Tournament Doubles Premier League 7: Format Discussion

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FAQ

How does DPL work?

There will be 6 teams, each with their own captain. Captains will do a snake draft on Pokemon Showdown, where they will take turns nominating and bidding in an auction for players who signed up to assemble their teams with limited credits available. The teams will then play one another for 5 weeks, with a new opponent each week. This will culminate with a Playoffs week consisting of the Top 3 teams overall from the 5-week main season.

How does one signup as a player?

Player signups will begin later, and will run until the draft. Watch the forum for the thread to sign up.

How does one apply to be a captain?

To apply to be a captain, read and post in this thread:

If I am selected as a captain, can I still play for my team?

Yes, captains will be given the option to draft themselves for a set price point, usually somewhere between 12-15k credits. The exact price will be settled at a later date.

When is the DPL Auction?

The auction date will be decided after managers are chosen and they agree to a time. Follow this thread for that information.

When does DPL Week 1 start?

The projected start date is Sunday, February 14th.

In this thread, feel free to discuss anything regarding DPL before it begins. This is meant to be a place for players to voice their opinions and help us decide some key things regarding DPL. Some points of discussion are:

1. Captains WILL be allowed to play this year, but how much should their draft price be?
- Last year, captains could draft themselves for 15k. Should this price be changed?

2. What Doubles formats should be used this year?
- Last year, there were 6 playing slots for each team: 3 SS DOU, 1 SM DOU, 1 XY DOU, and 1 BW DOU.
- We are unsure about the potential viability of eight slots this year due to recent seasonal sign up numbers, so please post on whether you think there should be six or eight playing slots in DPL this year. Remember, each team is required to draft 2 subs, so we are discussing between having 8 players on each team or 10 players on each team.
3. I understand people have varying opinions on the state of SS DOU metagame as of now, what can we as a community do to make DPL7 as fun and enjoyable as possible?

Feel free to bring up anything else you find relevant and worth discussing regarding DPL.

 

[Idyll]

I personally think that the format should be 2 SS DOU / 1 SS DUU / 1 SM / 1 XY / 1 BW.

We've always been doing the oldgens, personally I don't see any reason to remove them from the rotation as they've always been great metagames to watch and play. I am against changing the distribution of games for oldgens; they don't deserve more than one game each due to the relatively more limited number of players they cater to, but all of them have a place in DPL.

Last year, we had 3 SS DOU and no SS DUU simply because, at the time, SS DOU was recent and SS DUU was still quite raw and unexplored. At the moment, I believe that SS DUU has developed enough to the point that I believe it's worth giving it a shot. A format with all oldgens DOUs and the two current gen usage tiers (with a given emphasis on DOU) should provide an overall well-rounded tournament experience for everyone to participate in and spectate.

I could see an argument for 3 SS DOU and no SS DUU so we can push the DOU metagame further. Personally though, I think two DOU slots is sufficient enough considering we've already had sufficient experience with SS DOU in WCOP and Invitationals, and DPL will also overlap with Seasonals which may prove to be another avenue to develop the metagame further. Sure, there's the notion that team tournaments are more capable of developing metagames, but I think two is enough for the prupose; I'd personally rather have the remaining slot to DUU instead, to give it its fair shake in DPL. DUU, from personal experience, has really been quite enjoyable to play at a high level and the metagame itself is sufficiently fair, regardless of what the list of available Pokemon may indicate.

I personally believe that SS DOU should be represented in DPL as it is without any ruleset changes whatsoever. Sure, it may be "whack" right now but that's still ultimately a subjective opinion (and I do think it's pretty fine rn); I'd personally prefer to see how the metagame we are actually playing develops organically, and reserving a slot for a different SS DOU would restrict that.

I'm open to the idea of 8 starter slots and I am hopeful that it's possible; we've actually had a decent number of signups for the current Seasonal. However, I think this is something we should table until we actually see sign-ups for DPL.

