Redemption League - Changes, alterations and surprises!

[DashingStorm]

Hey everyone!

With the rankshifts being announced a while back, we've checked out the votes (and had a little debate of our own) and we've decided that three leaders will be moved up in the brackets. Who those are, you can read a little bit further in (or look at the new brackets I'm about to announce) and the reasoning behind why these three leaders were moved up.

Just a brief little "speech", if I may;

Thanks for all the voting you guys did, it pretty much confirmed our suspicions of a few leaders doing particularly well (and yes, I did notice that people wanted some leaders to be moved up a bit earlier), so we've decided to do a little rankshift after the second month of League.
Also, thanks for all the positive words and everyone participating so far! We never would've thought it'd grow to be such a success so soon, and we're honestly thankful from the bottom of all our hearts that you guys are having such a good time!

Does this mean we're halfway through the season yet? Negative. We're trying to have this first season run until early summer 2016, aiming to have S1 finished by July at the latest. Why then? Well, running League is a very straining thing to do for all of us involved, staff and leaders altogether dedicate their time (while having jobs, college and whatnot) to be able to give the community something fun to participate in. I've been hearing how we're getting compared to the old Reborn League, which is extremely flattering to hear, but it's also something we would rather not strive to compete with/copy, as that had its own days of glory that we simply cannot match.

We're "getting our shit together" slowly but surely. Enough rambling, though! You're here for results, so here's what the new brackets are gonna look like after the hiatus! (New bracket additions will be in blue, leaders that dropped brackets will be in red)

Bracket 1:

Nick / Olivia / Haley

Bracket 2:

Alicia / Lucifer / Ariel

Bracket 3:

Helen / Elliot / Erwin

Bracket 4:

Gaia / Lilly / Venus

Bracket 5:

Leo / ??? / ???

Bracket 6:

??? / ??? / ???

It's pretty self-explanatory minus the swap between Ariel and Haley. I've spoken to them both and laid out the situation for them. Haley pretty much said she didn't really care, as long as she had enough challengers to face, be it early or a little bit later. This gave Ariel the "go ahead and swap" cue xe had been waiting for, apparently. Elliot's exceptional battling has earned him a spot among the third bracket's battle squad, and of course Miss Venus has been doing extremely good, so we had to push her up to the fourth bracket to be that last obstacle challengers have to get past.

As for the leaders who dropped in brackets, allow me to explain briefly.

We had expected Alicia to do much better, but having lost to the four top-ranked battlers she had to face, it was clear she was not ready to face the stronger battlers head-on just yet. Lucifer has also had his ups and downs and actually requested for me to drop him down a bit so he can polish up on his battling against the somewhat lower-tiered battlers, in the hopes of showing he does have potential to be higher up some day, just not now. We.. Did consider dropping Helen to B2, but my ears are still ringing from the almost-endless shouting she gave me for even thinking of that idea.

Furthermore, I have to express this yet again.

The Redemption League is supposed to be a challenging Leageue, where you're tested as challenger whether you can be innovative enough to overcome any obstacle you face. Be it with your favorite Pokémon, Pokémon you'd never think of using, a monotype, or mono-gen team or even pure and raw power on your side; It doesn't matter. We're (assuming you are) all here to have fun in the end. Get walled by a leader? So what? Try again with a different EV spread or items that could work in your advantage.

To prevent any and all future out-of-line behavior, I'm setting the unwritten rules we had before, in "stone".

During battles:

- Behavior is to be respective from both sides. Minor bantering is perfectly fine, as it is to more or less "liven up" a battle. There's a boundary that some people might have, so if either the leader or the challenger says to stop, people are to stop immediately. A leader/challenger may choose to turn on modchat if necessary.

- If a challenger is bothered by the chat, but does not wish to have modchat on, they can choose to tick the Ignore Spectators check box at the top of the battle screen while in-battle. If a challenger is bothered by his/her opponent, they can choose to tick the Ignore Opponent check box instead. Leaders are obliged to not make use of these unless it's really necessary.

