Smogon Premier League 8 - Week 8 Overview

Awooooo: Pearl & rozes Interview

Coming into this season, there was a lot of comments thrown around regarding the Wolfpack's draft. Can you comment on your mindset/plan going into the draft as well as how the draft eventually turned out (analysing it with current insight)? Do you think you guys were at fault for picking up so many players?

Pearl

First of all, I'd like to thank you for giving me the chance to do this! I truly appreciate what you've been doing, since SPL is, in my opinion, one of the best things Smogon has to give to people who work hard to receive recognition, and sharing it with newer players might be a good way of motivating them to do better. With that said, this is actually a topic I've discussed with my own players in the past. Going into the draft, our plan featured an interesting combination of seasoned veterans in Astamatitos and Fear, and a lot of unproven players, with the biggest question marks to outsiders probably being Void, Snowy., and Tony. However, there was one single trait we searched for in all of our future players: maturity. I know that there are many abrasive players that still get bought every year due to their sheer talent, but both rozes and I agreed that we'd rather have a good time instead of spending the whole season trying to keep egos from clashing. In the end, this proved to be vital, since it allowed us to bounce back from a very rocky start, as aside from Oliver PROBLEMS, everyone else stayed on their toes and kept giving it their all. However, there are obviously some things I would've done differently: for starters, I would've invested money on an active Ubers player instead of gambling on a known player with shaky activity. Besides that, I think it would've been beneficial if we drafted a big name to hold the SM OU fort. Two of the people I had in mind for that before the draft were Poek (who's currently 6-2) and PDC (who's also 6-2). As for the whopping number of people we've drafted, I regret nothing about it, since literally everyone on the team has contributed to our success, even if they haven't received the chance to prove it on the battlefield. All in all, between the successful campaign post Week 2 and the many hilarious moments we've shared together, it's safe to say that I'm very pleased with how our draft turned out.

rozes

Well, going into auction we had a very set-in-mind plan on who we waned in terms of first pick, second pick, etc for most tiers. Joey + FV also gave their thoughts on who they thought we should pick up, and in the end we had a very solid gameplan that ended with the draft going the way we wanted to. Our main aim was to basically get Asta as soon as possible, then kind of center the draft around him, picking up players like Fear who we knew would work well with him.

Looking back at it, I think it worked out pretty well for us. There were obviously some things I would do differently, like spending a lot of money on certain slots and not up bidding players to run other teams out of money, and pick up players that could have helped out. At the end of the day though I think our roster turned out very solid, and I really wouldn't change too much. And as for the comments that say we drafted to many players, I don't really get why that's considered such a bad thing. We have a lot of players that work well together and support each other, and in the end we are as close if not closer than a lot of other teams. Basically everyone on the team has high activity, and in the end we are all going towards the same goals, so it works.

You're both one of the most "in-tune" managers out there. Can you describe the whole process of starting off badly and coming back to sitting in a favorable position right now (as of the end of Week 8)? What do you think were the biggest reasons for such an impressive turnaround? Can you comment on your team's current scenario as well as mood and overall demeanor?

Pearl

Although I often take pride in my ability to deal with people, even under dire circumstances, I won't deny that I was pretty shaken after the first two weeks. Don't get me wrong; I knew that our team had potential to do better than it did in the first two weeks of SPL (in fact, I still believe that our Week 1 loss was mostly due to external factors, but there's no point in dwelling on that anymore), but it's still complicated to start SPL off with two big defeats. I'd say that the most important factor behind our comeback was, as I've previously mentioned, the fact that out of 20+ people, only one of them actually lost motivation. Pretty much everyone stayed cheerful and kept on testing and sharing ideas for their games, which allowed us to barely stay afloat until the end of Week 4. With that said, midseason was definitely the turning point for the Wifi Wolfpack. By selling back our two inactive players and trading Tokyo Tom to the Circus Maximum Tigers, we had just enough credits to patch up most of our holes while also reinforcing some of our stronger points with the additions of Vinc2612 and Fiend. With a refreshed squad and a slightly less punishing schedule post Week 5, the team managed to "bounce back like Kyle Zamrock", as I affectionately like to say. As for our current situation, all I have to say is that it's great to be in control of our chances to make playoffs, and everyone on the team is extremely motivated to prove their worth in this last week of the regular season, so assuming that our attitude carries on to our performance, expect some great games from the Wifi Wolfpack! As a side note, I'd just like to add that Pokemon is far from being the only thing that the people in our team talk about; but I'll just let our Discord server talk for me on this one.

