RUGL I Recap

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Intro

Following the annual draft for RUPL, the Rarely Used Premier League, discussions were held regarding the creation of a farm league to give players who didn't make the cut another opportunity to play in a team tournament. RUPL had just over 200 signups, of which only 89 were drafted, leaving plenty of talented players left in the undrafted pool. These players, and many who got drafted but weren't expected to start, were given their chance to play in the newly minted Rarely Used Gaming League, or RUGL for short.

RUGL garnered significant interest right out of the gate, having 180 total signups, some of whom were projected starters in RUPL. The budget was expanded slightly in comparison to RUPL to help promote larger team sizes while the managers tried to work their way through the first draft. A key difference between RUPL and RUGL was swapping the best-of-three slot to an ADV slot, a relatively new tier that was gaining steam across the community. This change was overwhelmingly accepted and appreciated, as signups for the tier far surpassed expectations—forty-one players signed up for ADV RU in RUGL alone, more than BW and ORAS and just shy of surpassing SM.

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Draft

Eight teams headed into the draft with a starting budget of 110k credits to spend on their team, along with a rule that only allowed one manager self-buy. This budget was enough for teams to comfortably draft their starting eight players and a handful of substitutes, allowing the teams to finish with an average roster size of roughly thirteen players. RUPL, for reference, had an average roster size of roughly eleven players.

As is the case for most Smogon tournaments, signups were comprised of three loose tiers of players: "mainers", who played the tiers regularly, "tour mainers", who were good Pokémon players but weren't exactly staples in the RU community, and old gens players, who showed up for any tournament that offered a chance to play their favorite tiers from the past. Below is a list of the notable names who signed up in each category:

Mainers: EviGaro, FlamPoke, HaxxSel, HoopsspooH, LBN, MachJacob, Ming549, THE_CHUNGLER, TheFranklin, toinha

- Some exceptional talent out of the mainers pool showed up to play, with former TL EviGaro and current TL TheFranklin both managing RUPL and coming to play in BW. A few newer names are in this lineup as well, as FlamPoke, HoopsspooH, Ming549, and THE_CHUNGLER are relative newcomers to the RU tournament scene but not unfamiliar to those who play the RU ladder.

Tour Mainers: Corperate n, Drud, FFK, Hacker, LpZ, sasha, Seraphz, TyCarter, yovan33321

- Corperate n and Drud were two omissions from this iteration of RUPL and stood out as strong lower tiers players who often did well in the many tournaments they participated in. LpZ and TyCarter both got drafted into RUPL and looked to be top players for whichever team landed them.

Old Gens: LegendarySerperior, Miyami~~~, MrAldo, neomon, Oathkeeper, Queen of Bean, SEA

- A lot of star power showed up to play the old generations, including two of the top names in the ADV pool in Queen of Bean and SEA. ORAS also looked like there would be stiff competition, as the rest of the list were all capable starters in that slot if needed.

Sassy Stantlers

The Sassy Stantlers elected to self-buy manager Sneakyplanner and headed into the draft with 98k remaining credits, enough to pick up some considerable talent with names like LpZ, Haxxsel, and Miyami~~~ among them. With thirteen total players, the Sassy Stantlers scooped up plenty of substitutes to support their starters. Both managers were newcomers to the managerial scene, as was the theme for many of the teams in RUGL, but they still managed to secure a solid cast of players and builders.

Sneaky good pick: LittEleven

Snow Warners

The Snow Warners were one of two teams to not self-buy a manager, giving them an advantage heading into the draft with the full 110k budget at their disposal. Allocating big money to big names early, the Snow Warners nabbed Drud, SEA, and yovan33321, giving them a strong starting lineup with recognizable tournament names while still rounding off their draft with twelve total players. The Snow Warners recognized the value of their starting core, drafting eight players at or above 10k credits.

Warning, this person should have gone earlier in the draft: wangyu

Regenehaters

The Regenehaters self-bought relative newcomer Forest Guardian, putting them at 98k remaining credits. Wanting to capitalize on this, they began their roster by bidding on RU Tier Leader TheFranklin, one of the most successful RU mainers on Smogon, followed up by other great players in GoldCat, dunoks, and MachJacob. The big cost for their early picks left them with too little budget to round out their substitutes, finishing with only eleven total players, although most of their team could support multiple slots to make up for this lack of depth.

