Predictions!
US WEST (2) VS LATAM (1):
Spurrific vs Yunogasaisan - Justin underperformed in pools going 1-2 while yuno went 2-1 however I think Justin had a harder pool, will try a bit harder now and wants to get revenge for the double Crit against him and I also think yunogasaisan is a bit exploitable so Justin should be able to capitalize and get the win.
emforbes vs Neblina - REMATCH! Neblina was able to beat a rusty emilio with a solarbeam torkoal in pools but despite the shaky start emilio went 2-1 while Neblina went 1-1. Emilio is prob pretty rusty in ss dou but he's still arguably the best dou player of all time meanwhile Neblina is enemy #1 after losing with regieleki and ice horse, I don't really see neblina being able to take two from emilio unless they fish a really good matchup.
MajorBowman vs sawamura - Really close fight in my opinion both have looked a bit shaky at times or made what I think were weird decisions while both have also played solid. I don't really see latam going 0-3 with smb support and Zikam has a lot more ss experience so I will give the edge to zikam here.
LATAM (1) VS EUROPE (2):
Enzonana. vs Qwello Lee - Enzo was another example of a LATAM player overperforming expectations in pools going 2-1 just like Qwello. However I don't think Enzo has been impressive enough to bold over Qwello who despite a bit of underperforming recently is still a really solid player that has still looked good. I also think the pools format benefitted LATAM the most and don't expect the overperforming to continue but maybe I'll be proven wrong.
Eddie1840 vs Frania - Eddie is a bit of a wildcard being more active in vgc and going 2-1 in pools but they are also someone who despite going 2-1 I don't think has looked that impressive. His opponent is frania who started off 0-2 but was able to win his last game to go 1-2, frania has been a bit weird in ss sometimes looking bad sometimes impressing me quite a bit I do think frania is the better player though and can find his footing as he has before so I favour him.
Akaru Kokuyo vs Toxigen - I think they can both be solid players and Toxigen is a bit more consistent (his record shows this too as he went 2-1 in pools vs Akaru's 1-2) but I think he struggles a bit more against the type of teams LATAM and Akaru likes to bring, which is the more wildcard teams where he might not really know what to expect and are less standard. Akaru is maybe one of the less wack LATAM players when it comes to team choice though so wouldn't be surprised to see this swing the other way but for now I'll give the edge to Akaru.
Europe (2) vs US West (1)
Qwello Lee vs Majorbowman - Both of these players are the only ones playing both sets for their teams but I'm a bit more surprised seeing Bowman fulfil that role for US West than I am with Qwello for Europe. As I said before I think Bowman has had moments where he's looked shaky and I think Qwello is a really good player with more SS experience too so I'm going to bold Qwello here.
umbry vs Biosci - basically a coinflip I could see going either way. Umbry hasn't had the best of performances recently and is a bit burned out of mons while Biosci went 2-0 in pools. I don't think Biosci's 2-0 has been that impressive but he's still undeafeated and is a good player but umbry has been one of the best before too, super fun matchup that I'm gonna give the slight edge to umbry as I think she can get slightly better support.
duckpond vs Crunchman - both are 2-1 and both are pretty different. Duckpond is just a player who is always solid but comes and goes and isn't too active even in this tour I doubt they've tried too much while Crunchman was a new user and pretty bad but has improved quite a bit and are now pretty good. I'm going to give it to Crunchman here because I think he cares more and will be a lot more active in prep vs duckpond who will prob just be passed a team to use before his game.
US WEST vs. LATAM
LATAM vs. EUROPE
EUROPE vs. US WEST
