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Today we announce our 2021 Ubers Circuit! The circuit is a collection of individual tournaments spread throughout the year with varying classifications, generations, with and formats all coming together to allow players to earn points for the final showdown - the Ubers Championship, where the top 16 performers will battle to earn the Ubers Ribbon (
)! This ribbon displays on a user's profile complete with hover text to showcasing their achievement as the top Ubers player of 2021. This thread will also give information on the details behind the tournaments and later points system - it has been revamped from 2020.
Key: Tournament Name | Classification - Signups Start Date - Expected Finals Date (host)
2021 Ubers Tournament Schedule
Winter (January / February)
Ubers Winter Seasonal VI | Type A - January 11th - April 12th - hosted by Maple
Ubers "Flying Economy" Tour | Type C - January 26th - hosted by Lasen
GSC Ubers Tournament II | Type C - February 8th - March 22nd - hosted by Staxi
Spring (March / April / May)
Ubers Classic V | Type B Playoffs (Bo5) - hosted by dream (March 22nd - June 21st)
USM Ubers Cup II - March 22nd - Lasen
ORAS Ubers Cup IV - March 29th - SiTuM
BW2 Ubers Cup V - March 29th - Staxi
DPP Ubers Cup V - April 5th - Fc
ADV Ubers Cup V - April 5th - LBDC
Ubers Ladder Tournament III || Type A - May 10th - June 21st - hosted by steelskitty
Summer (June / July / August)
Ubers No Johns Tour | Type B - July 4th - hosted by Lasen
Homefield Advantage III | Type B - July 19th - August 30th - Blim
Ubers Summer Seasonal VI | Type A - August 9th - November 29th - cromagnet
Autumn (September / October / November)
Ubers Live III | Type B - August 30th - October 25th - playoffs hosted by Staxi, individual live tournaments hosted by later volunteers
GSC Ubers Tournament III | Type C - September 13rd - October 25th - hosted by Staxi
Ubers Pentathlon V | Type B - October 18th - November 29th - Maple
Ubers Team Tournaments (Participation doesn't earn circuit points)
Ubers Premier League IX - starting in Mid May - hosted by Minority
Ubers World Cup I - starting in early October - hosted by Staxi and MrAldo
Most Wanted III - starting in Mid January 2022 - hosted by Minority
To help avoid the scenario where mainly old gen players find themselves in the Championship where there are no old gens, we will be reducing the amount of points Type B and C tournaments (of which nearly all old gen tournaments fall within) by a quarter. In other words, current generation tournaments will be more valuable for earning points. Ubers Classic is now a type B tournament in order to avoid people becoming locked for circuit playoffs solely off a single past gen tournament.
We added Ubers World Cup, details such as region divisions will be ironed out closer to the beginning of the tournament, possibly depending on signups. UPL was moved to earlier in the summer in order to allow for Ubers World Cup to fit in without there being too many team tours in too short a time period. Similarly, Most Wanted was moved later by a month to January 2022. Since the Farceus vote has concluded, we no longer need any extra special focus for DPP Ubers, so we've opted to have two GSC Ubers tournaments, as it doesn't feature anywhere else in the circuit.
Tournament Information (Type A)
Seasonals: Large double elimination tournaments that feature the current generation of Ubers. Straightforward and simple.
Ladder Tournament: This tournament aims to give exposure to both upcoming players and veterans alike by having them compete to the top of the leaderboard on the Ubers Showdown ladder on newly made accounts. There will be 2 cycles, where the top 8 from both of them will enter a single elimination bracket to earn circuit points.
Tournament Information (Type B)
Classic: A tournament featuring five single elimination cups of old generation (USM / ORAS / BW2 / DPP / ADV) Ubers. The individual cups will not give points and will instead be scored in the form of a playoffs run, where those that make it in compete in a best of five series for Type B points.
No Johns: A fast paced tournament with short deadlines featuring the current generation of Ubers.
Pentathlon: A Bo5 featuring the main older generations: USM / ORAS / BW2 / DPP / ADV. The loser of the first match, which is fixed to USM unless both players agree to a different generation, will then decide on the next generation to be played. All 5 generations must be played in a series, so there can be no repeats.
Homefield Advantage: Players sign up with a generation of their choice for a Bo3 single elimination tournament, with the first game locked to SS Ubers. The loser of that game then plays their opponent in the generation they signed up with - giving the "homefield advantage".
Live: This tournament comes in the form of live tournaments held on 2 days of a weekend over a 7 week period, similarly to the official Smogon Tour. SS Ubers will be the generation of choice for the first and last week, with our typical old generations (USM to ADV) featuring in between. This culminates with a playoffs to earn circuit points.
Tournament Information (Type C)
GSC Ubers: We've decided to give GSC Ubers an extra tournament. There will be two BO3 tournaments. As the metagame is not as community developed compared to later generations, we opted for a type C class.
Ubers "Flying Economy" Tour: A standard SS Ubers tour but there's a stipulation - you have to manage a budget! Players are given 50 points with which to construct a team, while the price of each Pokemon is dictated by their position in the Viability Rankings at the start of each round.
More Type Cs may be added as the year goes on!
Type A: Tournaments given a signficant weight in the circuit, with around one per season of the year. Doing well in Type A tournaments will be of the greatest help to a budding Championship contender.
Type B: Tournaments that tend to feature older generations of Ubers and can offer alternative metagames to gain circuit points in. Some Type B tournaments may still feature the current generation, but in a less weighted way than equivalent Type A tournaments. Successful play in Type B tournaments is still a good way to get extra points for entry to the Ubers Championship. Note that Type B tournament pay outs have decreased 25% from last year.
Type C: Type C tournaments aim to be a catch-all for tournaments in our circuit that feature Ubers play at its core. Live tournaments and other tournaments created with little advance warning such as a suspect tournament are also likely to be classed as Type C. Unofficial formats, ideas, and metagames may feature here. Type C tournaments should be seen as a small bonus towards a Championship run. Note that Type C tournament pay outs have decreased 25% from last year.
Points System
Hosting
Our circuit will need hosts to run the tournaments! Those looking to contribute to Ubers via tournament hosting should enquire with the Ubers moderation team. Contributors are eligible for the "Tournaments Contributor" role in the Ubers Discord as well as the Pre-Contributor / Community Contributor badges on Smogon if done consistently well.
As mentioned in the above post, we reduced Type B and Type C points by around 75% compared to last year in an effort to make it more difficult to qualify for circuit playoffs from old gen tours alone. Of course, Ubers old gens being very popular means we still have a few more old gen tours than other circuits, and therefore it's still very possible to qualify for circuit from just old gen tours. Depending on how the playoffs shape up, and on the feedback from the community, we may make changes again for the next year's circuit.
You can give your feedback, complaints, or appreciation on Discord for now. Also reach out to me on Smogon, PS!, or Discord if you have any questions about the sheet or if you believe there is a mistake.
