Premier League Spotlight: MPL VII

By avarice, DugZa, maroon, Mateeus, and Ticken. Released: 2021/09/23.

Introduction

MPL is the most anticipated Monotype tour of the year, featuring the latest four generations of the metagame. Unlike previous MPLs, this year seemed to have fairly even teams, meaning the competition was strong and every team had a good shot of qualifying for the playoffs. From last MPL, each team was only allowed one retain; this change was made so no team could walk into the draft with four starters already lined up. This, of course, led to the increased competitiveness of this year's MPL. Let's get into this MPL and explore some highlight games and interesting trends from each metagame!

Metagame Insights

SS

SS Monotype saw a plethora of new types in attendance compared to Monotype Word Cup (MWC), the most recent Monotype team tournament prior to this MPL season, which had an abundance of Electric and Flying usage. The lack of type diversity in MWC with clear favorites made it evident that tiering action was necessary. In its aftermath, multiple suspect tests were announced after a year of no changes to the format, even though neither directly affected Electric or Flying. Urshifu-S was banned a month after MWC concluded, while Aegislash was kept around. With such an offensively strong presence removed and essentially detaching the shackles it forced on teambuilding, MPL was primed to show off more of what SS Monotype had to offer.

Electric's usage fell off significantly, and its win percentage went down from 64% to only 14%. There is no definite consensus on why this is the case, but it wouldn't be outlandish to claim that Urshifu-S played a role in this trend. While Urshifu-S's ban didn't affect Electric directly, the types Urshifu-S helped against, particularly Poison and Ground, lost one of their main threats. It is also possible that teams were more inclined to make solid preparations against Electric due to its abundance last tournament, leading to its decline in win rate, but Flying was essentially untouched so this is hard to prove for certain.

A type that arguably gained the most from Urshifu-S's ban was Steel, which followed the trend opposite to Electric's usage and went from 13% in MWC to nearly surpassing Flying in MPL at a staggering 28% usage rate. Steel consistently performs well in every Monotype generation, and it's no surprise to see it continue that trend with Urshifu-S gone, Electric's usage falling, and threats such as Keldeo, Mantine, and Zygarde-10% coming out in low numbers. Aegislash remaining in the format only bolstered Steel's usage, with its 91% usage establishing it as a mainstay on the current Steel framework. Steel rivaled Flying in terms of how well it could cover all other types, but Steel did exceedingly well against types it has a natural advantage against, which was a key asset with Fairy's usage on the rise this tournament.

Dual screens Dark, Fairy, sand-less Ground, and Poison are all important trends worthy of a mention. Dark kept its usage competitive, even without Urshifu-S, with Grimmsnarl's and Galarian Moltres's usage skyrocketing up by 40% and 65%, respectively. Galarian Moltres is a sweeping powerhouse with its dual setup and ability to boost its damage output further with its ability in conjunction with Weakness Policy. Fairy did not change nearly as dramatically as Dark, but Tapu Koko had a notable surge in usage over Tapu Lele to help with both the Steel and Flying matchups. Tapu Fini also had a notable surge in usage alongside Tapu Bulu, Tapu Koko, and Tapu Lele, utilizing Fairy's abundance of Calm Mind users to constantly pressure their shared checks. Sandless Ground rarely makes an appearance, but it came out in droves this tournament with Hippowdon at an unprecedentedly low 23% usage. Sand is generally seen as Ground's main asset, but due to Hippowdon's passive nature in conjunction with Stealth Rock being nerfed with Heavy-Duty Boots, Hippowdon was seen more as a dead slot rather than an asset. Finally, Poison returned to its tried-and-true defensive nature with its triple Regenerator core that became better after Urshifu-S's ban, due to Galarian Weezing's, the type's only switch-in to Urshifu-S, lack of recovery. Poison's defensive core was unmatched, and many players were playing around with the framework by using Crobat over Galarian Weezing. Crobat provided a better Ground immunity against Excadrill, more reliably punished threats such as Galarian Moltres with Toxic, and had reliable recovery in Roost.

SM

The second iteration of SM Monotype as a past generation in MPL notably lacked innovation in comparison to its other yearly transitions but more than made up for it with the new trends that appeared during the tournament. Widely perceived by the community as the most balanced and fleshed out Monotype metagame, its stability may have encouraged players to take the safer route of reusing tried-and-true builds and strategies from previous tournaments with SM Monotype. However, that's not to say SM Monotype has been a bland repetition of what happened last year; it was, in fact, one of the most interesting metagames to watch because of how volatile it was throughout the weeks, with its small bits of innovation being crucial for its rapid in-tour development.

