Smogon Champions League II - Commencement

Theia

Say my name until you love me
is a Tournament Directoris a Site Content Manageris a Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Battle Simulator Admin Alumnus
User Safety Lead

Artwork by Zracknel

This year's SCL will be hosted by Ticken, Nol, Kaede, and keys.

Smogon Champions League is a team-based tournament where 10 team managers draft their team from a pool of players and duke it out in 10 current generation metagames for nine weeks to make it to playoffs, where the top four teams face off to determine the winning team and to claim a trophy.

A reminder of rulings that hold true for this edition, and some new ones:
  1. Managers are allowed one (1) assistant Manager.
  2. Teams are only allowed three (3) retained players from last year's SCL.
  3. Retention rights may not be traded.
  4. Players may not be traded at any point
  5. Midseason signups are restricted to people that signed up for the original auction.
  6. The minimum number of players in a team is 14.
  7. The maximum number of players in a team is 20.
  8. There will be a severe penalty for any team that picks up a known alt of a banned player, or any player masquerading as another person to lower their cost in the auction. This has not been a big issue in the past, but it is important to establish that both parties will be penalized immediately and harshly if they are found doing so.
This year's managers will be:

Arena Spartans - Hayburner + Jytcampbell
Circuit Breakers - Alpha Rabbit + Tricking
Indigo Platoon - Star + Garay oak
Mt. Silver Foxes - MANNAT + freezai
Orange Islanders - Stone_Cold + Vulpix03
Power Plant Dynamos - Excal + Luthier
Showdown Shoguns - elodin + HSA
Studio Gible - Aurella + BluBirD
Technical Machines - Amaranth + -Howkings
Uncharted Terrors - shiloh + Gingy

Player sign-ups will go up at the same time as or shortly after this commencement thread is made. When a prospective player signs up, they are expected to also note which tiers they are interested in playing during the tournament. In order to ensure the best possible experience for yourself, the managers, and your team, please do NOT sign up for any tier you are unwilling to play. If you would not seriously consider playing that tier in a tournament environment, do not list it. The tiers you put down in your signup are binding for almost the entire tournament, but they will also affect how your prospective manager sees you, and as such they should be as accurate to your skillset as possible. Don't make dumb joke posts about playing tiers you do not care for.

Retainer rules:

As stated above, only three retainers are allowed this year. You may not retain more than three, though you may retain less or no players at all if you wish.

The cost to retain a player on their first year as a retention will be the HIGHER of the following two scenarios (unchanged from last year):
  1. the amount that the player went for in the last auction + 3k (ex. if Oglemi was bought for 13k, it would cost 16k to retain him)
  2. 10k, if the previous price + 3k would end up being lower than 10k (ex. if Oglemi was bought for 6k, his retaining cost would be 10k, not 9k)
Remember that a player bought for under 10k during last year's auction will not necessarily cost just 10k to retain. If Oglemi was bought for 9k in last year's auction, he would cost 12k to retain this year, not 10k.

The cost to retain a player that was already retained in the last SCL will be dependent on how many times they have been retained. The fee being raised by +3k with each subsequent retention (ex. if Oglemi was retained for 16k last SCL , it would cost 22k to retain him in this one, and 31k to retain him in the next one.

The tier lineup this year is as follows:
  • SS OU
  • SS OU
  • SS OU
  • SS Ubers
  • SS DOU
  • SS UU
  • SS RU
  • SS NU
  • SS PU
  • SS LC
Tournaments Rules and General Guidelines

General SCL Rules & Regulations

The General Manager of a team is essentially the boss of a team. The GM is the final word in all decisions (barring the hosts) regarding his team. The GM decides which players play on the team, who plays in what position, and even handles the team finances. Managers also make sure that the team keeps running on a day to day basis. If a team fails to complete their matches by the end of the allotted time, the onus is on the manager to inform the hosts as to what happened in order to make sure that proper activity calls are made.

Because of these responsibilities, The General Manager is probably the most important part of the team. As such, the position of GM is not one to be taken lightly.

• General Managers are not eligible to play in the Smogon Champions League. You can either play or manage, not both.
• General Managers are chosen largely on a subjective opinion of the Tournament Directors as to who they believe would be fit for the position. Being fit for the position includes the knowledge of excellent battlers in the community (for fielding a competent team), having above average activity on the forums, Pokémon Showdown and/or Discord (in order to ensure that you don’t abandon your team), as well as possessing a necessary amount of “gravitas” (If you can’t make a player do what you tell them to, such as play an undesirable metagame, you’re not going to make a good manager).

General Managers are required to acquire one Assistant Manager. The Tournament Director team can veto the selection of an assistant manager, but will not require the General Manager to choose any particular user as their Assistant Manager. The assistant manager is essentially the second in command for the team. They have almost all of the functions and roles as the General Manager does, the GM just trumps him in head-to-head decisions.

