2021 Madness Live Predictions!

[Cajsa Storm]

This Saturday we will be hosting our first ever live reveal of the 2021 Madness Brackets, and we want to see how you think they should look!

We invite you to use the full participant list to create your own seeding and see how it matches up with the official brackets when they are revealed this Saturday! Each participant will receive a free case of the Silver Mark flavor of choice, and one lucky random entrant will receive two wins added to their record to possibly help give them an extra advantage when the tournament starts!

Please use the full participants list here to help you fill out your brackets below, and then bring them to the live reveal to see how your seeds came out compared to the official list!

Ilnaren Division:
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Anderson Division:
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Look out for more details about the Madness Live Reveal in the coming days!
Cajsa Storm

((OOC Disclaimer: This is designed for anyone and everyone to post their own seeds using whatever criteria they want! DoS Staff will not be using any seed predictions posted here in their own decision-making for the seeding process. This is purely for fun! Please post your seeding predictions in this thread. Thank you!))

[Capistrano]

((Cross-posted from here.))

2021 DoS Madness Seeding Predictions
By Jay Capistrano
RhyDinSportsDaily.com Dueling Columnist

The field of 32 duelists for the 2021 Dos Madness Tournament has been set, and it’s full of heavy hitters. The Overlord, all but two of the current Barons, two past winners (and the only two-time winner), and plenty of former Overlords and Barons are set to take part in this tourney. There are also plenty of budding Cinderellas just waiting for their glass slipper to be fitted -- and to break the hearts and brackets of many a Line better. As interesting as the “Challenge-tine’s day” spree has been (thanks to whoever coined that), Madness is truly the most wonderful time of the year for Swords enthusiasts.

With that in mind, and in anticipation of the first-ever live bracket reveal in the history of the Madness tournaments, I’m putting my predictions here for who will get each of the seeds, 1 through 16, along with some quick thoughts on why. Join me, Conner Reid, Tippletoe Timbers, and Cajsa Storm live in the Red Dragon Inn this Saturday, March 6 at 8 p.m. Eastern, or catch the live stream of the event on Sync, and see how right or wrong I got it. I’m guessing wrong, but you never know.

#1. Hope Naharis and Matthew Algiers Simon

This one’s easy. Hope’s the current Overlord, having successfully defended against Ria Graziano on Sunday, and Matt’s the longest tenured Baron (over a year now), who just defended Battlefield Park last night against Anubis Karos. Hope’s sitting on four defenses, Matt on six. If there was an overall number, Hope’d get it, but it’s close -- Matt did win it all back in 2015.

#2. Mairead Harker and Bailey Raptis

These are the next most senior barons. Maggie’s coming up on a year in Dragon’s Gate, and she’s managed four defenses, all but one done as a Renegade. Bailey’s held New Haven since last September, and put in two defenses, though one came with Hope interceding and beating Salvador Delahada and then Colleen Macleod to keep him there. If we were ranking these seeds, Maggie’d edge him out.

#3. Caleb Feren and Salvador Delahada

Caleb just won Old Temple from Mart Di'luna, and held Old Market from November until this January. Salvador’s been a fixture in Seaside -- absent a three month reign from Tali Zhdanova this past summer and a vacancy, he’s been it since December of 2019, and he’s racked up four defenses so far. He also won the Summer 2020 DoS All Ranks Tournament. Sal’s tops here.

#4. Rachael Blackthorne and Ettyn Gedda

Rachael’s got more wins than anyone else on the standings, and was the runner-up in the Summer 2020 DoS All Ranks Tournament, earning her a shot at the Overlord. Ettyn’s new to the rings, with only seven wins under her belt, but she’s a Baron, and she’s got a defense against Karma Armstrong, and that’s all I need to see.

#5. Myria Graziano and Ebon Ilnaren

We’re out of the Barons now, but these two almost might as well be Barons. Myria’s won this thing twice, in 2017 (as a #5 seed) and 2019, and she was the 111th Overlord. Ebon finished as a runner-up to Lilith Anderson in last year’s Madness, and he’s also held Dragon’s Gate twice. I put the Barons above these two, but they’re by no means any less difficult to face.

