With one game left in week 6 we can look back at it and look forward to week 7. Obviously, the biggest news is the Midnight free agency rush, but I won't be talking about that much today as that will be covered in next week's post.
Let's look at the Playoff Picture as of now. No one is mathematically out as of yet, but some are a little close. As well no one has locked a playoff spot yet either.
If the playoffs started today the Sun Conference would have match ups of Santoro's Brooklyn Bulbasaurs and his division mate Excessive and his Detroit Dracos. The other match up would be between Pac's Indianapolis Ponytas and his division rival Sam and his New York Klinks. Both Akron and Ohio are just barely out by 1 game each. This conference is still way up in the air.
For the Moon Conference, it's a lot less clear. As of now we would have Emerson's East Sea Gastrodons against one of the lower four, and Niek's Galesburg Gliscors against the another one. Those lower four being: Kansas City Kingdras, Rochester Roggenrolas, LA Charjabugs, and Chicago Tauros.
The few that I haven't put in above are only 2-4 games behind, which seems like a lot, but it really isn't. The last half of the season is starting this week so anything can happen. No one should even think about giving up yet.
Looking back at battles from last week we have 7 of them done. I did a lot better in my predictions going 5-2 so far keeping me 2 games behind Rich in the prediction race. And most of the matches weren't really that close. It seemed to be a fairly weird week in that regard. I'd say the closest match was between Rochester and Ohio.
In preparation for the Bonus Free Agency trades, most people didn't use them in week 6. However there was a few moves made.
First up, Akron and LA did a trade.
Akron gains Slowbro
LA gains Cresselia
Kansas City and LA also did a trade
KC gains Zangoose
LA gains Granbull
NY Drops Cloyster
NY Adds Haxorus
During the move from Michigan to Philadelphia, the new Braviarys did a few switches which I'll talk about in a few weeks.
Looking forward at week 7 match ups:
The thing that jumps out to me at first is just how even this week is. The biggest differential in wins this week is 3. Making me believe we could have many good games this week.
Akron Alakazams (3-3) V Detroit Lairons (0-6)
Akron is coming off of a few wins in a row and plans on extending that. Detroit hasn't played a match in over a week and a half because week 6 was played early. Akron's team captain, Zygarde looks to extend his kill total to double digits. On the other hand, Detroit Lairons and their Kill leader Latios are still looking for their first win. Which dragon will win out?
Keys: Don't let the other person set up. If either one does it's going to hurt.
Prediction: Akron win.
Oregon Golducks (1-4)[hasn't played week 6] V Indianapolis Ponytas (4-2)
This is a little harder game to call as the Golducks have only played one game so far. But with the Ponytas coming off of a 6-0 win against Kennesaw, can they continue to win big? But as of the last 5 matches they have won only every other match.
Keys: Momentum. Both teams have good speed and power.
Prediction: Indianapolis Win.
Brooklyn Bulbasaurs (6-0) V New York Klinks (4-2)
The East River Rumble. This is probably my pick for match of the week. Both teams are at the top of their divisions. The Klinks have just had their second loss of the season last week, the other happening in week 1. Both teams are having great prep for this match so we'll see how it comes out.
Key: Keeping with the game plan. Neither coach is good at getting on tilt, but if you do, get back on it.
Prediction: This is probably the hardest match so far to pick. I don't want to pick against either. I'm going to go with Brooklyn just for experience this season with close matches, as most of NYK wins have been blow outs.
Detroit Dracos (4-2) V Ohio Ninetales (3-3)
This one I could see being special. Both teams are fantastic. Both teams are "any given Sunday" style teams. Neither team really has issues with execution. This could be the match of the week if it weren't for the East River Rumble.
Keys: Entry Hazards. Both teams can set a few, both teams can clear them.
Prediction: Detroit Wins.
Chicago Tauros (3-3) V East Sea Gastrodons (5-1)
The Gastros are coming off of their first loss a week and a half ago, and a week off of school and things. This would be the week for Chicago to win, to repeat their pattern. But they have a few weak points that the Gastros have the strengths to punish those.
Keys: Prep. Cover your weaknesses, hit their weaknesses.
Prediction: Gastros win.
Galesburg Gliscors (4-1)[hasn't played week 6] V Rochester Roggenrolas (3-3)
Galesburg is currently in delay for their week 6 match, and the Roggs are coming off a win against Ohio. This is going to be one of the better matches this week, I like the bulk for the Gliscors better though.
Keys: Suicune. It's a win-loss condition. On the other hand Mantine, is bulky as hell. But both teams have strong electric types to take those out.
Prediction: Gliscors win.
Philadelphia Braviarys (0-6) V Kennesaw Noctowls (1-5)
I believe this is the lowest average win percentage for a match up so far. But one is a basically new team and the other sometimes has tilting problems. When Nadia is on her game, she's almost unbeatable. As for WhiteHawk, I have no clue what to expect. He did play last week though, so at least there's some video on him.
Keys: Keep your head. Keep your plan. Don't sweat things.
Prediction: Nadia told me to pick the Braviarys so I'll go with them.
Los Angeles Charjabugs (3-3) V Kansas City Kingdras (3-3)
LA plays a very particular style. His lists all ask very specific questions. If you can answer them, you can win. If you can't though, good luck. The Kingdras on the other hand just got a win after two losses in a row. And against a really good team. I think they have what it takes to win, it's all up to whether they bring the answers or put Meta on the back foot.
Keys: Prep. Prep. Prep. It's all about question and answer.
Prediction: Kansas City Win.
Next week we have a huge shake up in the teams. A lot of the next week's post will be about the transactions.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
The Mental Game
Today was supposed to be a different post and working on my Tuesday post(during game) fully fleshing it out, but I wanted to get this out because I've briefly talked about it in other posts, and I feel it's the major reason I lost last night. Most of my posts have a vague outline. This one will not. This may not even read that well, it's just my thoughts written down as I think them.
As with most sports and games really the Mental game is very important. Basically competition in general.
Defining the Mental game. The outer game is the choosing what to do each turn, who you're bringing, etc. The inner game is what's going on in your mind. And a lot of times you're nervous or anxious or angry or on tilt or whatever, and you're basically playing a game against yourself trying to master those emotions. Or have them not become a hindrance to you. To make sure that your thought process is clear and that you make the best choices that you possibly can. I can say there have been many games, not just of Pokemon, that I could have won, if I hadn't lost the mental game against myself.
Okay, so, there's a book that was recommended to me called The Inner Game of Music, which is part of a larger group of books, tennis, skiing, etc. Some of the things I'll bring up will be from it.
One of the ideas is this equation that he writes that is Performance = Potential - Interference. And so, I think part of the reason I like that equation is I know a lot of times for myself that it's like I'm my worst enemy at the table, and I think that's true for a lot of people. There've been times that I've lost to people, and I don't mean to sound arrogant here, but I've lost to people that there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell and I come up crit failure on my mental game and all of the sudden that snowball comes flying out. It happens to everybody. Part of the reason I think this is important is because in this equation there's two things, there's Potential and there's Interference. And so most of us think about we are trying to improve our potential, trying to improve our skill, trying to get more practice time in, whatever. But a lot of the time we only look at it from the performance perspective, "oh I did poorly that time" but we don't think about "okay how good could I have done, what was my potential and why did I do as poorly as I did?"
Why I think this is important is because for most times, you've been getting practice, you've been getting good, you start getting better, and the area where you can actually see your biggest increase in performance, isn't necessarily in increasing your potential, it's with decreasing your interference.
Some good and bad habits with the mental game.
Let's start with the bad. Easy one is when you start blaming dice/RNG, even though that's more a symptom. The number one commonality in bad habits is you make sub-optimal decisions based on how you feel or on bad information or you're kind of shooting off from the hip. Basically knee-jerk not thinking about your reactions.
A lot of the times, it's you're allowing emotions to cloud your analysis. Whether it's you feel intimidated, nervous, excited, you feel like your opponent made a huge mistake and you don't do all the math(HINT THIS IS WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT). You don't stay even keeled, you let emotions get involved. And that's sometimes hard to prevent.
I'm going to go on the dice/RNG thing, or whatever it happens to be. You're letting outside influences, letting things you cannot control, affect your emotional state. You should always be focused on the things you can control. Stop focusing on the things you cannot control, and start focusing on the things that you can. You can control, who you bring, what they bring, what attacks you choose, who is on the field, etc. You cannot control whether that Scald hit its burn. You CAN control your reaction to the RNG, you CAN control how your plan changes. But you cannot control what your opponent does, so when your opponent switches the way you didn't want them to, okay you deal with it. You continue on but you do not fret over it because that is not something that
is in your sphere of control.
Some of the good habits. I think something that is useful or effective is to try to think of when you play your best game, what's your mental game like? and for most people it's like you're having fun, you're not stressed, you don't have huge emotional spikes either way, there's another term I've read in a different book that calls it FLOW.
Flow is basically, is a 4 step process.
1. Unconscious Incompetence - where you're making poor decisions and doing bad things and you don't really understand how or why. Everyone basically starts here in most things.
2. Conscious Incompetence - where you're still making mistakes, still doing shitty, but you're starting to recognize that and can start making adjustments to your mistakes.
3. Conscious Competence - when you're able to keep interference down and keep your eye on the prize, you can do the math and make the right analysis. You know what to do and you're doing it.
4. Unconscious Competence - Flow - where you don't even think about it, you're making the right plays. Do or do not, there is no try.
If you can get past all the other mental game and you can play a competent game without having to let outside emotion or thinking be involved, which in itself is a fairly long process, but if you watch some of the better skilled players of this game(or other games), they don't sit and worry about the dice math, they have a fairly good idea, because they've played enough games, they know what's going to be successful and what's not going to be successful. That's more about the practice side, but it definitely helps you maintain an even keel and maintain the healthy mental state.
You can have the skills to be in an unconscious competence state but you also have to have the mental state to achieve that.
Obvious good habit. Don't let your opponent put you on tilt. Not letting things outside your influence put you on tilt. There's a few good habits that you can do before and after a game too. Reviewing what you did and how you can improve, preparing yourself before you get into that situation, where you don't show up late rushed, you have a good breakfast, get good sleep, things like that. And that affects people differently, but I feel like those are things that most people can use help with. If you spend a few minutes the night before, the week before, and not building your list that morning, then you will be better prepared so those things won't be background noise.
Another thing that can be a good habit, is figuring out what is going to be your plan when you get into a bad mental state during the game. You're going to have triggers during a game, and you need to have a plan.
Another example is the status tilt, that is a thing. And I know, I talked about not worrying about RNG. But if you hit three scald burns in a row, it can easily tilt your opponent, if you really need that burn and after six turns you keep missing, you can easily go on tilt. Your reaction to these things is something you can train. I've been conscious about that lately. If you can master that, so that it never phases you, is that when it phases your opponent, then you get to do little backflips inside.
Some of the time I feel like you get to the next week and see your opponent and you have someone who's difficult to play against, this can be socially, or time wise or whatever, or you can someone who's just your nemesis and stuff. A lot of the best players on the national scene are very good at managing difficult situations. A good portion of this game isn't played through the 3DS, it's played against your opponent. If you have a really nice opponent, where you're both playing a good etiquette game, where they're playing tight, you're playing tight. Then this doesn't even happen. The game is entirely on the table. But some of the time, the majority of the game is played between the social interaction between you and your opponent. And if you're not able to manage your opponent, and make sure they don't run over you as far as forcing you to do things you don't want to do. I've seen players do this, typically more at in person events. So I guess this isn't super relevant to this league. We're all gamers. And as a whole, a lot of the time, we're socially inept. And that's just how it is. If you're reading this, you're probably socially inept in some way. You may not be as bad as others, but you probably have some sort of social ineptitude. If you have any issues with an opponent, there's no reason to feel bad about calling a mod into things. In the RDL, we only have one mod in Michael, but if you have any issues, you can always come to me, and a few of you already do that. The benefit of my schooling being mostly over and just projects is I can focus on other things at the same time. You can always go to someone else in the league if you have issue with some player. Don't ever feel like you're being a douche about it or whatever, you just want a good, fair game. If your opponent calls a mod over, don't take offense to it either. If a mod gets called you have to stay even keeled. It's a neutral body in a situation.
Let's take a moment and talk about nemesis opponents, or since this is Pokemon, let's call them Rivals. And I'm talking Gen 1-2 Rivals. Not those Gen 6 BS Rivals. There are particular opponents that will put me on tilt instantly. They don't have to do anything wrong. We can have a perfect game, where neither person does anything wrong, and I will be on tilt the entire time. This is something I need to work on, I don't have the perfect answer here. It all comes back to not letting external influences affect how you approach the game. I can only let the things I do affect the game.