Lastly, the General Manager has the following duties:

• They shall choose one Assistant Manager.
• They shall make the hosts aware of any player retentions by the time player signups close (48 hours prior to the start of the auction).
• They shall be present at the live auction, or appoint someone (preferably the Assistant Manager or a retained player if the AM is unavailable) to participate in the live auction in their stead.
• They shall send the hosts weekly rosters.
• They shall ensure to the best of his/her abilities that his/her battlers complete their matches on time.
• In the event that a match fails to be completed, they shall inform the hosts as to why the match failed to be completed, and what his/her battler did in order to finish the match.
• They shall communicate any grievances with the hosts.
All players must sign up if they wish to play in the Smogon Champions League, even those who will eventually be retained to their past teams. It is important to note that the Smogon Champions League is an 11 week event and that the activity level of a player is significant. Do not sign up to play for a team if you do not intend to see the tournament through to the end. This includes maintaining a competitive attitude if your team is already eliminated from playoff contention. You never know whether or not winning your end-season matches will make you a more valued player next season, so even if your team isn’t necessarily in the playoff picture anymore, there’s always value in playing your best. Failure to complete matches in a timely manner consistently may result in being barred from entering the Smogon Champions League in future seasons.

For the duration of regular season, players are only allowed to play in the tiers listed in their signups post. Players will only be allowed to play tiers they did not list in their signup starting in the Playoff rounds. A tiebreak to determine which teams will qualify for playoffs will be considered part of the Playoff rounds for this rule. We will not be enforcing this rule for anyone with a price tag of 4k or less.

Players are required to list their Pokemon Showdown username in their signup post. You are expected to play all your Smogon Champions League games using this account.

The sign-up list will then be taken and sorted into appropriate lists for each of the 8 metagames. These lists will then be used by managers for the auction.
Total money for teams is 140,000 credits. There will be no holdover on extra credits from previous years - everyone starts with a blank slate and 140k.

In the weeks preceding the live auction, a time will be chosen by all of the General Managers to meet and perform a live auction in order to choose players. Managers will be expected to remain at the auction for the entire duration, which should take approximately 2-3 hours. If a General Manager cannot, for some reason, find any feasible time that he can attend a Live Auction, then the Assistant Manager will be called upon to fill in the spot. If no Manager can fill the spot for the Live Auction… then a new General Manager + Assistant Manager who can find time to make a live auction will be found to replace the old ones.

Once a time is set, all 10 managers + the hosts will enter the place where the auction will be held - likely the Smogtours server. Spectators are allowed to join in to watch the fun unfold, but will not be able to speak. Discussion on the bidding at hand should be relegated to the SCL chatroom or any other appropriate chat outlet.

The hosts will first ask a team to nominate a player. The order by which teams will nominate players will go in a snaking pattern from the highest ranked team from last year to the lowest ranked team, then the lowest ranked team to the highest ranked team. The hosts will then tell the details of said player and bidding will commence, starting at 3000 credits, with the nominating team automatically placing the first bid. The auction will then be in real time. Managers will simply put in their bids in the chat, raising a minimum of 500 credits. If after 15 seconds there are no new bids, the player is sold to the highest bid in the channel. The hosts or utilized bot will provide a 5 second warning before bidding is closed on a player. The updated credit totals will then be posted and then the next manager in the rotation will be prompted to nominate a player.

Managers are advised that placed bids are final, and we will generally not permit an undo in the case of a mistake. Exceptions can be made in cases where a team nominates an incorrect player or if a typo in a bid amount would threaten the integrity of the team as a whole. Please make sure to double check your bids before sending them!

Managers are asked to please have a predetermined list of players you intend to nominate as well as potential bid caps, in order to make the process go as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

Managers: it is necessary for you to field a roster of 10 starters and a minimum of 4 substitutes, with a maximum of 10 substitutes being allowed of which all must be paid at least 3000 credits. This creates a soft cap of 101,000 credits on any particular bid - that is, the maximum amount of money you can spend on any one player and still have enough money left over to pay at least 3000 credits a piece on 13 more players.

Remember that there are midseason free agent pick-ups. It may be beneficial to save some credits in order to pick up players midseason, but remember that no new players will be allowed to sign up for the midseason draft.
It is at this time that the tournament will commence. The league stages consist of a Round Robin tournament. Every team will face every other team once through 9 weeks of play. Each manager will submit to the hosts a roster no later than the deadline of the previous week. This roster will list the starting players and what metagames they will play.

When the week starts, teams' players will face off in their respective metagames / tiers. The SS OU 1 from Team A will face the SS OU 1 from team B, SS OU 2 will face SS OU 2, and so on. Whichever team wins the most battles will be declared the victor for the week. Rather than score based on how many individual battles a team wins, the primary thing that matters is who beat the most teams. As such, points are awarded based only on wins and losses versus teams as a whole, not individual players. Beating a team in a week’s matchups is worth two points, tying with a team is worth one point, and losing is worth none, simple as that. At the end of the round robin, the top four teams in the points proceed to the playoffs and will be seeded into a knock-out style bracket where they will face off until only one team remains.

