by popular demand
Dasmer vs
xavgb - ever since his meteoric rise to prominence, stresh has been one of the best players this site has to offer. he's been a frontrunner for best SV player since the start of the generation. besides being a very talented player, he's a strong metagamer too; creations of his like milo buzz have dominated the sv scene as he continues to push the envelope. he recently had his second ever negative tour in spl at the start of the year but followed it up with a 3-0 world cup and has looked strong in scl, so it's going to take a lot to make me bold against him. dasmer aka law is one of the more surprising names in this top 16 to me, being 2-9 on the sheet and recently being a sellback in SPL due to a lack of activity. that being said, he's clearly motivated to perform on the big stage here, as he survived swiss with a 3-1 record versus a murderer's row of opponents. despite defeating insult, bea and oldspicemike, some of the greatest ou players of recent year, his one earlier loss was none other than stresh himself. looking forward to this rematch, as clearly dasmer has been way more impressive than i would've expected from him a mere month ago.
Welli0u vs emforbes - talking about players who had an impressive run to make it to the main event, the second best black player on smogon and world's runnerup emforbes not only showed bea what it's like to lose to a doubles. but also was the only person to defeat vert in this tournament, who is by many considered the GOAT of sv. while mostly known for his doubles/vgc prowess, emilio's established himself as a very respectable singles threat over the years as well. on the other hand, welli0u is no unfamiliar name either. while the frenchman hasn't quite put up the numbers he did in sm, he has not so quietly been one of the top teamtour threats during sv so far, appearing in multiple tiebreakers and being one of the strongest playoff players in recent memory. while he took one round more than his opponent to get to the top 16, i will bold him here anyway as i imagine he's slightly more familiar with the metagame. very close though, and should be an exciting series.
Mako vs
Empo - in the past two years, mako has gone 6-3 in SPL in RBY, won BW Cup, went 6-3 in SPL ADV and most recently has set her mind to SV. after a 4-0 WCOP campaign she has now qualified for the top 16 of OLT, showcasing her ability to do more than well in any tier she puts her mind to. that being said, her opponent is no easy draw. Empo has been the best newgens player on the site for the past few years, winning 3 stours and an OST since 2020 as well as being a prolific sheet demon, placing him firmly in the consideration for alltime greatest players. while SV seemed to be his weak spot during his most recent stour winning run, he went 3-0 in the swiss stage and seems dead set on adding a 5th trophy to his case. i find it near impossible to bold against one of pokémon's most titanic players here, but mako certainly has what it takes. another highlight.
Giannis Antetokommo-o vs mimilimi - shake's #1 opp giannis has failed to deliver on a solid teamtour performance so far, but in individuals has been one of the strongest players of the past few years. besides his grand slam victory, he made back to back smogon tour finals with an additional semifinals appearance beforehand. after finally scoring his long overdue trophy last year, giannis has little left to prove but is nonetheless back for more, winning three straight over storm zone, crying and 3d to qualify for the top 16. his opponent is significantly less proven, but is currently one of the hotter topics. between the swiss stages and the first few weeks of scl, mimilimi has played some rather impressive games and seems to be making quite the name for himself. despite being impressed by his play so far, i would like to see more from him before i bold him over giannis.
SoulWind vs
Santu - another match between two greats. soulwind is undoubtedly the second greatest player of all time, and the only prior OLT champion in these playoffs. that said, he is seemingly yet to find his footing in SV to the extent that he has in every other generation. flashes of greatness were shown in the swiss stage though, as he qualified 3-0 defeating hellom who has been one of the hottest sv players of the past year. santu meanwhile is another alltime great player whose accomplishments are mostly outside of SV. he went 15-3 in the past 2 SPLs in ORAS OU and won the first SS grand slam, but hasn't quite put up comparable numbers in SV yet. that being said, like sw he has been servicable in his wcop/scl appearances so far and qualified for the top 16 3-0 with a win over welli0u, so there's more than enough reason to have high expectations here. neither player shies away from using bulkier structure, so this clash between titans could be quite the slugfest. my highlight of the round; bolding santu out of minor bias but essentially a coinflip in my mind
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3d vs Rewer) vs
bbeeaa - rewer being apparently good at CG OU in 2024 was not exactly on my bingo card but it's nice to see. regardless i think 3d will defeat him in the last qualifier match as he just seems more locked in, being one of the biggest ladder grinders as well as one of the biggest yappers currently. that being said, i don't think either of them is a particular threat to bea, with the caveat that the latter actually plays on pc. bea is easily one of the best players of all time, and would be a solid choice for best player without an individual. the sheet demon has been qualifying for OLT since the oras days and has come close a few times but is yet to make an individual finals. it would be nice to see him locked in here as he would be a serious contender for the trophy, but maybe he plays on phone and gets blown out in 2.
Ewin vs
hellom - 2020 hellom draco recently exploded onto the scene with his 10-1 SPL, and has looked like one of the best SV players the entire year. ewin seems to be back from being banned for racist pokemon nicknames last year, but seemingly has struggled in 2024 so far. i was never quite high on him during the ss days with his most notable game being the iconic centiskorch fiasco, but he seemingly qualified for the top 16 with relative ease. i'll admit i didn't watch most of his games so i won't make any definitive statements on his skill level, but regardless i will go with hellom as he has looked way stronger and has had a solid grip on the SV metagame for the past year.
clean vs SpookyZ - there's not much to go off for spookyz; he's 4-3 on the sheet across two wcop appearances and after 3 qualifications for the swiss phase has made it to olt top 16 for the first time here. clean meanwhile has a similarly low profile resume, but is a much more established figure in the tour community, currently managing the first place islanders. clean qualified for the top 16 3-1, only losing to his friend 2020 hellom draco, but played some impressive games. based on the few games i've seen i would definitely trust his play over spookyz's, and i think his building skills/support with islanders are far superior as well. that being said, this is the pairing where i feel least confident in either player, so could very easily be wrong here.
super stacked playoffs, almost every pairing is a big highlight and a ton of really great CG OU names are present :) rooting for my friends, and predicting maybe bea or stresh getting their first ring here.
