Skitty Committee (5) vs Pugnacious Phanpys (1)
SM: SpaceWorm vs vooper (55/45) This would be a bit more favored for spaceworm if his activity was more known but for now I think this is slightly in his favor
SM: Fille vs Finchinator (55/45) Fille will bring some weird shit that will surprise Finch
SM: Jox vs czim (55/45) This is probably the hardest matchup for me to predict because Jox's rust and Czim's support are major factors that aren't so predictable. I think that if both roll up with equally good teams it should be about even but I think that phanpys have major team support issues that might prevent that. Czims luck is really amazing though so he might pull through.
SM: Chill Shadow vs Simbo (60/40) CS big fan
SM: LilyAC vs TDK (55/45) Again I think that given equally good teams it might be even (in TDK's favor, possibly) but the skittys have much better team support
ORAS: pinktidal vs tahu (50/50) This is probably a bit controversial but I think that if Tahu can bring a solid team and not choke this should be even. Pink doesn't really have anyone on his team that knows enough about oras to stop him from bringing weird shit so if he has a teambuilding error that isn't caught he might be out of luck. Tahu knows enough about the ORAS meta to not need this support, imo.
BW: neomon vs tko (65/35) I'm pretty sure tko has access to dcae teams
DPP: Nails vs fitzy72 (50/50) obligatory coinflip
Spaceworm and Jox are wildcards but if they can live up to their former results this tour will be great for the Skittys. The Phanpys have a rather weak lineup comparatively that will have a very difficult time in SM, but if they can exploit the Skittys lack of old gens support in BW and ORAS they might have a chance if one of their SMs can pull off an upset.
Shambled Shellos (1) vs Greed Up Geodudes (6)
SM: Shrug vs Kingler12345 (55/45) I think shrug is taking this tour super seriously and should be a difficult opponent but at the same time Kingler's MU fishing skills and in game luck are immaculate so you never know.
SM: fatty vs Star (60/40) big fan
SM: Plas vs Eternal Spirit (55/45) I think that ES with star support should have a slight advantage over Plas
SM: taranteeeno vs teal6 (70/30) Same story as above, but a bit more pronounced
SM: EternalSnowman vs Rodriblutar (65/35) See: above
ORAS: trace vs -Tsunami- (55/45) See: above
BW: KingKdot vs HSA (60/40) See: above
DPP: HSOWA vs TonyFlygon (50/50) Coinflip
Not gonna lie I think the shelloses will need a miracle to pull this one off, not surprising for what I think is the strongest team. If the shellos's stars don't falter they might have a chance this tour, though.
Taillow Swifts (5) vs Tactical Totodiles (3)
SM: Gareth Adamson vs Megazard (60/40) Who?
SM: Serene Grace vs Wabane (60/40) Serene is unstoppable
SM: ict vs BurntZebra (55/45) zebra has been on a roll lately but ict with ninja support is far from anything to scoff at
SM: Xiri vs TheRam (55/45) don't know much about either of these players
SM: Ninjadog13 vs Mikaav (65/35) Ninja big fan
ORAS: Heysup vs Fiend (75/25) Heysup is so good
BW: EviGaro vs FLCL (65/35) FLCL is so good
DPP: Alkione vs rozes (50/50) I do think that the strength of the tailow's DPP is worth mentioning though, alkione+Heysup is definitely among the strongest DPP support and battling teams.
The swifts have 6 very strong slots but if any of them start faltering I think they might be fucked as they don't have much in terms of subs. The totodiles aren't looking good coming into this tour, they need FLCL and zebra to do incredibly to have any chance of making playoffs.
Seeing these lineups my personal rankings would be
1. Greed up Geodudes
2. 70% Ban Rate Wingulls
(Gap)
3. Skitty Committee
4. Tailow Swifts
5. Shambled Shellos
(Gap)
6. Pugnacious Phanpys
7. Tactical Totodiles
The first two are teams that I would be surprised to see in the bottom 4 come week 7, while the next 3 with the addition of my own team will be battling it out for the remaining 2 spots. The bottom two have a lot to prove, but I don't think the gap between them and the rest is anywhere near the gap between the bottom and top teams in past LCPLs.