Smogon Champions League VI Manager Interviews

By ego. Released: 2026/08/29.

This was the first time in like 5 years that the manager signups for a tour were mostly good

- starry

How much should you credit the managers for a successful team? How much should you blame the managers for a poor season? The answer to these questions is a little clearer in the context of Smogon's team tournaments than in, say, baseball, but ultimately it's still inconclusive. Making matters trickier is that it can often be difficult to assess what exactly makes a manager good, at least without simply deferring to win-loss records. Laurel, twash, and MAVERICK SHOOTERS were assessed as the second-worst manager group in SPL at the beginning of the season that their Raiders would ultimately win, as were d0nut, Expulso, and blank with the SPL XVI Classiest.

A huge part of the problem here is that so much of what a manager does happens behind the scenes. Anyone armchairing can assess a manager team's performance at stocking their roster full of talent, but assessing how well they do at putting their talent in a position to succeed? How well they do at using their chess pieces in the most effective way? That's much harder, nearly impossible if you haven't been behind the scenes.

What's much easier than quantifying a manager's impact on their team's success, however, is describing the sort of team that each manager is trying to design. Styles make fights, and all that. In the following interviews, I hope to, if nothing else, give everyone some insight in that regard. How do manager teams work together? How do they build teams, both in terms of assembling the collections of talent with which they intend to win games and in terms of assembling a group of people that they hope will bring out the best in each other? How do the managers feel about the tournament they're trying to win? At the very least, I hope that readers can come out of this article with a better idea of how each manager core differs.

We have all sorts of tandems here. We have manager groups that share WCoP affiliations; we have teams led by longtime friends; and then we have some squads helmed by managers who seem to be, on paper, complete strangers or even mortal enemies. We have managers that have been running their teams for five years already; we have managers looking to build off of successful debuts last year; we have managers looking to bounce back from disappointing seasons last year; and we have managers who have up until now vocalized nothing but disdain for the very concept of SCL. Styles make fights. I do hope you enjoy!

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

Accel

Funnily enough, I think we've got a decent good cop, bad cop routine going with Feli and Rabbit [Master Chief], respectively. Any time I've teamed with either of them in the past, they've played either side beautifully while not letting any encouragement or hard truths take away from prioritizing the end goal of winning by any means necessary. I think I'll find myself flip-flopping between their two styles based on what I deem to be more of a necessary approach based on the situation, the player's temperament, and other factors. Besides that, the three of us have known each other forever and have the utmost trust in each other's judgment and abilities as leaders.

ego

Putting aside the Pokémon skills, which character traits do you most value when scouting players for the draft? How heavily do you weigh personality fit relative to skillset fit and raw ability in your teambuilding approach?

Master Chief

Personally speaking, I've been active in team tours since 2018 or so, and I've noticed an unfortunate decline in activity in many team servers as the tournaments go by. I think having an active chat to just talk about things apart from mons is what makes the tournament truly memorable and fun because at the end of the day, we don't get any monetary reward from this, just a surge of dopamine when we win. So to me, always the most important thing is to have a memorable chat and have people gel well together. Snake III in 2019 with the Taipans was my favorite ever tournament because of how active it was and the fact that the tour evolved into a lot more than just 'mons. I actually disliked the whole building + playing every week, but I loved the team interaction from the memes shared to the funny logs to getting to know people. I feel that when you look at other manager trios, a lot of them are selected not just because they can support the team in a Pokémon sense but because they become the glue to unify an eclectic bunch. So I would hazard that if you ask multiple managers, team spirit and having fun >>>> the actual trophy run. Five years from now, you won't remember the pixels on your profile but instead the fun you shared.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

Accel

Marco [gilbert arenas] and Taka are phenomenal people, both of whom I've known for quite some time now. My familiarity with Marco stretches back to SPL X when we were both on that Tyrants team that made it to the finals, and I recently won UUPL with Taka. Both also happened to do very well for themselves last SCL, (AC) and their approach to their respective tiers is visibly full of passion, creativity, and a standard of excellence. Every team should consider themselves lucky to have one player of this caliber, and we are glad we have the luxury of having two of them to boast about.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

Master Chief

In a theoretical world, though they haven't been announced yet, the Spartans and Shoguns have pretty amazing retains, and I think the Spartans are struggling with who to select. 25.5k is great value for Fc given how consistent he has been over the years, and his sheet record speaks for itself. Attribute hasn't been announced yet, but it's probably obvious he is a retain and, for his SV prowess, has a huge amount of upside. Etern is also someone the three of us are quite high on and, given his stellar campaign last year and making semis of Slam, is coming into this tour with good form. The UU meta as well probably especially suits him. This is notwithstanding the fact that they even have vk on the bench, who has had good WCoP and SPL campaigns and can easily be a retain on another team. Similarly, for the Shoguns, who won the tournament, mind gaming, who had probably the second-most dominant run up to playoffs after roro [McMeghan], is an obvious name and, depending on how motivated he is, can supply his unique brand of teams to the rest of the squad. Eniigma, Mako, and hjk are also coming off good campaigns and so are names to watch out for depending on who is retained.

Outside of the two finalists, there are actually several teams who have appealing retains even if they are a bit expensive. ABR, if he signs up, is an obvious one given he is probably one of the two best players ever on Smogon. There are other names who I'm expecting to be retained, including TheFranklin (who probably could have gone 9-0 on our team if we had the chance to bid on him), Fusien, Punny, etc. The retains are expensive, but drafts are really unpredictable at the top end when it comes to price, and sometimes having the guaranteed first person as part of a tiebreak can be invaluable to have before you sort the rest of the draft out.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

Master Chief

We are all lower tier aficionados, and out of them, it looks like UU is, on the whole, the most "balanced." SV has been a weird gen in how dominant HO is and how in a lot of tiers stall is basically not very good. On the flip side, Ubers sucks, and the playerbase is just waiting for Gen 10. In terms of underexplored, it's hard to say, but OU always has the most variety of anti-meta things that can work, and you'll always see things in and out of vogue make an appearance, so it has the ability to be the most "trendy." I think DOU is also in an interesting spot; it feels reminiscent of SM, where there are a few dominant 'mons like Landorus, Ogerpon, etc., and the meta is shaped a lot around them, but there's always the chance for someone to really innovate in this tier. Maybe we see the return of Chansey fat in SV DOU, who knows?

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

Accel

I think the current format is quite sufficient with its representation of the most popular and historied tiers throughout the timeline of official team tours. It would be beautiful to see Monotype make the cut some day, but not at the expense of any of the current tiers nor, obviously, 3 CG OU slots.

ego

This is all three of your first times managing SCL. What made you want to take on this challenge?

