Battle of the Week: elodin vs Actuarily
I know this post is late but I needed to take a break for my mental health. Thank you for understanding :D
Game 1
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On preview, the matchup looks pretty even, with both players bringing relatively similarly structured teams. elodin's biggest threats are most likely Basculegion and Landorus. Landorus has great coverage into this team, with only Bronzong able to act as a consistent switch in, though Bronzong can be worn down by Flutter Mane and Heatran to allow Landorus to wreak havoc in the mid game. Late game Basculegion also looks incredibly threatening to Actuarily's team once Flutter Mane goes down. Despite being a Prankster Tailwind offense team, elodin has a good amount of bulk and presumably a decent amount of Protect users to adequately stall out Trick Room turns while having the means to do enough damage to Bronzong to prevent a second one.
Actuarily's win condition is most likely to use Kleavor in the early game to get Stealth Rock up and limit elodin's ability to pivot around his threats. Kleavor also has few switch ins in this matchup and can threaten quite a bit under Trick Room. All of Actuarily's main offensive threats can be pivoted around by elodin with good play, but with Stealth Rock up that becomes much more difficult to do, as all of elodin's switches still lead to progress that can be capitalized on by Flutter Mane in the endgame once elodin's own Flutter Mane has been removed by Palafin or Heatran. Bronzong is also key here, as Trick Room denies elodin the ability to play as offensively as their team would want with Tornadus' Tailwind, but playing too slowly can also be dangerous, as every switch creates free progress for Actuarily. Overall, I think this matchup is winnable from both sides. Elodin has more ways to do big damage immediately, but the longer the game goes on the higher the chance Actuarily wins, as elodin's team doesn't really have the sustain to outlast Actuarily's team here, especially if Stealth Rock goes up.
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The leads are Palafin and Kleavor on Actuarily's side and Landorus and Iron Hands on elodin's side. Kleavor can't safely get Stealth Rock up with Stone Axe here, as Sandsear Storm risks massive damage or even an OHKO depending on the Kleavor set. Kleavor is forced out into Bronzong and Actuarily goes into Flutter Mane in the Palafin slot. I'm not sure if I agree with this play, as Actuarily definitely needs Flutter Mane healthy for the endgame, but his options in this position were fairly limited regardless and he didn't really have a good switch into this combination other than Amoonguss, which just gives Landorus a free potential Substitute and doesn't even resist Sandsear Storm. The play here may have been to go Bronzong in the Palafin slot instead and, depending on Kleavor's set, trade damage on Kleavor for getting Stealth Rock up early. Kleavor will likely struggle to find good switch in opportunities throughout the game and Stealth Rock are really important this game, but depending on the Kleavor set Sandsear Storm would have OHKOd it outright, making this not a viable option. Actuarily predicts the Protect from Landorus and doubles into Iron Hands, but it doesn't KO and Flutter Mane goes down to Heavy Slam. This is really bad for Actuarily, as Flutter Mane was probably the easiest way for Actuarily to win the endgame here, and Palafin and Kleavor are now going to have to do a lot of the heavy lifting in this game. Landorus is now in a really strong position and Stealth Rock have yet to go up. Actuarily goes into Amoonguss, and elodin can now Substitute freely with Landorus, as Actuarily isn't threatening it very much in this board state. Iron Hands Drain Punches into Bronzong for some chip as Trick Room goes up. Getting Trick Room up is good for Actuarily, but Landorus behind a Substitute is still really annoying to deal with, and going hard Palafin to threaten it risking taking a Sandsear Storm or Wild Charge is risky at best. Amoonguss heals Bronzong with Pollen Puff as Bronzong reveals Iron Defense, causing Iron Hands' Drain Punch to do minimal damage. Iron Defense Bronzong can threaten some good damage under Trick Room, but it has a limited amount of turns to do so, as Heatran forces it out or forces a Terastallization as soon as Trick Room ends. 4 Turns have passed and Actuarily has made pretty minimal progress against elodin's team while being a full Pokémon down this early in the game. This game is far from over if Actuarily can effectively leverage his remaining Trick Room turns, but this early game has gone pretty poorly for Actuarily overall.
Iron Hands switches out for Tornadus as Actuarily goes for the Gyro Ball + Spore double attack into Landorus to put it to sleep. This allows Actuarily to safely get Palafin back in as Tornadus isn't threatening much in this board state as Bronzong goes for a Body Press into Tornadus, which does minimal damage but breaks a potential Focus Sash. Landorus is forced out into Basculegion as Tornadus goes for Bleakwind Storm, which does non-negligible but decidedly unimpressive damage. Palafin Flip Turn's out into Amoonguss to get into position for a second Trick Room while Basculegion swaps out into Iron Hands. Under Trick Room, Both players bring in their Heatrans as Iron Hands uses Fake Out into Bronzong. Actuarily's Heatran goes back into Amoonguss as Bronzong reveals Tera Electric and goes for a Body Press into elodin's Heatran, which Terastallizes Grass to avoid the KO and Heat Wave for massive damage on Actuarily's Amoonguss and burns Actuarily's Bronzong. This is pretty major hax, as Bronzong would have otherwise been able to put in massive work under Trick Room against elodin's team. Its damage output being neutered like this now means it no longer threatens a KO on Heatran with +4 Body Press. Actuarily Body Presses into Heatran again which misses out on the KO because of the burn as Actuarily trades Amoonguss for a Pollen Puff into Bronzong. Heatran switches in to replace Amoonguss, and Actuarily's Heatran takes massive damage in exchange for pretty minimal damage into Iron Hands with Earth Power. elodin's Heatran Protects to gain more Leftovers recovery as Trick Room ends. Actuarily at this point is almost 3 Pokémon down and has been unable to take any KOs yet. Actuarily doesn't have enough material at this point in the game to pivot around elodin's offense, and loses game 1.