There are a few regulatory things during the league stages that need to be outlined.

1. Substitutes – At any point in time during the week, a team may make a substitution for a currently slotted player. In order to do this a manager must post in the thread, tagging the hosts, the opposing managers and the opposing player stating which player is substituting out, and which player is substituting in. A player that has substituted out for a week cannot be substituted back in. In addition, all substitutions are subject to veto by the hosts if the substitution is suspected to be attempting to “game” the system. Substituting in a player who is unavailable to play at any of the times the opposing team has previously offered in order to force a double substitution is not permitted and the player who was substituted in will be required to be substituted out.

2. There will be no trades allowed at any point during SCL.

3. Activity decisions – There are inevitably times where two players simply fail to complete a match; however, the nature of the tournament system sometimes makes it advantageous to purposely fail to play (such as when a team is up 6-5 in a week). Because of this, it is necessary to make activity decisions on matches. Hosts are required to make thorough investigations regarding each and every potential failed match during a week. If both parties are deemed to be equally apathetic or enthusiastic about getting the match done, but just have not had the opportunity to make it happen, the match will result in a no contest. However, if it is deemed that one party made significantly more effort than the other in attempting to get the match done, then a win will be awarded to that player. Things that will make it very likely that you will lose via activity include: failing to VM your opponent immediately upon the week’s start, scheduling a match and being documented as missing the match time, failing to provide any concrete times for which you can be reached, failing to respond to an opponent’s VM at all. Please be certain to review the guidelines for a favorable judgement in an activity decision. Note that this is a tournament that requires a very high level of activity and diligence, if you don’t think you can get your matches done, quite simply don’t sign up.

4. Rule Breaking – There is no excuse for breaking any of the predetermined rules. If you are caught breaking a rule, you will lose your match. There is no lenience with regards to this. Break a rule, you lose. Period.

5. Reversing Rulings - No ruling will be retroactively overturned once the week following the week that the ruling has been made has ended. This includes: activity rulings / rulings based on rule breaking / anything else under the sun. I'm not going back in time to reevaluate every single decision I've made throughout the tournament on Week 9 because you think you were gypped 1-2 wins along the way and now they're the difference between you and a playoff spot. Any appeals to a ruling must be made during the week that the ruling is made; beyond that, all rulings are final once the week ends.

6. Recreations – Under some circumstances, generally due to a true disconnection, the host team may determine that a game must be recreated. Ideally, this recreation will take place immediately, but if the completion of the game needs to be rescheduled then a host or tournament director will recreate the game with the same players at a later time. Neither player may be substituted out for the recreation, but otherwise standard rules for activity decisions will apply.
Sellbacks
Up until week 4 managers will have the opportunity to report players that they believe are not meeting minimum activity requirements and/or sabotaging their team to the hosts. The hosts will review the team situation on the first 2 days of week 5, and if it is found that the player in question is indeed guilty of one or both, the team will be allowed to sell them back. Reports made on team quitters after the end of Week 4 will not be evaluated until the conclusion of the tournament, with the exception of cases of cheating or team leaking/sabotage. Players who are banned from the Smogon Forums for a duration longer than the rest of the tournament and players who are banned from tournaments for actions unrelated to Smogon Champions League will also be eligible for a sellback.

If a player is sold back, their team obtains 3k of their value as credits to be used in the midseason auction. The only exception to this is players who become eligible for sellback prior to when Week 1 is posted.

Teams who sell back players before the start of Week 1 will be reimbursed with credits equal to 1.5k+half of that player's retention cost or value in the auction. These credits may be used prior to the start of Week 1 on undrafted players who signed up, and players selected will be eligible to play starting in Week 1. Any of these credits that remain unused will be converted into sellback credits for use in the midseason auction.

Midseason Draft
During Week 4, sign-ups will reopen for 4 days. Players that signed up for the original auction and weren't drafted will sign up and a new free agent list will be made. Note: Even if you signed up the first time around, you must re-signup in order to get on the midseason free agent list. After sign-ups close, the host will remind each manager how many credits they have left over from the original live auction.

Instead of having another live auction, an auction will take place on the forums. A manager will post their bids, with other managers having up to 12 hours from the time of the post to make a higher bid on the player. After 12 hours, if the manager has not been outbid, his or her team will be awarded the players. The Midseason auction will last for 5 days during week 5. The players purchased here will be allowed to start playing starting on Week 6. There is no use for credits leftover after the midseason free agent pickups, so it is in every manager’s best interest to spend all of their remaining credits at this time. No players may enter SCL after the midseason auction, except in the case of a team falling below the minimum number of starters due to their players being banned, in which case they'll be allowed to pick players from the undrafted pool until they reach the minimum.
At the end of the league stages, there will be a knockout style playoffs involving the top 4 teams in the points. In the event of a tie in overall points standings, the following criteria is used for breaking ties.
  • Overall Points >
  • Battle Difference (total # battles won - total # battles lost) >
  • Best of 3 - each team picks a unique tier with the winner of the Head to Head matchup picking second, then SS OU is the 3rd game. In the event that the two teams tied in the Head to Head matchup, the team with better results against the higher seeds will pick second.
After the top 4 have been determined, each team will be seeded. The #1 seed will play the #4 seed, and the #2 seed will play the #3 seed. Teams will battle in the same format as during the league stage. At the end of all 10 battles, the team with more wins will advance to finals.

