Smogon Premier League IX - Week 9

[Sacri']

ggs raiders, a bunch of cool dudes on your team so i can't stay upset that we lost for too long.

As for my fellow neccs, thanks you so much for this season. Despite my own shortcomings sometimes getting in our way to success, I still had a fantastic time for my first spl. Thanks in particular to Isa for trusting me as much as he did, I probably wasn't worth that in the end but I'm glad I still had a somewhat redeeming run over the last few weeks. Shoutouts to BO, Edu and Pohjis for inspiring me each week by playing super well. I also would like to thanks TheThorn for helping us throughout the tour despite not even being apart of the team, I appreciated it a lot. We weren't able to make playoffs this time but most of us were playing this tour for the first time so all things considered it can only get better from there. I hope we keep on being as passionate about this game despite the way it treats us at times because when I look back on all the fun this season brought I can't help thinking it was worth it. I also would like to thanks everyone who tested with me throughout the tour and sometimes suggested me ideas or teams, you know who you are.

gl to everyone in playoffs, hope you give us good games to watch!

 

[ToF]

won against my boy w3k, gg. proud of my 5-0 after midseason going back to basics and trying to keep it simple after shitty playing weeks 1-3, still got something left in the tank.

the sharks had high expectations this year as we did last season, and we unfortunately underperformed everyone's expectations, most importantly our own. we started clicking too close to the end of the season, and even though we didn't make playoffs happy to say i got to play with a lot of similar faces to last year (mdrag, conflict, KG, MoP, reiku, VIL) and with a new core of really exciting and exceptional talents (Teddeh, Lednah, BTB, Arifeen, Bluri, Deman, GGFAN, Tricking, SMURF). Special shoutouts to our mids picks that really turned it around for us, especially Laurel (know you get a lot of shit from people for whatever reason, but you definitely kept the chat and ideas flowing across all tiers, something that we were blessed to have and other teams would love to have if they got to know you and gave you a chance).

hope to see a lot of my shark boys around next SPL where we can get the band together and finish the unfinished work we left the last two years. gl to teams that got into playoffs.

 

[Analytic]

I know we've reached playoffs, and this is probably the wrong time to do this but... This benching is getting out of control...

At least, I subbed in when you guys needed me to: BO3 in a tier that i don't fucking play. Lavos quitting in 5 minutes after every fuck ing loss
I dont talk about benching i talk about a guys that hax others for all wins and still stay on the starting lineup (z0mOG).

9 weeks in a row. its getting rediculous... what's the next step? more RBY sub ins? more BO3s turned BO2s because i have no clue what the fuck is going on in this tier?

This team is so young and yet, it ALREADY REACH THE BOTTOM of the " toxic behavior hole".

reyscarface bitching about hax after most of the games? check

dice going solo on purpose, not helping the team on purpose etc..) : check

GTM being afk for all of SPL? check

Next step : no one playing this game , because of teammates like mine being cancer : soon check.

your call Smogon TDs. Act quick, act strong. BUT DO SOMETHING.

I see NO FUTURE to this game with Z E R O bad behavior control . NO FUTURE. Even for a fun to play game like this.

This is getting to anoying: i've already lost patience vs these kind of teammates. I WONT BEAR ANYMORE OF THAT. Lol took off all my patience.

At this point, i think only strict TDs, with only a super strong anti toxic feature, can work better than any solution. Since it seems to be the number 1 reason why people left the game is players behaviors.

 

[Exiline]

I know we've reached playoffs, and this is probably the wrong time to do this but... This benching is getting out of control...

At least, I subbed in when you guys needed me to: BO3 in a tier that i don't fucking play. Lavos quitting in 5 minutes after every fuck ing loss
I dont talk about benching i talk about a guys that hax others for all wins and still stay on the starting lineup (z0mOG).

9 weeks in a row. its getting rediculous... what's the next step? more RBY sub ins? more BO3s turned BO2s because i have no clue what the fuck is going on in this tier?

This team is so young and yet, it ALREADY REACH THE BOTTOM of the " toxic behavior hole".

reyscarface bitching about hax after most of the games? check

dice going solo on purpose, not helping the team on purpose etc..) : check

GTM being afk for all of SPL? check

Next step : no one playing this game , because of teammates like mine being cancer : soon check.

your call Smogon TDs. Act quick, act strong. BUT DO SOMETHING.

