SCL IV Power Rankings

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There is scarcely any passion without struggle.

- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

There have been two names for this tournament, and eight different editions. There have been seven unique champions, and 503 unique players. There have been scandals and triumphs, there have been retirements and resurgences—as the heat recedes and summer ends in earnest, the Smogon Champions League is ready to start again and continue the grand story of our game.

The pre-tournament Power Rankings hold a special place in the heart of the SmogTours community. The format is simple—ten players with keen insight into their respective tier are gathered and asked to rank each of the starters in a list, from best to worst. Once outliers are removed the scores are averaged together, giving us a snapshot in time that attempts to answer that key question, "What does the community think?"

Some players have crumbled under the weight of expectation conferred upon them through these rankings, like dcae taking a second place in LC to an 0-5 record. Others, like S1nn0hC0nfirm3d, get ranked dead last and use this as motivation for a barnstorming 11-1 campaign. While the rankings aim to be accurate and predictive, everyone who has ever picked up a Poké Ball knows that the difference between victory and defeat is not decided via expert opinion or community polling, but through your efforts in preparation and your actions in the decisive game moments. Smogon Champions League IV will be no different—there will be players who take their narrative into their own hands and emerge as heroes, there will be players who fail to live up to expectation, there will be golden oldies showing that they still have it, and there will be greenhorns who find playing in front of hundreds of people is too nerve wracking. If your name is in this article already, the outcome is yours to define, and these next few weeks will be key.

I hope that the SmogTours community and the greater Pokémon community enjoy reading through these Power Rankings. If this is your first time playing for one of Smogon's main team tournaments, congratulations! This is a huge accomplishment for a lot of players, and everyone had to debut sometime. For the fans: if you are new to the competitive side, this article should serve as a wonderful jumping-off point, introducing you to both the big names and superstars as well as the up-and-comers and dark horses. And of course, a big thanks to the following people who helped with the writing of this article, we wouldn't have gotten this done without you: teal6, Finchinator, We Three Kings, col49, TPP, Nyx, Fc, Aberforth, Lily, spell, TyCarter, Ming549, Ampha, shiloh, Stories, Expulso, Mizuhime, Xrn, Hacker, and Drifting.

Lastly, a special thanks to the following people who contributed significantly to the creation of this article through grammar checking, HTML, graphic making, and so many more things that make this possible: adorluigi, Kalalokki, Lumari, Milak, Quite Quiet, Rose, Kracknel

1. hellom
2. Storm Zone
3. Insult
4. Welli0u
5. oldspicemike
6. myjava
7. Finchinator
8. CTC
9. Santu
10. ima
11. emforbes
12. crying
13. JJ09LIE
14. Mako
15. TDNT
16. Gtcha
17. Pais
18. DAHLI
19. Mada
20. Laroxyl
21. ACR1
22. Stareal
23. Attribute
24. Mimikyu Stardust
25. Eternal Spirit
26. Niko
27. Malekith
28. Suzuya
29. MAVERICK SHOOTERS
30. Pkel SweeTforU

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Coming off a long-awaited SPL victory, blunder, accompanied by US Northeast comrade lax, is attempting to make it two for two in terms of managerial wins this year as they take the sticks for the Showdown Shoguns. Having been the Shoguns' starting OU core during the previous iteration of SCL, they have seemingly swapped spots with ex-managers Vert and ima in an attempt to improve on a disappointing 8th place. Their OU core is stacked with names you can only look up to and is largely unchanged, as both Storm Zone and CTC are returning players through cheap retentions of 11k and 10k, respectively. They also have top SV player Vert, who is still in the mix despite starting in UU for the Shoguns, alongside experienced and capable supporters TPP and Dj Breloominati♬ in the back.

As the author of Smogon's perhaps most recognizable ladder alts and Pokémon nicknames, most recent OST winner Storm Zone finds himself ranked second after a long-awaited trophy. A ranking that is thoroughly justified after years of dominance on ladder and sturdy showings in team tournaments. His innovativeness will only be enhanced by his supporting cast, especially teammate CTC, who stepped out of the shadows to lead Tyrants to an SPL trophy with a 6-1 record. As one of Smogon's most influential names of all time proves he's not all talk, the sky appears to be the limit for CTC. The final starting slot belongs to ima, who's stepping down to play after having managed the previous season. Despite few recent tournament appearances to his name, a 2-2 record in the "group of death" during World Cup of Pokémon is nothing to scoff at, and his long relationship with Shoguns managers and OU peers should only elevate the councilman's gameplay.

With two fresh managers entering the field in clean and AK, there will always be questions about competence and experience. However, in regards to OU, these questions may already be answered. Albeit comparatively new to Smogon as a whole, this pair may just be the most ingrained in current OU out of everyone. It doesn't exactly hurt that they have two of the strongest retains in hellom and Welli0u. These four, alongside up-and-comers in Pais and xdRudi.exe, can potentially wreak havoc on the opposing teams if they can keep up recent showings.

Skyrocketing from being ranking 31st during SPL XV all the way to the top in this edition of SCL is nothing but astonishing. After a sensational 10-1 record in SPL, where only a stroke of bad luck during an intense tiebreak game stopped him and his Indie Scooters from reaching the final, hellom returns to the battlefield under the wings of Scooters teammate AK. He's not been slouching since then either, as with a 2-0 WCoP record and a spot on the current OLT playoffs, he's establishing himself as a frontrunner in SV OU. Not far behind on the ranking is Welli0u, who's looking to avenge the uncharacteristic tiebreak loss from last iteration's final. A stellar player across multiple generations, his 2024 has been pretty average for a player of his level, including a 7-6 record in team tournaments, a quarterfinal exit in Smogon Tour and an ongoing OLT playoff. However, he is approaching his apparent favorite tournament of the year, as the French showman is on the hunt to win SCL for a record third time. Pais rounds out the Islanders' OU core, coming off a superb 5-1 WCoP record for Italy despite his low auction price and middling ranking not representing this. While only his second team tournament outside World Cup of Pokémon, his showings there give him a well-earned start for one of the strongest lineups in the tour. Despite this, none of his Italian countrymen are with him on the Islanders, and with all eyes on him, can he handle the pressure? Their other option seems to be xdRudi.exe, who after two decent performances for team Germany and an OLT playoff appearance, clearly has the qualities needed to step in should any of the starters need a break.

The Indigo Platoon have been the picture of consistency in OU across the last two SCLs, going a combined 40-24 across these tournaments. With two faces of their franchise disappearing from the OU core and two entirely new faces slotting in, it will be interesting to see if this success continues. Rankers and this writer alike seem to think so! Santu is one of the best players of 2024, quietly dominating SPL while doing well in individual tournaments, which include SV OU recently. He will now be asked to lead the charge in SV OU as a retained veteran and one of the higher-ranked options in the pool.

DAHLI is an underrated player, consistently putting up average or better records without making managers break the bank. Expectations have now caught up to his results, and it will be interesting to see if he can live up to the decent hype in this slot. There is also no shortage of hype surrounding crying, who can bring anything from Haze Dragonite to Leavanny as we saw this past SPL! Every single crying game is appointment viewing for OU enthusiasts, as her strategies are clever, frequently consisting of things never seen before. Repeat Platoon member Potatochan will be joining the squad to support OU, and veteran damien the genius, who is coming off of a victorious SPL as an SS player, will round out this core as a capable substitute. Overall, this is a strong group with some of the best upside in the tournament.

The Terrors have been one of the best OU teams in recent SCL history, typically being led by xavgb, who is the face of their franchise and currently slotted in RU. Worry not, though, as his support will be there, and they have the next best thing, oldspicemike. mike has skyrocketed into OU stardom, dominating both last SCL and the recent SPL. Ironically enough, his worst tour was this past WCoP, where his team managed to win the whole thing thanks to his presence despite a 2-4 record. He bounced back by qualifying for OLT and going 2-0 in his first set, too.

If one budding superstar is insufficient, then the Terrors have yet another in TDNT. The Brazilian sensation captured quite the audience with his SS OU heroics in SPL, and now he is tearing it up in SV OU, where he hopes to stand out this SCL. His teams are unique and, thus far, his plays have been on point when needed most. Speaking of need, if xavgb is not enough, Baloor will need to step up with team help and testing as the most known OU main on the bench. Ewin is a great, ready-to-play OU option if needed while Stareal is slated to be the third OU player after a 2-1 WCoP, but Baloor is most known for his in-depth analysis, teambuilding, and questionable endgames, making him very valuable in this role for the first two traits. This core has potential to dominate if all goes according to plan for the Terrors!

