SPL XIV Power Rankings

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Welcome to the Power Rankings for the fourteenth installment of the Smogon Premier League! This will be the tenth edition of the Power Rankings, an article intended to boost excitement for the upcoming tournament, give a representation of where each team is believed to stand in relation to other teams, and raise awareness of the great injustice managers bestowed upon the vast catalog of GSC players SPL had to offer. To obtain an overview, we have asked knowledgeable players of each respective tier and whoever was willing to rank 36 whole new generation players to rate the expected players for each one, averaged the rankings while removing outliers, and ended up with an attempt at a mostly unbiased list that. From there, we gathered all of the rankings and assigned points accordingly: first place in each tier gets ten points, second place in each tier gets nine points, and so on until you reach the Scooters player inevitably in tenth. For SV, this was extrapolated out to the first four and then created groupings of four for each point value from there onward given that there are four slots, too.

Despite all of these efforts, it is impossible to attain perfect pre-tournament rankings. At the end of the day, there are far too many variables that can lead to certain individuals and teams doing better or worse than initially projected, which makes Power Rankings more of a fun practice than a serious one. If the rankings can at least contribute to the deflation of ABR's ego, inform the thousands of individuals following SPL of what's to come, and be a fun read for the community, then I will personally be content. And this says a lot because I am a Tiger, so being content is a satisfaction I never thought I would experience ever again.

The surprising nature of the tournament is ultimately a good thing; it makes SPL itself worth following closely, so buckle up, as we have a lot of questions to answer as 2022 rolls into 2023 and generation 8 fades into generation 9! Will the curse of the Tigers compound with the curses of Finchinator and Ojama in SPL to somehow make a winner out of this ungodly franchise, or will they remain cellar dwellers? Will the Tyrants finally get over the hump with long-time manager reyscarface now suiting up as a player and a novel face-of-franchise Star trading places with ABR? Will the Raiders find a way to repeat after storming through the earlier phase of the auction, acquiring arguably the most top-end talent of any team? Will Finchinator stop creating narratives and tell me who is ranked first already? Find out about these questions and so much more this SPL!

Before we proceed to the rankings, it may be best to provide some context as to how we reached this point. The auction happened on the 8th of January, where eight managerial duos, the betrayers of Christo, and the subjects of Ojama's Twitch stream outburst set out on a mission to draft the best team possible. We are not sure that everyone understood the assignment after taking a peek at these rankings, unfortunately. For everyone else though, the auction was the annual spectacle that it is hyped up to be each time!

To go over some of the highlights, bbeeaa was the most expensive player at 38.5k after an awkward bidding war between the first ranked Raiders and the last ranked Scooters. Along the way, we saw 11 total players surpass 20k in the auction while another four retains fit into this category, giving us fifteen total players. On the contrary, a whopping 44 players cost the minimum amount of 3k in the auction. Some of these players re SPL newcomers, but other newcomers already proved themselves through other means and went for even more! The following 43 users will be participating in their first SPLs and we wish them a great experience: 16bit, 3d, Aberforth, ArcticBreeze, Ash KetchumGamer, ayk, Baloor, Beraldinho, BlazingDark, c0mp, clean, crying, D4 Repitoire, Dark Eeveon, Ewin, fakenagol, Fc, Jisoo, Kate, kythr, Lily, LittleBigPlanet2, Lunala, Monai, oiponabys, pkThunderbolt, Quartosa, RealJester, Savouras, Seasons, Sensei Axew, Shafofficiel, Shitrock enjoyer, Siatam, So Noisy, Student of Sinnoh, Sylvi, TDNT, TheFranklin, valuez, Xrn, Yelodash, and zioziotrip! Congratulations to each and every one of you making it; I hope you all have a memorable experience, and that this is the start of a long tenure competing in official team tournaments!

Now that you guys are all caught up, we can finally get into the rankings. I just want to extend a special thanks to the following people for contributing in the creation of this article: ABR, Aliss, Amaranth, BALOOR, BIHI, BluBirD, bruno, Chaitanya, chuva de perereca, Conflict, d0nut, Dark Eeveon, dice, Endill, erz, Evil z0mOG, Excal, Fear, Finchinator, Garay oak, GaryTheGengar, Gefährlicher Random, Gilbert arenas, Hayburner, Hclat, Heroic Troller, Hyogafodex, IPF, Jirachee, jonfilch, Kristyl, Laurel, Leo, Luigi, Lunala, M Dragon, Mako, MANNAT, McMeghan, MichaelderBeste2, mind gaming, Monai, Nat, obii, Ox the Fox, Raiza, RaiZen1704, RealJester, reyscarface, robjr, Ruft, Savouras, Serpi, Shitrock enjoyer, Siatam, Sjneider, Skypenguin, Spl4sh, Star, talah, Teclis, TJ, TPP, Triangles, Tricking, umbry, Vulpix03, xavgb, xray, and Yelodash.

And a double thank you to the following people for helping with art, grammar/prose, HTML, and plenty more: 16bit, Astra, emma, Excal, Isaiah, Kalalokki, Lumari, Quite Quiet, Sulo, UT, Zacpz, and Zracknel. This would not be possible without your superb efforts and the entire tournament community is grateful and appreciative. Finally, I would like to personally wish everyone an enjoyable SPL and 2023!

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1. bbeeaa
2. Star
3. Michaelderbeste2
4. xavgb
5. Luthier
6. Welli0u
7. TJ
8. Gtcha
9. talah
10. lax
11. mind gaming
12. Leo
13. ima
14. CrashingBoomBang
15. Shafofficiel
16. Raptor
17. elodin
18. TPP
19. 1 True Lycan
20. crying
21. Nat
22. erz
23. Fc
24. GXE
25. Ewin
26. Xrn
27. njnp
28. Kythr
29. mncmt
30. RaiZen1704
31. Ruft
32. TheFranklin
33. IPF
34. Blazingdark
35. 3d
36. Lunala
37. dekzeh
38. Quartos
39. zioziotrip
40. Kate

Starting out the SV OU rankings we have one of the most dynamic cores consisting of xavgb, CrashinBoomBang, Raptor, and njnp with CTC hanging in the reserves as building support. This is quite the meeting of minds as CBB, njnp, and CTC can all be seen as outspoken metagame presences already, each having a strong base of knowledge. In addition, xavgb has won the first SV OU tournament, leading to his high ranking. xavgb also has had sustained success in the regular season of official tournaments, making him a safe bet to land a positive record. CrashinBoomBang tends to hold his own as well, but has struggled to break through to the upper-most echelon of play. With his newly found passion for the current generation, perhaps he can dominate, but his floor is going around even and that is still very respectable. Raptor is a very strong player as well and him being an SV3 speaks a lot to the depth of this group, as he is positive on the sheet in a sample of over fifty games as well. Finally, njnp rounds out the core as a bit of a wild-card, as he is seen as more of a builder and his activity has been scattered for a few years. However, he has been present all generation thus far and is very invested into the metagame, so the Ruiners may have bought in at the perfect time. Overall, this is one of the best groups of SV players assembled and you should expect them to live up to their high ranking!

Coming in second place is another formidable quartet of SV OU players on the Cryonicles! Reigning Smogon Tour champion TJ is joined by councilmen ima, enigmatic crying, and German regular Ewin with the support of metagame frequent clean. TJ needs no introduction at this point, as he has done well both individually and in team tournaments; the main gripe you may have towards him is that he is only even, at 23-23, on the official team tournament sheet and he is not seen as a big teambuilder in this format. However, he is very capable as a player and has some active builders on the roster alsongside him. ima has seen a rebirth with the new generation, excelling in the release tournament and being more active than any point later last generation; he runs into the same issue TJ does with a middling 32-32 record in officials thus far, but we may be seeing a better version of ima than we have in recent years.

Rounding out the group is crying, who is a superb player known for using unique strategies that we have seen many good things from over the last year, and Ewin, who ironically enough is the third Cryonicles OU starter to be even on the sheet with a 10-10 all-time record of his own. crying has dominated in her brief time in the tournament community while Ewin has been less of a standout, going 3-6 for the Spartans in SCL recently. This team has a ton of potential to succeed and a lot of momentum from recent results on their side, but they will need to overperform historic norms to live-up to the high expectations here!

After investing over 58k into SV OU, the Tyrants hope to reap the rewards of their investment and live up to their top 3 ranking in this new generation! Acquiring Star is one of the best ways to reach this goal, too, and he will also be joined by retain Leo, active veteran Brazilian player elodin, and suddenly resurfaced Brazilian player dekzeh. This group will also have the building expertise of Will of Fire at their disposal, too, while apologies waits in reserves as well. Needless to say, Star is one of the best players across numerous generations right now, but he will have to dominate if he wants to be worth his lofty price of over 34k and this new, hectic generation makes that a daunting task. Leo is coming off of his strongest performance yet, but is still negative historically; the support of Will of Fire and other veteran OU players may help refine his performance even further, letting him build on last season, but the onus is on Leo first to keep executing at a high level. elodin decided he had enough of BW and, as a capable player, will now get a shot at SV OU while dekzeh came out of nowhere to sign-up for SPL and get picked to round out this core as well. Overall, there is a ton of upside, even rivaling that of those teams ranked above the Tyrants, but there is risk that Leo regresses or dekzeh is less reliable in his role than one would hope. If everything pans out, expect one of the best combined records. If not, they my be overly reliant on Star to bring in wins here.

