It is now finally time for the
Raiders' eulogy!
Before understanding the expectations the community had set for the Raiders in SPL XI, it's important to understand their history. Prior to SPL VII, the Raiders were a laughingstock. They only managed to make the playoffs one time before then, and the franchise was arguably the worst one in the entire tournament. Things all changed in SPL VII, when the Raiders fell into the hands of the Jerk. They acquired franchise cornerstone TDK with the same sort of devious tactics Tony would later use to pry ABR from the Ruiners' clutches in SPL IX. With seemingly 90% of the Jerk concentrated on one roster, the team seemed poised for success. Unfortunately, they ended up flopping spectacularly. This tour did set the stage for the next two seasons, though, where the Raiders found themselves as title contenders two years in a row, and were one ABR freeze away from taking home the franchise's coveted first trophy. This heartbreaking loss proved to be too much for Raiders' management, however, as they abandoned the team and left it in the hands of their Doubles player Kaori and his trusty pal Gondra. Before SPL X, BKC was banned for some of his usual harsh comments. He decided to help his hometown Raiders, ensuring that the team would have amazing old gen support. The team managed to draft the combination of SoulWind + Trosko for only 23.5k combined; couple those with two solid retain steals in roscoe and Pak, another superstar signing in bro fist, and the aforementioned ghost of BKC, and it seemed like the Raiders would be title contenders. 9 weeks later, these expectations proved to be a far cry from reality, as the Raiders finished in last place in SPL X. This would be all she wrote for Kaori and Gondra, as they gave the team to Kingler12345, otherwise known as "the loaf." With this much failure in the books for the organization, expectations were beyond low for the Raiders heading into SPL XI. Kingler decided to manage with fellow LCer Corporal Levi; any time two mainers manage a team, it always raises a fair bit of skepticism within the community, and when added to the already-low expectations for the hometown Raiders franchise, it's safe to say that many people almost immediately pegged them for a bottom 3 finish in SPL XI.
The Raiders' only two viable viable retains were Trosko and SoulWind. If the team was able to sign both of them for only 30k combined, they would easily form the best retain duo in SPL. The man now known as "GODSKO" had dismantled the competition ever since the start of SPL X, and SoulWind had clearly established himself as one of the best, if not the best, BWers on the site. SoulWind, however, had PTSD from last year's disaster, and for good reason. He refused to hop aboard the team's ship. Trosko, however, did agree to play. With this signing, the Raiders were already off to a magnificent start; Trosko almost assuredly would have been around 20k after his ridiculous performances over the course of the past year. Could they escape their tortured history with the aid of arguably the best retain in the entire tour?
The team started off the auction by picking up Earthworm for 10k. I and many others thought that this was a great selection at the time. Earthworm, while not being anywhere near as dominant as he was in his peak, was still thought of as a capable old gen player; considering the pereptually dire state of the GSC player pool, it seemed laughable that Earthworm's price had reached such a depressed point. This notion would be further reinforced when MrE, a veteran who wasn't even in the last edition of the tournament, went for 10.5k, despite being notably less impressive over the course of his career than Earthworm. The team then decided to purchase dice for 26k; this felt like a bit of an overpay, especially considering that SoulWind, who many individuals would rate above dice in BW OU, went for only 23k. dice also doesn't provide the teambuilding support of someone like BKC, so this price definitely felt a bit inflated at the time. That being said, I'm a huge dice fan and I bold him every single week, so I personally figured that there was a decent chance he could live up to his lofty price tag, even if it was about 4k more than I would have spent on him. With the surplus of value they acquired with the Trosko retain as well as the Earthworm pick-up, the Raiders could justify spending a bit extra on player they desperately wanted.
The Raiders' next pick was a bit...sketchy. The team purchased Posho for 11k. Posho is one of the strangest players on the site. He went from being an absolute God during his Smogon Tour run to basically falling off the map with countless poor performances in team tours over the past few years. Many people, myself included, figured that he could still be viable in BW, though; he did manage to go 4-5 in SPL X in that tier. If you were still a believer in his, perhaps formerly, lofty ceiling, the decision to spend 11k on him wasn't indefensible. My main problem with this move is pretty obvious, though...the Raiders already spent 26k on dice, whose best tier is BW OU??? Like??????? LOOOOOOOL What am I missing. There's absolutely 0 evidence 2020 Posho could succeed in any tier besides BW OU, so buying him for 11k to play a non-BW tier seemed absolutely insane at the time. The team's next pick was MetalGro$$, whom they acquired for 8.5k. I've never really been a big believer in Metal, and find him to be pretty mediocre. I thought this was a slight overpay, but it wasn't that bad of a pick considering that a sizable chunk of RBY talent had left the player pool over the past few years. The team then picked up LilyAC for 4k, which felt like a solid pick at the time. The "air conditioner" was coming off a nice 6-3 Snake run, and with the help of two managers who main LC, it seemed pretty likely at the time that she could continue her success.
