SPL XII Midseason Coverage
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week 1 »
Art by Zracknel.
The Smogon Premier League is considered by many to be Smogon's most prestigious tournament. Through eleven weeks of fighting with the hosts competition, ten teams battle each other over nine weeks of regular season in an attempt to be one of the final final four standing in the playoffs. SPL is a tournament with a rich history full of unthinkable plays, treacherous chokes, preteen meme culture adaptation, and unprecedented drama. This article will serve as a rundown of the first half of the 12th edition of this tournament, covering everything since the power rankings came out. We will start with some highlights of the most noteworthy events and then transition into a summary of each week.
Steal and Score!
A number of players who cost relatively small sums in the auction have proven to be far more valuable than their price. Be it due to being newer players or being less proven in specific formats, almost every successful SPL team has managed to field a couple of steals, making these players especially valuable! The two biggest steals of the auction thus far are snøfall and Kiichikos, who both are at a perfect 4-0 after going for the minimum amount of 3k. No other player in the entire tournament has achieved this record while being less than five times their price, with the next cheapest undefeated records being Heroic Troller and Conflict at 17k a piece. snøfall is accomplishing this in his SPL debut, and he has defeated some of the top DPP players already, making this especially impressive and one of the big reasons for the early success of the surging Scooters. As for Kiichikos, she has a bit more experience, but this is her first full-time RBY opportunity and she has managed to take down a number of highly regarded opponents. Both of these players show lots of promise moving forward and are likely to continue making their teams proud.
While not everyone can be quite as perfect thus far as these two, plenty of other players are overachieving as well. frisoeva and Omfuga are both off to strong 3-1 starts in SM OU despite costing under 5k; frisoeva has been a reliable SM option recently, but Omfuga's flashy plays and seemingly unthinkable reads are a blast from the past that we are gifted with this SPL. Niko and Storm Zone have done the honors in SS themselves, both using a unique variety of teams ranging from creative Magearna sets from Niko to outright inventing new strategies each week from Storm Zone. Finally, four 3k old generation players are also already +2 this SPL, with Golden Sun, TC, and Serpi all off to impressive 3-1 starts in ADV, GSC, and RBY respectively, while GaryTheGengar, who got off to a slightly later start, is 2-0 in BW! All of these players are doing a superb job providing value to their team thus far.
Flop City
Unfortunately, each battle has both a winner and a loser, meaning if we have steals, we are also bound to have players who cost a large sum, but did not quite live up to expectations thus far. Eternal Spirit may be the mayor of Flop City thus far, opening the season with a big 0-4 despite being worth north of 21k. His aggressive antics have not been quite enough this time around in SS or SM. However, he has plenty of company, with watashi, Separation, and xray all off to 0-3 starts in SS OU despite costing more than 15k as well. All three of these players came into the tournament with some great results recently, so it is puzzling that they have struggled; however, all three are given a chance at second life with some new scenery, with watashi and Separation being traded for each other and xray returning to his old stomping grounds in ORAS OU for the time being.
A number of old generation standouts who have had sustained success over many years find themselves struggling despite having high price tags this season as well. ABR is perhaps the most noteworthy of the group, going 1-3 thus far despite costing a whopping 36k. Fear joins him in the 30k flop club, too, while also playing GSC; these two underachieving to start the season is representative of a surprising start to the season in GSC as a whole with many fresh faces emerging victorious. Tamahome, who has played both ADV and SM, and Nails, who has continued his long stint in RBY, also are off to 1-3 starts despite lofty price tags north of 15k. All four of these players are capable of coming back and salvaging their seasons, but they face roadblocks in terms of impressive fresh faces and evolving metagames that will make it a challenge to continue their previous consistency.
Finally, a special mention of a team that has been residing squarely in the middle of Flop City goes to the Alpha Ruiners, who went from back-to-back SPL champions all the way to being without a single win or tie through four weeks, which is good for sole possession of last place. While some pieces like star players Heroic Troller and Empo have been working as expected, this all the Ruiners have going for them, as ten other players on their roster are negative thus far. The rapid descent from glory to failure seems to be defining their season, which is currently dwelling in the ruins.
