Smogon VGC Winter League - Manager Signups

[Jashsmash]

Welcome to the first ever season of VGCWL! We've decided to open up Manager signups a little bit early to give people more time to prepare for the upcoming league. Both new and returning managers from VGCPL are encouraged to sign up and we are locking the team count at six. Only post in this thread if you are signing up to manage a team as all other posts will be deleted. Player signups will begin on November 15th and end on the 28th with the draft taking place on the 29th/30th with week 1 of the tournament starting on the 31st. Overall, the tournament will last seven weeks and you must be active for the entirety, so please only sign up if you are willing to make that type of commitment.

The featured formats for this year are:
-2x VGC 2021 Series 11
-1x VGC 2021 Series 10
-1x VGC 2021 Series 9
-1x VGC 17/18/19 rotation
-1x VGC 14/15/16 rotation

Unlike VGCPL, we are limiting the number of teams to six in order to finish in a timely manner. However, still please don't be afraid to sign up! All teams will require a new team name (subject to approval) that includes a Pokemon Location e.g. The Seven Island Stoutlands.

DISCLAIMER: Any returning managers will not be allowed to reuse team names from VGCPL, as that is a separate League with different teams.

Manager Responsibilities
-Submit a player roster every week
-Host team signups/tryouts and participate in drafting for team members
-Host a team discord for practice and discussion
-Assist in resolving scheduling and match disputes
-Ensuring that your players finish their matches before the end of every week

Signing Up:

At minimum you must include the following in your post. Please take filling out the format seriously, most VGC players are not familiar with many Smogon players and vice versa, so the best way to leave a good impression is to fill out this post accurately and respectfully. If you do not yet have an assistant manager, leave it blank and edit when selected. Have your assistant manager confirm by liking the post or by posting that they confirm in the thread. An assistant manager is highly encouraged. Both the manager and the assistant manager will have the option to self-purchase prior to auction for exactly 15,000 credits.

Assistant Manager:
Desired Team / New Team Name:
Significant VGC Tournament Experience:
Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role):
Bio (quick intro on who you are):

Signups will be open until November 13th 2021 11:59 PST and we will select managers before player signups are posted.

If you have any questions, please contact myself or zeefable.

 

[yuki]

Assistant Manager: trace
Desired Team / New Team Name: Mistralton Aerial Aces
Significant VGC Tournament Experience:
yuki: A couple 2017 regionals and mostly everything since we rebooted Smogon's tours
trace: Top Cut 2021 Fall Scramble!, Top Cut Indonesia Open 2020
Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role):
yuki: PGL2/Player, VGCPL/Player, WWT/Player, EGL2/Helper
trace: World Cup of VGC/Player (Team Indonesia), EGL2/Player, many Smogon PLs
Bio (quick intro on who you are):
yuki: Hi, I'm yuki. I'm one of the Smogon VGC Leaders, and an admin on Pokemon Showdown. I got back into VGC at the start of Sword and Shield after a hiatus from Pokemon to focus on other games. Being in mostly leadership roles, I'd love to finally manage a team after cutting my teeth with PLs last summer.

trace: hey, i'm trace. i just picked up vgc fairly recently but i have extensive experience in smogon team tours be it from a player's perspective or manager's perspective. with yuki i'd love to get a hand on managing a vgc team tour.

 

[Kotomi]

Assistant Manager: Helios of Sun

Desired Team / New Team Name: White Forest Weaviles

Significant VGC Tournament Experience:

Kotomi:
Top 4 Senior Players Cup
2x Scramble Top Cut
Winner of Lumiose Luxrays Tryouts
Peaked Rank 1 on Series 10 Ladder

Helios:
Top 16 Victory Road Spring Qualifier 4
3-0 (before forfeiting last 2 matches) Asia Players Cup Singapore W1
Hit Top 50 on Cartridge Ladder a few times / Multiple Top 500 Finishes on PS Ladder, peaked Top 100 in Series 10


Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role):

Kotomi:
VGCPL/player, PGL2 player, EGL2/co-captain

Helios of Sun:
APAC3/player, PGL2/player, VGCPL/player (manager), EGL2/helper, VGCWCoP2021/helper


Bio (quick intro on who you are):

Kotomi:
Hi, I’m ApronVGC (Kotomi on Smogon). I started to play VGC in June of 2020 out of boredom during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, I have been mostly active on the ladder playing and getting to know friends throughout teams I have been a part of. I’ve known Helios for a while now and he’s been a very good friend. Though we are relatively new players, me and Helios have had our fair share of experience and we’d like to experience managing ourselves. I believe we have what it takes to win a draft league!