For most of SM Monotype's playerbase, the quartet of Flying, Water, Psychic, and Steel were regarded as the best types in the metagame, and MPL VII's usage stats only made that more noticeable. Out of all matches, these types were responsible for roughly half of the appearances, sporting a clear cut above the rest. To combat them, a type that reemerged mid-tour was Fairy. After a rough MPL VI where it had both its lowest-ever usage and win rate, it bounced back this year as the fifth most used and second most successful type thanks to its standard build, which features the likes of Tapu Koko, Tapu Bulu, and Mimikyu to give it an edge against Flying, Water, and Psychic; in fact, Fairy was able to beat all three types throughout the tournament. In a similar fashion, Electric's positive matchups against Flying, Water, and Steel made it a popular and also an efficient option across the regular season. While Psychic and Steel couldn't be as successful as in previous entries because of said trends, Water and Flying were able to respond to the surge of Fairy and Electric. The former's vast array of options to choose from allowed it to stay on top through the entire generation, and this time, it was no different with the development of exquisite Greninja sets like Poisonium Z and Choice Band and the rise of Gastrodon as a more durable Electric immunity and mixed wall. The latter, however, didn't need to change much in order to keep its claim to fame: its late-generation bulky offense build still had incredible success two years later, but bulkier teams featuring Zapdos, Gliscor, and Mantine gained traction towards the ending of the show. Other good types like Grass and Dark kept their regularity but weren't worked around much (or at all in Grass's case, where the same six Pokémon were brought in the seven times it came into play).

As for the remaining types, Ground had a small improvement over its last MPL fiasco, mainly due to the revamp of sand-less teams led by the inception of specially defensive Excadrill as a reliable check to popular special attackers like Greninja, Tapu Koko, and Mega Latios. One of the frontrunners last year, Normal couldn't come even close to repeating its success this time around, boasting a much lower usage and the lowest win rate of all types in SM Monotype. Dragon's fall from grace over the last two years has been noticed by the community, and this MPL only made that even more clear. With Fairy back into the tour scene, Dragon only managed to get four appearances, its lowest-ever record. Just like in other MPL editions, low-viability types like Fighting, Ice, Rock, Bug, and Ghost had next to no usage.

ORAS

ORAS remains a metagame where the top few types get used a lot through the tour without much else seeing play, just like in previous MPLs. However, in SPL, screens had made its way to ORAS OU's mainstage, and shortly after that, it made its way into Monotype. Rotom-W has become a staple screens setter on Water teams, allowing bulky powerful setup sweepers such as Mega Gyarados and Salac Berry Manaphy to shine. These two Pokémon covered a majority of what was most frequently used in MPL, being Ground, Water, Flying, Psychic, Steel, and Dark. This allowed the team to easily rack up wins in the tournament and become a dominating force. Other popular Pokémon on the team were Keldeo, Cloyster, and Seismitoad, which helped with different matchups.

Aside from screens Water dominating the tour, a few interesting things happened. Psychic had a very low win rate due to the fact that most teams went out of their ways to specifically prepare to win the matchup. Ground, Steel, and Dark were other types that had a lot of usage. Ground took advantage of sand to turn Excadrill into a super dangerous wincon, while Landorus could break through physical walls such as Skarmory for it, leaving very little it could not beat. Steel opted to go for bulkier builds, often carrying Pokémon such as Bisharp for Psychic and basic defensive core to take on its weaknesses better. Steel underperformed in the tour and people caught onto its low usage as the tour went on. Dark was used with good success early in the tournament, featuring a more offensive build with a pivot in Mandibuzz to act as defensive glue. As the tour went on, it stopped being used as frequently, not necessarily due to it being unsuccessful but more because of the prevalence of Water teams in the metagame.

Overall, ORAS was stale this past MPL, with nothing really notable aside from screens Water taking over the metagame.

BW

BW Monotype is well established as being a generation with one of the most difficult pools, with top-tier Monotype players like Chaitanya, Jyph, and Sabella competing in high-quality matches and continuing to innovate. MPL is different from Monotype Winter Premier (MWP) and Monotype World Cup (MWC) where there were more people recycling proven teams, due to players facing more difficult opponents and higher stakes. The tier was impacted this year by the OU sleep ban in the middle of the season as well. It was mainly significant to Fighting, as Spore was one of its main ways to hold its ground against Psychic. It is also a notable nerf to Grass (which was already hard to justify) and a slight disadvantage to miscellaneous Pokémon like Politoed, which could fit Hypnosis.

