-
Smogon Premier League is here and the team collection is now available. Support your team!
-
Follow our Instagram!
-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2025 Smog Awards!
Smogon Premier League XVII - Commencement Thread
- Thread starter Excal
- Start date
Ngl initially I wasn't so sure to join this SPL but I'm so happy I did it.
I want to use this public space to s/o vivalospride, DugZa, etern because despite their lower tiers background and the skepticism about them from the community they did an absolutely amazing job and without any doubt they did their best: matter of fact we missed playoffs barely, being a bit unlucky with battle differential.
Also thank you for giving me the chance to do a comeback during the last half of the season, I won't forget it, I'm happy to have paid back your trust in this sense.
This has surely been one of the most enjoyable teams I've been in my years of competing... digesting this loss will be tough, but I've learnt that this is a game where only perseverance matters, so I hope everybody on Scooters will continue to grind to reach their goals.
I've enjoyed teaming up with all of you but I want to give a special thank to elodin and Triangles which made the impossible to get us in playoffs and you were probably the guys who deserved more to get this trophy, I hope you do not feel so bad about this loss, but with the skill you have it will be only matter of time before another pixel added to your wall.
At the end of the day, what I can say, this tournament gave me feelings I was missing from a long time and even if we didn't make playoffs I would do again this experience with all of you :]
Last but not least s/o Truthankamon and Going Hard for helping me test in late season and also s/o Santu, bello figo and procorphish for the moral support, you said the right things when I needed to hear them.
See you in WCOP and pls zS Figull400 entrocefalo Laroxyl Santu bring this red at home.
I want to use this public space to s/o vivalospride, DugZa, etern because despite their lower tiers background and the skepticism about them from the community they did an absolutely amazing job and without any doubt they did their best: matter of fact we missed playoffs barely, being a bit unlucky with battle differential.
Also thank you for giving me the chance to do a comeback during the last half of the season, I won't forget it, I'm happy to have paid back your trust in this sense.
This has surely been one of the most enjoyable teams I've been in my years of competing... digesting this loss will be tough, but I've learnt that this is a game where only perseverance matters, so I hope everybody on Scooters will continue to grind to reach their goals.
I've enjoyed teaming up with all of you but I want to give a special thank to elodin and Triangles which made the impossible to get us in playoffs and you were probably the guys who deserved more to get this trophy, I hope you do not feel so bad about this loss, but with the skill you have it will be only matter of time before another pixel added to your wall.
At the end of the day, what I can say, this tournament gave me feelings I was missing from a long time and even if we didn't make playoffs I would do again this experience with all of you :]
Last but not least s/o Truthankamon and Going Hard for helping me test in late season and also s/o Santu, bello figo and procorphish for the moral support, you said the right things when I needed to hear them.
See you in WCOP and pls zS Figull400 entrocefalo Laroxyl Santu bring this red at home.
Last edited:
I enjoy eulogies (Ego's Week 9 eulogies shined some insight on team-wide dynamics), but it's much harder to write them for the qualifying contenders. There isn't that much that separates the teams at 3rd/4th and the teams at 5/6/7/etc. The Raiders and BIGs both had huge Weeks 6/7/8 that got them a realistic chance to qualify, only the BIGs couldn't clinch it at the end. Or the Sharks and Scooters' Week 5 result that ultimately did matter which top team at that time were going to Playoffs. Or the Tyrants, who were above the curve all-season, but couldn't accumulate enough of an advantage and lost at the end. I believe that as long as you don't have -10 Differential or had a chance Week 9, you had a good team; but the teams that qualified did the little bit more to make it in.
With the season now over i just wanted to give a special s/o to the following users:
Pais - super cool to team with you bro, before coming into the season after the draft i heard some crazy stories about u from other italian players but u were always a good presence in chat and stayed in high spirits all season
emma / nicole7735 - for my 13 years on this site, from ladder player for my first 8 years, transitioning to tour player in 2020, ive always been an rby hater, didnt hate the playerbase just hated the gen, but after seeing both of you prep every week, ive come around to it, and its not a bad gen, for the most part haha, youve warmed me up to it
heileone cool to team with u bro, the only problem i have is when i ask u to test u have 100000000 balance teams lolol and i have to face those in testing and it is NOT fun.
DAHLI - wasnt very fond of u coming in bc of u having beef with my dawgs, blunder and bbeeaa in the past, ur a cool teammate, outside of u beefin w my friends atleast.
vivalospride etern DugZa - Replace dugza with m dragon and we have the GOAT manager trio, viv is easily the best manager ive ever done any team tour with, always positive, even when we lose he didnt chastise us or flame us, he always offered positive words of motivation, etern when he came online i know hes busy, was really cool too, and dugza is cool except for when he picked on elodin smh.
elodin - epic gsc performance bro, you shut alot of mouths this spl, and did a great ost run aswell
Triangles - adv beast, reminds me of bad dummy when i teamed w him in spl last year, you also managed the last spl i did in gen 8, so good to team with u again
waffle04 - they made the right choice to draft u after i vouched, did alot of helping with prep, provided teams and insight
Drachenkeule - epic performance in s/m
Ox the Fox - the bw goat, stepped into the tier and stomped their goats, love to see it, nice to team with u again, one day we will get an spl trophy together
Also everyone else i forgot, epic team, sad to go out like this, but i learned alot on what was brought vs me:
The main prep people did vs me was spikes + fat ghost, zapdos, oger scor, protect mons, roost cloaknite, av kyurem + ghold, i will be making a mental note of all these, and i will be more well prepared vs them in the future, and likely not lose to these again.
Still in high spirits after being lucked out of both OLT and OST, will focus on building and testing new teams now like ive always been, team dump is in Metagame discussion thread here: Post in thread 'SV OU Metagame Discussion v4 [ survey results -- see post 21,221 ]' https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-ou-metagame-discussion-v4-survey-results-see-post-21-221.3732644/post-10913757
hellom red trophy 2026 (hopefully)
pce
Pais - super cool to team with you bro, before coming into the season after the draft i heard some crazy stories about u from other italian players but u were always a good presence in chat and stayed in high spirits all season
emma / nicole7735 - for my 13 years on this site, from ladder player for my first 8 years, transitioning to tour player in 2020, ive always been an rby hater, didnt hate the playerbase just hated the gen, but after seeing both of you prep every week, ive come around to it, and its not a bad gen, for the most part haha, youve warmed me up to it
heileone cool to team with u bro, the only problem i have is when i ask u to test u have 100000000 balance teams lolol and i have to face those in testing and it is NOT fun.