Be aware of when tilt is coming on for these reasons. I'm up against my rival, I know I'm going to have tilt triggers, when that happens I'm going to do this ____. And I think that's my problem, I don't have a good plan. A lot of the time when you're set to play your rival, you're psyched up for it the week before, the tilt has already begun. And it can affect you before the match even happens. The worst feeling is knowing that you have to go against that player, and you can't let that time ramp you up. I think this may have affected me last season during the playoffs a bit. I knew that Santoro had beaten Adam in the semi-finals. I had lost to Santoro twice already that season. I was already worried about that match before I had even started my match against Michael. It's too easy to start spiraling out of control during that time. And that's not to say that I don't like playing against Santoro. I love it. He's a much better player than I am, in my opinion, and I feel like I get better when I play him. Plus I feel like there's a lot of mutual respect across this league for every player.
You have to be committed to playing a tight game even when it doesn't benefit you. So when people's lives come in and things have to change around, your opponent is thinking "This guy is a jerk" he's thinking "they just want to play a tight clean game" And when your opponent is getting angry, it's sometimes difficult to keep your level when your opponent's tilt level is going up. I don't really want to call anyone out on this but there was a huge case of that during week 3 of this season. And that's something I haven't touched on thus far, but when your opponents tilt factor goes up you don't let yourself get caught up in that emotion.
This potentially is my biggest downfall. I can go back and look at my matches and see where I had the game and I lost it completely. And I think this is something everyone can address in themselves, even Santoro, while he hasn't lost yet, there have been a few mental errors that can be addressed. All that matters is that you're improving and removing the background noise. When people are watching for you, you feel a lot of interference. This explodes in the playoffs. Just take all of that and discard it. One thing I was taught by a player in another game was at events, 40-350 people, I need to go into the bathroom before the event even starts, I need to look into the mirror and tell myself, there's no one at this event that I cannot beat. I can win this event. And I'm going to say this to everyone else. I don't care if it's Wolfyglick. If you have played to the best of your potential, and you're practiced and you're ready. You can win. Now if you let the background influence win out before you even get to the table, you've already lost. There have been times where I let the person I'm playing, and more importantly everyone knowing who the person I'm playing get the best of me. Like oh that's so-and-so I'm in big trouble. You can beat those people. Sometimes you beat those people and don't know who they are. Other times you get your ass kicked by them and find out later that they're some big name.
So yeah there's a lot of my thoughts on the mental game. And as I said it's way out of the normal style and order of things. And yes I know it's a huge wall of text. There was just some stuff I wanted to get out.
As with most sports and games really the Mental game is very important. Basically competition in general.
Defining the Mental game. The outer game is the choosing what to do each turn, who you're bringing, etc. The inner game is what's going on in your mind. And a lot of times you're nervous or anxious or angry or on tilt or whatever, and you're basically playing a game against yourself trying to master those emotions. Or have them not become a hindrance to you. To make sure that your thought process is clear and that you make the best choices that you possibly can. I can say there have been many games, not just of Pokemon, that I could have won, if I hadn't lost the mental game against myself.
Okay, so, there's a book that was recommended to me called The Inner Game of Music, which is part of a larger group of books, tennis, skiing, etc. Some of the things I'll bring up will be from it.
One of the ideas is this equation that he writes that is Performance = Potential - Interference. And so, I think part of the reason I like that equation is I know a lot of times for myself that it's like I'm my worst enemy at the table, and I think that's true for a lot of people. There've been times that I've lost to people, and I don't mean to sound arrogant here, but I've lost to people that there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell and I come up crit failure on my mental game and all of the sudden that snowball comes flying out. It happens to everybody. Part of the reason I think this is important is because in this equation there's two things, there's Potential and there's Interference. And so most of us think about we are trying to improve our potential, trying to improve our skill, trying to get more practice time in, whatever. But a lot of the time we only look at it from the performance perspective, "oh I did poorly that time" but we don't think about "okay how good could I have done, what was my potential and why did I do as poorly as I did?"
Why I think this is important is because for most times, you've been getting practice, you've been getting good, you start getting better, and the area where you can actually see your biggest increase in performance, isn't necessarily in increasing your potential, it's with decreasing your interference.
Some good and bad habits with the mental game.
Let's start with the bad. Easy one is when you start blaming dice/RNG, even though that's more a symptom. The number one commonality in bad habits is you make sub-optimal decisions based on how you feel or on bad information or you're kind of shooting off from the hip. Basically knee-jerk not thinking about your reactions.
A lot of the times, it's you're allowing emotions to cloud your analysis. Whether it's you feel intimidated, nervous, excited, you feel like your opponent made a huge mistake and you don't do all the math(HINT THIS IS WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT). You don't stay even keeled, you let emotions get involved. And that's sometimes hard to prevent.
I'm going to go on the dice/RNG thing, or whatever it happens to be. You're letting outside influences, letting things you cannot control, affect your emotional state. You should always be focused on the things you can control. Stop focusing on the things you cannot control, and start focusing on the things that you can. You can control, who you bring, what they bring, what attacks you choose, who is on the field, etc. You cannot control whether that Scald hit its burn. You CAN control your reaction to the RNG, you CAN control how your plan changes. But you cannot control what your opponent does, so when your opponent switches the way you didn't want them to, okay you deal with it. You continue on but you do not fret over it because that is not something that
is in your sphere of control.
Some of the good habits. I think something that is useful or effective is to try to think of when you play your best game, what's your mental game like? and for most people it's like you're having fun, you're not stressed, you don't have huge emotional spikes either way, there's another term I've read in a different book that calls it FLOW.
Flow is basically, is a 4 step process.
1. Unconscious Incompetence - where you're making poor decisions and doing bad things and you don't really understand how or why. Everyone basically starts here in most things.
2. Conscious Incompetence - where you're still making mistakes, still doing shitty, but you're starting to recognize that and can start making adjustments to your mistakes.
3. Conscious Competence - when you're able to keep interference down and keep your eye on the prize, you can do the math and make the right analysis. You know what to do and you're doing it.
4. Unconscious Competence - Flow - where you don't even think about it, you're making the right plays. Do or do not, there is no try.
If you can get past all the other mental game and you can play a competent game without having to let outside emotion or thinking be involved, which in itself is a fairly long process, but if you watch some of the better skilled players of this game(or other games), they don't sit and worry about the dice math, they have a fairly good idea, because they've played enough games, they know what's going to be successful and what's not going to be successful. That's more about the practice side, but it definitely helps you maintain an even keel and maintain the healthy mental state.
You can have the skills to be in an unconscious competence state but you also have to have the mental state to achieve that.
Obvious good habit. Don't let your opponent put you on tilt. Not letting things outside your influence put you on tilt. There's a few good habits that you can do before and after a game too. Reviewing what you did and how you can improve, preparing yourself before you get into that situation, where you don't show up late rushed, you have a good breakfast, get good sleep, things like that. And that affects people differently, but I feel like those are things that most people can use help with. If you spend a few minutes the night before, the week before, and not building your list that morning, then you will be better prepared so those things won't be background noise.
Another thing that can be a good habit, is figuring out what is going to be your plan when you get into a bad mental state during the game. You're going to have triggers during a game, and you need to have a plan.
Another example is the status tilt, that is a thing. And I know, I talked about not worrying about RNG. But if you hit three scald burns in a row, it can easily tilt your opponent, if you really need that burn and after six turns you keep missing, you can easily go on tilt. Your reaction to these things is something you can train. I've been conscious about that lately. If you can master that, so that it never phases you, is that when it phases your opponent, then you get to do little backflips inside.
Some of the time I feel like you get to the next week and see your opponent and you have someone who's difficult to play against, this can be socially, or time wise or whatever, or you can someone who's just your nemesis and stuff. A lot of the best players on the national scene are very good at managing difficult situations. A good portion of this game isn't played through the 3DS, it's played against your opponent. If you have a really nice opponent, where you're both playing a good etiquette game, where they're playing tight, you're playing tight. Then this doesn't even happen. The game is entirely on the table. But some of the time, the majority of the game is played between the social interaction between you and your opponent. And if you're not able to manage your opponent, and make sure they don't run over you as far as forcing you to do things you don't want to do. I've seen players do this, typically more at in person events. So I guess this isn't super relevant to this league. We're all gamers. And as a whole, a lot of the time, we're socially inept. And that's just how it is. If you're reading this, you're probably socially inept in some way. You may not be as bad as others, but you probably have some sort of social ineptitude. If you have any issues with an opponent, there's no reason to feel bad about calling a mod into things. In the RDL, we only have one mod in Michael, but if you have any issues, you can always come to me, and a few of you already do that. The benefit of my schooling being mostly over and just projects is I can focus on other things at the same time. You can always go to someone else in the league if you have issue with some player. Don't ever feel like you're being a douche about it or whatever, you just want a good, fair game. If your opponent calls a mod over, don't take offense to it either. If a mod gets called you have to stay even keeled. It's a neutral body in a situation.
Let's take a moment and talk about nemesis opponents, or since this is Pokemon, let's call them Rivals. And I'm talking Gen 1-2 Rivals. Not those Gen 6 BS Rivals. There are particular opponents that will put me on tilt instantly. They don't have to do anything wrong. We can have a perfect game, where neither person does anything wrong, and I will be on tilt the entire time. This is something I need to work on, I don't have the perfect answer here. It all comes back to not letting external influences affect how you approach the game. I can only let the things I do affect the game.
Be aware of when tilt is coming on for these reasons. I'm up against my rival, I know I'm going to have tilt triggers, when that happens I'm going to do this ____. And I think that's my problem, I don't have a good plan. A lot of the time when you're set to play your rival, you're psyched up for it the week before, the tilt has already begun. And it can affect you before the match even happens. The worst feeling is knowing that you have to go against that player, and you can't let that time ramp you up. I think this may have affected me last season during the playoffs a bit. I knew that Santoro had beaten Adam in the semi-finals. I had lost to Santoro twice already that season. I was already worried about that match before I had even started my match against Michael. It's too easy to start spiraling out of control during that time. And that's not to say that I don't like playing against Santoro. I love it. He's a much better player than I am, in my opinion, and I feel like I get better when I play him. Plus I feel like there's a lot of mutual respect across this league for every player.
You have to be committed to playing a tight game even when it doesn't benefit you. So when people's lives come in and things have to change around, your opponent is thinking "This guy is a jerk" he's thinking "they just want to play a tight clean game" And when your opponent is getting angry, it's sometimes difficult to keep your level when your opponent's tilt level is going up. I don't really want to call anyone out on this but there was a huge case of that during week 3 of this season. And that's something I haven't touched on thus far, but when your opponents tilt factor goes up you don't let yourself get caught up in that emotion.
This potentially is my biggest downfall. I can go back and look at my matches and see where I had the game and I lost it completely. And I think this is something everyone can address in themselves, even Santoro, while he hasn't lost yet, there have been a few mental errors that can be addressed. All that matters is that you're improving and removing the background noise. When people are watching for you, you feel a lot of interference. This explodes in the playoffs. Just take all of that and discard it. One thing I was taught by a player in another game was at events, 40-350 people, I need to go into the bathroom before the event even starts, I need to look into the mirror and tell myself, there's no one at this event that I cannot beat. I can win this event. And I'm going to say this to everyone else. I don't care if it's Wolfyglick. If you have played to the best of your potential, and you're practiced and you're ready. You can win. Now if you let the background influence win out before you even get to the table, you've already lost. There have been times where I let the person I'm playing, and more importantly everyone knowing who the person I'm playing get the best of me. Like oh that's so-and-so I'm in big trouble. You can beat those people. Sometimes you beat those people and don't know who they are. Other times you get your ass kicked by them and find out later that they're some big name.
So yeah there's a lot of my thoughts on the mental game. And as I said it's way out of the normal style and order of things. And yes I know it's a huge wall of text. There was just some stuff I wanted to get out.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Week 6 Preshow
Week 6 back to basics again.
Week 5 was big, and it's not even done yet... because of me. But the last match will be coming out tomorrow and I'll be talking about it Wednesday. So, I'll talk about the other 7 matches briefly, as I haven't actually watched any of them.
The biggest news this week was the trend of unfinished matches. Of the 7 already played, only 4 had a team with 0 at the end. Up until this week, that hasn't happened even once. One was due to a Disconnect, one due to time, and the third I'm not sure of yet.
This resulted in a few 5-2 and a 5-1. This week also saw the fall of one of our undefeated teams. The Gastrodons failed to keep their streak with a win by the Detroit Dracos.