Psychic as a whole has been brutal in the BW Monotype metagame. Psychic throughout MPL has displayed its diversity, as it has the flexibility to use Pokémon like Starmie, Metagross, and even Azelf depending on the desired structure. Similar to other recent tours, it had the most usage by a rather wide margin and retained an impressive win rate. In MWC II, it was used 11 times with a 63.64% win rate; the second most used was Water at 7. During this MPL, the win rate increased to 66.67% on 21 uses. It was followed up by Steel with 12. Psychic has a fair amount of variation in its structure due to all the viable Pokémon, often being tweaked based on the opponent's usage. Steel on the rise can be linked to fear of Psychic, while Fighting usage plummeted with the sleep ban. There have been recent talks of banning Jirachi, Latios, or Victini to nerf the playstyle and have a more competitive environment. Though, a Latios's ban is arguably more of a nerf to Dragon, as Psychic just shifts to Latias comfortably.

Beyond Psychic and Steel usage, Water, Fighting and a couple of other types saw usage. Water saw some exploration, with a few builds forgoing Politoed and opting for Pokémon like Seismitoad to have a bulkier structure. Fighting was forced into new Breloom sets with the sleep ban midseason. Ground, and Dragon were rather similar to how the types were used previously. Dragon in particular was lackluster. Rather niche types like Bug, Flying, Rock, and Poison saw usage this MPL. Bug against Psychic was much easier said than done, being rather close games due to the versatility of Psychic with its powerful roster. Flying saw a notable increase in usage despite its overreliance on Xatu to prevent Stealth Rock thanks to the recent popularization of Chaitanya's Flying hyper offense. It may become more prominent in tournament play with the proposed unbans of Thundurus and Tornadus-T with Monotype's plan to deviate from OU bans. Rock actually pulled through against Water thanks to the Water's off-meta structure and Cradily's strange offensive prowess. Poison struggled with little room to make progress the couple times it was brought but may see more exploration should Psychic get a nerf. With the new old generation policies allowing these significant changes, it will be interesting to see how BW Monotype continues to develop.

Highlight Matches

Floss vs. Star [SS]

Flying vs. Electric

Floss is a top-tier SS Monotype player but was ranked only seventh in the initial Bo3 power rankings due to how strongly his prowess is defined by his current generation building success. Star was ranked second in the pool due to their success in ORAS and pretty much any tier they have been slotted in on Smogon. Naturally, the SS Monotype game of their series really stood out. Choice Specs Zapdos had been making quite the impact, and it stood out in this game and quite a few before it. It had been a scary wallbreaker that was difficult to adapt to, although a wallbreaker reliant on Hurricane only goes so far. Floss started the match with a hefty Thunderbolt from Choice Specs Zapdos on Star's Rotom-W, and was quick to double switch back to Celesteela in the face of Star's own Choice Specs Zapdos. Fortunately for Floss, he is able to evade a couple of Hurricanes after Zapdos crits Celesteela. The dodges allow Floss to revenge kill Star's Zapdos with his own Zapdos. Star aimed to remove Stealth Rock with Rotom-W and afterward set up Alolan Raichu under Electric Terrain. However, there were only a couple of turns left, which let Floss's Dragonite set up with Dragon Dance on Alolan Raichu. Dragonite then claimed both Magnezone and Tapu Koko before fainting to Alolan Raichu. The game came to a close, as Galarian Moltres stomached Rising Voltage from Alolan Raichu and Floss's Zapdos finished off Zeraora.

Splash vs. Pak [SM]

Dragon vs. Flying

This was one of the more anticipated SM matchups of the season, with both players ranked in the top half of the rankings. Pak is reputed as one of the best and most consistent players in SM Monotype over the years; thus, this game naturally drew everyone's attention. The Dragon vs. Flying matchup seemed even, with Splash having major threats like Kommo-o and Kyurem-B while Pak also had his own share of threats in Celesteela and Ice Fang Mega Aerodactyl. Despite the rough confusion at the get-go causing Garchomp to almost be KOed and Mega Altaria being KOed soon after, Splash managed to position himself in a favorable position to sweep with Kommo-o after successfully getting up Stealth Rock with Garchomp. Everything seemed to be going well until Pak revealed Mirror Coat Mantine, which tanked a hit from Kommo-o with ease and KOed it in return. From there, Splash had very limited resources in Kyurem-B and Dragonite to deal with Pak's Mega Aerodactyl and Celesteela, putting him in a not-so-favorable position. Shortly after, Pak emerged victorious without much trouble.