After winning the third edition of SCL, the Studio Gible return with an OU core that has two fresh, highly expensive buys headlining it. emforbes, who is most known for VGC, has transitioned nicely into SV OU. He is a great ladder player and has found success when given the opportunity in tournaments, which makes his lofty price tag understandable. This may be his first opportunity to really standout as an ace in SV OU, as he was surrounded by plenty of star power during WCoP on US West.

Joining emforbes will be OU phenom JJ09LIE, who has been quiet but deadly. He may come with a high price as well, but for good reason: JJ09LIE has been remarkable consistent and successful across tournaments thus far. While he made his debut this year, a 9-5 record with some big wins along the way inspires confidence in the Gible for sure. yovan33321, who has done well in individual tournaments in OU, and PZZ, who is a very capable substitute and joined emforbes on US West during WCoP, will pose as support to this duo as well. Rounding out the core will be one of the potential steals of the auction, Eternal Spirit, who cost under 5k for the first time in a long time. While Eternal Spirit has been playing other formats recently, he is very capable of showing up to perform in OU and was a part of the SCL III champion Gible as well. This core is poised to hold their own this SCL!

After a 10th place finish and an 11-16 OU record in the previous year, the Spartans are under new management and are hoping to flip the script with OU Tier Leader Finchinator at the helm. Finch has had very good showings in SV OU as of late, going 8-3 in the previous SCL, winning the OU circuit in 2023, and coming off of a good WcoP with a 2-1 record. However, SPL was the exception, where he finished 4-5 and struggled alongside manager Floss on the Cryonicles; so, the only question is, will Finch repeat his stellar SCL from last year, or will he find himself in a similar situation to SPL?

Joining Finch will be ACR1 and Attribute, both of which are better known for their status as ORAS OU and SS OU players. ACR1, while having few games played, went 5-1 in SV OU in SPL and is expected to continue that hot streak. Attribute rounds off the core and has performed adequately in SPL and WCoP, going 4-5 and 2-1 in those respectively. However, none of those games were in SV OU, so we will have to wait and see if Attribute is able to sink or swim in this tier. Finally, on the bench we have Exotic64, who has proven to be a quality teambuilder throughout SV OU and should provide strong support alongside Eeveeto and his crazy teams. Last but not least, while the managers, Floss and DugZa are not known primarily for OU, both of them have had some success, with Floss reaching Top 16 in OST in back-to-back years and DugZa not only finishing in semifinals in OST but also going 3-0 in WCoP.

Should this group find their footing early on, they may be ready to outdo expectations, but if they struggle early, then they will have to work hard to mount a comeback. The only thing that is guaranteed is that Finch's diet during SCL will include at least 100 buffalo wings.

The Foxes have assembled a colorful bunch to represent their OU, insofar as none of them are truly known for their SV OU play. Mako is at this point a veteran through and through, beginning as Sharks staple under M Dragon who steadily moved from DOU to RBY and ADV but only began to express any particular interest in CG with this most recent WCoP. As a standout performer for the underdog Team Chile, it made perfect sense for Chisa to attempt to run it back in this tour; perhaps too much so, as they ultimately found themselves upbid to a rather hefty 18k. Nonetheless, their performance that tour had no indicators of a fluke, making it more than reasonable to expect a capable performance here as well. Suzuya, a player who had been bubbling just below the surface for some time now, also had a breakout performance in this past WCoP, this time in Ubers. Of course this is not to say this would be their first foray into OU, as their previous SCL saw them as a super sub for the Terrors and a plenty effectual one at that; however, it was certainly unexpected to see the pivot here rather than striking while the iron is hot. Gtcha, on the other hand, has next to no SV results to speak of, very briefly dabbling during WCoP but otherwise sticking to the tier where they truly made a name for themselves, SS OU. While in theory the transition from one singles gen to the next is hardly rocket science, it is hard to fault voters totally lacking in a proof of concept for their decision to tamper expectations here.

Ultimately this is a core that has all the tools to 'make it happen', between strong players and support from management and their bench, but gaps do in fact need to be bridged here. The line between train wreck and massive upset is a very fine one to tread, but it's one that Chisa and Gondra know better than most.

The Dynamos' OU lineup, much like every Excel managerial outing, displays great confidence and a fair share of ingenuity and was fated to land at around 8th. Both Insult and Niko are players with extensive experience on the tour scene, both playing key roles in winning teams and making deep runs, albeit not quite winning individual tours like OLT. Insult, being evaluated as the most expensive OU player in auction at 26k, has quietly racked up positive record after positive record with each tour he's played for time immemorial (maybe 2018 or something) and is more or less assumed to perform roughly the same role here. While it is no secret his prep work is significantly informed by his collaborators of any particular tour, with a roster resplendent with capable helpers and metagame solvers, there should be no problem getting capable teams in capable hands. Niko, by contrast, is currently making a strong push for least consistent player on the scene; from 5-0 to 5-5 in SPL, to 0-5 and 1-5 in WCoP, there is nobody in game doing it like Niko. These performances have seemingly allowed Excal and Luthier to pick up a player that has undoubtedly been great on more than one occasion go for a measly 3k, and far be it from them to deny such an opportunity. That all said, the metagame from which that 1-5 WCoP emerged is not all too different from the one Niko will be playing for them now, so his success this tour will fall to outside factors and a drive to prove he can ascend beyond his five-loss ceiling.

This of course brings us to the most important question, who is pKel SweetforU? Research shows them to be a player who has found their greatest success in DPP but did indeed take a bit of a swing and a miss in this latest OLT as well. Folks with the inside scoop have stated they performed admirably in tryouts with bea, but of course all this is kept behind closed doors. The easiest lens through which to perceive this choice is that Excal just picked his new favorite DPP player, gave them the good old-fashioned "mons is mons" speech, and linked them an article describing what Tera is. Godspeed pKel, here's hoping for the best.

The Machines come to us live with a motley crew of budding, enthused talent ready to prove me, the voters, and you, the viewer, wrong about placing them ninth overall. Perhaps least needing for approval is Myjava, the secret weapon for those "in the know" for a minute now, who has been having something of a banner year, made more sweet by 7-2 SPL performance rewarding him a trophy with the Tyrants. The first time we've seen draft since, the once-3k phenom has ballooned to 19k, an oftentimes dicey and harrowing experience that shifts expectations from their team and for the player themself. The Machines management has made commendable efforts to accommodate their new ace, drafting a little Team India away from Team India, but clearly this draft emphasizes Myjava's ability to win as he has earlier this year as imperative.

Comparatively, the remainder of this core is somewhat lacking in bona fides. MAVERICK SHOOTERS is a player coming through with a million ideas per minute, garnering him a modest 4-3 record over the past year of officials. While his WCoP indicates an upward trajectory, the jury is out on whether or not he has exhibited the wherewithal to hold a complete season down, let alone finish positive. Mimikyu Stardust has quite recently boosted their name recognition significantly by way of clocking two thousand games to not quite qualify for OLT, thereafter making a substantive post clarifying that this absolutely does not reflect their abilities as a player. Fortunately for them this plea did not fall on deaf ears; perhaps less fortunately, they are now immediately forced to make good on their word. Recent results reflect a player not particularly good or bad, so the X factor in all this comes down to how effectively they can translate the dissatisfaction stemming from their whole fiasco into motivation to win. However, on its face this is a core that elicits little more than a disaffected shrug, even if Piyu or leng loi are able to provide valuable testing and teambuilding support.

Bringing up the rear in this pass we have the Breakers, though by traditional metrics this is by no means a core to scoff at. Both Mada and Laroxyl have been making a strong case for their inclusion in "the conversation," putting numbers on the board consistently (with the exception of a somewhat unbecoming SPL from Laroxyl, but who among us hasn't botched a season on the BIGs before, right?) and exhibiting a hunger in their prep and play that commands respect, or at the very least acknowledgement. While their prices have inflated in accordance with this, it seems entirely reasonable to assume them capable of holding their own here, especially with the support of French ladder heroes Hiko and mimilimi with wild card JUST ONE GALATINA being in the back as well. All this to say that, while good, at present both lack that star power meant to truly anchor a core like this. This responsibility has been handed off to Malekith.

Malekith is, was, will continue to be an essential player to the greater tapestry of Smogon, sporting some astonishing highs and unsightly lows. The lows, at least those most recent, all seem to congregate around this particular tour. Determining what or who is to blame for this is a reenactment of Rashomon; nobody truly seems to be able to sift through all the rumors, hearsay, and personal accounts to find objective truth, but a 5-11 record over the past three iterations of SCL posits that perhaps this tour just isn't for him. For 4.5k it would appear that management at large has taken notice and hedged their bets, but for the Breakers' sake cracking the code on this feels like the make-or-break moment.

