As stated, Silph Arena and The Silph Road are on the verge of closure, but its competitions have to proceed and then wrap up, including Factions. Even with this, my Faction, SWEEP JR, still has to get things going. For this eighth Bout, it was back to being paired up with yet another Indian team from the Elite family, Foul Noctowls Elite [sic]. It too has a funk of its own, not to mention because it adopts the mascot of a "dark" (maybe "Shadow") Noctowl for its representation, and it too is a debutant of this Cycle, likewise with mine.
Like the other Elite teams my Faction has faced, its members come from all over the place on the globe. The only Indian on the team and the Captain of the Faction, chiragcr, happened to not be playing for this Bout, although the Captain had been playing in five other Bouts of this Cycle and previously as part of another Faction. We also had a rather lively communication during coordination, so that was a good thing. Another good thing is that I stepped up to play again for this Bout due to someone else needing time off, in contrast to the above.
The run of matches for this Bout began on Friday my team time. Leading off things in the afternoon was Wina1403 vs. Larry612108 (Catacomb Field, opponent from Taiwan), who had a 1-2 loss that could have become a 2-1 win if it had worked out in our favor. This was followed at night by Almujha vs. 9now (Arcana Field, opponent from the United States), who delivered a 2-1 win to equalize things. One match, that of riman12 vs. MasterNirob (Open Great League, opponent from Bangladesh) was supposed to take place on Friday afternoon before that first match, but got shifted to Saturday instead; it also led to a 2-1 win and a minor lead for us at that point.
My match, PokeMasterBP348 vs. NAVEEN2878 (Arcana Field, opponent from France) came in the evening on Saturday. A few earlier practice sessions with my teammates showed that I may have very good results for this match, but it ended up just being a 2-1 win, good enough to bolster my team's lead. I also did something different for this match: I recorded all the battles just in case issues came up and for analysis purposes later on. The last battle, which was the losing one, received some color commentary from a teammate, and I have reason to believe that my teammate is right. Alas, I did end up losing my perfect record, but that was something to happen eventually (in fact, now).
For the rest of the matches, they turned out over the course of the rest of Saturday and Sunday. RaymondHrtwn vs. Milkodromeda (Justicar Field for Ultra League, opponent from Turkey) battled on Saturday night and led to a 1-2 loss. As night turned into morning, YukiXCyz vs. Kublsuby (Catacomb Field, opponent from Canada) gave a 2-1 win, and that night, Orioo16 vs. AtmokShiny (Open Master League, opponent also from Canada) delivered a 2-1 win and decided things. The end result was a 12-9 minor victory for our Faction, the fourth one overall and the second not to be decided by a one-point margin. It wasn't as impressive as the win from last month, but a win is still a win.
While I wouldn't go as far to say that my participation in this one led to rather good results, it does seem coincidental that this Bout and that previous one turned out great, even with my participation in them. What may be more coincidental is that this Bout only had 2-1 or 1-2 results for all the matches, which rarely happens - but that's not something to complain about. Yet we may still be wondering how we just couldn't convert all those previous times we lost - close as though they may be - into wins.
One more Bout is left before this Cycle of Factions ends... and unfortunately so does Factions, for many, due to Silph Arena's impending closure. That means one last chance for my team to prove our skills with our current composition and the current format. Whoever our next opponent may be, they may be up to do the same, so the members of my team still need to be on our toes for this last Bout. The results may just prove themselves once we duke it out with the Pokémon we possess and the skills we have.
One year ago: Steering and Nearing with Tsunekazu Ishihara
Two years ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 5/15/2021
Three years ago: Coming Full Circle
Four years ago: Everything Old Is New Again
Five years ago: 15 Minutes of Fame
Six years ago: Fallen Comrades
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