Well, I think I maybe have my word about all this League. I'm, for sure, one of those who are discovering this strange world of Online Leagues for the first time, but a young voice even though I'm 26 is as important as an old, I guess.
And here will be the long and unending block of text. Don't read it if you want to live.
Is this League hard? Well, I could answer that directly, but let me first tell you a story of mine. The story of that one guy who was curious about the previous Redemption league and was willing to compete on the following. This guy, you might have understood, is me. And why am I competing in the first place? For three reasons : having fun with my favorite hobby, AkA Pokemon (an almost 20 year history, nonetheless), to see where I can go with my favorite style of playing, AkA Balanced (in all things) and... to try to socialize, introducing myself better to this community (I kinda don't post a lot, I guess), and show them who I am!
Then the league started. First match, versus Olivia, was... kinda lucky I guess (I was expecting something different with her previous match). Then I was stuck near a wall named Mira. A very kind wall, for sure, but still a wall. It took me no less than 4 close matches to beat her. And meanwhile, I doubted myself about how fun was this league supposed to be. But thanks to some people, and some advices about the league, I could overcome this part and continue.
The rest of this league is still this cycle : victories, defeats, preparations, support from others. I had doubts sometimes, but I continued to learn. To observe. To listen... erm, to read. To try (as much as I can) converse with people, with the leaders ( And oh god I start to appreciate some of those. You know, the one I give affectionate nicknames, big up, Lucci and Mr Croc).
Why am i telling you that? Because this directs to what I want to tell, what I learned : yes! League is hard. League is MEANT to be hard. But, and that the most paradoxal thing, League is hard if you keep being alone! I think it's because there are some other challengers like me, like you, reader, that league can be suddently easier.
YOU'RE NOT ALONE! If you keep trying to understand, and even more from others, then League can be as easy as you can exploit these datas.
And for those of you who think this is a paragraph about "Let the others being beaten up while your observing"... I admit this.... aspect is a part of what I'm saying. But this thing alone won't help you much. Sometimes practice is a good way to make sure of where you're heading to. And that's why, sometimes, I'm looking for someone for sparring (with more or less success, due to my social skills being.... not that good ) between matches, and sometimes after a defeat, not only for practice, but also to... ease my pain about the loss and keep moving forward.
Well, to conclude, I know this text might be a bit... hard to understand. But it's my actual point of view of what league is : a hard place, sure, but a fun place before all. If you can keep the fun on, well you won't think all the time that league is hard.
And for this experience, I have to thank all the people I met in the Showdown chat. Well, i'm maybe 10 badges now, being one of the 3 frontrunners, but there's still a looooong way to go! I heared some legends about that Venus girl. And, oh boy, this might be interesting to fight her.