Laurel

Honestly, I am addicted to the pain. As you get older, you lose the high from a natural adrenaline rush and nothing quite compares to the sweet serendipity of watching your team farm sheet wins.

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

Laurel

Finch and I have adopted our little brother Purbaj. He deserves the opportunity to manage, and we're both excited to see what he can do. Also, did I mention being addicted to pain? There's nothing quite like planning for a draft with someone in a completely incompatible time zone.

On the Mt. Silver Foxes, we don't believe in role delineation. When your team needs you, you step up to the plate. But really, I'm just here to look handsome and ask our LC player to use Charmander. That's why I surrounded myself with Smogon's most famous tryhard and his Nepali brother-in-law.

ego

Laurel

When it comes to scouting, there are certain things we look for: experience, success in previous team tours, synergy, and, of course, the holy sheet. Though if you have an unholy sheet, that can be attractive too... we're looking to catch stars before they hit their full potential.

We weigh pretty much everything. I wouldn't say one quality is the most important. However, as managers, we need to be aware of our own limitations and draft players who can fill in specific niches that we cannot handle. With that said, we have a pretty clear strategy, and that should come out in the draft.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

Laurel

Stareal was a no-brainer, and Franklin said he wanted to be in the auction. There wasn't much else to discuss with retains.

ego

Both the Foxes and the Shoguns this year have management groups largely composed of players from US Northeast. Do you think that will give your teams similar evaluations of certain players or lead you to target similar players? Is that a factor you've been conscious of?

Laurel

I've never been on NE myself, but generally speaking, we're not overly bullish on drafting them when it's quite obvious other teams will pay handsomely for their skills. It has nothing to do with the players as they're all quite exceptional—I just don't see a world where we'd be able to maximize their value. Maybe that will change in the future, but for now I don't see it in the cards.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

Laurel

There are a number of exceptional retains. I've always wanted to team with ABR. I remember when he was laddering with HP Steel Azelf, and I've always been impressed with his creativity. His exceptional skill came not much later. Maybe we could convince him to sign up if we could trade for his retains.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

Laurel

We feel very confident in our plan for all tiers. You only have so much money, and we trust everyone we plan on putting on the roster.

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

Laurel

Format seems fine, but I heard Finch really wanted to include Monotype but couldn't slice it in time or something.

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

Laurel

Our mascot would probably be Pikachu, since Red is the main boss fight on Mt. Silver and it seems like a crime that Pikachu isn't featured too much on Smogon. Pikachu also represents winning despite all odds and always being reliable for Ash. Maybe "Mt. Silver Mice" has a nice ring to it?

ego

Expulso, this is your third year in a row managing the Machines, each year with a completely new set of co-managers. What have you learned from your previous experiences, and what do you hope to improve this year?

Expulso

My previous experiences have taught me that I want people whose opinions I respect and who I know are engaged with the tiers and playerbases. I benefited a lot from mence [mncmt] pushing back on me, esp with start/sit decisions but also in draft, because I took his feedback. hex and Piyu were newer to managing, and I hadn't managed with them before. I think I didn't regard their opinions as highly, which just made me defensive when we disagreed. Each year, including this year, I've also tried to choose friends and ppl I'll enjoy spending 9-13 weeks with. I am happy with my co-managers this year and hope to have a successful year!

ego

Bouff, this is your first time managing since SCL I. What made you want to come back to managing, and how is that job different than it was back then?

Bouff

I kinda wanted to come back because being involved in this tournament again seemed appealing—I've usually just hermited in other chats over the years so it makes sense to actually try to apply that to get a ring for once. I had to skip playing last year due to irl circumstances + burnout, and the same thing kind of occurred here but to a lesser degree. The job's probably different in that the lower tier playerbase is a bit more "established" compared to when we had just abandoned the Snake format. On a personal level I've managed / shadow managed a million more tournaments since then, and SCL I was a big learning experience of its own, the mistakes I made as a manager there ideally won't happen again.

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

Bouff

We've been friends for like nearly half a decade at this point, so it feels quite comfortable working with Expulso and younes at this stage. I think I'm probably the best at being neurotic I guess (making sure everyone is comfortable with their prep process and the teams themselves, pointing out flaws of said teams). Keeping the chat active is a good skill which helps because I have nothing better to do around this time of year.

ego

Expulso

I value activity, a willingness to test/share/be open with the team, and other elements of being a good teammate like a positive attitude. However, I also want to avoid over-indexing on these traits; people have different methods that work for them, and I don't want to miss out on a good player because their process is different. E.g. mind gaming notoriously prepares in private, but the benefits are obviously worth it. There are def some fatal flaws that I avoid, though.

Bouff

I personally really enjoy having yappers in the team chat, and people who really have an actual passion for the game. A lot of times lately you'll just see people going through the motions, plugging and playing and not really being there for much else other than just to click for a few turns. They win sometimes (not often), but that doesn't make for a memorable team tour experience. In SCL I a lot of our players will tell you that we were awful but the tournament was a lot of fun in spite of that, and I think that's probably accurate (no shade intended i swear!!). To me you can fit a lot of people into "good annoying" and "bad annoying," and ideally our team trends towards the former.

ego

Expulso, last year was a tough year for the Machines. How much of that do you attribute to the inherent variance of a single season of Pokémon, and how much comes down to aspects of your approach that you can improve on?

Expulso

I don't attribute it to variance at all. First, I was very busy irl before SCL V, doing SPL December-March and graduating school + preparing for a high-stakes professional exam May-August. I was very tapped into lower tiers before our successful SCL IV, which I repeated this year but definitely did not do last year. Second, I kinda thought money didn't matter after I had TONS leftover and got a 20-player army in SCL IV, leading to overpays on many players including clean's infamous price tag. Finally, I trusted myself too much to just stumble into 3k superstars after 10-0 3k Piyu in SCL IV and 9-4 3k Ho3n in SPL; I didn't get that lucky in SCL V, somehow.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

Expulso

After the disaster of last year, both in overall results and my shambolic approach to retains, which I picked up basically 1) because I was bored LOL, 2) because Piyu/Franco/Lime declines retains last minute, due to my failure to plan it out far in advance & confidence that theyd wanna play for a super heat manager like me (SPL inflated my ego around then...), and 3) because I compared players to their possible auction price rather than seeking the best value & best use of my money, I decided I wouldn't retain anyone next year. Whew, long sentence.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

Expulso

I'd love the hjkhj retain, I "discovered" him in the RUPL we won in 2024 and have been frustrated with myself over not drafting him since basically the moment SCL V draft ended. Similarly, I'd love the Attribute retain; I really wanted him back in SCL IV, but his former Monotype buddy Dugza outbid me.

