/sci/ History
For info about the current team see: /sci/
Team History
/sci/'s debut
2012 Spring Babby Cup
Discussions to field a team representing /sci/ started off on January 6th, 2012 by Lion !FvAwVR8cv6, the board welcomed the proposal and started throwing proposals for players on the team. Between these proposals were included some logo ideas that featured then /sci/'s mascot /sci/duck and a generic scientist on a square background, but ultimately a square logo featuring Carl Sagan, Thorium and its atomic number and the number pi won the attention of the board and was declared the official logo that still stands to this day. The roster listed below was fielded for the 2012 4chan Spring Babby Cup Friendlies but /sci/ failed to submit a roster within the deadline by 4 minutes, commissioner GermanBro was harsh on the team and punished them with no medals, thus affecting them on their debut against /d/, but /sci/ took it quite well and even joked about the incident by making 4 minutes their goal horn for the friendlies. Of course /sci/ lost their game against /d/ but somehow managed to beat /vp/ thanks to some serious spaghetti by them including 2 own goals by their players.
By the time the proper competition came, /sci/ incorporated now famous striker Bill Nye the Science Guy after being suggested by board goer Luca, Bill Nye quickly became /sci/'s gold striker in the GSBB era. The tournament had /sci/ drawn with /pol/, /r9k/ and /mlp/. /sci/'s start was a heartbreaking 1-1 draw against /r9k/ with a late minute goal by Japanese Lettuce Hardcore. Against /mlp/ the tables turned around as Bill Nye scored a near last minute equalizer. Facing uncertainty for their last game after /r9k/ defeated /mlp/, /sci/ had to beat /pol/ in the first edition of the Progressb Owl and got the result they wanted, a 2-1 win with goals by both Richards: Dawkins and Feynman. A play-in had to be made in order to be in the proper knock-out phase, so /sci/ as runners-up of their group faced /gif/, before that game the first actual live manager stepped up to help /sci/ under the name of Dicks !BYmn6QVNCw who managed to defeat /gif/ 1-0. In the quarters /sci/ routed the now infamous Durgen /n/ team to make the semis. But the dreams of gold ended with a 2-1 loss against /3/ with a failed rally attempt by Bill Nye that wasn't enough.
Consolation came as /sci/ managed to beat /d/ to obtain the third place spot, a very fitting way to end their first official tournament by defeating their very first rivals.
Original roster
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- Players in Bold have never been removed from the team and still are on the team up to this date. Players in Italics are still on the team but after being removed.
2012 Summer Cup
With a third place finish in Spring, things looked promising for /sci/ heading into summer. But a couple of issues were soon to appear with the team. First it was that third place winning manager Dicks stated that he wasn't going to be available for summer, therefore /sci/ was into a managerial uncertainty heading into summer. Second was that the usual people in charge of /sci/'s wiki page were clashing heads over roster changes on one side was Luca and on the other side was Triviaguy88, the controversy came after Luca allegedly made some roster changes without consulting the board and ignoring the fact that there was a poll to make the roster changes, that and the fact that both were clashing heads on whether how the player Theory (A Guess) should be named, on one side there was a campaign to name him Theory (A geuss) and on the other Theory (a gauss).
With these elements in mind /sci/ was drawn in a group with defending elite cup champions /k/, /int/ and /mu/. The first game was a complete disaster featuring a very poor set of conditions that /int/ managed to take advantage of with a hat trick by Putin and goals by Maradona and >argentina >white. Next up came defending champions /k/, who came after a very close draw against /mu/, their offense was swift and effective as 3 goals were scored in the first 18 minutes. /sci/ managed to pull a late rally bringing the deficit to 3-2 but a 90+1' goal by Deagle Brand Deagle put any efforts of a comeback void, even with a last attempt by Bill Nye and the score ended 4-3 for /k/. The final game against /mu/ was a do-or-die for /sci/ since they needed to win to have a chance to at least avoid relegation despite not making the knockouts, but thing started off badly with /mu/ scoring 2 goals in the first half, it looked like it was going to be another devastating loss, but with a joint effort by Bill Nye and Thorium made a last minute comeback to draw 2-2. This result sent /sci/ to Autumn but managed to salvage some dignity.
The Atrox era and uncertainty afterwards
2012 Autumn Babby Cup
After the disaster that followed the Summer Cup, a man named Atrox !TmSV8N.Vwo asked /sci/ about taking over as their manager, which met with immediate approval by the board, taking over on August 20, 2012. His debut came on the 2012 4chan Autumn Babby Cup Friendlies where he got off to a wrong start losing 3-2 to /lit/, a scoreless draw against /co/ and the worst loss up to this date, a 7-1 loss against eventual tournament champions /wg/. By the time Autumn came a cloud of incertainty came above the team whether their Spring run was a fluke and if they were really a weak team, that was going to be proven in the Group Stages. In the proper tournament they were drawn with newcomers /trv/, spring returners /f/ and >molly's /cgl/.
On the first game things got off to a great start with a 4-1 win over /f/ including a hattrick by Bill Nye and a goal by Carl Sagan. The next game was a close call as /sci/ was drawing against an all 1's /cgl/, but Richard Feynman came to save the day and effectively secured a place for the Winter Cup. Next up came an entertaining match against /trv/ which featured /trv/ GK Noobius Expedia scoring a free kick goal and Bill Nye's reserve striker Epicurus scoring the equalizer and getting a draw for both teams heading into the knockouts. In the Round of 16, /sci/ encountered /mlp/, a team that got a draw against them in the last competition they both were. Things look promising as Bill Nye scored an early goal but then it got bad quickly with /mlp/ turning it around 2-1 a bit after halftime, Bill scored the equalizer fast but with 19 minutes to go Best Pony scored the goal that ended /sci/'s run in Autumn, although the goal of getting into Winter was met, there was a feeling /sci/ got into winter with a relatively easy group, a theory that had to be debunked by the time winter came.
2013 Winter Cup
With the new rules of the Winter Friendlies, there was only a friendly scheduled, and it resulted in a not-so exciting draw against /3/. In the proper Elite competition they were drawn with elites /int/ and /fit/ along with promoted 4th place babby team /vg/. Due to certain discrepancies, /sci/ was sanctioned with having a bronze without skill cards for the competition. First off was /int/, who /sci/ had suffered a humiliating loss in Summer, were expecting to turn things around but it looked like history was bound to repeat itself as Putin scored in the 25th minute and again with a penalty after a poor challenge in the box, /sci/ got a consolation own goal by /int/'s goalkeeper but it wasn't enough and went off with a loss. Next up came /vg/ who had lost against /fit/ after leading 2-0. /sci/ took an early lead with Bill Nye but /vg/ replied almost immediately, the RNG blessed /sci/ with a red card for a /vg/ player which /sci/ capitalized with a goal by subbed on player Aquatic Hamster, but there was a feeling /sci/ needed to take more advantage due to the fact that they needed goals to have a healthy goal average coming to the last game. The final game against /fit/ started horribly with 2 goals in 20 minutes before Nikola Tesla replied before halftime, but their awful midfield conditioning combined with a purple Bill Nye made it impossible to attack, and /fit/ capitalized with a goal by Zyzz that put a nail in the coffin on /sci/'s Winter run that had to end with a consolation goal by Epicurus. A report regarding /sci/'s winter cup run can be found here.
