Welcome to the final round of Pokemon Showdown Premier League III! The top two teams from each group advanced to the playoffs, where they squared off in single elimination matches until only two remained. Now, the final two teams - Portugues and Espanol - are ready to prove they're PS's elite room. All seven matches will be best-of-one and all are played in Smogon's standard tiers.
The below should be strictly adhered to and read over, ESPECIALLY if you are new to forum tournaments:
- Sportsmanship: don't be an ass. Not to your opponents, not to your team, not on PS, not on Smogon, not to me. The punishment for this could be a server ban (which means an instant loss for you), forum infraction, or disqualification. Think before you type, please.
- Activity wins and scheduling: Contact your opponent as quickly as possible on their Smogon wall, and look out for them on PS too. Unfortunately, I'll have to make some activity calls - I'll be making these based on activity posts (make these detailed, please, and explain why you deserve an activity win) and VM conversations, so be active and schedule as early as you can with your opponent. Use VMs and you will be fine. No extensions, sorry. If they lack a Smogon account, be vigilant as far as contacting them on PS goes.
- Disconnections and timer: a timer loss is a loss. No ifs, no buts. If you disconnect and your opponent's nice enough to replay that's fine, but they're free to take the win.
- Ghosting and identity: don't take or give battle advice or make moves based on the suggestions of others, and don't pretend to be someone else in order to play as them. You will be caught and you will be disqualified. Don't be silly.
- Substitutions: managers, you're free to sub in players for inactive ones at any stage. Subs are taken from the lineups that were sent to me and Spydreigon, and can include any managers if necessary. I'll accept substitutions from the manager and any roomowner.
Road to the Finals
From the beginning, Portugues has had it rough in the tournament. There were confusions (mostly of the host) over who exactly was leading the team and whether or not the room was actually going to participate. Fortunately, everything worked out in the end so that The Deceiver (also known as DarkIntruder) would be the team's manager, and he was able to nab high level tournament players such as WhiteQueen to play for him. Other skilled players such as Zxut, AccidentalGenius, and Ren-chon consistently performed well throughout the competition.
Group Stages: Portugues had a fairly decent matchup in the group stages with PU, NeverUsed, and Academics. The frontrunner they were, they scored a big 4-1 win over PU in Week 1. From there, Week 2 saw tons of matches incomplete, but rolls and activity calls deemed Portugues the landslide victor over NeverUsed. Who knows, that could have been very different otherwise! And finally, in Week 3, a few more incomplete matches gave Portugues a 4-1 activity win over Academics, assuring them a spot in the playoffs.
Top 16: Right off the bat, Portugues found themselves against one of the frontrunners in the competition, Battle Spot, in the Top 16 playoff round. Battle Spot kept a consistently high win count throughout the group stage and shaped up to be an intimidating menace until Portugues easily knocked them down a peg with a 4-1 victory.
Quarters: The quarterfinals shaped up to be a very difficult matchup for Portugues, now facing Ubers, a team that had proven very difficult to trounce in previous rounds and was hellbent on persevering. The matches were incredibly close, and Ubers even came extremely close to snatching the win as Facts, Haruno, and Fireburn all pulled off some stellar victories. Fortunately for Portugues, dark horse WhiteQueen along with ZxuT, zdrup15, and Golden Freddy's managed to pull the rug from underneath Ubers' feet and snicker all the way to the semifinals.
Semis: RarelyUsed strode confidently into the semifinals, ready to emerge as the first team to proceed to the finals with an easy win over Portugues. They were wrong. Portugues' walls were insurmountable, and only lighthouses and thecrystalonix were able to bring peace's valiant RarelyUsed room victories before Portugues dominated and claimed their spot in the finals versus Espanol.
Group Stages: Portugues had a fairly decent matchup in the group stages with PU, NeverUsed, and Academics. The frontrunner they were, they scored a big 4-1 win over PU in Week 1. From there, Week 2 saw tons of matches incomplete, but rolls and activity calls deemed Portugues the landslide victor over NeverUsed. Who knows, that could have been very different otherwise! And finally, in Week 3, a few more incomplete matches gave Portugues a 4-1 activity win over Academics, assuring them a spot in the playoffs.
Top 16: Right off the bat, Portugues found themselves against one of the frontrunners in the competition, Battle Spot, in the Top 16 playoff round. Battle Spot kept a consistently high win count throughout the group stage and shaped up to be an intimidating menace until Portugues easily knocked them down a peg with a 4-1 victory.
Quarters: The quarterfinals shaped up to be a very difficult matchup for Portugues, now facing Ubers, a team that had proven very difficult to trounce in previous rounds and was hellbent on persevering. The matches were incredibly close, and Ubers even came extremely close to snatching the win as Facts, Haruno, and Fireburn all pulled off some stellar victories. Fortunately for Portugues, dark horse WhiteQueen along with ZxuT, zdrup15, and Golden Freddy's managed to pull the rug from underneath Ubers' feet and snicker all the way to the semifinals.
