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Welcome to the Smogon Champions League 5 Discussion Thread -- NU edition! This thread will be used to discuss NU in SCL VI related topics, whether it’s about the players, personal player rankings, general metagame trends, matches, predictions and so on. Teams, Replays, and Usage Stats can also be found here [SOON].
Here are my rankings with some level of explanation:
Danny - i think he is the best nu player. He lost to watashi because of a bad team choice last yr
Shengineer - you could put him above danny if you want. I think sheng had a really good scl last year and havent checked records in between but prob fire right? (Problem is its mostly adv nu but mons is mons or whatever)
Lax - i mean idk LOL but he’s a really good player its hard to rank ill j put him here
Esteban - i think he can beat any of the guys above, he had some “welcome to the league” moments last year like his loss to danny but he did knock down big sheng. Only reason hes so low is his break last 6 months and how green he is
Nat - idk, like lax, like playing skill is quite good
Elias - kinda fell off after the crazy 2024
Geniusx - he could be higher his nupl was crazy. I just dont rate him personally
Shadow079- shadow is incredibly talented but he just doesn’t have the definitive results. I’ve heard from a lot of people i trust how good he is, i feel quite the same at times, he needs to put up results to live up to it could end up like esteban.
Ruffles - i forgot to rank him ngl but he is obviously good he made slam playoffs, also will actually try to build (can say this for lax too)
I've been on this site on 12 years and slowly developed my ideas on the game over time. I would like to think that this game knowledge transfers over--after all, learning about games and improving is part of what I look for most in players that I consider good but not accomplished. I've tried to be bolder with predictions and seeing my VISION (pun intended) of the game play out.
Recently, I predicted Team Yandex to beat Team Spirit in the Lower Bracket final of The International. This was wildly off-base--Spirit 2-0ed them easily and mercilessly--and I would like to thank infinitemugen99 for helping me see the light. I would have said something snarky about the genius of predicting previous 2-time-TI winners, but I think given the general impossibility of this run to anyone but the true believers, I truly must put all of that aside and sit in awe of what has happened. Empo and ABR are lucky that your ideas of the game do not touch this (much worse, easier, idea-poor) game.
I've been an OG fan, then a Tundra fan, then a Gaimin fan, then a Falcons fan (for the two people understanding this, basically means I'm scum). That being said, I am forced to admit this is what peak dota perfection looks like:
Here are my rankings with some level of explanation:
Danny - i think he is the best nu player. He lost to watashi because of a bad team choice last yr
Shengineer - you could put him above danny if you want. I think sheng had a really good scl last year and havent checked records in between but prob fire right? (Problem is its mostly adv nu but mons is mons or whatever)
Lax - i mean idk LOL but he’s a really good player its hard to rank ill j put him here
Esteban - i think he can beat any of the guys above, he had some “welcome to the league” moments last year like his loss to danny but he did knock down big sheng. Only reason hes so low is his break last 6 months and how green he is
Nat - idk, like lax, like playing skill is quite good
Elias - kinda fell off after the crazy 2024
Geniusx - he could be higher his nupl was crazy. I just dont rate him personally
Shadow079- shadow is incredibly talented but he just doesn’t have the definitive results. I’ve heard from a lot of people i trust how good he is, i feel quite the same at times, he needs to put up results to live up to it could end up like esteban.
Ruffles - i forgot to rank him ngl but he is obviously good he made slam playoffs, also will actually try to build (can say this for lax too)
I've been on this site on 12 years and slowly developed my ideas on the game over time. I would like to think that this game knowledge transfers over--after all, learning about games and improving is part of what I look for most in players that I consider good but not accomplished. I've tried to be bolder with predictions and seeing my VISION (pun intended) of the game play out.
Recently, I predicted Team Yandex to beat Team Spirit in the Lower Bracket final of The International. This was wildly off-base--Spirit 2-0ed them easily and mercilessly--and I would like to thank infinitemugen99 for helping me see the light. I would have said something snarky about the genius of predicting previous 2-time-TI winners, but I think given the general impossibility of this run to anyone but the true believers, I truly must put all of that aside and sit in awe of what has happened. Empo and ABR are lucky that your ideas of the game do not touch this (much worse, easier, idea-poor) game.