2013 Spring Babby Cup
By the time Spring came, morale by both manager and board came to an all time low. /sci/ was filled (and still is) with autistic people who report cup threads on sight, and with this the manager faced both /adv/ and /jp/ with mind game B-I-L-L formations that went off for losses that didn't result in anything noteworthy. These set of tactics carried on to Spring where they were drawn with /lit/, /ck/ and /f/, which looked like no challenge on paper. First off was /lit/, who was Atrox's first rival and beat him on the Autumn Friendlies. After 10 minutes of autism to set up /sci/'s tactics and then with a late reply by /lit/'s manager, things looked like the audience was in for a borefest, and it was, Bill Nye scored the first one for /sci/ but 2 replies in the second half by /lit/ complicated /sci/'s chances for the summer cup. Next, came /ck/ who were trying to redeem themselves after an embarrassing winter run, /ck/ tried to pound hard over /sci/'s defense but it was useless as they collided against the wall of Thorium and with a cheeky goal by Not Science, which was the only goal in the game and the only shot by /sci/ as well hope arisen coming to the /f/ game. /sci/ needed to win after /ck/ drew against /lit/, but disappointment came as /f/ got their revenge from Autumn and left /sci/ on the road to autumn. This made Atrox resign and leaving the team managerless, allegedly Goldenratio was going to take over but it later fell through as he left to join the /b/ testing squad instead. Then Dragongate happened, a scandal so big a lot of teams in summer were consequently disqualified as they were managed by the same person, /sci/ was one of the 8 teams benefited from this scandal and got to summer, and now with a diminished manager pool, Atrox decided to stay but wanted out of the team so /sci/ was heading into Summer with more doubts than ever.
The First Aitor Karanka era and decline
2013 Summer Cup and Friendlies
With a manager looking to bail out of the sinking ship, manager Aitor Karanka !!vHwU8e1Ta/3 took over less than 2 weeks before the proper Summer Cup to avoid /sci/ going out with a nearly dead B formation, an apparently solid export was submitted and hopes went up, only to be shut down when they got drawn in a group featuring 2013 Winter third place /pol/, /ck/ and /co/ who were granted a second chance along with /sci/. First up came /co/, who had managed to scrap off a draw against /sci/ in the 2013 4chan Summer Cup Friendlies with a new management as well, things started off well with a goal by Nikola Tesla, but a very last minute rally gave /co/ a 2-1 victory, it later turned out that some games were affected including this one were affected by draw scripts that had blowouts and determined results, there wasn't a replay so /sci/ got stuck with the loss. Next up came /ck/, who had lost against /sci/ in spring thanks to the wall of Thorium, and it looked like it was going to be the same way with an early goal by Tesla, but then disaster happened, three goals in the first half for /ck/ combined with /sci/'s awful defense conditioning made it a nightmare and lost 5-1, effectively relegating the team to autumn thanks to the fact that upcoming rivals /pol/ lost their first 2 games as well. Since there was nothing left to play for but some honor, both /sci/ and /pol/ were determined to go out and give the fans some entertainment with a blitzkrieg formation by /pol/ and the B formation by /sci/ and played on the now famous Doompaul pitch, /sci/ managed to get a win to salvage their honor and a conclusion was reached that /sci/ wasn't really relegated by being weak, rather than from an unfortunate turn of events.
2013 Autumn Babby Cup
Heading into Autumn, /sci/ had two teams affected by Dragongate, /y/ and /diy/ which resulted in a loss and a draw, it was more of rather if some tactics worked or not heading into Autumn, in the way /sci/ picked up tester and eventual co-manager SUPERtwinky !!G5xDaK3GlNe after being sacked by /3/ after a series of doubtful results against /vr/ giving them their first win ever and /r9k/. /sci/ was yet again drawn into the hardest group out there with powerhouses /tg/, Winter fourth place /cm/ affected by Dragongate and /vr/ that blazed through the Qualifiers. First up came /cm/, a seemingly accessible game, and it started off with a goal by Bill Nye but /cm/ quickly equalized, and although /sci/ kept on knocking only to be denied by trollbars and had to settle with a draw. Next up came /tg/, a game on which Aitor wasn't there due to IRL stuff and had twinky managing, and started off great with a goal by Tesla but 2 quick replies by /tg/ including Doomrider's bicycle kick lead to panic which made it worse and lost 4-1, seriously damaging /sci/'s chances to go to Winter. Finally came /vr/ who only needed a draw to advance, and given /tg/'s shocking 5-0 loss to /cm/, /sci/ had to win by 2 to avoid the Spring Qualifiers and 3 to advance to winter, /sci/ started swiftly with an early goal by Richard Feynman followed by a second half goal by Bill Nye, this avoided the qualifiers, but Doomguy put the score at 2-1, /sci/ replied with a goal by Nikola Tesla to avoid the qualifiers and were a goal away from Winter, but deception came as Doomguy challenged physics and put the final 3-2 score to put /sci/ into the Spring Qualifiers, the general perception of it was that /sci/ could've advanced if Aitor was managing on the /tg/ game to at least help their goal differential to avoid the Qualifiers.
2014 Spring Babby Cup
With a new revamp of rules there was no Spring Babby friendlies, so the 2014 4chan Winter Cup Friendlies were vital to know /sci/'s strength on the new platform that was PES 14 and it went fairly well with a 4-2 win over /an/ and a 2-1 comeback against /cm/ as revenge from Autumn. As for the Spring tournament, which had 40 teams instead of the qualifiers that had been discontinued, /sci/ was drawn along with /c/, /u/, /vp/ and /vg/ and were favorites to at least come second at least. First came /u/, who got relegated in Winter and was a fairly tough team, /sci/ parked the bus and got a 0-0 draw. Then came /c/, who was also relegated from the Winter Cup, /sci/ was parking the bus up to the 70th minute when they decided to gamble but backfired with a goal by /c/ leaving them with 1 point out of 6 possible with 2 games to go and with the fact they were going to rely on results on the final match day, the next game was against /vp/ who took advantage of the confused /sci/ defense and scored, but later equalized with an euphoric goal by Richard Dawkins only to be shut down immediately and being the first team to head into Autumn. That's when Aitor decided that it was best for the team to not continue hindering them while trying to help and looked out for a successor, the cry of help was met and his final game was against /vg/ who had won their 2 games with a +6 goal difference, but that didn't stop /sci/ from winning 2-1 and culminating Aitor Karanka's era with a consolation win, while leading the way for the new generations.
The Ordinate Era, Managerial Madness & Death
2014 Summer Cup Friendlies
The first one to answer the call of succeeding Aitor was Ordinate !!TxrSE+XU35V and surprisingly given his mercenary background, SUPERtwinky stuck around and convinced Smugleaf !!WROPMzfJikm to join the team as well, they decided to keep Aitor as mentor for the managers and as a species of chairman to give the green light on roster moves and non tactical issues regarding the team. However, SUPERtwinky was more focused on his /vg/ League team and other projects non related to PES rather than paying attention to /sci/ while trying to make the team a pandering ground for the boards he liked. This bothered the other members of the /sci/ management and was quickly confronted by Aitor and a conclusion was reached that it was for the best that the /sci/ management team continued on without SUPERtwinky, therefore leaving Smugleaf and Ordinate managing the team for the 2014 4chan Summer Cup Friendlies, which have /tv/ and /r9k/ as rivals. Unfortunately, Smugleaf's first (and only) match as manager ended in a disappointing 2-1 loss to /tv/, which has been his bane in testing for some time now. The second friendly ended in a 1-1 draw against /r9k/ with the only /sci/ goal being scored was from Nikola Tesla off a face-smashing free kick by Carl Sagan. This marked Ordinate's opening match as the best managerial start since former manager Dicks. Hopefully this is a sign of better things to come.
2014 Autumn Babby Cup
After a controversial change in the rules before Autumn 2014 by the new cup commissioner tottori !!sRN5AxsnGLL, ex-manager Aitor Karanka saw his retirement cut short as he returned to help out the team once again. And after discovering that Mr. Smugleaf had lied to both of his colleagues, Aitor and Ordinate decided to part ways with Smugleaf and not with this former manager begging Ordinate to remain as a tester and he accepted but only limiting him to it, and to both parties' surprise he announced a "retirement" post to announce that /sci/ allegedly didn't need him any more but far from the truth. As a result of this incident both managers Aitor Karanka and Ordinate have pledged to have no outsiders joining the team staff and that all further applications must be approved by the two parties.
