Premier League Spotlights: RUPL

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Introduction

Hello, and welcome to Premier League Coverage! Premier Leagues have long been one of the most popular tournament formats on Smogon, because they combine the rush of bidding with the collaborative atmosphere of team play. The Smogon Premier League is the largest and most prestigious such tournament, but many communities on Smogon have Premier Leagues of their own. In this series, we will bring you complete coverage of each Premier League on Smogon as they end. Today, we are covering the RarelyUsed Premier League.

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Introduction to RUPL

RarelyUsed Premier League is one of the biggest tournaments of RU. It is held annually, this year being the third season. While it technically should have been the fourth RUPL, the first RUPL had a different format and was discontinued. All RUPLs since then have been hosted by -Tsunami-, including this one. This year's RUPL featured six teams: the Avaricious Arcanines, managed by -Tsunami-; the Dabbing Drapions, managed by Scythe.; the Erotic Explouds, managed by atomicllamas; the Flexin Flygons, managed by DTC; the Humilau City Hitmonlees, managed by Sweep; and the Weaboo Wormadams, managed by Pearl.

As RU is a relatively new format compared to UU and NU, RUPL's tiers are different than their respective Premier Leagues'. This year RUPL had 3 ORAS RU, 2 XY RU, 2 BW RU, and a manager vs manager. Over the course of five weeks, each team played another team, and the two teams with the best records faced each other in the finals.

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The Auction

The auction was held on 30th April, and here are the final teams:

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The highest priced player was Omfuga, who was bought by the Avaricious Arcanines for 25000 credits, and FLCL, who was bought by the Flexin Flygons for 20500 credits. Here are the managers' thoughts about the auction:

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The Early Weeks

The early weeks showed which teams were the most promising to win the tournament. At the top of the table were the Avaricious Arcanines, with a stellar 2-0-1 record. In week 1 and 2, they thrashed Humilau City Hitmonlees and Dabbing Drapions, and they tied with Weaboo Wormadams in week 3. They were on fire and as intimidating as ever. The Flexin Flygons were the next best team, with a nice 1-0-2 record, tying against the Weabo Wormadams and the Erotic Explouds in the first two weeks, and winning against the Dabbing Drapions in the third week. They seemed to be very consistent, but they weren't as big of a force as Avaricious Arcanines.

At the bottom of the table were the Dabbing Drapions, despite having a great start. They won against the Erotic Explouds in week 1 but lost to the Avaricious Arcanines and the Flexin Flygons in the next two weeks, making them sink to the bottom of the standings.

Humilau City Hitmonlees and Weaboo Wormadams were the other bottom three teams, and things looked grim for them as well.

Throughout the early weeks, many players looked to be very promising, and some were disappointing.

Some of the disappointing ones were Meru and 49, who were expected to have a solid record, as they entered the tournament backed by solid results from past tournaments. Meru played RU for SPL Champions Stark Sharks but still had a 0-2 record in RUPL. 49 is a solid BW RU player but also had 0-2 record.

Some of the promising players were Christo. and Zamrock, who were undefeated. They went 3-0 in the early weeks and became a huge force to be reckoned with.

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Highlight Match

This is an intense battle between Lord Death Man and Meru, where Lord Death Man played amazingly, outplaying Meru in a lot of turns. This game is a prime example of how a promising newer player can tackle a known established player. Lord Death Man carefully kept his Medicham as his wincon as the rest of the teammates focused on wearing Meru's team down.

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The Later Weeks

Week 4 was very important for four teams: the Flexin Flygons, the Weaboo Wormadams, the Erotic Explouds, and the Humilau City Hitmonlees. If Flexin Flygons win this week, they reach the finals alongside Avaricious Arcanines. The series between the Humilau City Hitmonlees and the Flexin Flygons was a very intense one that resulted in a tie. On the other hand, the Weaboo Wormadams won against the Dabbing Drapions, while the Avaricious Arcanines won against the Erotic Explouds.