 

[kaori]

1) probly depends on managers but 15k is definitely steep, i think it should just be 10k minimum + a certain amount for each win in the previous dpl

2) so i think as far as 6 vs 8 you need to make that determination after the first few days of signups, its impossible to predict and committing to 8 and then getting too few signups sucks, but so does comitting to 6 and getting a bunch of snubs

format wise,
6 slots:
2x SS / SS DUU / SM / XY / BW
8 slots:
3x SS / SS DUU / SM / XY / BW / idk bo3? dubers? 4th ss?

3) i dont play ss so i dont really care but any changes to standard rules should be restricted to 1 of the SS slots and/or voted on by the likely SS starters from each team

 

[Platinum God n1n1]

1) captains price same as last year.

2) for 6 slots - 3 SS DOU, 1 SM, 1 XY, 1 BW
for 8 slots - 4 SS DOU, 1 SM, 1 XY, 1 BW, 1 DUbers
if 8 slots I like DUbers to be included over DUU because it has a much more active ladder which can and should be recruited from. It is also the only format which the core mechanic of SS is included in. Dawoble has put great resources on the forum, so if theres ever a case to include it in DPL now is the time.

But I prefer 8 teams 6 slots. We had 8 teams in WCoP and that worked out totally fine.
6 teams x 6+2 = 48 minimum players. Thats seems too low and good players dont get drafted, for example you and tenzai last year.
8 teams x 6+2 = 64 minimum feels like the sweet spot to me.
6 teams x 8+2 = 60 minimum, gives more slots to deserving players but the teams get bloated with too many people per team.

As for seasonals sign ups if, I dont think thats a good comparable, look at WCoP instead. Also put a link to Seasonal in the room intro, I had no idea it was happening until someone reminded me

3) SS is super fun

 

[fespy]

1) Keep captain's prices the same. Keep in mind that captains already have themselves by default in a support role - when they draft themselves, the only change is that they can now play. Contrast this with drafting a regular player, where the delta is playing and support. Wanting to raise the captain price for reasons such as "SMB going for 15k is a crime" are just not valid.

2) Echoing Memo for 6 slots: 2 SS DOU / 1 SS DUU / 1 SM / 1 XY / 1 BW.
For 8 slots, add another SS DOU and probably DUbers

3) Streaming big matches :)

 

[KyleCole]

2 x SSDOU
1 x SM
1 x XY
1 x BW
1 x chess

 

[n10siT]

1. Captains WILL be allowed to play this year, but how much should their draft price be?

15k is fine. If I could make bowman pay 25k for himself every year I would do it, but 15k is both fair and the precedent.

2. What Doubles formats should be used this year?

I think we should plan on 6 slots, with the option to expand to 8 given large sign up numbers. Specifically, a large number of signups who actually deserve to be in DPL. The bar for "being good enough for DPL" isn't super high by the way, I don't want to sound elitist in saying that, but every year people who play DOU and are a part of this community go unpicked and instead people draft singles players who are like cool on this website or something. Anyway,

SS DOU / SS DOU / SM DOU / XY DOU / BW DOU / SS DUU

should be the format, given 6 slots. My reasoning for DUU to be included over another SS or another metagame (like DUbers) is that A: as Memoric said, we don't need to use DPL as the main driving force to develop SS DOU right now. There are plenty of other tournaments doing that, and 2 SS slots and a DUU slot gives DPL enough current gen while also providing some variety. B: DUU has a lot more overlap from any other Doubles OU format, as even inexperienced players can adapt fairly quickly to a new banlist of mons. DUbers, on the other hand, I think shares more in common with VGC than it does with DOU right now, as its an incredibly offensive format with Dynamax allowed. I think (my opinion) it would be harder for the average DOU player to pick up DUbers than it would be for them to pick up DUU. C: I work rly hard on DUU :(

3. I understand people have varying opinions on the state of SS DOU metagame as of now, what can we as a community do to make DPL7 as fun and enjoyable as possible?

This is all about team environment. Having active and engaged managers and team members brings up the level of play and the level of fun, even if you aren't personally a huge fan of SS right now. Also, with old gens and DUU, there is plenty for anti-SS DOU people to get involved with. I don't know if there's a way to change the rules to make the tournament more fun. As Paraplegic likes to say, it is what you make it. Go in with a positive attitude :)