Triangles - Always a pleasure to work with you. We do not see eye-to-eye always, but you always want what is best and I respect that. I always viewed you as more of a player than a manager type. Your ADV is phenomenal and you were able to help z0mOG at times, which was great, but I know you wish you could have helped in some other tiers a bit more. Do not feel bad. I think you did all we could have asked for and I am excited to see you get back into the ADV field in the near future. Your craftiness is always appreciated. Thank you for picking me and hopefully I did not drive you too crazy.
PDC - You have been one of my friends on here for over five years now and I have considered myself sorta close to you IRL for a few years now, too. I know you are a good guy and your presence is always one I appreciate. With that said, you probably should not have managed this SPL. I do not know if you could have predicted your inactive stint, but I think your perception of the playerbase was not where it needed to be at times and I know you wish you could have been more present down the stretch. I appreciate your input always still and I think you were valuable in ADV through ORAS at points, but we never really had a true leading "manager" and at times that did hurt. I also disagree with your philosophy when it comes to antagonizing people in the chat, but that's neither here nor there. You are a creature of your habits and so am I. I do hope that one day you give it another full-on try to play with the best players out there, but the more time elapses the less likely that seems. Whatever happens, good luck bro.
crayon pop - I was actually pretty upset with you after the auction when we got into a big disagreement and I still think we do not see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but you clearly were a valuable member of our team. Your DPP expertise will never go unnoticed. Your teams are perhaps second-to-none and your playerbase knowledge put us in an advantageous position time after time. I wish you would commit fully to playing a big official tour at some point, but seeing as that is probably not in the cards, it has been fun man. It was a pleasure seeing what you did to our budget DPP slot and I hope you actually do quit this time if you want to.
Coconut - Always a pleasure to have you around. I have been through a lot recently, so sometimes it's hard for me to know when to shut the fuck up and you were always there to put me in my place. Respect for that, but also for your input throughout the season and general chat presence. I hope we get to team up once more at some point in the near future.
obii - I think your days slaving over discord and putting in countless hours to team tours are numbered, but I still appreciate that you stuck it out for this tournament, even if you only played once. You are one of the people I respect the most on here and teaming with you over the years has been a pleasure. I think you genuinely can play this game, by the way. I do not really give a shit what people say. If you had a larger sample size, it would at least get closer to even than it is now. Anyway, thanks for sticking around and being a rock when we needed you in the chat at points. Thanks for keeping it real at other points, too. Hope everything goes well for you moving forward.
Sacri' - You are a great teammate and an even better player. In the team chat, you have been a pleasure and it has been fun working with you. I think you are one of the top SS players and I hope that shows moving forward even more than it already has. It is clear that if you set your mind to the game and do not get distracted by external bullshit, then you will reach your goals over time. I am excited to see if you will evolve into the next big named French player that stands out in the tournament crowd. I think the trajectory is there, but you have to prove some consistency moving forward. I know you can do it, so good luck. With all of this said, I do think that you tend to take things too personally. Do not take this as criticism so much as friendly advice. Over the last few weeks, it seemed like a huge struggle for you whenever things did not go our way. I know what it feels like when you invest so much into something largely outside of your control and it does not go your way. It is a shitty feeling and it makes you want to state your grievances, but sometimes it's best to just let it rest and stay confident in what is happening in the future. The past is the past. You cannot change it, unfortunately. People are going to try to antagonize/bait you more and more if this happens. Our community is vicious like this. Do not give in and do not even bother responding. It will minimize itself and believe me when I say you will feel less stressed as a result of this over times. I really do enjoy seeing you play and I do not want to see the negativity ruin your experience or cut your time playing short, so I hope that the future brings you good fortune and more positives overall.
ggggd - I did not know you too well before this tournament, but I knew you were solid and z0mOG spoke highly of you previously. Well, it turns out he was right. You were perhaps the most dominant player this tournament. Your gameplay was nearly mistake free and you went above-and-beyond whenever necessary in order to finish each week with your game in the win column. I am excited to see if you are able to have that success translate to OU in tournaments such as WCOP. Keep on going and I bet that you will make an even bigger name for yourself in the future. I hope we can team again sometime soon.
z0mOG - I think we ended this year on a lot better of a note than last year. I am glad you got to play ADV. I do not really care if people try to discredit your record or even what your record was specifically. You put in a ton of time and effort and I respect that a ton as a fellow competitor. We will never agree on a ton of philosophical stuff about Smogon, but it was a pleasure to team with you and I am glad that we both had positive campaigns this time around. It was weird at first to be on your team again as I did not truly expect us to get you or you to be 3k, but I always knew you would easily be worth that amount. I think it is safe to say you proved that and so much more. Thanks for everything and I hope you stick around. Looking forward to another East vs West showdown if that is in the cards.
Eo Ut Mortus - In our seventh official team tournament together, we finally made the playoffs. It is a shame that we were not able to bring home a trophy, but I just do not think our group was consistent enough for that to be too likely at the end of the day. As always, it was a pleasure to team with you. I enjoyed grinding out games with you each week besides 1-2 weeks when I was burning out. I think we both adjusted a ton to things over the course of the season. While I know you are probably not happy with your record, I think you played well and I also think you had a pretty large impact on the shaping of the early SS metagame. I am excited to see your future creations and performances. I wish that the season did not end on such a negative note for you and I am sorry if the fallout from your last game ruffled any feathers, but please know that I and everyone else in our chat has the utmost respect for you. I have no clue if we will team again, but I do hope that one day you can get a trophy. You deserve it more than anyone else on this site.