After months of waiting, /sci/ finally got their chance to shine in the 2014 Autumn Babby Cup with a come-from-behind 4-2 victory over a disheartened /soc/. After a narrow 2-1 victory vs. /m/ and a 1-1 draw against /o/, /sci/ were sitting pretty at the top of Group F with 7 points. This presented an interesting situation for the three still contending teams, /lgbt/, /m/, and /soc/. If /sci/ drew or lost vs. /lgbt/, /lgbt/ went through. If /sci/ won, then it was a game between /m/ and /soc/ for the final spot, with /lgbt/ going through if they drew. /sci/ won their next match 4-1 with help from a Sun of Fire and Ice goal, his first as a player. /m/ then attained a decisive victory against /soc/, pulling a 4-2 result to send them to Winter and eliminating /soc/ and /lgbt/.
With /sci/ looking it's most dominant as ever, the team pushed forward to the knockout round, being drawn against the pirates of /t/ in the Round of 16. The team took to the field with an extremely wide 4-2-3-1, specifically engineered to keep the Pira/t/es from stealing possesion. It was a tight match through and through, with only a tactical blunder allowing a goal to /t/ in the 86th minute, tying it at 1 a piece. After extra time ended with no goals scored, it was on to penalties. There were lots of KAPOW's, spaghetti, and skyed shots, but /sci/ somehow came out on top, 3-2 on pens. The day after, they had to face /n/ in the quarter-finals. After sleepless hours of headache-inducing testing, the team stepped onto the field to face their biggest opponent yet. Unfortunately, /n/ player Tite Gapz scored a goal in the 74th minute, making the game 1-0. This was enough to knock out /sci/ and leave them with a 5th place finish, their best in 2 1/2 years.
2015 Winter Cup
After another 3 months of waiting, /sci/ got their chance to compete in their first Elite Cup in years. After being drawn into a relatively strong group of /ic/, /diy/, and /s/: things seemed more bleak than normal for the newly promoted side. Still, the /sci/-borgs pushed forward with a more defensive focused 4-2-3-1 and faced their first opponent, /ic/. In what can only be described as a glitchy snore-fest of a match: both sides held on for a 0-0 draw, much to the chagrin of the commentators. The next match was against newly promoted Babby team /s/. Again: another draw in what should have been a decisive /sci/ win but due to some defensive blunders, both sides were only able to come away with one point. This left the /sci/entists in a terrible position. The only surefire way of getting in was with a win over /diy/: the former holder of the Babby 3rd Place trophy. It all seemed hopeless at first, after falling 2-0 down by the 23rd minute. However, /sci/ somehow found a way and staged the greatest comeback the 4chan Cup has ever seen. With 2 goals from 77 CB Triple Integrals and one each from Tesla and Feynman: /sci/ overcame the odds and found themselves with 5 group stage points and a spot in the knockout round. The draw put them against the dominant and dank [s4s], a team that finished the group stages with an astounding +8 GD. Still, science would not give up so easily and the team took the field against their toughest opponent yet. Unfortunately, due to some managerial stumbles, /sci/ was eliminated on a 3-0 loss, their worst since Summer 2013. Although the loss was a bit crushing for /sci/'s spirits, the positive note was that /sci/ would keep an elite cup status, something that was never done before. With this in mind, manager Aitor Karanka retired from the team knowing his goal that was set back in Summer 2013 had been met.
2015 Summer Cup
After securing their first knockouts in history, /sci/ entered Summer with somewhat high expectations, said expectations came to a shuddering halt after being routed 4-1 against one of their former managers, followed by another 4-1 route by [s4s] who had their number and while trying to salvage some dignity for the final game, /sci/ once again succumbed against /mu/ in the final stretch of the game, only a mere goal difference saved /sci/ from earning the dubious award of the wooden spoon.
2015 Autumn Babby Cup
Things were not looking great for the team of science as Autumn 2015 came after the disastrous performance in Summer, so much so that Aitor returned back from retirement to help the team promote again. The tournament proper saw /sci/ being drawn in a group featuring 2015 Babby 3rd place autopilot /cgl/ running on Juventus tactics, /sp/ coming after a disastrous Spring performance, a /diy/ side that had returned from the grave and a freefalling /hr/ team. For the first game /sci/ on a stroke of bad managerial decisions by Aitor lost to /cgl/ 1-0, but given that this was a 5 team group, hope wasn’t lost, next up came /hr/, the game went off well for /sci/ as they had a 3-1 lead but /hr/ out of nowhere caught fire and in the dying seconds managed to snatch away a draw that tasted like defeat, the panorama was looking bleak for the team facing a /diy/ side that was coming from beating /sp/ convincingly 5-1 and were 6 points and on top of the group… then Richard Feynman happened, a performance that was almost perfect, scoring a double brace to give the team its largest margin of victory ever, a 5-0 victory that allowed the team to enter the final match day with hopes of promoting against /sp/, any victory would guarantee a spot in Winter, but unfortunately all /sp/ needed was a draw to promote and decided to park the bus as if there was no tomorrow, thus ending /sci/’s dreams for promotion dashed with a 0-0 draw.
2016 Spring Babby Cup
A new year brought a new face for the team, the management made a roster thread that was well received with the board, and with that a shakeup came along with it, Bill Nye and Nikola Tesla, the team’s most recognizable figures were demoted to non-medals, with Shinichi Mochizuki and Sun of Lava/Ice being promoted to medal status, a move that proved that the team was ready for a new beginning with the upcoming Spring tournament, said tournament had the team was drawn with /tg/, whose last encounter had the infamous 4-1 loss with Doomrider getting the goal of the tournament, /biz/, which were under new management after >Art ragequit and /sci/’s retarded little brother /g/. The first match had a promising look with a draw against /tg/, somewhat shaking off the demons from that 4-1 match, the managerial team felt confident against /biz/… then reality hit them hard with a 4-0 loss, which was a blow to the morale of the team and almost killed effectively the chances of promoting, the trio came to realization that a combination of ineptitude and real life issues affecting their ability to test would never help the team and they would hinder it if they continued to managed the team, so after the /g/ match that felt like a swan song, the three managers decided to step down and let any fan that was interested in aiding the team to take over, for the first time since 2013, /sci/ was managerless, and this period was the darkest moment for the team ever as it failed to get a manager by Autumn, effectively forfeiting the tournament, an all-time low.
The Lab Coat era and its successes
2017 Spring Babby Cup Qualifiers
The new year came in and /sci/ still looked like they were going to be managerless for a while, until Spring rolled in and an user by the name of Lab Coat !!xjloyu2m+mY took over and presented its respective proof of evidence for the resurrection of the team, with it came yet another shake up, amongst the most tenured players on the team it was time for Nikola Tesla to say goodbye as the team faced its first ever qualifiers. Lab Coat was a complete newcomer to the game, so much so that he requested the aid of Aitor as a consultant, with his help they put together an export according to Lab Coat’s requests, as confusing as those requests were on paper. But before the team took on the field, the team faced the hardest shakeup it ever faced, while the team sent its export for the qualifiers, once beloved player Bill Nye got a new show on Netflix, on which he decided to sell out every scientific principle in exchange for pandering to the Tumblr crowd. This angered the board and managerial team alike, but they were at a crossroads, they couldn’t change the export to expel Bill Nye and replace him, so the managerial team decided to not field Bill Nye at all during the qualifiers, and so their journey began with 3 well known rivals, once elite champions /trv/, once babby champions /pol/ and once babby-runner up /co/. The 5-4-1 /sci/ fielded was regarded as weak and nonsensical, but managed to eek out a draw from /trv/, then they changed that to a 4-5-1 to see if fortunes would change, but /co/, just like in 2013 beat /sci/ after being down 1-0. The final match up saw a do or die match for /sci/ and /pol/ with a draw favoring /sci/. Before the match the rivals decided to have a joint anthem in protest of Bill Nye’s brainlet views. Richard Feynman ironically buried /pol/ on the very same anniversary of Hitler’s suicide, and /sci/ barely qualified from the babbies despite having only 22 players to their own disposal.