Regenerated their lineup: Kindyy

Mashallah Mausholds

Picking fourth in the draft were the Mashallah Mausholds, who self-bought sasha, leaving them at an even 100k credits. Their draft started with some heavy hitters in mcnmt, Cielau, THE_CHUNGLER, and avarice, all of whom were drafted in RUPL as well. They rounded out their draft with plenty of strong substitutes like Hyper bol and DripLegend, giving them thirteen total players.

Mashallah to this steal: Kiyo

Canadiancies

The Canadiancies self-bought recently appointed RU Tier Leader feen, leaving them with only 92k credits. Despite this handicap, the team from up north were still able to grab former RUTL EviGaro, Yaily, and Ming549 before finishing their draft with eleven total players. Another team that relied on a smaller roster with versatile players and builders, which isn't a bad strategy with the star power at their disposal.

Local Canadian saves season: LegendarySerperior

Fino Fennekins

Despite having Lime, a strong name in recent SV RU tournaments, as one of the managers available to self-buy, the Fino Fennekins opted to retain their full 110k budget for the draft. With this money, they started off strong with names like zS, myjava, RaJ.Shoot, and Ashbala before finishing their roster with a sizable fifteen total players. An immediate cause for concern for the Fennekins was the lack of solid RU mainers, meaning they'd lack some experience in the builder, but they got plenty of talent regardless.

A not to be forgotten fire starter: sufys

Team Liquidation

Team Liquidation elected to self-buy xXcrossbowXx, leaving them 96k credits heading into the draft. With their budget, they began the draft by selecting FlamPoke, toinha, and Queen of Bean, solidifying their SV core and giving them arguably the best name in the ADV pool. The rest of their draft was spent picking up players who could help support multiple tiers, giving them a twelve-person roster in total. The priciest selection of the draft belongs to Team Liquidation with Oathkeeper being a mid-draft selection who saw their value skyrocket in an intense bidding war.

LIQUIDATING TIL THE DAY I DIE: TomatoZause

Fullmetal Alcremies

Last to pick in the draft were the Fullmetal Alcremies, who self-bought Seraphz, giving them a budget of 100k. This budget went quickly as they picked up MrAldo, LBN, BigFatMantis, and HoopsspooH, a very solid but expensive starting lineup. Despite their early draft costing so much, they finished with a league-leading sixteen total players.

Fullmetal and full of gold: Geomancy

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Early-season

RUGL started off as expected, with three of the four matchups in week one ending in a tie, demonstrating how tight the competition was going to be in this inaugural season. Some drama ensued when the Pokémon Showdown! servers had difficulties, though this was quickly resolved and the tournament continued on a regular basis. Week two saw another three matchups result in ties, though the matchup between Team Liquidation and the Sassy Stantlers resulted in a blowout win in favor of the Liquidations. Jumping out to a monumental lead, Team Liquidation were heavy favorites heading into the mid-season following this performance, while the Stantlers fell behind in an otherwise tight race.

Notable early-season games

Queen of Bean vs SEA - Two of the top names in the ADV pool got matched in week one and did not disappoint, showcasing the kinds of innovation occurring in the newly founded ADV RU tier. Swords Dance Meganium made a guest appearance, as did Destiny Bond Salac Berry Haunter, though neither quite put in the work. The endgame was marred by a bit of misfortune on SEA's side, unfortunately, but Queen of Bean still demonstrated why they were ranked number one in the preseason ADV ranking by Amity and LpZ.

MachJacob vs THE_CHUNGLER - Two developing names in the RU community faced off in week two with lots of hype surrounding what would ultimately be a great game as MJ pulled through with a big win. This game showcased the efficacy of Calm Mind Cobalion, a somewhat new development in SV RU that was starting to gain traction because of its excellent utility and matchups into the metagame.

Mid-season:

Week three continued the trend of three series resulting in a tie. Competition amongst the teams remained tight, and the playoff race was open to anybody at this point: incredibly, three of the eight teams still had not won or lost a week! Week four was much more dynamic, as no series ended in a draw for the first time, with the Sassy Stantlers making some ground on their point differential with a solid 6-2 win over the Canadiancies. Team Liquidation and the Fino Fennekins were leading the way thus far, both comfortably ahead of the pack and looking like playoff favorites. Week five came around, and two teams, the Mashallah Mausholds and Regenehaters, both saw their playoff hopes go on life support, needing to win out for a chance to make the top cut. The Snow Warners and Fullmetal Alcremies were seemingly in control of their own destiny as well, leading to a really interesting set of scenarios where every team had the potential to make the playoffs.