In the League channel chat:

The same things apply in the chat as they do during battles. You're to act with respect towards the League, its staff, its leaders and everyone else around it as a whole. Not doing so, or deliberately instigating an arguement, can lead to you either getting warned (verbally or through the /warn command), or even muted for 7 minutes. This can happen for either a leader or someone talking in the chat. We're keeping it fair here.

To further enforce these rules, we've come up with a simple, but (to what we believe to be) effective system.

- You will receive up to two warnings from a League staff member (be it a verbal one or a /warn one). (0 points)

- Continuing after getting these two mentioned warnings will result in getting you muted for 7 minutes. This can be done up to two times per League day (where we obviously hope you'll have learned from getting muted once or twice). (1 point per mute, expires after 2 League weekends have passed)

- Persistance after being muted twice will be punished with an hour mute. (2 points per hourmute, expires after 3 League weekends have passed)

Note; I'm more or less making a system just like on the forums, with "warning points" that expire after a certain amount of time.

That being said, if you somehow manage to gain 5 points, you will be put on "League time-out". This means that you will be unable to challenge the League for 2 weeks. If you somehow manage to rack up 7 points or more, we will be forced to lay down a temporary roomban from the League for a month.

Hopefully, I don't have to repeat myself again when the League is back up and running, as these rules and regulations are now set in stone, so I hope we can all enjoy ourselves when we're all back!

Speaking of which.. I know the card updates are very late, but there's a good reason behind that. We didn't want you guys to find out what leader was moved to where (and the fact that we discussed these bracket swaps for a good 4 days), so we kept them all a secret. Don't fret, however! We're working on your cards to have them all ready!

Oh and a final note regarding the cards; You'll keep every single badge you've earned so far. So even with Venus moving to B4, her badge will be in that B4 slot (old Reborn League challengers will know what I mean)!

That's all from me, I gotta check up on a certain Gallade and ask if he could use my help finding the other B5 leaders, since I y'know.. Have their numbers and know where they usually are/know their college/work schedules.

Until February 12th!

[Joker]

Pretty satisfying seeing Haley moved down and Ariel moved up tbh.

[Tacos]

Haley's block 1 and I still won't be able to beat her I bet. While I don't agree with every change made, I'm sure it will be necessary in the end. Good job guys.

[Sparky]

Haley's block 1 and I still won't be able to beat her I bet.

Bruh, 151 turns was still amazing lol

[Juniper]

I did not see that coming x.x

But I think it makes sense ^^

Can't wait 'til you guys are back up and running again c:

[Tacos]

Bruh, 151 turns was still amazing lol

My goal is to beat her before someone can complete the Kanto Dex.

[Lord Chespin]

Wow, Elliot was moved to B3? No wonder I had so much trouble with him. Anyway, good luck getting everything straightened out!

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I'm kind of curious how this will effect bracket challenges. i.e. With these changes, I'd need to beat either Helen or Alicia to access Bracket 4. But, since I've beaten Venus who's a bracket 4 leader, I have a badge from a bracket I normally wouldn't be able to challenge, and that's where I'm wondering: would already having a badge from b4 enable me to challenge the other two, or would I still need to get Helen or Alicia's badge first. I plan to go after Alicia's badge when league starts again anyway, but I was just curious.

Also @seasons: does everybody need to make a new card request at the start of a new season, or will our progress from S1 save (meaning you'd still have your team and badges unless you choose to restart)?

[Juniper]

I'm kind of curious how this will effect bracket challenges. i.e. With these changes, I'd need to beat either Helen or Alicia to access Bracket 4. But, since I've beaten Venus who's a bracket 4 leader, I have a badge from a bracket I normally wouldn't be able to challenge, and that's where I'm wondering: would already having a badge from b4 enable me to challenge the other two, or would I still need to get Helen or Alicia's badge first. I plan to go after Alicia's badge when league starts again anyway, but I was just curious.

