish I had more to say about this but I can't read too much into the sets to make a solid judgement.

View attachment 671540
8. Thiago Nunes
At first glance this team feels unremarkable and relatively standard. Incineroar / Bronzong is the standard balance backbone, while IntelCroak has existed as an offensive core for an age. Flygon and Kilo are pretty much the best momentum grabbers and bring great immunities as well. When you throw it all together you have an OK team but nothing special. The low ranking here reflects that, and also reflects a few flaws which stick out to me. The lack of fighting switch in makes me concerned playing this vs threats like Mienshao and wetbull, and that's what we see play out in this game. Non choiced versions of these mons in particular become a nightmare, with one wrong move potentially spelling disaster. Defensive teras such as Ghost and Fairy can do some of this work, but it's not always enough. Further, lack of removal and no boots on Inteleon or Croak makes this relatively weak to Spikes, which we may see make a bit of a comeback. The low ranking here reflects a team that almost feels one step behind the current metagame, which got punished this week.

View attachment 671620
9. freezai
While freezai comes in last again, I will say I think this team is a large improvement on last week. Decidueye is certainly a threat, and I think Toxicroak also has a lot of merit in the metagame currently. Talonflame and Umbreon were previously very solid options, but recently it feels like they've dropped off with the rise of Incineroar and just generally not being proactive enough. This team also lacks solid speed control outside of a few priority moves, which I think is a hard position to be in when your team does give away quite a few setup opportunities. Mudsdale is also an interesting option as a ground type and rocker, but it feels hard to justify in many games over Flygon. I like the direction these builds are moving in though, and interested to see what we get this week.

Week 2 Clicking rankings
1. watashi
2. etern
3. McMeghan
4. Dr. Phd. BJ
5. zS
6. stories
7. freezai
8. Elias PSY
9. Thiago Nunes

Week 3 predicts​

watashi vs etern
etern hasn't had the best luck thus far, and this is a really tough matchup to bounce back with. watashi has been clicking really really well, and the teambuilding is also moving in the right direction. It also feels like etern hasn't quite found a style that he is fully clicking with in this meta. I am very excited to watch this though, and it could very easily go either way. Etern will be very motivated to avoid 0-3, but watashi is the NUoat for a reason.

McMeghan vs Stories
I haven't been blown away by either of Stories games thus far, and McMeghan has shown a willingness to target their opponents in a way that has been very successful thus far. I expect the offbeat team choices to continue, and being a better clicker overall will give McMeghan the edge. Stories does have a lot of potential to go big this year though, and a win against McMeghan would be a big statement. We could potentially see two very wacky teams here, so inevitably it'll be a Bronzong mirror.

Elias PSY vs freezai
Maybe a controversial pick given all my ratings lol. But freezai ultimately is good, and I think is moving in the right direction. Elias however went from trying something new to going back to comfort, and getting rewarded for it. If they are too complacent, freezai's improving teams will take advantage of this. Another very close match.

Danny vs Dr. Phd. BJ
It's inevitable

zS vs Thiago Nunes
Both zS play and teams have been more impressive to me over the two games we have so far. I think this is the most lopsided matchup this week, and we will need to see a big improvement from TNunes in order to get the win.

Django is doing an amazing work for us all with great analyses of what is happening on each week here for our NU community.

But is AFRAID to rank his teammate Danny so I will do it for him.

7. Danny

Honestly I could copy and paste what he said about Stories team and would be done, this is the quintessential Zong/Flygon core with small tweaks that don't change both the objective or gameplay of the team. Danny's team we have Rocks Zong, Spam boots and Unrevealed Flygon. This isnt only extremely good in the meta. It IS the meta. Every team needs to account for Flygon, Strong Fast Fighting mon, Koff/Scald absorber,Volt/Turn punish and a fat setup. I liked wisp on Red Bull it gives a long term progress on a mon that forces switches. This team is really solid.

As for clicking Danny played really well he had the game on his hands from the lead and didn't have any blunders but he didn't need to do any read because of the MU the game kind of just unfold with both players playing what they should so he is deserving of a great 2 this week.

personally I rank this team much higher, i think hitting the meta is good even if not very creative probably would put it at 3/4 and the same for stories but if i go by Django's methodology Danny team would be at 7th.

