UU Snake Draft IV Power Rankings

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Welcome to the Power Rankings for the fourth installment of the UnderUsed Snake Draft! This will be the second edition of the Power Rankings and will hopefully serve to hype up this tournament despite being slightly delayed. We asked knowledgeable players of each tier to rate the starting players for it, averaged the rankings, and ended up with an attempt at an unbiased list. There will always be inherent biases, of course; Pokémon is a game with a lot of variables that aren't always in your control, so even the best will have bad seasons, but this is the best we could do! From there, we gathered all of the rankings and assigned points accordingly. It is, of course, impossible to have perfect rankings, and I don't want to insult or slight anyone here; if you, the reader, find yourself ranked low on any of these lists, then please know it isn't supposed to be offensive. Someone's gotta be there! If the rankings can at least be a fun read for the community, then I'd say they're a success.

A special thanks to the following rankers for contributing in the creation of this article: Accel, airfare, alive, Amaranth, Amukamara, Attribute, avarice, BigFatMantis, Chaitanya, col49, Corperate n, Danny, dawnbuster, dingbat, Dunoks, Elfuseon, EllingtonReborn, Estarossa, EternalSnowman, EviGaro, Fakee, Finchinator, Floss, gorex, hs, HSOWA, Indigo Plateau, Jeza.p, justdrew, Le Don, Lily, Liz Angeles, LpZ, Lyssa, Melt Gibson, Micciu, Moutemoute, Mr.378, MrSoup, NotVeryCake, Parpar, Punny, Rasche, Real FV13, robjr, rs, Sabelette, Sage, Scalescale, SEA, Slip, Sylvi, The Strap, Thiago Nunes, Torchic, TyCarter, udongirl, umbry, vivalospride, Xiri, YBW.

And a double thank you to the following people for helping with writing, HTMLing, grammar checking, quality checking and more: avarice, Bouff, Corperate n, DugZa, Estarossa, Expulso, hariyana grande, Lily, Lumari, Sabelette.

Now without further ado, let's get into the rankings!

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1. Lily
2. mncmt
3. Luthier
4. Feliburn
5. lax
6. watashi
7. passion
8. TJ
9. DugZa
10. vivalospride
11. starbitstorm
12. Booty
13. Moutemoute
14. Floss
15. Ninjadog
16. hs
17. Parpar
18. justdrew
19. JustFranco
20. Leru
21. Danny
22. Mimilucha
23. Dunoks
24. Liz Angeles
25. gum
26. Corperate n
27. Ciro napoli
28. Andyboy
29. TyCarter
30. Alkione
31. Rasche
32. Dr. Phd BJ

The Ascovillains chose to invest quite heavily in SV, grabbing their three headline players early in the auction in mncmt, passion, and lax. These three players have strong histories in UU and put up good records quite consistently. mncmt has grown into one of the best SV players out there across each of the tiers he plays, while passion is a UU sheet destroyer, with an overall record of 15-7 across various UU tiers. lax is similarly destructive, with a 28-22 record edging him into the Top 30 section of UU wins across the tier's entire existence. It goes without saying that all of these players are expected to put up great records, which leaves us with Ciro napoli, a new player that has put up some decent OU results. He received an overall mediocre ranking in this tier due to his lack of UU results, but with strong prep he can definitely overcome it through solid play. While their oldgens may be lacking, it is clear that the Ascovillains have a lot of faith in their SV players, and with a roster like this it's not hard to see why.

With the sudden return of hs comes a new era of the Sandacondas, one that is spearheaded by a strong SV core consisting of hs, Luthier, TJ, and gum. All four of these players are storied and strong; it isn't their first rodeo at all. hs is coming back from a long hiatus and seemingly hasn't missed a beat; while the PRs do put him at relatively modest 16th place, he does have a long history of strength in UU and has decent odds to overcome it. Luthier is chilling at the #3 spot and is a player that needs zero introduction, having put up incredible performances across whatever tier he touches for years now; there's really no reason to believe that won't continue here. Similar can be said for TJ who, despite having been absent for a while, is still ranked at 8th and is expected to put up a solid performance as long as he gets caught up to speed with the generation. Finally there's gum, who is unfortunately closer to the bottom, but he certainly has the capability to grab wins, and if he puts in effort with prep he'll likely be good value. This strong core of players is more than deserving of their #2 ranking.

The year is 2023. In an SV core consisting of two UU council members in vivalospride and Moutemoute as well as OM legend Andyboy, the star player is somehow… Feliburn. Incredible. This SV group is headlined by the recent UU open winner, who seems to have finally found a generation that actually rewards his overly aggressive playstyle and comfortably finds himself ranked in 4th as a result. Moutemoute and vivalospride will be looking to support Feliburn as council members that have had tough times breaking through overall, coming in at 10th and 13th overall. These are certainly respectable rankings, and they will likely live up to the expectations set for them. Speaking of expectations, it seems there are none for Andyboy, who has a strong history in OMs; with the support of his teammates, it isn't at all unreasonable to assume he will overperform from his 27th ranking. Noivern doesn't run Boomburst here though, so keep that in mind if you face one. Overall, this is a solid group with great standouts and a very strong unproven prospect; expect a good performance from the Dragonairs in SV.