rozes

We had probably one of the worst starts imaginable (0-2-0 and down 0-4) with not much looking good for us in the following weeks. However, we kept doing our best, everyone on the team kind of hit this rhythm and found what works best for them, and we haven't dropped a series since. Everyone kind of found their pace and how they want to approach the weekly matchup, and that motivated everyone else once we started winning. We also have gotten a lot closer since then, and it's probably been the most fun I've had, whether we have been winning or losing, just to be a part of this great team. Well, right now the situation is about the same we've been dealing with every week; we need to win or we are out. Since our bad start we've basically been on the brink of elimination most weeks where a loss would tank our season, so our motivation has always been the same.

When we interview managers for our SPL recaps, we like to get some background information on them so that our readers can have some insight on the people running our teams. Both of you are extremely well known within your communities as well as on Smogon as a whole, but for those who aren't aware, we'd like you guys to share anything that can help us know you better, in regards to your personalities outside of Pokémon as well as some information about yourselves as battlers and SPL managers.

Pearl

As a wise Pokemon mastermind once said: "I have absolutely no idea who you are, but you know who I am." Jokes aside, I'm someone who's active across many different parts of Smogon, but I'd say that UU is probably my main area of interest, ever since I started playing it back when ORAS rolled around. As far as tournaments go, I actually don't have any big individual accomplishments attached to my name, with my sole claim to fame as a player being a 9-10 record across two SPLs. I do have some bright moments such as making Top 8 of the most recent RU Open or having the second highest number of points in BW OU (behind BKC) during Smogon Tour 21, but that's pretty much nothing in comparison to the repertoire of most "known" names. Although some people don't even know that I actually play Pokemon, the truth is that I legitimately like this game and am always looking to improve as an individual player, even if it's not through blindly joining every single tournament. With that said, maybe this will be a good year for me? We'll see eventually. That aside, I'd say that what I'm mostly known for are my contributions to the UU and RU forums and my infinite archive of memes made for the sole purpose of racking up mad likes on this website. There are also my positions as an SPL manager and as a WCoP captain, but those sort of go without saying here. As for personal tastes, my favorite Pokemon of all time is Walrein, and I don't really have a favorite tier ever since I got burned out of DPP UU. Right now I'm enjoying everything SM related, but after I get tired I'll probably fall back on BW OU and UU metagames in general. To conclude this segment, I'd just like to say that I see myself as a very approachable person (a vast majority of the time), so feel free to contact me if you ever feel like I'll be able to help you out with anything.

rozes

Well I'm mainly a NU player if you look at my Smogon resume so to speak. I started playing competitive pokemon around SPL 6, when an irl friend showed me the forums and I found my way to SPL and kind of realized that it would be a lot of fun to play in it eventually; that's when I made it my goal to get drafted in SPL eventually. I kind of stuck to lower tiers and eventually settled with NU when Cased drafted me in NUPL as kind of a pity buy, and after blunder quit I had to start in BW1 NU. I had fun and sort of stuck with the community after that and picked up on ORAS NU starting in like April and May, eventually getting voiced in the NU room in July.

Since then I got drafted for NU in SPL7 and played in WCoP for Team US West, playing ORAS in group stages and BW in playoffs. I was also recently promoted to NU Tier Leader with the departure of ryan, and that about sums up what I do competitive wise. I also contribute to Smogon's Twitch and host tournaments like SmogTour and the recent OU Circuit.

