Premier League Spotlights: MPL

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Introduction

The Monotype Premier League is a team-based tournament that is similar to Smogon Premier League. In an attempt to avoid biased decisions, MPL III went with two hosts in Eien and Dirpz, and the tournament also experimented with which metagames should and shouldn't be in MPL. In previous iterations of MPL, OMs such as Almost Any Ability, STABmons, Doubles, and Hidden Type were featured. Many Monotype players did not like the idea of Monotype OMs because it forced them to learn metagames they were unfamiliar with. This led to managers overpaying for players that play OMs, thinking that their knowledge would transfer to the respective Monotype OM. This was usually not the case, as Monotype players with little OM metagame knowledge would often perform better than OM players, leading to low-quality matches. To avoid this issue from occurring again, Monotype OMs were removed from MPL III. The metagames in MPL III were 2 SM / 1 SM Bo3 / 2 ORAS / 2 BW / 1 Monothreat. At first there were some concerns over the quality of matches with two BW slots and one SM Bo3 slot. With the metagames in place, the managers approached the draft in many different ways; let's see the results of the draft.

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Teams

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A few key takeaways from the auction would include the fight for BW players and top SM players. Since BW was the oldest Monotype generation, there were a limited number of competent players. Thus, players like Vid, Zukushiku, North, and Freeroamer each went for over 15k. This scramble for BW players could also be seen through the Glooms' draft, as they paid good money to land two BW players in Vid and DoW in addition to their manager Acast. SM was another heavily contested area, which can clearly be seen from the top five most expensive players, who were all great SM players and teambuilders. Another thing to note would be the Aeros purchasing mostly tournament players.

Like all drafts, there were definitely some overpays and surprises this time too. The biggest overpay here would probably be ArkenCiel, who has been known to not care too much about MPL, going for 18k. In terms of their performance this season, several overpays include Dak Prescott, who went 1-5, Crestfall, who went 1-4, and Terrors, who also went 1-4. Acast, who was one of the better BW players in this tournament, was bought for the manager price of 15k. However, instead of playing BW, which he was best at, Acast played in the SM Bo3 slot, going 0-4. Although he was bought for the minimum price of 3k, many were surprised that Tyke was even nominated due to his lack of tournament experience, especially when he was purchased to cover for the Glooms' weak SM area.

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Power Rankings

1. Hearthome Honchkrows
   Right from when the teams were decided, the Honchkrows took the top spot thanks to their extremely strong manager core of Sabella + 1 True Lycan. Both of them are amongst the best ORAS and SM Monotype players with a lot of MPL experience. After the draft, the Honchkrows gained all the right pieces in Wanka, Pak, Pearl, soulgazer, and SirSkit, giving them great firepower in every metagame.

2. Amber Aeros
   Led by the best SM/ORAS manager team in Lax + Arifeen, the Aeros come in second due to the tournament experience in their lineup. Tournament players generally grasp Monotype very easily, especially when led by great managers. They also landed Bushtush, a seasoned tournament player with a lot of Monotype experience.

3. Meteor Falls Miniors
   Player-wise, the manager core of the Miniors was extremely strong. Paleo is arguably the best SM and ORAS player, while Yaksok is an extremely underrated player who got to the finals of the Monotype Winter Seasonal. They also landed a goldmine in Eien, another great SM player who could supply teams. Unfortunately, the Miniors quickly dropped a lot of money on Eien and Freeroamer, which left them a little weak in other slots, most notably Monothreat and ORAS.

4. Littleroot Lotads
   The Lotads had access to Ticken, the best Monothreat teambuilder and player, for only 15k. Landing Zukushiku also gave them a reliable BW slot. However, the Lotads purchased many unproven players such as The Excadrill, Nightwingg95, and most notably ArkenCiel, who went for 18k but has never stepped up in MPL. That being said, the Lotads rectified their ORAS and SM problems to some extent by landing TheThorn and also succeeded in creating a great team environment.