If the Posho selection drilled one hole in the Raiders', the team's next two picks riddled the whole entity with a plethora of them. The Raiders, FOR SOME REASON, decided to draft Lycans AND pasy_g for a combined 33.5k LOOOL LIKE WHAT WHY LMAO I don't know if the Raiders didn't get the memo that UU wasn't in SPL, but surely something happened in the war room; perhaps it was the Lindworm virus rearing it's ugly head again. Even if UU was in SPL, this would still be a bit of an overpay for Lycans. But without UU, this was an absolutely egregious pick. There's not even any evidence that Lycans is viable outside of lower tiers; like, congratulations, he managed to farm 4 wins in the thinking gen in World Cup...like, who cares? LOL I probably wouldn't have ever spent more than 5k for Lycans in this SPL, so this was easily one of the craziest picks of the entire auction, and basically torpedo'd all of the value they got from the Trosko retain. With the dice overpay canceling out the Earthworm value, the Raiders basically found themselves at +-0. They then decided to cast another anchor to sink their season, as they decided to pick up pasy_g...for 16.5k LOOL WHY WAS THIS AN OPTION?? Despite being a long-time veteran of Smogon, pasy had never really accomplished anything of note on the big stage, and despite the dire state of the ADV pool, this felt like a crazy overpay to myself as well as the rest of the even mildly intelligent people in the Smogon community. Once again, I will point to the fact that CyberOdin, a veteran player with similar levels of success as well as a bit more recent ADV success in team tours, went for only 3k. The Raiders really decided that spending 33.5k on two players who were probably worth around 10-11k was a good idea. These were legitimately the two worst back-to-back selections since the Lindworms reached HARD for Indigo Plateau and tko during rounds 5-6 of the Snake III draft. At this point, I had absolutely 0 faith in the Raiders.
The team then picked up kaori for Doubles for 4k, which felt like a solid price considering his past SPL exploits. They also decided to spend 9k on ToF, bringing their combined RBY + DPP total to 17.5k, which was definitely a bit too much for my liking. ToF could definitely succeed in this SPL, but 9k seemed a bit lofty for his services. The team rounded out their starting line-up with 2020 washed reiku, who many people felt would be a ghosting slot. They also selected an absolute random in Vai Lusa to be their final SS OU starter. They also picked up Vulpix03 and Simia to back-up their OU core in case things went awry. As you can sense by my general tone in the latter half of this write-up, I was a complete non-believer in the Raiders. My original assessment of the squad was the following: "Overall, this team definitely had some egregious overpays. They’re definitely not good, and it would be kind of surprising if they made the playoffs, honestly." I didn't really see anyone in the community hype the team up either. The Raiders did surprisingly manage to lock down a top 3 spot in the official Power Rankings, which many people simply chalked up to luck. This team just looked way too mediocre to make the playoffs; however, a sizable chunk of teams in this year's SPL were also riddled with holes, so there was an outside chance that the team could make a run if things broke their way. I wound up ranking them in the 7-team second tier of my Power Rankings, placing them at 8th.
With some good fortune on their side, the Raiders managed to defy all expectations in Week 1. Squaring off against the tournament favorite, the Tyrants, the loaf's squad would not back down, and managed to claw their way to a 6-5 lead with Earthworm vs. Floppy remaining. This game looked like an absolute blowout on paper. Earthworm was infinitely better when both players were at their peaks, and Floppy was so unviable over the past few seasons that even labeling him as crust would be pretty generous. The game progressed as one would expect...until Earthworm committed one of the biggest chokes of the season and let Floppy win the game with his Curselax. This was a big blow to the Raiders, but they still managed to secure a tie against the tournament favorites, so this week wasn't all bad, despite how gut-wrenching Earthworm's blunder must have been for the team. The Raiders got washed by the upstart Ruiners in Week 2, and people wrote the team off once again.