Chaitanya vs. Bushtush [SS Bo3]

Game 1 [SS]: Fairy vs. Flying | Game 2 [SM]: Flying vs. Electric | Game 3 [BW]: Water vs. Steel

Chaitanya vs Bushtush was a very exciting matchup. Former tier leader Chaitanya is one of the best player Monotype has to offer, being ranked first in the Bo3 power rankings, while Bushtush is a Monotype veteran and well-established tour player in his own right. However, the odds were against Bushtush given his lackluster results in Monotype specifically, which contributed to his number 6 ranking.

The first match of SS Monotype was close with Fairy against Flying, leaning toward Bushtush as Flying had the incredibly durable Celesteela. Chaitanya's main tool against it was Toxic Tapu Koko, which had made a great amount of progress. Largely assisted by a fortunate paralysis that allowed Klefki to get up Reflect for Clefable, Chaitanya was able to make serious headway with Celesteela gone. Unfortunately, getting past Thundurus-T and Landorus-T was too difficult for Tapu Koko, and ultimately it could not secure Stored Power Tapu Lele a win.

For the second game in SM Monotype, it was Chaitanya's Flying against Bushtush's Electric. To an outsider without Monotype experience, Electric can seem to have the advantage, but Chaitanya having both Landorus-T and Thundurus-T was huge. Bushtush was under great pressure to get turns correct with Alolan Raichu, as it was really his only chance of running through Flying. Chaitanya got lucky early with the critical hit on Magnezone with Dragonite and got significant mileage out of Dragonite due to keeping Multiscale intact. Bushtush got overwhelmed and had to sacrifice half his team to get Zeraora in to finish them off. At this point, it was too late for Bushtush to make a comeback, as the team has been softened for Landorus-T to simply click Rock Polish and clean.

The final game came down to BW Monotype—Steel vs Water. Bushtush's Water had an inherent advantage, but Chaitanya's Steel was not without preparations. Chaitanya made early progress with Jirachi, as it had both Energy Ball and Thunder. Luckily, Bushtush saved Jellicent and did not give up a free turn to Jirachi, as he went Swampert on Thunder. However, Jirachi easily 2HKOed Swampert with Energy Ball and munched Earthquake thanks to Shuca Berry, although the damage from Earthquake was enough for Keldeo to finish off Jirachi. Chaitanya chose to go with Energy Ball's guaranteed damage instead of going for Thunder, which could have even gotten paralysis. From this position, Bushtush quickly gained control of the match, as Chaitanya was fighting an uphill battle with no Jirachi. Chaitanya was able to play smart with Heatran and Excadrill, but it was in vain, as Bushtush burned Ferrothorn with his first Scald. Without Ferrothorn, Chaitanya struggled against the sturdy Tentacruel and Jellicent core, as well as Politoed. Despite Chaitanya's careful maneuvering, without a Water-resistant Pokémon, he quickly folded to Bushtush's Agility Empoleon.

Final Standings

— Click to view the Record Spreadsheet! —

Bell Tower Braves (4 - 1 - 2, 10 Points)
Tohjo Falls Thunders (4 - 1 - 2, 10 Points)
Blackthorn Bucks (3 - 1 - 3, 9 Points)
Trick House Treeckos (2 - 1 - 4, 8 Points)
Goldenrod Gengars (2 - 4 - 1, 5 Points)
Meteor Falls Miniors (2 - 4 - 1, 5 Points)
Dreamyard Darkrais (2 - 4 - 1, 5 Points)
Hearthome Honchkrows ( 1 - 4 - 2, 4 Points)

Playoffs

To the surprise of many, only two of the projected teams from the Power Rankings found themselves in playoffs. Two highly anticipated teams in Goldenrod Gengars and Hearthome Honchkrows who also coincidentally were former MPL champions could not meet the high expectations, and in their stead, two underrated teams in the Bell Tower Braves and Trick House Treeckos who were ranked at the lattermost end of the rankings snatched the last two playoffs spots in dominating fashion. The semifinals matchups were the Bell Tower Braves vs. Trick House Treeckos and the Tohjo Falls Thunders vs. Blackthorn Bucks. Both matchups ended up in a tie in their regular season encounters, so the matchups were neck and neck until the very last day, with Bell Tower Braves and Tohjo Falls Thunders barely winning the semifinals, both; coming out on top with close 5-3 scores and securing their spot in the finals.