 

[Danny]

SCL Week 4 Matchups:

SV NU Circuit Breakers vs Indigo Platoon: 3d vs watashi
SV NU Studio Gible vs Showdown Shoguns: tier vs zS
SV NU Arena Spartans vs Mt. Silver Foxes: Thiago Nunes vs Danny
SV NU Technical Machines vs Uncharted Terrors: Stories vs Elias PSY
SV NU Orange Islanders vs Power Plant Dynamos: Dr. Phd. BJ vs McMeghan

Week 3 Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-793238
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-792571
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-793661
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-793552
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nu-793206

Decided to get this week up early, won't do predicts as I am superstitious and believe if I do I will face bad luck. Will comment a bit about week 3 however as I think that its important to get this dialogue going. My first impression from this week is the extreme lack of Bronzong usage. Compared to week 2 which saw 7 Bronzong, there were only 2 in Week 3. This can partly be attributed to the use of offense in many slots, but I find it interesting that the second most used mon saw such a precipitous drop from its dominance in the early weeks. Speaking of offense, the usage of those types of teams skyrocketed this week, and although there is not enough data to tell it might signify some interesting trends in the metagame. I can't wait to read some discussion about the teams brought, the plays made and the new faces in 3d and tier joining into the player pool. Neither one of these 2 are new faces to mons, however I don't think 3d has played any NU this generation so it will be hype to see what a fresh mind can cook up. Tier had a strong run in NUPL making it to Semifinals on the Talonflames with a 6-2 record. I won't be giving too much discussion at the moment but maybe later on I will give my detailed thoughts on Week 3. Django, Be13costa, Tuthur and others do your things! This is an exciting week for everyone, as all of us have something to prove. GLHF

 

[Tuthur]

3d vs watashi
The freezai issue wasnt a player issue but a team issue. I doubt switching to 3d will solve the issue. As for watashi, I really liked the 6 he picked, which was quite similar to something id run. I wasnt particularly a fan on some movesets, like rest copper and Bulldoze Loom, but both poped off last week and ill put that on good prep rather than luck.

tier vs zS
Might be a needed break week for etern, even if none of his games were bad. I dont think tier is a more competent player, and I cant see him being comfortable with something that isnt very similar to what Nunes brought to zS last week. If momo preps well for HO, most notably Pompom and Thorns, but also Hail and Rain bullshit, I dont think he can lose, even if tier ends up bringing an etern balance.

Thiago Nunes vs Danny
There wasnt much to say on Nunes game last week, with him getting an effortless win with a pretty linear HO team and a good deal of rng. Danny just beat BJ and Im overall more confident on his NU capabilities.

Stories vs Elias PSY
Stories is pretty tilted entering this week, so Im guessing we are either never seeing her from the tour again or she will crush Elias, no in between. I can see her bring another bullshit HO that matches well into Avalugg / Vapo balance which is the only thing Elias is known for. I love chaos and France, so rooting for Elias.

Dr. Phd. BJ vs McMeghan
Both had a worse week 3 than 1 and 2, but im sure theyll both bounce back. Very interesting game. Go BJ

 

[Django]

Another cool week of SCL games! As Danny mentioned there's been a shift away from Bronzong, with Klefki, Copperajah, Orthworm, and even 0 Steel type teams getting used. We're also seeing a shift towards offense, with one pure HO and two Grassy Terrain teams appearing. The more passive structures also seem to be struggling to pick up wins. I'm excited to see if that trend continues or if fatter teams can start to pick up wins vs the offenses as well. The rankings this week were kinda hard with two games being mainly decided by flinches / paras, but here we go anyway

Team Rankings

1. McMeghan
I'm ranking this number 1 as a) it's the best attempt I've seen so far at a non terrain HO, and b) it makes use of some underutilised threats. It bears some similarity to Freezai's team from w1, with Chandelure and Drednaw forming a potent offensive duo which can be very hard to check together. Encore Uxie and Thunder Wave Klefki give several openings for the powerful sweepers to set up, while Sash Cinccino ensures hazards stay off at the start of the game, giving Scarf Chandelure an easier time for the rest of the game. Endeavour is a neat tech on this, and with Steel types (which almost always lack recovery in this tier) being a very common switch in, it can cause big headaches for teams. Finally Toxtricity can function as either a wallbreaker or sweeper depending on the game, and it does both very well. I'm surprised this mon is not seeing more usage, and really expect it to pick up in the next few weeks. I can see more fat walls with better recovery like Wo-Chien becoming popular if this structure gets more play, rather than the typical balance cores we see right now which are subject to being chipped and overrun.