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As it can be seen, the Flexin Flygons, the Weaboo Wormadams, the Erotic Explouds, and the Humilau City Hitmonlees all have a shot at reaching finals. Here are the scenarios:

Flygons: Win OR tie AND Wormadams lose or win 5-3 OR lose 5-3 AND Wormadams lose or tie
Wormadams: Win AND Flygons lose OR Win AND have better BD than Flygons
Explouds: Win AND Flygons lose AND have better BD than Flygons
Hitmonless: Win AND Flygons lose AND Explouds tie / win AND have better BD than Flygons and Explouds / Wormadams, respectively

It looked like the Flexin Flygons had the highest chance to clinch playoffs, but they were facing the Avaricious Arcanines, who were the strongest team. The Erotic Explouds were up against the Weaboo Wormadams, so the winner had a shot of reaching finals. Things looked grim for the Flygons when FLCL and Zamrock lost, giving the Arcanines a 2-0 lead. Then, Arifeen and Laurens won, setting the score at 2-2. Chill Shadow and Evan. won as well, making the score 2-4. However, DTC's loss to -Tsunami- brought the score to 3-4. The week reached a point where the Arcanines had to either win the last game or hope that the Wormadams would lose any of the remaining games. The worst part was that EonX, the Flygons' XY RU player, was nowhere to be seen. On the last day, Flygons subbed EonX out with Steve Angello, and amazingly, Steve Angello beat KratosMana in an interesting battle. This made the Flexin Flygons face the Avaricious Arcanines in the finals.

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Highlight Match

Laurens vs Mambo was a match for the ages. It appeared that Mambo's brain only functioned during 50% of the turns: he dazzled spectators with fantastic doubles in the early-game while simultaneously leaving the fans puzzled with such plays as the legendary Giga Drain on the opponent's Registeel simply to extend the length of the match. Could this have been his unique way of entertaining the world or is he simply bonkers in the head? Laurens, on the other hand, appeared to aid Mambo in his shenanigans through absurd plays that left him in the strangest of positions throughout the match. This game was truly inspiring and, in the end, Laurens won somehow.

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The Finals

When these teams faced head-to-head in week 5, it seemed like the Avaricious Arcanines weren't trying their best, so despite the Flygons winning the series last time, the Arcanines were the favorites to win the tournament.

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The first game was Void vs FLCL, where FLCL won by critting Void's Calm Mind Uxie, putting the Flygons on the lead. The next game was Lord Death Man vs blunder, where Lord Death Man's Meloetta proved to be too much for blunders's team and further extended the Flygon's lead to 2-0. However, Arifeen and Zamrock lost, equalizing the score. Omfuga and NaCl thrashed EonX and Chill Shadow, respectively, making the score tilt in their favor, 2-4. This meant that the Arcanines needed one more game to win in order to win the whole tournament. The game of @-Tsunami vs DTC was a great game, where -Tsunami- played extremely well and pressured DTC's team with Swords Dance Drapion, which eventually gave him the win. This win made the Avaricious Arcanines the champions of RUPL 3.

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Closing Remarks

This year's RUPL was an exciting one; there were a couple of upsets, a couple of new, promising players rising, and close battles that could have gone either way until the very last seconds. The spot for playoffs was nail biting until the very end, and the Avaricious Arcanines proved how dominating they can be when they are serious. Here's what the winning manager, -Tsunami-, has to say about the tournament:

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Conclusion

Catch us later for a recap of OUPL!

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Puzzle Page

Welcome back to the Flying Press's Puzzle Page. Thanks to everyone who sent their answers to the last issue. Many people submitted their answers, but the winner of the custom title who sent all of the correct answers in first was Kit Kasai! An honorable mention goes to lovemathboy, who also sent in correct answers for every puzzle. For those of you who did not win, you still earned points for the overall leaderboard, which can be viewed at the bottom of the page.

Thanks to all of the members of the puzzle team who helped out with the creation of the puzzles in this issue, including Anty, Cynthia612, Irraquated, kevinrocks, and Level 51!

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Anagrams

Anagrams consist of several Pokémon-related terms whose letters have been scrambled around. In order to solve them, you have to figure out which terms have been scrambled. For example, "Science Spy Hop" unscrambles to Espeon / Psychic.

1. Serializable Fort Mast (2 Terms: Pokémon, Move)
2. Malleable Smelt Strings Splints (3 Terms: Signature Move, Signature Move, Signature Move)
3. Accedes Lengthen A Jerk Lie (3 Terms: Pokémon, Move, Move)

Portmanteaus

Portmanteaus comprise several Pokémon-related terms, each of which is in a set of [brackets]. Each term and its preceding and succeeding terms must "overlap" with each other with two or more of their letters. All of the overlapping terms, when combined, will form one large amalgam of terms, which is your answer! For example, [Gen V Dark-type][Gen III Water-type][Gen II Ground-type] would form the term bisharpedonphan (a combination of Bisharp, Sharpedo, and Donphan).

