Squirtle Squad (6) vs The Remoraiders (2)
SM: OP vs TheFenderStory - I don't think its an unpopular opinion to say that OP is the single hottest LCer right now. He's in the finals of seasonal. He's 4-0 in LCPL. He's incredibly attractive. If Fender pull of this upset without lucking the shit out of OP I will be absolutely stunned.
SM: Rodriblutar vs Disjunction - Love Rodri. In this matchup he is just flat out the better player and with his support he shouldn't have too much of a problem wrapping this game up.
SM: Jox vs lighthouses - Jox consistently struggles in the late game and has shown he is prone to choking games away. I really want to believe in him here, and I'm still going to side with him, but I will not be even remotely surprised if I see lighthouses drop a win post this week.
SM: majaspic22 vs Fille - Majas is great. He's the best. I don't think that Fille's Z-Move bullshit will be able to overcome that Majas is straight up going to misplay less and will likely walk away with this game.
SM: Dundies vs Osh - This is my most anticipated match of the week. Two 4-0 SM players going head-to-head, one of which has been around for awhile now and continues to preform at a fantastic level, and another who is a newer up-and-comer looking to solidify himself as one of the best new players in the community. I chose Dundies because of experience, but I will not be surprised if Osh wins. Both are preforming very will this tournament so far and are looking to go 5-0. Should be a great one, don't fuck it up.
XY: GOAO vs Holiday - Anyone that Tazz approves of this much must be a goddamn Pokemon genius. Tahu has shown signs of brilliance in the past, but after his loss to Blara I'm going to have to go with Cheek.
BW: Serene Grace vs Kaori - How is Serene 4-0 in BW. When I first looked at OP's team the BW slot was what I assumed would be the biggest hole in their roster, but as the season goes on it continues to be one of their biggest strengths and I don't believe Kaori will be the end of that.
DPP: Eseque vs infamy - Maybe I just have way less faith in Eseque than I should, but I think that Inf is far less scared to deviate from the linear style of play that DPP encourages and make a play that will win him the game than Eseque is, so I'm going to hand this to him.
Frankly, I think the Raiders are done for. They just don't have the raw talent to keep up with the teams that are playoff bound. Predicting them to get clean swept in SM might be a bit much, but I think the point has been made that they are clearly outclassed here and don't have a real shot at playoffs the way things stand. Squirtles on the other hand are making their competition look silly and are cruising to a #2 seed in playoffs right now. With 6 points already and three more weeks left, they're practically locked up for playoffs.
Ducklett Dynasty (3) vs Pakistani Piplups (5)
SM: jake vs Ninjadog13 - Zeb is still looking good after his loss to Dundies last week, and just because Ninjadog got a win doesn't mean he's ready for what he's about to face. Zeb has a clearly better record and far more experience, but I think it'll be a solid game.
SM: Eternal Spirit vs Finchinator - Finch is a sturdy bastard. I don't know much about either player apart from their record and that Finch is prone to getting fairly unlucky, but I think he'll barely edge it out. Just like the above game, should be a pretty good one.
SM: Kink vs Simbo - This on the other hand will be a ugly one. I don't think this will be close frankly, I think Simbo is going to win pretty decisively. Make me proud.
SM: Tricking vs BurntZebra - This kid has been popping the fuck off this tournament. He has been racking up solid win after solid win and I think after this week he'll be 4-1. I'm not trying to dismiss Tricking though, that boy can play, but I'm not sure if he's back into the swing of things yet.
SM: Kushalos vs soulgazer - I don't think I'm giving soulgazer the respect he deserves. If he wins this week I'll have to reevaluate my thinking. Kushalos has faced the most ridiculous level of competition this tournament so far this tour (Osh, ZoroDark, Shrug, Majas) and gone 2-2, so he's doing pretty well for himself. The edge goes to Kushalos, but soulgazer proved me wrong last week and he could do it again.
XY: blarajan vs teal6 - Sorry I ever doubted you. I had to back my boy Zeril no matter what, ya know. You're getting the nod this week though, partially because you're the back-to-back champ, and partially because your opposition is Blarajan.
BW: fran17 vs Corporal Levi - Should be a good BW game. Both players have been doing well so far. Not too much to say, just have to side with Levi until he falters.
DPP: Heysup vs shiloh - Heysup is 1-3 this LCPL. Nutty. Heysup should win this, but with starpeasant in the shadows anything can happen.
I'm worried for the Ducks. I talked them up big time last week, but now their playoff hopes are looking tougher than ever to achieve. If they were to lose this week they would need to have a huge last two weeks to make the push for a playoff spot, and after they got annihilated by the Squirtles last week I'm really doubting if they are playoff material. On the other side of the spectrum, the Piplups are the definition of playoff material. With a 4-0-0 team record and only a single player on their roster with a record below .500 (sorry Ninjadog) they are looking borderline unstoppable at the moment.
Stuntin' Stunkys (8) vs Snivy Subterfuge (0)
SM: talkingtree vs London13 - Weird matchup to predict, but I'm going to side with the player that has a win and that didn't lose to Bushtush.
SM: ZoroDark vs Gummy - Gummy has the 100-0 matchup in heart. Do it for me.
SM: Plas vs Seo. - Seo's only win was against a Sandile and Plas is probably the best SM player on his team right now. Rough draw for Seo.
SM: fatty vs ItzViper482 - I really want to give this to Viper. But I fucking can't. He's the best player on the team and he's yet to secure a single win. I personally hope he wins this one, but I can't choose him over Fatty in good conscience, even despite Fatty's own playing issues so far.
SM: tcr vs DBW - TCR hasn't really been showing up this tour, but he's quite a bit better that DBW is. I legitimately think the timer might be a bigger threat to TCR than DBW is. Turn that shit on right away my guy.
XY: zeriloa vs Merritt - He's a fucking behemoth. You can't halt the single most talented Pokemon player to ever touch the game. I've never seen a player with less chance to emerge victorious in a game than Merritty is here. Fuck, I'm so sorry. This is going to be embarrassing. I'd ask for a sub.
BW: pinktidal vs Kaboom - He's lucky and he's on a tear. Hard to argue against. I love the guy from what I know about him and I'm glad he's making a name for himself. KM is going to get washed away by the pink tide.
DPP: Nails vs rssp1 - I love you Rssp, but Nails is a better player in general, has more knowledge, and might just be the best DPP LCer out there besides Passion. Clear pick.
It might be a little tasteless to predict the 8-0, but there's actually no games here that I would favor the Snivys in. I don't think the week will actually end up 8-0, because some Stunky will play bad or a Snivy will play well or get lucky, but the total skill difference is so massive that I can't actually favor any Snivy in good conscience. Anyway, this kind of week is exactly what the Stunkys need. Its might seem as if the Stunkys have fallen off, but they get to play the bottom two teams in their last three weeks. If they secure wins in both weeks and then somehow luck a tie out of their week against the Bunnys they could still squeak their way into playoffs. The Stunkys are down, but not out.
