(1) Slateport City Cruisers
At first glance, CRU is the team to beat. I think they’re in a really good spot to defend their title. They’re incredibly top heavy, but that’s standard for a Cruisers draft. Spurrific, Yuta Ishigaki, and Chongjun are the standouts on their top end, since all three are historically really good at restricted formats in the IRL circuit. Mirai and Pqlarbear are both players I have a lot of respect for and work well together. The only possible issues I can see are the bottom half. Last year, criminal underpays like 6.5k for Apron and 7.5k for Gramgus and strong performances from 3ks like Piax and MeMa carried Cruisers to a win. This year, Cruisers have shakier low value picks. I don’t think YoshiandLugia, Borghi, and AleK97 haven’t been the best NPA players historically, and may struggle to find their feet in a much stronger pool than usual. Cruisers management usually does well to prep players though, so I see them winning most weeks.
(2) Asukana Samurais
This is another team that can easily contend for the title. CICCIOTT was the best player in the league last year, Axior was probably top 5 in the world during the 2024 season, and people like IcebergVGC, Zgrzgr, DayDay, and Tabu are historically really strong both online and in the circuit. I’m less familiar with some of the Italian names on the team (Dysi, lildarkrai, and eughe in particular), but all of them were recommended to me before and during the draft and we had a couple of them on our draft board. The only real concerns I have with this draft are the historic performances of some of their players in draft tours. Many frequently have gone roughly even or barely broken positive, with the exception of Axior and CICCIOTT, and Aurelien’s signup mentioned he’s pretty busy this season. Regardless, Samurais management contains two of the best players in the world. I’m not nearly as worried about this team’s prep or work ethic as I would be with others.
(3) New Bark Loud Puppies
Puppies is bound to have a lot of activity. I’ve worked with both managers in World Cup before and I’m a huge fan of Devon and Adi. Their draft is much less top heavy than almost every other team in the league, and I think they did a phenomenal job managing their money. Blarajan for 6.5k (with a Reg G regionals win) and Hobbit for 8.5 (with a Reg G NAIC T8), and Patrick Connors (with a Reg G NAIC win!) for 8k are massive steals and could easily convert into a very positive run. Their only truly expensive player, Fedecampo, is worth the 22k spent, so long as he’s motivated to play. I think Puppies are in a great position to upset most of their opponents with lower value players, but might be vulnerable to top heavy teams if their higher BS players can’t convert wins.
(4) Mistralton Aerial Aces
This team is the only one whose retains I think were reasonable, and they built off of it with a core of players strong both IRL and online, with solid NPA records. Sempra had the second highest rating in the league last year, and he’s worked well with Justin Tang and Jeudy (both of whom are good picks) in the past. Feyy had a really good NPA last year, Charmdi just won a regionals, and Azulite usually does well in these tournaments. Truthfully, the bottom order confuses me. As far as I know Kunal doesn’t actually play much anymore, and I have no clue who srvoltmike is. I’m not sure that’s going to be an issue. The team has more than enough (in my opinion, at least 10) players that could comfortably start each week and be fine. Yuki, Trace and Pocoyo are good at keeping activity up and preparing well. This is another team to watch.
(5) Mossui Masks
Masks, like Puppies, drafted a team that’s not top heavy, but I’m not as convinced on their draft. Collin’s always solid in the irl circuit, but he’s a less consistent NPA player. 16k feels like an overpay, especially in the strength of the current pool, limiting their further draft options. Their next few picks are all steals: JModri is one of the best players in the game right now and is a great chat presence. Mars and Metapod are both likewise incredibly talented, DarkJorch has never had a bad NPA, and Robbie’s always active online and a strong contributor to a good team culture. On average, Masks has strong players, but is brought down by team tour consistency and other struggles. Snower and JoanG are both players who have great circuit performances but struggle to convert that to a good team tour run. Similarly, eragon (to my knowledge) is a DOU main, and may struggle to find his footing in a VGC tournament against people at the highest level. I think this team is made or broken by its activity and strength of prep.
