Windsong's Week 5 Highlight Match Predictions - Cryos vs. Tigers

Hey all, it's Windsong back again with another week of highlight match predictions, this time going through the pairings between two of the top teams this SPL: the Circus Maximus Tigers and the Cryonicles. In what will undoubtably prove a scintillating matchup, here are my top picks for these games, so place your bets folks, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

The Cryonicles vs. The Circus Maximus Tigers

BW OU 1: dragonuser vs. bro fist

Two of my oldest friends from the realms of Serebii.net face off in a cataclysmic clash in what is in my opinion the best game of this matchup, if not the entire week. Both of them have really been on fire lately, and the game is really a tossup, but I admit that I think dragonuser has a slight upper hand. bro fist is no doubt a very strong player in his own right, but dragonuser simply has a way of pulling weird creative twists into the game that completely mess things up for an opponent anticipating more standard sets (for example SPL week one, where he won the game off a clutch Healing Wish Jirachi, popularizing it in the weeks up to midseason). Anyhow, again, a great match that's the real tossup of the series, but gotta give it to dragonuser. These two "beastaroonies" should have a great game though!

BW OU 2: Krack vs. Light The Thunder

Light The Thunder is really unknown on the tournament scene aside from being one of the two dozen extra players that the Tigers bought for 3k hoping that they could count as one of their twelve necessary VGCers at the beginning of the season, before realizing that he signed up for RU. Anyways, he'll probably be ghosted, because that's what team tournaments are all about, but regardless, Krack is whack, flack, and can talk smack. Aside from this, he's really good at Pokemon in general and while his matchup last week against Ab2 admittedly didn't go particularly well for him, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be turning things around to take a win this week. The question on everyone's mind is, of course, where is Tigers starter and the true Man of BW OU, ThatsJustPeachy, hiding out this week.

BW OU 3: Aqualouis vs. MOET

MOET, aside from being from the best coast, is undeniably a very solid BW player, who's been having a stellar season so far. Aqualouis is also a very strong player, but MOET is simply on fire lately and I don't think he'll be throwing this game away off any sort of silly errors. On the other hand, Aqualouis could pull a surprising stunt and win with some less common Pokemon such as Hurricane Volcarona, as he attempted through some of his OST9 matches, but in a battle where both players simply play more standard teams, MOET has the upper hand. A very solid pairing that could go either way though.

BW Ubers: Blim vs. Donkey

Aside from being the most depressing animal of Winnie the Pooh (and most definitely NOT a cat) Donkey is a very solid Ubers player who's really looking to get some acknowledgement for his performance this season. While he isn't doing particularly well with a 2-1 record, he's shown that he knows how to play and has held his own against some top-notch Ubers players so far this season. I don't know much about Blim, although he's got a very solid record so far, however, every time I hear his name I can't help thinking about his week one match versus faint in which he choked almost as badly as Bluewind in a Smogon Tour final. While he's certainly found his groove in the weeks since, Donkey's more consistent play, as well as the fact that he is a really confident endgame player who doesn't second guess himself, will put Donkey ahead in this matchup in my view.

BW UU: RT. vs. DestinyUnknown

RT. and DestinyUnknown are two of the strongest UU players out there, no doubt. However, RT. has been suffering a bit in recent weeks, likely as a result of having to spend so much time around kokoloko, whose losing aura may be seeping into RT. On the flip side, DestinyUnknown has been on one of the hottest hot streaks so far this season, possessing a perfect record by midseason despite going up against some of the strongest UU players out there. While this is definitely a match that you shouldn't miss, I'd put my money on DestinyUnknown to take it.

BW RU: blarajan vs. Vrille

blarajan has been having a really disappointing season lately, probably as a result of having to deal with all the team cancers leading Cryonicles, such as Ginku and ballabrown24. He's a stronger player than a lot of people give him credit for though and will probably be kicking his season off to a much better start now that we've hit week five. Vrille on the other hand is a player I've never even heard of, which is kind of weird given how much I used to play RU, but apparently he's their secret weapon, replacing the legendary Double0-4 who was previously holding the Tiger's RU spot. I'm not really sure what to think of this matchup, but I'd go with the safer choice and put my money on blarajan in hopes that he won't be forced to use one of Molk's teams...again...to get his second win this season!