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Entering his sophomore season as a Doubles Player in SCL, Xrn looks to take another tournament by storm with his partner in crime Lunar by his side. Following his spectacular run last SCL with a 9-1 record for the Platoon, Xrn became the only DOU player retained prior to the auction this season. Boasting an overall tournament record of 21-8 this year, which includes a Nuzlocke run during Derby, Xrn has solidified himself as a dominant force in the tier through not only incredible play but also extremely solid team choices and builds time and time again. Familiarity with the tournament, the meta, his building partner, and high-pressure situations makes Xrn the player to beat as long we don't see a repeat of the Derby semis tiebreak.

Back again following a more-than-respectable 6-4 record for the Terrors last season, the beacon of consistency, Nails, makes a return to DOU following his yearly hiatus from the tier. Coming off yet another strong VGC season in which he finished 4-4 at Worlds, Nails looks to quickly transition back into DOU. To help with that, the Technical Machines management have done a great job pairing one of the most fundamentally sound players in Nails with possibly the most creative builder the tier has to offer in Eragon. Nails should have no issue getting back into the swing of things and will almost surely, once again, add on to his impressive team Tournament Record of 33-15 and continue to prove why he's one of the best players to ever play DOU.

Longtime DOU player qsns had the best run of their career last SCL going 7-1 and was one of DOU's leading figures throughout 2023. This year started slow for them, as they had a lackluster DPL and dropped from OSDT, but they've been getting back into it with nice showings in Doubles Derby and the ongoing DOU Swiss. They're paired up with familiar face zoe, who will surely keep the slot active and throw out some fun ideas if qsns doesn't feel like loading the brokens. The good friends look to improve upon their combined 1-8 from SCL II, which shouldn't be a challenge for the 3rd-ranked duo unless a crippling addiction to Pokémon Autochess stops them. There's really no doubt that qsns will be able to bring solid teams and make solid plays; the only question here is whether or not that'll be enough to repeat their x-1 performance.

Last appearing in Doubles World Cup for US Central, and prior to that SCL II for the Dynamos, Spurrific is another player in this well-rounded pool who is absolutely more than capable of taking this tournament by storm and coming away with the best record. An extremely fundamentally sound player, Spurrific is a more than accomplished player in both DOU and VGC, and following another successful season in which he finished 4-3 at Worlds, he finds himself back in SCL, playing for fellow Worlds-level talents in z0mOG and zee. The ceiling is very high for Spurrific, and he shouldn't have issue reacquainting himself with DOU given zee's knowledge of the tier. His pure talent alone should solidify him as someone who finishes in the top half of DOU players throughout this tournament.

EternalSnowman is what many would call the biggest steal of the auction. Following a dominant year in Doubles team tournaments that includes a 9-1 record in Derby, 4-0 in World Cup, and 7-2 in Doubles Premier League, EternalSnowman enters his first ever SCL with a clean slate and something to prove. Somehow only costing pennies on the dollar, EternalSnowman gets to avoid the pressure of a hefty price tag while also being supported by a veteran SCL presence and Doubles player in Ann. The Foxes may have struck gold with this pick for this and future installments of the tournament, as EternalSnowman's floor is higher than a lot of people's ceilings as far as talent goes, but only time will tell what the young superstar can do on the biggest stage.

Following a second-place finish in this year's installment of OSDT, which saw wins over some big names such as bagel and Ratpacker, sempra looks to capitalize on a strong tournament and solidify themselves as the permanent starter for the Terrors this year. Although xqiht is considered a veteran and great support for SCL and both players are extremely talented in their own right, the time zone difference and unfamiliarity between the two may end up lowering the floor for this pairing throughout the season, as the pool this year is extremely deep and filled with incredible players at every turn. That being said, if the pair manages to find their stride and the former Regional Champion and Worlds Top Cut-level player plays their best, this is a combination that could be very dangerous.

2023's Circuit winner bagel looks to make his debut as a full-time starter this year after going 2-2 as a substitute in SCL III. And when I say full-time I mean it, seeing as the closest thing he has to backup on the Gible is emforbes, who is yet to touch SV DOU and is likely to be playing OU all season. On the bright side, as long as bagel's gameplay is sharp, he's probably the last person in the pool who needs support. DOU's newest tier leader is also easily the tier's most active player, putting up strong performances in every circuit tour and often having multiple accounts near the top of the ladder. His biggest challenge this season (other than quad Regis) may be overcoming nerves in high-pressure games. DOUTLs have historically struggled to break into the upper echelon of the SCL pool, so hopefully for the Gible, bagel will be able to level up and help defend their trophy.

kingofmars, a man with one of the best VGC careers ever, returns to official Smogon tournaments for the first time in nearly a decade amidst his "sabbatical" from VGC. Let's just hope he can stay free here given what tends to happen to Luthier's players… During his time playing Smogon in the early 2010s, KOM was able to win both Smogon VGC Tour and SPL, which goes to show he's certainly no stranger to the website. However, his complete lack of any remotely recent DOU experience doesn't inspire the most confidence. What hopefully does inspire more confidence is that KOM was playing some of the best VGC of his life until recently, and with his longevity there's no reason why he can't pick up where he left off. Aided by returning SCL supporter Grandmas Cookin, there's hope that KOM can improve upon his old records and restore glory to the Dynamos.

It's May 21st, Frixel and Akaru Kokuyo log onto Smogtours to play an OSDT Top 8 series that was supposed to happen two weeks ago. They're tied at 1-1, and in extremely anticlimactic fashion, the third game ends before a Pokémon even faints as Akaru misses Will-O-Wisp against Frixel's Kingambit, which proceeds to never leave the field. Frixel would then go on to win the tournament and sign up for SCL with the intention of supporting another player…which ends up being Akaru. These two teamed up in the most recent DPL, so they should be familiar with each other and be able to work well together. Akaru went 3-2 last year before subbing out, and while since then he's been more of a manager than a player, a good run in OSDT shows he hasn't lost his touch. Despite this he still comes in at 9th, as it's hard to say if his ceiling is high enough to keep up in this pool. If it seems like he can't, then the Shoguns may go back to their not-so-trusty method of relying on whoever did best in OSDT, but I'm sure Akaru is hungry to impress after his campaign was cut short last year.

JRL is a well-established starter by now, putting up a decent 6-7 last season following his 4-5 from the year prior. The ladder hero turned circuit warrior has been one of the most successful DOU players in recent years, but 2024 has been quite disappointing for his standards. Poor showings in DPL and OSDT call into question whether or not JRL is in form to compete with the best of the best right now. His teammate Tenzai hasn't had the greatest year either, failing to reach top cut in OSDT and disappearing during the most recent Doubles team tournament. Neither of them seems to be on top of the metagame at the moment, which doesn't bode well if they hope to keep up in one of the most competitive DOU pools of all time. The core isn't without upside, though, as the two Spaniards are good friends with plenty of SCL experience. If the JRL who won Doubles Ladder Tour earlier this year decides to show up, then the Spartans may have nothing to worry about here after all.

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Unsurprisingly, the almost unanimous top rank by all teams is the man who went for 21k in his first official and had an absurd 7-2 record. entrocefalo took both SCL and the Ubers circuit by storm last year, and he's only built upon that since with a strong UPL and WCoP to his name. There's very little to suggest that this trend won't continue here, and no one will be surprised if he even trumps his record from last year. To back him up further, the Platoon also went ahead and snagged the most players capable of supporting Ubers of any team in Taka, LpZ, abriel, Scottie, DAHLI, and former Ubers circuit winner Skarph. The only question is whether he can live up to these absurdly high expectations.

Richard locks up second place as one of the premier users pushing the SV Ubers metagame. He's kept up with it since the start and is coming off a positive World Cup record for Team France. As a starter last year as well, he's no newcomer to the pressure from official tournaments and is likely to push his success further. In such a knowledge- and preparation-heavy metagame, his involvement is very likely to give him an edge, especially as he's so historically consistent at piloting teams. However, there are questions as to if his prep and metagame knowledge can compete in such a strong pool, especially without much support drafted on his team.

Coming in third we have Kate, who's back after a year's hiatus from SCL to try and reclaim her trophy from SCL II, once again on the Dynamos playing for Excal and Luthier. In the time since SCL II, she's won an Ubers seasonal and had an incredible start to 2024, with Fc handing her her first calendar loss in a team tour in game 3 of WCoP after she had an undefeated UWC and started off UPL with a bang, winning over TPP and SoulWind. She has been a slight slump since, losing five games back-to-back in UPL, but only time will tell if she's recovered her confidence in time for this SCL.

Herein lies the community's favorite 10k SS DOU player. Icemaster was once the strongest Ubers player in the SCL pool, and while he hasn't played SV as much as he did SS, there's zero doubt in anyone's mind about his skill. Ice had a rough SCL last year, going 2-3, but this was on the Spartans, which were famously out of the tour by week 5. This was followed up by him telling his WCoP managers that he loved SS Ubers, and but unfortunately they only heard the SS part, and he ended up playing SS OU instead of Ubers. This year, to save him from tears, he's backed up by TrueNora, who is one of Ubers's hardest workers, with numerous players praising his work ethic and attitude after this previous UPL.

