SPL XVII Power Rankings

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Welcome back to the Smogon Premier League Power Rankings! This is the seventeenth edition of the tournament awarding the sixteenth iteration of the trophy and the thirteenth official Power Rankings. Once again, we gathered players from each tier to rank their respective pools, offering the general public some flattering words on their favorite players, an introduction to the newcomers they might not be familiar with, and a chance to relitigate what exactly is an acceptable amount of credits to spend on a DPP starter. We have no pretensions that this article will amount to a correct prediction as to how this tournament will play out, but as an informative piece, it hopefully succeeds just enough to be useful, and as a piece meant to stoke discussion, the things it gets wrong are maybe even more useful than the things it gets right.

Compared to last year's pool, we're missing both of its 30k players and eight of its thirteen 20k players, along with another eleven players who went at least +2. In exchange, we have seven players this time around who cost over 20k that weren't here last year: Vert, xray, Fakes, Gilbert arenas, Star, M Dragon, and bbeeaa. Whether that adds up to a stronger or weaker tournament overall depends on what you focus on. ORAS is probably stronger, with xray returning after a hiatus, c0mp and Ox the Fox moving into the tier after spending last season elsewhere, and NoName6293 finally making his official debut. Likewise, DPP sees BKC swapped out for Gilbert arenas and benefits from a few of last season's wild cards returning a little more proven, while SS is likely a little deeper when considering that last year its most expensive player missed half the season. On the other hand, SM lost Skypenguin, Punny, and c0mp, while only picking up the unproven-in-the-tier Vert; ADV is replacing 8-4 McMeghan and 9-3 baddummy with Garay oak and Prinz; GSC has several high-profile positions out of position in order to make up for significant absences in this year's pool; and RBY is missing four out of last year's five most expensive players and will attempt to replace them with rookies.

Alongside the aforementioned returnees, 17 rookies are ranked as old-gen starters in these Power Rankings, up from 13 last year. Perhaps the logical result of that, along with the pools missing top-end talent, is that teams in general were more willing to splash on their targets than last year. Six players this year cost more than anyone did last year, five of them newcomers and the last being Smogon Tour winner Santu. elodin went 5-4 in BW and DPP last year for 8.5k, and this year is being flexed to GSC for 18.5k. Skarpherim cost 8k as a rookie, went 1-4 in ADV, and is now being paid 19.5k to see if he can improve on that. And of course, a year after BKC set the 2020s record for auction price of a DPP starter at 25k (over SPL XI Tamahome's 18.5k), Gilbert arenas blew through that record again with 34.5k. If you don't trust the depth of a pool, spending big on one of its lone stars or on a versatile old-gens player that can flex is a pretty tempting option.

The advent of the three-manager era has led to an interesting cast of characters this year. The top two players in the Smogon Hall of Fame are both here, with Empo returning to the place of his past trophies by helming the Ruiners with ima and Ale Duncan, while perennial antagonists and SPL XV champions reyscarface and blunder elected to lean into that identity by adding SCL V star ABR. Defending champs d0nut and blank decided that Gingy's Terrors were simply a more compelling feat of teambuilding than Expulso's Machines, while obii, realizing that filling his manager core with US Northeast staples was a formula doomed to disappointment, elected to pull mind gaming and Conflict from the much more successful Germany. Alas, poor PDC, passed from one trio to another in his pursuit of a top ten Hall of Fame spot, was left to dig gorgie and Sam out of the grave to leap into the tundra. Familiar manager courses brought in new second assistants to address gaps in their tier coverage; the Dave/Vulpix03 BIGs conscripted Breakers manager Mada for some much-needed SV support, while the D4 Repertoire/Fear Wolfpack, needing the same, selected…crying?

This year will also see the introduction of individual tournament awards, a tremendous achievement of Tournament Policy Review performance by yours truly. After the tournament, voting will be held for the MVP, Most Improved, Rookie of the Year, and 13th Man awards, supplemented with coverage over the course of the season. I, for one, am incredibly excited to see Smogon interpretations of sports discourses that we know and love. Will we see the emergence of Smogon Moneyball, where the introduction of individual awards leads to the rapid development of new Smogon analytics? Will we see reactionary anti-stat voters, who vote for as many high-aura players with 6-6 records as possible? Will we get to a point where evaluating players based on win-loss record is as quaint and outmoded as evaluating pitchers by ERA? Will we reach that point before the end of this season? I'm not sure! Personally, I'm just tired of hearing discussion about Smogon's Michael Jordan or Lebron James. If we can get a conclusion about the Smogon Scott Rolen, I will be content.

Congratulations to the following true rookies this year, the ones who are looking for their first career sheet game: Johnald, OmBrArch, Setsu, Zpanther, LB, Ctown6, Sheik, Underlying, BeeOrSomething, Dababy2, Brine, waffle04, GirlsSeeGhosts, Fdmw, aminita, Kollin7, NoName6293, pixie909, Ikaishi, Originality56, mielke, and kingofking. Additionally, congratulations to the following SPL rookies this year, those who have sheet games but no SPL games: Shengineer, kDCA, Dugtrio Is Broken, tier, sire clod, sunsets, Plague, DeeJ, Achimoo, Patatexv, Baddy, Axzel, Cow, Tenebricite, Vert, and Let's Rumble Shall We.

Thank you so much to all of the spectacular writers who contributed to this article: Amaranth, ChrisPBacon, Dababy2, Drachenkeule, ego, Excal, expulso, Finchinator, goldmason, Jensendale, Kollin7, melancholy, Mixnite, MrSoup, Nat, Ninth, PDC, Ruffles, Sceptross, Sergio Aguero, Skypenguin, spell, Zinnias.

For more information on each player and their official accomplishments, please check out this spreadsheet that ego put together.

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1. lax
2. bbeeaa
3. Fusien
4. ATTRIBUTE
5. myjava
6. Storm Zone
7. Nat
8. Ewin
9. hellom
10. zS
11. clean
12. JJ09LIE
13. Xrn
14. JustFranco
15. Fogbound Lake
16. DAHLI
17. bhkg
18. heileone
19. Eternal Spirit
20. Baddy
21. LpZ
22. FakeNagol
23. Stareal
24. Lazuli
25. kDCA
26. ACR1
27. Let's Rumble Shall We
28. pdt
29. Pais
30. Axzel
31. Originality56
32. Kate
33. Plague
34. Sunsets
35. watashi
36. Shengineer
37. Ash KetchumGamer
38. Setsu
39. entrocefalo
40. Patatexv

The Stark Sharks, just like last year, enter SPL with the top-ranked SV OU core. Their players have had some of the best records of the last three SPLs, and their current gen cores have never posted a losing record over Gen 9's lifetime; expectations will be high. Before the auction even started, they retained Attribute, whose record stands at an outstanding 22-12 since his SV OU debut in SCL IV. Once a Monotype main, then an SS player, Attribute had an explosive 2025 in the land of Scarlet and Violet: he posted a seven-game win streak in SPL, then won crucial finals and tiebreaker games for US West in World Cup, all while supporting his teams through forward-thinking teambuilding. His SCL was more of a mixed bag with a 4-7 showing against stiff competition, but he still showed clear signs of why he's earned the #4 ranking—mere "good players" don't get six Kingambit predictions right in a row to win a game. Between his proven track record and a top-8 Masters run, Attribute is in top form coming into the new year.

Absent from team tours since last SPL, Nat has been a top threat of SV OU since its birth. In SPL XIV, she ascended with a 9-2 record for these same Sharks. Since then, she has won 65% of her team tour games and qualified for two OLTs, both times topping the cycle. A precise player with an eye for unique bulky offense structures, Nat will surely have little trouble getting right back into winning mode. Joining her is hellom, and the fact that last year's #1-ranked player is the second lowest-ranked Sharks starter speaks to the depth of their core. His 10-1 debut SPL is the stuff of legends, a win streak so impressive it took a triple Protect to snap it. Since then, he has typically completed partial campaigns in team tours; his last outing was a 2-4 record for the Islanders. Having qualified for every OLT in the history of SV OU, the question is not if he can achieve great heights again but if he will.

Plague rounds out the starting 4 for the Sharks. Despite only having one official game of SV OU on record, they gained prominence as an NU super-sub for the victorious Shoguns in SCL V and now get to try and parlay that into success in the flagship tier. Should any player falter, Achimoo—a German up-and-comer returning from absence—may substitute in as well. The Sharks' managerial support in the tier is also notable in the form of mind gaming. Though he has not played SV OU in an official capacity since 2024, he was the most dominant player in the tier when it launched, playing a major role in shaping the metagame into its current state. There's no shortage of teambuilding and talent in the Sharks' current generation department, and it's not difficult to see why they're ranked so high.

The Dragonspiral Tyrants seem to be something of a hyperbolic time chamber for new SV OU talent. In the last two years, current generation prospects have entered their roster as carefully scouted cheap draft picks and left as respected top players. myjava, Mada, vk, and Fusien would all go on to end up among the premier players of the generation. This is partially due to the Tyrants' history of winning (Tyrants teams managed by reyscarface have never missed the playoffs) and partially due to manager blunder's intimate familiarity with SV OU, not to mention his comprehensive teambuilding collective. This year, ABR is also managing the Tyrants; a candidate for the greatest singles player ever, he picked up Gen 9 seriously six months ago and proceeded to steamroll his way to a 10-1 SCL with a fresh approach to building. And that's not all—the Tyrants have sole access to the teambuilding of teammate Vert. He's regarded by many as the SV GOAT due to his mastery of individual tours and outsized influence on modern offense structures—if you've used an Iron Moth team, he probably built it. He is tier locked out of SV OU, but one imagines his presence will lift all boats. All of this to say that if the Tyrants intend on growing another inexpensive player into a SV superstar, they're pretty likely to do it.

They've started by retaining two of their homegrown picks, myjava and Fusien. java debuted in 2024 as a substitute but was quickly promoted to starting, taking home seven wins and a red trophy to boot. He followed this up with eight more wins across the year, then another seven-win season for the Tyrants as a retain; his teams made playoffs in all instances. Now on his second retain, he is a staple Tyrant and one of their top pilots, the one they trust for tiebreakers and clutch games. Fusien's story is slightly different—his 2025 Tyrants debut was a mixed bag, going from a 2-0 start to a 3-6 finish. Despite the later slide, his skill was obvious: immediately after that, he won OST and has been leveling up ever since. He continued this momentum with a dominant World Cup finals run against stiff competition, then made top 16 of OLT and posted a 6-3 record in SCL even as his team slipped to the bottom of the standings. One of the most in-form players going into the year, his 10k retain is easily half of what he'd command on the free market.

Of course, retains only get more expensive, and the Tyrants need new blood to keep their dynasty going. One such pickup is Baddy, a UK circuit grinder who made his breakout in SCL as an OU starter for the Shoguns (a sister team in the Tyrants Cinematic Universe). Picking up five wins against the likes of bhkg, GXE, and Finchinator, he seems poised to take his game to the next level. Another candidate for the Tyrants Hyperbolic Time Chamber seems to be Axzel. A key player in the Team Netherlands push to main stage in World Cup, they won a Smogon Tour week in 2025 and had a positive outing as a substitute for the Scooters in SCL. Longtime Tyrants super sub Luispeikou is also available, with wins over xavgb and S1nn0hC0nfirm3d in his ledger. As long as SV OU is the current generation, one imagines the Tyrants' cores will continue to be ranked near the top of it.

The new-management Scooters immediately pivoted from their previous spending trends by spending 25000 credits on Storm Zone to lead SV—the most any Scooters manager has spent on a single player since 2022. It's hard to argue he isn't worth the money, though: maybe the most prolific ladderer of two generations straight, Storm Zone has been a leading voice of SV OU due to a combination of battle-sharpened skill and an esoteric building style. It certainly takes skill to execute on teams that feature as many Choice items as his usually do, let alone occupy most of the top 5 of the ladder with them. He spearheaded SV OU efforts for the Tigers' back-to-back finals runs, winning an OST in the middle of it, and seems likely to spearhead the Scooters' efforts here as well. Expect to see a lot of Calamity the Iron Valiant and Overgod the Kingambit.

DAHLI, ranked 16th, is quietly one of the most consistent winners of the last few years. In seven outings, they have consistently gone positive for 4+ wins in team tours, only posting one negative season. They're a crafty prepper willing to play the long game and are looking to keep going from a 6-3 SCL season and take home a third red trophy. In moneyball terms—they get on base. Also hoping to keep the ball rolling is heileone, who in the same SCL got their first official win after a few attempts, ending with a 5-4 record. Despite some success in individuals, that first team tour win is a tough nut to crack, so getting over that hill decisively is a great omen for them.

