UU Premier League XIV Power Rankings

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Welcome to the 2026 edition of the annual UU Power Rankings! Last year we saw that the Celestial Tower Tycoons finally earned a ring after many years of failure with a dominant regular season and a finals victory over the underdog Camphrier Town Ladies. This year brings many new changes; old franchises have been turned over for new ones, many significant managers and players have retired, and there's quite a bit of new blood to take over the scene. There are many new and exciting developments this year, so be sure to be on the lookout for how the tournament shakes out!

Thank you to the following people who contributed to the ranking process in each slot: passion, ThatOneApple, Mossy Sandwich, sky, Sirwings, haxlolo, Petros, Tuthur, zS, ASKOV, yone, vivalospride, dex, stareal, robjr, Bouff, AJ, Indigo Plateau, Tenebricite, Xiri, Jay, pdt, mipc, Garay oak, Pak, Shiba, wanka, The Strap, dingbat, Hydronics, Estarossa, seraphz, Real FV13, Tack, choolio, Monai, Hacker, Accel, MrAldo, Petros, Cam, Parpar, mielke, Micciu, Premonitions, crying, evakiyama!, Celebiii, DAWNBUSTER, MrSoup, BigFatMantis

And a massive thank you to the writers, as well as the GP / HTML team: vivalospride, Bouff, AJ, Bernardo, passion, starbitstorm, sky, Estarossa, Lumari, earthfromthefuture, sunny

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1. etern
2. zS
3. Nat
4. Meru
5. Xrn
6. mintwinter
7. Fc
8. Sabella
9. Gondra
10. Piyu
11. Finchinator
12. bbeeaa
13. Mossy Sandwich
14. frankjosh
15. Colin
16. FoulplayG
17. Drud
18. sky
19. Taka
20. ThatOneApple
21. haxlolo
22. Plague
23. Rasche
24. Sirwings

The Hooligans find themselves ranked with the best SV core in the tournament for a total of 27.5k. A bargain to say the least. The core begins with eternally, who is ranked number one after coming fresh off of the best UU performance in SCL history with an absurd 10-1 finish; he did this with his SCL and current UUPL manager vivalospride by his side as well. eternally is one of the freshest builders and players in this tier without question, and while this has been true for a solid portion of the generation, with SCL behind him the expectations surrounding him have skyrocketed. He is not one to fold under pressure, though, so it is unlikely he fails to be worthy of the number-one ranking in this tournament. Meru right next to eternally and under vivalospride management yet again in the UU subforum; not a shocker, but neither is his high ranking. Meru is the very definition of consistency in this tier throughout multiple gens. All of SV he has put up stellar performances, and this goes back several gens as well; just look at the sheet, he is UP there. Considering how infrequently Meru puts up an even remotely middling or poor performance, it is very unlikely he fumbles now. The core rounds out with usual DPP mainstay but once-upon-a-time SV UU SCL starter FrankJosh. Frank the Tank may have to de-rust a bit, but his fundamentals are solid. With the right support behind him and enough effort, frank is more than qualified to put up a very impressive performance. With that said, his floor is potentially lower than his partners due to the amount of time he’s been out of the SV metagame. Regardless, for a measly 7k, an SV-locked frankjosh is a solid pickup for a team filled with support for him to get his footing and dominate.

Somehow foulplaygaming has gone for 3K again. After a record of 4-0 in 2025 in World Cup with starbitstorm support and 3-1 in UUCL, multiple solo tour wins in UU (including you use Showtime 2025 and UU last chance 2024), and a large amount of from laddering and making UU content, one must ask, what could make their price increase??? This may be one of the most consistent value pics in SV UU tours. While their building is at times unconventional and their recent circuit performance was lacking, one would still expect foulplaygaming to do extraordinarily well in this tour. Gondra, the 14.5k starter for the Firebreathers, is an interesting prospect. With a high price, it seems UUPL teams have determined Gondra to be in the upper echelon of UU. While it is almost certain they won’t be building, their past in SV UU with their last performance being a 4-1 at UU World Cup 2024 speaks for itself. If they are motivated enough to test and then maybe will expect a similar performance from last time. zS going at a 20.5k price comes as no surprise. With their astonishing 7-2 SCL UU record, supported by micciu and spell, with a majority of their builds coming from themselves, there is a lot to expect from this player. They are also SPL level, being strong enough to go positive with a 6-2 record. As long as they can prepare as well as they did in SCL, there is no question that they will be doing well this UUPL.

The Hoopsters find themselves with one of the weaker SV trios on paper, at least according to the Power Rankings, that is. It is objectively lacking in star power; however, with mintwinter holding it down as their potential tie-break pick for the tier. mintwinter is strong and did indeed win the most recent UU ribbon, and that is nothing to brush off. But people aren’t completely convinced quite yet that mintwinter is going to dominate in team tournaments, and this is the perfect opportunity for them to show if they’re the real deal. Colin is the next highest rated, and he is strong in SV lower tiers in general, making an extremely deep and impressive Slam run this past year. With that said, there are doubts whether he can hang with the upper levels of the pool. He is a good enough player for this field, but is he a good enough player to stomp the pool? Time will tell. haxlolo finally makes the UUPL cut starting in SV, although he is one of the lowest ranked players in the pool. lolo has been fighting for this moment for a long time now, though, and this tour will likely make or break his reputation in the tier. Regardless, he has been around the community for a long time and is likely to, at bare minimum, be able to provide strong feedback in prep and help the team gain advantages outside of the game, which is an angle they will likely have to play to.