I see NO FUTURE to this game with Z E R O bad behavior control . NO FUTURE. Even for a fun to play game like this.

This is getting to anoying: i've already lost patience vs these kind of teammates. I WONT BEAR ANYMORE OF THAT. Lol took off all my patience.

At this point, i think only strict TDs, with only a super strong anti toxic feature, can work better than any solution. Since it seems to be the number 1 reason why people left the game is players behaviors.

Speaking from experiences but getting subbed in rby is lit bro

 

[LuckOverSkill]

So this is how it all ends eh. After 7 long years it's time for me to take my leave, I've been thinking about this a lot in the past months and ultimately I decided that this would be my last tour. I still love the game but I feel like this is the right choice. I've been pretty lucky when it comes to mons, every team I've been on has had a good atmosphere, and I always managed to get picked for 3k, despite the fact SPL is basically the only tournament I play. I've seen plenty of players grow and become "big" in the tour scene, I've seen people throwing everything away, betraying friendships for a measly win, people cheat and a bunch of other stuff I really shouldn't recall because honestly I just want this to stay in my memory as a fun game that allowed me to become friends with super cool people.

Obviously the first shoutout goes to the classiest, a bunch of hard working dudes with a lot of energy and a lack of experience, it was weird to me since I'm pretty much the opposite. I won't write any individual shoutout because I'd end up repeating myself a lot. Thank you for the fun months.

The second shoutout goes to my buddies who I always play bw with, it's always a pleasure lads.

Then I'll just generally say a huge thank you to all the teammates I had over the course of the years, you guys are the reason I stuck around for so long. You are what makes this game fun to me.

Lastly I wanted to give a shoutout to my italian pals, we spend a lot of time together and it's always a blast.

That's it, I'm gonna finish the last tours I joined and then be done with this game that was a reasonably big part of my life. I'll never forget about this wonderful experience.

Farewell.

 

[CTC]

So this is how it all ends eh. After 7 long years it's time for me to take my leave, I've been thinking about this a lot in the past months and ultimately I decided that this would be my last tour. I still love the game but I feel like this is the right choice. I've been pretty lucky when it comes to mons, every team I've been on has had a good atmosphere, and I always managed to get picked for 3k, despite the fact SPL is basically the only tournament I play. I've seen plenty of players grow and become "big" in the tour scene, I've seen people throwing everything away, betraying friendships for a measly win, people cheat and a bunch of other stuff I really shouldn't recall because honestly I just want this to stay in my memory as a fun game that allowed me to become friends with super cool people.

Obviously the first shoutout goes to the classiest, a bunch of hard working dudes with a lot of energy and a lack of experience, it was weird to me since I'm pretty much the opposite. I won't write any individual shoutout because I'd end up repeating myself a lot. Thank you for the fun months.

The second shoutout goes to my buddies who I always play bw with, it's always a pleasure lads.

Then I'll just generally say a huge thank you to all the teammates I had over the course of the years, you guys are the reason I stuck around for so long. You are what makes this game fun to me.

Lastly I wanted to give a shoutout to my italian pals, we spend a lot of time together and it's always a blast.

That's it, I'm gonna finish the last tours I joined and then be done with this game that was a reasonably big part of my life. I'll never forget about this wonderful experience.

Farewell.

Nigga imagine how stupid u gonn look when that 10 game losing streak in dota brings ur ass right back

 

[Pohjis]

what a roller coaster this season was. after the auction happened, nearly no one had high hopes for us to succeed since we were expected to finish last. we drafted a bunch of players who had never played before in SPL or in general wasn't in a starting position. it showed in week 1 against the tyrants when we were 1-6 down after several misplays game after game and not taking enough time thinking about our plays. however, we somehow managed to pull an amazing comeback to tie up with one of the best teams in the tournament.

we got our hopes high but we were destroyed during week 2 when we played the sharks. after two games, we took in a row 7 losses that made us lose the week. the highlight of the week though was nightfox beating first sogeking and then tof with the same team to boost our morale for next week. we had a rough start but we took the lead and for the first time, we had a chance to win the series against the bigs being in the lead 6-3.

we put more and more effort into preparing and into playing the game itself but winning an actual week seemed to be an impossible task to achieve. we tied with bigs and week 4 against the ruiners seemed to be the week when we break the curse being in the lead 5-1. we took silly losses (myself included) and the next 6 games turned a very likely win into a loss that pretty much crushed our hopes succeeding and having a shot for playoffs. i was completely in shambles and thought that this is it, what is the point in continueing. what a waste of time.