I've been an OG fan, then a Tundra fan, then a Gaimin fan, then a Falcons fan (for the two people understanding this, basically means I'm scum). That being said, I am forced to admit this is what peak dota perfection looks like:
Shengineer vs Esteb4n: a bit of a hot take maybe given esteb4ns recent reappearance, but he has had shens number more often than not in the past so I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt here
Danny vs Shadow079: don't make me regret this danny
Elias Psy vs GeniusX: I don't expect this to be close
lax vs Ruffles: lax called me "minecraft" in his scl podcast 2 years ago, this bold is out of pure spite
Nat vs Diamonds_realm: more experienced player overall and Nat showed during invitational that this counts for a lot
Danny vs Shadow079: very tough first game for Shadow, again I’m leaning on the side of experience here. This is probably the closest of all the games this week
Elias Psy vs GeniusX: dominated NUPL while Elias has been up and down this year
lax vs Ruffles: I really like Ruffles but lax always cooks in NU and will be super motivated on the shoguns. Excited to see the two teams in this game
And new W2 matchups:
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE]
[SPA] Shadow079 vs Diamonds_realm [TER]
[DYN] Ruffles vs Esteb4n [PLA]
[GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL]
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX]
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE] - both had strong wins W1, so this will be really close. Both seem motivated and in good form. Both brought good teams. Honestly this is a coinflip
[SPA] Shadow079 vs Diamonds_realm [TER] - Shadow looked stronger W1 and having dispelled the rumours that he can't build, I see him carrying on into W2
[GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL] - Shen played well despite the MU and slight luck against him, if he can bring a better team then I can see him winning here
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX] - Off game from Danny W1, while Elias brought the same stuff he usually does unsuccessfully. I can see Danny bouncing back quicker with more ideas in the builder from the Foxes
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE]
[SPA] Shadow079 vs Diamonds_realm [TER]
[DYN] Ruffles vs Esteb4n [PLA]
[GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL]
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX]
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE] - there is not much to say about both since they have so few games in the format. I just slightly prefered lax's team week 1.
[SPA] Shadow079 vs Diamonds_realm [TER] - Don't get fooled by his week 1 fluke, he's a noob
[DYN] Ruffles vs Esteb4n [PLA] - I preferred Ruffles gameplay last week
[GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL] - stop trolling in the teambuilder, shen, you are not playing Uberfiend on the ladder
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX] - Danny is a noob
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE] - ngl I didnt like either of their brings last week but I shan't bold against nat for I fear the alphabet
[DYN] Ruffles vs Esteb4n [PLA] - feel esteb4n tends to fare well into ruffles teambuilding style and he also has plot armor
[GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL] - sheng got his mandated esteb4n loss now he goes X-1 again
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX] - ngl I was gonna say "whoever subs in for danny will somehow win this" but then I remembered the sub is tuthur so I'm going with danny actually plays this game and I rate him slightly higher as a clicker regardless should be close
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE]
[SPA] Shadow079 vs Diamonds_realm [TER]
[DYN] Ruffles vs Esteb4n [PLA]
[GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL]
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX]
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE]
[SPA] Shadow079 vs Diamonds_realm [TER]
[DYN] Ruffles vs Esteb4n [PLA]
[GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL]
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX]
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE] kinda hard to pick in this mu, nats looked more unstoppable as of late I guess but lax beat a better opp last week. [SPA] Shadow079 vs Diamonds_realm [TER] better support and looked much better last week
[DYN] Ruffles vs Esteb4n [PLA]
I dont have many comments, esteban beat shen last week [GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL]
Genius did look good, but shen is the guy to beat still despite losing last week
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX]
If he listens to his support Danny should win here
W2 results:
[SHO] lax vs Nat [BRE]
[SPA] Shadow079 vs Diamonds_realm [TER]
[DYN] Ruffles vs Esteb4n [PLA]
[GIB] Shengineer vs GeniusX [ISL]
[TMS] Elias Psy vs Danny [FOX]
And new W2 matchups:
[PLA] Esteb4n vs lax [SHO]
[GIB] Shengineer vs Danny [FOX]
[ISL] GeniusX vs Ruffles [DYN]
[TER] big tony 2014 vs HAVOCKNIGHT [TMS]
[BRE] Nat vs Shadow079 [SPA]
[GIB] Shengineer vs Danny [FOX] - 0-3gineer? Tough start so far for shen, while Danny didn't have a great w1 he seemed to turn things around in w2. Shen needs to bring some better teams. [ISL] GeniusX vs Ruffles [DYN] - has brought good teams and played well. Both of Ruffles games have been super close and I expect this one to be close as well. If this does happen, I feel 0-3 would be very harsh on Ruffles. [TER] big tony 2014 vs HAVOCKNIGHT [TMS] - double sub in these slots (for Diamonds_realm and Elias PSY) is a little surprising but both were 0-2. Both these players had great NUPLs. I am a big tony fan and I can see him cooking in the builder. Just don't burn the kitchen down. [BRE] Nat vs Shadow079 [SPA] - Both players being 2-0 is not massively surprising, what would be surprising is Shadow continuing this run vs one of the top players in the pool. It's definitely not out of the question though, excited to watch this one.
[PLA] Esteb4n vs lax [SHO] - I feel that lax is the stronger player. Will be very close tho. [GIB] Shengineer vs Danny [FOX] - Shen will bounce back. He's had some terrible matchups but I trust that this is his week.
[ISL] GeniusX vs Ruffles [DYN] - There is no way Ruffles starts 0-3 this tour.
[TER] big tony 2014 vs HAVOCKNIGHT [TMS] - I've been following havocknight's NU run for a while and i've been very impressed. Probably one of the strongest players of this tier this last year.
[BRE] Nat vs Shadow079 [SPA] - I can never bet against the goat of SV NU.