Our first battle was Ohio Ninetales against the Chicago Tauros. Michael, the coach of the Ninetales, was the only of the analysts to predict the Tauros would win. And he ended up being correct. There was no replay due to DC but Landorus-Therian improved his K/D ratio by 1 with a pair of kills before falling to Infernape. Battle ended 5-2 win for Chicago.
Next was Klinks and Mags. This one also was unfinished but has a replay so I assume it was either a FF or a time out. Beheeyem had its first appearance in the league to start out 2-0. Gyarados got 2 more kills with Bounce as well. The battle ended 5-2 win for the Klinks.
Our third match was the new Oregon Golducks and Kansas City Kingdras. This one was a difficult one for the Kingdras, as they had no idea of Ballistics play style, and it shows in the play. Only Terrakion getting a kill for the Kingdras. This is going to start a big change for the Kingdras and the Golducks. 5-0 win for the Golducks.
Our third and (hopefully) last unfinished match this week was Akron Alakazams and Rochester Roggenrolas. This one went to time. After an early kill by Ttar for the Roggs in turn 5, it started going down hill slowly for them. with the next 5 kills all going to the Alakazams over the next 55 turns before a time out at 5-1 Alakazam win.
The undefeated Gastrodons met up with the Dracos for an early season showdown. I'll have to view Emerson's videos about this match because I don't know his thoughts behind this team against the Dracos. But this match ended fast. 17 turns in total. 4-0 win for the Dracos taking down the undefeated Gastros.
Our other undefeated team the Bulbasaurs against the Kennesaw Noctowls. This match was given the match of the week. And looking at the kills and turn timers, I agree with that. Brooklyn may be undefeated but their matches have been fairly close with many of their opponents. This was the second 2-0, and fourth 2 or less win out of the five. 2-0 Bulbas win.
The last battle I'll talk about is the Gliscors against the Lairons. Unfortunately, it's been a rough start for the Lairons this season, and Mimikyu was a big threat here netting 4 kills without dying. I expect the Lairons start turning it around in the later half of the season.
The battle between the Ponytas and the Charjas will be written about later, when it actually happens.
Transactions:
Only three transactions happened this week, two free agent moves by one team and a z-crystal trade by two teams.
Bulbasaurs drop:
Starmie(T2)
Raichu(T5)
Bulbasaurs add:
Magnezone(T2)
Dusclops(T5)
Detroit Lairons and Kansas City Kingdras trade Z Crystals
Lairons receive DarkZ
Kingdras receive NormalZ
This is the limit of free moves for the Bulbasaurs until week 7, I think this was a good overall change for their team, regardless if they need that or not. Magnezone and Dusclops bring a lot of bulk to the team that Raichu and Starmie lacked.
As for the Z Crystal moves, the Lairons can utilize DarkZ with a few of their mons, and definitely more than NormalZ. The Kingdras may be utilizing the NormalZ with Heliolisk or Silvally for STAB but basically anything gets normal moves.
Week 6 matches
Akron Alakazams(2-3) V Chicago Tauros(3-2)
This could be an interesting match. Akron hasn't won in this league against Lando-T, but they are coming off a 5 kill 1 death win last week. But Chicago is also coming off a win against the near top tier Ohio Ninetales. But this is an even week, Chicago has won every odd week and lost every even week. We'll see how this one goes but this is going to be one of my matches to watch for this week.
Keys: Matchups. Ninetales-A and Lando-T are great match ups to Zygarde-50 and Volcanion respectively. Knowing when to bring things out will be big here.
Prediction: Even week, Chicago loss. Alakazams win a close one.
Brooklyn Bulbasaurs(5-0) V Los Angeles Charjabugs(3-2)
The Charjas are coming off a big win against the Indy Ponytas 4-0 in the middle of a tough streak of games. The Bulbas are continuing their domination but close games. I expect more of the same from them.
Keys: Magnezone can handle Koko and Kyurem fairly well, but Entei could run a little havoc after it's checks get removed.
Prediction: Brooklyn wins a close one.
Detroit Dracos(3-2) V Michigan Magcargos(0-5)
The Dracos are one of the unexpected Goliaths of the league only falling to the Bulbasaurs by 1 and the Ponytas by a lot(check back on Wednesday for my thoughts on that). The Dracos can sweep this one 6-0 potentially as the Mags are coming off a hard loss to the Klinks. I've been saying the Mags are close to finishing off their games, but I don't see it happening this week.
Keys: Rocks are going to be big for both teams. Momentum is also going to be needed for the Mags to win this one.
Prediction: Dracos win.
Detroit Lairons(0-5) V East Sea Gastrodons(4-1)
Full transparency, this match has already happened. But I have literally no clue of what happens during it. This match was played before their week 5 matches so the Gastros loss didn't affect this match, but neither team had a lot of time to focus on just this match. I expect it to be a little more soppy than most of the teams' other matches.
Keys: Marv(Krook) has the ability to tear through the Lairons. But so does Sharpedo through the Gastros. Knowing when to bring them out is imperative.
Prediction: Gastros win.
Galesburg Gliscors(4-1) V Oregon Golducks(1-4)(1-0 with new coach)
This is Michael's Match of the Week nominee. Galesburg has only lost one match to Chicago in a 1-0 loss. The Golducks are coming off their first week in the RDL with a 5-0 victory over the Kingdras. This is probably going to be a close game if the Golducks don't use their late game mons too early.
Keys: Momentum. Both teams can push the other out but whoever gets an early lead may be able to finish this match fast. But both need to recognize threats from the other team for speeds.
Prediction: Galesburg Win.
Indianapolis Ponytas(3-2)V Kennesaw Noctowls(1-4)
This will be the first match up between Kennesaw and Indianapolis, as Kennesaw came into the league the week after they would have played in season 1. Kennesaw was an early pick for one of the upper middle team and they should start making their way back to the mean. This will be a close match either way it goes.
Keys: Planning. This is a match of list chicken. Call it right and it can be a sweep, call it wrong and it could be a sweep the other direction.
Prediction: Kennesaw Win.
Kansas City Kingdras(2-3) V New York Klinks(4-1)
The Kingdras are one a hard dip. Two losses in a row putting them -8 over the past two weeks, and -3 overall. They face a NY team that only lost to a close match in week 1, with 4 wins in a row. I really think this should be the Match of the Week. Both teams match up really well with each other.
Keys: Predictions. Both teams like making switches but not into the most obvious thing. Reading what they switch into will be big for this one.
Prediction: I've gone back and forth on this one a lot over the past few days. Klinks win.
Ohio Ninetales(3-2) V Rochester Roggenrolas(2-3)
Both teams coming off an unfinished match in which they both lost, they both need to get the win here. This being an even week, the Roggs can win this one, as they have only won on even weeks. And the Ninetales have what it takes to beat the Roggs.
Keys: Xurkitree can sweep the Roggs if it gets any momentum going, but Mew can do the same if it isn't brought in at the wrong time.
Prediction: I've been back and forth on this too, but because of patterns, I'm going to go with Roggenrolas win.
Week 5 is almost fully in the books. This post will be updated on Tuesday night so keep an eye on that. Remember at the end of this week starts the week 7 two free agency moves for every team. These don't apply until week 8, but expect quite a few teams to do early moves. So if there's something you really want, and you have moves, do it before Saturday night.
Week 5 was big, and it's not even done yet... because of me. But the last match will be coming out tomorrow and I'll be talking about it Wednesday. So, I'll talk about the other 7 matches briefly, as I haven't actually watched any of them.
The biggest news this week was the trend of unfinished matches. Of the 7 already played, only 4 had a team with 0 at the end. Up until this week, that hasn't happened even once. One was due to a Disconnect, one due to time, and the third I'm not sure of yet.
This resulted in a few 5-2 and a 5-1. This week also saw the fall of one of our undefeated teams. The Gastrodons failed to keep their streak with a win by the Detroit Dracos.
Our first battle was Ohio Ninetales against the Chicago Tauros. Michael, the coach of the Ninetales, was the only of the analysts to predict the Tauros would win. And he ended up being correct. There was no replay due to DC but Landorus-Therian improved his K/D ratio by 1 with a pair of kills before falling to Infernape. Battle ended 5-2 win for Chicago.
Next was Klinks and Mags. This one also was unfinished but has a replay so I assume it was either a FF or a time out. Beheeyem had its first appearance in the league to start out 2-0. Gyarados got 2 more kills with Bounce as well. The battle ended 5-2 win for the Klinks.
Our third match was the new Oregon Golducks and Kansas City Kingdras. This one was a difficult one for the Kingdras, as they had no idea of Ballistics play style, and it shows in the play. Only Terrakion getting a kill for the Kingdras. This is going to start a big change for the Kingdras and the Golducks. 5-0 win for the Golducks.
Our third and (hopefully) last unfinished match this week was Akron Alakazams and Rochester Roggenrolas. This one went to time. After an early kill by Ttar for the Roggs in turn 5, it started going down hill slowly for them. with the next 5 kills all going to the Alakazams over the next 55 turns before a time out at 5-1 Alakazam win.
The undefeated Gastrodons met up with the Dracos for an early season showdown. I'll have to view Emerson's videos about this match because I don't know his thoughts behind this team against the Dracos. But this match ended fast. 17 turns in total. 4-0 win for the Dracos taking down the undefeated Gastros.
Our other undefeated team the Bulbasaurs against the Kennesaw Noctowls. This match was given the match of the week. And looking at the kills and turn timers, I agree with that. Brooklyn may be undefeated but their matches have been fairly close with many of their opponents. This was the second 2-0, and fourth 2 or less win out of the five. 2-0 Bulbas win.
The last battle I'll talk about is the Gliscors against the Lairons. Unfortunately, it's been a rough start for the Lairons this season, and Mimikyu was a big threat here netting 4 kills without dying. I expect the Lairons start turning it around in the later half of the season.
The battle between the Ponytas and the Charjas will be written about later, when it actually happens.
Transactions:
Only three transactions happened this week, two free agent moves by one team and a z-crystal trade by two teams.
Bulbasaurs drop:
Starmie(T2)
Raichu(T5)
Bulbasaurs add:
Magnezone(T2)
Dusclops(T5)
Detroit Lairons and Kansas City Kingdras trade Z Crystals
Lairons receive DarkZ
Kingdras receive NormalZ
This is the limit of free moves for the Bulbasaurs until week 7, I think this was a good overall change for their team, regardless if they need that or not. Magnezone and Dusclops bring a lot of bulk to the team that Raichu and Starmie lacked.
As for the Z Crystal moves, the Lairons can utilize DarkZ with a few of their mons, and definitely more than NormalZ. The Kingdras may be utilizing the NormalZ with Heliolisk or Silvally for STAB but basically anything gets normal moves.
Week 6 matches
Akron Alakazams(2-3) V Chicago Tauros(3-2)
This could be an interesting match. Akron hasn't won in this league against Lando-T, but they are coming off a 5 kill 1 death win last week. But Chicago is also coming off a win against the near top tier Ohio Ninetales. But this is an even week, Chicago has won every odd week and lost every even week. We'll see how this one goes but this is going to be one of my matches to watch for this week.
Keys: Matchups. Ninetales-A and Lando-T are great match ups to Zygarde-50 and Volcanion respectively. Knowing when to bring things out will be big here.
Prediction: Even week, Chicago loss. Alakazams win a close one.
Brooklyn Bulbasaurs(5-0) V Los Angeles Charjabugs(3-2)
The Charjas are coming off a big win against the Indy Ponytas 4-0 in the middle of a tough streak of games. The Bulbas are continuing their domination but close games. I expect more of the same from them.
Keys: Magnezone can handle Koko and Kyurem fairly well, but Entei could run a little havoc after it's checks get removed.
Prediction: Brooklyn wins a close one.
Detroit Dracos(3-2) V Michigan Magcargos(0-5)
The Dracos are one of the unexpected Goliaths of the league only falling to the Bulbasaurs by 1 and the Ponytas by a lot(check back on Wednesday for my thoughts on that). The Dracos can sweep this one 6-0 potentially as the Mags are coming off a hard loss to the Klinks. I've been saying the Mags are close to finishing off their games, but I don't see it happening this week.
Keys: Rocks are going to be big for both teams. Momentum is also going to be needed for the Mags to win this one.
Prediction: Dracos win.
Detroit Lairons(0-5) V East Sea Gastrodons(4-1)
Full transparency, this match has already happened. But I have literally no clue of what happens during it. This match was played before their week 5 matches so the Gastros loss didn't affect this match, but neither team had a lot of time to focus on just this match. I expect it to be a little more soppy than most of the teams' other matches.