Can't Miss Storylines
While records and prices can tell plenty of stories as their own, which many spreadsheet stalkers can tell you firsthand, SPL captures much more than just simple wins and losses; there are a plethora of cultures clashing, bonds being tested by unprecedented rivalries, and traditions being put up against the test of time. The mad dash of the Tyrants to the top of the regular season standings holds true for yet another year after their recent presence as a staple in playoff pictures, but the Scooters are hoping to keep rolling through the regular season into the playoffs themselves despite low expectations and a poor 2020 showing. In addition to this, the new-look Tigers, managed by talk-of-the-town CALLOUS, seem to have had a poor start to the season, falling in line with the norms of the Tennisace Tigers of old. Many thought there would be a change of fortune for this team after nabbing first place in the power rankings and CALLOUS's promise to dedicate himself to the cause, but a 1-2-1 start leaves them on the outside looking in.
Moving past teamwide trends and to the plot of the Pokémon games being played themselves, we have witnessed the descent of ORAS OU into a tier where setting up screens is about as trendy as randomly tagging Kebab mlml in your thread of choice. With Serperior usage on the verge of eclipsing Clefable usage, we are seeing gameplay vastly different than the normal, balanced pace we have grown accustom to. Quite on the contrary, balance reigns supreme in SS OU, with Regenerator Teleport sequences quickly being etched into the memory of attentive spectators. Unfortunately, Future Sight is nothing more than a move, not lending us visions of a future filled with proactivity and a lack of prolonged matches. Meanwhile in the generation that has gradually become the golden standard of the tournament community, ADV, we have witnessed a new phenomenon of moles beating up on pink blobs, especially in games that are not abbreviated due to Celebi killing entire teams singlehandedly.
Culturally speaking, we have witnessed the trend of Portuguese terminology being integrated into tournament norms continue itself with the recent slew of "boa noite" in chat settings joining "perdemos" and "ganhamos" as frequented language; for those claiming that a competitive Pokémon addiction contributes to adolescent degeneracy, perhaps think again, as we are all being immersed in novel cultures and learning new languages as time elapses. In other news, owning an active YouTube channel has become a large risk for SPL players. Two of Smogon's absolute best and brightest users, Luthier and Finchinator, managed to parlay their content creation into large-scale issues for their SPL teams. The former managed to broadcast to the world his ex-teammate K3nix illegally sharing an import, whereas the latter managed to temporarily invite anyone casually watching YouTube to his team's private server in the middle of a week...for the second tournament in a row. Before we embarrass anyone else, let's transition into going over what has happened throughout the first four weeks of SPLXII!
week 1 »
« overview || week 2 »
Week 1
Last year I started this section with the following: "With everyone excited for the first week of SPLXI and the first slate of SS tournament games, 2020 was looking to have a promising, strong start." I would like to issue a formal apology to everyone for speculating about a promising 2020. However, I can say with confidence that there is an actually promising 2021 on the horizo---nevermind, we're in for a long year.
Team Raiders 5 - Ever Grande BIGS 5
In the first 5-5 tie in many years of SPL, the Bigs and Raiders had a series where veterans triumphed over young blood. The Bigs had an old generation surge led by living legends Tiba and McMeghan, while tournament mainstays like FlamingVictini and Luigi came up clutch for the Raiders. The exceptions to the crust ruling with an iron fist in this series where frisoeva, who emerged victorious over Eternal Spirit for the Raiders, and Insult, who took home his first SPL BW win for the BIGs against Jimmy Turtwig. All in all, this was a close series between two teams that showed a lot of promise to start off the season but also made mistakes like Storm Zone loading Regidrago, Storm Zone loading Exploud, and Storm Zone loading Alolan Raichu.
Circus Maximus Tigers 4 - Indie Scooters 6
In perhaps the main event of the first week of SPL, everyone had their eyes on the new-look Tigers under the management of CALLOUS. Unfortunately, the Scooters steered their way to victory, but it was all done in close fashion. While the Scooters had a dominant string of old generation performances, taking all of generations 1 to 5, they were only able to accomplish this due to some late-game heroics that only Zarel could explain in Caetano93's tight, fortunate victory over dice. The Tigers had more success in the fairygens, taking four out of five games. beatiful was able to come up with a particularly impressive victory over veteran Sacri', proving that his late 2020 success was more than a fluke. However, this was not enough for the Tigers to emerge victorious in week 1, as the old generations carried too much weight for the Scooters in this showdown.
