Premier League Spotlights: PUPL

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Introduction

Hello, and welcome to Premier League Coverage! Premier Leagues are special tournaments where players enter and hope to be drafted on to one of six teams. The teams then work together to beat other teams in a variety of tiers while trying to get the best possible record to qualify for the finals and hopefully become the champions!

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Introduction to PUPL

The PUPL entered its second edition led by Magnemite, galbia, and Akir. This PUPL was also special, as it is PU's first Premier League as an official tier. Each week four ORAS PU, one XY PU, and one BW2 PU matches were played by each team. The tournament was stylized as a Round Robin Tournament, meaning that each team would play all of the other teams over the span of five weeks. The teams with the two best records would then move on to the finals to determine the overall winner.

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The Auction

The auction was held on May 8th. Each manager was given 100,000 points to spend by bidding on and drafting players. The draft resulted in these teams:

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The most expensive player in the draft was Megazard, who was bought for 18,500 points.

Shoutout to Nineage for hosting the bot for the tournament!

When going into a draft, managers usually have a strategy for how they are going to draft their team. They may sometimes aim to acquire specific players, but most tend to adopt broader strategies. Here are some strategies that the managers in the PUPL adopted.

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Early Weeks

Week 1 saw a quick first victory by Omfuga for the Shoegazing Stoutlands, which began the strong 5-1 victory that the Stoutlands achieved over the Olivine Octilleries. The second match played resulted in Rawmelon's win over Megazard to start the Lilycove Leafeon's 4-2 victory over the Half-Blood Prinplups. The Nimbasa Ninetales also ended the week with a 4-2 victory over the Supercilious Swalots, ending Week 1 with a strong start for the rest of the tournament.

In Week 2, the Shoegazing Stoutlands' and the Lilycove Leafeons' momentum seemed to have slown down. Both teams ended the week in 3-3 ties with the Supercilious Swalots and Olivine Octilleries, respectively, and put themselves into a precarious tied second place position going into Week 3. The Olivine Octilleries also seemed to be gaining momentum, as they went from a 1-5 loss in Week 1 into a 3-3 tie with the Leafeons. The Supercilious Swalots similarly showed signs of improvement by going from a 2-4 loss in Week 1 into a 3-3 tie in Week 2 with sights on only improving. The Nimbasa Ninetales, however, took the opportunity that the Stoutlands and Leafeons left open to achieve a solid 5-1 win over the Half-Blood Prinplups and solidify their first place ranking.

Week 3 saw the Ninetales pushing their advantage with a 4-2 win over the previous second place team, the Lilycove Leafeons. The Shoegazing Stoutlands followed the Ninetales in a close second with a convincing 5-1 victory over the Prinplups. The Octilleries and Swalots tied, and with the Leafeons taking their first loss, the position of third became close. The Prinplups also endured their third loss, which put their playoff prospects looking bleak. The tournament was far from over, though, as the Ninetales sat at a first place contested by the Stoutlands while the Leafeons, the Swalots, and the Octilleries fought over third and a hopeful chance at the playoffs.

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Later Weeks

Week 4's highlight was the long-awaited matchup between the League's top 2 teams: the Shoegazing Stoutlands and the Nimbasa Ninetales. The match between the two lead teams came down to HJAD vs. Tect, where HJAD was able to win for the Stoutlands and pulled the team into first place over the Ninetales with a 4-2 victory. The Leafeons and Swalots also fought over who would pull ahead of the other for third place, but ultimately ended their series in a 3-3 tie. The Prinplups also achieved their first victory over the Octilleries, putting the Octilleries into a bleak position for finals as all six teams headed into Week 5.

Week 5 gave the Leafeons their last chance at making it to the finals if they were able to pull the upset over the Stoutlands. However, the Stoutlands proved why they were the ones in the lead and won a convincing 5-1 victory over the Leafeons. The Ninetales then beat the Octilleries in a 5-1 victory to secure their finals spot, and the Swalots went up against the Prinplups and won handily to barely beat out the Leafeons for third.

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From here the finals were decided to be the Nimbasa Ninetales versus the Shoegazing Stoutlands. The Stoutlands prepared for a repeat of Week 4, while the Ninetales got ready to turn the tables on the Stoutlands.

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The Finals

The finals were won by the Shoegazing Stoutlands with a 4-2 victory over the Nimbasa Ninetales. BW2 and XY matches were the first matches played and resulted in wins for the Stoutlands, as Omfuga and Tricking won against FLCL and Andromeda., respectively. This left the Ninetales in a precarious position. The Ninetales would have to pull off an upset victory by winning every single ORAS match in order to win. With one single loss, the Ninetales would have to try to force a tie and win the tiebreaker.

The third match was won by Teddeh and left the Stoutlands with only needing one more win to win the tournament and left the Ninetales to force a tiebreaker match. Even with the odds against them, the Ninetales blazed back with Optical Real and Tect winning the next two ORAS games and opening up the possibility of a comeback. The final match was a close game but in the end, cryalot won the match and the tournament for the Stoutlands.