Notable mid-season games

Flampoke vs Seraphz - In very typical SV RU fashion, Seraphz loaded hyper offense, albeit with some unique twists in Sticky Web + Cloyster. HO had seen resounding success in SV RU across RUPL and RUGL with some dominating showings, resulting in multiple HO Pokémon like Iron Leaves getting banned for their enabling of the playstyle, though this didn't stop it from being incredibly potent. FlamPoke managed to come back from a huge deficit after Seraphz predicted a Tera and had the game seemingly won.

wangyu vs FadedCharm - wangyu, off to a hot start as a starter considering they went for just 3k in the draft on a seemingly loaded roster, managed to squeeze a win against one of the better SM players in the pool in FadedCharm. With help from teammate Metallica126, wangyu clearly trained their team well as Milotic froze a Bewear that was on a rampage, sealing an otherwise tight game. Special appearance by a Pursuit Metagross that managed to snipe a Bronzong on a hard switch out, which really helped positioning late-game.

feen vs HaxxSel - RUTL feen had his work cut out for him against HaxxSel as two of the strongest SS players faced off. Feen and his team of six obnoxiously fat stall Pokémon were able to win against a more offensive structure that HaxxSel brought, showing the capacity of a defensive combination of Audino and Quagsire.

Miyami vs LegendarySerperior - Another noteworthy game by LegendarySerperior, this time against one of the strongest ORAS opponents they could find in Miyami. Miyami loaded a very unconventional team, with Malamar and Omastar both getting some love, while Serp brought a Sunny Day squad hoping to power through standard ORAS balance structures with offensive Venusaur and Emboar. Miyami got quite lucky with some RestTalk rolls: hopefully that Malamar was compensated for its overtime here.

Late-season

With two weeks left in the regular season, playoff aspirations were abundant, as each team still had a reasonable chance to qualify for the postseason. Team Liquidation and the Fino Fennekins had to feel good about their hopes after jumping out to big leads early in the season and maintaining them through five weeks, though the rest of the pool were no slouches either. Despite their tough early season, the Sassy Stantlers were in third overall, with the Snow Warners close behind to round out the preliminary top four. Week six was essentially make-or-break for the rest of the pool, as the margins at this point were razor thin. Taking note of this, the Regenehaters and Fullmetal Alcremies came through clutch with wins over the Stantlers and Canadiancies, respectively. The Mausholds and Snow Warners ended their series in a tie, making the playoffs ultimately impossible for the Mausholds. Week seven had massive playoff implications now, as seven of the eight teams had hopes, though the top two seeds were ultimately secured by Team Liquidation and the Fennekins. With two spots remaining for the five teams in contention, matchups between the Stantlers versus Snow Warners and the Canadiancies versus Fennekins loomed large.

Notable late-season games

TheFranklin vs Sneakyplanner - With their playoff hopes on the line, Sneaky was the underdog against RUTL Franklin, arguably the best RU player in the entire pool. With a bit of luck on a Dynamic Punch immediately into Sceptile hitting itself, Sneaky came through for her team to help secure a win against the Regenehaters, although they ended up losing the week despite this.

gulch vs BigFatMantis - BigFatMantis secured a win both for themselves and their team over gulch, preventing the Fullmetal Alcremies from being eliminated in week six. Lead Octillery put in overtime for gulch, though, demonstrating the flexibility that exists in ADV RU, as it wasn't a common Pokémon throughout the first portion of the season, since most Water-type leads like Poliwrath and Politoed were generally seen as better.

Corperate n vs Drud - Corp wrapped up a solid regular season with a win over Drud, helping cement the Stantlers into the playoff picture. While Drud had a pretty poor season with regards to win:loss, he was still a formidable opponent and had a really strong HO team packed to the brim with threats like Hisuian Lilligant, Mew, and Revavroom. Corp, however, had a team with reliable answers to these setup nightmares, neutralizing Mew with Jirachi, forcing a Tera out of Hisuian Lilligant with Fezandipiti, and cleaning up late-game with a Flame Orb Conkeldurr.

End of season recap

Following a very successful debut for RUGL, the playoff picture wrapped up with Team Liquidation, the Fino Fennekins, the Sassy Stantlers, and the Canadiancies all making it to the postseason. Though the remaining teams were out of the picture, they still had some major takeaways from the season as a whole: several players and managers, including top performers like toinha, xXCrossbowXx, hi.namingishard, LegendarySerperior, THE_CHUNGLER, and wangyu, excelled in their positions, likely securing future roster spots for tournaments like RUPL, RU World Cup (RUWC), and even SCL potentially. ADV being included wound up being immensely successful and impactful, with consideration for its placement in RUWC being a direct result of the interest it demonstrated all season. Likewise, SV went through several changes over the season because of tiering actions, and the players who adapted to these changes best could use this as leverage for future events.