2017 Spring Babby Cup
Now having promoted from the fetus, Aitor decided to aid Lab Coat by changing the 5-4-1 into a more respectable looking 4-3-3 (given the little time to change tactics) for Spring. The rivals were /n/, /his/ and everyone’s beloved team /mlp/. The /n/ match was a see saw affair which provided with a 2-2 draw which felt like a defeat given how late /n/ scored the equalizer. Then the /his/ match rolled in, and before the match the managerial team decided to pay homage to the runners up of the initial babby /3/, which were not alive to participate on the fifth year anniversary of the Spring Babby cup using their beloved goal horn as their own, a move widely approved by a lot of fans and neutrals as it provided a great game which saw Sun of Lava/Ice score a hat trick, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough as a very offensive /his/ scored a late goal to win 4-3, dealing a deadly blow to the team’s aspirations of promoting. Before the final game, the team was already out from promoting to summer, all that was left was avoiding defeat against /mlp/ to avoid relegation to the Autumn Qualifiers. A lone goal by Shinichi Mochizuki proved more than enough to win the match and not only avoid the qualifiers but having the absolute honor of sending the two star team to the Autumn Qualifiers, ending the tournament on a high note and on a respectable 18th place. The team was ready for the Autumn Babby cup… or so it looked like it. After the Spring Babby Cup ended, a much controversial announcement known as “The Cull” sent promoted teams like /t/ and /out/ (and prospective promoter /p/) from the Summer Cup to a state of managerless limbo as the commissioner determined that said teams did not try to interact with fans. As a consequence from this, /sci/ was awarded a spot in summer alongside /o/. The managerial team felt at a conflict from having such a golden opportunity to participate in an elite cup but at the same time feeling bad about promoting in such a controversial way. Nevertheless, this was an opportunity to participate in the elites and try to have a shot at a elite cup star.
2017 Summer Cup
The Summer campaign saw the integration of returning manager ordinate as an aid to Lab Coat, the teams to beat in the group stage were /m/, /tg/ and /vp/. The first match saw the incredible oddity of /m/’s Dan “Game master” Kuroto getting the fastest red card ever in cup history, this shakeup of events was topped by a roller coaster of emotions which ended in a 3-3 draw which made PES not declare a man of the match, to the amusement of everyone. Next up was /tg/, it was time to put the demons from past tournaments behind and get over the hump against them, and two amazing goals from Carl Sagan and Does 0.999… = 1? Alongside a Sun of Lava/Ice header off a corner were more than enough to put these demons to rest and give /sci/ a 3-1 win and sitting pretty on top of the group. The final match against /vp/ was the final match of the group, with /m/ beating /tg/, only a catastrophic result against /vp/ would have seen /sci/ being relegated, nonetheless the team kept playing its trademark defensive aggressive brand of football with effective attacks against a /vp/ team that needed to not lose against /sci/ to stay up. Shinichi Mochizuki started off with a great goal coming off a cross by Brainlet, then /vp/ equalized at the 65th minute, things were looking good for /sci/, but decided to play it safe and go with tiki-taka and to most people this would have been an indication that the game would have ended with a draw, but at the 90th minute Shinichi Mochizuki put a dagger throughout the collective hearts of every /vp/ fan as /sci/ inadvertently sunk them and helped /m/ stay up, and for the first time ever /sci/ topped an elite group.
The knockouts faced them against /f/ in the Round of 16, the flash team played with its desperation tier brand of football as they felt the clock ticking as the countdown to their format being entirely obsolete by 2020 had begun, /sci/ studied all the opportunities and thought ahead of them and neutralized them with solid defense and a goal by Gauß to win their first ever elite knockout game. All good things must come to an end as the team was paired up with incumbent babby champion /lgbt/, on a string of unfortunate events which stemmed from Boris accidentally rigging /sci/ to allow an equalizer from the legbutts to a panic attack from the manager which led to a lot of questionable decisions, led to a monumental collapse in extra time to see their hopes of an elite cup dashed, a punishing blow that will live in the memory of not every /sci/ fan but also every cup fan. Morale was low after the match but moving on was necessary, so Lab Coat sent a request for help in managing, which was answered by an user named OGRO !!HEaa+iIocNu, the new journey would see a turbulent start with Aitor leaving his role as consultant over differences with Lab Coat, ogro going MIA and Lab Coat himself facing real life issues that hindered his ability to perform, leaving the steering wheel of the boat to once head manager ordinate heading into Winter.
2018 Winter Cup
The tournament proper saw the team facing /gd/, /jp/ and /o/. The first match was a narrow defeat on the last minutes of the game, things were looking uphill for /sci/. Next up was /jp/, on a match which can define itself as pure PES saw /sci/ somehow winning 2-1 in a matter of minutes despite displaying a pretty rotten performance, but a victory is a victory, which made things looking into the final match a lot better than a draw or much worse a defeat. The match was a must win for /sci/ as the draw favored /o/, Shinichi Mochizuki started things well ironically against Elon Musk’s Don’t Panic! car, Miata quickly answered back, but a catastrophic clearance by the Burgerking (Nürburgring) lead Shinichi to take back the lead for most of the game, and as crunch time came, Mochizuki delivered an assist to Richard Feynman to ensure a ticket to the knockouts and the first time /sci/ maintained elite status. The Round of 16 saw them square up against /vr/, a hectic affair that had /sci/ sweating for a bit but nonetheless managing to win comfortably 3-1 thanks to two deadly counters by Shinichi Mochizuki and Carl Sagan. And the aspirations of silverware were once again dashed in the quarterfinals, on which again the eventual cup winner would see themselves going past the team at this stage. The main difference between Winter and Summer was that Summer was caused by severe misfortune and Winter was caused by severe futility, nothing the managers did could stop the bleeding against /u/, not even a valiant effort by backup goalkeeper Norman Wildberger was enough and the /sci/entists were sent home in shame with a 3-0 loss.
2018 Summer Cup
After the humiliation received in the quarterfinals, /sci/ faced their third straight elite cup appearance, an unprecedented event in their history, the group stage looked on paper one of similar prowess between the four teams in the group. It was for the most part a group of retribution, a particular vendetta against /sp/ given that they parked the bus hard against /sci/ to advance to Winter 16; /fit/ on the other hand relegated /sci/ to the 2013 Spring Babbies, and as for the other rival, it was actually a matter of avoiding retribution as /sci/ put the cherry on top of /pol/’s humiliating debacle that spanned from Summer 16 and ending with failing to advance from the 2017 Spring Babby Fetus, which they also ended dead last in the overall standings. /sci/ was described by many as the weakest link, calling their previous performances a product of luck and circumstance, it was up to them to silence the critics once and for all.
The first match was against a pastebin /fit/, meaning they should’ve acted fast and swiftly before any automated response, which they did in the first fifteen minutes with goals by Triple Integrals and Richard Feynman, /fit/ managed to reply but it was too late and with a late collapse by their striker Zyzz sealed a 2-1 win for /sci/. Next up was /pol/, a match on which both the /sci/ managers forgot to submit a nightly export and both were under the influence of drugs, was a certainly tough match in paper, but once they kicked off /sci/ laid a siege on /pol/ on which the latter had to rely on heroics by their goalkeeper to reduce the damage from the two swift goals scored by Sun of Lava/Ice and captain Shinichi Mochizuki, a small counter as a product of panic managed to tilt the score a bit but it was not enough and /sci/ won again 2-1, and as a product of /sp/ also winning their previous two games, both teams were guaranteed a knockout berth and were only playing for bragging rights, both sides decided to play it safe and not field their medals for the final game, as such they fielded odd lineups but in the end /sci/ won 2-1 with goals by Spectrum and to the joy of the fan base and managers, backup goalkeeper Norman Wildberger. This is the first time in their entire history both in elite and babby level on which /sci/ finished a group stage by winning all their games. So it was time to move to the knockouts with their heads held up high for such an achievement.
