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Hi no drama or anything since i love Nat but i disagree with the eifo thing.
I was his manager in rupl and i can say with confidence that he produced some of the best teams we came up with, and has been keeping up with the metagame too. Cant speak well about his playing ability because i dont really see him play but, and snake demonstrates this clearly, getting a 3k support slot for ru can go a really long way and all that.
Peace
Sorry guys and gals, I've already won SPL X. Very useful for drinking the tears of the losers!
Will there be a bigger version out of thicker paper, that will get sent to each of the winning managers for them to assemble? Maybe™ I'm a poor student, all the winners can't have a big one. The rest will get this variant to print themselves.
excuse me i have a question about my spl eligibility, what team do i try for if i am from the sugondesian province, specifically the village of sugma....
excuse me i have a question about my spl eligibility, what team do i try for if i am from the sugondesian province, specifically the village of sugma....
excuse me i have a question about my spl eligibility, what team do i try for if i am from the sugondesian province, specifically the village of sugma....
Sorry guys and gals, I've already won SPL X. Very useful for drinking the tears of the losers!
Will there be a bigger version out of thicker paper, that will get sent to each of the winning managers for them to assemble? Maybe™ I'm a poor student, all the winners can't have a big one. The rest will get this variant to print themselves.
Hi, sorry, I was busy focusing on my career as an athlete instead of mons for the past 6 or so months. It's been p chill ngl, I even placed 2nd/100 in a local duathlon just the other day, in spite of me being a horrible swimmer. Was a fun time tho.
Anyway, I have been helping ppl build for snake, slam poffs, ru circuit poffs etc in the shadows ever since, so I never actually went inactive and thus know the meta inside out. S/o Rabbit for always asking if I wanna build with him/give my input on his builds n.n
Hi, sorry, I was busy focusing on my career as an athlete instead of mons for the past 6 or so months. It's been p chill ngl, I even placed 2nd/100 in a local duathlon just the other day, in spite of me being a horrible swimmer. Was a fun time tho.
Anyway, I have been helping ppl build for snake, slam poffs, ru circuit poffs etc in the shadows ever since, so I never actually went inactive and thus know the meta inside out. S/o Rabbit for always asking if I wanna build with him/give my input on his builds n.n
SM OU: Hiye
SM OU: Empo
SM UU: edi0n
SM RU: KW
SM NU: Garay Oak
SM DOU: Biosci
ORAS OU: baddummy
BW OU: LAX
DPP OU: Ojama
ADV OU: Triangles
GSC OU: giara
RBY OU: kaz-gasai
Subs: Excal, Charmflash, Luigi
SM OU: ABR
SM OU: Eternal Spirit
SM UU: Shiba
SM RU: MrAldo
SM NU: HANTSUKI
SM DOU: Ezrael
ORAS OU: Welliou
BW OU: Insult
DPP OU: Lavos
ADV OU: Golden Sun
GSC OU: Sceptross
RBY OU: The Idiot Ninja
Subs: Bro Kappa, Updated Kanto, Destiny Device
SM OU: Kickasser
SM OU: FMG
SM UU: Pearl
SM RU: Meru
SM NU: Hootie
SM DOU: EmbCPT
ORAS OU: Deej
BW OU: Finchinator