In the case of a tie in playoffs, the advancing team will be decided by a best of three - each team picks a unique tier with the higher seed picking second, then SS OU is the 3rd game.
The tournament will progress in this format until there is only one team left standing, the champion of the Smogon Champions League.

---

This post marks the formal start to SCL II, which means:
  • Managers can hold official tryouts
  • Managers can inform hosts the players they wish to retain (REMINDER: Players can refuse to be retained, which means if they sign up, they will be a free agent for SCL II.)
Here's to a fantastic season!
 
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Clementine

Done and dusted
is a Top Artistis a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderatoris a Community Leader Alumnusis a defending SCL Champion
UUPL Champion
heyo, just wanna let managers know that if they're allowed to get a new CA for this edition of SCL, I'd be more than happy to help y'all out
here's my art thread if you're interested, commissions will reopen on August 16th, feel free to reach out on Discord @ Clem#3471
(please don't ask for an anime girl)

important edit: I do not intend to ask for payment if you commission an avatar for your team, I don't want my post to sound like I'm advertising my stuff for money LOL
 
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Finchinator

-OUTL
is a Tournament Directoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past WCoP Championis the defending OU Circuit Championis a Two-Time Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
OU Leader
I will be sending out an interest form with regards to the SCL II Power Rankings in the coming days. I lack the time to cover everything I normally do myself this year, but I am still committed to making the article as great as always — perhaps even better. If you think you may be interested in writing or contributing in any capacity, be on the lookout for that!

Have a great tour everyone. Thanks to our awesome hosts for stepping up and everyone who showed interest as well.
 

pdt

is a Past SCL Champion
PUPL Champion
Expulso and mncmt are more involved in more tiers in this tournament than over half of the selected managers. No disrespect to the managers who were selected, but this decision is extremely confusing to me. Can’t help but noticing there’s just a bunch of OU people in this lineup. Again no disrespect, but respectfully they were hard snubbed.

E:
ninjadog and false were also hard snubbed!
 
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Heroic Troller

Through the Sea of Time
is a Tiering Contributoris a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
World Defender
Expulso and mncmt are more involved in more tiers in this tournament than over half of the selected managers. No disrespect to the managers who were selected, but this decision is extremely confusing to me. Can’t help but noticing there’s just a bunch of OU people in this lineup. Again no disrespect, but respectfully they were hard snubbed.
They have been told why privately, if you are so curious go ask them directly. No offense but a lot of people turn into experts whenever a decision drops and it's not what they like, without even knowing half the story. We had our reasons just know that.
 

pdt

is a Past SCL Champion
PUPL Champion
They have been told why privately, if you are so curious go ask them directly. No offense but a lot of people turn into experts whenever a decision drops and it's not what they like, without even knowing half the story. We had our reasons just know that.
I just read your “reasoning” and you stated a couple false reasons and also didn’t give any real reasons to why certain people were not selected. It’s crazy that you say I don’t know the full story when I have been managed by/interacted with these people 100x more than most of the TD team. And yes, I did ask privately which is why I was trying to be respectful in my post. If there were extraneous factors besides involvement that prevented some people from being selected, that also applies to some people who were selected. I know that this argument will not change anything, but as someone who is involved in 6/8 of the tiers the decision still does not make sense to be conducive to the most competitive/fun tour.

Thanks for your response.
 
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Expulso

Morse code, if I'm talking I'm clicking
is a Community Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Social Media Contributor Alumnus
i think it’s def a meme that in the official lower tier teamtour almost half the pairs have little to no connection to lower tier communities; would yall choose SPL pairs this removed from the tiers and communities they’re supposed to support and draft from? imo it is emblematic of the sad shift in smogon mentality where OUs are superior to everything, a mentality that’ll always make this a second-rate tour.

to not make this just me whining, ninjadog/false and xiri/tlenit are 2 pairs that actually know lower tiers, have good atittudes, and are qualified. It makes no sense that they are worse fits than people who have never stepped outside of OU and that for sure undermines the spirit of this tour
 

