As a preamble, I want to say that the level showcased in most games in the finals was acceptable to me, and in some few cases particularly high. I am not trying to say that the games played were flawless because that was not the case, but there were no major mistakes and this is a rarity considering the pressure of finals and the fact that new faces were involved. You can compare them with Semifinals games and see how the level radically improved.
On our side though, moving onto tiebreak, we had two poorly executed games in g2 and g3 of the RBY series and the SS game had some suboptimal turns and mistakes. Luck was on our side. It has not been a constant in the tournament but, in some crucial moments when we were close to elimination, good luck definitely saved us. In my mind, this is not the optimal way to end a tournament because you would ideally want to showcase your best at the end, but it was a very long season and it is hard to maintain the focus until the end. So, I want to congratulate with players from both teams involved, and I can easily say that with a couple of exceptions you all can be very proud of the way you played these games.
As for this experience, I consider it as the (temporary?) end of a journey that started last year. Going into the tournament, I knew I was busy, but I also knew that I could have brought something positive to the team. I also wanted to give some players the chance to continue what we started last year in Raiders, because we ended up as 5th with a great BD, beating both finalists by a large margin, and with some episodes and stuff that did not definitely go our way. That is why I accepted to co-manage again this year. Once again, like it happened last year, we did not start with the optimal lineup, but we had many doubts and difficulties as the tour started. Moreover, luck was not on our side at all for the first couple of weeks. Though, after Week 2's disaster, we started winning and gaining confidence. Maybe we were not as bad as many people (funnily also within the team) thought. We got stronger and stronger week after week. We didn't win any week by a large margin because every week someone kept making some mistakes, having bad luck, sometimes a mix of both things, but we were there and won enough to get to playoffs. This was my first playoffs appearance as a Manager, so definitely something new after two sad 5th places in Snake and SPL. This was Raiza's objective at the beginning of the season, but when you are on the floor you might as well dance, no? I managed to have more free time from semifinals tiebreak onwards and it was great to help some players more closely. I hope you enjoyed playoffs and playing high-stakes games, as for some of you it was the first time. I also hope on a personal note that you take something positive home out of your interactions with me and the other players/helpers, other than the red trophy.
I'll go with some short sentences for each of you, as you have already enjoyed my epic motivational speeches, so let's give something to the general public as well. I will start from those who did not receive the trophy after this journey, but where really important at some crucial points.
fran17 - My first friend on PS. Still here after many adventures. Still 0 trophies because the people I manage with have no balls. THE LEADER.
Kibo - caro bibo, devin asked us to invite you, I was happy to do so and I was happy that you helped us early in the season. Then, you went inactive and we kept winning. Then, you came back, and we were losing finals. Then again, I banned you from the server, and the comeback plan started. (REVERSE) TALISMAN.
bbeeaa &
Niko, thanks a lot for your building help in playoffs and even before. A great part of our SS success is yours. You may sometimes get too passionate about your own builds and about the game, but you do it in a genuine and positive way. I appreciate you two and your help a lot. I believe that you will get what you deserve at some point. THE THROPY DUO.
Serpi, thank you for joining us to help with RBY from the last few weeks onwards. BIHI has already mentioned the importance of your support in his winpost, but I want to remark upon it once again.
MetalGro$$ our fallen hero from last year. Glad you still joined us and contributed with your epic game discussion takes from time to time.
LuckOverSkill
MONNA LUSA
Micaiah
3 GOATS
-Howkings caro Stephen, you were with Raiza, BIHI, and I since the beginning. You sometimes helped with your (right) takes, more often your (wrong) takes helped us define what not to do. Jokes aside, thank you very much for all the time you devoted for this tournament, being there every day to test with our players, providing general help and stuff. You want a chance to manage in a big tournament, it may or may not happen soon, but I am sure that your dedication will lead you where you desire.
-Howkings caro Stephen, you were with Raiza, BIHI, and I since the beginning. You sometimes helped with your (right) takes, more often your (wrong) takes helped us define what not to do. Jokes aside, thank you very much for all the time you devoted for this tournament, being there every day to test with our players, providing general help and stuff. You want a chance to manage in a big tournament, it may or may not happen soon, but I am sure that your dedication will lead you where you desire.