Helios:
Hi, I am Helios of Sun (commonly referred to as Helios), and I started VGC in late January this year out of boredom (having stopped Valorant recently). In March, I got invited to a discord community and I have made many good friends in VGC since then. With their help, I have been able to improve greatly at the game (despite having ways to go from here). I have a few accomplishments under my belt, mostly in draft league experience within the APAC League and Smogon VGC PL, where I went undefeated throughout both draft leagues with a total record of 10-0. In Smogon VGC PL, I did a majority of the team’s scouting, and discussed our weekly lineups with Zelda (I was given the manager role in our discord server during the middle of the season). I am also a VGC tutor for B101. I have been good friends with Apron for a while now, being practice buddies, and I believe we have what it takes to draft and manage the winning team. Let’s enjoy some Pokemon everybody!

 

[Teka]

Assistant Manager: Ink
Desired Team / New Team Name: Geosenge Glastriers
Significant VGC Tournament Experience: (Teka) VR and Desafio top cuts, Special Event winner, (Ink): Several Grassroots Top Cuts including VR/Desafio/etc. Significant
Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role): (Teka): NPA X/player PGL2/player, VGCPL/Player, WWT/Player Wcup/Manager Wcup/player Copa America/manager Egl/manager. (Ink): World Cup/PGL2/WWT/VGCPL Player Bio :
(Teka): Hi I started playing vgc on Jan 2020 and I have managed Guatemala national team for copa america and wcup
(Ink): Hi-I started playing in september 2022 and have been relatively active around the community. I played for India in World Cup and have had a good amount of experience w/draft leagues and was hoping to make my managerial debut here!

 

[Borghi]

Assistant Manager

Aldrich

Desired Team / New Team Name

White Forest Wyrdeer

Significant VGC Tournament Experience

Aldrich: https://pastebin.com/yqLQKxJc
Borghi: 4x Reg T8, 2015 NYNJ Inv Champ, 2017 NYNJ Inv Runner-Up, 2020 RoseTower LCQ

Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role)

Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role)

Aldrich

APAC League

APAC League Season 1
Goldenrod Goomys Season 2
Motostoke Melmetals Season 3

PGL

Violet City Vileplumes PGL: Season 1
Assistant Manager of the Articuno Blues

NPA

NPA: Season 10 Fortree Brave Birds

Indo League

Ray is the Play Season 1
Manager of the Articuno Blues Season 2
Manager of Articuno Blues Season 3

SPL

Assistant Manager of the Lumiose Luxrays

Borghi

2015 NPA 4 Hornets
2016 NPA 5 Splashes
2017 NPA 6 Rollouts
2018 NPA 7 Rollouts
2019 NPA 8 Islanders
2020 NPA 9 Birds
2021 NPA 10 Hams
2019 US East Player World Cup
2020 US East Assistant Manager World Cup

Bio (quick intro on who you are)

Borghi

My name's Nick, I go by Borghi on Showdown. I've been around since 2012 as a Senior, and am a former Driver in the VGC-Room on showdown. I became a master in 2014 and have been having the timer of my life ever since. Outside VGC, I just graduated with my Bachelors in Business Administration from Baldwin Wallace. I'm an Eagle Scout. I've also worked as a Swim Coach for several years, and currently have a serious full-time coaching job at a well-respected Country Club in Ohio.

Aldrich

Hello gamers my name is Aldrich, I am from Indonesia. My favorite color is blue. I am most likely on Showdown and I am usually active in chat so feel free to hmu. What I want from the draft league is to have fun and I dont really know you guys so I'm looking forward to work with you guys.