In terms of playing I like basically every generation but RBY since I've never really gotten the hang of it. But right now my favorite tiers to play are ADV OU and ORAS NU, since I've had a lot of fun playing the tiers and feel the most comfortable in them. My favorite Pokemon is Umbreon because I fell in love with shiny Umbreon once I saw it the first time.

Week 8 was set to be a huge week for the Wolfpack, going up against a direct competitor when taking into account potential playoff positions. Compared to other weeks, how did your roles change (if they did at all)? Did the team's preparation change at all? On the same note, can you comment on the impact the midseason pickups had in this late postseason run?

Pearl

For what it's worth, I feel like the Wolfpack's structure didn't change at all for that particular week, considering that we've been working hard during every single week. Personally, I believe that lately I've been slowing down a little when it comes to supporting my players with their Pokemon endeavors, not due to a lack of interest, but because I've also been preparing my games for some individual tournaments, which gives me less time and patience for test games. However, I still discuss possible team choices and share ideas with my players, with my biggest contributes being in BW OU and SM OU. As for our midseason pickups, they've been doing an amazing job! As I've said before, pre-midseason Wolfpack was in desperate need of something that would give the players the needed push to actually close off weeks on a positive note rather than just tying them every time, and all of our new additions contributed to that. In spite of the fact that neither of the games he has played so far went his way, Freestylerking is a pretty laid-back person with many innovative ideas (although I'm still a little sad that neither Porygon2 nor Kartana worked out the way we expected them to), and I think he's going to grow into a fine player if he starts getting more involved with the Smogon community. The Trap God is one of the few Ubers players that tried out for the team originally, and although I didn't draft him at first, I remember being pretty impressed with his level of play and creativity. With that said, after my original Ubers player quit on me, I knew just who I wanted to take over the slot. Even though his record isn't the best at the moment, I can safely say that I have absolutely no regrets regarding my choice (note: this might or might not be a lie based on the meme potential that exists within Fireburn's PS! custom avatar). Fiend is probably the one I've talked with the least to out of our players, but he's as reliable as helpers go, since the LC chat is always filled up with him and Sken sharing ideas every time I look at it. As for Vinc2612, the sole man keeping the Ruiners from collapsing (that is, until they acquired Papa Lazarus Long), I'm truly glad that we managed to salvage his SPL experience halfway through, and he's been extremely supportive in spite of the fact that we don't really have any place for him in the player lineup.

rozes

Well, I think every week has been very important and close for us since we started in such a bad position. I think this week (week 9) is the first week we aren't playing someone higher than us in standings since the Classiest in week 5. Everyone's role has basically remained the same though, since we really found our groove from week 3 onwards with everyone knowing where they need to help out and how they need to prep. In terms of midseason pickups, they have all been really helpful in terms of the tiers they play in: Fiend helping Sken in LC, Vinc helping in BW and ADV, Freestylerking in OU and Ubers, and The Trap God for picking up the Ubers mantle and keeping his chin up despite shitty luck almost every week...

Mazar Interview

You've had somewhat of a mixed journey throughout past editions of SPL. How was the process of getting back into SPL and the tournament community as a whole following your rough past in previous iterations of the tournament? Can you give us some insight into your mindset as well as your overall demeanor going into SPL 8 as well as what has changed throughout these 8 weeks?

Honestly I did not expect to get drafted this SPL. Not only did I have a pretty rough first SPL season one year before, I also felt quite rusty myself, as I took a break from mons and came back for the new generation. I was planned to be working in a supportive role, but somehow I did quite well pre-season, which gave me the opportunity to start in Week 1; and although losing to stall was a pretty hard experience, I think it made me stronger, which led to my first SPL-win ever against PDC in my 4th try and took a lot of pressure off me. I generally think that this game was the key for an open mind for the rest of the season and helped me and my team especially, which was a high priority for myself.

You've been extremely successful this season. Most of it has come from learning a new generation of OU seemlessly as well as mastering Ubers in just as little time. Can you comment on those processes as well as your opinions on both metagames? Why did the shift onto Ubers happen? Do you have any previous history in the tier?