After an off year marred by the season-long departure of ABR and a less deep roster, the new generation came at the perfect time for the Wolfpack to rebuild into a SV OU force. Led by retain talah and their early auction pick-up lax, they already have a superb start. Throw in veteran 1 True Lycan, who has a previously successful pit-stop on the Wolfpack, and OU tier leader Ruft, who is looking for his first full season of run in SPL, and you get the fourth ranked core in the flagship metagame. They also have the support of the aforementioned ABR and the potential relief of fairygen player Savouras as well. talah and lax steal the show here as both are very capable players who are ranked inside the top ten. If these two can work together and produce consistently, which is not a lock necessarily given some bumps in the road over the years each has had, then the Wolfpack would be in fantastic shape. 1 True Lycan is another good starting option who has a superb track record in official capacities, putting up the best win percentage of the group in officials with over 60% of his games won over a large sample. Finally, Ruft rounds out the core as an eager starter who has played more of a supportive and substitute focused role previously; he is a capable player who has held his own before, but is slightly below average in a very small sample size thus far officially. Overall, there is a lot of upside and experience to compliment Ruft, who the Wolfpack hope will break out as their inexpensive SV4 pick. This group is well-rounded and can produce, but will need to teambuild well and hit their stride early to avoid any discouraging signs from lax or worrisome narratives about Ruft's ability to produce as a starter on a winning team.

The Classiest are the only team who managed to acquire two of the top five ranked SV OU players, but despite this, still only find themselves ranked fifth. This is partially a testament to the strength of the cores ranked above them, but also shows how top heavy and bottom weak they may very well be. MichaelderBeste2 and Luthier are universally seen as strong starting options, with Michael even being a top player given his slew of highly positive records. mncmt and Lunala, however, are not quite there as the former is seen as less reliable and the latter is aligned more with other tiers such as Ubers and RU. They also have the support of freshly acquired Ubers tier leader Aberforth and substitute Jytcampbell as well. With Michael and Luthier as a one-two punch, the Classiest are already staring right into the eyes of success. The top-end talent in this Classiest core is great, as Michael continues to tear it up and Luthier has done decently both on an individual and team level this past year. If they can get just average performances out of their next two slots, they are in phenomenal shape. Anything less than that or some cracks in their big-two could spell trouble, however, giving them less room for error than comfortable this SPL in SV OU.

The defending champions did not take this year's draft lightly despite their prior success; the Raiders spent a whopping 38.5k on their new SV OU anchor, bbeeaa. Pairing him with long-time friend and retain, Gtcha, alongside German prodigy RaiZen1704 and the newest 1v1 player to join the fray zioziotrip, you have yourself an expensive, but promising, SV OU quartet. bbeeaa has been outspoken about disliking SV OU, but after the bidding war to end all bidding wars, he ended up costing over 38k anyway to suit-up for the Raiders in this same generation he has badmouthed. Thankfully, he will be worth more than just his individual slot, as he also plays a monumental hand in the success of his close friend Gtcha as well, who they stole for a mere 10k retain.

RaiZen1704 is plenty capable and motivated on his own, but will appreciate the veteran influence as well while he looks to prove these qualities and that he can succeed as a player after putting up an 0-4 start to his time in official team tournaments, putting up games in each of the three tournaments without winning yet. Finally, zioziotrip, who has had success in some off-site tournaments and a few live tournaments across Smogon Tour's regular seasons, rounds out the core that is managed and supported by Tricking and supported by BALOOR, who is a very active teambuilder and metagame follower that may help set the table for the Raiders' success. Ultimately, a lot boils down to beeaa reaching dominant levels and their preparation across the less proven slots aligning well enough for them to sneak through enough victories to make it a complete core.

The Sharks opted for the budget route in the current generation, which may be the practical play from a managerial perspective given that the metagame remains in its infancy entering the tournament. mind gaming was retained at an efficient price while Nat was acquired for a mere 5k despite an up-and-down track record that has some insanely high ups. Nat has performed very well in tournaments like OST and select WCoPs in OU, leading us to believe she will move strongly into another generation of OU, too. Ironically enough, Nat was tied for their highest priced SV acquisition in the auction, too. Kythr was also 5k after finally putting it together with a 9-4 2022 in official team tournaments while 3d rounded out their core going for the minimum of 3k.

This group does not have a true high-end SV1 necessarily, but they are all very capable players and three of them have proven they can hold their own in this setting. 3d may be a bit of a surprise starter despite being a capable player as this is his debut; he could be relieved by ggggd or luispeikou, so keep an eye out for that if he or one of the others struggle. With this said, mind gaming has really developed into a star player with his signature offenses leaving opponents hopeless while Kythr has resolved whatever previously plagued them in official play as well, making this a group with a good deal of upside and promise. They do not have the dominant presences or sheer volume of accolades that some top teams possess, but do not let this dissuade you as the Sharks put up their best fight this campaign.

Coming in eighth is the Tigers...is a phrase the community is all too familiar with after years of bottom-dwelling. Thankfully, new management is here to try and resolve the curse of the Tiger this season. They also brought a new-look quartet of SV OU players to make the most of this campaign. Mid-generation eight standout TPP looks to return to peak form while erz looks to make the most of a new lease on life in this generation and Fc looks to cement himself as a capable OU player rather than just the Ubers tier leader. TheFranklin rounds out their core as a strong fundamental player who has yet to play much officially in OUs. If anything goes wrong, lesser-known player c0mp, who has a few ancient WCoPs under his belt, or UU tier leader Lily could enter in relief as well.

This group is plenty capable though. TPP had some ups-and-downs last generation, but ultimately he has revitalized his image while showing signs of being a top player when in peak form. erz is a crafty German player, most notable from his ORAS days, and now appears eager to make the most of this grand opportunity to solidify himself as a top CG player while TheFranklin looks to make transition of his own, but from RU, where he has taken over as the top player recently. Rounding out the group there is also Fc, who has managed to go 13-5 on the official team tournament sheet, a record managers simply cannot afford to ignore as the Tigers hope to see him overachieve his middling rank. Overall, the Tigers have a respectable group here, but it does lack the top-end talent some others have and will need to focus a lot on the details in order to come out in top in preparation.

The Scooters drafted two of the three lowest ranked players in the pool, but still managed to escape being ranked dead last by a singular point in SV OU. Welli0u is a large part of why, as he is an incredibly promising prospect in the new generation after coming off of many strong performances across other formats. However, he will be grouped by GXE, who is most closely associated with lower tiers, Quartosa, who is a creative French player making his debut, and Kate, who has frequented OU and Ubers in the past, but is yet to play OU in any official capacity prior. Yelodash and Cicada, who also has ample team ideas, wait in the wings to support them, too. Welli0u has performed well through going on absolute rampages in select tournaments and the Scooters may need one of their own to salvage their SV as a whole here with some lesser-known slots in their line-up. If Quartosa or Kate can pan out fully without a substantial adjustment period, then that is good news for the Scooters and they may become more well-rounded, but for now, they are outside the standard set from top teams and looking inward in hopes of getting there soon.

After spending under 25k on an entire SV OU core of four without any retains in the equation, the BIGs have to put up just 62.3% of the wins bbeeaa does individually as a group of four to live up to that ratio of cash invested to victory. Needless to say, manager Ox the Fox is confident in his personnel selections alongside his personal ability to assist them in team selection, so perhaps the BIGs are in good hands spending their money elsewhere. It will be imperative for Ox to take some element of control though, as he is far more experienced and successful than his players thus far. However, the group of strong Frenchman Shafofficiel, US South second sophomore Xrn, Team Asia front-man IPF, and French prospect BlazingDark does offer some upside and promise outside of the worries about inexperience with plenty of newer players thriving in recent months. Aditionally, they do have devin and fakenagol as substitutes as well if either of them are needed in relief. Regardless, the BIGs have a well-rounded line-up that shortens up a bit in SV, but with the support of Ox the Fox and the consistent effort put in, this group can surely put up enough wins to justify the minimalistic investment.

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After putting up results that a vast majority of the community would be envious of in one Magic Guard simulator of Black & White, SoulWind has pivoted to the slightly more modern Magic Guard and Regenerator simulator of Sword & Shield! With a growing trophy case that covers each generation, any team would be fortunate to have SoulWind suit up in virtually any format. This time around he will be making his SPL debut in SS OU after years of success individually, which includes a recent win in the Official Ladder Tournament. Of course, we could exhaust an entire article on SoulWind's resume as a player, but he truly does not mandate an introduction as one of the best players to ever grace SPL. Naturally, he gets a first place ranking to signify this, but it is now up to him to once again live up to this golden standard as one of the best players on the Sharks!