DPP OU: Jimmy Turtwig
ADV OU: thelinearcurve
GSC OU: Conflict
RBY OU: Sadisticnarwhal
Subs: Energy, Robert Alfons
SM OU: Cdumas
SM OU: Sacri
SM UU: Lycans
SM RU: Aeroblacktyl
SM NU: elodin
SM DOU: miltankmilk
ORAS OU: Sabella
BW OU: Jytcampbell
DPP OU: DeepblueC
ADV OU: Valentine
GSC OU: Fear
RBY OU: Bedschibaer
Subs: Renchon, eifo, Leru, The Kyle
SM OU: imsosorrylol
SM OU: blarghlfarghl
SM UU: sage
SM RU: EviGaro
SM NU: pohjis
SM DOU: qsns
ORAS OU: blunder
BW OU: We Three Kings
DPP OU: d0nut
ADV OU: zf
GSC OU: sulcata
RBY OU: metalgro$$
Subs: obii, rewer, nido-rus, mana, sjneider
SM OU: Poek
SM OU: BHARATH_THE_BEST
SM UU: mncmt
SM RU: Osh
SM NU: Kushalos
SM DOU: AuraRayquaza
ORAS OU: xray
BW OU: Soulwind
DPP OU: Void
ADV OU: Mysterious M
GSC OU: Century Express
RBY OU: gilbert arenas
Subs: reiku, yoppie
SM OU: bro fist
SM OU: rozes
SM UU: adaam
SM RU: lighthouses
SM NU: rodriblutar
SM DOU: SMB
ORAS OU: Posho
BW OU: zorodark
DPP OU: soulgazer
ADV OU: eden's embrace
GSC OU: choolio
RBY OU: heroic troller
Subs: ske, spectear, zden
SM OU: Tricking
SM OU: Lopunny Kicks
SM Doubles: Emforbes
SM UU: Robjr
SM RU: Nat
SM NU: Teddeh
ORAS OU: Get This Money
BW2 OU: Dice
DPP OU: Jirachee
ADV OU: Kevin Garrett
GSC OU: Mr.378
RBY OU: Alexander
Subs: Marshall Law, Accelgor, Will of Fire
SM OU: suapah
SM OU: talah
SM UU: pak
SM RU: afrieen
SM NU: flcl
SM DOU: nails
ORAS OU: znain
BW OU: ricardo
DPP OU: roscoe
ADV OU: cowboy dan
GSC OU: earthworm
RBY OU: tobes
subs: hayburner, yjh
SM OU: aim
SM OU: Tamahome
SM UU: HarrisIsAwesome
SM RU: Ajna
SM NU: Eternally
SM DOU: MajorBowman
ORAS: TDK
BW: HSA
DPP: ToF
ADV: dekzeh
GSC: Cased
RBY: Genesis7
Subs: The Hallows, k3nan, Lunar., ict
SM OU: Kickasser
SM OU: FMG / rozes
SM UU: Pearl
SM RU: KW
SM NU: Pohjis
SM DOU: Cased / talkingtree
ORAS OU: Sabella
BW OU: We Three Kings
DPP OU: Lavos
ADV OU: Golden Sun
GSC OU: Conflict
RBY OU: Caetano93
Subs: rozes, talkingtree
SM OU: Bro Fist
SM OU: Rewer
SM UU: Shiba
SM RU: EviGaro
SM NU: Ren Chon
SM DOU: Miltankmink
ORAS OU: Leru
BW OU: Leru
DPP OU: Jimmy Turtwig
ADV OU: Cowboy Dan
GSC OU: Texas Cloverleaf
RBY OU: The Idiot Ninja
Subs: Aeroblacktyl/aim, reiku, EternalSnowman, JYTcampbell, Oro e Diamanti, Xiri, ima
SM OU: Blunder
SM OU: BTB
SM UU: Teddeh
SM RU:Robert Alfons
SM NU: FLCL
Doubles OU: Ezrael
ORAS OU: Get this Money
BW OU: Energy
DPP OU: ToF
ADV OU: HellPowna
GSC OU: alive
RBY OU: Nails
Subs: High Impulse Znain
SM OU: ABR
SM OU: Mana
SM UU: Pak
SM RU: Ajna
SM NU: Hootie
Doubles OU: SMB
ORAS OU: Updated Kanto
BW OU: ZoroDark
DPP OU: roscoe
ADV OU: k3nan
GSC OU: d0nut
RBY OU: Beds
Subs: Luigi, Shoka, Taskr
SM OU: Simia
SN OU: suapah
SM UU: silvio guacamole
SM RU: trace
SM NU: garay oak
SM DOU: emforbes
ORAS OU: TDK
BW OU: dice
DPP OU: excal
ADV OU: Mysterious M
GSC OU: earthworm
RBY OU: tobes
SM OU: Empo
SM OU: Hiye
SM UU: Shiba
SM RU: Mr. Aldo
SM NU: Hootie
Doubles OU: miltankmilk
ORAS OU: ABR
BW OU: Lax
DPP OU: Energy
ADV OU: Triangles
GSC OU: Choolio
RBY OU: Bedschibaer
Subs: GW, azogue
SM OU: Eternal Spirit
SN OU: Talah
SM UU: Sage
SM RU: Nat
SM NU: Pohjis
SM DOU: Nido-Rus
ORAS OU: Mana
BW OU: dice
DPP OU: Void
ADV OU: Mysterious M
GSC OU: Fear
RBY OU: Alexander.
