Tournament Ubers Premier League VI - Community Center

Welcome to the sixth iteration Ubers Premier League, the favorite Ubers team tournament of the year!

We will see six teams comprised of the best Ubers players duke it out to determine the best team. Of course, the teams will begin with the managers themselves, and it will be interesting to see how they prepare for the auction, and the retains/transfers that happen prior. But the managers alone can't carry their teams, so they will have to trust every player that they got to make their team, and work together to win this tournament. Which manager do you think will run away with the best team? Which manager do you think will be easiest to upbid? And what team will be the first to implode? For all these questions, let's wait for managers to be decided(deadline for signups is 13th!).

This thread serves to be the place where anyone can talk about the tournament. You can discuss potential possible formats(please don't get too out of hand), your expectations from the players or managers, what generation are you most interested to spectate or play, and anything else that you feel is worth posting(free pass for memes).
 

keys

It's Prime Time
is a Forum Moderatoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnus
With a few manager signups already up, it's time to get the UPL season rolling with some 100% accurate and totally unbiased Manager Power Rankings™in hopes that I can make the job easier for SparksBlade and Aqua when deciding on which 6 to pick. We will be mostly looking at three factors; the playing/building ability, the managing/leading experience and the ability to bring a team together (let's call that the X factor) for each manager/duo. These will be ranked from 1 to 6 (with 1 being the best and 6 the worst). Please remember that these are all arbitrary values decided on by our panel of analysts. Without further ado, let us get into it:

1) The Trap God & Omfuga - 1 | 2 | 2
2) Level 56 - 2 | 4 | 1
3) Nayrz & Fireburn - 5 | 1 | 3
4) Pohjis - 3 | 6 | 4
5) AriiStella & leru - 4 | 5 | 5
6) Minority - 6 | 3 | 6

The Trap God & Omfuga: This wild mix between the supreme leader of STAG Klan and Smogon's "oldest" young user is quite something. Sitting in first place in our playing/building metrics, TTG and Fuga have made quite a name for themselves as players ever since the best generation of Ubers (the answer to that is ORAS for those of you who were wondering). As two of the biggest names in the playing field, they have recently teamed up in snake draft to put up a solid score as a duo, showing that added chemistry factor in the pair. On top of that, The Trap God and Omfuga are considered as two of the "people to beat" in Ubers, seen by their consistent deep runs in tournaments as well as other accolades such as being a "brain" in the current Ubers Stadium tournament (TTG) and being a part of the QC team (somewhat showcases the building part of it). In terms of managing, TTG's otherwise star-studded resume falls desperately short but Omfuga more than makes up for that, not only by being a former SPL manager (that didn't exactly work out but still) but also a UUPL winning manager. In terms of bringing a team together, there's no denying that both users have more than enough charisma and gravitas to pull together a championship team, as they are definitely near the top in that regard, both being extremely approachable and friendly guys, always willing to go the extra mile to help out. The question mark here seems to be if Omfuga will be able to keep TTG from drafting his 72 goons and if Omfuga will be able to stay out of trouble for the duration of the tournament.

Level 56: Everyone's favourite weeb manager is returning to the scene after a somewhat disappointing last season with the Grand Helix Fossils. With a renamed team and reinvigorated spirit, Level will be trying to replicate his successes as a player on the managing front. Being arguably the best individual player out of the bunch, he falls just shy of first place in that regard, seeing as the combination of The Trap God and Omfuga was just a bit too much for any one user to beat. Nonetheless, the Grand Slam champion more than makes up for it with his incredible personality, being ranked #1 in the X factor category, due to his unmatched character. Taking on the Omastar mantle directly from Sweep himself, last UPL was 56's chance at gaining some manager experience, which he otherwise lacked much of, and now he seems quite honestly primed to make a splash in the UPL scene as a second-year manager (hint: we might be seeing a lot of cute jirachi GIFs this season when they win).

Nayrz & Fireburn: Our panel was quite Astounded/Astonished/Dumbfounded/Confounded/Amazed/Bewildered when Nayrz announced that the fire bird was not hosting and actually joining the ranks as assistant manager for the Drizzlers. However, looking at it now, it shouldn't come as too much of a shock, seeing as Hack is potentially not playing this season (Nayrz needed another inactive exTL to fill that role). With a single game of Ubers played between both players in the past 27 years, it's quite hard to rank this duo above the other ones in terms of playing, the only saving grace being Fireburn's last SPL/Snake performances to edge them over Minority. On the other end of the spectrum, managing and taking control of things is definitely not as foreign to these two as an actual match of Pokemon, seeing as they have ample experience in managing, leading the tier and being the decision-makers in a lot of things around these parts. If Fireburn is able to pull in some activity for the month and a half and if Nayrz is able to resist the temptations of adding a weeb bot into the server as well as survive Hack's absence, these two might just have what it takes to grab the elusive title.

Pohjis: Representing the defending champs, Pohjis comes in this season hoping to prolong the Durians' spell of success following Gunner Rohan's departure. Despite what his seemingly average ranking might indicate, Pohjis could potentially be one of the dark horses to take it all, only being ranked as low because of the severe lack of managing experience. With a solid building/skill repertoire and an incredibly motivational persona, Pohjis just needs to come out of his shell a bit more and stop being so negative and modest in order to become an extremely dangerous and well-rounded manager, threatening to Finnish within the top few spots of the competition.