After putting up an impressive six wins per season in BW over the last three editions of SPL, Finchinator has followed SoulWind from the land of Specially Defensive Gliscor in Black & White to the land of Specially Defensive Landorus-Therian in Sword & Shield. After a more average start to the generation, the Tigers retain turned it up quite a few notches last year as he went 10-4 in official team tournaments in SS OU while he went 16-7 overall, which is his best single year yet. In addition to this, he put up the most combined SS points in Smogon Tour of any player in 2022 and followed suit with two strong runs, making it deep into the playoffs despite falling short in his infamous pursuit of the pink trophy. This really sums up Finchinator's experience in tournaments: one of the most consistent players who puts up respectable performances, but he is never able to walk away with the ultimate result that he craves perhaps more than anyone else at this point. His seemingly fateful pairing with the Tigers may continue this dark, defining stretch unless the unthinkable happens this SPL. Regardless of this, Finchinator individually should do well in SS if he maintains 2022 form, which was among the best in the format.

Joining the aforementioned Finchintor in the SS field is his former co-Tier Leader suapah. While his availability in the earlier weeks is in question, suapah is believed to get the bulk of the playing time for the Classiest this season in SS. For any weeks that he may not be present, you can expect one of their SV anchors we mention above to slot in or for resilient substitutes such as Lunala or jytcampbll to give it their best effort. Shifting focus back to suapah, he has been impressive when playing, but his playtime has been more sporadic over the last couple of years admittedly. If he has enough time to get in form and fully prepare, then suapah has a ceiling as high as anyone, and his 27-18 record is a testament to this, but we will have to hold our breath and see how often we are going to get suapah, what form we will get suapah in, and how much preparation suapah will be able to put in before we draw any ultimate conclusions about this slot.

Eternal Spirit has had plenty of ups and downs over the last few years, but his most recent performance in SCL was a lot more encouraging than his weaker start to 2022. Much like SoulWind and Finchinator, Eternal Spirit is a veteran who is comfortably positive on the official team tournaments sheet and finishes within the top 20 in all-time wins. However, his consistency has not quite reached their levels recently. If he can tap into the same form we saw in SCL, where he managed to go 6-3 and defeat a slew of very capable opponents, then you can expect him to live up to and potentially achieve well beyond this ranking. For a mere 11.5k, this would be more than worthwhile. Of course, there is the chance he performs closer to average, such as last SPL when he went 3-4, and this would leave a bit to be desired. Overall, there is a very high ceiling here and Eternal Spirit can beat anyone on his best day, so hopefully the Ruiners will get more of that from Eternal Spirit this SPL!

After a quiet start to the generation, HSA surprised many in 2021 as he went 10-4 in official team tournaments, dominating in SS OU despite being regarded as more of an old generation option going into this period. 2022 was a step back to normal with a more average 6-6 showing, but nonetheless HSA proved that he could click it up with the best of 'em. With the support of manager and long-time WCoP teammate Ox the Fox, perhaps HSA can return to his highest form this SPL and overperform his cheap 6.5k price. Team setting and comfort does matter quite a bit to players, and this may be especially relevant to someone who saw his success begin on the surging US South squad that took home the blue trophy earlier last generation. Time will tell what form we get HSA in, but there is a lot of potential in this spot!

Starting off the second half of the SS OU pool is Chaitanya. This can be seen as the completion of a journey that spanned across multiple years for the Tyrants hopeful. The journey starts with Chaitanya predominantly playing Monotype and was prodded by his inclusion as a reserve on US Northeast, but it truly gained steam with his showings in OLT more recently as he fully emerged as a capable OU prospect. After making the quarterfinals of the most recent OLT, only falling short to the eventual winner in three games and going 5-2 in both OU and RU in SCL, Chaitanya looks to make the most of his biggest opportunity yet as the long-term SS starter on the Tyrants this SPL! His track record still does not quite standout as he is 9-13 all-time and without many other standout performances, but his recent form is very promising and he has the support of a winning culture, which could go a long way!

ayk has been able to make a decent name for himself as part of the WCoP winning France team in 2021. In addition to this, he has been able to make a few runs in individual tournaments, where he most recently made Smogon Tour playoffs and qualified for OLT. His consistency as an individual player has been pretty impressive given this, but in team tournaments he has yet to get a large enough sample size to draw a substantial conclusion at this point. Through a mere 8 games, ayk has only managed to go 2-6, but there should not be much weight put into this as he has shown better form elsewhere, and it is easy for a few small things to skew that small a quantity of games. Overall, ayk presents the Cryonicles with a newer SPL player who has a high ceiling, but potentially low floor. They have assembled a strong, experienced roster that could get the best out of a player like ayk, but we will need to see him prove it before we are sure, and there is always the chance fellow Cryonicle clean makes an appearance at times as well, hence the middling ranking.

Ash KetchumGamer, like ayk, is another player who has had impressive stints in individual tournaments but has yet to make a full transition to officials. He has been dangerous across a few of the Smogon Tour generations but most recently saw success in SS OU as he made a deep run this past OLT and has made a few Smogon Tour playoffs as well. While his only team tournament play on the sheet has been in WCoP, where he has only put up a 2-5 record for Brazil, we are going to see him getting a more regular opportunity here as he comes off some stronger performances. With his flare for the dramatic in-game and his calculated riskiness in the teambuilder, Ash poses a threat to higher ranked players throughout the pool, potentially projecting to be similar to Eternal Spirit if he finds his footing in this pool. Of course, we have yet to see much of anything in team tournaments yet, so for now it will all be a "what if" that will depend on his own execution.

After many years of getting by as more of a versatile substitute, Spanish player London Beats is able to break into the field of SS OU players this SPL as a fully fledged starter! He has not accomplished too much quite yet individually, but with a respectable sample size in officials across a variety of formats, London has managed to win about 43% of his games, going 18-24 thus far. Perhaps a more consistent approach as a regular player can lend itself well to his prospects moving forward, granting him a greater degree of confidence. With this said, he did cost 8k while numerous players above him cost much less, even going for the minimum, so time will be of the essence in order for London to justify that price and overperform his ranking for a Scooters team that may need it in this slot. Perhaps the support of a handful of SS veterans can help propel London Beats to a positive campaign here!

Luigi being ranked tenth may be one of the more surprising last place finishes to most, but he is most known for playing generations prior to SS. Of course, the support of ABR and talah may very well make this a moot point, as he will have ample team support and plenty of room to discuss ideas in greater detail than he may otherwise have. With this said, Luigi himself has an unremarkable resume in SS OU, which can at least be seen as cause for this last place ranking. He has the Smogon Tour under his belt from before this generation came out and a few respectable seasons in prior generations, but he never amassed a lot of experience in this generation, and any feelings about his form may be speculation at this point. If Luigi is comfortable and makes the most of his support, he should be able to hold his own as someone who is a generally competent player, but there is some uncertainty present here, and only time will tell if he can live up to a lofty 10k price for someone ranked this low.

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It was not a question of if Empo would be ranked first or not, but rather of if he would do so in unanimous fashion or not. Unfortunately, he came up one vote short, but he joins Heroic Troller as the only people who are unanimous aside from outliers. This may be the only thing about Empo that has come up short, however, as he has been among the most successful players in Smogon's recent history. With three individual trophies in hand and SM OU being perhaps his single strongest tier, Empo is likely to dominate this SPL. While he cost a fortune and the SM pool is respectable, Empo is comfortably positive in team tournaments, matching his efficiency in individuals, and we should expect the high standard we normally see.

Skypenguin does not have quite the resume Empo has, but everything he has managed to do has been fantastic. He will be joining McMeghan, bbeeaa, and Serpi atop a star-studded Raiders lineup given this and the Ruiners' election to prioritize others with their retains. Skypenguin went 6-3 in his SPL debut, leading the way in his strong 2022, as he now sits positive in each of SPL, WCoP, and SCL on the sheet and has a deep individual run in Smogon Tour under his belt to complement this. While he may not be the most outgoing tournament community member, Skypenguin has established himself as a true professional in SM OU lore, carving up opponents with well-constructed teams and displaying unmatched knowledge of the current metagame while many players of it moved on to different formats. Expect big results from the Raiders SM star in his sophomore campaign.

Lusa is most known for his Smogon Tour championship, which included SM OU, back during season 31. Since then, he has managed to hold his own, but not quite in standout fasion, as he went 11-11 in official team tournaments in 2021 followed by 6-6 last year. He did manage to do well in SPL, where he went 6-3 for the Cryonicles in SM OU, which propelled his third-place ranking in an even deeper pool this season. He has definitely had some ups and downs along the way, but the peaks have been impressive, and his ceiling is as high as anyone in the pool. Perhaps the floor can be lower than one would prefer, but he showed good form last season in this metagame, giving us reason to believe he is worth his retain here.