Mr. Consistency himself, M Dragon rocks up in Ubers once again, coming back as a retain for the Breakers after going 5-3 last year. Being one of the most consistent Ubers players of all time across all generations is a feat very few can claim, but he manages to slot himself among them. Couple this with him having the single most amount of official experience in the pool, almost as much as everyone else bar false combined, there's no fear of him failing to rise to the occasion. While his WCoP was far from stellar, he now has Mashing's support to help him return to form, and no one will be surprised if he once again finishes in the top 3 of the pool.

Ubers Open winner. That's the highlight statement, and boy does it mean a lot. After managing the Gibles to an SCL victory in 2023, false has returned to play, this time in SV Ubers. false is an incredibly flexible player, and while an Open win in which he beat the likes of Fc, Icemaster, and Suzuya does go far, a decade of being bullied in other tiers has decimated his sheet record; he's been neutral for the past few years, but he'll hope to finally go positive again. He'll be backed by support from Fc and Lana, which also gives the Gibles' lineup flexibility, as Lana can absolutely compete with the pool in the event that false needs to move somewhere else.

Seventh place goes to fade, whose placement might be surprising to some people but can be explained by his lack of experience in Ubers compared to the above players. He's no slouch in his own right, being strongly positive against the collective of them over the past year across SCL and UPL, and while he did barely dodge going positive last year, he's a very talented player with a vast skill set. He'll primarily be supported by this year's Open finalist TPP and last year's seasonal winner Vert, giving him a very strong backbone in the builder. It's a compliment to the strength of the pool that someone of his skill is ranked seventh, and we can imagine he'll give it his all, especially after his rough SPL earlier this year in his home tier of ORAS OU.

The only winner of an Ubers circuit this gen makes his official debut! 7u9i2 will be looking to break into a tough pool this year, but he's certainly proven that he's capable, having won last year's circuit without dropping a single game against the likes of entro and Vert. He has since followed this with a solid showing in UPL with wins over SoulWind and Lana, proving that he can still compete at a high level. The question on everyone's mind is whether he'll rise to the occasion or if he will struggle under the limelight when the entirety of tours is watching him.

Returning to the Ubers pool after a disastrous stint in the OU pool last year, Aberforth is back to his roots, playing Ubers, where he went 6-3 back in SCL II. The problem here is that unlike almost everyone else above him, Aberforth lacks familiarity in the tier, only having a 2-2 result in WCoP to his name this year, as he stuck to SS in UPL, which is the driving force behind his low placement despite previous successes in the tier at a high level. For these reasons, the Spartans may regret not picking up support for him, although SoulWind is at least experienced enough in the tier to slot in if Aberforth underperforms. He's far from an inexperienced player, and he'll be doing his best to try reclaim his spot amongst the top half.

Just as how entro in first was unsurprising, Reje in last was equally as predictable. Very few people would have guessed that Reje would be picked up, let alone starting with no support. Maybe the Terrors have some unknown force helping them; maybe Reje will thrive being an underdog, since he does have a history of loading incredibly unorthodox yet effective teams that catch the opponent off guard. Many eyes will be watching attentively, as Reje is truly the enigma of the pool.

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Scottie "The Colin Farrell of LC" Osh returns to SCL IV after an extremely dominant 11-0 run in the previous iteration, and for that reason he finds himself at the top of the LC Power Rankings. Being #1 on the LC Hall of Fame without ever having won a team tournament, Scottie will be hungry to get the trophy that many say he deserves. While he's spent more time in tiers like Ubers as of late, it's hard to deny that few are as insurmountable as Scottie when he's locked in.

The SCL core of Hacker and Drifting brings together two of LC's funniest and most outspoken personalities. I would describe Drifting as "enigmatic" because nobody knows what he does, but he has shared basically every possible detail of his life in roughly 1 million Smogtours and LC Discord messages. In LC's team tournaments, Drifting has typically not been very active in prep. However, he allegedly gave Éric some of the teams he used to go 6-3 in last year's SCL. Hacker needs little support and is smart enough to avoid overcooked stuff like Ability Shield Gothita, but the additional ideas never hurt. He is one of the most creative builders in LC himself; he started powerful trends like Larvesta in last year's SCL and stayed one step ahead of the metagame en route to this year's LC Open trophy. He even qualified for Grand Slam playoffs but lost in the first round after a devastating Ice Beam freeze in his home tier of Little Cup. However, his team tour performances have been somewhat lacking. He finished 4-6 in last year's SCL, and three of those wins came against players that went winless overall. That's a 1-6 record against real competition. It's a testament to his constant grinding of LC and overall improvement as a player over the past year that the rankers are confident enough to put him in 2nd place in a fairly strong pool. Perhaps #DriftingSweep being spammed in his channel is all he needs to make this year different.

An anonymous soldier is most often credited as saying "beware of an old man in a sport where men die young." In this pool, nobody represents that sentiment like tazz does, a veteran to the LC community and perennial tournament threat. What is most promising about tazz, and the reason he finds himself in third place, is his SCL consistency, being a previous winner and maintaining an even record in all three of his runs dating back to Snake III. One cause for concern, however, is the bane of many a boomer; new generations. Neither tazz nor his backup LilyAC has any substantial SV experience relative to the rest of the pool, and what remains to be seen is if he can still keep up with the new kids on the block or if there's no country for old men.

One look at the LC team tour records tells you all that you need to know about Lokifan. While being new to officials, he has made quite the splash lately in the LC community with an excellent 5-2 LCPL regular season record, a win as a sub last year in SCL III, and an impressive LC team tour record of 20-8. While some have questioned what struggles Lokifan may run into as a one-man show this year, his exceptional playing ability and his eagerness to continue his incredible run in SV LC have him ranked high in this year's PRs.

Colin is one of the most recent additions to the upper echelon of LC players. While he is more traditionally known for his success in SS LC, he has a 4-3 LCPL record in SV to back him up and has been one of the more prominent LC builders during the generation, meaning he should be OK working alone. While this is Colin's first appearance in official team tours, the expectations for him are high.

After seemingly coming out of nowhere with positive runs in LCWC and LCPL alongside a solid run in LC Open, Starsama has made a bit of a splash in the LC community as a respected player. Like some others in the pool, this is Starsama's first bit of experience in official team tournaments. However, unlike those others, he's not on his own, with the help of LC community mainstay Quinn to back him up on the building side and hopefully guide Starsama toward a solid SCL campaign.

tko, otherwise known as your favorite LC player's favorite LC player, is one of the more experienced players in the pool. With a 3-3 in LC showing last year, expectations for him this year are decent, but his obvious weakness is that he hasn't played LC to any major extent since last SCL. With that being said, he arguably has the best crew behind him of anyone, with Laroxyl and babyboyblues there to keep him up to speed, giving him potential to end this SCL with a strong showing.

Éric is not only the most annoying name to type in the pool but perhaps also the most underrated; coming off of a 6-3 LC run in the previous SCL and a 4-1 in LC World Cup, Éric has shown that he can get wins when he's in form with a supportive environment around him. However, these highs come at the cost of some low lows, and his ranking here reflects a general uneasiness around how a volatile player with historically very handsome and talented support will perform on his own this year. Will he go off with a bang or with a whimper?

A newer face on the scene, Envy1 is the continuation of the Shoguns long-running tradition of unconventional LC picks. The king of the LC ladder, one of the first things you'll learn about him (other than his fascination with Sailor Moon), is his peak of 94% GXE on the ladder, and while the LC ladder is far from a MENSA meeting, it is still an extremely impressive achievement. What's concerning, however, is his lack of results apart from that. Good oldgen performances in LC Classic and LCPL aside, his only notable SV showing is an 0-4 in LC World Cup. It remains to be seen if Envy's debut on the big stage will be dominating or being dominated.

Fille finds himself at the foot of the pool, being more associated with BW LC than the current gens, but that's not to say he can't go toe to toe with the rest of the pool, having some decent team tournament results in SV, a recent seasonal win, and endorsement from Scottie himself. His commonly cited Achilles heel is not being on the ball with his prep, but fortunately for Fille, he is not the sole LC player on his team, as he is joined by Kaboom, who, while also more known for BW, might have enough experience in SV to help keep Fille in step with the meta.