DAHLI - wasnt very fond of u coming in bc of u having beef with my dawgs, blunder and bbeeaa in the past, ur a cool teammate, outside of u beefin w my friends atleast.
vivalospride etern DugZa - Replace dugza with m dragon and we have the GOAT manager trio, viv is easily the best manager ive ever done any team tour with, always positive, even when we lose he didnt chastise us or flame us, he always offered positive words of motivation, etern when he came online i know hes busy, was really cool too, and dugza is cool except for when he picked on elodin smh.
elodin - epic gsc performance bro, you shut alot of mouths this spl, and did a great ost run aswell
Triangles - adv beast, reminds me of bad dummy when i teamed w him in spl last year, you also managed the last spl i did in gen 8, so good to team with u again
waffle04 - they made the right choice to draft u after i vouched, did alot of helping with prep, provided teams and insight
Drachenkeule - epic performance in s/m
Ox the Fox - the bw goat, stepped into the tier and stomped their goats, love to see it, nice to team with u again, one day we will get an spl trophy together
Also everyone else i forgot, epic team, sad to go out like this, but i learned alot on what was brought vs me:
The main prep people did vs me was spikes + fat ghost, zapdos, oger scor, protect mons, roost cloaknite, av kyurem + ghold, i will be making a mental note of all these, and i will be more well prepared vs them in the future, and likely not lose to these again.
Still in high spirits after being lucked out of both OLT and OST, will focus on building and testing new teams now like ive always been, team dump is in Metagame discussion thread here: Post in thread 'SV OU Metagame Discussion v4 [ survey results -- see post 21,221 ]' https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sv-ou-metagame-discussion-v4-survey-results-see-post-21-221.3732644/post-10913757
hellom red trophy 2026 (hopefully)
pce
Last edited:
Not the season we wanted, but still a fun group with a lot of new people that I was happy to meet and team with. I’d like to highlight a few of the players that I don’t want to go under the radar in future tournaments because of the poor season we had as a team:
LB one of the best teammates I’ve had - you have a real passion for the game and you went above and beyond supporting and testing with literally every slot. You were instrumental in salvaging our SV with the support you provided, and you did a great job coming off the bench with a 3-2 record vs some strong opponents. I highly recommend him as a starter for SCL.
Sheik : another excellent teammate, providing input and test games to pretty much all the classic slots. You have a great attitude and mind for the game. Very strong performance in DPP, especially given you came off the bench and had some misfortune in the last few weeks. I can see you being one of the great DPP players as you continue to master the game moving forward.
Overall, there was a mix of a couple draft planning errors, some bad luck in the middle weeks, and people just having things come up. No excuses though, this is the game we play, and as the manager I am responsible for the poor performance. For me personally, it is humbling to miss a playoff after all these years (yes I am counting WCoP) and after the crazy run last year. I have learned a lot from this, and I probably needed this gut punch at some point haha. At least we didn’t finish last!
Would like to see the Cryos or Sharks win - I think PDC/Sam and obii are all due for one. obii in particular would notably be the first manager to win all 3 team tournaments, but PDC’s road to top 10 in HoF and Sam returning after having managed the best SPL team of all time almost 10 years ago also make for great storylines. Good luck all.
LB one of the best teammates I’ve had - you have a real passion for the game and you went above and beyond supporting and testing with literally every slot. You were instrumental in salvaging our SV with the support you provided, and you did a great job coming off the bench with a 3-2 record vs some strong opponents. I highly recommend him as a starter for SCL.
Sheik : another excellent teammate, providing input and test games to pretty much all the classic slots. You have a great attitude and mind for the game. Very strong performance in DPP, especially given you came off the bench and had some misfortune in the last few weeks. I can see you being one of the great DPP players as you continue to master the game moving forward.
Overall, there was a mix of a couple draft planning errors, some bad luck in the middle weeks, and people just having things come up. No excuses though, this is the game we play, and as the manager I am responsible for the poor performance. For me personally, it is humbling to miss a playoff after all these years (yes I am counting WCoP) and after the crazy run last year. I have learned a lot from this, and I probably needed this gut punch at some point haha. At least we didn’t finish last!
Would like to see the Cryos or Sharks win - I think PDC/Sam and obii are all due for one. obii in particular would notably be the first manager to win all 3 team tournaments, but PDC’s road to top 10 in HoF and Sam returning after having managed the best SPL team of all time almost 10 years ago also make for great storylines. Good luck all.
Another season where there was a lot left to be desired, however it was great fun to be a scoot this year so a huge thanks to DugZa etern and vivalospride for drafting me last minute, i deeply appreciate the trust you put on me even if i didn't do as well as i should have, apologies for that.
Some quick shoutouts for my teammates:
elodin you're the MAN dude, i really liked watching people talk mad shit about you on the gsc cord and you just casually outperforming them by a mile, great prep and execution and overall a great and active teammate, would be happy to team with you again fam.
Triangles the undisputed ADV goat, excellent on your tier and preparation and you always for some reason had a humble attitude even tho you were a step above in the tier, the thing that i appreciated the most about you is that even tho you're not a fairy gen expect you were always willing to jump on ps to play tests with us regardless if you knew the tier well or not and you always had some kind words to share in dms to try and cool me down whenever i needed it.
1 True Lycan i never interacted with you before this spl and quite frankly i wasn't familiar with your game, you're an insane talent and i'm really happy to team with you, amazing teammate and a great player dude, i'm really happy i get to call you a friend after all this cause you're cool as fuck (s/o michael carrick)
Ox the Fox my man i'm so happy to team with you again, the most clutch player ever and always a good friend to have around in the chat, i'm sorry my help in oras wasn't as good as we'd want but i'm really happy you popped off regardless in the tier and also in BW ou(your best tier LOL)
okay now that i'm done with the uncs:
Regarding our sv guys Storm Zone heileone waffle04 Pais DAHLI you guys were incredible to team with, very reliable players with a lot of knowledge on the tier, ik i didn't help yall too much but watching you pop off made me wanna play the tier again so thank you very much for your service throughout the tour and for the positive chat presence!
