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★ Monotype Tournaments Open Mic [FORM or thread responses both welcome]

ken

ken

gm
is a Tournament Directoris a Battle Simulator Administratoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Top Community Contributoris a Top Metagame Resource Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Host
Monotype Leader
>>FORM HERE<<
Disclaimer: not all of the below is captured in the form above, but it gives you a chance to respond not publicly.​

Good morning gym leaders. As we wrap up 2025 and the circuit is rapidly winding down and getting closer to playoffs in December, we've started making preparations for 2026, both for the circuit and team tournament schedules. As we go through this process, we want feedback from you regarding both the circuit and team tournaments. First up, the proposed schedule, with the explicit note the proposed dates are rough estimates based on this year's iterations and the introduction of MCL for the team tournament schedule change:

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If you'd like to zoom in, you can also view the schedule sheet for yourself.
Tentative dates below would be week/round 1 of the tournament.

Team Tournaments
  • 18 January - MOMPL3
  • 19 April - MPL12
  • 17 May - MFPL3
  • 23 August - MCL1
  • 22 November - MWP8
Circuit Tournaments
  • 11 January - Spring Seasonal (Type A)
  • 8 February - SV Cup (Type A)
  • 17 May - MLT (Type B)
  • 12 July - Summer Seasonal (Type A)
  • 23 August - Swiss (Type B)
  • 11 October - Last Chance (Type C)

Team Tournaments​

We've now gone through a few iterations of the same MPL and MWP formats, and there's been debate annually about the last SV slot vs. current gen Bo3 for MPL, as well as the inclusion of Mono OMs in MWP, generally with the same arguments entrenched on each side of the debate and little movement beyond that. Since forgoing a format discussion, we retrospectively want your input on whether you like the formats as they are, including your comments about retains, pricing, and anything else regarding the format of the tournament itself. Keep in mind there is a possibility MWP in 2026 may be changed depending if and/or when Gen 10 is released, with the format obviously being up for discussion, not to mention timing potentially shifting.

After two years of MFPL, what have you liked? What have you disliked? Should the tournament's format be an exact mirror of MPL or should we have bonus slots similar to UUFPL for example? Do you think the tournament is highlighting new talent? If you are a newer draftee, have you learned more about various generations you may not main from more experienced players?

It's been brought up a few times in the Discord, but there's interest in a tournament more focused on oldgens as well as a third draft tour (that isn't MOMPL). We're thinking about trialing Monotype Champions League (MCL) in 2026, ideally primarily focusing on oldgens (e.g. 2 slots per BW-SS, though there's room-if there's interest-for a 10-slot team if SV is also included), as we also want to drive more interest towards our oldgens in general. Do you see yourself signing up for MCL? What would you like to see in the tournament, if anything, and do you think we should focus on oldgens? We'll likely have a format discussion thread for the tournament prior to manager signups going up, but we are interested in hearing your thoughts about including it now nonetheless.

Monotype World Cup hasn't been hosted since the beginning of Gen 9. There's not a huge space for it in the proposed 2026 schedule, but it's not impossible to fit in should there be overwhelming interest. If you have any thoughts about it, including if we should put it off until 2027/Gen 10, please let us know.

Similarly, MOMPL is in an interesting place, especially given it was initially planned to be a one-off tournament. We moved MOMPL back a few months so that it's now going to be earlier in the year, ideally avoiding any late-year newgen issues, should Gen 10 release at a similar calendar to previous generations. Do you think we should continue hosting MOMPL annually? There is plenty of interest in our other metagames, and it does wax and wane for various metagames. We've also partnered with other tier mains to bridge gaps and expand some of these metagames, Mono Doubles for example. There will always be a format discussion thread for MOMPL when it's hosted simply due to having more MOMs than we can justifiably fit in a single tournament, but what do you think about keeping the tournament at 6 tiers? Is 8 unfeasible? Should we expand to 8 teams? There's been signup numbers indicating we could fill 8 rosters, but is there depth in those numbers to continue keeping the level of play where it's been?

Circuit Tournaments​

I'll be much more brief here: what are your thoughts on the circuit schedule this year? What have you thought about the addition of Swiss? Should we get rid of extensions (very much imo yes, we should) in Swiss, as they make new round generation a nightmare? Should Swiss remain Type B? Do you have any thoughts about the scoring across the tournaments? The number of tournaments? Too many or too few? Do you have any other feedback regarding any of the individual tournaments themselves?


That was a lot of text, but we really want to know what you think. You, obviously, do not need to respond to all questions, and can focus on things you really want to maybe change or suggest.

