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In response to an ongoing discussion in this thread, I'm going to throw this out there to echo violence and others who are stating that there is indeed value in participating on squads not favored to win. This is for those up-and-coming players who are unable to join a contending squad and who are growing tired of losing season after season with non-contending squads.
I also want to briefly mention that there many valid reasons for sitting out for a TWL season and this is in no way an attack on or judgement of people who choose not to play for a season. This is primarily geared toward the up-and-coming players who are in the specific situation where they are at the crossroads between starting for a squad destined to lose most TWL games versus not joining a squad and spending the entire TWL season on the bench.
Squadless bencher or valiant loser: My opinion
I wasn't always a TWLB finals contender. Not even close. That only happened over the last 10 years. Before that, there were some seasons that I struggled to even get recruited, and this was during a time where there were 15+ basing squads.
Practice makes perfect, however, and whether it was No Surrender, FlagOwners, Brainwave, Defrost, Fuse, Hillpeace, Rejected Basers, Tenure, Juice, Disoblige, Sweet, Expert, Raid, or Fierce, I always worked hard to put together a solid group of borderline talented players who had great rapport with each other and always had fun. I've been asked before how I got so efficient at breaking cram in terr. I never thought about it, but the funny thing is I probably got so good at breaking cram because I spent the first 10-15 years of my terr career getting smoked 15-5 BD after BD for 12 hours a day on bad teams and having to essentially break cram on my own. Sure, at the time when I was playing for these squads I definitely looked over my shoulder and wished I could be leading the way for some of the contending squads, but I'd never trade my time playing for these lower-tier teams to play for the better teams because I wouldn't be half as good today had I sold out to play for squads that didn't need me.
To give some of the lower/mid-tier players an idea of how the evolution of low/mid-tier to high-tier can come to fruition for someone, two seasons in particular stand out as impactful to my career in terr. The first is during a limbo period in my basing career in 2008 when the squads that would recruit me weren't going to qualify for TWLB (yes, in the past you had to qualify), and I literally could not find a qualified squad that would take a chance on me. With one day left until soft lock, Jeenyuss pulled through for me with Penetrate and recruited me to play as backup to Dead_Rain and Sauro (ray J) in terr. If he didn't stand up for me and recruit me I would have sat out for an entire TWL season against my will. Thanks to Jeen, I played roughly 1,000 BDs over the course of that TWLB season and got to play one TWLB game, my debut game for an actual TWLB contending squad, and as a squad we went on to win TWLB finals (I didn't start). Sure, I didn't get much direct TWLB experience that year, but had Jeenyuss not stepped up for me I wouldn't have been identified with Penetrate and wouldn't have played 1,000 BDs with that year's TWLB winner, both of which got me recruited by another squad the following season. I also built a ton of friendships and made relationships that impacted recruiting strategies and squad formation 5-10 years later.
The next crucial season for me was in 2012. Although at the time I had already broken out of the mid-tier and was playing at a high level for pretty bad squads for about 4-5 years, it was only when my performance during pre-season on Raid became undeniable that my co-captains (Reaver and Best) told me that they'll take Raid to TWLD and try to win and that I should go win TWLB somewhere since Raid was unlikely to win TWLB that season. At the time, Hydride was performing poorly as starting terr for a TWLB contender, Revenge, so I joined them, made finals, made my mark, and have been contending ever since.
This is something I think a lot of people forget when they look at groups of elites conglomerating and developing squads together behind the scenes. We all build strong relationships over the many months of each TWL season, and we learn to identify with those people with whom we've competed or played casually with in the past. For example, putting Royal together was easy because it was just a bunch of old friends from early 2000s pub/low-tier basing who wanted to try to win together (cripple, Dwopple, wbm, etc.). For the vast majority of players, getting to the point where other skilled players start to form teams with and around you begins by making an impact in the mid/low-tier, trusting the process of the game, and hard work. Some serendipity is necessary as well, such as Revenge needing a terr at the exact time that Reaver and Best decided to focus 100% on TWLD and tell me to go find somewhere to win TWLB. Some mentorship and support from guys with more power than you is also important (thanks Jeen).