2. watashi
I've been impressed with watashi's two teams since week 1, and with the clicking being consistently good, it's resulted in two wins. This week watashi moves away from spike stacking to a more traditional balance structure, but rather than leaning on the typical Bronzong / Incineroar core, we see Copperajah / Talonflame / Bellibolt. This is an interesting combination, especially with RestTalk Copper being able to soak up status and switch into Scald for the other two. This is enabled by running Stealth Rock on Flygon, who also has Scale Shot as an optional end game cleaner. This is an underrated utility of Flygon in my opinion, as it often doesn't need an attack boost to close out a game. CB Breloom is the teams main breaker, and Scarf Munki gives speed control and similarly can clean up teams in the end game. There's a few potential concerns here defensively, with Copperajah being the only Psychic, Dragon, and Normal resist, meaning it could be overwhelmed by teams with a lot of momentume and special breakers. Flygon checks are also mostly limited revenge killing it or hope for a U-Turn burn on Talon. The Flygon matchup didn't come here, nor did Munkidori / PZ / Toxtricity, so it would be interesting to see how this team plays against those.

3. Dr. Phd. BJ
The only IncinZong (ZongRoar? BronCin?) core this week, which is a huge departure from the previous two weeks. This time around BJ takes the team in a slightly fatter direction, adding Vileplume to improve the matchup against powerful physical threats like Wetbull. I'm a fan of Vileplume right now and I would expect it to pick up more play as the weeks go on. It's got some really good matchups and also plays well into fat teams which can rely on Muk to make progress. Interestingly we also see Competitive Milotic, which is something I think has a lot of value with so much Intimidate and Defog running around. BJ goes even further than this and makes it Scarf, which I can definitely see the vision of. CB Flygon forces momentum, can revenge kill with First Impression, and also breaks down teams if you predict well. The primary wincon here appears to be Kee Berry Cress, which once the opposing Dark type is removed can be a scary prospect. I'm a fan of BJ moving the balance structure in a fat direction which still manages to be proactive with CB Flygon, Competitive Milotic, and Trick Zong. This gives it good matchups vs most of the tier, and ensures player skill can shine to get wins. I'd need to see the rest of the team to check how the matchup goes vs some fat breakers like Scrafty, but this is a solid effort which moves the "standard" structure in a new and interesting direction.

4. etern
This week etern decided to take inspiration from lower tiers, bringing only a single NU mon in Cresselia - granted some of these will definitely be rising up tomorrow. The team makes use of both SR and Spikes on Orthworm, with multiple ways to pressure both spinners and Talonflame. In the game we see Talon get knocked, and eventually Rock Blasted by worm so etern can keep hazards up. NP Glowbro and Scrafty put a lot of pressure on the typical Incin / Zong structures, and definitely blow open holes for Cresselia later on. Goodra is an interesting choice which is seeing a bit of an uptick in usage, likely as it brings a cool Grass immunity, and a lot of utility with Toxic, Knock, powerful Draco Meteor and lots of coverage. I like the thinking behind this team and with a tiny bit more luck or one or two different plays this could easily have picked up a win.

5/6. Thiago Nunes and Stories
I've thrown these two together as they're both grassy terrain, and given how the games went I struggled to separate them. Both obviously utilise Thwackey and the broken bird, with Nunes team then looking a little more traditional with Hitmonlee and Cress, while Stories picks up the more unusual Diance and Cinccino. I do like both these takes though, and it appears that Grassy Terrain has established itself as a threatening archetype with multiple solid directions to take it in. It'll be interesting to see how this style continues to evolve and whether the bird becomes overwhelming.

7. zS
This is a potentially unfair ranking, but without much information to go on given the game was just stomped by a haxing bird, I can't discern too much more from it. It's interesting to see another Orthworm, which this week is used as much as Bronzong. Heracross is also a big threat with almost 0 safe switch ins, and zS has multiple pivots to bring it in. Umbreon I've yet to see work well in this meta, it just feels passive and there are too many mons which can take advantage of it. Tsareena also doesn't feel great but I would have loved to see if this was running HJK or anything similar to give it a more proactive role.

