1-0
Tace vs Typhlosion48 - Typh played very nice against Rexus last round, with some well timed aggresion and calculated risks resulting in a swift 2-0 against a more experienced player. That said, Tace has a lot going for him between his recent results and solid building support when compared to Typh’s so it’s still too early to predict the underdog to take it.
Ahsan-219 vs
Empo - Empo’s experience and superior playing ability should make for a fairly one-sided series, Ahsan hasn’t impressed much and had an easier opponent r1 so
ABR vs Chaitanya - whether or not Chait lives up to the Northeast hype is still to be seen so ABRs the natural pick here. That’s not to say that his round 1 showing wasn’t impressive but it’s gonna take more than that to win against one of the strongest players in the field
Tricking vs Updated
Kanto - Kanto’s return to the tournament scene has turned out better than some people anticipated but Tricking’s too powerful in sm rn, easily one of the favorites to take the trophy and I’d be surprised if he didn’t make a clean 3-0 run to the next phase
Pierrick vs
le LLiolae - could probably go either way but lio has more experience and beat sorry last round so I’ll give him a slight edge
Twixtry vs
Charmflash - this is gonna be a lot closer than most people expect, Twixtry has been putting up good results lately between wcop and olt and is coming off a strong win against Lop Kicks. Charm’s a dangerous opponent and a lot harder to prepare for so I’ll give him a slight edge but I think Twix could take this with the right team choices
Liones vs
Sacri' - Liones pulled an upset against one of the most hyped names last round but he also tried to throw what should’ve been a one-sided mu g3 so I wouldn’t expect him to beat the more consistent Sacri
Samqian vs
Ojama - the kingpin is amazing
0-1
Lopunny Kicks vs Star - 2 players nobody expected to see in this bracket paired against each other is rather interesting, Star’s prep for last round consisted of recycling teams from wcop and lost promptly to Liones so I don’t have high hopes for him against Lop Kicks, whose higher ceiling playing-wise and building support from the italians should give him a solid edge
imsosorrylol vs Relous - sorry played turbo ou last round and pretty much lost to his own clicking. That said, Relous wasn’t a lot more impressive and got outplayed thoroughly by Chait so I’ll still give sorry a slight edge provided he doesn’t click through this series.
frisoeva
vs Mob Barley - fris didn’t look too good in the wcop qualifiers and got outplayed hard by the pin so it’s hard to bold his name here even though Mob’s performance last week was about as unimpressive, could go either way
Ash
KetchumGamer vs
Hayburner - Hay’s results aren’t the most consistent but he can play at a high level which is more than what can be said about Ash, who doesn’t seem to be able to find success without his trusty rain
Rexus vs Ilyakomaster - yako’s creative builds backfired hard last round so he’s gonna need to find something that works unless he wants similar results here. Rexus’s showing wasn’t great but I think he has what it takes to bounce back after a tough loss
beatiful vs
Insult - Insult lost to one of the strongest players in the pool last round but he should be able to make his way back to the upper brackets without much difficulty. bea made some very questionable plays to lose in a quick set to Empo last round so I don’t think he stands a chance against another strong player
Mimolette vs
Dora - Mimo’s teams patterns are very predictable and Dora’s just reusing ladder teams so it’s hard to pick a side, Dora did play nice in her first game vs Tace tho so I’d expect her to win this
michy47 vs
Kebab mlml - not much info on either of these, kebab didn’t put up much of a fight against Charm but I don’t have much faith in michy’s playing abilities either so I’ll give kebab a slight edge