The Strikers SV core find themselves ranked fourth place this year. Their core begins with Nat as their star, who is without question one of the strongest players in this tournament, and with competent support it is unlikely she will perform in any manner close to poor. She does not come without strings attached, as last season she was banned mid-season, but her team impressively won the tournament regardless of this. With all that said, Nat has been putting up numbers consistently on stages bigger than UUPL for years, and it is unlikely she fumbles now. Next on the board for the Strikers is the PU subforum sheet demon Drud. A stranger to SV UU in UUPL, but a capable player without question. Power Rankings imply expectations for Drud aren’t especially high, but he was retained for a reason. His play should set his ceiling for this tournament rather high; we shall see if he capitalizes. Lastly, there is Sirwings, who has made a name for themselves as a bit of a Swiss army knife in multiple lower tiers. It is unclear how that will translate to SV UU in UUPL, though, and expectations for Sirwings seem to be particularly low. Regardless, Sirwings isn’t the weakest player on the block, and a good performance is plausible for sure. The Strikers bench has several potentially capable pilots, but it is unclear which of them, if any, would be specifically chosen to sub into SV if necessary or support the already starting SV slots in any meaningful way.

The Sisters opted to go for what is typically a tried-and-true strategy for these tours; draft a group of tenured tour players who can pilot well-built teams without a whole lot of handholding. In this case in particular, we have bbeeaa, Plague, and Fc at the helm with strong teams from Askov and pdt. This is bea’s first foray into UU in quite a while, as his last venture was during SCL 2024, where he was playing fine enough until his untimely ban. Fc didn’t do so hot last UUPL with a 2-5 record on the famous Strikers, but he’s had many great showings in tours otherwise. It may even be a great long-term investment for a retain in case RBY ever makes it in…! Finally, Plague has been quietly making waves over the past year in a variety of tiers. While their UU exploits are mostly limited to managing, they’ll be able to synergize well with Askov's builds assuming the play is decent.

The Surfers have decided to focus their SV core around players who haven’t necessarily made a huge mark in SV UU specifically as opposed to other UU gens. Leading off this trio is Xrn, who has finally escaped the hellish landscape of oldgens after a few years…he’s had the honor of being someone you can slap in any old gen to play at a competent level. However, he was unfortunately more than competent at it, so he had to be relegated to ADV and ORAS for quite some time. In terms of his actual skill as a player, he’s easily one of the best in the field, having put up multiple dominant performances over the years. Provided he brings cohesive teams, he should be able to continue on a warpath here. sky (really bad name change come on man) can theoretically go into any UU tier this tournament, but he can fit just fine into the current gen metas, as the “cheese” teams that tend to inhabit SV fit his style very well. Finally, Taka, being one of the probably two people left on the planet who enjoy SS UU somehow, is another player who’s glown up over the past few years and come into his own. While SV is much different in terms of pacing than his Chansey-infested home tier, he has strong in-game principles that’ll allow him to succeed here.

The Ladies have a similar strategy as they did last year with a slight deviation in the willingness to spend high after a less than stellar showing from a 30.5k vivalospride. Sabella, ThatOneApple, and Mossy Sandwich are all SV UU community mainstays at this point in the generation and will likely have one of the more bustling #sv-general chats in the tour. Now, will this abundance of activity lead to a concrete solving of the SV UU metagame or drastically overcooked travesties that leave all three looking like cartoon characters that just got blasted by Acme branded explosives? Your guess is as good as mine. All three of these users undoubtedly have the potential to put up an incredible tour considering their individual skills and knowledge. However, we have also seen all three put up less than ideal numbers in the past that do not reflect their peak capabilities. Even looking at the last iteration of UUPL, all of them unfortunately ended the tour negatively. It is this lack of consistency that makes this trio a bit difficult to rank overall. However, there is a lot to like when you consider their potential upside when they are at their best individually. Let us believe that love, friendship, and effort are more powerful than the analytics will show.

The Tycoons find themselves with a disappointing ranking despite having a pretty strong SV1-2 locked down. Finchinator and Piyu are both certainly not UU mains with a long history of SV UU gameplay. With that said, though, Piyu has had very impressive showings in SV OU throughout the generation, so he is no stranger to SV, and SV UU will not be a difficult concept to grasp for someone as talented as him in the gen. Finchinator put up solid numbers last UUPL with some solid play, and in general he is reliable to play at a certain floor and put in an at the very least bare minimum amount of effort in and out of the game. On top of that, Finchinator is one of the more storied players on Smogon in general and cannot be underestimated in any tier. Rasche has been around the UU subforum for a while now and has even had some showings in World Cup. However, the showings in and out of this subforum haven’t seemed to specifically move anybody, as Rasche finds themselves very low on the rankings with a measly 3k price tag. Regardless, at this point Rasche is seasoned and can without question string together a strong performance. It is worth noting that spell is available for this team to sub into any of these slots, and will likely have a hand in prep. This has potential to be strong due to the lack of UU mainers to really carry in prep here, but whether it will push this core closer to its ceiling or not is yet to be seen.