substitutes: Melle2402, Bia-Akemi
OU: Tamahome
OU: Welli0u
UU: edi0n
RU: Arifeen
NU: Renchon
DOU: Embcpt
ORAS: Get This Money
BW: Posho
DPP: Soulgazer
ADV: TheLinearCurve
GSC: Mr. 378
RBY: The Idiot Ninja
Subs: Gilbert Arenas, zorodark
SM OU: Suapah
SM OU: Lopunny Kicks
SM Doubles: SMB
SM UU: Jeffis
SM RU: Aim
SM NU: Regrets
ORAS OU: Blunder
BW2 OU: Ojama
DPP OU: d0nut
ADV OU: Cowboy Dan
GSC OU: Picollo
RBY OU: Sceptross
Sub: Jeff931, Memories of a Murder
SM OU: Cdumas
SM OU: reiku
SM UU: Poek
SM RU: Ajna
SM NU: Cased
DOUBLES: Majorbowman
ORAS OU: Rodriblutar
BW OU: Sabella
DPP OU: ToF
ADV OU: Golden Sun
GSC OU: Earthworm
RBY OU: Tobes
subs: valentine, Snou, Kevin Garrett
SM OU: bro fist
SM OU: Sjneider
SM UU: robjr
SM RU: KW
SM NU: Kushalos
SM Doubles OU: talkingtree
ORAS OU: xray
BW2 OU: Finchinator
DPP OU: We Three Kings
ADV OU: Danilo
GSC OU: Leru
RBY OU: Nails
Substitutes: Will of Fire, Osh, The Hallows, Adaam
SM OU: Mncmt
SM OU: Kickasser
SM UU: HarrisIsAwesome
SM RU: EviGaro
SM NU: ict
Doubles OU: Ezrael
ORAS OU: Vai Lusa
BW OU: sugarhigh
DPP OU: Jimmy Turtwig
ADV OU: Dekzeh
GSC OU: Sulcata
RBY OU: Heroic Troller
ou - imsosorrylol
ou - sacri
uu - pearl
ru - eternally
nu - teddeh
doubles - biosci
oras - tdk
bw - flcl
dpp - raspberry
adv - zf
gsc - conflict
rby - genesis 7
subs; rozes, LL
SM OU: Rewer
SM OU: Ultraballz
SM UU: Pak
SM RU: Accelgor
SM NU: Garay Oak
SM DOU: Emforbes
ORAS OU: Aeroblacktyl
BW OU: Luigi
DPP OU: Roscoe
ADV OU: Texas Cloverleaf
GSC OU: Century Express
RBY OU: Metalgro$$
All: roscoe, Pak, elodin, Luigi, Rewer, Century Express, emforbes, lighthouses, Bro Kappa, MetalGro$$, Texas Cloverleaf, Accelgor, Aeroblacktyl, obii, UltraBallz, TJ, Garay oak, Znain, Kink, Askov, Miles Tails, Simia
SM OU: Tricking
SM OU: BHARATH_THEBEST
SM UU: Lycans
SM RU: Trace
SM NU: Hantsuki
SM DOU: Croven
ORAS OU: SoulWind
BW OU: Lavos
DPP OU: Jirachee
ADV OU: eden's embrace
GSC OU: giara
RBY OU: kaz-gasai
SM OU: Hiye
SM OU: Empo
SM UU: ABR
SM RU: Yjh971203
SM NU: Lax
SM DOU: lady lumps
ORAS OU: Get This Money
BW OU: Sabella
DPP OU: Tamahome
ADV OU: Giara
GSC OU: Sulcata
RBY OU: Hantsuki
Subs: Znain, Haru
SM OU: Eternal Spirit
SM OU: Kickasser
SM UU: Adaam
SM RU: KW
SM NU: Eternally
SM DOU: Talkingtree
ORAS OU: Mana
BW OU: Finchinator
DPP OU: Conflict
ADV OU: Cowboy Dan
GSC OU: Choolio
RBY OU: Kaz-Gasai
Subs: d0nut, ict
SM OU: FLCL
SM OU: Simia
SM UU: Lycans
SM RU: Jake
SM NU: Hootie
SM DOU: EMBcpt
ORAS OU: obii
BW OU: ZoroDark
DPP OU: Void
ADV OU: thelinearcurve
GSC OU: We Three Kings
RBY OU: Alexander
Subs: Arcticblast, Mr 378
