MrAldo Why didnt you tag me huh? Host's bias is coming through already. Im sick to my stomach rn.
No john predicts
(7) Xmas Xurkitrees vs Noble Noiverns (1)
SS -
odr vs Mac3 - Should be a great game! Both were my rusd teammates, and Mac3 will look to use his off-beat style to secure a victory against one of the top talents (and top prices) in the tour. odr recently put up a RU ribbon-winning run, using different styles + teams and techs that were not totally standard; there's little there for mac3 to explicitly counterteam, which should mean that odr can outplay [though mac3 is good! it isn't a guarantee that odr will, but he should def be favored here].
SS -
ojr vs Sabella - Sabella's certainly a talented player, but from my experience with him in various lower tier PLs effort plays a big role. newcomer ojr is one of the biggest tryhards in RU; I know he's been hoping for a chance in these tours for a long time. and he earned that spot with some very cool teambuilding ideas + solid play. happy to see him drafted. nerves could for sure be a factor here, but gonna favor the newcomer in this matchup
SS - bugzinator vs
atomicllamas - Llamas If You're Reading This Play Oras. bugzinator is an extremely talented player but im going to go w llamas here; I think he's also excellent and likely to put in more effort, especially since looking at the noivern roster he seems to be a huge component of this team.
SS -
GW vs Serene Grace - I think GW's def underrated here; SSD woes aside, he went positive in the shortened RUPL and even or positive in RUSD. He also won a RU Ssnl last year and is generally active for these with good results. He might be more invested in the NU community now, judging from Discord activity etc., but if he's invested in this tour I bet he can put up strong results once again. Serene is a very good player but probably less invested, last RUPL iirc he didn't do much building. Definitely a strong pilot, but i'm favoring gw
SM -
Gondra vs Sensei Axew - Sensei bro??? wyd?? in sun and moon rarelyused??
ORAS -
Xiri vs Killintime - xiri's for sure a lot more experienced in oras ru than killintime is; im honestly not sure if the ORAS UU fan has ever touched the tier below it. idt xiri dominates the tier, per se; iirc he went 0-3 or 1-3 in it for ru world cup? (for what that's worth) however, the Evigaros have plenty of ORAS team support that could help him put up a strong season. im def puzzle
BW -
Dnb vs Lilburr - I LOVE DnB in BW lower tiers, he seems to farm them all and has genuine enjoyment and interest in each one. full disclosure, last time i teamed w DnB he went 1-5 or 2-5 in bw nu, so he certainly isnt a lock to succeed; however, i hear he's put up rly strong results in a lot of these other tours [such as bw nfe.... oml the depth of evi's player scouting is unmatched]. Lily is also a BW lower tier enthusiast
Bo3 -
EviGaro (SM, ORAS) vs Punny (SS)
After a recent run to RU ribbon finals + looking near unbeatable in the tier thru 8-1 RUWC + success in LTPL, I think there's no doubt Punny is a top 3 SS RU player. Evi is good, and her r1 loss in circuit playoffs did come to eventual winner odr -- who also beat Punny. However, Punny def has way more recent experience in ss ru tour games.
In SM, I have to favor Evi; Sensei being slotted into the Noiverns' SM shows a lack of SM building that the Xurkitrees, with odr + Evi herself, do not struggle with at all.
ORAS is the tossup to me. Llamas' teams will def help Punny, but Evi is for sure more familiar with the meta. In Wk 1 of the biggest RU team tour, her motivation will probably be high; Punny's also pretty occupied with SPL, so I'm not sure he'll be as invested. This mu being week 1 also presents a challenge for punny, who has to learn ORAS (and maybe SM to some extent? not sure how much he played it as current gen) very quickly before the game.
Despite Punny being one of the best players on the site rn, I'm favoring Evi for this matchup.
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(5) The Bebo's back! Barbarcles vs The Deranged Hustlers (3)
SS - kythr vs
rylon - I rly like both players, having teamed with them each in ruwc and rusd respectively. Kythr's very busy with school rn, which is a big part of the reason I'm favoring rylon in what would otherwise feel close to even. After making ru ribbon semifinals, he's definitely eager to gain recognition for his play; as a starter this tour, can he improve on his 0-2 showing in RUSD? neither has seemed that active with building recently, tho both love team tours so they'll def be active builders for this. just gonna go w rylon based on recent results + investment, kythr's a strong player too and i trust he'll have a good season if he puts in the work to do so.
SS -
bebo vs Santu - at least for RU team tours it's so hard to pick against bebo. It's also insanely hard to pick against Santu, esp in ORAS, but SS RU is a new ground for him. in this battle of 2 exceptional players i (ru mainer) am going to pick bebo; this should be a great game tho!!
