Now that we have the tiers list I'm gonna write some predictions, but first just an insane appreciation for how stacked this top 8 is: BW Cup winner, XY Cup winner, last year's classic winner, both tier leaders, former SCL winner, winning DPL manager... and some random VGC player. These games are sure to be bangers and I have all the respect in the world for everyone remaining, GLHF.
Z Strats (BW, SS) vs Mishimono (SM)
I'm predicting Mishi to take SM against 1 seed Z Strats in game one on a very thin margin. Neither player went super far in this year's cup but Mishi has a way more impressive win over Frania last round. I also expect Mishi to roll up to the game with something a bit more interesting than MetaFini or Rain which I'd imagine Ray is heavily considering (or maybe I'm jinxing it, oopsie). I understand the BW counterpick, I assume Mishi would've preferred XY but hard to pick that against the person that did just win XY Cup (though Ray not opting to pick it either definitely shows respect for Mishi's proficiency), or maybe no tiers were submitted and Ray just picked all three, shrug. Anyway it's quite obvious that BW is a tier where a lot of things can happen, but I think Z Strats will bring a very principled offense and make minimal mistakes, so barring some Yellow Magic shenanigans I take him over Mishi in a match where I expect some goodstuffsy mirrors. I had to think about the SS game but I do think I concede it to Z Strats, obviously Mishi has a very impressive history in SS and made semis of Cup, but Z Strats has a wide array of impressive teams for the modern meta and is probably the scariest SS player to have never won an individual during the tiers lifespan. gmuf.
JRL (BW, XY) vs. Yoda2798 (SM)
First of all it's a huge disappointment to not see an SS game between these two wtf??? JRL in BW is probably the most heavily I would favor any of the 9 games I'm predicting. I think he's constantly been one step ahead of the meta with his team choices throughout BW Cup and dominated that tournament. Yoda's best chance is probably to
stop asking Wob for some meat and instead ask for some teams, or click Thunder Wave a bunch... In contrast I think Yoda has solid odds to take the SM game despite going out in round 1 of Cup. Ignore that 95% of the reason I'm giving Yoda this game is because of the Emilio slayer reputation. I assume JRL is going to load something very aggressive while Yoda will prefer something more balanced and Yoda will be able to avoid JRL's attempts to pin them. XY is close but I'm going to give this to JRL. Praying to god neither player loads rain this game. I think we're probably gonna see some Genies Mega Volc from both sides unless JRL feels like unleashing the HO squad, but I probably favor JRL no matter his bring here.
Actuarily (BW) vs.
Akaru Kokuyo (SS, SM)
Just when you thought I'd be predicting the top seeds to sweep, I'm taking Akaru over the bandit. Akaru was Animus's support for last SCL and the three of us talked about the tier a lot which is where I gained a great appreciation for Akaru's grasp of SS. I think Bandit is an insanely strong SS player but his building can definitely be exploitable, though even if he gets called out in the matchup I would not be surprised to see him play his way out of it. Neither player's SM game last round looked super impressive if I'm being honest, but I thought both were cooking until some mistakes in the endgame. Gonna again go with Akaru here because I trust his larger library of teams and he's on the scoreboard already so far this playoff. I think if the set does come down to the BW game it will be Bandit though. I am predicting a match between Scrafty Rain and Skill Swap Goth + Ferro. I think if that's the matchup we get Akaru is a little favored but Bandit's play in BW has been strong enough to convince me he's got it.