SM OU: Cdumas
SM OU: Leru
SM UU: robjr
SM RU: pohjis
SM NU: Garay Oak
SM DOU: Biosci
BW OU: Jimmy Turtwig
DPP OU: tof
ADV OU: dekzeh
GSC OU: hyogafodex
RBY OU: The Idiot Ninja
Subs: Lopunny Kicks, PrinceLucian
SM OU: bro fist
SM OU: imsosorrylol
SM UU: Shiba
SM RU: EviGaro
SM NU: elodin
SM DOU: emforbes
ORAS OU: Welli0u
BW OU: Lavos
DPP OU: Raspberry
ADV OU: pasy_g
GSC OU: Century Express
RBY OU: MetalGro$$
Subs: Valentine, egalvanc
SM OU: BHARATH_THEBEST
SM OU: Bro Kappa
SM UU: Accelgor
SM RU: Lighthouses
SM NU: Braverius
SM DOU: Mizuhime
ORAS OU: Blarghlfarghl
BW OU: Dice
DPP OU: Golden Sun
ADV OU: Triangles
GSC OU: Fear
RBY OU: Tobes
Subs: 6A9 Ace Matador, Tacebreeze
SM OU: TDK
SM OU: Trosko
SM UU: HT
SM RU: Ajna
SM NU: Snou
SM DOU: SMB
ORAS OU: Update Kanto
BW OU: Posho
DPP OU: Excal
ADV OU: Zf
GSC OU: Earthworm
RBY OU: Heroic Troller
Subs: Luigi, Ren-chon
SM OU: aim
SM OU: rozes
SM UU: Sage
SM RU: Nat
SM NU: Teddeh
SM DOU: Croven
ORAS OU: STARRY BLANKET
BW OU: SOULWIND
DPP OU: Cased
ADV OU: kevin garrett
GSC OU: banks
RBY OU: Cynara
Subs: Martha, bugzinator
SM OU: Tricking
SM OU: Talah
SM UU: Pak
SM RU: Pearl
SM NU: Sjneider
SM DOU: MajorBowman
ORAS OU: reiku
BW OU: FMG
DPP OU: roscoe
ADV OU: Ojama
GSC OU: Alpha Male Psyduck
RBY OU: Nails
Subs: Energy, LL, Yosizilla315, Marshall.Law
SM OU: jytcampbell
SM OU: hayburner
SM UU: harrisisawesome
SM RU: osh / yoppie
SM NU: rodribultar
DOU: miltankmilk
ORAS: blunder
BW: insult / jirachee
DPP: soulgazer
ADV: jirachee / k3nan
GSC: texas cloverleaf
RBY: genesis7
subs: ctc, yoppie, the kyle, passion, deepbluec, heysup, k3nan, always
VERY UNBIASED GOLD/SILVER/CRYSTAL PLAYER-BASE THOUGHTS
With a very stacked GSC Pool this year, it is of the utmost important that the managers know who exactly these guys are. Behind their plays, anime-based avatars, and lightning-fast fingers ironically ready to remind you that the game was over if they hit Thunder, some of these guys may not be who you think they are. I'm not ranking these in order of competence.
Fear. With a 9-1 record dating back to the last SPL, it's clear that he is one of the new bullies of the GSC tier. Being the first to use Present and Sacred Fire in a competitive GSC OU match, it is clear he either loves to innovate or represent his country's economy that continuously gets gifted, then burnt. With Fear, you're getting a top tier player, and nobody can dispute that. On the other hand, you're also paying for someone who needs Astamatitos' permission to talk in the Greek world cup channel. Possible beta? Your risk.