Bouff

Expulso mentioned hjkhj and Attribute, I'd agree with those but I also really like the ESM retain, he has a really good skill ceiling in doubles and I think he'll probably put up a strong record again.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

Expulso

I like NU rn, lots of fun balanced strats and a good variety of 'mons. Biased bc it was my best Slam tour and I've played it a lot. I have hated SV LC nearly all gen, and I personally wish they'd revert to the Hisuian Voltorb meta of roughly two years ago.

Bouff

Ubers and UU are the only ones I've really played lately, so I guess those two, since I've been having fun kind of. I think we'll see some solid developments in the UU meta this year, I don't really know or care about the rest right now... saving that for the actual tour.

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

Expulso

No changes to format

Bouff

Draft / Monotype would be funny, but in a serious consideration I probably wouldn't remove anything.

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

Bouff

I'd say some queer-coded Pokémon if we are talking about identity but not gonna lie man I don't think we're drafting more than like two gay people this year. Sorry to the girls gays and theys I guess, I'll see you in a subforum tour.

ego

tko and vivalospride, you managed the Spartans last year to the finals, and this year you're running it back. What did you learn from your experience last year, and what do you hope to improve this year?

tko

The most important thing I learned was how important it was to be ahead of the game when it comes to SV teambuilding. I think the teams that ended up making playoffs had standout slots that were known for innovating, particularly in tiers like RU and DOU. We learned that we want to draft people that are less afraid of their teambuilding decisions, and I hope to also help my players on the nerves side of things. Every win and certainly every loss is a learning experience, and I believe the key to this year's success will be confidence in the teambuilder especially and also mentality-wise.

ego

tko and ninjadog, you last managed together in SCL all the way back in the first iteration of the tournament. How has the tournament, and your experience managing it, changed since then?

tko

I think there has been a lot of positive change in SCL since we first managed. There was a lot of criticisms about SSD preceding SCL, which made people take this tour less seriously, but I think that perception has started to change a bit. We are seeing people take this tournament more seriously. The non-OU tier player pools are pretty deep, and I would like to give a shoutout to Ubers, NU, PU, and LC for looking stronger than ever. I believe, since SCL is only 3 OU instead of 4 like SPL, we can see some highly rated OU matchups and cut out some of the weaker ones. I also want to give a shoutout to the artists, because it feels like the quality of the avatars has dramatically increased over the past few iterations compared to when we initially started doing CAs for team tours. Additionally, having them take concepts from the uneducated managers (such as myself) and turning those ideas into avatars is a sight to behold.

In terms of my experience managing it, I now understand better how to give the players the support they need in their tiers that I can't personally help in, and also strive to make the environment one people feel good participating in. A major important factor about team tours is the social aspect, so I look to always keep things active.

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

tko

I think we are mostly just keeping each other in check when it comes to draft decisions. I want to go crazy on the draft this year and ninjadog has been keeping me in check. viv covers OU and UU, while ninja and I will cover LC, and I also play most of the tiers.

ego

tko

I don't really know how to answer this because most of the character traits I observe in the players are what I gather in watching replays. I look to see a player that doesn't kick the can when their game looks all but lost. I look for players who are always seeking their outs and using their timer properly. I look for players who are willing to make risky plays. I try to reassure my players that I don't particularly care much if they lose, hoping that this gives them the confidence to pull triggers that they might not have otherwise. And I want to remind them to think some turns ahead.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

tko

We believe we have the best players in OU, Ubers and UU (pending). They're good friends of ours as well. But, viv and I have been through WCoP and SCL hell together. Fc is our most clutch player from last year, and I love his chat presence in all the lower tiers as well.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

tko

I think the terrors have great retain options in zee and Shengineer, but this is moreso me just giving respect where respect's due. I wouldn't really trade for any of our retains.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

tko

PU probably in the best state. RU and NU seem underexplored. I think we will be seeing a lot of weird teams in those tiers this gen.

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

tko

I personally think it'd be cool to have VGC in this tournament and have Smogon find a way to generate more hype for it with our playerbase. But I also think generations are going to look different going forward. I think Champions exists so that the in-game can start to change the in-game battle format. So, we will need to find something to address this. We will still define gens by when new games release, but the mechanics might need to mirror whatever regulations Champions is following.

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

tko

Tinkaton with Corviknight.

ego

Though blank and Raiza are prolific managers on the site and bbeeaa is a highly active player, this is all of your first time managing SCL. What made you want to take on this challenge?

blank

I want to be the first manager (alongside Raiza) to win all three team tournament trophies. More importantly, I wanted try something new—I am not familiar with these tiers or playerbases the way I am with old generations, and I'm managing with two people I respect but are outside my usual “group.” It's a legendary team-up to chase an exciting goal in a foreign landscape. I'd say Raiza and I are the more traditional managers of the trio—he's good at analyzing pools and keeping things organized, I'm good at the vibes-based approach (TM) and driving the culture post-draft. bea is a natural leader (see WCoP), and he's a much more skilled player than anyone I've managed with, so his support will be invaluable. Plus, his inevitable ban will give us plot armor.

bbeeaa

The desire to become a team manager has always been there for me; it's just that now I have the opportunity to turn that desire into reality. Honestly, what motivates me to take this step is, above all, my love for the game and the community surrounding it.

I feel that I can bring a lot of knowledge and experience to the table, not only by helping players grow individually but also by helping them develop within a true team environment. I want to create an environment where every player can identify their strengths, work on their weaknesses, and, at the same time, understand how they can contribute to the team to the best of their ability.

Raiza

Mainly being able to win all three team tours and being one of the first managers to do so; Snake Draft was one of the first team tournaments I participated in but I have never been able to make playoffs in it let alone win it so that's an interesting challenge to me.

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

bbeeaa

Raiza and Starry are two of the most decorated managers in history, both with very different personalities and approaches, yet both have been incredibly successful. I feel that, as the new addition, I can bring a fresh spark and a different perspective to the team while also helping bridge the gap between the three of us, since my personality and approach share aspects of both of theirs.

Raiza is the most technical and mature of the three, and his approach is the most traditional. Starry is very good at instilling the culture and mentality needed to win, while I'm particularly strong when it comes to helping players and working more directly with the game itself.