5. Blackthorn Bucks
   While the Bucks did acquire a fantastic player and builder in rnbs and a great ORAS core with Attribute and Wyn, their original draft plans went south, causing them to spend a bomb on these three players. As a result, they made many panic buys towards the end on lesser-known players like Izaya, iLlama, and Natalie. This made their ability to compete against some of the higher ranked teams uncertain, especially in the BW and Monothreat departments.

6. Petalburg Porygons
   On the whole, the Porygons had an alright team. They had decent BW players in Balto and Crestfall, a good ORAS core of Ridley + Hammy, and a Monothreat builder in Misaka Mikoto. Despite having access to Clearly, one of the best SM players and the most creative builder, the Porygons had a weak SM lineup. Another major question mark was how the entire team would come together as a whole, especially with inexperienced managers.

7. Mauville Memers
   While the manager duo of the Memers had a lot of MPL experience, their draft didn't reflect so. There were several solid players like Level 56, p2, and Shadestep, but no good teambuilder whatsoever.

8. Bloom Doom Glooms
   The issue with the Glooms' draft was their lack of any standout players or teambuilders. Although they did have solid BW and Monothreat players, even picking up a lot of solid BW players, causing teams like the Bucks to scramble to find good players, this ultimately led to their downfall, as they had extremely weak ORAS and SM lineups.

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Early Weeks

The beginning of MPL III was marked by an alarming trend in SM Monotype—the overuse of Mega Medicham. Mega Medicham turned all of Psychic's bad matchups in its favor while making good matchups even better. Over the first four weeks of MPL III, Psychic teams accounted for 20% of total usage, with the second highest being Flying with only 13% usage. This was accompanied by a 58% win rate. That being said, however, teambuilders did not let Mega Medicham completely dominate SM Monotype, with many innovate sets and positive trends such as Choice Scarf Bisharp HO Steel, an increase in Ghost's usage, and an increase in Gengar's usage on Poison teams coming up.

As for the teams themselves, the Hearthome Honchkrows proved the power rankings true by winning three of their first four matches. They were led by soulgazer, who was undefeated, and Pearl and 1 True Lycan, both of whom went 3-1. Both the Petalburg Porygons and the Littleroot Lotads started off decently too, both of them losing a single game. The Meteor Falls Miniors, Amber Aeros, and Bloom Doom Glooms struggled early on. The Aeros were just unlucky in many crucial games, while the Glooms lacked the depth in their bench in the highly competitive SM slot. While the Blackthorn Bucks lost their first two games, they picked up two much-needed wins against the Bloom Doom Glooms and Meteor Falls Miniors in weeks 3 and 4, respectively.

The first half of MPL III capped off with drama surrounding Balto, the assistant manager of the Petalburg Porygons, and his teammate nomadderwhat, resulting in their bans. Mega Medicham was also banned from SM Monotype. While there was a midseason week, most of the players didn't complete their matches.

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Highlight Match

The SM Bo3 games between Eien and Clearly from week 1 (#1 #2 #3) showcased the unique and high-quality aspect of the newly added slot. Both excellent players provided the community with amazing games that dissipated any apprehension towards the inclusion of Bo3.

The first match opposed Clearly's Ground team to Eien's Fairy team. Both players had fairly standard teams that could be seen outside of this setting. From Team Preview, Eien pressured Clearly with the presence of Tapu Bulu and Azumarill, two gigantic threats to Ground teams. Despite Magearna unexpectedly surviving an Earth Power from Landorus and OHKOing it, Clearly did not lose face and played the rest of his game very intelligently. Eien took the bold move of doubling from Klefki to Tapu Koko on Excadrill, which ended up being fatal, as it allowed Garchomp to safely sweep later on in the game. Clearly used his Dugtrio to scout the Klefki moveset and stall out screens before safely using Memento to get in his Swords Dance Garchomp. Thanks to it being a Firium Z variant, he managed to effortlessly set up and clean up the opposing team, as Tapu Bulu posed no threat.