In fourth place, we have SM OU regular and Wolfpack regular, Relous. While he only went 3-4 last season after being retained in what turned out to be a lost season for both the player and franchise, Relous has been a slightly above average official team tournament player for a few years now, grinding his way to a 33-29 record on the sheet despite a horrendous outlier year in 2020 where he went 2-7 in SPL. Overall, Relous has been a great revitalization project for the Wolfpack, as he flipped his 2020 record in 2021, going 7-2, as well. This unforeseen value contributed to the Wolfpack winning that SPL. With the support of SM teambuilder and manager ABR, look for the soft-spoken German to return to being a positive player like he was with him in 2021 for the Wolfpack this season as they look to return to the promised land.

If the Tigers can somehow tame the outspoken Frenchman, then he will be considered both a value pick and an asset. The former stems from his mere 13k price tag, which was likely a byproduct of manager hesitation to trust him, while the latter is a testament to his status as a player. Ojama is still one of the top five players of all time, having achieved more than the vast majority of players dream to across both individuals and team tournaments. He is playing a generation where he has regularly performed well over numerous years, too. Perhaps this pool is stronger and he is a year or two removed from frequenting SM, but even then, a fifth-place ranking feels low, and look for Ojama to overperform the ranking if he has come around to playing rather than stirring the pot about his new team on Twitch in front of his regular audience.

Starting off the second half of this strong SM OU pool is umbry, who has demonstrated to be strong in her own right across a few generations. While she previously starred in ADV OU, do not let the change in scenery fool you, as umbry is capable of doing well anywhere if she is given ample time and support, which the Scooters look to do here. A 23.5k price tag for a player ranked in the bottom half is not normally ideal, and many have grown critical of the allocation of funds from the Scooters, but this still can easily be a bright spot, as umbry the individual is an awesome player and presence! She managed to do well in SPL previously and make it to the finals of the SM Circuit's playoffs a couple years back as well. While she has struggled at other times, umbry is still roughly even in official team tournament games and can hopefully step it up once more in SPL for the Scooters!

While many know reyscarface as the manager of the Tyrants, he has shifted roles this season to become one of their players, starting in SM OU. reyscarface has played many generations of OU over the years ranging from RBY to SM with plenty of stops in ADV, DPP, and BW along the way. He had some noteworthy results in SM OU such as a 10-0 SPL, which likely propelled him into SM for this edition of SPL as well. Of course, it is feasible that he ends up elsewhere over time given his flexibility and veteran status, but for now, reyscarface is seen as a risky pick with a higher upside in SM. This field is stronger than most, but reyscarface has done very well before. If he can tap into his old form and get up to date with teambuilding, anything is possible for the heart of the Tyrants. If he struggles, then expect a long season in this slot or a quick pivot elsewhere, though.

While VGC may not be in SPL, Emforbes is still plenty capable of putting up a good match in singles formats as well. In fact, Emforbes has dabbled plenty in SM on an unofficial level, proving that he is competent and belongs in this field. We do not have the largest set of data on him in singles formats though, as we mainly go off of his strong results across unofficials, which may not hold the most weight here. A lot of his performance here will come down to how he adjusts to preparation and team construction in a format that vastly differs from that of the ones he has previously played at this level. With the support of veterans who have SM experience, such as MichaelderBeste2 and Luthier, perhaps Emforbes will be positioned well to be a dark horse in this field. If not, it could be an uphill battle in a new landscape against a deeper SM playerbase.

Booty, formerly known as Sabella, has been a solid, but not standout, player for a long time now. He is 34-42 on the sheet across the most recent generations of OU with a smaller sample of those being across a few lower tiers, which does not inspire the most confidence. Despite his general mediocrity in recent team tournament settings, Booty did make a more distant run to the finals of OLT in this metagame, while he also made it to the quarterfinals of Smogon Tour as recently as early in 2022. Perhaps he can tap into this form and ascent beyond the normal, substitute level he has been seen at in more recent years. If not, then he could be relieved by Valuez, a lesser-known substitute who signed up for SM OU that the Ruiners grabbed, or the Ruiners may look to shuffle their lineup.

Coming in tenth we have SPL newcomer TDNT. Not too much is known about TDNT as a player besides the fact that he has consistently competed in unofficial tournaments. His main standout performance was in the 2021 SM circuit, where he managed to win the playoffs and take home the ribbon. TDNT has managed to perform positively a few times over the years, but he does not warrant consideration as a top player or even someone we could see sneak up on the top ranked players over a larger sample. However, for a cheap price and with the pool being strong but largely top heavy, perhaps he can scrounge together some victories. He does have ample support on the Sharks, and perhaps this culture can also nudge him in the right direction. If not, there are viable alternatives through lineup shuffling or going with one of their four substitutes, so only time will tell what comes of this slot!

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jonfilch has scaled up the ORAS Power Rankings while simultaneously scaling down the tier list to find his first sustained team tournament success in PU. Coming off of an SCL win where he dominated and an SPL where he went positive for the first time at 5-4, jonfilch looks to keep it up this SPL! Despite only going 2-2 in the recent ORAS invitational, jonfilch had an exceptionally tough draw and looked to be in great form in concurring tournaments, including winning the ORAS OU circuit playoff ribbon in impressive fashion! With a choice anime girl on his profile and a formidable array of ORAS squads in his teambuilder, few can rival jonfilch when it comes to bland taste with the former and ORAS competency with the latter. This superb foundation coupled with ample in-house support leads many to believe that jonfilch is set up to take yet another step forward this SPL, hopefully living up to his lofty price.

The soft-spoken Italian was once seen as one of the most promising prospects across the entire tournament community, going 11th overall in Smogon Snake Draft's fourth edition after an 11-3 start to 2020. However, Santu struggled as expectations peaked, combining for a 6-16 record across SSDIV and the entirety of 2021. Santu got a new lease on life in 2022, teaming up with ABR and the Tyrants, where he put up six wins in ORAS. Santu proceeded to go 3-2 in the ORAS invitational as well, falling to the same guy who writes this article and loves to mention himself as much as possible for the sake of his ego. Given this success and the budding rapport he formed with the well-known teambuilder, Santu joined the Wolfpack, who are now managed by ABR. With a successful campaign under his belt with this support and an even weaker field this season, many expect Santu to keep it up as he looks to be one of the steals of the draft at 5.5k.

Spl4sh managed to put up the best record in ORAS last year, going 7-2 before having his dominant campaign overshadowed by internal drama that plagued his team throughout the season. Do not let his success escape you, however, as this third place ranking is very deserved given the impressive opponents he managed to upset. Coming into last SPL, Spl4sh was not even seen as a lock to start, entering the Power Rankings as a substitute. Through motivation and crafty execution, he managed to surprise the world and go positive in his first ever SPL. There where some signs of regression as Spl4sh put up a satisfactory, but not impressive, 2-2 in the ORAS invitational while losing in the first round of circuit playoffs, but a 7 win campaign in a stronger pool cannot be written off as a fluke here. He will have to bring his best once more to live up to a now lofty price, but expect a good effort and potential for good results here!

After sitting out last SPL and having a largely uneventful 2022, Sjneider is back for another campaign in ORAS OU where he hopes to represent the values of both US West and the cabal: reckless abandon for convention, urgent button clicking, and games finishing in under 30 turns. Whatever the formula may be, Sjneider has done exceptionally well in the past with consecutive 6-3 campaigns in the tier across 2020 and 2021. The Scooters hope he can pick up from where he left off as he is the single most expensive player in this field, coming in north of 20k! Not much is known about his current form, but for managers to invest substantially into his services, there must be some idea that he is in shape to perform at a level replicating that of his prior seasons, so expect the best from Sjneider as he hopes to live up to and potentially overperform his fourth place ranking!

pj entered the tournament community as more of a fun presence that did not garner serious attention as a player quite yet. In fact, he was drafted in SPL all the way back in 2015 as one of the more enigmatic and energetic presences at the time. However, pj has turned it up quite a few notches in recent years, surfacing as one of the stronger ORAS players in individuals. While his record on the sheet leaves a lot to be desired at 4-11, pj has put up results individually that warrant him getting his first full-time starting gig. Dating back to 2021, he qualified for Smogon Tour, partially thanks to his strength in ORAS, and since then pj has truly taken off! He made it to finals of one circuit tournament and deep in others, ultimately making it to circuit playoffs before his run was cut short. However, pj's true best performance came in the ORAS invitational, where he won his first four sets, being the only one to defeat the eventual winner MichaelderBeste2, and finished in third place overall. This was very impressive and if we see a similar form out of pj here, then you should expect him to go positive this SPL!

Coming in at number six, we have the first of a few newcomers to the ORAS field and SPL as a whole. Seasons will make his debut for the Tigers in his main tier of ORAS OU where he looks to prove both his worth as an SPL prospect and his respectable sixth place ranking in his official team tournament debut. Many ORAS players have raved about Seasons and his understanding of the metagame and how it may translate well to a tournament like this. However, with no experience to go off of and fewer results than others individually, there is a lot of risk and a dangerously low floor that comes with this slot as well. The Tigers do have a good amount of support, including ORAS standout erz, but that can only do so much as Seasons will have to execute in-game. Will the German rookie cement himself as an ORAS mainstay for seasons to come and will Finchinator stop making awful puns about his name?

