Tournament SCL III NU Discussion Thread

[Danny]

OP taken from other tiers
Approved by etern

Welcome to the Smogon Champions League 3 Discussion Thread -- NU edition! This thread will be used to discuss NU in SCL III 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 be found [SOON].

Commencement
Schedule
Power Rankings
​

Pricelist

[/CENTER]
Code:
+------------------------+-------+
|         Player         | Price |
+------------------------+-------+
| mind gaming            | 36000 |
| SoulWind               | 32000 |
| GXE                    | 28000 |
| Nat                    | 27500 |
| umbry                  | 27500 |
| Kushalos               | 25000 |
| mncmt                  | 23000 |
| Punny                  | 22500 |
| Feliburn               | 21000 |
| entrocefalo            | 20000 |
| lax                    | 20000 |
| Separation             | 20000 |
| Beraldo                | 20000 |
| Carkoala               | 18000 |
| Icemaster              | 17000 |
| Floss                  | 17000 |
| Finchinator            | 16500 |
| Accel                  | 16000 |
| Highv0ltag3            | 15500 |
| qsns                   | 15500 |
| blunder                | 15500 |
| Thiago Nunes           | 15500 |
| zioziotrip             | 15000 |
| dcae                   | 15000 |
| Laroxyl                | 15000 |
| Xrn                    | 14500 |
| Fogbound Lake          | 14500 |
| Akaru Kokuyo           | 14500 |
| TJ                     | 14500 |
| Hacker                 | 14500 |
| Danny                  | 14500 |
| DugZa                  | 14500 |
| Welli0u                | 13500 |
| Ox the Fox             | 13000 |
| Sage                   | 12000 |
| Mana                   | 11500 |
| gum                    | 11000 |
| Ajna                   | 11000 |
| Togkey                 | 11000 |
| BIHI                   | 11000 |
| aesf                   | 11000 |
| Highlord               | 10500 |
| Scottie                | 10000 |
| Eternal Spirit         | 10000 |
| TPP                    | 10000 |
| DAHLI                  | 10000 |
| Elias PSY              |  9000 |
| Chloe                  |  9000 |
| watashi                |  8500 |
| tazz                   |  8000 |
| Storm Zone             |  8000 |
| robjr                  |  8000 |
| ninjadog               |  7500 |
| Aberforth              |  7500 |
| eifo                   |  7000 |
| Lunar.                 |  7000 |
| zS                     |  7000 |
| Wolf                   |  6500 |
| Santu                  |  6000 |
| Guille                 |  6000 |
| bb skarm               |  6000 |
| Eniigma                |  6000 |
| M Dragon               |  5500 |
| babyboyblues           |  5500 |
| teal6                  |  5500 |
| goldenghost            |  5500 |
| freezai                |  5500 |
| Xiri                   |  5500 |
| S1nn0hC0nfirm3d        |  5000 |
| GoldCat                |  5000 |
| Niko                   |  5000 |
| Tenzai                 |  5000 |
| xqiht                  |  5000 |
| hariyana grande        |  5000 |
| oldspicemike           |  5000 |
| Shaneghoul             |  5000 |
| Gondra                 |  4500 |
| zee                    |  4500 |
| Isza                   |  4500 |
| Askov                  |  4500 |
| clean                  |  4500 |
| etern                  |  4000 |
| z0mOG                  |  4000 |
| Toxigen                |  4000 |
| Jytcampbell            |  4000 |
| CTC                    |  4000 |
| tko                    |  4000 |
| procorphish            |  4000 |
| Sylveon used calm mind |  3500 |
| ishtar                 |  3500 |
| London Beats           |  3500 |
| Savouras               |  3500 |
| Expulso                |  3500 |
| Edgar                  |  3500 |
| asa                    |  3500 |
| hellom                 |  3500 |
| Actuarily              |  3500 |
| Meminger21             |  3000 |
| bage1                  |  3000 |
| SiTuM                  |  3000 |
| Axrtix                 |  3000 |
| SuperEpicAmpharos      |  3000 |
| Achimoo                |  3000 |
| Potatochan             |  3000 |
| justdrew               |  3000 |
| cleann                 |  3000 |
| Dr. Phd. BJ            |  3000 |
| Cam                    |  3000 |
| Clementine             |  3000 |
| Piyush25               |  3000 |
| Wail Wailord           |  3000 |
| Taka                   |  3000 |
| Acehunter1             |  3000 |
| JustFranco             |  3000 |
| Elfuseon               |  3000 |
| Glue                   |  3000 |
| vivalospride           |  3000 |
| Pokeslice              |  3000 |
| sempra                 |  3000 |
| eragon11145            |  3000 |
| Booty                  |  3000 |
| feen                   |  3000 |
| LpZ                    |  3000 |
| Ann                    |  3000 |
| mimilimi               |  3000 |
| Drifting               |  3000 |
| Éric                   |  3000 |
| Baloor                 |  3000 |
| Ash KetchumGamer       |  3000 |
| Feyy                   |  3000 |
| Mashing                |  3000 |
| raf                    |  3000 |
| Collette               |  3000 |
| s7a                    |  3000 |
| Rubyblood              |  3000 |
| Amukamara              |  3000 |
| Frania                 |  3000 |
| Lokifan                |  3000 |
| tier                   |  3000 |
| RichardMillePlain      |  3000 |
| Meru                   |  3000 |
| wesh papillon          |  3000 |
| Inder                  |  3000 |
| Joeshh                 |  3000 |
| avarice                |  3000 |
+------------------------+-------+
+------------------------+-------+
[CENTER]