(6) Celestic Stars
I… don’t know how to feel about this team. I think this is where the money management on the power rankings starts to go from solid to mediocre. Despite that, the result was much better than you’d expect. Jono is a pretty solid retain, as historically one of the best NPA players, despite being pretty pricey. Sanvy and 45Mice are also really strong players for their values, and people like Redsilver, Kian (SlushiW), and GetNikkDon are massive steals. Gahaku is a valuable pick for 5k too. I’m not a huge fan of the rest of their lineup. Stars had 12.5k left over at the end of the draft, that’s a lot in this league, and it would have bolstered their lineup significantly. Most of Stars’ 3k picks fall into one of several buckets. They either have had awful NPA seasons in the past, are not particularly experienced with team tours, or haven’t played a tour at this level in a while. I’m skeptical that the Stars' draft strategy will pay off.
(7) Aether Paradise Symbionts
This is one of my least favorite drafts. I could see it perform, but like the Stars, it suffers from terrible money management. Like Puppies and Masks, it’s not a top-heavy draft. However, this team’s valuations are all over the place, and almost all of their high-value players are overpays, in my opinion. While Symbionts has almost no weak players, it doesn’t really have any super strong ones either. Arekusabi is a SYM mainstay but is not worth 10k, and Megumi is a justifiable retain but could have gone for less in draft anyway. Keanu is really strong and has a Worlds top cut in this format, but 17k for him vs some of the more experienced and pedigreed players feels wrong. 17k for Nash in a pool of this depth similarly feels wrong. On the plus side, Symbionts has a strong core of former seniors who have good Masters results. Darts Top 8 his first Masters regionals, and Kylan (PizzaGreedent) has a Worlds Top 16, knocking out Wolfe Glick. Deathstroke, Human, and JHufself are all strong legacy players who did well in NPA last year, but this draft feels like Symbionts management is trying to replicate their NPA 13 success with a weaker roster, pulling off the same tricks. This team is going to be reliant on everyone doing about as well as they did last year, but without a carry as strong as Sempra, I’m doubtful they will.
(8) Twinleaf Town Tycoons
When I describe a team as top-heavy, it usually doesn’t have a negative connotation. In this case, it does. SNOW and MeLuCa are the two of the best NPA players of all time (and just players of all time, lol), but after that, the draft became kind of messy. Gavin was great on Cruisers last year, and definitely worth 21k on his own, but on this team it’s kind of a liability. If SNOW, MeLuCa, and Gavin don’t win almost every single week, then that week becomes exponentially harder for Tycoons to win overall. Striider is a really strong player who I expect to do really well, but he can be weaker under pressure, and pressure is a guarantee with how this roster is structured. I’m less familiar with a lot of the bottom half of this roster, but Uncle Lou is definitely a high value pick they got for 5.5k. Regardless, I think the real pressure is going to be the weeks that MeLuCa can’t play because of limited availability, or more than one of their top 3 loses. I think Tycoons can definitely perform, but they will have a much harder time than teams that drafted a more balanced squad.
(9) Blackthorn City Blades
I really dislike this draft. The money management here is really poor. MDB is arguably the best player in the world, but 37k is far too much money for any one player. Blades’ retains seemed strong at first, but 2 10k players is a lot of money after you’ve sunk 37k into your third player. Consequently, Blades was forced to essentially not get anyone until the mid to late draft. Feis is a really strong player who essentially carried Detectives 2 seasons ago, but he’s a doctor, and I question how much time he has to dedicate to NPA now. A lot of their players are solid but aren’t necessarily as strong as other teams in the league. The underlying problem with this team is the same as Tycoons: in order for them to succeed, their top order has to win every single week. If MDB loses a single game, that week seems much harder for Blades, and if there are ever availability concerns among their stronger players, Blades is likewise in a tough spot. Pickups like CandyJP, their retains, and DiegoGuti have to perform exceptionally for Blades to succeed.
