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Hailing from Germany, TV-Rocka has been a fan of DPP tournaments ever since his days with the Wifi Wolfpack in SPL season 2. According to his testimony, he sucks at every tournament except for the Smogon Tour, so at least during this tournament he's a threat to watch out for! For his final match against Marshall.law, TV-Rocka used a fairly offensive team with the unusual lead choice of Froslass. Able to set up Spikes right away and prevent turn 2 Rapid Spin, Froslass makes a great "suicide" lead choice. And, because this is DPP, leads actually matter! TV-Rocka soon found himself in a sticky situation, though, as Marshall.law's Choice Scarf Jirachi threatened to KO Froslass with Iron Head and prevent any entry hazard setup. However, TV-Rocka correctly predicted a U-turn from Jirachi and set up one layer of Spikes before Froslass fell. Through a series of correct predictions and team scouting, TV-Rocka was able to both keep his Spikes on the opponent's field and prevent Stealth Rock from damaging his team through quick spinning. Most of the match largely consisted of both players switching around plenty, trying to minimize their own damage while chipping in a bit of their own. Eventually, TV-Rocka's Infernape was able to wear down Marshall.law's team with the help of entry hazard damage so TV-Rocka's cleaners, Dragonite and Jolteon, could go to work. Congratulations!
Currently leading the Smongon Tour, Ojama is a very well-known Pokemon player across several generations. Surprisingly, this is Ojama's second account. His first was only for OST 7, and lost in the first round, but not before his first-ever opponent, Atticus, said he had potential to become a great player. One of the few defensive and stall players, especially in BW1, Ojama used a fairly balanced DPP team, sporting popular threats such as Breloom and Heatran, albeit in their different but equally dangerous 4th generation sets. After a disadvantageous lead matchup, Ojama had full entry hazards on his side of the field, so spinning was a must. In a crucial play, Ojama's Tyranitar purposefully did not break Machamp's Substitute to ensure a successful Rapid Spin the next turn. Once Ojama's Breloom set up a Substitute and Spore, it posed an immediate threat. Though it plays very differently to today, Breloom can be one of the most dangerous Pokemon in DPP if kept secret. Oftentimes an opponent will have to sacrifice something to Breloom's Spore and Focus Punch to get anything in safely. Delta2777 was able to keep Breloom at bay, but eventually Ojama's predictions in the following turns left Ojama with a win condition with Breloom and Choice Scarf Heatran. Congratulations to Ojama, and good luck in all other players attempting to catch his lead!
A two-year Smogon Tour veteran, Marshall.law is known especially for playing well in DPP. He currently resides in 3rd place overall; curiously, every victor in this past weekend's tournament is in the top 3 in Smogon Tour standings. For Sunday's tournament, Marshall.law elected to use a DragMag team, which can be even more potent than nowadays because of the lack of team preview in DPP. However, Marshall.law's opponent, badabing, had an almost certain win condition in Superachi. Failing to realize Marshall.law's Magnezone packed Thunder Wave, badabing's Jirachi was almost completely crippled early on. Once Marshall.law brought out his Kingdra and started setting up, the game was nearly over. In talking with badabing on his misplays, he had this to offer: Pokemon isn't always about the turn-by-turn predictions. You can make the correct plays, but can still lose as "if a rug was pulled out from underneath you". Marshall.law was able to clinch a victory by using DPP's best weapon: keeping the team's goals a secret. With a combination of underrated sets, thinking in the big picture, and just a little bit of misplay from his opponent, Marshall.law came through with a win—congratulations!
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