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damien has been well proven in SS OU for SPL but has yet to make an appearance for SS UU. That being said, he did play when it was the current generation, and the competition knows he'll be tough to beat—even if he's mostly running on VTuber hand-me-downs. With some experience to go off of, they may be able to bring some fresher ideas to the tier as well.

The second SPL player and SS OU aficionado finds himself right under damien. Similarly, with not much UU experience, they've been given respect to their fundamentals. After all, nobody in this pool was starting in SS UU in 2024 or 2025 (and between those two years only Attribute played both!). Stareal is in good company with Askov, pdt, and crying all having played SS UU in SCL supporting him—not that Stareal will likely be piloting a crying team, but you never know!

Baddy has been around in plenty of games across the site for a good minute now. Of the top 3 ranked, he certainly has played the tier the most. However, it is up to debate if they will be loading solid enough teams for them to be able to make use of their own playing ability. Both robjr and BigFatMantis can provide some guidance to make the price tag worth it, though.

Jojen has been popping more across the site as another all-rounder similar to Baddy’s origins. He had a solid SS Cup run and will be hungry for a stronger team tour showing after a lackluster UUCL. With a middle-of-the-pack ranking, they're a fine pilot as long as drew can give them enough attention—and pass something viable. Nonzero chance we see Micciu thrown in here later as a tear goes down his cheek.

Dex had a rather strong SSPL season and hopes to recreate the same success here. The competition will be much more focused here compared to an oldgen PL, though. dex has certainly built more SS UU teams than the rest of the pool; just, these may not always be the most profitable route for them. Just how many Milotic will pop up here?

Lana is trading in their Yveltal for Togekiss this UUPL! They’re rather unknown in UU but have been on the site for a while. Also receiving the VTubers' hand-me-downs from Petros, it is more difficult to count on her play compared to the higher ranked fellas. And Petros may not know the tier as well as Bouff as far as VTuber filtering goes.

In first place, we have herv! If this was BSS, that is. He may have an old Dunoks dump lying around to plug and play with, but with less stellar SS OU results compared to the top of the pool, yone has a lot to prove. yone does have the support of Indigo Plateau, sky, and Taka who, have all paid at least some attention to SS after the generation, so he may not be cooked just yet.

Mindnight had played a fair amount during current gen but has been out of the spotlight for a while. Arguably having performed worse in SS compared to SM overall, it'll be interesting to see how quickly they can get back into gear. Sabella and Estarossa can offer advice, but it seems more likely he will be taking from the same French team dump as yone.

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Unlike a large portion of this pool, robjr is one of the SM UU players with the most information possible to pull from. Robert has been playing SM UU since it was current gen, and it has been his main squeeze in more or less all UU subforum tournaments ever since. His backlog of teams will last him centuries in a tier like this, and it is difficult to assume he will put up a poor performance. With years of the once extremely dominant pool changing with the times, robjr at or near the top of the power rankings has remained the same. Other players in the pool can potentially have a leg up on him, but it depends on their own effort they put forth in this tournament, as he has one of the deepest scouts to prepare for, and many others have no scout whatsoever for him to prepare for. Nonetheless, a good showing from robjr is likely, as it generally always is in this subforum.

The man who once carried the Battle Girls and Friend Safari Pokemon Trainers franchises on his back as their star player has come back into the UUPL fold after years away from the subforum. His stock is a little lower than it was back then; not that his price specifically implies that. But the French demon is still the same man he once was, and with the right support he is likely to perform well in this pool, as he has plenty of times before. Is pdt the right support? More than likely, it’s unlikely in fact you will find many people more suited for the role of providing Sacri’ with teams to pilot at a high level in a tier as developed as SM UU. In theory it is impossible to say for sure that Sacri’ still has the X-factor he had years ago in the UU subforum, but this tournament is a great opportunity for newer spectators of UUPL to see what the old guard was capable of in this tier, and Sacri’ can be the one to show them.

Returning to the tier he was in when RoW won their legendary ring in UUWC, DugZa takes on SM UU yet again after a less than stellar performance in ORAS last season. Under new management, with one of them being one of the stronger SM UU builders around, DugZa as a strong pilot himself is set up for a successful season. However, this easily could’ve been said for his slot in ORAS UU last season, where it was a very similar situation, which did not end in success. Still, there is a key difference here, with the rest of the pool being pretty much a shell of what it used to be. DugZa will still likely perform well due to this, and he may even surpass already high expectations. He has played less and less recently due to managerial duties in other tournaments, but his skill as a pilot should not be forgotten.