Lavos. He edited his sign-up post after realizing nobody wanted to see him go 3-6 against stiff DPP competition like Phillip7086 Scooters DPP player, MDragon Sharks DPP player, and August Cryos DPP player (those are all the good DPP playing managers). But now, with a freshly edited sign-up post, he's ready to show people that his 9-2 record was not a fluke by any means. I don't think anybody can come close to the highs and lows Lavos has experienced on this website. Whether it was taking time out of his day that he would never get back to calculate the probability of winning games he already lost them or being so insufferable at a point in time during his Smogon career where xtrashine impersonating him in a smogcast looked like a personality improvement, it is clear that Lavos has experienced it all. Considering he has been through thick and thin (the nickname for Finchinator's prom date and him), he is my personal pick to excel this coming SPL. The odds are... !Lavoscalc! 81.24% chance to succeed.
This man needs no introduction. Viewed as arguably the best player in Smogon history, a lot of people labeled this GSC class as "stacked" when Earthworm decided to sign-up with only GSC in his list of tiers, illustrating his impact. Last SPL, you may have seen Earthworm getting beaten down mercilessly in RBY by household names like Diegolh and GGFan in the second half of the season, but it would be foolish to consider Earthworm an underdog against any player in GSC during this SPL. I have heard he has officially immersed himself into Korean culture, not quite sure if it's a risk, but managers will have to hope his play isn't as bad as K-Pop or the northern part of his newfound culture.
d0nut. A man who is no stranger to playing GSC in competitive team tournaments. Cutting even in GSC at 2-2 last year, d0nut effortlessly transitioned to DPP OU with a 2-1 record, marking off another positive SPL in the books for him. As his Central World Cup teammate for two years, I personally would like to ask where these performances were when he went 0-6 in GSC/DPP in World Cup, sporting tough losses against users like HJAD and Hassi. Aside from the point, d0nut's positive SPLs are proof that you cannot take him lightly. A diverse builder able to pilot any team into the ground different types of teams means you need to stay on your toes against him. He could possibly end up in the DPP field with the lack of DPP players this year, but GSC is where d0nut belongs every SPL.
Conflict. Coming off his recent name-change from Pleasure, (presumably because the word "pleasure" is the exact opposite feeling used to describe watching his games last SPL) is back for for more GSC for his 10th season. You can generally find Conflict hanging out in Smogtours during SPL games, sitting in his armchair, reminding the crowd amassed in the lobby that both players are indeed "choking their minds out." Unfortunately, it does not seem like Conflict is very active nowadays, his job seems to have been cutting into his personal time, giving him very little time to prepare for his matches. Known as one of the best GSCers ever, his lackluster 3-6 SPL 9 performance can be contributed to using Gligar, lack of prep time, and/or not having me to hold his hand during games becoming washed up. You would have to be a fool to predict against an active Conflict, but an inactive Conflict is very risky. Quite possibly the definition of risk vs reward this upcoming SPL.
Sulcata! My dear friend and I go back six years to Pokemon Online, hanging out in the staff room Indigo Plateau. Who knew that six years later, we would possibly be playing GSC against each other in the 10th edition of SPL! I certainly didn't. For good reason. Sulcata's ceiling as a player back then was roughly equivalent to a limbo bar placed gently on the ground because his floor as a player was somehow low enough to sneak under. Alas I have been proven wrong, he was one of four players during SPL 9 to sport a positive record, which is never an easy task. Off that alone, it's safe to say he will be worth more than his 3k pricetag from last year. If his managers can convince him to stop working on a sequel to a fanfiction created 6 years ago called 7 inches of heaven, I could see bigger things for Sulcata.