1. [Gen III Water-type][Gen VI Steel-type][Gen VI Electric-type][Gen II Item][Gen II Grass-type][Gen IV Normal-type][Gen IV Electric-type][Gen III Water-type][Gen V Electric-type]
2. [Gen VI Dragon-type][Mega Stone][Gen IV Ability][Gen V Ability][Gen III Normal-type Move][Gen II Bug-type][Gen VI Water-type][Gen II Fairy-type][Gen III Normal-type Move][Gen III Evolutionary Item][Gen I Normal-type Move][Gen IV Legendary][Gen I Setup Move]
3. [Pokémon with Levitate][Type of Poké Ball (excluding the word "Ball")][Gen I Psychic-type][Pokémon with Regenerator][Pokémon with Regenerator][Flying-type Move][HM Move][Normal-type Move][Pokémon with Frisk][Berry Species (excluding the word "Berry")][Pokémon with Frisk][Gen II Fire-type][Gym Leader][Pokémon that Changes Type upon Evolution]

Parameters

By using the /dexsearch command on Pokémon Showdown, find out which parameters match only the Pokémon listed. For example, say you are given these Pokémon: Bibarel, Bidoof, Pachirisu, Patrat, Raticate, Rattata, Smeargle, and Watchog. Even though all of them learn both Protect and Substitute, there are many other Pokémon that can as well, so the trick is to try to narrow down your options as much as possible. Parameters may include moves, abilities, tiers, generations, colors, and so on, but these specific ones only include moves. One exclusion has been added to the third puzzle, meaning that the Pokémon on the list do not have that property. Exclusions are indicated by an exclamation point (!) when using the /dexsearch command. For example, a list with a parameter of !Take Down means that none of the Pokémon in the list learn Take Down.

1. Drowzee, Hoothoot, Hypno, Noctowl (2 Parameters)
2. Arceus-Rock, Armaldo, Barbaracle, Binacle, Crustle, Dwebble, Terrakion (3 Parameters)
3. Combee, Nidoran-F, Nidoran-M, Remoraid, Rufflet, Togepi (2 Parameters, 1 Exclusion)

Cryptogram

In a cryptogram, every letter used in a message is replaced with a different letter. In order to solve it, you must determine what the original message is. The following phrase is a quote from a character in the main series Pokémon games. For example, a cryptogram of "VDWXQFR REBU AFRSUBKYTCA!" would unscramble to "Pikachu used Thunderbolt!", as each U in the original sentence is swapped for R, each E is swapped for B, and so on.

Q TQYDFMVD SQZ TKQUBD VUYX Q NLYYDFAFDD, NLY YKD KDQFY YKQY NDQYP VUPVWD VY FDSQVUP YKD PQSD.

Cryptic Crossword Puzzle

This last puzzle is a crossword and has several clues listed below that will fit within the boxes of the crossword grid. Once you have filled in the grid completely, take a screenshot of it as proof of your triumph. The answers will consist of several Pokémon-related terms, whether it be Pokémon, moves, abilities, etc. Be aware that some of the clues may consist of multiple words. You seemed to all have an easy time with last month's crossword, so this one will definitely be much trickier!

Note: Click the hint to go to the corresponding line.

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Conclusion

The answers to last week's puzzle can be found in the announcement thread of the Flying Press forum. As usual, once you've completed one, some, or even all of the puzzles that this page has to offer, send your answers via a private message to Smogon's Flying Press on the forums (a Smogon account is required). Good luck to all who dare to participate, and we'll see you again in a few weeks!

Leaderboard

1. Kit Kasai: 25 points
2. lovemathboy: 25 points
3. eeveeattract: 19 points
4. baconbagon: 16 points
5. Blitzamirin: 16 points
6. Chimechoo: 16 points
7. Dogfish44: 16 points
8. Fuuta of the Stars: 16 points
9. Seito Hakari: 16 points
10. shadowmist: 16 points
11. SparksBlade: 16 points
12. Tralf: 16 points
13. rhydreigon: 14 points
14. Yoda2798: 14 points
15. Mowtom: 13 points
16. xXDuongDannyXx: 13 points
17. EnemyJurist: 11 points
18. Calm: 11 points
19. HeadsILoseTailsYouWin: 11 points
20. Mishimono: 11 points
21. VeryPinkPancakes: 11 points
22. asparandix: 9 points
23. chuckaboomboom: 8 points
24. Swede: 7 points
25. Plaessynplaeae: 5 points
26. Reigaheres: 5 points
27. Yellow Paint: 5 points
28. Amitghost: 3 points
29. aXl: 3 points
30. BenTheDemon: 3 points
31. Epic_Mewtwo: 3 points
32. Memoric: 3 points
33. Sobi: 3 points
34. Vader_the_White: 3 points

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