Raiza

I would say my best qualities are on the drafting side of things, and once the tournament starts I am good at keeping things like scheduling organized and also have a good eye for teams and prep in general.

ego

blank

I value players who put the team first. A lot of players try to sheet farm on modern Smogon—they sit in their jerks and act like they're above bonding with their team. That type of mentality can get you a good record, and it can be conducive to a strong regular season team. However, the playoffs are a different beast—you need to love your team and give it your all to succeed there. That's where these teams fall apart.

bbeeaa

What I always pay attention to is their personality. I'm naturally drawn to players who are fearless and have a healthy ego, because I feel like those qualities are very similar to my own personality. I like players who are confident in themselves and aren't afraid to show it while still understanding that they're part of something bigger and are willing to do whatever it takes for the team to win.

Raiza

Not being annoying, being very motivated and willing to help the team are the character traits a player has to have for me; you have to strike a good balance between personality and ability, someone that is very cool but is bad at the game won't cut it, whereas someone that is good but is annoying is also avoidable; I'd generally value overall skill a bit more than personality but then prices also come into play.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

Raiza

The main reasons behind our retain were EternalSnowman's great performance last SCL combined with our lack of knowledge in Doubles, as going through the Doubles pool by ourselves would have been difficult. The retain was also not too costly, and we believe we can set up our retain for success by buying good support for him.

ego

Raiza and blank, can you tell us a bit about the skills from managing SPL that transfer most cleanly to SCL? Which ones don't translate as well?

blank

The skills are relatively transferable in theory. But who knows. This is my first time doing this.

Raiza

Anything not tied to tier knowledge pretty much transfers to SPL from SCL, from drafting skill to other aspects such as being a good motivator; on the other hand tier knowledge, outside of OU, which is also in SPL, doesn't.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

blank

I would target ho3n's retain from last season #FREEHO3N.

Raiza

I don't like the idea of retain trades being allowed, if anything I would nerf retains by increasing their baseline price. However, just to entertain the question, I thought Shoguns and potentially Breakers (ABR and Santu didn't sign up, however) had good retains, so I would've targeted those.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

blank

I like NU and UU a lot. NU seems fairly balanced, and UU has a very strong playerbase. I think PU is kinda slept on.

Raiza

Contrary to popular opinion I believe OU is in a decent spot right now and I enjoy playing it a fair amount even though Tera has its limits and rage-inducing moments. As far as lower tiers go, I believe their volatility and shifts make them rather underexplored.

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

blank

I made a thread about introducing Champions VGC to this tournament because of how SV has overstayed its welcome. But SV fatigue aside, this format and the tiers in the tournament are good—3 OU slots is so much better than 4, and 10 slots overall is better than 12.

Raiza

Tournament format is fine, SCL can strike a good balance between slots and representation since 10 is a good number of slots and allows to represent all the lower tiers. I believe adding another OU slot along with Monotype could be a good change for the future, Monotype is a bit overdue and a lot of valid OU players get excluded with only three starting slots.

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

blank

Toxtricity

Raiza

I guess Maushold since we drafted 18 people lol.

ego

Followup question: how does it feel to get ranked last on the PRs by a significant margin?

blank

this is the single greatest team drafted in the history of any tournament ever and the rankers are delusional and wrong. Also AgencyIsOwn is gonna go down as a top 3 SV OU player of all time!

ego

Anything else you'd like to add?

blank

SHOUTOUT EXCAL SHOUTOUT LUTHIER SHOUTOUT DENIAL DYNAMOS WINNINGEST FRANCHISE IN SCL HISTORY FREE MCMEGHAN!

ego

This is mainly a question for ima, who has been with this team for four years now. How would you describe the Shoguns' identity?

ima

The Shoguns' team identity is interesting. We started off as a group of people that weren't all that close during SCL 2 (myself, lax, blunder, and CTC) but were able to vibe quickly. However, we were probably one of the worst teams in SCL's history despite that. Throughout the next years, we enjoyed teaming together and incorporated Giannis, Vert, and 3d into the Shoguns dynasty. We were the butt of many jokes, and people enjoyed targeting us because of how easy it is to upbid us, but we pushed on through despite the unfortunate events that kept plaguing the team. I'd consider our team identity to be some corny power of friendship and resiliency.

ego

Star, you managed this tournament for its first four iterations before playing last year. What made you want to come back to managing this year?

Star

I wanted to play one SCL at least and was pretty happy with last year's season in terms of my own performance. I was planning on just sitting out this season tbh bc I didn't really feel like playing another SV year, and my Platoon time was definitely done. When I was asked to join the Shoguns, though, I said yes pretty quickly because it's fun to have a new environment and I knew I'd have a good time with the people.

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

Giannis Antetokommo-o

We communicate well and complement each other well in all managerial roles.

ego

Giannis Antetokommo-o

We value vibes and willingness to try hard. Personality can be important, but wanting to have fun and do your best are traits we value. We also like to take risks on people we believe in even if others don't.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

Giannis Antetokommo-o

hjk is an amazing RU player, and watching him prep was fascinating. Eniigma is simply the LC GOAT and has never let us down.

ego

Giannis Antetokommo-o

We're not worried about NE ties. People will want who they want.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

Giannis Antetokommo-o

We're not really interested in retain trades, but scooping ABR would be funny if he were playing.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

Giannis Antetokommo-o

Year 5 of SV definitely hurts each tier's perception, but people that wanna put in the work will always find ways to innovate or capitalize on trends.

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

Giannis Antetokommo-o

SCL could explore different formats, maybe, now that we're in the 5th year.

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

Giannis Antetokommo-o

Kingambit is the perfect identity for the Shoguns.

ego

shiloh and Gingy, you have been managing the Terrors for longer than any other manager group in this tournament, and the three of you are running it back from last year. How would you describe the Terrors' identity under your management?

shiloh

I think the biggest part of the Terrors over the years that I've been proud of and I hope that people see as part of our identity is creating an environment where people are happy to contribute and participate if they want to, and not just because they want to win a trophy or do well individually. Gingy has been the biggest part of this, being the lifeblood of the team year after year, and is the biggest reason we have a coherent identity in the first place. The amount of ex-Terrors that reached out to us during signups and after we signed up was one of the best feelings I've had on the site, as even though a lot of them were either not playing, retained, or managing other teams, being able to see the impact and legacy that the team has with us under its helm is unmatched. And yes part of the identity was definitely tied to us being able to make playoffs consistently, and then eventually lose, but since we were unable to even make the playoffs last year I think it shows that the identity the Terrors have is more tied to the environment we try to create year over year, and that's what I think is more important (probably a bit of cope). There's a lot more that could probably be said, but I have a hard time writing down our identity into words so I'll just leave it at that.