Despite their solid performance on the field, people still doubted /sci/’s achievement since they won by narrow margins, despite not considering that the final game was one that was not really intended by either side to win and the fact that /pol/ had to rely on their keeper to not lose by a wider margin. Nevertheless, the round of 16 rival was /r9k/, a team that finished undefeated in their group stage and that managed to knock the reigning champion /u/ out, it looked like /sci/ was facing a team that could’ve ended their aspirations early, but in the end it turned out to be a lopsided clobbering of 3-0, putting an end to all doubts to the team’s prowess. Next up was the match to exercise their quarterfinals demons out, /tg/, a worthy adversary. For reasons unknown the /sci/ manager for the game decided to use the cursed ESA kits for the game, and also lost the coin toss and therefore home field advantage, things looked bad, and they took a turn for the worse when /tg/ scored first but managed to reply back, and after a horrifying display of ineptitude by Richard Feynman on an one on one situation against the keeper, /tg/ capitalized and left /sci/, yet again, in the quarterfinals. A devastating blow on one of the strongest teams the board has ever sent, it will be a matter of time to see if Winter 2019 will finally be their year.
Decline, interregnum, and autopilot blues
2019 Winter Cup
With the announcement of the winter tournament to be held in PES 2016, there was uncertainty within the team if staying elite would be plausible, with a very aggressive approach, the team was paired with /g/, /h/ and /f/. For the first game /sci/ was on the wrong side of the history records as they would go as the team that scored the most goals in a losing effort, a 6-8 goalfest against /g/, a last minute collapse against /h/ and a failed valiant effort against /f/ effectively condemned /sci/ to be relegated to a babby cup for the first time in two years. Following this and real life issues, Lab Coat decided it was time to retire and left the team to Ordinate and newcomer Yuyukow !!EOZVjSE1Oud in charge of leading the team back to an elite cup as soon as possible.
2019 Spring Babby Cup
The next tournament would be held on a new(ish) game, PES 2018, on such short notice and with absolute silence coming from the managerial team, uncertainty was clear as on how would the team fare, this time they were going to face /cgl/, /vp/ and /x/ for the Spring Babby tournament. And to summarize all three games it's as simple as the Pythagoras theorem, they were all boring 0-0 draws that unceremoniously earned /sci/ the Least Exciting team award for the tournament, the team was on a nosedive and no salvation in sight, this would be a dark age for the team unseen since the Summer 2015 debacle.
2019 Autumn Babby Cup Qualifiers
The team was in absolute disrepair, the managerial team was nowhere to be seen when the 2019 Autumn Qualifier signups were up, seeing this, the managerial team decided to step down in the last days of signing ups and decided to appoint Lab Coat as the team's caretaker and pray for an autopilot miracle to leave the depths of the Fetus. /sci/ was set up in a group with /trv/, /vr/ and /x/. Things seemed to start great with a 2-1 victory over /d/ with a goal by Shinichi Mochizuki on the final minutes of the game, unfortunately a squandered lead against /vr/ would see them lose 1-2 and hoping for a victory or draw against group leaders (and eventual Babby cup champions) /trv/, needless to say it wasn't even close and /sci/ fell short once again and was automatically given a berth to the 2020 Spring Babby tournament as a result.
The Second Aitor Karanka era and mediocrity
2020 Spring Babby Cup
The team looked to be without a manager for the foreseeable future, that was until someone from Wuhan ate some bat soup and made everyone stay home, this turn of events made a former manager in Aitor to have an unexpected amount of available time, which was the catalyst to his return to the managerial helm for the 2020 Spring Babby Cup. Running a mostly unchanged roster from the past year, the team was drawn with /r9k/, /d/ and /int/, the first two games were considered incredibly miraculous considering that the first was a draw against /r9k/ which came with a 90+ goal by Shinichi Mochizuki, the next game saw a buzz saw between /sci/ and /d/ on which again Shinichi saved the day by scoring his third goal in the dying seconds to nab a 4-4 draw. The next game saw /sci/ needing to win or at least score more goals in a draw to advance to the Summer Cup. The previous game saw /d/ draw their third game 1-1, this meant that /sci/ had to win or draw 2-2 to advance, a 1-1 draw would send the /d/eviants and the /sci/entists go in a playoff game. Which is exactly what ended up happening, and in typical snakebitten fashion /sci/ lost the tiebreaker game 4-2 and missed out on the summer cup while /d/ went on a miracle run and won the Spring Babby Cup.
2020 Autumn Babby Cup
The following cup was Autumn and this time saw /sci/ being pit against old rivals in /co/, /pol/ and /int/, the tournament followed the same trends that the team had against the three rivals in question, /sci/ kept their overall historical dominance over /pol/ with a 1-0 win, the first one in a year, which was segued by a Halloween slaughter against /co/, their eternal white whale saw the Ahabs in labcoats needing to win against /int/ and in an exercise of futility faltered well short with a 3-1 loss against /int/. In a normal scenario this would have meant that /sci/ would have stayed put until Spring 2021 but that was no longer the case, in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the first elite cup, the committee decided to have a 64 team tournament, which saw the team of science being automatically qualified.
2021 World Cup
Although the idea of participating on an elite cup was tantalizing, managerial team which now comprised of Aitor and returning manager Yuyukow did not find the idea of having to participate on the 2021 Autumn Babby Cup regardless of performance to be any motivation. The group on which /sci/ was drawn was done at random and fortune dictated that they would face /biz/, /s/ which saw a temporary resurrection just for this tournament and the final ride of the /asp/ team which was going to be put to rest after the mods decided to partition the board into /xs/ and /pw/. The first game against /asp/ was a poor offensive show as the team scored too little too late in a 2-1 loss. The next game saw /sci/ struggle against an autopilot /s/ and barely holding on to a 2-2 draw thanks to goals by Shinichi and newly promoted silver Norman Wildberger. The final group stage saw the team go on a shootout against a /biz/ team that was interested to keep on scoring and not go back and defend even if a draw benefitted them, it ended in a 3-3 draw to close an unceremonious performance. This and alongside new real life obligations made Aitor announce that Autumn 2021 would be his final tournament.
2021 Autumn Babby Cup
Autumn saw a return to the Megababby format, which ended with a 5 team group and four rivals in order to advance to Winter, the rivals in question were /lit/, /u/, /b/ and /fit/. The first game saw a competitive game between /lit/ and /sci/ which unfortunately went out of control in the second half and lost 4-2. The next up was a tall task against a two time elite winner in /u/ and despite being heavy underdogs, /sci/ won 2-1 with goals by Shinichi Mochizuki and non medal Does 0.999... = 1? The next game was a Halloween game against /b/ on which it was imperative to at least draw to keep their elite chances alive, and keeping on the tradition of not winning in the dreaded spooky weekend saw them slip the game out of their hands thanks to a very reckless performance by Jon Tooker, the game ended in a 2-1 loss. /sci/ was nearly fatally wounded but the chances to advance were still there and they involved winning a game against a traditionally weaker side on /fit/, a game on which for once the team of science was actually favored to win, unfortunately theoretical victories on paper do not translate to victories on the pitch and that cemented the team's performance with another disappointing loss. And as promised Aitor Karanka announced his definitive retirement shortly afterwards.