The Wurmples elected to say “who cares about mainers” when drafting their SV core, going with Floss, DugZa, Danny, and Booty. Now that's not to say that these players are unfamiliar with UU as a whole; they are all well liked in the community and have had their showings before for sure, but none would immediately be pegged as being UU mains. Nonetheless, they are all pretty strong players who received overall okay rankings, but none are super show stopping. DugZa comes in at 9th and is followed closely by Booty in 12th; both of these players have put up solid UU results before, and if they are motivated there's no reason to believe they won't manage to do so again. Floss comes in at 13th; his RU prowess is well known at this point, and he's had a few UU performances too, though they have typically been quite average overall. Rounding it out is Danny, who unfortunately hasn't managed to hit his stride with UU before but still receives an OK ranking; while he has only managed an 0-2 UUPL record in terms of past UU experience, his overall improvement as a player lends him some hope. With four completely reasonable picks in SV, the Wurmples should do just fine if they can source good teams. Admittedly I have no clue where they're going to get those, but between them I'm sure they can figure something out.

The Dragonairs mixed the most boomer of boomers in watashi with three zoomers in Parpar, starbitstorm, and TyCarter. This mix seems to have paid off, with watashi coming in at 6th and starbitstorm not too far behind at 11th. Those two will be expected to carry a little bit, but in theory they synergize quite well; watashi's “give me a team and I'll win” mantra should gel just fine with starbitstorm's extreme tryhard prep. Parpar and TyCarter round it out; Parpar has quietly put up solid individual SV UU results since the start of the generation but generally is more known for ADV UU in team tournaments, where he always does well. He is barely ranked in the bottom half at 17th but is still certainly a competent player and has the ability to overcome it. Then there's TyCarter, who is unfortunately all the way down at 29; while he's been around for a while now, he hasn't been able to break onto the scene until now. These sink-or-swim scenarios happen to everyone at first, so now's TyCarter's time to shine, but for now we must temper our expectations, With two proven winners and two good prospects and all but watashi coming fairly late in the draft, this is a reasonable budget core for the Dragonairs; they are unlikely to overperform, but they will likely do fine overall.

It's rare to see the #1 ranked player on the #6 ranked core, but it seems the Primarinas are taking some risks with their SV lineup. Lily headlines this core with a stellar SV performance overall that she's looking to continue and can only be expected to do great things, and Ninjadog also receives a solid ranking at 15th as a strong all-around player that has put up good results across multiple tiers and generations. However, the starpower then takes a nosedive as we fall down to the low-ranked Corperate n and Dr. Phd. BJ, who will be looking to make names for themselves here. Now in fairness to these players, they aren't unknown prospects; Corperate n is coming off a solid UUWC showing and has been playing at a reasonably high level for a while, and Dr. Phd. BJ is an excellent OM player that will do great if he can make the transition to normalcy, but it is entirely reasonable to assume that they will both struggle. The Primarinas do have strong subs available should they need them, and with support from managers Queen of Bean and Lily they'll likely have strong teams, so this biased writer is hoping they overperform their ranking, but for now we wait and see.

JustFranco, Leru, Dunoks, Alkione. This is a core of four scourges, bastions of the “I play everything” mindset, and unfortunately it hasn't rolled over well with rankers. While most of the rankings before now have been reasonably close to each other, with the biggest drop in points being 2, Ceruledge of Tomorrow finds themselves at 12 points to the Primarina's 16, marking a significant dropoff. None of these players are bad by any means, but they are lacking in starpower. With JustFranco and Leru coming in at 19 and 20 and a perhaps unfair ranking for manager Dunoks even lower at 24, it seems hard to believe that these players will manage to put up a great SV performance; they are all players capable of putting up an average record, but rarely anything beyond that. Alkione unfortunately doesn't save things either; he's a periodic name in the BW UU pool that has found himself in SV this time, but with his absolute highest vote being rank 22, it goes to show that the rankers don't have much faith. The Ceruledges might manage to shock the world if all goes right and they use this overall ranking as motivation, but it's not super hard to see why they're this low, unfortunately.

Somehow, even lower than Ceruledge of Tomorrow, we find ourselves with the Violet City VTubers. To their credit, the VTubers put more of a focus on their oldgens than SV, but even still it's not looking great for them. We are in a world where justdrew is the star player here, folks. Now of course I'm being unfair, drew has improved significantly over the past few years and is definitely a solid pick, though he's not necessarily star player status. He'll be joined at the helm by Mimilucha, a player who has been around for some time now but has not managed any stellar records with a 9-11 overall total, and Liz Angeles, who generally puts up solid SS results but has yet to have anything going for her in SV. Bottoming out this group is Rasche, a new prospect who did put up a solid 2-1 UUWC showing but has very limited overall performances; it doesn't seem unreasonable that he'll overperform, but even if he does, it's not hard to see why this core is ranked low. These are all fine players individually but they are largely unproven; even justdrew has limited performances in team tournaments overall, and there are some players in this pool with more UU team tour games than all four of these players combined. Being unproven does sometimes mean you can shoot past the expectations set for you, but without any real starpower to fall back on, it does seem a bit tough for the VTubers to make things happen in SV.

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For the first time in years, TDK has chosen to take a break from managing UU team tours and signed up to play for their old adversaries, the Dragonairs, instead. Their last few escapades as a manager didn't go as planned, but as a player TDK is as well regarded as ever. They actually played SS UU in the most recent edition of UUPL, going 3-2 before subbing themselves out after their team's playoff hopes had gone down the drain, and they put up an astounding 8-2 record in last year's SCL playing SS UU as well. There's very good reason to believe in TDK this year and no real reason to think they won't live up to their ranking, especially with people like Sage, Moutemoute, and BigFatMantis being there to give input and keep TDK from bringing teams without Stealth Rock (or maybe not, since they seem to win either way).