AriiStella & leru: I doubt that anyone who plays under AriiStella and leru is able to finish the season without going insane. Between the incessant mentions of anime weeby shit and leru's love affair with Smogon.com's cutest user Holy Break, this team has everything it takes to make one go crazy. However, the reigning Ubers champion and the SPL RBY'er who also handed me my only loss in UPL history (quite an impressive feat don't you think) definitely have enough firepower to compete with the top of the table in terms of playing and building for their players. As much as I'd like to rank them higher in terms of managing experience due to Arii's :blossoming: squadron having reached the finals of Exhibition, they have a combined near zero history of managing teams/leading (Exhibition also has PU and Monotype so like how much can you count that), hence the extremely low rankings. If Arii and leru are able to draft smartly and put together a team of players who appreciate them and don't mind the anime shit, the 5th position in my X factor ranks might prove to be extremely wrong and they might just go all the way.

Minority: With a poor showing in last year's UPL and missing his witty counterpart in Colonel M, Minority makes his way back onto the battlefield in hopes that his Cipher team can actually win a week. Despite being a quality player in Ubers, Minority hasn't played a game in about as long as his last UPL week win, meaning he has to find himself at the bottom of our rankings in that regard. Judging by former successes from last year, he has also received a ranking of 6th in our X factor list, mostly because the majority of his players seemed quite unhappy during last season of the tournament. Despite these shortcomings, Minority scores a respectable 3rd in terms of leading/managing experience, being a long-time moderator and respected member of the decision-making group within Ubers, as well as obviously having managed in UPL before. If he is able to do less of hyw + money for Steve Angello trades, he might just pull it off this time and leave last season's mediocre display behind.

This post was made after the first 6 people signed up. It will be updated as more managers sign up.
 
Last edited:

Tenebricite

Leader of the Pawniards
is a Top Tiering Contributor
OUPL Champion
Looking forward to skillful displays of BW and USM ubers. It'll be a fun time for sure.
 

Exiline

Banned deucer.
is a Past SCL Championis a Two-Time Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Championis a Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
:blobpex:
as dream's manager power rankings (no offense, don't get mad at me :psywoke:)sucked dick according to the Ubers discord I'll do mine. well actually i won't rank them but i'll expertly analyse them. No point to rank them as my team will definitely win in the end anyway.
in random order because i want to:

The Luminous Lunalas, led by Arii Stella and Leru
holy fucking shit, i couldn't survive more than 1 week in this fucking discord chat full of lolis shit, if they buy Holy break they're gonna fucking break their players mind like actually. glad hyw is banned otherwise the arii/leru/holybreak/hyw would have been the weeb exodia the forbidden of pokémon z_z: Weeb level over 9000 :blobnauseated::blobnauseated::blobnauseated:
Arii also want to take over the devastating dragceus to fucking retain her e-husbando poek, this UPL is over damn. :blobshrug:
I fucking hope they won't post lolis gif in every of their fucking win posts lol
At least arii and leru looks somewhat decent at this game so they will probably grab some wins (alas).
dont buy me please i want to keep a sane mind somehow

The Jubilant Jirachis, led by Level 56
nigga didn't picked an assman yet because he fucking plans to get back the grand SWEEP by angering the grand SWEEP by giving his team a random name instead of the GRAND HELIX FOSSILS. alas it won't work cause SWEEP fucking succeeded in getting rid of trash game pokémon and he won't commit the error of joining again. :bloblul:
also his discord will be pretty weeby but not nearly as much as Arii stella's one, weeb level: 7/10 :facepalm:
actually wondering how much the 56th level will help his teammate in this one, at least he got a nice trophy meaning he actually play pokémon sometime instead of spending his whole free time watching useless weeb show.
at leats he got better taste with shinsekai yori than the previous team :pikuh:

The Choice Bandits, led by TTG and FUCKING FUGADAD
best team (bar fucking durians ofc) yet, fugadad is fucking managing lmao, nigga told us he would not play UPL cause he is a bitch but it was all a bait, nice teasing fugadad, glad you're one of my dad (the other being pohjis the goat) (yeah they're homo af, and pohjis is also fugadad's dad which make the thing even more weird) (glad I have a regular set of chromosome tho):swole::swole::swole::swole:
on the other hand there is also TTG, aka the only actual USM player (only crazy enough guy to play this dumb ass retard tier), I think he will be annoying af for other teams to face, in current gen at least
also he got his fucking whole army of STAG goon :blobastonished::blobastonished::blobastonished: nigga is actually able to snake every fucking upl teams with his goons oml :ghostblob: well im joking he doesn't even need to snake cause he got the bot :blobthinking::blobthinking::blobglare::blobglare:
fucking fire team overall:psyglad: also they're using marshadow aka cutie ghosty as a mascot => charisma point 8/10
Fugadad unban: -18 days :mad::v4::mad:

DaReal Drizzlers, led by Nayrz and Fireburn
don't really know what to say yet and i can't even roast them cause they can ban me which kinda sucks (take this tho :fukyu::fukyu::fukyu::fukyu:)
well actually even tho i never saw ryan playing a single fucking pokémon game, he should have a decent metagame knowledge so it will be ok i guess (sarah is QC and in the VR coucil so it doesn't mean a lot tho :jynx::jynx:) . Fireburn isn't playing either but he got an actually nice showing in snake so it will be okay too i guess :mehowth:
also fucking ryan gimme a discord role :fukyu::fukyu::fukyu::fukyu::fukyu:
jk i love you :facepalm: (no homo)