we didn't give up despite the following weeks following the same structure: get the lead to 6-x, end up with a tie. the worst were against scooters in week 6 and especially against the wolfpack in week 7 when we lost a 6-1 lead. only we could manage to throw that many leads and points into the bin that at this point it was a meme that every week would end up with a tie. necctie.

we didn't have pretty much any hope to make playoffs before playing the tigers and we kinda went just yolo to our games. breaking the curse gave us a glance of hope to make it week 9 if we could beat the raiders, scoots would beat the tigers and hope cryos would be able to beat the bigs. i know sharks and ruiners score mattered too but i was hoping for cryos and scoots to win. well, we lost the week to raiders and they made playoffs. we tried our best to win the week but we lost to the better team.

we didn't make playoffs and you could say that it wasn't worth spending all those hours into this game just to fail with a team. hell no, this was one of my best experiences on this site. i might have ended up on the worst team but this team was like a family to me and i hope it was to my team mates too. i was extremely glad to team up with you guys and have shared this experience despite not ending up with a trophy or any reward like that.

some random maybe shout-outs

despite getting lot of shit before the season, you were one of our best players Blackoblivion and ending with a 6-3 record beating incredibly good players during your run was outstanding. it was pleasure team up with you again and had the same experience with Sabella despite having a rough season record-wise. you both were active as hell and keeping the chat alive, kudos to you guys.

daddy NightFox with the stories and weebs couldn't have been any better. people thought you didn't deserve a shot in SPL but i am extremely glad you proved everyone wrong that the LA's finest dpp player can achieve. your week 2 game(s) were one of our season highlight as well. Znain was taken by maduro way too many times. rough ending after a great early season but you deserved to play in this SPL and in the upcoming team tournaments as well. keep it going you two.

some shaky early games but your second game vs zorodark was probably one of the best games all this SPL. you stayed active and keeping putting the effort for the team despite getting benched for the next 4 weeks. i am happy you stepped up for last week to play bkc despite the game being well, very very unfortunate. you deserve your retirement LuckOverSkill. thank you to shoka (can't tag for some reason) for joining us after mids, always great to talk with you.

we had rough seasons in adv and rby but i think we still did a good job in terms of preparing week after week so props to thelinearcurve for turning a 0-4 into 4-5 with great playing and eden's embrace being incredibly helpful and a great team chat member with your activity. Lusch, i am very glad you ended with two impressive wins after a shaky early season. i know Heroic Troller you deserved starting slot but you came over it with the amount of help you did for lusch and going 1-1 in your games. sometimes your memes got like frustrating with the ties but a worthy member of the family i wouldn't change in a million years.

i know Sacri' your season didn't go as well as you hoped but you were able to turn your rough start into a good ending despite ending negative. i would still pay the amount of money we paid for you, not just for your as player but also as a person who kept the chat active day after day and was one of the key members with Bouff in terms of keeping the team as a family. i know bouff you took those losses extremely hard but i am happy you were able to grab your win vs lighthouses. i love you both

after a 2-0 start, the season didn't go as we wanted. combining a rough season with a hectic real life schedule, i understand why you were gone the time you were. so, i want to apologize Ajna that we didn't prep enough for the west coast goat. truly sorry we weren't able to help enough you during this spl but i am sure the next tournaments will go way better. i still would drop 20k on you any day.

Z+V pretty much carried me in nu and you will get your spotlight in the nu section but after all the shit you got during this season, i was the happiest person on earth to see you ending with a win and a 1-1 record. keep yourself cool in the future and you will do even better. thank you for everything

and finally, EmbCPT. i honestly dont know how the fuck you were able to win game after game after having a really bad match up or getting unlucky. your games brought our team together and the most fun i had were during your games. all the crazy plays, all the insane sets and 'mons you used, i honestly admire you and you played one of the best games i have witnessed in my life. you took some of your losses harsh as we all do but the vgc champion impressed everyone during this season, especially ending with a win like that versus your really good friend kaori. best player alive

i want to thank Leftiez for helping us early weeks before getting drafted by scoots. TheThorn was a major asset in terms of team building, prepping and being the non-official family member. you are amazing dude. Rodriblutar, i know you didn't first wanted to join us but i am glad you helped us as much as you did (which was a lot, btw) before you got your trade into wolfpack. best of luck in playoffs champ. also Eyan, thank you for helping sacri. i am sure you will get your own starting slot in a future team trophy tournament. you deserve it! and thank you to EviGaro for the ru help, best of luck in rupl and in future tournaments.