NU Pricelist

* means retain//bold means starter

GXE- 28k
Kushalos- 25k*
Beraldo- 20k
TheFranklin- 19k*
Finchinator- 16.5k
sensei axew- 16.5k*
pdt- 16k*
Thiago Nunes- 15.5k
Danny- 14.5k
DugZa- 14.5k
Togkey- 11k
Elias PSY- 9k
watashi- 8.5k
eifo- 7k
zS- 7k
Guille- 6k
freezai- 5.5k
Xiri- 5.5k
S1nn0hC0nfirm3d- 5k
etern- 4k
Expulso- 3.5k
Axrtix- 3k
Meru- 3k
Dr. Phd. BJ- 3k
Pokeslice- 3k
Booty- 3k

NU Player Cores
starters in bold

Power Plant Dynamos-- Kushalos, Beraldo
Indigo Platoon-- Axrtix, Finchinator
Uncharted Terrors-- Meru, sensei axew
Orange Islanders-- Danny, pdt, DugZa
Studio Gible-- etern, S1nn0hC0nfirm3d, Dr. Phd. BJ
Circuit Breakers-- Elias PSY, eifo
Arena Spartans-- GXE, TheFranklin
Technical Machines-- freezai, Pokeslice, Guille, Expulso
Mt. Silver Foxes-- Thiago Nunes, Togkey, Xiri
Showdown Shoguns-- watashi, zS, Booty


Some of this info is subject to change as starting lineups have not yet been released. Pls hmu if you have knowledge of some of the starting slots in the less clear teams! I'll update as soon as I can.
~

Here's to a fun SCL!!
​

 

[Phantomistix]

Usage stats here

 

[Pokeslice]

Danny asked for some PRs, so here's my first impressions in semi unordered fashion. I think it's probably too early to really say how everything will shake out with some untested players and strong wild cards, but overall, I think the NU pool feels competitive and deep, both on the support and playing side of things, so this should be an awesome tour. Let me know what you guys think

The Best Tier
Technical Machines-- freezai, Pokeslice, Guille, Expulso - Easily the best and I'm totally not biased. On a real note, I'm super excited to participate in my first SCL, and we're gonna hopefully ball out.

Top Tier
Orange Islanders-- Danny, pdt, DugZa - 3 super strong players, 2 of which have a better grip on the NU metagame than basically anyone else? Easy top tier NU core here in my books, especially when the tier is getting shaken up every single week. Honestly, it doesn't really matter who starts in this slot, although I'll assume it's Danny with pdt and Dugza slotting in elsewhere. I wouldn't be shocked to see a 6/7 win season on their part.

Arena Spartans-- GXE, TheFranklin - GXE has proven time and time again how good of a NU player he is both in SCL and outside of it. Although I don't think the Spartans NU support is that great, with GXE you kinda don't need it. Another slot that feels like a guaranteed positive performance.

Mt. Silver Foxes-- Thiago Nunes, Togkey, Xiri - This core feels similar to the Orange Islanders in my mind. All 3 are super strong players in their own right and have a strong grasp on the metagame. I think the ceiling with T-Nunes/Tog/Xiri feels extremely high with what I know they're all capable to cook up.

Second Tier
Circuit Breakers-- Elias PSY, eifo - Elias can be such a wildcard, and I love him for it in these tours. Every team he brings has a creative flare to it that always catches people off guard which is part of why I think this could be a x-0 or 0-x type situation, assuming people c team some of the common cores and styles that Elias historically likes to bring. But he also thrives in new meta so I have no clue how to gauge this one.

Showdown Shoguns-- watashi, zS, Booty - Start zS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even if watashi starts, he's an old school NU goat with zS support, so that's always a good combo.

Unsure Tier
Power Plant Dynamos-- Kushalos, Beraldo - Kush is an insane player who has a really good track record in the NU slot in tours like this (including this tour), but I'm not sure on how well the support will play out here. Beraldo is obviously a NU tour staple, but I'm not sure how invested he is in learning the new metas.

Studio Gible-- etern, S1nn0hC0nfirm3d, Dr. Phd. BJ - My fellow US Westerner and TL Eternally has been grinding SV NU all of NUWC and is no slouch of a player so I expect a cool performance on his end, but this also feels like a deep pool. I'm a bit surprised to see Ho3n in the NU support column since I haven't seen him here in forever, but I guess if he's invested like in the past, then this could be a cool boomer combo of playing + support.