The Zapping Zekroms, led by Tape and Reje
LOOOOOOOOOOOOL i'd love to get into this team just to see Reje fucking roasting his own fucking players everytime they're making a suboptimal play.
Even tho Tape lost to unplayer but Esteemed UPL host and also meanest user Sparksblade yesterday and i almost quitted (which i understand, losing to sparksblade must be fucking humiliating), he seems actually good in oldgens ubers as he reached ubers classic finals, or so I thought but tape fucking asked if a mon was choice scarfed in a fucking ADV game recently :facepalm::facepalm::facepalm:
If reje educates his player like he did with Sarah (with soviet support tho) this will be a glorious team af :blobthumbsup:
please beloved host give them a spot :blobnom::blobnom: (and not a stop :blobstop:hahah funny guy exiline )
Team name sucks dick tho, it looks like some RMT title eternalsnowman could have done z_z_z_z_z_z_z_z

The Cipher Syndicate, led by Minority
if Minority's managing skill were as good as their RMT rates are long, they would be goat af
alas he got a pretty bad (to not say almost as bad as slurmz UPL result last year, unluckily for him, slurmz is banned this year and he won't be able to save minority's ass to the dead last place). :mehowth:
Well actually i don't know shit about the dude, i legit never interacted with him so it's w.e but I heard Cipher discord really sucked last year
I truly hope they will do better this year if they ever got a managing spot :psynervous:
Don't delete my post please :puff:

The Raseri guy
isn't he a NU player, who the fuck is this guy anyway, even I get a better chance to reach the Ubers TL spot than him managing
no offense dude, at least you're avatar is :fire: :blobshrug:


and last but certainly not least:

The Defiant Durians, led by Pohjis
OML papa Pohjis managing durians, nigga is fucking smart he left trash tier Ubers to goat tier Nu and even succeeded in doing UPL without playing by managingb :smogthink:
being the absolute goat pohjito will get a master race team and crush the whole tournament like the durians did last year with fucker rohan (with the help goat guy exiline ofc):swole::swole:
buy me please daddy, i became good since last time i swear :psytear::psytear:
I even saw in my crystal ball that we will win if you buy/retain me :blobwizard: (nofake i swear)
not much to say about this team tbh (the durians + Pohjis is enough even for a stupid guy like [whole ubers community] to understand how goat this team will be)
Goat level: over Arii's team Level (= near infinite) :blobnom:


OML these last udapte emote are so good :psysly:
 
Good lord i hope CTC never gets to read the above post..

Anyway lets do ranking btw i am on phone so i ain't trying to make fancy stuff!!!

The Jubilant 56 (+S Rank= PDon) :blobpex:

King of weebs himself has returned for another UPL edition, even if he doesn't talk that often 56's attitude is so relaxed and calm which makes me think that he is more than capable to elaborate a solid draft plan and he would never lose his mind even if all his players get haxed, let's also point out that he plays all the gens however sometimes he is very quiet so I guess he is gonna need the help from a tryhard that plays USM as 56 dislikes this shitty gen.
PDon represents 56's knowledge as we all know it's terrific and has a huge movepool, also many ppl will try to be on this team so yeah everybodt likes 56 everybody likes using PDon.

Defiant Pohjis (S rank = Dusk Mane) :blobthumbsup:

With an impressive victory in the last UPL and the blessing of his best bud Gunner, Pohjis is gonna take over the Durians this year and even if he slmetimes loses his head (because yeah this game is p shitty) and has said goodbye to us a bunch of times, I know he is gonna be responsable and take this tour very serious buuuut we got a problem, Pohjis doesn't like building at all so he might struggle in that aspect which is why i think he is gonna buy a teambuilding tryhard such as the godly but salty Cynara, I however expect the Durians to do well and Pohjis is overrall nice so I am convinced his team's atmosphere is gonna be awesome.
DuskMane represents Pohjis' attitude he might be chill like a defensive DM but he can get mad just like SD/Policy DM, everybody likes DM, everybody likes Pohjis.

Choice Bandits (A rank = Marshadow) :puff:

If u guys are worried for a team going insane I would say this one (not mine, u silly dudes-.-) ngl I respect ttg a lot and i think he is good as well omfuga they both share impressive knowledge regarding the tier. Anyway, i think ttg might lose his head against his nemesis Gunner (perhaps Pohjis) and I expect juicy drama !! Err stag in other hand is the real issue most of them are not gonna get drafted on thr clan leader's team I expect ttg to retain magsy which is why I suggest Nairs to don't accept the money (jk) i see potential on this team but i am a lil worried cause smth bad might happen and not sure how ttg is gonna react. Tldr= skill is great, attitude isn't that great
Marshadow's teambuilding impact represents the influence that ttg has on the ubers community leading the most extensive klan, marsh can be shady af just like ttg.

Da Drizzlers Nairs (A rank = Xerneas) :pikuh:

My ex manager has decided to don't give me the god damn drizzlers so I expect this team to do awful. Jokes aside, Nairs is the ideal manager that every team needs he cheers you up when you need to and his knowledge is enough to help his team in terms of teambuilding but heeey this guy isn't that nice as you all think... he is rude af (he banned me bronzong and didnt let me speak in spanish btw) but he NEVER does destructive criticism, o well the managing experience speaks for himself. Now let me trash nairs, ngl last upl his draft plan was like :pikuh: so i am not sure what is going on in his head except that bkc is prolly gonna be a retain and unfortunately hack won't play maybe he and fireburn (i thought he left) innactive as always are gonna miss soooo much hack.
Xerneas represents how unpredictable is Nairs you don't know when it is scarf or Geoxern just like u don't know whats going on in his head.

