16a. Raiza VS.
16b. Typhlosion48 - Raiza is pretty solid. He was good in SPL and I thought he secured playoffs early before I realized how high the cutoff was this year. However, Typhlosion48 is an excellent nickname, so as long as he doesn't change it to something stupid like "Typh" he gets massive bonus points from me. I thought he was Brazilian, but apparently he's French which made me slightly upset, as Brazilians are always a treat to watch in the lobby. Despite being an inferior starter in Gold, Typhlosion wins here.
1. Empo VS. 16. Tiebreak winner - Last time we saw a Smogon Tour performance as dominant as this, Tricking lost R1 to, ironically, Empo being 16th seed. Won't happen this time though. Empo made that Aegislash balance team, which is about the only SS team I've ever used, meaning he'll have a place in my heart forever. I secretly hope Empo wins this tour, because he'd deserve to crown that regular season dominance with a trophy. Empo to win all three (or not, what do I know, I haven't played since last summer).
2. ABR VS. 15. Ash KetchumGamer - Insert something about prepping for rain. You've heard it before. Another amazing name though, and this one I'm actually sure is Brazilian. ABR always wins, he still seems hungry and is good at SS. I'm tired of writing already.
3. Finchinator VS. 14. Corazan - Writing predictions about Finch is boring. I don't want to talk shit, because that's being rude. I also don't want to gas him, because then I'll look like another one of the OU subforum goons. Corazan has been close a couple of times before, glad to see him make it. Finch favored in all three (probably).
4. SoulWind VS. 13. McMeghan - This is actually worth predicting. SoulWind lost a dimension in playoffs with BW being cut, but he did well in that one SS invitational, and his SS points were good, although knowing him, he used virgin strats to get them. I saw McMeghan use Inteleon in regular season, a mon I haven't seen since I beat the in-game. Nice. Him missing out on BW sucks too, but he seems to play SS well. The fact that they faced in two of these tiers a year ago is an interesting dynamic. SoulWind favored based on experience.
5. 100percentpureheat VS.
12. Bloody alfa - 100percentpureheat is a terrible nickname (who am I to say), so he's off to a bad start. I saw him get gassed up by starry blanket, which makes me lean even more towards Bloody alfa. He did get fifth seed though, and won a tour as well. Think I've seen his name around, so he's probably solid. Bloody alfa said sorry to me once after I missed a game winning Leaf Storm a few tours ago, which puts him on my good side. He could be my teammate soon if he plays his cards right too, so I feel obligated to predict him.
6. Sayuze VS. 11. MS3D - I always thought Sayuze was good, but a lot of people told me he wasn't, so I guess I'm a genius after all. He's a dick though, so I usually want him to lose when I see him play. I think MS3D is that guy who keeps asking for ORAS games on SmogTours, then proceeds to use Vileplume and Dusknoir. If I'm right, then Sayuze is probably favored. If I'm wrong, then he probably still is. The name feels French too. Not a good thing.
7. Santu VS.
10. Eeveeto - Santu is just... there. He's become that guy who's always in playoffs, beats a big name, then drops afterwards. He survived being on the Bigs this SPL, and came out with a positive record, which shows insane mentality because that team was exceptionally bad. Eeveeto uses garbage Pokemon, which is cool, but he uses them because he thinks they're good and not because they're memes, which is less cool. Expect the obligatory Pokemon anime GIF if he wins. Rooting for him because Europe bias.
8. Pohjis VS. 9. RedEmption
, gg empo.