Dragonspiral Tyrants 8 - Congregation of the Classiest 2
The Tyrants and Classiest both made some noise in the auction, having acquired a number of Smogon's biggest names, but the Tyrants were the only ones making noise throughout week 1. With some pre-week tension surfacing after your everyday chatroom disagreements escalated, this series was one to watch from the get-go. While the Classiest managed to take two SS games, which is impressive given their lack of investment into SS aside from lax and the Tyrants' daunting SS core, those were the only games they won all week in what turned out to be a rout. The Tyrants managed to sweep all seven old generations, including impressive wins by Omfuga and Christo in their first old generation games in years when both were pitted against top opponents. spies also got on the board for the first time in a long time, solidifying the Tyrants as favorites to dominate the regular season for yet another year.
Cryonicles 7 - Alpha Ruiners 3
The two-time reigning champions came out strong, winning both RBY and ORAS on a Friday that seemed eerily similar to the Ruiners of old. However, that was just about all she wrote. The Ruiners proceeded to lose 7 of the remaining 8, including all 3 SS games and 4 of the 5 classic tiers. TC and umbry were able to bring home their first SPL wins in their debuts in GSC and ADV, respectively, while veterans bro fist and Malekith also started their campaigns off positively. The Ruiners showed some promise with Empo maintaining his dominant form with a win over z0mOG in a decisive victory, but the Ruiners simply could not muster up anything else, falling far short of victory against a surging Cryonicles team.
Stark Sharks 7 - Wi-Fi Wolfpack 3
The Wolfpack and Sharks are regarded as two of the strongest teams going into each season, so seeing them paired week 1 is naturally a treat for all followers of the tournament. This matchup was the definition of star-studded, seeing all of xray, SoulWind, Fear, ABR, M Dragon, and BKC involved in some capacity to put it into perspective. While the Wolfpack's own Star, making his ADV debut, was able to shine bright, the rest of the week did not go according to plan for the Pack. The Sharks swept the remainder of the old generations, including wins for less experienced players like jonfilch, who was making his debut, and Kiichikos, upsetting trendy retain SMB. The Wolfpack showed promise with 2 SS wins, but that was a far cry from what they needed to take the week. Fun fact: the Sharks also defeated the Wolfpack with 7 wins to their name last year in week 1.
With the Sharks, Cryonicles, Tyrants, and Scooters emerging victorious, one week was in the books. Tensions where already rising between the Tyrants and Classiest, but suddenly the former champion Ruiners were off to a quietly slow start while a couple of unexpected winners began the season with a bang. With the SS metagame being hectic and plenty of evolution occurring throughout old generations, it would appear that the most active and motivated teams were able to stand out from the start. Will this trend continue with these same teams or will the tables turn and new winners rise up?
« overview || week 2 »
« week 1 || week 3 »
Week 2
With the start of the season being behind us, teams looked to grow closer to mid-season form and solidify their regular season campaigns come week 2. While the first taste of SPL action this year was sweet if you were not a member of the Classiest, the next one can easily be bitter depending on how things pan out.
Team Raiders 7 - Alpha Ruiners 3
After coming up just short of a victory week 1, the Raiders made the threepeat aspirations of the Ruiners seem like more of a dream than reality with an impressive victory of their own. Some of the Raiders' old generation staples really took charge this week, with veterans Jimmy Turtwig, BIHI, CyberOdin, and FriendOfMrGolem120 all emerging victorious. While Heroic Troller was able to work his magic once again for the Ruiners, there was not much else going in their camp, with retains mncmt and Gondra being the only other wins for this seemingly ruined group. Samqian was able to notch his first SPL victory with a win over Separation as well, which put Separation at 0-2 in his pursuit for his own first victory. The Raiders looked poised to move forward with good results, presenting a balanced attack with the aforementioned core of veterans in old generations and some promise in the SS department.
