The Pokemon Unite Shiny League sponsored by YouTuber, Daniel “aDrive” Clap and smash.gg finished its first major event on October 23. The first monthly Shiny League Emerald Event gave the world a taste of what high-level Unite tournaments could look like. Here is a breakdown of the October Shiny League Emerald Event.
Image: the Pokemon Company
There were 95 teams that signed up for October’s Emerald Event. Given that these tournaments are the largest ones outside of the finals, it is not entirely surprising to see such large attendance numbers. These are the tournaments that offer the most points after all. The first-place team receives 750 points and the top seven spots all earn at least 100. Finishing anywhere near the top of an Emerald Event significantly improves a team’s odds of qualifying for the final tournament.
However, the competition in this tournament proved to be fierce. Due to the overwhelming number of participants, there were 20 combined rounds between both sides of the double-elimination bracket. Only the best of the best would survive.
Image: smash.gg
This tournament saw two teams play above the rest of the competition. Those teams were TTV and White Flag Gaming. The two sides traded back and forth in three epic sets throughout the event. It started with White Flag Gaming prevailing 2-1 in the winners final.
From there, TTV awaited third-place finisher, Pipchamps in the losers final. After advancing past them in a 2-1 effort, TTV never looked back. They were the top seed in this tournament and they showed exactly why with back-to-back excellent performances to win round one of the Grand Finals.
The first match of set one was dominant in favor of TTV up until the last few moments when they blew a 453-90 lead. However, TTV managed to regain the lead with 36 points in the last eight seconds of the match. It came down to a thrilling buzzer-beater when support player, “Acknowledged” score 26 points as time was expiring. After that, TTV dominated the second match to take it to one final set.
TTV did not drop a single match in the set either. They closed out the final match with a dominant 501-72 final score to win the October Emerald Event. Along with that, the team secured $250 and 750 league points.
image: aDrive YouTube Channel
ADrive himself participated in this event along with his team “Team Shiny.” His team went on to win two matches on both sides of the bracket before getting eliminated. While the end result was not what Team Shiny was looking for, they still finished in the top 11. A bonus of 70 league points puts them in the top eight of the overall standings and in a great position to qualify for the final tournament in January.
image: smash.gg
At this moment in time, White Flag Gaming leads the pack in the overall standings with 835 total points. They received a 500 point second-place bonus for their efforts. Along with that, the team had already found previous success in the Pokemon Unite Masters #8 tournament. Despite TTV winning this tournament, White Flag Gaming is ahead due to them jumping the gun beforehand.
TTV trails close behind in the standings with 750 points. Despite this being their first event, they are still on White Flag Gaming’s tail. It goes to show just how valuable these monthly Emerald Events are. This is evident by other top teams in the standings as well. Many of them consist of high tournament finishers such as Pipchamps, Ascendence and Juicy Timis.
As it currently stands, TTV, White Flag Gaming and Pipchamps are the teams to look out for. They showed the strongest capabilities during these tournaments and are absolutely some of the favorites to win it all.
“DSCF9950” (Public Domain) by f999999_key
Despite the Emerald Event being a community-run event, there was noteworthy support. The stream of the festivities has brought in over 40,000 viewers so far. It goes to show that there is a clear interest in Pokemon Unite competitively. And this could only be the beginning given how new the game is still.
Image: the Pokemon Company
The next Emerald Event in November is looking to be an exciting one. There is much to look forward to. Many fans will wait with anticipation to see if aDrive and his squad will do better this time. Along with that, it will be interesting to see if some of the top teams from October see continued success. Many exciting rivalries could be born and renewed in this upcoming event.
The next Shiny League Emerald Event takes place on November 13. This will once again be hosted on aDrive’s Twitch channel. He will likely stream the matches involving his team again followed by some of the final games if his team gets eliminated. In the meantime, the Aeos League Clash 2 and Pokemon Unite Masters #9 will happen on October 29. There is plenty of action on the way and the opportunities will only multiply as more organizations gain interest in hosting events.
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