Semifinals

The semifinals slotted Team Liquidation vs the Canadiancies and the Fino Fennekins vs the Sassy Stantlers, both very tight matchups that resulted in ties during the regular season. The Sassy Stantlers jumped out to an early deficit, losing their first game before a resounding comeback saw them emerge victorious at 6-1. Team Liquidation, meanwhile, fought a valiant fight with the Canadiancies, trading blows early to go 2-2 before finishing the job with three straight wins. Team Liquidation had remained a top team all season, so this was no surprise, though the Stantlers made an astounding comeback after their 0-8 blowout in week two: the finals looked to be shaping up for a more competitive series than before.

toinha vs Ming549 - In a battle between two of the best SV players all season, toinha loaded a surprisingly... honest team, given the stakes. Ming, however, capitalized on the tier shifts that just occurred and emerged victorious using two of the new drops and a Suicune set that was quite innovative, using Shadow Ball to hammer opposing Calm Mind sweepers like Reuniclus and Slowbro.

zS vs Tack - Tack, having covered for BW and ADV this tour, brought a Choice Band Swalot that paid dividends on a team that also loaded lead Poliwrath. zS is also a non-ADV mainer who had a good season overall with support from outsiders like Amity, bringing a cool Calm Mind setup sweeper in Chimecho that unfortunately couldn't get the job done.

TomatoZause vs BeTheShadow - Zause loaded a Choice Scarf Trick Slowbro stall team that caught an opposing Slowbro early, making a very long game much easier to maneuver. Choice Specs Hisuian Goodra was a notable addition to the team here, providing immense upside as a wallbreaker while using Umbreon Wish support to remain healthy.

Finals

With the championship on the line, Team Liquidation and the Sassy Stantlers traded blow for blow during their finals matchup quite literally, taking turns notching wins over the other for the entire series. In a relative upset, several underdogs secured wins, notably Tack beating Queen of Bean to start the set and Miyami overcoming a huge deficit early against Oathkeeper to force a do-or-die game for Team Liquidation. With the season on the line and down 3-4, the Liquidations watched as relative newcomer FlamPoke managed to squeeze out a win over other newcomer Seed, securing the tie and forcing a best-of-three tiebreak scenario. With the default SV game locked in, both teams had to decide on what to pick for the tiebreak: Team Liquidation selected SS, where manager Crossbow resided with support of fellow manager Sol and shadow manager Oyster, while the Stantlers went with ORAS, home to Miyami and supported by teammate Tack.

SV was favored for Team Liquidation as a whole, but with only one game to play in the tiebreak, Corp gave the Stantlers a solid opportunity to win. SS was slightly favored for Team Liquidation, with Crossbow playing tremendously while being supported by his fellow managers, whereas the Stantlers chose LpZ over HaxxSel for tiebreak here. ORAS was the Stantlers' pick, and rightly so, as Miyami was an exceptional player, while the Liquidations' ORAS slot had been so-so throughout the season.

After the games and lineups were decided, all three games were scheduled for Sunday, building hype across the entire RU community. Toinha played first against Corp in SV, slotting the two best players all season against each other. This first game of the set resulted in a lead for Team Liquidation as toinha secured a massive victory over Corp, utilizing an early Tera to notch a KO against a Terrakion that seemed to threaten everything on his team. Following this game, Neomon played their game against Tack, subbing in for Miyami, and enjoyed another big win for Team Liquidation in pretty convincing fashion. Given the series was now over and the Liquidations secured the metaphorical trophy, Crossbow and LpZ elected to not play their game.

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Conclusion

RUGL concluded with a general feeling that the tour was a resounding success, getting attention from much of the RU community as a whole, advancing ADV RU to new heights, and demonstrating that there was headway to be made in SV in a rapidly developing metagame. Feedback about the season will be used in future tournaments and, as alluded to before, will also be used in discussions regarding the inclusion of ADV RU in RUWC. With RUWC and SCL around the corner, several faces in the RUGL scene can look forward to getting more opportunities to play in team environments, including some newcomers like FlamPoke, THE_CHUNGLER, and Ming549, all stalwarts in the RU scene who excelled in their first action as starters in a team setting. Likewise, some established names cemented their place in the tournament scene like LpZ, xXCrossbowXx, and Corperate n.

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