It sucks to go out this way, but it is what it is. Had a lot of fun managing and playing this tournament especially after last year's run. Shoutout to both
Bka Onon and
Amaske for managing with me, as well as the hosts for hosting the
tournament.
===================================================================================================
1) Teamdump -
Week 1 vs Jojen (W) - 
Going into the week, I was not sure what to load and what not to, so I built something that was both comfortable, yet had sets which I've generally never liked, aka band Urshifu. This team is somewhat of an awkward fit between offense and bulky offense but it works in game when you play aggressively. My in-game in this match was pretty good, as keeping up rocks and taking risks with Ferrothorn early on, definitely paid off. Ultimately, banded Urshifu came in clutch vs Fini and Zamazenta, securing the win for me.
Week 2 vs Lameflame (W) - 
Before I start, I'll have to admit that I was on the luckier side this game, and this was probably not deserved. Heading into prep, I believed that Lameflame would definitely load some type of Kyurem team, since most of my scout is pretty weak to it. His builds usually had AV Alo as it's main SpDef wall, and hence Knock Off Mega Gardevoir seemed pretty good to me. Hyper Voice helps a lot with Kyurem, and Knock Off with the special walls. I kinda sabotaged myself by loading Psyshock Gardevoir into a slopcat team, on which he usually loads Pdef Gking. Another cool thing here is the Garchomp set, which I made earlier in the week, and coincedently saw Jojen use it too. Scale Shot + Z Outrage Garchomp is really strong balance breaker, and helps with Diancie due to the uncertainty of the set. The rest of the team is pretty standard, nothing much to say about it. In-game wise, I think I played this pretty well with conserving Garchomp and my maximum utilisation of resources. Also, s/o to Lameflame for agreeing to play me this week.
Week 3 vs mrfraud (L) - 
In this week, boredom and burn out kinda hit hard, and I ended up loading some pivotless offense, which is pretty weird. The scout was pretty weak to SD Ogerpon-W, so I decided to go with that. Zapdos being one of his main Ogerpon checks made me initially take a balance route with Knock Off Mega Scizor, but then I switched up to a Darkinium Z Kingambit. This team had a pretty bad matchup into what was loaded, and I did my best to push the game as much as possible, although there was nothing much that could be done. I don't think the team is bad, but it could definitely use a lot of fixes and edits.
Week 5 vs Ikaishi (L) - 
I got pretty busy this week, and initially wanted to load some Mega Houndoom sun, which looked good into the scout. Hours before the game when I was testing, the team didn't feel like it, so NoName suggested SD Gliscor and passed a paste with it. I then suggested Pdef Heatran, since AV Alo + Gliscor walled almost everything. Heavy Slam on Tran is pretty cool, since it breaks Volcarona's Substitute, as well as hits fairies, especially CM Clefable and Tapu lele. I choked this game by not Earthquakeing the Tapu Lele, and got a bit unlucky with the Hurricane miss on Garchomp. The matchup was pretty even, although I played pretty badly.
Semifinals vs hellom (W) - 
Now, the game that I am most proud of. Once again, I got pretty busy and started prep on Sunday Morning. I was genuinely clueless on what to load. TBE told me to load something comfortable, which after looking into scout, I realised that these were mainly Sealoo builds, and were pretty weak to Sun. Sun is also pretty comfy for me, so it was loaded. The earlier version had a Shuca Gholdengo, with a CB Weavile over Zapdos. Realising that Mega Lopunny 6-0d this, I decided to switch to Scarf Dengo with a Pdef Zapdos. Iron Moth was a pretty cool load as well, since most of his teams were weak to it, especially when aided by Toxic Zapdos for Ting-lu, HP Ice for Dragons (s/o
Piyu and NoName6293). The rest is pretty standard, and after testing a lot, this was finalized. As I went in game, I loaded into full sun with Venusaur, which was a pretty bad matchup. You have to play aggressively with this team, which I did the first five turns and set the tone with a lot of confidence throughout the game. Pretty happy with this win, although I do wish we could've made finals since I kinda started feeling it again.