Despite playing for the team of tomorrow, Attribute once again finds himself in the tier of yesterday. After putting up a respectable 3-1 in UUPL XI and a perfect 6-0 UUWC, Attribute hopes to continue his success in SS UU. He'll have the support of manager Dunoks, who has great knowledge of the tier, though if there's any weakness in this slot, it's that Dunoks may be the only reliable source of teams other than Attribute's own supply. Nonetheless, Attribute's undeniable skill on the playing field, his seeming keenness for SS UU in particular, and his experience playing it in recent team tours are great positives, and he should once again put up a solid record this UUSD.

The second three… character name player in our rankings is 691, who finds themselves in SS after playing SV UU in both UUPL XI and UUWC III. Though they were active when SS UU was current gen, 691 hasn't had much action in the tier since, other than a round 4 appearance in the most recent SS Cup. However, they are backed by one of the most successful players and builders of late SS UU, umbry. That alone sparks some confidence, especially since 691 has been playing well recently overall and will surely have some creative ideas of their own in the builder. 691 is less of a shoe-in for success compared to the players ranked above, but there are a lot of signs pointing in the right direction for this slot, and the vote of confidence from our rankers is well earned.

kythr is another player who has been shunted into SS UU after success in SV UU this year, as he went 3-1 in UUWC III. With these being the only games he has on the UU sheet overall, it may seem strange to some that kythr finds himself ranked in the top half of the pool, but he has plenty of experience playing and winning Pokémon games on bigger stages such as SCL, so he definitely has the skills to pick up at least a few wins. Though there is no obvious SS UU expert on the Wurmples, many people on the team, including managers bb skarm and DugZa, have been successful in SS UU in the past and are no doubt willing to dive back into the metagame for this edition of UUSD. If the Wurmples and kythr can find a nice groove in the meta, which they are more than capable of, you can expect a positive record here.

Unlike his U.S. South compatriot kythr, TPP actually did play SS in UUWC this year and played it well at that, going 3-0. The Ascovillains are betting that TPP's recent success will give him a leg up against a pool that is largely looking to find their old footholds from when SS UU was the current gen. Backing up that plan are a multitude of potential supporters, including managers hariyana grande and Askov, and teammate Sirwings, who have all proved themselves strong SS UU builders. Such a combination, alongside TPP's momentum, could be enough to propel the Ascovillains' SS slot to a good record; however, it's fair to say that the players above in the power rankings have a similar potential, if not much more, so TPP and crew will have to work hard to make that dream a reality.

Without a certain Canadian manager to pick him up this UUSD, Fc found his way onto the Sandacondas. Fc is probably the first player so far in this pool of whom one could say he has truly had a bad year in UU team tours, coming off an 0-3 UUWC III in SS and a 2-4 SV run in UUPL XI. However, it's not total folly to think Fc might succeed here, seeing as in the last edition of UUSD, he had a very strong showing in SS. That success was, in large part, thanks to the building prowess on his former team, and managers avarice and Highways seem to have picked up on that, drafting coveted SS UU builder HYDREIGON SPECS alongside Fc this year. Could such a pairing bring Fc back to his SS UU glory days? Our rankers aren't convinced, but the possibility is certainly there.

udongirl looks to forget the SS UU struggles she faced in UUPL XI in this edition of UUSD. Another player who has looked good in SV recently, udongirl comes into this tournament with some healthy momentum, having won the most recent UUWC (alongside many of her fellow Primarinas). However, her 1-5 showing in SS in UUPL earlier this year was not overlooked by our rankers, landing her squarely towards the lower end of the pool. udongirl and her supporters, who may include managers Lily and Queen of Bean, will need to find whatever was missing in her UUPL run if they want to put up a positive record this season in SS UU. Luckily for the Primarinas, they have capable subs such as Slip, who can step in if need be.

SS CAP expert dex finds himself last in our power rankings, but that doesn't mean he comes into the tour without some promise. He made a respectable finals appearance in the recent SS UU Cup for classic, which might have been an SS UU Cup win if the evil robjr hadn't counterteamed him (recycling teams he'd used in previous rounds). Luckily, rob's counterteaming skills could work in dex's favor this tour, as the two of them have both wound up on the Dragonites. Hopefully the combination of SS Cup winner robjr, finalist dex, and Dragonites manager Indigo Plateau will be enough for dex to go on a dark horse run, but if not, some lineup shuffling may be in order.

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If there's anything people can tell you about robjr, it's his commitment to the Dallas Cowboys and how his knowledge of SM UU stands out from all of the tiers in his repertoire. Coming off a clean 4-0 in UUWC and the best SM record last UUPL at 6-3, robjr was the first pick for the entire draft and is expected to do very well in his home of SM UU. With the Barclay gang behind him to support, he should not be short of additional team options or test games, should he even need them.

Peter dick tamer has had some pretty dominant runs in SM UU, and it's not surprising at all to have him ranked so high. His offensive builds paired with aggressive plays have been able to overwhelm the opposition with ease in the past. He's coming off a good 3-1 in UUWC and should do well all on his own. Which is a good thing especially when Highways is your "manager."

As a strong round 1 pick, Sage has self-bought and decided to save herself from the pain of GSC UU. With TDK and vivalospride able to provide additional support, the three of them should be able to cook some fresh builds, or at least do a good job of deciding between Terrakion bulky offense, Manectric offense, or BO that fits one of Alomomola or Blissey on it. Should things go south, they can likely just swap with vivalospride in SV as well.

Xiri can be hit or miss in SM, but the former circuit champion should not be underestimated. He does not have anyone particularly versed in SM UU to support his picks, but Lily and Finchinator can probably offer some advice or old teams at minimum. Xiri is capable of doing really well or somewhat poor, making the middle ranking rather fitting.

