Power Rankings, written by
FlamPoke and I,
1 - France - Tuthur
ZU Tier Leader Tuthur leads the way for France in his home tier, hoping to keep pace with his recent ZUWC performance where he dominated the SV pool. In fact, Tuthur has had an exceptional year in ZU tournaments overall, rebounding from a poor ZUPL last year to go a resounding 9-2 overall in 2025 thus far. With support from another ZUWC star, Cherbou expect Tuthur to continue playing at a high level here.
2 - Europe - yo cho
ZU council member yo cho has been one of the most consistent ZU players for the past year. His past teamtour records have been great so far with 5-1 in the most recent ZUWC and 4-2 in the latest ZUPL. Europe just won ZUWC and its roster features two ZU council members in Drud and fish anemometer. The latter and yo cho are used to work together, with a great synergy in teambuilding.
3 - US South - Danny
Former ZU Circuit ZU Champion Danny is back in business after resigning from ZU Council and not playing much SV ZU for the past year. Danny is obviously a very strong player who’s been able to perform not only in ZU, but also in lower tiers overall, getting one of the best NU records in the latest SCL and making an appearance in 2023 and 2024 Smogon Grand Slam Playoffs. He can also rely on Stories’ support, who has usually been a great teambuilder in subforum world cups, including the previous two ZUWC.
4 - US North East - Monai
Just off the podium, we find Monai, the author of some of the most successful SV ZU campaigns in ZU subforum tournaments. He went 5-1 in ZUPL V, 4-1 in ZUWC I, and 4-2 in ZUWC II, making him one of the most consistent SV ZU teamtour players. He is also a confirmed player in the official circuit, scoring the best BW OU season of the latest SPL, with wins against excellent players such as Soulwind and dice.
5 - Brazil - Havocknight
Havock, aka. estra, has been one of the most active presences in ZU for over a year. With great success in individual tournaments, finishing as 14th seed on ZU Circuit 2024 and 8th at the most recent ZULT. estra also had an average 4-4 season in UMBD and was the main team builder of team Brazil in ZUWC, where he mostly played SM, but still got a decisive SV win in playoffs tiebreaker against Italy.
6 - United Kingdom - Toto
Toto has been one of the most successful ZU players of all time, sitting at the second place of ZU Hall of Fame, winning two individual tournaments in SV ZU in 2024. He also put a great campaign in UMPL, finishing with a 6-2 record with great wins against players like Drud, OBB, and asa. However since the beginning of the year, Toto hasn’t been quite absent from the SV scene, preferring SS in ZUOL and ZUWC. He can however rely on Michael Jordan, ZULT semi-finalist and ZUOL winner, to help him relearn the metagame and build him teams.
7 - India - DJ Breloominati
While DJ Breloominati’s team tournament’s history started many years ago, he’s got some traction lately in official tournaments, mostly as a starter in WCOP, and with a top 16 run in Smogon Masters. spitfire has played a lot of SM ZU in subforum team tournaments, but it’s unsure how this skill will translate to SV. While the lack of SV ZU experience in the Indian roster is a bit worrying, spitfire is without a double a very solid player who is expected to do well nonetheless.
8 - US Midwest - THE_CHUNGLER
THE_CHUNGLER hasn’t had the opportunity to play much SV ZU in teamtours, with only a couple games played in UMPL, ZUWC, and ZUPL, while starting in old gens in ZUOL. However, his only full season has been very successful in UMBD, with a very solid 6-2 record with great wins against players such as Suzukaaa and FlamPoke. The latter is also his teammate and a very creative ZU builder, who put in an excellent UMPL campaign with a 8-1 record, and should make for great help.
9 - Italy - Kebab mlml
Kebab mlml is an official team tournament caliber player, as a mainstay from team Italy and a former SPL champion, and many might remember his Quarterfinals run in OLT X with great wins against amazing players such as Soulwind and MichaelderBeste2. While most of Kebab’s success comes from OU rather than lower tiers, he’s not foreign to SV ZU. Indeed Kebab started in ZUWC and ended up with a respectable 4-2 record; furthermore he can rely on circuit champion diegoyuhhi for support.
