It really feels like the end of an era for me, a long journey that spanned years. Finding the right words will be tough, nonetheless i will try my best. Pokémon has given me a lot over time and SPL i can say was certainly the peak of it. I'm grateful for everything that led me to where i stand today. Starting to ladder casually on po on the off chance of finding Marcoasd, the goat, possibly luck him and run away with it, purely for bragging rights in a gen i never touched before. Falling in love for the tier's simplicity and hyper focus on playing over prep. Starting to do good, developing an ego, improving, beefing with people, making friendships. Getting really good, going 9-1 in POCL, which at the time featured 90% of what was gonna be the SPL pool, proving to myself and others i had it in me to do well. Having a wake up call ending up benched the coming SPL, never being given a real chance because of bias and reacting quite pathetically if i do say so myself.
But eventually, one team broke the stalemate, the SPL X Tyrants gave me shelter and decided to bet on me. I'm sure at the time it was just a matter of getting the rumored "best player" in a very barren pool following the quit or many legends, just a low cost shoot (8k) and see what happens. And this story i never get tired of telling, i wish it will bring hope to anybody to which it resonates with, be it today or tomorrow. My start was awful, by week 4 i was 1-3 and no doubt if we had an rby sub, my story might have ended there and then. Whenever it was bad luck, me not being good enough or both i don't remember. But there is something i do remember, i was swearing to them, my mates, that it was all a ruse, that the real me would burst through. And i do remember very clearly how supportive everyone was, they didn't give up on me, they saw something in the way i played, something that was enough to hope i could win some games for them, more than a sub could anyway. How that season went from there on out, will always have a special place in my heart. As i bonded more with my dear mates in a climate that i can only call magical, it was pure loud joy and dumbassery. So did i grow as a player, i wanted to win so much for them that nothing could get in the way, not an early freeze, not a bad mu, not three crits in a row. My mates were waiting for me to return to them with good news, and i was not gonna betray their trust. That season i never lost ever again, even going as far as to load Exeggutor Tauros Snorlax Articuno Zapdos Cloyster in SPL finals vs fomg, not only a seasoned player but one of my early losses too, something that can only be described as insane hubris and drinking my own koolaid. Despite that, by grit and teeth i won, i felt the best, untouchable even and ended a season that started 1-3 with 8-3. This to say, that as long as you have a shot to redeem yourself, the chance to play the next game, you should stay strong in the face of adverisity, play your heart out, if it's meant to be, magic will ensue.
Either way The finals started 1-0 thanks to that, i had no doubt the Tyrants which legit destroyed everything in their path up until that point had the red in the bag. That great feeling lasted as long as sunday when we racked up a strong lead of 6-3. However, much like a shakespeare's tragedy, they got us. They tied and from there swept the tiebreak, 6-3 to 6-8. This is the closest to heartbroken something online ever gave me. I didn't even want to open the tyrants chat or talk to anyone for a while, it was too good of a season to end like that. In any case, from that i developed a big love for SPL and wonderful friendships that are still my prized treasures to this day (more whitebeard larp to come later) that include but are not limited to Rey, Hogg, Blunder, Marcop, CTC, CBB, Tobes and Roro.
This is why winning SPL was so important to me, i didn't need the red myself. I was more than satisfied with my rby results but i sure as hell needed to see, no, to bring the Tyrants as a franchise and especially Rey and Blunder to the promised land. We joked, butted heads, discussed, planned, tilted, overreacted, baited many people, but in the end, together we won. I wouldn't want it any other way. This went way too long, time to shoutout and wrap it up.
Reyscarface Blunder: I could talk about you two forever and yet it feels almost cheap to, what is there even to say at this point? The goat drafter and the goat entertainer, together in one neat package. Nothing i could say would make you justice, the other mates have already gone at it better than me too. So i will limit myself to this: thank you. For always believing in me, for being loud dumbasses who make every situation 100 times funnier. We have come a long way, from an 8k pick done for the sake of it, to entrusting me the last game of tiebreak. There really is nothing to say, we are the champions, my friends.
Soulwind: Nothing is more reassuring than having SOULWIND as your partner. You know for a fact someone made it as a player when he can load fat 90% of his games, get casually farmed by Rhyperior in a tb and still being talked as a clear favorite for the next one. Jokes aside when the mus aren't unplayable garbage with highest damage dealing mon Toxapex we all know who to trust, the goat.
CTC: The only idiot who can crack and solve a meta of infinite permutations with teras, and still walk into the most obvious ban of all time, perfectly obvlious to it. That being said, you are without a doubt the goat, it's impossible to deny that we could never get this far without your valiant effort for prep and your key wins. The beach prep time paid off in the end.
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Damien: My favorite teammate in a long while, cordial, open to everything, extremely good and perceptive of mistakes, but firm in his belief. If you didn't have the unviable timezone we might have the ultimate being in front of us, crazy. Seriously you played the best finals game by a long shot for our team. The ability to pull hard ass triggers in a finals is very rare, the difference between brave and fool is thin but you ace it perfectly. So proud of you.
Java: You played extremely well and surprised everyone out of the blue, it's undeniable that the pressure got to you later but when it did Ice Fang made no prisoners. These are the makings of a protagonist, make yourself comfortable in pressure games and you will go far indeed in this business.
