Tournament World Cup of Randbats 2023 - Regular Season

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Tarrembeau

Tarrembeau

le moi est incommunicable
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I do not possess the guts to do actual PRs in this way-too-hot-french-evening but here are some thoughts on each and every of the playing teams:

A pretty lopsided team with some strong names like JJ09LIE or hiep, or the infamous 121th RBTT pick, and some rather unknown players, be it to the rands scene or to the smogon scene as a whole. I'd be surprised to see them win the tour but if the non-rands mainers show as big as a motivation as they're doing on this early stage of the round, I could see them perf and reach PO.

The actual surprise of the tour, did not expect them to make it through the quals but hey, they did! This time it may be a bit too hard for the heroes, led by the ever motivated Maswood, but who did it once can do it twice.

On paper, one of the most dangerous team. They almost clinched it last year. They lost some players in the way but their team is probably as strong as it was last year; and while this sounds like amazing news for them, imo, it may not actually be: most of the other contenders have gotten better with their new rosters (except UK lol). I'd still be surprised not to see them make it to the top 8, despite their unfortunate start, with Rands Slam 1 winner Elgino, rbtt goats xGang, TheFranklin and Michielleus and strong names on most of their other slots.

They made the surprise last year by securing a spot despite their infamous pool. They're back, and their team seems like a pure upgrade compared to last year's, with the addition of a couple SPL winners (past and present) and the very much goated Thiago Nunes to lead the whole squad. They lost Barbows which is unfortunate and a very few of their slots are still a question mark, but overall, a solid team that can easily get to PO if things go their way and if their strong tier players show true interest.

Canada is very similar to last year, except a few new names who are all ready to burn the scene: Hayburner, sunsets, and jyt are all proven players, whether it's in rands or not. I'm less familiar with Career Ended but if susciety let them start over them, it must be quality. Another team that has a shot to the title.

Last year winners. Let's face it, we all underestimated them and they surprised us in the most glorious fashion. Unfortunately, I am still very uncultured towards Chinese players even though they added a couple names I know to be strong to their roster. Overall, I trust Separation to lead the team to great things again!

Oceania and Europe split, then Africa joined their neighbours to the party. The result is a rather fierce team that had some decent showing in the qualifying rounds. They have some strong rands main across the board like Petros and Xceloh and some fearsome names like mael or mj to complete their roster. The ban of Amir was probably a blow given the rarity of quality rby players, and some of their slots may be a bit less experienced (an experience the qual rounds maybe helped filling out?). I'm not sure we'll see them in PO but I sure hope so!

It's us lol

Now that's a scary team. Led by the one and only mdb2, with some strong names in and out of the scene all across the field. The main question mark will be motivation, because they sure know how to play pokemon. Shoutout to soTsoT, just because.

India is in a weird spot, where they have solid players across most of the modern gens, and yet some questions mark in the older ones, most notably Blui, who we have seen in gen6 in the past with some success. Overall they'll make sure to score some points but I'm not certain they'll make it out of the round.

Italy was and will be strong. A couple of names are missing from last year like Mikmer or banned deucer but we'll see if it's for the best. They still have their usual powerhouses like Losco, Amaranth, Micaiah, Chiori & co, with some new promising faces like Santu. Some faces i'm not familiar with but if they've been slotted over rands enthousiast Magmar, then we can hope for the best. Another team that can pretend to grab the title.

South America is born again as LATAM, and they gained some heavy gunners, mostly in the name of pokeblade101. They chose to bench nicomirra and to field luchik in their supposedly main tier (alongside hc and actually several of the main gens but sure) which is gen1. We'll see if that choice pay off. I am not sold of most of their roster, but I also may just be uninformed for a couple of them. A team that has some potential to surprise but may not get to top 8.

I was skeptical towards Oceania's motivation during quals, but they made it out of the pools in a not-so-embarrassing-manner. They have a lot of strong players, but gosh, their logo is so bad they just cp'd the one from last year and erased Europe. Criminal offense. Also lesgo wifi password!!

UK is in an embarrassing spot, however. They made some change to their line up between quals and pools, but will that fix their many issues? stay tuned, i may add a better analysis once the sheet is out and i can see it more clearly. But i don't have much hope for them, unfortunately, despite my respect for the captains.

Midwest is definitely a contender to win it all, not only because they somehow reunited Cake and Wiggly in the same roster, but also because they simply have no weak points. Strong players all over the line up, some of them among the best at their respective formats like glop or odr. They also have a lot of depth in their subs, which is rare enough to be said.

Another one of the best teams in paper, Northeast somehow improved on their already very strong line up from last year. They have some of the most recognizable names of the rands community, like Borida, Lady Writer, Beta, cde; some strong addition like Buhrito or Monai, and some very very strong subs (although za having to step down to let Legendary in because they posted too early is both hilarious and sad). They also reunited forsh and Lrogue in the same roster as luck charms so it can never go wrong like it did last year.

South managed to be undefeated from gen6 to gen1 which is something I have never seen in any tour ever. They changed a lot of their roster from last year, added both rands staples and somewhat strangers to the scene - but not to smogon tours! The main question mark entering into quals was their motivation, but I think the message is now very clear: they'll go for the head and may very well win it all.

Maybe the weakest US team, but that doesn't mean they're weak and that doesn't mean they're not in the run for top 8 either. They have some rands mains like shadows and Anna alongside players used to this kind of rands tours, like LST, queso or r1c3m4n. Truly, they will have to answer the same question as South had to enter before qualifiers: will the players that don't really play rands adapt to the scene and get motivated enough to click well ingames? we'll see. Could go very well or very wrong.

Yes, i messed up the first time, if you saw it you have an imaginary cookie
 
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