Moving onto players, in order by sheet record:
Gtcha - winning helps winning, and your run is the exact definition of this. You made mistakes, but you took them seriously and improved week after week, leading to a very well-played finals game. I got to know you through
Corckscrew's amazing franchise: the Centocelle Crawdaunts (again, congratulations to Centocelle Crawdaunts for winning IPL), then we became friends, I kinda learned Spanish talking to you in this couple of years because you wouldn't talk to me in English. I have always said that you win team tours if one or more of your cheap players performs incredibly well, and that was the case. Nobody expected you to carry, but you did it. This trophy is yours. As I've told you, don't worry about your finals tiebreak game, but don't forget about it. There is margin for improvement, and part of that goes through the way you learn from your games as you know. It is relatively easy to be a one-hit wonder, it is hard to stay at the top.
BIHI - the retain, IL MAESTRO. At some point I felt like retaining you was a mistake because I didn't believe in your SS skills, and at the same time I didn't want to force you into playing something you didn't want to. Maybe I was right, maybe I was wrong. But we couldn't leave the MAESTRO alone. And in hindsight it was a great choice, you basically won us two tiebreaks with 3/5 well-played RBY games, which is a good ratio for a new player vs. the two best RBY records. Good luck helped you, but your grit and commitment to win and make a difference were evident. When I talked about passion in the finals speech, I was exactly thinking about the way you approached the two tiebreaks.
elodin - it might be surprising to see you here among the best records after how much you made us mald during the season, but it isn't. You made us mald because we had great expectations from your slot, despite your pricetag. Your tournament was great, you have been a great value pick, but I knew that from the past, too. I feel like you have improved and gained confidence in this tournament, and I feel like that you only stopped yourself from going X-0 with some suboptimal team choices, in-game decisions, and pre-game overthinking. I hope this is not the finish line for you, but a starting point for better results.
Punny - this is one of the slots I have supported the most throughout the whole tour. It wasn't too easy, as my playstyle is slightly different from yours, and so are my choices before the game. But I knew that you would have done well, from WCoP and other tournaments. This is another slot where we could have done better because we had the ability to do so. We got unlucky a couple of games, too. I think we didn't play at our best a couple of times, too. I also know that you are clever enough to learn from this tournament and use it as fuel for future games. You were skeptical about the team, (who wasn't?), but I appreciated your effort and chat presence as always.
100percentpureheat - 1oo. I got to know you when you helped Leviathans in Snake and me in OLT for free. I was also really sad when you were a game away from winning SPL last year, but you had a very difficult matchup and ended up losing. This year, you still had bad matchups in a couple of games, so I am starting to think that your teams suck. Jokes aside, you were not in many of our plans, just a couple. But it is clear that you were a keystone of our team, as both Raiza and I had no doubt when it came to put you in tiebreak. But what shows the absolute faith in you from our side is letting you start in DPP in Week 1. No one with a working brain would have done that, but I am happy to have done that. I am also happy that you sat in the bench until midseason after that performance. You were great, some of your teams were really good, one was particularly interesting to me but you sold it to Leo, I won't easily forget about this. I am incredibly happy that we managed to win together.
TJ - the (no longer) PU mainer. I was skeptical about getting you because I thought we had no chance to make you play, but Raiza insisted to get you over the list of ABSOLUTE PRIORITY SUBS I prepared. Maybe Raiza just didn't want to get trolled by my picks, so he did a good job. Your first games were bad, but you practised and improved a lot week after week. See where you are in OST to understand that maybe your record could have been much better, but you started behind. It is now your task to end on a positive note that tournament and remain at the top. Great chat presence and effort with scouts and the boring part nobody wants to do. Possibly the biggest surprise in this tournament to me, only because I already knew GTCHA GTCHA GTCHA.
xray - all managers wanted you. I wrote to you the day before the auction and told you we were going to get you. You were the non-retained starting point of the auction. This has been your worst tournament in terms of individual performance, but you started playing a gen you enjoyed a lot at the beginning, but you lost passion for it week after week. And this game is meaningless without passion, that is why your results were worse than what everyone expected. You were unlucky at some points, too. Aside from that, I appreciated your effort, your chat presence and also your method in approaching the games every week. Everything was right by the book, but there wasn't enough passion. I find it ironic that you won the tournament with your worst performance and being part of a team that looked worse than many of your past teams on paper. You had a strong presence, and I am overall happy of my experience with you as a teammate. It could have gone much better results-wise, but you surely deserve your trophy. And remember, winning helps winning, if you want to keep on playing the game.
Jimmy Turtwig - you had a great tournament last year, at some point we also wanted to retain you. You told us to wait for the auction and we spared 0.5k and the extra money at the beginning surely made our initial bids more credible. Maybe you just wanted to be on another team, so you told us that, I don't know. What I know is that I am happy that you were with us again, maybe not in your most comfortable tier, but that slot was exactly what the team needed. Your season has been quite unlucky in terms of matchups and hax, but you also made mistakes in some of your games. I can say the record you have is not very honest and doesn't reflect your abilities at all. You surely deserved an even-ish record at least, and with more attention it could have become a great record. Aside from your in-game performance, on a personal note I am super happy that what we started last year ended in the best way possible.