Brine peng always fun to team with good friends and i had a blast talking bw with y'all, it was a great dynamic with brine and me being the lunatics and peng trying to be the strict mom preventing us from bringing darmanitan every other week, hope we can team again one way or another brothers.
tko "Memcho, god damn it, you’re the team tour GOAT. i don’t think it’s been said enough but it’s insane how much work you put in every tier. I legit think the train would have derailed after week 2 if it werent for you carrying the team both in the prep channels and in the social channels. This team needed you and you stepped up. i hope to team with you in the future especially." here's a little throwback for you (if you remember this you're a real one LMAO)
nicole7735 emma the yapper channel popped off in the prep, always a pleasure having you around and looking at the rby channel calmed my soul quite a lot, i just wish nicole wasn't so fucking unlucky ingame because she for sure deserved a much better record than this because it wasn't indicative of all the hard work that was put on this season, hope we can team again in the future!
Drachenkeule the silent killer, holy shit man you have the clutch gene and i'm really happy to see you proving yourself again on the big leagues, always a pleasure to see you play tough games and come out on top and i enjoyed having an SM player that felt like such a reliable win before the game even started, you're a great player and a good friend.
SFG you should stop talking shit about yourself cause you're a genuinely good player and your record was for sure not what you deserved, you put in hard work and teaming with you was a blast, ty for considering my crust ass dpp advice even tho it wasn't always great and i hope we see more of you in the future. (CD was looking for you btw)
Lastly some shoutouts for some of my oras friends that were helping me prep my own games and polish teams throughout the season:
Ruffles always a pleasure yapping with you bro, especially when it comes to building you're absurd and fun to bounce ideas with and thank you very much for your words of encouragement when i was spiraling out of control while building nonsense.
NoName6293 L
xray Kali Kalimera, was fun bouncing ideas around with you in the past few weeks and i hope we see more of you next spl cause unc you still got some gas left in the tank.
purbaj zRyan devin genuine friends, thank you so much for putting up with my unstable ass and i appreciate the dedication you had in cheering for me and helping me test, love ya
chargedram Avendesora my prep buddies, wouldn't have done it without you guys, my insomnia never felt better!
Seasons Persephone rylon Ditching lighthouses kingofking the gang...man you guys are so fun to be around and i love that i have the privilege to call you my friends, working with yall this season was prolly one of my favorite parts of it.
Lastly some friends that helped encourage me and were always around on a personal level as well:
Fear Zokuru gorgie Spitfire Metallica126 Typical_bastard
Love you guys and i appreciate y'all for being around!
I'll make a post some time later that is oras related, sharing some teams and ideas that were considered in the season.
Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading so far, see ya next year(hopefully LOL)
Some quick shoutouts for my teammates:
elodin you're the MAN dude, i really liked watching people talk mad shit about you on the gsc cord and you just casually outperforming them by a mile, great prep and execution and overall a great and active teammate, would be happy to team with you again fam.
Triangles the undisputed ADV goat, excellent on your tier and preparation and you always for some reason had a humble attitude even tho you were a step above in the tier, the thing that i appreciated the most about you is that even tho you're not a fairy gen expect you were always willing to jump on ps to play tests with us regardless if you knew the tier well or not and you always had some kind words to share in dms to try and cool me down whenever i needed it.
1 True Lycan i never interacted with you before this spl and quite frankly i wasn't familiar with your game, you're an insane talent and i'm really happy to team with you, amazing teammate and a great player dude, i'm really happy i get to call you a friend after all this cause you're cool as fuck (s/o michael carrick)
Ox the Fox my man i'm so happy to team with you again, the most clutch player ever and always a good friend to have around in the chat, i'm sorry my help in oras wasn't as good as we'd want but i'm really happy you popped off regardless in the tier and also in BW ou(your best tier LOL)
okay now that i'm done with the uncs:
Regarding our sv guys Storm Zone heileone waffle04 Pais DAHLI you guys were incredible to team with, very reliable players with a lot of knowledge on the tier, ik i didn't help yall too much but watching you pop off made me wanna play the tier again so thank you very much for your service throughout the tour and for the positive chat presence!
Brine peng always fun to team with good friends and i had a blast talking bw with y'all, it was a great dynamic with brine and me being the lunatics and peng trying to be the strict mom preventing us from bringing darmanitan every other week, hope we can team again one way or another brothers.
tko "Memcho, god damn it, you’re the team tour GOAT. i don’t think it’s been said enough but it’s insane how much work you put in every tier. I legit think the train would have derailed after week 2 if it werent for you carrying the team both in the prep channels and in the social channels. This team needed you and you stepped up. i hope to team with you in the future especially." here's a little throwback for you (if you remember this you're a real one LMAO)
nicole7735 emma the yapper channel popped off in the prep, always a pleasure having you around and looking at the rby channel calmed my soul quite a lot, i just wish nicole wasn't so fucking unlucky ingame because she for sure deserved a much better record than this because it wasn't indicative of all the hard work that was put on this season, hope we can team again in the future!
Drachenkeule the silent killer, holy shit man you have the clutch gene and i'm really happy to see you proving yourself again on the big leagues, always a pleasure to see you play tough games and come out on top and i enjoyed having an SM player that felt like such a reliable win before the game even started, you're a great player and a good friend.
SFG you should stop talking shit about yourself cause you're a genuinely good player and your record was for sure not what you deserved, you put in hard work and teaming with you was a blast, ty for considering my crust ass dpp advice even tho it wasn't always great and i hope we see more of you in the future. (CD was looking for you btw)
Lastly some shoutouts for some of my oras friends that were helping me prep my own games and polish teams throughout the season:
Ruffles always a pleasure yapping with you bro, especially when it comes to building you're absurd and fun to bounce ideas with and thank you very much for your words of encouragement when i was spiraling out of control while building nonsense.
NoName6293 L
xray Kali Kalimera, was fun bouncing ideas around with you in the past few weeks and i hope we see more of you next spl cause unc you still got some gas left in the tank.
purbaj zRyan devin genuine friends, thank you so much for putting up with my unstable ass and i appreciate the dedication you had in cheering for me and helping me test, love ya
chargedram Avendesora my prep buddies, wouldn't have done it without you guys, my insomnia never felt better!