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Highlight Match

The highlight for this round of the PUPL was Teddeh vs. Thisbemyalt in the Finals. This match was a pivotal point in the finals, as it was the first ORAS match played and followed the Stoutland's early victories in both BW2 and ORAS. The Ninetales needed to win this match if they wanted any hope of winning the finals. A loss for the Ninetales would mean that their best hope would be to win the possible tiebreaker that they would only achieve by not letting the Stoutlands win any more matches.

Teddeh brought his iconic Chinchou to the match as well as the fairly new addition to the tier: Mawile. Thisbemyalt brought a Chatot that threatened to tear holes into Teddeh's team, as Teddeh's only resistance to Boomburst was provided by his Mawile, which could possibly only survive one single Boomburst. In the end, Teddeh's careful play of his Mawile and a few good predictions with his Beheeyem gave him the victory and put the Stoutlands one game away from winning the tournament.

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Closing Words

PU's first Premier League as an official tier ran smoothly and ended with plenty of fantastic play and interesting teams. Even though the PUPL is finished for this year, now is a great time to try out Smogon's newest tier!

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Conclusion

Join us next time for a recap of LCPL!

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Puzzle Page

Welcome to the third edition of the Flying Press's Puzzle Page! Thanks to all of those who sent in their answers. In the end, the first person that submitted all of the correct answers and won the custom title was lovemathboy! However, DarkShinyGiratina and Someoneelse also got every answer correct, so congratulations to all of them. As usual, anyone who submitted correct answers has earned points on the leaderboard at the bottom of the page.

Thanks to all of the members of the puzzle team who helped out with the puzzles in this edition, including Anty, DarkShinyGiratina, ILRB, Irraquated, Ksh13, and Kris!

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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. Larynx Dooms Labs (2 Terms: Pokémon, Move)
2. Electrification Homicides Main (3 Terms: Pokémon, Move, Ability)
3. Cauliflowers Built Open Net (3 Terms: Pokémon, Item, Main Series Location)

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 V Dragon-type][Gen V Dragon-type][Gen I Setup Move][Berry Species (excluding the word "Berry")][Gen V Water-type][Gen IV Ability][Gen II Rock-type][Gen V Flying-type][Gen II Status Move][Gen VI Ability][Gen I Water-type][Fossil]
2. [Signature Move][Pokémon with a Signature Move][Gen IV Fighting-type][Berry Species (excluding the word "Berry")][Pokemon with a Signature Ability][Signature Move][Signature Move][Gen V Fighting-type][Move that is Exclusive to Electric-types][Signature Move]
3. [Gen III Bug-type][Poison-type Status Move][Gen IV Ability][Physical Fighting-type Move][Special Flying-type Move][Special Fire-type Move][Electric-type Status Move][Physical Steel-type Move][Berry Species (excluding the word "Berry")][Gen II Ground-type][Gen II Ground-type][Gen VI Normal-type][Grass-type Status Move][CAP Pokemon]

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. Exploud, Mawile, Rhydon, Rhyhorn, Rhyperior, Smeargle (2 Parameters)
2. Cacnea, Cacturne, Drapion, Qwilfish, Smeargle (1 Parameter, 1 Exclusion)
3. Altaria, Latios, Masquerain, Salamence, Swablu, Swellow, Taillow (3 Parameters)

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.

MASASDAM SO LRNAM PWWC MGEEGEG? SO MGEEGEG ZL QZXXAMAYE XMWS MAJRCGM MGEEGEG. ZE'L CZHA SO MGEEGEG ZL ZY EUA EWN NAMPAYEGJA WX GCC MGEEGEG.

Cryptic "Psywaves" 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. There are some clues that are known as "Psywaves" and are split up phonetically or by spelling; you have to figure out what the terms form when they come together. For example, Onomatopoeia Word + Hole + Letter of the Alphabet equates to Pupitar, as "pew" is an onomatopoeia word, "pit" is a synonym for hole, and "ar" sounds like R, one of the letters of the alphabet. Be aware that some of the clues may consist of multiple words.

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. lovemathboy: 50 points
2. Kit Kasai: 41 points
3. baconbagon: 26 points
4. DarkShinyGiratina: 25 points
5. Someoneelse: 25 points
6. EnemyJurist: 24 points
7. Awesomepi: 23 points
8. Calm: 20 points
9. Kyubics: 20 points
10. eeveeattract: 19 points
11. Blitzamirin: 16 points
12. Chimechoo: 16 points
13. Dogfish44: 16 points
14. Fuuta of the Stars: 16 points
15. Seito Hakari: 16 points
16. shadowmist: 16 points
17. SparksBlade: 16 points
18. Tralf: 16 points
19. rhydreigon: 14 points
20. Yoda2798: 14 points
21. Mowtom: 13 points
22. xXDuongDannyXx: 13 points
23. chuckaboomboom: 12 points
24. HeadsILoseTailsYouWin: 11 points
25. Mishimono: 11 points
26. VeryPinkPancakes: 11 points
27. asparandix: 9 points
28. Swede: 7 points
29. Plaessynplaeae: 5 points
30. Reigaheres: 5 points
31. Yellow Paint: 5 points
32. Amitghosh: 3 points
33. aXl: 3 points
34. BenTheDemon: 3 points
35. Epic_Mewtwo: 3 points
36. Memoric: 3 points
37. Sobi: 3 points
38. Vader_the_White: 3 points

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