After establishing himself with a lot of experience in 2020, going 10-10 in official team tournaments, Kebab has had a quiet couple of years, combining to only go 1-2 on the sheet since then. Naturally, a team ran by fellow Italians Tricking and Raiza would be the best fit for him to comfortable ease back into action. This does seem to be the ideal environment for Kebab to suit-up again, especially in a tier he is not necessarily maining in, and scrounge together some victories. The Raiders won the entire tournament last year and have a slew of historically successful veterans at their disposal to try and repeat as champions. Kebab poses as one of the shakier cogs in the machine due to his middling track record and history, but he has gone positive before and has the help of both support and a weaker ORAS pool than normal, which could be the recipe for Kebab mlml to be the dark horse of all 3k players and the ORAS playerbase this SPL!

Another ORAS prospect who has yet to participate in SPL is So Noisy. Contrary to his name, So Noisy is a soft-spoken player who is closely associated with the rise of Team India in recent editions of WCoP. While So Noisy has yet to stand out there, he has at least managed to get in six games on the sheet, generating mediocre results. However, these where not in what is regarded as his main tier of ORAS OU, where he suits up now for the Cryonicles! So Noisy beat both Zokuru and Luigi to advance to the semifinals of the ORAS OU circuit playoffs after strong showings in circuit tournaments throughout the year. In addition, So Noisy climbed his way out of qualifiers and into the main bracket of ORAS invitational. Unfortunately, he fell short there, but with a draw of Star and jonfilch, it was a very tall order to get further than he already had. The support of ORAS's finest xray and enthusiastic backup Vileman, who can also make a relief appearance if needed, will play a large role in preparation as well. So Noisy will need to prove he can execute at this level, but there is a strong foundation and a lot of potential for an eighth ranked player here!

Coming in ninth is lesser known Italian player LittleBigPlanet2. LBP2 is another player who has yet to make a splash in SPL, but hopes to make a big one this edition! He has some results in official team tournaments, including a 6-6 record across non-SPL tournaments over the last few years. If he can even match this output, then this will be seen as a success given his cheap price and the focus of the Tyrants being elsewhere. This is not even farfetched given the more shallow nature of the ORAS field and the abundance of veterans and supporters LBP2 has alongside him, including his friend Will of Fire lurking in the shadows. It will be intriguing to see what they come up with and how LBP2 is able to execute as there is not much of a frame of reference here, but anything can happen in the chaotic world of SPL.

Coming in last in both the power rankings and the list of possible ORAS players formulated by artificial intelligence is Sylvi. Do not let this ranking fool you, however, as the timeless adage "randoms are dangerous" finds new applications and victims on a regular basis! This lesser-known German player looks to prove themselves and silence a community full of skeptics in their official Smogon tournament debut! Sylvi seems to have a strong rapport with fellow Classiest member MichaelderBeste2, who likely prompted this acquisition after his ORAS invitational victory, but they have yet to make any impression of note on the rest of the community, making it challenging to draw many conclusions. According to sources close to the power rankings, Sylvi finished 9th in a recent German BSS tournament and 3rd in another SS tournament, meaning that they may very well be another phenomenal German talent that is bound to overperform this ranking and their minimal price. However, we will need to see actual gameplay to believe anything at this point, so only time will tell!

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Voted most likely to Discord mute his own assistant manager by midseason, this Ruiners retain finds himself atop the BW rankings, retaining his personal spot as one of the most respectable BW OU players of all time. dice is known for having a thesaurus open in one tab and the C-tier of the Viability Rankings open in another. When it comes to play, however, he is by no means C tier. dice's teambuilding conventions singlehandedly evolve the metagame on an annual basis. His gameplay is not far behind either, as he continues to perform well, being comfortably positive in BW and overall across many years of SPL play! With a field consisting of more fresh faces and less of his previous sparring partners, it should be no shock that dice ranks first in BW.

"If it ain't broken, don't fix it" would have to be the adage for GaryTheGengar's second place ranking in BW this SPL! The Wolfpack saw Gary thrive last season, so they retained him. Gary found success using teams in line with metagame strengths last season, so he looks to continue. Gary has come a long way from years of being a roving, old generation journeyman who looked to find consistent playing time in just about any singular tier; he has come an even longer way from the ladder marathons of the early 2010s that eventually landed him on the map as well. Through bouts of unreliability and occasional signs of brilliant potential, the Wolfpack have provided Gary with a home that allows for him to achieve closer to his peak, and they hope to continue to reap the rewards of this with another superb campaign here.

It turns out that using six Pokemon has helped crucify improve his standing in Smogon tournaments a great deal; this truly radical idea has led the soft-spoken Tigers BW player down a warpath. Going from 1v1 main to fluky Classic qualifier to Classic finalist to respectable SPL old generation starter includes a few leaps that we have never seen before, and for that we have to respect what crucify has done. While his late-season results left a lot to be desired, staining an otherwise strong debut campaign, crucify still looks to be on an upward trajectory. His third-place ranking is reflective of both this progression and a weaker BW pool than normal, which he looks to take advantage of alongside the support of BW aficionado Finchinator, who felt a strong urge to include a mention of himself in this section despite also being the one writing it.

The Classiest went from one Spaniard to another in BW OU, losing a few years and rankings points along the way. Garay oak looks to play yet another generation of OU in SPL as he continues to build his resume, which includes clutch lower tier performances across Grand Slam and—may it rest peacefully—Smogon Snake Draft. With a campaign of GSC OU and a campaign of ORAS OU now under his belt, why not add BW OU to the list after all? Garay has also kept tabs on the metagame and played it informally on occasion as well, even if he does lack the substantial results those ranked above him may have. A player of Garay's caliber is very capable of doing well in any pool, but he will need to quickly learn to teambuild, as he lacks much support internally. If he can get over this hump and come into each battle sufficiently prepared, then expect a strong campaign. If not, it could be a bumpy road initially here.

Perhaps most known for his in-chat baiting and lower tier play, the Cryonicles BW player is the result of some unsuspected, outside-the-box drafting around a weaker player pool. soulgazer came into last year as a historically good lower tier player who had yet to really stick in OU across the generations, getting ranked tenth in the GSC OU pool. He proceeded to go negative in SPL and 5-12 across the entirety of 2022. The natural progression to this? He gets bumped all the way up to fifth in BW OU this year! While the Canadian veteran still remains comfortably positive on the sheet and in the top 20 in all-time wins, soulgazer is going to have to make the most of this new lease on life to remain "viable" as a certain teammate of his would say. We do not have an abundance of data on soulgazer in BW as he was limited to a smaller sample of games last season in relief, so the early weeks may be the most telling ones here.

It is a challenge to write a full paragraph on Jisoo in BW OU. This is not because they are particularly boring or anything they did wrong, as Jisoo is a very enjoyable presence, but rather the fact that they have a miniscule sample in both BW OU and in general. Jisoo was able to recently make Smogon Classic playoffs and look impressive in BW along the way, which seems to be the bar for getting a middling ranking in this pool. Perhaps the tutelage of BW regular raiza, who recently won circuit playoffs, or BW superstar McMeghan, who finds himself slotted in ADV, can help get Jisoo off of the ground. But for now, we remain in neutral, awaiting the weeks that come to provide a notable enough sample to draw further conclusions.

There are two possible outcomes of Dark Eeveon's campaign on the Tyrants: sending teammate BKC back into retirement out of disgust or sending BKC down a wormhole of clickbait on YouTube—"THIS MUSHARNA TAKES AN SPL BW GAME BY SURPRISE!?". If there was a creativity scale in BW OU that previously peaked at dice's flair over the years, Dark Eeveon would be the one to break the scale altogether. His massive leaps into uncharted territory do just that—they break convention, outweighing any previously conceived norms and shattering what was once thought to be the status quo—for better or much, much worse, with each team. While many remain skeptical of Dark Eeveon, citing holes in his strategies or lack of official results, he clearly is deserving of a shot in the show, as he continues to put on shows of his own in most tournaments. Aside from a single lackluster RoAPL, Eeveon has been masterful in unofficial capacities with a hodgepodge of unorthodox squads. It will be one of the main storylines of BW OU to see how he transitions to the biggest stage of them all!

Joining Dark Eeveon as a newcomer to both SPL's BW field and official team tournaments as a whole is Monai. While Monai displays a slightly more restrained set of practices when displaying his palette in the fifth generation, he, too, has reached impressive heights in unofficial capacities as a player, reaching circuit playoffs and holding his weight in a few smaller team tournaments. Monai is no slouch in the builder either, adapting well to the metagame and integrating his own schemes to teams that are seldom encountered. While he is a no dice quite yet, Monai will keep opponents on their toes while playing at a respectable level. Preparation woes and nerves await Monai, like any newcomer, but with the support of Vulpix03's extreme teambuilding and M Dragon's longspanning metagame knowledge, perhaps he can get adjusted and overperform relative to his ranking.

