Quick rankings of the manager list, to identify what's good with the managers and what they need to cover to address their weaknesses.
6. Slashing Leaves - maybca and Jeza.p
SS and SV feel extremely covered if Maybca's playing on SS, and Jeza.p are good at finding the players who are motivated to build their own in SV, with some Maybca feedback. The problem is their lack of old-gen knowledge, and they'll desperately need Old-gens that is either good at the gen or have played the tiers before. Either way, I'll be interested to see if they bring new stuff, but I think their best strategy is to see on the older replays and make minor adjustments to make them favoured in the tier. I doubt this tier will push the old-gens as far as possible, so that older structures get invalidated.
5. Pile O'Piloswine - Ea-Nasir and TTK
I've no idea who Ea-nasir is and if they're going to play. Either way, having TKK that's been in stumbling on almost all gens puts them pretty much higher than most players. I think they're covered well on SV, DPP, and somewhat have good awareness on ADV, BW, and SM. But they'll def appreciate good players that pivot well on those respective tiers, and hopefully find players that can somewhat build on their own, and TKK being able to provide feedback. They definitely want an SS main that's able to build for themself, because I know TTK doesn't want to touch that channel bc of his distate to the tier, and I hope Ea-Nasir is aggressive on the drafting and screw up other drafts as well.
4. Celestic Fairies - a fairy and Celeste
Strong in SV, and decently competent on ADV-BW, but definitely needs to find strong players on others, especially in SM and SS, where it's those tiers that are the most unforgiving for newcomers. I'll suggest prioritizing finding the mainers, and not worry about reusing teams, and instead try to scout the good teams and, at best, make adjustments that give you the favours against the general good things in the meta. I'd also suggest finding good players that can pivot well, especially if they're a bit more specialist on the gens, especially in ADV-ORAS.
3. Silph Road Steelers - mh and 5Dots
Both can play on the most developed tiers, both on SS/SV, though mh < ss and 5dots < sv. Similar to last rank, but they're also very knowledgeable about the older gens, specifically 5dots being the TL, and his ZU knowledge can easily carry over to the older gens. They need to find a strong SM main, and they would appreciate players who can make their own take on ADV and DPP IMO. Another weakness may be how they draft players, and they can get absolutely played on the mind games there. They definitely have a greater chance to win the tier, though the last two feel like a tier on their own.
2. Hash-Slinging Fraxures - sleid and doom
Covered in SV, DPP, BW, and maybe in ADV and ORAS? Honestly, if they can hyper focus on getting the mainers in SM and SS, they only need decent pivoters on the rest of the tiers, where being able to build is just some extra points. I think Sleid and Doom lack in-depth knowledge of the SM and SS, and it's probably just more worth for them to reuse or make small adjustments to existing teams to be favoured based on sequences. ORAS would also appreciate someone who's motivated to the tier, since the tier is kinda left undeveloped and could be pretty deep if the meta gets pushed hard in this tournament.
1. Wooper Gone Wrong - PandaDoux and Quagg
Not a shocker tbh. Panda and Quagg are specialists in SV and SS, while Panda is well-versed in ADV, and Quagg got SM and DPP on the lock. BW and ORAS are the only tiers that are lacking in-depth, as far as I know, but I'm very sure Quagg and Panda can quickly figure out and bring innovative teams. The only genuine flaw I can tell is that they're both kind of pussies at being aggressive at drafts, so they may miss really good people. Either way, I think they're the most likely winner unless they mess up in the old-gen department and the burnout hits earlier.
A lot of the feedback shares a lot of repeats, which focuses on getting the mainers for SS and SM, and doesn't worry about reusing teams/making small adjustments to existing core, since most people aren't going to innovate in a very developed metas. The fundamentals matter more than fishing for the good matchup. Most old-gen players should have players that are either motivated to build or are specialists in that specific gen. BW and DPP can get away for the first weeks, but should be developed around week 3 if you want to win, while ORAS and ADV are so underdeveloped that innovation in week 1 is optimal to be ahead of others. GL to everyone for the tournament!