#6. Jaycy and Anubis Karos

I won’t bore you by listing off all the achievements of these two legendary duelists. Just go look at the histories -- their names are all over them. They’re not Barons now -- and they were both unsuccessful in their recent challenges -- but underestimate them at your own peril.

#7. Mallory Maeda and Kheldar Drasinia

Mallory’s more recent success has come in Fists and Magic, but don’t forget she was the 116th Overlord, the first Baron of Cadentia, and also held Battlefield Park at one point. Kheldar’s a Real RhyDin stalwart, but he’s held Dockside, Old Temple, and New Haven twice over the course of his illustrious dueling career.

#8 Eden Parker and Amaris Silhaeven

Eden’s another Real RhyDin fighter who’s arguably done more in Fists and Magic than Swords, but she has held Dragon’s Gate once in the past. Amaris held Battlefield Park before Matt’s reign began, and she also won the January 2021 DoS All Ranks Tournament. Some people are going to say I should rank her higher, but it’s hard for me to justify bumping any of the folks above her down given their track records.

#9. Tali Zhdanova and Karma Armstrong

Tali just recently made Warlord, but she held Seaside even before she was one, cashing in a challenge grant successfully against Salvador. Karma’s been knocking on the door of a Barony for a while -- Bailey, Matt, and most recently Ettyn all managed to defend against her, but she’s been getting closer and closer with each one.

#10. Jay Capistrano and Doran Ilnaren

I might honestly be putting myself too high here. Doran is one of many to have challenged Matt during his reign, but he made it to the Final Four of last year’s Madness before losing to the eventual tourney winner. About all I got is a runner-up in the Spring 2020 DoS All Ranks Tournament and a failed Overlord challenge.

#11. Gatito and Haru Jeong

We’ve got a pair of Warlord squires here -- when Anya de la Rose challenged Salvador for Seaside, Gatito stepped in and allowed the test to continue by beating Dockside’s Morgan Chae, before Anya made it past him and continued her challenge. Haru’s dueled and challenged all over the place (would it surprise you to hear he’s challenged Matt as well?) but hasn’t grabbed that ring just yet.

#12. Anya de la Rose and Runt

We’re out of the Warlords and into the Grand Masters now -- these two are actually the only Grand Masters currently on the standings. Anya’s been a lot more active than Runt lately -- she was the runner-up in the last DoS All Ranks Tournament, winning the Talon of Redwin and an intercession grant, which she used in an unsuccessful attempt to block Gatito from challenging Morgan Chae for Dockside. Runt’s been quiet -- which may be a good thing? -- but he was the first squire of Cadentia and the Overlord’s squire under Mallory.

#13. Morgan LaFey and Skid

These two Master at Arms are both one win from climbing up to Grand Master. Morgan was the Squire of Old Temple while Mart held that Barony, but he’s had more success in Fists and Magic. Skid’s most notable dueling accomplishment in recent memory is being the MVP for Deathcake in this year’s Iron Fists League.

#14. Dris and Luna Sanguinem

Now we hit the limits of where my tape-eating and research can go. The standings say they’re both Swordsman, but I think Dris is probably best known for calling challenges. Luna’s got a little rank in each of the sports, but I don’t got much more to give you than that. Both of them are a win away from hitting Master at Arms.

#15. Jedi and Suturi

Two very different reasons for this seedings, which strained my research even further. Suturi’s never fought an official Swords match, but she managed a win against Myria in the summer 2020 All Ranks Tournament before bowing out to Morgan Chae and Anubis. Jedi’s a former Master at Arms, but his last regulation duel was October of 2019.

#16. Ariana and Skunk the Great

Skunk is a Commoner with no wins under his belt. He faced Gren Blockman as a 16 seed in last year’s Madness tourney and was unable to pull off the ultimate upset there. Ariana isn’t even on the Swords rankings, but she has been active in Fists, picking up a win over there.

And there you have it -- my best guesses on who gets seeded where. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you think I got right, what you think I got wrong, and who you think is gonna go all the way.