UUWC was not great for etern, with him only pulling off a singular win before getting subbed for playoffs. While etern had a tough draw in this tournament, having to face both pdt and robjr, he will have to deal with them again here. It has been a while since he has had a strong performance, and it's hard to say how well he'll do with the notable lack of anyone experienced in the tier to help them out. Nevertheless, etern is still a strong player with some older builds to fall back on, so he can definitely still do more than fine here.

Eternal Snowman beat expectations during UUWC and pulled off a solid 4-1 record in addition to a modest 2-0 in SM for UUPL. However, the bar for prep will likely be higher this UUSD compared to UUWC, so it may be difficult for ESM to get away with running whatever combination of Steelix / Reuni / Prim / Terrakion + 2 bulky offense. Perhaps this will be the tour where he can go positive and make it into the upper half next power rankings.

Being a late-round steal, Chaitanya is yet another Monotype mainer on the Wurmples roster. He does not have much experience to offer for SM UU compared to his usual ORAS UU. However, his aggressive double-down plays could prove to be valuable, akin to pdt. With Amukamara teams at his disposal, which should sync well with his typical style, he can definitely pull off some wins even against the top end of the pool. Or completely flop as they load up Flamethrower Blissey and Grass Knot Togekiss. Who knows.

Despite making semifinals of SS UU cup and earning one (1) point in SM Cup, airfare finds himself thrown in a SM UU pool where the rest at least played it during current generation. He does have solid support in his manager Askov should they not already be stretched too far assisting the current gen slots, but they may be in over their heads here. After all, how can you NOT be able to name the mons off Christo HO or rattle off the 6s for robjr Substitute Primarina BO and expect to do well?

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More traditionally known for his prospects in SM and BW UU over the years, Liam is venturing out into a generation in between to make his mark once again. He's no stranger to ORAS, though, as he's played the tier in a number of other tournaments over the past year, sporting a ridiculous 13-3 record between UUFPL and ORASPL. This is just one point in a long list of achievements in old gen UUs for him, as he had won UU Classic last year and farmed through multiple cups to land himself in the playoffs again. To make things better (or worse, depending on if he gets told to bring Hone Claws Kyurem), he also has the support of Chaitanya, another strong player in the tier who's had multiple successful performances. There are very few players as consistent as him, and it's very likely that his playing ability nets him a record equivalent to his past dominant performances.

Despite only signing up for SV, Gondra was most certainly bullied by his dictator manager to go back into ORAS, as is typical for the aforementioned Plateau. Quite unfortunate. On the bright side, Gondra is a very tenured player in UU tournaments, and he nabbed himself a 6-2 record last year in ORAS, a large contribution to his team's victory in the tour. A potential difference here is that he doesn't have Pak on his team to support him this time to support him (at least not directly, anyway), but this year's pool's lack of people who have performed as well as him can play to his benefit. While he may not sink as much time as others into his preparation, his skill ceiling and experience with the tier will make him a reliable candidate for the pool.

The Vtubers have changed little since UUPL—their manager and former ORAS slot, umbry, has chosen to sit out this time around, but in her place stands Lyssa, a trademark player for the duo at this point. Despite focusing on SV for the past few tours she's played, this isn't her first rodeo in ORAS, as she did go 4-2 in UUWC playing the tier. With solid fundamentals and active supports in both of her managers, she should put up a great performance in this tournament.

The bat has been playing gen 6 UU for a very, very, very long time. In fact, he's been playing the tier since XY and has been actively playing it in tournaments since then. For a time, he was also known to have been extremely lucky, but those days are long gone, and his performances have shown that he's a force to be reckoned with. While he doesn't typically make any flashy plays or bring any crazy teams, he can play well, and sometimes that's good enough for Pokémon. While he's ranked #4 on this list, the difference between him and those above is miniscule, and it should be expected for him to show that in this tournament.

Having only started to engage with the Smogon community as a whole within the past ten months, Sylvi has made themselves known as an active and positive presence within the community at large. They've recently taking a liking to ORAS, and put up an impressive 5-3 record in the past UUFPL, with one of their wins being the only loss the #1 player on this list has taken. While the skill level is a bit higher in this tournament, new building minds in this tier are always appreciated and they've shown to have a good foundation for the game, making them to be a name to look out for in their first official UU team tour.

Another unique building mind in the tier, Scalescale makes their return to ORAS UU after a brief pause from the tier, having played it in team tours during the past two years. In a tier where going against the grain can prove to backfire heavily, Scale has made some bold choices, bringing styles such as Sticky Web offense and rain to their games. That may not sound like all that much, but pulling off wins with those kind of building risks isn't easy. While they are ranked a little low on the list, perhaps because of those factors, it wouldn't be very surprising to see them grab a few wins through their unconventional builds.

The foosball makes his return to the fray to ORAS for another tournament, after achieving a 6-1 record in the tournament last year out of nowhere. Having played in a number of tournaments on the site overall over the past year or so, Elfuseon has shown to be a subforum tour mainstay. Unfortunately, he's ranked lower on this list than one might expect, which may partially be because of his slowdown this year, going 2-2 in UUPL. It wouldn't be surprising to see him do well again here, but for now expectations for him are a bit low.

Compared to basically everyone else on this list, The Strap has next to no experience in the tier. While he's by no means a bad player, tenure is going to be key in this pool—we're at a point in time where ORAS is being pushed further faster than ever before, and gone are the days where managers would throw their players a random Pak team and hope for the best.

