LogFAQs > #983485264

As stunning as the result was, it was relatively clear what had caused it, even if the scale of Maguss 03 overperformance was hard to grasp. Thanks to all the Magus/Squall debate, we knew that there was a chance Magus had been overrated, but we had no clue that it had been by this much. Even though the Link/Magus result didnt have a very good explanation behind it, we understood that flukes can happen, and that there is a degree of year to year variability when it comes to X-Stats results. What happened in this match however, was far beyond some annual volatility, and called into question how we were predicting matches in the first place. The match wasnt necessarily a serious blow to the infallibility of the X-Stats, since after all the Magus is overrated argument itself had relied on that kind of extrapolation of results, but it certainly called into question how much confidence we should all be placing in our received expertise. The match had been an upset among overall bracketmakers as well, but not a unanimous one. 35% of the site had correctly predicted Knuckles to win. Once the shock of it wore off, the boards reaction shifted more towards embarrassment. How could we not have seen this coming?

The aftermath among users would be nothing of course when compared to the aftermath that hit Magus himself. He had been exposed as a fraud in the most dramatic way possible, his reputation destroyed instantaneously. Magus was not just a bracket favorite, but a personal favorite for the board as well, having been voted as the Boards favorite VG character for the second time in a row only a month before this match took place, and that intensified the reaction all the more. When all was said and done, his strength this year probably wasnt even *that* far off from where we had thought it should be, but Maguss role as *The* Noble Nine Breaker in the boards imaginary, along with the affection the board held for him, was so strong that even this mild drop seemed precipitous. And while Magus might have still looked strong in 05, first round loss aside, the same could not be said for him in subsequent years, as in contest after contest he would lose and be upset in increasingly embarrassing ways. A character who was once thought to be capable of beating Snake, by 2013, had people doubting whether or not he could beat Otacon. Never has a character fallen so far in our estimation, and it all started with this match.