Keys: Marv(Krook) has the ability to tear through the Lairons. But so does Sharpedo through the Gastros. Knowing when to bring them out is imperative.
Prediction: Gastros win.
Galesburg Gliscors(4-1) V Oregon Golducks(1-4)(1-0 with new coach)
This is Michael's Match of the Week nominee. Galesburg has only lost one match to Chicago in a 1-0 loss. The Golducks are coming off their first week in the RDL with a 5-0 victory over the Kingdras. This is probably going to be a close game if the Golducks don't use their late game mons too early.
Keys: Momentum. Both teams can push the other out but whoever gets an early lead may be able to finish this match fast. But both need to recognize threats from the other team for speeds.
Prediction: Galesburg Win.
Indianapolis Ponytas(3-2)V Kennesaw Noctowls(1-4)
This will be the first match up between Kennesaw and Indianapolis, as Kennesaw came into the league the week after they would have played in season 1. Kennesaw was an early pick for one of the upper middle team and they should start making their way back to the mean. This will be a close match either way it goes.
Keys: Planning. This is a match of list chicken. Call it right and it can be a sweep, call it wrong and it could be a sweep the other direction.
Prediction: Kennesaw Win.
Kansas City Kingdras(2-3) V New York Klinks(4-1)
The Kingdras are one a hard dip. Two losses in a row putting them -8 over the past two weeks, and -3 overall. They face a NY team that only lost to a close match in week 1, with 4 wins in a row. I really think this should be the Match of the Week. Both teams match up really well with each other.
Keys: Predictions. Both teams like making switches but not into the most obvious thing. Reading what they switch into will be big for this one.
Prediction: I've gone back and forth on this one a lot over the past few days. Klinks win.
Ohio Ninetales(3-2) V Rochester Roggenrolas(2-3)
Both teams coming off an unfinished match in which they both lost, they both need to get the win here. This being an even week, the Roggs can win this one, as they have only won on even weeks. And the Ninetales have what it takes to beat the Roggs.
Keys: Xurkitree can sweep the Roggs if it gets any momentum going, but Mew can do the same if it isn't brought in at the wrong time.
Prediction: I've been back and forth on this too, but because of patterns, I'm going to go with Roggenrolas win.
Week 5 is almost fully in the books. This post will be updated on Tuesday night so keep an eye on that. Remember at the end of this week starts the week 7 two free agency moves for every team. These don't apply until week 8, but expect quite a few teams to do early moves. So if there's something you really want, and you have moves, do it before Saturday night.
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Week 5 Preshow
Week 4 was a pretty good week, we had divisions against divisions.
We had the Sun conference against it self, and Moon conference was against itself.
For the first Battle for the Indigo, the Kanto Division struggled heavily. Only pulling off one win against the dominant Johto Division. Likewise, the Alola Division had the same experience against a scary Hoenn Division in the Battle of the Seas.
Battle For the Indigo:
First battle this week pitched The Ohio Ninetales and the Akron Alakazams, in the mini battle that was the Battle for Ohio, Akron was coming off a hard loss in week 3 with this match as a must win game for them. Ohio was coming into the week tied for first in their division with the worst differential of the tied three. Zysnek did all it could to come back to win but only made the differential smaller. Which may turn out to be beneficial when it comes to playoffs.
My Prediction: Ohio Win
Outcome: Ohio Win 2-0
Next up we'll talk briefly about the New York Klinks and the now Defunct Atlanta Rowlets. Due to a disconnect at the end of the battle, a video wasn't able to be produced. However, we were able to get the record of kills, it helped that they were all from Rotom-Wash. Apparently, Liam had some dirty laundry to get swept like that. The Klinks are still flying just under the radar on some coaches, including myself when I had lost to them. This is their second 6-0 this season.
My Prediction: NY Win
Outcome: NY Win 6-0
Nearly at the same time as the Klinks' match was the match of Indianapolis Ponytas and Detroit Dracos. The Ponytas coming off their first loss of the season really didn't want to go into week 5 down to 2-2. But then again, the Dracos didn't want to go to 2-2 either. The Ponytas front office seemed to think this would be a very difficult match up for them, from all of their advisers except one, who thought it would be easy. A planning issue on the end of the Dracos led to a near sweep, but that could've gone either way. It was a game of list chicken and one side had to lose.
My Prediction: Dracos Win
Outcome: Ponytas Win 5-0
Lastly was Detroit Lairons trying to get their first win against the Undefeated Brooklyn Bulbasaurs. The rest of the Johto Division(and maybe a lot of the league) was pulling for the Lairons to pull off the upset. And despite this being the best showing them so far, it wasn't enough to outdo the Bulbasaurs. One thing we know, this league better not underestimate the power of the cupcake.
My Prediction: Bulbas Win
Outcome: Bulbas Win 2-0
Johto-Kanto Rivalry
3-1, +11 for Johto.
Battle of the Seas:
First up will be the Rochester Roggs against the Michigan Mags. Another underrated player came up through the cracks in this match in Kecleon. The Mags had one of their better matches thus far, but again fell just a little short.
My Prediction: Roggs Win
Outcome: Roggs Win 2-0
Next we have the Kennesaw Noctowls against the Chicago Tauros. This match I will admit, I have not personally seen yet, and haven't talked to either coach about yet. But I will try to get the chance to view this one as soon as I can. Both coaches seem to be fairly streaky, meaning when they play good, they're really good. When things start going wrong, they go really wrong though. I may write more up after I view this one. It was very much a late game sweep by the Noctowls though.
My Prediction: Chicago Win
Outcome: Kennesaw Win 3-0
In one of the matches that I think I was looking at the most this week, LA Charjas against the East Sea Gastros. Since I play against the Charjas next week, I really wanted to see how this one came out. And since Emerson is part of my front office, I wanted to see him continue his win streak. Entei was the biggest direct offensive threat for them, but this just wasn't a good matchup for them. Marv kept his streak of being a big killer without too much threat on his life... for now.
My Prediction: Gastros Win
Outcome: Gastros Win 3-0
Last match of the week, Galesburg Gliscors and Kansas City Kingdras. Another match to decide if one division gets to go 4-0. Clutch didn't feel his match up was that great this week and that seemed to be what happened. M-Latios continued it's offensive pressure from season 1 gaining 3 kills this week.
My Prediction: KC Win
Outcome: Galesburg Win 3-0
Hoenn-Alola Rivalry:
3-1, +5 for Hoenn.
Transactions This week:
The only transactions this week were the free ones given to a new coach for coming into the league to take over a team.
The Atlanta Rowlets(0-4) are now the Oregon Golducks(0-4)
The changes they made:
Drops:
Haxorus(T3)
Ribombee(T4)
Meowstic(T5)
Adds:
Tyrantrum(T3)
Sigilyph(T4)
Type:Null(T5)
I'll talk more about this team in the coming weeks. It will be a point of focus.
Week 5 preview:
During the preweek for last week, I talked about how week4 mattered less than the previous week, in terms of playoff consideration. This week matters a lot less. These are the Non-conference Matchups. We've got Kanto-Hoenn match ups and Johto-Alola match ups.
Akron Alakazams(1-3) V Rochester Roggenrolas(2-2)
This is another must win match for the Alakazams. If playoffs were decided today, both of these teams would be on the outside looking in. Rochester needs to win with decent differential to get positive, but Akron needs it worse. Akron does match up really well in this match up though so I believe they can get it going. This is also an odd numbered week, so according to pattern, the Roggs aren't supposed to win this.
Key to this match up is Zysnek again. It matches up well against most of the Roggs. Breloom might be what's needed to stop some big sweeps by the Alakazams, but even then, it doesn't look great.
Prediction: Akron Wins
Kennesaw Noctowls(1-3) V Brooklyn Bulbasaurs(4-0)
Kennesaw comes off its first win, into one of the hardest teams in the league, one of the two still undefeated teams. Kennesaw has a great team and can still pull this one off, but the Bulbas are a fantastic team. I see this one being fairly close either way.
Key to this match: Prep, Prep, Prep. That's what will make the difference in this match up. Santoro has some of the best prep in the league.
Prediction: Brooklyn Wins
Oregon Golducks(0-4) V Kansas City Kingdras(2-2)
This one is a crapshoot. I don't know how Ballistic plays. And every time a new coach has taken over a team, in this league at least, they've won their first match. Sooooo good luck Nick? In total I think this could be a really good match up despite the records of the teams.
Keys: Terrakion can push out most of the Golducks, but Ballistic at least has game tape on the Kingdras.
Prediction: Kansas City Win
Detroit Dracos(2-2) V East Sea Gastrodons(4-0)
The Dracos are a great team, despite a hard loss last week, they still have great potential to win any match. But can any team beaet the Gastros? I think they are no longer the most underrated team, because people now know how good they are. This is a great match up for the Gastros for a majority of the team. But I don't know how Marv will do against the Flying squad that is the Dracos.
Keys: Nihilego, it was one of the biggest fears of my match against it last week, and it can deal with quite a bit of the Gastros except for Marv, the Krookodile, keep it alive around that. Victini on the other hand can deal with most things except the Nihilego.
Prediction: Gotta be Gastros. Gastros Win
New York Klinks(3-1) V Michigan Magcargos(0-4)
I feel like the Mags are right on the cusp of finishing their matches. But I just don't see that happening this week. I have to give this one to Sam to finish it off. Neither team can afford a loss in this one.
Keys: Prep, I think the Mags just need to do a few more practice matches to get full grasp of their team. As for Sam, let's see if he can repeat last week.
Prediction: NY Win
Detroit Lairons(0-4) V Galesburg Gliscors(3-1)
This seems to be one where the Lairons could pull out their first win. Mega Latios V Regular Latios. Gliscor V the Gliscors. Both teams shouldn't underestimate the other. A must win for the Lairons, and one the Gliscors don't want to drop.
Keys: Setting up. Both Latios can sweep if properly set up for it.
Prediction: Galesburg Win
Ohio Ninetales(3-1) V Chicago Tauros(2-2)
This is the start of a fairly difficult streak of 3 games for the Tauros, with the Ninetales, Alakazamas, and Gastrodons in a row. Another match with the Mascot of one team playing on the opponent's team, we'll see if Ninetales can beat the Ninetales. Both teams here have a need to win this as well.
Keys: Lando-T can pressure out a lot of the Ninetales, as long as it doesn't get put to sleep. On the other side, Infernape really doesn't do much in this match up, so something else will have to cover the slack that it leaves.
Prediction: Ohio Win
Indianapolis Ponytas(3-1) V LA Charjabugs(2-2)
Lastly for this week, my match against the Charjas. The Charjas are right near the beginning of a streak of difficult matches including the two undefeated teams and two of the 3-1 teams. The Charjas have brought every player at least once but has brought three of them to every match. Is this becoming too restricted or is it just that Koko, Kyu-B, and Entei are just that good. Hint from the guy that had Entei and Kyurem-Black last season, they're just that good. On the flip side, Nidoking and Weavile have been brought for every match for the Ponytas and everyone has been brought except the new transaction from last week
Keys: Prep. These teams are similar in power level, neither team is highly advantaged here. It's going to come down to preparing for everything and predicting the correct things.
Prediction: Indianapolis Win.
That'll be it from me for today and maybe the first part of the week. I plan on getting a write up about what things to look for during battle and what things do expect during it. That may come up later this week, or next week. I still have a few other things to write about beforehand as well. Like my battle reports for weeks 3 and 4.
We had the Sun conference against it self, and Moon conference was against itself.
For the first Battle for the Indigo, the Kanto Division struggled heavily. Only pulling off one win against the dominant Johto Division. Likewise, the Alola Division had the same experience against a scary Hoenn Division in the Battle of the Seas.
Battle For the Indigo:
First battle this week pitched The Ohio Ninetales and the Akron Alakazams, in the mini battle that was the Battle for Ohio, Akron was coming off a hard loss in week 3 with this match as a must win game for them. Ohio was coming into the week tied for first in their division with the worst differential of the tied three. Zysnek did all it could to come back to win but only made the differential smaller. Which may turn out to be beneficial when it comes to playoffs.
My Prediction: Ohio Win
Outcome: Ohio Win 2-0
Next up we'll talk briefly about the New York Klinks and the now Defunct Atlanta Rowlets. Due to a disconnect at the end of the battle, a video wasn't able to be produced. However, we were able to get the record of kills, it helped that they were all from Rotom-Wash. Apparently, Liam had some dirty laundry to get swept like that. The Klinks are still flying just under the radar on some coaches, including myself when I had lost to them. This is their second 6-0 this season.
