I'll start this post by apologizing to the Nagas and congratulating you guys on a great performance. I talked to Sacri a bit after his game and I apologized to him already, and despite genuinely not trying to bait or troll anyone on your team during that whole situation I reckon it did seem like that was my intention and I was way out of line regardless, and for that I am truly sorry. You guys were excellent opponents, managed to come back from a very rough start in this series and played all games at a very high level, so congratulations again on a very strong season.
Before starting individual shoutouts I'd like to apologize to my team as well for a very below average performance from me and for not being nearly as active as I intended to throughout this tournament. I've been busier than ever with college, general irl stuff and Grand Slam and that really reflected on my activity and preparation. Being picked 6 rounds sooner compared to last year really shows how much you guys expected from me and I'm very sorry I wasn't able to put up results as you guys wanted, or just be a better teammate in general. You guys never held any of this against me so thank you for that, and thanks for carrying me to another team tournament win.
Shoutouts:
obii had to start with you. I'm not gonna lie, it feels super weird writing you a shoutout because we've been talking to each other on a daily basis for so long now due to SPL that I feel like you're a brother to me at this point. I could spend a bunch of lines here talking about what makes you such a chill guy to talk to, or a great manager, or a great player, but I don't see the point of that when you already know how much I appreciate having you around. I feel like we just clicked at some point and we're always on the same page when talking to each other. Talking about anything with you is always fun. Building, discussing games, talking about rl shit, you name it. You crack me up, you make me confident, you know when I'm joking / trolling, you know when to be serious with me and the respect I have for you is just off the charts. I'm really glad I had the chance to team with you twice this year, not for your managing skills or for winning a trophy together, but for the amazing friendship we grew.
Mounts I really wish you shared this trophy with us because I like you a lot, hope everything's working out for you irl my friend =(
Star I think before the tournament obii told me you were going to be in our team channel and he thought I'd have a problem with you. I don't know where he got that from because I don't think we had interacted before Snake, but man you're such a nice guy and a great presence in a team environment. Actually you're not really nice you're kind of a dick but you were with us from the very beginning and your help was super important in getting us this trophy. I feel like we share so much of the same toxic humor and I very much enjoyed talking to you and clapping you in that bo21 as well.
Ojama kingpin and kingpin jr finally with a trophy. I could be trolling you a lot here because that's just how we interact with each other 24/7, but I don't really feel like it right now. Watching your game vs Kanto in Finals, man you just keep impressing me. Players like you, rey, undisputed, august, who I always hoped I'd be on the same level since I watched you guys in 2012, have my utmost respect, and you're the only one who's been able to keep up being one of the best players on the site throughout this whole time. I admire you a lot as a player, and as a person we just tune together so well. You're mad funny, insanely good at the game and super fucking bitchy. I love it. You truly bring out the chucky pancamo in the depressed Brazilian burger that I am bro, thanks for picking all my winning teams ;)
Biosci BAgs of money. I remember when I started playing I saw some names in SPL threads repeatedly and yours and Bowman's were 2 of them. For someone to be at the top during all this time means you're truly an excellent player, and I'm so glad I had the chance to team with you for the first time because you're definitely the most reliable Doubles player out there. Thanks for being one of the most chill guys to talk to in calls and interact with as well. Hope you and Sogeking have a good time irl oo
Pak man PAKU I didn't know you before this tournament and reading your chat legit made me feel bad every week. No one came close to impressing me as much as you did throughout Snake. The amount of effort you put into each team of yours and how carefully you explained your thought process behind them and how well you played your games... dude you're such an amazing player and teammate. Your performance is exactly what every manager dreams they'll get from all their players. Such an active, fun presence to have in the channel too, I'm very lucky to have had the opportunity to team with you.
Paycard you're a quiet guy but I was honestly very excited about having you play Ubers after that first win and then when leru screenshotted your ladder ranking for us. Man you're dangerous. I'm not sure if this was your first team tour but you sure earned my respect as a player, wish we had interacted more because I know you're a very nice guy as well.
Posho my friend Poshito... this was definitely not your best tournament but don't beat yourself over it. You're honestly such a nice presence to have around and watching you and Ojama interact made me laugh so many times throughout this tour that I loved teaming with you for the first time. I know we've had our disagreements in the past due to me lucking the shit out of you and gatekeeping you out of Tour playoffs, and the reason why I'm bringing this up is because I still remember how you thoroughly outplayed me that particular game and many times before. I really admire you as a player and I think you'll very soon be dominating the tournament scene again if you want to. It's lovely to be around you, your kindness makes my losses feel less bad and my wins feel a lot better. :3
RedEmption bro the first moment we really came together as a team was watching you play your NU Open series and I don't think I'll ever forget that LMAO. I watched most of your OLT and Snake matches and you sure had some great moments in both these tournaments. You were pretty quiet for the most part but when I did catch your messages they felt so genuine and I truly appreciated the feedback after my games, even if just a simple message. I remember after playing vs Nintendi you dropped this
[8:08 PM] RedEmption: elodin played it
[8:08 PM] RedEmption: so well
I know it sounds like I'm making a big deal out of it, but man even a simple message like that made me super happy. Thank you and keep up the good work.
