Tournaments SSPL Commencement Thread

[Clementine]

amazing logo from Clementine​

Welcome to the first, inaugural edition of the Sword & Shield Premier League, or SSPL for short! The SSPL is a team-based tournament where eight team managers draft their team from a pool, in a auction-style draft, and battle for the next seven weeks to determine the top four teams that will proceed to the final stage, and from there it's really simple - single elimination matches until the winner takes it all! And not just the glory, because the prize of this tournament is a team custom avatar!

Information about the tournament can be also found in the SS OU Discord server. The hosts for this edition of SSPL are Clementine and Lalaya.

The slots for this tournament are:

• SS Ubers
• SS OU
• SS OU
• SS OU
• SS DOU
• SS UU
• SS RU
• SS NU
• SS PU
• SS LC

All battles will be Bo1.

Player sign-ups will go up either Sunday, April 16th or Monday, April 17th. When a prospective player signs up, they are expected to also note which tiers they are interested in playing during the tournament. In order to ensure the best possible experience for yourself, the managers, and your team, please do NOT sign up for any tier you are unwilling to play. If you would not seriously consider playing that tier in a tournament environment, do not list it. Don't make dumb joke posts about playing tiers you do not care for. That being said, players WILL NOT be restrained to play only the tiers that they list during their sign up.

General Rules and Information

Tournament Rules and General Guidelines

Manager Signups

Managers signups will be up as soon or at the same time this thread goes up, and you can check them in the following thread. They will be open until April 14th, or when we're satisfied with the manager selection.

Player Signups

Player sign-ups will go up either Sunday, April 16th or Monday, April 17th. We encourage everyone to sign up for the tiers that they are familiar with and enjoy, however players will not be restrained to play the tiers that they list in their sign up post, meaning there's no tierlock in place.

Live Auction

Auction will take place TBD. Total money for teams is 140,000 credits. Once the time is set, all managers and the hosts will enter the place where the auction will be held. Spectators are allowed to join in to watch the fun unfold, but will not be able to speak. Auction order will be announced once teams are decided.
it is necessary for every team to field a roster of 10 starters and a minimum of 2 substitutes of which all must be paid at least 3000 credits each.

Tournament Schedule

This tournament will consist of a 7-week long Round Robin, in which teams will face each other, once each, fighting to obtain a finals spot. After these 7 weeks, the top four teams will go in the playoffs to see who is the final winner of the SSPL.

 

[Drifting]

 

[maroon]

free monotype

 

[R8]

free natdex

 

[Tbolt]

if player signups are enough

more like

if player BDSP OU signups are enough

anyway pls draft me I know the tier well

 

[Oathkeeper]

free player signups imo

 

[Baloor]

free player signups imo

Right

 

[igiveuponaname]

We mourn the loss of the BDSP OU slot today

 

[dex]

The Corviknights of the LOOR's Table will not be doing tryouts because LOOR and I are busy individuals; however, you are welcome to message us on Discord if you are interested in joining the team. Replays are optional, but at most 3 replays where you are proud of how you played (doesn't have to be ones you win in) if you do so!

dex: Correia#8898
Baloor: LOOR#9296

 

[Tbolt]

We mourn the loss of the BDSP OU slot today

I wonder what political maneuvering Lalaya had to do in order to get BDSP OU in there lol

 

[Tuthur]

Please reconsider putting BDSP in the tournament.

The reasons to remove BDSP from the tournament are honestly just silly. Having a manager vote decide the formats is a quite bad idea, this is something that has been already mentionned in the WCoP 2023 thread. Except for dex, all the managers are unfamiliar with BDSP, and it is a strategic choice for them to vote for the metagame they are the most familiar with. The general community feedback part is also quite iffy, there hasn't been any post on this thread about people being mecontent with featuring BDSP. There was one meme about its inclusion, but no one has raised their opinion on wanting to remove it for a more relevant tier.