After the first two weeks, it was clear that SS OU was not Trosko's forte. They moved him to SM OU, where he would return to his usual monstrous self. That wasn't the team's only issue, however. As the season progressed, it became increasingly clear that Earthworm, Lycans, and Posho were all unviable. They were all struggling mightily, but due to the lack of viable subs on the roster, the Raiders were faced with a perilous "pick your poison" type of situation. The team decided to put their faith in Posho and his aforementioned BW abilities. The team put their marquee 26k player, dice, to the test, flexing him to GSC so Posho could play BW OU and have a realistic shot of winning some games. This strategy...actually accomplished nothing LOOL Posho went 1-3 in BW OU, with his only win coming against a DOUBLES PLAYER in MajorBowman. Posho just might be unviable in general in 2020, honestly. dice was up to the test, though; he was undefeated in GSC heading into his Week 9 showdown with Anti, proving that his skill transcends tiers. With 38k in value basically being deadweight, it's a wonder that the Raiders were able to stay afloat for so long. The team ended up being carried by some pretty unlikely sources.
ToF and MetalGro$$ both put together excellent seasons, going a combined 13-5 in the variance tiers and giving the team the boost they so desperately needed. The team's desperation OU core of Vai Lusa / simia / vulpix03 also performed admirably, and were positive heading into Week 9 with only a 10.5k combined price tag. Lycans also managed to redeem himself a bit. With Trosko unable to play in Weeks 8 and 9, Lycans stepped up to the plate and took down both Tace and 0-6 Relous; while the quality of his opponents wasn't exactly anything to write home about, he should be given credit for stepping up when the team needed him most. reiku and pasy_g also miraculously managed to put together above-average campaigns. LilyAC also had another solid season with the help of both Kingler and Levi, and ended up being one of the team's best selections. The team's Doubles core of Kaori + Lunar wasn't exactly good, but they did enough to keep the team alive, at least.
With the help of the aforementioned unlikely sources, the team managed to scrape by week after week, securing tie after tie until they put themselves in prime playoff position down the stretch. The team took full advantage of their cupcake match-up with the Tigers in Week 8, absolutely smashing them and 10-2 and acquiring some much-needed BD in the process. The team had pretty good odds to make the playoffs in Week 9, only needing a tie or some other results to swing their way. Against all odds, the Raiders looked to defy expectations and return to the playoffs once more. Unfortunately for them, there comes a breaking point for every mediocre team. When you rely on unproven filler characters for too long, bad things tend to happen. Lusa, Simia, and vulpix03 all melted under the pressure, going 0-3 combined in the final week against the classiest with some pretty horrendous performances between them. Simia was first up to the plate, and he absolutely butchered his end game against suapah and donated a win after getting absurdly lucky. Despite his terrible performance, the Raiders found themselves up 5-4 with three games remaining; if they simply won one of them, they would be able to finally punch their ticket to the playoffs. They looked to have secured their victory after
Lusa dodged Insult's Will-O-Wisp with his +4 Corviknight; however, despite being up 6-4 with a +4 Pokemon with Roost, he was somehow unable to bring home the win. His absolutely terrible display was a harbinger of things to come, as vulpix03 played a terrible game against blargh, erasing all of the leeway the Raiders had amassed up to that point. Luckily for the Raiders, they saved their best player for last. Hopes were high that dice could take down Anti and clinch the Raiders a playoff spot. However, he fell short after some timely predictions by Anti against dice's Marowak. And so, instead of finding themselves in Hikari's semifinals post, the Raiders find themselves as the subject of the latest eulogy.
Overall, the Raiders exceeded my expectations. I wasn't expecting anything from them going into this tournament due to my lack of faith in the manager duo, but despite some absolutely asinine drafting decisions, the team managed to stay in contention all the way until the final game of the regular season. Unfortunately for them, though, their bad drafting eventually caught up to them, causing them to rely on one too many filler characters with the season on the line. I really can't blame the team for taking Earthworm at such a depressed price point. Also, pasy_G did manage to finish 5-3, so his 16.5k price tag, while absolutely egregious at the time, at least doesn't look awful now. Their variance tier players also managed to perform excellently. dice, while being an overpay, also managed to go 6-3 while flexing into another tier, so I can't really lambaste them too much for spending too much on him, either. As such, the reasons for their failure will be attributed to two main factors:
1. Their decision to buy Posho for 11k despite having dice for BW OU and the widespread knowledge going into the tournament that Posho was unviable in any non-BW tier
2. Their decision to buy Lycans for 17k for reasons that still remain unclear to this day
The Raiders are a pretty bad franchise, and the team's rather questionable drafting decisions in SPL XI makes me pretty skeptical of the franchise's potential for success in the future. The Jerk was close to solving the Raiders puzzle, but unfortunately they were unable to secure the ring. It must be said that the Raiders ability to battle back against all odds despite such a dire draft is impressive, so perhaps there is hope for the loaf in the future. However, good drafters are the key to SPL success, so it's fair to wonder whether the team will ever be able to lift that coveted trophy. So, for now, I present you guys with the ribbon for the longest eulogy to date. Congratulations!