Better late than never, I will give my opinion on this ladder core challenge. But first, I would like to thank
Neko and
style.css for hosting and managing this challenge until the end. Challenges came out on time and we had more than enough time to make them. The wide diversity of the cores proposed allowed to play very different team styles as well as a lot of overshadowed pokemons, one key point of Core Challenges.
With no big surprise, I enjoyed a lot participating in this ladder core challenge. Though there are some adjustments that can be made for future slates, Ladder Core Challenge was mostly a positive experience for me. Although I did one slate in the regular Mono forum, there were quite a few differences that made this Core Challenge even more enjoyable.
More specifically, the total duration seems a perfect balance between too short and too long which would be both detrimental either by reducing the feeling of competition or by increasing the boredom. 5 weeks with each week two proposed Core Challenges, thus 10 challenges in total, allow to feel involved while not creating boredom that would likely come in the following weeks with a longer Slate.
Another good point is the diversity of the challenges proposed with some challenges easier than others. The pool of selected pokemons is great. We have not always the chance to play shedinja, for instance. Highlighting overshadowed pokemons while restricting a bit teambuilding make the laddering really interesting. You end up sometimes by wanting to actually use the featured pokemons a bit longer or in some other settings which is great. A metagame such as the Natdex mono make a lot of cool and interesting pokemons overshadowed. Core Ladder Challenge is the perfect chance to give the spotlight to those often-forgotten pokemons and I believe you did a wonderful job on that part.
On this specific point, I would suggest to go further by diversifying the restrictions. A few ideas out of the mind are giving some specific items/moves to run with or without specific pokemons. To develop, psychic challenge could ask you to use Mewnium + another mon. Although players could use this by themselves, showcasing more restricting cores might allow the participants to think more deeply about their team composition and how to address specific issues which they would not necessarily do otherwise.
A final point I would like to discuss is the ranking system. With the current state of the ladder, such a ranking system seems not challenging enough. With 6 platinums achieved in less than 30 games and a few ones in the early-20s, reaching platinum is not hard and depends more on the willingness to do the 25-30 games rather than on trying to beat the ladder. Past 13xx ELO, only a few players are still laddering which makes the laddering less fun as you end up with the same 2-3 opponents that are at 13xx ELO while you keep climbing. On that subpoint, I do not have any solution to provide. The issue is about the ladder itself.
Regarding the difficulty, as discussed on the room, it might be interesting to increase the GXE threshold for platinum to avoid meeting the platinum condition before the one from gold. Setting it up at 82.5% GXE would make it nearly impossible to reach before 1500 ELO which would be more relevant in my opinion. However, by raising up the bar for platinum, the ladder issue will get worse inevitably. Another way to tackle the difficulty issue might be related to the above suggestion. Platinum could be linked to some extra-conditions to fulfill or, to not lock platinum behind the usage of specific sets, reaching platinum with the extra-conditions fulfilled would grant more points.
Thank you again for this event and I am looking forward to the next editions :)
Dragon Core Results 
Normal Core Results 
Steel Core Results 
Poison Core Results 
Water Core Results 
Ghost Core Results 
Ground Core Results 
Fire Core Results 