As much as it may suck to watch the same people compete year after year with only a few unexpected players/squads willing their way into the semi-final/finals every couple seasons, the transformation of TW pub newb to TWL title winner is a process that has been ongoing for roughly 20 years. If you were meant to win a title you have to trust that, with the above attributes (friendships with other similarly ambitious players, engaging the game by joining squads and competing, working hard), you eventually will. I can assure you, however, that sitting out for an entire season out of spite for the aforementioned process will only get you scorned by the squads and players who win titles. Hint, as someone who season after season has recruiting power on a top squad, I'd rather watch you put up 110-60 per game in spid for a struggling team than sit for the entire season. The following season, I'd definitely be more likely to try to play with the guy who was playing like a finals contender on a shitty squad than with the guy who benched the whole season because he knew he wouldn't win. The only acceptable alternative to joining a non-contender is broadening the depth of a contender's bench and learning how to play with the best. Not only will the zone learn to identify you with that squad, making you an "elite by association", which can set you up to get recruited in future seasons, but you may also make an impression on these players, and if you become an undeniable talent you may even earn TWL starting time that season (or the season following).
Most high-tier players have similar backstories of working hard on less skilled squads and eventually having their talent recognized and used in TWLB due to serendipity or good mentorship. Cripple sharking for Syndicate, renzi spidering for Pandora, Everest terring for -FINAL-, Chief Ustav terring for dicE, Ogron terring for Pandora, TABARNAK sharking for dicE, minkmink spidering for Spastic, Ricko undering for Cobra, kado on Thunder, are all stories that come to mind and are worth asking the mentioned players about if you are an up-and-coming player hoping for something similar to happen to you one day.
Those of us keeping a close eye on the younger generation have already taken notice of people such as morph, WillBy, Markmrw, afghan, SpookedOne, Banks, and many more who continue to improve and are almost at the point where they either evolve into future TWL contenders or plateau at a level around where they are currently playing.
In my opinion, pursuing the valiant loser route and working hard to earn a title down the line is more fruitful than not playing at all and hoping one day you can play as a TWL starter for a contending squad.
Hope this helps the more contemporary up-and-comers. Would be a cool place for people to share similar stories.
I also want to briefly mention that there many valid reasons for sitting out for a TWL season and this is in no way an attack on or judgement of people who choose not to play for a season. This is primarily geared toward the up-and-coming players who are in the specific situation where they are at the crossroads between starting for a squad destined to lose most TWL games versus not joining a squad and spending the entire TWL season on the bench.
Squadless bencher or valiant loser: My opinion
I wasn't always a TWLB finals contender. Not even close. That only happened over the last 10 years. Before that, there were some seasons that I struggled to even get recruited, and this was during a time where there were 15+ basing squads.
Practice makes perfect, however, and whether it was No Surrender, FlagOwners, Brainwave, Defrost, Fuse, Hillpeace, Rejected Basers, Tenure, Juice, Disoblige, Sweet, Expert, Raid, or Fierce, I always worked hard to put together a solid group of borderline talented players who had great rapport with each other and always had fun. I've been asked before how I got so efficient at breaking cram in terr. I never thought about it, but the funny thing is I probably got so good at breaking cram because I spent the first 10-15 years of my terr career getting smoked 15-5 BD after BD for 12 hours a day on bad teams and having to essentially break cram on my own. Sure, at the time when I was playing for these squads I definitely looked over my shoulder and wished I could be leading the way for some of the contending squads, but I'd never trade my time playing for these lower-tier teams to play for the better teams because I wouldn't be half as good today had I sold out to play for squads that didn't need me.
