Once again, ggs to Germany; after R1, I'd said you were the team to beat, and the adaptations you made round after round kept on proving it. You guys have a ton of breakout performers, and I'm excited to see all of you continue to flourish in future tournaments.
Now, for my South-outs. Coming into WCOP, I was pretty low on myself and Pokemon. I wouldn't have even signed up, but I felt in some part responsible for our relegation last year; I'd went 1-2, and we'd lost out on a tiebreaker by two games. I was considering just playing in qualifiers and dipping, but not only did I lose that game, our team was at a point where any player stepping down from the starting lineup would have probably killed our environment completely. It really took some time for us to get our shit together; many of us went back and forth in terms of being motivated, but in the end, all we needed was for all of us to be motivated at the same time, and that finally happened on the last day of Round 1. That was one of the craziest days of Pokemon for me. I woke up early to play my first game, then TDK was subbed in at the last minute to play two games, and I still had to decide on a team for my last game later that evening. Throughout the day, I had no time to absorb what was going on or pay attention to the other teams qualifying until we'd made it, basically. In fact, the whole R1 was an insane ride, because we were constantly at the bottom of the standings due to delaying all our games to Week 3, but it was worth it for the ending and what it meant for our team.
As for our team, I'm happy to have wound up with people who are not only pretty good at the game, but also chill and easy to talk to and work with. Could not have asked for a better group; I don't know how many of us will be around next year, but I'm glad we got our chance to win it together this year.
HSA - I have a lot to say about you; it'll probably take more time than your average game length. First of all, I have you to thank for dragging me into this mess. I was going to phone this tournament in if you hadn't suggested I might have to build all your teams. Thankfully, I knew that the last-stage evolution of the TerrakChomp -> WeavCham pilot line is simply UrshiPult. I like how TPP implied in his shoutouts that I strongly advised keeping you in when I actually gave the most lukewarm recommendation of all time. I genuinely thought you'd be phoning it in as well, but you put in a surprising amount of effort R1, proving that you can be good at Pokemon when you want to (but you never want to). Overall, you surpassed all my expectations this tournament even if you fully met them in your last game. Congrats on destroying Finchinator, buddy. Hope you remember who told you to use Blissey + Nidoking when you're solving 39.5 mental math problems per minute on the Citadel trading room floor or whatever.
FMG - My friend Bill, I thought you were retired from competitive Pokemon. As it turns out, you remain sharp as ever, particularly with your signature strategy of "bring defensive team into losing matchup and outplay." This was quietly a great tour for you; you were very close to going undefeated, but unfortunately, not even your ability is enough to carry the vaunted Hydreigon / Dragapult stall. In the future, maybe consider the God Claw or tyrants swag. Games aside, you're a great teammate, constantly available to test or offer suggestions, and your personality really helps balance the team and our (my) volatility. I'm really happy to have won a tour with you; you deserve it so much.
Gray - I still feel bad for giving you a team that got 6-0ed by Unaware Clefable against Dr. Stall (Luthier) of all people. And what the fuck @ the Coba thing LOL. I didn't even know that was what happened. I could tell you were a bit busy during R1, and you could've definitely ended up with a better record/season if some things had gone differently, so I'm glad you took it all in stride. Thanks for carrying me in play-ins and sticking around and continuing to help through our entire run.
jacob - Best captain ever; just lets me do whatever I want and doesn't ask questions. A true managerial exemplar.
Samqian - You might've been the only one of us who showed any motivation coming into the season, but that just died when the rest of us failed to step up as well. I felt pretty bad about that; glad you stuck around regardless. Your wins were extremely clutch and even heading into finals at 0-2, I was 100% confident you were going into the next one with a vengeance, so it was a bit of a blow when you got banned (although I'm not gonna lie, I am used to this by now @ 3/3 finals, 3/3 tiebreaks, and 3/3 teammates getting banned). Nonetheless, you helped out a lot beyond playing and helped keep together a team struggling with its motivation. As much as anyone, you deserve to enjoy this trophy, but more importantly, you deserve to enjoy the game (you get these platitudes if you don't get a banned joke that's how it works).