Zappin Tapes (A- rank: Gothitelle) :facepalm:

I won't go detailed here just saying that I am aware of MF's amazing skills at both teambuilding and battling, idt tape is going to pay attention on this UPL he has a reaaally bad timezone and prolly gonna miss more than 3 games of his players in each week and won't be there supporting them however he has Reje who is a memer but takes this game serious when he wants to, he also disappears sometimes so i am predicting this discord server to be ded as hell.
Goth is literally tape. You dont know when he quits, you dont know when he appears which is somewhat annoying.

Cypher Minority (B+ rank = Lucario-Mega) :smogthink:

I saw potential on this team but I regret after seeing the results, even if Minority knows how the ubers tier in general works idk if he does know how to handle a team and keep everybody motivated I think the players were good but they all clearly had 0 motivation and I believe that the team's atmosphere is so much important in a team tour. Prove me/us wrong Minority, I really expect your team to do great in this UPL.
Lucario is a mon with a huge potential just like Minority however it might struggles a lot if u don't support it enough.

I am obviously not ranking my team cause it is awesome AND NO I AM NOT GONNA MAKE IT FULL WEEB or raseri's because I am too tired to type on phone :c enjoy!!
 
Last edited:
me neither iris! never mind the fact that neither of us actually signed up..
holy crap leave me alone. i don't like being personally attacked unless you give me a chance to fight back. Check Ur *'n facks bro / bro-ette / asexual ditto, I signed up, withdrew, still got signed by a team. I was on the last place team, and i'm gonna be a man, unlike u attackin me from the shadows of a skitty, behind some steel (ignore the irony, please) and say i was the reason we lost. that and fireburn
 
some thoughts i have about the upcoming UPL. first one being the format. i was a very big fan of the format last year which was 3 sm/2 oras/1 bw/1 dpp/1 adv. maybe this is because it has 2 slots of my favourite generation and therefore i am being bias. regardless of that, i think it is the format for this year's tournament too. not having too many current generation slots but ORAS still being new enough to have more slots than the other old generations to balance it out.

even though i am not a fan of USUM, it still is the main generation and it represents the ubers right now in all aspects - especially showing how the current ubers metagame looks like and how strong and good the current playerbase is. that is why i am suggesting of a format of 4 usum/1 oras/1 bw/1 dpp/1 adv. i am not a supporter of this but i understand still the need of giving as much needed attention to USUM as possible.

however, even though for example the bw playerbase is really strong (stronger than oras, dpp and adv i feel), we shouldn't be giving too many slots to older generations. in 2016 we had as many slots with ORAS (main generation at the time) and bw. that in my opinion is never optimal and the main generation right now should always have the most slots and we shouldn't ever have a tournament where the current generation isn't the most represented.

i don't know if these were a mistakes but do not repeat them ever again i guess: don't have in-between generations (SM, XY, BW1, DP etc.) in a serious team tournament, leave those to casual or whatever tournaments you might want to host. GSC Ubers and RBY Ubers are rather interesting but we don't have a strong enough playerbase for either (gsc i could understand more than rby) to have a slot for them in UPL. main gens from adv -> current gen should always be the format and when gen8 comes out, it should be 3 gen8/1 gen7/1 oras/1 bw/1 dpp/1 adv.

last year it was all bo3 and it makes sense to have a bo3 to eliminate as much luck as possible and have the most consistent player to win the series etc. but it seems we won't be having it this year. i don't personally mind having a bo3 again but the feedback wasn't that good from what i heard so having bo1 is never a bad option. not sure if we should have one bo3 USUM slot for so called star players, i don't have an opinion on that really.

speaking of players in general, i haven't been active like at all in the ubers scene so and since i might get a slot for manager, i did some research on the players who used to play actively.

zf (dead)
Astounded (retired)
Hack (too busy with RL, most likely won't be playing)
kebabe (most likely won't be playing)
The Trap God (managing)
Lacus Clyne (most likely won't be playing)
Gunner Rohan (busy with RL and doesn't have interest in 'mons (._.) anymore)
Mr.378 (pretty sure doesn't have any interest, last year manager and a long time member)
benbe (dead)
Krauersaut (dead)
Omfuga (assmanning, probably wouldn't have played regardless)
thimo (banned)
hyw (banned)
Lord Outrage (banned)
Mazary (banned)
Steve Angello (banned)
Hugo Barrington (doesn't play anymore pretty sure)
0kay (dead)
LucosDiCampos (doesn't play anymore)
Dominatio (doesn't play anymore pretty sure, actively at least)
Zaionar (dead)
Serga (doesn't play anymore pretty sure)
M Dragon (most likely won't be playing)
Problems (dead)
orch (dead i guess)
Blim (dead)
dice (wouldn't play anyway pretty sure)
slurmz (banned)
Dilwar (quit)
Bossness (dead)
lance and his goons from last year (sveta, sheetenshu etc. are banned or dead)
edgar (retired or dead)
Thugly Duckling (dead)


this is just a list of players who pretty much during the last year or two have been less and less active. i have probably mentioned this before but after SPL ended in 2015, most of the "good players" stopped playing actively despite making a return here and there. during ORAS in 2015-2016, i think we had a quite good and strong playerbase with names for example being Astounded, Level 56, Lacus Clyne, Gunner Rohan, The Trap God, myself, Lord Outrage, Minority Suspect and old but still good and reliable ones being Hack and Fireburn for instance.

i am not saying the current playerbase is bad by any means - it is the opposite. but there must be a reason why there has been such a drastic change in the playerbase during the last year and two (check the names on the list). ubers getting excluded from SPL can't and is not the only reason for it.

this UPL has to be the one to create a new and strong playerbase for tournaments. some of the really potential players have been banned or just been inactive. however, there is a lot of potential out there but this tournament has to show that ubers has good players that play a good metagame. if that won't be the case, ubers will get excluded from more and more major tournaments and at that point you might just merge it with AG (where several ubers players have been doing really well) and keep the ubers we know in our memories.
 