Congregation of the Classiest 5 - Wi-Fi Wolfpack 5
After struggling week 1, both the Classiest and Wolfpack hoped to get their season back on track. Unfortunately for the Classiest, their star retain Tamahome did not seem to be getting back on track himself as he fell to Relous to start off the back-and-forth series these two teams had. Keeping the upsets coming, rozes defeated ribbon winner and Wolfpack retain SMB in RBY, and TDK defeated the 36k man himself, ABR, in GSC, sending both of the Wolfpack hopefuls to 0-2. The Wolfpack may have been down, but they were not out, with talah scoring an upset of his own with a clutch victory over lax that helped the pack at least get a point on the board as both teams walked away with a tie ultimately. Special mention goes to Isza of the Classiest for scoring his first ever SPL win in ORAS with some good fortune against the second technical machine, Dragon Claw.
Indie Scooters 6 - Stark Sharks 4
Flipping the script, the Scooters scooted and the Sharks attacked week 1, with both emerging victorious to start off their campaigns. Upsets reigned supreme in this set, too, leading to the Scooters pulling off another victory. All three SS games came with surprising outcomes, with Gefährlicher Random styling on 1 True Lycan, Niko getting his first ever SPL win over xray, and reiku showing he still has something in the tank and bringing one home with the Sharks over Scooters' standout Sacri'. In addition to these, false also pulled what may seem like one of the most unlikely outcomes on paper all season: defeating Fear in GSC. The Scooters, once perceived as a rag-tag group with a lower ceiling than most, were thriving through two, while the Sharks fell to even with a close loss due to their star players falling short.
Ever Grande BIGS 3 - Cryonicles 7
Whenever Finchinator plays his old team, the BIGs, you already know the memes are coming—and so they did. However, as soon as they stopped flowing in earlier on in the week, the Cryonicles got down to business, taking down the large and lovable team from Ever Grande City. Nails, z0mOG, and Sjneider got on the board with statement victories, even if the statement was mostly just a testament to Tiba's mental state. While McMeghan and Zokuru gave the BIGs some home in old generations, they were shut out otherwise, as Finchinator's Roar Latios and Malekith's Gengar proved to be too much to handle for the BIGs. The Cryonicles proceeded to win 7-3 for the second straight week.
Circus Maximus Tigers 2 - Dragonspiral Tyrants 8
If you think the Cryonicles putting up consecutive 7-3 wins is impressive, than the Tyrants managed to pull off something even better: starting off the season with back-to-back 8-2 wins. Of course, each win must lead to a loss, so the losing Tigers found themselves in disarray after this disaster of a series. Be it getting their SS OU swept, losing a game via activity, or having the boomer gang dominate their RBY and GSC, the Tigers looked lost during week two. Their saving grace was benefitting from the Tyrants letting Gilbert arenas use Flareon and CrashinBoomBang use stall, but that was far from enough to salvage the week. The Tyrants looked better than ever, whereas the Tigers were off to a very disappointing start.
With two weeks in the books, the Tyrants, Cryonicles, and Scooters were all off to great starts, while a number of teams contended for the fourth slot. However, we are still less than a quarter of the way through the regular season, leaving even the bottom dwellers in contention if they turn their seasons around quickly enough. A clear top and bottom end had formed, but would they stay or would there be some shakeups as time elapsed? It was up to the players to decide this much!
« week 1 || week 3 »
« week 2 || week 4 »
Week 3
Team Raiders 5 - Circus Maximus Tigers 5
With the Tigers off to a nightmare start to the season, they absolutely needed some semblance of life in order to have a legitimate chance of making something of their season; while they did not get the week win that CALLOUS has dreamed about for the last year and a half each night without fail, they did manage to get on the board with a tie against a very competitive Raiders team. Led by rising SS OU superstar beautiful and a trio of old generation victories, they managed to claw beyond last place, while the Raiders kept moving forward with a pair of SS wins by Eeveeto and FlamingVictini. Eeveeto's victory will go down in infamy of the game with Regigigas, Exploud, and one of the most questionable endgames in modern history, but a win is a win on the sheet! All in all, both sides fought hard, managing to tie each other.