10 - Canada - LOOR
The LOOR, after being locked out of ZUPL V because he forgot to signup before deadline and didn’t have kumiko’s clout, was given a chance to shine in ZUPL VI where he put a respectable 3-1 record in SV. He has to my knowledge not played ZU since then, so one can be curious to see how well he performs one year later.
11 - US West - LustfulLice
LustfulLice was the most successful SV ZU player in 2023, winning ZU Swiss that year and ending up with one of the best SV records in ZUPL, in 6-2. 2024 was a harsher year for him, with a 1-4 record in ZUPL and losing once again circuit playoffs round 1. In 2025, Lice seems to be back to a good shape with a great 3-0 record in ZUWC pools. However due to his discretion in the last couple months and limited success in SV ZU last year, expectations are lower than before for this tournament.
12 - China - Chaos23333
Chaos23333, not to be confused with Smogon owner chaos, has been an SV OU starter on the Chinese WCOP roster for the past three years, with an overall 3-3 record on -Tsunami- 's favorite sheet. They will receive support from their teammate Suzukaaa, who scored an incredible 8-1 SV ZU record in UMBD. Will Chaos be able to translate their OU skills to ZU, a tier neither them nor their team is known for mastering?
13 - Spain - PTKmoekyuun
PTK joined Spain ZUWC roster this year and ended up with a flawless 3-0 record in pool with a great win against yo cho. While his ZU record stops there, PTK is a successful Draft player who won the most recent Seasonal. PTK has a lot of potential but the sample size of tournaments he’s played in is too low for some of the rankers to expect him to reproduce his ZUWC success.
14 - Latin America - TakingNotesKinda
Latin America is the only team that was eliminated from ZUWC in qualifiers, but their lineup lacked TNK. The Caribbean player qualified for ZULT in 2024 and was on Flamencos’ roster, however he lost round 1 of the former and didn’t play a single game in the latest. TNK has been playing in many lower tier team tournaments such as UUFPL and BLT, showing great motivation, even if he’s still lacking a break-out season. All in all, TNK is a tryhard with some ZU background, but who lacks the success to be ranked higher.
15 - Argentina - ziloXX
ziloXX has been a mainstay of team Argentina in WCOP and has made many appearances in SPL as a GSC player. He’s without a doubt a very capable Pokémon player, but it’s hard to tell how he can translate his GSC OU skills into SV ZU, with completely different mechanics and Pokémon. Not many seem to believe in his success, but he’s got more than enough potential to shine.
16 - Portugal - ExguardiaN
ExguardiaN is a newcoming player on the Smogon tournament scene who seems to have developed an interest for lower tiers of every generation. While he still doesn’t have any amazing showings to his belt that older players have, he had a pretty successful ZUWC season with a 2-1 record in pools. That said, despite having one of the best records of his team, he was benched in quarterfinals that Brazil eventually lost. Despite not having the same support as in ZUWC, he will most likely receive help from ZULT quarterfinalist sayyonara.
17 - Germany - Emre Mor 9
Emre Mor 9 is more known as a manager and Deutsche room owner, than as a player. He managed in WCOP, PSPL, and NUPL, and that’s everything I could find about him on the tournament scene. No player on their roster is an active SV ZU player, which explains why the expectations for this slot are so low.
18 - Asia - Horii
Horii is an upcoming Pakistani player who qualified for UM Grand Slam playoffs and made it as far as finals, with an overall 1-2 SV ZU record. More recently, he joined ZUWC and went 1-2 in pools. All in all, Horii is a promising player who has some experience with SV ZU, but he’s got quite some struggle with the tier.
19 - Belgium - eldids
eldibs is a player who joined Smogon only a couple months ago and seems to have joined a couple individuals. That said, they have seemingly no experience in ZU tournaments, and will most likely rely on council member and ZULT quarterfinalist OranBerryBlissey10 for team support. OBB is a skilled and successful ZU builder, who was able to lead his ZUPL team to victory, and one of the best teammates one could wish to have to learn SV ZU, however one can be doubtful on eldids’ ability to pilot these teams.
20 - Bangladesh - Xboy
Xboy has captained team Bangladesh in WCOP for many years now. I couldn’t find much else about him in his post history, besides a couple wins in subforums tournaments such as WCOR and BDPL. Expectations are quite low for this relatively unknown player due to the lack of data about their playing skills.
uhhh cry