Xiri is a storied SM UU player, with his first meaningful showings in UU being within this tier. He has partaken in some of the best SM UU pools that’ve existed within this subforum ever and has come out alive. This SM pool is potentially one for him to put up a bit of a better showing than his usual hovering around .500. Other than that, there isn’t much to say about Xiri, but one thing's for sure: there will be at least one sub forced due to his timezone and work schedule, which is definitely worth at least one bump up in the PRs.

Similar to several other participants in this year’s SM UUPL pool, Tenebricite does not have much history of information on them when it comes to this tier. However, name recognition alone seems to carry them several spots above other options within the pool with similar circumstances. Tenebricite’s potential capabilities to pull up with a miscellaneous team from 2019 and win will be what hopefully sets him apart from his competitors, but similarly to others, the expectations surrounding his performance are left mostly up to imagination and cannot reasonably be based on any specific history.

There is very little, if any, history of lighthouses in SM UU. On top of that, the sole provider behind him is Pak. Pak is one of the greatest SM UU players and builders of all time, no debate, but his passion for the tier is not what it once was, and it’s safe to assume he isn’t desiring to fully support a SM slot for an entire tournament. With all that said, his presence isn’t something that lacks value, and lighthouses is a strong enough pilot to string together some wins in this tournament and end up with a pretty solid showing. With that, though, there isn’t much else to say, as there is no history to look back on to predict how this tournament will go; lighthouses and their managers will have to create their own narrative.

There is not much to say about mipc in Sun and Moon Underused; in fact, with a 2024 join date and no history outside of this most recent UU Classic, there isn’t much to say about mipc at all. With that and a manager pair that historically has had no hand in SM UU whatsoever, it is very difficult to say anything at all about our expectations for mipc in this rendition of UUPL.

Yet another example of a seemingly random pilot thrown into this tier based on necessity this year, vk reunites with his SCL manager and long-time SM UU player vivalospride to hopefully put up an expectation-defying performance this UUPL. vk found himself ranked last, but that doesn’t mean there’s no hope, as he has built in support and is a solid enough pilot to make things work. With that said, there isn’t much else specifically going for or against him, as he has no history in this tier whatsoever and is new to the UUPL scene in general.

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To the surprise of literally no one, Pak was the most expensive player in the pool, being the only one to reach 30k. This would make sense, as the man basically known as the face of ORAS UU for more than half a decade at this point needs no introduction. This ranking should come as a surprise to basically no one, and there probably isn’t even much to say at this point that hasn’t been repeated in past Power Rankings. He’s constantly pushing the metagame forward with every tournament and is extremely passionate about the tier (as seen by his constant essays in the ORAS UU thread for quite some time now). Beyond this, he also has Killintime to help him out, which should further creativity in his teams. The only real thing to note here is that, compared to the earlier parts of this decade, others are also willing to experiment in the builder as opposed to just stealing his teams and calling it a day.

Ranking directly below the highest price in the pool… is the second highest price. ORAS really is an important tier to spend on this tournament for many managers. Some are quite surprised with this price, and they may be surprised to find Garay ranked higher than players like pdt and dingbat. This is amplified by the fact that he’s been out of the ORAS game for quite some time now, and in recent UU tours he’s found himself in GSC and ADV. However, Garay has been known as one of the best tiebreak players on the whole website, and he can fit into many tiers easily due to his strong fundamentals as a player. While ORAS is quite different now than it was in 2021-22, with Slurpuff’s ban and the rise of formerly less common Pokemon like Celebi, Mega Swampert, and Virizion, Garay should be able to adapt to these changes relatively easily. He also has the help of managers and fellow ORAS veterans vivalospride and Bouff to ensure that he goes into his game with teams that’ll be able to win in most matchups.

pdt is an interesting case; one of the more pricey players here (although arguably quite a steal), you’d expect him to slot into any of the gens after ORAS, since that’s where he’s made a name for himself over the years. He does have some experience with the tier, though, having played it in prior years through UU Classic and other UU team tours. He’s known for making flashy and aggressive plays, and his builds are far more proactive in nature compared to other people here. This is a good trait to have in ORAS, where bulky offense builds are doing better than ever as of late. Even though he’s less experienced than some of the omega boomers on this list, he’s absolutely a dependable slot that can clutch games against the best of the best, and he’ll definitely be one of the defining players for the Sisters to inch them closer to victory.

Possibly the only player here to have started out in XY rather than ORAS like some others here, dingbat has been one of the more quirky players over the years, experimenting with less common Pokemon like Sableye and Galvantula. This doesn’t mean his teams are the type to just completely ignore most of the tier, as they have a coherent gameplan, but they’re moreso slightly anti-meta that are also a little bit risky. This is fine for anyone if they can pilot it well, and dingbat definitely does that to a tee. Anyone in the pool should be wary of his innovations, otherwise they’re in for a very, very bad time. His tenure that spans more than a decade is no fluke, especially since he’s moved past the unbelievable luck that he used to be so well known for.