Seasons Persephone rylon Ditching lighthouses kingofking the gang...man you guys are so fun to be around and i love that i have the privilege to call you my friends, working with yall this season was prolly one of my favorite parts of it.
Lastly some friends that helped encourage me and were always around on a personal level as well:
Fear Zokuru gorgie Spitfire Metallica126 Typical_bastard
Love you guys and i appreciate y'all for being around!
I'll make a post some time later that is oras related, sharing some teams and ideas that were considered in the season.
Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading so far, see ya next year(hopefully LOL)
Originally I wasn't going to do any shout outs, but I came across this thread and saw people posting lots of wholesome stuff which to me was inspiring enough for me to say some words not only to my teammates, but everyone else that participated in this tournament.
I dont think anything compares to the disappointment that I felt last year, although this was definitely similar because I felt we could make playoffs when everyone else said things were 0%. Our chat was quiet and we were getting smashed some weeks but we weren't out to the very end and it was nice that everyone was trying their best up until we were fully out. It was nice to see our sv grinding weekly even if we were struggling, old gens trying our best, and just everyone having an overall positive attitude through everything managers included.
To my teammates, it was a pleasure to team with all of you and while we didnt get the result we wanted I hope you guys enjoyed your experience.
and thanks to my managers for letting me start my first full rby season, I def trolled some games but that just shows there's always room for improvement. Happy to go positive for my first full rby season.
This next part is mainly for everyone else that was in this spl, and the tournament community in general:
I'm in a couple social circles, and I see alot of people that are new/starting for the first time feeling bad about their records this tournament. Its very important that you don't fall victim to sheet looking culture. Some of the sites best have had some off seasons, shit happens and you shouldn't tie it to your ability as a player, or the value that you can bring to a team. Use the experience to hold yourself to a better standard for next year but don't ever doubt your abilities. At the end of the day one of the managers saw a reason to buy you, most cannot say that. Enjoy your team and the game to its absolute fullest.
And finally, if managers took a chance on you this year, the best way to repay that is to pass it on. When you're in a position to put someone else on to an opportunity on this site don't shy away from it. You can make absolutely make someone day just by giving them a shot, it's always appreciated. Thats my small bit of positivity for the day though.
Best of luck to all teams, you're all very skilled and deserving. Long live the wolf pack hope to play again next time
Heres a cool OST to listen to, thank you for reading
I dont think anything compares to the disappointment that I felt last year, although this was definitely similar because I felt we could make playoffs when everyone else said things were 0%. Our chat was quiet and we were getting smashed some weeks but we weren't out to the very end and it was nice that everyone was trying their best up until we were fully out. It was nice to see our sv grinding weekly even if we were struggling, old gens trying our best, and just everyone having an overall positive attitude through everything managers included.
To my teammates, it was a pleasure to team with all of you and while we didnt get the result we wanted I hope you guys enjoyed your experience.
and thanks to my managers for letting me start my first full rby season, I def trolled some games but that just shows there's always room for improvement. Happy to go positive for my first full rby season.This next part is mainly for everyone else that was in this spl, and the tournament community in general:
I'm in a couple social circles, and I see alot of people that are new/starting for the first time feeling bad about their records this tournament. Its very important that you don't fall victim to sheet looking culture. Some of the sites best have had some off seasons, shit happens and you shouldn't tie it to your ability as a player, or the value that you can bring to a team. Use the experience to hold yourself to a better standard for next year but don't ever doubt your abilities. At the end of the day one of the managers saw a reason to buy you, most cannot say that. Enjoy your team and the game to its absolute fullest.
And finally, if managers took a chance on you this year, the best way to repay that is to pass it on. When you're in a position to put someone else on to an opportunity on this site don't shy away from it. You can make absolutely make someone day just by giving them a shot, it's always appreciated. Thats my small bit of positivity for the day though.
Best of luck to all teams, you're all very skilled and deserving. Long live the wolf pack hope to play again next time
Heres a cool OST to listen to, thank you for reading
Last edited:
whatever happens with the last game of the semi finals for us, if we win, if we lose, if we win a tie break situation whatever i think im done.
ignoring how this season of spl completely ruined my experience of this game from week 3 onwards, being put in a tier i completely hate and am far from self sufficient in on my debut season, to the constant drama around our team 24/7, to my team getting leaked and my personal situation put on blast for someone to try and win an argument on discord.
thats the tipping point for me, completely gross behaviour to use something i told my team in confidence to explain why i will need extra levels of support this week for your own selfish needs and has really put me off this site as a whole and i probably wont be able to look at this game the same way.
to my team, sorry i was dogshit, kind of happens when you put the bw mainer into sv.
to the people who have sent me kind messages upon seeing the screenshot, i appreciate all of you a lot for your kindness.
for anyone reading this who has recently bought me for a team tour, i will finish my remaining games but that is all your getting. dont expect me to do anything else but load and play.
ignoring how this season of spl completely ruined my experience of this game from week 3 onwards, being put in a tier i completely hate and am far from self sufficient in on my debut season, to the constant drama around our team 24/7, to my team getting leaked and my personal situation put on blast for someone to try and win an argument on discord.
thats the tipping point for me, completely gross behaviour to use something i told my team in confidence to explain why i will need extra levels of support this week for your own selfish needs and has really put me off this site as a whole and i probably wont be able to look at this game the same way.
to my team, sorry i was dogshit, kind of happens when you put the bw mainer into sv.
to the people who have sent me kind messages upon seeing the screenshot, i appreciate all of you a lot for your kindness.
for anyone reading this who has recently bought me for a team tour, i will finish my remaining games but that is all your getting. dont expect me to do anything else but load and play.
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential style of musical variety-sketch comedy. Created by SPL ADV week 9 guest Darth Tyros in 2023, the eponymous media franchise encompasses films, television, music, and other media associated with the characters.
ggs Cryos, gl in final. Thanks Tigers for trying. Individual teammate shoutouts are only for winners as far as I am concerned, so none of that. If you want yapping filled with emotion, strong opinions, and salt, this one is for you though.