The BDSP playerbase wasn't even given the chance to show if it was big / strong enough for this tournament, the vote happened before the signups opened and could show if we were ready for this stage. There was also no public discussion or announcement about BDSP being threatened by a removal of the tournament. I wouldn't mind BDSP getting cut because of lack of strong signups, but the timing is just awful. Why would you announce BDSP to be featured in the tournament and then remove it without letting a chance to its playerbase to defend its inclusion? BDSP is a very easy metagame to learn and which is also quite unique and particularly balanced, it didn't have many opportunities to shine last year and an unofficial forum tournament like this one could have been the perfect occasion to show its potential to a more diverse playerbase. SS OU already has two slots, it was featured in every tournament last year, and the on going Smogon Tour is featuring it, there was definitely no need to give it a 3rd slot.

tldr: reverse the bdsp removal and only remove it if it lacks strong signups after a significant amount of time

 

[Raptor]

If you are a weeb and you play these tiers, talk to me Raptor#1478

 

[Aqua Jet]

The BDSP playerbase wasn't even given the chance to show if it was big / strong enough for this tournament

Yes, actually they have. In the first week of the first (and most recent) iteration of BDSPPL, a tournament which, on paper, should be comprised of the strongest BDSP players (not only because it is the tiers official PL but it also has a custom avatar prize), the BDSP OU starters were as follows: Lyss, Quartosa. Mimikyu Stardust, Revenge Killer, Mike Legend, Splash, Isza, Drud, Ainzcrad, crying, Lily, Savouras, Beraldinho, ez, Micaiah vs FailureGirl, Pais, and clean. I've underlined the names of the people who I've seen actively build and play BDSP / I don't know who they are. As we can see from the sample of week 1 starters, only 5 of the 18 starters actively play this tier, or at least would be better slotted into BDSP then another tier.
Furthermore, of the 16 who qualified for BDSP circuit playoffs, half of them being slotted into BDSP would be a throw because they're better at (or at least, I know them for) a different tier (Elfuseon, dunoks, clean, Berald, Drud, Savouras, jay, Danny all are better at/known for LC, UU, OU, RU, PU, OU, UU, and NU, respectively). I'd even go so far as to say that half of the people I just listed do not build BDSP, at least not actively, especially considering the first seed in BDSP playoffs literally posted in the thread that they get passed teams.

There was also no public discussion or announcement about BDSP being threatened by a removal of the tournament.

There was in the SS Discord here.

 

[Tuthur]

Yes, actually they have. In the first week of the first (and most recent) iteration of BDSPPL, a tournament which, on paper, should be comprised of the strongest BDSP players (not only because it is the tiers official PL but it also has a custom avatar prize), the BDSP OU starters were as follows: Lyss, Quartosa. Mimikyu Stardust, Revenge Killer, Mike Legend, Splash, Isza, Drud, Ainzcrad, crying, Lily, Savouras, Beraldinho, ez, Micaiah vs FailureGirl, Pais, and clean. I've underlined the names of the people who I've seen actively build and play BDSP / I don't know who they are. As we can see from the sample of week 1 starters, only 5 of the 18 starters actively play this tier, or at least would be better slotted into BDSP then another tier.
Furthermore, of the 16 who qualified for BDSP circuit playoffs, half of them being slotted into BDSP would be a throw because they're better at (or at least, I know them for) a different tier (Elfuseon, dunoks, clean, Berald, Drud, Savouras, jay, Danny all are better at/known for LC, UU, OU, RU, PU, OU, UU, and NU, respectively). I'd even go so far as to say that half of the people I just listed do not build BDSP, at least not actively, especially considering the first seed in BDSP playoffs literally posted in the thread that they get passed teams.


There was in the SS Discord here.

Based on the people you underlined, I feel like you have no idea of who plays/played BDSP. You failed to underline some of the tier's contributors and council members like Lily, Drud, and Savouras who've been playing the tier for a significant amount of time. Quartosa won BDSP Kickoff, the first non live BDSP tournament. Ainzcrad had played BDSP in TeamBallo right before BDSPPL. How did you expect Beraldinho and clean to reach Circuit Playoff without playing the tier outside BDSPPL?

You highlighted how a big part of the top 16 of the circuit are knowledgeable about other tiers. This is actually a great point for the inclusion of the tier. You won't be forced to draft a random person to play BDSP which is what i felt was the biggest issue managers had with BDSP. There are skilled players who would be drafted regardless who can play/support in BDSP. Whether they are a better fit for the other tiers they are knowledgeable for is on their manager and their signup post, you cannot outright say that they are better in their other tiers when you've never seen them play BDSP.

On Elfuseon getting passed teams, this is litterally happening in every tier for a lot of players. Elfuseon is not known for playing with his own teams, and Savouras is the best and most prolific BDSP builder. Getting teams for BDSP is absolutely no problem, any decent buider can easily throw together a viable team just by looking at the VR (if I did it, so anyone can).

When I joined the SS server yesterday, I only saw people being mad at 0LK not being able to manage with Gondra and some BDSP players hyped by the tournament. I cannot be expected to follow actively a live chat like this one, with multiple discussions on going simultaneously, when we have a place here whose purpose is to have such discussions.