zS

this is all a moo point
is a Top Tiering Contributor
NUPL Champion
hi since i see this getting done every year i thought i’d give a couple shoutouts to promising nu players that i think deserve a shot as starters this scl. idk if my sole opinion on them is the best thing you could get but i think they deserve it so hope that helps you managers.
Danny : if you’ve been following nu/ru tours this year danny’s name should be quite familiar to your ears. he’s been killing it recently going 5-2 in nupl against a strong pool of players. he’s a very good builder and has the playing ability to back it up. to add things on the table, he’s also very active in team environments and is a great chat presence. definitely a really value pick.
turtledoggo1 : nu ladder hero that has recently popped off in nupl sporting a big 7-1 record showing really promising play and builds during the tournament. he’s still kinda inexperienced, but definitely will put up the activity and work to patch that gap.
Togkey i kinda view this guy as the best ss nu builder right now alongside probably danny. his play is also solid enough to the point where i can see him as a good contender for a starter slot. he is also just like turtledoggo, and doesn’t really have proper results in SS as player to my knowledge, but he’s definitely a great option for support at the very least.
etern this one may seem like an obvious one but i really think etern has been slept on since his hiatus. he’s been keeping up with ss a lot and is obviously a really good player, one of the better nu battlers even. on top of all this, he’s also a really cool person and a great chat presence. he also had a nice wcop as evidence that he’s still strong even after so long. if you want a great battler that’s knowledgeable in the tier, look no further than etern.
Meri Berry this is probably a dumb nom cuz she got drafted last year but somehow the tier leader still underrates herself as a player so i thought i’d give her a shoutout. she is a very talented builder and has solid enough playing ability to back it up, yet she says that she sucks as a pilot. i really think she has a good shot at making a good record in this years’ pool. definitely a pick to consider
Ninja i might be repeating myself at this point, but ninja is also a rly good builder. hes quite quieter than the rest of the pool, but he is looking good for this years circuit playoffs. he’s also been doing good in osdt, proving that he’s also a capable player across multiple tiers. overall a good pick in my opinion.
OnArceus / S1nn0hC0nfirm3d / Confide / Expulso : don’t need to introduce these 1s, they’ve been starters last scl and all had a good tour, still mentioning them cuz they’re some of the best. esp expulso has had 2 nice slam runs making semis last year and top 8 this year.
edit:
GXE ummm sorry i kinda forgot you LOL. yeah gxe is a great player and a really creative builder that i’m 100% sure deserves a spot on this list. just like turtledoggo he went 7-1 in nupl against a good pool of players definitely someone to watch out for!
gum ure a flop sorry ummm, thank you for existing tho
sorry if i forgot anyone, but those were the 1s that topped my head when i thought of doing this post. thanks for reading!
 
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Enzonana.

volando bajito
is a Tiering Contributoris a Past SCL Champion
hi since i see this getting done every year i thought i’d give a couple shoutouts to promising nu players that i think deserve a shot as starters this scl. idk if my sole opinion on them is the best thing you could get but i think they deserve it so hope that helps you managers.
ACR1 : if you’ve been following nu/ru tours this year danny’s name should be quite familiar to your ears. he’s been killing it recently going 5-2 in nupl against a strong pool of players. he’s a very good builder and has the playing ability to back it up. to add things on the table, he’s also very active in team environments and is a great chat presence. definitely a really value pick.
ACR1 : nu ladder hero that has recently popped off in nupl sporting a big 7-1 record showing really promising play and builds during the tournament. he’s still kinda inexperienced, but definitely will put up the activity and work to patch that gap.
ACR1 i kinda view this guy as the best ss nu builder right now alongside probably danny. his play is also solid enough to the point where i can see him as a good contender for a starter slot. he is also just like turtledoggo, and doesn’t really have proper results in SS as player to my knowledge, but he’s definitely a great option for support at the very least.
ACR1 this one may seem like an obvious one but i really think etern has been slept on since his hiatus. he’s been keeping up with ss a lot and is obviously a really good player, one of the better nu battlers even. on top of all this, he’s also a really cool person and a great chat presence. he also had a nice wcop as evidence that he’s still strong even after so long. if you want a great battler that’s knowledgeable in the tier, look no further than etern.
ACR1 this is probably a dumb nom cuz she got drafted last year but somehow the tier leader still underrates herself as a player so i thought i’d give her a shoutout. she is a very talented builder and has solid enough playing ability to back it up, yet she says that she sucks as a pilot. i really think she has a good shot at making a good record in this years’ pool. definitely a pick to consider
ACR1 i might be repeating myself at this point, but ninja is also a rly good builder. hes quite quieter than the rest of the pool, but he still qualified for circuit play-offs last year and is also looking good for this year. he’s also been doing good in osdt, proving that he’s also a capable player across multiple tiers. overall a good pick in my opinion.
ACR1 / ACR1 / ACR1 / ACR1 : don’t need to introduce these 1s, they’ve been starters last scl and all had a good tour, still mentioning them cuz they’re some of the best. esp expulso has had 2 nice slam runs making semis last year and top 8 this year.



sorry if i forgot anyone, but those were the 1s that topped my head when i thought of doing this post. thanks for reading!
 

