I'm very glad that I had the opportunity to lead a team this time around for RU Snake. Truth be told, I signed up as a joke because Chait told me that we should sign up as manager and assistant, so I did, only to actually get picked. I'm sure at the time, most of the community was confused as to why I was picked (rightfully so), so I'm just glad that we were able to break expectations and win this tour. This is confirmed by all the "LOOOL why'd they pick tko"s and similar questions being tossed around on Discord.
Honestly, I thought things were set up for me to fail after I got gifted the 8th pick in a tour with only 11 rounds; it felt like a joke. The 8th pick was really playing to my disadvantages because the hot current gen players would probably be gone by the time I made my first pick, and going into the draft SS was definitely my weakest generation. This tour I pretty much expected to keep myself in BW and have some team players in the current gen building for some tour players I was going to draft. With an 8th pick, I had to reformulate a bit and bank on our old gens being what carried our team, so I drafted rozes first because of his grip on SM and was hoping that between rozes, Chaitanya and I we would be able to do well in our old gens. I picked Bouff early because I knew how active he was in tours like these and was exactly what I was looking for to help assist in the current generation. I was pretty worried that he'd be gone before I picked him up, so I'm thankful you ended up on our team ol' Bouff. Although, at the time, I'm not sure how you felt about being on the team that should have had you as the manager LOL! From there, our draft plan was mostly winged; I just needed to pick up the tour players and builders who I knew would put up decent scores. I guess the plan was pretty true to what I expected, bar me doing well in BW. Somehow we managed to put up 75k lines of chat or so, which I find absurd. 25k of those lines were from me, albeit half of them just being '.'s.
I'm not particularly hot on doing shout-outs like these but I have some pretty fond things to say to the people who I drafted and the people who helped us outside of the team. This may take a while though, as during playoffs our chat pretty much had half the RU community in it...
Bouff the true 2nd manager of all of our secondary managers. Honestly, I'm not too sure where to begin here so I'll take a crack at what I appreciated the most. My intentions were to get you as a builder for our SS slots. Obviously, I was going to let you play too, but I knew going into the draft it'd be tough for me to have 4 viable teams for each player every week. You did exactly that ー we had weeks where 3/4 of the SS teams we used were yours and I can't imagine that being a fun thing to do really. But the help extended to SM as well, where you kept GC motivated and constantly tested with him as well, which was great. Honestly, I would still say you ended up being the true captain of this team, as I felt like you were the force keeping everyone on their toes to prepare their teams, or get tests in. Watching your games was a fun experience as well, and I must say seeing you schedule based around when your dad was away from home was a sight to see. Sometimes, that lead to you playing earlier than expected, which I was not keen about but it ended up working at the end. Before the draft started, everyone told me that you should have had that manager spot above me, which I fully agreed with. But I must say, your best contribution to our chat (and perhaps the key to our success) was your beautiful sleep. Not sure what it was, but the party always started when you went to bed. If someone else besides Bouff is reading this, let me explain; every time Bouff hopped offline, all of our activity happened. Our helpers + Chait and I would congregate in ORAS for hours discussing how to solve the tier, or even getting playoff games in (and subsequently won). Bouff man, I'd buy you first pick again in a heartbeat. You cared the most about our performance and made sure to encourage everyone to do well while my B+ self just moved on LOL!
Chaitanya I SIGNED UP IN THIS TOUR AS A MANAGER BECAUSE OF YOU UGH!! After teaming together in the Frogs and vibin, I knew I wouldn't have anyone else for ORAS. Now that the tour's over, I am truly apologetic that you had to play 8 ORAS games in total. The tier is incredibly cursed and you're a trooper for sitting through all the pain. I think anyone on the team can agree with me in saying that we were pretty much always rest assured that you could clutch a win for us every week. Despite all of our jokes starting off 0-1 (especially in finals), you were able to prevent it getting to you in the actual games. Having a combined 12-1 record in these past RU team tours is absolutely crazy and I'm glad I was able to swipe you up like I did. If I were to ever manage a tour again in RU, you're an instant cop, but I would place you in BW for sure next time. You had a very smooth season because of how reliable you were in getting the wins.
