The auction is done and you are probably wondering, "Which team did a good draft in ZU and which team messed up?" Well, let's find out in this ZU power rankings:
1) Oblivion Ambers (shadow, mirbro, one last kiss, twenty twan)
This is the best ZU draft out of all teams, so good that you actually wonder why Oblivion Ambers bought so many ZU players. They simply have ZU finalist champion Shadow currently 6-0 in ZUCL. If an industrial catastrophe happens, One Last Kiss is also a good clicker if they need to. Finally, Mirbro and TwentyTwan are very good support roles (even decent players tbf) who could help with tests and coming up with new innovative ideas.
2) Galarian Blades (obb, hoen, risin)
If OBB plays ZU, it would definitely be one of the hardest spots to win for the opponents. However, he might play NFE and is certainly very busy with other tours. Even if potentially less reliable, double trophy master and previous ZU tier leader Hoenconfirmed would be a certain challenge to beat for any team. Risin would be there for the support slot to help them test teams and suggest ideas. There are obviously risks of cancering, overplaying tournaments and catastrophic losing runs (I don't know if OBB is positive or negative in ZUCL) so it is less reliable than the Ambers but it is the second scariest ZU list on the list.
3) Pikachu Party (mada, beavs, trichotomy, dbd)
All of these players are strong competitors with tournament results so whoever ends up playing is expected to perform relatively well. Beavs is especially a very innovative player, so it will be hard to prep against (even if I expect him rather to play NFE but who knows). Mada and Trichotomy are excellent pilots, Trichotomy is especially doing great in ZUCL at the moment. DeadbyDelight finally is also a good Pokémon player and knowledgeable in ZU so they will normally have a great run.
4) Mechanical Marvels (terracotta, hex)
This team is a bit harder to guess because it clearly depends on who plays what. Terracotta could sail across tiers so there is that. If not burned out, he will anyway build in ZU despite having to prep for another tier and give innovative ideas each week to Hex. There is not much to say about it good pilots with a potential ZU builder is often a successful recipe. But if Terracotta is sailling and hex does not prepare well, it can end up with bad records without much replacement. It is sad that clean is locked in Monocolor tbf.
5) Utterly Sprigatitos (lettuce, praise the salt, methmaster)
Lettuce is a ZU main for years now who is a pretty decent player and especially a good builder who built very successful teams that got reused many rounds during the last circuit. He got paired with his partner in crime for UMFL Praise the Salt who not only did a solid run in that tournament but also at the same time made a very long run to final ZU Swiss, allegedly with a lot of activity wins though. Methmaster finally would be there to support and give ideas and would put up a fight if he has to sub. This line is slightly weaker than the one above since Praise the Salt hasn't touched ZU for three months to focus on OU after being forgotten in the auction of ZUCL (which is understandable tbh), while Lettuce is good but slightly less consistent than the players mentioned above. It is pretty difficult to say at this stage if this team will have a winning or losing streak, so let's see.
6) Gold Stake Gholdengos (budgetplayer)
This is the only team with a single player. What a player though. Budget is the newest ZU voice and rising star. He is currently 4-0 in ZUCL and I do not think the lack of support will bother him as he is kind of used to it. Some rumors say that he allegedly didn't get much, if any, help in ZUCL despite seven other ZU players being on this team. He is also extremely invested and serious in team tournaments, so you will be sure that he will build several teams, test all of them and only choose the best one. Of course, Budget is still a relatively "new" "good" player, so if an accident happens, the Gholdengos do not have any other choice than riding or dying with Budget.
7) Shocks and Moccs (zpice, heatranator, sificon, neomon)
Zpice is the only true ZU main and he doesn't really like playing current gen ZU. It's a relatively good player though but I don't think he will be super motivated. His teammates are decent ZU pilots but perhaps not as impressive as several players that other teams managed to buy. They can outperform if one of these players is locking up but I think other teams will do better in ZU.
8) Spectral Heist (smhorizon, ako)
This is a team of double support slots without a main pilot. SMHorizon is a very innovative player but clearly unproven in ZU tournaments. Ako is also a very innovative player who focused on building and who indeed reached the ZU seasonal final but it has also to be noted that he reached it with five activity wins. Both of these players are not bad but they will have to clearly overperform to end up positive.
This is it, have a good UMCL!