1. Bell Tower Braves (5) vs. 2. Tohjo Falls Thunders (2)

After some hard fought semifinals matchups, the Bell Tower Braves and Tohjo Falls Thunders found themselves facing off against each other in the finals for the MPL VII championship. Despite the Tohjo Falls Thunders emerging victorious in their regular season encounter, the finals was anybody's game with both teams having performed extremely well up until that point. Despite their SS lineup having done decently during the tournament, the general consensus was that the Braves SS lineup was lacking in many ways. However, their old generations core more than made up for it, especially with heavy hitters such as lax, SoulWind, and Bushtush on their side. On the other hand, the Thunders sported a much more consistent lineup across all tiers, most in part due to their "3k gang" having overperformed and exceeded everyone's expectations.

The finals kicked off with tko vs. Conflux, with a Flying vs. Ground matchup leaving both players at equal odds. Despite Conflux making some extremely questionable plays at times and not utilizing Nidoking to its fullest potential in a matchup it is expected to thrive in, he managed to come back in the second half of the game, positioning himself well for a potential win; however, unfortunately for him, and the Thunders, for the first time ever in an MPL finals game, his timer ran out in anticlimactic fashion resulting in a win for tko. The next game was the regular season rematch between Harpp and IPF. The matchup was heavily favored towards Harpp, with IPF having very little counterplay against Harpp's Fairy team with his Water team. As a result, Harpp seemed to be in the driver's seat for majority of the game; however, due to some extremely questionable plays such as switching out his Tapu Bulu vs. Keldeo, in the latter half of the game, IPF took advantage of the situation and with two well-timed Scald burns, IPF came out as the victor in their second encounter as well.

Next up was perhaps the most anticipated game of the finals, SoulWind vs. Sabella. With SoulWind being SoulWind and Sabella dominating BW Monotype over the past two years while being one of, if not the best builder in the tier, it was a game everyone looked forward to. At Team Preview, SoulWind's Fighting team had an advantage against Sabella's Water team. While Sabella's hazard stack did prove to be threatening, allowing his only Breloom check in Tentacruel to be paralyzed very early in the game led to SoulWind's imminent victory as Breloom was near unstoppable from there. lax vs. S1nn0hC0nfirm3d was another highly anticipated matchup of the finals. Similar to SoulWind's game, lax's status as one of the best of the best and S1nn0hC0nfirm3d's as the holder of the best ORAS record of the tournament at 7-1 at the time led to the game being an immediate fan favorite. Unfortunately for the masses, the game did not live up to expectations, mostly in part due to the not-so-great matchup with lax's Psychic team overpowering S1nn0h's Electric team in a multitude of ways. As such, lax won without much trouble and avenged himself after their regular season encounter.

Next up was TJ vs. Leo. After multiple extremely questionable showings in Monotype from Leo, many question marks lingered if he'd be able to succeed in the finals and that he did. With some immaculate play, he had no trouble winning against TJ's Flying team with his Steel team. The sixth game of the finals was a showdown and a rematch(!) between the managers in Mateeus and Splash. Admittedly, while the matchup was horrendous for Mateeus, he made a number of questionable plays; however, an early High Jump Kick miss from Splash sealed the deal. Staraptor being KOed, and Porygon2 being chipped significantly didn't help his case either, as it paved the way for a Mega Scizor sweep, resulting in Mat's Steel team emerging victorious against Splash's Normal team. The last game of the finals was SwordStrike vs. Fylkir Pudin. Despite SwordStrike being an unknown entity within the Monotype community, his wins against the top 2 SS players in the pool had gotten him considerable attention. The matchup was in Fylkir's favor with threats such as Kyurem and Hydreigon. However, an untimely critical hit on Kyurem coupled with Fylkir not preserving it for later, allowed SwordStrike's Celesteela to wall the rest of Fylkir's team, resulting in his win.

With this, the Bell Tower Braves led by Mateeus and Jolly Togekiss emerged victorious with a 5-2 score and claimed the title as the champions of the 7th iteration of MPL after a dominant showing throughout the tournament, also taking first seed in regular season.

