Critical League : Bilan de la semaine 5

It was the highlight of the week. Empo's Salty Suiters took on Raiza's Missclick Mashers. And it was a close one. By winning 7-5, the Mashers retained their first place, clinching the victory thanks to the undefeated Lusa, who won the deciding game a couple of hours past deadline. With this victory, the Mashers are virtually sure to see the playoffs. It would take quite the scenario for them not to make the playoffs, as the Despots and the Freaks would have to win their last two games, with the Suiters and Harlequins winning at least one game, and the Boosters winning their last two games by at least 9 points. With the Mashers losing their last two remaining games of course. Unlikely. In the meantime, the Suiters drop to 4th place, so they’ll have to keep fighting to reach the playoffs.

Behind the undisputed leaders, the Harlequins are climbing in the standings. Thanks to the Suiters' defeat, they take second place. They beat Akalli’s Angels with a resounding 8-3 final score, having even led 6-0 at one point. Maverick Shooters' team are in a comfortable position right now, before a difficult end to their season. First they face the Freaks, then the Suiters, two direct rivals. As for the Angels, after their first week victory, it seems to have been a downward spiral, with four defeats in a row. The team appears to be soulless, with even their best players not playing. The chances to qualify for the playoffs are slim to none. Hopefully, they won’t go down without a fight.

Speaking of clashes, there was one for 4th place. The Despots and the Boosters needed to win to take an option for a qualifying spot for the playoffs and move from outsider to favorite. Unfortunately, with a score of 6-6, both teams let this chance slip away. This draw wasn’t convenient for either team. The Desposts remain 5th in the standings, while the Boosters stay at 6th. With two weeks to go, they’ll both have to perform flawlessly, hoping for high-margin victories, but they’ll also have to rely on slip-ups by their rivals if they are to dream of reaching the playoffs. 

So who benefited from this draw? The Freaks of course! Thanks to their easy victory over the Schedule Demons, the team led by Cicada takes 3rd place in the standings. Still, they are far from safe, but they have an advantage over the rest of the pack: the Freaks have, one could say, an easier end to their season. They face Harlequins this week, who are a direct contender, so quite the matchup to follow. To wrap things up, they’ll face the Angels for week 7, a team that may already be in Cancùn by that time. Barring any major setbacks, they should be among the teams qualified for the playoffs. As for Howkings’s Demons, the future seems bleak, as they are in the same boat as the Angels. It would take quite a miracle for them to make the playoffs.

The BO3 between Mimikyu Stardust and GeeMick was a masterclass in Pick and Ban. The second match was the closest one of the three and is worth talking about here. Both players decided to play offensive teams. On GeeMick’s side, there were 3 Dragon types - Dragapult, Raging Bolt, and Dragonite -, accompanied by Zamazenta, Great Tusk, and Iron Boulder. Mimikyu Stardust had to make do without any standard Fairy types, as his opponent had banned Enamorus and Primarina. He could have opted for Clefable, but it didn't fit into his draft plan, as he had already picked Glimmora, Iron Moth, and Roaring Moon. He therefore picked original Pokémon: Enamorus-Therian, Sinistcha, and Sandy Shocks. 

The match began with a 50/50 between Great Tusk and Glimmora. Great Tusk quickly switched out, before Glimmora revealed Meteor Beam, greatly hindering Raging Bolt. Sandy Shocks set Stealth Rock, while Zamazenta revealed Light Screen, allowing GeeMick to send his Great Tusk to spin. He wanted to catch Sinistcha on the switch and opted to click Ice Spinner, but Mimikyu anticipated and switched to his Glimmora to lay a Toxic Spike. Afterwards, MS stayed in, anticipating a second Ice Spinner, successfully laying a second Toxic Spike. He then sent Sinistcha to threaten Great Tusk. The latter left the field and GeeMick was forced to sacrifice his Raging Bolt. When Great Tusk returned to the field, he would have been able to spin to remove the Toxic Spikes, thanks to the Light screen still being active. But he didn’t. Instead, GeeMick read Mimikyu Stardust as the latter sent out Sinistcha again, and clicked Ice Spinner. Great Tusk then terastallized into an Ice type to knock Sinistcha out. Mimikyu then sent his Roaring Moon to finish off Great Task. He was extra cautious in doing so, as he terastallized his Roaring Moon into a Ghost type to prevent the spin, but GeeMick clicked Head Smash, anticipating Roaring Moon terastallizing into a Flying type! This put Roaring Moon in range of Iron Boulder's Mighty Cleave. Thanks to this good anticipation, GeeMick came back into the match and Mimikyu Stardust lost his Tera without using it really. 