ACR1

Yo siempre la llevo al cielo
is a Tiering Contributoris the defending ORAS Circuit Champion
hi since i see this getting done every year i thought i’d give a couple shoutouts to promising nu players that i think deserve a shot as starters this scl. idk if my sole opinion on them is the best thing you could get but i think they deserve it so hope that helps you managers.
ACR1 : if you’ve been following nu/ru tours this year danny’s name should be quite familiar to your ears. he’s been killing it recently going 5-2 in nupl against a strong pool of players. he’s a very good builder and has the playing ability to back it up. to add things on the table, he’s also very active in team environments and is a great chat presence. definitely a really value pick.
ACR1 : nu ladder hero that has recently popped off in nupl sporting a big 7-1 record showing really promising play and builds during the tournament. he’s still kinda inexperienced, but definitely will put up the activity and work to patch that gap.
ACR1 i kinda view this guy as the best ss nu builder right now alongside probably danny. his play is also solid enough to the point where i can see him as a good contender for a starter slot. he is also just like turtledoggo, and doesn’t really have proper results in SS as player to my knowledge, but he’s definitely a great option for support at the very least.
ACR1 this one may seem like an obvious one but i really think etern has been slept on since his hiatus. he’s been keeping up with ss a lot and is obviously a really good player, one of the better nu battlers even. on top of all this, he’s also a really cool person and a great chat presence. he also had a nice wcop as evidence that he’s still strong even after so long. if you want a great battler that’s knowledgeable in the tier, look no further than etern.
ACR1 this is probably a dumb nom cuz she got drafted last year but somehow the tier leader still underrates herself as a player so i thought i’d give her a shoutout. she is a very talented builder and has solid enough playing ability to back it up, yet she says that she sucks as a pilot. i really think she has a good shot at making a good record in this years’ pool. definitely a pick to consider
ACR1 i might be repeating myself at this point, but ninja is also a rly good builder. hes quite quieter than the rest of the pool, but he still qualified for circuit play-offs last year and is also looking good for this year. he’s also been doing good in osdt, proving that he’s also a capable player across multiple tiers. overall a good pick in my opinion.
ACR1 / ACR1 / ACR1 / ACR1 : don’t need to introduce these 1s, they’ve been starters last scl and all had a good tour, still mentioning them cuz they’re some of the best. esp expulso has had 2 nice slam runs making semis last year and top 8 this year.



sorry if i forgot anyone, but those were the 1s that topped my head when i thought of doing this post. thanks for reading!
cachorro fodase.png
 

daunt vs

Of Course You Won't
is a Tiering Contributor
hi since i see this getting done every year i thought i’d give a couple shoutouts to promising nu players that i think deserve a shot as starters this scl. idk if my sole opinion on them is the best thing you could get but i think they deserve it so hope that helps you managers.
ACR1 : if you’ve been following nu/ru tours this year danny’s name should be quite familiar to your ears. he’s been killing it recently going 5-2 in nupl against a strong pool of players. he’s a very good builder and has the playing ability to back it up. to add things on the table, he’s also very active in team environments and is a great chat presence. definitely a really value pick.
ACR1 : nu ladder hero that has recently popped off in nupl sporting a big 7-1 record showing really promising play and builds during the tournament. he’s still kinda inexperienced, but definitely will put up the activity and work to patch that gap.
ACR1 i kinda view this guy as the best ss nu builder right now alongside probably danny. his play is also solid enough to the point where i can see him as a good contender for a starter slot. he is also just like turtledoggo, and doesn’t really have proper results in SS as player to my knowledge, but he’s definitely a great option for support at the very least.
ACR1 this one may seem like an obvious one but i really think etern has been slept on since his hiatus. he’s been keeping up with ss a lot and is obviously a really good player, one of the better nu battlers even. on top of all this, he’s also a really cool person and a great chat presence. he also had a nice wcop as evidence that he’s still strong even after so long. if you want a great battler that’s knowledgeable in the tier, look no further than etern.
ACR1 this is probably a dumb nom cuz she got drafted last year but somehow the tier leader still underrates herself as a player so i thought i’d give her a shoutout. she is a very talented builder and has solid enough playing ability to back it up, yet she says that she sucks as a pilot. i really think she has a good shot at making a good record in this years’ pool. definitely a pick to consider
ACR1 i might be repeating myself at this point, but ninja is also a rly good builder. hes quite quieter than the rest of the pool, but he still qualified for circuit play-offs last year and is also looking good for this year. he’s also been doing good in osdt, proving that he’s also a capable player across multiple tiers. overall a good pick in my opinion.
ACR1 / ACR1 / ACR1 / ACR1 : don’t need to introduce these 1s, they’ve been starters last scl and all had a good tour, still mentioning them cuz they’re some of the best. esp expulso has had 2 nice slam runs making semis last year and top 8 this year.



sorry if i forgot anyone, but those were the 1s that topped my head when i thought of doing this post. thanks for reading!
Enzonana big rat big rat recommendation

64BE0739-DEFB-4A1E-84C1-85225D2FDC79.gif
 

Finchinator

-OUTL
is a Tournament Directoris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past WCoP Championis the defending OU Circuit Championis a Two-Time Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
OU Leader
I will be sending out an interest form with regards to the SCL II Power Rankings in the coming days. I lack the time to cover everything I normally do myself this year, but I am still committed to making the article as great as always — perhaps even better. If you think you may be interested in writing or contributing in any capacity, be on the lookout for that!