Comments like yours only prove my point further. BDSP's removal is a consequence of people not being curious enough about it and making fake assumptions on its playerbase.

 

[Tbolt]

(Elfuseon, dunoks, clean, Berald, Drud, Savouras, jay, Danny all are better at/known for LC, UU, OU, RU, PU, OU, UU, and NU, respectively)

Let the managers choose whether or not they want to invest those players in the BDSP OU slot or their respective SS slot. Just because a group of players may be good at one tier doesn't condemn another to be taken out.

Also, these managers may choose to obtain support from those who play and build the tier but who may not be recognized enough to get drafted. For instance, Xilefi went from a support on the Rolling Spheals to an OU Council member, while newer players like Boopi_Bappi won BDSP tours with innovative teambuilding. BDSP wasn't just dead in the time after the playoffs; we've been teambuilding, testing, and discussing the metagame. In that span, the viability rankings have been updated and new teams are being innovated.

 

[Aqua Jet]

Lily, Drud, and Savouras who've been playing the tier for a significant amount of time. Quartosa won BDSP Kickoff, the first non live BDSP tournament.

I don't doubt your word is true, as I will be the first to admit I am not familiar with BDSP's community at all. That said, assuming all of these people play BDSP, this raises the number to 9/18, or half, of the starters not playing BDSP actively, which is still concerning.
I'm not including Ainzcrad because BDSP wasn't in Teamballo II, so I'm not really sure where you're getting that information.

You highlighted how a big part of the top 16 of the circuit are knowledgeable about other tiers. This is actually a great point for the inclusion of the tier. You won't be forced to draft a random person to play BDSP which is what i felt was the biggest issue managers had with BDSP. There are skilled players who would be drafted regardless who can play/support in BDSP. Whether they are a better fit for the other tiers they are knowledgeable for is on their manager and their signup post, you cannot outright say that they are better in their other tiers when you've never seen them play BDSP.

You neglect my point that the majority of these players probably do not actively build BDSP. This of course is an assumption based on what I've seen (notably the top seed not being able to build their own teams), and if presented with evidence to the contrary I will admit that I was wrong on this point.


BDSP by no means should have automatic inclusion in this tournament just because it is a Generation 8 metagame - by that argument, we should also include National Dex and Monotype without discussing it first. I (and apparently, many of the managers as well as members of the community) still do not think that BDSP should be in this tournament due to the top-heavy nature of players in the tier, as well as the general lack of options (BDSP sendoff tour, a tour with a monetary prize, had only 152 participants), among other reasons.

If you want to continue discussing this please ping me in the SS cord, I don't really want to get in trouble for flooding the thread with an argument over a decision that was already made after a consensus was reached among the managers.

 

[Tbolt]

BDSP wasn't in Teamballo II

It was in Teamballo I.

BDSP by no means should have automatic inclusion in this tournament just because it is a Generation 8 metagame

You should've considered that before you announced 2 SS OU slots and 1 BDSP OU slot. Now, at the last minute, you're changing the expectations of the playerbase, who have not gotten a say in the matter.

BDSP sendoff tour

BDSP Sendoff Tour primarily revolved around learning the BDSP lower tiers, which a) didn't have as many resources and thus posed as a barrier to entry, and b) none of which are the the discussion we have currently.

 

[igiveuponaname]

What frustrates me most about the removal of BDSP OU slot from SSPL is that it wasn't even given a proper chance. I know myself and many others were looking forward to seeing BDSP get tournament representation outside of the immediate community, but removing it from the lineup hours before player signups went live without any consultation from the BDSP community is such a massive slap in the face.

We could argue forever about whether or not the quantity/quality of player signups for BDSP OU would be worth the trouble, but we would never know if that would be the case because, once again, it was removed before it could get the chance to prove itself in signups. And the idea that BDSP lacked quality players was based on what? A team tour that took place five months after the metagame was released? The fact that many good BDSP players are also good in other SS tiers (so they aren't just deadweight outside of the BDSP slot)? To me, it feels as if those who decided to remove BDSP from the lineup are ignorant, willfully or not, of the BDSP community and metagame.

If BDSP were removed after an insufficient amount of signups (doubtful that would be the case), or if there was a lack of qualified signups (more plausible, but I'm still very doubtful of this), then I would still be disappointed, but it would be for an understandable reason and we could all just move on with our lives. But with the way it was removed, I can't help but express my frustrations.

