Written by Disaster Area

Manager: CALLOUS

[Spoiler=Players By Price]Marcoasd - 19500
Bedschibaer - 16500
sulcata - 13000
DeepBlueC - 10000
Kingler12345 - 8500
deluks917 - 8000
Ibidem - 6500
thelinearcurve - 5500
Fener - 4000
thelinekioubeur - 3500

Remaining Funds: 5000[/Spoiler]

Line-up:
RBY 1U: Marcoasd
RBY 1U: Bedschibaer
GSC 1U: sulcata
GSC 1U: Kingler12345
ADV 1U: thelinearcurve
ADV 1U: Ibidem
HGSS 1U: DeepBlueC
HGSS 1U: deluks917
Substitutes: Fener, thelinekioubeur

I think it's fair to say CALLOUS put together a really strong team. Marcoasd and Bedschibaer are two of the very, very best RBYers around - and getting Marcoasd for only 19.5k, whilst not exactly a steal is certainly good value. With linek in the back, it gives the team some flexibility to put Bedschibaer in GSC sometimes, alongside sulcata. Quite a few of the players: Kingler, deluks, and Fener, at the least, can play competently in multiple tiers giving the team some flexibility. DeepBlueC is an SPL-class player backed up by a couple of competent HGSSers. Linear was gotten for 5.5k - great value. A spectacular moment in the auction was when Ninjax said if he got linearcurve for less than 10k it would be a steal - and then proceeded to fail to upbid him at 5.5k. With CALLOUS's strength of ADV knowledge helping to turn these strong ladder players into top class tournament players, it rounds off a strong team with a lot of promise. Team Meanie Dratini (as CALLOUS likes to refer to it) is a very strong contender, and quite possibly the favourites.

Manager: @Troller (Defending Champion)
Assistant Manager: Finchinator

[Spoiler=Players By Price]Conflict - 21000
p2 - 10000
Troller - 10000
Finchinator - 9000
hellpowna - 9000
PhilosopherKing - 9000
amberlamps - 7500
Deadboots - 6500
The Killing Moon - 6500
During Summer - 6000
Omfuga - 4000 (Sold Back)
Arifeen - 3000

Remaining Funds: 0[/Spoiler]

Line-up:
RBY 1U: Troller
RBY 1U: During Summer
GSC 1U: Conflict
GSC 1U: Arifeen
ADV 1U: PhilosopherKing
ADV 1U: p2
HGSS 1U: Finchinator
HGSS 1U: hellpowna
Substitutes: amberlamps, Deadboots, The Killing Moon

The defending champion Troller brings an entirely new team to this second iteration of PPL. The drama kicked off almost as soon as the draft was over though, with players on the team reportedly unhappy with being on a team with Omfuga, leading to Troller selling him back almost immediately. The team has some standout players, but motivation is maybe something of a question. During Summer has been notoriously inactive in EGL (an Italian tournament in a similar format to this), whilst Conflict is liable to not use Snorlax in the home of Snorlax, GSC 1U. On the flipside, having a number of Italian players may help bring the team together, with Troller, During Summer, hellpowna, and amberlamps at least are all known to hail from the country. Finchinator is known to be very dedicated in team tournaments and if that holds true in PPL too then that bodes well for team Fire, and hellpowna is known to be fiercly loyal too. p2 and During Summer offer some flexibility to the team at least, but the second ADV slot seems weak with PK the only dedicated ADV main on the team. All in all the team has some real potential to do well and become a cohesive force, but there are some question marks as to whether they're capable of defending the title.

Manager: @ThrashNinjax
Assistant Manager: SunnyR

[Spoiler=Players By Price]SunnyR - 17000
teal6 - 13000
Ron - 11500
ThrashNinjax - 10000
Analytic - 9500
Kerts - 7500
Diegolh - 6500
gorgie - 6000
TSR - 6000
Roostur - 5500
hclat - 4000
Atli - 3500[/Spoiler]

Line-up:
RBY 1U: teal6
RBY 1U: Diegolh
GSC 1U: gorgie
GSC 1U: Roostur
ADV 1U: SunnyR
ADV 1U: Kerts
HGSS 1U: ThrashNinjax
HGSS 1U: Ron
Substitutes: Atli, Analytic, hclat, TSR

There were some disasters in the draft for Ninjax. He ended up purchasing SunnyR for a whopping 17k, not far below what players like Marcoasd and Conflict were bought for, and almost certainly a bit of an overpay. Maybe though it wasn't a disaster, and Ninjax thought he was building a team for ADVPL: 10 of the players on this 12-person team are capable ADV players so if the metagames were 8 games of ADV each week the team would be set. Unfortunately that is not the case, so let's see how this team stacks up otherwise. teal6 and Diegolh is a suprisingly competent RBY core given that introduction, with good money spent on each of them. Both have had decent showings in PP tournaments so far, although they're not quite the stars that some of the opponents they'll have to face will be, but they can definitely win games. GSC is also somewhat well-covered, with gorgie, Roostur, and TSR all capable players. However gorgie's dedication to the tournament is questionable so there is some risk there, but there is no denying that when he wants to he can be fearsome in GSC. Roostur is fairly untested in the GSC Tournament scene, and TSR even more so, but good words have been said about them so we'll have to see how they do. The HGSS core on the team is more doubtful though. Many players have expressed doubt about Ron's ability, but what you can't take away from him is his success in the first HGSS Master Tournaments on the forum. Ninjax however has no such results, and noone else on his team is particularly well known for their HGSS abilities. This team could soar or they could very well fall out of the sky, and only time will tell, but at the least there is potential, in spite of a lack of real stand-out talent.