If you want to complain about hosts for any specific tour, do not use this thread. Contact one of the forum mods separately. Your post will be deleted if that is the purpose you choose to post for.
 
here are some rapid fire thoughts from me since i don't mind publicly posting:

- current structure of MFPL is good, after having managed the first iteration of it and have seen a good chunk of my players (Ethereal Sword, Shucklegigas, jackuzzler) go on to bigger and better endeavors in monotype i don't think there's that much change needed if any at all to allow the up and comers to thrive.
- going to argue more about MCL in its format discussion whenever that time is but i rapid firely support the 8x8 2x oldgens structure as of now, open to hear out and support a better idea though. interested in managing either MPL or MCL in 2026 but definitely not both especially since they are back to back practically, and MPL alone burnt me out this year.
- MWC is mickey but by 2027 maybe all the boomers will be dead and it will have more of even spread of competition around the world, i haven't looked that far ahead myself personally
- no comments on MOMPL as its not something i play in besides maybe the whole move NDM to MPL thing but i'll let the stronger fighters handle that argument
- Swiss is cool, didn't play in it this year as i was still recovering from MPL burnout but have been following it closely, i totally agree absolutely no extensions
- current circuit structure is fine right now imo no need to add or remove anything
- last quick thought, what happened to blind draft discussions? are they even still a thing in other areas of smogon? (i'm out of loop outside of mono comm) what would it take to change one of our tours from standard auction to blind auction? would be interested to see how that fits if possible.
 
Before answering to the questions, I'd like first to thank you for surveying the community ahead of the release of the planning. Giving more chances to the community to express their opinion is always great.

On MPL, I think it could be interesting to replace one SV slot by Bo3 next year. It requires more prep, but it's also a good way to end the generation, as we can see some great Bo3 on the current gen in a teamtour setting. This could also be an opportunity to transition smoothly to gen10 for which the format might be gen10 x3 + gen5-9 x1 each for a total of 8 slots.

MFPL is a good tournament for newer Monotypers. Both editions put in light a number of new Monotypers that are now shining. The current format is also good as-is, in my opinion, as it gives chances to newer players to familiarize themselves a bit with oldgens while giving enough slots of current gen for new players to be drafted. One idea I'd like to discuss for the next edition is one I saw implemented recently in different PL's and Farm Leagues, namely tryouts tours. Hosting a few tryouts tours on the Mono room ahead of the draft would give more opportunities for newer players to showcase their skills in the tier they wish to be drafted for.

As already discussed, MCL would be a nice addition in the teamtour circuit, as it offers more room to oldgens to keep developing. 2x each oldgen seems the best format for this first edition, giving the same importance to each oldgen. I don't think expanding the format to 10 slots to include 2x SV would be advisable, though, as our other big tours are still 8 slots. We could then also host a few tryouts tours ahead of the draft for give every player a chance to show their knowledge in oldgens.

I would welcome a new edition of the Monotype World Cup too, but it does indeed not look easy to fit in the calendar. The concept of pairing with your fellow countrymen is refreshing and offers a very different experience from traditional teamtours.

Not much to say on the Individual Circuit Tour calendar. This year was the first time we had 6 tours in the circuit with the recent addition of the Mono Swiss. I think this new tour was positively received by the community, so keeping the Circuit as-is is fine, in my opinion. On the extensions in Mono Swiss, it did not bother me. Most players played on time their matches, except one player that keeps asking me extensions :p However, we will come back next edition with a more robust tour size. I agree that this edition had too many inactive players in the early rounds for the tour to be fully enjoyable. This is something I'm working on to fix for next year.
 
Already filled out the form, just a few brief comments here.

For MCL, I would favor 2x SV, excluding current gen is an easy way to get its interest level and viewership to tank.

As for smaller events that I'd like to see, I have two main ideas.
(1) Type draft - I think there's a lot of untapped potential here that could really bring out new ways of using each type. Format is flexible, a simple example would be Bo3 snake draft.
(2) Teambuilding events - Secret Santa was great and I'd love to see more events that emphasize creative teambuilding.
 
Everyone else above has already posted everything I agree with. My event idea is fitting in the all gen opens right before MWP similar to the all gen cups before MPL. I think it’s nice to give some people a chance to play the gens to either:

A.) familiarize themselves with the different metas across the generations for MWP.

B.) demonstrate knowledge and skill in most, if not all, of the generations.

C.) have more opportunities to play the old gens in a tour setting, or for people who weren’t picked in the upcoming MCL.

The old gens opens I’ve been hosting in the RoA forum has been running smoothly and a lot of people have expressed positive experiences and feedback. Some people are even sending in replays from those opens for tryouts for this MWP. I don’t think the opens would have to be part of the circuit but if hosted on our forums, it would be a great addition.
 
is there an actual reason mono wcop isn't hosted every year? or, at least, more than one time per gen? i feel like i never have a clear answer for this

i don't think mcl with 2 slots per oldgen sounds very exciting. i like oldgens, but the reality is that no one builds oldgens besides a few people. the lack of an active ladder makes it inconvenient to test new ideas and learn the tier for newer players, and monotype has such limited options that the good stuff has mostly been figured out already. i would guess that the tour would be a less-fun, lower-energy version of MPL. (and we have that already - see MFPL)

we should definitely have a third tour, but i don't see why it shouldn't be wcop. wcop has a fresh and distinct dynamic from MPL while having roughly the same players. i do think that the five week pools format is terrible (remember when west's pool was like venezuela, brazil, canada LMFAO?) but i don't see how that can't be fixed with some creativity. maybe do actual pools!

the ideal schedule is probably:
1) MPL - current format is fine
2) WCOP - all CG or even 4 sv / 2 ss / 2 sm
3) MWP - current format is fine
 
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