BW NU: Sweet Jesus vs. Zebraiken

I'm completely biased here since Zebraiken bribes me with status on #neverused so I can ban CrashinBoomBang and Iris whenever I get on, but aside from that I also know him to be a solid BW RU player usually anyone who plays well in one BW tier is going to do just as well in the rest of them. He's also been with NU for a very long time and is better versed in the metagame than any player I know of. As far as I can tell, simply based on past performance this SPL, Sweet Jesus's only real hope at winning this match is to play the whole walking on water card and stomp with some weird strategy, but I think Zeb's overall better play will be more than enough to clinch this match for him. Of course he could end up accidentally using Pikachu or something and getting boned hard by standard stuff, but I'd have to put my money on the zebra here. Even though zebra is really not dog. Nor is zebra bird. Hell it's not even horse.

VGC 2013: R_Inanimate vs. Biosci

Aside from the fact that this series already happened, Synre told me to predict Biosci based on turn one of the matchup, which was more than enough for me to put my money on R_Inanimate (I mean, let's face it, when have Synre's predictions ever been right). Aside from that, R_Inanimate had really been on a hot streak so far this season with a very strong showing in all of his matches. While VGC is somewhat team matchup oriented by nature, BW as a whole is and I think that R_Inanimate is simply going so strong lately that nobody really has much of a shot against him right now. However, as already mentioned, Synre predicting against him was definitely the clincher for me in making my decision on this one.

DPP OU: blightbringer vs. TV-Rocka

My oldest memory of blightbringer is during SPL3 semifinals when the Scooters and the Ruiners were tied at 4-4 and blight brought monotype Fighting to his match with Ace Matador. He lost off a choke and a bit of luck, as I recall, but the point is that he's just one of those players who's incredibly scary to face because you just never know what he'll do. Some classic examples of blightbringer being blight have already presented themselves this season, as early as his week one match against TheFourthChaser, where he happily brought a Focus Sash lead Dragonite, or last week's game against Heist most notably marked by the use of Power Herb Sky Attack Aerodactyl. Porengan is a strong player as well, of course, having strong showings against good players such as Delta "I don't play anymore" "Machampion" 2777, but blightbringer is just so damn near impossible to predict that he'll definitely have the upper hand against the more old school Porengan.

ADV OU: reyscarface vs. Sir

In a match that's equivalent to David versus Goliath, Harry Potter versus Voldemort, and basically anyone versus Snunch, DPP champion reyscarface faces off against new generation ADV player Sir, known best by his incessant silly commenting on IRC under the username Danilo. However, the difference between David versus Goliath, Harry versus Voldemort, and Snunch versus anyone is that in this pairing, reyscarface, the Goliath, is the one who will inevitably win as far as I can tell. However, to be perfectly honest after stopping the incessant whining that made him into a cultural icon in the days of DPP and early BW OU, rey's playing ability has supposedly taken quite a hit. Perhaps he'll bring back his old self, just for the sake of demolishing Sir in this game, but if he does not, unlikely as it is, Sir just might pull off the upset.

GSC OU: Picollo vs. Veteran In Love

[10:16pm] Danilo: vil is using
[10:17pm] Danilo: the coolest gsc team
[10:17pm] Danilo: ive ever seen
[10:17pm] joshe: i bet it has typhlosion
[10:17pm] Danilo: y

Sir is determined to leak all of VIL's s secrets, including his use of the mighty Typhlosion. Aside from that, VIL hasn't really been playing all that much lately as far as I know and while I don't know if the GSC OU metagame has changed really, Picollo has shown that he knows what he's doing and is probably a bit less rusty here than VIL is.

RBY OU: Isa vs. Giga Punch

Over the last couple of weeks, it's been very clear that Isa is a very good player. However, it's been equally evident that Isa is a very unlucky player, which simply doesn't work out all that well in RBY, where one of the most significant factors of all is having the strongest Tauros, something clearly evident by the fact that The_Chaser has a trophy. Of course, karma is definitely a thing in Pokemon and it might be Isa's week for it to work for him and give him the chance to take the match. More likely though given what a bitch karma is, Isa won't end up winning until the semifinals when his team is already down 1-7, but until then, RBY is gonna be RBY.