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If you're reading this and you're familiar with the Smogon tournaments scene, UU or not, you absolutely know who Punny is and don't need me to explain all of his achievements to you—and thank goodness for that, because there are a lot of them. However, if you are less familiar, Punny is, in short, one of the greatest players to ever do it. His sheet record is phenomenal at a clean 71-49—an absurd winrate for someone with that much of a sample size—and unlike many sheet warriors, his UU experience is not by any means lacking. Punny has played the tier on the big stage on many occasions by now and consistently puts up strong performances; his unique style of building always seems to translate well to whatever iteration of the tier he's playing, and as a result his consistency is just remarkable. There should be little to no doubt that Punny will put up an excellent performance in this slot unless something goes catastrophically wrong, and with his recent solid showing in WCoP proving that he's still in form, he looks to be a bargain at his 20k price tag.

Death, taxes and pdt's yearly farming of the SCL UU pool. There has been a lot that people have said about pdt over the years in many, many editions of these and other Power Rankings that somehow were eclipsed by his actual performance in the tour, and this one seems to be no different. There aren't a ton of players who can match the high-octane, zero-timer-used gameplay that pdt brings to the table with half as much efficiency while also pouring a ton of thought into the builder. In fact, his ability to pick apart players and "profile" them and their approach to the tier is arguably his strongest asset. His involvement in SV UU has been fairly limited compared to SS, but having the best tournament of his life last SCL along with this WCoP bringing his overall UU record to an incredible 12-4 he should have no issue keeping up blow for blow with the rest of the pool. As a consensus top 2 UU player, there really isn't any area that pdt could be lacking in that he isn't already close to the best at, but he could very easily bounce ideas off his teammates where a majority of them have played SV UU in some capacity over the last two years. There isn't much to say at all about pdt, he is simply a cut above the rest and there are no signs pointing towards a lackluster showing from him.

Vert seemingly decided this managing shtick was not for him after his last SCL campaign and decided it was time for him to lead the Shoguns to glory as a player this time around. Vert has had a generational run since the start of SV, as being the OST winner plus reaching finals of OLT X and Smogon Tour 36 is a resume that's hard to top. Vert is fresh off a 4-0 WCoP campaign for US West where he played an integral role in helping them clear group stages with ease. However, Vert locked himself out of SV OU and had a preference for SV LC in his signup. He will provide the Shoguns with incredible SV OU support, as he's been a very innovative builder for some time now, but he somehow finds himself in SV UU.

Vert doesn't have the sturdiest of support options he can lean on given DJ Breloominati hasn't played much SV UU in tours lately, even though he did find success early on back when SV UU's power level resembled current day PU. The other likely UU support, zS has more general lower tier knowledge for SV. While Vert should still be able to put up a good record in this pool, he only lands third place in PRs due to questionable support that can quality check his teams and a perceived lack of formal UU experience unlike the two players ranked ahead of him; however, no one doubts his raw talent, which might be the best in the pool if not the entire tournament. The Shoguns will need Vert to live up to his hefty price tag, as many will be watching him venture into UU with great interest.

Self-proclaimed "uu mainer" bbeeaa has risen to become one of the best players to touch the game in recent years, but this is the first time he's truly ventured outside of his home turf in OU. bea's winrate is just absurd; at a stunning 43-15 sheet record, there's just no way to describe it otherwise. He wins, and he wins a lot, and anyone with that level of playing capacity will easily be able to switch to a different tier—it helps that SV UU might as well be an OU tier, in terms of both power level and playerbase in this tournament. While bea has played SV UU in the subforum Premier Leagues and other similar tournaments before, he usually hasn't put up incredible records; it's hard to imagine he truly cared about those tournaments, so take this with a grain of salt, but it is pretty much our only frame of reference for bea in UU specifically. With that said, between himself and the support of teammate spell—and his frankly unmatched playing ability—bea is very likely to put up an excellent performance in this year's UU pool as long as his builder performance isn't sabotaged.

JustFranco is a man who defines the ‘mons is mons' mantra with his ability to pick up just about any tier and find success in it. After spending the previous SCL in the RU tier, where Franco started his campaign by bamboozling his opponent in week 1 into a strong 6-3 record, he was retained for a measly 10k by The Machines, who have new management this time. Franco finds himself in SV UU this time around, a tier that he is no stranger to, as evidenced by the fact that he won the UU Ribbon the previous year with shoutouts that never came. He's had a good 2024 so far in SV lower tiers outside of an uncharacteristic 0-2 showing in WCoP qualifiers. Franco qualified for Grand Slam playoffs comfortably.

Despite Franco having no shortage of support on his team including both of his managers, frankjosh, avarice, and Bouff, who either have no shortage of SV UU experience or are mainstays in UU tours, with all that being said, if there is anything Franco is known for as a player, it's having a relatively narrow selection of team styles and not being someone who will step outside of his comfort zone and make his opponents have to adjust to him. This can either be his greatest strength or his greatest weakness. This upcoming SCL will be an interesting one for Franco, as he finds himself ranked in the middle of the pack, where he should be able to hold his ground against a formidable UU pool.

UU's most prominent voice of reason, Lyssa, returns to the Terrors after a year-long hiatus from playing any kind of SV UU. This has never been a huge issue for her historically, as she is one of the tier's greatest minds, shaping a lot of what goes on in the metagame currently and brute forcing her way through to innovate and push the tier forward. When she does play, she does well, and her middle-of-the-road ranking shouldn't lower the expectations that she has to perform; this pool is dangerous. She's mostly on her own here, which isn't a problem for her, but if she needs it, she can bounce ideas off of her teammates who have played the tier a decent amount. What could stop her? Perhaps the strength of play that, frankly, the entire pool has could prove to be a mountain too difficult to climb, but the sky is truly the limit for the Terrors.

Coming in at a whopping 27k, Lily is somehow still only the third most expensive player in this UU pool, which should give you some frame of reference for how absolutely stacked this pool is and how a seventh-place ranking is still somehow impressive. With that said, for someone so deeply intertwined with UU as a tier, Lily's success is typically found outside of it, with more stellar performances in OU in particular and recent deep runs in various Grand Slam tiers compared to an immediate UU Open Round 1 dropoff. Combine that with some less-than-stellar UU performances in official tournaments lately—albeit admittedly, they came when her team was already knocked out of the tournament—and it isn't too difficult to see why she's ranked lower on this list. There isn't much doubt about Lily's playing ability, which is provably up there with the best of them by now, and she's self-sufficient on top of that; that unfortunately comes with a tendency to get lost in the sauce, so if anyone's likely to load some complete trash, lose immediately because of it, and then proceed to defend it for three weeks before giving up, it's Lily. Her season is going to be unpredictable; she'll grab wins as she always does, typically breaking even in these tournaments when starting for a full season of UU, but this is a more powerful pool than ever and that could be make or break for our heroine. She does have one small advantage, though—this looks more like an OU pool than a UU one, and somehow Lily is more known for beating those, so who knows what'll really happen here.

From AG top dog to performing in literally every tournament this generation, Skarpherim (who I shall affectionately call Skarpy) looks to make his splash in another official tournament after his good debut showing on US West earlier this year. Instead of playing what many people assumed to be his main tier in Ubers or OU, Skarpy instead decided to play UU, which was the first lower tier he really exploded into with UUPL XI, where he beat a host of impressive opponents like Fc, Punny and Nat for an impressive 6-2 record while making his own teams throughout the entire tournament. UUPL XII was much the same, which goes to show that regardless of whether he decides to take a whole year off from playing and building the tier or not, Skarpy can pick himself up and perform with ease.

With all that being said, Skarpy has a few things that could hold him back from dominating. One of them is that the level of competition compared to what he's used to playing has significantly increased; Vert, bbeeaa, Punny, Lyssa and more are all just a step above in terms of execution, with Punny and Lyssa in particular adding an immense wealth of metagame knowledge behind their clicks and brings. Skarpy has always been known as an "off-the-wall" builder, so if his team can control the spice levels of his brings, expect only great things from another great player in this very deep pool.

After spending the previous SCL being support for Punny on the Machines, vivalos has since put up a solid 2024 for himself. vivalos finds himself being the incumbent starter for the Arena Spartans as he hopes to continue his momentum after having a strong finish in WCoP for US West, where he finished 3-2 including rattling off back-to-back key wins against Giannis and Punny in the playoffs.

vivalos has been a mainstay in SV UU since the start of the generation, where he has put up a 16-11 record in subforum tours in the SV tier. He has excellent UU support in Mossy Sandwich, another newcomer who's made a lot of noise since the start of SV and will help vivalos navigate a strong UU pool. It will be interesting to watch the pair work together in prep as they have similar approaches in the builder.

Do not let his low ranking deceive you, as viv has proven he can hang with the heavyweights in the tier as evident in WCoP. The question will be a matter of whether he can sustain the flashes of greatness that he showed in the latter stages of WCoP for nine consecutive weeks in SCL.