Manager Interviews

General Questions

Many new trends and advancements were made since last MPL in addition to Urshifu-S receiving a ban approximately two months prior. Were there any specific trends you were most anxious about throughout the tournament or was your prepping style unaffected?

I don't think the three old generations had changed much in regards of how to prep because they have been fairly static since last MPL, with a few new trends here and there but nothing that would shift the "status" of the meta entirely. SM, which was the metagame I prepared the most, had people recycling teams here and there, so we tried to take advantage of that via classic scouting and metagaming, just like I did in other tournaments I managed in such as BLT and MWP. ORAS felt very similar to SM, and BW was slightly more complicated because people were actively building for it from the few times I was involved. SS, on the other hand, seemed the hardest to build and prep because it had evolved so much from its rudimentary status last MPL that the metagame was completely different, but thankfully JT did wonders on that front.

— Braves

Trendswise, I was very interested in seeing if people would find away to deal with the ever-so-popular Specs Zapdos Electric teams early on, and that Electric hype definitely died down and the type proven to be easily dealt with through various ways, as its winrate was a horrendous 14% LOL. It was crazy to see even the more relevant players asking to QB or suspect Zapdos just prior to the tour, goes to show that the metagame adapted fine. Also during the early-middle weeks, Poison caught a wave because of Crobat being the answer to Substitute Galarian Moltres and had a pretty good winrate. Ice and Ground also picked up usage throughout this tour and overall were not prepped for well in my opinion, thus giving them some very good 60%+ winrates. In the later weeks Conflux, AA and I toyed with Water builds and saw that it was not being used a lot, so we had it prepared in multiple slots in playoffs, and it proved to be successful. Overall Flying and Steel proved to be everyones comfort pick in SS Monotype throughout the tour and especially proved that in finals, as our opponents were set to bring Flying in all 4 SS slots.

— Thunders

After the draft concluded, many managers mentioned that every team looked well composed and evenly matched. How did you see the level of competition in this year's MPL? Were there any teams you were more worried about compared to others?

I was surprised that the community fielded eight very competitive teams on their own this year as we saw many staples depart in the yearly gap, and replacement wasn't really looking the brightest considering the signup sheet was rather dry until the final two or three days. I think every manager pair drafted a group of players that meshed well with their respective strategy, so there weren't any teams that could be outright be given less or more attention at day one. Personally, however, I found the Darkrais and the Thunders the most threatening on paper. The Darkrais had a solid draft filled with established and active Mono mains like Floss, Kev, maroon, Kaguya Lys, and Zap, so preparing against them would be theoretically the hardest, while the Thunders had the quality of both Sabella and Star, good tournament regulars like IPF, Gtcha, and S1nn0h, as well as Splash and Conflux to fuel them with proper teams, meaning they would always be tough to beat.

— Braves

I also saw that every team looked pretty evenly matched on paper and that any of the 8 teams had a good shot to make playoffs. Although the level of the competition wasn't up to par to MPL 5 or MPL 6, I'm excited now to see the fresh wave of Monotype players coming in. As for the teams, I was quite surprised to see the Gengars draft such a team on paper, in addition to the Bucks as well. Prior to week 1 though, nobody else stood out as dominant teams. Overall all 8 teams seemed to be closer in terms of strength compared to the last two iterations of this tour.

— Thunders

Was there a player in particular (on your team or another's) who really surprised you with their results, and why?

I think SwordStrike and Sificon were who surprised me the most regarding our team because they weren't really known in the community before and we got them based on the OU high ladder / tournament replays they had sent us as tryouts. While we knew they had a high skill ceiling, going 5-0 combined in their very first MPL is something else, and it gets even more shocking when the games they won were either against top players or the last game of the week. As for players on other teams, kythr definitely blew everyone out of the water with that 8-0 record. I always thought he was a great player and even ranked him #3 in the SS Monotype Power Rankings for this MPL, but most people (myself included) weren't expecting such a record, and I'm happy for him as he's a friend.

