Once again, predicts from The People's Champ himself
Spikemuth Spectral Thieves (1) vs.
Santalune Storms (5)
SS DOU:
Frania vs Shadowmonstr7 - Both finessed their respective match-ups (in different ways!) last week, and I feel that both would prefer their positive standings on the sheet come from a more justifying performance. frania's team last week was solid while shadow's looked like it simply didn't give a shit about the entity known as Kyurem-Black; this, on top of considerations of what the two have achieved as players within DOU and its circuit(s), lend me to believe frania will come out on top.
SS DOU: Qwello Lee vs
zeefable - Call me zeefable pilled once again I wanna see the dude boss up. They're both good players and my rational thought points to Qwello Lee winning this just by being a more proven SS DOU player, but I want to believe, especially after that respectable performance against Z Strats despite the loss.
SS DUU: Human vs
AtmosphereVGC - After ESM got smashed last week, the Spectral Thieves now have a different sacrifice for DUU in Human, who won last week in BW. Atmosphere, meanwhile, defeated a the_bandit who forgot to actuarily prepare for Volcarona and was taught a valuable lesson. The former is a proven player with a known leaning towards funky picks, which can lead to them mayhaps being at home in DUU; the latter, meanwhile, has been playing DUU for a while now and has experience in this meta, particularly having a DPL win of their own here already. I'm gonna have to go with Atmosphere for this one.
SM DOU: MajorBowman vs
stax - Both good players. stax has proven that they are not crust, while MajorBowman has yet to do this with being subbed out and all. Considering the unfortunate IRL situation in Texas they might not have the opportunity to uncrust themself (if they are) even if they want to, and it surely isn't helpful for general prep and just being in the right state of mind to even bother with Pokemon. Will have to go with the man who's already bossed up here, and I wish our TL the best in the situation they're in.
XY DOU: Toxigen vs
qsns - Interesting slot. I have faith in Toxigen as someone who recognizes their abilities from performances of old, but qsns just put up a clinic against emforbes. That, and with qsns being a known great player in general, makes me lean towards them.
BW DOU: Yellow Paint vs
DaWoblefet - DaWob brought a wack team last week imo... but Yellow Paint didn't bring any team at all because they didn't play in BW. Still, given DaWoblefet's known proficiency at the tier I will still go with them; Yellow Paint has to show they can boss up here.
Hau'oli Haxers (4) vs Hoenn Heroes (2)
SS DOU: Yoda2798 vs
Tenzai - Yoda2798 botched what looked like an advantageous position last week in SM, while Tenzai just came up with a W against the best SS player in the pool in the books of the players I believe. Looking at it from their achievements in SS, the former is the Kickoff winner while the latter was 2nd in a Seasonal that I can't seem to recall which as well as a part of the team and thus the environment that won WCOP. This is honestly a tough-ish call for me; both are good players in my eyes, though right now I'm inclined to believe that Tenzai has the mental edge as well as the higher skill specifically in SS right now (gut feeling).
SS DOU:
YoBuddy vs TonyFlygon - The Spanish Heroes's sacrifice is now TonyFlygon in the second SS DOU slot, subbing out Yuichi despite bossing up with a W in SM last week. I'm gonna be real though this is probably a better slot for Tony than the one I proposed in my PRs as SS DOU is definitely easier to get into right now, as long as anyone builds for them. Is there anyone actually building for them though? I hope so! Anyway, YoBuddy is the more experienced player in both SS DOU specifically and in Smogon Doubles as a whole so yeah, I'm going with them.
SS DUU: Demantoid vs
SMB - It's SMB vs the Dragonite bringer
; I have a feeling that somebody's gonna get mished in this bout.
SM DOU:
Nido-Rus vs Voltix - Interestingly, both were in SS DOU last week. Nido-Rus is the more renowned player between the two of them in general, and in SM DOU moreso; this, on top Voltix's performance last week which was notably Not Good makes me believe that Nido-Rus will take this. I'm not pointing this out to be a dick or anything, it's and objective assessment and performances like that can happen to anyone; I still personally believe in Voltix as a player and I do think that this match-up is closer than what one would assume.
XY DOU:
Mishimono vs JRL - Beat me last week so I am no longer in any position to paint this individual in a negative light.
BW DOU:
Biosci vs Mizuhime - Both are BW DOU mainstays so this will be an interesting mu. Biosci has always been a solid reliable player, and it showed when they beat my player last week
with a solid team and an interesting tech in Thief Scizor (which won the game cwl). Mizuhime, also an old reliablee, meanwhile got pwned by Deoxys-D (though it does look like their team also gets cucked by Cresselia by extension, mayhaps a significant teambuilding flaw). This is one of the games I want to see live if I can, but right now I'm leaning towards Biosci taking this one.