i will post NU etc. related stuff in their subforum but i am somewhat glad i ended with a positive record after a very shitty snake draft and people doubting myself getting retained. well, i doubted too and honestly, after week 4 i thought after my loss that i betrayed my team with a silly loss and thought about giving up. i try to be a team player till the end and after not playing week 5 and giving a lot of thought my relationship with this game, i came back and ended with a okay 5-3 record. 6-2 would have been way better but zukushiku was better and he deserved joining the 5-3 club.

i still do have lot to learn in terms of to handle the pressure and preparing well enough even though i don't think any matches were lost to pure match up (thanks NU for being such a generous tier). i was glad i was able to show something by breaking the curse week 8 being the final win to secure a win and giving some hope for playoffs. maybe the retain was not worth it but i want to thank Isa for trusting me with the retain and being the positive and great manager our team had. Jimmy Turtwig deserves a shout-out for basically being our assman (hack was busy with graduating so i made a promise with him to give everything to keep the neccs on track). this experience wouldn't have been as amazing without you two so biggest props to you too.

now that we are out, it is time to give the spotlight for the remaining four teams. best of luck to wolfpack, tyrants, raiders and ruiners. may the best team win!

 

[Blackoblivion]

Well this was my first SPL and all i can say is that this was one hell of a ride for me.

first of all i wanna start of with thanking isa for drafting me, i really owe u alot for giving me the chance to show myself on the big stage and id be more than happy to Play for u again!

Special thanks to Thethorn, Snou, Sabella, R!cardo and Leftiez for helping me build and prepare my teams, u guys are the best.
and i would like to thank Pohjis, Z+V1 and Obliviate for always being up for a test game when i needed one.

And ofcourse every single person on the classiest u guys are fucking amazing and im lucky to have such a wonderful group of people as my very first spl teammates thanks for the fun times.

Lastly i would like to say that im happy with my record for my very first spl, my goal was to end up positive in regular season and i realized this goal with an above average record of 6-3, all my losses were lessons for me to learn from because without them i probably wouldnt have performd as well as i did.

Rooting for the Wolfpack, See yall next time!

 

[Braverius]

my week 9 hope rn is for bigs to tie the week, miss po's on tiebreaker and have that (Tman) game be the deciding factor in their season

SHSL hope right here

 

[Eo Ut Mortus]

Not too pleased to have gone out on this note, but sometimes you fail, and that's that.

Thanks to Finch (and d0nut) for putting their faith in me once again, even after Snake. I know you're satisfied with my performance overall, and I'm glad I lived up to your expectations, but I want you be able to expect more from me, just as I do from myself.

Thanks to the entire team for their continuous commitment. Finch and Tokyo Tom picked a really driven group of people, and I can't emphasize this enough. We had no slackers; everyone invested so much of themselves week in and week out, and it made all our losses hard to swallow, but all our wins all the more exhilarating. In particular, shoutouts to all the people involved in our OU chat: John, for killing it with me in the tier—I think we had great synergy, and it was extremely helpful to just have someone else with whom to talk about the meta, bounce ideas off, and discuss significantly ramifying concepts such as AV on every Pokemon and the Quality Owl. Nedor, for getting me up to speed on USUM at the start of our season and showing me the value of Magic Room Zam. ayevon, for coming in at mids, relieving Finch of a lot of the OU testing load, and blessing me and our team with the bulky Clefable-killer Lando spread. Sabella, for joining us in the last two weeks and helping both our SM and ORAS. Finch, for giving me 90% of my tests in addition to everyone else's and instilling me with confidence by allowing himself to fall for all my hard reads. Lastly, PDC, for winning six straight vs. me and keeping me humble.

Special thanks to z0mOG and elodin for being my testing partners since last SPL. Hope Finch eventually gives you your dues and your mug.

Finally, thanks to everyone who supported me on and off the team. Despite us falling short at the end, this has been my favorite team tour experience in my time here, and it's all the more meaningful to me because it's probably the last one where I'll be able to invest the time necessary to contend at a high level.

Shoutouts Ciele.