suapah bro no lie most of the time you tagged me I didn't even understand what you were saying. At one point you obii and Pak had this inside joke of saying I had a vecro wallet that I still don't understand. Looking back at it I have no fucking clue what the fuck you guys were even talking about
[7:30 PM] obii: elodin wears crocs and shorts below the knees
[7:30 PM] suapah: LMAOOO
[7:30 PM] suapah: damn bro
[7:30 PM] obii: he tucks in polos
[7:30 PM] suapah: let em know obii
[12:01 AM] suapah: elodin the type of guy to shake hands after a first date
[11:49 PM] suapah: @ obii elodin the type of guy to walk out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his head
[11:49 PM] obii: LMAO
[11:49 PM] obii: his head
[10:31 PM] ALLAHU PAKBAR: @ chucky pancamo has a Velcro wallet
This honestly feels pretty autistic so I guess it fits you perfectly. You're like the only guy who was always willing to call and talk dumb shit. Man doing everything with you was always dumb as fuck actually. Testing, discussing teams, talking... my god it was fun too. I loved talking to you man, truly one of the guys I got along with the most for sure. You were super active in chat and also helped everyone get their teams and ideas flowing as well. Love you bro.
talkingtree you're HEAT. Man I wasn't keeping up with our Doubles prep at all, then I remember checking the Doubles channel at one point and I was so impressed with what I saw. You put in so much effort into this tournament and our Doubles performance was excellent, a lot thanks to you. Looking back at it, we had such diversity and creativity in our builds compared to other teams, but such a consistent performance as well. You and Biosci were such a huge part in getting this trophy, congratulations on the amazing season bro.
Ajna best Snake player of all time, our first and our last win. RU is by far the tier I found the hardest to understand and play when I was in Slam and the performance you had in this tournament was truly exceptional, super impressive to me. I knew our low tiers core would carry us to this trophy from the first moment I saw you play, and you sure came through. Gz on the amazing season and go fuck yourself. Oh yea you pussied out of using Jolteon too fucking bitch.
Leru "Leru might be the only clean german on the site rn" - German player, 2 weeks ago. You were also one of the guys with a super solid performance that helped carry us to this trophy, so congratulations my dude. Also one of the goons who'd always be in chat ready to talk dumb shit for hours oml. When you and obii were tagging me over my argument with Kris telling me to not get banned that shit cracked me up so much. Thanks for repeatedly reminding me that my opponents are not my sparring partners too LMAO. What a great tournament you had, just PLEASE work on your timer management because God knows I'll die if I see that shit come down to 5 seconds one more time.
Tangelo my man, you're too fire. I don't know why you have this obsession with dogshit Pokémon but I believe our duo worked out pretty well throughout the season and we managed to have decent results all things considered. Your view of the meta is so fun and innovative that I wish we found the opportunities to bring all those Pokémon we discussed in our chat. That fire Haunter, the fire Oricorio, Shiftry... oml. We did bust out a bunch of shit that became meta shortly after though. Like week 1 you already knew Comfey and Exeggutor-Alola were good as fuck, week 2 you knew SD Synthesis Torterra was also super fire and these Pokémon / trends all became pretty popular later in Snake / Slam. Building and prepping with you, obii and suapah was always so fun too because no matter what we did we'd always only agree on 1 thing: the teams we ended up with were complete dogshit. Maybe dogshit teams are the wave bro idk. Anyway, you're one of the guys I liked talking to the most and I don't think anyone else could win a game with Raichu or Defog SR Aero with triple Flying-types on a team.
ramboss the goat himself, wish you were more active in our chat but good job on the win you got and on this trophy too.
teal6 one more great tournament from you and for sure one of the nicest guys around. Talking to you is always a pleasure and you sure deviated A LOT from our team environment filled with toxic motherfuckers like Ajna, Ojama and starmaster. My god our team channel was insanely cancer and despite Ojama accusing you of being fake nice the whole time I know that you're genuinely a great guy. Mad funny too, some of the most iconic moments this season came from you, like your "Autism" pic and your loss to Spinarak oml. Wish you all the best in all future endeavors both irl and in Pokémon my friend.
Zesty43 I love the fact that you joined our team channel and fully dedicated yourself as if you were in the race for the trophy with the rest of us. You were always willing to give us any team you came up with, always an active presence in the chat and has a very creative take on the Ubers meta. You had an excellent tournament and this trophy is as much ours as it is yours. Thank you so much for your help and for genuinely being a part of this team.
ABR hanging out with you for Finals confirmed what I always claimed about you: you're definitely Smogon's greatest troll. And bro when we collided before playoffs I think we lost a bit of our mutual trolling relationship for a second there and took it too far. I'm glad we're on good terms now and I'm happy to publicize our peace here (go fuck yourself). You had 12k messages in 1 week of being in the chat with us which is crazy to think of and your help across the board was super valuable, coming up with most of the OU teams we used in Finals and even with the main core I ended up using and it worked out super well. I told you this before but I'll say it again: being with you for this 1 week made me realize why US East always wins and why your teams are always successful.
To the people outside the team always willing to help me:
lax Pearl TDK for helping me test and choose my team for Finals. Serpents can confirm how long it took for me to feel confident in what I was bringing and you guys helped me a lot with that.
Finchinator for building the team I ended up using and for helping me a lot with testing and preparing.
Tricking for coming up with the fire squad I was gonna bring originally, but now I'm for sure keeping for SPL.
Ciele Eo Ut Mortus Lavos z0mOG Earthworm for always cheering me on and being very good friends. Ciele particularly, you're the one guy who always had faith in me in both this tournament and Slam and I hope one day I can play in Finals of an individual just to keep up my end of our agreement.
SPACE FORCE meeps for being the goat gasser and best player on the site right next to me.
PttP for always tagging me after my wins and praising me with :poggers:, you make me very happy my friend. My friends from Brazil chat, thanks for always being there for me.
Trusting obii to do an in-depth "yo we lose" compilation because I was so wrong. As a great man once said:
[10:58 PM] NEEDS ICE RESISTS: yo we won
and I couldn't be happier.