No introductions, let's get right to it:
#1: Tropical Malamar Militia
Record: 5 - 0 - 2 (12) | +19
Manager: TMM
Star Player: Ewin
The Militia has been dominant the entire season, finishing off with 0 losses and a +19 win differential which is ludicrous. Even though they are down one player for the playoffs, their lineup is still the strongest from top to bottom, and they are easily favored to win the Tournament. None of their tiers are weak, they have two undefeated players, and they have a solid bench to fill in if necessary. However, it won't be easy, as grinding it out in the playoffs is a different story from the regular season.
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#2: Yanmegatron and the Destroyers
Record: 4 - 2 - 1 (9) | +5
Manager: Amukamara & Cam
Star Player: Lusch
The Destroyers were also fairly consistent throughout the season, although they are not quite as strong as the Malamars and have little depth on their roster. That means that the players they have need to get the job done if they hope to take the chip this season, and everyone needs to be attentive and committed. Lucky for them some of these players are very good, primarily Lusch who should basically be an automatic win against any of these other RBY players in the playoffs (again, as long as focus is kept). If they can manage to hold tight the small lineup they have, then they can beat anyone, including the Malamars (whom they tied when they faced off).
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#3: Blipbug City Battlegirls
Record: 4 - 3 - 0 (8) | +9
Manager: Ramolost
Star Player: DnB
He did it folks - Ramolost is in the playoffs! While I really clowned on this team throughout the season, they managed to awaken the talent they have and make the most of every player on the team. Which is very important because there aren't many people left on the team. It isn't going to be easy though - who they slot in what tiers is basically going to decide whether they win or lose, and the answer on who should play what is not always so easy with this team. If they can solve it though, they have a chance to take home to grand prize.
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#4: Flapple Bottom Jeans
Record: 2 - 1 - 4 (8) | +2
Manager: avarice
Star Player: Maki
I will admit - I didn't see this team making the playoffs. But their SS players overperformed tremendously this tour, and considering they have four ties during the season, each and every one of those wins mattered a lot from those players. Even one more loss from any of them and this team is not here today. A tremendous job all around for this team, with Expulso and Avarice co-managing while also performing at a high level in multiple tiers, setting a good example for the rest. The team is unpredictable, and while I still think their lineup overall is not the strongest, that doesn't mean they can't pull of an upset and take home the crown. But they have to actually win weeks in the playoffs, not tie. Let's see if they can do it.
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For the remaining teams, I will give out some shoutouts, since they are out of the playoffs
This was the team I picked to win the whole thing at the start of the season. Faded drafted an unbelievably stacked roster, although he unfortunately stacked two oldgens in the process (but traded out of that situation later).
Adrift and Alone also had an unbelievable season, and I think faded was the perfect manager for him, as his suggestions and teams worked hand in hand with what was needed for that duo to work.
Shellnuts , although not drafted as the starting RBY player, worked his ass off every single free minute he had, reviewing his own games for hours and then taking the time to review other people's games with them as well.
Plague von Karma , though benched after Week 2, didn't blink an eye, never complained, and accepted a support role to help guide Shellnuts to his impressive 4-1 record.
Diophantine , shocked initially when asked to play DPP, did it anyways and then proceeded to farm the GSC pool after cherry was traded, going 6-0 overall for the tour. It is truly a shame he was never able to face Ewin, who is 7-0 in GSC.
Kitten Milk was benched for half the season and still helped support for every SS player every week, and finished off the season strong with two wins.
Moutemoute did not play much, but he played anytime he was asked, and he never complained about the playing time and always helped when he was asked for it.
jeza.p had a ridiculous high amount of pressure because of how highly faded ranked them, but jeza rose to the occasion and performed well every week, despite the 3-4 record that should easily be 5-2 if not for a couple severe building mishaps.
spatulakun got traded to this team and instantly fit in, being very active with the rest of the team and finishing the season with a 3-2 record while with the Enteis.
Drud you just kinda minded your own business, took in suggestions, and played your games every week, and that's quite honestly anything a team could ask for from its players.
toinha you were almost cut from the team for inactivity, but you came back at the very end when the team had nobody else to play ADV, and you performed at a high level in the tier and gave it extra effort to learn it in the final two weeks.
zeefable you were asked to be the primary ADV player when you got traded, which was probably a bit shocking to you but you just rolled with it and did what you could.