Also @seasons: does everybody need to make a new card request at the start of a new season, or will our progress from S1 save (meaning you'd still have your team and badges unless you choose to restart)?

I could be wrong but I figured it was the number of badges total you have that determines which brackets you can challenge x.x

[Sparky]

I'm kind of curious how this will effect bracket challenges. i.e. With these changes, I'd need to beat either Helen or Alicia to access Bracket 4. But, since I've beaten Venus who's a bracket 4 leader, I have a badge from a bracket I normally wouldn't be able to challenge, and that's where I'm wondering: would already having a badge from b4 enable me to challenge the other two, or would I still need to get Helen or Alicia's badge first. I plan to go after Alicia's badge when league starts again anyway, but I was just curious.

Also @seasons: does everybody need to make a new card request at the start of a new season, or will our progress from S1 save (meaning you'd still have your team and badges unless you choose to restart)?

Looking at your card, you have 8 badges already, so you can challenge Bracket 4 already.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

Ok. Was just wondering since I didn't know if "-1 badge from current bracket" or "x badges total" would determine it in this case.

[Cobalt996]

Bracket 2:

Alicia / Lucifer / Ariel

Of course Ariel would make sure to take xyr sceptre with xyr to Bracket 2. Good to see the changes were agreeable to the leaders, too.

[The God Fist]

Also @seasons: does everybody need to make a new card request at the start of a new season, or will our progress from S1 save (meaning you'd still have your team and badges unless you choose to restart)?

I'm pretty sure we'll all need to make a new challenge for S2.

[Kaito]

Ow, I have to try and gain access to B3 all over again. xD Oh well, that just means it's time for more shows!

... Except I'll be gone for the entire weekend of the 12th-14th. And again on the 20th. Damn it. more delays. T.T

[Joker]

Ow, I have to try and gain access to B3 all over again. xD Oh well, that just means it's time for more shows!

... Except I'll be gone for the entire weekend of the 12th-14th. And again on the 20th. Damn it. more delays. T.T

Just means I can get further ahead. xD

[DW~]

Tbh I had a feeling Alicia would be nerfed to B.2, also Time for Neo Redemption to get some nice B.2 badges soon hopefully

[Notus]

Well, didn´t Haley to drop from B2. She´s been freezing me dead for quite some time XD. Even in the Reborn League nobody walled me like that. Anyway, congratulations to the staff, you´ve created a tough and extremely fun league! Hope I can get all of those badges until July.

[Dragon116]

Wow, the entirety of bracket two was replaced. This is should help me get moving in the league again. I'll get Elliot the next time around.

[RaymondNotRay]

I can't wait to see Juuzou's Ghost mono fight Alicia's Ghosts, it will sure be a match of the ages.

[InnocentSerenity]

And, every Leader I haven't fought is still where they are. Well, still nice to see Ariel is going up to Bracket 2.

I can't wait to see Juuzou's Ghost mono fight Alicia's Ghosts, it will sure be a match of the ages.

I bet Alicia doesn't stand a Ghost of a chance. Let's hope Juuzou's in high spirits for the battle to the grave.

[Sparky]

And, every Leader I haven't fought is still where they are. Well, still nice to see Ariel is going up to Bracket 2.

I bet Alicia doesn't stand a Ghost of a chance. Let's hope Juuzou's in high spirits for the battle to the grave.

Your puns are as bad as Raymond's tbh 0/10

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

So when it comes to puns those two are dead last?

[Drymus]

Perhaps I should actually attempt to get a second badge now that the hierarchy has shifted a little...

[Tringus]

Oh goodie, I'm still in Bracket 2. XD Since the brackets have been shifted, I suppose I can try my team against new leaders I wouldn't have faced unless I was in later brackets.

[Juniper]

And, every Leader I haven't fought is still where they are. Well, still nice to see Ariel is going up to Bracket 2.

I bet Alicia doesn't stand a Ghost of a chance. Let's hope Juuzou's in high spirits for the battle to the grave.

I appreciate the thought, but those puns are just gastly