Tournament Smogon Champions League V: OU Discussion

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Setsu

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Welcome to the Smogon Champions League V's OU Discussion thread!

In this tournament 10 teams compete across Official Smogon Metagames in SV such as Ubers, DOU, UU, RU, NU, PU, LC, and of course, OU. Each team lines up with 3 SV OU players, which means a total of 15 SV OU games every week for 9 weeks. Starting right after the end the laddering phase of OLT, and being the last major team tournament of 2025, new trends are sure to come. Expect this thread to include game discussion, links to usage stats and replays, and hopefully, teams shared by some of the very best SV OU players on the site.

Here are the teams participating in this year's SCL, with captains in italics and SV OU players bolded once the first round is out:

:Aegislash: Arena Spartans DugZa, tko, vivalospride
Attribute, Fc, Separation, Danny, Starsama, etern, Pinecoishot, baconeatinassassin, DAHLI, vk, Akaru Kokuyo, eifo, Schister, Void

:Melmetal: Circuit Breakers Mada, elodin, Stories
Santu, ABR, GXE, entrocefalo, MADARAAAA, MZ, watashi, AJ, OranBerryBlissey10, Kebab mlml, LBN, Wail Wailord, crying, 691

:Falinks: Indigo Platoon Lunar., Kingler, Quinn
Fusien, bhkg, JJ09LIE, Nails, Eternal Spirit, robjr, Esteb4n, Kaboom, kyuss, Mashing, MAVERICK SHOOTERS, File, Flabeauf, Sabella, Exiline

:Ninetales-Alola: Mt. Silver Foxes umbry, Gondra, Xrn
Punny, Ann, Elias PSY, SOULWIND, TheFranklin, emoxu9, Stareal, avarice, Foolycl, Always Edgy, Isza, LOOR, LouisIX, Onraider

:Exeggutor: Orange Islanders Dave, Larry, Vulpix03
hellom, MichaelderBeste2, Colin, zS, Ewin, Envy, Django, Feyy, sufys, TrueNora, feen, kDCA, Axzel, Kushalos, srvoltmike, Skyiew

:Zapdos-Galar: Power Plant Dynamos Excal, Mana, Luthier
McMeghan, Kate, Pkel SweeTforU, JustFranco, EternalSnowman, Niko, Jytcampbell, ACR1, Greedy_eb, fakenagol, FlamPoke, Grandmas Cookin, haxlolo, jake, Kristyl

:Kingambit: Showdown Shoguns lax, ima, Giannis Antetokommo-o
mind gaming, Fogbound Lake, S1nn0hC0nfirm3d, 3d, Mako, Eniigma, Frito, hjkhj, eragon, SEA, Baddy, Hayburner, Ninja, Plague, SoggyDoggySage

:Gible: Studio Gible Feliburn, Ajna, Accel
bagel, Star, Finchinator, Laroxyl, fade, Taka, TJ, Gilbert Arenas, mimilucha, RichardMillePlain, Tuthur, One Last Kiss, Shiba, Arc, asa, DaAwesomeDude1

:Mew: Technical Machines Expulso, hex, Piyu
Icemaster, leng loi, tazz, clean, LpZ, Hiko, ratpacker, Sacri', Dj Breloominati♬, Dr. Phd. BJ, ishtar, frankjosh, sir jelloton, sire clod

:Gyarados: Uncharted Terrors shiloh, Gingy, Kunal
oldspicemike, Lokifan, pdt, Scottie, TDNT, zee, Hacker, Shengineer, heileone, Drud, BlackKnight_Gawain, Dugtrio Is Broken, Metallica126, Let's Rumble Shall We, DD Joe​


Useful Links:
Schedule
 
Last edited:

1LDK ou prs​


hey, I have the flu and a terrible headache, so sorry if this comes out uninspiring. Anyway a lot of yapping, all teams are pretty close to each other and can all get wins, but someone has to be last and first, if this bothers you, you can prove me wrong in the field, gamble everything in uma musumes or contact me in my discord. Ninth has a job so we are not partnering this season

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10) Foxes: umbry, Gondra, Xrn

Soulwind: While Soulwind is the GOAT, his recond in sv alone might not tell you that, either way, it's soulwind, you can't just count him out
Stareal: a quite decent player on the quiet side, he qualified to OLT thanks to a Nat ban and his record this year seems to be on the negative, but he is known to put up good shows in the past, against players like sz, zs nad bhkg, maybe he just hates vocals, who knows
Foolycl: This is a new guy on the block, called the next watashi, because the latter is his mentor. With a 2-1 wcop start, can he make his master proud?