 

[tyo]

Assistant Manager: abhayfive

Desired Team / New Team Name: Zui Zoruas

Significant VGC Tournament Experience:

tyo - Qualified and competed in Japan Nationals 2021, Rank 1 on showdown and cart multiple times, top cut a bunch of grassroot tournaments, 1750+ rating in the past three ICs (Players Cup Qualification Tournaments), won/top 5 a bunch of Japanese ladder tours with 1000+ participants

abhay - Participated in PC1 and PC3, vouched by Kunal Kanodia

Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role):

tyo - Player Role in PGL1, PGL2, NPA X, EGL1, EGL2, APAC3, WWT3, SPL. Took over and managed a team in PGL2 from Week 2. Assistant Manager and Player for Team India

abhay - Player Role in NPA X, PGL 2, and Team India

Bio:
tyo - Hey everyone! I’m tyo and I’ve been playing VGC for around a year and a half now and during this time, I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to participate in multiple draft leagues and learning from some of the VGC legends such as PokeAlex, Andrew Ding, and zeefable. I believe my greatest strength as a VGC player is being part of the Western and Japanese VGC community and I hope that given the opportunity to manage a team, I will be able to share what I’ve learned and create the best team environment possible!

Abhay - Whaddup y’all, my name’s Abhay and I started playing VGC in 2020. Although I haven't played many online tournaments I've gotten much more into the draft league scene recently, playing in NPA X, PGL 2, and this past World Cup with Team India. Hope me and tyo are able to great a fun and competitive team environment!

 

[abhayfive]

Assistant Manager: abhayfive

Desired Team / New Team Name: Zui Zoruas

Significant VGC Tournament Experience:

tyo - Qualified and competed in Japan Nationals 2021, Rank 1 on showdown and cart multiple times, top cut a bunch of grassroot tournaments, 1750+ rating in the past three ICs (Players Cup Qualification Tournaments), won/top 5 a bunch of Japanese ladder tours with 1000+ participants

abhay - Participated in PC1 and PC3, vouched by Kunal Kanodia

Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role):

tyo - Player Role in PGL1, PGL2, NPA X, EGL1, EGL2, APAC3, WWT3, SPL. Took over and managed a team in PGL2 from Week 2. Assistant Manager and Player for Team India

abhay - Player Role in NPA X, PGL 2, and Team India

Bio:
tyo - Hey everyone! I’m tyo and I’ve been playing VGC for around a year and a half now and during this time, I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to participate in multiple draft leagues and learning from some of the VGC legends such as PokeAlex, Andrew Ding, and zeefable. I believe my greatest strength as a VGC player is being part of the Western and Japanese VGC community and I hope that given the opportunity to manage a team, I will be able to share what I’ve learned and create the best team environment possible!

Abhay - Whaddup y’all, my name’s Abhay and I started playing VGC in 2020. Although I haven't played many online tournaments I've gotten much more into the draft league scene recently, playing in NPA X, PGL 2, and this past World Cup with Team India. Hope me and tyo are able to great a fun and competitive team environment!

I confirm as assistant

 

[Laurel]

I’d be interested in managing.

Desired Team Name: The Silph Co Scyther
Significant VGC Tour experience: active VGC player since 2012, competed in 16/17 nationals - several regionals.
- lead C&C for VGC on Smogon in 2014
Significant Team Tour Experience: 5x competitor in SPL, 6x competitor in World Cup, managed Pokemon-Online WC and ROA Olympics among other things.

Bio: my name is Laurel, I’ve been playing VGC on and off for 9 years. I’m 25 years old and enjoy going to the gym and watching anime. I work fully remote in software sales, so have a good amount of free time still. I love Pokémon and have played competitively dating back to 2007. I am an active member of the Smogon Survivor community, based on the TV show, and enjoy listening to new music.