The Present: The Yuyukow era, some yoyo-ing, and a title
2022 Spring Babby Cup
With Aitor Karanka's retirement at the end of 2021 glorified tester, pastebin reader, and hype monger Yuyukow took rein of the team. Hoping to advance from yet another Megababby; /sci/ faced off against /lit/, /mlp/, /vr/, and /pol/ respectively. The first match was a disappointing 1-2 loss, the tactical changes made in the second half being unable to bring /sci/ to equalize to their long time white whale, /lit/. The subsequent game against /mlp/ started poorly, with the Horsefuckers scoring a goal at the 10 minute mark. Fortunately changes indicated at the half in the pastebin would lead to /sci/ overtaking /mlp/ for a 3-1 victory, an upset that secured a much needed 3 points and a positive goal differential. In /sci/'s third match against what had been regarded as an anemic /vr/, the scoreline from the prior match was repeated, leaving the team into position to advance depending on the outcome of the Group A's last two games. /sci/ either needed to win, or in the event that /vr/ defeated /lit/ concede less than 5 goals against /pol/ in order to secure a place in the knockouts and in the summer cup. In a surprising but rather anti-climatic development, /vr/ awakened on their last match to win against /lit/ 2-0 lending /sci/ a great deal of breathing room in the ensuing match. Despite a 1-2 loss against /pol/, the team was ahead on GD with 6 points above /mlp/ and /lit/, advancing to an Elite cup for the first time in over 3 years. After a long absence from a final weekend /sci/ was drawn against one of its other white whales, /gd/, for the Round of 16. After scoreless first half, /gd/ managed to run up a 2-0 lead in the second half with only one goal scored at 90+2 by Shinichi Mochizuki. Although the team did not have its best performance, progress was been made and hopes had been raised somewhat at the prospect of finally making an elite cup after such a long time.
2022 Summer Cup
/sci/ was drawn into Group C for their first Elite cup in over 3 years, along with /m/, /cm/, and /v/. The first match with /m/ was rather uneventful beyond both team's keepers making some saves, resulting in a 0-0 at the half. However, not too long after halftime Mazinger Z was set up in /sci/'s box and manged to slip one past The Phenotype at the 67th minute, /sci/'s offense spent the last 20 minutes attempting to respond. At the 89th minute Shinichi Mochizuki attempted a header that was batted out by the /m/ keeper Godmars, only for until Richard Feynman to finally score off of another header, the game ended shortly thereafter a 1-1 draw despite /m/'s attempt to secure a win in injury time. Such fortune would not find /sci/ in its next match against /cm/, which was running the same reliable formation, that won them a star, for the past few years. The game began and /cm/ scored a goal at not long after kickoff, and then another a few minutes later. /sci/ changed tactics to shore up the defense, and Feynman manged to get on the board at the midpoint of the first half, briefly assuaging fears that the game was lost, only for /cm/ to rack up another three goals in 10 minutes before the end of the half. The next half proceed much more slowly, with /cm/'s offense having lost its punch and with /sci/ struggling to make it into their opponent's defense. Feynman scored another goal in the dying minutes of the match to bring the game to a steep 5-2 loss. /sci/ headed into the final match of the group stage on 1 precarious point but could still advance under the right conditions; provided that /m/ beat /cm/ or vice versa by a large enough margin. After /m/'s 3-0 victory, all that /sci/ needed was any victory against the highly rated /v/. Alas it was not to be, as with the match against /m/, the game was scoreless by halftime despite both /v/ and /sci/ getting a few shots on goal. Kick off at the start of the second half saw Dante get a through ball past the /sci/ defense, and scoring on Stephen Hawking. 20 minutes later Feynman would receive a through ball of his own, beating the /v/ defender Kojima, and slipping the ball past No Way Fag to make an even game. /sci/'s attempt to turn a draw into a victory within the last 10 minutes of regulation came up short as Mochizuki failed to receive the ball from a pass made by Sun of Lava/Ice in a prime shooting position. The team ended it's first elite appearance in years with a meager 2 points and was relegated to the Autumn Babby, looking to promote once again.
2022 Autumn Babby Cup
The 2022 Autumn Babby cup saw a return to the Fetus format, and thus a return to 4 team groups. /sci/ was drawn into a near repeat group of the previous spring consisting of /r9k/, /mlp/ and /vr/. /sci/'s first match against /vr/ would ultimately be the most interesting in the group, with You SHOULD be able to solve this scoring the first goal at 29th minute to put /sci/ on the board. /vr/'s shots, while more numerous, were cleared by the defense and saved by Stephen Hawking to keep the game in /sci/'s favor. The second half would see /vr/ make tactical changes for a more aggressive offense, culminating in a goal by Doomguy at the 54th minute, tactical changes by /sci/ after conceding did little as Kacho Arino would score and put /vr/ ahead 2-1 10 minutes later. After taking a more offensive posture to bring up more midfielders Shinichi Mochizuki would get a brace in 5 minutes, putting /sci/ back in the lead briefly before Doomguy would score again, equalizing the game again for a 3-3 draw. /sci/'s next match would be against a rather slurpy /r9k/, Richard Feynman scored a quick goal at the start of the match only for the rest of /sci/'s forwards to be unable to get past /r9k/'s defenders while /r9k/'s anemic offense to repeatedly flounder, leading to an largely uninteresting 1-0 victory. Heading into Group C's final match day /sci/ and its last opponent /mlp/ both sat on 4 points, with /vr/ having 2, and /r9k/ eliminated with 0. A /sci/ victory or draw in its last match would guarantee an advance to the Round of 16 and a place in the upcoming elite cup in Winter, but a loss would require /r9k/ to at least pull a draw against /vr/ in order for /sci/ to go through. As the group's penultimate game began, /mlp/ initiated an aggressive offense that /sci/ had little ability to respond to. Changes made after conceding a goal were unable to get regularly get the ball out of /sci/'s half of the pitch, worse still were the number of shot's /mlp/ were getting on target as The Phenotype and the defense had to wither a unrelenting siege. The overwhelming pressure continued into the second half and defeat looked certain, tactical changes were again made at the 65th minute hoping to salvage the game. At the 77th minute Norman Wildberger scored off a cross from You SHOULD be able to solve this, leveling the game, saving the team if the result held, a defensive posture was taken immediately in order to prevent another /mlp/ goal./sci/ survived on a 1-1 draw, unaffected by /vr/'s 2-0 victory over /r9k/, narrowly promoting in a 5-5-5-0 group on goals scored.
Finishing behind /vr/ in the group stage, /sci/ was unseeded and would be drawn against /h/ in the Round of 16. The match began with a /sci/ engaging in an siege of /h/'s goal box, before/h/ would go on the attack and attempt to score off some corner kicks. After managing to clear the ball from its half, /sci/ would start its attack again. Towards the end of the half You SHOULD be able to solve this took a shot on goal for the ball to be deflected by Sad Panda, only for Norman Wildberger to score off the rebound, the half ended soon thereafter with /sci/ having taken the lead. Deciding to stay the course /sci/ help its offense going, /sci/ forwards and midfielders were pressing in /h/'s half of the pitch only for Shinichi Mochizuki to be fouled by one of the /h/ defenders. After taking a long shot off a free kick, Mochikuzi scored /sci/'s second goal of the match and would score again in the same way a few minutes later off another free kick when /h/'s Unwilling Elf fouled Carl Sagan, the game was at 3-0 in /sci/'s favor at the 69th Minute. There was little time for /h/ to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, Can't Beat the Cock had been anemic on offense the whole game and Liru was nowhere to be found during /h/'s attacks, however desperate tactical changes by /h/ management would see stronger attacks in /sci/'s half of the field. Faceless Fatguy would score off a corner kick in the last 10 minutes of the game, /sci/ moving on to the Quarter Finals with a 3-1 victory. Unfortunately for /sci/, they would face off against /tg/ an autopilot that had been undefeated the entire cup up to that point. The withering volley of shots made by /sci/ did not lead to any successes, the majority were saved by /tg/'s enduring goalkeeper, while two shots that would have otherwise gone in under better circumstances merely deflected off the post. /sci/ was scored on by /tg/'s strikers twice, unable to respond despite its continuing pressure on offense, /sci/ was eliminated on a 2-0 loss. Despite being unable to make it past the Quarterfinals yet again the year had ended on a positive note for the team, /sci/ was heading to the elites once again defying the low expectations that had become entrenched after 3 years of being permababby shitters.