Mimikyu then sent out his Enamorus-Therian and threatened to set up with Iron Defense + Calm Mind. GeeMick quickly clicked Light Screen with his Zamazenta while Iron Moth got a Special Attack boost thanks to Fiery Dance. Iron Boulder was then sent to remove Iron Moth definitely, but thanks to Substitute, it was able to stall Iron Boulder until the poison almost got the better of it. When he couldn’t use Substitute any longer, Mimikyu thought he could finish it off with Dazzling Gleam, but Iron Boulder survived with 1% HP left, preventing the moth from sweeping. This left Enamorus-Therian facing Dragonite and Dragapult behind Screen Light. All hope appeared to be lost for MS, as GeeMick started setting himself up with Dragonite. The latter clicked Ice Punch, which Enamorus-Therian barely tanked. In a suffocating late game, Enamorus-Therian got frozen by the attack, before immediately thawing out to eliminate Dragonite! Dragapult might have been able to finish the match, but GeeMick appeared to have no attack to hit Enamorus-Therian and Mimikyu Stardust won an epic match of PnB. 

At the team preview, the match between Insult and 3d didn't look too exciting. Blame 3d, who brought a Regenerator core of Alomomola + Tornadus-Therian accompanied by Ting-Lu, Zamazenta, Smogogo-Galar, and Scizor. His opponent opted for a Lokix offense. Insult came to play very aggressively, and he showed it right from the lead. Facing Smogogo-Galar, he immediately clicked Calm Mind with his Enamorus, anticipating the switch. Alomomola ate a Moonblast that put it at 32% and immediately left the field with Flip Turn to make way for Scizor. Insult logically switched to his Iron Threads and set Stealth Rocks the following turn. 3d took advantage of this to heal his Alomomola, but suffered a critical hit which cancels the heal from Regenerator. He switched to Tornadus-Therian, then double-switched to Alomomola one more time to recover HP. But once again, Insult applied an important amount of pressure and clicked Moonblast, preventing Alomomola from healing. Insult was having the time of his life. He then sacrificed Iron Threads when Scizor came in and then sent Dragonite. 

The latter quickly used Dragon Dance as Smogogo-Galar was switched in. It had time to deal important damage with Earthquake before getting burned. But Insult persisted. 3d switched to his Alomomola to gain time, giving Dracolosse time to set two more Dragon Dance. Unfortunately for Insult, Alomomola revealed Ice Beam, which must have caught him off guard, as it got rid of Dragonite. Insult then sent Lokix -  managing to attack the spectators in the process with it being shiny. An unforgivable lapse of taste.- Nonetheless, it quickly clicked Swords Dance and eliminated Smogogo-Galar. He then removed the Chesto Berry from Zamazenta, who tried to set up with Iron Defense. Insult sacrificed his Enamorus and sent Iron Valiant. 3d switched to Scizor and forced Insult to terastallized his Iron Valiant into a Steel type. 3d then sent Tornadus-Therian who finished it off with Heat Wave. 

3d's Raging Bolt had now to face Ting-Lu but could clearly sweep if the latter had been chipped before. Once again, Insult put 3d under pressure with his Swords Dance Lokix. He revealed Leech Life, which allowed it to win the duel against Zamazenta. Zamazenta did click Rest but as it had lost its berry a couple turns ago, it couldn’t withstand Lokix anymore. The latter, boosted in Attack, now faced Dinglu, Alomomola, and Tornadus-Therian. He could win, but Insult had to make the right plays at the right time. 3d sent Tornadus-therian and immediately double-switched to Alomomola to scout Sucker Punch. This allowed Insult to set a second Swords Dance, which allowed to OHKO all of 3d's Pokémon. The latter returned to his Tornadus-Therian. All hope seemed lost for 3d, but he still had slim chances to win with the right calls. As Tornadus-Therian couldn’t take Sucker Punch, he had to click Nasty Plot at the right time to dodge Sucker Punch. He did so the first time. In a moment of clairvoyance, 3d then immediately opted to click Heat Wave, anticipating that Insult wouldn't use Sucker Punch. Insult even let go a ‘kek, that trick usually works’ in chat, which 3d replied to with ‘it almost got me’. 3d won the Sucker war with a very risky anticipation which proved to be key in him winning this match. This 50/50 could have gone either way, but of course 3d had to live up to its team name and win that one. Brilliant game!

Between the Boosters and the Despots, the ADV game went every which way. Zokuru led with Skarmory while The Sprinkler sent out Suicune. The latter immediately switched to Magneton to trap Skarmory, who had clicked Taunt. The Sprinkler's game plan worked perfectly in his mind: Zokuru was fooled, and he even took time to taunt him in chat by mocking him. Except that Zok revealed that his Airmure was full Seed and had Hidden Power Ground, which OHKOed Magneton! Zokuru was surely delighted behind his screen and responded to Sprinkler’s ‘good taunt’ with his own ‘good mag’.

