SV Bo7: ratpacker (2-0) vs chessguru101 (0-2) vs Helga146 (1-1): these are 3 people i was not expecting to see in bo7 and i think that's probably because of the combo of bo7 being brand new to 2v2 teamtours and the top players focusing on oldgens, either because they shine there or because they're the only players who are willing to build/play there. regardless, i've heard only good things about ratpacker's doubles skill and i think 2v2 is a tier easily picked up by dou/vgc players as they're already adept at the picking and 50/50s that define 2v2s skill ceiling, so a strong doubles player almost always equals a strong 2v2 player. on top of that, the competition here is less than i was expecting. i was initially a fan of the chessguru pickup, i think ladder goons are always a good buy and almost always come with high activity and independence, but i was expecting to see this guy down in sv4, not in the "ultra-competitive" pool. likewise, i think helga is a good ss player but i'm not sure what, if any, sv experience he has and while i do think he has the fundamental skills to pull a win off (vs an admittedly inexperienced player) i dont think he has the team support to match ratpacker, although i would call that game the one with the most potential for an upset in this pool.
SV Bo5 1: martinvtran (1-1) vs Scholar (1-1) vs cleffa hater (1-1): of this pool, the only thing that stands out to me is that none of these players stand out. i think record-wise martin is the strongest here but i'm kind of surprised to see him in sv instead of any of the oldgens, where i've seen him perform the best. both scholar and cleffa hater i think have not ever played a team tour, with most of their experience coming from indivs where i don't think either of them had a particularly stellar performance, and as far as mons in general is concerned i'm pretty sure they're on even footing. realistically everyone in this pool has an equal chance to beat eachother so they're most likely to end up 1-1 across the board.
SV Bo5 2: Mubs (2-0) vs Krytocon (1-1) vs RobDog747 (0-2): another pool where i'm confused by slotting, why is kry here and not in ss or bw? unless he's been on an sv ladder training arc i'm like 90% he's a better slot in those tiers. of this pool i would easily rate mubs the best player, but he has a history of inconsistency, i've played in tours where he's gone 0-5 and tours where he's gone 5-0. i choose to believe this will be a 5-0 tour for him seeing as how he's drafted, imo, the strongest team. robdog is a player i'm not super big on just because i don't think i've ever seen him play, or if i have it didn't seem to be worth remembering. morgan is a big fan of him though so who knows, she has a good history of scouting players.
SV Bo5 3: bored_glitch (2-0) vs eu (0-2) vs Frixel (1-1): i'm a huge glitched fan, and i think he's a big part of why mubs' draft is so strong. this guy has insane activity and is going to be responsible for at least half of the sv building and development in that cord by himself, and while i think he's far and away a stronger builder than player, his pool is not exactly threatening. eu is another player i don't think i've ever seen play 2v2 but i honestly don't know if they play any other doubles meta, they could be a hidden gem. as far as i'm aware they're not a great 1v1 player either, so they get the 0-2 just for lack of experience. i know almost nothing about frixel other than that they do play doubles i think. honestly the eu frixel game could go either way but for the sake of not putting .5's in predicts like a loser they get the win.
SS: Adam3560 (1-1) vs Arcanine1929 (0-2) vs Memoric (2-0): i like adam as a player and as a former teammate i know he's more than capable of pulling upsets vs more experience opponents, but i don't really like his style of building. he's definitely likely to have changed since like over a year ago on porys but i think he's also extremely liable to bring quirky unsets and get punished for it, especially because he was drafted with glitched and dedd. memoric, as far as i know, is a very good doubles player and he has the best combination of skill and support in this pool easily. while i'm not sure what chris knows about sm i do know he's a very good ss player and him and helga combined can easily whip up solid teams for this guy to pilot. arcanine1929 is a randomly generated xbox gamertag from an alternate reality where pokemon are real. who is this guy?? i have never seen or heard of them before and their quite frankly impressive 1:1 message to react score ratio indicates to me that nobody else knows who this is either. all that said, they were still a better pickup than tom numbers.
SM: SaDiSTiCNarwhal (0-2) vs Morgan (2-0) vs Chris32156 (1-1): this pool is 3 players i was not expecting to see in sm but am also not overly surprised to see in sm. i've heard that sadisticnarwhal was an sm player from before my time, but that they were not particularly stellar either, and if i know anything about old sm2v2 teams it's that they all suck. this guy has to rely on PA mubs and martin to support him and of those 3 i honestly only trust martin to not just give him the 187 fan p2 sample. morgan i think of these 3 has the most fundamental 2v2 skill and experience (probably comes with being tl), especially in sm, which i've never seen chris play. although she's likely to choke a game with some dogshit like electabuzz, as long as yuki and kry can reign her building in i think she takes this without much issue.
ORAS: PA (0-2) vs yuki (2-0) vs a fruitshop owner (1-1): for 50.5k yuki better 2-0 this pool, because losing here sets an extremely dire tone for the rest of mule's season. i like fruitshop as a player and iirc they had a not unimpressive run in oras cup, although competition there tends to be lacking, but i'm at least confident they will have no trouble with PA. i was expecting to see him and mubs swapped, but since he's here i have to say he's washed. i don't think he's seriously touched the tier in years and while oldgen 2v2 metagame development doesn't happen at the speed of light, after a while of not playing you do start lose your touch. i think just simply put the other 2 are stronger builders and, at the absolute minimum in fruitshops case, equal players.
BW: London13 (1-1) vs Leru (1-1) vs Ninja (1-1): london(busy and has no teams) vs leru(never played 2v2 or any doubles afaik) vs ninja(i dont know who this is other than a doubles player). i think of these 3 the most likely to pull out with a 2-0 is london based on sheer skill and experience but he has admitted to not being super motivated and also not wanting to build anything. leru has, to my knowledge, not seriously participated in any doubles meta, though i could be totally wrong. his teams here are going to be whatever yuki and kry can whip up on top of them building their own slots and three quarters of sv, which likely means just old teams. despite all that leru is still an extremely strong clicker so i'd be surprised if he doesn't come out of this with at least 1 win. ninja is a mystery to me because while i'm pretty sure they play some doubles meta i don't know if it's bw and i don't know how good they are at clicking buttons and i don't know who on chris' team is supposed to be feeding them. my best guess is that chris is going to try and learn the tier or at least slap together 4 brokens for them or that rtm is going to beg zio for teams or just leak the ones he already has. either way i think the high amount of variability in this pool plays to the benefit of the inexperienced so ninja will pick up 1 win somewhere.
Igglybuff Division
Rayquaza Division