Some other teams -
(All of the teams here are sample submissions, except the houndoom one)
Overall, decently happy with my 3-2 record, with most of them being really good games played. Metagame wise, I don't really enjoy it, although it's not too bad, but stagnant or repetitive might be the right words.
===================================================================================================
2) Shoutouts -
Bka Onon - Both me and you were interested in managing, and we ended up doing so. S/o to DBD for letting us do so. You pretty much handled Mono on your own, which was pretty cool seeing how you started off 4-0, but unfortunately lost the last two, but that's a part of mons. Having you in chat was also really nice, since you were pretty active. Hope we can continue this next year as well.
Amaske - After your general performance last year and in circuit, you were one of the most obvious picks for the teams. Having a self sufficient OU slot was definitely worth, even if the games didn't go in the best way possible. Helping around with the draft slot ocassionally as well as managerial stuff was appreciated too, so thanks for that as well. Let's run it back next year.
NoName6293 - Do I really have to say anything? First of all, thanks for signing up and playing for the team. After an 8-0 run and a solid 5-1 run, you are one of our best players. Mostly doing prep by yourself and winning games was pretty impressive. Helping out with building and bringing vibes to cord was also something I didn't expect, but you did do it so thanks!
myjava - Sorry we couldn't help you much and you had to leave mid semis, but that's okay and you had a lot of contribution to the team. Being able to prep on your own and testing with the tz difference was neat, and your games were pretty nice too. Wish you the best in whatever's happening right now, and hope we can play together next year too!
RaJ.Shoot - Loved having you around, and seeing you cook up new stuff in SSND all by yourself. Your games were pretty nice, especially with stuff you've build on your own, and even winning with it. Can't really say much here since I didn't pay attention in the SS channel besides building, but once again, it was great having you around.
Alpha1013 - Thanks for being around and helping Raj build and test for SS. Sorry we couldn't let you play more, but the season was tight, and with despite your IRL stuff you were still decently active, and hence, it was nice having you.
AIRedzone - Holy doubles goat. Initially, I was searching for DOU players, and I came across you and asked. Thanks for playing, and especially doing so well in such a stacked pool. Lowkey we wouldn't have come this far without relying on our doubles slot to clutch so many games. It was nice having you, and hope we can do the same next year.
Opelucid - Another doubles goat. Your calls with building were really good, and helped us get good matchups pretty much every game. Sorry we couldn't let you play, although I hope you did enjoy it! Once again, prep was nicely done, and thankfully you guys had similar timezones so we could leave this slot up to you.
Fierce Flamethrower - Originally, Amaske reached out to us with your resume, and we decided to take you in. Even if the season didn't go your way, it was nice having a ND Draft mainer on the team. I hope you enjoyed your stay, and had some good tournament experience with us. Your draft builds were also pretty cool, which I really appreciate.
Tricknology - Another underrated draft guy. It was nice having you especially with both of your schedules being busy but having time for playing for us. Again, hope you enjoyed your stay, and thank you for subbing in and playing your best when Fierce couldn't.
Saurav the great - Of course, was a pleasure having you and thank you for subbing in on the short notice during semis. Taking part in prep occasionally, and being active in chat was pretty sweet. Liked having you, and sorry for the little amount of prep we did for you.
Novax - It was nice seeing you be around for prep, and being available for testing. Also, thanks for subbing in when I couldn't play. You were pretty active and determined to win, but unfortunately this is how it ended. Additionally, you brought vibes into chat, and that's always appreciated.
TGA - Unfortunately we couldn't give you a chance to play, although having you around for subbing was nice, and the help with prep was also appreciated.
Shoutout to all the helpers -
Aso Vioz Dabman1069 Sputnik Sunnyboi0 Mateeus Dead by Daylight and especially,
TBE for helping us in playoffs, as well as the regular season!
I loved the synergy and vibes this team had, and I hope everyone had fun since it is what we care the most about, as well as making it to Semifinals and putting up a good fight, especially after the last 2 years.
===================================================================================================
That's all from me, see you in NDPL
.