8. Elias PSY
Another typically fat build from Elias, but this time with no removal which strikes me as unusual. Personally I'm not a fan of these 5 fat mons + 1 fast mon teams, and this one looks like it can be really taken advantage of by bulky set up sweepers like Scrafty, or by stacking hazards and using knock off. I'm also not really a fan of Gligar on these slower builds, I think it shines much more on offensive volt turn teams, but if it is going to be used on fat then Vaporeon is probably mandatory alongside it. While not being a fan of this personally, I respect the different takes on the meta and Elias is obviously making it work so fair enough. I'll be interested to see if these types of teams keep coming, and if more targeted prep can get the better of them.

9. freezai
Feel bad giving Freezai 3 9s in a row but...yeah. This team is similar to last week, with an Umbreon / Bronzong core backed up by a defensive ground type. When you add these three mons together though, I think you end up with half your team actually achieving very little vs the opposition. This is made worse by Tentacruel who many games does very little other than clicking one of Spin / Knock / Toxic then dying. CB Firebull as the main offensive pressure seems ambitious given the rest of the team, and especially given the team can't reliably stop opponents from spinning. I think there are some interesting ideas here, but right now I just don't think this plays well into the meta and feels too passive overall.

Clicking rankings
1. watashi
2. etern
3. stories
4. Elias PSY
5. McMeghan
6. Thiago Nunes
7. zS
8. freezai
9. Dr. Phd. BJ

Predictions

10/15 so far, let's see if I can keep that going.

3d vs watashi
watashi has dialled in the team building, while the clicking was already there. I'd be surprised if 3d, as good as they are, can cause an upset here. I haven't been impressed with the teams from the breakers so far, so they would have to fully turn that around to give 3d a chance.

tier vs zS
zS being 1-2 is certainly a surprise, and somewhat out of his control. He will be motivated to not let that drop further. As always he's got some interesting takes on the meta and I expect that to continue. Tier had a good run in NUPL, but is potentially predictable with the style of team they bring. As long as zS can avoid getting flinched by Pompom again he should be fine.

Thiago Nunes vs Danny

Stories vs Elias PSY
I've preferred Stories teams and they've also been a little bit unlucky. I expect them to cook something which can beat the typical Elias structures, and to play well enough to carry that through to a win. This will definitely be close though.

Dr. Phd. BJ vs McMeghan
Highlight game for me this week, and I don't think I can go against Roro here. He is really hard to prep against with how random the team choices seem to be, while BJ has been playing solidly and bringing solid teams. I think BJ can be got at in the builder, so it'll be interesting to see if he mixes it up further this week. A win for either of them this week really makes their overall season very solid, and both their teams are competing at the top of the table. This should be a great watch.

 

[Phantomistix]

coin went 3/5 for the 3rd week in a row, 9/15 total

W4 Coin Predicts:

3d vs watashi
tier vs zS
Thiago Nunes vs Danny
Stories vs Elias PSY
Dr. Phd. BJ vs McMeghan

 

[Be13costa]

Another cool week of SCL games! As Danny mentioned there's been a shift away from Bronzong, with Klefki, Copperajah, Orthworm, and even 0 Steel type teams getting used. We're also seeing a shift towards offense, with one pure HO and two Grassy Terrain teams appearing. The more passive structures also seem to be struggling to pick up wins. I'm excited to see if that trend continues or if fatter teams can start to pick up wins vs the offenses as well. The rankings this week were kinda hard with two games being mainly decided by flinches / paras, but here we go anyway