Indigo Platoon-- Axrtix, Finchinator - Axrtix is obviously a newer player on the scene, but he has been putting up consistently strong performances across NU tours for the entirety of SV. This is a much stronger pool of players than previous team tours though, so I'm curious to see how he performs. Finch + Axrtix is a pretty solid support core, so whoever ends up playing in this slot will definitely have strong teams.

Eh Tier
Uncharted Terrors-- Meru, sensei axew - Two non NU mains without any NU support. I'm very unsure about how well this situation can realistically turn out over the course of a season, but I guess they have shiloh to maybe pass or make teams? Thankfully the rest of their team looks pretty epic.

 

[ishtar]

GO ETERNALLY!!!! (and elias, my lovely teammate)

 

[Rabia]

1. Spartans (GXE is insane. Unsure how much NU Franklin has played since the meta shifts but he played really well prior to them. This slot seems like the auto favorite to me.)
---
2. Gible (The only thing that can hold etern back is his mental wellbeing. Otherwise, I expect him to play well given the standard he's set for himself over the years.)
3. Islanders (Danny doesn't have specialized NU support on his team but will 100% be teambuilding like crazy and testing like crazy nonetheless. He's probably the most passionate current NU player in this regard, and I know it'll pay dividends. Just make sure he doesn't sleep through scheduling attempts bop...)
---
4. Platoon (Axrtix gets a bit more leeway than my later rating of Elias mostly because I prefer the support more and think his teambuilding is more consistent in general. Not a ton more to say really, I hope for and expect a solid season in his debut(?).)
5. Dynamos
6. Shoguns (I'll just address both the Dynamos and Shoguns here because the slots are quite similar: two older NUers that haven't played any SV but are historically dominant and have viable support. Curious to see how quickly fooly and Kush pick the tier up because I could see them both having strong seasons.)
7. Foxes (TNunes being passed teams should be a fine formula for success. A bit surprised Togkey is in... OU... instead of NU, but I assume her influence will find its way to this slot, and it's hard to deny how consistent her support in NU slots has been across her tenure.)
---
8. Breakers (I fully trust in Elias generally but need to see how he performs in a major team tour before thrusting him higher up. It's sort of like how OnArceus was a bit underrated to start out despite being really strong in all of his individual runs. The crackhead team choices make this comparison feel even more apt... eifo support is a little shaky because I haven't seen eifo use his own teams lately, but that may just be on me. Another one of the teams with a lot of room to move in the PR.)
9. Machines (freezai's NUWC run has been a bit odd. 3-1 record but the wins weren't very clean other than his week 2 match against outbackrabbit. Pokeslice support means he'll have viable teams the whole run. If I knew more about Guille I'd perhaps place them higher :( Idk I could be convinced this was a low placement within a few weeks of the tour running.)
---
10. Terrors (Meru has not played SV NU lately. Sensei has not been on the website lately. I do not think it'd be fair of me to place any other team last. Player strength alone means this could end up being a silly ranking by the end, though, so we'll see.)

 

[Pokeslice]

Week 1 Predicts

SV NU: Freezai vs EliasPSY - Freezai by a landslide because the TM's have the best NU core in the tournament. Enough said.

SV NU: Danny vs Kushalos - Definitely the game I'm looking forward to the most this week. I'm really curious to see what Kush brings to the table playing and team wise with his sole support being shiloh, but until I see how that plays out, I'm going to have to bold my boy.

SV NU: Axrtix vs etern - etern is the best player in nu from the U.S. West not named pokeslice. Let's beat Europe twice this week tyty

SV NU: Thiago Nunes vs watashi - Somehow T Nunes is still underrated, and I don't like it. Watashi is an all time player though with zS support, so this could be close.

SV NU: Meru vs GXE -The first versus the last seed on the PR's. I think it shouldn't be surprising to see GXE bolded here.

 

[Kushalos]

Thanks for the support shiloh

 

[Pokeslice]

Rule 1 of any post I make: ignore me always

 

[etern]

Gonna try and give my thoughts on the matches every week for fun, and maybe go into a bit more detail on the thought process behind my own games, all in good fun of course, everyone starting has proven themselves to be capable in one way or another and these are just my general thoughts on these singular games. No flames, no beef .

Watashi v Thiago Nunes

At first glance I wasn't a big fan of either teams, but after Goodra was revealed to be scarf I understood the idea behind watashi's build a bit more. Despite it being rather slow, I think the staying power Umbreon supplied the team in conjuction with multiple Knock Off users + Spikes gave Watashi a good amount of varied wincons to respond to most matchups he could feasibly expect, which made it a clever choice for a w1 bring. Unfortunately, TNunes team left a lot to be desired, particularly because of how weak it was to Ground-types, which Watashi took advantage of handily with Gligar. The Decidueye probably needed to be specially based so it could at least threaten Glig / Sanda on their weaker sides, rather than relying on Taunt Bombirdier + the pressure of Heracross and Jolteon to break through. I also felt like despite being a fairly bulky team as well, it was a lot less resilient in the face of a strong breaker like Toxicroak, which put TNunes under immediate pressure to win with Hera before he'd inevitably be overwhelmed by a +2 croak, which ultimately did end up happening.