Hclat - I hope you can find out whether we got to playoffs or not. At the time I am writing these shoutouts, you haven't logged on Discord yet. You took over our most unlucky slot and got some key wins starting from midseason onwards. As I have said to many other players, you have the tools to step up. Your creative teambuilding is a source of advantage over other players and you don't play bad either. But you make mistakes, you forget about obvious stuff when in-game. You can work on this if you want, you are already good, greatness is there, it just takes a little extra effort and less CM Thunderbolt Counter Blissey. I am happy I got to know you better.
Aliss - another known face from last year's Raiders unfortunate campaign. Your season last year was better. It was definitely easier for you to take over the RBY slot as a substitute, rather than playing it for the whole season. I also know that RBY wasn't your main preference this year going into the tournament, but I also knew that I wanted to get you once again, because I felt like the trophy could come, and you had much to offer. I was right about the trophy, possibly wrong about in-game performances, which were shaky at some point, but I believe that you can use this win as a way to restart and work on what has gone wrong with your gameplay. I appreciated your chat presence (many lines from you as always), and I believe that you improved in some aspects as a teammate with respect to the previous year.
emma - the last pick of our draft. EMMA MARRONE. You got an important win, you helped since Week 1 with constant help, scouting, advice. Your contribution to the RBY slot was evident in the first weeks, but at some point you were much less active. While I do know that something happened, I want to tell you that I am still happy to have known you a bit better, and as an advice that you can try letting bad things slide because you are stronger. I hope there have been some moments you enjoyed and that you will recall, other than looking at the mere red trophy.
devin - I am sad about what happened. I am sad that there was a misunderstanding with the rules, and I will be even more sad if it can't be solved by the next SPL. I want to thank you for doing your best, your Week 1 game was really clean, Week 2 was slightly worse but you only lost to a tie. You had room to make a great season and show that PRs were completely wrong. You will have your chances if you wish, best of luck.
Vaboh - VABBYYYYY. Another player that I really wanted to buy. Your contribution was really crucial in starting the win streak that led to our success after devin's ban and the initial defeats. The teams you built are still undefeated in SPL, be proud :toti: I am very sad that you went inactive at some point, but I know that you are fine, so I am fine with it too. We are all happy that you won with us, and we are waiting for you to reappear on Discord.
Sadlysius - SADLYSUS. The talisman. Great chat presence, but unfortunately... Yuumi player. All the years spent at getting carried on League as a Yuumi player inevitably led to the bad luck you had this season. But your ability as a Yuumi player showed that you were super useful even when benched (decision that I still not fully agree with), and getting to finals every year. Jokes aside, I am super happy you won SPL again, more as a protagonist this time. And I think that you are ready to do much and much better as a player, if you wish to. Most of your losses were quite unlucky, I genuinely believe that you could have had a season à la Gtcha if things went your way since the beginning. I enjoyed the fact that you helped me in Callous invitational and if I could win some ADV games, it meant that everybody could with your help.
Dizno - another ADV helper who managed to help in the most unlucky slot we had. You were not as active as SadlySUS and Hclat, but I still appreciated your contributions. I know you will have chances to play this tournament as a starter if that's what you want. It won't take much if you keep doing well in individual tournaments.
Shoka - another boomer like BIHI... two French noobs... and I'll stop here, otherwise Hervalt will arrive and include me in the RACISMO NO list. Jokes aside, it is not easy to be subbed in and deliver a good performance vs. one of the top BWers in the pool. Unfortunately, you got some of the key turns in the game wrong, after an overall well-played game. You were our starting BW slot in some of the draft plans we had, so we had. We went with elodin this time, but I know you are good since you beat me with Leavanny back in time, and we expected you to deliver a good season as well if you had the chance to start since the beginning.
H.M.N.I.P - you have no idea of how happy I am that your sheet record is getting worse. Looking forward to WCoP where you will inevitably get owned again, go negative in the sheet, and I'll rejoice. Jokes aside, nip-col-trophy-rosso e goditi anche questo :toti:
Raiza - ag: Raiza... tuo padre appeso al quadro
Enzonana. Fakee Pais hellpowna best supporters...
vakatalesau ti dedico anche questo
Thanks to the socio CCrizzi for the content, the hot playlist and the shoutout after the win.
Thanks for the season, see you.