CIL S4 Championship Analysis: Rocky (Helmet) Road to the Top

So the RU league experiment has ended and I'm going to look back on the concept as a whole before diving into the championship game breakdown.

Basically, I don't think RU is balanced as a draft because there are certain Pokemon that are so good for RU that it makes it incredibly difficult to prep in a way that's not predictable. And there's some things we let in (like Tentacruel or Klefki for instance) that proved to be very balanced in the format, providing a lot of much-needed utility for some teams.  The reason I think we had this problem is because we went by Smogon's RU tier and not say Tier 3 and below from the GBA or something.  If I were doing it again, I think an NU/PU-style draft would be better suited for draft, taking other leagues' tiering into consideration as well, such as the GBA's, and just having a generally flexible outlook on where we place certain things in our own custom tiers.  If a low-tier draft happens again, definitely expect to see these changes.

Onto the championship analysis! First the team analysis, then the replay with an analysis of the game itself.


Team Analyses

His team options: Gardevoir, Porygon2, Kommo-o, Cofagrigus, Rotom-H, Bewear, Shaymin, Rhyperior, Decidueye, Yanmega, Blastoise, Garbodor, Machamp, Golisopod

Kyle has many powerful options to bring, some of which I nearly banned (Shaymin, Kommo-o, Bewear, P2) before the draft but ultimately decided to keep them because I felt they could be played around.  But things like Kommo-o, P2, and Shaymin in particular are threats even in tierless drafts, so I felt like I'd have to bring out some really good prep to even stand a chance.  Here's what I came up with...

Purple Haze (Weezing) (M) @ Rocky Helmet Ability: Levitate Shiny: Yes EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Venoshock - Thunderbolt - Toxic Spikes - Pain Split

Purple Haze was a late season free-agent transaction where I dropped Togetic for it due to my need for more physical bulk and matches up well vs many physical attackers on his team. I also really liked Toxic Spikes to wear things down for other members of the team, and hopefully get that damn P2 badly poisoned if possible. Tbolt was an excellent coverage option and I originally had Sludge Wave over bomb until Black pointed out that I could get more mileage out of Venoshock without risking regular poison on the P2. Pain Split was originally Haze, but I felt OK about dealing with DD Kommo-o or NP Cofag. Zoolander (Vaporeon) (M) @ Leftovers Ability: Water Absorb EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA Bold Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Scald - Wish - Protect - Toxic
Secondary physically defensive Pokemon because his threats were that big. I also wanted to Wish pass to Weezing to help prolong it's longevity given its lack of reliable recovery and the fact that I dropped Black Sludge for the chip damage of Rocky Helmet. Toxic was for P2 but also comfort. Anyone who has been in this league has seen me use Wish + Protect + Toxic very consistently and successfully, and my highest laddering OU team in gen 6 featured an Umbreon set that was nearly identical. It's a little passive but for some reason, those Protect mind games usually seem to go my way and if Golisopod was banded again, I could dodge that big First Impression this way.
Galadriel (Delphox) (F) @ Choice Scarf Ability: Blaze Shiny: Yes EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe Timid Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Psychic - Psyshock - Flamethrower - Trick

So...I saw no Psychic resists outside of Gardevoir and the speed tier was perfect for Kyle's team. Both Psychic and Psyshock because AV Bewear crossed my mind but I definitely wanted the damage output of Psychic. Flamethrower for secondary stab and Trick because of that damn P2 lol. Goomsday (Goodra) (M) @ Assault Vest Ability: Sap Sipper EVs: 248 HP / 120 SpA / 140 SpD Calm Nature IVs: 0 Atk - Sludge Bomb - Thunderbolt - Draco Meteor - Flamethrower
I originally had an even bulkier Goodra, but Black thought I could use a little extra power, which paid off. This coverage hits nearly his entire team super effectively and I believe even Specs Gardevoir's Moonblast can't 2hko this guy. Plus with Pokemon like Yanmega, Shaymin, Rotom-H, Cofag, and special Kommo-o as options, I needed a bulky special sponge and Beef Jones was too heavily pressured by his 3 dangerous fighting types.
Muramasa (Doublade) (M) @ Eviolite Ability: No Guard Shiny: Yes EVs: 252 HP / 112 Atk / 144 SpD Adamant Nature - Swords Dance - Shadow Sneak - Sacred Sword - Shadow Claw

Pretty standard Doublade but I think I made this spread to live two scarf Shadow Balls from Gardevoir, giving me +4 from full in a pinch. To me, this was another must bring because Bewear was just too big of a threat and it provided a lot of helpful resistances I could take advantage of to set up. Originally, this was a full on SpDef one like what we used to use back in gen 6 OU (yes, it was sometimes brought up to OU lol) but I felt it was too passive and even with EQ, I could potentially 1v1 Bewear, a Pokemon I felt *had* to come. The Law (Tyrantrum) @ Weakness Policy Ability: Strong Jaw EVs: 200 HP / 164 Atk / 52 Def / 4 SpD / 88 Spe Adamant Nature - Stealth Rock - Head Smash - Earthquake - Rock Polish Literally 1 minute before the battle, this was Lord Helix, the Omastar with Stealth Rock and Shell Smash. I had mentioned it to Black when we were proofreading the team and he seemed to agree it could be very useful here but not in the way I brought it haha. But I thought to myself, "what happens when you fight the law?" The Law wins. There's literally an entire song about it guys, come on. It's really bulky to take something like a weak coverage move from a defensive mon or EQ from Rhyperior after rocks, get that speed and just plow through. Also, get up rocks. EdgeQuake for coverage because of freaking Bewear, otherwise Dragon Claw over EQ would have been nice. Speed is because at +2 it outruns his fastest scarfer, Shaymin. And this has nothing to do with why I picked it, but Tyrantrum has only played in one other game all season (weird, right) and right now has zero KOs xD. Fun fact for ya lol