AzZoCcX and
Prof.Otaku you guys were mostly subs, but it's clear both of you are hungry to play every day, and I hope both of you have continued success in future tours. And,
faded love , you put in so much effort into managing this team that it makes me wonder if I would do the same (and I put in a lot of unnecessary effort into things). Perhaps sometimes you tried to manage a little too much though, but it's clear your heart was always in the right place, and you cared about winning more than anyone else. I'm sorry you guys are out, but you had a wonderful season and you should all be proud.
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#6: Hungry Hungry Hippowdons
Record: 2 - 3 - 2 (6) | -8
Manager: Estarossa
Star Player: Skysolo and EB0LA
The Hippos started off strong, but came up just short at the end, having a disappointing final two weeks. I feel very bad for this team, as out of all of the teams it seems some of these players were just sort of over this at the end lol.
Estarossa had a good gameplan from Day 1 of stacking his oldgens, and then providing teams for his newgen players. It seemed good on paper, and it almost worked in practice, but the Week 6 shellacking by the Enteis was too hard to recover from.
Highways was probably the most important player on this team (besides Estarossa), as he played ADV at a high level in a pool where nobody on any team even had 4 ADV wins the entire tour. He also helped support other tiers as well, primarily BW, and gave sage advice to a lot of the newer players.
EB0LA is the real deal, and he took care of business the entire tour, with his only losses coming to Lusch and Shellnuts.
Skysolo went 5-2 in an ORAS pool that included some serious juggernauts like CBU, Lyss, and Expulso.
gorex arrived Week 2 to save this team's SS slots, and performed at a high level going 4-2 the rest of the season.
Staxi and
ausma you both probably didn't expect to nor want to play as much as you did, but you did it anyways when you were asked to do it and that's what helping your team is all about.
Abyssal Ruins I'll be honest - I don't think you really knew what you were doing sometimes, but that didn't stop you from doing it! And you played BW for the entire season until realizing at the end that you did not like this tier at all.
vani I didn't think GSC other tiers transferred well to GSC UU, but you finished off 4-3 and you can ask Estarossa how many times I threw shade at you, which I see now was unwarranted and you were a solid and consistent contributor throughout the season.
Bandkrook I think you have actually really grown tremendously as the season progressed and you are probably 3x the player you were at the start. I hope you continue playing at a high level and keep improving even more.
467 11 11p you didn't win any games and that's probably depressing, but honestly who tf cares, you were here to play, and play is what you got to do. You were one of the main reasons I wanted to host this tour, as it was people like you asking for this type of tour that motivated me to make it happen.
Codename Magnum I'm sorry Avarice stalled you in SM, but you don't get bothered much by anything and took it like a champ, and your support with the team and enthusiasm injected this team with life every day.
Mystras Leoxses I know you're a very good player bro and I wish I could have seen you play a couple games, but you were a true champ about it and never complained, and I can't wait for you to get a shot in the future.
Estarossa , I'm really sorry that I killed your love for DPP, but you really helped me understand certain aspects of hosting that I honestly didn't know as I was just sort of winging it (don't tell Lily). Thanks for always being there when I had questions and for pointing things out when they needed fixing. You guys were all great, and no tour ends in disappointment when you look back at everything you accomplished during the season.
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#7: Bad Lombres de Po Town
Record: 1 - 4 - 2 (4) | -10
Manager: Yami
Star Player: Lyss
These Lombres were, well, a little bad, but also a little good, and they kept fighting hard to the very end even though they had already been eliminated.
Yami you didn't know all of these UU players as well as some of the other managers, but you still drafted a solid team and did your best, even sacrificing yourself to the GSC tier most weeks because nobody else wanted to play it.
Lilburr I am sorry I asked you every day for 2 months to let me host this tour, but I am very happy you finally let me do it because it's been a great experience overall for me (despite a few hiccups).
itsjustdrew you started this whole thing two years ago, and this wouldn't be possible if you never did that. I'm glad you came back to Smogon in time to participate in this one, and I'm glad to have met a friend like you.
Lyss , this tour was side-tour without much pomp, but you treated it like it was a standard UUPL and gave it your best every week, while still maintaining enthusiasm for all of your games. I'm really happy to have seen this from a star player such as yourself, and you were always engaged with the rest of your team as well.