To put it bluntly, it absolutely fucking sucks going out like this. Having to tie the week itself after my game was absolutely robbed and Cow's game was completely derailed by the leak situation is already incredibly frustrating; not being put into the tiebreak in that fashion also hurt on a personal level as well, but I understand managers and teams have their own processes. Overall, investing that much time and effort for it to end this way leaves me bitter, especially with my history in this tournament and being one of the most consistently positive performers. I feel my time being perceived as one of the top players, my time as a figure people respect in this community, and my control over my destiny on here is slipping away with every passing tournament. Maybe it's time for something to change, but that's more of a discussion for me on my own time.
Sometimes the game is not going to break fairly, sometimes the tournament is going to be lame, and that's that at the end of the day. The Cryonicles absolutely deserved the tiebreak itself and to advance to the finals here, so good luck to them there. I could not stomach Mannat winning SPL after last weekend, so definitely pulling for the Cryonicles to win their first.
I will say it sucks that one of their managers thought instead of celebrating advancing that the immediate reply to a German player losing a tiebreak was to post the "Hitler dead" meme though. I have been friends with you for a long time, Sam, and respect you so much -- I know you are a great dude IRL and on here, but that was fucked up and he is not the only person upset over it. I implore you guys to stop discussing Ewin and for both sides to just ignore each other if you cannot get along. The useful life of all of your interactions expired months ago; I would love to not log on to the same drama being relitigated through nonsense for once. If you cannot do that, then perhaps some people who are so hellbent on making him look back should take a look in the mirror as to how that reflects on themselves. Yes, Tace, this is directed partially at you. You have been a friend for years and I really do wish you well, but we both know this has gotten silly and both sides should just move on without interacting further. I hope everything goes better for you and I appreciate you sticking it out despite stuff, but it's best for everyone that we just ignore people rather than making the problem exponentially larger for everyone involved. Cow being essentially sacrificed as a result of this situation is unacceptable. And yes, I am personally quite sad that our chances to win the week outright went from good to ass as a byproduct as well. It is "just Pokemon" and this is self-inflicted, but man I wanted this tournament so badly and so did a lot of others on our roster. We should not be hostages of this shit. FUCK man.
Pivoting back to our run: After all the roadblocks we faced such as having a 20k player cancer week 2, having multiple expensive players lose motivation and/or activity earlier on in the tournament, the whole accidental leak debacle, multiple people leaving chat throughout the season at crucial points, regularly bonding over the fact that we did not exactly want to be on this team initially, and having half the roster using my PMs to vent, I truly thought this one would end differently. I put every last moment of time and effort into this run that I could, which was far more than I even intended to when I signed up -- and this says a lot as I take this seriously as a baseline to begin with.
Sadly you cannot just outwork everyone to win -- believe me, I have tried for the last 13 years and probably will continue to. You need to be good enough and fortunate enough to win, too. We were not good enough at points and not fortunate enough at other points. The former is all that's within our control and I think we all agree there were too many mistakes from our team overall. I am very much included in this. As are our managers, who really needed to communicate with people more pre-tournament. I think you guys did a mostly great job during the tournament and sorted out a lot of nonsense (altough some of this was self-imposed) during the tournament itself. However, I have worked with someone who can test (and usually discuss) current BW stuff that has a similar timezone to me (seeing as I work until very late for Europeans) every year since I have begun working full-time in 2020. I told every manager who seriously considered this. I had nobody whatsoever to fulfill this and instead spent 3+ hours multiple nights each week struggling in ways I never have before. Maybe I am less sharp or good than before based on how the team perceived me, but personally I still feel like one of the best BW players, my track record of going 6-3 virtually every time shows this, other BW players perceive me as one of the top players, and I find it hard to believe that was the only factor in this process not being where it needed to be. I managed to get it together a bit despite some unfortunate results and timing, but the process was awful for multiple weeks and the fact that I pretty much had to re-use a team I used the week prior was one of the worst feelings. I hope any future managers actually reach out to me if they intend to spend 20k on me or anything close to that. A similar thing happened in SCL where I had to build for 2 slots despite coming into the tournament wanting (a little bit -- I was still happy to build and take charge) help just for my own since we had no team support and TJ needed teams as well -- this is going to burn me out of it keeps happening. I had never lost more than 5 games in a tournament before SCL/SPL, but now I have lost >5 twice in a row. Yea, this does fall on my shoulders as a player and yea, it is possible to be unfortunate in small samples, but it would be a lot easier to swallow if managers did their due dilligence rather than just assuming "it's Finch, he will surely be able to invest all of his time into our team to make it work". I am a very thorough communicator and one of the most approachable people on here, so I hope this does not happen again. It made the most fun part of the tournament more exhausting than anything else. This is not said with ill will towards Genesis, Lasse, or Ruft. I think they did a good job during the tournament itself, I think you guys all had great intentions, I think there is a lot you offer to teams, and I was 100% childish at times earlier in the tournament when discussing the draft -- this was not fair to you guys and I own that, but I also wish my experience was different and I did not throw away dozens of hours that I feel I would not have had to during any prior edition.
At the end of the day, the Tigers kept bending as far as possible with the 0-2 start, getting ties rather than wins vs bottom teams, and plenty of self-sabotage, but we never broke until today. A lot of my other playoff runs were on good teams that just felt a little worse than the best team or two, but I truly felt we were just as good as the opponents and it kept working out just well enough to move on until today. This is why this loss is so bitter. This is why this feels like a breaking point for me. This is why it feels like everything is slipping away from me. This is why it stings so much to not have another opportunity to play firsthand. This is why I say it absolutely fucking sucks going out like this.
On a personal note, this makes it 13 straight years of going after the same goal ending in failure. Between this and all of my other pursuits across tournaments, I truly feel like the biggest loser in Smogon history, so that's fun LMAO...It does suck only having one WCoP trophy to show for it when I have been on a myriad of talented rosters and had hundreds of chances is hard to accept as a someone so invested and competitive as I am. This one meant the world to me and a lot of the shit that went down hurt my mental as much as it did our chances. This was probably the most frustrating tournament for me personally and the most taxing one on my wellbeing. I feel more than ever that things need to change and I need to find a way to win, but I also feel more than ever that time is running out and it is increasingly possible that I will not reach my ultimate goal. And I also know that this dynamic cannot be healthy either. Seems like a lot of reflection awaits me while I try to find the healthiest allocation of my time and energy while adopting the best mentality I can.
