Hi everyone, i'm going to go ahead and give my thoughts and predictions in some of the games. Disclaimer: i'm quite new to the random battles format and i haven't had the pleasure of seeing all of you play so my predictions will be based solely on what i know and have seen. Hopefully I get to know each of you better through the conclusion of this tour. So without further ado
MichaelderBeste2 vs LordTheodore: Michael is one of those players who has a fundamental understanding of how to play competitve mons in general. He's always playing to his wincons, has a strategy in mind when playing, and he plays slowly and thinks of all possibilites and usually reaches the one that gets him the win. Most people make predictions for the sake of making predictions but michael makes predictions that get him the win in the long run and doesn't his wincon. I haven't seen lord theodore play but if this lord has any connections with lady luck i do hope he can cash in those favors cause Michael is going to play hard, play aggressive and he will not make mistakes.
LoSconosciuto vs Grandmaster7890: I haven't seen much of either of them play but i will give this to Loscon based on experience
soTsoT vs teresbahji: Teres is a player who loves random battles, his passion drives him to conquer all the ladders in the randomized format (except for battle factory ig). I'm definitely going to side with teres in this battle because besides knowing the game well when it comes to random battles you definitely need experience. Experience helps you play enough times where you know what pokemon the level balancing has buffed to be a wincon and helps you familiarize yourself with common sets of certain mons. Kind of surpised Teres didn't pick hackmons but that just goes to show how many tiers he can play. Now for soT he is a really solid player, his run up to the top seed has proven this. He's got just as much skills as Teres and knows the game well. This will be a fun match but ultimately the passion that Teres displays for the randomized format on showdown will give him the edge.
sunsets vs Puckbud12: I'm quite unfamiliar with both of these players but puckbuds main tier seems to be gen 8 looking at his open performances and in that same tier sunsets was a top finisher so if that's any indication to go by i'm going to have to side with sunsets
Luchik vs tob: Tob is a fantastic player and one of the guys who taught me doubles. I owe Tob a lot for my doubles run he was the man with the all the doubles answers. I mean who knew that screens only reduces damage by 25% rather than 50, not me but Tob certainly knew. I'm going to be bias here and pick Tob i'm really not sure who both of these players are but i do have a certain bias in this game and want tob to win which is no way me disrespecting his opp i just don't know much about them.
Casual dot exe vs arcexofficial: I'm going to say arcex here because i like his personality. He always had a comment after winning some of his games in gen 6 which I found amusing. He didn't give up until the end of his run and i'm going to say he rides that momentum to a win. Casual dot i dont know much about but from what i've heard he is a good player.
HaunterBoy28 vs Trefleuh: I've faced them both at one point or another and based off of that i'll give this win to Trefleuh. Two tiers which I strongly think Tref will win is, the doubles and gen 7 tier besides that could be anyones game. This in no way means haunter is bad aside from playing him in doubles I haven't seen him in any other tiers so he may very well be super good in those tiers. I just know tref a bit more cause he talks like all the time in randbats chat.
Xceloh vs Crunchman: This is going to be a close match but I think Xceloh is going to win. Imo he might be the overall better player. Crunch will definitely get that doubles win though.
Wigglytuff vs MultiAmmiratore: Wiggly is a funny guy, always has an opinion on everything you couldn't pull this guy away from the keyboard even if you knocked him senseless. With all the talking he does i'm going to say he has the skills to back it up. However i'm not very familiar with his opponent so you never know his opponent might be a hidden genius. If Wiggly doesn't choose gen 2 classic round 1 I really urge his opponent to probably get that tier out of the way cause wiggly will pick gen 2 rands and bleed you dry.
Blui vs RandomPopplio: Based on their open performances aside from gen 8 singles Blui has had an overall stronger showing in their chosen opens from their list, so i'll give the nod to Blui here.
Typhlosion48 vs Michielleus: My favorite player in the format Typhlosion48/dorapult/sealed ruins. To this day I still don't know what his main account is. What I can say is that Dorapult had a stranglehold on the gen 8 ladder for many months. Dorapult still holds the record for the highest gxe in the gen 8 ladder. Michael is number 1 currently but when Dora was running things on the gen 8 ladder forget seeing number 1 but Michael wasn't even in the same gxe percentage as Dorapult. Apart from being a great player, this man carries zero ego even going as far as to help me review replays of some of my games. I had just started out in the format and first thing i did was message the number 1 guy in the format to give me tips and help me. Let me tell ya this guy never even complained once and handled my many rages in pm and provided tips to dealing with dynamax threats. Seriously though I owe a lot to my start in random battles to Dorapult and even if he was facing michael i'd pick him to win. Michiellius is no slouch as well he is the current winner of the random battles monthly ladder tour which shows how well he knows the tier and pokemon. This will definitely be a fun battle but i'm giving the edge Dorapult.
El químico del pueblucho vs Forsh: I don't much about either player but looking back on the open performances i'm going to give this to El quimico. Forsh is a gen 7 main though and he will definitely be looking to win that tier but el quimico seems to be more well rounded. Both fantastic players should be a good one.
longhiep341 vs Xiri: I've gotten to both of these players through my time on Team Asia. Both are great players and great people. Hiep is a huge threat in doubles, as i've experienced first hand and will end up beating xiri in that tier. However Xiri probably gets the nod from me when it comes to Gen 6 and multi factory. This matchup will probably come down to classic if hiep gets gen 2 in classic he will most likely win but if xiri can get to pick for classic then it would probably go to him since i think hiep gets doubles and hackmons and xiri gets gen 6 and factory. Since Hiep is seeded higher he'll probably start with classic and pick the preferred tier so i'm going to predict he'll win.
Failbor vs Chains of Markov: I haven't seen Chains play much but he definitely ended the year off strong with great performances in the final two tours of the circuit to finish off strong and make it into playoffs, which shows if he puts his mind to it he can be a really strong contended. His opponent on the other hand is failbor a tour room regular who plays any and all tiers in smogon. I'm going to give the edge to Failbor because playing the many tiers allows you to utilize the lesser known pokemon which in random battles if you utilize well can be the slight edge that can you get you the win.
Banbadoro vs Clementine: I'm not familiar with Clementine but Banbadoro has won the hackmons open and is quite versatile in many tiers. I'll give it to Banba but i've heard Clementine is good so should be interesting match.
