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.