Dragonspiral Tyrants 6 - Ever Grande BIGS 4
The Tyrants were off to one of the best starts in SPL history, while the BIGs were struggling to stay in contention, leading many to believe this would be yet another rout for the reyscarface-led group. However, this series was too close for comfort. Some surprise victories by RBY substitute Hayburner over spies and ladder hero Storm Zone over Eo Ut Mortus gave the Bigs some breaks, but ultimately even these efforts were insufficient as the Tyrants won 6-4. Clutch efforts down the stretch by veteran players like Conflict, Omfuga, elodin, and Gilbert arenas proved to give the Tyrants enough old generation strength to go to 3-0, while the Bigs continued to bottom out thanks to their rough early schedule.
Cryonicles 5 - Indie Scooters 5
In the only duel between 2-0 teams this week, the Cryonicles and Scooters both tried to keep their winning ways going. Each managed to fall short of this lofty goal but managed to come away with points to stay near the top of the standings. In this series, surging old generation players for the Scooters continued to roll ahead, with snøfall clutching the tie and thelinearcurve claiming a crucial victory of his own over z0mOG, moving both to 3-0. Finchinator managed to match their records with his own decisive victory over Caetano93, but his teammates bro fist and Leo failed to move from 2-0 to 3-0, as they both fell in SS to Niko and Sacri', respectively. All in all, this was a tightly contested series with a slew of impressive victories on each side. This tie may leave some unfinished business that could be settled much further down the line.
Stark Sharks 5 - Congregation of the Classiest 5
Speaking of ties, we have another for the well-dressed folk reading this article! The Sharks and Classiest had a tight series where the Classiest dominated SS and the Sharks edged out old generations. Garay oak beat his fellow Spaniard, reiku, to move to 3-0, and Luthier moved past an embarrassing week 2 situation with a win of his own over 1 True Lycan in impressive fashion. However, Endill managed to bring home a crucial victory of his own, defeating the struggling Tamahome to give the Sharks some surprise factor of their own. Perhaps the story of the week in this series was SoulWind's first loss in over a year of SPL, falling to Fakes in his BW debut. TDK, who seems to be picking up where KratosMana left off last season, also was able to upset Fear, who seemed to still be trying to find his form from prior seasons. However, these heroics were not enough to spheal the deal for TDK's squad, as all of the other old generation games went to the Sharks, who came away with a tie.
Wi-Fi Wolfpack 6 - Alpha Ruiners 4
With both teams off to less-than-spectacular starts, the Wolfpack and Ruiners tried to turn it around here. Both lineups saw some shaking up, and both teams came in with hope to start a fresh win streak of their own, but the Northeastern brotherhood seemed to prevail here. Both ABR and star took home their old generation games under manager BKC, which seemed to be how they drew it up all along. Star's win was especially impressive, as he was now off to a 3-0 start. While their old generation playing teammate mael had a rather improbable loss, new BW starter GaryTheGengar was able to pick things up with his first win of the season. In what turned out to be a back-and-forth series, the Wolfpack came in hot as the weekend drew to a close and took home their first victory of the season.
With three weeks in the books, a few more teams seem to be heating up while the Ruiners seem to be alone at the very bottom of the standings, which is a huge departure from the last two seasons. The Tyrants took sole control of first place with their dominant 3-0 start, but not too far behind them resides the Cryonicles and Scooters!
« week 2 || week 4 »
« week 3
Week 4
As we grew closer to the middle of the season, the playoff picture began to form, and everyone began to settle in to their teams. Kenix was long gone, but the Classiest started to show signs of life after a treacherous week 1. Empo and Heroic Troller were undefeated, but the rest of the Ruiners were very much defeated. The Tyrants seemed to be unstoppable, whereas the Tigers were struggling to stop themselves from a winless first half. So much is on the line each week, so let's get right into it.
Team Raiders 3 - Indie Scooters 7
After tying last week to break up their win streak, the Scooters returned to their winning ways without any hesitation. In fact, they had such a dominant performance against the Raiders that Raiders management went troll shopping out of stress. The dynamic duo of snøfall and thelinearcurve continued their winning ways, now combining for 8-0. The former had a stroke of endgame luck that did the trick here, but the Scooters had plenty of other deserving performances to back up their victory here. The dangerous random pulled out Choice Specs Tangrowth to take down a struggling Samqian, who seemed to be taken hostage on the aforementioned troll shopping spree afterwards. Niko and Sacri' also did their part in completing an SS sweep for the Scooters. Jimmy Turtwig managed to briefly snow on the Scooters' parade alongside a couple other old generation players for the Raiders, but that was not enough to do the trick as the Scooters advanced to 3-1.