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It's hard to find things to say about Punny that haven't been said before in one of the million power rankings he's found himself in. You can be sure of one thing: if Punny likes a tier, he will dominate it, and BW UU is not an exception to this rule. Despite being ultimately quite new to the tier relative to some mainstays, only having played it for a few years, Punny has consistently dominated the competition, and there's no reason to believe that will change here. With a consistency that is essentially unmatched and building patterns that leave him unpredictable, Punny will keep all of his foes on their toes and is extremely likely to put up yet another excellent record in this pool. The VTubers have nothing to fear in the BW slot.

Finchinator and BW UU are basically the same entity. It has been his home in UU team tournaments for countless years, and he essentially always puts up a solid record, which is to be expected given he's been playing BW UU for longer than most people in this pool have been playing on the site in general. With a wide array of teams, endless knowledge about the tier, and support from manager Lily and teammate Slip, there's really no doubt that Finch will do fine; he typically doesn't wow you with any crazy 8-1 records, but he never goes negative either. He should be a great buy for the Primarinas and will be able to shore up their old gens excellently as long as he's active.

The only one on this list who can match Finchinator's tenure if not exceed it, and he'll make sure you know about it too—choolio has been around the BW UU scene for eons and most definitely knows the tier inside and out, upside down. Typically beholden to a supporting role, choolio finds himself in the starter seat for the first time in a while, so we can finally see the old man strut his stuff and put all the kids in timeout. choolio's legacy is no doubt excellent, and it would be foolish to expect him to do poorly, even with just a few recent games under his belt. He will more than likely put up a solid record if he actually ends up starting; the biggest question mark is not his ability to play after such a long time, but whether or not he'll be willing to in the first place…

GoldCat is a known cheeser in a variety of tiers, usually RU ones. However, as fate would have it, cheese is actually very strong in BW UU, and GoldCat made full use of that, winning the most recent BW UU Cup and rocketing himself to the top half of this ranking despite having no team tour experience in this tier. Because of that, it's actually quite hard to say how he'll do; he will likely do just fine as he has proven he is competent in the tier, though, assuming he can get some teams together and doesn't get counterteamed every week. I'll admit I'm actually just kinda writing out of my ass here, I genuinely have no clue what he used in BW UU Cup. Sorry! I'm a bad researcher. But GoldCat, unlike me, is not bad, and should put up a more than acceptable record for the Ascovillains in BW this season.

Another BW UU mainstay, EviGaro finds herself ranked in the fifth slot behind fellow RUer GoldCat. With a creative approach to building and a long history in BW UU, you would think Evi would find herself a bit higher. However, her recent results haven't been super stellar; it's still quite rare that she puts up a bad record, but I guess the fact that she's been playing other generations more often has hurt her ranking. Nonetheless, you would be silly to underestimate her in BW UU; anyone who knows the depths of this tier is scary, and Evi is no exception. It is very likely she'll do just fine—just make sure you bring Raikou checks!

Nalorium is a familiar face to anyone who knows BW OU, but his BW UU experience is slightly more of a question mark. However, mechanically speaking, Nalorium knows BW inside out. He has also played at least a little bit of UU in previous team tournaments and can certainly perform well as a pilot, though it's unknown if he will build for himself and, if not, where his teams will come from. That shouldn't be a huge issue, but he will have to zone in every week to overcome this low ranking. He most certainly has the skills required, as has been proven in his OU escapades. If he can execute similarly here, it is very likely he'll be able to outperform this ranking and provide excellent value to his team. Time will tell!

The perpetually underranked Fakee always seems to be disrespected in these things. In any other situation I'd feel bad for him, but Fakee just replied to one of my messages with the nerd emoji in the SmogTours Discord, so I have lost all sympathy. In all seriousness, Fakee has been performing decently in BW UU team tournaments for a fairly reasonable stretch of time by now, so it begs the question of what caused this seventh place ranking. To that I answer: I don't know. It is true that for the most part, the players above him either have excellent recent success in the tier or strong histories with it, so rankers felt better about betting on more proven slots. Fakee does know BW UU quite well and has managed to grab his share of wins over the years, so despite being projected for an overall negative ranking, it is unlikely he will flounder; just don't bet too hard on an amazing record. Who knows, though; Fakee has surprised before, and maybe he can do so again.

rs has played BW UU sparingly from time to time with unfortunately fairly mixed results over the years. It's far from his most favored tier, but even knowing the metagame can be a huge advantage in unproven pools. Unfortunately for rs, this pool is anything but unproven; most of these players have been playing BW UU for a long time, and rankers don't seem to believe he'll stack up to the competition. Now, that's not to say this is an impossibility; with good support and a hint of cheese, rs should be able to nab wins here and there, and if all else fails he can bring rain all seven weeks and see how it goes. We'll be watching this slot intently, but for now rs unfortunately finds himself at the butt end of this pool.

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There is no one in this tournament who has played DPP UU more than fatty. In fact, there isn't anyone on this list who's played more of anything for UU team tours than him, because he has played literally every single year since 2013. The years haven't been harsh on him either, as he's been consistently putting up solid records for a while now. While he said in his signup post he might not be as active as he usually is, he very obviously knows what he's doing, so there's little reason to expect he won't have a dominant showing this time either.

While not as battle hardened as the player above him, Thiago has been playing DPP UU for what feels like ages now. He put up a good showing in the most recent UUPL as well, sporting a 4-3 record. Thiago has a solid mind in the builder and usually crops up a variety of different team styles, making him difficult to prepare for. While he can falter in game every now and again, he's been a mainstay for long enough to where he can beat just about anyone in the pool.