I really appreciate the thoughtful post Pohjis. You opened up a dialogue to some of the big community concerns regarding UPL and I'll do my best to give my take on some of these matters.

Playerbase:
Our new-generation player base is very strong at the moment and I don't see any problems arising here. Every year, there are new players that play in the current generation slots that prove themselves and often go on to see success in future ubers tournaments. This will definitely be the case this year as there is a lot of new talent that have been finding consistent results in Ubers Open, Seasonal Circuit, Exhibition and more. Lets not sell this player base short as there are many active SM/USM mains, as well as cross-tier players that have found an interest and success in current generation Ubers.

I encourage everyone to examine the list of players that Pohjis has provided in the above post. As you'll notice many of these players that are inactive now or banned are ORAS or Pre-ORAS players. This means if there is any real concern as to player base, its in the old generation department. I expect to see some of these old generation players to come back, but there have also been many old gen tournaments recently that allow for new players to pick these tiers up. We also usually see old generation OU players filling in these slots and there will likely still be a good amount of proven old generation players to choose from for this tournament.

To sum up my thoughts on playerbase, I feel there is a lot of new talent that can be fostered in all generations, but especially in the new generation scene. This is beneficial as we will build new players that can make a name for themselves in the community and we won't have to rely on trying to resurrect dead players for this one tournament every year, unless they willingly choose to play because they have new motivation.

Ubers Relationship with the General Tournament Community:
While many people believe the Ubers image to be awful in the eyes of the tournament community, it actually isn't so bad. While a lot of the rhetoric is that Ubers is a "bad tier", this is the same rhetoric that is used in regards to other Non-OU tiers and is even used at OU as well at times. This shouldn't be taken so seriously considering the Ubers community has been able to foster strong relationships and connections with the general tournament playerbase through tournaments such as Snake Draft, Ubers Open & Grand Slam, SPL, Exhibition, Smogon Championship, and even non-smogon tournaments. Many of the mid level to high level Ubers players build strong relationships through team tours, or help out their tour-scene friend groups for tournaments like Grand Slam, Smog Championship, and Ubers Open. This has lead to many tour scene players becoming more involved with Ubers which is evident if you look at last UPL which had players such as Shake, TDK, obii, Poek, Finchinator and others. Players such as FLCL, Chill Shadow, GunGunJ, and more are some players that have been active and successful in the SM/USM seasonals. TKO, meeps, starmaster, ajna, Poek, FLCL are again some players that we've seen in Ubers in Snake and/or Exhibition. These are just the players that have participated recently in new generation Ubers events and it must be taken into consideration that there are also a good amount of tournament players that played in old generation Ubers last UPL. To say that the general tournament scene and Ubers community are not cohesive is a false statement that I've been seeing a lot since the exclusion of Ubers from SPL.

Format:
Keeping in mind that there is a strong new-generation scene because of SM/USM Uber mains as well as tournament players that have picked up Ubers, 3 USM slots seems easy to fill for 6 teams. A bo3 slot would be nice since we will see some very competitive series and the shining USM players throughout the tour will have the chance to face off in this slot. Having a singular bo3 slot is also something that has been popular in other Tier Premier Leagues and it would be cool to see UPL pick this up as well. I would suggest something like a ADV/DPP/BW slot, but it seems harder in old generations to make something like this happen, so I feel making one of the three USM slots a bo3 slot would be nice to see. I feel 2 ORAS/1 BW/1 DPP/1 ADV is fine or even 1 ORAS/2 BW/1 DPP/1 ADV would both be okay. 8 slots is perfect for this tournament and seeing less slots would be a shame since it really takes away the opportunity that UPL presents to newer players. Another alternative would be to include SM specifically to this tournament if people are interested in that. It would be how XY was included in UPL 4 where ORAS was the current generation, and wouldn't be a regular tier to include, but could be considered for a 2 USM/1 USM bo3/1 SM/1 ORAS/1 BW/1 DPP/1 ADV format. I do think the bo3 in every slot was pretty overkill considering that bo1 is generally standard for team tours, as it is a team tournament and should be seen as a collective bo8 with each individual of the team playing 1 game.