It's sad because I started with some strong SPL showings, a finals birth in Smogon Tour, and a WCoP win the first year after realignment. The fact that I have not won anything -- team or individual -- over the last 7+ years haunts me. This is not a happy post or a shoutout post. It is just where I am at.
Will post a deep dive on my BW teams, get to work on some SV OU stuff, take a little time off, and then get into WCoP mode soon.
To put it bluntly, it absolutely fucking sucks going out like this. Having to tie the week itself after my game was absolutely robbed and Cow's game was completely derailed by the leak situation is already incredibly frustrating; not being put into the tiebreak in that fashion also hurt on a personal level as well, but I understand managers and teams have their own processes. Overall, investing that much time and effort for it to end this way leaves me bitter, especially with my history in this tournament and being one of the most consistently positive performers. I feel my time being perceived as one of the top players, my time as a figure people respect in this community, and my control over my destiny on here is slipping away with every passing tournament. Maybe it's time for something to change, but that's more of a discussion for me on my own time.
Sometimes the game is not going to break fairly, sometimes the tournament is going to be lame, and that's that at the end of the day. The Cryonicles absolutely deserved the tiebreak itself and to advance to the finals here, so good luck to them there. I could not stomach Mannat winning SPL after last weekend, so definitely pulling for the Cryonicles to win their first.
I will say it sucks that one of their managers thought instead of celebrating advancing that the immediate reply to a German player losing a tiebreak was to post the "Hitler dead" meme though. I have been friends with you for a long time, Sam, and respect you so much -- I know you are a great dude IRL and on here, but that was fucked up and he is not the only person upset over it. I implore you guys to stop discussing Ewin and for both sides to just ignore each other if you cannot get along. The useful life of all of your interactions expired months ago; I would love to not log on to the same drama being relitigated through nonsense for once. If you cannot do that, then perhaps some people who are so hellbent on making him look back should take a look in the mirror as to how that reflects on themselves. Yes, Tace, this is directed partially at you. You have been a friend for years and I really do wish you well, but we both know this has gotten silly and both sides should just move on without interacting further. I hope everything goes better for you and I appreciate you sticking it out despite stuff, but it's best for everyone that we just ignore people rather than making the problem exponentially larger for everyone involved. Cow being essentially sacrificed as a result of this situation is unacceptable. And yes, I am personally quite sad that our chances to win the week outright went from good to ass as a byproduct as well. It is "just Pokemon" and this is self-inflicted, but man I wanted this tournament so badly and so did a lot of others on our roster. We should not be hostages of this shit. FUCK man.
Pivoting back to our run: After all the roadblocks we faced such as having a 20k player cancer week 2, having multiple expensive players lose motivation and/or activity earlier on in the tournament, the whole accidental leak debacle, multiple people leaving chat throughout the season at crucial points, regularly bonding over the fact that we did not exactly want to be on this team initially, and having half the roster using my PMs to vent, I truly thought this one would end differently. I put every last moment of time and effort into this run that I could, which was far more than I even intended to when I signed up -- and this says a lot as I take this seriously as a baseline to begin with.
Sadly you cannot just outwork everyone to win -- believe me, I have tried for the last 13 years and probably will continue to. You need to be good enough and fortunate enough to win, too. We were not good enough at points and not fortunate enough at other points. The former is all that's within our control and I think we all agree there were too many mistakes from our team overall. I am very much included in this. As are our managers, who really needed to communicate with people more pre-tournament. I think you guys did a mostly great job during the tournament and sorted out a lot of nonsense (altough some of this was self-imposed) during the tournament itself. However, I have worked with someone who can test (and usually discuss) current BW stuff that has a similar timezone to me (seeing as I work until very late for Europeans) every year since I have begun working full-time in 2020. I told every manager who seriously considered this. I had nobody whatsoever to fulfill this and instead spent 3+ hours multiple nights each week struggling in ways I never have before. Maybe I am less sharp or good than before based on how the team perceived me, but personally I still feel like one of the best BW players, my track record of going 6-3 virtually every time shows this, other BW players perceive me as one of the top players, and I find it hard to believe that was the only factor in this process not being where it needed to be. I managed to get it together a bit despite some unfortunate results and timing, but the process was awful for multiple weeks and the fact that I pretty much had to re-use a team I used the week prior was one of the worst feelings. I hope any future managers actually reach out to me if they intend to spend 20k on me or anything close to that. A similar thing happened in SCL where I had to build for 2 slots despite coming into the tournament wanting (a little bit -- I was still happy to build and take charge) help just for my own since we had no team support and TJ needed teams as well -- this is going to burn me out of it keeps happening. I had never lost more than 5 games in a tournament before SCL/SPL, but now I have lost >5 twice in a row. Yea, this does fall on my shoulders as a player and yea, it is possible to be unfortunate in small samples, but it would be a lot easier to swallow if managers did their due dilligence rather than just assuming "it's Finch, he will surely be able to invest all of his time into our team to make it work". I am a very thorough communicator and one of the most approachable people on here, so I hope this does not happen again. It made the most fun part of the tournament more exhausting than anything else. This is not said with ill will towards Genesis, Lasse, or Ruft. I think they did a good job during the tournament itself, I think you guys all had great intentions, I think there is a lot you offer to teams, and I was 100% childish at times earlier in the tournament when discussing the draft -- this was not fair to you guys and I own that, but I also wish my experience was different and I did not throw away dozens of hours that I feel I would not have had to during any prior edition.
At the end of the day, the Tigers kept bending as far as possible with the 0-2 start, getting ties rather than wins vs bottom teams, and plenty of self-sabotage, but we never broke until today. A lot of my other playoff runs were on good teams that just felt a little worse than the best team or two, but I truly felt we were just as good as the opponents and it kept working out just well enough to move on until today. This is why this loss is so bitter. This is why this feels like a breaking point for me. This is why it feels like everything is slipping away from me. This is why it stings so much to not have another opportunity to play firsthand. This is why I say it absolutely fucking sucks going out like this.