Mr.378. A former Central teammate of mine, is no stranger to team tournaments in GSC either. Surprisingly, after a positive showing in SPL 8, he wound up undrafted in SPL 9. I have a gut feeling that Mr.378 will use that rage to fuel the same record that he obtained in SPL 8. Although, not being drafted in SPL 9 may raise some questions about the explosion-based player. Why would a team not want to take a GSC player that consistently has 20 turn games? My guess is that it's because he has numbers in his name and apparently pulled a soulgazer and choked SPL finals for his entire team. Not great for the brand! Looking past all of those points, I truly believe Mr.378 is more than good enough to get drafted, and he can use many different types of teams to win.
choolio and I have known each other for 6 years, but it won’t stop me from giving a honest analysis of him as a player. Sporting a 6-5 record, choolio is bound to find a home for SPL. Unfortunately, he may have turned off some managers due to his constant complaints of not being able to use slurs as Pokémon nicknames to fulfill his assumed slave owner fetish. Choolio is prone to random negative outbursts and easily offends others, I suggest you buy Choolio if you have a strict aryan team and plan on adding pasy_g as a morals coach
Century Express! I think all GSC players know him good and well. Currently staying strong in whatever GSC tournament is happening that I don't care about, it's clear that he is riding a wave of momentum towards SPL. There is something very wrong with him. I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it... I lied. I actually I can.
This guy has played 2000 fucking GSC games. You have to be fucking kidding me. If you combine every single GSC game that everybody in this tournament has played, you'd barely scratch 1000. This guy is a fucking sadist. 2017 games means he has spent approximately 13% of his life clicking Thunder and 7% of his life clicking Curse. Take this guy with caution. While he has a more than impressive GXE and general record on the Mantine-infested GSC ladder, there is a solid chance that he may go full Spongebob episode 48 aka forget his name and go absolutely haywire. All this man knows is fine GSC and breathing.
I'm compiling these players together not because i want them to rot in fucking hell for what they did to me they have both beaten me in official tournaments before, but because these are players who aren't definitely GSCing, because they are proficient in other tiers that lack general talent and have been dominating the Smogon Classic! They are also players who are coming off SPLs they would like to forget. Giara has had three straight negative SPLs in the GSC tier, one can imagine he is tired of getting obliterated wants some new scenery, from his French background and listing of DPP OU in his sign-up, it is possible that he may want ojama to Jim Henson him the entire tournament. Jimmy has BW and DPP to fall back on. After a 3-6 SPL, even though he ran through classic, he may want to place his talent elsewhere.
What's a good list without myself? Unbiased I must remain. My last competitive GSC game was three years ago where Earthworm disconnected after facing my Curse / Selfdestruct / Earthquake / Fire Blast Spike-less offensive team. It's well-known that I have kept up with the tier and that I was behind the triple thief team that has been passed around and piloted by players who question the tier's existence when they realize they can't set-up multiple Spikes. While I have kept up to date with the tier, it is clear that I am a risk to get banned and possibly perform badly. Last time I had something to prove was SPL 5 and I started that off 7-1. Then I eventually went on to misclick Rock Polish in SPL 6 and run monotype for 25% of SPL 7.
This isn't actually a player. I'm just using this to represent that I am separating the players listed above from the player I am about to list. The distance between the racecar bed that I am comfortably laying in/acting like I'm driving in and the core of the Earth is about the same distance that shit separates the player listed above and the playerbase above.
I'll be honest, I was hoping POCL 5 would be my last experience with Texas Cloverleaf. As the manager of the Spartak Stunfisks at the time, I assumed I would not have ever seen something as sad as Texas bragging about his threesomes on Skype. Texas never ceases to amaze me, and did so, with his managing of the Firebot Falcons, the only time a manager decided to give a anti-shoutout to a player for playing badly. I don't actually know if Texas is bad at GSC or not. I really don't. But he ran Thunder / Roar / Rest / Sleep Talk Raikou (Roar doesn't work if it moves first and Raikou is faster than everything) and for that I will never forgive him
I hope managers appreciate this in-depth list & GSC players are motivated to make sure I go 0-9
Since people are doing those, here's one for RBY - another tier that is probably tricky for a lot of managers given the mass retirement of more than half of last year's starters (roudolf, marcoasd, peasounay, lusch, diegolh, ggfan, and the tyrants slot I guess).
As an obvious disclaimer all of this comes from my personal opinion so despite my best attempts to be unbiased some things are inevitably going to slip through
In my opinion, the 10 starting spots should be covered by 10 of the following 11, and I'd be at least somewhat surprised to see anyone from outside the following list starting a RBY game in week 1.