To give some of the lower/mid-tier players an idea of how the evolution of low/mid-tier to high-tier can come to fruition for someone, two seasons in particular stand out as impactful to my career in terr. The first is during a limbo period in my basing career in 2008 when the squads that would recruit me weren't going to qualify for TWLB (yes, in the past you had to qualify), and I literally could not find a qualified squad that would take a chance on me. With one day left until soft lock, Jeenyuss pulled through for me with Penetrate and recruited me to play as backup to Dead_Rain and Sauro (ray J) in terr. If he didn't stand up for me and recruit me I would have sat out for an entire TWL season against my will. Thanks to Jeen, I played roughly 1,000 BDs over the course of that TWLB season and got to play one TWLB game, my debut game for an actual TWLB contending squad, and as a squad we went on to win TWLB finals (I didn't start). Sure, I didn't get much direct TWLB experience that year, but had Jeenyuss not stepped up for me I wouldn't have been identified with Penetrate and wouldn't have played 1,000 BDs with that year's TWLB winner, both of which got me recruited by another squad the following season. I also built a ton of friendships and made relationships that impacted recruiting strategies and squad formation 5-10 years later.
The next crucial season for me was in 2012. Although at the time I had already broken out of the mid-tier and was playing at a high level for pretty bad squads for about 4-5 years, it was only when my performance during pre-season on Raid became undeniable that my co-captains (Reaver and Best) told me that they'll take Raid to TWLD and try to win and that I should go win TWLB somewhere since Raid was unlikely to win TWLB that season. At the time, Hydride was performing poorly as starting terr for a TWLB contender, Revenge, so I joined them, made finals, made my mark, and have been contending ever since.
This is something I think a lot of people forget when they look at groups of elites conglomerating and developing squads together behind the scenes. We all build strong relationships over the many months of each TWL season, and we learn to identify with those people with whom we've competed or played casually with in the past. For example, putting Royal together was easy because it was just a bunch of old friends from early 2000s pub/low-tier basing who wanted to try to win together (cripple, Dwopple, wbm, etc.). For the vast majority of players, getting to the point where other skilled players start to form teams with and around you begins by making an impact in the mid/low-tier, trusting the process of the game, and hard work. Some serendipity is necessary as well, such as Revenge needing a terr at the exact time that Reaver and Best decided to focus 100% on TWLD and tell me to go find somewhere to win TWLB. Some mentorship and support from guys with more power than you is also important (thanks Jeen).
As much as it may suck to watch the same people compete year after year with only a few unexpected players/squads willing their way into the semi-final/finals every couple seasons, the transformation of TW pub newb to TWL title winner is a process that has been ongoing for roughly 20 years. If you were meant to win a title you have to trust that, with the above attributes (friendships with other similarly ambitious players, engaging the game by joining squads and competing, working hard), you eventually will. I can assure you, however, that sitting out for an entire season out of spite for the aforementioned process will only get you scorned by the squads and players who win titles. Hint, as someone who season after season has recruiting power on a top squad, I'd rather watch you put up 110-60 per game in spid for a struggling team than sit for the entire season. The following season, I'd definitely be more likely to try to play with the guy who was playing like a finals contender on a shitty squad than with the guy who benched the whole season because he knew he wouldn't win. The only acceptable alternative to joining a non-contender is broadening the depth of a contender's bench and learning how to play with the best. Not only will the zone learn to identify you with that squad, making you an "elite by association", which can set you up to get recruited in future seasons, but you may also make an impression on these players, and if you become an undeniable talent you may even earn TWL starting time that season (or the season following).
Most high-tier players have similar backstories of working hard on less skilled squads and eventually having their talent recognized and used in TWLB due to serendipity or good mentorship. Cripple sharking for Syndicate, renzi spidering for Pandora, Everest terring for -FINAL-, Chief Ustav terring for dicE, Ogron terring for Pandora, TABARNAK sharking for dicE, minkmink spidering for Spastic, Ricko undering for Cobra, kado on Thunder, are all stories that come to mind and are worth asking the mentioned players about if you are an up-and-coming player hoping for something similar to happen to you one day.
Those of us keeping a close eye on the younger generation have already taken notice of people such as morph, WillBy, Markmrw, afghan, SpookedOne, Banks, and many more who continue to improve and are almost at the point where they either evolve into future TWL contenders or plateau at a level around where they are currently playing.
In my opinion, pursuing the valiant loser route and working hard to earn a title down the line is more fruitful than not playing at all and hoping one day you can play as a TWL starter for a contending squad.
Hope this helps the more contemporary up-and-comers. Would be a cool place for people to share similar stories.
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