One person who may be looking to reverse trends is Pais. The Italian hyper offense operator had a spectacular 2024, with a 5-1 record as Italy's MVP in their finals run, followed by a six-win season for the Islanders in SCL. His stock was understandably high entering the new year, but unfortunately Pais managed only one win over nine attempts in 2025. This will be a revenge tour for him, proving 2024 was no flash in the pan. The Scooters will be supported by waffle04, a super-active zoomer who seems to enter every tour under the sun, and tko, a seasoned LC player who may be called up to substitute. Notably, no player in this Scooters core is making their starting debut, so they'll be counting on the experience to bring them to the top.

There are two types of SV OU starters for the Wolfpack: certified tournament veterans and newer ladder grinders. bbeeaa fits more cleanly into the former category. Over five years of team tournaments, he is an absurd 45-17, his 73% winrate only rivaled by the likes of RBY's Heroic Troller or people with negligible sample sizes. He's one of the most reliable game-winners on the site, with his SS OU resume of particular note, but has spent a few years in and out of exile and has not played SV OU in an official capacity since his first-seed run in OLT 2024 was truncated. Regardless, he has stayed active on the ladder and elsewhere, and regularly builds squads for himself and others. His #2 ranking indicates the high level of goodwill—and expectations—the community has for him.

Fogbound Lake is another one of their tour regulars. Once an Ubers player and fringe member of Team Germany, Fogbound Lake rose to prominence in 2023 when he followed a 4-1 World Cup run with a roaring 9-2 SCL that saw him take home the green trophy. Something like a German version of a Swiss army knife, he has piloted across a variety of Tera tiers since then, playing OU for SPL but slotting into three different tiers en route to another SCL trophy this last fall. He has only had one bad season in his career, but it is worth noting that this season was the only time to date he was forced to compete without his longtime friend and building partner, mind gaming. With mind captaining the Sharks, this is a prime opportunity for Fogbound Lake to assert his independence.

And now for the ladder heroes, both of them qualifiers for the most recent OLT. If you've run into a Jolteon above the 1900s, it's probably Let's Rumble Shall We. Also known as inertialinitiative, their taste for unique offensive technology helped them en route to reaching top cut of OLT, rocking dark magic like SD LO Tinkaton Webs. Originality56 may be better known as Coach Jones 6fifth—that name and Lusamine avatar are probably burned into the retinas of SS ladder addicts. OLT qualifications in 2022 and 2025 as well as a 7-1 OUPL indicate a dedication to the hustle that should serve them well. French everyman Sacri' may also substitute, but the aim will likely be to develop these fresher players with an experienced environment. As for the managers—the jury's out on whether crying and their eccentric, Hyper Beam-heavy building style will translate into useful prep, but it probably won't do them any harm.

The new-look Raiders targeted experience to lead their SV OU core—three out of four starters have team tour experience dating back to 2022. zS headlines the squad, beginning his tour life as a lower tier occasional in various SCL teams. A deep OST run in 2024 was the first omen that he had ascended a level, and ever since then he has just continued to win in team tours—28-12 across OU and various lower tiers. This includes a dominant 6-1 OU record to help Italy win World Cup in 2025, a run characterized by aggressive reads, constant application of pressure, and two games running sub-20 turns. Having one of the best 2025s anyone could hope for, there's somehow potential for him to do even better this year.

The one member with less than four years of experience is JJ09LIE, who debuted in 2024 as a child prodigy and has completed 42 OU games since then. His last two SPLs both featured impressive 7-4 records and saw him piloting a diverse array of offense structures, and he demonstrated a cool head by winning both of his finals games despite eventual team losses. JJ has expressed concerns about his availability, but he's still been a reliable plug-and-play winner for the past two years. We now move to Eternal Spirit, whose 19th-place ranking is asterisked by a standard deviation considerably higher than others in his vicinity. A wily Brazilian veteran, Eternal Spirit roared out to a 7-2 season in SV OU thanks to a collection of creative teams and sets, from Power Trip Corviknight to Ogerpon-C HO. They don't call him The Magician for nothing. This was, however, followed up by a miserable 1-5 record in the following SCL as he bounced from UU to LC for the last-place Platoon. Due to this and his volatile style, it's easy to see the skepticism that some voters may have had about his consistency in a tier just as wildly varied, but just as easy to see the potential upside.

Ash KetchumGamer rounds out their starters, another Brazilian tour regular. Despite a name resembling something you might find in 1050s ladder, Ash's closet has more hardware than his anime namesake; he contributed wins to back-to-back SPL-winning teams in 2023 and 2024, though he did have losing records in those seasons. Undrafted from SPL last year, his goal this year will be to take back his respect by force, hopefully parlaying a 4-0 World Cup into his comeback. The Raiders are managed by MAVERICK SHOOTERS—a crafty Indian builder who has supported many an offense pilot—and may call upon tier, a current gen everyman, to substitute if needed. They'll be hoping the combined experience of the Raiders starters will propel them to success.

The Ruiners find themselves 6th off the merits of one anchor. For the second year in a row, lax has been bestowed the #1 seed in the SPL power rankings. Since last SPL, he's had a rather middling year in official team tournaments, notching a record of 7-7 in 2025. He had a quiet year in SV OU individuals as well, though nonetheless he commanded a great deal of respect among voters. Even without top-tier results in the past year, it's easy to respect his prior results such as his OLT X victory. He actually cost 5.5k less than last year, which marks the first time in this generation we've seen the top ranked player go for less than 20k in auction. He's joined by a core of three teammates ranked much lower than he is, starting with fakenagol. Nagol has played in two officials, to the tune of 4-2 overall, though shined in the most recent SCL. Coming off the bench as a 3k player for Excal's Dynamos, he took down three opponents with an average cost of 21k. Despite this amazing result, he indeed somehow continued to cost a mere 3k in this edition of SPL. With the proper support, the Ruiners can certainly hope to see him continue to shine as a great steal in the auction.

Not far behind in the rankings, we find ACR1. He had an amazing 2024, posting an overall record of 11-3 in officials. That following SPL saw him have his first bad tournament, though he did well in OU following this. He went 2-1 in WCoP, and although suffering a 2-5 SCL, he only played two OU games in that tournament. He ended up splitting those games 1-1 with oldspicemike and clean, two well-respected veterans of the tier. Despite one poor showing in SPL, it's fair to say he's had an overall success run throughout SV OU. It helps that his price is a whopping third of what it was last SPL, yet he still has displayed good savvy for the tier on most occasions historically. Rounding out this core is sunsets, who will be experiencing his first SPL ever. While his only official team tournament experience is going 3-6 for Canada in WCoP, he's had admirable success elsewhere throughout SV. He made it to the semifinals of the most recent OST and got top 8 in the very same tournament two years prior. This is his first time even signing up for SPL, and it's fair to say we would have seen him in action much sooner had he considered playing in prior SPLs.

While ranked in the top of the bottom half, this core definitely has ample upside to look forward to. It starts with lax performing as his rank beckons, but ultimately any of the other three SV could pop off without much shock. These three slots cost a mere 13k, which feels like a bargain if even one of them pop off to have a great tournament.

Coming in ranked 7th, the Cryonicles have a fairly balanced core of three respected SV OU talents and one well-tenured watashi. The four are headlined by clean, who finds himself with a lot of similarities to last SPL. He's ranked 11th for the second year in a row and cost a mere 500 credits more than last year. Further, he's going to a team once again ranked in the middle of the pack on the PRs, which also marks the second time in a row he's on a team looking to be carried to by a great DPP talent. Last SPL saw clean post a very respectable 6-4 record, and he's definitely capable of improving upon that here. Next up is bhkg, who, like clean, saw his price explode in the most recent SCL to double of what it was in the prior SPL. Bhkg had a very respectable SPL and WCoP, totaling a record of 9-5 combined, before SCL saw him have his first poor official showing. His price somehow fell to less than what it was last SPL, which clearly the raters didn't agree with, having ranked him in the top half of the pool.

The next mysterious four-letter acronym of this core is kDCA, who had an interesting SCL. It was his first official team tournament, and he posted a respectable 4-5 record for only 4500. He was quite unlucky in a few of these losses, and his price only jumped to 6k despite this decent first showing. With a little luck, he'll continue to play well and maybe even be rewarded for it. Lastly we have watashi, a player with a staggering 199 official sheet games. This is more than triple the total number of sheet games of the rest of his OU core combined, which adds up to 63 games in total. If you played nine games a season in SPL and SCL, alongside three games a year for WCOP, it would quite literally take you a decade to reach this number of games. So, yeah, he has some experience playing Pokemon. Despite these figures, he has 0 games of SV on record, and the current generation is one that is regarded as difficult to perform well in without ample practice. However, it's not unreasonable to assume that someone so tenured could freshly pick up SV, especially with guidance from some veterans of the tier that his core contains.

If clean and bhkg recover from their SCL woes, alongside watashi learning to competently flourish in SV, the Cryos could find themselves performing better than this ranking displays. However, these noted hopes all rest on the impetus of change. If the experienced SV slots continue their negative trajectory experienced in SCL or watashi can't get up to speed in SV, it'll be another icy season in CG OU for the Cryos.

The current SPL champions find themselves in a somewhat similar boat as last year, with an SV core ranked near the bottom. One element to note is that this core cost 38.5k, a fairly average cost for four slots of CG. This is markedly different from the championship core from last year, which sported a well-performing core in the finals that cost a measly 17.5k. Nonetheless, there's plenty to be hopeful about with this group. It starts with Xrn, who has a few notes of merit to consider. He's coming off a top 4 placing in the recent OST and further has boasted a six-win season his last two SPL outings. The third noteworthy consideration is that he's quite levelheaded and mature, something you certainly can appreciate from the leader of a lower-ranked SV core. He's firstly joined by Lazuli, who is coming off a nice 3-1 showing in SCL, even being ABR's lone loss in his 10-win season. He also holds a respectable, albeit limited in scope, 10-5 record in officials all time. Both of these factors lend themselves to the hope of a nice season incoming.

Thirdly we have BW PU's strongest soldier, LpZ, the only returning member of the Classiest's championship SV core. He went for a price just beneath what his retain would cost and ideally looks to build upon his critical success from last season. He went positive in all three team tournaments in 2025, a great sign that faith in him is often not misplaced. He also won Grand Slam in 2024 and is joined by someone with perhaps an even more prestigious lower tier title. Entering the SPL Commencement thread and dubbing himself "the LeBron of NU," Shengineer dunked on the NU pool in SCL with an impeccable record of 8-1 in his first official outing. He further proclaimed to be setting his sights on SV OU for this tournament and sure enough finds himself with a chance on the big stage. It's hard to gauge how he'll do in this tournament, but the rankers clearly were not eager to give him the nod of goodwill just yet. As the saying goes—nothing is given, everything is earned.

Yes, this core is ranked quite low. Again, this has come to be a bit of a trademark for the champs, though time will tell if it's a consistent strategy or a one-off success. One interesting detail is the makeup of this core. It's undoubtedly full of talented players, all successful in their own right. However, it doesn't have the same makeup as the standard talented SV cores. In place of the grizzled CG OU veterans are a Doubles player, an NU player, and a BW PU addict. The last winning core assembled by returning managers starry and d0nut had similar traits, with LpZ again being present and Kate and S1nn0h chiefly known for non-OU tiers. It's noteworthy that this part of the formula returns, as it's such a marked difference from what many managers think of when assembling a CG OU core. Against all expectations it worked before, and it seems they'll have to defy expectation yet again to leave their mark on this tournament.

Ah, the BIGs. Last year, they opted for the most expensive SV roster by a country mile, all to end up with the second worst record in SV. This year, they took on an entirely new approach. They spent the second least amount of credits on their starting SV lineup, with just 27k. This is less than half of in 2025, albeit under entirely new management. This is headlined by JustFranco, their 10k retain who continues to impress in various tiers in official team tournaments. In 2025 he only played BW OU and SV UU over the span of all three officials, achieving a 2-1 winrate in all three for an impressive total showing of 12-6 on the year. His ranking here of 15th is respectful of this success but also aware it hasn't happened in SV OU yet for him. Unfortunately, though, he was the only member of this core ranked in the top half. His highest-rated teammate is Stareal, a perennial mid-range buy of these auctions who currently sports a 21-29 all-time official record. He has gone negative both SPLs of this generation, although he is coming off a promising 5-4 showing in SCL.

