power ranks are now out, and can be found here:
https://www.smogon.com/articles/snake2-power-rankings
there's some neat stuff actually in these ranks, and while im not going to do "my own" ranks what i'd like to talk about is specifically my thoughts on each individual player on the list, what they've got on the big stage in the past, and primarily what their biggest challenges/expectations are going to be throughout this tournament
1.
corporal levi - team tour record: 5-3
i said it in my preview above, but i think levi's an incredible player. his spot is very well deserved on this list and is entirely uncontroversial. that said, i'm approaching these reviews more with a look at how a given player's presence will effect not only his SSD performance in LC, but rather, a more holistic approach.
levi will get a good result in this tournament, almost certainly. knowing him, he isn't likely to suffer from nerves terribly much, so only having one major team tour and no trophy tours in his past probably isn't even in his head the way it will be for some of the other players on this list. he doesn't care if smogtours thinks he "deserves" to be there and really cares more about LC than Tournaments/Snake, which isn't the case for a lot of newcomers in the team tour scene. this will be one of his biggest strengths as i think he'll be able to play up to his own ability constantly throughout the tournament.
that said, in terms of what he adds to the team, this will likely also be a fairly big negative. levi, for all that i respect him, has that one hilarious log where he refers to "level 100 players" as if it were a derogatory term. i think that's funny as hell but also a bit telling - the dude isn't going to be testing / building OU, and likely won't contribute a ton to the jerk. that said, ABR probably has that covered all on his own, and ik that tony and abr chose him very specifically, so as long as he wins, that's likely all they care about.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: getting the wins necessary to justify lack of contribute in the whole. levi is not the sort of player that will drag up his teammates by their neck to cross the finish line for the trophy. he IS the type of player who could realistically lose 0 or 1 time this entire tournament. he will need to make sure he falls in the latter group to really live up to the hype, but, if anyone will, i think it's him.
2.
OP - team tour record: 12-14
admittedly i know less about OP than i should. the LC community, fwiw, rates him incredibly highly and he has put up good numbers in the past. his team tour record is about average, but is a bit low for someone ranked this high on the list. unfortunately i can't comment much about his mentality, i am genuinely unsure if he will be pressured by his ranking and the relative expectations to live up to the big stage with hundreds of viewers and a passionate team that'll be surely desperate to win. i can say from experience that being expected to be a big time winner for a given team is a tough position and one that's hard to live up to.
in terms of overall contribution to the team, probably fairly similar to levi in that i don't think OP does much in any other tier. his LCPL showing was incredible, though, so i get the feeling that he has a degree of fire in him to win when his back is against the wall.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: proving that his ranking wasn't an undeserved perusal of recent, non-trophy tournament records and that he can live up to the billing thrust upon him by the mainers
3.
Kingler12345 - team tour record: 14-14
the loaf is back at it again this snake draft. after a disappointing performance last time around, i think it would be a foolish move to think that will happen twice. kingler is genuinely a very good player and one that a betting man would consider odds on favorite to end with a solid record.
kingler contributes a ton to a team environment, will be genuinely fun to hang out with and will spur his team on to achieve more, so i think in that regard, he is an incredibly good pick, especially amongst the LC community which can often have fairly isolated players representing the tier on the big stage. kingler is no stranger to the environments and has proven time and time again to be a favorite so i applaud his choice.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: overcoming a lack of notable finishes and disappointing records in playoff scenarios, aka, winning when it really matters. kingler has the goods and is on an incredibly good team almost everyone would consider locked in playoff material - his regular season will be important, sure, but i think how he does when the format switches to weeks and, potentially, in the finals is a much more important part of how he is viewed in retrospect.
4.
Dundies - team tour record: 5-4
dundies enters this tournament in a peculiar state when viewed with an "outsider" lens. many tournament regulars might not be as familiar with him as they should, but personally, i think he is a dynamite player w/ a really good impact on a given team. his previous outing was fairly average which i'm sure he'll admit, but provided he doesn't have a sophomore slump, i expect a slightly better record this time around at the least.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: proving once and for all he should be a mainstay in team tournaments through definitive, outright wins
5.