2023 Winter Cup
The New Year for /sci/ began with being draw into Group C along with /k/, an autopilot /mu/ and one of its while white whale's /gd/. The first match against /k/ would set the tone for the rest of /sci/'s run with Shinichi Michizuki and Norman Wildeberger running up two goals at the 16th and 36th minutes as /k/ struggled to attack, only scoring during injury time before the half after some tactical changes. The game ended with a 2-1 victory for /sci/ after a relatively uneventful second half where /sci/ was still comfortably controlling the game but unable to convert again. The scoreline would repeat in /sci/'s second group stage game against /mu/, despite conceding a goal to a penalty kick Shinichi Mochizuki and Norman Wildberger would again both score to put /sci/ up 2-1 using a similar style of wide playstyle that had been used effectively used against /k/. While /sci/ sat on a solid 6 points after 2 wins, they were not yet safe going into grip weekend as /gd/ and /mu/ both sat on 3 points and thus a /sci/ loss to /gd/ and a win by /mu/ against /k/ could relegate /sci/ in a 6-6-0 group. Fortunately such a scenario never occurred, the game against /gd/ began with Shinichi Mochizuki scoring at the 8th minute, Glitch Art would respond on a through ball veling the game, then Richard Feynman scored at the 38th minute to put /sci/ ahead again only for Kerning to score leave the game at 2-2 by the end of the first half. Tactical changes were made to shore up /sci/'s defense, a draw would be sufficient to keep /sci/ elite, but unexpected spaghetti in /gd/'s goalbox allowed former goalkeeper and silver medal outfielder Stephen Hawking to score. Regardless of the close attempts by /gd/ to equalize the game once again in the last 10 minute of the match, /sci/ would triumph over one of it's white whales and advance to the knockouts on 9 points.
Finishing at the top of its group, /sci/ was seeded in the upper half of the bracket and would face /xs/ in the Round of 16. An initial goal at 9 minutes by Feynman put /sci/ on the board, and all appeared well in the first half with /sci/ firmly in control of the match even with the plethora of saves made by the /xs/ keeper, Hakuho. However, momentum would kick in for /xs/ in the second half and with the wind to their backs Pipebomb would score with just a little over 10 minutes left in regulation time. The game proceeding to extra time with a 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes, yet /sci/ would press forward as all the medals seamlessly passed the ball up the pitch for Norman Wildberger to score at the 100th minute, 11 minutes later Feynman would slip in the final dagger to bring the game to a 3-1 victory and advancing /sci/ to the quaterfinals. The final day of winter saw /sci/ play /cm/, the match began with a rough start as Kawrou Nagisa poached with kickoff abuse before the 5 minute mark. /sci/'s attack for the first half struggled to make out of its side of the pitch and even the /sci/entists made it into /cm/'s half they struggled to get into the box and make shots despite various tactical changes. Still down by 1 after the first half further changes to address the issues with passing finally yielded Mochizuki a goal to tie the game shortly after subs. Unfortunately, chocked shots by /sci/ would leave the game 1-1 and bound for extra time again. All appeared lost as Len-kun brought /cm/ out ahead, until Mochizuki scored to keep /sci/ alive. The 2-2 draw at the end of extra time sent the game to penalties, /sci/'s hopes of making it into the top 4 for the first time since the Spring of 2012 hung in the balance, but alas it was not to be as rather tired Richard Feynman had his shot saved while /cm/ had made all of theirs. /sci/'s biggest white whale of them all, a quaterfinal knockout match, had gotten away yet again. While miffed, there was still much for the /sci/borgs to celebrate as the team had placed 5th, exceeding its previous best elite tournament run. A solid performance by the team from its first game to its last would encouraged the board as /sci/ was all the more determined to take on summer.
2023 Summer Cup
Spring of 2023 saw a return to PES 19, and as such /sci/ was going into summer on a PES that it historically struggled on. The /sci/entists were drawn into Group D with /trv/, /c/, and /h/. The first match against /trv/ began poorly with /trv/ racking up 3 goals in the first half, after several tactical changes Shinichi Mochizuki managed to get one on the board for /sci/ but alas it was far too late in the match. A shot by Norman Wilderberger nearly salvaged some more GD by bouncing off the inside of the post and narrowly finding itself on the wrong side of the goal line, /sci/'s first game ended in a 1-3 loss. The game with /h/ was a difficult back and forth affair, with /h/ managing to get past the defense on two occasions to score twice, with a third goal enabled by Bulgarian Element Hunting jumping out of the way of an /h/ cross. However Norman Wildberger responded to all of /h/'s goals and more, attaining a double brace and securing a win for /sci/. /sci/ finally faced /c/, /sci/ would promote even on a draw given the gap in goal difference after /c/'s game with /trv/. The game initially looked promising for /sci/ with you SHOULD be able to solve this scoring at the 6th minute, unfortunately tactical changes by /c/ allowed them to rack up 3 goals before the end of the half. Subsequent changes by /sci/ were unable to make up the deficit in score. /sci/ yet again was relegated in the summer, and would have to make their way out off autumn once again for a shot in winter.
2023 Autumn Babby Cup - The Miracle Run
As the Babby approached, /sci/ was drawn into Group F with /x/, /a/ and /n/. On the weekend before Halloween /sci/ faced an /x/ that was running a midfield heavy illegal formation, despite this /sci/ managed to get on the board shortly after kick off, as Shinichi scored the first goal at the 7 minute mark. Things looked to be going well for the /sci/entists until the attack started to seize up and fail to get into the last third of the pitch, subsequent tactical changes failed to get the offensive going again, which lead to /x/-tan running up two goals in the second half to leave /sci/ on a loss. Frustrated but determined to rectify the problems of the first game in anticipation for the next, /sci/ would face /a/ for the first time despite both teams being over a decade old. /a/ had pulled of a 7-0 massacre against /n/ and was looking to be rather strong going into the subsequent game against a /sci/ that seemed to have an anemic attack. The match started with Feynman scoring within 5 minute of kick off, yet again things seemed to be going well as the /sci/ defense was able to hold up /a/'s attack while the strikers managed to get plenty of shots off. Unfortunately for /sci/, /a/'s goalkeeper WIDE was at near peak performance and saved all of /sci/'s shots after letting one slip at the start. This trend continued into the second half despite a formation switch in an attempt to score from a different angle of attack. Yotsuba, having failed to score due to an offside call earlier on managed to make it around /sci/'s defenders and scored, defeating the Yukariposter and The Phenotype at 77' to tie up the game. Kicking off after the concession the truly bizarre happened, Boku no Pico had fouled Shinichi in the midfield. This typically warranted a free kick and maybe a yellow card, but the No Anime referee went further and handed out a red card to /a/'s offending center back, sending him off the pitch and out of the game after /a/ had used up all three of their substitutes. After the free kick had hiked the ball up the pitch, /sci/ remained unable to convert and eventually possession was lost and /a/ scored to bring the game to a 2-1 loss on 10 man abuse. After two games /sci/ was sitting on 0 points and a -2 goal differential, the team was at risk of ending up in Spring's Fetus depending on the result of the next match. /sci/'s only saving grace materialized as /n/ trashed /x/ 5-0, leaving the route open for a promotion 3 points in the event that /a/ would beat /x/ and /sci/ could eek out a win against /n/. Sunday of grip weekend came, and /sci/-/n/ would close out the group stage for the cup, /a/ had handily beat /x/ 4-1 and as such /sci/'s fate was in its own hands. The situation looked grim as WE GAAN scored for /n/ right out of the gate and /sci/ struggled for the rest of the first half Shinichi being marked by two /n/ players and unable to score, it appeared that all was lost. But after half time and a tactical change Shinichi was able to tie up the game at 54', and Feynman scored to put /sci/ ahead at 10 minutes later. Both teams switched strategies, /n/ just needing a draw to advance and at the 77 minute mark WE GAAN scored again to tie up the game. A last minute change by the /sci/ management was made to salvage the situation, and incredibly Shinichi managed to fight his way past the thick of /n/'s defense and scored at 80' to bring the game to 3-2, /sci/ immediately parked the bus in order to prevent another concession and the game ended with /sci/ victorious, James Horner's "Re-Entry & Splashdown" played the /sci/borgs out as the team had escaped a 9-3-3-3 group with the most miraculous win since the one over /diy/ in the Winter of 2015, the Knockout Round and the Winter Cup awaited them.