Amukamara, who is much more commonly known simply as Liam, has been a quieter performer in these tours for a while now. He doesn't tend to make much noise despite good performances; he was a star player for the struggling Canada in the most recent World Cup of Pokémon, putting up a 3-0 performance against decently experienced UU players and having been around the UU wheelhouse for who knows how many years at this point. He's typically known more within the UU community for his oldgen prowess, where he is comfortably considered among the best, but recent ventures into the SV tier have shown that he is plenty capable of hanging with the zoomers as well. With all that said, minimal official team tournament experience and an incredibly stacked pool leave Liam ranked in the bottom position, though this truly is more of a testament to those above him than an indictment of his own skill. He'll simply need to rekindle the flame of his WCoP performance if he wants to overcome this ranking, which certainly seems within the realm of possibility; if nothing else, Liam is a good player and is very likely to deliver some wins for his team, even if he's not at the top of the leaderboard this time around.

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Making his third SCL appearance and defending the #1 ranking for a second year in a row, Franklin is no stranger when it comes to leading the pack as far as RU is concerned. Coming into this year, the Spartans' starter was already one of the most decorated RUers of all time, second in the hall of fame to only Ajna, and he has only continued to build upon his already illustrious career by adding a Winter Seasonal to his trophy cabinet. Continuing his strong start, Franklin has since completed a tremendous 8-0 undefeated RUPL run in the highly competitive Bo3 slot, claimed a top 8 finish in this year's iteration of Grand Slam, and made a playoffs appearance in RU Swiss. All to say, Franklin is coming into this year's SCL with momentum… as well as something to prove. After an uncharacteristic 4-5 finish in last year's tournament, which started with a dubious 4-games losing streak, Franklin is looking for a return to form and prove once and for all that he is the preeminent name of SV RU. Franklin will be supported by his managers Floss and Dugza, both of whom are no strangers to the RU rodeo, as well as Ishtar, a former member of Franklin's RUPL team the Tenacious Technicians, of which Floss was also his co-manager. With a chip on his shoulder and lofty expectations from friends and foes alike, all eyes are on Franklin as we head into this SCL season.

Longtime tournament player but first time RU starter, Xavgb finds himself as the #2 seed in his SCL RU debut. Sporting an unbelievable 17-7 SCL record across a litany of tiers, Xavgb's prowess behind the sticks is undeniable and has led to this incredible ranking for the RU newcomer. After a somewhat disappointing start to the year in a 3-5 SV OU finish in SPL, the Terrors' starter has quickly turned things around for himself by going 3-0 in SV OU in pools for WCoP, completing an impressive 5-1 SV RU run in this years RUPL, and coming off a top 4 finish in this year's Grand Slam. Supporting him is Ampha, an RU mainer making his first SCL appearance on the Terror's bench. Although a strong player in his own right, Ampha is not known as a particularly inspired builder, so there remains questions on his capability to provide sufficient support for Xavgb if the Terror's are to find success this year in RU. History would say that Xavgb has Midas's touch, turning every tier he comes into contact with into gold, and everyone should be looking forward to seeing what this Brit has to bring to the RU table.

The chef is back again for another season of SCL, this time departing from his home tier of NU and testing his luck as the RU starter for the Mt. Silver Foxes. After beginning the year with an abysmal 1-8 SV OU record in SPL, Kushalos has since hit his stride going positive in WCoP, as well as leading his RUPL team to victory on the back of his tournament with a 9-2 record in SV RU. A creative builder, the chef is never afraid to bring the heat, with his personal tastes showing through in all of his creations. From Steel Beam Cobalion to Frosmoth, Kushalos is willing to throw anything and everything at his opponents, making him undoubtedly one of the most dangerous X factors in this year's pool. Sous chef's Danny and Punny round out the Foxes RU core, charged with testing the Chef's concoctions and making sure he doesn't burn the restaurant down entirely. Great things are expected from the dynamic Dutchman and you can be assured that every week, the chef will be in the kitchen.

Coming in at the four is tournament veteran Robjr of the Orange Islanders. A streaky player through and through, Robjr has historically had his share of both triumphs and meltdowns. In recent memory, rob went 7-4 in last year's iteration of SCL, sporting the second best record in the pool, only to follow up with a 3-6 ADV OU showing in this year's SPL, which was then followed by a 0-4 SV RU performance in this year's RUPL before ultimately being benched for the rest of the season. Needless to say, the pressure is on for the veteran as he attempts to salvage what has been a less than ideal year and return to his winning ways. This task, however, may be more herculean than it seems when considering the RU support or lack thereof on the Islanders' roster. With no true mains to speak of and newcomer sufys as the only other member on the team who has participated in any RU tournament this calendar year, Robjr may find himself feeling caught between a rock and a hard place.

The former RU tier leader Feliburn has come out of retirement to reprise his role as a RU starter, this year for the Studio Gibles. Coming off a respectable 5-3 finish in last year's SCL, Feliburn has continued to have a decent year in spite of his step away from leading the tier, putting together a top 8 finish in this year's RU ladder tour, top 32 finish in RU Swiss, and sporting an even 3-3 record in this year's RUPL. Although not the best year for Feliburn, the Gibles are relying on Feli's treasure trove of prior RU experience in both official and forum tours to be self-sufficient and hopefully carry him to a positive record. This is especially true when considering the lack of support in this slot, with only Nat on the Gibles' roster having played RU before in an official tour capacity and yovan33321 being the only other member on the team to have played a SV RU tournament this year. These factors have all contributed to Feliburn finding himself squarely in the middle of the pack, and it will be up to the battle-tested veteran to see if he has what it takes to put together a winning season.

Finding herself sixth in the PRs is the current RU open champion Abriel. Abriel is probably the most enigmatic of this year's RU pool. Coming into this year, Abriel was a complete unknown player within both the RU and Tournament community as a whole having played in 0 individual or team tours for RU. However, after winning RU Open and her subsequent Grand Slam playoffs run, she has experienced a meteoric rise and now finds herself following in the footsteps of RU Open winners before her, sitting at the table with some of RU's finest in this year's SCL. Working as her support is the trifecta of reigning Grand Slam champion LpZ, RU circuit champion Starmaster in the manager slot, and RU Open finalist entrocefalo, all of whom have a storied history with RU and who will undoubtedly ensure that Abriel is equipped with both the teams and knowledge to challenge even the strongest contenders in this year's pool despite her relative inexperience with the tier.

Making his return as an SCL RU starter is tournament veteran BIHI. A three time SCL draftee, BIHI has split his tenure between OU and RU, amassing a modest 13-12 all time SCL record. Although not having participated in any RU tournament, individual or otherwise, this year, the Dynamos' starter is instead relying on their natural prowess for the game to make up for the gap in meta knowledge. Helping BIHI with this task is another tournament veteran McMeghan, who has experienced success with RU in the past but, like BIHI, has not recently been in touch with the tier. Whether these two players will have what it takes to acclimate and excel within a strong pool of oldheads and newcomers alike, or if the Dynamos will have to put on a mid-season scramble for a new RU starter will be the prevailing question for this year's seventh seed.

Fogbound Lake is another tour mainer turned RU starter for this year's iteration of SCL. Those familiar with Fog's prior tour successes may find it strange to see him coming in as PR eight, but it has been anything but an easy year for the Shogun's Starter. Coming off a disappointing 2-7 SV OU performance in this year's SPL, Fogbound Lake has been struggling to get his legs back under him, following that performance with an even 3-3 SS run in RUPL. Fog has now taken the opportunity to spread his wings in the CG RU tier and try to turn around what has been an exceptionally middling year. However, this task may be harder than what Fog imagined with a solid RU pool and the hurdle of learning an unfamiliar meta. Exacerbating this problem is the distinct lack of support on the Shoguns' roster, only one player on the team in zS having experience with the tier this calendar year, as well as Fogbound Lake's own somewhat dubious style of prep, often leaving his team in the dark on his plans for the week. With zS also expected to be a main source of support for mind gaming in the PU slot as well as needing to prepare for his own NU games every week, there are a lot of questions surrounding the Shoguns and the solidity of their lower tier performers.

Old time tournament veteran and Brazilian superstar, Elodin is back for another SCL, which for many might surprise that he is playing SV RU, but Elodin has been quite a formidable force on learning new metas quickly on the past few years, which can be shown on his recent OSDT top performance; not only that, but Elodin has some support for SV RU as well, Eifo not only is a top RU player but can also help Elodin on his building endeavors, while Lily has also some decent experience with the tier to support him as well. That being said, the lack of experience might show in game, and we don't know if he is going to be able to adapt as quickly to RU as he did for Doubles, so he is a bit of a question mark here.