jake UNDERDOG OF THE YEAR. I had to restore the timeline for this tour. After seeing how you played in RUPL I knew that picking you up would be plenty advantageous, especially with my draft pick order. I was counting on you going undefeated, but honestly, losing to Zigzagoon was definitely a highlight of the season. Bar that game, however, you came in clutch almost every week we needed you. It's safe to say you were our best SS player and that's why I had no second thought putting you in that slot in tiebreakers over myself or Bouff. Like the other pseudo-managers, I had hit you up pre draft hoping you would sign up, and I'm thankful you decided joining. Honestly, prepping for you was how I would have preferred all of our prep to go; me passing you teams two hours before you played on Sundays was definitely one of the more funny parts about our team's dynamic. You are also the only player that would actually use my techs besides myself. I think after a certain point, your scout just had the craziest teams and I hope they threw people off guard if they did run scouts. Clutching a win in the finals with Silvally-Rock was probably the best SS win I've seen from our side. I'm glad you stuck around to net some wins for our team. Even if you weren't extremely active on the weekdays, you still made time to play 1-2 games with me to make sure the team works, and then subsequently won said game. I know you're a busy person IRL recently, yet you stuck around because you can't turn your back on a team tournament. Spending 10 weeks to win a tournament lead by a person who was previously unsatisfied with you for
(checks notes) BW LC tiering while being busy means a lot to me, and I'm glad you stuck around and won with the nonsense we prepped up.
rozes bro what do I say here LOL! You're the first person I hit up to help me pre-draft and on draft day we were able to come up with a pretty solid plan, if I do say so myself. I'll permit you to pretend like the first 6 weeks of this tour never happened, because they didn't, and then you were able to come for playoffs and put up a great 3-0 record in extremely key matchups that we needed to win. All of my decisions were checked by you because I know that you have a large amount of experience managing yourself, so it was expected. I never really tripped over any time you lost, and I'm not sure if you ever realized that either. I was pretty confident in you bouncing back every time and by week 7 that was true. In reality, you just ended up winning games that were more important than the ones you lost. We were great friends going into this tour which is why I had no doubt about how managing this tour with you and the others would go before the tournament started. Also lowkey grateful for helping me with the Discord server permission edits because I don't know how to work this stuff -
I def lost without you guys leading the helm with me.
I start off apologizing to
Ark for insisting that RestTalk Blastoise was a bad set. Honestly, I wonder after week 2 why you kept challenging me to SM tests when I pretty much only have that one team with Lycanroc and Pangoro, and usually I ended up getting wiped in those. That being said, having you extremely committed in SM was a big help. To this day, I don't know how to prep in SM and having you make your own teams / checking rozes' teams was invaluable. Besides finals, when I convinced you to use a team you weren't comfortable with, you were able to swipe up some crucial wins in the rest of the season. You were also a great chat presence overall, helping in pretty much most gens (bar ORAS ig?) and in general, which definitely contributed to keeping out chat as active as it was. Getting you was Bouff's suggestion but it ended up being perhaps one of his best decisions as one of the 4 secondary managers.
babyboyblues you're an extreme troll and I have no kind words to say here . . .
Which is obviously a lie :( I mostly gassed you up in the RU discord hoping that someone would buy you because I'm high on your playing ability in LC. Getting you in the 11th round was the freest steal of all time. I figured that since no one had respected the bbboat yet, and I had persisted that you sign up, that it would only be fitting to end the draft with nomming you. You rounded off the LC core between jake and I, but you had perhaps one of the most memorable games this season. Putting you in vs perhaps one of the higher rated BW RU mains was definitely a matchup that no one expected us to win, yet you were able to bring that LC magic and put on a show that got #game-discussion hyping you up as one of our greatest. Getting a win that week was pretty crucial and I'm glad you pulled through. Besides that, your chat presence was great, at least whenever you decided to pop by. Ending the tour undefeated in BW RU, that's like following in my footsteps... I wouldn't think twice about picking you up as a sub in any tour you don't main, since you exemplify the "mons is mons" mentality with your playing.
hs was a fire chat presence and you also had some memorable ORAS games. I have to apologize to you too for naming the wrong mons after the wrong Dora characters, which is probably why you lost the first time you used Dora and friends in week 3. Having test matches with you earlier in the season and your chat presence in battle chat and in #general was much appreciated. I look forward to teaming with you in the future for sure.
Loom I had plans to buy you early on after realizing I was going to be a manager. You can thank that to randomly passing me teams in the RU Discord for me to ladder with. I knew I was going to need help in SS building since it wasn't really under my domain (until the tour started). Things didn't pan out the way you wanted in the beginning of the tour, but it's fine. The teams for the later weeks of the season and the prepping that you helped with in playoffs were very key in support, if you haven't realized that. Playing those 10-15 games between jake and I helped us grasp the teams we were using and ultimately helped us decide some last second changes that we had to make for our team. In future tours I'm confident in the support you bring the table fosure.