On the bench: Isza, LOOR: the former is a good clicker while the latter is a chef

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9) Terrors: Shiloh, Gingy, Kunal

Mike: ever since he was unfrozen, Oldspicemike has had mostly good showings all around, with the most recent wcop being a rare hiccup, but I think he has the skills to let be that, a hiccup.
tdnt: mainly one of the best SS OU players, his SVs have been rather silent, outside OLT once again
heileone: another new guy on the block, a top ladder resident with good knowledge of the meta

On the bench: dugtrio is broken, let's rumble shall we: the former is my goat dugtrio, gl this season #gargexplosion, and the latter is known as the jolteon guy

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8) Breakers: Mada, stories, elodin

ABR: The man of the hour, bro though he was gonna go for 17k and ninth had to grab him by the shoulder and show the knowledge The Ball TM had to give. Jokes aside, while one of the best in the entire planet, this is his first real SV outing, he has been in sv ou in the past but with no experience. Now he is fully invested himself in learning and experiencing sv ou. Him winning or losing might be life or death for the team.
GXE: I'm biased, everything GXE touches becomes gold, and I'm a fan of him, I hope he does well
Kebab mlml: kebab is good, but I know people are gonna prepare full antihax anticheese strats vs him, if he can capitalize through the fear he put in wcop, he might just farm again.

On the bench: No one, their other OU players like crying and watashi are in other tiers, a few moves from LBN and 691 can free those slots

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7) Gibles: feliburn, ajna, accel

Star: first time playing in SCL since the invention of the wheel. Above average in everything he does, he will stick to the consistent and outplay based on that
Tj: I've personally faced the guy on a Bo3 at a seasonal, assuming he doesn't get banned again for whatever the fuck, he will probably win
Finchinator: Finch "I should be going for 3.5k at most" the nator wants to play sv ou again after coming back to bw in spl and playing ss ou in wcop. Ima be real, it feels more like an obligation because "If the leader of the ou tier doesn't play ou at all then why is he still here" Which is why he wants to prove to the world and himself that he still deserves his spot, but his dedication to the community as a whole is objectively unmatched, and I fully respect that level of professionalism.

On the bench: One Last Kiss, Arc: the former is the hero of the wolfpack and the latter won spl and its a good chef, but it's been cursed by being GMT+13

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6) Shoguns: Lax, ima, Giannis Antetokommo-o

mako: Go Chile
3d: Lax and Ima betrayed him, and he is now forced to play OU against his will, time will tell if he archives super sayan status via his rage
baddy: a team UK member that won a SS OU seasonal, and has a 2-1 in wcop, he also won OUFL, and I'm still sad about it, but that's because I loved the tour, I want to run that back.

On the bench: Plague: free my guy, let him run the streets

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5) Spartans: tko + dugza + vivalospride

attribute: retained, 3 good team tours in a row, creator of the evil ass clef team, important in US west run
separation: one of china's most famous players dedicated to sm in spl but a wonderful wcop, defeating piyu
dahli: had a good scl but particular bad spl, well see if they can recover

On the bench: pinecoishot + vk: pineco is a US south member and its a good chef + dedicated ladder player. While vk pricefixed himself outta OU.

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4) Platoon: hasayo + kingler + quinn

jj09lie: good scl, amazing spl alongside his entire squad, a silent wcop for reaons we are not gonna talk about, he is not afraid to play his games at 7:55 just 5 minutes before school starts
fusien: won ost this year #oucontributorsgang
bhkg: the newest prospect of US NE, the savor of the bigs and a key factor in US NE getting to playoffs straight up instead of via tb

On the bench: MAVERICK SHOOTERS, one of the best scouters and preppers

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3) Dynamos: excal + luthier + mana

pkel: started last year as a nobody who was picked from a dumpster, pkel has become one of the most recognizable faces in sv ou, for he was the main carry in last OU SCL, while also doing well in spl whenever he had to cover sv. His rivalry feud with axzel in wcop was also funny as hell
niko: both acr1 and niko are pretty similar in being rather inconsistent lately, so their highs will win them the tour, but their lows will ruin them the tour
acr1: just read niko

