ORAS OU: Znain 40-60 Jimmy Turtwig jimmy uses solid teams (youll never see him using anything that resembles dumpster trash at all) and plays like a monster most of the time. the teams are bulky but not slow or weak so he never really takes himself out of any matchup. love watching him play. not familiar with znain but the 2-0 in r1 probably shouldnt be dismissed. potential to be interesting for sure
BW2 OU: Posho 60-40 ZoroDark really hard to go against posho rn. he packs strong stuff and plays aggressively but never stupidly with incredible confidence. both players never bring trash though so at least its likely we dont see a lopsided matchup from team preview
DPP OU: NightFox 70-30 Void nightfox is a terror. he rolls up w his favorite teams (which are rather creative, in the good way, and solid) and goes nuts. something something real dpp spirit. knows the tier as well as anyone, not afraid to be out there both team- and play-wise, and has been looking terrific lately. void is good but he'll have to play extremely well to make up for the deficit he'll have if he continues his habit of recycling others' teams.
ADV OU: .Mx 60-40 We Three Kings w3k is quite good but has a tendency to use psuedo-junk in advance. mx uses strong teams of all sorts and is a superb player. he's one of my favorite guys to see packing a cb salamence. hope to see it double edge the shit out of a milotic and get a wish from jirachi or blissey later
GSC OU: Vileman 35-65 choolio - whose vilemans is this seems decent but still kind of a beginner to the tier, at least in comparison to his competition (machamp boom and such). choolio knows it inside and out so I give him an edge, especially because he will probably be able to effectively wield a surprise to catch vile off guard
ORAS OU: Reymedy 70-30 Meru would be better in bw, probs. man taking mounts out of oras is criminal. he is such a natural, it is amazing to watch him effortlessly breeze through people. similarly, reymedy is a born-and-raised bwer who knows it like the back of his hand and comes up with new, effective ways to tackle the tier in ways that make me jealous. so, seeing them out of their elements gives west an advantage. of course I'm just armchairing here and I'm sure france knows a lot I don't but this is my spectator bias. reymedy is definitely good at oras though, although his records are less than stellar, and brings that creative touch with him. he's got a lot of personality to his teams. he has the edge here though because I was unaware meru had ever played oras ou in his life. he also didnt have a terrific r1 showing. not sure itll carry over to the games that really matter but regardless I take the frontman of massacra for a w
BW2 OU: McMeghan 50-50 dice I know classic III winner quintin is eager to get mcm back for the spl game with a win he can say "ggbl" at the end of. we're sure to see neat techs abound in this bout. hard to tell because a lot depends on how each player is feeling, thus the cant choose 50-50, so rather than speculate those intangibles I'll just say I hope to see two solid weatherless/sand teams (with mienshao, mamoswine, maybe tr reuniclus and no rotom!) clashing in a bout showing the beauty of bw, and no stupid exca shit. one hoping to not throw violent fits of anger would be well-advised to stay away from all communication mediums (smogtours/discord) that would discuss the game as its likely to be revoltingly obnoxious criticism of what one player (knowing our lovely community, probably dice) brought/did
DPP OU: boudouche 45-55 Philip7086 should be a pleasure to watch, itll be a tight game between two of the more creative offense players in the metagame. phil can occasionally throw some (semi)stall in the mix and douche can too but overall I expect to see two ass kicker squadrons. I also think both players will be trying to catch each other with a predict early on in and throughout the game so it will be solid viewing both team and play wise. the odds of a gengar in this battle are pretty good, cant wait to see it bust some shit up. of course I wouldnt mind seeing a more slow-paced game from these two at all but I feel they are most in their element when the battle is fast
ADV OU: Ojama 45-55 undisputed 3 known skarm teams from ojama in r1 was quite a departure from his usual style although I got the feeling it was trying to prove a point (about skarms brokenness (?)) or something. anyway I'm sure we'll be back to the usual here. undisputed will bring something solid, thats no doubt. hopefully some powerful bulky offense so we can see some True Advance Back-and-Forth. I'm sure there will be your standard, say... aero vs zap + meta for example stuff no matter what so I think the player that can effectively think ahead far enough to avoid the battle hinging on such so-called guessing would have a significant advantage and that would be a better route rather than trying to get in the other guy's head in those scenarios
GSC OU: k3nan 55-45 Lavos weapon being unleashed. this guy is lowkey very, very good. lavos goes wildly up and down like a bucking bronco so hes really gotta get it under control. more than capable of course. think k3nans gonna show his stuff on the big stage though
ORAS OU: Specterito 40-60 reiku havent seen much from specterito in a while but he brought a good team (nidoking + weavile? nice) and won in r1 so I doubt he tries to phone it in and try to coast with some old stuff destroyed by mega gardevoir. however reiku is one of the best orasers and brings a variety of stuff so hard to go against him. the possibility of a blowout is there but I do have hopes for a good battle and think it will be one.
BW2 OU: Asuya 40-60 SoulWind insert unfunny stupid joke about timer/dc/ghosting/raging. sw's always a threat when wielding his trademark sand bulky offense (or more recently excadrill rain). asuya did not bring great teams in r1 and I think thats all that really holds him back. if he isnt shooting for matchup then he can hold his own against most any player. if he brings something overall strong and doesnt try to do too much he could pull an upset. hoping for a good one
DPP OU: Honor 60-40 Colchonero honor is like nightfox (who also went 3-0, man I'd love to see these two play). plays his own game, brings his own teams he likes and is practiced with that handle the meta instead of countering one player, knows the meta front to back. true blue dpper. colch is looking a lot happier these days now that he gets to play dp and he sure isnt afraid to bring some wacky stuff. he makes the surprise work for sure. that said I think the real abr is too locked in
ADV OU: Coffe 35-65 M Dragon coffe has the bad habit of bringing teams that dont do a ton of damage outside of 1-2 pokes max if even that and you dont want to do that in 9/10 games let alone against someone really good like mdrag. this could be interesting and I'd give him significantly higher odds if he manages to switch it up because he is very good at playing and although itd be unexpected he could pull an upset. however hard to pick against mdrags solid teams
GSC OU: Veni Vidi Vici vs. FAFUS fafus is a solid player, gonna chalk that no-normal-resist thing vs beds as a minor hiccup. not sure on the 2nd livio's gscing although I think he's played it in wcop before so I'm sure his twin is also practiced