Closing out the RU starters is Lime. An RU mainer making his official tournament debut who has been making waves this year within the RU community assembling an impressive resume of a top 4 finish in Winter Seasonal, a top 16 finish in the RU ladder tour, and a 5-1 SV RU record in RUPL. Although a trusted member within the RU community, there is healthy skepticism regarding his effectiveness and its ability to translate to the SCL stage, which has been reflected in his bottom of the barrel ranking. However, as the RU community is already aware, it's literally called the LIMElight and he is never one to shy away from it. Lime's dynamic play and unique building style have given rise to some of RU's most recognizable teams, none more iconic than his signature Grassy Terrain spam, which carried him to Winter Seasonal success. However, the SCL neophyte has also been prone to some questionable play, infamously using Flip Turn three times into a Tera Dark Volcanion despite not being Choice-locked into it. This season will be Lime's opportunity to show up and show out, and all eyes will be on the newcomer as the season progresses.

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Etern's #1 placement reflects his dominance in the tier during last SCL, where he finished with an impressive 8-3 record, including a 2-0 showing in the playoffs en route to a trophy. While he hasn't played as many SV tournament games since, he's been a staple in numerous tournaments, staying at the forefront of the metagame in both knowledge and play. A longtime NU "mainer," Etern has been a staple since Generation 6, with an impressive 43-24 record in NU team tours and 27-18 in past SCLs. Now in his second stint as tier leader, his dedication to NU and his drive to repeat last year's success with the Gibles are unquestionable. He may not have as much support this time around, but being retained for the first time suggests he's confident in his own skills and teambuilding. There may be no Comfey for him to spam this year, but there's little doubt his teams and play will stay at the top.

In most power rankings, McMeghan's accolades need no introduction, but the last time he was involved in the NU community was all the way back in 2013, when he posted a 1-3 record in the first ever NUPL. Yes, it's been 11 years since McMeghan has played an NU game in a team tournament, yet here he is, ranked 2nd. The reasons are clear: since the start of his tournament career, he's been one of the most dominant players of all time. With success across nearly every tier and generation, McMeghan's versatility has cemented his reputation. While his recent tournaments haven't shown him at his peak, there's little doubt he can top this pool, much like he did in RU a few years ago. So why isn't he ranked 1st? The simple answer is that he's flying solo on his team when it comes to NU support. Keeping up with the metagame will require him to stay motivated, but if he can manage that, very little will stand in his way of securing a strong record.

zS rounds out our top 3 as the only other retain to start in the tier. Now entering his third SCL, he returns to NU after playing PU last season. While his debut NU season was a disappointing 0-3, he's bounced back since, winning multiple tournaments and delivering strong performances, most recently going 6-2 in SV to help win NUPL. His experimental teambuilding and creative picks have consistently kept him ahead of the curve, cementing his reputation as one of the best SV builders across tiers. While his tendency to "cook" has occasionally cost him games, he's definitely in his element in SV and the risk of that is minimal. Though he may shuffle between tiers depending on the Shogun's needs, if he stays in NU, expect to see him at the top of the records sheet.

Danny, your stepbrother, is now a veteran in the NU community going into his third official tournament. With a respectable 5-5 last year and a 4-2 the year before, he's shown that he can stay toe to toe with the best of them. While he does not have as many accolades going into this year as he did last year, part of that can be attributed to him only being available for seemingly 1 hour a week. Even with those time constraints, he went 5-3 in NUPL this year, helping lead the Vivillons to a win, and having similar dominance in other lower tiers with a ZU Circuit win and PU and RU Circuit semifinals finish. He also has solid support this year in fellow NUPL winner Django, whose origins in NU can actually be traced back to McMeghan and watashi's time in the tier back in 2012, when Django was a PO NU leader and Smogon Mod. The combination of Zoomer and Boomer is an interesting one, but with both of their track records it would be no surprise if this led to success.

What even is the name Dr. Phd. BJ, is he a Doctor who got a Doctorate with an unfortunate set of initials? Does he fundamentally misunderstand what a doctorate is? Either way we are getting off track, because Dr. BJ is coming in hot to his official NU team tournament career with a massive 21.5k pricetag! Easily the most expensive NU player this year, and one of the few in this pool with 0 official NU tour games as well. While he was an understudy to etern last year and helped contribute to that 8-3 record and winning a trophy, he did so while going 0-2 in RU after being subbed in and not actually getting the chance to play NU. However, when he has been given the chance to play in NU team tours, he has shown off. Notably, he was able to put together a very impressive 10-2 record this year with a 6-0 in NUCL and 4-2 in NUPL. While I'm sure he's looking to blow the competition away, living up to being the most expensive player in your tier for your debut is not an easy task, but if anyone can do it, why not the Doctor Doctor himself?

No longer a fresh face in the NU or tour community, stories comes in ranked 6th, making her NU debut as a week 1 starter for the first time in her career. With a solid 5-3 record in NU over the last two SCLs, this could finally be the season she completes a full run in the tier. Known for her creative builds and strong play, the real question is whether she'll play every week, and if she can keep the creative spark alive all season. Luckily, she's teamed up with Shengineer, a rising star in the NU scene who's already impressed with stellar tour results and teambuilding skills. Together, they should be able to stay ahead of the meta, and if they can keep the momentum going, we might just see a storybook ending for the Machines in NU this year.

Watashi is a name that barely needs an introduction in the NU community, boasting an impressive 70-30 record since 2014 on the NU Team Tour sheet, a dominant first place. Sure, much of that was in older generation, but his dominance over the years is undeniable, making his return this year no surprise. So, why is this all-time great sitting at 7th in the rankings? Well, a closer look reveals a few reasons. The last time Watashi played SV NU was during last season's SCL, where he posted a middling 3-5 record, and before that, his last NU appearance in an official tour was way back in 2017's Snake Draft 1. While he does have solid support on paper from abriel and lpz, both are more known for building in other tiers, which could make it tricky for them to juggle their own slots while helping him out. If Watashi can shake off the rust, relearn the current meta, and stay motivated, he could easily climb the rankings again—but based on recent form, he's more likely to find himself in the middle of the pack.

Elias PSY is a well-established player with a solid win rate in NU tournaments, but his recent lack of results has placed him lower in these rankings. In his official tour debut last season, he posted a respectable 5-4 record, proving he can compete at a high level. Known for his unorthodox, and sometimes repetitive, team choices, this double-edged sword can either catch opponents off guard or, if overused, leave him vulnerable. However, he has an advantage over much of the pool with GXE, one of the top NU players this generation, offering support from PU. Although Elias hasn't found similar success this year, he's coming off a strong 2023 with a NU Swiss Tournament win and solid team tour performances, though he'll be up against stiff competition from more proven players.

Thiago Nunes, ranked 9th out of 10, is a consistently strong NU player with a remarkable win rate in team tournaments over the past few years. Despite his talent, his lower ranking reflects the depth of this year's player pool, filled with players more proven in official tournaments. Thiago's 1-2 record last year and subsequent substitution for Stories may have impacted his standing, but his pairing with a top-tier support like Pokeslice ensures he's still a serious competitor. His placement is more a testament to the strength of the field than any decline in his own skill.

In a pool this deep, someone has to hit the bottom, and this year, it's Smogon's very own Mr. Beast, Freezai. Between organizing the most random tournaments imaginable (is he seriously just trying to give MichaelDerBeste money?), Freezai has managed to put up respectable results in NU over the past year. With a 4-5 showing in last SCL, his first official run in the tier, followed by a strong 5-1 in NUWC and 4-3 in NUPL, he's done his best to stay relevant in the tier during his downtime. He's also got solid backup in Diamonds_Realm, a newer face to NU who's already posted impressive tour results while also being in tune with the metagame. This support is crucial for Freezai, who otherwise has a tendency to recycle similar teams and lose ground as the tournament drags on, a factor that likely contributed to his lower ranking. If Freezai can channel his best form as seen on The Sheet™, he could definitely make waves, but with all his other commitments, his ranking could reflect his record.

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S1nn0h is coming off of a year of successful performances in both PU tournaments and official tournaments. In PU tournaments, he notched a phenomenal 11-1 in SV PU in SCL III, then kept up to date with a 4-4 record in PUPL, top 12 finish in PU Open, and quarterfinals of PU Ladder Tour. He also went 6-5 in SM and SV OU during the most recent SPL, where his team made finals, and 3-3 in SV OU for the World Cup champions US Midwest. Just a year after being power-ranked dead last in SCL III, S1nnohConfirm3d is back in his home tier and ready to repeat his dominant performance. However, this year's pool is stronger than the SCL III pool. For instance, SoulWind is one of the most successful players of all time, and Michaelderbeste2 and mind gaming are two of the strongest team tour players in recent years. This will be the most challenging pool he has ever faced, and his tendency to troll could lead him to take the tour less seriously if he encounters adversity early on. However, everyone has worst-case scenarios. With S1nnoh's current tier knowledge and good play, it should not be a problem for him.