Danny v Coalette

At first I was pretty disappointed that we didn't end up getting the highlight matchup of the week for me, because I always enjoy watching Kushalos play and rate him very highly as both a player and builder, and to me Danny is the most talented player to come out of the SS / SV crop of new players. HOWEVER, once I found out the Chef intended on bringing a generic & lame sun team I realised this game was doomed to be boring no matter what. Full credit to Coalette for subbing in at the last minute and going up against one of the best players in the pool, that's never an easy thing to do both mentally and practically, yet she came out of it with a win, so kudos to her and well done. The game itself was a bit of a rollercoaster, but a few turns stood out to me in particular. On turn 5, I think simply going Hattrem off the Eject Pack Draco was fine, because Danny's team wasn't threatened by SR at all, so he had no real drawback to making a play and getting them up. Worst case scenario, his Bruxish is taking 12% next time it comes in, and he stalls out 2 turns of Sun as well as firing off a free hit against Hattrem or whatever switches in. The turn 11 critical on Danny's Tera Dark Copperajah was unfortunately game-changing, because Knock Off was a guaranteed KO from that range after the recoil from Fire Blast. Had Copper lived that hit, Scovillain dies and suddenly it's a 5v3 with Mowtom and Sandaconda at full HP. I also assume that the last move on Copper was either Whirlwind or Protect, meaning that Danny could either prevent Leafeon from ever setting up, or stall out Sun to the point that he can eventually win with Scyther. On the flip side though, you could argue that Coalette still had Healing Wish in the back to either play more recklessly with Leafeon (which would still require good prediction, but isn't impossible by any means), or bring Vulpix back into the picture to renew Leafeon's Chlorophyll boost. It's tough to definitively say what could have happened, but it's definitely a shame we didn't get to watch what might have been a very interesting and tense endgame scenario play out, and instead left with a rather anticlimactic finish to the week.

Elias PSY vs Freezai

Everyone knows I'm not the most avid NU HO user, but I got to test with Freezai last week and knew that team was a winner from the moment I saw it. Really liked the idea of using Hera to soften up teams for an eventual Veluza sweep, w Tera Fairy Jolt in the back just in case a random Sucker Punch mon starts causing issues. I wasn't as big of a fan of Elias's team, mainly because I felt it was relying a bit too much on the Coalossal + Uxie + Umbreon defensive core to stay afloat, and those 3 mons surprisingly share a lot of weaknesses in terms of specific mons that can pressure and break them all done. In this case, I was a little surprised that he chose to run a helmet uxie without enough speed to outpace Heracross, because you go from being a potentially decent switch-in to something that just gets murked without having the chance to deal any damage back. 4 Attacks Megahorn Heracross would be able to just KO it on the 2nd turn, and as we saw, SD Hera just flat out KO'd it before it had a chance to respond. The CB Goodra idea was cool, and I like the fact that it was paired up with a VoltTurn core that pressures Copperajah to disguise the fact that it was a physical Goodra initially, but ultimately the idea was a bit too ambitious, and left Elias vulnerable to a number of fast threats, particularly Jolteon. Not much else to say about this because there wasn't much that could be done once Jolt got the substitute up, I'd say Freezai had my favorite team of the week though and I'm looking forward to see what else he + Pokeslice cook up together. I think Elias will bounce back too, and will probably adapt better to the new tier shift than most, because he seems to thrive in these brand new undiscovered metas.

Meru vs GXE

GXE's team was about what I'd expect from him, a strong and solid albeit generic volturn team that allows him to dictate play with his efficient game style, and slowly whittle his opponent down until his wincon is ready to clean up. Meru's team had a SpDef Orthworm, bread dog, and shiloh's fingerprints all over it, a disastrous combination if I've ever seen one. The main issue with the build is the fact that it's relying on Appletun and Orthworm to sponge special hits, when Orthworm has paper thin SpDef, and Appletun is totally reliant on terastallizing in advance to check the best special attackers in the tier (e.g Goodra which decimates this core, Cuno-Galar, Salazzle, and even Mismagius which would have been equally catastrophic to face.) I think a quick fix to that would have been swapping out Appletun for Tera Steel Blissey (Either TWave or maybe even Calm Mind), and then pumping more defense into Orthworm, which would've allowed him more breathing room to play aggressively with his offensive core, which was actually quite nice. Unfortunately, even though I thought Meru played as well as he could in the situation, he simply had no real answer to Cuno Galar, so GXE didn't have to do much but be patient and have the win fall into his lap. That being said, they both played well with the spots they were in, so I'm looking forward to seeing more games from both.

