16. McMeghan VS. 4. Quaze - Despite another excellent SM performance from McMeghan, he surprisingly threw BW and let John W do what he wanted in ORAS. He should've lost that series, but even then, McMeghan will be the favorite here. Quaze was even more behind in his BW game than John W was, but somehow brought it back. It's hard to blame Quaze for staying in with Celebi, as Scarf Latios + regular Rotom-W is a reasonable guess, but his own Latios was technically free, and Celebi was incredible in the matchup, so an error nonetheless. In SM he took control early and rode a great matchup to a win. I definitely think FMG could've played better in both games, but Quaze deserved the win regardless. McMeghan will have to sharpen his gameplay to progress further, but everyone knows he's probably the best in the game when he does. I've been very impressed with his SM, and despite the throw, he's a clear favorite in BW too. Quaze has showed up with good meta picks so far, and if he continues to be smart with his team choices, he can definitely take this series if McMeghan isn't up to par, but the Belgian has reliably shown up when he goes deep in tournaments, and his recent trophy shows he's still got it, even if this isn't the best format for him. Regardless of who wins though, they won't be favored...
2. ABR VS. 3. SoulWind - ...against either of these two, the most prominent tour players for the last three years or so. Both players have been very convincing on their route so far. ABR kept his cool when Lopunny Kicks got a pretty large advantage in ORAS after a timely crit, and outplayed his way to a win, while controlling SM despite what seemed like a close endgame. SoulWind had a drop a game, but played extremely well in the other two against Pohjis. When going head-to-head, ABR is favored in the two most recent tiers, while SoulWind has BW. I don't think the advantages are very big, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if all three games went the opposite way. I think ABR has the info advantage as well, not having to play BW so far and reveal whatever metagame pick he has in store this time around. SoulWind has also started reusing previous playoff builds, meaning ABR could take note and open the history books if he wants to. I think ABR has been let off the hook too easy so far, as he's been allowed to run his typical builds without repercussions, but SoulWind won't allow that. I hope and believe the winner of this series win the entire tournament, as they're more deserving of their first tour trophy than McMeghan is of his second, and while SoulWind with a trophy is what the spectators on Smogon wish for the most, I've previously predicted that ABR ends Gen8 as the most accomplished player on the site (so something like 4 individual trophies), and I believe he grabs his second here.