Coming in ninth place is another new BW player, Gondra—formerly known as Ayaka. While Gondra has been around the block plenty of times across other, more recent formats, he has yet to dabble in BW besides from briefer stints in Smogon Tour years prior. With the support of SoulWind, who many regard to be the best BW player of all time, and a pair of managers familiar with the metagame, perhaps Gondra can overperform this low ranking thanks to great help. Of course, he will still need to play the part firsthand by executing in-game. Gondra has a checkered past in this regard, peaking years prior with some awesome showings such as going 10-2 in 2020 while hitting low points at other times, including a 6-15 record over the last two years in officials. Maybe with a new format and set of supporters, he can turn it around, but for now, we remain more skeptical than convinced of Gondra reaching his peak once more.

Last, but not least, we have sensei axew, who is the third and final highly achieving lower tier player that managed to find his way into the field. sensei has been a superb performer across other formats such as PU, which has landed him at 16-8 on the sheet overall. However, this does not speak much to his specific experience and ability in BW OU, where he has not dabbled in officials and has not experienced as much as many of those ranked above. With Excal's support, anything is possible—quite literally anything can come from this slot teamwise and one should not be surprised. Much like with Gondra, execution will be what takes center stage, defining sensei's campaign here. If his play is at the same level as lower tiers, sensei axew may be the dark horse of this field. If not, it could be a struggle to integrate into this metagame at this stage.

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DeepBlueC comes in first place by a fair margin for the first time in his lengthy career. He has earned great respect from his contemporaries, primarily for his strong teambuilding skills, with him bringing strong teams week-to-week in a diversity of styles throughout the previous SPL. In addition, he has proven his ability to show up when it's most important, as exemplified by his important victory in the previous SPL's finals. While at a glance his 5-6 record from last year and his 18-20 SPL record all-time may make people question his placement as the top dog, his year-to-year consistency in a pool with a lot of faces unfamiliar to DPP on the SPL stage is valuable. If he brings the forward-thinking teams expected of him and plays well, he is very likely to put up the big season that his placement here indicates.

Coming off the heels of a strong rookie season and a run to semifinals in Classic, Kristyl will be looking to build upon her accomplishments even further in year two as a retain for the Cryonicles. While her teams from last year were built with a lot of support from fellow Canadian Osgoode, having DPP legend august as her manager means she's bound to have more in her arsenal to add with her own tried and true stall and paraspam teams. If she and august are able to synergize and she maintains a high level of play, there are high expectations for her to carry the momentum from her aforementioned 2022 success for her team.

Years of success in tiers such as GSC, ADV, and SM resulted in bruno being the most expensive starter in the DPP pool. His overall resume as a Pokémon player is definitely the strongest, but he doesn't have any DPP experience on the big stage. Will he be able to translate those skills? He has experienced success in the tier in individual tours and has built his own teams for it, but is known for being a bit of an out there builder and will be in a tier known for being deceptively restrictive in the builder. With seemingly no backup options available for the Sharks, time will tell if he gets lost in the sauce, or vindicates the 'mons is mons' mantra.

A familiar face to the SPL DPP ring, mael has come back to play once again. His experience and self-sufficient team building are a big asset, as is his creativity and willingness to take risks in what teams he brings. However, sometimes his teams can be too unconventional and end up hurting his chances of victory. The Tigers also have support extraordinaire BluBirD on their team, whose own unorthodox team building style could help reinforce mael. Along with his 4-4 record in the previous SPL, when it comes down to must-win games, mael has historically shown up - his SPL XII finals win vs Christo was crucial to the Wolfpack's victory that season. He has had little activity during the SPL offseason, but with years of experience under his belt, his confidence should still be high and he should feel ready to take on the everchanging DPP metagame another time.

After a hiatus and a stint playing GSC and ADV, Jirachee is back in his self-proclaimed favorite tier. Though it has been almost 4 years since he last won an SPL game in DPP, having alongside him his friend and all-time great DPP player BKC should certainly help him get back up to speed. Outside of DPP, Jirachee has been playing at some of the highest levels he ever has in his extensive time playing, with a great showing in 2022's Callous Invitational. Previously known for being a smart builder who has issues executing his gameplan, if Jirachee is able to to carry over that level of play here, a phenomenal season could be in store for the Tyrants. If he can't, a season that underwhelms the 12000 credits the Tyrants spent on him could also be the result.

Most well known for playing BW in SPL, zf will be switching up gears this time around and plans to show off his DPP talents for the first time. He has been a successful player in SPL in a multitude of tiers, which include the likes of ADV OU, SM LC, and ORAS LC. However, in addition to his aforementioned DPP inexperience, it's been 3 years since he last played in SPL. It's also uncertain whether he builds his own teams in the tier or not, and with a lack of DPP support on the roster, he has to rely on himself or find squads from people outside of his own team. A high risk, high reward pick, zf can potentially put up a top record if he's able to find his footing and get back to his old level of play, but also could end up being rusty or not clicking with the tier and left in a slot to fend for himself.

Sakito is running it back for a second season with the Scooters, teaming up with innovative DPP builder Excal as his manager once again. Sakito's 4-5 showing last year had some shaky performances, notably including some key overpredictions in his week 1 game vs Snofall that potentially could carry over to this year. However, in addition to Excal, Sakito has DPP legend Tamahome as his manager and two former DPP starters in BIHI and Hyogafodex. With a legion of support, Sakito's should show up with some creative cabal squads, but time will tell if he's able to cut out the blunders and shine to his full potential.

The Wolfpack are going with one of the least salty Frenchmen, SFG, in DPP this season. After splitting four games as a member of the Tigers last season and making the top 16 of DPP Cup, SFG looks to grow on this debut performance by being one of the dark horse candidates for a breakout sophomore season in his first full-time SPL action! Joining him will be DPP supporter 16bit, who has a strong rapport with SFG through his presence inside the Tigers chat last season, and managers ABR and Tony, who are both familiar with the metagame. With an abundance of support and a great deal of motivation, it is a prime opportunity for SFG to do well over a larger sample. He will encounter some challenging match-ups with more experienced veterans throughout the season, but perhaps this group can prepare well for whatever may be coming their way.

After his victorious run to become the 2022 DPP Circuit Champion, the Classiest have decided to take a chance on oiponabys and see how his skills translate to the big stage. The only rookie in the DPP pool, there is legitimate reason to worry whether or not that success will translate to the high pressure situations of SPL. Additionally, oiponabys is known for his heavy stall usage - will opponents be able to counterteam his style? Or, if he expands his arsenal, will he make mistakes by using something out of his comfort zone? With fellow rookie ladder fiend and avant-garde builder Student of Sinnoh in tow, the Classiest should be looking for him to patch up those potential worries. Though his low ranking is reflective of the aforementioned worries about how he translates to official games, if he is able to make the translation, the Classiest could have found themselves a difference maker.

A decade after his last SPL, twash has decided it's time to return to the battleground. A successful DPP Cup run to the finals and a win in Classic playoffs vs Jisoo has shown everyone that he's capable of putting up notable results in the modern era. But throughout his run, he was using fringe-viable Pokémon such as Alakazam and Drifblim - can this translate over into a team tour environment? Without much DPP support on his squad besides an M Dragon whose focus is primarily in other slots, twash could very well be left to his own devices and be concocting off the wall squads. Though he is definitely capable of playing at a high level, we will see if his out there style of teams will successfully surprise opponents or lead to his demise.

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The last-minute sign up that changed the face of the pool and without question one of the greatest ever to play the game across any generation, McMeghan is seeking the elusive 2nd SPL title he's been chasing since 2012. McMeghan hasn't been as active in the ADV community in the last few months, but his results in the tier have continued to be as tidy as ever, winning the ADV Summer Seasonal without dropping a set. McMeghan finds himself largely unsupported by the Raiders; however, he is more than capable of being self-sufficient in any tier while providing value in team prep channels. With a reputation for changing his builder every few months and no critical eye on his team building, some may have concerns over his team choices, but overall Mcmeghan is still by consensus the strongest pick in a stacked ADV pool this year.

Another in consideration for both best Smogon player and best ADVer of all time, BKC is to many unquestionably the GOAT. He claimed to have retired from playing a couple of years back and has since been responsible for an entire new generation of players becoming interested in old gens. Coming back out of retirement certainly caught a few people off guard and likely played a factor in some of the other big names signing up. BKC won SPL XII as a manager in 2021, but has somehow yet to win one as a player. He finds himself in a situation where no-one has seen him play a game of ADV after abandoning CI5 in anger eighteen months ago, but finds himself on a Tyrants team with a wealth of ADV talent to bounce ideas off. Either way, BKC will be out to prove one thing: that form may be temporary, but class is permanent.

