Here are my biased Playerrankings exluding my own Teammate of course even tho Lusa is pure gas obviously.
The goal of this post is to share my thoughts on the pool and hope others will join to build up the hype for week 1 next week!
1. fade - 
Last SPL he dominated the Tier, showing a more than respectable 8-4 performance, primarily in the builder. Nobody warped the meta last year so hard like he did. The infamous
Team was used dozen of times in dozens of different variations after he used it twice in SPL.
I would encourage to read his post from last SPL, other Teams like the
Sand and Double Fire HO were really popular as well. Even in masters he brought creative Balance Team which caught my attention my. You can argue about who should have which position in the top 3 but for me fades influence on the meta, which will allow him to counter it this year, makes him nr 1 in my eyes.
2. Santu - 
I am pretty sure with 7-2 he had the best record by difference last year. Also going positive in SPL 13 in ORAS and having overall the 3rd best record in ORAS history in SPL. I think he is the most consistent player out of the three, also by mentality. I overheard that he is not the greatest builder, but he has the most support from the top 3 and makes up what he lacks in the builder with his clicking abbility. I am certain that he can build aswell but this is my reason to not rank him as the nr1.
3. xray - 
From a historical standpoint and looking at spl records alone, he is the GOAT of Oras. Very excited to watch him play again after his break last year until masters. Although from what I reckon he reused a bunch of older teams, which is not bad per se. It worked for him reaching Top 4. My reasoning for putting xray at the nr 3 spot is that I am not certain how quickly he can shake of the rust, which he defienetly will, how much new stuff he is gonna build and how succesfull he'd be if he decided to rely on old teams. I hope the saying: "once the Goat, always the Goat" will be true for xray.
Gap
Playing all 3 multiple times in either tournaments and/or in private this year I can say without any doubts those are killers, that dont shy away if u make a mistake. All 3 can be shuffled around top 3 in my opinion depending how you see thw things. Xray, Santu and fade are gonna be the big 3 to beat for every player in this pool.
4. Niko -
Tbh I cannot say to much over his past, I wasn't around or heard to much from his past. I watched a bit of him playing other tiers to make myself an opinion. Iirc he got unbanned this year butby watching his games in ORASPL and especially in Oras Invitational. He seems to be very smart about the game and understanding whenhe can setup with his threats and deal a finsihing blow, to be fair he also plays a bunch of hyper offense including more uncommon ones. While he convinced me as a player I have doubt about him in the builder reusing a lot in this year already is working for him so 4th is there for a reason.If he can overcome this "weakness" of him he can compete with the big 3.
5. CrashinBoomBang - 
The other goat of ORAS with the 2nd best historical record. In comparison with xray CBB struggled to get tournament results in ORAS the last 2 years. To be fair he only played both Invitationals but still not getting to far to be Top 3. He is probabaly with fade the best builder in my opinion understanding what every team needs and focused to have allhis pokemon at 100% usefullness. This might be his weakness though building and even playing to greedy time to time. With that playstyle I expect a solid 5-4 with much more potential if he can tame himself to not make every game win or die plays to show the opponent who the GOAT is.
6. pj - 
This is where I really started to realize this pool is stacked af if I need to put pj 6th. Pj is great going 7-3 last year and coming Top 3 twice in both Invitationals and having a shoot to win this year's iteration. I think he is the dark horse of this pool with the 1st to 5th place maybe shining brighter so he doesn't get the light he deserves. He can be put higher and if he is performing this year he can really leave his mark and can be called one of the best in this recent two years in ORAS. This pool is way stronger than last year so it is still a big task ahead of him. Sometimes I see pj using some honestly whack stuff and not playing as precise as the players ahead of him but nonetheless i really wish I will be proven wrong on this 6th place and he does well.
Gap
I think those 3 have with right teams, good clicking and good mental what it takes to tackle the big 3 and are already strong. They aswell can be enranged different if you want to depending how m
7. Gondra - 
Honestly it has been a while to see Gondra play in ORAS frequently on the bigger Stages. Nonetheless Gondra proved to be an already solid overall player. If he wishes to tryhard this SPL he can go positive no questions asked. But if gondra starts loosing it might spyral down in something bad. Can't say really to much ORAS related to the lack of to much data in recent times, I just believe gondra's playing abbility exceeds the other two and hope for gondra he will put up a fight every week.
8. Seasons - 
A newer face on the big stage, making a respectable 5-4 run last spl and getting unsuprisingly bought again. His support was last year BluBird which was kinda perfect for both of the heatstars. Seasons can build his trustly MLop Teams for sure and play them, my issue how much his diversity will expand. Maybe ABR support can boost his arsenal and help him to reach higher levels. This pool being tougher last year I have doubts for him going positive after he went +1 differnece last year. But he comes stronger in this competition so he has new tricks on his sleeves and I am excited to watch the K-Pop fan #1 play every week.
9. c0mp - 
Honestly didn't see to much from him iirc he qualified for the Circuit but that about it. The Tigers have good Spanish ORAS support in form of Trosko and London Beats so he has enough tools to be fine in the builder. I think in this tough pool this year if you are not known for playing ORAS to much it will be hard for you and you will be ranked last. But I will watch him play closely, maybe he provethe haters wrong and guarentee 5bangers a week no cap.
Conclusion
As mentioned thoughout the post we have the historical goats of ORAS with CBB and xray in the pool but also the man who decides what everyone plays fade. With other great players who have so much ceiling. Honestly as a Support for my team but also a fan I coudln't be more happyier since this SPL we for sure gonna see players step up to gain edges in this fierce competition.
Wishing the community bangers, fun sets and hope we gonna setp up aswell and be following active. To celebrate my own prejoy I made a whack bingo card for the memes.
- Lusa, Sylvi
). Gondra usually plays other tiers and I haven't seen him perform in gen 6 recently. The current ORAS metagame needs you to stay updated about the trends, so I don't really know how much I can trust Gondra for this game. I think he can win if he takes advantage of the fact that he is unscouted in 2023/2024 ORAS, and I also think his team could provide good support prepwise. I can see the Yellow Magic playing a role in this game. Overall predicting jon to win, but I think in ORAS in particular any game can end up both ways.