The Game
Replay: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7customgame-719129796

Analysis/Highlights
Team Preview
At team preview, I'm ecstatic to see no P2. Shaymin was somewhat surprising given that I had a lot of really good ways to deal with it but his team struggles with Vaporeon, so it makes sense. Double fighting was sort of surprising but Beef Jones has won me so many games in RU and Season 3, even against big hitters like Fightium Z Emboar, so the extra precaution isn't that surprising, really.

Lead
I lead Weezing because the things it's designed to switch into are the hardest things to switch into and I also want T-spikes up early.  He notices his problem with T-Spikes and switches hard to Blastoise to spin; I was tempted to block with Doublade but keeping it healthy seemed more important and I could get up a layer later as well on half his team.

Turn 6
I know I talked about having Protect on Vaporeon for First Impression but it also occurred to me he could SD up and based on my calc, he did 40-47% if banded so I could Wish it off and get some intel in the process. When I see the 43%, right in the range of Banded, I decide to go hard Delphox for some momentum, thinking he has to switch out if he's locked into FI, but I goofed on the calc guys! It was Life Orb damage I calc'd and I didn't notice the recoil in the battle also x_x This was why I hard switched turn 7, which could have been a significant blunder on my part, but luckily I had some bulk in the ol' girl.  Oops.

Turn 8
From here I decide not to play as aggressively as Delphox can still win pretty handily if I keep rocks away and Kommo-o is his only way of getting rocks up. Just switch into designated switch ins, whittle away, wear down with Toxic, and pave the way for The Law, Muramasa, or Galadriel to finish him off.

Turn 18-25
The freeze on Weezing was unfortunate and definitely made me slip a little in the momentum department, but actually less impactful than the poison on Vaporeon.  Had it not gotten poisoned, it might have made it out of the stall cycle with Kommo-o but I decided to part with it over WEezing if necessary, because I felt it was more important to save Levitate if Shaymin was specs and just wanted to spam Earth Power or something--which I was *very* weak to at that point.

Turn 26
Also, when I brought Doublade in, I probably should have just Sneaked for the KO but I forgot how healthy things like Blastoise & Shaymin were. And you see right away, saving Weezing to dodge Earth Power was key here, so even frozen, Weezing is proving to be a tremendous asset.

Turn 29
The next turns played out very differently than what I expected lol. I thought he'd try to spin again so I could get in Tyrantrum, Rock Polish up, take an Ice Beam and just sweep. Did not expect the Water Spout at ALL so I decide to go for damage.

Turn 33
Also, the reason I was willing to double down with Weezing & Bewear despite a reasonably healthy Golisopod sitting in the back is because I felt Doublade could handle it just fine. I also messed up SD'ing because he emergency exit's outta there but at this point, I think all I have to do is play totally safe and Goodra + Doublade will win... which they did :]

Kyle played a hell of a game and had some fantastic prep, as is expected whenever you play the guy.  He's always a playoff-caliber coach, drafts well, and preps even better so being able to win even with a little hax against me, particularly when I felt so little confidence about the matchup feels really good.

Game MVP(s)
MVP honors for this game... go to Weezing and Vaporeon.  This was for sure the whole unit, but those two put in the most work, I feel, basically being the only reasons I didn't lose to his entire team lol.

Season MVPs
Season MVP honors of course go to Beef Jones who lead with 8 KOs and was only KO'd twice, though Silvally was close behind with 6 KOs, and Goodra with 5.  Defensive MVP for the team could be a few options, Uxie (who I actually didn't initially want) stepped up and delivered so much, so I'd probably go with that, although Goodra was big in this regard as well.

Final Thoughts
This one feels a little extra nice given the horrendous start to the season and being able to avenge my losses in doing so adds to this gratification.  It feels much harder fought than previous titles, which isn't a knock on past opponents, I just had a near-perfect draft when I first won the CIL last season, so many match-ups were tilted in my favor to begin with.  Plus the only loss I suffered in week 1 was due to a crit (yes I did play it rather poorly to lose to a crit, I understand that lol). Otherwise I would have been undefeated with a differential right at +30 in 8 games (nearly a 4-0 average).  It was basically a perfect season (EBC was similar) and about as different from this one as can be where I barely made playoffs as the last seed and had to claw my way to the title so when I say it feels much harder fought, that's what I mean.

I must thank Mav & Black who proofread my teams throughout the season.  Also, thanks to all the coaches who participated in this fun experiment and I look forward to more casually intense battles in the coming seasons :]