The second game saw Clearly using the very popular hyper offensive Steel team used to counter Mega Medicham against Eien's balanced Flying. Despite the pressure caused by Stealth Rock being up and Bisharp still being alive, Eien played the game very thoughtfully and safely. The defensive core of SkarmDos paired with Mantine and Gliscor was used perfectly, completely blocking Clearly's team. His careful way of dealing with the matchup was especially highlighted by his plays with Mega Charizard Y. He always made sure it came in at moments where there was absolutely no risk and prevented it from taking unnecessary damage. An example of that is the fact that he Roosted with it on Skarmory instead of risking the Fire Blast miss. Had he missed Fire Blast, Mega Charizard Y would have been KOed by Stealth Rock, and the game would've most likely been Clearly's. Overall, he showcased a very reflective style of playing instead of just purely thinking offensively like many others. Clearly also played very well, but Eien's composed thinking was just too much to handle in this game.

The final game was without a doubt the most intriguing game of them all. Clearly proved his reputation of being a unique builder and demonstrated his incredible tournament preparation through this game. Eien brought a Dugtrio Ground team like Clearly did game 1, but this amazing trapper was rendered useless with Clearly bringing Flying. However, his team was the furthest possible from 'standard'. Many people showed their shock at the fact that he brought such an unconventional team, having Mega Pidgeot and Honchkrow, to the deciding game of the Bo3. Despite this, he proved all the critics wrong by practically winning the match at the 4th turn. His Landorus heavily pressured his opponent, as its Earth Power 2HKOed everything but the opposing Landorus. When that Pokémon did come in, Clearly caught Eien by surprise by taking it out with Hidden Power Ice. That move completely messed up Eien's entire game. It left Eien with no more special attackers while a Skarmory was still in the game. As predicted, he was not able to break Skarmory, so the core of Skarmory + Landorus managed to solo the opposing team.

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Later Weeks

As the midseason break came to an end, playoff hopes were high for almost all teams. Weeks 5-7 were extremely tense, as each series could make or break every team's chance at making the playoffs. The Bucks, who started to pick up after two crucial losses in the first two weeks, were unfortunately paired against a red-hot Honchkrows lineup, which had only lost a single series at that point. Powered by two lucky wins from rnbs and Temperarious, the Bucks tied the series up and became strong contenders for the third or fourth seed. Racing alongside them were the Amber Aeros, who won their week 5 and week 6 matchups. With the absence of two members, including their assistant manager, the Petalburg Porygons went from being a great playoff contending team to the third last seed as their teamwork and motivation drop. However, the Porygons still played a vital role in deciding the third and fourth seeds.

The ban of Mega Medicham from SM Monotype made the latter half of MPL III much more competitive. Fairy once again became the best type to use, with almost 14% usage and a 52% win rate. Interestingly, Water was the most used type even with the omnipresence of Tapu Koko and Tapu Bulu, with a usage rate of 15%. Dragon, Fighting, and Water remained the best and most used types in BW throughout the regular season.

With the final regular season week of MPL III rolling in, the top two seeds were already decided—the Hearthome Honchkrows and the Littleroot Lotads. At this point, there was a very close three-way contention between the Amber Aeros, Blackthorn Bucks, and Meteor Falls Miniors for the last two seeds.

This is where the Petalburg Porygons came into play. Angry at Eien for his decision on the Balto and nomadderwhat case, Hammy and Dominatio didn't want his team to qualify for the playoffs and, as a result, threw two games against the Blackthorn Bucks. However, even with two wins being handed to them, the Bucks performed poorly but luckily managed to tie the series. The Amber Aeros also tied their series against the Littleroot Lotads, which meant that the Bucks qualified for sure. Unfortunately, the Meteor Falls Miniors lost their series against the Mauville Memers. Thus, the third and fourth seeds were the Amber Aeros and the Blackthorn Bucks, respectively, setting the stage for the playoffs.