 

[Namuko Pro]

Assistant Manager: HanaS
Desired Team / New Team Name: Santalune Swarm
Significant VGC Tournament Experience: Several Regional cuts back when I was going to events in Gen 6, T32 2015 Worlds, T16 NA Player's Cup I, Global Finals Player's Cup III
Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role): 6 years of NPA (NPA 3 - 5 and 8 - 10). Played the past three seasons for the Loud Puppies which hopefully is a sign that I have the fabled "good team presence". Also played in PGL2 and I am the MOST EXPENSIVE PLAYER in VGCPL HISTORY.
Bio (quick intro on who you are): Mr. 34.5k needs no introduction I started playing back in VGC 2014, had my first solid performance back at 2014 US Nationals, and ended up being pretty solid for the rest of Gen 6. Stopped playing after 2016 US Nationals since I really didn't enjoy the format at all and was busy doing other stuff at the time, and then I took a brief hiatus (aka I disappeared off the face of the VGC Earth) for about a year and a half before I made my triumphant return and didn't do much besides play in NPA during the end of Gen 7 and early Gen 8. With everything being online lately I've played in some of the Player's Cups and maybe I'll be back in person once events start again??? Have been interested in managing a team for awhile but in between always wanting to play in these tournaments and dipping out for awhile right when my involvement with the community was at its highest I've never really had the chance to. I think a shorter tournament like this is best for my schedule, and letting me play is just a nice bonus.

Also, I've been a Mod in the VGC room on Showdown for awhile now (Leadership skills :^) ). Have probably had the weirdest Mod career arc: I was a mod before the Nugget Bridge hack, had the RO at the time de-mod me when I lost the account, disappeared for awhile and then eventually went back on the path of Voice -> Driver -> Moderator.

Outside of VGC I work in finance and have consequently sold my soul for that sweet sweet $$$, which is how I'm able to spam Discords with my shitty 3 AM team ideas/unfunny jokes after working 12 hours a day.

 

[emma]

Assistant Manager: emma
Desired Team / New Team Name: Veilstone Vulpix

Significant VGC Tournament Experience:
Evelyie: VGCPL Champion, CBT (110+ people team tour) Champion, 1650 pciv qualifier (16-4)
emma: none

Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role):
Evelyie: VGCPL/Player, CBT/Player, EGL2/Player
Emma: SCL/Player, VGCPL/Player

Bio (quick intro on who you are): hey my name is evelyn, you probs know me already. been playing vgc for 11 months, and ive been evolving since then. ive been taking part of more team tours recently and i think ive gotten the confidence to be a manager; emma plays alot of DOU which translates well to vgc + she played older vgc formats. i believe that my experience together with hers could really synergize well to perform greatly in the league, while still having fun.

View attachment 381330look at this cutie​

cutest vgc team ever!!!

 

[HanaS]

Confirm as assistant.
Significant VGC tour experience:
Top 8 Rose Tower Clash #3, numerous small tour top cuts, top 500 showdown ladder, ladder tour wins.

Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role):
Played in PGL2 for the Houston Fusion Bolts and EGL1 for the Solgaleo Pride (Spear Division finalists). Helper for the Mauville Murkrows’ playoff run to PGL2 finals; current helper for an EGL2 team.

Bio (quick intro on who you are): I started playing VGC in September 2020 and since then have been hooked. I like playing weather teams best; but try to learn as many different teams and playstyles as I can to be prepared for whatever comes my way!
I’m active in the ATX VGC community and a mod for New England VGC; where we host ladder tours and are making plans for in-person grassroots events this spring!
Outside of VGC I work as a data analyst for a hospital in Massachussets. Also have two cats so be excited for cat photos.
I’m a big fan of bug type pokemon which makes being part of the Santalune Swarm even more exciting! Looking forward to a great season :)