My Prediction: NY Win
Outcome: NY Win 6-0
Nearly at the same time as the Klinks' match was the match of Indianapolis Ponytas and Detroit Dracos. The Ponytas coming off their first loss of the season really didn't want to go into week 5 down to 2-2. But then again, the Dracos didn't want to go to 2-2 either. The Ponytas front office seemed to think this would be a very difficult match up for them, from all of their advisers except one, who thought it would be easy. A planning issue on the end of the Dracos led to a near sweep, but that could've gone either way. It was a game of list chicken and one side had to lose.
My Prediction: Dracos Win
Outcome: Ponytas Win 5-0
Lastly was Detroit Lairons trying to get their first win against the Undefeated Brooklyn Bulbasaurs. The rest of the Johto Division(and maybe a lot of the league) was pulling for the Lairons to pull off the upset. And despite this being the best showing them so far, it wasn't enough to outdo the Bulbasaurs. One thing we know, this league better not underestimate the power of the cupcake.
My Prediction: Bulbas Win
Outcome: Bulbas Win 2-0
Johto-Kanto Rivalry
3-1, +11 for Johto.
Battle of the Seas:
First up will be the Rochester Roggs against the Michigan Mags. Another underrated player came up through the cracks in this match in Kecleon. The Mags had one of their better matches thus far, but again fell just a little short.
My Prediction: Roggs Win
Outcome: Roggs Win 2-0
Next we have the Kennesaw Noctowls against the Chicago Tauros. This match I will admit, I have not personally seen yet, and haven't talked to either coach about yet. But I will try to get the chance to view this one as soon as I can. Both coaches seem to be fairly streaky, meaning when they play good, they're really good. When things start going wrong, they go really wrong though. I may write more up after I view this one. It was very much a late game sweep by the Noctowls though.
My Prediction: Chicago Win
Outcome: Kennesaw Win 3-0
In one of the matches that I think I was looking at the most this week, LA Charjas against the East Sea Gastros. Since I play against the Charjas next week, I really wanted to see how this one came out. And since Emerson is part of my front office, I wanted to see him continue his win streak. Entei was the biggest direct offensive threat for them, but this just wasn't a good matchup for them. Marv kept his streak of being a big killer without too much threat on his life... for now.
My Prediction: Gastros Win
Outcome: Gastros Win 3-0
Last match of the week, Galesburg Gliscors and Kansas City Kingdras. Another match to decide if one division gets to go 4-0. Clutch didn't feel his match up was that great this week and that seemed to be what happened. M-Latios continued it's offensive pressure from season 1 gaining 3 kills this week.
My Prediction: KC Win
Outcome: Galesburg Win 3-0
Hoenn-Alola Rivalry:
3-1, +5 for Hoenn.
Transactions This week:
The only transactions this week were the free ones given to a new coach for coming into the league to take over a team.
The Atlanta Rowlets(0-4) are now the Oregon Golducks(0-4)
The changes they made:
Drops:
Haxorus(T3)
Ribombee(T4)
Meowstic(T5)
Adds:
Tyrantrum(T3)
Sigilyph(T4)
Type:Null(T5)
I'll talk more about this team in the coming weeks. It will be a point of focus.
Week 5 preview:
During the preweek for last week, I talked about how week4 mattered less than the previous week, in terms of playoff consideration. This week matters a lot less. These are the Non-conference Matchups. We've got Kanto-Hoenn match ups and Johto-Alola match ups.
Akron Alakazams(1-3) V Rochester Roggenrolas(2-2)
This is another must win match for the Alakazams. If playoffs were decided today, both of these teams would be on the outside looking in. Rochester needs to win with decent differential to get positive, but Akron needs it worse. Akron does match up really well in this match up though so I believe they can get it going. This is also an odd numbered week, so according to pattern, the Roggs aren't supposed to win this.
Key to this match up is Zysnek again. It matches up well against most of the Roggs. Breloom might be what's needed to stop some big sweeps by the Alakazams, but even then, it doesn't look great.
Prediction: Akron Wins
Kennesaw Noctowls(1-3) V Brooklyn Bulbasaurs(4-0)
Kennesaw comes off its first win, into one of the hardest teams in the league, one of the two still undefeated teams. Kennesaw has a great team and can still pull this one off, but the Bulbas are a fantastic team. I see this one being fairly close either way.
Key to this match: Prep, Prep, Prep. That's what will make the difference in this match up. Santoro has some of the best prep in the league.
Prediction: Brooklyn Wins
Oregon Golducks(0-4) V Kansas City Kingdras(2-2)
This one is a crapshoot. I don't know how Ballistic plays. And every time a new coach has taken over a team, in this league at least, they've won their first match. Sooooo good luck Nick? In total I think this could be a really good match up despite the records of the teams.
Keys: Terrakion can push out most of the Golducks, but Ballistic at least has game tape on the Kingdras.
Prediction: Kansas City Win
Detroit Dracos(2-2) V East Sea Gastrodons(4-0)
The Dracos are a great team, despite a hard loss last week, they still have great potential to win any match. But can any team beaet the Gastros? I think they are no longer the most underrated team, because people now know how good they are. This is a great match up for the Gastros for a majority of the team. But I don't know how Marv will do against the Flying squad that is the Dracos.
Keys: Nihilego, it was one of the biggest fears of my match against it last week, and it can deal with quite a bit of the Gastros except for Marv, the Krookodile, keep it alive around that. Victini on the other hand can deal with most things except the Nihilego.
Prediction: Gotta be Gastros. Gastros Win
New York Klinks(3-1) V Michigan Magcargos(0-4)
I feel like the Mags are right on the cusp of finishing their matches. But I just don't see that happening this week. I have to give this one to Sam to finish it off. Neither team can afford a loss in this one.
Keys: Prep, I think the Mags just need to do a few more practice matches to get full grasp of their team. As for Sam, let's see if he can repeat last week.
Prediction: NY Win
Detroit Lairons(0-4) V Galesburg Gliscors(3-1)
This seems to be one where the Lairons could pull out their first win. Mega Latios V Regular Latios. Gliscor V the Gliscors. Both teams shouldn't underestimate the other. A must win for the Lairons, and one the Gliscors don't want to drop.
Keys: Setting up. Both Latios can sweep if properly set up for it.
Prediction: Galesburg Win
Ohio Ninetales(3-1) V Chicago Tauros(2-2)
This is the start of a fairly difficult streak of 3 games for the Tauros, with the Ninetales, Alakazamas, and Gastrodons in a row. Another match with the Mascot of one team playing on the opponent's team, we'll see if Ninetales can beat the Ninetales. Both teams here have a need to win this as well.
Keys: Lando-T can pressure out a lot of the Ninetales, as long as it doesn't get put to sleep. On the other side, Infernape really doesn't do much in this match up, so something else will have to cover the slack that it leaves.
Prediction: Ohio Win
Indianapolis Ponytas(3-1) V LA Charjabugs(2-2)
Lastly for this week, my match against the Charjas. The Charjas are right near the beginning of a streak of difficult matches including the two undefeated teams and two of the 3-1 teams. The Charjas have brought every player at least once but has brought three of them to every match. Is this becoming too restricted or is it just that Koko, Kyu-B, and Entei are just that good. Hint from the guy that had Entei and Kyurem-Black last season, they're just that good. On the flip side, Nidoking and Weavile have been brought for every match for the Ponytas and everyone has been brought except the new transaction from last week
Keys: Prep. These teams are similar in power level, neither team is highly advantaged here. It's going to come down to preparing for everything and predicting the correct things.
Prediction: Indianapolis Win.
That'll be it from me for today and maybe the first part of the week. I plan on getting a write up about what things to look for during battle and what things do expect during it. That may come up later this week, or next week. I still have a few other things to write about beforehand as well. Like my battle reports for weeks 3 and 4.
Why there hasn't been as many posts as of late
Well, first and foremost, I'm currently moving into a bigger house with my wife. We've been planning on moving into this house for about 2 years now due to legal issues with inheritance stuff. A few days ago was the first day we were allowed into the house in about 4 years. We came in to find the basement had about 2 feet deep of water across the 900+ sqft basement. After three days of pumping it out and using a 5 gallon tank with a shopvac, It's finally dry and my legs are jello from carrying up and down stairs repeatedly.
This week is my spring break, but I will be working mostly on the house. I will try to get things updated, I have two battles to cover, Sam's and Seamus's, so those will probably come out together some time this week.
Later today, maybe in an hour or so, I'll get my week 5 preshow up.
This week is my spring break, but I will be working mostly on the house. I will try to get things updated, I have two battles to cover, Sam's and Seamus's, so those will probably come out together some time this week.
Later today, maybe in an hour or so, I'll get my week 5 preshow up.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Week 4 Preshow
I won't spend too much time talking about week 3 here, I've done a few of the play by plays, and will probably hit them all by Wednesday at the latest. But I went 6-3 in my predictions, keeping me in 4th place but locking me up to only 2 games behind first.
I will have a post game writeup about Sam's in that play by play. Spoiler, I lost. I could have won, but I didn't, Sam played much better than I did that day, but next time I won't let him get the win.
As we look at the league after the Divisional weeks, we only have two undefeated teams. The Brooklyn Bulbasaurs led by Santoro, and the East Sea Gastrodons led by Emerson. Half of the teams are sitting at a 2-1 record after 3 weeks.
We did have a few transactions going into play this week.
Gastrodons
Drop Oricorio(T5)
Add Armaldo(T5)
Kingdras
Drop Komala(T4)
Add Magmortar(T4)
Klinks
Drop Carracosta(T5)
Add Zebstrika(T5)
Dracos
Drop Cryogonal(T5)
Azelf(T2)
Add Persian-Alola(T4)
Nihilego(T2)
Ponytas
Drop Mismagius(T4)
Add Druddigon(T4)
The Gastros switched out of Oricorio because it didn't add enough to the team to validate a spot, whereas Armaldo is a Utility monster, with access to Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Brick Break, and Priority. Overall I highly approve of this transaction, one of the best teams just got better.
The Kingdras lose their spinner but gain a dedicated fire type, and one of my personal favorites being a PU player at heart. This thing has excellent coverage on both the special and physical sides. This is a good pick up for the Kingdras, allowing them to have fire STAB in other ways than Silvally.
The Klinks switch was also a good one. Prior to this change, they had 4 water types. Carracosta is pretty decent for a tier 5 with Stealth Rocks, Knock Off, STAB priority, Scald, Shell Smash sets. But it was far and away the worst Water on the Klinks. Zebstrika does give them a second Electric type, but another synergy with Bulu, Gyarados, Rotom-W, and Flygon. With the potential of going physical or special, Zebra is a new speed tier for the Klinks, I'm expecting good things from this addition.
The Dracos dropped two of their Ground immune team members for one that's quad weak to it and another that's more of a support. For those of you keeping track, that's still 3 immune by type, 1 immune by type after Mega evolving, one immune by ability, and one that's resistant to it. So ground is still not a great type against them. Which makes Nihilego a great add. In addition to that, Nihi is another special attacker so that Hydra isn't as necessary in each match. Persian adds a lot of utility with Parting Shot, Switcheroo, Torment, Taunt. Both of these can be pretty good for the rest of the team.
The Ponytas dropped their spin blocker and one of the only things that could utilize their Z Crystal. But they traded to another Rock setter and another crazy Versatile Mon adding to their already versatile team. Druddigon can utilize RockZ or be heavily offensive with Sheer Force.
Going into the Week 4 Match ups:
This week is going to be one step down in importance than the divisional ones. For playoff circumstances, if you're in first place, these don't matter that much.
Akron Alakazams(1-2) V Ohio Ninetales(2-1)
This match is a must win for both teams. Akron cannot go 1-3. They can't change anything on their team, and they really don't need to. The two games they've lost both came down to the late game play. And Adam knows it. And it's the thing he's focusing on this week. The Ninetales should be 3-0 if they had done slightly different planning. But after this week, both teams have a back to back of the Roggs and the Tauros. This is my pick for Match of the Week. Probably at least. There's two other ones that stands out later.
Key things for this match:
Late Game. Both teams can attribute losses to late game. Both teams will want to finalize this match up.
But since both teams have struggled at the end of the match, the Early game is important too. if you get a big enough advantage, the late game doesn't matter.
Prediction: Ohio Win.
Detroit Lairons(0-3) V Brooklyn Bulbasaurs(3-0)
I can't explain how much I feel for the Lairons. They have the hardest first 7 matches by far. The "worst" team of the seven is Akron at 1-2. And two of them are undefeated still. 4 of his first 7 were the playoff teams from season 1. 4 of his first 7 were the 2-0 teams to start the season. and the other one is the Klinks, currently tied for first in their division. I feel for them so much.