etern vs Axrtix

I was pretty excited coming into this match, because I hadn't enjoyed an NU meta as much as I've been enjoying SV NU since SM, so it was fun to come into the tour feeling comfortable and eager to perform. I also knew I had a tough task ahead of me. My last SCL run featured some high highs with wins against the best players in the pool, and some low moments that I can only blame on not playing and practicing enough, and trying to force a style of building that wasn't as effective in the Heavy Duty Boots generations (which I consider to be a lot different in play compared to gens 5 - 7). I knew Axrtix was coming off a very impressive NULT run which he won, so I wanted to start off with a build that I felt would allow me to work myself into the match, and give me multiple options to win the match with, depending on the choices I made. SubAcidPress Goodra was an idea one of my teammates suggested on the first day of SCL, and I knew it was something I wanted to try out, as it could put in a lot of work against the fatter balance builds Ax tended to lean towards, while also having a great matchup into the most common forms of standard Goodra counterplay, namely Umbreon, Blissey, and Copperajah. I didn't expect him to try and counter style me too much because there wasn't a lot to go off of scout wise, and he's already settled into structures he feels comfortable with, and likely feeling very confident coming into this. At preview I assumed he was running Scarf Bruxish with NP Rotom-Mow, and either Specs or Knock Toxic Goodra, which was mostly correct, however I was worried about what set the Orthworm would be running, as a SubCoil set could put me in a very difficult position and prevent Goodra from ever winning. Eventually, once I noticed that he was willing to sacrifice Orthworm's HP to Blissey, rather than preserve it, I knew I just needed to take my opportunity to force Goodra in and win the match. I'm pretty happy with the way I played it and I think Axrtix played pretty well too, however I think clicking Psychic Fangs on turn 38 was a little too greedy, and allowed me to take advantage of my Protect + Tera Dark combo on Salazzle to take control of the match. Had he flip turned instead, I think Goodra still had the ability to win from that point on, but it could've been even closer than it was. I also question whether or not my choice of trading Salazzle's HP on the -2 Goodra was the most optimal path, however at the time I felt that it prevented Orthworm from coming in while also eliminating the main mon that could revenge or Toxic my Goodra if I had been put into a situation where it comes in and I'm not behind a Substitute. Though Blissey might have been the safer option, I think the path I chose was ultimately right because it allowed me to take back the momentum I was running behind on at that point in the match. Overall, a great and highly contested match which I enjoyed being apart of, and I'm certain Axrtix is going to be collecting many wins this season if he keeps up the consistent building and play he's displayed in 2023.

This was a bit longer than I expected but just wanted to generate some discussion and hype, and hopefully we can get some great matches in the brand new meta this week, looking forward in particular to Freezai vs Axrtix and Danny vs Watashi.​

 

[Dr. Phd. BJ]

scl week 3 predicts with reasoning
axrtix (51) vs (49) GXE
To start things off, we have David vs Goliath as far as auction results go (3k axrtix vs 28k GXE). Both players sit at 1-1, and these are two of the better builders this tour imo. Axrtix is coming off winning nult, a great showing during nuwc and overall nu circuit, and most recently a win in week 2 against freezai. I was really impressed by the team axrtix used, as ditto was definitely a mu pick against freezai as he has a tendency to use more offensively oriented builds in nu. As for GXE, he has brought solid balances both weeks featuring voltturn cores + fat setup. Last SCL, he had a respectable 7-4 record in NU, and he has looked up to par so far. After nearly outplaying 8 sucker punches last week, GXE took a narrow loss to Elias in a game which showcased how unhealthy Brute Bonnet was for the tier. I think this is the match of the week, and I would slightly favor axrtix because I think his builds are marginally better.
Thiago Nunes (40) vs (60) freezai
After clinching the week for the Foxes last week, Thiago Nunes will look to continue his winning ways in week 3. He got the win last week with Mabosstiff, a really uncommon dark type that was overshadowed by Brute Bonnet's recent drop. While Thiago Nunes does not have a history in official team tours such as scl and spl, he had a solid nuwc showing churning out a 3-1 record. I didn't like the team Thiago brought week 1, as I felt as if it had a weird defensive core that got exposed really easily by fighters and it was super passive into gligar. On the other hand, we have freezai. Freezai uses the most offensive/aggressive builds in the tour, and he has had a lot of success in the recent nu metagame including clinching a finals win for US West in sv. While he has a good track record as of late, his games have not been necessarily clean. Even his week 1 win against Elias was a little suspect as jolteon tbolt para + full para on coal meant that jolteon got to keep up sub, which allowed jolteon to net an extra kill on bruxish + 85% on goodra. I personally was not a big fan of his week 2 team, as I felt there was too much going on. His offensive win cons just simply weren't immediately strong enough, the team had a lot of pivots, no spin block, and everything basically took hazards. With that being said, I get the idea behind it and I was a huge fan of his week 1 team. I think freezai will bring something more creative than Thiago will, and for that reason I think it will give him the edge in game.
Meru (35) vs (65) Elias Psy
Week 1, Meru's team felt really off because of the random Appletun. Had that been a Goodra or a Blissey, I think that team would have been a lot better. Week 2's team was really solid, and their play was pretty good. The Body Slam para + full paras on scyther cost Meru a chance to outplay the endgame. While pulling GXE + Kushalos in the first two weeks is a tough draw, something just feels off to me. Trying to use regular Rotom and Appletun in the past weeks feels like pre-dlc ideas. There are definitely encouraging signs, I really love the offensive cores that Meru has been using. Both weeks have featured Salazzle and ways to pivot. I think the ways of making progress are there, I just don't think the builds fit the way Meru has been playing and the current threats of the meta. Elias had an impressive 7-2 record in nupl, which was the best record in sv nu. He brings unorthodox, generally fatter builds. However, he is the best player at playing within himself in my eyes. I think people are sleeping on Elias, this dude's play is really fucking good imo and his builds are creative in a different way than the rest of the pool. I think Elias is better than Meru at this point, I believe he should be favored this week.
Kushalos (55) vs (45) watashi
The Kushalos + Collette core are 2-0 rn, with Collete getting a win week 1 with sun whereas Kushalos brought a fatter team with healing wish support. Both weeks weren't the cleanest, as Collette was aided by a Fire Blast crit on a tera'ing Copperajah. On the other hand, Kushalos got a huge para + double full para on a Scyther that likely clicked Close Combat against Snorlax. Both of these games essentially took away the opponent's chances to win the sac war, which makes it hard to judge. Watashi brought a cool team week 1, which included a scarf Goodra. The type of build he brought into Thiago week 1 felt very current, and just simply made sense. I think the team he brought vs Danny was also really solid, however it did not account for Brute Bonnet as much as it should have. This should be longer, as both players have a reputation for using fatter teams in comparison to the rest of the pool. I think the mu will probably be even for the most part, but ultimately I see Kushalos outplaying long term and getting a w.​

