Bo3: Punny
SS: TPP, Specs, Natan, Ez
SM: Finchinator
ORAS: Ark
BW: Lily
In Punny’s first attempt at managing in some time, he has taken matters into his own hands by getting his retain at a whopping price of 20.5K that is somehow still a substantial discount. After recording a ridiculous record of 18-3 in the most recent RU subforum team tournaments, making top 4 of RU’s circuit playoffs in consecutive years, and winning RU Open and Grand Slam, Punny’s RU resume is second to none – especially now that sensei axew has retired. He is considered the favorite in an incredibly competitive Bo3 pool and could foreseeably put up about 5 regular season wins against RU’s toughest competition.
A prolific SS builder, Punny decided to spend the rest of the auction focusing more on oldgens – particularly BW, for which he bought three players. I assume Lily will BW while Finch plays SM and Ark plays ORAS, but almost any combination of these three tiers and players is theoretically possible. Lily put up a solid 3-1 in BW last RU Snake, and Finch is the
Greatest Rarely Used Subforum Tournament Player Of All Time; both are projected to do slightly above average in their oldgen pools. Ark may be less familiar to the RU community, but he’s a known tryhard who can pick up a wide variety of tiers and play them well; it would be a surprise to see him not finish approximately even in ORAS.
After this strong start in Bo3 and old gens, the SS core looks to be Noiverns’ Achilles heel. Punny spent very little on the SS slots, getting capable players who he plans to support with his teams. This strategy sounds solid but may not work as intended because of Punny’s very unique style; his teams are very much tuned to his specific playstyle and aren’t the most intuitive for new players to pick up and use. TPP, ez, and Specs fit the description, having not touched the RU tier much at all. While all are capable players, the rankers don’t expect them to have a playing advantage that overcomes the lack of familiarity with the tier and consider them all below average. Natan has played the tier before and actively built but hasn’t touched it in a while, so it’s difficult to know how involved and capable he might be. Overall, the Noiverns have a superstar in Bo3 and very solid oldgens but may be held back by the inconsistency of their SS core -- inconsistency fitting for a mascot that doesn't have any 100% STAB moves.