Joining this group further is pdt, a player who went for a whopping 33k in the last SCL. He's a bit of an interesting case for certain—his sheet is decently good at 41-32, but he's been on a down slope lately. He started the most recent SCL 2-0 in UU and tragically finished 2-7. He also started this last SPL 2-0 and finished 4-5. It's unquestionable that he is a talented player; he went on an absolute tear in a stretch from 2022 to 2024, sporting five positive team tournaments in a row to the tune of a ridiculous 26-11. Since then, though, he's been on a cold snap of 13-18. It's important to note that the majority of his success came in UU, although he was believed in enough to fetch a decently strong 10k price tag last SPL. It was slightly downgraded to 6k this year, but he's still not necessarily at the bottom of the pool in ranking. He'll look to have a nice comeback this tour and has decent support to make that happen. Mada is a manager who has been around both as manager for the very successful Breakers OU core of ABR+GXE but also as captain for team Italy, who need no introduction in terms of WCoP success. There's also Hiko on the bench, a French player who enjoys using unique concepts in his builds. Rounding out this core is Setsu, a newcomer to officials and perhaps the first modern PS Admin to ever play in SPL. She came off a nice 5-2 showing in OUPL but otherwise has limited tournament results. Dave and his team believed in her enough to buy her, which certainly is a good sign.

Overall, this core having a low ranking is understandable. The managers chose a cheap route, and there's nobody with insane SV OU results. They're banking on these players having their breakout OU tournament, rather than relying on the comfort of proven entities on that front. This is a dangerous game to play if wishing to win SPL, but it's a common strategy that sometimes pays in spades. If it doesn't, this team will find themselves relying on their more proven oldgens core, with Mako perhaps playing in tiebreak for them. She could always swap with Franco if need be throughout the season as well, given her SV OU accomplishments eclipse anyone in their current lineup. If they do struggle with this core of four and someone picks SV into them during a tiebreaker, it could definitely become a headache, with them needing to slot two players. But for now, the BIGs are hoping they've struck gold on bargains, which would be especially sweet given how reliable some of their old gens appear.

There's no soft landing to ease into; the Tigers find themselves ranked dead last in SV, after spending a paltry 26k on their core. This core earned them 14 points for their total Power Ranking core, good for an average of 3.5 points per slot. 9 of those 14 points are contributed by Ewin, their 17k ace who has had quite the remarkable year. He went 14-10 in officials this year and paired it with a finals appearance in OLT. His price has been consistently rising throughout these, and he hasn't shown any signs of weakening performance as a player. The next three players were ranked 32nd, 39th, and 40th. Having three of the bottom nine ranked players, two of whom were scored dead last, is borderline unheard of, but not all is lost.

Even being ranked so low, Kate is coming off an exceptional first SV OU showing with a 5-3 performance, with an SPL trophy to boot. She hasn't had a great year officially otherwise, but that's moreso in her long-considered home tier of Ubers. She picked up some quality wins last year, and there's no reason to doubt she has the capability to do it again. Next up was entrocefalo. He has done decently in his relatively brief team tournament tenure, but he notably is the second Ubers main of this core alongside Kate, where the overwhelming majority of his results come from. Lastly we have patatexv, a French user who made the quarterfinals of OST last year. He was a midseason pickup from last SCL and ended up finishing 2-2 in his quick stint on the machines. Clearly, he impressed enough to get the nod into SPL this year, albeit finding himself on the bottom of these rankings.

It's perhaps notable that the latter trio of this core have not performed badly in SV OU; it's just that they simply don't have enough data to make strong positive judgements about them. Humorously, this team has solid SV options in both Cow and Finchinator, who also both are well respected for their BW OU prowess. It was expected mid-draft, upon seeing both of them, that one of them would be in BW while the other would join SV. Of course, this didn't happen, and instead they have the lowest-ranked core in the tournament. Maybe we'll all look back on these PRs in a few months and realize how foolish it was to doubt this core, but ultimately, for now, the rankers don't agree.

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While you remember the underscore at the end of his name, you should also not forget Mattz_'s absolutely spectacular tournament run in SS OU, which leads to his deserved place at the top of this year's power rankings! Until recently known as TDNT, his fantastic team tournament displays began in SPL XIV, when he took down a Gtcha in finals that was 6-2 that year and nigh unstoppable the year prior, before carrying the torch to a dominant 8-1 record the next year. His more recent display showed a few more cracks in the armor, as he would "only" go 5-3 last while admitting himself that he would be using suboptimal Pokemon for fun like Dracozolt and Galarian Zapdos and underperform in this year's SCL. However, without any admissions of self-sabotage this year and back in SS OU with support from another fantastic player in xray, rankers have expectations high for Mattz_, placing him first in the neck-and-neck-and-neck between the pool's top three.

After a disappointing season last year playing ORAS, the Beste of playing both Smogon singles and VGC doubles returns to his home turf of SS OU, a tier where, as an unbiased power ranker has emphasized, he is significantly more dominant in comparison to his other performances. Even outside his team tournament record, where he boasts the largest sample size in the pool and an overwhelmingly positive one at that, his individual experience in the tier culminated in two individual trophies in the same year, taking both Smogon Tour 35 and the inaugural Smogon Masters. However, the VGC aspect of his talents may detract from his season, as he announced in the commencement thread that competing and creating content may come at the cost of his activity. Even then, he seems poised to more than justify his strangely low price this season and deliver ample wins for the Sharks.

After a slow start in 2021, Gtcha burst onto the scene the following year with a 10-1 performance, the best in SS OU history and a record that may be unbreakable. This was followed up with another 6-3 display en route to back-to-back trophies on the Raiders and contributing to a 23-10 all time record in SS OU official team tournaments. That alone would be enough to justify his placement, if not question why he isn't ranked higher, but this year Gtcha also finds himself on the same team as bbeeaa again, a fellow Raider during their SPL XIV victory who provides fantastic support and pinky promises to stay unbanned this year, and Sacri', who can act as a very strong substitute after a solid comeback last year via SS OU. Similarly to TDNT ranked above him, Gtcha has cooled down slightly last year from his previously absurd stints, still putting up a strong 6-4 and winning the first SS OU invitational in the meantime, making the Wolfpack's SS slot intimidating for any opponent to face.

ChrisPBacon returns for his second season on the Alpha Ruiners in SS OU after a 6-3 debut last year. His retain comes to the surprise of absolutely nobody as the Ruiners look to contend in a stronger SS pool without breaking the bank during the auction. Chris has made the most of his brief tenure in official tournaments, dominating SS in a strong run through Smogon Masters and going 9-4 in official team tournaments thus far. He is capable of using teams across the archetype spectrum, including bulkier teams, which are highlighted by his marathon matchup with Gtcha last SPL that included a game one tie followed by a game two win with Pressure semi-stall in what totaled up to over 950 turns. With a track record of great results, a diverse enough profile in the metagame to keep opponents respecting both bulkier teams and hyper offense, and some helpers in-house including manager Empo, ChrisPBacon is poised to have a strong sophomore season as he ranks within the top half of the field!

Finchinator finds himself displaced from his home of BW this year, actually making his return to SS in SPL! This is, of course, not suggesting that he lacks experience, having played it as recently as last year's WCoP as well as numerous seasons during its stint as current generation in SCL and Snake, amassing a SS record of 23-19 that tracks with his overall placement around the middle of the pack. While Finch is certainly familiar with the other players, the pool has changed a good amount since it was current generation and is considerably stronger than his opponents in WCoP. It's up to him to prove that he can propel his team to success nevertheless and break a five-year long curse of his teams being unable to make playoffs in SPL, especially given the Tigers' relative lack of capable SS substitute options if things go south or if Finch is needed more in BW or SV.

Damien, the genius who won both of the SPLs he competed in, returns again to SS in hopes of a three-peat. Compared to the people ranking above, he lacks a true standout official individual or team tournament run, which he makes up for in recent experience and consistency that dwarfs that of the players below him, finishing 6-5 in both seasons. Moreover, he has clearly shown the ability to take down the top talent in his appearances, including Ox the Fox, Michael, TDNT, and Luthier twice. In a pool with quite a few familiar faces amongst the top, there shouldn't be any reason to doubt damien's ability to net another solid performance, with a possibility to exceed expectations for his retain price if he can maintain his higher echelons of play throughout and avoid Shiftry sun this year.

Fc may be in contention for the strongest player of 2025, going a mind-blowing 12-1 between WCoP and SCL … in current gen Ubers, which is NOT where he finds himself this year as he makes his debut in SPL SS OU! This isn't to say he has no official experience in SS OU, going 6-2 in the tier mostly off a fantastic showing in WCoP 2022, but he finds himself here as opposed to his traditional SPL home of SV from his unofficial showcases, with an 8-1 record in SSPL and a 5-2 record playing SS in OUPL while taking down SPL-caliber players. Whether he can translate his success in other tiers and unofficials to the big stage is still uncertain, especially with the more proven players in the pool resulting in his lower rank, but Fc seeks to extend his dominant streak into 2026, divorcing Koraidon for his trusty Seismic Toss Quagsire stall team. Worse come to worst, the Raiders have a wide array of substitutes of varied capability, with Eternal Spirit and AshKetchumGamer both having experience coupled with their secret weapon MANNAT's recent interest in the tier.

While Corazan has not played in an official team tournament since 2022 and his showing that year included an 0-3 SPL, the 3k Frenchman offers historic upside that could make him a dark horse in a deep SS field. There are some demons Corazan must first confront in order to outperform his ranking, however, as he is 0-8 in his SPL career despite being 16-6 across WCoP and SCL. An early win could help lift concerns about his form after some years off and not previously winning an SPL game, however. Once things get into a groove for Corazan, his aggressive playstyle could allow him to exploit the more laid-back, balance-focused playstyles of some players ranked above him. We did recently see Corazan win both of his FCPL playoff games in SS OU, but the fact of the matter is that we have yet to see him succeed at this level and we do not know what to expect after so many years off. A low ranking is very justified in this instance, and there is uncertainty, but anything worthwhile comes with assuming some risk. Hopefully for the Cryonicles, they can hit on Corazan's ceiling, or else we could see MGdos16 make his SPL debut as a substitute here.

Another veteran returning to action after a multi-year hiatus from SPL comes in at number nine with 1 True Lycan. 1 True Lycan is one of the better historic players from the United Kingdom and has shown impressive peaks as a player, including a three-year stint in SPL where his combined record was 14-8 that mostly overlapped with SS being the current generation. He is no stranger from doing well in SPL in SS OU, but the SS OU he played back then has a lot of differences from the modern metagame, which he will need to adapt to. While we have not seen anything too impressive from him since 2021, the Scooters offer a lot of in-house support to bring 1 True Lycan up to speed and perhaps support his team selections, with Ox the Fox and Storm Zone having a great track record in the metagame. Truth be told: this is a slot that has a lot of questions surrounding it, but there is not a lack of upside here, and we will have to see where 1 True Lycan is playingwise before making any major determinations. For now, expectations are low given this ranking, but anything is possible when you have a player who previously rolled off a 6-1 SPL in this same generation!

While Ikaishi has yet to debut in SPL or even play an official team tournament game outside of WCoP qualifiers, he may be the single most engaged player with the current SS OU metagame. Ikaishi played virtually every SS OU tournament he could find throughout 2025, which culminated in respectable showings in both Smogon Masters and the SS Circuit playoffs. While some may fear a skill gap, as his competition in many unofficial tournaments will be lacking relative to a strong SS field this SPL, Ikaishi showed he was superior to weaker competition while displaying great teambuilding, a wide array of team styles, and a read for many opponents along the way. On a team like the Tyrants, who have hit on many cheaper starters historically and have plenty of support for Ikaishi, we could very well see Ikaishi outperform his lowly tenth-place ranking! It will take him playing better than ever before and taking down stronger competition than he has faced thus far, which is cause for great concern and has sunk SPL hopefuls before, but there is a lot of reason to be hopeful here.

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The self-proclaimed GOAT of hyper offense finds himself ranked atop this pool in a year with fewer household names in SM. The OST champion has put up dominant results playing SV in individual tours, making deep runs in both Smogon Tour and OLT, and netting a 4-0 record in his last team tour. However, Vert has played almost no official games outside of SV OU, with no wins in SM during Smogon Tour playoffs and limited overall sheet experience. That said, it would be no surprise if Vert finds himself at home in a tier where offense is the most consistent team style and with support from ABR or Tenebricite. Notably, the Tyrants benefit from Vert's flexibility to swap tiers should he get iced out by opponents more familiar with the metagame.

The SM staple found himself ranked 2nd in the SM PRs. He's probably the most consistent player in the pool and brings the most experience in officials. His overall SM SPL record stands at a solid 7-6, and he played a really good World Cup 2 years ago with a 6-1. Even though he struggled in the last World Cup, finishing only 1–2, he showed excellent results this year in other tiers such as SV, including a Top 16 finish in OLT and qualification for the OU Circuit, which underlines his overall playing ability.

As a player, Tace tries to control the game through good positioning and long-term planning, instead of relying on hard reads. Overall he makes few mistakes. In addition, he is known for using proven structures instead of building new ones or playing new sets. This can be a double-edged sword. He doesn't tend to overcook stuff, but it can also lead to predictability and uninspired team choices. Last SPL for example, he lost against Genius X and Punny due to bad matchups and a lack of tech for the same in his own teams.

