Board 8 > Toughest R1 match to call?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I probably missed some, but this was a selection of 10 that looked close-ish running down the bracket.

For me the top two are Kefka/L-Block and Tidus/DK, in the first match it's because they are both so unpredictable, and the second because they are both predictable for all the wrong reasons. But there are definitely other coin-flips.
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Could easily go either way
Kefka vs L-Block
Tidus vs DK
Zidane vs Knuckles

Kinda hard but not really
Sully vs Aya
Garrus vs Ramza
Jill vs Fox
Hayabusa vs Simon

I think it's pretty obvious
Phoenix vs Chris
Metal Sonic vs The Boss

Not even a contest
Shepard vs K. Rool
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Kefka/L-Block, then Tidus/DK
Right now I have L-Block and DK, DK will probably stick but god Kefka/L-Block is nutty

I feel confidence-ish in the others
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Nathan Drake vs. Tails for me.

And yes I picked Tails to win.

Aqua vs Quiet is the one I'm least sure of at the moment. Waluigi vs Aerith is the one that scares me the most.
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PrestonStarry2 posted...

Nathan Drake vs. Tails for me.

And yes I picked Tails to win.

There goes bracket
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TheArkOfTurus posted...

Waluigi vs Aerith is the one that scares me the most.

Although Kefka/L-Block is pretty weird too.
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Kefka/L-Block and Aloy/D.Va
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Shonen_Bat posted...

Kefka/L-Block and Aloy/D.Va

These

My lower bracket and losers bracket is garbage
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I figured D.Va would win fairly easily, Horizon sort of came and went while Overwatch still has some sustained popularity and recognizably.
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Kinda thought Velvet/James, and now that nobody is mentioning it I'm worried about which one everyone is considering the obvious winner...
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Velvet/James is tougher to me than most of these poll options, yeah. that divison has 4 tough matches and only one made it on this poll.
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Kefka/L-Block because Kefka. Do we really need another reason?
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LapisLazuli posted...

Kinda thought Velvet/James, and now that nobody is mentioning it I'm worried about which one everyone is considering the obvious winner...

I think that's more that there are a lot of debatable matches than that that match is easy. (although there are a couple in the poll that don't strike me as belonging there)

Admittedly I didn't hesitate much before picking Velvet, but that could easily go the other way.
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I picked Garrus vs. Ramza but my reasoning for Kefka > L-Block is that Kefka is easily the most unpredictable character in the contest and he has a really bad habit of pulling upsets out of nowhere. I think we're gonna see more of the same from him.
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bryans7 posted...

I figured D.Va would win fairly easily, Horizon sort of came and went while Overwatch still has some sustained popularity and recognizably.

It's GameFAQs though and Horizon is way more of a GameFAQsy game.

I'm also taking D.Va but it could be one of those "GTA vs. Golden Sun" situations and not surprise me at all.
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Kefka/L-Block cause its a ton of marbles being cast for future rounds
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Kenri posted...

It's GameFAQs though and Horizon is way more of a GameFAQsy game.

I don't think it'll matter. Overwatch is vastly more popular than Horizon and it has Blizzard's name.
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I don't think Horizon has any strength. Even last year it was basically forgotten come December.
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Kefka/L-Block is easily the toughest round 1 match to call because it's potentially worth the most.

Some of these matches aren't hard.
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LapisLazuli posted...

Kinda thought Velvet/James, and now that nobody is mentioning it I'm worried about which one everyone is considering the obvious winner...

Velvet/James is so hard because neither one should be in round 2. I want to pick them both to lose somehow. They're both like bottom 10 characters in the bracket.
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Tidus/DK and Zidane/Knuckles are annoying. Moreso the latter.
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Shadow the Hedgehog/Ness is nagging too.
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ffmasterjose posted...

Shadow the Hedgehog/Ness is nagging too.

I thought so at first but Ness seems like the pretty easy pick there. Shadow hasn't done anything impressive since 2004, and Ness usually performs pretty well for a low midcarder. Plus, Smash hype. And you know Ness gets a TON of his popularity from Smash fans who have never touched Earthbound.
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Also Earthbound actually got released on the Wii U Virtual Console
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Underleveled posted...

Shadow hasn't done anything impressive since 2004

and Ness hasn't done anything impressive since 2005
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NowItsAngeTime posted...

Also Earthbound actually got released on the Wii U Virtual Console

And the SNES Classic.
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There are a few that I think are tough because I expect both to be fodder, but Tidus-DK is just plain cruel because they're both known chokers and Zidane-Knuckles...I don't even know what to say about that, and that one seems especially rough because I feel like Zidane/Zero and Knuckles/Zero are far from certainties either (I currently have Zero > Knuckles in my bracket, but if I switch to Zidane > Knuckles, I'd take Zidane > Zero), but have absolutely no doubt that whichever of those three makes it to Round 3 will win there.

Kefka vs. L-Block isn't a concern for me. L-Block's really in these things on legacy now; it's still a midcarder, but not the force it once was. Kefka looked strong last contest; I still have that listed among my "debatable matches", but I have enough confidence to list "Alucard vs. Kefka" separately on my list rather than listing all three together like I did with Zidane/Zero/Knuckles.
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