 

[etern]

OK. I get it, you've all made yourselves clear. I know you all want a w2 recap because Dr. Phd. BJ's post wasn't hitting, and since I cant stomach another discord tag asking me where it is, just TAKE it and go.

GXE vs Elias Psy

Let me preface this by saying that the w2 meta was atrocious thanks to Slowbro-G and Brute, so it's hard to go in too hard on any of these teams, building was rough for everyone. That being said, I think Elias brought a smart albeit generic team by just stacking top-tier threats and didn't take his usual eccentric route of building oddball teams, which goes to show how versatile he can be. GXE's team reminded me a bit of my own in the sense that it was quite slow and relying on its defensive core to blanket check all the broken stuff that dropped, except he was able to incorporate his signature volturn style into it and showcase how easily Scyther can turn the tide of battle. Most of the game was just a showcase of GXE's Tera-Dark Bonnet eating up every hit and nuking things with Crunch, while elias got a ton of mileage out of his Hoopa, and managed to neuter Jolteon fairly early on with Spore to make things more difficult. Turn 49 was a turning point, when elias decided to go into Slowbro-G with his Scarf Tauros. At that point, I would've just gone to Bonnet and spammed Crunch until the bro knocked me out, and had a free switch into Hoopa. Then you just sack Hoopa to Scyther, ensuring that it cant set up a trailblaze on you, and have a 100% win the next turn with Tauros. Luckily for him, he won the endgame Sucker Punch war on the its last PP, or else that would've been a pretty monumental throw from an unloseable position.

Watashi vs Danny

First of all, I want to preemptively award YSB the good sportsmanship medal for immediately thawing out flcl's frozen glowbro with flamethrower, it's moments like that which remind me that we're all friends here at the end of the day, and we've gotta look out for eachother, even in SCL. I was a big fan of YSB's team, and he also showcased pretty well why Bonnet was absolutely obscene. I dont think watashi even played poorly, he just didn't bring a Bonnet and got punished for it, felt like it was only a matter of time before it broke apart his team and cleared the way for Jolteon to win, except Jolt didn't even have to step out because Bonnet is insane and murked a near 70% Sneasel with Sucker Punch. Not a whole lot else to say about this one, danny played well and the mushroom did its job.

freezai vs Axrtix

This was my highlight game of week 2, both guys played quite well and there was a fun back and forth momentum swing that culminated in a Sucker Punch roll deciding the match. Axrtix made a really smart decision in bringing Ditto vs freezai, a known HO lover, which made it super difficult for freezai to get much momentum with his sandsweepers at the risk of being reverse swept himself. It was really interesting seeing freezai adapt his gameplan to attempting to win a late-game with Grimmsnarl, and Axrtix positioning his scyther around the remaining Sand turns to ensure a chance at winning with Dual Wingbeat, and it's a shame someone had to lose this one. Hoping to get another game of this quality from these two, because they both delivered here on all accounts.

Kushalos vs Meru

I actually liked both teams here, though I think Meru's was a tad better overall because his wincons were a bit more potent than Kush's (specifically the bd yama + bonnet combo coupled with volturn and lazzle in the back). That being said, Kush showed why Shaymin's best set is HW support, and got to show off how cool Coil Orthworm can be as a partner for Jolteon that can shrug off Piloswine with ease, these might actually be my two favorite teams of the week tbh. The game was pretty interesting, though it was unfortunate that Meru's Salazzle got crit on turn 4, as that turned out to be super significant in the endgame when it needed to check a HW'd up Orthworm again. I think running Leftovers on Hariyama was a weird choice that backfired massively, because Sitrus Berry would've probably sealed the match regardless of the misplay that happened on turn 27. Regardless, if Hariyama just Drain Punched on t27 rather than BP, it would've been able to take out Altaria and live the incoming Body Press from Orthworm, KO'ing it in the process. Then Jolteon would be forced to take around 85% from Bullet Punch, allowing Piloswine to come in and win the match, with Encore Salazzle in the back just in case. It's hard to say for sure if this was a 100% throw without knowing ev spreads, but judging by the Orthworm Body Press calcs vs Salazzle, it was not fully physdef investment so Hariyama did eat a BPress every time after Drain recovery.