Myself and UPL this year:
As you guys probably know, I signed up to manage this year and don't intend to participate as a player even if I am not selected for managing. I've decided to do this because I would rather focus on developing the new talent in the current generation, rather than play in it myself. There are only 18 starting slots assuming there are 3 USM slots per team. That is more than enough for the new talent to fill, along with tournament-scene players. I feel out of place as the only "big new gen player" when I'm playing with less experienced players every week (because the other big names don't sign up for this tournament as players). It feels unfair to the tournament as it creates a big focus on drafting the couple big names that will be in USM, rather than giving attention to all the great new talent that is available. I feel moving into a leadership role is more essential to the tournament as I can mentor 3-5 new gen players as a manager, rather than occupy 1 of 18 slots of a player pool that is mostly new players. If I am not selected as manager, I'll be a spectator and maybe try to focus on helping out a specific team or friends that will be in the USM slots but I do know that playing is something that I likely won't be doing no matter what, since it puts my focus on personal preparation rather than helping the community grow. If I was an old generation player where my presence in the player base was incredibly impactful, I would take on that role but since I play current gens, my presence as a leadership figure will be much more beneficial to the team that I end up managing/helping.


let me know what you guys think about UPL this year regarding formats, player base, managers, etc. good to see people getting hyped for the UPL season and opening up this essential dialogue :toast:
 
Interesting points raised by both TTG and Pohjis here. I agree mostly with what has been said here, but would like to reiterate some points, while also adding my own insight.

BATTLE FORMAT
  • B03 FORMAT APPLIED AT A TEAM LEVEL IS A BAD IDEA. Honestly, I have never played a less enjoyable UPL in terms of preparation and games, and that is entirely because of the implementation of this rule. It places massive time strains on players from older, established players who find themselves helping newer people because all of a sudden you're looking at refining something like 24 teams in a week instead of 8 to new to the scene players who suddenly need to build, test and familiarise themselves with way more. It's ludicrous and honestly, I saw a distinct decline in quality, ambition and innovation in last year's UPL games as a result. This said, a BO3 'all-star' slot however, could see many of the benefits of this format such as a lessened impact of luck, a different and unique take to battling and team building due to the emphasis on consistency, mental stamina and also opponent familiarity that generates more complex team choice and play scenarios etc., realised.
  • Tiering format: i think last year's was a strong balance between new & old generations. I concur with TTG/Pohjis when they say that the newer generation should be recognised to a greater degree because a) it is the central metagame of the tier and as such should be given as much space as possible to develop and b) because it actively facilitates new talent. I would advocate for a BO3 USM / 2 Bo1 USM / 2 Bo1 ORAS / 1 Bo1 BW / 1 Bo1 DP / 1 Bo1 ADV, as I think this best represents the current player demographic and saturation and would allow for enough talent to be showcased. There's definitely enough fresh blood for 18 slots while still allowing some already established players to play to provide a challenge, so nothing less than 3 should be considered. However, I would disagree with 4 USM slots and the removal of ORAS as a secondary slot, as I believe that there is enough player interest (even from newer, undiscovered players) to generate quality games there. As much as I love BW, i think with the amount of player 'deaths'/bans that we've seen, it's unlikely 12 slots will be able to be filled in a quality manner.
UPL: THE CONCEPT
  • UPL as a springboard: as the only major team tournament we have that has been around consistently and has central focus on Ubers as a tier, UPL is undoubtedly one of, if not the biggest and most hype tournament we have. This means that UPL is the greatest and most consistent springboard we have to fostering new talent through the connection of newer players with more experienced ones and connecting other tier players with Uber players and vice versa. The implications of this for us as a community and as a tier are profound as I'll explain below.
  • UPL as an experience: team tournaments generate an environment like no other in Pokemon, and personally, they are the highlight of playing Pokemon for me and often the reason I have returned to this god awful game where we pit abducted hostage alien species in sudden death matches (humans are fucking weird). Already this UPL has opened itself up to being one of the well managed and hype years, as showcased by the greater discourse around its structure and dynamic and because the dearth of older players (re: Pohjis' list) means that we once again have one of the most open fields. It is reminiscent of UPL IV, where we had just had an influx of new ORAS players who all looked strong and ready to prove themselves, many of who have now become central players and contributors to the tier itself (such as TTG and Pohjis). Consequently, we should be looking to prove that as a tier, we are functional and have players of high skill and that we as a community are invested in such tournaments and helping newer players. How? Let's advertise it more to new player's, encourage people to do power rankings and weekly match predictions -- these things all build and maintain hype (something that last UPL lacked a little tbh). These are the things that I'm hoping to see more of this year and will personally be trying to do facilitate my suggestions. UPL is gonna serve as the primary opportunity to integrate new and more players into Ubers, and in doing so, ensure that Ubers as a tier has a future as more and more older players begin to leave.
 

mags

Banned deucer.
I'll post my thoughts on upl since we actually have a good discussion going which hardly happens in ubers forums. Most people know me by now as I've been active in the community for like 3 years or so. I'm pretty connected in the community and of course I have my opinions on the community itself. Most people have negative attitudes when it comes to the ubers community whether it be from the users inside the community or outsiders. I actually think it's a pretty solid community even though I do have some problems with the way some people think... but for the most part there is a decent playerbase with plenty of good tours to participate in. There's also plenty of experienced users willing to help others learn which is something I've always liked. I always see people wanting to learn and surprisingly many new users take the time to actually learn oldgens and that's really awesome since it's almost like passing the torch. Not only are they becoming strong in the current gens but they are becoming diverse players by learning multiple tiers/gens which will help them in the future. In the future I have no doubts that the community will continue to shape and form strong players that will have their shine in big tournaments.