On the bench: Fakenagol (idk the guy), Justfranco (he is starting in UU, but they have haxlolo as backup plan)

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2) islanders: Dave + Larry + Vulpix03

hellom: rooting for you hellom, we love you goat
ewin: ewin is currently 10-0 vs hellom, so dave decided to put them both in the same tier, so now hellom can win more. In all seriousness, while certaintly not the friendliest face in the community, he is a good player and a dedicated team player
kdca: I have no idea about this one, we will watch your career with great interest

On the bench: Axzel. Neatherlands player, who had a rivalry against pkel during wcop quallys and won the feud, letting neatherlands get to main event

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1) Machines: Expulso + hex + piyu

hiko: neutral last scl, positive in spl and wcop, he is slowly improving more and more, and it's self sustainable even tho the French sv technology is certainly not as trustworthy as the French ss one
leng: even tho neutral in spl and wcop, her support and teams were the driving factors in the classiest sv slot winning so much, one of the best chefs in current sv ou
clean: OLT biggest fan, almost won it, and its on playoffs 1-0 after a win vs soulwind, good spl, good wcop

On the bench: Sire clod. Apparently so good, even Vert is impressed by his skills

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Before I go, i wanna say 2 things

1) like I explained, ninth will not be with me for this season of scl coverage, so it's back to being me, myself and i, meaning that project is gonna be of way less quality, but shiny CC is shiny CC, I just want my own CA.

2) formally apologize to hex for sabotaging SSPL because I jinxed her, everything that I love withers away, and It's destined to rot. For I being punished in flesh for my sins, I'm being punished in mind, and I will be punished in soul....
 
Shamelessly copying 1ldk's formatting so I can make my own OU rankings here. The top end talent is a little down here for sure; four of the five players with an SV OU individual trophy aren't playing (Vert, xavgb, Storm Zone, lax, with only Fusien playing), and if we count the SV STours then Empo didn't sign up while Santu and Michael are in other tiers. Couple that with some other players with recent high-end performances like myjava and Piyu not signing up, a few impact bans, and a bunch of players in lower-tiers instead, and the top of the pool has a lot of question marks, hence the absolute frenzy for the few options that did hit auction. Some teams have a clear top three while others have a bit of a bench mob that offers the flexibility to run with the hot hand, and for some teams that actually makes them feel less risky to me. I'm mostly thinking of these as approximate projections and some of them are going to be wrong.

To talk about the auction more specifically, we can break it down a bit. clean went over 30k, Star and ABR went over 25k. Six players went between 20k and 25k, and then JJ and Finch went for 19k and 18.5k respectively. After that, though, the prices drop off a cliff, because then it's Ewin at 15.5k, Hiko at 14.5k, and then Mako at 11.5k is the only other SV OU player above 10k? Basically, SV OU makes up 30% of the games each week, 50% of the buys worth at least 20k, and then only 27% of the auction buys below 20k but at least 10k. Retains complicate this, with a few players that would have been in that top price bracket getting retained for 16k and a few that would have been real mid-range options getting retained for 10k, but the point is that it seems like teams really, really wanted premium OU options and were generally inclined to fill the rest of their slots for cheap. To my eye, it seems like there's a pretty massive range of prices in guys that I look at and say "yeah they're probably going even", but the benefits of grabbing an undervalued player like that are probably going to be more apparent when looking at full teams.

Managers: umbry, Gondra, Xrn

SoulWind was the 8th-most expensive OU player in the auction (although admittedly a little inflated because of 5 OU retains) without ever playing this tier in SPL or SCL. I honestly do not know how to rank them. They've played SV OU in WCOP a few times and gone about even, their last SCL was mainly in Ubers and that was disastrous but that was a very different tier. They've made OLT Swiss all three times and playoffs twice, going as far as semis last year. At least for this year, though, I was a little unconvinced? Every time I tuned in it felt like they were spamming the same stall team, which worked on ladder but doesn't really feel indicative of what a full season of SV OU SoulWind will look like here. They went for a lot of money here because there's going to be a lot of figuring it out as it goes along and you bet on the talent for that. I'm not saying that's wrong or anything, but there are safer picks here.

