Congrats to all four semifinal teams for making it this far. It has been fun watching you guys and it is clear there are many creative and skilled players remaining. Rooting mostly for Europe and I think Germany is prob. the favorite, but anyone remaining is a worthy winner.
Europe (4) vs (4) Germany
Ruft vs MichaelderBeste2 - Tough draw for Ruft, who has continued to show signs of promise. Michael is the best of the best right now and I would bold him vs virtually everyone. Cool to see two of my SCL teammates duking it out and I think Ruft may be familiar enough with Michael to tech something for the match-up, but Germany seemed prepared for whatever is in their way so far. Strong lean Michael
Eeveeto vs Achimoo - Least sure of this one, but I LOVE Eeveeto's ideas and I think the vibe for Europe so far has been that a lot of things are falling perfectly into place. I think the techs hit and we see a game-to-remember from Eeveeto.
Kushalos vs mind gaming - mind is an absolute beast. His team picks have set the metagame ahead at times in both late SS and now in SV, his gameplay is free of misplays, and his read on opposing teams is strong, giving him a lot of confidence in late game situations when things are not revealed it feels. I think he is one of the top 3 SV OU players. Kush has the profile to upset this type of opponent with his creativity from the lower tier days and his crazy reads, but I think he is just outdone by mind here.
Highv0ltag3 vs Ewin - Not too much to say, rooting for big stall of course
tlenit vs Sylveon used calm mind - I think Sylveon is a good player who is still adjusting to this type of environment. tlenit I have not seen too much in OU, but I think they are solid and good at integrating creative/risky ideas at the right time. The thing is that I think Germany is a step ahead in the metagame compared to the rest of the world, so I am not sure how much that matters here. Mostly a tossup for me and I will go with Sylveon because I trust their recent experience and tlenit's in his first game of the tournament.
Mana vs Fogbound Lake - It feels like Fogbound has won a ton of games lately across some tours and I am unfamiliar with Mana in SV. Gut still says Mana as a more proven overall player, but I think I will buy into the Fogbound hype despite having a weaker schedule thus far. 4-0 is 4-0 at the end of the day.
McMeghan vs xdRudi.exe - It has been a treat watching Roro take up CG tiers between RU in SCL and now OU for this WCOP. He has a great approach to the game and I bet he is setting the tone for Europe's success so far. Not too familiar with xdRudi.exe, but Roro was a pretty instant-bold for me here ngl.
Lily vs QWILY - Awesome run for Lily this year, who has distinguished herself in both SPL and now WCOP. Coming into the year, I'd have favored QWILY, who has had some nice runs, but Lily has done it on the biggest stage. I do think her approach can be "counterstyled" or however people want to approach it as there is a lean towards offense and Germany has been a step ahead with their structures, teras, etc. with everything from Colbur GKing to Frosmoth LMAO, so this is probably one of the closest for me. But Lily keeps finding ways to win. Should be a good one.
Hard to bet against tiebreak featuring Michael and mind gaming from there if I am being totally honest, but will be close.
Oceania (3) vs (5) Spain
damien the genius vs Malekith - Kith has been very strong lately between this and making GS POs. Dude is an absolute beast early in generations I feel like between this and some of his OST runs across the years; I think he is really good at keeping an open mind. I expect Kith to keep it up and bump up to 5-0. damien is solid, but has not stood out as much to me relatively speaking.
DugZa vs SoulWind - Better player. Good on DugZa to win in POs last round after a rough first round and I have seen them do well in a lot of formats in side tours, but SoulWind is just the stronger of the two.
etern vs reiku - Tough R1 draw pool wise for etern, but generally solid. reik tends to thrive in WCOP though; he is something crazy like 30-12 all-time and is starting over M Dragon, so there's gotta be a lot of confidence here for Spain. I buy into that myself as well.
Aberforth vs Ado - Feels like close to a must-win for Ocn in this series? Abe has been lucky-and-good, so no reason to believe against him here either. Good on Ado to start 3-0 against some good opponents, but feels hard to invest too much into a 3 game sample size when we are talking PO semifinals. Abe has a bit more experience and has done similarly well in WCOP.
March Fires vs Trosko - Both are even so far, but Trosko's hard a tough schedule. March Fires' win vs Punny goes a longgg way here, but still gotta go with Trosko, who seems to pop up here-and-there to be a regular winner. He is like +5 or +6 in WCoP and always finds a way to adapt to the current generation. March Fires is actually putting up a good resume as of late, but think I gotta side with Trosko.
ninjadog vs Garay oak - Highlight of the series aside from March/Trosko prob. Both are awesome in other formats, but I have seen Garay translate to OU more. ninjadog farmed a weak pool, but then lost last round, so curious to see if he can bounce back vs a top opponent or if he will fall.
Chloe vs Dasmer - Both 2-2, but one of Chloe's games drove me crazy with the RNG and the endgame...honestly impressed how angry that game made me as a spectator alone LMAO no offense intended. Gonna actually vibe with Chloe as I feel like Chloe's gonna pull through with some offense and stay on task
false vs Luispeikou - Luis won their first match, but I think false is a tad better? Honestly, this one is mostly a guess. Both are pretty solid, but neither stands out a ton in this overall pool. Luis has been better so far, but beating the same person twice in the same tour is pretty challenging usually.