etern vs Thiago Nunes

To give backstory to why I brought the awful team I did. I was struggling all week to put together something I was happy with, and got a bit stubborn trying to make the NP Glowbro + Bonnet idea work without it being super slow. Eventually I gave in and decided to take a different approach, committing to just stacking some cool wincons I wanted to try like SubCM Tera-Fire Jolteon (with the idea being you can setup alongside and beat Tera-Fairy or Ice Jolteons [which did NOT work out this game bc the Jolteon did not tera!!] and SD EQ Ice Punch Croak to lure the Glowbro + Gligar core I was expecting to see (TNunes struck me as someone who would stick to his comfort style of spikes balance in an unsolved meta, which turned out to be wrong). I think my biggest mistake was trying too hard to treat this like a normal balance team and fitting removal onto it, when that slot would've been better suited to a scarfer that would let me revenge Jolteon. Originally the Croak was also stabless, so I felt a bit safer about how slow the team was knowing that I had 2x priority, however we changed to CC at the last minute, and I'm not sure it would've mattered much regardless as Piloswine would've walled CCless croak anyway. I also think I got a bit too scared of CC Bonnet from some tests, which is why I made it Chople Berry rather than Boots, and that probably would've let me justify not having Altaria on the team. TNunes team was a good bring which I think Togkey graciously helped with between her OU prepping, and the CB Mabosstiff was a cool idea which put a lot of pressure on me early on. In terms of gameplay I was actually fairly happy with how I played, and I felt like I was winning more of the key turns up until Turn 23 which I'll get into shortly. Turn 2 I pivoted into my Colbur Glowbro to scout the Mabosstiff set because I couldn't tell from preview if it was Scarf Mabo + LO Shaymin or CB Mabo + Scarf Shaymin, and I didn't want my Bonnett to get obliterated by a Play Rough t2 and put me in a 5v6 off the bat. Unfortunately, Crunch still did nearly half to my Bonnet, which meant I didn't get to take advantage of it or Glowbro at all and had essentially traded their health to force the Mabostiff out. Turn 6 I had an opportunity to kill the Shaymin with Sucker Punch, but TNunes made a nice play and predicted me to switch out so he just stayed in and fired off a DGleam, which ultimately allowed him to HW Jolteon up later and win the match. I was happy that my EBelt Croak set managed to lure the Glowbro like I planned, and from that point on I felt I had a shot at turning it around. Turn 15 was a bit of a 50/50 that I got wrong, as I expected him to volt off Zong for chip, knowing it was the only thing really saving me from losing to it long term. However, he decided to stay in and CM up, putting me in a terrible spot where I'm forced to tera my own Jolt to get it's HP low. I should've lost from that point, but I managed to bluff Sucker Punch with Toxicroak and force out Jolt, netting a KO on Scyther with Ice Punch and receiving roaring applause from Rabia, when in reality I just didn't have Sucker :sob:. In hindsight, I think the main mistake I made was on Turn 23, when I chose to switch out of the Scarf Shaymin to preserve Toxicroak on a potential Earth power. Unfortunately the timer pressure clouded my judgement here, as he has no real reason to ever Earth Power, as I'd have a free switch into Zong, and SR would ensure that he cant HW anything or come in again. What I should've done was clicked SD on the HW, and force in the Piloswine. I'm not sure what tera it was though. If Pilo was Tera Ghost then maybe it didn't matter and I lost regardless, as I likely would have CC'd there, but I would've at least given myself a chance to win with Bronzong. Not a bad game overall and credit to TNunes for playing well. I definitely feel like this match helped shift my mentality on a few things and it was a good learning experience which aided me a lot while prepping for W3.​

 

[Ac1D_13]

I will do some predicts since no one else has(unfortunately unlike Dr. Phd. Bj these will not be very in depth because I don't have good writing ability or a Phd):

freezai vs Danny - Perhaps it is a little bit insane to not bold freezai after his ridiculous win last week, but I think Danny will be very determined to win after his very narrow defeat to eternally. Danny in my opinion has not had the best of luck this SCL, as he lost his first game because of a critical hit, and he ran into literally the perfect Dudunsparce counter set when he played eternally(obviously good on eternally's part). Because of this, I think he will prepare a lot more carefully this week and be able to beat freezai.

etern vs Kushalos - I favour eternally over Kushalos not necessarily because of playing ability, but more-so because they are more in touch with the metagame. I feel like in SV this is more important than any other generation and will give eternally a big advantage in this game. I also favour the support on the Gible's side a lot more and have generally preferred eternally's teams thus far.

watashi vs avarice - Honestly think it was a little bit harsh that Meru got subbed out because they have been playing well, just getting a bit unlucky in their games. Regardless, I will bold watashi to get another win as the support is probably one of the best you could ask for, but avarice is a good player all around and could definitely pull off a win, will likely be a close game.