But on to this match. The Liposuction that was the first few weeks of transactions definitely helped the Lairons, but it might take another week or two to get fully acquainted to the new team and new body. Can The Lairons give the Bulbas their first loss, and get their first victory? I don't know, but it'll be tough. They don't match up too poorly but they also don't seem to dominate.
Key things for the match:
DET: Don't worry about any pressure, if you're expected to lose, go all out and surprise things.
BKN: Milotic only struggles against a little of the Lairons and applies pressure to the rest.
Prediction: Brooklyn Win.
Atlanta Rowlets(0-3) V New York Klinks(2-1)
The Klinks are coming off a great win against the Ponytas and the Rowlets coming off a hard loss to the Bulbasaurs. This match is bigger for the Rowlets than for the Klinks, but I don't know if it'll be easy. Mamoswine can start a big sweep if the time is right, but if not, it'll be difficult.
Keys to the match up:
ATL: Planning. The Rowlets have Everything they need to win this. It's all about how they build it and plan it out.
NYK: Gyarados. This is partially so Sam doesn't get mad at me for saying Bulu is super important. But I hear Intimidate is pretty good.
Prediction: NY Win.
Detroit Dracos(2-1) V Indianapolis Ponytas(2-1)
Coming off a close win, the Dracos are trying to extend their streak to 3, easily proving themselves to be one of the top teams, they're up against the Ponytas, who are coming off a hard loss. It brings up the discussion of if the Ponytas are overrated in comparison to some of the other teams. Both teams have had some transactions since last week. Those moves could cause some inertial problems for both teams.
Keys to the match:
DD: Outplan and outdo the Ponytas.
IND: Think ahead more than 1 turn, plan out the late game.
Prediction: Dracos Win.
Rochester Roggenrolas(1-2) V Michigan Magcargos(0-3)
This match could be interesting. It can all come down to the planning process here. Mew is always driving that. Neither team should really look at this as a high pressure match but both teams really need to win.
Keys to the match:
PLAN. Take a little extra time than usual on the planning process. Michigan has been just slightly behind each match, but Rochester has been wavy.
Prediction: Rochester win.
Kansas City Kingdras(2-1) V Galesburg Gliscors(2-1)
This is match 2 of the MotW series. This one does seem to advantage one team over the other, but the one that it doesn't favor can easily overcome that by correctly building and planning things out. The Gliscors have yet to bring 3 of their mons, in only two matches though. Either team could pull this one off, which makes the prediction process difficult.
Keys to the match:
GBG: Expect anything. Clutch isn't known for making treasure out of trash for nothing.
KCK: Plan correctly and execute. Know your coverage and plan out most of the possible options.
Prediction: KC Win.
East Sea Gastrodons(3-0) V Los Angeles Charjabugs(2-1)
This is match 3 of the MotW series. This one will be good. I hope. LA is at twojabugs in a row, but has quite a few hard matches in a row. The Gastros are still flying just under the radar of some people in the league. I know the Charjas have what it takes to hand the Gastros their first loss. But I know the Gastros won't let that be easy.
Keys to the Match:
Gastros: Marv. Hands down this one mon can take out the big 4 heavy hitters on the Charjas.
Charjas: Araquanid. STAB Super Effective against many of the Gastros, including double against Krookodile.
Prediction: ES Win.
Chicago Tauros(2-1) V Kennesaw Noctowls(0-3)
Chicago is coming off a close win to the Gliscors with a streak of hard matches following this week. And Kennesaw coming off 3 fairly close matches, all in losses. This match is going to come down to mind games. Both teams seem to struggle at coming back when they get down. So while the late game and coming back is important for both teams,
Key to the match:
Early game. If you get far enough ahead, this should be a fairly easy win.
My prediction: Chicago Win.
That'll be a wrap for going into week 4, so far it's been a fairly close season. No one is out of playoff contention yet, obviously, but some teams are at a disadvantage to making it. The big thing I recommend for those teams struggling to win; practice, practice, practice. Don't let yourself lose because you lose focus. A few of these matches have definitely been losses because of poor play rather than wins because of good play. I'll touch more on this later this week in how to play the game like a gamer.
I will have a post game writeup about Sam's in that play by play. Spoiler, I lost. I could have won, but I didn't, Sam played much better than I did that day, but next time I won't let him get the win.
As we look at the league after the Divisional weeks, we only have two undefeated teams. The Brooklyn Bulbasaurs led by Santoro, and the East Sea Gastrodons led by Emerson. Half of the teams are sitting at a 2-1 record after 3 weeks.
We did have a few transactions going into play this week.
Gastrodons
Drop Oricorio(T5)
Add Armaldo(T5)
Kingdras
Drop Komala(T4)
Add Magmortar(T4)
Klinks
Drop Carracosta(T5)
Add Zebstrika(T5)
Dracos
Drop Cryogonal(T5)
Azelf(T2)
Add Persian-Alola(T4)
Nihilego(T2)
Ponytas
Drop Mismagius(T4)
Add Druddigon(T4)
The Gastros switched out of Oricorio because it didn't add enough to the team to validate a spot, whereas Armaldo is a Utility monster, with access to Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Brick Break, and Priority. Overall I highly approve of this transaction, one of the best teams just got better.
The Kingdras lose their spinner but gain a dedicated fire type, and one of my personal favorites being a PU player at heart. This thing has excellent coverage on both the special and physical sides. This is a good pick up for the Kingdras, allowing them to have fire STAB in other ways than Silvally.
The Klinks switch was also a good one. Prior to this change, they had 4 water types. Carracosta is pretty decent for a tier 5 with Stealth Rocks, Knock Off, STAB priority, Scald, Shell Smash sets. But it was far and away the worst Water on the Klinks. Zebstrika does give them a second Electric type, but another synergy with Bulu, Gyarados, Rotom-W, and Flygon. With the potential of going physical or special, Zebra is a new speed tier for the Klinks, I'm expecting good things from this addition.
The Dracos dropped two of their Ground immune team members for one that's quad weak to it and another that's more of a support. For those of you keeping track, that's still 3 immune by type, 1 immune by type after Mega evolving, one immune by ability, and one that's resistant to it. So ground is still not a great type against them. Which makes Nihilego a great add. In addition to that, Nihi is another special attacker so that Hydra isn't as necessary in each match. Persian adds a lot of utility with Parting Shot, Switcheroo, Torment, Taunt. Both of these can be pretty good for the rest of the team.
The Ponytas dropped their spin blocker and one of the only things that could utilize their Z Crystal. But they traded to another Rock setter and another crazy Versatile Mon adding to their already versatile team. Druddigon can utilize RockZ or be heavily offensive with Sheer Force.
Going into the Week 4 Match ups:
This week is going to be one step down in importance than the divisional ones. For playoff circumstances, if you're in first place, these don't matter that much.
Akron Alakazams(1-2) V Ohio Ninetales(2-1)
This match is a must win for both teams. Akron cannot go 1-3. They can't change anything on their team, and they really don't need to. The two games they've lost both came down to the late game play. And Adam knows it. And it's the thing he's focusing on this week. The Ninetales should be 3-0 if they had done slightly different planning. But after this week, both teams have a back to back of the Roggs and the Tauros. This is my pick for Match of the Week. Probably at least. There's two other ones that stands out later.
Key things for this match:
Late Game. Both teams can attribute losses to late game. Both teams will want to finalize this match up.
But since both teams have struggled at the end of the match, the Early game is important too. if you get a big enough advantage, the late game doesn't matter.
Prediction: Ohio Win.
Detroit Lairons(0-3) V Brooklyn Bulbasaurs(3-0)
I can't explain how much I feel for the Lairons. They have the hardest first 7 matches by far. The "worst" team of the seven is Akron at 1-2. And two of them are undefeated still. 4 of his first 7 were the playoff teams from season 1. 4 of his first 7 were the 2-0 teams to start the season. and the other one is the Klinks, currently tied for first in their division. I feel for them so much.
But on to this match. The Liposuction that was the first few weeks of transactions definitely helped the Lairons, but it might take another week or two to get fully acquainted to the new team and new body. Can The Lairons give the Bulbas their first loss, and get their first victory? I don't know, but it'll be tough. They don't match up too poorly but they also don't seem to dominate.
Key things for the match:
DET: Don't worry about any pressure, if you're expected to lose, go all out and surprise things.
BKN: Milotic only struggles against a little of the Lairons and applies pressure to the rest.
Prediction: Brooklyn Win.
Atlanta Rowlets(0-3) V New York Klinks(2-1)
The Klinks are coming off a great win against the Ponytas and the Rowlets coming off a hard loss to the Bulbasaurs. This match is bigger for the Rowlets than for the Klinks, but I don't know if it'll be easy. Mamoswine can start a big sweep if the time is right, but if not, it'll be difficult.
Keys to the match up:
ATL: Planning. The Rowlets have Everything they need to win this. It's all about how they build it and plan it out.
NYK: Gyarados. This is partially so Sam doesn't get mad at me for saying Bulu is super important. But I hear Intimidate is pretty good.
Prediction: NY Win.
Detroit Dracos(2-1) V Indianapolis Ponytas(2-1)
Coming off a close win, the Dracos are trying to extend their streak to 3, easily proving themselves to be one of the top teams, they're up against the Ponytas, who are coming off a hard loss. It brings up the discussion of if the Ponytas are overrated in comparison to some of the other teams. Both teams have had some transactions since last week. Those moves could cause some inertial problems for both teams.
Keys to the match:
DD: Outplan and outdo the Ponytas.
IND: Think ahead more than 1 turn, plan out the late game.
Prediction: Dracos Win.
Rochester Roggenrolas(1-2) V Michigan Magcargos(0-3)
This match could be interesting. It can all come down to the planning process here. Mew is always driving that. Neither team should really look at this as a high pressure match but both teams really need to win.
Keys to the match:
PLAN. Take a little extra time than usual on the planning process. Michigan has been just slightly behind each match, but Rochester has been wavy.
Prediction: Rochester win.
Kansas City Kingdras(2-1) V Galesburg Gliscors(2-1)
This is match 2 of the MotW series. This one does seem to advantage one team over the other, but the one that it doesn't favor can easily overcome that by correctly building and planning things out. The Gliscors have yet to bring 3 of their mons, in only two matches though. Either team could pull this one off, which makes the prediction process difficult.
Keys to the match:
GBG: Expect anything. Clutch isn't known for making treasure out of trash for nothing.
KCK: Plan correctly and execute. Know your coverage and plan out most of the possible options.
Prediction: KC Win.
East Sea Gastrodons(3-0) V Los Angeles Charjabugs(2-1)
This is match 3 of the MotW series. This one will be good. I hope. LA is at twojabugs in a row, but has quite a few hard matches in a row. The Gastros are still flying just under the radar of some people in the league. I know the Charjas have what it takes to hand the Gastros their first loss. But I know the Gastros won't let that be easy.
Keys to the Match:
Gastros: Marv. Hands down this one mon can take out the big 4 heavy hitters on the Charjas.
Charjas: Araquanid. STAB Super Effective against many of the Gastros, including double against Krookodile.
Prediction: ES Win.
Chicago Tauros(2-1) V Kennesaw Noctowls(0-3)
Chicago is coming off a close win to the Gliscors with a streak of hard matches following this week. And Kennesaw coming off 3 fairly close matches, all in losses. This match is going to come down to mind games. Both teams seem to struggle at coming back when they get down. So while the late game and coming back is important for both teams,
Key to the match:
Early game. If you get far enough ahead, this should be a fairly easy win.
My prediction: Chicago Win.
That'll be a wrap for going into week 4, so far it's been a fairly close season. No one is out of playoff contention yet, obviously, but some teams are at a disadvantage to making it. The big thing I recommend for those teams struggling to win; practice, practice, practice. Don't let yourself lose because you lose focus. A few of these matches have definitely been losses because of poor play rather than wins because of good play. I'll touch more on this later this week in how to play the game like a gamer.
How to Plan for the Week
The majority of your time for a battle should be spent on preparing yourself for the battle over the actual battle itself. So, a little about me and why I feel like I can write about this effectively. I come from a board and tabletop gaming background. I grew up playing mini war games like Warhammer, and for the past ten years have played competitive Warmachine and Hordes, I have also dabbled in Guild Ball. What does that mean to you guys that don't know what those are? Simply it means that I know how important planning is on a battle.
Now I did lose my last match due to poor playing especially at the end of the match, but my planning was spot on, down to knowing what things Sam would bring. But without much ado the 10 Things to do When Planning for a Battle.