On a personal note, this makes it 13 straight years of going after the same goal ending in failure. Between this and all of my other pursuits across tournaments, I truly feel like the biggest loser in Smogon history, so that's fun LMAO...It does suck only having one WCoP trophy to show for it when I have been on a myriad of talented rosters and had hundreds of chances is hard to accept as a someone so invested and competitive as I am. This one meant the world to me and a lot of the shit that went down hurt my mental as much as it did our chances. This was probably the most frustrating tournament for me personally and the most taxing one on my wellbeing. I feel more than ever that things need to change and I need to find a way to win, but I also feel more than ever that time is running out and it is increasingly possible that I will not reach my ultimate goal. And I also know that this dynamic cannot be healthy either. Seems like a lot of reflection awaits me while I try to find the healthiest allocation of my time and energy while adopting the best mentality I can.
It's sad because I started with some strong SPL showings, a finals birth in Smogon Tour, and a WCoP win the first year after realignment. The fact that I have not won anything -- team or individual -- over the last 7+ years haunts me. This is not a happy post or a shoutout post. It is just where I am at.
Will post a deep dive on my BW teams, get to work on some SV OU stuff, take a little time off, and then get into WCoP mode soon.
Well, the tour has ended for us now, this hurts but at the same time it's a good thing we made it to semis TB because no one was seeing us reaching playoffs.
I'm playing since 2024, my first tournament ever was OST in 2025, made WCOP, SCL and SPL the same year. Even though I'm not satisfied at all about my result this SPL, and I'm sorry for those losses, this has been a good experience for me to reach all that the same year.
I want to thanks my managers who trusted me all along the regular season even when it was rough for me and especially vs some rough opponents, doing a bad game vs some, chaining bad MUs or getting RNG'd in some others. I never gave up and each week I tried my best to build, test, help and play throughout the pressure of being a new player in an established pool.
Some people in others team have been hating on me as well, but I want to say thanks for that, because it triggered me that much that I tried my best more than ever, we ended making playoffs and they didn't, and I'm fine enough with that !
Also, throughout the dramas, I want to thanks people in Tigers chan that has been involved all along the season, during the best weeks as on the worst ones. I think besides of this, I appreciated teammating with everyone (unless you cancers week 2 then disappears), I wasnt familiar with most of you and it has been a pleasure to teammate with you all
I wish to fight you in WCOP next, then maybe playing SCL with some of you, til the next SPL
I will soon drop some teams I've build during those 10 weeks
Gl in finals, rooting for my french friends
I'm playing since 2024, my first tournament ever was OST in 2025, made WCOP, SCL and SPL the same year. Even though I'm not satisfied at all about my result this SPL, and I'm sorry for those losses, this has been a good experience for me to reach all that the same year.
I want to thanks my managers who trusted me all along the regular season even when it was rough for me and especially vs some rough opponents, doing a bad game vs some, chaining bad MUs or getting RNG'd in some others. I never gave up and each week I tried my best to build, test, help and play throughout the pressure of being a new player in an established pool.
Some people in others team have been hating on me as well, but I want to say thanks for that, because it triggered me that much that I tried my best more than ever, we ended making playoffs and they didn't, and I'm fine enough with that !
Also, throughout the dramas, I want to thanks people in Tigers chan that has been involved all along the season, during the best weeks as on the worst ones. I think besides of this, I appreciated teammating with everyone (unless you cancers week 2 then disappears), I wasnt familiar with most of you and it has been a pleasure to teammate with you all
I wish to fight you in WCOP next, then maybe playing SCL with some of you, til the next SPL
I will soon drop some teams I've build during those 10 weeks
Gl in finals, rooting for my french friends
Last edited:
I just wanted to shout out some newer or unsung players from this year’s Tigers roster that deserve some public recognition.
Zaza One of the few players in our draftplan that ended up on this team. You carried 3 different slots in prep and most slots in scouting, then came into 2 non-main tiers and put up wins. I really hope this season gives you the respect you deserve. Future servers def need to put you on slowmode though.
NoName6293 You really put up a season playing and prep-wise that could not have been much better. It’s sad that luck hit you hard in the middle weeks, but that game vs. xray will live on in memory for a long time. You quietly stepped up to the plate to support slots in testing and theory where it was needed as well. Thanks for just playing the tournament to the best of your ability.
pixie909 If you didn’t manage to rise to the occasion as our ADV starter, the season was very much over. I think the whole situation caused you a lot of stress, but on an individual level I hope you can look back on this season as a resounding success. The algorithm got it very right here.
Patatexv Your record may not reflect your strong season, but you were such a boost to our SV core from day 1. Always coming up with new ideas, testing and theorizing changes to your teammate’s stuff. You were a breath of fresh air, especially during the first few weeks where morale was very low. A must pick for future teamtours.
pkmn master
FJ2K
Glurakaiser
Thanks for helping us from mostly day 1. It was a pleasure to have you all be a part of this team
And just on a personal level:
Laroxyl Thanks for being so receptive with my prep and teams, and being so eager to bounce back through the losses you had. Your drive to win was infectious. The server crash game was maybe the second most comical moment of this season, but you came back from that and didn’t drop anything else. I think you learned a lot about RBY this season, and I am glad we ended up together here.
Zaza One of the few players in our draftplan that ended up on this team. You carried 3 different slots in prep and most slots in scouting, then came into 2 non-main tiers and put up wins. I really hope this season gives you the respect you deserve. Future servers def need to put you on slowmode though.
NoName6293 You really put up a season playing and prep-wise that could not have been much better. It’s sad that luck hit you hard in the middle weeks, but that game vs. xray will live on in memory for a long time. You quietly stepped up to the plate to support slots in testing and theory where it was needed as well. Thanks for just playing the tournament to the best of your ability.
pixie909 If you didn’t manage to rise to the occasion as our ADV starter, the season was very much over. I think the whole situation caused you a lot of stress, but on an individual level I hope you can look back on this season as a resounding success. The algorithm got it very right here.
Patatexv Your record may not reflect your strong season, but you were such a boost to our SV core from day 1. Always coming up with new ideas, testing and theorizing changes to your teammate’s stuff. You were a breath of fresh air, especially during the first few weeks where morale was very low. A must pick for future teamtours.
pkmn master
FJ2K
Glurakaiser
Thanks for helping us from mostly day 1. It was a pleasure to have you all be a part of this team
And just on a personal level:
Laroxyl Thanks for being so receptive with my prep and teams, and being so eager to bounce back through the losses you had. Your drive to win was infectious. The server crash game was maybe the second most comical moment of this season, but you came back from that and didn’t drop anything else. I think you learned a lot about RBY this season, and I am glad we ended up together here.