Team Rankings

View attachment 673785
1. McMeghan
I'm ranking this number 1 as a) it's the best attempt I've seen so far at a non terrain HO, and b) it makes use of some underutilised threats. It bears some similarity to Freezai's team from w1, with Chandelure and Drednaw forming a potent offensive duo which can be very hard to check together. Encore Uxie and Thunder Wave Klefki give several openings for the powerful sweepers to set up, while Sash Cinccino ensures hazards stay off at the start of the game, giving Scarf Chandelure an easier time for the rest of the game. Endeavour is a neat tech on this, and with Steel types (which almost always lack recovery in this tier) being a very common switch in, it can cause big headaches for teams. Finally Toxtricity can function as either a wallbreaker or sweeper depending on the game, and it does both very well. I'm surprised this mon is not seeing more usage, and really expect it to pick up in the next few weeks. I can see more fat walls with better recovery like Wo-Chien becoming popular if this structure gets more play, rather than the typical balance cores we see right now which are subject to being chipped and overrun.
View attachment 673782
2. watashi
I've been impressed with watashi's two teams since week 1, and with the clicking being consistently good, it's resulted in two wins. This week watashi moves away from spike stacking to a more traditional balance structure, but rather than leaning on the typical Bronzong / Incineroar core, we see Copperajah / Talonflame / Bellibolt. This is an interesting combination, especially with RestTalk Copper being able to soak up status and switch into Scald for the other two. This is enabled by running Stealth Rock on Flygon, who also has Scale Shot as an optional end game cleaner. This is an underrated utility of Flygon in my opinion, as it often doesn't need an attack boost to close out a game. CB Breloom is the teams main breaker, and Scarf Munki gives speed control and similarly can clean up teams in the end game. There's a few potential concerns here defensively, with Copperajah being the only Psychic, Dragon, and Normal resist, meaning it could be overwhelmed by teams with a lot of momentume and special breakers. Flygon checks are also mostly limited revenge killing it or hope for a U-Turn burn on Talon. The Flygon matchup didn't come here, nor did Munkidori / PZ / Toxtricity, so it would be interesting to see how this team plays against those.

View attachment 673788
3. Dr. Phd. BJ
The only IncinZong (ZongRoar? BronCin?) core this week, which is a huge departure from the previous two weeks. This time around BJ takes the team in a slightly fatter direction, adding Vileplume to improve the matchup against powerful physical threats like Wetbull. I'm a fan of Vileplume right now and I would expect it to pick up more play as the weeks go on. It's got some really good matchups and also plays well into fat teams which can rely on Muk to make progress. Interestingly we also see Competitive Milotic, which is something I think has a lot of value with so much Intimidate and Defog running around. BJ goes even further than this and makes it Scarf, which I can definitely see the vision of. CB Flygon forces momentum, can revenge kill with First Impression, and also breaks down teams if you predict well. The primary wincon here appears to be Kee Berry Cress, which once the opposing Dark type is removed can be a scary prospect. I'm a fan of BJ moving the balance structure in a fat direction which still manages to be proactive with CB Flygon, Competitive Milotic, and Trick Zong. This gives it good matchups vs most of the tier, and ensures player skill can shine to get wins. I'd need to see the rest of the team to check how the matchup goes vs some fat breakers like Scrafty, but this is a solid effort which moves the "standard" structure in a new and interesting direction.

View attachment 673781
4. etern
This week etern decided to take inspiration from lower tiers, bringing only a single NU mon in Cresselia - granted some of these will definitely be rising up tomorrow. The team makes use of both SR and Spikes on Orthworm, with multiple ways to pressure both spinners and Talonflame. In the game we see Talon get knocked, and eventually Rock Blasted by worm so etern can keep hazards up. NP Glowbro and Scrafty put a lot of pressure on the typical Incin / Zong structures, and definitely blow open holes for Cresselia later on. Goodra is an interesting choice which is seeing a bit of an uptick in usage, likely as it brings a cool Grass immunity, and a lot of utility with Toxic, Knock, powerful Draco Meteor and lots of coverage. I like the thinking behind this team and with a tiny bit more luck or one or two different plays this could easily have picked up a win.

View attachment 673789View attachment 673783
5/6. Thiago Nunes and Stories
I've thrown these two together as they're both grassy terrain, and given how the games went I struggled to separate them. Both obviously utilise Thwackey and the broken bird, with Nunes team then looking a little more traditional with Hitmonlee and Cress, while Stories picks up the more unusual Diance and Cinccino. I do like both these takes though, and it appears that Grassy Terrain has established itself as a threatening archetype with multiple solid directions to take it in. It'll be interesting to see how this style continues to evolve and whether the bird becomes overwhelming.

View attachment 673790
7. zS
This is a potentially unfair ranking, but without much information to go on given the game was just stomped by a haxing bird, I can't discern too much more from it. It's interesting to see another Orthworm, which this week is used as much as Bronzong. Heracross is also a big threat with almost 0 safe switch ins, and zS has multiple pivots to bring it in. Umbreon I've yet to see work well in this meta, it just feels passive and there are too many mons which can take advantage of it. Tsareena also doesn't feel great but I would have loved to see if this was running HJK or anything similar to give it a more proactive role.