Alexander has been year in year out one of the best RBYers in SPL now, and is undoubtedly one of the most experienced players left after this year's 'exodus'. Unquestionably one of the best Lapras pilots around, if not the single best, the strength that puts him above many others -in my opinion- is his sheer ability in predicting the opponent especially in 50/50 (or pseudo-50/50) scenarios, which allows him to conduct safe games and simply wait until the right openings arrive. He generally doesn't mess around with unconventional picks because he really doesn't need to.
Another veteran, notorious for his appreciation of Jynx despite most of the other top players generally shunning her, he's always going to be a tough one to face due to this - you really can't tell if he's gonna lead with a Lovely Kiss or a Thunder Wave when you're selecting a team, so he often forces you to play it safe, bring bog standard, and hope to outdo him on the field rather than trying to find advantages in the builder or in things like your rhydon v zapdos selection. He really doesn't misplay often, but he does sometimes lack the additional gear to go on the offensive and capitalize, and his Jynx usage will inevitably lead to some games being decided in the first turns by RNG rather than by either of the players; that said, he's still one of my top picks in this pool and I figure he'll have a decent bit of hunger after unluckily sitting out in SPL 9. (fuck finchinator)
Genesis7 is a bit of a mystery to me, I've had sets against him where he was incredibly good at aggressive punishes and really scary to face throughout, but when he's not on his day he's evidently not up to par with the rest of the top level RBYers given his relatively unimpressive RBY tournament record. I think he's definitely good enough to start and I think that with good enough dedication, mentality, and luck he could surprise a lot of people, but given his lack of results against the cream of the crop I think he has to be ranked a notch below the very best for the time being.
His recent participations in various Pokémon Perfect tournaments shows that he's (probably) serious about RBY - he's a quality player that hasn't been tested too much about the very best that RBY has to offer, and from what I've seen he's not afraid to run trickier builds either, a trait that could serve him very well if exploited properly. It's hard to rate him too highly given certain less than stellar performances eg. RBY Invitational, but he should be a definite consideration for an RBY slot regardless as we know him to be a high ceiling tournament player and making the transition to RBY should not be too great of a challenge if he puts his mind to it. His ability to contribute in other tiers as well also gives him a niche above other picks in this pool. Might get himself banned though.
FREE HIM!!! If I'm being honest, I think last year's Troller was in much hotter form than current form Troller, but current form Troller is still plenty good and easily enough to earn him a respectable record especially given that this year's pool is also a noticeable bit weaker than last year's. He taught me how to RBY yet we think of the game in somewhat different ways which is very interesting for me personally, he's often perfectly fine with giving up on sleep and spreading the yellow magic on half of your mons to get to work with something like a Rhydon as early as possible which is not something you see often from a lot of people but it works very well for him. If he has enough drive to bring his absolute best we could easily see him run away with a ridiculous record.
Kaz is at the moment the scariest opponent for anyone playing RBY I think, but you don't realize it until you play against him. He doesn't do anything too flashy, he mostly plays standard builds, but the way he dances around you in the early-midgame and somehow always manages to find advantageous positions is something I haven't really seen from many players. In absence of Peasounay and Diegolh I think he's probably the one player in this pool who reminds me of that school of RBY the most - safe plays, controlled risks, build up small advantages bit by bit by putting yourself in the right positions, and once the pieces start falling in place turn on the aggression to finish it. He should be considered a superstar and one of the people you'd expect to put up the best performances going into this SPL, although I don't know much about his mentality and approach to team tours.
MetalGross is the perhaps the player who embodies the mentality of "it's rby lol just load 6 and go" the most in this pool, and I think in individual tournaments this hurts him a lot compared to players who actually bother pre-game a bit more, though he does try a bit harder in team tours I think. On the field he's great but I feel like he lacks the vision to go out and win games in the teambuilder, and that is something that will punish you over the course of a tournament where people will scout you down to what you eat for breakfast to make sure they have every edge possible. He's also prone to the occasional lategame choking - not much, but to a larger degree than most others in this pool - and I've seen him tilt over losing game 1 (especially when it's due to bad luck) a few times, though it was admittedly some time ago. All in all, he can and will take games from the best because parts of his game are definitely up there, and you can expect him to land a neutral record or not much worse pretty comfortably, but he does have some shortcomings that will need to be taken care of if you hope to see him put up any better than that.