Tman - I know it started rough, but you turned it around so well. It is always hard to be a DOU player in tournaments that are predominantly singles, but you always crush it. I love teaming with you and talking with you. Thanks so much for everything and I hope we can build on this and win a tour together sometime, if you do come back to doubles. If not, best regards bro.
soulgazer - Never teamed with you before somehow, but glad I got to here. You had some really good games and some less stellar moments, but the trade was easily worthwhile. I am sorry if tensions were high at points, but that was just the team we had and I do not think much was changing that given the group we had. I hope you at least had a positive experience overall.
shawyu 1313 - You were easily one of my favorite teammates. You did whatever you could to help out in just about every tier you knew. I know DPP was not your main tier and it very much still is not. The lack of metagame knowledge eventually showed with time and your sample size growing larger, but you still put up a neutral record and that is something to be proud of in your debut. I hope you get a chance to play a tier you are better at like BW in the future. Speaking of the future, managers should really pick you up. You work hard and you are always determined to make an impact. I am so glad we did despite my initial questions with regards to picking you as a substitute. Thanks for everything and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for you on here.
Updated Kanto - You drive me crazy sometimes, but overall I like how you play the game and I am always excited to see how you pilot the teams you use. I do not have the balls you do on a lot of levels and seeing players with different perspectives helps me grow and branch out myself, which is always cool. I am sorry the season did not go according to plan for you, but at least we kept the playoff streak alive and you won a decent amount considering how packed your schedule was.
HML am - 3k RBY player from the UK with 0 SPL experience? The expectations were insanely low, but you proved that you could battle with the best in the field. Your record is far from indicative of your play, in my eyes. You could have just as easily been positive, if not neutral. You played a solid season. Yes, there were periodic blunders, but overall you were someone I was excited to see go into battle for us each week. I do not like RBY at all, but I hope you find your footing elsewhere and keep up the positives moving forward. I know you have a ridiculously high ceiling as a player and I also think you are just getting started. Also, it was always fun talking to you about other things like b99. Keep up the good work all around bro.
Garay oak - We have seen better days together, but you managed to put up a respectable performance considering how unfortunate you got and your busy schedule clashing with your desire to take up a metagame that was essentially foreign to you coming into the tournament. The fact of the matter is that you can play with competent OU players and this performance showed that, but sometimes the wins do not come easily in this game and that is ok. I hope we can team together in the future if your activity returns to normal and if not it has been a pleasure over the last couple of years. Your attitude and work ethic are superb. Thanks so much for everything.
Mr.E - You are a genuinely good player and I do not know GSC well enough to discuss your team choices, but it seemed like you grew better at working with teammates as the season spanned on. It has been a fine experience teaming with you twice now in terms of in-chat interactions, too. You have been nice to me personally a majority of the time and I hope you can say the same for me. I do take some personal issue with your mindset though. I think you need to stop worrying so much about things that are out of your control man. I know that it is easy for someone who has been more fortunate than you over the years to say that, but the fact of the matter is that you cannot control what other people say, you cannot control what the RNG does, and you cannot control the community as a whole, no matter how annoying or wrong the majority of the community may be at times. I know that this community is garbage sometimes. I know that a lot of the people in the chat act like they are that bully who peaked in middle school and cannot think of any other ways to express their frustrations than to express it in the chatroom. You can control how you respond to people who are acting this way towards you -- ignore them and then they will stop because they are not provoking the angry reaction they desire. You can control how you approach the games you play -- maximize your chances of winning instead of dwelling on instances of luck (you actually did a very good job at doing this later on in the regular season, which I personally commend you for). Take everything life gives you and make the absolute most of it. I want to see you succeed and be happy given all I have heard, but I cannot help but instinctually feel that you are not doing yourself favors and you are victimizing yourself a bit more than necessary (this is not me saying you are not a victim so much as me saying that there is more to situations than being a victim/offender). I wish you the best and I hope that you can turn things around on here!
Descending - You are a really nice guy. I know you are busy and on the quiet side, but I appreciated your input whenever possible. It is cool to see you play so many formats at a competitive level. I hope our paths cross again sometime soon and I look forward to seeing your run in tournaments like OST!
Jordy - You are a good friend and clearly a capable builder. I do not think your playing is there quite yet, but it will be there in the very near future and you have a fantastic sense of the metagame. Your influence went a long way at times, but at other times it did not work as our players had alternative preferences or comfort zones. This is ok though. You were a welcome addition and I am glad we got you. I hope you get more opportunities in the future as you deserve them without a doubt. Keep on contributing, building, and playing!
Leftiez - Thanks for beating John bro. I am sorry things did not work out. I hope IRL is going well, take care bro.
Jirachee - You had the audacity to sign-up again and then dip after things went south during the first week without any warning. You even started basic preparations for the next week on Sunday and then suddenly disappeared, leaving us with no clue what to expect. You made us throw a completely inexperienced substitute into DPP on virtually no notice. He actually went even, too, but if we were able to prepare we could have not only done better in the tier, but positioned ourselves with a more balanced and proven line-up going into the playoffs. This is the second time you essentially leave mid-tour without much warning, too. I hope you do not come back to this game at this point as you are basically a living, breathing false advertisement. I like you when you are around, but this type of thing is not acceptable and was a huge burden to our team and the dozen+ people who signed up, dedicated their time/effort, and wanted to win with the team we had. Think before you act in the future.