Announcement Pre-OMPL XIV Thread

[ghostlike]

I really dont understand why people are seriously considering what to replace AAA2 with because I dont see any strong arguments for why it should be replaced to begin with. Imo, because this is a tournament, only the opinion of players should matter and thus, I think there are only 2 valid arguments on why we should replace AAA2:
1. There are overwhelming support for an inclusion of another tier which at this point I havent seen. All Ive seen is just people throwing around ideas on what would be the second best option if we replace AAA2.
2. Players genuinely dont enjoy playing AAA2 for some reasons which would result in not enough sign up to fill both AAA slots which I think is very unlikely.
Speaking from personal experience, I really enjoy the second AAA slot. My first OMPL was an awful experience because I got drafted to the same team as Atha and ended up not getting to play AAA. I would like to think that there are others like me who would just like to play their main tier and AAA just has the most mainers out of every OM.

(Obligatory Camo glaze since Im on the council but dont even consider replacing AAA2 in the first place)

 

[Dunfan]

Inh
- Greybaum points
For elaboration
- Tier hasn’t been able to progress notably since PL XI
- Lacks mains, of Inh players in OMCL Don is the Inh main while a lot of other names are highly competed to be slotted elsewhere. Even with people who didn’t sign up the number is still well below 8 and ideally you have 10+ to feel safer
Also pinging relevant people here for posts of thoughts Don Vascus Dunfan CoolTrainerGary Schpoonman

I think it's important that Inh stays in OMPL because that's how the metagame develops.
Like, this is thanks to it that we found out MG Clefable!Primarina was so good and that Roaring Moon was too much. We've currently got a bunch of stuff in the watchlist we want to deal with (eg. Comfey/Triage and Urshifu-R that scored pretty high in the last surveys, but also possibly Gholdengo/Annihilape and Ogerpon-Hearthflame). Couldn't do it without OMotM, hence the slow pace... but now, OMPL lets us finally make that progress, hence why I think it's important.

 

[UT]

Another point for the PokeAAA agenda: it now has a perma ladder: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-future-of-pokebilities-aaa.3780065/ (has anyone told aim yet?)

I do feel perma ladders are important for OMPL metas, as they dramatically increase accessibility, tiering, and team testing. It’s obviously not 100% required (see PiC), which is also why I favor AAA2 over the alternatives, but I do think it’s a legitimate and significant consideration and am hyped PokeAAA has this achievement regardless.

 

[Ducky]

no shade to ommpl but ompl is the big dog here and its needs should take priority: if pokebilities aaa is the hypest/most popular/most competitive choice, overlapping with ommpl should not be reason to not choose it. ompl is one of the longest running tournaments on this site, one of the very first subforum pls, and imo still the most prestigious oms tournament besides maybe circuit playoffs. we should respect that legacy by making it as good as it can be.

ommpl is something that Clas and I first talked about all the way back in gen8, but our discussions always ended with the same sentiment: what mashup is popular enough to get people to sign up?

Now, almost 4 years later, we have enough popular mashups to finally have ommpl.
im not involved in mashups leadership anymore, but I have no doubt that people worked really hard for the what im pretty sure is the first ever mashups only team tour.

seeing the popularity pokeaaa has gotten has mad me so happy and im truly sorry if anything I say sounds ungrateful.

mashups have always lived in the shadow of oms for mostly obvious reasons, but I think it would be a shame if OMMpl gets over-shadowed by OMpl due to a OMM becoming popular.

if people want to see PokeAAA in a team tour that badly, go sign up for it in ommpl. seems like a simple solution to me
the popularity of PokeAAA should be used to show how awesome mashups can be and spotlight the awesome and dedicated community. taking away from the hype of ommpl would be doing the opposite

 

[vnmmv]

Speaking of permaladders…

I am pleased to see that Chessking mentioned Shared Power. In last year’s thread, SP was not mentioned at all. The meta is generally dismissed out of hand for OMPL inclusion, but I think that it’s in a stronger state than other years. SP merits a closer look because of its active ladder and active tiering.

The Good:

• Shared Power’s meta is actively played and developed. The ladder averaged 7209 games per month over the last year, and 4499 per month over the last three months. For comparison, mnm averaged 5947 and 5781 respectively. That ladder size is not crazy but it’s decently sized for an OM. Those continuous plays contribute to the continuous development of the meta.
• Shared Power is actively tiered and has suspect tests. Suspects are more conducive to a healthy meta than quickbans, in my opinion. I’m glad that the SP community has enough activity to support these tests. We banned Zamazenta, suspected Harvest, and banned Sturdy within the last year. The Sturdy ban was mainly in response to ladder trends, but also this awful OMCL game that some people may remember. Without Sturdy, berry teams have to play more proactively. Games like that one should be much rarer going forwards. The Sturdy ban was recent, but early impressions of the new meta look good to my eye.
• SP has good resources and is as easy to pick up as it has ever been. The sample teams are generally good, we revamped the VR, and Bobsican wrote this awesome team building guide.
• The matchup-fishing reputation of the meta is a little overblown. The banlist is enormous these days and reins in the matchup variance. For the first time in a while, it’s possible to build highly consistent teams outside of stall or HO, like this one, this one, or this one. Zamazenta and Sturdy were both major matchup fish elements that are gone now. Technician’s restriction was over a year ago now. It is still worth mentioning since it hugely reduced priority spam, which was the root of much of the matchup fishing.
• Vibes-based analysis warning: I think SP has gone through a cultural shift away from being a funny combos ladder and more towards competitive endeavors. By taking the meta seriously, we are creating a serious meta. Finnaggann in particular has been a shot in the arm for defensive teams and raised the bar for builders. OMCL helped Goldbanker27 and me develop new ideas in a competitive setting. It also inspired Rarh2 to integrate SP into another side tournament. SP has had virtually zero tour games in the past, so that development is worth noting.

The Bad:

• Shared Power has little prior representation in tours. OMCL was the first SP-related tour, at least that I’ve seen in the last three years or so. Shared Power did not field many mains during OMCL. Goldbanker and I were the only signups. Talking in OMcord, it seems like there’s more interest in signing up for a potential OMPL slot. But still, fielding eight mains would be a challenge. I happen to think highly of the people who expressed interest, but I am not deeply integrated with tours either. It’s a case of someone you barely know assuring you that some other people that you also don’t know are actually good at the game, trust me bro. Bobsican is pretty well-known, at least.
• SP has restrictions, which seemed to make spectating confusing for people during OMCL.
• The matchup elements are not completely gone from SP. The meta’s premise makes it hard to iron them all out. Balance teams are viable but still more difficult to build than other archetypes.
• Stall is really good right now, and that's not always fun to watch.

I don’t really expect to see Shared Power in OMPL. SP’s strengths are its permaladder, active tiering, and solid resources. Setting my bias aside, an AAA2 slot has all of those, plus a huge tour player base. Other OMCL metas also offer similar benefits to SP. But I hope that people will at least keep SP in mind as an option, if not for this year then maybe some time next gen.