Heysup - team tour record: 32-35
by far the most veteran player in the lineup, heysup falls to a pretty mediocre 5th rank placing for someone of his stature. again, unfortunately, not a player i know terribly well, so i apologize for not having too much in the way of insight. however his last SSD performance was quite good, and i think he will be eager to repeat. whether or not everyone else will let him is a different matter
i dont really believe too much about "motivation" to be frank - good players are good players, and on his day i've seen heysup be an incredible player. so there's no excuses to be had here, either he does what he's capable of, in which case, he'll have been a very great value pick, or he slumps and gives more fodder to the anticrusts. for the sake of the tournament i hope we see the brilliant version game in game out
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: proving he's still got it
6.
zeb - team tour record: 19-20
im not calling you jake. that said its kinda funny LC has two former head TDs starting this year lol.
i love zeb and he was a great person to interact with, but i think this might be a make or break tournament for him. the PR writeup said it as well, he's known for always being around tours, but never really being the superstar. i think, should zeb want to really push on and get into the spotlight, its time for him to put it up. average performances (relative to the big stage) mean that he will have a lot to prove, and with a starting berth at hand, it's high time to grab the reigns and do it.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: showing that he shouldn't be "the bench presence" any more and should be a nailed on starter - cementing himself as a mainstay for SPL/WCOP/SSDs in the future. key, dominant wins will be important here, likely even more than the sheer volume of them.
7.
dcae - team tour record: 3-5
while performing well in the spring seasonal and stuff is always cool, for me, i don't really necessarily find it comparable. i'll be frank, i didn't even know that those tournaments existed, and personally, only ever play LCPL and LC Open. i imagine a lot of talented players are more or less the same, and tour culture as a whole has, to my knowledge, been hyper concentrated on trophy tours and semi-official team tours. so while the PR likes performance in these one-off circuit tours, i think personally, i don't value them terribly highly.
again, a player i simply don't have a lot of data on. i imagine, though i could be wrong, that after such an extended period gone from the game the nerves might creep back in, or potentially, dcae may not be used to the more intensive pace of smogon team tournaments in 2018 compared to yesteryear. i don't think its really the environment where you can roll up with whatever, do minimal scouting and expect to pump out good records without an absurd amount of talent, and this SSD should be no different. that said, i really have no idea if he's the type to put in that effort, nor where his ceiling is as a player, so he's probably my biggest question mark of this entire tournament.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: acclimating to an environment where your opponent's resident team tryhard will know everything about your teams and playstyle including how many times you run timid on magnemite as opposed to modest or whatever. then, subsequently overcoming that and keeping up with big names that should ideally be incredibly motivated.
8.
sken - team tour record: 8-13
sken's a really nice guy and one i enjoy interacting with. i think he'll definitely be a positive team presence, but this is one of the cases where i actually almost fully agree with his PR ranking. a player who shows really really good highs with weird, but cool teams, but also some less impressive lows. sken's had a fairly high degree of exposure to the whole tour scene, so i think if he has a good mindset, he can do well, but i find a lot of myself in him in that i think he can vary quite wildly from game to game.
again, i hope to see the high version for some sick ass replays.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: keeping up a solid level of performance that i know he's capable of, or, in turn, coming back from a loss or two without tilting
9.
teal6 - team tour record: 17-16
bit weird but i figure it'd be fair to give an objective look at myself.
i think that i lack the metagame knowledge almost everyone else has in droves, which is going to be a big problem for me particularly in the beginning as i get used to playing this meta on the big stage. my personal philosophy is that pokemon isn't an intensive game, its really a combination of sheer talent + metagame familiarity, and while im OK in the former i think i'm lacking a lot in the latter, so that'll be a big hurdle to overcome.
i'm not a huge tester and can't contribute to the other tiers really at all so i'm useless as hell there.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: similar to sken, hitting the high levels that i'm definitely capable of based on past LCPL runs, past LC Open runs and some past team tours. grinding back to respectable results if things dont go my way earlier on in the tournament.
10.
trash - team tour record: 0-0
our only debutant, trash may be a bit disheartened to have been ranked last. but hey, at least it means you don't have anything weighing you down! that said, again a player i'm just simply not familiar with, but i hope being a complete fresh face doesn't hurt his mentality. SG is pretty good at LC too, test with him and stuff.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE THIS TOUR: very simple - proving it was not a mistake to draft him and getting picked up again come SPL time.