I always liked the Ubers community just because of the number of good newcomers it produces, and also because it always had pretty edgy players, which I dislike but somehow still enjoy. Ubers certainly is where my favorite games following RU were during my Grand Slam run in 2015. So I signed up for Seasonals and at first only played teams from other people as well as Edgar's. When Edgar lost to Trap God, he told my manager to let me play in Ubers, as I had had a good seasonal run so far. Although feeling a bit unsure, because Level 56 is consistently one of the best players in Ubers, I think I gave him quite a good run for his money. And the week after I got another surprising win against Gunner Rohan, which was pretty cool, because it not only helped my team to get away with 3 points out of 2 important weeks but also improved my overall SPL record hehe.

The Tigers are one of the most, if not the most, diverse teams in all of SPL. With "older" players like McMeghan, Tamahome and Edgar and newer faces in Eternal Spirit, p2, Nintendi (just to name a few), most feel like your squad is a mixed bag of pieces. Can you give us some words about that dynamic as well as your teammates and outline the general scenario within the Tigers during these 8 weeks? Do you have any closer friends within the group itself? Who have you been impressed with the most?

The Tigers are actually a fantastic team. Not only we have veterans like Jabba, McMeghan, and Tamahome as well as esteemed RU Tier Leader atomicllamas, we also have some fresh blood in Nintendi, who might be the youngest SPL player this year. I really liked preparing with him the first weeks, although my ORAS is pretty bad, because I—thank god—missed the last stage of the metagame; I saw a lot of myself in him and I think if he wants to he can become an impressive player in the future. Before his game vs Genesis7 he posted his teamm and McMeghan thought the Choice move on Magnezone was not necessary, so I suggested Chople Zone, while Tama wanted AVZone, which wasn't really a thing in Gen 6; and although the team was pretty weak to Lopunny he picked the AV and Zone lived a hit vs Genesis's Hydreigon. That was probably one of the funniest moments this SPL. Tamahome and McMeghan in general impress me the most. They both support our old gens so much and can read their opponents, their playstyles, and their habits like a book. They were totally worth their price. MajorBowman aka the guy that visits the whole world during one SPL also is someone that really brought some openness into the team when he posted pics when he was drunk in the conversation; together with the Mastermind behind him, miltankmilk, he was a really cool pick for our Doubles slot. Jabba, who always doubts himself, tennisace, who seems to only be online on Sundays, Golden Gyarados, who is just too unlucky despite being a god in RBY preparation, DeepBlueC, who is a huge prospect in DPP, and Zebraiken and OP, who are a congenial duo I really like, they work together, and despite being quite unlucky at start OP figured out how he could improve his win percentage. It also was pretty cool that Zebraiken as a former TD got to know me from another perspective. Giara had a rough individual SPL; still, I think "Gignac," like I call him, is a fantastic player who just couldn't show what he did past years. Knowing the lack of GSC players I was actually really happy when I saw I got drafted into a team with him. I hope he will have his moments in the remainder of SPL.

In midseason we got memelord Tokyo Thomas, who is one of the funniest guys I've ever met. I mean, he's not even Japanese, but Chinese, and his name is not even Thomas lol. I like him a lot; he even said sorry to me personally after he lost to LuckOverSkill because I wanted to at least get one win over Pearl's Wolfpack, but Tokyo Tom wanted to play it over me—what a nice person <3. And finally our OU core that definitely overshadowed a lot of other teams. Ranked #10 in Power Ranking, Steve Angello, p2, and Eternal Spirit showed everyone how good our SM OU is, and Eternal Spirit, who builds a ton of teams every week, and p2, who doesn't seem like a newcomer at all, have good builds and know what to do against their opponents. I like building with Steve for his OU matches, and although he always has some weird ideas, I saw that they are working and adapted to them. I mean, he is the reason I got into SPL this year, so I can't be mad at him using an absolute trash autolose-versus-standard team against thunderblunder777. With Ginku completing the Mahlzeit-group on Discord, who feels like a member of our team looking at how much he's involved in smalltalk and general talk, and Century Express completing the group of Brazilians, we are a cool mix of crazy guys that all had a pretty good SPL so far.

