hlelo, power rankings have started and what better way to do them than make them public! I kinda remember who I voted for - I hope - so here's to it.
Actually no, a quick note first: yea I manage, no I'm not ranking my players, if you're mad about this rank and you do better than I said good on you but I think everyone here knows what pokemon is so it's really for the heck of it so if I see a ROFL OWNED because someone unsurprisingly did better than this one rank said then slay queen. This is a rankings of things as I see them now based on the past, and while I do expect some things to happen it's pointless to assume I'll be right on most of these. Good? Good.
1- Ajna, Lindworms: Yeah yeah big shocker amirite, but logically there's no question here. Ajna loves this tour - for reasons still unknown - and has won in it more than any other player since it started. He's an acute builder even though he uses variations of the same ten mons, and has done about everything in terms of playing so there's little worry there as well. He also has help from 49, which I still think was a total luxury pick for this team r3 but it might give Ajna another wrinkle with which to dominate the tour. Great player, great builder, great person, great rapper too check out his soundcloud.
2- Nat, Serpents: The CC1V1 main herself landed on obii's team, and is obviously the closest competitor to Ajna in this tour. She plays very well, she builds very well when she claims she's building, and has won in every dang tour including high level money matches against most of the ru playerbase. Questions were asked about the Serpents picking five RU literate players when Nat is infamously famous for building alone, but to that I say, who cares? Like anyone else will start over Nat ROFL should be solidly positive in this pool with obii being the goat at motivating people, including famously defeating racism last year.
3- welli0u / roman,
Leviathans: rumours abound over the well being in RU again, therefore this ranking is a lot more predicated on that happening. The well is a no nonsense player at his best, which is good in a pool that is completely turned on its head. He has multiple high level experiences in RU, knows the tier, is good at it, etc etc. The lol roman is newer at this but at his best is a total tryhard, willing to take on any task possible, which is good here with a pilot that - no offence - isn't kingler12345 in terms of playing variation. If roman subs in and welli0u gets to, well, ou, I still expect them to get wins, roman is competent against this playerbase and confident in his style. I like those here (
can you please remove evilgaroux now suapah thanks)
4- SPACE FORCE meeps, Bushmasters: meeps to me, is a better variant of the oddball ru player than some teams decided to go with this year. As in, he has a unique style sure, but not only does he pilot it well, he's also good at coming up with completely new ideas that are still functionally him. Has experience in these tours, won this one too, and has wanted to play RU from the start for like a year now. Eternally and passion are also amazing test partners for his style, and definitely creative minds as well, so I really expect quite a lot from them.
5- Ultraballz, Cobras: Ok admittedly the next few ranks are pretty much muddled in my mind, but I think he was fifth by virtue of having played the tier in an official before, and knows the meta enough to get comfortable in that setting. Plays a lot outside of these tours too, so definitely kept up to date with the tier. He also has the GOAT assman in Bouff, who is absolutely gonna be there every day to throw ideas and make sure this slot succeed, just don't forget the Croak counter :cwl: jk Bouff you're great
6- Averardo, Mambas: Averardo is a newbie to officials, but he really couldn't have been on a better team. The Italian representation is strong with this one, and being around familiar faces helps a ton obviously. Leoshad is no stranger to team tours though, like me participating in pretty much all the possible untours that go yearly and being generally good at them except a crash in the second brpl in his beginnings, so part of me sees the crash as already having happened, and him being on a general rise. He's a solid builder, will have loads of familiar support, and is a competent player, but at the same time facing people who have all of that on top of the experience available to them makes it difficult for me to rank him higher, although he was on my short list and none of them were ROFL yeah.
7- Alpha Rabbit, Taipans: Now this is a lot lower than a lot of those rankings have him, and I expect the official prs to reflect that moreso than what I'm writing but... there's probably a reflexive reaction to this. The Rabbit hype is predicated a lot on the herk / jerk, and not at all on the RU players. He does have a great run in the current RU Open, but Open isn't necessarily the best measure of consistent delivery in official team tours. He's been known to build for others, like Pohjis in last circuit, but none of these teams particularly led me to believe he was the next Ajna / 49 in terms of building either. So... I'm not convinced at all, really, and a win against a KW that had no reason to care isn't enough to sway me for now. He is a decent player when I see him, but everyone in this pool is decent, so until he gives me a reason to be unable to deny he belongs I'll remain unconvinced of the reputation he has gathered, but hey there's a chance to prove me totally wrong!
8- Kink, Nagas: Despite being preoccupied with having to pick for three teams during the draft, seeing Kink go round five to Gama made me choke irl. Now, Kink is a person I dearly appreciate, and I kinda don't like having to do that here because I really was hoping for him to be picked up and I'm glad he did and I'm super thrilled someone believed in him that much. But... Gama and Kink? In RU? Can I be invited in that discord if it blows up, which is not really an impossible scenario? It's two people with extremely precise views on the tier that are really difficult to push in another direction, but if they can find common ground this could be an amazing pairing. Just... I'm very wary of that
not happening. On Kink himself, he's majorly unproven in team tours, though unfairly at times because he got ignored way too often, but hasn't had the greatest year when he participated in them even with a manager - me lol - that does believe in him. Still, he has his style, and if the wins start racking up he can absolutely go positive and beyond.
9- rozes, Rattlers: Now again, this isn't about rozes the overall player, and the Rattlers ftr are the team that terrifies me the most and ofc we're playing them week one. That team has undeniable chemistry, is full of super good players who have done literally everything there is to do on this website, so any slot needs to be taken seriously even if you're like ROFL where's the support haha noobs. That being said, rozes in RU is... not really predicated on a whole lot of successes. He was good at a time in oras ru, pushing forward that metagame, but it hasn't happened the same way in sm. He was good in ru wc iirc with Ajna teams, and I think was more than adequate in the pokespain pl, but... see how I'm stretching? I wouldn't be surprised to see him go positive either, although if he was in meeps' spot his chances of that would skyrocket in my eyes, and if the Rattlers go to playoffs he could definitely clutch some wins, but I tried to rank based on what I know of the players in RU and their surroundings, so while saying rozes is the worst player on that list would be a bit farcical, he's the guy I know the least about in the tier so someone had to go there sorry.
aim please talk about Feliburn for me