I apologize if this came off as rude, ranty, or incoherent, and I've probably repeated a lot of what others have said, but I felt the need to speak up after what I believe was a rather unfair decision.

 

[dex]

Hey, thought I’d remark on the situation.

As has been pointed out, I am the manager with the most experience with BDSP (though the experience of other managers has been seriously downplayed; Leru, Sasha, and others all have experience with the tier). I want to say I did vote against BDSP’s inclusion in the tournament, though not because of any player base or siloing worries. It’s mainly that I thought BDSP just didn’t really fit with the tour: it’s not really an SS tier, and I thought that another SS OU slot was more appropriate and in-line with other Gen-PLs. I used a direct comparison of SSPL to SMPL to inform my own vote on the matter, as SM has LGPE as a potential tier. It does not, however, include it, using that slot as an SM OU suspect slot. The arguments saying BDSP is too alien, doesn’t have the players, or would somehow take away players from other tiers (which is such hilarious bullshit to me) are not good, but I don’t think BDSP is the right “fit” per se in this tour given the precedent set by other Gen-PLs. As I said in SS cord before, I’ll leave the decision of what that slot is up to the hosts and mods.

 

[Clementine]

We're not putting BDSP in SSPL again.
We've talked about it and had a lot of feedback from the community, especially with the very lengthy discussion we got in SS community serv (that we've plugged everywhere since the tour was announced).
I was against removing BDSP but people were not happy with this inclusion in general, some users even suggested having literally anything over BDSP, like an OU Suspect Slot, for example, even though council said that it was completely worthless.
Truth is, no other PL include this kind of alt tier, we don't have stuff like DW OU in BWPL, or LGPE in SMPL (which admittedly are way less popular than BDSP), for the same reasons as we don't have BDSP.
I understand that everyone's upset, but i really think not putting BDSP OU in this tour will make it better.
We could have made a post in the commencement thread or anything else to say that we were actively discussin how relevant BDSP was in the community discord, but most of the feedback we got there was against the inclusion of BDSP.
Also, regardless of this, the decision wasn't gonna be taken without a vote from managers, and nobody, out of 12 managers at the time of the voting process, voted to keep BDSP OU in this edition of SSPL.
My DMs are open here or on Discord (Clem#3471) may you have any question, suggestion or want to share anything related to this tournament.

I hope everything is clear now, also keep it civil in this thread.

 

[sasha]

Avarice and I aren't doing tryouts but if you want to DM me (ctrl#5555) you can send me any tiers you play and your experience/replays and I'll look at everything

 

[Lily]

Lily

the decision is made and all & I don't particularly care if BDSP is in SSPL or not since BDSPPL exists anyway, so i just wanna say this: if you're gonna make more posts like this in future where you name drop who plays a tier and who doesn't - please make sure you know what you're talking about beforehand. i led this tier for 6 months and was on the council on 2 separate occasions so i would say i definitely know a fair bit about it lol. posts like this are damaging if people think they're accurate assessments of a playerbase - do your research! ty

 

[Railgun]

free monotype

X2

 

[Xilefi]

I would like to point out something that I think has not been sufficiently mentioned: this fuss has nothing to do with the legitimacy of the inclusion or not of the BDSP OU. It doesn't matter whether BDSP OU should be included or not, it has been included in the first place. When you say go right and you go left, it creates the confusion that we have here. The organization made a first mistake by including BDSP OU then made a second one by removing it. There is nothing that can be done to solve this problem, but I hope that in the future the organisation will prevent this kind of situation from happening.

I don't understand why the organisation is trying to justify this decision. It seems obvious to me at this point that the motivations behind this decision don't go any further than "I/We/They don't want to play BDSP OU during this tournament", which I totally respect but I wish the organisation would at least spare us the bad faith. Also, past organisations don't make future organisations either: inspiration and mimicry makes sense of course, but why would you want to set that in stone?

Nevertheless, I wish everyone a good tournament. I know from experience that organising such tournaments is not an easy task, even if my words may sound harsh. I will be, and I'm sure the other members of the BDSP OU council will be, open to discussion about whether or not to play the tier in a given tournament and how to make it entertaining for the most people.

 

[Freezerman]

Wasn't there a BDSP PL anyways? I don't get the inclusion with SS when the metagames are drastically different. I think the slot was more favoured to 3x SS or a monotype slot. Don't get me wrong I'm not hating and I can tell BDSP is a decently fun tier on it's own, it just feels awkward within SS metagames PL. Considering the demand for BDSP here, I'm sure the tier can field it's own PL.