Semis: RarelyUsed strode confidently into the semifinals, ready to emerge as the first team to proceed to the finals with an easy win over Portugues. They were wrong. Portugues' walls were insurmountable, and only lighthouses and thecrystalonix were able to bring peace's valiant RarelyUsed room victories before Portugues dominated and claimed their spot in the finals versus Espanol.
Road to the Finals
The Spanish room slid very quietly through the tournament, not making much noise in any round in particular. The team, managed by Lost Seso and xJoelituh, has stayed mostly consistent throughout, with key players such as ZaelTX, Sken, Lolazo, and New Attitude. Other players scored valuable victories early on, such as angel0mike, and Espanol wouldn't be where it is, sitting comfortably in the finals, without them.
Group Stages: Espanol was not intimidated by its group consisting of Other Metas, Monotype, and CAP Project. In Week 1, Espanol grabbed a 4-2 activity victory over Monotype. Week 2 was quite closer, with Other Metas fighting tooth and nail at a 3-3 standing to emerge victories, but were unable to win in the end as Sken and Zael brought home their victories. Unfortunately for Espanol, Week 3 held a surprise 4-1 loss against underdog CAP Project. However, Espanol had already made a name for itself and proceeded onto the playoffs, taking its loss with pride.
Top 16: Espanol also found itself against a very high level team in the first round of the playoffs - Challenges. Their opponent had made a point of performing very well in the group stages, so it was sure to be a good matchup. They did just that and went 3-3 until Shockblade Kongou won over BenOhver, taking Espanol right into the Quarterfinals.
Quarters: The quarterfinals pitted Espanol against a new crowd favorite in Trivia + Social Media + The Studio, a team whose inter-room collaboration hoped to take them all the way. In the end, a 3-2 standing ended in a win for Espanol as an unfortunate activity call landed both tennisace and Zodiax losses for Trivia + Social Media + Studio, pushing Espanol forward once again.
Semis: The semifinals had the matchup everyone was waiting for, the one that decided if Italiano would be fighting for its title in the finals after all. Things didn't look good even from the start, as one of Italiano's star players, Tricking, went down against NocturOP in Doubles OU. From there, Italiano suffered more unfortunate losses and Espanol proceeded to the finals with a beautiful 4-0 win over the former PSPL champions. This can only prove to be in Espanol's favor as they move into the finals against fellow language room Portugues.
Group Stages: Espanol was not intimidated by its group consisting of Other Metas, Monotype, and CAP Project. In Week 1, Espanol grabbed a 4-2 activity victory over Monotype. Week 2 was quite closer, with Other Metas fighting tooth and nail at a 3-3 standing to emerge victories, but were unable to win in the end as Sken and Zael brought home their victories. Unfortunately for Espanol, Week 3 held a surprise 4-1 loss against underdog CAP Project. However, Espanol had already made a name for itself and proceeded onto the playoffs, taking its loss with pride.
Top 16: Espanol also found itself against a very high level team in the first round of the playoffs - Challenges. Their opponent had made a point of performing very well in the group stages, so it was sure to be a good matchup. They did just that and went 3-3 until Shockblade Kongou won over BenOhver, taking Espanol right into the Quarterfinals.
Quarters: The quarterfinals pitted Espanol against a new crowd favorite in Trivia + Social Media + The Studio, a team whose inter-room collaboration hoped to take them all the way. In the end, a 3-2 standing ended in a win for Espanol as an unfortunate activity call landed both tennisace and Zodiax losses for Trivia + Social Media + Studio, pushing Espanol forward once again.
Semis: The semifinals had the matchup everyone was waiting for, the one that decided if Italiano would be fighting for its title in the finals after all. Things didn't look good even from the start, as one of Italiano's star players, Tricking, went down against NocturOP in Doubles OU. From there, Italiano suffered more unfortunate losses and Espanol proceeded to the finals with a beautiful 4-0 win over the former PSPL champions. This can only prove to be in Espanol's favor as they move into the finals against fellow language room Portugues.
Matchups
Portugues (4) VS Espanol (2)
Ubers: Zxut VS New Attitude
OU: Golden Freddy's VS ZaelTX
DOU: AccidentalGenius VS NocturOP
UU: WhiteQueen VS ImSNT
RU: zdrup15 VS Shockblade Kongou
NU: Ren-chon VS Lolazo
LC: Brazilian Army VS Sken
Ubers: Zxut VS New Attitude
OU: Golden Freddy's VS ZaelTX
DOU: AccidentalGenius VS NocturOP
UU: WhiteQueen VS ImSNT
RU: zdrup15 VS Shockblade Kongou
NU: Ren-chon VS Lolazo
LC: Brazilian Army VS Sken
Thanks for being great sports throughout the tournament, and Spy and I hope you enjoyed it for what it was!
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