Assistant Manager: HanaS
Desired Team / New Team Name: Santalune Swarm
Significant VGC Tournament Experience: Several Regional cuts back when I was going to events in Gen 6, T32 2015 Worlds, T16 NA Player's Cup I, Global Finals Player's Cup III
Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role): 6 years of NPA (NPA 3 - 5 and 8 - 10). Played the past three seasons for the Loud Puppies which hopefully is a sign that I have the fabled "good team presence". Also played in PGL2 and I am the MOST EXPENSIVE PLAYER in VGCPL HISTORY.
Bio (quick intro on who you are): Mr. 34.5k needs no introduction I started playing back in VGC 2014, had my first solid performance back at 2014 US Nationals, and ended up being pretty solid for the rest of Gen 6. Stopped playing after 2016 US Nationals since I really didn't enjoy the format at all and was busy doing other stuff at the time, and then I took a brief hiatus (aka I disappeared off the face of the VGC Earth) for about a year and a half before I made my triumphant return and didn't do much besides play in NPA during the end of Gen 7 and early Gen 8. With everything being online lately I've played in some of the Player's Cups and maybe I'll be back in person once events start again??? Have been interested in managing a team for awhile but in between always wanting to play in these tournaments and dipping out for awhile right when my involvement with the community was at its highest I've never really had the chance to. I think a shorter tournament like this is best for my schedule, and letting me play is just a nice bonus.

Also, I've been a Mod in the VGC room on Showdown for awhile now (Leadership skills :^) ). Have probably had the weirdest Mod career arc: I was a mod before the Nugget Bridge hack, had the RO at the time de-mod me when I lost the account, disappeared for awhile and then eventually went back on the path of Voice -> Driver -> Moderator.

Outside of VGC I work in finance and have consequently sold my soul for that sweet sweet $$$, which is how I'm able to spam Discords with my shitty 3 AM team ideas/unfunny jokes after working 12 hours a day.

 

[smogon account]

Virbank Brutal Stars

Assistant Manager:
TBD

Desired Team / New Team Name:
Virbank Brutal Stars

Significant VGC Tournament Experience:
Mostly ladder since I get anxiety when playing in tournaments, but I did top cut Dodrio cup despite that with JashSmash and HeWhoIsNotToBeNamed, if that's worth anything. (UPDATE: it is not) My first VGC format was 2019, and I had a rudimentary understanding of VGC by getting introduced to it through the world championships of 2018 appearing in my youtube recommended feed.

Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role):
N/A. I have a layman's understanding of a manager's role in this kind of league mostly due to following competitive League of Legends and theorycrafting as a manager, and am mostly planning on transitioning the basics and building from there. Mostly just doing this for fun, but I have full confidence that I can draft an all-star squad.

Bio (quick intro on who you are):
I have arguably the best user name on the site which speaks for itself. My most liked post is a satirical criticism of the OU Dynamax ban juxtaposed with the surprisingly active chess community smogon has. My chief motivation for doing anything is narrative; I love reading and writing as narrative explorations, but I also enjoy playing games and engaging in other activities primarily out of narrative potential. I play mafia/the werewolf game compulsively. I started playing Pokemon before I could read with Red version and my favorite type is Water. The best Pokemon game is Emerald. Because I am FromSoft trash, my greatest achievements include all trophies in Sekiro, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, and Dark Souls Remastered and beating Dark Souls Remastered on NG+6.

look at that logo ezclap

 

[jonas]

Assistant Manager: Evelyie

Desired Team / New Team Name: CIRCHESTER CUBCHOOS

Significant VGC Tournament Experience: Ive played in both editions of pgl, being a season 1 all star and mvp nominee and a season 2 retain, working closely with jeanmarc, pd0nz and more on our draft plan/experience. I played in vgcpl and egl, going positive in every tour ive played except for vgcpl. I also played wcop with team ireland, and we made it to stage 2 before losing to us + malaysia. I cut the r/vgc major and the x9 s7/s9 challenges. I havent really played a lot recently but i have a bunch of friends in the community and i believe I would be a good manager

Significant Team Tour Experience (Tour / Role): Same tours as above, as well as i managed 2 discord side tours (apl and cypl). Ive never missed a playoff with the teams ive managed, ending up in seond place in apl and the champion of cypl. Any of my players/ any managers whos teams ive played on can vouch for the positive team presence I am, and the way that I help my teammates prep.

Bio (quick intro on who you are): Im jonas, I feel like what I said can speak for itself but i started vgc in june/july 2020, and since then ive really enjoyed it. Im a big mac miller fan.