SS - tko vs
watashi - oml super fun matchup, their friendship / drafting each other in tours is a long tradition, but now they find themselves on opposite sides. who will win??? idk gonna favor watashi bc of his strong history of results but his recent inactivity might allow tko (and his trusty 2-4 ZU mons) to come away with a victory here
SS -
goldcat vs youngster bill - surely goldcat has completed an in-game playthrough at some point, wiping the floor w the youngsters. in all seriousness ive never seen this youngster bill guy play in a teamtour -- feel free to inform me if that is just an oversight on my part, though. i scouted a lot of ppl and he wasnt on my radar so.... i legit know nothing. best of luck if he is new! i will be favoring goldcat, though - think rusd+ruwc rly made him more acclimated to team tours, and he's known as a strong builder + good player
SM - ark vs
Pohjis - yea pohjis is excellent in this tier, idrk abt arc besides him being friends w bebo garay et al + a solid player. he'll probably come up w cool teams, knowing the way bebo teams are, and that extra effort may reward him -- however im just gonna be boring and bold pohjis
ORAS -
garay vs Kushalos - sheesh this is a tough one. 2 of the top 3 oras players in the pool, no doubt. kushalos can absolutely demolish ppl in this tier while also being able to pull off crazy victories vs seemingly unplayable mus. however garay is also one of the top ppl on the site rn; a strong spl + clutch ssd tiebreak + just generally dominating these lower tier PLs make him abt as strong an opponent as u can get. i do also think bebo/garay/everyone else active will be able to put in a lot of work
BW -
dcae vs Raahel - never once seen raahel play in a team tour, so starting here might be a big jump for him. i also think dcae's just a better player, tho seeing him in bw (and tko in ss) is somewhat surprising.
Bo3 -
tony (ss) vs robjr
no idea who to favor in any of the old gens, haha, both are ru outsiders im sorry!! i'll def be curious to see how these games go down. i think the bebos definitely have more SS support, so tony should be favored there, though rob will surely put in some effort to figure out the tier himself (both players will). i think highly of both so it will be rly fun to watch. god, the bo3s are all so good!!
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(5) Mighty Mudsdales vs Dabbing Dadas (3)
SS -
thefranklin vs SoulWind - Yep, i did it. Rly had to steel my nerves for this one. THE FRANKLIN, young ru mainer known for unique teambuilding, is coming off of a recent 5-0 run in RUWC. Soulwind is a top player o the site, theres 0 doubt about that. However i do genuinely believe that franklin will be able to throw like 5-10 curveballs at him in this match; he's extremely creative + probably a solid enough player to avoid getting outplayed every turn and make plays of his own.
SS -
feliburn vs Averardo - feli in ss ru has been extremely active and pretty successful recently (we dont acknowledge ltpl). i havent actually seen avedo play that much ss ru in recent times, though he's def a talented player of his own. gonna favor feli for now, but im def excited to see avedo play here again!
SS -
ajna vs umbry - iirc umbry asked to be subbed first few weeks, tho maybe getting drafted by a fellow italian changes that. either way, gonna obligatory bold ajna wk1 bc more familiarity w meta + he hella tryhards these. umbry's rly good too tho so an upset wouldnt be too shocking
SS - lax
vs Luthier - Ha ha lax luthier. ive seen none of these guys play ss ru recently, luth's prob more motivated bc slam tryhard, ajnas' SS builders r prob stronger, im gonna call it even tho
SM - roman
vs termi - I went back and forth on this one. Roman puts up excellent records in these tours, but I also rly like termi in this tier; she's quite underrated. predicting against roman in SM is also hard though, esp since that team is brimming with SM experience; however, for instance, termi did beat nat there in the Rarely Used World Cup, a tour ive referenced abt 10 times too many in these predicts. roman's prob favored, but termi's def good at taking down favorites. sorry to be a COWARD, im leaving this 50-50 tho
ORAS - windsong vs
Chaitanya - i love chait in this tier. big fan. 8-1 in rusd does not lie; even tho the HATERS say he lucked a few of those games I do think he played excellently in all of them, including the playoff games (+ a tiebreak) where he led the plumes to victory. windsong's great too, not to mention ajna (and apparently oras builder feli O_O) oras support, but bolding chait here
BW - somalia vs
Aeroblacktyl - After the shit somalia has used vs me in his bw ru challenges the last week or two i cannot in good conscience predict him to win a game LMAOO this dude's teams r insane as shit. I love them honestly but I will predict
Bo3 -
nat (SM) vs tdk - hard to identify a clear advantage in either of the other two tiers, but i do think nat's sm + ajna oras support + the mudsdales' ss building strength will be enough to give nat an excellent bo3 record + a win here. tdks a great player too, like everyone in the pool, but he has other big tours to worry abt + i think has been ~avg in previous lower tier pls?
hope it's a good one like all these bo3 series seem to be. this format is awesome
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GL ALL. GO GLASTRIERS.
Greedy Glastriers(4) vs (4)Sleepy Snorlaxes
Xmas Xurkitrees(4) vs (4)Noble Noiverns
The Bebo's back! Barbarcles(4) vs (4) The Deranged Hustlers
Mighty Mudsdales(7) vs (1)Dabbing Dadas