Drachenkeule is probably the most likely to go positive this season, simply because he's too boring to surprise us with a negative record. Jokes aside, his play is absolutely top-notch. He put up a solid 5-4 last season and, unlike a lot of the starters, plays the tier all year round in various unofficials, so in terms of keeping up to date with the tier and being self-sufficient, Drachenkeule is on top. He is unlikely to reinvent the wheel with his teams, and his play is towards the methodical side, so he will need to put some active thought into avoiding predictability. In terms of support, it could be worse; he will have Storm Zone's crackpot ideas to bounce off of, but generally he will stick to his own brand of solid, modern, generally offensive builds and be self-sufficient. He is already shaping up to be quite the SPL mainstay, and so there's a high possibility that he will perform this season, though with a disappointing year in individuals and it being only his second SPL, he will have plenty of motivation to prove himself even further.

Genius X is finally "out of his ORAS jail" and can start in SM after playing some ORAS games in last SPL and just 3 overall SM SPL games (2-1). Originally known as a draft main, he appeared out of nowhere in SM SPL 2 years ago, picking up some impressive wins, for example against Skypenguin, and finished with a solid 5–4 record. When looking at his games, it´s noticeable that he often goes for high-risk, high-reward plays, but he sometimes lacked consistency and made a few crucial misplays in important turns.

In addition, he has fashioned himself as a solid individual tournament player by qualifying for Smogtours Playoffs and Masters Topcut in 2025, which shows that he may have found the consistency he was lacking in recent years. It will be interesting to see whether he can translate this newfound consistency, combined with his aggressive playstyle, into a strong SM SPL performance.

Gondra returns to the main stage after making no official appearances in 2025. He finds himself ranked in the middle of the pack, in line with his 4-4 record playing SM three seasons ago and his overall tour results as of late. The Wolfpack will be counting on Gondra's ability to pilot standard teams to what has historically been a very safe floor, with the player never dropping below 4 wins. We could also see some new sparks from Gondra, as his ally and alleged SM aficionado bbeeaa was the team's big purchase in the auction. Will he be able to put up a performance reminiscent of his 9-2 SPL XI?

Heatflash is back to assail SM with his madness once more. Charm seems to flip-flop between dominant and disastrous tournaments, so he could easily bounce back from his 3-6 season last year. These inconsistent results seem to be mainly caused by his ever more creative building style. While limiting your opponent's knowledge of your team is arguably most important in SM, this has also birthed the likes of Z Doublade grass spam. Charmflash's demeanor and building seem to have scared off other managers, as his price plummeted, somehow failing to garner a single upbid. The Raiders have made a strong gamble, as Charm easily has the most upside in this pool when he does not limit himself.

Probably one of the biggest question marks in the entire pool, placed at 7th. His only SPL appearance as a player was two years ago, where he finished with a 2–5 record in SV and SS. Besides that, he showed a very strong World Cup performance (mainly in SM) with a 4–1 record. In addition, he achieved a Top 32 finish in Masters III and even a Top 16 finish in Masters II.

Most notably during his Masters II run was his win against the elite SM player Skypenguin using a mono-Fire team. This clearly indicates his willingness to fully cheese opponents if necessary. The guts to use such extraordinary strategies can be a cornerstone of his success but also a potential reason for failure. There is no clear prediction possible for DJ Breloominati's performance. The general roster of the Classiest does not seem to provide strong SM support, which raises the question of who will actually support DJ Breloominati throughout this season.

Metallica, primarily known as an ORAS OU and lower-tier main, is playing his second season outside of his favorite tier. Last SPL he started in SS and then switched after some struggles (and the start of Luthier's availability) to SM, where he finished the season with a strong 3:0 record. He is a dedicated ORAS builder who still has the SPL season as his only SM tournament appearance. So it's uncertain if he can continue his winning streak without getting outplayed by more experienced players in the tier. Especially in such an unforgiving tier like SM, mistakes can be really tough.

On the other hand, Metallica has, with Empo, the best SM OU player as a manager, who can surely support him well. The question is whether Metallica can transfer his aggressive ORAS playstyle into SM and can prove his ability to adapt his skills across multiple generations.

DeeJ will be making his playing debut this first week. The main results have been his Smogon Masters showings, making quarter finals in 2024 and top 16 this year. Outside of this, he hasn't played any SM tournaments since the current generation. Don't get me wrong, DeeJ is clearly a talented player that can hold his own, but out of this year's pool, he's certainly one of the least proven. It'll remain to be seen whether he is kept in the SM OU slot for the entirety of the season, as his proficiency in the three Masters gens makes him flexible, and the Sharks' SM slot isn't without competition. He won't be without solid support; on the bench are the experienced Santu and Roblox mainer Fdmw to help him find 'super MUs.' Nonetheless, how his season pans out for the Sharks' SM slot is something to look forward to.

It's surprising to see robjr rank dead last; he is clearly not a SM specialist, but despite playing SM OU in only one tournament for the last few years, he had an impressive neutral record in last season's SPL, picking up impressive wins against the likes of Skypenguin and ima. That alone should keep him from the bottom spot of this season's starters. Of the Cryonicles' squad, he looks to be the most likely to stay in the SM slot long-term should he perform to his usual standard. Hopefully he will punch well above his ranking and get a respectable amount of wins this season, but his standing among his peers has diminished with a years-long run of negative team tour finishes, leaving him ranked last despite his potential upside.

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Santu might be the hottest player in all of this year's SPL, getting rank 1 from all submissions two years in a row and just coming off from winning WCoP and STour. Between SPL and WCoP 2025, Santu has 14 wins while dropping only two games. With such incredible consistency, Santu looks in his peak form and has almost no openings. The only crack in his armor is that the Sharks don't have active ORAS builders, but it's doubtful that this would hinder him. Of note, however, is this year's ORAS pool. It is stronger than it has been in recent memory, and they may take more than one game from Santu.

After taking a break from all sheet tours for almost two years, xray is back in his home tier that made him a star. xray was the king of ORAS before Santu and actually ties Santu in all tournament wins, at 86 wins, though he has four more losses at 64. Moreover, it will be interesting to see how he holds up with the new talent coming in and with the ORAS innovations that transpired during his leave. I wouldn't be too worried though, as xray has always kept his nose close to the ground, religiously watching all ORAS tour games and drunk laddering on weekends. Will he reclaim his throne at the top, or will he take some time adjusting?

Hot off the heels of a great debut season with an impressive 6-5 SPL record last year and an even more impressive 8-3 in the last two WCoPs is Ruffles. He is hoping to continue his consistent high level performances this SPL despite the harsher pool. He is no stranger to high-pressure situations, as he played in both SPL and WCoP finals this year. Having lost both, Ruffles is surely fired up to perform. Of note, Ruffles is 14-8 all time on the sheet since his debut in WCoP 2024, but four out of his eight losses were served by Santu. Will he finally get a win versus Santu in his peak form, or will he go 0 for 5?

Tied with Ruffles, c0mp is third in rankings, coming off a hot 2025. He has been farming people in non-sheet tours such as OUPL and ORASPL all year in both SM and ORAS, dropping only a few games. Earlier this year, he also won the ORAS Ladder Tour, and just recently he came in second in the ORAS Invitational. Most importantly, he is coming off a stellar performance in Masters, winning the tour entirely with a record of 12-1 in ORAS. Probably the most hype edition yet, we'll see how far he can go in such a stacked pool.

pj is the ORAS SPL defender, which is a fitting position because many consider him to be the gatekeeper of high-level ORAS play, perfect for a year like this with plenty of newcomers. He is an ORAS staple that consistently drops good performances at a very high level, always nailing around five or six wins. Moreover, he also does great under pressure and regularly pulls off clutch wins, such as his win in SPL finals last year. Of note, pj tends to thrive or die by how well he is supported. Not to worry, though, as this year he has Metallica, ACR1, devin, and managers ima and Empo, which might just be the best ORAS support of the tour.

After missing out on last year's SPL due to a ban, NoName will likely be looking to come back with a vengeance after his forced six-month break. The prodigal son looks stronger than ever going into this season. Despite having sat out for so long, NoName has clearly spent his time well, working on his play as showcased by his semifinals placement in the ORAS 2025 Circuit Championship as well as an incredible 5-1 record in ORAS for OUPL. While he won't have his usual team supplier in Ruffles to build new teams, he still has Zaza, a respectable ORAS builder. With his consistent records, will he be able to finally prove his reputation on the big stage?

Ox might be one of the best players around in SS, but that doesn't necessarily translate to anything for him in ORAS. What does translate, however, is his recent first-place finish in ORAS Invitational. With his stellar performance, he has solidified himself in the ORAS player pool. While he is ranked 7th, I'm sure that only motivates Ox to prove himself. Outside of Invitational and Masters, he has no other track history in ORAS, so it will be interesting to see how far a good player like Ox can make it in this pool. Having very solid ORAS support in BluBirD might be what saves his season.

Poek somehow comes in eighth behind newcomers despite finishing third last year's SPL at an incredible 6-4 performance, combined with his extensive history and a proven record in ORAS. Coincidentally, Poek was also ranked low last year at 7th, only to prove everyone wrong. He may not have touched ORAS seriously since last SPL, but he certainly is not one to underestimate or slip up against. He also has incredible ORAS support this time around in ABR, Blunder, BlazingDark, and Tenebricite. Although this pool is stronger than last year's, it is unlikely that Poek finishes in the bottom half.

After an extended hiatus, Persephone makes a surprise return back to the scene. However, some doubts still linger about his ability to perform at this level after such a long time out. Despite this, Persephone managed to put up decent showings in the ORAS Ladder Tour and ORAS Invitational. Alongside him is support and possible future sub kingofking, a newer player who has been making rounds in side tours. It was definitely an interesting move from the managers to combine a returning veteran with an aspiring rookie. Will Persephone prove the doubters wrong? Or will kingofking get his first sheet game this SPL?

Piyu has not played a single ORAS tour game in almost two years, if not more. He did not play in Masters or even side tours such as ORASPL, OUPL, or RoAPL. No one doubts his skills as a player, but with no recent data in ORAS, the managerial decision of starting Piyu over London Beats has puzzled many. Maybe they see something we don't, so he is sure to be one to watch. One thing is for sure, no information can definitely be a huge advantage in a prep-heavy tour such as SPL, if played right.

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In 1st place of this year's BW power rankings, we have the head of old gens councils and head tournament director, Star. To the casual viewer's eye, Star is an incredible ADV and fairy gens player, possibly even the best player to have never won an individual. To those in the know and his fellow BWers, however, Gen 5 is Starmaster's home away from home. He has won 2 out of 3 BW Invitationals, to the dismay of Monai's paypal account; boasts a BW Cup record of 27-8, regularly making deep runs in the competition; and even has 2 BWPLs under his belt. When he isn't terrorizing Policy Review, he is quietly dispatching BW's best players with little to no prep. A serious case can be made for BW being Star's best tier. So much so that his manager this season turned down the opportunity to retain a BWer who went 7-2 the previous year in favor of him. This writer eagerly awaits Star's first SPL season since 2023, going for a staggering price tag of 36k while being tier-locked to BW only, a true testament to his skill.

Ranked second is Soulwind, the general consensus greatest BW player of all time and arguably the greatest overall player of all time. As demonstrated by his ranking this year, the BW community and player base seem to be losing faith in the man who went 9-0 in the tier back in 2020. This year actually marks the first time since SPL 7 in 2016 where Soulwind isn't #1 in the BW PRs, ignoring SPL XIV where he played SS. That amounts to a remarkable eight-year stretch at the very top. The reason Soulwind's streak has been broken can be attributed to the fact that last season was the first time he did not go positive in the tier since 2021, as he finished 5-5. Many interpreted this result as a lack of effort or commitment, prompting questions about whether his motivation has begun to wane. On top of that, the teams he used were also brought into question, as many felt that they were a bit outdated or unorthodox. That being said, his talent and experience cannot be understated. Soulwind is still a player every manager would want on their roster, and on paper, he remains the greatest BW player of all time, which is more than enough to justify his continued place among the top two in the pool.

Moving on to 3rd place, we have GaryTheGengar. Gary is one of the most experienced players in this BW pool with 32 total SPL BW OU games and his first SPL appearance occurring back in 2012. We last saw GaryTheGengar in SPL a year ago, where he had an unfortunate season, going 2-7. He rebounded a few months later, winning his 2nd BW Cup and becoming the only player to ever win 2 of them, a very commendable feat. Gary's most impressive BW runs came within the past 5 years, both for the Wi-Fi Wolfpack. In 2021 he won SPL in one of the greatest teams ever while going 5-3, an excellent return on his measly 3.5k price tag. In 2022, however, his Wolfpack teammates struggled to match Gary's strong 5-2 performance, the 2nd best overall record on the team, as they unfortunately missed out on playoffs. Will Gary maintain the impressive form that he showed in last year's BW cup and previous SPL seasons, aided by 2025's Classic Winner PDC, or will he fail to match those high standards?