The story of “Shibad” is an interesting one. Another player who’s reached omega boomer status, he’s been a solid player over the years for tiers like ORAS, BW, and ADV, albeit somewhat of a cheeser. He hadn’t made as much noise as normal over the past few years, until last year. He went for a measly 5k, which is the same price as his fellow Smashers manager and far superior player Thisbemyalt. However, he broke through all expectations with a solid 6-3 showing in UUPL, and between that and his dominant Slam Open runs, he adopted the moniker of 2025 Shiba. He’s a creative builder, and the most notable aspect of his teams is that he takes Pokemon that you would normally find on the 1300s on the ORAS ladder when it was current gen and makes actually good teams with them. Many of these Pokemon should not be trusted in the hands of any other player, because they honestly kind of just suck, but he manages to utilize their strengths and puts forward some great gameplay. However, we are not in 2025 anymore. Things can change very quickly for anyone, and while his performance last year was no fluke, this tour will be the one to look out for to see if 2025 Shiba turns into 2026 Shiba.

The user formerly known as Dj Breloominati wasn’t particularly known for his strengths in any specific UU tier and was moreso someone who you could slot into any given tier and he’d perform at a fairly decent level. However, that changed for him last UUPL. Not only did he go for absolute pennies at a 3.5k price, but he was a key player for the Tycoons’ victory with a fantastic 6-1 performance. This makes him an ORAS mainstay for the foreseeable future, as he can pilot most team structures well and also is someone who can handle the pressure of important playoff games if needed. He also has the support of ORAS greats in Accel and Wanka, which is a relief for both him and Killintime. Don’t let his somewhat low ranking and middling UUCL performance fool you, as he is very much in the same league as the greats when it comes down to the wire.

While he needs no introduction as a player himself, The Strap has been quietly making waves over the past year in ORAS UU, going 4-2 in UUPL and 3-3 in UUCL. While it’s not the most amazing thing in the world, that’s honestly the kind of performance you’d at least want out of someone who didn’t go for very much in either tour. This also correlates to his ranking here; while he’s a capable player in pretty much any tier you put him in, he doesn’t exactly have the amount of experience that most players above him do. He doesn’t have a whole lot of support here on paper either, other than his manager robjr to give him teams. He could very well put up similar records to last year, but until then, he may end up struggling.

It may seem surprising that Hydronics is down here, as he’s been farming Classic for quite a while now and is one of the more active community members in recent memory. However, his team tour records are a different story—while he had a great UUPL last year, that was in GSC, a tier that he most certainly does not enjoy. He played ORAS in UUCL, but ended up struggling heavily there with a 1-4 record. While he’s shown that he can do very well in individuals, the pressure that comes with playing team tours and the gap between him and many other players on this list make it hard to justify putting him very high here. The ORAS pool is one of the strongest groups this year, and this year may be where he’ll be able to prove that UUCL was just a slump for him.

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Of all the people in the pool, Accel firmly earns his spot as the top dog, and deservedly so. He's been one of the tier's most dominant players over what feels like almost a decade now, and that means a lot these days where it feels like there's been a revolving door of players coming in and out of the tier over the past few years. Last year was an off-tour for him, but ironically, you could make the argument that was a blessing in disguise in the long run due to his extremely cheap self-buy this year. He's also had success elsewhere in recent memory, winning the recent BW UU cup and being in UU Classic finals as of writing. He also has the support of choolio to help this year, which is kind of funny considering he probably needs it the least. It's probably a relief to choolio to remain on the bench all season, though. Anyhow, Accel possesses both the knowledge and skill ceiling that'll make him tough to beat for anyone this year, and it's likely he continues to show why he's one of the best.

Similarly to the #1 ranked player, Monai is a BW aficionado who had a bit of a regression last year as far as UU goes. 1-6 is definitely tough to come back from, but he did win UUPL the year prior, and looking past that, he’s been on a massive tear in SPL in back-to-back years. That shouldn’t be an extremely defining factor of his ranking here, but it’s important to note how difficult it is to be consistent at a high level. He absolutely has the insight needed to excel and hang with the top dogs here, so the only real question is whether he can bring cohesive teams. If he does so, he can very easily pilot them to success and show that last year was a one-off.

One of the only players here to rival Accel in the boomer competition, shiloh has taken a bit of a break from his ADVentures to move to a slightly more modern tier. He's very much a jack-of-all-trades kind of player, though; he may need to be fed teams here and there as opposed to dedicating himself to building, but he has a strong intuition for picking teams that are given to him and piloting them well. With this in mind, the support of fellow dinosaur Bouff bolsters this potential, making him quite the dangerous opponent. The lack of experience might cause some doubts here and there, but he went into ADV with a similar process in mind and was on the winning team for two of the three seasons he played in that tier. Any skepticism towards him being fresh should be dispelled by his strong fundamentals.

