Wow! I’m still not sure it has sunk in that the Luxrays are the BSPL4 champions! I am really proud of the team overall through the entire process, from the draft, to fighting through all sorts of in-season adversity, especially IRL, to managing to fight our way through a very tough playoffs to win the title. I think it is fitting that we both managed to turn the tables one of our our regular season losses in Semis against the Cavaliers and then come back from 2-1 down in the Finals even when some of our best players didn’t win this week. This has been a wild, humbling ride, and in my opinion this was the closest fought BSPL to date, but I’m ecstatic that we managed to claim the title!
Now for some shoutouts:
I will get to my own team in a moment, but the first shoutout goes to
Solerme. Without him the Luxrays woudn’t have existed. But despite us both wanting another chance to play together, I felt like this was the ideal time to try managing with a couple of regulars not able to manage this year, and you were incredibly supportive of my decision. Your prep help and encouragement vs Chemcoop in Semifinals was also a vital moment of the tour for me personally and maybe even for our team in general. Thanks for everything man! Consider this like a Farseers title by proxy.
The first shoutout for my team goes to
marilli. In prepping for the draft I had targeted you as my top pick due to your incredible knowledge, versatility, and work ethic, and I was thrilled to get you at 22k. Whether or not that was better pure money value than some of the other top picks, your skill set worked perfectly with mine; you were able to provide immense knowledge in Doubles where I’m not as helpful, while also still being someone who could help with Singles teambuilding and knowledge as well. Your experience with managing minutia was also incredibly helpful to a new manager like myself, and you were capable of stepping up in my stead when I had major IRL problems in Weeks 2-3 in particular. Also, someone to talk Fire Emblem with is a great bonus! LOL
Next up is
EmbCPT. When prepping for the draft I had to do extra scouting and investigating for Doubles since I didn’t know as much about BSD players as I do about the BSS scene. But once your sign up post was live, all my discussions with BSD players came back to: edu is insanely, insanely good. So when I got you in the draft for 17.5k, I was stoked. But it still blows my mind that I had a World Top 16 finisher to help lead the charge in Doubles. Your skill level is just insane. And I think even given all that that your overall mons knowledge might still be underrated. Your prep help for my Week 4 BSS game vs youmu was incredibly valuable, especially since I was coming off a couple of rough IRL weeks and a loss in my previous set, and you were an incredible teammate. Now we just need that Edu vs Wolfe VGC Worlds Finals that I was desperately hoping for to go live next year!
Megazard You’re the original GBU GOAT and you proved in this BSPL that you’re still on top of the GBU scene when RNG doesn’t deal you a bad hand. You’re an incredibly knowledgeable and reliable mons player--a slot that most weeks I could fire and forget on in GBU with expectation of general good results. You also were willing to branch out when the team needed you to, playing ORAS one week despite being on a hot streak in GBU, and while that didn’t go as well as we hoped, I really appreciate your willingness to move around when the team needed you to. I’m also glad we got you the extra games so that you could move up to tied with Charlotte for leader in all-time BSPL wins!
Moose And Goose you were an excellent teammate despite that I know you weren’t really always playing your preferred format. But despite having a little bit of a rocky record overall, you never failed to come up big when the team needed you most. Where ORAS titans like Pearl failed, you succeeded, being the ultimate Misaka/railgun gif slayer! And your set in the Finals might have been the most critical for us, turning the tide and giving Megazard and Plas the chance to finish things off.
MAMP I know you didn’t get to play much, but your willingness to be able to step in at a moment’s notice when IRL caused the team problems was critically important even in the instances where you didn’t have to ultimately fill in. While the overall record ended up not being great, you were still an important part of the team and the chat and I appreciate your presence.
Sunrose When I was scouting before the draft and you sent me your resume, at first I wasn’t sure what to think. But even before the draft Marilli vouched for you pretty vociferously, and that convinced me to take a chance on you at 3k. And while you didn’t get to play much (which was especially annoying in Week 5 when I was desperately trying to get you in but the results were not cooperating), you were every bit the team morale support, chat presence, and incredibly positive attitude that our team desperately needed in this BSPL: our team’s answer to Bobochan. Perhaps as a reflection on me, we probably weren’t the most talkative team, but whenever we needed a chat presence to step up or someone to spar with to test teams, you were there, and your positive attitude was infectious, even with all the crazy IRL stuff that happened this BSPL. You’re an amazing teammate and I hope enjoy playing BSS in Masters as well. Future managers take note: Sunrose absolutely belongs in the Bobochan tier of elite team support even when he isn’t fielded every week.
Plas I saved Plas for last since he’s essentially our closer. I had targeted you before the draft as an elite option in the second BSS slot who has shown repeatedly that you could take on elite players and win as well, but I was hesitant to count on drafting you since I figured Noved would have a big number saved up for you. But when Noved spent most of his remaining money on Pearl, my eyes went wide because I was pretty sure I’d be able to draft you. You’re like the Cris Carter of BSPL: if Cris Carter was known for “all he does is catch touchdowns”, then your mantra can be “all he does is win BSPLs”. It’s not a coincidence that you’ve been on the winning team three times in a row either: each time you’ve provided elite value for a fairly low price, and this despite joining the 10+ wins in BSPL club this year and constantly playing against very strong competition. Even last year I was telling Noved how your advanced stats showed that you were playing at an elite level even though you lost twice (sorry about that!), and you proved that again this year. Since the team that drafts you in BSPL5 is almost guaranteed to win, I expect an impressive bidding war that rivals the prices that Jmal and I went for last year!
You guys were the best team a manager could ask for, and I appreciate all of you being patient with me given how absentee I was at times in the middle of the season given IRL stuff. :)
Now for a few more shoutouts to others:
First I want to thank everyone who was willing to lend an ear about my IRL issues this BSPL, most especially
cant say,
Puff Killa, and
11oyd. I appreciate your support beyond mons more than I can adequately express in writing here. Thank you! I’m rooting for cant say and 11oyd to rise up the ladder a bit more before the end of the season tomorrow too!
NOVED I appreciate all of your support especially when I was deciding whether or not to manage. While we didn’t get to work as much in concert as last year on draft prep since we were both managing, it’s always fun when we get a chance to talk, whether that be about mons, sports, or whatever else.
chemcoop My fellow All-Star Manager! It was incredible to get to play you twice in this BSPL, and true to form… we split the sets. That always seems to happen (and they go the max # of games too)! I also appreciate your willingness to discuss team ideas when we weren’t directly playing each other. Also, you got the real prize at the end: you’re definitely better at training your Dewgongs for Dewgong Cup than I am! LOL
DragonWhale The real MVP: without you we wouldn’t have BSPL. Thanks again for being an amazing host!
Also shoutout to
Givrix for the awesome logo! Thank you so much!
Also I want to shoutout to all of the other managers in general for having the most closely contested BSPL to date IMO. To win this one was especially gratifying because of how close the teams were. I also want to give congratulations to the other playoff teams on having a fantastic season: the Cavaliers and the Inkays were both formidable opponents and I feel fortunate that we came out on top. Particular congratulations goes to
Ika Ika Musume, my fellow first time manager, for showing that we could both keep up with the rest of the pack with the proper support, as well as an amazing season that could’ve easily ended in an Inkays championship with very minor differences in how the Finals series went.
I hope that everyone else had a great time this BSPL as well, and hopefully next year’s version will be just as exciting!