LilyAC (60) vs (40) Laroxyl -- Lily had a very exciting week 1 match where both parties made predictions and exchanged shots at each other throughout the match. I felt like Lily was slightly more in command during the match and she did well to maintain a slim lead as she weathered through dcae's rallies Laroxyl I felt had a less polished week 1 but did well to scout Teal out early on and kept his composure late by slowly breaking down the Ponyta to secure the victory. Funny enough, both players brought what appeared to be identical teams. I'll go with lily in this one since she had a better showing vs one of the best players in the pool and should look to build on her performance.
Boulicrok (45) vs (55) Wail Wailord -- Boulicrok took care of business week 1 against a tricky shellder and did well to maintain his composure. Even though his pawniard was put to sleep he kept his koffing very healthy so that if mienfoo wasn't able to finish off shellder with fake out, koffing was still going to get the job done. Wail on the other hand was scrapping with Kythr in a game closer than I think some anticipated. Kythr started out strong looking very dominant only to slowly see Wail bring himself back into the match with solid gameplay of his own. Although the staryu miss was unfortunate, Wail had positive moments so if he rides that momentum into week 2, the spectators are in for a treat. I expect this game to be closer for Boulicrok than his week 1 game so until I see how he handles tight matches on this stage, I'll select Wail in a hotly contested battle.
daunt vs (35) vs (65) kythr -- Kythr had an electric start to week 1 where he was cruising through those opening turns vs Wail. Unfortunately though Kythr kept giving Wail opportunities to slowly come back into the game instead of finding a decisive turn to finish him off. daunt I felt had an okay match vs KSG but not one that would inspire a ton of confidence going forward against a heavyweight like kythr. The magnemite set was never revealed until after the match and a +spe magnemite meant we're looking at a coinflip finish whereas an endure magnemite is also tricky. Kythr seems like the safer pick but daunt will be performing at his best to create a strong start to the tour so if Kythr fails once more to put the game away he could be in trouble.
dcae (65) vs (35) teal6 -- So next up we have a pair of turn 1 Abra users LOL. The first one, dcae, wishes he was LO inner focus which would have annhilated Lily's mienfoo turn 1 and opened up the game with a lot of hype. Teal, on the other hand, was using LO but unfortunately lost the 50/50 between shadow ball and submission which had the potential to pave his way to victory from the start. I really appreciate the time teal was taking to analyze his game which is honestly necessary when coming into this tier again after a long gap. Overall, Teal displayed a decent showing and if he's committed to LC for the whole campaign he can only get better. I like dcae here as in my opinion it's to early to start bolding Teal esp. vs one of the favorites who had a strong week 1, but I can see a world where Teal is more motivated and out-preps dcae and come gametime does just enough to sneak a victory.
KSG (45) vs (55) Toadow -- And finally we'll finish with the two Mienfoo users who missed their HJKs. Out of the two players, KSG had a superior first week where arguably he had a real chance at winning post-HJK miss if the set was +spe while Toadow came up short. I think Boulicrok is one of the harder players to beat with pokemon like shellder as I've seen him use a lot of bulky pokemon in the past, but I actually love the wynaut selection from Toadow. When 2 prominent knock off users got removed from the tier in vullaby and scraggy, wynaut's stock got higher as there are more pokemon it can trap now effectively. I can see others straying away from Wynaut since the team didn't secure the W, but I would love to see more people using him as a way to break through teams. I'm not sure if we'll see an unconventional team again from Toadow week 2, but for me he is more threatening than KSG who will probably be playing a more linear game. I'll give Toadow the nod for now as he becomes my wildcard pick.