Arguably the hottest commodity in ADV for the first half of 2022, Hclat was victorious in this year's Callous Invitational, but seems to have not played on the tour scene since. Another last-minute sign up, spurred into action from McMeghan's own signup, Hclat will be looking to address his 6-7 all time record in his 4th SPL. Unlike previous SPLs, Hclat will likely be a nailed on, borderline-undroppable starter, and with support from M Dragon, the BIGs will be banking hard on a good performance. Will his rise from benchwarmer to superstar be capped off with an SPL win this year, or will we continue to remember him as the man who brought Mimepass to SPL, unleashing chaos in the ADV metagame?

Undoubtedly one of the top talents in ADV for the last decade, Triangles rounds out a top 4 who are in a different class to the rest of the field. His form has been up and down over the last few seasons, but if he's motivated and finds the level of game he showed in 2019, he could show himself to be unplayable. Triangles is a self-sufficient builder, which seems like a necessity on this year's Classiest, but offers potential value at 18k for his elite ADV and solid knowledge of other old gens. Will we see a return of the 2019 vintage Triangles who seemed largely undefeatable, or will he reduce himself to being a lonely square?

The second “retired” sign up in the pool, Altina claimed to have retired after the last SPL, and signed up for this as a DPP main. Despite this, Altina finds himself pencilled in for the Tiger's starting ADV slot. Between Altina, Ojama, and Fruhdazi, the Tigers have an elite building core with unique styles and interpretations of the metagame, but it remains to be seen if this will work, or be a case of “too many chefs spoiling the broth.” There's always a risk when taking a player who is out of practice, but with a 3.5k price tag and a 3k backup in promising newcomer Fruhdazi, the Tigers are clearly leaning on other generations for solid results, leaving Altina the room to provide a massive upside to his team.

The reigning SPL, SCL, and WCoP champion will be looking to keep the first of those titles alive. A DPP main in previous SPLs, BiHi surprised many by toppling Heroic Troller in RBY during last SPL's playoffs. He has since added to his old gens prowess by beating ABR in classic and now finds himself drafted for ADV in SPL XIV. Joining BiHi on the Scooters are Umbry and talented newcomer and ADV main PkThunderbolt, who are both competent builders but tend towards a slower, more methodical playstyle. For 15.5k, will BiHi be given the freedom to select his own teams? Is BiHi ready for an entire season of ADV in SPL? This pick has been praised by many and left others confused, which begs the question: will this be a memorable season for BiHi, or a case of BooHoo for the Scooters?

Appearing in his second straight SPL, we have the man from Italy who's looking for victory. After breaking even in his debut SPL, Mikmer will be keen to build on his record and go positive this time around. For 9.5K, a positive record would present great upside, and with Dice as ADV support, he's guaranteed sound building and scouting advice. There is little to no pressure on Mikmer for his starting slot on the Ruiners, which fans will be hoping gives him a good environment to succeed. Will this tournament prove Mikmer to be an Italian Stallion, or merely a horse meat lasagne?

A multi-gen debutant, you would be forgiven for not knowing what his strongest tiers are, or where the Wolfpack were going to start him. 16k may seem like a lot given these circumstances, yet ArcticBreeze made deep runs in a lot of tours this year, including proving himself to be an innovative ADV builder in this year's Callous Invitational. The ADV community has been quick to note stylistic similarities between Arctic and ABR, who appear to be a match made in heaven. With Teclis in the back for support and scouting, this ADV core offers a lot of upside. Arctic will likely perform well and punch above his weight for a debutant, but will that even be enough to justify the price tag? Arctic is in a situation where he'll either find himself looking cool, or frozen out in the cold by the end of the season.

A name that's been around since SPL III in 2011, Golden Sun boasts the 8th most wins in SPL history. Golden Sun has been known as a somewhat eccentric builder in the past, but teams like his Moltres Superman have become metagame staples and showed his overall vision. There are a lot of questions being asked over his current form and metagame knowledge, and Endill will be hot on his heels chasing for the Cryos' starting spot. Undoubtedly a talented player and unique builder, there are still questions as to how in shape he is and if he can return to previous form after a long absence. Only time will tell if the sun still shines on the golden Australian.

Robjr finds himself on the Sharks without the largest ADV resumé. Known mostly for playing Fairy gens over the last few SPLs, Rob showed his versatility and promise when he was trusted to play ADV in the finals. Since then, Robjr has had mixed results in the tier, making it to the semi-finals of ADV Globals, but crashing out of Cup in the first round. ADV main Sadlysius is available for building and prep support, but after a 1-4 first SPL,the opening ADV spot seems like Rob's to lose. It's hard to tell how hard his team will be relying on him here, as Rob's flexibility to support other tiers may be part of why he's been drafted. ADV or not, Rob will be aiming for a steady tour, while hoping Sadlysius doesn't turn out to be his ADV daddy.

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The Foat has taken his GSC talents to the Tigers, who look to salvage their franchise under new management. And what better way to achieve this goal than drafting one of the best SPL players in recent memory? Fear has managed to go 35-16-1 in recent SPL memory, with the 1 draw being a pre-SPL squabble with Ruiners manager MANNAT that saw absolutely no winners. If you take away his one negative SPL in 2021, which serves as a clear outlier, Fear's full seasons read as follows: 5-3, 9-1, 6-2, 7-2, and 5-2. Needless to say, Fear has a stronghold on GSC success and his timeless prowess should not go without appreciation here. Of course, he will face a handful of formidable opponents such as top players Conflict and M Dragon, who could easily give him trouble. However, Fear has managed to tackle the vast majority of challenges he has faced thus far, so we can confidently believe he will give it yet another good effort this campaign.

Yet another historically phenomenal SPL GSC player is Conflict, who is coming off of a great season of his own, having went 6-2 last year. Conflict has the third most victories in SPL history and a resume filled with accomplishments that can span far beyond the confines of this paragraph, so his retain to the Cryonicles should be a shock to absolutely nobody. His knowledge and experience in GSC are seldom matched, enabling Conflict to dispatch of opponents with both conventional and unconventional strategies depending on what he finds best. With some familiar veterans on board, there is little reason to believe Conflict will not be motivated to match his strong past performances and join Fear atop the GSC OU pool this SPL!

M Dragon was once seen as the long-time manager of the Stark Sharks, who to this day are one of the strongest franchises in SPL's long history. However, he decided to play last season and went positive in ADV. Now he finds himself in GSC, a tier that he has a long history of success in as well. M Dragon would likely do well in just about any format, as he has been around for a long while, familiarizing himself with strong strategies and performing at a high level along the way. This is shown by his 70-58 all-time record and long list of individual accomplishments, which includes a Smogon Tour trophy. He needs to achieve even more this SPL in order to match the needs of the BIGs and live up to his price that exceeded 20k, but M Dragon is plenty capable of this and certainly not one to be scared of the BIG moment! It is likely that the one who is said to have created every single GSC team ever constructed will be more than capable of preparing and staying in form to do exceedingly well this SPL.

Alright, let's say you're writing a power rankings article and trying to do research. You are not super familiar with someone, so you scope out your sources and even go as far as looking up his history. Along the way you check his laddering track record and what the—think our guy likes to play Pokémon? Well, the Classiest sure hope so. While Century Express has not taken his enthusiasm for battling to SPL for the last few years, he has managed to go roughly even when given the opportunity to do so in GSC. With the support of GSC aficionado d0nut and a more shallow pool beneath him, consisting of less experienced opponents for the most part, perhaps now is the best chance for Century Express to breakout as one of the stronger modern GSC options on both the ladder and tournaments!

Following up this pantheon of revered veterans is none other than Aliss, who has a grand total of 15 official team tournament games to her name, of which none seem to even be in GSC OU. We cannot be too tough on Aliss, as she has performed up to, and arguably beyond, par in Smogon Classic previously and this field is not exactly one to write home about, but this will certainly be a bit of a "prove it or lose it" campaign for the Raiders hopeful. After all, she was a member of the victorious Raiders last season, but moving up a generation changes her role and preparation a great deal. Her ability to adapt to this and defeat similarly inexperienced opponents ranked below her will determine a lot of the narratives that surround her season.

In a community where anime girl profile pictures surface at alarmingly high rates and clicking at lightspeed is seen as surplus value added to players, watashi fits right in. In a GSC pool consisting of old generation mainers looking to surface and a slew of all-time titans of the metagame, watashi does not fit in whatsoever. Not many people expected the soft-spoken Canadian player to end up in GSC of all formats, especially after his well-cited success in newer generations of OU as they came out. Of course, it is always feasible that Raichy eventually ends up here while watashi finds himself in a more recent generation, but for now, watashi seems to be the solution to GSC for the Sharks. He is a strong player and has a great network of support starting with GSC-savvy manager TDK, so perhaps this will ultimately become a positive slot. However, we have not seen much from watashi in this generation, so realistically we will have to just wait and see with this one.

D4 Repertoire is looking to make a name for himself in his first ever SPL as a member of the Wolfpack. He could not have inherited a better home either, as both of his managers are incredibly well-versed in GSC OU, which could help limit the barriers of entry that many newer starters face. D4 is no slouch, as he made finals of a recent circuit tournament and won the winter seasonal that concluded this past May. This earned him the top seed in the circuit playoffs, too, but he did fall to august in the first round there, unfortunately. With this said, there is a good amount of experience and results to be seen for D4 in smaller setting. Now the question is: how this will translate to the big stage this SPL and if he can keep up with some of the best of the best, who have much more experience and success over the years?