Skysolo your chat presence this tour was truly great. I knew you were a good player after you gave me the works in CPL (I believe?) in SM Ubers. Considering I am one of the best in SM Ubers, having myself get utterly humbled was all I needed to see to understand your potential. I guess I have to owe you an apology here too, because I was so close to using REDACTED but things never reached fruition (although I was content on bringing it in semi finals before we won the week). Seeing what cool ideas you came up with every week was refreshing, especially in a meta that felt like it was going slightly stale. And then lets not forget our most MEMORABLE game of the season, you vs odr, perhaps the most entertaining game to have witnessed as a spectator. I did not even know what team we had planned to bring, so seeing Articuno on preview was definitely what got me confused at first. Being subbed in last second in a decisive week must've not been ideal, but watching that game got our team in high spirits for sure. Similarly to bbb, you clutched a crucial week which is already so much more than what I can ask for in a sub. I never had any qualms putting you in if it was necessary. This, along with your up beat chat presence was great, and I'm glad to have picked you up when I did. Now, we just have to win PUPL with the goons. Also, I promise you, if I play RU in future tours, I'm going to use your techs 100%, which is why I may decide to keep it under wraps for now.
trace I had to restore a timeline here, similarly to what I did with jake. When it was coming later to the draft, I constantly glossed over your name and it stood out over the rest. After beating me in the LC Open last year, I figured you knew what you were doing and I knew that you played RU tours in the past as well. BW prep is not something I can blame you on, as that was mainly on my inability to properly build in the tier. Your record should be higher than what the sheet says otherwise, but even when you lost I kept you in because I trusted your playing ability. You are also a great chat presence, especially on those days when pretty much everyone was discussing random topics with nothing to do with RU Snake at all, which I'm happy to have seen. I'm glad that we have become great friends as a result of this tournament, who I can talk to about irl stuff. We still have some more tournaments to win together, however. . . if you know you know
Yggdrasil60 I was keen on your building and playing after we teamed in the Frogs for RUPL. I figured I could scoop you up somewhere between rounds 4-6, and I'm glad things panned out that way. Ending the tour positive is a pretty good feat, especially considering you don't have too much experience in team tournaments like these. I guess I was right about your potential after RUPL and I'm quite surprised you weren't picked up earlier than when I got you. Now, I can't really speak for prep assistance as Bouff seemed to have created teams that cater to your style, while my teams were a bit "out there". The wins you got, especially in the semifinals, were also quite integral to the success of our team. There was a reason I kept you in every week, and seeing you go positive was rewarding. I hope people drafting for future RU tours don't sleep and pick you up earlier.
Once playoffs started, I am thankful to say I have made so many new friends who were willing to see the Vileplumes lead the rebellion. Outside help is something I'm especially appreciative of, because people are helping us solely off the fact that they are our friends. It really speaks to one's character. Having you all in our chat also promoted the activity of our chat, which was crucial as our motivation was beginning to dwindle as the tour dragged on. Maybe the worst part of being a non team member in the chat was having to deal with my constant tagging, which I apologize for as well!!! :(
EviGaro Starbucks gang, you already know how it be. The past two weeks had some key reliance on your support, especially in ORAS and SM. I was extremely happy to see when you offered your help to us because I knew just how good your support was (you're not a S rank manager for no reason). The reason we won RUPL those years ago is because of your team support in every gen, which I knew we could use greatly. The teams you provided to Ark and rozes were great, and of course you were involved in helping us solve ORAS (if you forgot, after Bouff went to bed). I knew you would have our team's back, as I would have similarly reciprocated on an alternate timeline. I hope you understand that this win is every bit yours as well, shoutouts Starbucks
Expulso absolutely fire team presence, I'm glad you offered to help our team out once playoffs started. There, you were probably the first of everyone to be exposed to our lazy style of preparation, and helped motivate us with constant tests. One especially crucial factor was testing with us in BW, where not much of our team was able to help with preparation. Obviously, the main part where you shined was mainly SS, helping us prep the proper team choices and edits when necessary, while also dumping all your teams at the same time. I was fully confident in rolling up with your teams to the playoff games when you yourself weren't fully confident in them. And, how could I forget, you were one of the only other players in the Discord who was actually willing to call with me during game discussions, LOL! You bring a great amount of hype to a chat and helped keep us on our feet.
Feliburn Starbucks gang, you already know how it be. I might've asked you to join our chat maybe 3 times, and I'm glad you did. Even before you were in the chat, I'm glad you'd always accept my randomly timed challenges on PS and even give suggestions on what to fix. One thing you also did, which was very important, was correcting me in #game-discussion every time I said "it's dire" in a game where I had no idea what was going on. It goes without saying that having you QC the SM and ORAS teams before we played was much appreciated, but having you in our #game-discussion and rooting for us to win was much appreciated and I'm especially sorry you had to deal with all my constant tags. I'm also glad you recognize my techs. You're perhaps the only person who could understand the way I think and that's why I'm worried to play you in future tours. Case and point:
Code:
Feliburn06/26/2020
tko tryharding is way too fun
he's like
hmmm silvally rock looks kinda nice here
shoutouts Starbucks
Garay oak I'm VERY glad to have gotten to know you better as a result of RU Snake. After seeing how much you carried the Pablo Sands to a victory in NUPL, I was too keen on getting you in our chat for semifinals. That is when I realized you were on the opposing team, and things were looking dire! Once finals started, you offered to join our chat, and when Bouff asked I told him to instant add (if anyone objected I was going to kick them). I can now confidently say you're one of the best lower tier players I've had the pleasure of meeting. Both of the teams Chaitanya used in the finals and finals tiebreaks were your teams, the second being built completely from scratch and untested. Once again, you really contributed to the party once Bouff went to sleep, which was great, and having you drop suggestions for the teams jake and I were building in SS was extremely key as well. It's safe to say that not only did you solve ORAS twice, but you also helped Meru solve SS for us. But besides that, you are definitely one of the best chat presences I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and I really hope that I could team with you in an official. I hope continue to be great friends from this point forward. The team that picks you up for SSD 4 will be well put with your support in NU and RU.