Hacker is one of the more humorous cases this tournament. Going from an objective snub in the undrafted pool to an earth-shattering 21k in a debut UUPL is quite the feat, which would rightfully surprise many. However, this becomes much more understandable due to his fantastic 8-1 record in UUCL, with a 6-0 in BW in particular. Doing so with basically no experience in BW is fairly difficult, and between that and his flexibility as a player to slot into other tiers, he's one of the most dangerous players in the tour. The reason he's not ranked as high as those above him is mainly that the building support he has this tour, while good, isn't as strong as what he had in UUCL, which is definitely something to note in a stronger group. That being said, the gap between him and the others is very narrow, so it would not be out of the question for him to end up mopping the floor with everyone again.

Real is one of the more...quiet? old gen experts in the UU scene. Quiet is the operative term here, because it's being used in the sense that he can be a reliable player to have but doesn't end up going for exorbitant amounts. He is most certainly not a quiet personality. He has a trademark ritual that is tried and true—whine in the game chat or the team general chat, either about how he's getting lucked or he's the worst player on the planet, and then somehow finesse his way back into a win. It's some kind of magic that not many players possess, and it is most certainly a valuable trait to have. If he can tilt his opponents in the same way he tilts himself, he could probably win every game he plays.

Seraphz is….another player who kind of just plays whatever. He put up a decent 4-3 record last UUPL, which was then unfortunately overshadowed by managing the worst team in UU history in UUCL, achieving the fabled 0 points that few can claim. Thankfully, this is NOT that tournament, and he is sure to at least care more (not a high bar, I guess), and slotting himself into a tier he’s done well in previously is a good enough first step. He also has the support of col49, which is definitely appreciated, as col is one of the very few people who are actually really good at building in this tier compared to the average player.

The Estarossa Show has had quite the glowup over the past few years, being a consistent performer in various oldgens such as GSC and DPP. He’s put up a respectable 11-6 as a self-buy in DPP over the past two years and aims to make another shift by transitioning over to BW. This is primarily due to the recent sleep ban in his former stomping grounds, where he has been the most vocal of the small handful of people who wanted to keep it in the tier. The ban was enough to make him want to move to the gen where sleep is mechanically broken beyond belief. There’s not really much evidence to believe he’ll excel here at the moment, but there wasn’t a good reason to believe in him on paper when he started in DPP either—this should be another painless shift for him.

At the bottom of the list is someone who actually put up an above average performance last UUPL. Tack might still be a little fresh when it comes to this tier in particular, but she’s a veteran of the gen itself, being one of the best BW PU players around. To that end, ranking her this low might seem a little odd, and it is definitely not a testament against her skill as a player. It’s more just that it’s a tightly packed pool, and a recent slump in UUCL wasn’t the most helpful for her either. Given the narrow differences in skill here for a good chunk of this group, it wouldn’t be very surprising for Tack to put up a similar performance to last UUPL.

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fatty is a mainstay in DPP UU. After years of success in this tier, in a pool with multiple high-performing players from the previous few UUPLs like frankjosh, lpz, micciu and esta missing this year's, it's no surprise that a super consistent player like fatty would get an easy #1. Not only is fatty one of the best DPP UU players in general, but he is also a fantastic builder and hopefully a no-Sleep Talk meta provides him with opportunities to innovate new builds and stay on top of the pool.

Thiago is a fantastic pilot of teams in DPP UU who has a long history of playing this tier in team tours. This alone would make him rank highly in this pool as a very consistent player, but he also has the support of two players with a history of DPP UU in UUPL on his team, Heysup and Estarossa. Having access to Heysup teams is an especially massive boost to an already very strong player in this tour and Thiago should easily be expected to perform highly.

passion is a strong player of Pokemon, although how much experience they have in DPP UU directly is more questionable compared to some other players in this pool. Nonetheless, their strength as a player sets them up to have a good shot in this tour, especially with access to teams from a lot of other players and any potential support that frankjosh might be providing from within the team. If teambuilding is kept on top of, they should be able to leverage their strong playing skills to get a good record here.

BeatsBlack has less direct UUPL history with DPP UU than some of the other players in this list but has quite a lot of experience with DPP lower tiers among other things in team tours, and with how well a lot of these skill sets transfer alongside his good showings in DPP UU in things like Classic, a solid performance should be expected from him here, especially with a few big names missing from the pool this year. He has strong game sense and teambuilds, which should hopefully see him getting a good performance, especially if he can keep on top of the new no-Sleep meta.

Le Don has quietly returned to tournaments to try and make his mark on UU. He hasn't done anything eye-opening in the way of DPP UU, having pulled off decent records for UU Snake and UUFPL all the way back in 2023. Between the long hibernation he's had before coming back to the game and him not solidifying himself as a UU mainstay, it would sound like he'd prob be set for a last-place result on this list. However, he's most known for his OU exploits built up over the years, and he clearly knows what he's doing when it comes to that tier. DPP expertise is generally transferable across different tiers, and the passion he has gives a strong confidence level here. He also has col49 to possibly support here if needed, which will be quite helpful to help any ideas he has develop properly.

