Tournament: SWEEP JR vs. Icy Wind (SA Factions)

The first Bout of the King of the Hill tournament for Silph Arena Factions had come and has gone for my Faction, SWEEP JR, and the results are in. For this Bout, my team and I were paired up with a team from the North America conference, Icy Wind. Such is the norm for this tournament (and the Worlds Championship), where any Faction must be prepared to face others from a different part of the world, as I've noted earlier; in this case, the opposing Faction came from halfway around the world, bringing their game over to us - so we had to do the same to them.

A little background is in order. This is a Faction from Canada, although one of its members is from the U.S., and that's just fine, as their people are "neighbor buddies". What isn't quite as fine, at least for us, is that this Faction is one of the contenders in the Diamond tier of the respective conference (and has been as high as Emerald, the highest tier). Furthermore, the Faction is also a senior Faction, having competed in the very first Cycle of the conference. All things considered, they present a formidable challenge for my upstart Faction.

Unfortunately, my Faction and I got to see how formidable that challenge is. All the match battles took place over the course of Saturday and Sunday my time, and uniquely, they all resulted in sweeps (3-0 or 0-3 either way)... though mostly not in our favor. On Saturday, all four of the matches - Almujha vs. DragOns1lk (Echo Field, against the opposing Captain), riman12 vs. davdangg (Open Great League, against the only American), Kucingimutt vs. FreakyBot9 (Echo Field), and RaymondHrtwn vs. EJCC87 (Open Ultra League) - were won by the other team. On Sunday, YukiXCyz vs. x3TheGOAT3x (Ragnar Field) was won by us, while Orioo16 vs. Uberjudgement (Open Master League) and Newsnorlax2020 (a new addition to my Faction) vs. KevinSaludares (Ragnar Field) was won by them. The end result was a crushing defeat, 3-18.

Of course, this means that my Faction is eliminated from the tournament, and our journey ends here. Even the new member addition - the only one we can make, as all Factions can have this and/or two of its previous members for the postseason - couldn't help to turn the tide (and wouldn't have been able anyway, as our fates were already decided on Saturday by the fourth 0-3 loss). It's apparent that my Faction isn't prepared for a higher level of competition by this forced attempt at "punching above our weight", but at least something may be gained for the future of my Faction... yet that will have to wait if Factions can be resurrected in some form after the closure of Silph Arena.

Whatever happens, my Faction has gone through a wild journey in Silph Arena Factions as an upstart, though it was fairly short-lived in both the regular competition and postseason, again due to the closure as above. That wild journey comes to an end early on in the first round of the King of the Hill tournament by way of a senior Faction from the other side of the world, but it may become the progenitor for other journeys, if and when they arise.

Farewell, Silph Arena Factions, and best of luck to those who are still competing (including the above) as well as best wishes for the road ahead.

One year ago: Yoshinoya ID Pokémon Promo

Two years ago: The Floating City Awaits

Three years ago: As In As All...

Four years ago: Nationally Challenged

Five years ago: Before Gold and Silver

Six years ago: Red on a Bike