Meru :teddi: You were also a great chat presence, and extremely clutch when it came down to solving SS. I know you and Bouff go back, so there was a lot of rapid fire test games going on between you to, but I was glad to play numerous games with you over the three weeks of playoffs. That was mainly the beginning though, as you later helped with team ideas and testing some of our teams in open was also pretty sick, considering a lot of those teams were untested. The best contribution to the chat, however, was the rapid fire back and forth team modifications between me, you, Garay, and on the very last day, snaga, to modify the teams jake and I had planned to bring are very meaningful to me, as we probably wouldn't have been able to win without those team edits. If Bouff and you were never friends, things could have been much more dire than they were in these two weeks in 2020. . . but Parabolic Charge Heliolisk?? in THIS economy??
Sensei Axew my opinion of you has changed vastly as the tour progressed; the main turning point was when you rolled up with that team vs Feliburn in week 6. Of course, Evi wouldn't pick up someone who didn't have potential, and that just goes to show. I just hope that the testing I provided you guys after week 5 helped you guys in the future weeks, as they did help Bouff and I when we played you. I'm convinced that you will become one of this subforum's best contributors in a short amount of time (if you haven't already, I don't closely follow the other threads), and will have yourself the Ladybug badge in no time. No question I'd pick you up in a future RU team tour if I were to manage again.
snaga avenged you my brother. Maybe my biggest regret this draft was not picking you up, especially after a dominating NUPL victory we got together. I know you don't agree, but I think Luthier is on to something when he says you're a top tier lower tier player, because I totally agree. Adding you on the very last day of finals was perhaps the smartest thing because you were able to help me craft my team 30 minutes before my actual game, which was extremely close and clutch. You also got to experience me meltdown in call during my players' games, which I hope was entertaining. Now all we have to do is win snake together.......................
TDK I was hoping to run another team tour back with you after I bought you for LCPL those years ago. Even though you didn't sign up at the end, you provided the Godpaste of pretty much half the SM teams we used this season. And then you came back 9 weeks later to craft the team rozes used in tiebreaker which was pretty epic as well. Thanks for sticking around and making that team for rozes LOL you ended up solving SM this week and it's crazy how many of your teams we ended up reusing -
Ajna Thanks for going through and helping rozes with SM in semifinals, as well as helping me briefly with ORAS and SS. The SM team in particular ended up working really well and just as we imagined.
gorex The framework you passed for sun was pretty key, as we ended up bringing sun in the finals. Word on the block is you also helped prep up Chait a bit which I'm super appreciative of. We got one more tour to win together, lets get it.
Kableye and
xastify starbucks gang, thanks for being our official mascots and cheering us on when it mattered, as well as briefly popping up in #general here and there. Starbucks gang
Confide for testing our untested teams in open!
Nineage for also testing our untested teams in open!! And for being there in yet another team tour victory (never forget our joint win)
Ninjadog this was my vengance for LCPL this year :angery:
Averardo for picking up the hosting responsibility, a largely thankless effort, and doing a swell job at it.
And everyone in the Discord and on the forums who showed support for our team, you guys ROCK!
SS was a meta that felt hard to keep up with during the course of this tour. I believe we had 4-5 different metas that we had to worry about, but I feel like the meta got more enjoyable as time progressed (which is probably a hot take).
Finally, I'm glad you guys all stuck around in our chat. We didn't have a problem with anyone being annoying to deal with, which is a pretty cool thing to not experience especially in a tour that has spanned 10 weeks total. You guys were able to tolerate all my tags to check if teams were ok, all of my @ everyones followed by "it's dire" in #game-disucssion, and my lackluster managing at times. We were able to come together in the weeks that mattered and posted up with the crucial wins, thanks in part to many people who weren't even on this team. I'm glad that so many people were willing to help me and my players win this tour when playoffs started, especially because it didn't feel like many people cared about our team when the tournament was starting. Winning this tour as the underdog manager feels great, and I'm glad you all kept along for the ride. The best part was meeting and making good friends out of this.
- B+