Personal PRs, not meant to offend etc. etc. all that fun stuff!
1.
Orange Islanders -
MichaelderBeste2, sufys, zS, feen,
Larry - It was hard to decide who should be #1 between Michael and mind, but coming off of a slam win made me just give him the edge. Though a concern would be team quality? I think sufys had a great PUPL and he's no slouch at all but if Michael isn't building then the pressure is on him to deliver (unless Michael gets outside help). I'm sure Michael will be motivated to learn and build himself though cuz I think he ended up on a team he really wanted to end up on. Very excited to watch his games!
2.
Showdown Shoguns -
mind gaming, S1nnohC0nfirm3d, SEA - I can't say much he owned last SCL and he did it while building his own stuff. I think Sinnoh is pretty unique himself in the way he approaches the tier so I'm not sure they have similar building styles and SEA is probably fine but idk mind if he does his own thing this season shouldn't need help and I'm sure he'll bring similar success to the table like he did last year.
3. 
Circuit Breakers - MZ, OranBerryBlissey10, Stories - This ranking might be a little high? I'm not sure. The reasoning I put him here is that out of the mainers he has more official experience, and he also has the most experience with the tier compared to the tour players who have to learn the tier in a week. That being said, SVPU is absolutely not a hard tier to learn in it's current state lol.
4. 
Mt. Silver Foxes - avarice, LOOR, umbry - He just went 9-1 in PUPL. Granted, he plays mostly old gens and doesn't know much of CG, but umbry will be sure to provide him with great teams and he's someone who I trust to pilot said teams. umbry has the capability to bring anyone to a good record solely off her prep and combined with avarice whos undoubtedly motivated to play a full SCL season, he'll hopefully bring the heat.
5. 
Studio Gible - Gilbert arenas, asa, Tuthur, Feliburn - Tbh I would've liked to see asa starting before passing the torch to Marcop but I again (again because I'm typing this after writing the Spartans excerpt) understand the wanting to put a tour player in PU mentality. I feel like if the effort is here from the Gibles starter to pick up the tier he can do pretty well with asa support.
6. 
Power Plant Dynamos - Jytcampbell, Excal - b2b champs I'm sure the support will be there etc. etc. but its on Jyt to deliver so its up in the air.
7. 
Uncharted Terrors - Drud, DDJoe, pdt, Metallica126, BlackKnight_Gawain - Current PUPL champion Drud has the support of his PUPL co-manager, so I'm sure he'll see success this season. I do think some of his SV games in PUPL could've been a bit more refined and in a stage like SCL against players like mind and Michael, he'll need to smooth out those edges which is why I put him this low. That being said, if he's able to lock in this will be a fantastic season for him and I fully believe in him to deliver. There seem to be a lot of cooks in the kitchen here so hopefully it doesn't burn down. I feel like Drud wants the guidance of pdt and will lean towards that more but if pdt is too busy supporting other slots he's probably fine alone. DDJoe will be there to make sure no suspicious behavior is happening if pdt isn't around as much as I think he will be.
8. 
Indigo Platoon - kyuss, Esteb4n - Glad to see Kyuss here! I think he will have some of the more unique brings this SCL which can catch people off guard and he's overall a good pilot. However, I think if those tech's and such he likes to bring don't pull through he might have a rough season. Him and Esteban is a great builder combo and so I'm pretty excited to see what they cook up together!
9. 
Arena Spartans - Void, DugZa, etern, eifo - The Spartans took the route of just slapping a tour player in PU and hoping for the best. I do think this was the correct way to approach PU this tour. This is imo just dependent on if DugZa's prep will carry hard enough, and I believe it will, but I'd give everyone else in the pool a slight edge regardless cuz to my zoomer knowledge Void is a DPP OU main and idk what else hes played or if he's delved into any Fairy gens at all and etc. WIshing them the best though :D.
Technical Machines - LpZ, hex, Piyu, ishtar, Hiko