Siatam is one of the most active GSC presences on Smogon, moderating the forum and actively participating in both discussion and tournaments along the way. After some respectable results throughout 2022 earned Siatam the 6th seed in circuit playoffs, he proceeded to win the entire ribbon bracket to take home the circuit championship! Perhaps this gave him the boost to jump from the outside to the inside, as Siatam was not universally regarded as a starting prospect going in and the Ruiners have alternatives such as zf, who is currently slotted in DPP, but could end up elsewhere as time elapses. Assuming the lineup holds, Siatam is an incredibly knowledgeable presence who has performed very well in smaller, less pressure-packed settings. With this said, he has yet to play in SPL or any official team tournament, so any and all optimism should be limited much like his scope of experience is limited for the time being.

The realest of all of Smogon's jesters has found himself in generation two for his debut after electing to lock himself out of what may have been his best tier heading into the tournament. Of course, this is all water under the bridge now, as the Tyrants hopeful looks to make the most of an interesting debut that many will be eyeing. Jester is an outspoken, relatively new old generation player who has proven to be quite competent in a few generations surrounding GSC and could use SPL as a coming-out party for his GSC prowess as well if he plays his cards right. We do not have a vast catalog of results to sort through for him in this generation quite yet and this is certainly a limiting factor for both his rankings and expectations, but with the support of old generation master BKC and the winning culture of the Tyrants, things could look up for Jester. With this said, he is still a rookie in a tier he is not seen as a main of that went for north of 10k, so it will be on Jester to live up to his price promptly before any struggles could cost his team.

Hyogafodex is 4-16 overall in SPL, which includes a 2-12 record in his last two editions that he played predominantly took place in GSC OU. His positive outlier performance is going 2-4 in the edition prior to these—yes, a positive outlier is still a record where he won 33.3% of the time. Hyoga offers versatility as he has played a number of old generations, making him a justifiable substitute that comes across as friendly along the way. However, starting him in GSC feels like the glaring "we've seen this movie before" moment, and it has never ended well. Perhaps the Scooters know something we do not and Hyoga has improved his form, but it could otherwise be a long season for the Scooters in GSC as the commencement thread riots for a slew of other supposedly deserving prospects to be included.

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For the fifth straight year, and to nobody's surprise, Heroic Troller is ranked first in the SPL RBY OU pool. He was retained for 24k, the highest price ever for an RBY starter, after a dominant 10-3 SPL XIII, which included back-to-back wins against FriendOfMrGolem120 in semifinals and semifinals tiebreaker. His superb SPL XIII came after three prior dominant seasons, bringing him to an insane 74.42% win rate in SPL, one of the highest of all time in any tier. Heroic Troller has been considered the best current RBY OUer since at least 2019 and is looking to solidfy his claim as the greatest RBY OU player of all time, over his Italian mentor marcoasd. Not only can he stick to his specific gameplan and outplay anyone, but he also is not afraid to create his own metagame trends or branch out when necessary. Say what you want about RBY, but Heroic Troller has been one of the most dominant players in any singular tier over the past few years and is projected to continue his success in SPL XIV.

Going from 10th to 2nd in the Power Rankings and no longer being able to dodge the dreaded spotlight, we have chuva de perereca, one of two who can claim to be the best overall RBY OU player throughout 2022. He was relatively unknown in 2021 before his SPL debut, but he dominated in 2022 with an 8-3 SPL XIII and a first place in RBY Winter Seasonal, top 3 in RBY Cup, and top 8 in RBY Winter Seasonal. While he struggled in RBY Invitational III, facing relatively obscure scouts with little to no information, he bounced back with a 5-1 RBY PL III, finished 2nd in the 2022 Circuit, and is primed to thrive in the data-filled SPL environment. He keeps up with metagame trends more than most and even creates his own, and as one of the best players and preparers in the tournament, chuva de perereca can be expected to begin 2023 with a bang.

Mirroring chuva de perereca, we have Serpi, another continuously elite player throughout 2022 RBY OU, who thus moved up two spots from his SPL XIII ranking. One of the hottest RBY OU players at the moment, Serpi has had consistently excellent results across all tournaments: back-to-back positive SPLs, back-to-back 4th place finishes in RBY Invitational, and top finishes throughout the circuit. He's already transformed himself into one of the best modern-day RBY OU players after picking up the tier just a few years ago. Will the help of Aliss and his calculated playstyle help him continue to grow from up-and-comer in SPL XII to on the cusp in SPL XIII to solidifying himself as the guy to beat in SPL XIV, or will he be stuck at 5-4 for the third straight season?

Nails saw his six straight 6+-win SPL/SCL streak end last year with a middling 4-5 SPL XIII performance. The opposition finally figured out how to throw off his tried-and-true playstyle, and he couldn't branch out successfully enough, resulting in his lowest Power Ranking in quite a bit. Make no mistake, however; when 4-5 is someone's worst tournament performance since 2018, you know they are one of the best. Nails has the second most RBY OU wins in SPL ever, he is one of two to win at least 20 RBY sets throughout three SPLs, and he is one of three to take down Heroic Troller multiple times in SPL. He also bounced back strong in SCL II with a flawless 9-0 regular season record playing SS DOU. One of the few RBY players to consistently make full use of his timer, Nails is primed to bounce back in SPL XIV, especially with excellent support in both emma and Amaranth by his side.

Hayburner has yet to be able to replicate his RBY success from SPL XII, where he subbed in and put up a 5-2 record, with a combined 4-6 record since in SPL XIII and RBY Invitational III and minimal involvement in the tier otherwise. He has done well overall throughout the year, however, going 3-2 in WCoP and leading Canada to within one game of taking the trophy home, and generally has strong Pokémon fundamentals. Will a new team environment and support from Vileman and others set him back on track and see his 6k pricetag prove to be a bargain, or is another unfavorable season looming?

Our third retain on this list, Gefährlicher Random is most well known for his SS OU expertise but has recently picked up RBY OU and is one of the hottest and most promising players today. He finished Top 8 in the RBY Winter Seasonal, Top 8 in the RBY Global Championship, 1st in the RBY Summer Seasonal, and Top 16 in the RBY Circuit Championship, taking down numerous SPL-level players and lighting the circuit scene on fire. He's worked closely with Serpi over the past year and has impressed everyone with his rapid improvement and exceptional piloting. With BIHI, who defeated chuva de perereca and Heroic Troller in back-to-back playoff tiebreaker series last SPL, waiting in the wings for a potential lineup shuffle and additional support from former RBY Invitational Champion Excal, the Indie Scooters have perhaps the most dangerous RBY OU slot in the tournament.

Mana marks our second of four players with no RBY in SPL experience, but make no mistake, he knows how to win in RBY. He's seen success in the tier when he's played, including back-to-back Smogon Classic playoffs appearances and a top 16 run in RBY Cup VII, and has played in the last two RBY Invitationals, although to a 1-4 record. He is also a very strong Pokémon player overall with a 24-15 record, and we've seen time and time again tournament players pick up tiers in official team tournaments and do well. Will his first time entirely focusing on RBY and strong managerial support propel him to a strong record, or will he suffer from his lack of experience?

Mako is one of the more volatile players in the pool—7-2 in SPL XII, 2-5 in SPL XIII, and a perfectly balanced 4-4 across two RBY Invitationals. She played at her best two years ago, but her very aggressive playstyle hasn't been able to replicate the same success since, although back-to-back top 16 finishes in RBY Invitational are nothing to scoff at. Few can lay claim to having the best tier record in the SPL, and we all know the potential is there, but we'll have to see which Mako shows up. Will she be able to reclaim the prowess she had in SPL XII and be a 3k steal, or will she never reach those heights again?

LNumbers is our third German player on this list and follows in Serpi's and Gefährlicher Random's footsteps as Germans who have picked up RBY and seen success very quickly. Coming off SS OU and SS UU success in official team tournaments, most notably an 8-2 run in SS UU during SCL I, he started playing during this year's RBY Cup and immediately reached finals, including taking down Malekith and Maya Chansey. He has improved at a remarkable rate, and with help from his manager shiloh and I'm sure plenty of tests with his fellow Germans, will he be able to continue his success on the biggest of stages, or is he just not ready yet?

Isza is the pool's wildcard. He has yet to see any real individual RBY success but was a good enough Pokémon player to qualify for Smogon Classic playoffs this year and be drafted for SPL and SCL in previous years as a substitute. He now has the chance to entirely focus on RBY instead of juggling between five generations as he did during his Classic run and certainly has a higher ceiling than a ten rank would imply. He doesn't have much RBY support, but plenty of his teammates have played the tier at a high level. Will he prove to the rest of the pool that he deserves to be here, or will the Dragonspiral Tyrants' draft plan backfire?

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