I want to start by thanking the
Z Strats and
umbry for picking me up and making such a great team atmosphere. I had a lot of fun joking around with everyone, grinding out the weeks together, and making Clyde say stupid things for hours too late at night... Everyone on my team are great people and talented players, wish you all nothing but the best in your futures! I know losing sucks but I'm proud of our run!
With that said, since I am out in semis I will do long predicts for finals too!
Spikemuth Spectral Thieves (5) vs (3) Santalune Storms
SV: Wille vs
Paraplegic - Sadly we will never truly know how the game would've ended up between Chris#s and Para last week, but you cant deny how strong Para has looked. With a 7-1 record to boot, Para is someone that feels impossible to predict against this tournament. Sadly for Wille, they were the one to end up rolling Para. Wille has had a rough season going 1-4 and being the only loss for the Thieves in semifinals. I don't think anyone can argue that Para is very heavily favored here.
SV:
JRL vs raf - If raf pulled anyone else I was 100% predicting them to win. they have looked so strong after their 0-2 start, running through very talented players to end up at their 4-2 record. Sadly for them, they are against the other best SV player in the pool. JRL is also holding a solid 7-1 record and has looked extremely dominant too. Builds and play have been very strong out of him, and I can't see anyone outside of Para being able to stop this incredible run. With that said, raf has looked very strong this tournament so even though I think JRL is still favored, this game is still closer than you'd think.
SV:
robjr vs YoBuddy - Both had pretty strong showings last week winning their games vs strong opponents. I think YoBuddy is finding his footing and playing at the level you'd expect out of him. Robjr on the other hand is someone I didn't think too highly of in DOU coming into this tournament but has impressed me. 5-3 is a very good record, and after watching some of robjr's games back I can say that his mid and endgame is actually very strong. The growth robjr has shown this tournament has been amazing and I think he will continue to grow and take this match. Very close though, YoBuddy is strong and can definitely win here too.
DUU: EternalSnowman vs
Actuarily - Actuarily won the battle of "best DUUer" last week and that is enough for me to bold him here. ES had a rocky game in semis that ultimately came down to a lot of luck favoring them, but that doesn't take away from how good of a player they are. Their builds have been unique and their play for the most part has been solid! It's just that Actuarily has just felt a bit more solid this whole tournament. Big edge here.
SS:
zoe vs Shadowmonstr7 - I'm calling the upset here. Shadowmonstr has felt very strong this tournament and solidified they are one of, if not, the best SS player this DPL with the dominant win over Ninja. The team choice was still more of something I'd expect out of them with the comfort picks you know from them, but they are just so solid with those Pokemon that its almost a "if its not broken don't fix it" situation. Normally such a dominant performance is when I'd choose that player, but zoe has been solid too! I think its hard to find win paths when you're behind and there is a lot of offensive pressure on the other side of the field, but zoe was able to find the possible end game holes in their semifinals match and pull out an extremely narrow victory. I also think zoe is solid in prep, which is where I think Shadowmonstr is weakest. If zoe can utilize that advantage and get a good match up then her play is good enough to secure a win here. Close game though and would not be surprised whichever way it goes.
SM:
Grandmas Cookin vs GenOne - GMA has been looking extremely good in SM lately. In both SMPL and DPL they have been beating extremely strong opponents in very solid fashion. I think the swap of Croven and GMA was smart and this is by far their strongest line up. GenOne is a solid player but I think if GMA is beating Nails then GenOne is going to struggle here. It is definitely possible for GenOne to win here if they counter the more standard teams out of GMA, but overall I think this is the safest pick.
XY:
Croven vs SingleThunder - Last week I talked about how SingleThunder struggles in mid to late game but is a very solid early game player. SingleThunder found the way around this by making their opponent forfeit in 3 turns... I could not get anything out of that semifinal game so.. Anyway Croven looked pretty good last week but used too much timer for to unlock his true power and ended up needing a lot of luck to win. Croven did in fact get that luck though so how can you stop him??? At this point I think Croven has unlocked a power that no one can stop and this is now his world we are just living in it. Who knows though, if SingleThunder can prove me wrong and get the correct win paths they will be a very strong force too. Maybe this is the best battle of all time. I don't know what I'm talking about anymore I'm going to stop before I make Clyde write an epic world shattering battle between Croven and SingleThunder LOL. Anyway Croven has looked better overall but if SingleThunder can get a strong enough lead with their solid early game play then they can definitely take it.
BW: Mishimono vs
DaWoblefet - I have a lot of faith in Mishi but DaWob has just looked too strong in BW since forever. Its just hard to predict against him he has an understanding to this tier that most cant touch. I think Mishi is a very solid player and can definitely outplay here but in terms of building and overall knowledge of BW its hard to predict against the best to do it. This game can still definitely go either way if Mishi is on their game.