LpZ is a jack of all trades when it comes to UU, playing what seems to be every old gen imaginable at this point. He's coming off a strong 4-1 performance in DPPPL, so he seems to be pretty in tune with the metagame as well at the moment. To make things even better, he also has Accel to back him up, who has played DPP UU at a high level before and is known to be an eccentric in preparation. All in all, this slot has the blueprint laid out for a strong season this year.

As one of the biggest tryhards in recent memory for UU, Micciu made his mark this year in UUPL, shocking everyone by going 6-3 on the Smashers. Having that kind of performance as a first-timer in an old gen is an impressive feat, especially in a tier like DPP that is filled with veterans. He returns the tier for this tournament, despite expressing a slight disinterest in it lately; however, he surely will be motivated to win the tour for the VTubers and show that his last run was no fluke.

Out of all the players on this list, Gama will undoubtedly be the one who raises the most eyebrows this season. That isn't to say he's an underdog of sorts, as he's played this tier in tournaments for the past two or three years now. It's more so that he has the potential to surprise everyone in the builder, as he's brought teams that would catch even the most tenured player off guard, such as using a hail team with a SubCM Sunny Day Entei in the back. His play will definitely stress his teammates out, and there's the question of whether he'll even show up, but he's a player with high upside, so there's a decent shot he wins most of his games this season.

Beraldo has been winning basically everything he's played this year, and his stock has gone through the roof as a result. That being said, while he did win with the Idols in UUPL, he went 0-3 in DPP in the process, which may cast some doubts about how well he'll perform. While he might not build, he does make an effort to learn about the tiers he plays, so this tournament can serve as a bounce-back and show that he won't go through the motions like some tour players do here.

Le Don, also known as the self-proclaimed “Son of Osgoode”, is known as a rising star in DPP OU over the past few years. He's had quite a few good performances in that tier alongside a distinct passion for it, and while the move down to a lower tier from an OU in old gens doesn't always translate well, he's skilled enough to where it shouldn't be very hard for him to get invested in the tier. Alongside this, Clefable and Dugtrio do happen to be allowed in this tier, meaning that Le Don can take after father crayon pop and utilize both to their full potential—that is to say, he could very well bring the most disgusting, mind-numbing teams imaginable.

HSOWA has played many DPP lower tiers over the years, having consistent records in basically every one of them that isn't UU. The Cerluedges must have an immense amount of faith in him to perform the same way here, as they drafted him in a surprising move at Round 3. Similarly to Le Don, they'll have to bank on him carrying over his prowess from other DPP tiers to here. Fortunately, he's not completely alone, as he'll have Leru to potentially support him with teams and pointers for how the tier is played.

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Once again, Heysup is back to turn some heads in the ADV pool. There isn't a whole lot to say that hasn't already been said before (and by that, I mean what I didn't write about him last time). He still is up to his usual shenanigans in the builder, and he performed just as well as he usually does with a 5-2 record. He's pretty much always finding new ways to make people question what could possibly be going on with his teams, as he decided this UUPL that he didn't like that other people were starting to use Misdreavus and instead opted to go with Duskull instead. That didn't pan out very well for him, but it does show that after years and years of playing he's still willing to go places where others may not feel comfortable in a tier like ADV UU.

The official Smogon representative for Victoria's Secret makes his grand return to ADV after struggling to branch out in other tiers during UUPL. While he's not as experienced as Heysup, or as cracked, he always has something unconventional about his builds in everything he plays. His process has gotten better over the years both in his teams and his gameplay, and he also has rs to quality check his teams in the event that the Silver Winder (I made up this name just now) goes rogue and brings something like a Girafarig again.

HANTSUKI has been playing the tier for a little while, but he has really come into his own over the past few months, having an impressive run to the finals in the ADV UU and a 5-1 record in UUFPL this year. While his teambuilding might be a little unconventional, using sets such as Sunny Day Aromatherapy Vileplume, lead Xatu, and White Herb Qwilfish, he uses them to great effect, a skill that not many players in the tier possess when trying to go off the beaten path. He went quite early in the draft, but he's also been playing Pokémon for a very long time, so there isn't much doubt as to whether he'll falter too much in-game.

When it comes to ADV, SEA has fit into almost anything you can think of. She's played almost every single tier there is for the gen… except for UU. You would think that dabbling in many tiers in one generation, while a good thing, isn't enough to net a fourth-place ranking in one's very first UU tournament, but that's only the half of it. Those who have been paying attention to recent gen 3 tournaments (or are viewers of Jimothy Cool) would know that she's the runner-up for the most recent CALLOUS Cup, which is difficult in its own right, but she had done so using Slaking and Shedinja of all things. Can you imagine winning hundreds of dollars because you brought shitmons like that and won with it? No one has done that before, and there is no doubt that no one will ever do that again until Nintendo decides to send Pokémon Showdown to the moon. Needless to say, her prowess in the builder is unparalleled, and if she can translate that to the slow-paced war of attrition that ADV seems to be, she'll do great in her first tour for the Primarinas.

Another player experienced in other ADV tiers, Xrn has been making waves in the tournament scene over the past year and a half. Recently, he's been putting up decent records in UU tours, having a 6-6 record on the sheet this year. While ADV UU can be hard to get into sometimes for new players, he also has the support of Parpar, a player who's been in many ADV UU tournaments up to this point and is known for being a creative builder. Xrn will most likely take the time to get acquainted with the tier as well, so his raw playing capabilities coupled with good team selection will make him someone who'll put up a solid record against the pool.