Nails is probably my favorite RBYer and being able to team with him last year was an absolute blessing. A Jynx fanatic to a level that surpasses even Beds, he has a lot of creativity and I think we both think of the game similarly - many of his builds try to make it simple and streamlined in his favor. God knows how many times I've heard "just run Jynx and get your free sleep turn 1, then play the 6v5". But he's definitely not only a creative mind, but also a strong player on the field which doesn't need to catch you off guard to beat you. Inbetween all the Jynx usage and other even worse tomfoolery he can actually play the lead/big4/last game quite finely and all in all I rate him highly, although I think he might need someone to shoehorn motivation into him from outside to get him to give his absolute best. Either way he's an A- player and an A+ guy, whoever drafts him will be happy with the pick.
I often feel like me and Sceptross are on different wavelengths in terms of game sense very often, so this will be a bit difficult to write up, especially considering I haven't played against him much either. He's part of an even newer class of RBYers that learned the game on the ladder, rather than with the 1 on 1 mentoring that produced so many other great players in the past, and that alone makes him hard to understand for me - the fact that people actually enjoy ladder is truly unfathomable to me in the first place. Nevertheless, Sceptross has put up decent results and taken numerous entire sets from the best of the best, so I think he can be considered in the upper echelons of RBYers by now. I wouldn't expect him to go on a run similar to what roudolf did last year, but if he lived through the horrors of the RBY ladder you know for sure that he's a tough one. He's also a genuinely kind person which is not something you see often on this website, so you may want to consider his effect on team atmosphere as well. I'd speak more about his playstyle but I really haven't seen as much of him as I have most other people on this list.
Texas makes this list despite a relatively large RBY hiatus simply on the back of the fact that he was quite solid before taking that hiatus. He's never been a top top RBY player and I wouldn't expect him to begin performing on that level for SPLX all of a sudden, but if everyone else on this list is gone in the draft, Texas has the experience and the skill needed to snag wins that some of the lesser experienced picks can only daydream of as of right now. Plus, he's a good player of pocket monsters in general, if he can derust in time he's be a safe and valuable asset to any team despite some of the question marks that one could raise over his overall level.
Last alphabetically and definitely last in nickname choices, I'll try not to talk too highly about myself but here goes:
I think I'm one of the better picks going for an RBY slot going into this tournament. God only knows the amount of junk builds that I've come up with, but that's something every RBYer does - every RBY player slams together a quick Machamp build and tries to see if they can win a game or two by some miracle at some point of their career. The difference between me and the rest of the RBY field is that I can build functional junk. When I unleashed Big Bad Vic on SPL9 last year I kickstarted a meta trend that saw him slowly rising up from meme tier to Jolteon/Slowbro tier in the more recent tournaments. Cloyster and Gengar are also picks that I like to think were popularized after I started throwing around some builds with them and showing that they can take games at the highest stages. I'm obviously not inventing anything new as RBY is literally older than me, but I do think I can be credited with kickstarting a few of the recent meta shifts, and I do believe that the number one reason for my RBY success in tournaments such as the Invitational is my ability to stay one step ahead of the metagame. I'm obviously going to be keeping my secrets and not revealing my modus operandi pre tournament so I suppose I'll have to stop at that. I'll just say there is a red to defend and people will only be taking it over the dead body of RBY Invitational Winner Without Dropping A Set, The Idiot Ninja (Please Suggest A Good Name Change. Thanks.).
OH and I can test DOU with our DOUer. No one else in this list can do that
(except Nails, fuck. i hate nails)
Past those players, there's a bunch of shots in the dark that could perform well enough or could also flop horribly. There's a decent chunk of not-quite-there RBY players so it's entirely possible that I forgot some, but those are all players that I would currently steer clear of, but might end up being SPL level with enough motivation and/or outside assistance to help them add a new dimension to their game. I haven't played or watched most of them enough to drop long paragraphs (plus it's late and I have to wrap this up), so you're only going to get name drops: Caetano93, EB0LA, HML am, Mister Tim, Mysterious M, Picollo, SadisticNarwhal, Thiago Nunes, Tobes. Apologies to anyone who feels slighted after not being included, memory isn't my strongest suit so I probably just forgot about you.
