And with SPL done, might as well wrap some things up lol. Grats to aim for getting the best RU record, and grats to passion and RedEmption for getting the trophy as the RU players! Some thoughts on my experience as a whole I guess, it's very me so uh not sure who is gonna be interested but heck I am:
I think going into SPL that was the first official tour I was... good confident of getting picked? Really started when for some reason I decided to go all out and bring Sawsbuck but eh, whatever works. I was really upset at missing Snake cause, well, I definitely felt like I belonged when I saw the teams but there was dumb arrogance on my part somewhere I think, which I really took away before SPL began. Didn't really expect to land where I did and especially not for that kind of money, but despite our shaky season I don't really regret it, I got to team up with greats of the game, people who were there years before me and that was fun and different. Big thanks to Conflict in particular since he did a ton to help me prep and build, which I didn't quite expect but he has a great mind for the tier and honestly man I'd love to see more of it, it was really refreshing to see an attitude that wasn't reluctant about the tier from someone like that and he's goat so.
Week 1 really was an experience, but I was super proud of that
team. I threw a ton of different builds that week, changed the final team a lot before deciding on that, so big thanks to everyone who helped me test and talked to me then, I really wanted to go off to a strong start. Also it's really interesting to see just... How much the shifts changed the tier lol. I wanted to use Doublade one last time, and honestly looking at that team I don't think it's anywhere near as possible to engineer such a reliable offence with any of the remaining steels. Metagross is good and all, but it's just not on the same level as a glue, especially since its multiple sets can't reliably guarantee the same thing. Doublade had to pick its last move, sure, but you really only needed SD and Sneak to be a threat, and everything else could flow naturally with your build. Also shoutout to being French Canadian and going all in on the Youtube scouting that week ROFL
Week 2... Well I think most of you know that
team by now tbh. I'll say this about KW, he honestly came closer to breaking me there than about any time I have used that team, and while it was the second time I kinda went hard at him with a bunch of non RU mons, it's still as a sign that I know who he is and I truly do respect his approach, so at times I have to stretch my definition of what is acceptable in terms of creativity. Still, the feedback that week was lowkey funny, as I used to have Sigilyph over Golbat but Teddeh, instead of yelling at me for proposing one RU mon on a RU team, suggested the switch to Golbat and yeah it pretty much makes that team so good. It sort of fits my idea of how you have to go when you are using a fatter build, as you still require a decent amount of offensive presence in this metagame. Only wish I could fit a cleric somewhere but never happened really. It was cool to see more attempts at building sand though, as I do share with col49 the idea that this weather is extremely unexplored by most players in this tier, as from the get go you start with one of the best fire counters available in a tier where there aren't many, and you can abuse dynamics speed tiers with a cleaner. The rest is also very malleable, so hopefully more people try that. Also Tangela is really amazing lol, Golbat is a lot more niche, and I see teams with it that kinda just falter really easily, but Tangela went beyond the "zydog counter" to a legitimately good pick for this tier.
Honestly those two teams are probably my favourite from SPL, and I do kinda see the week 2 as definitive of my overall building experience... But still, global thoughts on the remaining weeks: I badly miss
Staka lmfao, the z set was stupid but as support it was so dope. Also wanted to dabble with Ninetales + Roserade instead of Venu sun, as I felt that the more offensive output of Roserade while still keeping a good speed tier - especially against Nat teams - was kinda clutch in a more reliable way, but it's still very difficult to build a team that will keep most meta threats at bay with this. Against
well I learned a lot from that game honestly, I got annoyed by some things but I'm pretty sure I had it if my mindset was to keep the aggression instead of being inconsistent there, but oh well. It's also where I realized that Salazzle was back to being stupid good, which matters in the future lol.
Week 5 I won if I was Magnet Rise but I wasn't ROFL oops, got a bit lucky
against my good friend Diogo but, again, Salazzle is insanely dumb, and Specs Goodra is really a cool mon conceptually. Also Pod being a binch for Mandibuzz was really clutch, something I didn't fully appreciate beforehand. Sadly the Iapapa Donphan didn't work out, but I kept going on with that set and I do think it's legit better than lefties expect in some very specific situations where you keep the sturdy after switching on rocks.
Week 7 I... kinda blew the matchup but I honestly never expected that build, and while that team is mega wild, the slow volt from Vikavolt into the breakers is actually a good concept, and if you saw the video Joey made after, you can definitely see where I was going for with that matchup, just didn't work out and I made some doozies but like that matchup was hilariously discouraging. I FINALLY got to play
Dad for week 8, and while it's a shame both our teams were out and that killed the hype a bit, I was proud of how I played and of clutching the week for the Sharks still. Week 9 I played NU yikes.
I have some thoughts on the meta in general but honestly SPL already feels so long ago with consideration of how the meta is right now, and most of the hard matchup issues I had are kinda gone. The tier really stabilized at the mid level I feel, the best mons aren't as good and there's enough in the mid Bs to even Cs that you can use to cover threats that you can be creative and still end up with something reliable. Cookie cutter teams still suck though, that's been a constant in RU for years now and it was very much on display this SPL, which might make it harder to pick up the tier but as Joey and even Ultraballz showed, you can definitely find stuff you like and not be afraid to use it, even without knowing all the intricacies of the playerbase.
edit: Also free roman lol