The first two things only really work for league and lightly work for ladder. For clarity, going forward your "team" is your 11 mons(and z crystal), your "list" is the 6 you bring to a match.
1. Know what things you have. Know what they can do. Know what synergies your team can do. some obvious ones would be like a weather setter and someone that utilizes that weather like Ttar and Excadrill, Pelipper and M-Swampert, Torkoal and M-Houndoom.
In our league the most obvious one is probably Sam's Bulu with Heatran and M-Diancie. But the flip side to this is know what things certain mons are weak at and which ones cover that. A good example of that is my Fini and Ferrothorn. Every weakness of one is a resistance of the other and vice versa.
Along with this, know if your team is a majority physical damage or special damage or if there is a good mix. This will help you build a good list later.
2. Know what things your opponent has. Basically do the same thing that you did for your team, but do it for your opponent's team. Know what things they can do to try to surprise you. That can be a bulky Mon that isn't normally bulky in a certain way, like AV Ferrothorn expecting HP fire. The big thing here is knowing if they have predominately physical or special damage. You don't want to build a lot of specially defensive mons into a physical team, or vice versa.
3. Decide what you want to play for. Maybe you're not the most competitive player, that's okay. You should always be playing to win but you should want to have fun first and foremost. Maybe you just got a new mon from free agency, and you know you want it in your list. Maybe you want to try a weird set on your M-Lopunny like Fakeout Last Resort. Or maybe you really want to counter a certain Mon on the other team. I definitely didn't do that last year in my first match against Adam with his Jolteon, who he didn't even bring.
But maybe you do want to win, at any means necessary. You don't care about K/D or differential, you just want to get that win.
4. Figure out your win conditions and your loss conditions.
Your win conditions are on your opponents team, your loss conditions are in your list. A win condition is: "If I take this/these certain things out, I win" a loss condition is the opposite: "If I lose this thing, I lose" And understand that your win/loss conditions can change throughout the battle.
5. Figure out how to draw out your win condition in a manner that benefits you. If your win condition is getting rid of their Heatran, good luck using Swampert to draw it out. But if it's M-Diancie, then why even try M-Sableye to remove it?
This can be the most difficult step in the process. This may cause you to go into the tank(take extra time) both before the battle and during it.
6. Figure out how to set up your Loss Condition. Typically if something is a loss condition, you want it to be a contributing factor in your list. If it's offensive, how are you going to set it up to sweep or break them down? If it's defensive, how are you going to keep it alive and breaking down enemies slowly? Wish, protect, leftovers, Subs, Leech seed, Toxic, etc all help; but don't forget about Taunt.
7. Start building your list.
If during step 3 you wanted to bring certain things, start with those. If not, start with your loss conditions and build from there. Use what you think they would bring against you.
If you had their team and were going against yours, what would you bring? Typically you can narrow down what they will bring to around 7-9. Your list better be able to handle any combination of those 9, with something to deal with the other ones if for some reason they come too.
When you build your team, look at speed especially. What things are you trying to out speed, in this game it doesn't matter if you out speed by 1 or 50, you still get to attack first ignoring priority. Take some of the excess investment you don't need to other stats. Keep in mind only two mons can be scarfed, and that scarf is a 1.5x Multiplier.
You can do this with other stats as well using Showdown's calculator for damage. But remember to switch them to level 50 because the damage changes a bit.
7.b. Send your list to another player, get their input on it. But don't just send it to them as is. Tell them what things you want to do with that list. What things you expect, and what you're doing for them. Just sending 6 mons with moves, items, and EVs doesn't help too much.
8. Test your team. Preferably using showdown. Ask someone to build a team for the other player(do this for their opponent as well). Don't be afraid of asking them to try certain things. Some that people have asked of me is things like lead Galvantula or Silvally-Ground instead of Fire or Scarf Volcanion instead of lefties. Don't feel like you need to go through the entire battle every time, but also don't feel like you can't make tweaks and changes to more optimize your list. Have certain ideas of what you want to do in early, mid, and late game.
If you're there to help, listen to what they want as help. Ask them questions why they're bringing certain things or doing certain things.
9. Build your list. Check with showdown at level to make sure your stats are right. I noticed in one of the replays that a certain mon only had 30 HP IVs, which didn't make a difference in that match but if you are planning on using a certain Hidden Power, and it's the wrong one. You're a lot SOL.
9.b. TEST YOUR LIST. Using Battle Spot or challenging another player to make sure the game doesn't freak out about your team. You don't want any surprises to come up during your match if you can avoid them.
10. Before your match make sure you're set up. Make sure you have a charger, something to drink(optional), a solid playing area that you won't get interrupted at. You may want music playing, you may not, I recommend finding a consistent playing environment from week to week.
All of this should happen before you even hit battle. Then a whole other level of planning comes into play.
Talking about most of these steps with another player will help you a lot. When you plan by yourself, you often pigeonhole onto one set up or one plan. There's no reason to hinder yourself because you didn't ask someone's opinion on something.
In the next week, I'll go over things you should be doing during the battle.
Now I did lose my last match due to poor playing especially at the end of the match, but my planning was spot on, down to knowing what things Sam would bring. But without much ado the 10 Things to do When Planning for a Battle.
The first two things only really work for league and lightly work for ladder. For clarity, going forward your "team" is your 11 mons(and z crystal), your "list" is the 6 you bring to a match.
1. Know what things you have. Know what they can do. Know what synergies your team can do. some obvious ones would be like a weather setter and someone that utilizes that weather like Ttar and Excadrill, Pelipper and M-Swampert, Torkoal and M-Houndoom.
In our league the most obvious one is probably Sam's Bulu with Heatran and M-Diancie. But the flip side to this is know what things certain mons are weak at and which ones cover that. A good example of that is my Fini and Ferrothorn. Every weakness of one is a resistance of the other and vice versa.
Along with this, know if your team is a majority physical damage or special damage or if there is a good mix. This will help you build a good list later.
2. Know what things your opponent has. Basically do the same thing that you did for your team, but do it for your opponent's team. Know what things they can do to try to surprise you. That can be a bulky Mon that isn't normally bulky in a certain way, like AV Ferrothorn expecting HP fire. The big thing here is knowing if they have predominately physical or special damage. You don't want to build a lot of specially defensive mons into a physical team, or vice versa.
3. Decide what you want to play for. Maybe you're not the most competitive player, that's okay. You should always be playing to win but you should want to have fun first and foremost. Maybe you just got a new mon from free agency, and you know you want it in your list. Maybe you want to try a weird set on your M-Lopunny like Fakeout Last Resort. Or maybe you really want to counter a certain Mon on the other team. I definitely didn't do that last year in my first match against Adam with his Jolteon, who he didn't even bring.
But maybe you do want to win, at any means necessary. You don't care about K/D or differential, you just want to get that win.
4. Figure out your win conditions and your loss conditions.
Your win conditions are on your opponents team, your loss conditions are in your list. A win condition is: "If I take this/these certain things out, I win" a loss condition is the opposite: "If I lose this thing, I lose" And understand that your win/loss conditions can change throughout the battle.
5. Figure out how to draw out your win condition in a manner that benefits you. If your win condition is getting rid of their Heatran, good luck using Swampert to draw it out. But if it's M-Diancie, then why even try M-Sableye to remove it?
This can be the most difficult step in the process. This may cause you to go into the tank(take extra time) both before the battle and during it.
6. Figure out how to set up your Loss Condition. Typically if something is a loss condition, you want it to be a contributing factor in your list. If it's offensive, how are you going to set it up to sweep or break them down? If it's defensive, how are you going to keep it alive and breaking down enemies slowly? Wish, protect, leftovers, Subs, Leech seed, Toxic, etc all help; but don't forget about Taunt.
7. Start building your list.
If during step 3 you wanted to bring certain things, start with those. If not, start with your loss conditions and build from there. Use what you think they would bring against you.
If you had their team and were going against yours, what would you bring? Typically you can narrow down what they will bring to around 7-9. Your list better be able to handle any combination of those 9, with something to deal with the other ones if for some reason they come too.
When you build your team, look at speed especially. What things are you trying to out speed, in this game it doesn't matter if you out speed by 1 or 50, you still get to attack first ignoring priority. Take some of the excess investment you don't need to other stats. Keep in mind only two mons can be scarfed, and that scarf is a 1.5x Multiplier.
You can do this with other stats as well using Showdown's calculator for damage. But remember to switch them to level 50 because the damage changes a bit.
7.b. Send your list to another player, get their input on it. But don't just send it to them as is. Tell them what things you want to do with that list. What things you expect, and what you're doing for them. Just sending 6 mons with moves, items, and EVs doesn't help too much.
8. Test your team. Preferably using showdown. Ask someone to build a team for the other player(do this for their opponent as well). Don't be afraid of asking them to try certain things. Some that people have asked of me is things like lead Galvantula or Silvally-Ground instead of Fire or Scarf Volcanion instead of lefties. Don't feel like you need to go through the entire battle every time, but also don't feel like you can't make tweaks and changes to more optimize your list. Have certain ideas of what you want to do in early, mid, and late game.
If you're there to help, listen to what they want as help. Ask them questions why they're bringing certain things or doing certain things.
9. Build your list. Check with showdown at level to make sure your stats are right. I noticed in one of the replays that a certain mon only had 30 HP IVs, which didn't make a difference in that match but if you are planning on using a certain Hidden Power, and it's the wrong one. You're a lot SOL.
9.b. TEST YOUR LIST. Using Battle Spot or challenging another player to make sure the game doesn't freak out about your team. You don't want any surprises to come up during your match if you can avoid them.
10. Before your match make sure you're set up. Make sure you have a charger, something to drink(optional), a solid playing area that you won't get interrupted at. You may want music playing, you may not, I recommend finding a consistent playing environment from week to week.
All of this should happen before you even hit battle. Then a whole other level of planning comes into play.
Talking about most of these steps with another player will help you a lot. When you plan by yourself, you often pigeonhole onto one set up or one plan. There's no reason to hinder yourself because you didn't ask someone's opinion on something.
In the next week, I'll go over things you should be doing during the battle.
Friday, March 2, 2018
ROC/ESG overview
East Sea Gastrodons V Rochester Roggenrolas - 25 Turns
Gastros:
Hawlucha
Victini
Krookodile
M-Venusaur
Ditto
Salamence
Roggs:
Breloom
Klefki
Avalugg
Mew
M-Manectric
Tyranitar
Lead Hawlucha and Breloom
bre HS klefki
haw UTurn Life orb
Krook comes in
Intimidate
lefties klefki
klefki reflect
krook knock off lefties
klefki HS bre
krook brick break reflect gone
krook HS venus
bre HS manec
manec HS klef
MEGA Venus
MVen leech seed
klef spikes(1)
MVen bulldoze speed drop
leech seed
klef reflect
MVen bulldoze(25%)
leech seed
MVen HS haw
klef safeguard
leech seed
klefk Heal Block
haw defog
(MVenus)leech seed kills klefki (9)
mew comes in
haw UTurn life orb
ditto comes in(MEW)
mew nasty plot
mew rock polish
ditto(Mew) surf
mew surf
ditto(mew) surf kills mew (12)
lefties ditto
TTar comes in Sand
ditto(mew) surf
ttar pursuit kills ditto(mew) (13)
hawlucha comes in
Ttar HS ava
haw uturn crit life orb
victini comes in
sand impact
victini Z inferno overdrive kills avalugg (15)
sand impact
ttar comes in
vict uturn
ttar pursuit kills victini (16)
hawlucha comes in
haw high jump kick kills ttar (17)
life orb
manec comes in
haw HS krook Intimidate
MEGA menec Intimidate
manec Hidden power(ice)
MManec HS bre
krook Brick break
krook HS venus
bre rock tomb crit(speed drop)
bre rock tomb MISS
MVenus giga drain
bre rock tomb (speed drop)
venus synthesis
bre rock tomb(speed-3)
venus giga drain kills breloom(23)
manec comes in Intimidate
venus HS krook intimidate
manec discharge fail
manec Hidden power(ice)
Krook EQ kills Manec (25)
Gastrodons win 4-0
Another really solid win for the Gastrodons giving them a 3-0 record as well as a huge advantage over the rest of their division. The Gastros are still probably the most underrated team across the board right now, with some great play by their star players Marv the Krookodile and Valor the Victini.
This drops the Roggenrolas to 1-2, a solid 3rd place in their division, But I don't feel the distance between first and last in terms of quality of play is that far. My play of the match comes from the Roggenrolas TTar with Pursuit on the U-Turning Victini.