"This guy has no idea what he's doing. He wants to tank his record," is what was told to me by the illustrious boomer known as killintime with regard to his section in this article. Despite the self-deprecation evident in his own words, this is a ploy to tilt his opponent alongside the jank that he has become known for over the many years he's been playing. His teams have historically been known to include some uncanny elements and innovative sets, making him quite the headache to prepare for. While he's not as well-versed in DPP as he is in ORAS, a tier where he has put up stellar records in the past, the DPP pool is fresh enough that his creativity in the builder can work wonders for him. His main obstacle will primarily be how motivated he actually is, as sometimes he will choose to just roll up with some nonsense that ends up being more of a risk than a reward.

Big Maldo makes his return to UUPL after quite some time, having been away from the tour for a few years now. There were some doubts about his playing abilities, but he managed to shut critics down with a dominant 11-3 record in BW UU between UUBD and UUCL. So, of course, his reward after working so hard is...to be placed into DPP. Whether MrAldo even cares about this or not is one thing, but there is something depressing about not being able to continue on a good streak like that. Thankfully, he's slightly dabbled in the tier years ago, so it's not like he's completely lost. Adding the recent Sleep ban into the mix helps as well, given that he seems to be the kind of boomer who appreciates the ~honest~ strategies being used in tours. The low ranking shouldn't particularly be seen as a discouragement, as he can clearly play the game —he just might need some time to properly break in DPP once again before he gets on the same playing level as the rest of the pool.

At the bottom of the rankings, we have someone who is very much new to DPP UU, violet river. She's slowly been making strides across the website for a few years now, primarily being one of the recent ADV OU zoomers; as far as UU goes, her main exploits have been in BW, especially due to a spectacular 7-1 record from last UUFPL. Her low ranking stems purely from the lack of tenure as a player, both within DPP and UU tiers as a whole, in comparison with the competitors above her. While she's by no means a bad player, she definitely has some clicking habits that will make her team nervous. She's been known to have some games where her timer just doesn't show up at all, and playing off instinct like that isn't particularly a strategy that works consistently. If she can get past those and use her timer to play a more methodical game that DPP tends to reward, she has a decent shot of making some upsets.

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Heysup was ranked unanimously #1, which is about as unsurprising as him complaining about minor luck and then proceeding to win anyway through his opponent throwing the game for fun. There is honestly not a whole lot to say about him that hasn’t been repeated ad nauseam. He brings wacky stuff in the builder that feels like it should be punished but just isn't and manages to outlast his opponent to victory. Whether that’s achieved through force of will or the opposition tilting is debatable, but his consistent performance over the many years he’s been playing means he’s no fluke as a player. His fundamental understanding of the tier’s interactions, while stemming from a different methodology from most other players, makes him a dominant force for this tournament and will provide fantastic value for the Ladies.

Bouff —if ADV UU had a tier leader, it would surely be Bouff. Bouff has been one of the, if not THE, most passionate ADV UU players for the better part of a decade at this point. While other players like Heysup find themselves actively in the UUPL pool more often due to Bouff's side questing in other tiers, Bouff remains synonymous with ADV UU as a tier. Due to this, it is no wonder they find themselves under only Heysup in these power rankings. If Bouff can conquer their pre-game nerves, it is unlikely they will have a poor performance in their home tier in any tournament, as they probably have a better raw understanding of the ins and outs of ADV UU than anybody else. Will this finally be Bouff’s year in UUPL?

While he’s only been around in the ADV scene for about 3-4 years (which, mind you, is more than anyone on this list barring the two players above him), Parpar has been a mainstay in the tier since he started. He’s a tenured player who hasn’t been afraid to try to work outside of the normal bounds of ADV, as he’ll bring lesser-used threats like Poliwrath and Wailord. He also has the support of killintime, one of the more quirky UU minds in the community, to help play to his strengths. It’s also worth noting that his join date is in 2011, which is interesting because he doesn’t really seem like a Pokemon Online-esque boomer… Anyway, he hasn’t made as much noise as of late, particularly due to some average performances last year. However, this isn’t nearly enough to make anyone lose faith in him, and with a few months of rest, he should be able to work his way up to par —pun completely intended.

Having gone for pennies last year and netting the best record for the SS pool, crying has been making strides afterwards on both the big stage and on the oldgen field, following that up with a strong SCL performance in UU and a passable 3-2 in ADV during UUCL. While their creativity hasn’t been as evident here as the aforementioned tiers, they’ve shown to have a solid grasp on how ADV works and have taken down some notable presences in the previous tour. In a slightly weaker pool than usual, there are good odds that crying can go on an upward trend and establish themselves as an ADV threat.

The most recent UU classic winner has been furthering his notoriety as an oldgen jack of all trades by transitioning as a true ADV starter for the first time. This is definitely a good thing for him, as he’s not afraid to voice his disdain for having to play DPP and SS over the years. He’s continued to show his growth as a player with an impressive performance in the ongoing UU classic this year, cementing himself as far from a fluke. To make things even better, he has omega boomer fatty and Shiba aka Mr. Crit Magnet to make sure his builds excel. The resident French tryhard of the community might be ranked 5th, but he’s absolutely a menace to look out for.

