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Smogon Champions League - Team Name Suggestions

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Alright, I’m going to go ahead and make an executive decision here.

First, let’s go ahead and confirm that the 7 names that more than 50% of the voters agreed on are definitely in. That means that the following team names are confirmed:
  • Circuit Breakers
  • Indigo Platoon
  • Orange Islanders
  • Power Plant Dynamos
  • Showdown Shoguns
  • Studio Gible
  • Uncharted Terrors
These names are final and represent the first seven official teams of SCL! Our art and social media folks can therefore begin working on them.

For the remaining three teams, after a bit more discussion, the next vote will consist of every team name that had the support of more than 25% of the voters. So, the runoff vote will include:
  • Arena Spartans / Sports Arena Spartans
  • Mt. Silver Foxes
  • Renaissance Knights
  • Sandbox Hermits
  • Smogcourt Royals
  • Smogoff Ice
  • Technical Machines
Finally, as Tony’s recommendation for Firebirds instead of Foxes, I’ve been discussing this with Zracknel and Tony. Both names are great, but it’s a little hard to add an entirely new name at this stage. Also, this may seem like a minor issue, but from an overall branding perspective, if we have both Zapdos and Moltres as mascots we’ll probably want Articuno somewhere as well, and unless Smogoff Ice gets in via runoff there’s just not really a good fit. I think it makes sense to just vote on the above, since they all have a decent bit of support, and the artists are confident they could make compelling logos from anything on the above list.

We’ll get the new runoff vote up shortly. Thanks to everyone for your input and your patience!
 
I voted for the Foxes, the Machines, and the Ice; in my opinion those three are the most evocative of the imagery you want to evoke for a competitive team, and I think they each have the most leeway for creativity in branding (mascot, slogan, KACAW, etc). Hermits narrowly missed my cut, I like them conceptually but practically I have a hard time visualizing someone proudly saying "yeah I was a Hermit in SPL 14". Similarly for the Renaissance Knights, don't have quite enough of a universal "it" factor. Smogcourt Royals and Arena Spartans have interesting concepts but feel too clunky in the naming to carry momentum.
 
Alright, all, we’ve had our second round of votes, and after 140 of you voted, this was the outcome:

Mt. Silver Foxes - 65
Technical Machines - 59
Sports Arena Spartans - 56
Smogcourt Royals - 56
Sandbox Hermits - 54
Renaissance Knights - 50
Smogoff Ice - 35

This means that Mt. Silver Foxes and Technical Machines were both reaffirmed. The last slot was a tie between the Spartans and the Royals. As much as it pains me to say it (Smocourt Royals was a personal favorite of mine), the fairest way to break the tie is to use the original vote results, where the Spartans received 70 votes to the Royals’ 63.

And so, we present the Smogon Champions League 2021 teams!
  • Arena Spartans / Sports Arena Spartans
  • Circuit Breakers
  • Indigo Platoon
  • Mt. Silver Foxes
  • Orange Islanders
  • Power Plant Dynamos
  • Showdown Shoguns
  • Studio Gible
  • Technical Machines
  • Uncharted Terrors

Thanks to all who participated in this process. Stay tuned for more planning details for SCL.
 
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