On the other hand, I kinda think Stareal's underrated right now? It's certainly possible I'm overreacting to their recent win over oldspicemike or that I'm not reacting enough to the 0-3 WCOP, but like, the 4-6 last SPL had some good wins and respectable losses in there, and their 5-4 SCL had basically all strong losses and a few top wins. This just feels like a "probably even" type of deal with some downside and some upside, and I don't know, I feel like they paid a really reasonable price for that?

Foolycl went 2-1 in WCOP, they're within striking distance of OU circuit playoffs, but realistically they got drafted by beating xavgb en route to an OST top 8. Isza and LOOR are here as support, I guess that's fine?

Guess: 10/27 wins
Managers: excal + luthier + mana
In all honesty, I think this core is pretty overrated. The big issue to me is that I think Pkel is a little miscast as an OU 1/tiebreak option. The 7-4 record is good (although if I'm being a hater I would say that they lost most of their matches against top opponents and that record is a little inflated by a myjava win in a finals blowout). The bigger issue is that that's their only meaningful SV OU result, their DPP SPL was fine but not really remarkable, and they won't be bolstering their resume with an OLT run. This isn't me saying they're bad or anything, but the rest of this OU core is really risky, given that Niko and ACR1 combined to go 3-10 in the tier last SPL. They also went 14-4 in the previous SCL in the tier, of course, so this is clearly an intentional strategy and an indication of which version of these players the Dynamos' managers see. It's a matter of taste, of course, but I just think that every team above them has a more dependable top slot. What's definitely worth remembering, though, is that the Dynamos with basically the same manager group bought Pkel and Niko last year and it went as well as they could have possibly hoped. A lot of these rankings depend on how you personally rate each player, and it makes sense that if the Dynamos were willing to bet on them last year, they're willing to run it back even if they're a bit more expensive.

Guess: 11/27 wins
Managers: tko + dugza + vivalospride

Attribute is fantastic and maybe even my top OU player in the pool. I will say, though, that they're definitely my main source of optimism for this pool. Separation's SV OU stock is at a relative high right now after a strong WCOP and an OLT qualification, but prior to that they're 4-9 in the tier on the sheet. DAHLI, meanwhile, is probably going to improve from 0-3 into bench in SPL, but by how much? I kind of don't know what to make of this group, and I think they would have really benefited from a few builder/bench options in the tier. I'm not sure here.

Guess: 12/27
Managers: feliburn, ajna, accel

I also kinda don't have that much to say about this team. Star hasn't played much of this tier but has been respectable when he has. Finch is the tier leader, went 8-3 in the tier in SCL 2023 before going 4-5 SPL into 3-5 SCL into BW, picking up an SV OU ribbon on the way. I think together they offer a high floor but I'm not sure what the ceiling is? TJ is a real wild card with success in other tiers but only the most recent WCOP to go off of in SV OU, Arc probably offers more as a builder but much less track record as a player besides, again, the most recent WCOP. Idk, they probably go even and I heavily doubt this core collapses.

Guess: 13/27 wins
Managers: Shiloh, Gingy, Kunal

oldspicemike is 9-5 on the sheet this year in this tour. In 2024 he went 16-10. In 2023 he went 8-5. Made OST finals this year, lost in OLT swiss last year and is trying for playoffs again this year. It doesn't seem like he's generally rated at the very top of this pool, but on the other hand you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone this consistent in the tier year-after-year. This is the safest bet for a positive record you'll get.

Outside of making OLT swiss last year, there kinda isn't a lot of data on TDNT in this tier. And I mean, I do think making OLT's a good indicator that you can play at this level! They're also 7-4 and 11-1 in SS OU over the last two years so there's no doubt that there's underlying skill here. Middle of the pack? That sounds about right.

7.5k seems like a lot for heileone and their 0-3 sheet record, really buying in on the solid performance in the SV weeks at STour and the OLT so far (which includes a win over Giannis). With that said, while I don't necessarily rate any of their OU 3-5 options that high individually I do think that getting a bunch of unproven ladder players and seeing which one rises to the top is a really solid strategy, and I think Let's Rumble Shall We is a good pick. So while I feel like the price is a little hot for the OU bench mob, I think the savings from the Mike retain more than make up for it.