Have a great tour everyone. Thanks to our awesome hosts for stepping up and everyone who showed interest as well.
If you are interested in contributing to the SCL II Power Rankings article and will have time during the days directly following the auction, feel free to let me know via this form!

I am NOT going to be able to work with everyone and I am letting people know this up-front as this article requires very particular execution, so please do not come in with any expectations as there will be thorough vetting and limited spots to help. I do want to thank everyone for their interest in advance and I am looking forward to this being the best possible article for the tournament.

Have a nice weekend and tournament everyone. Please remember to treat our hosts and other thankless contributors with respect rather than incoherent rants about their speculated employment status, thank you.
 

Aqua Jet

Stardew
is a Contributor to Smogonis a Community Contributor Alumnus
writing this on mobile so please excuse grammar and shit
Despite being basically a site meme at this point I’m going to follow suit and list some underrated picks for UU that you can probably get for 5k or less.

Monky25
- UU success story
- standard but good builder
- I wanted him for Snake but IP took him first
- Proves his knowledge of the metagame on a daily basis in both the UU discord and PIA

udongirl
- Teamed with in UUSD, started in SS
- unorthodox builder
- Good player, consistently at or near the top of ladder

hariyana grande
- Teamed with in UUFPL
- Despite starting in DPP, often provided good advice to SS starters
- Active team chat presence

Also you should definitely consider inviting Totomon to your discord since they haven’t signed up yet, I drafted him in both UUSD and UUFPL and while he isn’t the best battler he’s a good builder and almost always enthusiastic about tests / looking over teams and a very active team presence. They are currently playing a very large part of our SS Squad’s success in snake and I think having them in your discord will be extremely valuable.

sorry if I forgot you I didn’t sleep at all last night and I will probably edit this later with more people but these 4 are the first ones that came to my mind when I tried to think of underrated players in UU.
Hope everyone has a fun SCL, and I’m looking forward to seeing some great games from everybody
Cheering for Arena Spartans and whoever drafts Clark though

E: I forgot about Sirwings
- French (automatically good at Pokémon)
- Very good yet unproven builder and battler
 
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115 posts in the scl full season talk thread is unacceptable. Get your best shitposts together and lets not repeat this atrocity again.
 

Askov

Explode
is a Tiering Contributoris a Past SPL Champion
UUPL Champion
Despite being basically a site meme at this point I’m going to follow suit and list some underrated picks for UU that you can probably get for 5k or less.

KM
- UU success story
- NOT standard but good builder
- I wanted him for Snake but mncmt took him first
- Proves his knowledge of the metagame on a daily basis in both the UU discord and Golducks

passion
- Teamed with in UUSD, started in SS
- unorthodox builder
- Good player, consistently at or near the top of ladder

Expulso
- Teamed with in UUFPL
- Despite starting in ORAS, often provided good advice to SS starters
- Active team chat presence

Also you should definitely consider inviting omicorio to your discord since they surely have signed up, I drafted her in both UUSD and UUFPL and while she isn’t the best battler she’s a good builder and almost always enthusiastic about tests / looking over teams and a very active team presence. They are currently playing a very large part of our SS Squad’s success in snake and I think having them in your discord will be extremely valuable.

sorry if I forgot you I didn’t sleep at all last night and I will probably edit this later with more people but these 4 are the first ones that came to my mind when I tried to think of underrated players in UU.
Hope everyone has a fun SCL, and I’m looking forward to seeing some great games from everybody
Cheering for Dynamos and whoever drafts pdt though

E: I forgot about Lyss
- Italian (automatically good at Pokémon)
- Very good yet unproven builder
 

Z Strats

Banned deucer.
The dou pool is projected to be weaker than last year (though this could change as some people who say they won't sign up almost always do.) so if managers are lost on who to pick with some of the big names gone here are some people I think could be a good choice to draft.

JRL : JRL probably should've started last year, he's a strong player that regularly has had success in tours the past couple of years against even top tier players. I think managers might be scared of his previous snake performance where he went 2-5, but that was when he was very fresh to DOU and really shouldn't have been starting in my opinion. Since last snake JRL has gotten a lot more consistent, fixed his problem of making a few questionable plays per game and clearly has shown a better understanding for DOU more. Plus he has the experience of being in this type of tour before and knowing what it takes which I think is pretty big.

Toxigen : I've had the pleasure of teaming with Toxigen where I was pleasantly surprised by him. Toxigen is a player who has been around a while, his individual tours results while nothing too impressive is solid and his team tour performance and actual play which I put more stock into is quite good as well. He is someone who will try and he knows how to listen. His metagame knowledge is quite good and it was really fun bouncing ideas off of him. While he isn't a top tier player he could be a good cheaper starting option as someone who has the potential to do quite well and can hold their own, I'd rank him slightly above some of the people who played last year.

