(3)
vs
(5)
SS: GW (45) vs (55)
gorex - I put these two in similar ballparks as far as skill goes. gorex mains RU a bit more while GW to my knowledge seems to dabble in a range of lower tiers. They both have some blips on the RU radar whether in the form of ladder/rupl/ssnl, but nothing crazy standout.
SS:
Eternal Spirit (60) vs (40) Yay - prolly surprising to pick against a guy who won the SSRU cup but I think gamas better in general. He was competitive in smru and pretty much anything he plays, I can't imagine that doesn't translate here.
SS: Osh (49) vs (51)
Garay oak - both pretty comparable to me as far as players go. osh might be a tad more established but neither has any real ru presence. seems like garay is interested slightly more in ru? big coinflip.
SS: Amaroq (45) vs (55)
yeezyknows - idk dude this is pretty much the above except instead of nu mains+secondary tier it's uu mains. i can't say i've seen a lot of amaroq but yeezy seems to be active and caring in general.
SM: roman (40) vs (60)
Averardo - finally some ru mains to talk abt. i think avedo is super underrated and the better RUer here. If he drops that not-caring act he should be fine. roman somehow worms his way to wins in the goofy subforum tours but idt this is 1 of them.
SM:
Xiri (65) vs (35) Ren-Chon - xiri always does well in ru. he was like 4-1 in the previous rupl before it was canned, p sure he did well in open too? No disrespect to ren-chon since I know they're a competent nuer but I'm gonna trust ru results vs no ru results.
ORAS: atomicllamas (45) vs (55)
TSR - upset alert(?) but i think TSR nabs this one. this is his like 14th time playing oras ru in our subforum tours and llamas hasn't looked incredible since his return. maybe we'll see a return to form here but atm i haven't seen enough good.
BW:
KW (60) vs (40) The Leprechaun - lep is an overall solid player but that's going to help him zero vs KW's crackhead builds. Lep can stir up some spice of his own but I honestly think this match is going to be won one way or another at preview.
end thoughts: When going into this I thought llamas team was going to be favored but here we are. I think this series is gonna come down to building and who can supply the non-mainers with better stuff. As mentioned above, I feel a lot of players here are comparable and having a better MU in more games prolly decides this series. It's pre-drops week so might as well give up your best builds lol...
(5)
vs
(3)
SS RU:
Pepeduce (53) vs (47) Gondra - gondra had a monster spl and definitely is capable of piloting evi teams to a win but pepeduce has an unironic like 7 ru alts in the top 50 on ladder. he has some midtier tour results too and has some decent seasonal runs. will warily trust ppd here.
SS RU: Luthier (49) vs (51)
mncmt - idk dude lmao luthier has more lower tier results, mncmt ost finals, yadda yadda. i'm not sure how to compare them as players & neither manager has seemed entirely eager about the current gen (im sure that will change w/ this tour but yeah) so idk how good of teams they'll be rocking. side note neither of these teams have like any builder., ig evi's has like 2. hope 49 doesn't get too stressed down the stretch this tour.
SS RU:
TonyFlygon (60) vs (40) Lopunny Kicks - both are obviously talented overall but tony always seems eager as hell for new tiers and I think he'll pick it up nicely.
SS RU:
bugzinator (51) vs (49) robjr - i'm pretty high on bugzi as a player, though robjr is always solid. i don't think either has a ton of ru results but bugz piloting whack 49 teams sounds very potent.
SM RU:
lighthouses (55) vs (45) Hurtadoo - not sipping the hurtadoo kool-aid like many others are. don't feel like he has a ton of results, tho it's clear that a lot of people have high hopes for him. i have zero idea where diogo's motivation is ever at so that could play a part, too. maybe feeling fresh b/c week 1 is plausible, though.
SM RU: Mannat (40) vs (60)
Finchinator - big subforum tryhard finchinator who somehow fell to pick like 15. he definitely should have went before even some of the R1'ers but i guess water under the bridge now. I'm pretty sure mannat has sparingly played this tier but I'm still favoring the ultimate smoghorse.
ORAS RU:
Santu (65) vs (35) Alkione - idk a lot about alkione besides decent french RUer #263 but santu is a threat and a half. he had really dominant rupl before it got trashbinned and is an all around good player. he no longer has my support but 49s support is better anyway.
BW RU: byronthewellwell (43) vs (57)
EviGaro - i don't want the eyebrows from not bolding evi here so i'm gonna do it. byron is a super jack-of-all-trades player who can win vs a lot of people in any given tier, but evi is seen as quite good at RU tho idk jack about her BWRU.
end thoughts: decent number of tour player matchups. hopefully neither manager gets tired of building 3-4 ss teams every week. Overall i think this is easily the best series of week one, with two teams i'd call playoff-caliber.
(3)
vs
(5)
SS RU:
jake (70) vs (30) mael - big jake is talented and i trust him more though ik ajna thinks mael has potential. mael robbed me in snake like 80 years ago when i sucked so i'm biased and unhappy.
SS RU: Bouff (45) vs (55)
Star - my heart wants bouff to win but star's a danger. bouff has been bringing some results this gen, and maybe this will be another one. can't favor him, though.
SS RU:
Loom (51) vs (49) Lilburr - idk either very well. Loom didn't seem great from our tests but i have at least seen him play RU. ik lilburr had a good uupl or something so maybe that translates here too.
SS RU:
Yggdrasil60 (65) vs (35) Oathkeepre - p much same as above though ygg had a decent rupl. minor results vs no results. oath is in winners for seasonal but idt played anyone crazy, and idk anything about them beyond hosting a lot of subforum projects.
SM RU: rozes (40) vs (60)
TheFranklin - rozes is a friend but i'm not particularly high on him in RU. he has no issue building and being creative tho, so maybe can whip up something cool & etch one out. thefranklin is the newest member of the seasonal protectors club so i have to show some respect for a fellow member.
SM RU: Ark (25) vs (75)
termi - first time seeing ark in awhile. think he's cool but zero idea about what he can do in SMRU. termi has some results and i don't feel she's ever really done too bad. big edge.
ORAS RU: Chaitanya (45) vs (55)
Gefalicher Random - neither really plays RU but I feel like this guy is always putting out decent performances whenever I see him. Chait's more /established/ but not at all in an ru sense.
BW RU: tko (49) vs (51)
Bobby Dagen - prolly the weirdest r1 matchup for me since i barely know how to rate either of them. obviously rodri is better but tko seems to do fine in subforum PLs. no clue about where rodri is at as far as commitment goes.
end thoughts: probably the weakest w1 series w/ the most question marks to me. maybe i'll be wrong by the end of the season in some regard but other teams look a lot scarier pre-season.
(2) vs The Very Scary Braviarys 
(3)
(5) vs The Solid Steelixes 
(3)
(5) vs The Happy-Go-Lucky Heliolisks 
(2)
