1) Most impressive character so far?

Zack. As a black-haired Cloud we obviously knew he had strong potential, but the guy had everything against him in that first match- Final Fantasy LFF to hold him back, a lone Brawl character there to be a lightning rod for Nintendo, and yet he not only won but did so easily. That result looks even better now, since Wario was somehow able to defeat Captain Falcon last season even though we now realize that he's actually got some okay strength.

Second place to Altair, who totally blew me away by taking that match so easily. But the competition was weaker and he had no one involved to hold him back, so Zack's performance was still the more impressive of the two. I do want to say though that if what Falcon had shown us at the start of today's match had been legitimate, he'd have been my choice for this answer and it wouldn't have even been close. As is he still wows me enough to earn a mention, because dang, imagine where he might be if not for Diddy holding him down a little.

2) Your biggest deception so far?

Got to be Lucario, no question. He's got Brawl, he's the face of a Pokemon generation that has done huge sales, both SSB and Pokemon have been proven to be money in this format... and yet he's barely stronger than Isaac? Offhand I can't think of any greater disappointment from a newcomer character.

3) Anything can stop L this year?

Factor in The Dog and it's pretty clear that L's already head and heels above Ryu and Crono. Now, give him Link in a match TOMORROW without someone else Nintendo, and he could be beaten, but I get the sense that he's going to roll on and absorb strength like he did last year so that by the time he gets to Link and Cloud it will be another win. So realistically, I can only see him getting knocked out of this bracket by Sandbag or WCC getting into a match and splitting enough of the joke with him to allow the two strong legit characters to get by. And that's pretty sad to consider.

4) Do you think L could actually hold his own next year in a 1on1 setting?

If by hold his own you mean perform well enough to knock out fodder, then yeah, probably. Put him up against someone with a dedicated fanbase but little to no appeal to the casual voter (like an Alucard maybe), and I could see enough of the disinterested voters hoping on the joke to allow him to sneak by. But put him against anyone with decent strength and also the ability to draw casual votes (Ryu's a good example) and he would be crushed under the weight of the anti-votes.

Imagine how enjoyable it will be to see 20,000 casual brackets go up in flames all at once... All the more reason to push for a return to 1v1 next Summer.

5) Mandatory Oracle question: Easier or tougher than last year to predict?

Eh, I guess I would say easier, just because I have actually stats taken from this format last year to work with when making my estimations. That is, I WOULD say easier, except for how badly Division One and now Division Four have owned us- for the moment that swings my vote far enough to vote harder.

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