Rejected Monotype in SCL

[Rio Vidal]

Since it looks like SCL is finally mirroring SPL and will be changing its format to 12 slots, Monotype would also like to be included in the tournament. Our proposal is to have the two extra slots be filled by Draft + Monotype.
This would give the tournament this lineup of tiers: OU x3 / Ubers / UU / RU / NU / PU / LC / DOU / Draft / Monotype.

2025 Circuit Data
Monotype Seasonals: 187 players
Monotype SV Cup: 269 players

OU Seasonals: 328 players
Ubers Seasonals: 125 players
UU Masters: 121 players
RU Seasonals: 186 players
NU Seasonals: 103 players
PU Seasonals: 112 players
2024 DOU Seasonals: 86 players
LC Seasonals: 131 players

Collected this data to show that Monotype has an extremely active and competitive playerbase, as similar to the other official metagames. Only OU beats out Monotype in circuit participation, but Monotype comes in a very easy close second in terms of an active playerbase.

Monotype has been an official tier since 2017, that is almost a decade without representation in official smogon tournaments once. Monotype has a thriving playerbase, one of the most active circuits, multiple large team tours, and active turnout in different aspects of the metagame such as suspect voters and resource contributors. There is no valid reason, especially with the recent expansion of SCL that Monotype should not be in the tournament. I realize there will ultimately be people unhappy with this change, however that should not hold back an entire community from receiving representation. Over the years we have stated countless arguments as to why we are a competitive tier, so I won't really be rehashing those as they have been stated many times over and over again. Time and time again there have been numerous attempts to get Monotype into SCL in the past, and we have been rebuffed at every step for no shortage of excuses. Meanwhile, the TDs are putting their utmost effort into making Draft (an inherently unique format) feasible for inclusion in a team tour, dealing with any potential hurdles as they come, which is an allowance that has not been offered to Monotype in the past. That being said, I do believe that the Draft community has done an incredible job in growing as they have since their affiliation with Smogon, and Monotype wants to congratulate them on their seemingly guaranteed inclusion in the next iteration of SCL. Monotype strongly believes that it should be added to SCL as the 12th slot instead of another SV OU, its finally time to add Monotype in SCL!

 

[Dj Breloominati♬]

The pros and cons of this have been discussed to death already, and lest we run around in circles again until nothing comes out of the thread, I'd like to address one of the common concerns that's brought up by a lot of people. Matchup does play a role but not to the point where it's uncompetitive - look up mpl from the past few years and you have about a dozen people consistently putting up results. A fair analogy in my eyes would be to compare mono to BW OU in terms of the importance of matchup, where it's challenging to account for everything at once but having a good read of the metagame is enough to do well (whether or not that is the 'ideal tier' is a talk for another day, my point is just to compare as to how a similar setup for another tier is functional).

I also do think the narrative of "auto-losses" is greatly exaggerated and that there is a lot more nuance than that visible to the naked eye, but I don't want to clutter the overall sentiment that I am trying to convey with this post.

 

[S1nn0hC0nfirm3d]

What's the point of making monotype an "official tier" if it doesn't have representation in any of the official team tours? Hasn't it been like a decade since it was made official? Add monotype to SCL, but please don't include draft of all things, just add another OU.

 

[Star]

We've had a lot of debate in the Draft thread about additions to SCL (including about Monotype) and obviously this post as an offshoot of that. To get some more concrete data, we've sent out a form to participants of the previous edition (players and managers). The contents of the form are below. This isn't a "suspect test" where we're looking for some specific majority, but we want to get a gauge of SCL participant opinions on potential additions and will evaluate responses before making final decisions.

The TD team is considering changes to SCL and looking for your feedback on the two main proposed additions in Draft and Monotype. This is by no means a guarantee that we will modify the existing format, just looking for opinions. Please answer the question while considering the following criteria:

- The competitiveness of the tier
- Would adding the tier improve SCL (both in terms of the tour itself and your team experience)

Based on the criteria above, do you think Draft should be added to SCL?
Based on the criteria above, do you think Monotype should be added to SCL?

 

[Star]

see this post