Ox the Fox - You did so much for our team; it cannot be understated. Of course, a lot of our games were simply won with your teams, but you did so much more when it came to helping me and others with building and just bouncing general meta ideas off of each other. I honestly might've gone the entire tournament without touching a Weavile if you hadn't been hyping it up during round 1. Not to mention your play; even in your one loss, I was sold because you didn't just go down without a fight in a stupid stall match-up. I really, really wanted you in the tiebreak; win or lose, I would've always second-guessed our season if you hadn't gone in after doing so much for the team and clutching the last two rounds. When you came through, I was so happy. Having known most of the others beforehand, I'm glad to have gotten to know you in particular this WCOP; this tournament was yours, and I could not be more proud and impressed.
GaryTheGengar - Like Gray, I feel bad for giving you that team into that matchup. You deserve a lot of credit just for subbing in on such short notice, especially because I know you're another one of us laden with real-life obligations as well. I'm glad you were on the team; you're a chill person, and I was happy to see you pop in when you could to chat or even skribbl that one time. Hope to see you at your peak in SP/CL; you're a threat when it counts, as I know very well from last tour.
FlamingVictini - To this day, I can never tell when you actually want to play or not. Thankfully, I'm not in charge of making these decisions, because if I had been, I'd have let you benchride the entire tour. You make playing this game look effortless sometimes, but I know you put in a lot of work to achieve that, and I appreciate it all the more knowing your IRL obligations. Even if it wasn't your meta this time around, I still respect your mind for the game a lot; when your stuff hits, it hits hard, like that Grassy Terrain sun team from last year and all your HOs I considered stealing during Snake and SPL. Always a pleasure seeing you at work, and even more so on the same team. Hope you'll have the time to continue to stick around.
Stone_Cold - It's funny to look back to the times we first teamed together and compare it to now. You've mellowed out considerably, and our team is all the better for it. I haven't, by comparison, so thanks for putting up with me and my shit. I never thought the trophy we'd earn together would be WCOP of all things. Whether it's the One-Time motivational speech or the dumb interactions you have with random people, you know how to keep us together. Here's to another decade(?), and welcome to the blue trophy club, my friend.
Christo - My fellow Tyrant, the only other one on this team, in fact. Thanks for stepping in during finals. I'm not sure if you're busy with Fortnite or chess or GME at the moment, but always a good time teaming with you. Glad we could get the trophy this time!
Bouff - First of all, thanks for letting us use your house for this. Very gracious of you. I'll be serious for once now. You were a very important part of the team in so many ways, from all the help you did testing, recreating teams, and just contributing to the general atmosphere. I don't want you to sell yourself short on how much help you can be when it comes to building, though. Any team would benefit from your help in that regard, and I wouldn't just say that unless I truly believed it. That aside, you really were the heart of the team. Playing for so long, it's easy to forget where you are and see everything as just another game/week/tournament. But your feelings were contagious, from the apprehension before each match to the excitement and elation afterwards. Despite my best efforts, I got caught up myself, both in the highs and the lows, and I wouldn't have it any other way. What you brought to the team was important and irreplaceable; thank you for that.
TDK - As with FV, I initially couldn't fully discern how you felt about this tour/Pokemon in general. Now that it's over, I know we got the best of you, and I'm grateful for that. I appreciate all the work you did in keeping up with the metagame; as a similarly particular builder, I know the pain and frustration that comes with trying to work within the confines of a metagame that won't let you execute the ideas you really want to make work. That being said, your play showed none of that at all; it was consistently impressive, and seeing your early game vs Lord Enz come down to that axel roll was the most heartwrenching moment of the tournament. Thanks once again for stepping up, but fuck Necrozma.
TPP - Anyone can put up numbers, but it takes much more to do that while keeping a team together. Knowing that we'll never get caught by a surprise activity call or some other bullshit is some peace of mind that can't be taken for granted. More than that, you made sure everyone on our team was receiving the help they needed, even if that meant you deprioritizing your own prep just to test, especially during crunch time. The fact that your record was earned with this selflessness makes it all the more better to me. Thank you for all that you did for this season; this was simply the most deserved breakout performance.
Clone &
Jsaok3 - Thank you both for testing and helping out without being a part of the roster; the both of you are great teammates and just as deserving of this win. Hope we can see you in action in the future.
@mopsux,
Thatsjustpeachy,
aiko,
Skysolo,
pdt,
Indigo Plateau,
Stathakis,
snaga (?) & the rest of you in chat - Thanks for being around to chat, armchair, support, etc.
Finally, thanks to all the people who reached out to support me in public or private. Love you all.