After his SCL III Ubers endeavors, SoulWind is now moving into another lower tier. While SoulWind is one of the most dominant players of all time, he has struggled to establish this dominance in SCL, where he has two negative finishes and a 5-4 record since the tour was renamed from Snake. However, he isn't picking up a totally new tier this year. SoulWind was excellent in the most recent PU Open, winning the entire tour. Despite his round 1 elimination in playoffs, Soulwind also won the PU game of that series. SoulWind also has the benefit of support not only from PU Tier Leader Ishtar, but also from tournaments mainstay Thiago Nunes and council member and manager DugZa. This will not only help him avoid relying on sample teams as he did in PU Open; it will also help him adapt to the tier shifts that will change the PU metagame in Week 4 of the tour. Perhaps this will even lead him to prep in his own teamchat! Despite the great strength of this group of individuals, it's expected that SoulWind will succeed in this pool.

The newest entry to the 30K club, GXE was picked up at an unbelievable price tag to play a tier he's never touched before. One can only imagine how expensive he would be in NU or OU, the tiers he actively plays. With recent performances of 3-1 in WCoP and 7-2 in SCL, GXE has proven himself to be a highly talented pilot, but that alone won't be enough in this pool. He enters with the support of PUPL manager Ampha, PUPL player Baloor, and Grand Slam semifinalist Stresh. However, none of them is known for building many SV PU teams, and as the meta shifts in Week 4, this support may become obsolete. GXE also has the potential to be pulled all over the teamchat due to his high price, where his efforts may be requested in SV OU or SV NU. All these distractions do not change the fact that GXE is a highly skilled and intelligent player and builder who has every tool necessary to thrive against almost all the competition he's faced. The pressure is almost as high as his price tag, but GXE is very prepared to handle it.

Despite only picking the tier for Grand Slam, Michael's recent VGC performances show he is very well familiar with picking up and learning metagames fast. He has also already proven he is a capable force in SV PU, making it to top 12 of PU Open. Michael is also joined by a lower tiers mainstay in pdt and an SV PU tryhard in sufys, and they can provide him with solid tier knowledge and building support. The Islanders potentially got the steal of the draft, paying only 10k for a back-to-back VGC World Finalist and VGC World Semifinalist. However, this slot could also produce a little trouble in tropical paradise. Michael has publicly apologized for being a bad teammate in team tournaments, including in last year's SCL, and his past few teamtour results are not remarkable. On a less serious note, he will also be busy defending his Random Battles dominance in Freezai's $1000 Random Battles Ladder Tour. Regardless, the combination of a high-ceiling pilot and good support makes this one of the best slots in an excellent pool.

Remember when we were talking about Soulwind's round 1 elimination? Here is the guy who eliminated him. Not only that, LpZ then proceeded to have one of the best performances possible, defeating TheFranklin, xavgb, and mncmt and winning the trophy for himself. This year, he also notched a remarkable 10-0 performance in UUPL, becoming the first player to win 10 games in a tour in UU's 12-year history. His dedication is not in question; one week earlier this year, he was participating in roughly 25 tournaments at the same time. However, his list of current gen PU performances is somewhat shorter than his overall accomplishments. In PU's subforum tours, he preferred to play BW PU, giving him little experience in the current generation. While he is capable of building and has practiced this skill in many different tiers, LpZ won his Grand Slam trophy using other people's teams. With no dedicated PU support, he could struggle to stay on top of the meta over a 9-week season. That being said, it must come to no one's surprise that LpZ is ranked high on this. With decent tier knowledge and a sky-high ceiling as a pilot, LpZ is expected to continue the momentum from his Grand Slam victory just a few weeks ago.

While the other players grinded in the PU Discord, mind gaming was deleting his Discord. While the other players played game after game of SV PU, creating comprehensive scouts for themselves, mind gaming stayed in the shadows. While the other players wanted to play SV PU, not even mind gaming knew what he would play until after he was drafted. The enigmatic German is an extremely talented player and builder, living up to an unbelievable price tag of 37K in last year's SCL by going 9-4 and winning the tour. With 23 sheet wins in 2023, his year was the most dominant year of team tour performances in history, and he went for a mere 14K in SCL. He proved he can adapt to metagames outside of current generation OU by going 5-3 in DPP OU this SPL. While the Shoguns have traditionally scoffed at lower tier support, they retained zS, an active PU player who can get mind gaming up to date with the meta. The downsides? He hasn't touched PU at all and hasn't even touched Discord until days before the draft. One of the most volatile players in the tour, anything is possible for mind gaming—and his ceiling is sky-high.

Despite his lower-half ranking in the pool, fish anemometer is one of the most experienced SV PU players in the pool and has some impressive feats during this past year. He was the runner-up in the most recent seasonal, earned a 4-3 record on PUPL X, and won the current PU circuit championship. Fish's support is not slouch either. He is joined by fellow Magmortars teammate Stories, who he helped to a 4-0 record in SV PU this PUPL. Tryhard supporter and builder Bouff and PU council member avarice both have decent experience in SV PU and join the team to support. However, fish anemometer remains the newest player in the pool, and he will be forced to compete against a ton of vastly experienced Smogon Tournament players hungry to hand him his first sheet loss.

Larry signals the bottom tier of the PU pool according to the rankers. After a 6-1 PUPL X and 5-2 PUBD I, him ending here in the eighth position may be a surprise. However, unlike PUPL, his support is nowhere as strong as the other teams, lacking a consistent PU mainer to support him. The only support he'll have on the roster is Excal, who supported fade to an excellent SS PU record in SCL II but has not touched PU, or SV in general, for roughly two years. Without support, Larry has gone down some crazy paths such as using a Choice Scarf Tera Rock Tera Blast Wo-Chien to lure Scyther. Such crazy, out-of-the-box techs will be exciting, and perhaps they can produce a gif on the level of Alcremie using Metronome to Rock Wrecker a Charizard in SCL I. However, the rankers are skeptical about whether they'll actually be good. Additionally, Larry didn't play in all weeks of PUPL because he opted to sub himself out, and the team has almost nobody to sub in if he does lose motivation. While Larry's put up impressive results in the past, he now faces more adversity than ever before.

In the ninth spot, we have and old familiar face on the PU community in MZ. He has been around for years at this point but recently took his game to a new level with an outstanding 6-1 PUPL X record and top 8 appearances in the most recent seasonal and PU Ladder Tournament. He influenced the PU meta significantly in the past few months; for instance, SoulWind used a number of his sample teams in PU Open. His support is decent, with two PUPL players in Suzuya and Danny, but MZ must stand alone as a pilot against one of the most intimidating groups of players in SCL. Up until recently, MZ might have told you that his ninth place ranking this SCL was too high. For instance, in PUPL, he thought he was ranked too high when placed at sixth in SV—and then he went on to post the #1 record. Any more lapses in self-confidence could be devastating against a pool full of players who all have strong claims to be the best (or "Der Beste").

A retain in last place?! That's the harsh truth the Circuit Breakers had to deal with after not drafting any other PU player or support. Eifo is well known in lower tiers for being a very creative builder, decent player, and passionate Tera hater. He has been doing well in SV PU, being the second place in points in the current PU Circuit of 2024 and recently earning second place in PU Open. He also finished top 8 in PU Ladder Tournament and top 12 in seasonal, showing his dedication and long-standing involvement with PU. However, he did not participate in any of PU's team tournaments and is known to struggle greatly with his self-confidence and motivation. In his prior SCL and Snake campaigns, he played 5 and 6 games, respectively. Without a clear PU backup, Eifo will be forced into action more than he has been in the past. He's going to have to work overdrive in this very stacked PU pool in order to have a chance to succeed, and the lack of proper support or a backup may also hurt him during the tournament.

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Overall Team Rankings

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Outro

Thank you once again to everyone that helped in the creation of this article, and an even bigger thank you to all who have read and discussed it. You may agree with the rankings present, you may find them abhorrently wrong, you may think a certain player is underrated, or you may be confident that another is going to embarrass themselves. Whatever the case may be, from the Pitvipers to the Gibles, this tournament is not one that has provided easy answers and straightforward conclusions. Great managers have tried and failed, poor players have turned their reputations around; all will be decided on SmogTours, not in this article.

Lastly, a message for those of you who posted "in" but don't find their name in this writeup: there is always next year. Between SCL V and now there will be hundreds of tournaments and thousands of battles, there will be opportunities for you to shine and surely defeats that you will face. It is difficult to join the elite of this game, it is difficult to win in the biggest moments, but difficulty is not impossibility. Find yourself in the teambuilder, find yourself reviewing the replays these players give you, and post "in" one more time next year—your chance to write your story is, of course, in your own hands.

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