In 4th place we have the BW community's favorite punching bag, forum moderator, and ladder addict, Monai. Many of us recall when Monai was a fresh face in BW OU, a star prospect even, but it has now been over 4 years since Monai's breakout BW tournament. 2021's BW cup saw him finish in the top 8, taking down formidable opponents such as Kenix, Marshall.Law, and most notably, Soulwind. This earned him a shot in 2023's deep BW SPL pool, where he unfortunately fell to a 2-7 record. He spent the whole of 2024 improving himself and fought back to earn another opportunity in 2025's SPL, which he seized with both hands by earning a remarkable 7-2 record, the best in the pool. A player who is infamous for challenging the metagame, whether it's through Sp Def Landorus-Therian, Custap Berry Tyranitar in a tier where Focus Blast runs rampant, or even his Life Orb Alakazam, we eagerly await to see whether Monai can match his 2025 season and make Team Raiders regret not retaining him.

5th place in this year's BW power rankings is taken by Harshest, formerly known as Marsandback, who has been a top prospect in the BW community for years. His breakout performance in the tier occurred in the summer of 2022, when he went 3-1 in BWPL, carrying his team to semi-finals. Since then he has made a name for himself in multiple tiers, reaching the top cut of masters in 2024 and reaching DPP Cup finals last year. In terms of BW specifically, he won the BW Global Championships in 2023, BWPL in 2023, and BW World Cup last year and was a finalist of BW Winter Seasonal last year and the BW Circuit Championships last month. His builds are innovative, and his style of play is very calculated, yet aggressive. He has been waiting years to get his shot in SPL's BW pool, and after supporting Watashi last SPL to a 5-4 record, he is as ready and eager as ever.

Entering the bottom half of the power rankings is Cow in 6th place, an immensely talented up-and-coming player who enjoyed a stellar 2025 after many felt he was unfairly snubbed in last year's rankings. He began the year with a BW Winter Seasonal victory and followed it up with a string of impressive performances in side tournaments. Notably, his best record did not even come in BW, as he posted a dominant 7-1 record in SV during OUPL. He also finished with a positive record in SV OU during last summer's WCOP, further highlighting his versatility. Prior to the auction many wondered whether Cow would start in SV or BW, as he had impressive performances in both tiers. A question mark surrounding Cow specifically has been his lack of experience, as he only started out in late 2023, but it has been very impressive seeing how far he has come in such a short period. With his drive and hunger to prove himself, Cow has all the makings of a dark horse in this tournament capable of pulling off upsets, especially while being guided by the head of BW, Finchinator.

7th place houses Mako, who we have never seen play BW in SPL but remains no stranger to the tier. Mako had a dominant BW Cup win in 2023, which led many to believe that she would play BW in SPL XV, which she did not. Mako has consistent SPL records in SV, ADV, and RBY, earning a solid reputation as one of the best players on the website. It may seem strange that such an accomplished player is ranked 7th in the PRs, but this can be attributed to an absence in BW for the Chilean player, who hasn't had any notable accomplishments in the tier since her BW Cup win. Mako is not to be underestimated, however, as she is a very solid and motivated player who hasn't gone negative in the past 3 SPL editions.

In 8th place we have an extremely polarizing figure, an enemy of half the members of the Smogon Tournaments Discord, Brine. Brine's name has been infamous not only for his playing ability but also his massive ego, as he can seemingly start an argument with anybody in a 10-line radius on Discord. A common criticism has been his reluctance to enter tournaments, a trait many have labeled as cowardice. He has slowly been putting these allegations to rest, however, as he finished 3rd in 2025's BW Invitational and put up an impressive record of 5-1 in 2024's BWPL. The remaining question marks surrounding him stem not from his skill, but from the fact that this will be his first opportunity as an SPL starter. Last year he aided Rewer to a 6-3 BW record on the Indie Scooters, and this year he has the opportunity to improve that score for the same franchise, hopefully aided by his former foe and now teammate Elodin.

Dark Eeveon is easily the most polarizing player on this list. Ranked 9th in this year's power rankings, some may question how he sits this low after posting positive records in both of his SPL appearances. The explanation lies in his highly unconventional approach to the metagame. Eeveon has been a major influence behind the increased usage of Pokémon such as Conkeldurr and Blastoise, among others. While these innovations are entertaining and refreshing for spectators, many of his peers dismiss his builds as "cheesy" or "fishy," a perception reflected in his lower PR placement. Eeveon's experience cannot be brought into question, however, as he boasts 2 consecutive BW Cup semi-final finishes in 2021 and 2022, as well as 2 consecutive 5-4 records in BW OU in 2023 and 2024's SPLs. Eeveon once again has the opportunity to silence his doubters, and history suggests he very well might.

Coming in at last place is an absolute fossil, the finalist of the third-ever BW cup, Sugarhigh. A longtime SPL participant, his most recent appearance came in 2021, when the Tyrants reached the finals but narrowly fell in the tiebreaks, unfortunately without Sugarhigh making a single appearance that season. These days, he can be found loading questionable teams on the BW ladder or making deep runs in Smogon Masters. One would hope that teaming with 2024's standout BW player Fakes would improve the aforementioned issue. His placement at the bottom of this year's power rankings largely reflects his extended absence from top-level BW play, but there's still hope he can turn back the clock and recapture the form he showed back in SPL 7.

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After a short but successful excursion in PU for SCL, Void returns to his home tier of DPP OU. Boasting a combined 16-2 record in DPP OU over the past 2 SPLs, Void is the person to beat this SPL. Known for creative builds and aggressive play, the Pokébeach native will surely find novel ways to abuse the sands of Hippowdon and the Hydro Pumps of Starmie. Historically, Void received building support from the not-so-mysterious user "Osgoode," who has decided to "retire" for the thousandth time. In a metagame ripe for innovation with Sleep being banned, Void will need to work towards creating his own teams (at least sometimes) to keep up with a player base eager to regicide the reigning Sultan.

Gilbert arenas, aka marcop, has never been known primarily for his DPP OU skills other than winning DPP Cup VIII in 2020. This year, however, he's changed that with a DPP Revival championship run and, although not in an SPL tier, a strong 8-2 run in SCL V. Marcop is coming into this SPL with a lot of momentum and one of the best DPP supports in PDC, who recently won both Classic and the DPP circuit, as well as supporting marcop en route to his revival victory. The second-place ranking reflects marcop's strong performance in Smogon tournaments in the second half of the year, his DPP prowess he demonstrated during revival, and what's looking like the strongest DPP duo in the tournament. 34k is the largest investment in a DPP player ever, so the confidence that marcop and PDC have to put on a generational performance is high.

That said, marcop has never played a full season of DPP in SPL. The odds are high that he will perform well; however, for some, especially in a pool full of seasoned DPP veterans, that may require some initial adjustment in preparation and gameplay. Regardless, marcop is a very clear top 2 contender in the pool and a tier above the remaining players and will be one to pay close attention to in DPP.

Rounding out the top 3 is Pideous, who has had the strongest and most consistent showings in individual DPP tournaments in the past three years. Since her last SPL appearance, Pideous has performed well in smaller DPP tournaments like DPPPL, won a seasonal, and most recently placed top 3 in DPP Revival. In terms of teambuilding, Pideous has demonstrated herself to be especially strong. In particular, she built several teams that defined the meta during her championship Jirachee's DPP Invitational run.

There are some concerns, however, leading into the tournament. Despite the strong placing in revival, Pideous did not build nearly as many new or meta-defining teams as they did in 2023, relying mostly on older teams and reusing. Additionally, her first SPL attempt ended in a 3-5 record in DPP when she had even more momentum going into the tournament. Time will tell if Pideous can live up to the top 3 ranking, although it is certainly not undeserved for all she has accomplished in the tier individually.

Historically, Malekith has been an SPL staple in DPP for several years. From SPL 10 to 15, every time Malekith has played DPP, he has finished the regular season 5-4, lost in the semis if played, and then his team was eliminated. This shows that Malekith has performed in the tier consistently well and helped his team reach the playoffs multiple times. Malekith mixes well his unique style of teambuilding and cleverly using established, strong builds to throw his opponents off guard.

Last year, Malekith had his first blip in terms of SPL performance, going 0-2 in DPP, losing another DPP game later in the season, and then not playing DPP for the rest of the season. Bad seasons happen, but this SPL is following said bad season. Will Malekith be able to live up to his usual expectations and put forth a strong SPL DPP campaign? Will he repeat his last year's performance and have a rough time with the tier? Or will he even exceed expectations and finally notch his 6-win season? Only time will tell, but the rankers project Malekith to have a strong performance this year.

Groudon showed up big time for the Classiest last year after being ranked last on the power rankings, including a 6-win showing and a win in the finals. Now, Groudon enters the pool with a lot more confidence in him from the raters. Groudon isn't a flashy player and usually sticks to his comfort zone of offensive builds; however, he is consistent with his style, executes solidly, and has demonstrated a strong foundational approach for SPL preparation and piloting. This year, he returns to the Classiest on a similar team with a similar support network, but also he has several more DPP-playing teammates to bounce ideas off of, including M Dragon, Lazuli, and Sheik. Overall, Groudon should be poised to have a similarly strong performance to last year.

Lady Bug is part of the "old guard" of DPP, having played since Garchomp, Deoxys-S, Shaymin-S, and ghosting were legal. Known as an incredibly innovative and historically skilled player, Lady Bug boasted a mediocre 4-4 record last SPL after a long hiatus. Now, after a year of continued activity, Lady Bug returns to DPP OU under the guidance of similarly geriatric manager, reyscarface, who is sure to advocate for Lady Bug's most unhinged building tendencies. Lady Bug presents a conundrum—a player who surely has the fundamental building and playing skills to dominate the pool, yet may fall victim to his own unconventional building and expectations of his opponents. Regardless of his SPL record, the spectator will be winning every week watching his games.

SFG is finally getting his chance at a full SPL season again, and it's certainly deserved. Last time this happened in SPL 14, SFG was projected to struggle in a strong pool and unfortunately went 1-6. This time, however, there's a lot more to suggest that SFG will outperform his ranking. He has shown greater consistency in the DPP Circuit, went 2-0 in DPP last SPL, has elodin to bounce ideas off of, and the pool is not as stacked as it was in SPL 14. It is unknown how much SFG builds in DPP, but he should have the tools to do so if needed, and it is unlikely that he will have issues with team selection. Despite the bottom half ranking in the DPP pool, SFG is coming into SPL with more momentum than before. Will SFG finally get his breakout performance in DPP and establish himself as a household DPP starter moving forward? The chances are definitely reasonable.

Tizio Potente Ao is an Italian veteran player who has never played in SPL before. Throughout the past year, he returned out of nowhere and qualified for the Machamp suspect test. Later on, he had several strong performances in old gen/DPP team tournaments and most notably won both DPP and BW global, indicating his well-roundedness and consistency as a player. Tizio is self-sufficient and has his own style and approach that works for him, and he was able to quickly translate this into strong results throughout the year. Now, Tizio comes into SPL as a full-fledged DPP starter, and although rankers coined him as an underdog, Tizio undeniably has the skills to prove everyone wrong.

199 Lives last played SPL in 2015, where he went 1-5 and promptly took a long hiatus. Another "old guard" DPPer, 199 Lives has resumed his activity in the tier and returns to SPL eager to dominate a field full of players both familiar and foreign to him since his last campaign. For the newer crowd, 199 Lives had a reputation of being an innovator in his time, pioneering Pokémon like Dugtrio long before its utility became apparent. 199 Lives' reputation neither betrays nor bolsters him: his in-game play is solid yet unexceptional, and his building is trendy but situational. To make matters worse, the Ever Grande BIGS have perhaps the weakest DPP support in the tour, with no clear substitute in case of catastrophe and a dearth of prep aid.

Still, 199 Lives may be one of the most dynamic players in DPP this SPL. Everybody supports an underdog and a fairy-tale comeback story, and 199 Lives fits the bill perfectly. If he levels up his game, he is looking forward to a great season, which would turn out to be one of the best crusty player resurgences in recent memory.

There are three things certain in Smogon life: Finch-posting, ghosting scandals, and French DPPers. Ranked last, Skyrio is a notch below the Ojama-Go10-boudouche line of succession, although by no means should he be counted out. A relative newcomer, Skyrio's last SPL appearance was in 2024, where he went 3-6. The past year Skyrio has not exactly "proven" himself, going 1-2 in the DPP Invitational and not participating in DPPPL or DPP Cup. All things considered, Skyrio does not have the resume normally attributed to DPP players in SPL and will need to utilize this tour as his own "breakout" performance instead.