Pannuracotta you have tons of enthusiasm bro, and I'm sure you want to show everyone that you are the best (or at least good). It was obvious that you were committed throughout the entire season and any team in any PL would be lucky to have you.
A Hero's Destiny you were literally a bench player for the first two weeks and then just up and went 5-0 once you finally started playing. You played ADV when nobody else wanted to and won both of your games there despite having no ADV UU experience, and you finally got to play SM at the end.
Draphirion I'm sorry that you couldn't play SS in this tour, but you played whatever you were asked and did your best in multiple tiers.
EternalSnowman you've always been a great player, and I think people don't realize how good you really are. But you are consistent in tours, individual and team ones, and sooner or later people will realize that when they need players for their next PL.
McSim ,
jcbc ,
Yugon ,
KarliTheFrenshie , you guys played whenever you were asked to, and even though your records weren't great you never let it bother you or the team, and you were ready to step in again whenever they needed you.
phoopes you are incredibly realistic. That's probably a very confusing thing to say. But what it means is, you did exactly what you were supposed to do, won the fights you were supposed to win, and played RBY at a high level in a pool that, quite honestly, was sort of stacked.
LTG I know you wanted to play more RBY, but you didn't complain during the season and you finally got to play it at the end. And you won an SS game with broken screens so congrats!
Yami , thank you for opting into the UU community to manage for this tour. I know the season didn't go that well for you, and you'll probably pretend this tour didn't happen when bringing up your history for future tours, but I will always remember that it did happen, and I can assure you that so will the rest of your teammates. Thanks for all the good times here.
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#8: Tangela Ever After
Record: 1 - 6 - 0 (2) | -21
Manager: Luirromen
Star Player: Nalorium LOL jk
So this team had a -21 game differential, big whoop. Nobody cares because they all had way more fun than anyone else this entire tour.
Luirromen you really drafted a crazy team bro. It wasn't great, but it was crazy, and everyone meshed together as if they had been friends for 12 years.
Nalorium is a clown, but he really set the tone for this team's attitude throughout the season, as anybody that goes 0-6 and is that happy and unphazed by it knows a little something about life that the rest of us really need to start learning.
JustFranco thanks for stealing the Azelf picture from my analysis and using it as your new PfP.
Thiago Nunes I was mad when you beat me in OST this year, but you're a great player and you were a solid foundation for this team every single week.
LpZ you have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with mons, but I hope that you can find the enjoyment back in it soon.
Maple you didn't really play after Week 2 and probably don't realize this tour was still going on, but you are a great player and I think things could have been different if you were slotted into SS3 to start those two weeks instead of SS1, and maybe you'd still be playing up to this last week.
Amaranth what is a high profile top notch Tournament Director like yourself doing in this tour - but more seriously thank you for joining it. And thank you for helping
Justamente with his RBY prep after your initial RBY player disappeared. I'm not a RBY expert, but I think people in the RBY community can see a noticeable improvement in Pablo's play as the season went on.
RaJ.Shoot you had a horrible tour but who cares, you still got to vote in the Conk ORAS suspect thread.
luisotte you had a very strong start to the season and were a top All Star during All Star week. I hope someday we can make a Team Venezuela together for some World Cup here.
Zephyri you probably don't realize this but you were the only player besides Luirromen and JustFranco to win an SS game this season on this team, so congrats!
Mr.Bossaru I'm not completely sure you know what this tour is, but thank you for joining it anyways as a replacement mid-season.
Sickist , I have never seen anyone not want to play a game of mons as much as you don't want to play a game of mons. But you are there to help and support your team at all times, and even told Thiago how to beat viv with Babiri Terrakion which actually came in clutch. I've seen you play mons before though bro and you're not that bad, you just have to try to brush off losses, hax, cheese, and bad matchups (it's a lot I know). But the more you actually start playing and start seeing your builds in action, I think the better builder overall you'll become. Luirromen, thanks again for being a manager for this tour. I read your shoutout post above and I'm happy that this tour could have that kind of impact on people like you and everyone else on your team that don't get this chance too often.
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For everyone else, get ready for End of Season Awards!
I said I was gonna make a cute post so here it is LOL
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