The Sprinkler had just lost his trapper without it doing anything and he had to send Suicune back. Skarmory set a Spike, but was knocked out next turn thanks to a critical hit. Zokuru then sent Zapdos, who also got a critical hit on Celebi. The Sprinkler clicked Leech Seed to heal his Celebi, but the attack missed as Metagorss came in. Zokuru revealed that his Metagross was Choice Band and had Return. The Sprinkler now had to send his own Metagross in response. The latter sacrificed himself to knock out Zokuru's Swampert with Explosion. The Sprinkler then sent Snorlax and Zokuru sent Celebi. He immediately switched to Metagross to prevent Snorlax from setting itself up. Zokuru got the Attack boost with Meteor Mash, forcing The Sprinkler to switch to his Celebi. Zok sent his own Celebi, but The Sprinkler tried to apply pressure by sending Salamence. Zokuru switched to Zapdos while The Sprinkler clicked Dragon Dance. After which he reveals Rock Slide which OHKOed Zapdos! Zokuru sent Tyranitar, who was able to eat Earthquake to knock out Salamence in return. The Sprinkler then tried to set Suicune up, but his opponent clicked Dragon Danse with his Tyranitar. Zokuru quickly ended the match with Rock Slide, which once again got a crit, and had the luxury of flinching Suicune. It was all over for The Sprinkler, who lost this RNG-filled, but still enjoyable match. 

As for the matches we highlighted in week 5, Shao won his BO3 against MichaelderBeste thanks in part to Choice Specs Ninetales-Alola. The two players are on completely opposite dynamics. The Frenchman is on a 3-game winning streak, while the German is on a 3-game losing streak. 

Felix was defeated for the first time, and the credit goes to Chuva. After a g1 where Chuva got a freeze on Chansey, it was Felix's turn to get a freeze on Chansey in g2. It was in a 102-turn marathon in g3 that Chuva won the set, even though both players brought the same team once again except for one Pokémon. 

Finally, SFG remains unbeaten in DPP. Facing Jabba, it took quite a while. Both players brought fat teams and the match lasted 160 turns. Despite Jabba's honorable persistence, the outcome of the game was actually known way before he resigned, notably due to an missplay on turn 29. Instead of getting back behind a substitute with his Jirachi, Jabba opted to click Thunder, missed and was paralyzed by the opposing Jirachi. Afterwards, SFG won thanks to his mixed Life Orb Flygon. 

Every replay can be found on the tournament spreadsheet.

Give one good reason why this shouldn’t be the highlight of the week. The two best SS players of the tournament so far clash this week. Both drafted for a mere 3k, both as starters, Originality and ayk are fighting for best record in the tier. It's also an important match between the Harlequins (2nd) and the Freaks (3rd), as both teams are fighting for a playoff spot. Last week, ayk eventually got Pais to forfeit after 184 turns thanks to his fat. Originality is more expeditious. None of his matches has exceeded 40 turns. The match between these two players is likely to be intense. So be sure to catch it live!

Coming this week.

Little has been said about GSC in the recaps so far. Let’s change that right now. Several hype matchups could have been talked about here, but we’ll focus on the French duel between BlazingDark from the Despots and OmBrArch from the Mashers. Both players are still competing for best record in GSC. OmBrArch currently has a 3-2 record, a good performance for him, albeit irregular. BD seems more confident. He's only lost once and seems to be the favorite. But the two players are on teams with completely different dynamics. OmBrArch can play with peace of mind because the Mashers have secured playoffs qualification. On the other hand, BlazingDark has to win because his team is fighting for playoff qualification. So for BD and the Despots, there is no other choice but to win.

Friday, 10pm (+2)

Another match between the Despots and the Mashers, another highlight. Once more, two players who are fighting for best record, this time in RBY. And what’s even better is that this clash will feature two behemoths in the tier. Chuva is in top form. He has just beaten Felix in an extremely close BO3. On the other hand, Serpi is on cloud nine just like many of his teammates. He's on a 4-game winning streak going into this match. So settle in, as you're likely to go through all kinds of emotions watching this set.

Coming this week.

Scary stat: Insult is the player who has appeared the most in the “Matches of the week” section. He always seems to have impressive matches, which is certainly delightful for the spectators. So how could we miss this one? He takes on Thiago Nunes, the only player still unbeaten in SV OU. Both players are used to bringing surprising and highly offensive teams. We've seen Insult play Comfey, while Thiago brought Kommo-o! Terastallization, original picks, offensive teams, high skillset: all the ingredients are put together to offer us a very close match that you wouldn’t miss for anything. The only thing we can predict is that it will be unpredictable. 

Coming this week.