The upside to all of this is Skyrio enjoys one of the best managerial support cores for DPP OU in the tour. Laurel and twash have both played DPP at the SPL level in the near past and are active and eager to help mold new talent in a tier they hold near to their hearts. Everybody wants a success story, and Skyrio is probably the player with the most potential for a Cinderella story.

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A staple of SPL excellency in recent years, there is so much to be excited about when it comes to first-ranked Shitrock enjoyer (also known as Fruhdazi). Coming off a semifinals SPL run last year that included defeating McMeghan twice, Fruhdazi finds himself with many expectations in a field that has significantly thinned this year. This has left a massive opening at the top of the PRs that Fruhdazi is more than happy to fill. He has also been retained by the Tyrants, who now have ABR as a supporting manager to bounce ideas off of. But to tell you the truth? Fruhdazi has just looked incredibly solid both in-game and off the court this year. Coming off an Invitational second-place finish, he has been a massive contributor (much like previous years) to pushing the metagame forward, introducing new team styles and constantly challenging conventional teambuilding. The stars seem to have aligned for the Tyrants this year, and ADV should be no exception. The only thing to see now is whether Fruhdazi can live up to these expectations, or whether his run ends up being slop.

Another returning player from last year, Triangles has very little to prove yet somehow seems to have found a new groove in modern ADV. Triangles has found even more in 2025 to add on to his pile of accomplishments, with an excellent third-place Invitational finish, losing only to Fruhdazi and Fakes along the way. He is also coming off an superb 5-2 record last year, and in an ADV pool with less star power than last year he is projected to have another great SPL. There is a small question mark on support here; most of the players on Triangles team are not really known for ADV support, but I have a feeling Triangles will recruit some old farts to keep himself afloat if he ever needs it. On a team where the managers are not really known for oldgen support, this self-sufficiency should prove invaluable, and it can only be expected that the humble polygon will deliver on this second-place ranking.

The story of Endill is one of determination against expectations. Going from a midseason desperation pickup into one of the hottest ADV players and third in the PRs in one season is an impressive feat, but it cannot be said that Endill didn't earn it. Endill garnered a respectable 3-1 record last year after being drafted in the midseason to replace a struggling Skarpherim (who had lost his meager support to a ban) and followed this accomplishment up with an amazing fourth-place invitational finish. Another notable and interesting accomplishment for Endill this year was also a 5-0 run in World Cup of Pokémon playing SM OU, which included a win over Empo (and the only loss Empo took in that tournament). As an extra sigh of relief for the Raiders, Endill is known for being able to source his own teams, either from his own building or from others, so there should not be a repeat of the early season last year. You can tell the Raiders trust Endill to carry this slot; there is no backup ADV player to take over if this 10k retain doesn't deliver. With a third-place ranking on top, there will be a lot of expectations to perform this year for this Chilean player, but this writer is confident in Endill's ability to exceed those expectations.

Prinz is no new face to ADV, with an exceptional 9-3 ADV SPL record... from 2020. Without considering offsite results, this might seem like a strange tier for Prinz to be playing in the big 2026, but he is coming fresh off an ADV Revival 3 win and an awesome 6-2 record including multiple tiebreak slottings in an MVP level ADV World Cup championship run. Prinz is also playing at home, with multiple Italian managers and teammates. Prinz also has the stellar support of Fakes, who won the Invitational this year, as well as JabbaTheGriffin and the magnanimous Dababy2. By all accounts this should have Prinz set up to make a massive delivery on this fourth place in the PRs, especially as he's no slouch to sourcing and building his own teams. We will have to see if this streak of winning will continue, but at the very least, fans can expect to enjoy every game Prinz plays this season.

After rocking the ORAS pool to the tune of 8-1 last year, Garay decided to take his talents to a generation he surprisingly hasn't played a full season of in SPL—ADV! Compared to the majority of the pool, Garay has experience in spades having played a variety of different tiers and generations throughout the years, with his ability to translate his feel for the game being something that you don't find often in a player. This extends to ADV, where he's been on a mean streak with both an ADV Cup and a Circuit win under his belt this year. These coupled with a few decent showings in Invitationals were without what I think to be the real X-factor the Classiest have, which is the support of M Dragon. M Dragon's ADV slot in his Tigers run last year was incredibly impressive, so expectations are definitely there for him to aid Garay in doing the best he can possibly do. This could also work for London Beats or Sheik :, with both being able to substitute for ADV if management wants to put Garay elsewhere. Without a doubt, the possibility of him running away with a top performance is there, so it will be exciting to see whether he capitalizes on it or not.

Skarpherim is an interesting question mark going into this SPL. It is not often a player will go 1-4 into bench in an 8k debut SPL into a 19.5k pricetag for the same tier the next year. Notably, the same issue that plagued Skarpherim last year seems to be present on the Tigers team, with auxiliary support from NoName6293 and pixie909 as the only source of ADV building on the team. Its an interesting choice from the new Tigers management, but admittedly not so baffling when you look into what Skarpherim did this year. Most notably, Skarpherim won ADV Cup in fairly dominant fashion and featured in Smogon Classic XI playoffs. That said, ADV as a best of 1 is a completely different beast from the luxury the Bo3 ADV Cup provides, and this writer finds himself much in the same position as last year regarding Skarpherim. If he can find good support or somehow build his own teams this year, Skarph absolutely justifies the faith put in him by the Tigers. However, things will look just as dire as last year if Skarph fails to find his footing support wise, and the most likely outcome if Skarph does falter will be another SPL rookie being added to the pool in pixie909. Only time will tell if this gamble from the Tigers pays off.

One of the two ADV rookies this SPL, there is a lot to look forward to from Johnald despite this lower ranking. Johnald is an eclectic builder, with extremely varied and interesting team choices and builds. He is also a prolific ladder player, and is known for being able to take any sort of concept (shoutout Stantler) and make it work in the Bo1 ladder environment. This combined with excellent support from another rookie who builds his own teams, Zpanther, as well as Mako makes for a solid ADV core. Johnald has been no slouch on tournament results either, with a solid second-place finish in ADV Cup and a strong 6-2 showing in ADVPL.

Known for being just as at home in a stall game as he is in the fastest of offenses, Johnald should be a bit of a dark horse this SPL, especially if he and his team are underestimated.

This will be the second year mayo appears in SPL, with two late-season ADV games last season against two incredibly tough opponents in Conflict and the MVP of the tournament baddummy. This year, mayo looks to change that 0-2 into a 7-2, and there's a lot to be optimistic about here. Conflict has gone from foe to friend, and as a manager he should provide excellent support along with Classic finalist mind gaming, also on the managing roster. Additionally, a very respectable builder and ADV Invitational Top 6 player in Kollin will be supporting from the bench and can possibly play if needed. Mayo herself has had a strong 2025, with a stellar 5-2 ADVPL run in the best-of-three slot against very strong opponents. Kollin and Mayo are also both known for building their own teams or their own takes on traditional teams, which usually is a good sign especially in an ADV pool lacking a lot of the star power of last year. If this meeting of the minds ends up being harmonious, there is a great chance that the Sharks ADV slot will defy expectations.

After a brutal 2-5 last year, violet river is back to try and prove her prowess at a gen she has continued to do well in outside of SPL. With a strong ADVPL championship run and yet another ADV Invitational Top 8 run, there is a lot to be excited about for River this year. River's support is also top notch, with the best builder in the pool in mielke and some auxiliary support from Fear and Void. The Wolfpack managed to come away with both of these players for 6.5k, easily making up for the nearly 40k they spent on known Tours yapper bbeeaa. It should also be noted that as usual that the pool seems incredibly close again on the lower end, so there's a lot of upside for a 3k as long as they can at least break even. If mielke and Fear can rein in some of River's wild teambuilding tendencies (surely we see less Slaking this year...) and River can perform like she did in Invitational or ADVPL, then the Wolfpack are in great hands. Otherwise, we might see mielke take the field for the remainder of the season.

They say someone always has to be last, and this year that player is zinc. With near-unanimous last place rankings, it will be up to zinc to defy expectations this year for the Cryos. Support from PDC, marcop, gorgie, and robjr is a great start, and backup Circuit player and Smash legend mgdos16 is waiting in the wings if things don't pan out with zinc. zinc's 2-1 showing in ADV World Cup and strong ladder tour performance obviously won over these managers, and again with such incredible support even a last place in the PRs doesn't seem so impossible to overcome. zinc is also known as a leading figure in the ADV Draft scene, so she is not stranger to sourcing and building teams for a matchup. Without any official experience, however, it makes sense zinc is rated last here, despite the bevy of support. We will have to see if zinc can fulfill the trust the Cryos are putting in her to deliver.

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Head and shoulders above the field stands M Dragon, a perennial SPL player across multiple generations as well as an individual tournament powerhouse who has chosen to make a dent in GSC this year. Over the last year he has not been playing much GSC in the circuit, though it cannot be ignored that he went undefeated in GSC for that year's Classic playoffs. Being the second most expensive player in the tournament should definitely show the value that not only the Classiest but every other manager has on getting M Dragon, and for good reason. M Dragon's impact on GSC's history is not to be understated, being the origin of many popular teams that are still in use today (or at least according to his history of GSC). With his track record in SPL, and in oldgens as a whole, we are bound to be seeing some great play coming from him.

This year Rubyblood finds himself skyrocketing in both Power Ranking placement and price, ballooning from seventh to second and 12k to 24k, respectively. While this is partially due to many of the GSC "big dogs" stepping out of the ring this year, Rubyblood has also accrued an impressive slew of results this past year. Last SPL he completed his first full year as a GSC starter, grabbing a fantastic 6-4 record as an anchor to the Tyrant's semifinals run. He also just took home the GSC Circuit ribbon in an impressive run after besting aminita, Fear, and MrSoup. Rubyblood has a slower, measured approach to GSC that's distinct from his opponents, focusing on methodologically picking apart the opposition. Using his signature style, it's no secret that Ruby will likely put up a good result this year—what remains to be seen is if the Tigers' large bet on Ruby will allow them to systematically beat down their competition into the franchise's first trophy.

choolio returned to SPL last year after a three-year hiatus and put up an impressive 6-4 record, including a key win in semifinals to tie the series. Unfortunately, he was not able to clinch the tiebreak win and bring his team to finals, but as a retain this year, he will be out for redemption with the Wolfpack. choolio stays quiet for the most part outside of the SPL season, not having joined any individual tournaments this year. His most recent individual achievement is a third-place finish in last year's GSC invitational. However, his quite strong SPL record last year, along with a much different GSC player pool this year, has led to choolio's price tag tripling. Perhaps this Wolfpack retain will pay off as they recreate the same venerable Wolfpack GSC core from SPL 8—nine years ago—between choolio, Fear, and coco. With such outstanding support and experience, the Wolfpack's GSC will be one to watch.

After a strong six-win season in 2024 RealJester went on hiatus from SPL and GSC overall. He's back now, and on the main stage, to try to pick up the trophy that he fell just short of in SPLXV finals. Ranking here at fourth, it's clear that despite his break, the GSC community feels confident in Jester's ability to perform against a very different GSC pool. Jester has kept in touch with the meta, staying in the loop on discussions and playing many non-tournament battles. His approach to the tier this year will be something to watch as he sits in the middle of a GSC pool defined by polar extremes of new rookies and experienced veterans. RealJester will be looking to solidify his place as a GSC staple this year by showing his 6-5 season was no accident.

Rounding out the top half of the pool is Zokuru, a player well known for his meta-defining teams and unique style. The self-dubbed stall lord is no stranger to long games, well known in the community for playing a 1501-turn / four-hour set in the past invitational (How? Both players brought stall...thrice). Zokuru is no stranger to SPL, with his past experience letting him make the tough plays needed to hold his own in any pool, giving him a close fifth place in the rankings. Backed up by known innovator and testing partner gorgie (the duo that previously brought you Rollout lax), expect to see teams that will reshape the GSC meta.

Money match champion and all-around great player Fakes decides to try his hand at GSC this season. While better known for his success in BW2 and DPP, putting up good records since his return to SPL in 20XX, Fakes is no slouch in any old generation, qualifying for this year's Classic playoffs despite losing to activity multiple times. While he would end up losing to PDC in quarterfinals, he beat previous SPL and Invitational-level GSC players MrSoup and Garay Oak on his way his there. While his large price tag would usually put him at the top of any pool, due to his perceived lack of experience he finds himself at 6th place, behind all other regulars. Ultimately its up to Fakes to prove that mons is mons—otherwise, he may find himself moved out to the greener pastures of DPP or BW.