GXE vs Togkey - Good to see Togkey back in NU and a bit surprised that she wasn't in it from the start. Unfortunately she has run into what is pretty unanimously the best player in the pool for her first game back and because of me not knowing how much she has played recently I will bold GXE. GXE also has great support in TheFranklin, but frankly(yes I did it) he probably doesn't need it as both his playing ability and building is top-notch. Togkey is a great builder and player herself though so she could still win for sure, but I don't know how much she has kept up with the new metagame, hope to see her prove me wrong.

Elias PSY vs Axrtix - My personal highlight game, as I believe both of these guys are very close in skill level and have very interesting building styles. Elias PSY was very fortunate last week if I am being honest but his general play has been very good and he has shown that he can definitely bring more standard teams rather than his usual eccentric ones. Axrtix has also been playing well and I generally favour his teams so far but I feel like he could definitely be caught off guard by Elias PSY's strange building ideas. Honestly cannot decide who will win, but it is going to be a cracking game I'll say that.

Best of luck to everyone.

 

[Axrtix]

First ever Axrtix predicts :D

freezai vs danny - As much as i like Dannys building approach so far, i think you cannot not bold freezai at this point. He has shown a really good grasp of the ever so fast changing metagame thus far and he is really good at finding his wincons in game and playing accordingly. He could easily be 3-0 now if it wasn´t for that sucker punch roll. Still you can´t write off Danny ofc, he has played really good so far as well and will most likely put in a big amount of work to equalize his score. Will hopefully be a fire match that lasts longer than 10 turns.

etern vs kushalos - I think Kushalos has been playing quite solid though I did not love his team choices thus far. Etern on the other hand has put in a lot of thought into his builds it seems. If he keeps the good building up, he will have a good chance to win this match as well I think.

watashi vs avarice - Meru has been playing good, its their building which was not on point for weeks 1 and 3, I don´t know why that would change with avarice (who idk how much NU he has played lately) now in the drivers seat. Watashi has looked quite solid both building and playing wise and so I think he will pull another W here. (also ZS support is goated)

gxe vs togkey - I might be a bit crazy not favoring gxe here as he seems to be seen as the best NU player to exist rn by almost the whole community, but he is facing togkey, who is making their NU debut this SCL. In my opinion she has been one of the best builders in NU this generation so far and I am sure she will be able to cook something up to surprise gxe and grab the W.

 

[Phantomistix]

freezai vs Danny - Danny is more motivated than ever and freezai doesn't want to win as fast or his cpm will go down

etern vs Kushalos - After 3 weeks I have no doubt that chef kush is back and will be cooking. We eating good this week.

watashi vs avarice - Warmed up watashi with good support is a tall order for anyone. Don't count avarice out as he's a solid player and if his team works hard enough a win is definitely possible.

GXE vs Togkey - My HL matchup of the week. Two of the best players in the tier right now, and both are very creative in the builder. Very excited to see the team choices and how the game plays out. Anyone's game.

Elias PSY vs Axrtix - I edge Elias slightly as I think he's more creative in the builder and matches up well into Axrtix's aggressive playstyle, but don't count Axrtix out. If he can adapt his playstyle and preps well, can definitely see him taking this.

 

[Rabia]

freezai vs Danny - both have been smurfing the builder lately and freezai especially I've thoroughly enjoyed how creative he's been. it was especially cool to see NastyRoom Farigiraf as a counter tech to potential Ditto to work against his typical offense brings. I favor Danny here despite that because I think he's a slightly stronger player and will do just as much if not more building to try and get something a bit offbeat that'll catch freezai off-guard. this is my HL match of the week

etern vs Kushalos - etern putting more prep into this tour than he puts into the community surveys that's for certain. Kush is a better battler imo but I've not loved some of his brings; I think there's a legit risk etern has a fairly strong matchup from preview

watashi vs avarice - fooly is incredible, avarice is being foddered, rozes is a terrible mananger.

GXE vs Togkey - idt togkey is gonna be out of her element at all even if she's not been active in nu lately (she'll pick up the tier within a week or two and be fine) but GXE has looked really dominant even in his loss finding a way to exploit Elias's poor play and force the game to come down to a series of Sucker Punch mindgames. won't shock me to see Togkey mu fish with HO or stall in her first week back and I think I trust GXE to win in those matchups

Elias PSY vs Axrtix - elias hasn't played great the past couple weeks with two really unclean mid- and late-games. Axrtix had a rough w3 but generally has looked stable. could see this going either way especially if elias snorts a line before his building session but I lean Axrtix here

 

[etern]

Lets revive this thread again, last week of the current meta before we probably get rocked by shifts again

Week 6 Matchups:
SV NU: freezai vs watashi
SV NU: GXE vs tko
SV NU: Elias PSY vs Danny
SV NU: etern vs avarice
SV NU: MichaelderBeste2 vs Xiri