Guess: 13/27 wins
Managers: Lax, ima, Giannis Antetokommo-o

Here's what intrigues me about this core; I think Mako brings some "good at a bunch of tiers" credentials (whose SV highlights are probably a 4-0 run in WCOP 2024 and the OLT 2024 quarterfinals run that included an Empo win) that will benefit from the Shoguns likely offering more SV OU support than the Foxes did last year after they withstood a manager ban. That's speculation, of course, but this team has three managers with noteworthy success in SV OU and some great players that won't even be playing the tier here. That's a lot of people to bounce ideas off of. I don't know these people and I'm only speculating here, but this seems like a conducive situation to bet on talent.

In all honesty, I'm not even that high on 3d in this tier, their likely top tiebreak option (though there's undoubtedly upside and they seem to be getting better every tournament this year), and I think Baddy/Plague (and maybe Hayburner?) is more a solid bench group than anything, but it just feels like this is a team where everyone is in a good place to succeed.

Guess: 14/27 wins
Managers: Dave + Larry + Vulpix03

I think I have allowed myself to be less of a hellom skeptic. I was a bit of a doubter because even though that 10-1 SPL (which really should have been 11-0) was incredible, they basically didn't play again that season, and this year has been a pretty mixed bag on the team tour front. With that said, the first-round exit doesn't change the fact that their STour qualification run was fantastic and they've made OLT swiss twice in a row now, so I'm more inclined to buy into the track record. What's funny is that I'm unironically inclined to believe that hellom would have a better track record if not for the mental block against Ewin, and likewise Ewin's track record is probably a little propped up by big wins over hellom, and whether or not you think either of those are real, they're certainly not factors here.

This is probably the best OU core in the league if they slotted zS in here. Given that they're not (and would probably be taking some significant UU risk to do so), they're going to be relying on kDCA and Axzel, which is...fine? I conceptually like going for players with good OLT/STour qualification runs and seeing which ones emerge best in that last OU slot, but there's some downside risk because hellom's missed a lot of games since that SPL run in 2024 and putting both of them in really stretches the depth, even if it's more likely to hit the UU slot once zS covers any potential issues here.

Guess: 14/27 wins
Managers: Mada, stories, elodin

This team doesn't really make sense to talk about as individuals, in my opinion. There are a lot of moving parts that are really intriguing here; you have GXE, whose limited SV OU playing record is very good in WCOP but more importantly who has legit SV OU building pedigree and multi-tier playing pedigree, paired with Kebab for some Italian builder magic. You have Mada on the manager core, whose scouting prowess was credited as a big part of the 2024 Tyrants success. And of course, you have ABR, who has basically no track record in this tier but who surely has a ton of upside with the right support. This is a fascinating group with a ton of risk for the price they paid (what, you're going to slot in crying for stability if the first couple weeks don't go well?) but I am perhaps recklessly optimistic.

Guess: 15/27
Managers: Expulso + hex + piyu

My gut tells me that clean puts up 6 wins and Hiko goes even, so the question for me is whether the support (which I would imagine is Piyu + leng loi building) bumps that ceiling up. And I think the answer is "probably". The things that make me hesitant are that a) I really am not convinced by the depth here since I think the viable OU players are occupied with other tiers (which affects the downside more than anything) and b) I want to see more of leng loi in OLT before I fully buy into her in-game as much as in support. The ceiling is really high here, but I'm not ready to buy all the way into it just yet.

Guess: 16/27 wins
Managers: hasayo + kingler + quinn

Okay, I'll say this: I think Fusien's stock is a little overinflated right now. US West offers a ton of support to succeed in a way that the Platoon are almost certainly a step down from, and OST is more a test of loss avoidance than picking up big wins (although beating oldspicemike in the finals is certainly a defining moment). I think spending 23.5k on Fusien, more than all but three players in the auction, is a little too rich for me for a player who went 3-6 in their first full season just a few months ago. With that said, auction price doesn't matter, and Fusien's in good form right now. What's more, my skepticism of Fusien is more as a true 1a type of OU option, and he doesn't really need to be, since the team also added JJ09LIE (who has yet to go negative in SV OU over three seasons adding up to a 21-13 record and who has an OLT quarterfinals under their belt). What's more, bhkg's an extremely solid OU 3 option, and MAVERICK SHOOTERS offers good support from the bench. This is maybe the most complete group here, I think there's a ton of room for optimism.