— Braves

Yeah I may as well go ahead and shoutout my all my 3k buys, as they produced so many wins and really stepped up to the plate, but S1nn0hC0nfirm3d (7-2) and IPF (5-2) stand out the most as they both took in the time each and every week to engage in talks about their team and test the team until they feel comfortable with it. Another thing that put a smile on my face was to see Attribute have a noteworthy 5-2 performance that had been a long time coming. In the past, as we know, his records have not been the best, but as we all know records don't completely tell the story of the player and their skill at this game, so I'm happy for him. I also was very surprised to see Rinda and yedla, the great new Frenchies on the block, have great 5-2 performances. Lastly, it was great to see both Crashy and Maroon have great tours as well.

— Thunders

Braves (Personalized)

Congratulations on winning MPL VII! You have both managed in Mono's BLT, a less prestigious tournament in comparison to MPL, but this was your first year ever managing in MPL. Do you feel like that tournament helped finetune your managerial skills so you can more easily adapt to the new environment, or are they not comparable?

Historically, Monotype BLT has been a great stepping stone for managing in the bigger Monotype team tournaments such as MWP and MPL, and I think it was no exception in my case. Since managing in Monotype BLT involves dealing with a mesh of experienced and novice players to the tier, it challenges you to do a variety of managerial related things at an entry level, ranging from draft planning and scouting for talent to metagaming and ensuring team atmosphere is at its best. If managing in MPL wasn't really a complicated thing to do, I think it's because BLT helped develop most of the required skills. Really wish the community looked better upon Monotype BLT; few tiers dedicate an entire tournament for newer folks to prove their worth as we do, and it could be a solution to our replacement problem.

— Mateeus

The PR had numerous players on your team ranked at 5th and below with your overall ranking being a tied 6th going into the tournament. Were these placements fuel for your team to set the record straight, or do you believe many of these opinions were due to other factors such as past tournament records, inexperience or bias?

I strongly believe that, at the end of the day, power rankings will always be biased no matter what, because they're ultimately decided by opinionated standpoints from 16 different people, and each has their own take on which criteria should be used to rank all players. As a team, we didn't care much—or at all—about our placement in the PR, which helped us stay focused in achieving our subsequent goals throughout the tournament.

— Mateeus

Thunders (Personalized)

You guys are the first manager replacements in MPL history, and this was your first year managing a team. How did it feel when you were chosen to manage? Were you excited and confident you would do well, or did you have first year jitters?

When I heard the news that we were chosen to manage I was sort of already in a break mood and had no intention of signing up for the tour itself, as I felt that we were robbed of the manager spot in the first place, so I was then going to use my time to enjoy summer LOL. As soon as we got selected officially and all Conflux and I told eachother that we were going to win it all and sort of prove to everybody that we were supposed to have been picked right away. We were very confident and took it pretty seriously, every step of the way, as we both knew that we belonged. Tough that we fell short only one step of the intended goal, but overall it was a fun experience.

— Splash

We have seen many different auction strategies over the years but we have never witnessed managers buy two players averaging over 40k while also buying both themselves. Was this strategy intentional? If it was, what inspired it? If it wasn't, what adjustment was made to adapt your plan for the rest of the auction?

A very notorious situation, and a question I'm happy to answer publicly after all. Yes, our plan was to get both Sabella + Star on this team, but we predicted them both to go for about 35k max (leaving us an extra 13k that we would have had). Nonetheless, the price for Sabella was fine; however, not gonna lie, Conflux and I were heavily debating if we made a hasty decision to get both the guys we wanted after we were left with only room to buy 3ks the rest of the way. To offset this, though thankfully we ended up getting the guys we wanted for cheaper than I anticipated such as Fylkir, IPF, Leo, Gtcha, and Ho3n, and they were on our draft plan in the first place so we didn't actually have to change much. In the end this strategy was intentional, as those two were the guys we wanted; Sabella is able to take care of the BW slot on his own, which is a tier Conflux and I had a decent amount of knowledge on but certainly are not connoisseurs of. As for Star, he has one of the best records on the sheet and would man the BO3 slot, and due to that we were confident that Conflux, Sabella and myself would be able to support him with optimal teams in all four gens. What inspired the idea was that if we are able to get two guys that are winners and are able to generate wins consistently, we theoretically only need three more wins to win each week out of the remaining six slots. Overall we were getting a lot of flak and criticism from people, but we were both confident in this strategy and I am glad it worked out for the most part.

— Splash

Closing Thoughts

Overall, this was an exciting and intense MPL. Congratulations to the brand new franchise, the Bell Tower Braves that have come out victorious, lead by first-time MPL managers Mateeus and Jolly Togekiss. That's all folks, see you after MPL VIII!

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