Strolling into undefeated territory: reyscarface Interview

You've taken up SM OU like no one else, going undefeated so far (8-0) in this iteration of SPL. You're usually regarded as an old gen player. Can you give us some insight onto that switch into this new generation after being somewhat labelled as unfit in new metagames?

People have this misconception about old gen players a lot. They think old gen players aren't up to par in the new games and that's why they stay away from them. The truth is, most of them don't see a point in trying out the new generations, be it because of the power creep, general laziness, or apathy towards learning all the new stuff, and even burn out. Some of these old gen greats were already extremely active at one point in the community, much like you see the SM players right now, and a lot of them have moved on from Smogon for the most part. If they stay in the community it's mostly to play games here and there, and it translates to only playing the generation they know. Nothing wrong with this, most of them are amazing players. Just don't think they're not skilled enough to be a part of new gens; they just don't bother with it most of the time.

Speaking for me specifically, gen 6 came out at a time in which I was just getting into med school and was a bit busy, and I didn't find the new gen appealing, so I didn't ever bother learning it. Now as a 4th year, SM comes out right before SPL, and with my newfound free time I decided to really delve into it. You could see me playing a ton of games ever since gen 7 was added to Showdown. What separates me from most of the old gen greats is that I had the free time and will to put effort into SM; if they cared enough they'd be doing just as well.

Can you comment on your impressions of SM OU so far, giving us some pointers to illustrate metagame trends as well as highlight some quality Pokemon or styles?

I think SM is in a pretty decent spot right now. The metagame has adapted to most threats so far and it is quite diverse. It might not seem diverse, especially if you jumped into the replay thread of SPL and looked at the replays of one specific week. Trends are shifting extremely fast right now. As an example to illustrate this, let's say someone brought CB Zygarde Week 4 after seeing it used on the ladder. Then suddenly everyone sees CB Zygarde and how strong it is, and everyone uses it Week 5. Then by Week 6 people have found ways to deal with it, so CB Zygarde isn't as good as before. It's the constant variability throughout the weeks that makes SM very high maintenance to keep up with, but it also makes it pretty fun. Another example: Toxapex was regarded as a completely useless mon and only seen on stall. People get creative and decide to build Toxapex bulky offense or balance teams. They destroy everyone in SPL. Then the next week a "young prodigy" brings Psychium Z Volcarona and devours the Toxapex team. Suddenly Toxapex isn't as appealing anymore. Same thing happened with Mega Metagross after Defog Mega Scizor started seeing some usage (shoutouts Omfuga the allseeing). Speaking of Mega Metagross, its good we didn't suspect test it as soon as possible, since the metagame evolved to take care of it for the most part. Pheromosa is still ridiculous though. Also, I haven't been able to form an opinion on Mega Mawile yet, I've played a ton on ladder and so far I'm bordering on okay to decent, but its probably because people haven’t realized how to properly use it yet (myself included). Will be interesting to see it develop.

As for some great mons: CB Zygarde is ridiculously good and one of the reasons Scizor is getting popular. Mega Gyarados is your anti-stall mon (although there's been some stall builds that are significantly weaker to some other stuff in exchange for Mega Gyarados coverage, like ABR's Bulu stall) that can also do great work against bulky teams with the right support; definitely an underappreciated choice. Mega Sableye is also very interesting; the fact that it completely renders very common stuff like Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Tangrowth useless is huge, especially if you expect your opponent to use them. Mamoswine deserves a mention as another mon that deserves more use. Very anti meta right now, provides priority, which every team should probably have, has ability to set up Rocks, and provides a decent offensive check to Tapu Koko.

Much like yourself, the Raiders have also attained an undefeated 8-0 record so far this SPL. How does it feel like, being a part of such a successful group of competitors? How would you describe the mood within the team? Do you have any interesting stories or anecdotes to share about your time with the Raiders?