A less seasoned player compared to a majority of the other names here, mielke has been more commonly known as being an aficionado for a variety of ADV tiers, stretching from OU to other lower tiers such as RU and PU. He’s done this in quite a short timespan too, making him very much a rising star. He managed to swing a 6-7 performance in ADV UU last year, and while that’s not shattering boundaries, it’s not particularly a bad showing for a first-timer either, especially against the veterans he’s had to face. Like the other players on the lower half of this list, he’s got something to prove, and this is the tour to display it provided he can remain motivated.

Premonitions is probably one of the more interesting cases as far as ADVers go; similarly to Heysup, they’re very willing to try out things that no one else will, but Premonitions sometimes has a tendency to overcook. Bringing Altaria twice in one season is one thing, but neither time did he use the “standard” defensive set. Conceptually, this isn’t a bad thing, but it feels like they’ve shot themselves in the foot with experimentation as of late. As time goes on, they’ll ideally be able to improve on filtering between what’ll catch their opponent off guard and what’ll just set them back in game. They’re certainly no slouch on the actual playing end of things, but this’ll be the tour to determine how they can convert their creativity into something great.

At the bottom of the pool, we have a player who isn’t exactly an unknown quantity when it comes to UU oldgens. Cam is more known for his playing ability in DPP. He’s shown competency as a player over the years overall, without any true standout performances. The bright side for him is that he has quite the cast of support to help him ease into the tier, with minds like Xrn and Accel to make sure he goes into the game with a solid team. He’s by no means a bad player, but the sheer gap in experience might make it a rough time for him to break on to the scene.

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Dawn is one of the few remaining players from the HSA era of GSC UU, and it's therefore no surprise to see him topping the pool. His experience in GSC UU, alongside his building and playing strengths, makes him an obvious favorite in a pool full of less experienced builders or players, and while there are others with one of these attributes, only Dawn brings them at this level at the same time. As long as Dawn doesn't get lost in the sauce in the builder, he should be expected to get a very comfortably positive record in this tour.

Some might be surprised to see Soup rank so high in this pool; while he's a much stronger player than most of the pool, he has far less experience in this tier than everyone else and it often shows in some of his weaker team brings and some mistakes in play. If his team or outside help can help shore up any teambuilding issues and he makes sure to get test games in to practice with the teams, then this ranking could be very well deserved, as his general playing strength, especially in GSC tiers, is not to be underestimated.

Eva has shown herself within recent tours to be a threat to be reckoned with within GSC UU; her team builds are usually consistent and decent, and she showcases a strong level of gameplay and game sense that has made her frequently look rather impressive versus a lot of the GSC pools. There are some trends in her teambuilding and team styles that could be abusable with prep, but if she stays on top of this, it's very easy to imagine her walking out with the best performance in this tour outside of Dawn and solidifying herself as a GSC UU mainstay.

Mantis knows GSC UU well, having played it within various tours frequently over the years, and is generally a decent player. His teambuilding is known to infuriate a lot of players, and it being frequently viewed as fairly cursed can also be one of his greatest strengths. You generally have very little idea what you are going to load into when playing against him, and it very easily creates unpleasant matchups for you to play against, although it very much runs the same risk in reverse. In the hands of a weaker player, this coinflipping nature would probably not warrant a 4th position in rankings, but Mantis's playing ability is high enough that he should be able to outplay some of the worse MUs, although only time will tell how stuff goes here and if Mantis's builds are more reigned in or wild this tour.

Col is definitely one of the strongest GSC UU players in this pool, so it might surprise some to see him ranked this low. This is probably mostly in part due to his self-proclaimed need for support in this tier since he won't be building for himself and the potential risks this brings, especially against a lot more active builders. Nonetheless, if teambuilding support is strong for him, this low ranking should easily be upset.

Indulge has shown strengths in recent tours in GSC UU with decent showings. Estarossa's choice to draft them after pairing up with them in a previous tour shows a clear level of trust in their play and ability to work well in this tier, and if prep is strong, Indulge could have a good tour here in this pool. Against some stronger players in the pool, the performance from the Ladies will likely depend on how well the prep goes and if Indulge makes any costly mistakes or pilots teams well.

It's great to see Celebiii having an opportunity to play GSC UU in UUPL again; they are definitely one of the most enthusiastic players within this tier, and this enthusiasm will hopefully come through with the visibility of their teambuilding prep in games. Cel has a strong understanding of the workings of GSC UU and has strong fundamentals in both gameplay and teambuilding, although mistakes can be visible in gameplay in tour games, and he does have some vulnerability playing into more offensive matchups. Nonetheless, if he works hard in prep and test games, he could have a great tour here.

Leo is a more recent player of GSC UU and it's nice to see him playing in this tour. He has had decent showings in GSC tiers within recent tours that show me that he is definitely not a player to write off here. Despite having less experience in GSC UU than other players, depending on the support he's getting within and outside of his team, he could have a good tour, but it's definitely hard for rankers to place him too high compared to some of the more seasoned players or teams with very strong prep. Hopefully, we see a great performance from him in his first UUPL.

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