Greetings, people of the DOU community! This my first time posting rankings of any kind, but anyway, here are my personal Power Rankings for DPL 7, along with short descriptions and what I project to be their line-up. A short disclaimer: I'm, of course, not including Squirtles, the undisputed, objectively #1 team of DPL 7.
#1. Hau'oli Haxers
SS: Yoda2798
SS: Nido-Rus
DUU: Demantoid
SM: YoBuddy
XY: Mishimono
BW: Biosci
Bench: Akaru Kokuyo, Eisenherz, Sakura, Ninjadog
I've seen people rating this team last and I'm honestly confused??? as this is the only team out of 5 with no hole in any of the playing slots. The line-up I projected have all proven to be good at the tiers they play in, and the average level of talent on the team is high enough that it can make up for the lack of any "true star" as this team is capable of exploiting the all the other slots that opposing teams will have weaker. Yoda2798 is a kickoff winner, and Nido-Rus had a great DWCOP run; Demantoid and Mishimono are together and are both respectable DUU players, with Mishimono I personally rate higher at XY. YoBuddy has had respectable performances in SM, and Biosci is the old reliable. The team also isn't lacking in teambuilding either, there's reasonable flex among the starters, and the bench is also respectable themselves as pilots. I don't see this team missing out on playoffs barring a US Central-level meltdown. Also, YoBuddy in SS and Yoda2798 in SM is also a possible line-up for this team, as Yoda2798 doesn't seem like a builder, it's easier to recycle in an oldgen, and both are good at the other tier still.
#2. Galar Ghosters
SS: Grandmas Cookin'
SS: Zigh
DUU: the_bandit
SM: emforbes
XY: Z Strats
BW: MetalGro$$
Bench: Mr.GX, Maki, Oravlatore, Enzonana.
The defending champs, KyleCole's team most notably features the return of their pairing with emforbes. emforbes has expressed desire to play XY in their signup, though I assume theywill be fine manning Gen VII considering their winning relationship with Kyle; this team, IMO, is scarier with emforbes in SM and a proven capable XY player in Z Strats holding Gen VI, though the team is likely still fine with the two placed vice-versa. The team also has Grandmas Cookin', who bossed up for Team Canada in WCOP, as well the hyped rookie the_bandit in DUU, who I see performing well. The team features good talent all around, though it does have a weakness in its second SS slot and BW I think; I think Zigh has more to prove and I wouldn't be surprised to see them play well, and MetalGro$$ is in the hardest old gen and while they did perform well in the last Classic, they could still be left quite exposed here since I also don't see much in terms of team support in the team. All in all, the team has a solid lineup with emforbes there to bring it home in whatever tier they play, and it's a matter of if the supporting cast can bring it home and whether or not they can hold the line in BW I think.
#3 Team [Logo Pending]
SS: Qwello Lee
SS: frania
DUU: EternalSnowman
SM: MajorBowman
XY: Human
BW: Yellow Paint
Bench: GenOne, Toxigen
AuraRayquaza, now no longer snubbed as a manager, is back for DPL 7, and this time he's no longer capped at 3k picks for starter slots. The Spectral Thieves notably feature a really strong SS DOU core in Qwello Lee and frania, the former the year's biggest standout and Invitational winner, and the latter a known hard worker and reliable player all around that's also proven to have the goods in the past with a circuit win of their own. MajorBowman is there to man SM, though I think they have to prove that they can shake off the crust. I believe Human is a capable XY player; they have a VGC background and are a good fundamentals player all around, and I think it's a matter of them showing that they can bring it in XY DOU itself. The team does have a notably weaker DUU and BW though; nobody on the team has a winning background in DUU as far as I can see, and while Yellow Paint can play BW the odds are still stacked against them in this field. I also don't think the team has much in terms of teambuilding power; the team's performance, it seems, depends on whether or not the SS DOU slots can boss up, and if the other slots can hold their own.
#4. Spanish Heroes
SS: Voltix
SS: Tenzai
DUU: SMB
SM: TonyFlygon
XY: JRL
BW: Mizuhime
Bench: emma, Yuichi
Juan Maestros has a pretty thematic team here with Spaniards, notably starring the SMBoat himself. I personally think this team is very respectable and I like everyone here as players; I'm not overly enthusiastic on their chances of beating the teams I rated above, though. The team is solid all around, but there aren't really any standouts aside from SMB, and if SMB mans DUU then they'll have a black hole for a playing slot as well. JRL has performed well in XY last year despite being new to it and has shown to bring results, while Voltix, Tenzai, and Mizuhime are players that I respect; relative to the players on other teams though, they rank around the middle of the pack in their respective tiers, it seems. SM will look like to be a hole that needs to be filled; I personally project TonyFlygon to play there considering they're just simply a good player™, but ignoring them not being a "true" doubles player I also don't think the team has the metagame knowledge and building power for SM (unless we consider SMB just giving an SM team and calling it a day as reasonable). I also don't see JRL as a builder for XY, though ig SMB can also help with that? Overall, it does feel that this team lives and dies by SMB's performance, and even then the rest of the team would have to be punching above their weight class. I do note that this team would be much better with SMB in SM and yuichi manning DUU, and mayhaps such a lineup could make an appearance.
#5 Santalune Storms
SS: Shadowmonstr7
SS: zeefable
DUU: AtmosphereVGC
SM: stax
XY: qsns
BW: DaWoblefet
Bench: London13, Arcticblast, laptops
This team is very interesting, as they could either boss up or just flop and it's tough to see an in-between. This is mostly because they have qsns and stax, two very very good players that, at the same time, are also possibly quite crust. And then there's their other star in DaWoblefet who, while good, is in BW, and we all know that BW giveth and BW taketh away. The Gen VII slots also seem like they're in the middle of the pack; Shadowmonstr7 is an Invis qualifier and AtmosphereVGC did well enough in the last DUU tour, though whether or not they can boss up in their respective fields in DPL 7 is to be seen. Word on the street is that zeefable is really good though, with my sources stating that they've been repeatedly drafted for NPA, so maybe they can be poised to impress for the Storms here? Whatever the case is, we have a very volatile Storms squad that can either do some serious damage or just dissipate as quickly as they came.
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Excited to see how close the lineups I thought are to reality :cwl: If you have any grievances with my ranking, my advice for you is to show the goods in DPL 7; here's to a fun, competitive and overall great experience for the tour!