Crunchman : Crunchman is a meme, but unfortunately he does kind of know how to play. Skill wise Crunchman has been improving quite fast and has had Memoric helping him quite a bit, his plays are solid and for the most part he has a good understanding of the game. His biggest flaws are going to be his personality (a lot of douers aren't too fond of him though I've heard he's a lot better in team chats and I personally don't think he's that bad anymore.) and the fact that he's never been a part of an official team tour before and I think his prep will be quite lacking. I would only really suggest Crunch as a starter if the dou pool does end up weak and he would need a great support to really hold his own in my opinion, but I think he definitely deserves a bench spot either way. I'd rank him similarly to where Actuarily was last year but quite a bit worse.

dnagerbdager : Dnager is a good tryhard support, while their playing ability is no where near starter quality they will for sure be an amazing support and team presence for any DOUer. A lot of people that teamed with them in dpl called them one of the best teammates they've ever had. Dnager is willing to scout a shit ton and test and really do anything, they have a decent understanding of the meta and can help with teambuilding too making them a valuable asset for any starting douer.

JoeUX9 : I have no idea how good Joe would be in dou as far as I'm aware he's never touched it in his life. He is however a really good VGCer which has translated to success before as we all know. He could be a cool pick for a team to take a chance on but he could also fall hard. He'd obviously need good support and I have no idea what his motivation would look like. He does also have a youtube channel freezai
 
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ryo yamada2001

ryo yamada2001
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
The dou pool is projected to be weaker than last year (though this could change as some people who say they won't sign up almost always do.) so if managers are lost on who to pick with some of the big names gone here are some people I think could be a good choice to draft.

JRL : JRL probably should've started last year, he's a strong player that regularly has had success in tours the past couple of years against even top tier players. I think managers might be scared of his previous snake performance where he went 2-5, but that was when he was very fresh to DOU and really shouldn't have been starting in my opinion. Since last snake JRL has gotten a lot more consistent, fixed his problem of making a few questionable plays per game and clearly has shown a better understanding for DOU more. Plus he has the experience of being in this type of tour before and knowing what it takes which I think is pretty big.

Toxigen : I've had the pleasure of teaming with Toxigen where I was pleasantly surprised by him. Toxigen is a player who has been around a while, his individual tours results while nothing too impressive is solid and his team tour performance and actual play which I put more stock into is quite good as well. He is someone who will try and is someone whose metagame knowledge is quite good and he's someone who listens, knows how to prep pretty well, and is fun to bounce ideas off of for fine tuning the right team for his opponent. While he isn't a top tier player he could be a good cheaper starting option as someone who has the potential to do quite well and can hold their own, I'd rank him slightly above some of the people who played last year.

Crunchman : Crunchman is a meme, but unfortunately he does kind of know how to play. Skill wise Crunchman has been improving quite fast and has had Memoric helping him quite a bit, his plays are solid and for the most part he has a good understanding of the game. His biggest flaws are going to be his personality (a lot of douers aren't too fond of him though I've heard he's a lot better in team chats and I personally don't think he's that bad anymore.) and the fact that he's never been a part of an official team tour before and I think his prep will be quite lacking. I would only really suggest Crunch as a starter if the dou pool does end up weak and he would need a great support to really hold his own in my opinion, but I think he definitely deserves a bench spot either way. I'd rank him similarly to where Actuarily was last year but quite a bit worse.

dnagerbdager : Dnager is a good tryhard support, while their playing ability is no where near starter quality they will for sure be an amazing support and team presence for any DOUer. A lot of people that teamed with them in dpl called them one of the best teammates they've ever had. Dnager is willing to scout a shit ton and test and really do anything, they have a decent understanding of the meta and can help with teambuilding too making them a valuable asset for any starting douer.

JoeUX9 : I have no idea how good Joe would be in dou as far as I'm aware he's never touched it in his life. He is however a really good VGCer which has translated to success before as we all know. He could be a cool pick for a team to take a chance on but he could also fall hard. He'd obviously need good support and I have no idea what his motivation would look like. He does also have a youtube channel freezai
alternatively if people are interested in the DOU playing field I've made a sheet of all-time DOU records including regular circuit tournaments. it's not entirely up to date with OSDT and Classic yet but it still got a lot of data

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/doubles-ou-hall-of-fame.3631671/#post-9280404
 

Feliburn

is a Community Leaderis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
RU Leader
I wanted to mention some players based more on building and tier knowledge, as a) I don't feel like posting a resume of each player and b) this might show more value to some managers.

Beraldinho
bb skarm
GoldCat
Yourwelcomethanku
Waylaid

This is excluding the obvious picks who have shown they can build in the current meta like pdt, gw, danny, luna, expulso, etc. Probably some other mainers can shout out other ppl that I forgot, but this is the list I had in mind rn.
 

Ampha

"They don’t call me Greed for nothing!"
is a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributor
^ Wanted to second on the first 3 as well since i've had positive experiences w them on recent teamtours as well, all of them are incredible chat presences and Beraldo in specific has been p helpful w teams for our RUWC team
 

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