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Highlight Match

The Bo3 slot consistently provided high-caliber matches every single week, but the highlight for the second half of the season was without a doubt TheThorn vs -Tsunami- during the last week (#1 #2 #3). Not only did it feature the player highly accepted as Monotype's best, TheThorn, but also his opponent was -Tsunami-, an overall consistent tournament player no matter the format. However, the names weren't the most exciting part of the match, but the setting in which it was taking place. The Amber Aeros were currently 3-4 and absolutely needed -Tsunami- to win his series in order to make the playoffs. With the pressure on, both players delivered three absolutely exciting games that proved that Monotype is not all about getting a good matchup—great plays and teambuilding are crucial factors as well.

The first match opposed TheThorn's Poison team to -Tsunami-'s Fairy team. From Team Preview, both builds seemed very standard and the match appeared to decided. However, we learned that judging a game based on the types is foolish. The first surprise of the match was TheThorn running Substitute Nidoking. Even without Substitute, said Pokémon performs insanely well when it comes to breaking Fairy teams. Unfortunately for him, the lack of Sludge Wave led to it being easily walled by Clefable, which was supported by Klefki's Light Screen. That simple problem allowed Clefable to damage Nidoking sufficiently enough for Tapu Koko to threaten it. Mega Venusaur, which is generally seen as one of the biggest threats to Fairy teams, was crippled by Tapu Koko Taunting it. This Taunt prevented Mega Venusaur from making use of utility moves like Synthesis and Leech Seed, the latter of which especially could've prevented the upcoming Magearna sweep. From there, he safely U-turned into Magearna. That's where the game was decided, as a simple Calm Mind prevented Nidoking from KOing Magearna and forced TheThorn to sack three Pokémon just to KO it. Overall, -Tsunami- played the game extremely well, flawlessly planning out the Magearna sweep ahead of time.

The second match saw -Tsunami- bringing back the Fairy team from game 1 versus TheThorn bringing what again was seemingly a generic Flying team. Unlike the last match, the matchup was very unfavorable for TheThorn. Tapu Koko's Taunt prevented Zapdos from trying to stall out the attacks with Roost. Once again, TheThorn brought an unexpected Substitute Pokémon in the form of Mega Charizard Y. Unlike the previous match, though, the Substitute proved to be extremely useful. Taking advantage of Klefki setting its screens, the Substitute went up and allowed Mega Charizard to claim two of -Tsunami-'s Pokémon. A notable KO was getting rid of Z-Belly Drum Azumarill with an outside-of-sun Solar Beam. That play demonstrated the level of thought put into the match by both players. -Tsunami- assumed TheThorn would never risk sacking such an important Pokémon and therefore went for Belly Drum, which could have completely won from there. However, TheThorn predicted that happening, so he took the gamble, which paid off extremely well. The very aggressive plays did not end there, as TheThorn doubled into Mega Charizard Y on Clefable, risking it putting him outside of Substitute health. Despite it being risky, it was an example of thinking ahead. -Tsunami- tried getting up his Stealth Rock to prevent Mega Charizard Y from being able to Substitute again, but TheThorn was ready for that. The match was over from there, as -Tsunami- was not able to break the Substitute without sacking his own Pokémon able to beat Mega Charizard Y.

The third game showed some interesting teambuilding from TheThorn, with a very untraditional Water team to face -Tsunami-'s Poison team in a horrible matchup. Despite missing the two generic "Poison check" Water-type Pokémon in the form of Z-Rain Dance Manaphy and Z-Bounce Gyarados, TheThorn was prepared for this matchup. Bringing some interesting sets and Pokémon like Hidden Power Flying Keldeo, Extrasensory Greninja, and Primarina, he definitely brought the pressure on his opponent. Nonetheless, Poison's defensive core maintained its reputation of being insanely difficult to break. -Tsunami- simply outplayed his opponent the entire game. A few examples would be how he switched into Mega Venusaur on the Seismitoad coming in, predicting Greninja using Ice Beam at the obvious Alolan Muk switch in, and simply bringing in the right wall on most attacks. While Mega Venusaur and Toxapex eventually got knocked out, they were able to wear down the opposing team sufficiently.