A big discussion about upl is the player pools are decreasing for oldgens due to so many people quitting which sucks BUT it only sucks because we see a bunch of friends and great users leave. I don't think the playerpool is actually getting that much worse. In fact I'd say upl in 2019 will see an improvement in the playerpool of oldgens. I actually became an ubers main like late xy early oras and last upl I found out I was gonna get slotted in adv which I had basically 0 experience in minus like 20 friendlies. As most know I had a pretty good record in upl and took the time to really learn adv and even develop the metagame a ton. Now people wanna buy me again because this adv pool is looking lackluster?? Well the reason I'm even making this post is because I'm connected in the community (mostly because of stag) and I watch plenty of users develop. I can tell you that the adv pool only looks lacking because nobody knows who's actually good and bad. I can tell you that there are players that had more experience than I had before last upl that wouldn't even be considered as a starter in upl. This isn't just adv too... Ik there are some newer generation players that have some bright futures in bw2/dpp if they continued to learn.

Anyways I took the time to make a list of people that are either well known players that should definitely be bought (maybe even go for big bucks) and newer players that haven't played in upl that should definitely be bought as well.
Terracotta one of the new upcoming players in usm. I bet plenty of ppl know who he is already but I'll give you my thoughts. Very strong player when he knows whats going on. Still learning oldgens but he is really experienced in usm after constantly testing/building and tour matches through ssnls and what not. I'm predicting he will be somebody who eventually is starting in some of the most top tier tours that ubers has to offer like snake or spl (maybe). I'd start this guy in usum and I'd throw up to 6 or 7k on him.
Garay oak everyone already knows this guy is talented and not just in ubers. Has had trouble recently putting up the numbers you would expect from a guy with this much skill in exhibition but that wouldn't stop me from throwing some big money at him to have him as your #1 starter in usm
Cynara no doubt here that sarah will go for a lot in this auction. Last year everyone made the mistake forgetting about her except for her friend ggonner. 3k buy and as many of you know she had an excellent season. Statistically she was worth somewhere around 18k or something with her 4-1 record. She is knowledgable in usum/oras/bw2 and could start in any of those but we'll have to see if she signs up and what gen she prefers to play.
4gb not a joke... some people know who this is and whoever does know can back me up when I say this guy is gonna be worth buying. I can't say how far I'd go w money to get him but if he isn't bidded on in the auction I'll be seriously upset. Kid has more experience in every gen than 99% of the ppl who are gonna signup. He might not be the strongest player but he has resources and he has experience. I've played a million adv games w him and ik he has played a ton w iris over the years he's been here. Not to mention he also knows bw2/oras/usm. Even if he isn't getting started he's gonna be a valuable member to the team. He's really active and can test in any gen with any playstyle which will make him strong to even have on the bench. Also he can supply teams cause he has my pb in adv and iirc he has iris pb and hyws pb and other ppls squads so trust in the vision.
hexed strong 3k buy for usm. Has gotten a lot better and has plenty of resources that make him a decent buy. I wouldn't expect upbidding past 4k though.
Kyogre is GR8 really strong usm player that hopefully signs up for upl (different guy than kyogrefan). At the ladder hero stage in his career but he's ready for some tour success if he puts in the effort and continues to keep building as a player.
KyogreF4N this guy should at least go for 8k and if he doesn't then its an underpay af. Really strong usm player as you can tell by his tour success in ssnls/open. Not to mention i'd say his bw skills are as good as his usm skills sooooooooo buy him.
Highlord strong all around and extremely underrated. Played plenty of games with him in adv and I wouldn't be afraid to slot him there but he's even better at dpp. Can't say much about his bw2 skills but Ik he plays bw. Oras is another gen he's pretty good at. worth 5k or maybe more if you got the money.
DawnManeDuskWings if you want an active user that is knowledgable in usm this guy can be a nice cheap buy. He has a long way to go before becoming a top tier player but he is actively getting better. Super active in qc stuff so he definitely knows the ins and outs and just has to focus on developing as a player.
HunterStorm if he signs up hunter will be a decent usm player to get. Has shown in the past that he can do well in ubers even though he mains ag. Activity might be an usage but if not he I'd expect him to go for a decent amount.
Loloartsi this guy should be bought for a starting position in adv. Learning and becoming a better player every day. I've played plenty of adv games with him and I'm really impressed with they way he has grown as a player and builder (he recreated like 5 of my own adv teams that I haven't shared with anyone!). He has plenty of resources that can help him throughout upl and I'd expect nothing less than a good record out of him. Decent usm player 2.
Catalystic another ag player that is pretty good at the current gen in ubers. Somebody that can put up good numbers if they are active and put in the effort. Hope to see this guy get bought


Well for the format I basically agree w everyone who has suggest 3usm/2oras/1bw2/1dpp/1adv and the bo3 idea for one of the usm series is also very nice. I don't know if I'll play in upl yet or if I'll just help the bandits on the sideline but I'm hyped for this upl and can't wait to see some new blood rise to glory. Ubers community just continue to keep building and helping as much as possible. The negative attitudes and opinions toward ubers won't stop until we ourselves come together as a community.
 