It feels really good, that's pretty much all there is to it. This is the first time I've been on an SPL team that does so well and let me tell you its great. Literally no worries about making playoffs or anything, just a bunch of silly banter in the chat. It is extremely entertaining. It's also great to know you can count on your teammates to bring wins. Being in a team with great SM players like Anti, TDK, and Nedor has definitely helped me out personally. Lots of teambuilding happening all the time, and even though I have preferred to build my own teams this SPL, it's hard to pass up on so many great teams being made. Watch out for Croven by the way, he always says he's underwhelming, but the dude is a very impressive player regardless of his 0 confidence in himself (lol).

A lot of OU battles have taken place during these 8 weeks. With you being in prime position to analyse old gen as well as SM OU matches, can you maybe pick a couple of your favorite OU matches so far and talk a bit about them? Do you think the level of competition has been the highest it's ever been this SPL?

Steve Angello vs Leftiez

This one mainly because it shows how extremely strong a good lure can be. A completely unexpected Latios set takes Leftiez by surprise and wrecks any chance he had at winning this game. Mega Gyarados making an appearance and being key in weakening Magearna enough for a Water Shuriken cleanup was also fun to see.

Sweepage vs Hector Hard Mode

Perfect usage of a very uncommon set at the time (Scarf Dugtrio) to trap the biggest threat to Sweepage's team makes this game a highlight for me. He played his team like it was built to be played.

And of course if you want high-level gameplay, watch Anti and TDK's games, they've been playing awesome and with very creative builds.

As for old gens, watch all of roscoe's games; seriously he's been playing out of his mind this SPL and it's ridiculous to see someone outplay his opponents as hard as he has been. Phil's games have been entertaining because he really wants to get the trophy for wackiest teams in DPP. For ADV I liked Astamatitos vs undisputed (great usage of an uncommon Flygon set).

Finally, your eighth victory of the season has come at the expense of z0mOG. Similarly, the Raiders also beat the Classiest this week for their 8th win. Can you give us a short synopsis of your game, highlighting some crucial turns and or decisions on your part and providing some insight into your plays in general? If possible, could you also talk about the series as a whole?

About the series, we really didn't pay much attention to the week. Since we had secured our playoff spot, we've been in chill mode for like the past 3 weeks. Instead we have been focusing on watching the relentless bullying that occurs in the channel. I missed a lot of the banter this week because I was stupid busy so yeah :(

As for the game vs z0mOG, I was busy with finals for the first half of the week, and for the second half I was away from home, so I didn’t have time to build a team. This is where having great teammates helps, as TDK gave me a team and I liked it so I decided to use it. Turns out it's quite weak to Assault Vest Tornadus and Volcarona, which I ended up facing, unfortunately.

Anyways, as soon as the battle started I was like "welp, this is a tough matchup." I was sure of two things: I could not let the Volcarona set up at all, and I had to avoid letting Magearna get trapped. A team with Tornadus-T usually leads with it since it's so versatile, so Magearna was an alright lead. I used Flash Cannon instead of Volt Switch going off of what I said before of not letting Magearna get killed by Dugtrio, and I eat up a Fire Blast because I have no good switch-ins for the Volcarona (if I go Chomp and it has Hidden Power Ice then I lose, and I cant go straight Gyara because then my only check is weakened).

After all those shenanigans are done, I manage to put Dugtrio asleep (huge so Magearna stays alive) and kill off Volcarona, leaving Tornadus-T as the only threat. One big turn afterwards was getting the prediction right and hitting the Landorus-T with Hidden Power ice instead of Sleep Powder. Had I put the Landorus-T to sleep predicting a switch, I would have lost the game, as Scizor + Toxapex + Tornadus-T would have put too much pressure on me. Killing off the Landorus-T with Hidden Power Ice meant I could put something to sleep. After that, z0mOG makes a mistake and uses Roost instead of Defog as I put his Scizor to sleep. Defogging would have made my life a pain, since the Tornadus would have reached full HP in no time. After that it was just a matter of using Leech Seed Tangrowth to heal up my Magearna on the Toxapex and spam Volt Switch without giving his Scizor time to wake up and get a Defog off.