Smogon Grand Slam V - Introduction

[sand1234]

U forgot me :(

 

[Vinc2612]

Woops you were a uncommon case with the 22->25 jump. Added :D

 

[Stallion]

I assume the top cut will be 23 or 24. Technically, 22 is still possible, but it's so unlikely that I'll ignore this scenario. 25 is not possible anymore.

Ciele, PDC, DennisEG, me, Rodriblutar and Advantage are secured top 12.
Tricking, Alice Kazumi and Stax could be in with their 23 points each, they can secure it by winning once in their last Open.
Stallion is not in yet, but he still has two shots to win once and reach 24.
Hairy Toenail is not in yet, and has only one last shot to reach 24.
Megazard is one win ahead of reaching 23, so two wins ahead of securing the playoffs.
Ice Tea is also one win ahead of reaching 23, but since the following round would be a round robin finals, he needs to win three Bo3 to secure the playoffs.

Other people who can still reach 24 points: Double01 (needs to win RU Open, currently in semis, two players finals) ; Level 56 (needs to win Ubers Open, currently in semis, round robin finals) ; Omfuga (needs to win NU Open, qualified for the round robin finals) ; sand1234 (needs to win PU Open, currently in semis, round robin finals, would actually reach 25)
Other people who can still reach 23 points: Sacri' (needs to win NU Open, qualified for the round robin finals) ; Hack (needs to win Ubers Open, currently in top 8, round robin finals)

See you all in the playoffs!

 

[Beta.]

I kinda wanted to post about something that really struck out to me in the Grand Slam. I also want to preface by saying I do not expect, or want the decisions of how the tour will be played out by the TDs be changed 10 days prior to playoffs. That would be absurd, I only want to make my opinion on the playoffs of the tour be heard. Reading an article from what I presume to be last year's Smogon Grand Slam. This was the very first line of the article.

The Smogon Grand Slam is a tournament designed to ensure every Smogon-supported tier is represented in an official tournament, and it focuses on allowing players of the UU, Ubers, RU, NU, and LC metagames to test their skills in a high-level tournament setting with a trophy on the line!

The top seeded player from last year was allowed to cross off one tier, and make it a Bof5. Makes sense at that time. Only one tier was crossed out, so each tier most likely has a chance of being played equally. There would be a common tier that people would want to cross out, maybe they would want to cross off the other person's best tier, but either way, almost every tier would have an equal chance of being played. But this year, with the addition of PU, that would be 7 different tiers that would be able to be played, meaning to keep it Bof5, both players would cross out two. While this is a completely okay thing to do, after speaking with players that not only had a high chance of getting into playoffs, but also gotten into playoffs, there had been a general consensus of the tiers.

Basically, what the general consensus was, was they would remove a tier they did not want to learn, specifically Doubles or PU, and if their opponent had already asked to cross out one of the two tiers, they would either cross out the other one, or a tier the other person was better at. While I agree with the strategy of removing the opponent's best tier so their strong point, I felt the former half went against the overall design of the tournament, to ensure every Smogon supported tier is represented in an official tournament.

Maybe I am just a salty doubles player who lost round 1 of NU open because he forgot what torrent was, but to me, with the exception of looking at the opens, those tiers potentially have no chance of being played, and it would mainly be the main singles tiers that everyone and lobby knows how to play. While tiers that fewer people play would still have a high chance of being played, the larger tiers, especially OU will almost always be played. I don't want to get rid of OU entirely, or force people not to play it because Doubles isn't played; I feel like the cross out system worked well in previous years, but with an extra tier added, those minor tiers that some skilled players don't want to learn possibly won't see the light of day, which I say again, I feel would go against the main point of the tour. To ensure every Smogon supported tier and their players have a chance to shine.

I have some suggestions, and as stated earlier, I don't expect to be added 10 days prior to playoffs, but possibly could be taken into consideration for future tournaments while we do still have 7 tier, Bof5 tournament. Because let's be real, nobody wants to play 7 games of pokemon in a row like this. So here is a quick list of some suggestions.

1. Have the TDs choose the 5 tiers to be played, either by their own choice, or randomly, and that round, all players play it. I don't like this suggestion, as it should still rely on the players in playoffs, and the TDs would also be in the playoffs, but I will still bring it up, as it will give a chance for the tiers that are always played to not be played for a round.
2. Have the players choose 2 tiers each they don't want to play, and have two chosen out of the 4 that will be played randomly. This would still give it so that the tiers that are never considered a chance to be played, while still giving other tiers that they choose a chance to not be played.
3. Have a lock. So each player can lock their tier they do not want removed, and those would stay in the Bof5.

While these are only suggestions, and I don't expect them to be considered for some time, they were thought of so that the never played tiers would still be played, so this tournament wouldn't merely be go with what you know, it would be designed to see who is the best at all Smogon tiers, and who can adapt, and be the most skilled at various metagames. I hope that my point made sense, and if you don't like my suggestions because of the randomness to it, remember you are playing a roll of the dice simulator. Thank you, any criticism is always welcome.

Edit: added a third option I thought of in the shower.

 

[Vinc2612]

The issue with the two former suggestions is the addition of randomness. If I am unlucky, I can have my two best tiers unplayed, while my opponent gets their best tiers. Of course that's the worst case scenario, but I spend so many hours during the regular season, I don't want to risk that. But you said it yourself, so I don't know what you are expecting... No, we won't add random elements because "one more won't hurt lol remember it's a stupid hax game anyway"

Now for the 'going by striking' vs 'going by saving' tiers: that's true, going by saving the tiers would be as fair as the strikes, and would promote a bigger variety by allowing doubles specialists to keep their tier. That was discussed and the main reason that promoted the striking route was the following: by striking a tier, I remove the one with the biggest difference of level, leaving closer and more competitive battles. By saving (or locking) a tier, I am keeping the one where I have the biggest advantage over my opponent, leading to more one-sided battles overall.

While I really don't like the two former suggestions, the third one could be improved and discussed for next years.

 

[ludicrousman]

Have the players choose 2 tiers each they don't want to play, and have two chosen out of the 4 that will be played randomly. This would still give it so that the tiers that are never considered a chance to be played, while still giving other tiers that they choose a chance to not be played.

How about switching this just a little bit: each player chooses 2 tiers they'd rather not play, and each player chooses the one from their opponent.
Let me explain:
Player A decides he wants to remove NU and PU.
Player B decides he wants to remove LC and Doubles.

Player A then removes Doubles and Player B NU. There is no randomness in here.

Alternatively, because as I write this I realize it comes down to locking a tier (and Vinc2612 explained the reason it wasn't kept), a pick can decide which tier from each player will not be played. It helps controlling the "biggest gap" issue, and still allows unplayed tiers to be in the bo5.