The face of the new school of GSC, Underlying is the pool's most expensive rookie at 10k. While he flew under the radar last year, in 2025 he put up an impressive 9-1 performance in GSCPL and placed second in this year's Invitational, defeating players like Kenix, Conflict, and gorgie. While unfortunately most of the top names he has faced are sitting out this SPL, he plays a strong, fundamental style and keeps a cool head under pressure, so he should have no trouble adapting to a new pool. While this being his first SPL caused him to place 7th, below more experienced players, being ranked above the rest of the rookies shows high expectations—all that's left is for Underlying to prove them right.

Just beating out fellow rookie Ombrarch for 8th place is Aminita, GSC's newest scholar. Aminita plays a measured style, bringing teams influenced by legends of the tier Lavos and Kenix to decisive results—he repopularized Iron Tail Steelix in 2025 and was responsible for the proliferation of the newest BP techs in GSC's first ladder tour. His study of seemingly every GSC SPL game ever played and enrollment in the Carapinga Academy made his mark on tier, propelling him to second place in GSC Winter Seasonal and wins over established players like Conflict (twice) and gorgie in GSCPL. Those two wins were the likely difference maker in the Sharks picking up Aminita, and with Conflict's support we should expect interesting things from the Sharks' GSC slot. Aminita is looking to follow in the footsteps of his influences to a dominant GSC season, but if it doesnt pan out—c'est la vie.

OmBrArch's status as one of the newcomers to SPL does put him low on this list, but he should in no way be written off. OmBrArch has gone up against a lot of this pool in individual tournaments as well as in team tours, so his familiarity with the pool is very high. While previously being a disciple of Zokuru, he has come into his own style, being well acquainted with all of offense, stall, and balance. His insights and innovation contribute a lot, to the point where he can be consistently performing against the best of the best in GSC, beating high-level players like d0nut in this year's Invitational. That said, it will be a new experience going from chronicling last SPL to being the one written about, especially in an SPL environment with hefty competition. Although he knows some of his competitors well, it remains to be seen how he does with the rest of the pool.

elodin finds himself in a strange spot with a mix of newcomers as well as some older faces to the scene. 40-37 in SPL all time is no joke; however, in none of these games did he play GSC. In this year's Classic playoffs, he went 1-1 in GSC, but a more comprehensive look at his lifetime Classic playoff performance shows him losing to Zokuru and Ombrarch—two players in this year's SPL pool. elodin faces a uphill task this iteration of SPL, as despite previous GSC starter ziloXX's support, he may have to get up to speed quickly. It would be foolish to doubt elodin's skill, but it cannot be denied that the odds are stacked against him this year.

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Serpi once again sits atop the RBY rankings, as predictably as a clock's tick. With a playstyle defined by the methodical precision of a Swiss watch, Serpi collects wins through subtle, well-timed pressure rather than explosive swings, embodying clockwork consistency across both SPL and individual tours. His long-term results speak for themselves: a formidable 20–9 SPL record over the past three seasons, another circuit tournament victory added to a never-ending list in the form of the 2025 Global Championship, and a fifth consecutive year finishing as either the first or second seed in RBY Circuit standings.

What separates Serpi from the rest of the field is not just the results, but the way those results are produced. His games tend to unfold on a measured timeline, defined by disciplined positioning and a refusal to overextend when patience will suffice. Rather than relying on surprise factor or matchup fishing, Serpi consistently trusts small advantages to compound, grinding opponents down through clean sequencing and low-variance decision-making. In a tier where a single misstep can swing an entire game, his ability to stay composed and structurally sound has proven remarkably durable year after year.

Undoubtedly the man to beat, Serpi is rarely rushed and rarely rattled, even against opponents eager to disrupt his tempo. Operating on his own schedule and rarely falling out of sync, he brings wins with consistency that feels almost inevitable—less about catching opponents off guard and more about letting the game slowly wind in his favor. For challengers looking to unseat him, the task is clear but daunting: finding a way to break a rhythm that has, so far, proven extremely resistant to disruption.

Sceptross was retained by the Cryonicles after topping last year's pool with a 7-2 record, finally changing the narrative that had been set by his unfortunate 2-6 outing all the way back in SPL X (2019).

With the redemption arc well and truly completed last year, the question this year is what comes next? This tournament will be a turning point in Sceptross's story. Is he here to stay as a consistent top threat, with the 7-2 marking the start of a new era? Or was that peak something that he will struggle to replicate?

Most people would bet on the former. While Sceptross's post-SPL 2025 has been quiet, this is not unusual for many RBYers, who give most of their grind and energy to SPL itself. He is still at the heart of the RBY community, extremely well-liked and frequently exchanging ideas about the game with other top minds of the game. This certainly gives good reason to suspect that he will replicate the factors behind last year's success: a solid style that matches up nicely with the current metagame trends while being nigh impossible to exploit, coupled with laser-focused preparation of specific lines and matchups, and the cherry on top is the quintessential ability of any great player to pull the trigger at the right time.

This is the time for Sceptross to leave his mark: the pool is weaker than usual, the winds are behind him, and the conditions are right for him to pull off another statement performance that truly cements him as an absolute top player in RBY. Will he earn his spot on Mount Olympus, or is he going to stumble back down to not-quite-greatness?

Nicole's rise through the RBY scene has been less a sudden breakthrough and more a long, deliberate climb. Like a hiker working steadily up a mountain, she began at the base—subbing in for chuva de perereca in RBYPL in late 2023—before earning her way higher with a spot in the RBY Invitational Play-ins, and subsequently the main event, in the summer of 2024. That upward momentum continued with her first individual tournament win via a 2024 Summer Seasonal win, followed by a runner-up finish in the 2025 RBY Invitational as a full main-event player. By last year, Nicole had reached a new altitude, rewarded with her SPL debut after years of steady progress.

As something of a poster child for RBY's next generation, there was understandable curiosity over whether that relentless climb would culminate in an immediate SPL breakout. While she didn't extend her ascent uninterrupted, Nicole still posted a respectable 4–5 record in an admittedly strong pool, holding her own against seasoned opposition. Since SPL, her 2025 has been quieter, marking a brief plateau after two years of near-constant upward motion. Stylistically, she shares much with her longtime friend and partner in crime, Sceptross: laser-focused adaptation to her opponents, strong preparation of early-game dynamics and matchups, and a sharp instinct for when to pull the trigger—balancing precision with a natural knack for risk-taking when the moment demands it—matched by very few in the pool.

Now, Nicole stands at a familiar crossroads on the trail. The climb has brought her into clear view of the summit, but the final stretch is rarely the easiest. Whether she can turn steady progress into a firm claim among the generation's top RBY players remains the question—one that only the next steps of her journey can answer.

Laroxyl is mostly known for his LC prowess on the official stage, but he has been around the block for a while and gained expertise in many other tiers. Among them, RBY OU is certainly one of his most successful. A breakout performance in 2023's Invitational was followed with Circuit triumph in 2024, all while being a staple of Italy's RBY World Cup team. These results were not enough to convince managers to secure him for RBY last year—he ended up filling in SV instead—but in a year where many players are getting their first shots, Laroxyl too is finally getting a full season to showcase what he's got in this tier.

His specialty, in RBY as in newer generations, is slow games with patient jostling for small edges, biding time and making incremental progress until the opponent makes an error or their team structurally cracks. Few people can match Laroxyl's accuracy over a hundred-turn stretch. While this naturally gravitates him towards teams with multiple recovery moves and often a slow, heavily positional wallbreaker like Rhydon, he is definitely also capable and willing to bring other styles, making him a fairly complete player that will be hard to tackle for the rest of the competition.

Laroxyl is also known to be somewhat mercurial, however. When his clicks are flowing with confidence, he will choke you out of the game with cutthroat accuracy and find the exact right turn to read deep in your soul and punish accordingly. If self-doubt or tilt creeps in, he may lose his focus—and one bad turn is sometimes all it takes to unravel a whole best-of-three set against you. The Tigers' environment will be key—if they galvanize him into giving his best efforts, he will be a threat to be reckoned with, and his proud confidence will ignite the rest of the team's spirits in turn. But if the vibes break down, he is susceptible to breaking down with them.

Isza was put in a rather unfortunate position in SPL XIV: drafted to start in a tier he had little experience in, with close to no support. This resulted in a disappointing 2–4 record. However, a true Kaiser does not allow himself to be dethroned without a fight—and fighting is exactly what Isza did in the years that followed.

Striving to rebuild his reign on consistency, Isza surrounded himself with two very strong advisors in the form of fellow Northeast cohorts Excal and ABR. Taking the task of rebuilding his empire into his own hands, he absorbed his counselors' wisdom and leveraged it into two very strong showings in 2024: a runner-up finish in RBY Cup—losing only to Excal himself—as well as a fourth-place result in that year's RBY Invitational. Still, the Kaiser's claim to the throne would have to wait; despite these performances, he was drafted only as a substitute for last year's SPL.

That opportunity would come in the second half of the season. Finally given a chance to showcase his growth in RBY on Smogon's biggest stage, Isza delivered three wins in four appearances, including a playoff victory over the battle-tested shiloh. His success came with his now-iconic early-game approach, centered around inflicting sleep as soon as possible and using teams and in-game decisions that emphasize punishing opponents' passivity and mistakes.

Three years later, Isza finally finds himself where he has long aimed to be: back in a starting slot, with his fate in his own hands and the chance to rule on his own terms. The throne of the RBY Empire is no longer distant, nor borrowed; it is simply there to be claimed.

Young upstart BeeOrSomething has been rapidly rising across the last two years, asserting himself with a slew of positive results. He has shown remarkable consistency in unofficial team tournaments, going positive by at least two games in all of RBYWC, RBYPL, and RoAPL in BOTH 2024 and 2025. He has also gotten a few deep runs in individual tournaments, making back-to-back semifinals in RBY Cup and a deep invitational run, which saw him knock both Serpi and Sceptross—the top two ranks in this pool—down to the Loser's Bracket, before eventually bowing out in the Top 6.

Bee's consistency in these tournaments is highly impressive, matching and outdoing even SPL regulars. How does he achieve these results? When he is against a weaker opponent, he is extremely comfortable with consistent, "luck-proof" team styles, which allow him to avoid worst-case scenario match-ups and luck, allowing his quality to make the difference. Additionally, when he is up against a stronger opponent, he rises to the occasion, putting in massive preparation efforts to ensure good match-ups and bringing his A-game on the field as well.

So then, what holds Bee back from total dominance? His biggest issue is usually burning out and losing motivation. He is known to occasionally switch off when he feels that the game isn't worth the effort—the biggest danger is an unexciting opponent that's tough but not enough to light the spark in him or a bad streak of luck that makes him feel like all his work is wasted on an unreliable game. Another shortcoming is arguably just that his overall conceptual understanding of the metagame is not quite as nuanced as the very top dogs—but it's something he can very much keep improving on along his upward trajectory.

All in all, Bee is an SPL prospect that many are excited by, including some managers—the bid war for him reached over 10k! He has shown unparalleled consistency against circuit-level players and taken scalps from virtually all active top players. Now we will find out if he can do it week in and week out, through a long and draining full SPL season—if the answer is yes, we have a new SPL regular on our hands.

Much like a phoenix, SaDiSTiCNarwhal's return to the SPL spotlight is a story defined less by momentum and more by rebirth. After an earlier SPL appearance where he failed to deliver the results he had hoped for, followed by going undrafted in the two subsequent years despite much of the community deeming him a strong candidate for a redemption run, his chances of ever redeeming himself had seemingly been burned to a crisp.

He subsequently retreated mostly from public view, making only occasional displays of embers that never quite cooled—most notably a very solid RBYPL V run, as well as respectable but not flashy appearances in RBY Invitational. That quiet persistence would eventually pay off, igniting into results in the form of a brilliant 7–1 campaign in this year's RBYPL, where he defeated several of the very names he is expected to face again this season.

SaDiSTiCNarwhal sits in a hard-to-define place in RBY history—he was forged with the influence both from the gamestate-controlling ways of earlier eras as well as the sharper aggression more commonly seen in the younger generation of RBY players; his style reflects both worlds. His approach to teambuilding and in-game decision-making often resembles the steadier, structured play more typical of pre-COVID years, while still retaining the ability to set the RBY battlefield on fire with well-calibrated, sharp reads akin to more modern gameplay.

In this long-awaited rise from the ashes, SaDiSTiCNarwhal stands ready to finally burn away lingering doubts and reaffirm himself on RBY's highest stage. Whether this resurgence proves short-lived or lasting remains to be seen, but past stories have already given plenty of reason to believe that in RBY, some flames are bound to reignite rather than to fade.

Girls See Ghosts enters SPL as a clear outlier among his peers in the pool, and even amongst the SPL player base as a whole, for he is a crossover talent whose competitive instincts were forged far more in Super Smash Bros. Melee than in Pokémon itself.