Guess: 17/27

Take the specific numbers with a grain of salt. The Machines last year hit 19 regular season OU wins while the Foxes hit 8, but I think it's probably safer to project a narrower range than that. Unexpected breakouts and busts happen, and I think a more thorough model bakes in risk a bit more thoroughly but whatever. Had fun making it.
 
The pool this year is interesting. A lot of the obvious top-end players are either not playing, not playing SV, or outright banned, while a lot of the remaining hot players of the moment were retained.

These are some scattershot, alphabetically ordered thoughts on the OU cores, with some context to the drafts themselves. Not a power ranking. I'm sitting out recaps due to being remarkably busy but I'd be remiss to not write a little bit of slop.


ABR makes his first SV team tour appearance since a brief outing in WCOP 2023. He's clearly active in SV after taking some runs at OLT, and he has GXE alongside him as a respected player and builder. These two are going to make bulky sets on mons that ain't never been bulky before. Kebab brings some Italian spices into the mix - wonder if he's gonna keep up his penchant for left-field brings. This has potential to be one of the best cores in the tour, but a lot rests on the ABR/GXE core farming, because there is essentially no depth chart here. Your sub options here are very limited: either you force a lower-tier mainer support pick to play OU, or you put 691 into UU and drag crying into OU which is lowkey scarier to rely on. With Kebab's style also not being prone to consistency, this core is a bit of a gamble. I have faith in ABR to do fine, it's goddamn ABR, but at this pricetag he'll need to be outstanding. (Also, I put the over/under for his price at 25.25k and he went for 25.5. I should start bookmaking.)
Pkel is probably fair at 10k for a retain; I think I need to see more of him in the tier but if you're looking for someone who can hit open 3s he's definitely fine. Niko and ACR1 are solid picks but have been prone to a decent bit of variance over the last year. This lineup is going to need all three in their SCL forms as opposed to their SPL forms: I imagine Excal and company put significant stock into reassembling the gang that won last year, and are confident they can get that out of them again. Bench players include haxlolo, who had a neat WCOP for Argentina, and fakenagol who I'm told beat SoulWind one time. I'm not sure who builds on this team but they can all probably get their hands on some strong stuff. Honestly, extrapolating from current data this roster feels risky, but the number of Dynamos returners + Argentinian synergy buffs gives me the idea that the unification of longtime allies should raise all ships.
Okay so this one's interesting. SoulWind is an all time great and will always be competent in CG OU, but he does feel uniquely stally in SV and you get the idea the 21k pricetag is also partially due to his ability to emergency tiebreak. After him the Foxes opted mostly for budget picks in SV; Stareal at 8k is honestly a pretty good price for someone I'd project at 4-ish wins. Foolycl is the project pick here, and while there's not necessarily pressure on him the Foxes will be looking at him as a high-ceiling starter after some promising results this year. Isza is a competent everyman from the bench, while LOOR provides building support and could also start: the relatively low investment in SV means they can play around a bit with starting lineups and not sweat it if one slot isn't too hot.
The cornerstone of the OU core here is two UncEast stalwarts in Star and Finch, both seasoned operators who usually go positive in team tours. Neither have extensively SVed this year beyond WCOP for starmaster, which gives me some pause, but they're both fairly involved in the tier and probably have high enough floors that you're not gonna get outright flops out of them. TJ played for WCOP but has relatively little SV experience due to being out of service for most of the tier's life; he's obviously a competent pilot but is more of a question mark than the other two. Arc is a Finch ally and offers some neat offensive teambuilding, while Wolfpack saviour One Last Kiss might sub in if a slot does underperform. This roster does kind of feel like you just leave the OU channels alone and assume they'll go for some permutation of 14 wins with some ethical BO teams.
I'm curious about hellom as of late; obviously 16k is too much of a bargain to pass up on but his actual SV results have been sparse and roughly even this year, an OLT qualification his most notable accolade. At his price he doesn't need to go 10-1 again but they'll definitely be looking for that 6+ win form we know he's capable of. It's kind of funny that he's paired with his #1 SV opp in Ewin, one of the more consistent wildcard-ish picks as of late. Dave's drafts really like operating in that 10-20k range and he's one of those picks that I would think most likely to put up 5 wins. SV3 is going to either be kDCA or Axcel, who I would both classify as development picks; you're fishing for one of them to have a breakout, and if they don't, it's fine they're 3k. As far as project picks these are good choices, with the former hitting a 90 GXE in OLT before tilting (I think?) and the latter winning an STour week. Overall, this is a very good roster but is definitely looking for a full-season hellom offensive.
