*I'm not entirely avoiding talking about the match—it'll come up a bit in today's things. To be honest, I'm just trying to avoid giving away the details of "Sam's Secrit Sets".
1. The Sun Conference early-season bloodbath
Dear heavens. It's bad enough that the Sun Conference is host to all four of last season's playoff coaches, but after four weeks of play it's difficult to predict who will make the playoffs amongst stiff competition. At the top is resident warlock Santoro (who just added Dusclops—another frighteningly bulky Pokemon to slot alongside Milotic, Snorlax, Necrozma, and Tangrowth—and Magnezone). The three-way tie of the Ponytas, the Klinks, and the Ninetales—all with a 3-1 record, and a triangle pattern of losses to one another—leaves the top seat of the Johto Division up for grabs. The Dracos are still very much in the race, and shouldn't be counted out or underestimated. Despite early-season disappointment, Adam's Akron Alakazams will almost certainly regress to the mean in the coming weeks, especially with several winnable matches coming in the next few weeks.
Even the two winless teams of the conference are not to be underestimated. Ballistic's Golducks can field an awfully speedy offensive lineup that can tear holes in teams, while also packing the support and defensive Pokemon needed to run balanced lineups that can outlast the opposition. Cossak's Lairons played an excellent match against Santoro's Bulbasaurs—up until the final turns post-cupcake Belly Drum, I thought Cossak had the momentum to win the match. Taking one of the league's two undefeated teams down to the last few turns should count as a morale victory for a team that's struggled to nab KOs early in the season.
Four teams will make the playoffs in the Sun Conference. That means that, of the Bulbasaurs, Klinks, Ninetales, Ponytas, Dracos, and Alakazams, two teams will watch the playoffs from the outside. Not one of these teams can afford to blink first.
2. The former Atlanta Rowlets, now under new management
This is the part where I talk, in brief, about my match with Atlanta this week. In preparing for the match, I identified three key threats to my team: Mamoswine, Tornadus-T, and Haxorus. Mamoswine was a difficult Pokemon for me to KO, and even without any investment, Freeze-Dry was a substantial threat to my two best Mamoswine switch-ins: Gyarados and Rotom-W. Tornadus-T was a dangerous combination of speedy, bulky, and devastating. Finally, Haxorus threatened to run through my whole team after a Dragon Dance, especially with Mold Breaker allowing it to bash Rotom-W with Earthquakes. I was so sure I'd have to deal with all of these threats, and combined with the team's other heavy hitters, the likes of Mega-Beedrill and Jolteon, I was sure I was in for a tough match.
Of my three identified threats, only one came along: Tornadus-T. It was dispatched on the switch by Stealth Rock and Rotom-W's Thunderbolt. It didn't even get to do anything.
I don't blame Lvision's play for this—he played the early game very aggressively, with clever double switches and one or two uncostly overpredictions. His reason for leaving was being too busy with real life to devote much time to Pokemon, and it showed through in his preparation. Pac correctly stated in his Week 4 Preshow that the team formerly known as the Rowlets had all the tools necessary to beat the Klinks, but the team seemingly failed to identify its own match-up strengths.
We'll see how the new head coach, Ballistic, does with the new team. The early season shortcomings make the playoffs a pipe dream for now, especially with difficult matches coming up. Still, don't count this team out, as they have the run-and-gun firepower needed to blitz slower, underprepared teams.
3. "It's not a Clutch match without game-changing hax"
This can be debated, no question, but sometimes, when you watch a match, you can pinpoint the exact moments at which momentum shifts. Sometimes, it's a predicted switch that unexpectedly removes a key member of a team. Other times, it's a little bit of luck at the opponent's expense.
In my opinion, one particular match this week had a particularly identifiable turning point: the match between the Kansas City Kingdras and the Galesburg Gliscors. That moment was at turn 16, when Shaymin missed a Seed Flare on an incoming Mimikyu, which then proceeded to use Destiny Bond to secure a kill on Shaymin.
In that instant, the momentum of the match shifted. A game that seemed winnable moments ago was suddenly all the more difficult.
Did it really matter all that much? Maybe not. Mega-Latios was always a threat to hurt Nick's team, and Shaymin may not have prevented the damage that M-Latios inflicted. Moreover, with Galesburg sporting a scarfed Buzzwole at the ready, did Shaymin ever stand a chance? Regardless, it's the case (in my opinion, at least) that one lucky/unlucky moment ended up defining the remainder of the match. Sorry, Clutch.
4. The Unkillable Lower-Tier Early Season MVPs
Regardless of what may or may not have happened in the ESG vs. DET Week 6 game (which was conducted early due to future lack of availability for the Gastrodons' coach, Emerson), we currently live in a world where there are two yet-undefeated Pokemon at the top of the MVP board: Emerson's Krookodile (herein referred to only as Marv) and Andrew/Nick's Kecleon. These Pokemon are Tier 3 and Tier 5 respectively, and are leading the league in kills whilst having yet to be successfully KO'd.
Both the Gastrodons and the Roggenrolas have used their respective MVPs masterfully (well... outside of the ridiculous dozen-turn stall war that capped off the Roggenrolas' match against the Magcargos this week, which even Andrew admits was fishing for the KO by Kecleon). Emerson has made ample use of
Both of these mons have gotten ample attention in the discord chat, and rightfully so—they've been fun to watch, each of them proving that it's quite possible for some Pokemon to outperform their tier, especially when placed in the right coach's hands.
Good luck to everyone in Week 5!
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