While his actual involvement with UU is next to none, gorex has only had brief showings in his official tournaments over the past few years. He played a bit of ADV UU last year in UUSD and went 2-1 in UUWC the year before. However, he lands himself in the pool due to having the best record for the tier in UUFPL, which makes him a solid contender. While UUFPL and this tour have different barriers of entry, it's not anything new for players to come from that tournament and go on to have admirable performances in more serious tournaments. Expectations are still tempered for him, as on a general scale, he has much less playing experience than anyone above him, but there's a decent chance he proves these rankings wrong.

Smogon's Colby Covington has decided to take a brief pause from his daily otter posting in the UU Discord and enter as a starter for the Ascovillains. He's played a few games of the tier, but not enough to really make a name for himself, so this will be his first time really getting hands-on experience. On the bright side, his managers intend to go the extra mile to make sure he gets all the help he needs (by highlighting me in another chat going “bouff please help us with adv PLEASEEEE”), so he's well on his way to provide for his team.

At the bottom of the list stands EllingtonReborn, the freshest face in this pool by a wide margin. She doesn't have much tour experience to go off of compared to everyone else as of writing this, with only a 3-4 record in UUFPL to speak of. However, she's one of the few people who have a vocal interest in the tier and a forum join date that isn't in the stone ages, making her a motivated competitor. Couple that with her manager being able to support her, and she may be able to hold her own. However, for the moment, it may be a rough start for her first time in the tournament scene.

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It should be no surprise to anyone to see Mr.378 at the top of this list, with his long history of being a fantastic player in this tier. He's one of the most consistent players and totally self sufficient in the builder too, so he should be expected to put up a great performance. There may be less innovation from Daniel compared to other players in the pool especially with the lack of support, but his #1 spot is well warranted with his history in the tier and no HSA in the tour to compete with.

FV13 is coming off a great year in GSC UU tours after winning the Classic Cup and doing fantastically in UUPL. He's a really strong player in GSC tiers, but where he may fall behind is in his weaker teambuilding compared to a lot of people in the pool, in a tour with some of the best builders in this tier. Nevertheless, it is hard to argue against his recent results and strong play right now, and if he avoids issues such as a consistent Gyarados weakness from UUPL, he should perform fantastically again.

Dawn has finally returned from a long hiatus from officially playing this tier. Don't be fooled, however, as she has still been playing this tier regularly on her time off. Dawn has always been one of the most innovative builders in this tier, and in the Muk meta, there should be high hopes for seeing some great teams from her and some solid prep to help her get great matchups. As a player she would fall on the weaker side of this pool but still solid nonetheless, so as long as she can combat her tendencies to get lost in the sauce, she should have a great performance in this newer metagame where innovation is key.

The Show, more formally known as Estarossa, has made GSC UU his stomping ground for quite a long time at this stage. Between his natural talent for the tier and seemingly endless enthusiasm for anything that doesn't involve unbanning B+-ranked Pokémon from UUBL, it's not difficult to see why he's such a familiar face that so many associate with the tier immediately. However, after a dissapointing UUPL run, Estarossa finds himself ranked quite a bit lower than usual, only coming in at #4. Now, #4 is obviously still a great ranking, and it's very reasonable to believe Estarossa will bounce back, especially in this new tier with Aerodactyl and Muk—considering he is one of the most active builders in the tier, he should be able to bring up-to-date teams and hopefully pull out wins with them. If nothing else, his games will surely be a wonder for the spectators; nobody makes GSC entertaining in quite the same way The Show does.

vani is an experienced player across all GSC tiers. He is solid in general, having played UU in a lot of team tours now and having proven himself fairly self sufficient despite still benefiting from the team support. How he will adapt to the Muk meta waits to be seen, but it should be expected that he will perform solidly; while he could have the potential to outdo his ranking, he finds himself in #5 mostly for the lack of team support and direct innovation pushing in GSC UU compared to some of the players above him.

col has played GSC UU a bunch in past team tours, but he doesn't always have the most consistent performances. He's a noteable player, however, and is paired with long-time great player and builder in this tier, Sage, who should be able to help ensure quality of teams and keep him up to speed. His flakiness in this tier compared to other players above him and lack of direct involvement may mean he has to work harder to ensure victories, but there is a lot of potential here for a good record still.

alive is a familiar face to older GSC UU players in this pool, having played in some of the earlier UUPLs. His ranking may be symptomatic of a lot of players not remembering him, but there is a great potential for a fantastic record here. The worry for some will be how he will react to such a long time spent away from the tier and the fresh additions of Aerodactyl and Muk, but if he adapts well, he may put in an enormous upset compared to these ranks.

Someone unfortunately has to come last in these rankings, but Mystras is by no means in a bad position still. This pool is honestly very solid in general, and Mystras has a lot of more modern GSC experience and familiarity with the new additions. He also finds himself with the support of Accel to really ensure top-quality teams, who has helped ensure fantastic-quality of teams in super successful tours for players like Mr.378, Estarossa, and kaori. Mystras mostly finds himself in last place for the lack of results in this tier compared to other players, but if he works to ensure top quality teams, then he may well have a great showing in this tour as one of the more passionate players in this pool.

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Unown no longer, Unowndragon is a perennial RBY UU threat known for putting up near-undefeated records in older tournaments, like his incredible 8-1 in UUFPL II that put him on the map and an impressive 4-1 in RBY PL III. While he hasn't quite recaptured those heights, he has nonetheless maintained solid records since, with a 5-4 in UUSD III and a 3-1 in ALTPL as well as a 4-3 in the more recent UUFPL III. Recent tournaments have been a mixed bag in a fluctuating metagame; he's had some incredible games and a few marred by strange teambuilding choices or debatable lines that seem to put him on the back foot unnecessarily. That said, everyone is struggling to adapt to a UU metagame that can't make up its mind on what it wants to be—will he put up a run like those of years past or another solid but altogether modest performance?