/sci/ was unseeded, and was matched against /vt/ at the very top of the bracket for the Round of 16. Having advanced on 7 points the /vt/umors had shown themselves rather formidable in the group stage, the team and its fans were certainly pining on going deep into the bracket. The first knockout game had begun, 20 minutes of failed attacks by both teams ended with /vt/'s Lia from Phase connect scoring deep into the box. /sci/ stayed the course and Stephen Hawking would even up the game off a rebound from Kurisu, and then at the end of a half /sci/ would pull ahead after Shinichi scored off of his own rebounded header. The second half would see many an on target shot from both /sci/ and /vt/ but good defending and clutch performances by the goalkeepers would ensure that game ended at 2-1. To start off the final day of the cup /sci/ would play /i/ in the first Quaterfinal, a very slow and possession heavy game would ensue: Mochizuki scored at 40', /i/rene responded at 51', Feynman at 67'. A rather dangerous corner kick from /i/ was avoided late in the game by the ball bouncing off one of the corner flags, relieving /sci/ of the possibility that /i/ could drag the game into extra time, as the last minutes of the game ran out. For the first time since /sci/'s initial tournament in the Spring of 2012, the team had won a quarterfinal match after having lost the previous 6 quarterfinals that it had found itself in over the course of a decade, it's biggest white whale slain. In the semifinals /ck/ stood between /sci/'s and its first ever finals appearance, the 4-5-1 that the co/ck/s were running on made made offensive play somewhat difficult, but in spite of this /sci/'s Captain, Mochizuki, pulled a brace to send the team forward the defense have not let /ck/ get a shot through for the game to conclude 2-0.
/mlp/, like /sci/, had a narrow escape from their group but subsequently looked more alive in the knockouts. Having overcome both /f/ and /a/, who had 9 pointed their groups, and beating out /toy/ to face /sci/ in the Autumn's ultimate match, ecstatic to secure another title ahead their return to the elites. But as the game started it just was not to be, Hawking scored shortly after kick off and then Feynman followed up at 24'. /mlp/'s management made alterations that held up /sci/'s attack and heading into the second half /mlp/ continued with a different offensive setup, princess Twilight scoring at the 67th minute, causing concern for /sci/'s fans in the game day thread. But with some fresh legs subbed in and a minor tactical adjustment by the /sci/ management, You SHOULD be able to solve this scored with just 15 minutes left in the game to bring it up to 3-1 after missing so many of her shots throughout the cup. Despite the changes made by /mlp/ in reaction, they only enabled two more goals by Feynman and Mochizuki in the dying minutes of the game. A four medal performance had sent /mlp/ to 5PA1N as /sci/ would take its first title in what could only be described as a miracle run. From the great escape in the group stage, to the breaking of the quarterfinals curse, to going all the way with a commanding win in its first final. After so many instances of the team deserving, but falling short over the years, /sci/ finally had the good fortune to prevail over its trials to emerge as the champions.
2024 Winter Cup
Coming off the victory in Autumn, /sci/ returned to the elites hoping for good things in the coming season. The hopes were tempered very quickly as /sci/ ran into 0-4 blow out against /t/, the runner up from the previous year's winter cup, and needed to make good on the other two games in the group. After /sci/ was unable to score on /t/ in its first game no matter how deep into the box it got, the rematch against /k/ from a year prior went much better initially. You Should be able to solve this ran pulled hat trick on /k/, and /sci/ looked to be in a solid position going into the last game. However a minor tactical change on the part of the management caused /sci/ to lose its pressure in the midfield and /k/ managed to run up two goals before the change was rectified, a game that would have otherwise canceled out a large portion /sci/'s goal deficit now left it in a situation where it could die even if it beat /y/. The 6-6-6-0 tragedy loomed as /sci/ needed to beat /y/ and have /t/ pull at least a draw despite being down a Silver Medal. The last day of the group stage arrived and a difficult slog against /y/ ensued, all looked well as You Should Be Able To Solve This managed to score at the 20th minute, then 10 man abuse reared its ugly head again as /y/ got red carded not to long thereafter. The 1-0 lead was maintained until an equalizer occurred early in the second half, /sci/ could still advance on a draw but the margins for the following game would be even tighter, needing /t/ to win outright. Attack after attack from both teams' strikers failed as the clock began to run out, the game entered injury time just as /y/ throw in was intercepted and /sci/ went on the offense; the shot by >>>/x/ was barely intercepted by the /y/ keeper, it bounced off his finger tips and allowed Wernher von Braun to make an attempt that rebounded of the post, but with the defense all tripped up You Should Be Able To Solve This managed to sink a second goal in off the kapow at 90 minutes plus 4. The game ended instantly after the following kickoff and /sci/ would advance with /t/ after their 3-3 draw with /k/.
/sci/ was seeded against /d/ for the round of 16 and looked quite formidable. The /d/eviants had racked up 9 points to top their group stage by running an unorthodox illegal formation that none of the other teams in Group B seemed able to deal with. Despite this /sci/ came out firing on all cylinders with You Should Be Able To Solve This and Shinichi Mochizuki getting 3 goals in before /d/ was even able to respond with one of their own. Even after Giantess' goal, the /sci/borgs continued to push forward as Richard Feynman would get his own brace before the end of the match bringing to scoreboard to 5-1. The Final day had arrived and /sci/ had the first quaterfinal match against an /f/ that had proved itself incredibly strong having 9 pointed their Group A in Winter as well as Group E in Autumn, only losing to /mlp/ in the Round of 16. The match opened up and /f/ managed to score first at 20', but Feynman managed to score and level the game before the end of the first half. /sci/ and /f/ were bogged down in a battle of attrition as both teams' offenses had a difficult time trying to find the weaknesses in each other's defenses to exploit, tactical changes did little to alter the situation as the second half ended and went into extra time. Not even the extra subs provided seemed to give either attack what was needed to make it over the line, it all came down to penalties shot out that ended 3-1 for /sci/ with Boiling Water and >carbon fiber hull making up the shots that the two Golds had missed. For a moment, it looked like /sci/ could repeat what /lgbt/ did back in 2017 during the height abuse era and win back to back babby-elite championships, but alas it was not to be as /sci/ blundered into a 0-3 loss against /pw/ that not even /t/'s boarding party stratagem could salvage. /sci/ would not make it to the finals, but would instead go to its first 3rd place match since the team's debut in 2012, where it would then suffer a narrow 3-4 loss against [wsg]. In spite of being shut out from a top 3 finish, /sci/'s fans were happy with the team's success, setting a new best elite performance at 4th and punching their tickets to summer in the process where the dreaded PES 16 awaited.