clean was extremely expensive for someone whose breakout started late last year, but having watched the tapes I do think he's a very strong pick for an SV1 even if the pricetag is wild. His play is very sharp on a turn-by-turn basis and team-wise he's not reliant on fishing. I would put him down for a 6-7-win season, especially since he's partnered with South teammate leng loi, one of the more prominent builders in the tier. She certainly elevates the ceilings here in terms of getting good MUs and staying ahead of the curve; the gameplay has occasionally been a little nervous, but this should be a comfortable environment as it's her like 3rd Expulso team. Hiko is positive or neutral in 3 SV tours in a row; another 5-win season puts him right on the money for cost-effectiveness. sire clod in reserves is a cool pick, I'm told they're a hard worker. I do think this core is going to win a lot.
This is one of the most luxurious (and expensive) OU starting lineups. JJ09LIE is one of SV's best sheet farmers, having gone positive every tour since their SPL XV debut. Watching Fusien I definitely think he's leveled up since his SPL (the OST and 5-1 WCOP codify this), and even if he slumps to SPL form they still have a TB option in JJ. bhkg is hard for me to get a read on: the Dynamos winposts considered him a huge piece of undrafted support, and two positive team tours in a row (including a 4-1 WCOP against solid competition) is good but ultimately a bit of a small sample size. Support from MAVERICK SHOOTERS is definitely appreciated here, but considering how much they dropped on starters you get the idea that people are only getting subbed out if they literally can't play. I think on average this group picks up 15-16 wins, but it'll be if Fusien/bhkg hit their ceiling that determines if this core can go all the way.
First of all, the Shoguns management is a major factor in OU support. lax and ima are prominently active players and builders in the tier, and this is probably also the team most likely to have Vert in the discord. 3d has had a great last year in SV and is probably one of the top options in the pool; Mako's official CG play has been limited to a 2-3 WCOP this year, so getting her up to speed will be key. Their starting SV3 appears to be Baddy: I know he's been chipping away at circuit tours for a minute and definitely deserves a shot, so that's super cool as a well-backed project pick. Plague is on the bench as a now-recurring member of the Tyrants Cinematic Universe: their one SCL game vs JJ lsat year was pretty cool.
I trust Attribute in SV OU almost without qualification at this point. He has something like an 18-5 record in his last 3 team tours, is a quality builder, and plays extremely cleanly regardless of pressure. Another 7-win season would not be surprising. Separation has only been super active in SV OU recently with a 3-1 WCOP (including a crazy-ass TB win over Piyu) and an OLT qualification, but his previous, generally consistent body of work leads me to trust him to land somewhere in the top half of the pool. Currently DAHLI is starting third; an underwhelming SPL and absence from WCOP hides the fact that their three SPL/SCLs before that all had 5 wins. For 4k you don't need 5 wins, but there is definitely some evidence for upside here. Pinecoishot is a substitute I'm optimistic about, a zoomer ladder grinder type that can definitely make waves off the bench. Overall, I'm pretty high on this one mostly because Attribute is really good at the game and I have more faith in Separation/DAHLI than others might be.
It's shiloh managing and oldspicemike playing, this team is making playoffs no matter what I say. mike just wins a lot, and notably just won two super-important games for Midwest, which helps alleviate my only concern of him losing a bit more in important games. (They still got relegated but that's beside the point.) TDNT is capable of good things in SV (though perhaps best known for SWSH SPL excellence) but honestly I think I'm most intrigued by their lineup of zoomers: they've got three ladder addicts ready to brawl in heileone, Dugtrio Is Broken, and Let's Rumble Shall We. A combined 5000 ladder games per day means they're all very modern with the meta and I bet at least one of them has a major breakout.

As far as overall predicts: Islanders make playoffs because they always do. Terrors make playoffs because they always do. Machines end with the best OU record. Breakers OU core works out well but they finish 5th. Dynamos or Shoguns start a roster worth 75k or less in W9 while in the playoffs race. My crystal ball breakout performance is Let's Rumble Shall We.
 
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