Last edited:

steelskitty

you deserve so much more than this
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Past WCoP Champion
Well for the format I basically agree w everyone who has suggest 3usm/2oras/1bw2/1dpp/1adv and the bo3 idea for one of the usm series is also very nice.
i don't like this format that you and a few others are proposing. i don't think usm should have a bo3 slot; instead, we should have a bo3 slot with oras and two old gens. lemme explain.

for starters, usm already has waaay more tour representation than old gens. over the next year you'll see it in three trophy-bearing tours: snake draft (grand prix?), grand slam, and spl. you'll find it in 3 seasonals, a championship, multiple upl slots, and at least a few unofficial tours too. contrast this with, say, dpp and bw ubers, which only get semi-official representation in three tours: the pentathlon (which has a huge barrier to entry due to its bo5 format), the ubers classic, and, of course, upl. now, it makes sense for ubers' current generation to see far more tournament play in our yearly circuit — it has more room for innovation, the biggest playerbase, and fits the current gen format grand slam and snake draft share.

but why do we need to devote 30 games/week to it in in a tournament constituting one of our old gens' only chances at representation? you would see it, at most, 5x as often as adv, dpp, and bw in your hypothetical format. personally, i don't like the value statement that makes — it feels like if we do something like that, we claim ubers' old gens simply don't measure up to usm, that they don't deserve very much recognition in a tour usually celebrated for assigning quite a bit of importance to them. look, old gens matter. because ubers premier league 2 didn't overshadow old gens with the then-current gen of xy, because it felt like they had equal importance, my undefeated record and upl win in bw ubers meant something. it meant enough for ciele to take a chance on me in spl 6, where i started in oras and scored a 7-3 record in the year where the tds considered the tier good enough to deserve representation. that led to me getting wider recognition, which, among other things, won me a spot on us east and a managerial position in upl 3. basically, the fact that i did well in an old gen in upl really helped me make a name for myself on smogon. people pay attention to every facet of this tour. discounting the three older generations that make up its backbone discounts the players who excel in those tiers.

under-representing ubers' older generations also sends the message that we don't really care about the tier's heritage. ubers only exists in its current state because of previous generations. i've been around long enough to appreciate how different ubers generations borrow from each other. because some influential players advocated for fast cb ho-oh and bulky deoxys-s in bw in 2014, they made their way into xy and played a huge part in the oras metagame. lots of sets created in oras — hex mega gengar, specially-oriented giratina-o, and physical primal kyogre, to name a few — exist in almost identical form currently in usm. the process works in reverse, too; bw and oras players brought lead tyranitar and specially defensive groudon to dpp and now you see them all over the place. ubers' generations can depend on each other to progress. under-representing old gens stifles innovation across generations and sends the message that nobody really cares about the foundations of our current metagame.

but if ideological arguments don't sway you, what about spectator value? i think a bo3 of oras and two of adv/dpp/bw would make a far more entertaining series to watch than one or two extra usm games and one or two extra oras games. as i said previously, usm already has huge representation; i think an extra 6-12 games of it per week wouldn't result in that many new and interesting matchups. i don't find the tier as diverse as previous gens of ubers;just look at the teams people used so far in the smogon exhibition. mostly, people brought balance. hyper offense and stall seem to fall by the wayside in this tier. yes, those playstyles still exist, but you see them so much more consistently in old gens. i think having a greater variety of commonly seen playstyles creates more varied and interesting games. also, consider how adding some more old gens games caters to one of upl's most important demographics: the players that come out of retirement for it. providing more matches that appeal to those old players that offer different perspectives on the tier and provide guidance could help encourage them to stick around. adding more old gen representation would, in any event, cater to more sub-communities within ubers, pleasing the people whose favorite gen isn't the most recent one.

if upl decides to adopt this idea, the question of which old gens to grant a little extra representation to remains. i think oras should take priority over the older three, as more of the current playerbase knows it at a high level than adv/dpp/bw. the decision between adv/dpp/bw should depend, i think, on how many people sign up for each tier. we won't really know what upl's old gens playerbase will look like until signups finish, and we don't have hard data now on how many people like each gen. if we wait and tally data until the time between most signups and the auction, we could best match what most players want to see.

i appreciate that we're having a real discussion about this.
 
Last edited:

mags

Banned deucer.
OH sheett. steelskitty in no way shape or form do I disagree with basically anything you are saying. Personally I just think it's unique to have 1 series be a bo3 while everything else is bo1.. idc if its usm or oras or bw2 for that matter. The idea that you might wanna spend a lot of money to secure a strong consistent player for that bo3 slot is cool. As far as oldgens getting represented I do think it's sad. I strongly encourage new users to learn oldgens not because they are just fun but cause they help you develop as a player. For example ttg is known for his newer gen stuff but go ask him to play an adv/dpp/bw2 match and he knows and understands all of those gens. I'm not saying knowing oldgens is needed to become a great player but it helps.. and its extremely fun like holy moly. The fact of the matter is I don't really think the quality would be that good if you gave extra slots to any oldgen other than oras. Maybe bw.. but a lot of ppl are quitting so it seems. Anyways what drove me to make a response is I had an idea or well ttg kinda gave me an idea that 100% wouldnt be included in upl but its a nice idea. Instead of the 1 bo3 slot u couldve made it exactly like penta where its usm g1 and then from there its loser chooses next gen and of course it would be a bo5. That would make it extremely interesting and I bet it would be fun as heck to watch. But of course I doub't that would happen. Another idea was to give another oldgens slot but make it a bo3 between bw2/dpp/adv which in theory seems fine but just chaotic. I wish ppl were open to it but ik most wouldnt be. That being said I wouldn't mind where the bo3 ends up in but I do think it should be included (at least in usm).

I do appreciate that you brought this up tho cause even tho this is a upl thread the one thing I love about ubers is just mixing it up across every gen. I wanted to propose a tour idea for oldgens where it's like a season.. and u just play oldgens vs other ppl and maybe have a playoffs at the end for the ppl with the best results. Basically just to give people a place to play oldgens where it's not extremely competitive because IK a lot of newer players that enjoy oldgens but only end up playing in stuff like penta.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top