With a playstyle that more closely resembles the traditional, control-oriented approaches of players like Peasounay or marcoasd, as opposed to the more modern, aggressive style common among his generational contemporaries, Girls See Ghosts emphasizes stage control and patience over flashy displays. He is content to wait for his opponents' mistakes, capitalizing on them through a strong punish game and consistently winning small exchanges until the advantage snowballs. From there, games are often closed decisively, in much the same way an opponent is edgeguarded once pushed too far off stage to recover.

After picking up RBY in 2024, Girls See Ghosts truly Ice Climbed through the ranks in spectacular fashion; his 2025 was defined by a plethora of remarkable results: a very solid 5-1 record in RBYWC III as one of Canada's most valuable players in their epic underdog run that culminated in a tournament win, followed by a convincing 6-1 run in RBYPL, with the cherry on top of an extremely dominant year being a first-seed finish for RBY Circuit Playoffs after winning the RBY Summer Seasonal, racking up wins against several widely acclaimed players along the way.

After such a stellar year, the follow-up question is rather straightforward: SPL represents the highest stage Smogon has to offer, and for GirlsSeeGhosts, it is the final test to prove whether he can translate years of high-level Smash play into Pokémon too.

One of the members of a group of Germany-based players who burst onto the RBY scene in the post-Covid era, LNumbers developed a playstyle resembling the methodical piloting and robust teambuilding of tier greats Serpi and Gefährlicher Random, favoring structure and long-term planning over volatility. Much like most of his German brethren, he presents himself as multifacetous, having played most of his official tournament games in SS, a generation where Tauros does not run wild, in contrast with most players on the tier, who have mostly played only the first generation throughout their careers.

While perhaps the least flashy player of the German golden generation, underestimating him would be ill-advised. The same raw talent and work ethic that define the group are clearly present in LNumbers as well, most notably in the intense grind he undertook following his sudden return to competitive play a few months ago. That effort paid off quickly, culminating in a solid RBYPL showing and a victory in the only individual tournament he had the opportunity to enter, 2025 Rising Stars.

Unfortunately, not all is crimson roses for LNumbers: after a non-stellar performance in SPL 2023, combined with a very recent return to the game after a lengthy hiatus, some uncertainty exists around his ability to deliver consistently at the highest level. LNumbers is clearly eager to join his compatriots in discussions of RBY's elite, but doing so will require proving to the more skeptical ones he can do so—particularly against an opposition just as hungry to carve its own place in RBY history as him.

Following a streak of hot results in 2022-23, including multiple deep runs in various individuals and two very positive RoAPL seasons, Ctown6 gained the respect of the RBY community and regular Invitational spots; unfortunately, he hasn't been able to convert any of his Circuit finals or Invitational appearances into one big crowning achievement (his deepest Invitational run being a Top 12 in 2023), and he was much less active in 2024 and 2025. However, late last year he made a comeback for RBYPL and put on a stunning 7-0 record out of nowhere, showing the break hasn't slowed him down much at all—in fact, he may have come back refreshed and readier than before.

It is a common cliche to refer to the 10th-ranked players as "wildcards," players with "upset potential," as a nice way to spin that they are not expected to do very well. Ctown, however, is a proper wildcard: he has a propensity for sharp, quick, highly aggressive games, with a special liking for Zapdos as well as other offensive team styles, which are not especially common in RBY but have found success on several occasions. When the game is resolved quickly, one well-placed read can be all you need to create the decisive difference, and Ctown is not afraid to pull the trigger on such moves. And Ctown has one more potential upside: we have exceedingly little recent data on him compared to the rest of the pool. This informational upper hand could prove beneficial, making it trickier for opponents to correctly estimate and counter his preferences due to the small sample size.

The risks for the Classiest are obvious; it's not too hard to imagine Ctown making it to the big stage but falling in the crucial moments again, as seen in various individual tournaments in 2022-23. However, if his sharpness stays true and his RBYPL level holds steady against harder opposition, Ctown's playstyle and frankly overall demeanor have the potential to turn this into one of the most electric underdog runs in RBY history, as well as a nasty surprise for his competitors. The potential, especially in a pool rife with other newcomers and gambles, is certainly there.

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It is wholly unsurprising to see returning managers and SPL XV champions reyscarface and blunder at the top of the manager rankings. This is especially justified because they add ABR to their managing lineup, whose stocks I think have never been higher and who provides even more stellar support to basically every generation. rey basically needs no introduction at this point. He has achieved a 10-0 SPL record and was listed as the #1 manager of all time in last year's article, and for good reason: his ability to draft a roster that will make playoffs is unparalleled. blunder is no slouch as a manager and as a player, and once again he complements rey's oldgen knowledge with intimate knowledge and building ability in SV OU. ABR will undoubtedly build and support wherever the Tyrants feel weakest and likely find value as an armchair main in the Tyrants Discord. It feels like everything came together for the Tyrants this year, as they also retained three cheap yet high-ranking players. With the strongest manager combination in recent years on top of a strong draft, the Tyrants are looking no less the powerhouse they have been in recent years, and every manager will have to work hard to match them.

obii came back this season, having recruited two excellent German players to manage the Sharks: mind gaming, who should provide excellent all-around support, and Conflict, a Classic winner and legend of old gens. This marks only the second time that Conflict will not play in SPL since 2011, with the other being SPL VIII in 2017. It can be expected that, when he's not antagonizing Starry in the manager Discord, he'll be carrying oldgens prep, especially GSC, where the Sharks drafted a rookie. obii is known for excellent drafting ability as well as supporting his roster's weak spots and learning new tiers to provide support to his teams; in SPL XVI, obii supported three different tiers singlehandedly every week. mind gaming is coming off an SCL win as a player and provides experience in basically every tier in the tournament, especially off a strong Classic finalist run last year. With this strong manager core, the Sharks find them in a very deserved second place on the manager PRs that reflects the faith managers have in obii and the Germans (new band name?) to deliver.

On his sixth try managing the Classiest, d0nut finally picked up the red trophy. Accordingly, his manager core has vaulted from ninth last year to third this year, a gap which is more logically attributed to last season's victory than to the swap from Expulso to Gingy. With that said, blank's fingerprints were absolutely visible in the teambuilding last year, with the Classiest demonstrating a substantial shift in draft strategy to targeting players at the top of the draft and filling out the rest of the slots with US Midwest stalwarts. There's more of that this year; if you can't draft McMeghan to guarantee acceptable production from your Classic slots, I suppose M Dragon and Garay oak are close enough. Even prior to last year, though, d0nut's Classiest had made the playoffs in three of five years, with their GSC slots especially being consistently excellent. Now, they're adding someone who's managed SCL five times and has never finished worse than fifth, and if nothing else that offers some needed confidence that this team can once again squeeze performance out of a bargain bin SV core. This is one of only two manager cores here to have won this trophy before, and their teams were consistently solid in the years before that; this ranking reflects that.

The Wolfpack made the playoffs last year without allotting more than 17k to anyone at the auction and ended up sending players with records of 6-4 and 6-3 into a tiebreak against the Tigers with no prior experience. They shouldn't have that issue this year; they spent 39.5k on bbeeaa and retained "16-2 over the past two years" Void. Fittingly enough for a pair of oldgen players, last year D4 Repertoire and Fear chose zioziotrip to complete their trio; this year, crying takes the "knows what a Glowking is" role on the team. Collecting the Latin America core of bbeeaa / Gtcha / Gondra also makes Masters tiers, which these managers are least equipped to support, fairly self sufficient. If Fear and D4 Repertoire can focus on getting the most out of their oldgens and in particular leverage their strengths to turn GSC into a standout slot, then they give this team massive upside. It's not entirely clear how crying support will work out; they're not known as a big talker and their builds are famously eccentric, but they do have a lot of experience in this tier over the last few years. Even though this trio only has a combined three prior official managerial positions, voters like this group, they have clear strengths and did a good job building a team that covers their weaknesses.

The BIGs have led a futile existence for most of SPL history, and either Dave or Vulpix03 has led the team for six out of sixteen bleak years. The BIGs rank in the middle of the pack mostly for their managers' accomplishments in other tournaments; Dave, in particular, has racked up a pile of trophies as the manager of the US East dynasty and made the playoffs in each of the first three SCL iterations. They've also smartly added Mada in their third manager slot, who's coming off of a playoff appearance in SCL with the Breakers and offers these grizzled vets some much-needed insight into the most newfangled of tiers. I had observed prior to the draft that Dave had tended to spread his auction budget more evenly than just about any other long-time manager, and he responded with his most top-heavy draft in a while. Recent results largely back up the voters' belief that the BIGs are solid if unspectacular managers; aside from a strangely disastrous GSC (16-40 in his tenure), Dave's teams have a decent track record in most tiers. There isn't much reason to look at the BIGs' talent this year and expect them to dramatically overperform or underperform on the basis of their managerial support.

When asked who the greatest Smogon Pokemon player is, almost everyone has a different answer. This writer would be willing to guess, though, that most everyone would have Empo somewhere in their top 3. Empo finds himself leading the Ruiners, coming off a dominant 7-1 World Cup where Team Italy took home the trophy, making Empo the undisputed number 1 trophy holder in the Hall of Fame. He can be expected to carry prep in gens 6 to 8. Empo is joined by ima, who is coming off hot from an SCL win as a manager. ima provides more oldgens support and has a keen eye for draft value, usually managing to draft a good mix of his friends and good players. I am sure he will carry the vibes as well if he puts SPL coverage on his excellent YouTube channel (manifesting). A newer face to officials, Ale Duncan (formerly Montreal) is no slouch to managing, coming hot off managing Italy to a WCoP win and having managed RoAPL a few times now with successful squads. Unsurprisingly, a few Italians have managed to make it onto the squad, so the team vibes should be excellent. However, the rankings have placed the Ruiners team itself surprisingly low. With this much support already on board, and key players like lax and Fakes locked in, you can expect that the Ruiners will make their mark on the tournament this year.

Coming in seventh place, which is about where the average Cryonicles season ends, is a management group with perhaps more range than any other. On one side of the spectrum, you get PDC, who is a veteran of the game and defending Smogon Classic champion. His multi-generational prowess can inspire success, supporting over half of the potential slots. On the other side, you get Sam, who has spent more time discussing fragrances and spamming US Midwest memes than playing Pokemon in the 2020s. gorgie serves as a nice addition to this trio, as he has a lifetime of experience in the oldest of generations while also being quite savvy in SM. Overall, PDC and gorgie will need to go above and beyond for this group to rival the top pairings, but they're at least capable of making a big difference.

The Tigers come in eighth place with repeat manager Genesis7 leading the way alongside two new faces from Team Europe, We Three Kings and Ruft. The main selling point of this trio is that they cover different generations, complementing each other with Genesis having history in both RBY and ORAS while Ruft covers the most recent generations and We Three Kings handles most Classic metagames. The counterpoint to this is that none of them standout or are proven in the modern metagames, leaving us to hope their leadership and teambuilding skills flourish more than their presence as players. The initial reviews are questionable, as some members of the Tigers seemed shocked to end up on the squad, while others are now teaming with people they had public spats with as recently as OLT. Genesis does have a nice track record, but it feels like a "sources: trust me bro" type of belief in this trio more than a solidified one at this juncture.

What do you get when you replace one of the best managerial runs of all time with three inexperienced managers, two of whom fulfill the same archetype of 2010 DPP main? Ninth place in the manager rankings evidently. While admittedly uninspiring on the surface, Laurel has been trying to manage at the highest level for many years, giving us hope that he will make the most of his opportunity, and twash is no slouch, having success in Smogon Classic. MAVERICK SHOOTERS is perhaps the biggest difference maker in this group, too, as he has quietly put together an elite resume as a manager of unofficial tournaments. His efforts in those arenas as well as with Team India in WCoP could prove to be a difference maker as the Raiders look to get back to their winning ways after a down year. One worry will be if this group can command respect, as Laurel has spent more time as an outcast than as a perceived leader, but a commanding early draft and an infusion of activity inspire some confidence that this trio can outperform their lowly ranking!

Much like last year, the final spot on this list is taken up by a trio of current-gen players, although DugZa and vivalospride are coming off of a remarkably successful season as managers of the Spartans in the SCL and etern has experience in charge of the Snake Draft 4 Serpents. Like last year's Cryos, the Scooters entered the draft equipped primarily with Fairygen proficiency and came away with insufficient support for their oldgens coverage, drafting veterans elodin and Triangles and giving them substantial raises over previous years. Between the SCL experience, DugZa's recent semifinals in OST and Masters, and the help of Storm Zone's famed teambuilding, this team should be able to offer their modern gens slots adequate support, but it's hard not to read the Scooters' 10th-place managerial ranking as a vote of non-confidence in their ability to identify oldgens talent and to get the most out of it.

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Overall Team Rankings

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