View attachment 673787
8. Elias PSY
Another typically fat build from Elias, but this time with no removal which strikes me as unusual. Personally I'm not a fan of these 5 fat mons + 1 fast mon teams, and this one looks like it can be really taken advantage of by bulky set up sweepers like Scrafty, or by stacking hazards and using knock off. I'm also not really a fan of Gligar on these slower builds, I think it shines much more on offensive volt turn teams, but if it is going to be used on fat then Vaporeon is probably mandatory alongside it. While not being a fan of this personally, I respect the different takes on the meta and Elias is obviously making it work so fair enough. I'll be interested to see if these types of teams keep coming, and if more targeted prep can get the better of them.

View attachment 673786
9. freezai
Feel bad giving Freezai 3 9s in a row but...yeah. This team is similar to last week, with an Umbreon / Bronzong core backed up by a defensive ground type. When you add these three mons together though, I think you end up with half your team actually achieving very little vs the opposition. This is made worse by Tentacruel who many games does very little other than clicking one of Spin / Knock / Toxic then dying. CB Firebull as the main offensive pressure seems ambitious given the rest of the team, and especially given the team can't reliably stop opponents from spinning. I think there are some interesting ideas here, but right now I just don't think this plays well into the meta and feels too passive overall.

Clicking rankings
1. watashi
2. etern
3. stories
4. Elias PSY
5. McMeghan
6. Thiago Nunes
7. zS
8. freezai
9. Dr. Phd. BJ

Predictions

10/15 so far, let's see if I can keep that going.

3d vs watashi
watashi has dialled in the team building, while the clicking was already there. I'd be surprised if 3d, as good as they are, can cause an upset here. I haven't been impressed with the teams from the breakers so far, so they would have to fully turn that around to give 3d a chance.

tier vs zS
zS being 1-2 is certainly a surprise, and somewhat out of his control. He will be motivated to not let that drop further. As always he's got some interesting takes on the meta and I expect that to continue. Tier had a good run in NUPL, but is potentially predictable with the style of team they bring. As long as zS can avoid getting flinched by Pompom again he should be fine.

Thiago Nunes vs Danny

Stories vs Elias PSY
I've preferred Stories teams and they've also been a little bit unlucky. I expect them to cook something which can beat the typical Elias structures, and to play well enough to carry that through to a win. This will definitely be close though.

Dr. Phd. BJ vs McMeghan
Highlight game for me this week, and I don't think I can go against Roro here. He is really hard to prep against with how random the team choices seem to be, while BJ has been playing solidly and bringing solid teams. I think BJ can be got at in the builder, so it'll be interesting to see if he mixes it up further this week. A win for either of them this week really makes their overall season very solid, and both their teams are competing at the top of the table. This should be a great watch.

Obligatory weekly complement. (btw strongly disagree on McM being #1 team )

3. Danny

Danny's team this week is really different Steel-less balance + Whimsicott + Goodra. Whim was a brilliant bring against BJ who likes a lot the combo of Zong or Cress /Flygon and he jackpot and got all 3. Other interesting choice is how slow his Banded Pauros was getting out speed by Milo ( it was scarf milo wtf) . E.Pack was used for the first time on the tour and is another option to Flygon. In the end was a Whimsicott highlight reel of how to dominate fat setup while stifling Flygon and to close it all Iron Thorns had its moment where it closed a game even if the games was almost decided prior to that. I personally liked the team and think it has its merits but the MU made it look broken when it actually just good.


As for clicking I'd give Danny the 4th place. Other players were more demanded on their performances. This week was kind of the same as last week as the MU was so much in his favor that all he needed to do was not to throw and this week some people even losing shined more . But honestly Danny's team choice is being flawless the last 2 weeks that's impressive.


I will write my predictions and preview of W4 on SCL oficial page but here are the picks

SV NU Circuit Breakers vs Indigo Platoon: 3d vs watashi
SV NU Studio Gible vs Showdown Shoguns: tier vs zS
SV NU Arena Spartans vs Mt. Silver Foxes: Thiago Nunes vs Danny
SV NU Technical Machines vs Uncharted Terrors: Stories vs Elias PSY
SV NU Orange Islanders vs Power Plant Dynamos: Dr. Phd. BJ vs McMeghan