This game is a pretty good example of how to play against Palafin balance with offensive teams. elodin used immediate offense to punish Actuarily's passive lead and deny Stealth Rock going up, which heavily hinders Actuarily's ability to simply outlast elodin's offense with good pivots and leveraging offensive threats to force switches on elodin's part and rack up damage. In Trick Room, elodin uses soft redirection like the threat of Substitute Landorus alongside more concrete disruption like Iron Hands' Fake Out to create space for their offensive threats to get damage in while making it easier to pivot around Actuarily's threats in the form of Iron Defense Bronzong and Palafin.
Game 2
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In this game, I think Actuarily pretty solidly has the matchup advantage. Actuarily's team is full of threats that elodin's team really struggles to deal with, with Basculegion in particular being really difficult for elodin to pivot around in rain, especially once it starts getting Last Respects boosts. However, if I've learned one thing from watching SV DOU games, its that you can never count out Ursaluna, as the sheer damage output it has under Trick Room makes it able to swing almost any matchup if the Ursaluna player can set Trick Room for it safely. Actuarily has a decent number of ways to deny Trick Room here, whether it be through raw damage from Basculegion, Palafin and Kingambit (aka [BIG SHARP]) or a potential Taunt from Rillaboom, as well as ways to threaten Ursaluna in Trick Room with super effective priority from Palafin and potentially Basculegion. I would say this matchup is about 65-35 in Actuarily's favor. Not unwinnable from elodin with good play, but elodin really has no way to get guaranteed big damage on Actuarily's key pokemon while Actuarily's team is essentially nothing but massive threats.
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This is a pretty interesting lead matchup. Cresselia can't afford to stay in because of Basculegion threatening massive damage with Wave Crash, but Actuarily also can't stay in safely because of Iron Hands threatening Wild Charge. Additionally, not leading Palafin makes it much more difficult to activate its ability later in the game, as it can't really safely switch in and back out on many things on elodin's team, and is going to need to come in after something dies (which you probably want to be Basculegion so you can attempt to revenge kill things with Wave Crash or Last Respects). Actuarily doubles into the Iron Hands, which Terastallizes Grass, but its not enough to take it out and Basculegion goes down turn 1. Losing Basculegion turn 1 is huge, as Basculegion threatened a ton of damage against elodin's team and was a huge part of the win condition of Actuarily's team.
Palafin comes in after it to get its ability activated as Cresselia sets Trick Room. Cresselia swaps out into Orthworm as Amoonguss Spores into Pelipper, which reveals Safety Goggles. Actuarily double attacks into Amoonguss with Hurricane and Wood Hammer and deals massive damage to it. elodin attempts to redirect with Amoonguss to allow Orthworm to Iron Defense, but Safety Goggles allows Actuarily to completely ignore Amoonguss and deal massive damage to Orthworm by double attacking into it. The combination of Hydro Pump and Wood Hammer was enough to get Orthworm out of Shed Tail range, which is huge for Actuarily as he won't have to deal with Orthworm passing free Substitutes to Ursaluna anymore. elodin uses Pollen Puff to heal Orthworm and goes for a Body Press into Rillaboom, but is taking too much damage from Hydro Pump to outlast it with Pollen Puff. That is, until rain ends, which it does next turn. Amoonguss Pollen Puffs again and Orthworm uses Shed Tail to pass a Substitute to Cresselia. To make matters worse, Pelipper's Hydro Pump misses, meaning Cresselia gets to keep its Substitute up. There's no way for Actuarily to prevent Trick Room here, but he gets a Substitute up with Landorus as Trick Room goes up. Next Turn, elodin trades their Amoonguss and Cresselia's Substitute for a Pollen Puff into Cresselia, and Psyshock fails to break Landorus' Substitute. Amoonguss going down gives Ursaluna a free switch, and it immediately Protects to guarantee Flame Orb activates. Actuarily brings in Kingambit in place of Pelipper and goes for Sandsear Storm, which does no damage to Cresselia or the Protecting Ursaluna. Cresselia's Psyshock finally breaks Landorus' Substitute. Ursaluna almost certainly forces Actuarily to sack a Pokémon here due to its ludicrous damage output, but once Ursaluna goes down the game is pretty much over for elodin, as their remaining Pokémon simply don't have the damage output to break through Actuarily's team. Over the next couple turns, that exact thing happens. Actuarily is forced to sack Pelipper, but after Trick Room ends Ursaluna and Cresselia are staring down Kingambit and Palafin in rain. elodin doesn't have the material necessary to pivot around rain boosted Jet Punch and Sucker Punch, and loses game 2.