Luispeikou: Quality and convenience, better call Luis if you need a sub, because the man can play anything well above his price. I won't lie ever since the sharks seasons Luis is one of those guys that always puts a smile on my face because he fills whatever you need and it does so well, keep going man.
Mada: Probably the MVP of the season, the mix of scouts and playing ability is deadly combo, costed peanuts too. You bailed us hard as fuck this season especially vs the Ruiners, thank you so much for your work.
Poek: 2ez, pivotal role in poffs.
AKG: Unfortunate doesn't even begin to describe what happened, started in a new tier that needed to stabilize. Lucked in sm vs a mu you knew exactly how to pry open, and then tablet used Self Destruct for good measure. By the time you were back the team went "momentum" strat otherwise no doubt you found a spot. At least you got the trophy to show for it.
Don Salvatore: I don't know how you feel now, if all is good or you still mull over the season but i can say this for sure. Playoffs weren't fair to you, being thrusted into teams that are far from your comfort zone in a tier you recently shifted to can only go so many ways, the error was mostly ours that we pushed for better mus but either way you live you learn. It was experience in his own right.
CBB: One of the few guys that can go 0-10 but still give you confidence that he knows what to do the last game. It's not easy to come across guys like this but thank goodness, it came clutch full force in the finals. We butted heads way too much so i'm sure you know what i think, that you should return to be more free spirited and embrace the mu variance more, done that your superior playing ability will shine.
Dridri: For mere 3k, you terrorized the pool. I won't lie, there is no need, after week 2 i thought we were in for some rough times but it appears that was the outlier not the other way. You pulled important triggers and imprinted fear onto your enemies, it's the stuff of dreams to get a brave 3k madhouse main.
Pkleech: We played many tests early in the season, and in each and every one of them i was utterly destroyed (harder than anyone else besides maybe CBB in oras), so i know for a fact you are better than this record. The only question is understanding what went wrong and improving further, i will keep an eye curious for the result
Cyberodin: I have no clue what you said half the times, the language barrier is strong but one thing i could tell, you are very energetic which is always good.
Rubyblood: With Conflict migrated, best gsc in the pool? Probably. Incredible early games but a tendency to be too happy to take the easy way out in endgames and worse the odds up, if you fix it you could be crazy consistent no doubt.
Mister Sauce: Victim of being in a team of great players, it was very hard to deny Ruby the gsc slot, and someone had to pay for it. Still you did very well and contribuited to the great cause with early games and late cooking. Sauce.
Anti August: Every little comment and tip we could snatch from you was worth it's weight in gold, so damn reassuring to have not one but two DPP goats on our corner, thank you so much.
Vert: Almost feels cheap to get such a fire help for free but sure why not right? I won't pretend i know much of SV but everything you said ended up right like a prophecy
Jayde: Being the therapist for SW a full season while he had to build around Thundurus-T? The hero we needed.
Tobes: I knew it had to end with you, i won't lie it's been a while since i felt the need to actually discuss my takes with anyone but any excuse was good to bring you along ever since SPL X, i enjoyed very much discussing turns, thanks for your unwavering support, we did it.
As for me, i think this is the end of my journey. I won't make it a 100% statement because quitting for good is hard and afterall i was not supposed to join this one either before Blunder called up, but here we are. But i do think i did everything i wanted to do and then some. This is the most perfect ending i could possibly ask for in addiction to my gradual lose of interest for the game. Won with my first love the Tyrants. Had a tiebreak third game win clutch which i always avoided like the plague even in regular because i absolutely hated the idea of going last and having the game not mattering at all if not straight up deadgamed.
Won my very last game with Jynx Starmie Rhydon, my favorite team. As a nice little easter egg that makes my nerd side thrill, while doing the Whitebeard cosplay my last ever SPL turn turns out to be a Rhydon's Earthquake crit.
Speaking of Whitebeard, i'd like to give some insight that i'm sure some missed. Aside from wanting to change Discord avatar for a while and liking his design he was picked because it rapresented me the most. No, the solution isn't as easy as to call myself the strongest, or i would have gone for Mihawk instead which design i like even more. Much like Whitebeard i'm past my prime but hold my title strong to my chest. Probably i'm still overall the best but the gap with the rest of the world isn't as big as it once was. My best moves have been studied and copied, moves that back in the day were revolutionary and allowed me to comeback from any early opening, including the infamous early freezes. Today are the standard and are used against me, even gof whom i doubt can change a lightbulb knows of them, it's harder and harder to produce memorable comebacks. My ranking fallen down tremendously, for the first time i risked to place second, some people went as far as to give me fifth. My point is, the time is ripe, i had my reign over the tier, it's time for the new guys to shine. Now rby tiebreaks aren't unthinkable blasfemies but legit strats, if not ideal, in SPL X i couldn't convince my team to make it happen, this time around i didn't need to ask in fact i couldn't convince them of otherwise if i wanted to. The level of playing massively stepped up, no longer we will watch a replay of Tiba and wonder if it was played by chatgpt.
If i find the strenght, i would like to make the final rby guide for veterans, like my master Marcoasd once did for the italians back in paraslam meta. My last act of love toward the tier that gave me everything.
it was truly epic to assist to what feels like your last spl season at least as a player (u would make a godly manager), seeing u win it with rey and blunder all of you grinding so much for so long to get the red trophy. Thanks a lot to tony for recommending me, and rey picking me in the end so that i could experience such an emotional moment. ngl i might have shed a tear or several when i saw whitebeard stele.