Ever Grande BIGS 4 - Congregation of the Classiest 6
Continuing their progression, the Classiest took another step in the right direction while trying to avenge their fallen brother Kenix. This time around, the boomer generations carried the Classiest, who won all of generations 1-4 against the BIGs. Tamahome was able to notch his first victory of the season in a star-studded match against McMeghan, which helped give the Classiest their tight series victory. While Storm Zone continued his goat hunting spree with a victory over lax and FMG made a strong transition into BW with a win over Fakes, the BIGs were not able to muster up nearly enough to salvage any points this week, as Garay oak's fourth consecutive victory, which also happened to be the fourth consecutive loss for Eternal Spirit, clutched the week for the Classiest.
Circus Maximus Tigers 7 - Alpha Ruiners 3
After three long weeks for both teams, one of them finally had to win, right? Thankfully, we were spared of a tie, and the Tigers got a win under their belt. In a rather bizarre series that included a mid-week trade that had both watashi and Separation substituted out of their games, the Tigers roared ahead with a string of victories in generations two through six. While Ox the Fox managed to win his first-ever SPL game for the Ruiners this week, the Ruiners were once again shut out besides their superstars, Empo and Heroic Troller. They may be the most bottom-weak team in SPL, as all seven other games went in favor of the Tigers, who got a much-needed victory and some help to their otherwise poor game differential this week, putting them right back in the thick of things while the Ruiners looked forward to... anything but the remainder of this SPL season, as they proceeded to go shopping with Raiders' management.
Dragonspiral Tyrants 4 - Wi-Fi Wolfpack 6
In what may be the upset of the season thus far, the Wolfpack continued their winning ways against a much stronger opponent this time around. The Tyrants seemed virtually unstoppable through three weeks, but in an unexpected turn of events, they fell to the Wolfpack, who claimed their second win of the season. Star kept up his flawless season with his fourth straight win over fellow Northeast player Gilbert arenas in a highlight match. The series as a whole was pretty messy with games ranging from Omfuga doing everything in his power to beat a Gliscor he was underprepared for, which he fell just short of doing for his first loss of the season, to Conflict dismantling ABR's Donphan stall team to move to 4-0. The Tyrants are still in a comfortable position, but the Wolfpack suddenly look poised to make a dangerous run of their own if they keep it up, which makes the success of their relatively inexperienced Fairygen players vital moving forward.
Cryonicles 6 - Stark Sharks 4
Much like the Scooters, the Cryonicles hoped to continue their winning ways after tying last week. As for the Sharks, they won week 1 but have not been able to replicate this result since, so they are hoping to turn the tables this week. Unfortunately for the M Dragon-led squad, they were once again unable to land a crucial week win. While their SS players all came through, sweeping 3-0 including Ruft taking his debut game over Leo in a late game defined by Hurricane odds and 1 True Lycan styling on bro fist with Tapu Bulu, they were shut out of the middle six generations. The Cryonicles were able to prevail in all of generations two through seven, including Finchinator moving to 4-0 with a controversial victory over SoulWind and TC continuing his strong debut with a seemingly awkward win against Fear. Kiichikos was able to keep her perfect season alive in RBY over Nails, but with xray nowhere to be found when the day needed saving and the Sharks struggling to take any other old generation games, they were unable to take the surging Cryonicles as z0mOG took down Welli0u to clinch the victory.
With four weeks down, it seems like the Cryonicles, Scooters, and Tyrants are leading the pack thus far, with the Wolf hanging on to the fourth slot. However, numerous teams are at their tails, attempting to join the playoff picture and even fight for the top seeds in the tournament. There is still over half of the tournament to play, and some teams will even be able to add players to their rosters during midseason. So much SPL fun and drama is left to come, which will be even more exciting for spectators. In the mean time, I hope everyone enjoyed this article that covered the games over the first half of SPLXII as well as some of the other events that transpired!
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