Overall I think this was a pretty well played game from both sides. I think the main thing hindering elodin here was the inability to safely do any real damage to Actuarily's team. Most of elodin's team is relatively passive, with Ursaluna and Flutter Mane being the main ways of dealing damage, neither of which can switch in safely against Actuarily's rain hyper offense team. With the threat of Amoonguss being pretty much invalidated by the Safety Goggles Pelipper and Ursaluna being unable to switch in safely on the combination of Rillaboom and Pelipper in rain, Actuarily is able to rack up damage against elodin's defensive Pokémon under Trick Room which can't do much to fight back, to the point where by the time Ursaluna does get a safe switch, elodin is so behind that Actuarily being forced to sack a Pokémon isn't even that detrimental, and is arguably beneficial as it allows for a free Palafin switch right as Trick Room ends.
Game 3
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Once again we see a pretty balanced matchup, the winner of which depends on who can position their offensive threats better. On elodin's side, Flutter Mane has zero resists and has Chi-Yu and Prankster Tailwind support, making it a powerful midgame option to allow for a Basculegion endgame, especially if its using Choice Specs. On Actuarily's side, Landorus also has no resists (other than Landorus-Therian which isn't doing much back anyway) and is also supported by Chi-Yu and Tornadus. On preview I would give the advantage to elodin because elodin's win condition seems easier to accomplish just looking at team preview, but only very slightly, as this game is very winnable for both players.
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The lead matchup depends almost entirely on whether or not Actuarily's Tornadus is holding Covert Cloak. Covert Cloak would allow Tornadus to gain a massive amount of momentum for its team with a guaranteed Tailwind on turn 1. Landorus can also come in fairly freely and start immediately threatening massive damage in Tailwind against elodin's team. Iron Hands could just as easily Wild Charge, so Tailwind isn't a perfect play, but this seems like a much less likely and less safe play than simply clicking Fake Out turn 1. Actuarily double switches in Landorus and Rillaboom as elodin gets up Stealth Rock. Actuarily has two Stealth Rock weak Pokémon and Stealth Rock will also break a potential Focus Sash on Tornadus upon it switching in again. Chi-Yu taking Stealth Rock damage also puts it in range of Flutter Mane Dazzling Gleam and in general forces Actuarily to play faster and switch less to limit the Stealth Rock residual damage. The next turn, Tornadus switches in and is immediately brought down to 2% by Sludge Bomb + U-Turn while Rillaboom takes a good chunk from Landorus-T's own U-Turn. This limits elodin to one Tailwind, as preserving a 2% Tornadus long enough to set Tailwind multiple times is virtually impossible against Actuarily's team, which has four spread moves and several priority attacks. Tornadus gets Tailwind up as Gholdengo reveals Nasty Plot. elodin trades Tornadus and massive damage on Iron Hands, which has now Terastallized Grass, for a significant amount of damage on Landorus with Bleakwind Storm + Heavy Slam. Chi-Yu comes in and finishes off Landorus, but gives Actuarily a free switch to Iron Hands to Fake Out Chi-Yu and pick up another KO with Gholdengo. Chi-Yu Protects against Fake Out, but this doesn't really change anything as Gholdengo targets Iron Hands with Shadow Ball, knocking it out as elodin's Tailwind ends. elodin's position is pretty dire, as they can no longer stagger Tailwinds against Actuarily's Tornadus to gain momentum, and has very limited options for pivoting around Actuarily's Chi-Yu and Iron Hands. Basculegion's Last Respects is now 150 base power after the two knockouts, but Basculegion on its own isn't going to be able to win this game due to the lack of speed control support and the fact that it can only KO one Pokémon at a time but has to take two attacks each turn.
Actuarily sacrifices Iron Hands to get a free switch into Tornadus, which goes for Tailwind to enable Gholdengo to hit Basculegion and Chi-Yu with a +1 Make it Rain, dealing good damage to both despite being a resisted attack. Both of Actuarily's Pokémon drop to Heat Wave, but it doesn't matter. The combination of Chi-Yu and Rillaboom in Tailwind can KO all of elodin's remaining Pokémon, and while the game does come down to a Chi-Yu speed tie on turn 12, elodin unfortunately loses game 3 to the speed tie RNG, and Actuarily takes the set.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! This is by far one of the hardest posts to write I have ever written, which is why this post is an entire week late from when I intended to post it. This was a pretty cool set, all of the games were pretty well played and Actuarily is a player I really respect, so I'm happy I got to do a recap of this set. I'll try to make next week's post even better (and hopefully not an entire week late again lol). Oki bye :3
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