Gingy

To add on to what Shiloh's said already, I think both of us have valued from day 1 making this tour as fun as possible for everyone involved and giving out opportunities wherever we can. There are so many users on site outside the Smogtours bubble and SCL is an incredible opportunity for them to show their skill set and their personalities. The Terrors will quietly go about their business having a fun tour every year and hopefully that can keep breeding success.

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

shiloh

I'll start with the dynamic between Gingy and me I guess since we have now managed the Terrors together 6 editions in a row. On my end Gingy is one of the earliest friends I made on the site, back when I was still fairly new to the site and community. Someone I had met added me to one of their Skype groups that had a lot of people that I still consider good friends, even though that group itself didn't last super long. Among that group was Gingy, and I ended up drafting him in the first SPL I managed (SPL VIII). That team was some hot ass, but Gingy was the heart of the team just off of vibes (don't look up his record the last time he played an official) and we stayed very close. Long story short, we ended up managing SCL1 together. At the time our duo made a lot of sense because Gingy was still very involved in OU and I was able to help lower tiers more (at least on paper). Since that SCL the roles have shifted a bit since neither of us are as involved with the SCL tiers throughout the year as much as we were back then. That's fine though because Gingy is able to provide much more than just tier prep as a manager, every year he's become the heart of the team and that's where he shines. We would not have been even close to as successful if it wasn't for Gingy's ability to put together a team environment where everyone is comfortable, able to work with each other, and stay motivated through the tournament. Ask anyone on any edition of the Terrors who they would go to during the tournament if they were dealing with mental issues after a rough patch of games (or life), had any problems, or just had a question and I am sure 99/100 would reply with Gingy.

Kunal is someone I met during Doubles World Cup (when he wasn't even on the team). During the playoffs of that tournament I was being given teams by someone I had never interacted with, but I went undefeated with them due to them being able to call basically every matchup correctly (even though I was dogshit). This guy also was super active in the general chat even though he wasn't on the team and the vibes were immaculate. I think I had messaged Gingy and Stresh during that tour itself that we had to get this guy 100% for our Doubles support, no matter who we drafted. When SCL managers expanded to three slots (and our first trio got denied), Gingy and I decided that we would want someone who can help out a tier we would not be able to, and the most obvious of those is Doubles. Even though Gingy had never even talked with him, I quickly suggested Kunal as our third, and luckily Gingy trusted me. Even though Kunal has no knowledge of the larger tournaments community, his knowledge when it comes to the Doubles playerbase and tier made it a no-brainer. I was quickly proven right as we had the best Doubles slot by the end of the tour, and a lot of that was due to Zee playing amazingly week over week, but I'm sure they will tell you as well how key Kunal is and how well he is able to prep. And even though he does not know most of the tours community, he's still very active in any non-Pokémon-related discussions as well and a big contributor to the overall team culture and vibe.

For myself, at this point I've realized my own role as a manager in these tours can't be the same role I had when I was a teenager and could put up 100k lines in a team tour Discord over the course of a season. Instead, I keep more of a watchful eye on the Discord, making sure prep is going well, channels don't stay dead for long, and players are involved and active. I also am able to play and help test every tier, so I can be used as a punching bag if ladder isn't active enough or other players aren't around. I also have been on the site for nearly 13 years and played just about every official and unofficial tier on the site, so I can help find weaknesses in builds, scouts, and general trends. Overall, though, there's no one role or responsibility we each only have. We really do work best together, all contributing across the board, and there's none of us that's more important than the other.

Gingy

We're actually good friends is probably the best way of putting it. Wild concept, I know, but it's why it works. I wouldn't want to do SCL without Shiloh, and frankly nor would I want to do it without Kunal either. It's not an idea of misguided loyalty or that we're gluttons for punishment. It's a genuine heartfelt sincerity that we enjoy each other's company to a degree I wouldn't care to do this with anyone else.

As for roles/responsibilities, don't let Shiloh underplay his importance to the team nor Kunal's. We don't box each other off into specific ways to do this, or do that, etc. It's a natural sharing of the load week to week as we pick up where each other falls down. Kunal isn't just a DOU guy. He will test every tier and make sure the player welfare side of things is being looked after too. Shiloh won't just look at NU/OU; he will also be an active chat presence who makes sure our new guys aren't forgetting how to schedule. I'll learn tiers and contribute every year wherever our slots might fall down alongside being able to talk things out with people. Team tours are collaborative top to bottom, and our approach isn't any different to what we expect our players to do.

ego

shiloh

This is a very loaded question because there is a lot that goes into scouting players, and it really is dependent on the roles we see them fitting for the team. To begin, I guess with starting players, aside from Pokémon skill, we would want to see consistency to some level over their last few tournaments (but even that might not always be the case), and also their confidence and ability to play in higher-pressure situations. It's very easy to watch a replay or play a tryout game with someone and be amazed by the plays they make, or the matchup they were able to get, but unless they are able to replicate that when the stakes are the highest, then it will be much harder to trust them in situations where we need a win. Whether its being the last game of a week to clinch a win/tie for your team, an elimination game in the playoffs, a tiebreak game, or the playoffs of an individual, there's a lot more you can see from a player in those games. Even if they aren't able to win, were they able to play to their outs? Did they play confidently? And if it was a tiebreak, the fact they stepped up to play it in the first place says a lot. This also isn't something you can scout necessarily, but when you team with them it becomes obvious. Like in SCL IV, we had 3 or 4 weeks where game 10 came along and we were 4-5. In all of those game 10s, the last one to play was Lokifan and he won every single time, securing us those points. But it wasn't just the fact he won those games; anyone could have seen that just looking at the sheet. It was his attitude leading up to the games. He never faltered and approached every game calculated, and didn't let the stakes get to him at all. You obviously need the skill to back up that confidence as well, but there's a security in knowing that you have a player or players that won't be fazed by the situation and you can trust to play their best no matter what, and that's what I always value over just pure 'wins'.

Regarding non-starters, a lot of it is going to be personality and vibes more than anything. With a starter, it's easy to quantify how much they contribute towards the team's success because you can see the wins in the sheet, but for anyone that is not starting, you have to piece together a lot of unquantifiable elements. When looking to get someone, there are some basic questions to answer; does the person starting have someone they've worked with that they are comfortable with? Will the sub be active and around to help prepare and test? And the most important, do they have an ego if they are not going to be starting? Obviously, you want them to have some ability and skillset, and there should always be a couple players on the bench that can 'band-aid' sub in / start in any tier, but the most important factor is going to be how well they fit with the rest of the team and how much they can contribute towards winning. This is sometimes really hard to tell before the tournament, and we have definitely had our share of misses here, but when you find a player who has all of those unquantifiable elements, there's no question as to if they were worth it or not, even if that's not reflected in their record on the sheet.

