SA Factions: The First (and the Last) Cycle

Cycle 4 of Season 2 of Silph Arena Factions has come to an end for me and my participating Faction, SWEEP JR. Yet it is a bittersweet end, because for some, this marks the end of their dealings with Factions, as the end is also nigh for the Silph Arena in general. As stated in the recap for the last Bout, I intend to make a recap of its happenings, and I want to take this post to do just that. It still had been a whirlwind of a Cycle for my Faction, and now that the whirlwind has dissipated, it's time to see what it brought about.

After nine Bouts, some great and others not so great, my Faction ended up with 15 points, a 5-4 win record, and 99 battle wins (and a win percentage of 52.38%, according to Silph Arena). That also means no less than 10 battle wins per Bout and an average of 11. As for rankings, my Faction ranked 11th out of 37 Factions in the APAC Open Tier; among Factions from the same country (Indonesia), it ranked 2nd, just below the senior Faction that handed out a stinging loss. This is rather impressive, considering that the Faction had only been formed this year, and as such it is the best among that group of debutants as well. 

In those nine Bouts, three Trainers managed to play in all of them: riman12, RaymondHrtwn, and Orioo16, all of whom happen to be League Specialists and I've fondly referred as the "Triple R Squad" (Riman, Raymond, oRioo). From them, the best has to be riman12, who contributed the most battle wins, 18 in all. After that, there were the Field Specialists who handled seven Bouts (Almujha and Kucingimutt for Arcana, and Wina1403 and YukiXCyz for Catacomb [the last mostly, with an extra Bout]) as well as me (PokeMasterBP348) and bakalikur as the "Alternate duo" with varied minimal participation.

The average number of battles won as above implies that we could have and should have won a few more Bouts, but evidently some of them were marred by technical or silly issues, some of which shouldn't have happened in the first place (like failure to report leading to a battle loss that effectively cost the Bout). By the time we "got our game back" in the second half of the Cycle, it was already too late, although the announced impending closure of Silph Arena meant that any result that we gained effectively has no bearing... at least presently and unless it may be used in a Factions revival in some form. Much remains to be seen.

Speaking of "revival", for those whose Factions dealings are not quite over, there is one thing to consider: postseason tournaments. I'll explain that in a separate post with all the details later on, but the point as it applies to this personal recap is that there is the possibility that my Faction can stand to participate in some way, which means that our dealings with Factions in its current form may not be over quite yet if that's the case. Furthermore, that will truly be the "last dance" in a certain way, especially if we can't bring out our very best, but it's something worth taking part in as we've "gotten our feet wet" - again, if it's truly possible. 

How this first (and last) Cycle turned out for my Faction may have left a little something to be desired, although the sudden "entry" of the "exit" of Silph Arena does mean that any result just needs to be taken as it is, as there is no guarantee that it may be usable later on. As for later developments, that may not be something I would personally state or establish. What remains established is that my teammates and I have essentially bonded through this effort; it's a bond that certainly will outlive this Cycle and into whatever we do next.

One year ago: Pokémon in 1995?

Two years ago: Pokémon SM KFC Toys: The Rest, Part 2

Three years ago: Safe, Pleasant, and Beneficial for All

Four years ago: Best of the Rest: T-Shirt Contest

Five years ago: Read, Play, and Enjoy

Six years ago: A Camera and a Pikachu Doll