I wanted to write this after finals, but after yesterday’s loss I wasn’t sure if I should still post it. I was pretty sad, but in the end I decided to do it because it feels right.
At first, I didn’t really believe in our team. There were a lot of internal beefs and I was honestly scared it would turn into a toxic environment, but I was completely wrong. I ended up enjoying this experience so much and genuinely had fun.
My managers were amazing. I’m glad I played for them. They handled a lot of unexpected situations and did a great job throughout the whole tournament. You should definitely trust them again in that role. They were always active, providing scouting, tests, and tips. Even Lasse helped a lot by sharing motivation.
The only decision I didn’t fully agree with was the tiebreak choice. No hate to pideous, but I personally rated gsc higher, and I guess I wasn’t wrong.
I’m happy I got to re-evaluate ewin, we had fun together, built mutual respect, and I think we can say we’re friends now and he saved our ass twice, so it’s goat.
I really loved playing again with Finch. He’s one of the most talented, kind, humble and beautiful people on this site. I really hope we’ll get to team up again. He always supported me, even when I played badly (like vs ctown), and always believed in me, so I’m really grateful to him. The only thing I’d say is that he should try to complain less when he gets unlucky. I’m pretty sure people would appreciate him even more if he did.
There’s one helper I really want to mention someone who helped me a lot this season. If I ended up with a positive record, a big part of the credit goes especially to g7 and to Shane.
PKMN Master™ was always there, constantly active, ready to help with ideas, tests, and support whenever needed. He’s been amazing throughout the whole experience, and on top of that, he’s also a really solid RBY player.
If I had to recommend someone, I’d definitely say you should consider drafting him as either a supporter or even a starter, I’m pretty sure he would do great and be so helpful.
All my teammates were amazing, thank you all for supporting me and believing in me. Thanks to all Italian friends who rooted for me. S/O amaranth for helping in w7 and for semis, always a brother and a master for me.
Overall, I’m happy with my performance. I want to apologize for my series vs ctown, which was honestly shameful. I still hope I’ll get another chance to play SV, because I want to turn around that negative streak.
The main reason of this post is this. Last year I had some real-life problems (I know others have it worse, but still), and it’s kind of strange because results-wise it was actually a good year for me. I won LCPL for the first time, won RCOP, thanks to my win made playoffs in SCL and finished positive, had a positive SPL record (6-4), and my wins were important in week 7 and in semis for getting tiebreak. I also placed second in BW LC Classic and won some money.
I’m not saying this out of arrogance or ego, I just want to share a message for anyone going through tough times: you can overcome it. Don’t give up on yourself. Stay strong, fall if you have to, but always get back up. Better things will come.
And if you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to reach out. I’ll be happy to help.
If a noob like me can go 6-4 (which isn’t even that great), then anyone can do it. Just believe in yourself.
I hope I didn’t disappoint my team and my managers.
At first, I didn’t really believe in our team. There were a lot of internal beefs and I was honestly scared it would turn into a toxic environment, but I was completely wrong. I ended up enjoying this experience so much and genuinely had fun.
My managers were amazing. I’m glad I played for them. They handled a lot of unexpected situations and did a great job throughout the whole tournament. You should definitely trust them again in that role. They were always active, providing scouting, tests, and tips. Even Lasse helped a lot by sharing motivation.
The only decision I didn’t fully agree with was the tiebreak choice. No hate to pideous, but I personally rated gsc higher, and I guess I wasn’t wrong.
I’m happy I got to re-evaluate ewin, we had fun together, built mutual respect, and I think we can say we’re friends now and he saved our ass twice, so it’s goat.
I really loved playing again with Finch. He’s one of the most talented, kind, humble and beautiful people on this site. I really hope we’ll get to team up again. He always supported me, even when I played badly (like vs ctown), and always believed in me, so I’m really grateful to him. The only thing I’d say is that he should try to complain less when he gets unlucky. I’m pretty sure people would appreciate him even more if he did.
There’s one helper I really want to mention someone who helped me a lot this season. If I ended up with a positive record, a big part of the credit goes especially to g7 and to Shane.
PKMN Master™ was always there, constantly active, ready to help with ideas, tests, and support whenever needed. He’s been amazing throughout the whole experience, and on top of that, he’s also a really solid RBY player.
If I had to recommend someone, I’d definitely say you should consider drafting him as either a supporter or even a starter, I’m pretty sure he would do great and be so helpful.
All my teammates were amazing, thank you all for supporting me and believing in me. Thanks to all Italian friends who rooted for me. S/O amaranth for helping in w7 and for semis, always a brother and a master for me.
Overall, I’m happy with my performance. I want to apologize for my series vs ctown, which was honestly shameful. I still hope I’ll get another chance to play SV, because I want to turn around that negative streak.
The main reason of this post is this. Last year I had some real-life problems (I know others have it worse, but still), and it’s kind of strange because results-wise it was actually a good year for me. I won LCPL for the first time, won RCOP, thanks to my win made playoffs in SCL and finished positive, had a positive SPL record (6-4), and my wins were important in week 7 and in semis for getting tiebreak. I also placed second in BW LC Classic and won some money.
I’m not saying this out of arrogance or ego, I just want to share a message for anyone going through tough times: you can overcome it. Don’t give up on yourself. Stay strong, fall if you have to, but always get back up. Better things will come.
And if you ever need someone to talk to, feel free to reach out. I’ll be happy to help.
If a noob like me can go 6-4 (which isn’t even that great), then anyone can do it. Just believe in yourself.
I hope I didn’t disappoint my team and my managers.
I'm not going to write some self-centered post about what I thought or talk about my season or the games as many people do , because nobody gives a damn fuck.
May the best team win between the Cryos and the Raiders, Both teams earned their spots in the final.
Just a word of advice: sometimes a six-month break is better than ten weeks of tournament play where you’re just going through like a bot and having no fun, your mental health is more important.
May the best team win between the Cryos and the Raiders, Both teams earned their spots in the final.
Just a word of advice: sometimes a six-month break is better than ten weeks of tournament play where you’re just going through like a bot and having no fun, your mental health is more important.