Gingy

That I like them as people. I know Shiloh's given a very long answer about player qualities and only briefly mentioned this, but it is something that will make me just hard veto someone. Neither of us are very “jerky” with our draft approach. I'll always try to draft some UK guys to keep handing out opportunities to people who deserve it there, and then some others we have both drafted just via long-standing friendships, but it's definitely not our starting point for our approach. For starter slots, you just identify the tier 1's in each player base. See how much better they are than the rest of the pool. Spend where you get the most value. Tiebreakers are usually based on if you like the person. Then from there, you have a general idea of who can round out the “bottom” of your roster with 3k-8k from either people you've teamed with before or think will get slept on. Then just go off vibes for the crowded middle. For subs, I value activity, people who DM us asking to play for us, people who have joined the server to help in previous years who we want to give a shot to on the actual roster the following year, people who have played for us previously and we know, and rounding it out with the required support for as many slots as possible.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

shiloh

Yeah, I think for Zee and Drud there's not a lot of thought process that needs to be explained there. They might have been two of the bigger no-brainers among all the retains. Zee is coming off a 9-0 SCL, managing a team to DPL finals (currently set to play in the finals tiebreak as I type this), and just a general solid year in Doubles. I honestly could have stopped after saying 9-0 last year. For Drud, he was amazing last year and finished 7-2, and had that confidence I was talking about earlier. Every week Drud came in with the same calm, cool, and collected attitude and played a good game and won more often than not. Both of them were easy retains for the price, and I think every manager in the tour would have taken them.

Now the one that definitely will raise more eyebrows: not retaining Shen. I'll start off on paper by stating the obvious: every other manager in this tournament would have retained him after he went 8-1 for us last year and would only be 10k. I think a lot of people would have said this was a no-brainer, and I would agree with them. Shen is a fantastic player and I have no doubt he will do well this year as well. However, we wanted more flexibility in the draft, and we were faced with a similar situation last year where we had the choice to retain 8-2 Elias for 10k, which we chose to pass over. The thought process for both was the same: NU is the tier that I usually help out with more and the playerbase I know the best. While it's not guaranteed to get a player who will put up 8 wins like we did the last two years, it's also not a guarantee the retain will be able to get 8 wins again. By not retaining Shen, we can have him be more expensive in the auction, reducing funds for another team, while being able to usually find some value and get a player that we believe can do just as well. At the end of the day, it is a tournament and anything can happen. Last year we tried this and were proven right when Shen did so well, but that's just anecdotal and shouldn't be used to say whether or not we made the right decision or we should do it again. I have full confidence in Shen that he will do well, and the decision to retain him was not an easy choice or a reflection of his skills at all, but there is more that goes into these decisions that might not make them as obvious on the surface and can be completely unrelated to the player themselves.

Gingy

shiloh answered this well.

ego

In 2025 and 2024, there was a substantial jump in price between your most expensive player and your second-most, which is quite different than the shape of your rosters in 2023 and 2022. Do you think that was an intentional change in strategy, or is that just a reflection of which players you liked in each year?

shiloh

No, I think it was just a reflection of the players we liked at the time and the playerbases of the tiers. Off the top of my head, I don't really remember the discussions that went into all the drafts, but I believe there was no conscious shift towards spending more on a player. In fact, I think it was only after the SCL IV draft that we realized GXE was the first player we had spent 30k+ on. Our process is usually us just ranking the playerbases, then figuring out how different drafts can look depending on which 'key' players we end up drafting, usually filled out with the value picks we have for the other tiers. This lets us have a lot of flexibility going into auction, where we might have some plans based around getting a player for 30k+, but if they end up going for more than what we value them at, we are happy to let them go and move onto the next player and so on. It also depends on when people are nominated in auction as well. If we start off getting players we want for less than expected, we aren't suddenly going to shift towards spending a lot on one player, but instead be able to actually guarantee getting other players we value high that might not be as expensive. So even if we only had a player marked down for 10k, we find there's a lot more value in saving the money to guarantee drafting them even if we have to spend a bit more, instead of just pivoting to getting more expensive players that we might not have had on our plans.

Gingy

Shiloh's correct in saying this wasn't a conscious shift. We very much do just draft who we like in the auction and more often than not will walk out with who we planned for pre-draft. GXE was coming off an incredibly hot year and we had wanted him on Terrors as far back as SCL 1 when Tony sniped him from us as a sub. We valued him incredibly high pre-draft for being number 1 in his team and a multi-slot support option. This same logic applied to the PDT draft the following year. As for prior years, we viewed Nails as our obvious number 1 for DOU and spent heavily on retaining three players in SCL III. SCL II, we really liked the value we got from going heavy on lower tiers that tour, which usually works out at lower spends, and SCL 1, with no retains in place, we dropped roughly 60k~ on the OU core and a further 24k~ on Icemaster and 18k~ on a tier-locked lax, then just went for mostly budget from there. We're always happy to spend on who we want at that upper end. Just a matter of how much others want them too, I suppose.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

shiloh

Neither ended up signing up, but in the last year the two players who had the best year (maybe discounting Franco) were mind gaming and Santu. Mind in particular would have only been a 23k retain, and Santu would be a bit more expensive at 29k, but both have been so consistently good in the last few years they would be no-brainers to retain and build a team around. The Spartans trio of Fc, etern, and Attribute is also an amazing group, and trading for any one of the three would also be a no-brainer. Each one is at the top of the tier they are being retained for and all are under 26k.

Gingy

I think retain trades are dumb as it encourages people to be arseholes to each other. Saying this from a position where we've had probably 4 viable retain options every year since we started. In an idealistic world where people negotiate in good faith and no one gets upset, I'd have probably just gone for retain trades on people who either got let go into the auction like Fusien or people whom I think were excellent value for their retain prices like Ewin, KDCA, Stareal, Bute. Granted, in saying all that, we didn't even make use of the Shen retain when that could've easily been our third instead.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

shiloh

I've been playing the most OU at the moment, so it's hard for me to say anything else. There's always going to be people who complain about a current generation, and the fact SV is lasting so long amplifies that as well, but I think a lot of the hate towards Tera / SVOU is undeserved. The tier itself is really fun to play and there's a very high skill ceiling on it, which is why we can see a lot of consistency from the top players this generation, but there's also a lower floor for entry with Tera. That only benefits a tour like SCL where there's a lot of players who were able to get good at the tier in a much shorter period of time and are just as skilled as anyone who has been around for a long time. The tier itself has been stable for a while, and while yes, there can be some cheesy stuff (like Cress right now), there's still a lot of room for creativity and interesting teams to be brought that can actually showcase the skills of the players using them.

