Storming the Brackets

[Cajsa Storm]

Hallo!

Welcome to Storming the Brackets with your host, me! Cajsa Storm!

In the past there have been many previews and reviews of matches for Duel Madness, and this will also be one of them! But it will also be unlike any others, because I don't even know what I'm doing to from week to week! All I know is that I'm going to talk about the tournament in some way!

For this week, I will be offering my predictions... but not in the sense of who I think is better at dueling, no. I don't want to suffer like my good friend Conner did when his predictions went all topsy turvy! No, instead, I'm just going to look at the matchups and pick a winner based upon whatever I feel like. So let us begin!

Salvador Delahada vs. Stitch:

Sal wins this because he has a fun name to say aloud. Especially when you draw it out. Saaalvadoooor Deeeelaaahaaadaaaaa. Stitch is something you do, not something you are!

Szuzak Mos vs. Kheldar Drasinia:

BINGO! Or is there a word that you shout when you have just about every letter in the alphabet in two names? And one name has two 'z's in it! Szuzak is a sound you make when you give someone a shock. And while the name Kheldar is fun to say in a deep voice, my voice is not deep, so Szuzak gets the win because shocking people is fun to do.

Runt vs. Haru Jeong:

Runt has the ironic name, like a big guy named Tiny. Those always crack me up. To the best of my knowledge, Haru's name is not ironic, but I'm willing to be corrected if I'm wrong.

Matt Simon vs. Skunk the Great:

I've been made aware that Skunk is not an actual dueling skunk. But I will not stop until I see a skunk with a sword, and for giving me this idea, Skunk wins. Hopefully Matt doesn't try to punch me for not picking him, but I'm pretty sure I can outrun him, so I feel safe.

Xanth Van Bokken vs. Anya de la Rose:

Xanth is scary, but in a way that you enjoy, like a spooky movie! Anya is scary, but in a way that's more like, actual real scary. Xanth wins!

Bellamy Deuxchanson vs. Anubis Karos:

Bellamy has a fun name, plus he's not Anubis. So that's an easy pick!

Neo Eternity vs. Nayun Takamine:

Neo can be rearranged to mean one, and then you have One Eternity. Which when you start thinking about it, is there only one, or is even eternity a real thing? Are there other universes with other eternities? Can an eternity end? How long does an eternity last? This is too much thinking for me, so I'll go with Nayun because there's Nayun better! How's that catchphrase? Does it work? I'm still workshopping it.

Eden Parker vs. Mairead Harker:

It's fun when the opponents rhyme! And when I think fun, I think Eden! I mean, I think other things first, but Eden's still on that list! Though Maggie can turn into a bear, but that's only fun for her and not people who she smacks around while being a bear.

Ettyn de la Rose vs. Uriah Shinou:

Uriah is the current talon, but I also hear he's got some fangs too! Ettyn won't back down from that, and honestly, even in looking at silly things this is a tough call for me! I'll just go with Ettyn because I didn't pick Anya earlier, and I don't want to get on the bad side of them!

Rachael Blackthorne vs. Ellie Luisante:

Rachael has cool armor and an army of kittens that talk. I mean, I'm just going to stop there. I'll always pick the woman with the talking kittens! Sorry if you do have talking kittens I'm not aware of, Ellie.

Kruger Allen vs. Conner Reid:

I worked with Conner, and I don't know if picking him is jinxing or reverse jinxing him, so I'll just go the safe route and say I'm rooting for him as a friend and hope that karma exists (not the person Karma, I know she's real) and makes up for his bad luck last year! Plus Kruger always has like a million people cheering for him.

Myria Graziano vs. Herne the Hunter:

Wouldn't it be nice if we all just said who we are and what we do upfront? His name is Herne and he loves to Hunt. But what does he hunt? Maybe if he wins, we'll get the answer to that question! What does Myria do besides just show up and win stuff? You gotta tell me these things, Myria!

Gren Blockman vs. Droet:

Look, Gren is pure and innocent and all that is right and good with the world! I'm sure Droet's an okay person, but he's no Gren. I mean, nobody is! Who else could devote so much time to making sure we save the environment? If it wasn't for Gren, I'm sure we'd all be living in a wasteland without trees! Droet needs to pick up his slack on saving the lake.

Rhiannon Brock vs. Mira Burke:

Okay, so I will do a little bit of real analysis here. Mira has come into the duels and been a force in a very short period of time. Eventually she might come back to the field and her losses even out to her wins, but right now I've got to go with the hot hand.

Amaris vs. Sheridan Driscol:

Okay, why Dris instead of Dan? Sometimes I wonder where people get nicknames from. I mean, I can't really imagine calling Dris Dan, but would I still think that way if he'd always been called Dan and not Dris? These are the thoughts that keep me up at night, people. Anyway, Amaris tends to rule tournaments and she doesn't make me think odd thoughts about names that make me lose sleep, so she wins!

Nero Zhir vs. Eregor:

If you rearrange the letters in Nero's name, you get Hornier Z. If you do the same for Eregor, you get Roger E. What does any of this mean? I don't know.

So there you have it! Thanks for stopping by! Keep an eye out for the next installment of Storming the Brackets where I might recap some matches! Or do more previews! Or make fun of Conner if his predictions all go wrong! Okay, I'll probably do that anyway, but it's just a question of what I do along with that. See you then!

[Cajsa Storm]

Now that the brackets are settled (and we even have one duel done), I wanted to take a look at the other side of things, and see who people bet on to win it all!

So the runaway favorite is none other than Ettyn de la Rose with 7 people putting it all on her to win the whole thing! Not too much of a surprise, seeing as she is a number one seed. And also not surprising is that the runner up is Sal, with 3 people having him as their champ. However! Tied with Sal is the always scary to duel Runt. So far, no surprises!

Next up, we have four duelists with two votes each: Eregor, Anubis, Mira, and Matt. Three of these duelers have proven themselves very capable over a period of time, and Mira is obviously the newcomer that's got everyone's attention with how well she's been dueling in such a short period of time. You're definitely going to get good returns on your bets if one of these duelers take it all, because while they're safer bets, they're not as safe as the top three picked to win.

Finally, we have people who have picked some truly dark horse candidates. All one one vote each, is Anya, Eden, and Rachael. You could probably talk me into picking one of these three after some time, although I think Eden and Rachael are stronger in other sports, while Anya hasn't quite elevated her game to rise above the rest of the pack. Maybe that time is now!

It's surprising that neither Maggie nor Myria were picked to win, though they did each get one person each to predict them in the finals. They were the highest seeds to not be picked to win it all. Eden was the lowest seed to be picked to win it all. And every single dueler was picked to have at least one victory, so good on everyone for looking for some upsets!

With many duels happening tonight, it won't be long before we see who busts some brackets! Good luck everyone, and I hope your kneecaps remain intact!