The series therefore went to -Tsunami-, who managed to bring his team to the playoffs, where these players would have a rematch of this enticing set of games.

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Playoffs

The semifinals of this season of MPL was marked by two extremely close series that were pushed to tiebreaker. First, we have the big rematch between the Litteroot Lotads and the Amber Aeros. The two teams once again proved their worth by their intense series ending in a draw. However, this time the series needed to be ended with a definite winner in a tiebreaker. The Lotads opted to take out the ORAS slot, while the Aeros took them by surprise by removing SM Bo3 instead of Monothreat. This unexpected decision was not enough to throw off the Lotads, who safely made it into the finals with the victories of the very solid Zukushiku and Ticken. The other side of the semifinals was unfortunately marked by hax. The Blackthorn Bucks got an insanely perfectly timed crit in the crucial match between rnbs and Waszap that forced the tiebreaker. Although the main series was very messy, the tiebreaker made up for it. The two teams decided to remove BW and Monothreat because of the very solid players in said metagames in the respective teams. The highlight match of the semifinals took place during that tiebreaker, opposing Wyn and Wanka, two extremely competent ORAS players. Ultimately, the Hearthome Honchkrows were able to make finals, preventing the Blackthorn Bucks from taking advantage of that potentially series-changing critical hit.

Just as the standings predicted, the finals opposed the Hearthome Honchkrows and the Littleroot Lotads. Both teams did their best throughout the entire season and delivered a close and interesting finale for this rendition of the Monotype Premier League. Unfortunately, hax and matchups were deciding factors in some games, but this did not impede the quality immensely. Many surprises happened such as Seager defeating Waszap in a Dark vs Fairy matchup, Anttya playing ORAS for the first time all season, and the BW match between Pearl and Zukushiku being a Bo3. The highlight of this series was definitely the big rematch between TheThorn and 1 True Lycan in the coveted Bo3 slot. While the latter admitted to not being in his best state during the match and winning by hax, the matches between these two impeccable SM Monotype players proved their worth nonetheless.

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Interviews

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Notable Players

MPL III's highly competitive slots this time around provided the platform for many players to shine. This season's MVP and undoubtedly the Lotads' key player, TheThorn is considered one of the best Monotype players and builders and definitely lived up to these high expectations. His experience with team tournaments from SPL 8 translated into MPL, as he managed to create a great team environment while feeding his teammates with teams. Although Wyn usually carries a question mark with him due to his lack of motivation, he really shone in the ORAS slot alongside rnbs's preparation, going undefeated in the first five weeks and providing a win in the semifinals tiebreaker. Zukushiku ended with an astounding 9-1 record, picking up three much-needed wins in the playoffs. While Pearl and soulgazer are well-known tournament players, most managers were reluctant to bid on them due to their lack of Monotype knowledge. They proved the managers wrong, however. Both of them were definitely huge steals in the draft, as they performed extremely well in the BW slot. soulgazer even went undefeated with a 7-0 record in BW. Coming off of a good performance in the Monotype Best Leaderboard Tournament, Torkool was picked up by the Bloom Doom Glooms for a hefty 11k price tag. At first it seemed like another gamble that would go wrong for the Glooms, but, despite it being his first major tournament, Torkool delivered with a great Monothreat run, going 5-2.

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Final Thoughts

MPL III was a step in right direction, since removing OMs definitely increased the quality of matches while also reducing the number of overpays, making MPL III a more competitive environment. SM Bo3 slot was a major success, producing some of the best SM Monotype battles, while two BW slots did not significantly dilute the quality of the tournament. Although MPL III was a phenomenal tournament, a couple things can be done to improve MPL. One change the community would like to see is that the host does not manage or play in MPL so that there is no risk of bias when making controversial decisions. MPL III was an exhilarating experience for players, managers, and spectators, with many twists and turns. MPL III was a major success, giving the best Monotype players a chance to showcase the Monotype metagame at the highest level.

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