Smogon Tour Facts

Probably the most iconic tournament in Smogon, the Tour attracts hundreds of players to participate in the weekly tourneys for a chance at the prestigious pink trophy. Although the prestige of the tournament has consistently remained up there as one of the hardest to conquer, the format has had a few changes:

ST 18 is the 8th Tour to have a multigen format. This format being installed way back in 2011.
ST 18 is the second Tour to include XY.
ST 18 keeps the 9 week season. ST 10 was the only Tour to have a 12 week season.
ST 18 keeps the 16 playoffs spots. This system started with ST 9, before then Tours had 8 playoffs spots.

Now, with these format changes out of the way, lets check out some interesting historical facts of one of the eldest tournaments around. Disclaimer: These facts will only take into account ST 11 and on (Modern multigen format).

Few players have stayed on top of the game for long enough to consistently get into the top 16 throughout the years, as only 3 players have reached the playoffs over 5 times:

Bloo, with a massive 7 out of 8, only missing playoffs during ST 11, the first modern multigen Tour.
McMeghan, with 6 out of 8, missing playoffs in ST 11 and ST 16.
M Dragon, with 5 out of 8, missing playoffs in ST 11, ST 15 and being eliminated in ST 18.

There have been very few players in history whose outstanding mastery of a couple tiers have landed them a spot in playoffs, because only 2 players have reached playoffs while having 0 points in one generation:

ToF (ST 13), definitely the most impressive in this category, as he got there while not playing a single BW tour. Got 22 points in ADV and 14 points in DPP.
FLCL (ST 17), played in 3 DPP tours but couldnt land a single point in them. He obtainde 25 points in XY and 9 points in BW.
Heist (ST 18), currently in the race for clinching playoffs, he has 0 points in XY while playing only one XY Tour in the season. With 2 weeks left of his best generations and a decent spot thus far, its almost sure Heist will make this category 3 players instead of 2.

A good way to measure all around dominance during a period of time is to see the top contenders in a Tour. The top 3 most points achieved during a single season are as follows:

Bloo (ST 18) - Smashing the previous record, Bloo has obtained an insane 59 points, with still 2 weeks of Tour to go. At this pace, Bloo is racing to see if he will be the first and perhaps only player in history to get over 70 points in a single season.
Ojama (ST 15) - Obtained 55 points in a single season.
reyscarface (ST 13) - Obtained 54 points in a single season.

There has only been one player to be #1 seed in 2 different seasons:

Ojama (ST 14 and ST 15): Managed a combined 104 points in these two seasons.
Bloo (ST 17 and ST 18?): Leading the race for #1 this season, Bloo will surely be part of this category, as it seems nigh impossible for #2 seed McMeghan to catch up to him, being behind 9 points. So far, Bloo has a combined 111 points, which will surely increase with the 2 weeks to come.

Like most points achieved, we can also see the more dominant players, per generation, in a period of time with the amount of points they get in a single generation within a season. Here are the top ones:

ADV:

Golden Sun (ST 12) - 25 points
Bloo (ST 15) - 25 points

DPP:

reyscarface (ST 13) - 27 points
M Dragon (ST 17) - 24 points

BW:

reyscarface (ST 12) - 29 points
Bloo (ST 17) - 27 points. Bloo currently has 21 BW points in ST 18, he would overtake first place and obtain the only player to achieve over 30 points in a single generation within a season by reaching Finals of a 128-man tour this weekend.

XY:

Bloo (ST 18) - 26 points
FLCL (ST 17) - 25 points

Seasons are very volatile regarding the minimum amount of points you can get to make playoffs. Here are some facts:

ST 13 could be considered the "hardest" tour so far, with a minimum of 33 points to make it to playoffs.
ST 11, on the other hand, could be considered the "easiest", as players were only required 23 points to make it to at least a tiebreaker for a playoffs spot.
The average points needed to get through to playoffs from every season is: ~28 points. ST 18 is currently at 25 minimum with 2 weeks to go, so it seems as though this season will possibly bump the average up.

Going off of this, we can predict that the following players have made this season's playoffs:

Bloo, McMeghan, reyscarface, Destiny Device, SoulWind, Inflikted, Tesung, Masterclass, Mix, Rewer.

Most likely candidates for the last few spots (MY OPINION):

Heist: Obvious choice; not a single point in XY and still going strong, and with the last two weeks being gens he is one of the best at, it will certainly make his path to playoffs an easy one.
-Tsunami-: Although he has been lacking in BW and DPP this year, his good XY performance has put him in a sweet spot, only needing a couple more Round 2 wins in order to most likely clinch.
xtrashine: Being a very avid DPP player, he will certainly enjoy the week left of DPP, being his best generation so far. While others have struggled in that, he has done well enough to assume that he will get enough points to clinch.
Karppi: Although maybe a surprise, this guy has the second most BW points this season so far, even while having only joined 2 out of 4 possible BW tours. If he can keep this rhythm up, he could break past 30 points with the BW tour alone. His chances get even better if he joins both tours as opposed to just one during the week.
WhiteQueen: Despite a really lackluster performance in BW, DPP being in the last week certainly helps him, as that is his best generation so far even with 1 week to go. He will most likely clinch off of that gen.