Manager: @Contact

[Spoiler=Players By Price]Ugly Duckling - 16000
MetalGro$$ - 14000
slick nasty - 12000
Marcop9923 - 11500
Contact - 10000
CZ - 10000
partys over - 7500
bluri - 6500
Leru - 5000
Klefkwi - 4500
ReshiRampage - 3000

Remaining Funds: 0[/Spoiler]

Line-up:
RBY 1U: MetalGro$$
RBY 1U: Leru
GSC 1U: Contact
GSC 1U: partys over
ADV 1U: Ugly Duckling
ADV 1U: slick nasty
HGSS 1U: Marcop9923
HGSS 1U: Klefkwi
Substitutes: bluri, CZ, ReshiRampage

Team Ghost has some real high points and some real doubtful areas too. Ugly Duckling is the highest-ranked ADV player in the tournament, but on the other hand Leru and Klefkwi are very serious question marks. The most stand-out area of this team is in ADV: UD, obii (slick nasty) and CZ are all very impressive players in the tier. In the other tiers however, things seem more barren. If this group of players are really as underrated as Contact makes them out to be, now would be the time to show it, otherwise they look to be a shadow of the other teams competing.

Manager: @Mister Tim
Assistant Manager: ALLALA

[Spoiler=Players By Price]Cowboy Dan - 20000
Bomber - 18000
Texas Cloverleaf - 15000
Golden Gyarados - 14000
Mister Tim - 10000
Melle2402 - 7000
SamuelBest - 5500
drud - 3000
j2dahop - 3000
k3nan - 3000

Remaining Funds: 1500[/Spoiler]

Line-up:
RBY 1U: Mister Tim
RBY 1U: Golden Gyarados
GSC 1U: Bomber
GSC 1U: Texas Cloverleaf
ADV 1U: Cowboy Dan
ADV 1U: k3nan
HGSS 1U: SamuelBest
HGSS 1U: drud
Substitutes: Melle2402, j2dahop

The Russian hax0r returns for another PPL, this time with fellow USSR player ALLALA as his assistant. Mister Tim's draft strategy was bold; we'll see if it pays off. He had purchased most of his team and spent most of his funds before the rest of the teams had made much headway. When Texas was nominated, he bid 15000 straight away and noone bid on top of that. Altogether the team has definitely got some potential though. Mister Tim and Golden Gyarados are known and decent quality players, but Mister Tim has seen some inconsistency in the seasons, whilst Golden Gyarados has a very mixed record in team tournaments, overachieving in RoAPL and underachieving in SPL. GSC is also very solid, with Mister Tim spending a third of his funds on Bomber and Texas, and then a further 7k on top of that to purchase Melle. It does bring the team some flexibility: Texas has stated he doesn't intend to play some weeks, meaning Melle will get the opportunity to show his worth, whilst Bomber has some value in ADV if k3nan doesn't perform as well as hoped. That being said, Cowboy Dan is rock-solid in ADV and k3nan being backed up by Dan and Bomber could perform well. The team's real question marks are in HGSS, with SamuelBest and drud definitely amongst the weakest in the pool and with little support. Overall the team has some real potential but doesn't seem like the sort of team to pull any surprises either.

Manager: @Enigami

[Spoiler=Players By Price]NightFox - 18500
Peasounay - 17500
george182 - 13500
GGFan - 11500
slurmz - 11000
Real FV13 - 5000
Oibaf - 4500
Ariel Rebel - 3000
Bill Shatner - 3000
pinktidal - 3000

Remaining Funds: 9500[/Spoiler]

Line-up:
RBY 1U: Peasounay
RBY 1U: GGFan
GSC 1U: Ariel Rebel
GSC 1U: slurmz
ADV 1U: Bill Shatner
ADV 1U: Real FV13
HGSS 1U: Nightfox
HGSS 1U: george182
Substitutes: pinktidal, Oibaf

The line-up is pretty striking: one of the best combinations of players in RBY, and in HGSS, but GSC and ADV are big question marks. In RBY, Peasounay and GGFan have only been consistently top flight, and the same goes for george and NightFox in particular with their results in the HGSS Season so far. slurmz is a returning member from last year's team Poison, but the 11k price-tag is pretty high. Both him and Ariel Rebel are not particularly well known for their achievements in the GSC scene. In ADV, Bill Shatner is a gimmicky player much like Enigami but one who can definitely get results, whilst Real FV13 isn't a player really thought of as a main of any tier but rather a player who can fill in any spot decently. Maybe the support from slurmz and Bill will help him net a few wins and it would be unfair to say he's anything less than competent. The two substitutes on this team are total unknowns though, making team Poison one with some clear strengths but also some worrying question marks. All that being said, I can foresee a positive team environment which is a plus. Like all of the other teams, this team cannot be counted out and so it's all to play for.