On the other hand, it's hard to say if anything is underexplored. We are reaching the point in most generations where we would be ready to move on, but instead we are facing another year with the tiers. It's hard to dig deeper in current generations like this. There's a reason trends in old generations usually take a few years to be fully pervasive, and there's not a lot of change in them year to year. We are now starting to see that in the current generation, though, and I imagine it will be the same over the next year. There will obviously be new trends and cores being used, but to answer the question, I don't think any tier in particular is that unexplored right now. But only time will tell.

Gingy

Pretty hard agree with Shiloh that OU is in the best state it has been for a while now. I have a major soft spot for LC and think Ubers is fun if not somewhat coinflippy at times. UU probably in the worst state based off World Cup games, but most of the tiers at this point have reached total saturation. Bring on Gen 10.

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

shiloh

I love the SCL format as it is. 10 slots is the perfect number to me (12 is fine). Every game feels like it's important during the week, it's much easier to have rallies and come back from deficits, etc. However, I do think SV entering its fifth year will require some shifts in how we handle our officials. I think one thing it's shown is how 'antiquated' our systems are compared to something like Champions and VGC, where they have new formats every few months to keep things fresh. I would also love to see VGC in our official circuit, though I am still unsure if SCL or SPL is the right place for it to debut. Something needs to happen, though, whether it be through our tournament structure / formats, or the overall way we treat tiers and tiering on the site as a whole. As someone who is supposed to answer these questions, it's hard to give out a fully formed answer here because a lot of it should be decided by the communities and their leaders, as well as the Smogon and PS playerbase as a whole. So I'll leave it there for now.

Gingy

I don't want to see changes to the format and pretty much never will. 3 OUs is the sweet spot. The tour has worked perfectly for 5 soon to be 6 editions. The playerbases and stakeholders involved love the tour. Why every year there needs to be a question of the format that clearly works best and has worked best for years belies belief. The enforced stigmatisation of SCL being seen as an inferior tour to SPL in these conversations annually is exhausting. It is its own thing; it doesn't have to keep being proposed for changes as it is the “non-SPL” tour or because it's viewed as the more accessible option for people to push agendas upon.

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

shiloh

We've been managing the Terrors since the start, so at this point there's no other mascot I would associate with us other than Gyarados. :terror:

Gingy

We've been managing the Terrors since the start, so at this point there's no other mascot I would associate with us other than Gyarados. :gyaramh:

ego

The three of you managed the Breakers together last year, and you're running it back. What did you learn from your experience last year, and what do you hope to improve this year?

Mada

Last year we learned that it's important to have players use teams that match their playing style, so that's something to care more about this year. For the rest, we feel like we did a good job overall with the draft, preps, and environment.

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

Togkey

I have spent more time with lode [elodin] since last year. I'm not super close with Mada, but I enjoy his company. We can all be a bit abrasive, but we're good people :)

Mada

I usually prepare different draft plans and variations based on what could happen during the auction. As well, I handle scouting work and OU prep and building, and I help with testing a couple lower tiers.

ego

Togkey

I value open mindsets more than anything else. If someone isn't willing to try certain things bc of predisposed notions that's a big red flag for me.

Mada

It's important to have skilled players, as well as making sure they build themselves or that we have enough support. We're not factoring personality too much as long as people can be mature. Mentality and having a serious approach towards each week, as well as motivation, are also big factors that will make us spend more on some names.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

Togkey

We had no retains last year, but now we have so many great options it's hard to choose.

Mada

We were very happy with Santu's, ABR's, and GXE's prices last year and were looking forward to retaining them, but they all decided to skip. With different options still on the table, we decided to retain crying, as, despite the critics, she proved herself to be a very strong player and had a good season last year, losing mostly very unlucky games. MZ also has been putting up strong performances in back-to-back years and has kept his activity in tours very high, so we were happy to retain one of the better players in the pool for a lower price.

ego

Last year, your team saw great success from your strategy of investing much of your budget in a few superstars. Did you start with that strategy first (deciding on your strategy and then figuring out which stars to invest in) or did you decide on the players you wanted on your team first and build the strategy around them?

Togkey

I was much more in tune with lower tiers last year, so I felt it was best if we invested in a few hard hitters because I could easily support multiple cheap slots if needed. And obviously we wanted ABR lol.

Mada

We started with the strategy first. We pretty much just had a specific budget in mind to spend on three big buys and a list of possible big buys. Of course, we had some players we preferred due to them being friends or us strongly believing in them, such as Santu and ABR, but the main idea was getting strong players and building around them, with some alternative plans were we to spend more or less than the initial budget.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

Mada

I would personally target the mind [gaming] and fog [Fogbound Lake] duo, as they are a formidable core that for some reason went very underpriced a couple editions ago, although mind wouldn't play so it would probably be Fogbound mainly. hjkhj, also a strong Shoguns player that we would have bought last year if we didn't have Santu. Fc, another strong player that we think will repeat his performance this year, question being if he would accept or not. Stareal, another steal who has shown very strong in-game skills as well as building effort and being easy to team with.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

Togkey

SV is very bad, but PU is probably the coolest of them.

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

Togkey

I think SCL is fine.

Mada

I've never been a fan of DOU in the tour, it feels way too random and probably this year was the right occasion to at least replace it with VGC, as following Champions, VGC is as popular as ever and it probably would have been a healthy addition to the tour, getting both Smogon and VGC playerbases to know each other more.

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

Togkey

Melmetal is so ugly, I want Rotom or something.

Mada

I personally love Conkeldurr as a solid worker that doesn't rely on its brute force, but that's a me thing. There have been talks about Rotom and it would also fit very well.

ego

Quinn, this is your second year managing the Platoon, and this time you have a totally new group of co-managers. What did you learn from last year's experience, and what do you hope to improve this year?

Quinn

I learned that team cohesion is important, especially compared to unofficial tournaments on this site. Most of my experience before last year was managing unofficial tournaments, where my philosophy was drafting the strongest possible team and hoping that the players would become invested in the tournament. This was also the strategy we tried last year, but it did not work as well as we had hoped. This year, we want to focus more on team cohesion by drafting players who fit the vibe of the team, while also building a strong overall team environment.

ego

How would you characterize the dynamic between the three of you? Which tasks and responsibilities as a manager are you each best at?