Despite the Hoenn-inspired name, Torchic is one of the all-time greats of RBY lower tiers, putting up impressive records in every tier from Ubers to PU. Much like Unowndragon, he has an earth-shattering historical record in RBY UU. With a mind-blowing 8-1 UUSD III and 6-2 UUSD II, Torchic has a track record of dominating every time Snake Draft comes around. Still, Torchic certainly plays fewer UU tournaments than competitors like Unowndragon and Sabelette, and he may not have had enough time to adapt to the recent bans of Lapras and Hypno and the retesting of Sleep. Taken out by MrSoup in Round 1 of UU LTC and Sabelette in Round 3 of the Grand Slam Open, Torchic has been struggling with UU lately, but these are individual tournaments where he didn't have time to test and hit his stride. We'll have to see if he reclaims his throne with UUSD IV or if this fluctuating meta blemishes his amazing record.

Sabelette is probably the coolest, hottest, smartest RBYer of all time, and she has finally deigned to grace UU with her immense talent. With her mind-boggling 2-0 record over Unowndragon, 1-0 record over Torchic, and godlike UU Open run, taking out Torchic, Unowndragon, and Melbelle on her way to a tournament win, who can stop her? She's clearly set to sweep this tournament and it's a crime she wasn't ranked first. Add in her incredible team spirit, supportive attitude, and general radiating aura of immense power, and it's clear she puts the game on another level. She's also an incredible writer, putting together these power rankings in a mere thirty minutes after the hosts begged her to put her writing talents to use on their behalf, and… okay, but seriously:

Sabelette is relatively new to UU, but she's been entering literally every RBY tournament for the last 18 months and making a mark—it shows in how close the top three players were in this power ranking. Her UU career got off to a mediocre start with poor results in 2022, a middling UU LTC, and a 3-4 UUFPL. Once Lapras and Hypno got banned, however, she looked stronger; in the first tournament after these bans, RBY UU Open II, she took out top players like Melbelle, Torchic, and Unowndragon on her way to victory. In her limited history she has a 2-0 record vs Unowndragon, a 1-0 record vs Torchic, and a 2-0 record vs Melbelle—we'll have to see if she turns out to be a demon to top players or if she just caught them by surprise with “RNG crimes against man and god,” as one user put it.

royzin is a wildcard in this tournament—he's more known for his RBY NU and especially Randbats than his UU, with no past team tournaments to example and mediocre placings in this year's individual UU tournaments, losing to Acetylaldehyde in Round 1 of LTC and NotVeryCake in Round 3 of Open. royzin is, however, a very experienced low tier player, and he is certainly capable of thriving with proper support and practice. The meta is brand new, so he may not even be at much of a disadvantage in building and finding good lines of play, and Pokémon like Persian, Dodrio, Haunter, and Kadabra are already very well-known to any seasoned rands player. Much like in a game of Randbats, we have no clue what to expect, but anything could happen.

Amaranth is one of the greatest RBYers of all time. Nobody serious will debate this, but he's mostly known for his OU, not his UU. The last time he played it in a tournament was a 1-1 in RBY PL III, a metagame that doesn't even slightly resemble the UU of present day; in that tournament, he beat justdrew, who infrequently plays RBY, while losing to Ice Yazu, admittedly one of the best RBY UUers of all time, so it's hard to draw any conclusions. He's expressed frustration at RNG in OU plenty of times recently, so the RNG-laden UU might be a similarly sour experience for him. Still, Amaranth's sheer RBY experience is like having three heads (much like two infamous crit machines in UU) and should let him adapt quickly to the current metagame. We'll have to see if that's enough to curb the mental anguish of losing UU games to critical hits, full paralyses, and other assorted RBY tortures.

The man, the myth, the legend, MrSoup is not just a GSC threat. He put up an incredible run to win this year's RBY Grand Slam, even if he admits that UU is not his strong suit compared to his excellent NU and all-around solid grasp of every other RBY tier. Still, he's got some impressive wins—he ended both Torchic and Unowndragon's runs in LTC, and in Grand Slam playoffs he took UU games off Sabelette and YBW on his way to the championship. His losses are also not bad—Shellnuts and toxin boost both made semifinals of the tournaments they took him out in, losing to Tree69420 and Sabelette, respectively. If you mess with the soup, you may just get burned.

An emerging major threat in RBY OU and PU, NotVeryCake has diversified her skillset to take on other tiers. She probably has the least experience with UU of these competitors, but her singular run was solid, taking out royzin on her way to UU Open semifinals before losing to Unowndragon. Throwing her into RBY UU without support could be a disaster given her eccentric takes on teambuilding and the RBY metagame at large, but her OU results imply that sometimes she actually is cooking—or baking, as it were. We'll have to see if going off-recipe in UU results in a delicious confection or a burnt cake-tastrophe.

Yet another Randbats main, YBW has shown promise in RBY low tiers this year with a win in Ubers Open and solid runs in NU and PU. His UU runs were okay but lacked notable wins, and he has no RBY UU team tournament experience to examine, so as with pretty much everyone from rank 4 onward, he could have a breakout tournament or call it a wrap after one rough season. It's up to him and his team to decipher what his name will stand for this tournament—Yes, Big Wins or Yikes, Bro's Washed?

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