MVPs of the Match: Tyranitar for getting two kills with Pursuit, and Krookodile for utility and damage it brought.
Gastros:
Hawlucha
Victini
Krookodile
M-Venusaur
Ditto
Salamence
Roggs:
Breloom
Klefki
Avalugg
Mew
M-Manectric
Tyranitar
Lead Hawlucha and Breloom
bre HS klefki
haw UTurn Life orb
Krook comes in
Intimidate
lefties klefki
klefki reflect
krook knock off lefties
klefki HS bre
krook brick break reflect gone
krook HS venus
bre HS manec
manec HS klef
MEGA Venus
MVen leech seed
klef spikes(1)
MVen bulldoze speed drop
leech seed
klef reflect
MVen bulldoze(25%)
leech seed
MVen HS haw
klef safeguard
leech seed
klefk Heal Block
haw defog
(MVenus)leech seed kills klefki (9)
mew comes in
haw UTurn life orb
ditto comes in(MEW)
mew nasty plot
mew rock polish
ditto(Mew) surf
mew surf
ditto(mew) surf kills mew (12)
lefties ditto
TTar comes in Sand
ditto(mew) surf
ttar pursuit kills ditto(mew) (13)
hawlucha comes in
Ttar HS ava
haw uturn crit life orb
victini comes in
sand impact
victini Z inferno overdrive kills avalugg (15)
sand impact
ttar comes in
vict uturn
ttar pursuit kills victini (16)
hawlucha comes in
haw high jump kick kills ttar (17)
life orb
manec comes in
haw HS krook Intimidate
MEGA menec Intimidate
manec Hidden power(ice)
MManec HS bre
krook Brick break
krook HS venus
bre rock tomb crit(speed drop)
bre rock tomb MISS
MVenus giga drain
bre rock tomb (speed drop)
venus synthesis
bre rock tomb(speed-3)
venus giga drain kills breloom(23)
manec comes in Intimidate
venus HS krook intimidate
manec discharge fail
manec Hidden power(ice)
Krook EQ kills Manec (25)
Gastrodons win 4-0
Another really solid win for the Gastrodons giving them a 3-0 record as well as a huge advantage over the rest of their division. The Gastros are still probably the most underrated team across the board right now, with some great play by their star players Marv the Krookodile and Valor the Victini.
This drops the Roggenrolas to 1-2, a solid 3rd place in their division, But I don't feel the distance between first and last in terms of quality of play is that far. My play of the match comes from the Roggenrolas TTar with Pursuit on the U-Turning Victini.
MVPs of the Match: Tyranitar for getting two kills with Pursuit, and Krookodile for utility and damage it brought.
Thursday, March 1, 2018
AKR/DD and KCK/KEN
Akron Alakazams V Detroit Dracos - 29Turns
Dracos:
Hydreigon
Pinsir(M)
Aromatisse
Staraptor
Cryogonal
Swampert
Alakazams:
Cresselia
Volcanion
Whimsicott
Galvantula
Muk-A
Zygarde-50
lead cress and hydrei
hydra u-turn into cryo
cres t-wave cryo(pz)
cress HS to muk-a
Cryo toxic
cryo HS to hydra
muk knock off(poison) assault vest hydra(ps)
hydra earth power
muk ice punch
muk shadow sneak kills hydra (5)
star comes in
muk HS cress
star BBird rocky helmet damage
Star BBird kills cress 7 rocky helmet &recoil
whms comes in
star HS to cryo
Whim moonblast (SPat down) lefties cryo
whim HS to volcan
Cryo HS to swamp
swamp eq
volca willowisp swamp(br) lefties volca
swamp HS aromat
Volc HS whimsi
whims leech seed
aroma heal bell
whimsi subs
aroma wish lefties both
whimsi moon blast SPAT down
aroma MB subs faded lefties both wish heal
whims HS volcan
Aroma HS cryo lefties both
cryo freeze dry
volca flamethrower lefties both
volca HS muk
cryo freeze dry lefties cryo
cryo freeze dry
muk kknock off kills cryo 18
pinsir comes in(MBreaker)
Mega evolve
pinsir subs
muk fire punch subs fade
pinsir return kills muk 20
galvant comes in
pinsir QA
galva volt switch crit kills pinsir 21
volca comes in lefties
stara comes in
star BBird kills volca 22 recoil
galva comes in
galva bug buzz kills star 23
aroma comes in
galva thunder aroma(PZ)
aroma MB kills galva 24
lefties heal
Zy50 comes in
zy 1k Arrowas (2hp) (only 2 possible rolls wouldn't kill, this was the lowest)
aroma MB(spat down) lefties aroma
zy 1k kills aroma 26
swampert in
zy HS to whims
swamp ice punch lefties whim
whim MB spat down
swamp ice punch kills whim 28
zy comes in
swamp ice punch kills zy50 29
Detroit Dracos Win 1-0
This loss is a big blow to the Alakazams pushing them under .500 for the first time since the league's inception. The RNG on Zygarde not killing the Aromatisse was a huge hit to the Alakazams' chances.
If Aromatisse goes down on turn 25, Swampert Ice Punch doesn't OHKO Zygarde, allowing Thousand Arrows taking Swampert down to about 20-35%, allowing Whimsicott to do the final blow. Overall a good quality game with quite a few Hard Switch matches from team to team.
The big stars for the Dracos were Staraptor for the damage, Aromatisse for the Heal Bell and the miraculous saving roll, and Swampert for the clean up. For the Alakazams, Muk-A for the knock offs, Galvantula for taking out two of the big threats, and Zygarde for almost sealing the deal.
Kansas City Kingdras V Kennesaw State Noctowls - 25 turns
Kingdras:
Nidoqueen
Terrakion
Shaymin
Kyurem
Reuniclus
Manaphy
Noctowls:
Tornadus-I
Garchomp
Arcanie
Gengar
Serperior
Blissey
lead nido and torna
torna HS blissey
nido Stealth rock
nido Tspikes
bliss Ice beam
blsudge nido
Nido HS reuni
Bliss Ibeam
Blissey toxic reun(tox)
reun psyshock
blisy soft boil
reun psyshock
blisy HS serp(pois)
reun HS terrak
terr HS kyurem
serp leaf storm (+2 spat)
poison damage
Kyu Ice beam kills serp 8
gengar comes in
stones, tspike disappear
kyu HS nido
geng psychic kills nido 9
shaymin comes in
geng HS torna
shay seed flare MISS
shay HS kyu
torna tailwind
torna focus blast kills kyu 12
torna lost some health
reun comes in
torna hurricane MISS
reun psyshock kills torna 13
garchomp comes in
chomp eq
reun psyshock
tailwind gone
reun HS shaymin
chomp eq
lefties shay
chomp HS geng
shay seed flare (spdef drop)
shay lefties
geng shadow ball(spdef drop)
shay seed flare kills geng 17
lefties
chomp comes in
chomp poison jab(5hp shay(ps)
shay seed flare kills chomp 18
lefties poison kills shay 18
blissey manaphy come out
man HS reun
bliss soft boil
bliss soft boil
reun recover
reun HS terra
bliss Ibeam
terra Sdance
bliss focus blast MISS
terra close combat(bverry) kills blissey 23
arcanine comes out(intimidate)
terra stone edge MISS
RK9 burn up(removes fire type)
terra stone edge crit kills arcanine 25
Kansas City Win 3-0
This was a well needed win for Kansas City and a devastating loss for Kennesaw. This puts them at 0-1 against each of the division opponents. BUT this doesn't mean Kennesaw has to worry or firesale the team. Nadia still has a really good team with little holes, but played a few bad match ups.
But this is good for Kansas City going to 2-1 at +5. Overall a well played match by both teams with no real mistakes made by either team.
Dracos:
Hydreigon
Pinsir(M)
Aromatisse
Staraptor
Cryogonal
Swampert
Alakazams:
Cresselia
Volcanion
Whimsicott
Galvantula
Muk-A
Zygarde-50
lead cress and hydrei
hydra u-turn into cryo
cres t-wave cryo(pz)
cress HS to muk-a
Cryo toxic
cryo HS to hydra
muk knock off(poison) assault vest hydra(ps)
hydra earth power
muk ice punch
muk shadow sneak kills hydra (5)
star comes in
muk HS cress
star BBird rocky helmet damage
Star BBird kills cress 7 rocky helmet &recoil
whms comes in
star HS to cryo
Whim moonblast (SPat down) lefties cryo
whim HS to volcan
Cryo HS to swamp
swamp eq
volca willowisp swamp(br) lefties volca
swamp HS aromat
Volc HS whimsi
whims leech seed
aroma heal bell
whimsi subs
aroma wish lefties both
whimsi moon blast SPAT down
aroma MB subs faded lefties both wish heal
whims HS volcan
Aroma HS cryo lefties both
cryo freeze dry
volca flamethrower lefties both
volca HS muk
cryo freeze dry lefties cryo
cryo freeze dry
muk kknock off kills cryo 18
pinsir comes in(MBreaker)
Mega evolve
pinsir subs
muk fire punch subs fade
pinsir return kills muk 20
galvant comes in
pinsir QA
galva volt switch crit kills pinsir 21
volca comes in lefties
stara comes in
star BBird kills volca 22 recoil
galva comes in
galva bug buzz kills star 23
aroma comes in
galva thunder aroma(PZ)
aroma MB kills galva 24
lefties heal
Zy50 comes in
zy 1k Arrowas (2hp) (only 2 possible rolls wouldn't kill, this was the lowest)
aroma MB(spat down) lefties aroma
zy 1k kills aroma 26
swampert in
zy HS to whims
swamp ice punch lefties whim
whim MB spat down
swamp ice punch kills whim 28
zy comes in
swamp ice punch kills zy50 29
Detroit Dracos Win 1-0
This loss is a big blow to the Alakazams pushing them under .500 for the first time since the league's inception. The RNG on Zygarde not killing the Aromatisse was a huge hit to the Alakazams' chances.
If Aromatisse goes down on turn 25, Swampert Ice Punch doesn't OHKO Zygarde, allowing Thousand Arrows taking Swampert down to about 20-35%, allowing Whimsicott to do the final blow. Overall a good quality game with quite a few Hard Switch matches from team to team.
The big stars for the Dracos were Staraptor for the damage, Aromatisse for the Heal Bell and the miraculous saving roll, and Swampert for the clean up. For the Alakazams, Muk-A for the knock offs, Galvantula for taking out two of the big threats, and Zygarde for almost sealing the deal.
Kansas City Kingdras V Kennesaw State Noctowls - 25 turns
Kingdras:
Nidoqueen
Terrakion
Shaymin
Kyurem
Reuniclus
Manaphy
Noctowls:
Tornadus-I
Garchomp
Arcanie
Gengar
Serperior
Blissey
lead nido and torna
torna HS blissey
nido Stealth rock
nido Tspikes
bliss Ice beam
blsudge nido
Nido HS reuni
Bliss Ibeam
Blissey toxic reun(tox)
reun psyshock
blisy soft boil
reun psyshock
blisy HS serp(pois)
reun HS terrak
terr HS kyurem
serp leaf storm (+2 spat)
poison damage
Kyu Ice beam kills serp 8
gengar comes in
stones, tspike disappear
kyu HS nido
geng psychic kills nido 9
shaymin comes in
geng HS torna
shay seed flare MISS
shay HS kyu
torna tailwind
torna focus blast kills kyu 12
torna lost some health
reun comes in
torna hurricane MISS
reun psyshock kills torna 13
garchomp comes in
chomp eq
reun psyshock
tailwind gone
reun HS shaymin
chomp eq
lefties shay
chomp HS geng
shay seed flare (spdef drop)
shay lefties
geng shadow ball(spdef drop)
shay seed flare kills geng 17
lefties
chomp comes in
chomp poison jab(5hp shay(ps)
shay seed flare kills chomp 18
lefties poison kills shay 18
blissey manaphy come out
man HS reun
bliss soft boil
bliss soft boil
reun recover
reun HS terra
bliss Ibeam
terra Sdance
bliss focus blast MISS
terra close combat(bverry) kills blissey 23
arcanine comes out(intimidate)
terra stone edge MISS
RK9 burn up(removes fire type)
terra stone edge crit kills arcanine 25
Kansas City Win 3-0
This was a well needed win for Kansas City and a devastating loss for Kennesaw. This puts them at 0-1 against each of the division opponents. BUT this doesn't mean Kennesaw has to worry or firesale the team. Nadia still has a really good team with little holes, but played a few bad match ups.
But this is good for Kansas City going to 2-1 at +5. Overall a well played match by both teams with no real mistakes made by either team.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)