Django

We've managed and played together in a lot of tournaments together, so we all know how the others work. We also had some discussions early on that we want to be very honest and equal between the three of us; no one should overrule the others, and if someone is being stupid we should tell them. We will all be involved helping different tiers prep and test, while Quinn and Baddy are really good drafters, and Django has definitely got scouting and team organization.

ego

Django

We definitely lean quite heavily towards personality fit and ruled out a number of players we don't think would fit the type of team we were going for. Of course, there has to be the right level of skill, but we think that ultimately the best teams form a coherent unit and that social aspect is what makes people go the extra mile during the tournament.

ego

Quinn, last year was a tough year for the Platoon. How much of that do you attribute to the inherent variance of a single season of Pokémon, and how much comes down to aspects of your approach that you can improve on?

Quinn

Honestly, I would say that around 90% of our poor performance came from our own mistakes rather than the inherent variance of a single Pokémon season. There were several moments when we mismanaged things within our trio, and these small issues ended up adding up throughout the tournament.

On a personal level, I was active in multiple slots last year, but I did not contribute as much to the actual prep of our teams as I should have. This year, I want to be more involved in the prep and provide more meaningful support to the team. I have also spent a lot of time playing lower tier tournaments to improve my understanding of the different tiers, which I hope will allow me to contribute more effectively throughout the season.

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

Django

Esteb4n was the only real discussion we had about retains, mostly because Quinn left us with such a godawful draft from last year. When you consider he went 6-3 last year and also won both NU and RU Circuit, it was an easy decision to buy him for 10k. While he has taken a break from mons since last year's success, he will be fresh and ready to go. Django has also worked with Esteb4n in a number of tournaments, so having this pairing is something we're happy about.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

Django

To be honest, I don't think anyone would be willing to trade for our retains. If we could, though, targeting something like the etern retain would be very interesting, even though it would cost an unreasonable amount.

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

Django

NU has reached a really good state recently, but we are of course biased in saying that. RU and UU seem like tiers that have a lot of potential for exploration with recent changes and also potential tiering action happening right as the tournament starts. Overall, SV is starting to stabilize a bit, so we shouldn't see quite such drastic changes as we have in the last few SCLs.

ego

What do you think about the tournament format? With SV entering its fifth year as a generation next year, would you want to see any changes?

Django

The format is great and I don't see any reason to mess with it.

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

Django

Slugma. It's an ongoing meme that every Quinn or Baddy team is a Slugma team, and between us we have played more than 150 team tour games for Slugma teams.

ego

Dave, this is your fifth year managing the Islanders out of this tournament's six-year existence. What have you learned from your previous experiences? What made you choose tier and hellom as your co-managers?

Dave

The biggest thing I learned is that you cannot approach drafting an SCL the same way that you can approach it in SPL. And what I mean by that is, lower tiers are always shifting—it's a new generation, so more people are entering tours and playing, scouting actually means something, and the pool of viable players tends to be larger. With SPL the generations have been established in the plant basis that represented generations are pretty consistent. I could go way more into this, but I think that could be its own separate article.

Hellom managing in World Cup really impressed me. I think he does have some really good leadership qualities, and I think that when you get a player of his caliber as a free support, it's a very encouraging thing to have for a team. It's a good sales point for players to wanna be here. tier accomplishes something else, which is lower tier knowledge. These two have become good friends of mine, and one really cool thing is we first teamed together all three of us in SCL 3, when both of them were relatively unknown. It's awesome to see their progression.

My approach in the past might not be the same approach I have here. In fact, I think that if you look at my previous drafts, all of them had a different approach to it, which is good because the game is constantly changing and there's no pool of players that is exactly the same. It's all about committing to an idea and building your team around that idea.

In the past, I typically would not ever spend on a specific player with the strategy of getting mainers at a good bargain. Or buying players that are undervalued but have a very high skill level for the game itself. Those types of players win you the trophy.

ego

tier and hellom, this is your first time managing SCL. What made you want to take on this challenge?

hellom

for me, I just thought it'd be fun to try managing out, no real deep reason, I've managed a few side tours recently and the experiences were cool, so I was trying to see how it'd feel managing a official (besides WCoP since that wasn't an auction)

ego

Dave, the Islanders last year finished lower in the standings than in any other year under your leadership. How much of that do you attribute to the inherent variance of a single season of Pokémon, and how much comes down to aspects of your approach that you can improve on?

Dave

Last year, I think that we had a talented roster and just couldn't get going when we needed to. I think that we had the right idea and just didn't execute week to week the way we should've.

I think this is the interesting part when it comes to building a team and we're having an active team. Environment is important. I don't think our team was as active as it should've been, and we had a bunch of bad luck with losing a player in the middle of the season, and our OU didn't perform to the expectations.

This year, I think that team chemistry is going to be important while also identify high-ceiling players and getting to execute week to week

ego

Can you tell us a bit about your thought process with your retains?

hellom

the OU pool has a lot of missing signups this year, so securing both kdca and ewin, both of whom will be ranked within top 5 or 10 in this pool, felt really safe.

zs for 31k may seem like a lot, but he's a great player and would likely go above 31k anyways, he's one of those guys we just really like teaming with and always puts up nice results. retaining him also meant we got one "big buy" out of the way before the auction, which gave us some peace of mind.

ego

If retain trades were allowed in this tournament, who would you be targeting?

Dave

For player retain trades, if I am a targeting a player, I am first looking at my own roster to see who teams would be interested in that I would not be interested in.

I would then look at other teams and the chemistry component. Would the player want to play for that team again?

And then, lastly, I would look for players that have high upside and could be undervalued and might make some type of trade worth it.

I think that a lot of it has to do with the player to an extent, but more so about the types of deals that you're able to get out of it, and is one of the deals going to be particularly advantageous for you. So that's why I'm not really naming a specific person because it just depends on whether I perceive it to be a good deal or not

ego

Which tiers do you think are in the best state right now? Which do you think remain the most underexplored?

Dave

I think that for underexplored tiers RU is a fun one because there's a clear drop-off in player quality. And you've seen that over the years with a lot of tournament players who don't specialize in the tier coming in and playing it, McMeghan, Kristyl, rob (but he plays everything)

ego

If you could change your team's mascot to suit the identity you're building for this team, what would you choose?

hellom

I would change it to Hydreigon, as besides being a super High Winning Energy Pokémon (which we are trying to go for this season), he also has 3 heads, which displays a sense of unity, something we'll be trying to put together in our roster this season (ignore the fact that 2 of those heads apparently don't have brains tho).

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