Lurker > red sox 777

tranny, suppose one last contest were done. Normal character battle sans Link. Who do you take to win?

After this, I take Mario to win and never look back. Take out Link and we'll see a flock to the closest thing.

See, it still feels stale, even if it is less predictable than a contest with Link. About the only contest I'd actually be excited for is the 1v1 no generations game contest (and that includes fictional characters, because frankly, I don't really care which non-gaming characters GameFAQs likes).

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

I'm feeling the same way.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Ok, I've had enough of watching this trainwreck. Congrats Link, enjoy your 55% on Cloud for the first time ever. Let's go the doubling in the final, and best of luck not getting removed from the bracket.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Link/Ganondorf, most of America doesn't seem to like the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, perhaps because the major TV networks push it too aggressively.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Finally, some sanity.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Link he come to town and no finesse at all. You're playing a dangerous game, friend, you're pushing the envelope and risking removal from future contests a bit too much needlessly, IMO.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Again. Wow.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

There you have it- Link's 2nd update gain. Only half a percent though, less than it usually is.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

One Winged Angel is a great theme song.......for Link. Think about what makes Sephiroth cool and super powerful and stuff. Link is like that, in these contests, except more powerful.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Link has gone up against Cloud the 2nd update every time beginning in 2006. Maybe even 2005, can't remember.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

61% at the freeze. Wow. Link/Ganon may wind up with 55% here.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Still rising, ugh.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

60%. 2 more minutes before the freeze.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Link now rocketing up with the rest of the first update.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Vote Accepted

Link vs. Ganondorf 58.18% 32
Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth 41.82% 23
TOTAL VOTES 55

There's that FFVII super-early vote.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Okay, showtime.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Max on Cloud/Sephiroth (+8)

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

He obviously can still SFF Nintendo; but he can't pull uber ridiculous stuff like 82% on Yoshi anymore.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Trainers lost around 6-7% against Samus, so I guess they need 56-57% at the freeze to be competitive here. I like their chances of outdoing what Charizard got last year, do not like their chances of winning.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Make that:

Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth - 50.10%

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Mario vs. Bowser - 52.00%
Cloud vs. Sephiroth - 50.10%

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

China holds an enormous amount of our debt.

This does not matter. China cannot demand immediate repayment. We can continue to pay off the debt according to the terms made when the bonds were sold.

Embargo would hurt China more than the US, because their economy is more dependent on the US than ours is on theirs. Everything China exports to us we can buy from other countries, or produce in the US. The US has several things China needs: capital, business/technology know-how, and most importantly, customers. China's economic growth is built on selling cheap things to American consumers.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Good for Bale. The saddest thing in the world right now is how everyone seems to turn a blind eye to one of the most brutal and oppressive regimes in history-- Modern Red China.

Because everyone is scared, and it's in no one's economic interest to mess with them. And I wouldn't call it one of the most brutal and oppressive regimes in history. The whole thing is very subtly done. You can visit family in China for weeks and not feel any oppressive government presence. The government maintains control, but intrudes very little into people's lives so that most people don't notice.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

If you ran Cloud/Squall today, you'd get something in the mid-high 60s, not the mid-70s.

This seems likely. So yeah, if they end at 75-76% here it probably doesn't mean very much for saturday. Call it 50/50. I was hoping too much for a championship level performance here to match Link's yesterday.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

One thing in Cloud's favor is the 10% gap between Link/Yoshi in 2004 and Link/Luigi last year. That suggests that while Cloud may not be able to SFF Squall as badly as he used to in 2004, Link can't do it to Nintendo opponents either.

By the way, Cloud/Seph have been rising with the morning vote (after falling with the dead zone- we should rename it the FF8 total domination zone), so they should take the ASV today. 76% looks to be in reach.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

No doubt Linkadorf look good. But we've had this situation bfore, Cloud last year looked sub par against Samus/Snake and people expected link to 55 Cloud, he got less than 54 and still lost outside US.

We haven't, on Link's side. Link never looked good last year, he had 4 bad matches and then 2 decent (but not good) SFF beatdowns. The Alucard match was a genuine championship level performance. You're right about Cloud's side though, and there's the added benefit today of these matches being blowouts- I think we already basically believe that Cloud can't match Link's blowouts due to anti-votes.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

But yeah, not giving up. Not after coming this far. Cloud/Seph look like they're going to beat Link's percentage on MM which is enough to keep hope alive.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

I expected Cloud/Seph to beat whatever Link/Ganon got yesterday, yeah. This is a major SFF match, Cloud's not doing better here with Seph than he did by himself once. Though, Link/Ganon's result was probably more surprising- I thought they'd come in a bit under the tripling and they came in well over it. Must be Skyward Sword I guess.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Dear Republicans: Just say no. To everything. No, no, no, no, no. Like you were doing so well before. If you must compromise, demand massive tax cuts for the top 1% for the slightest concession, that the Democrats cannot possibly accept.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Cloud and Seph are making pretty good progress considering the opponent is Squall. Looks like they'll likely outdo Link's performance on MM after all, to keep the hope alive. But Link's performance on Alucard is looking out of reach.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

FF7 vs. Trainers will be closer than FF7 vs. Link/Ganon?

Deny. Well, it might be closer in the sense that Trainers/FF7 may have a lead change, but as far as the final result, no. Trainers/FF7 may end up looking like CT/FFVII- Trainers holding a lead for an hour and proceeding to get obliterated overnight.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Mario/Bowser still have no chance at Cloud/Sephiroth, and win or lose, Cloud/Sephiroth are closer to Link/Ganon than Mario/Bowser. Cloud's still good for beating his percentage from last year pretty easily, probably 48%, maybe 49%, but winning seems difficult right now unless C/S can do better with the next 23 hours.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Hmm Leon I forgot if you live in Tennessee or Georgia, but seeing as Squall is doing much much better in Tennessee right now, I'm going to guess you live in that state.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

are people really giving up on Cloud/Seph because of this match? lol

he is not beating Link but this match means nothing

Not yet, it's only 15 minutes in and it is FFVII after all. Gonna give it some time.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

There's some progress.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Cloud Strife vs. Sephiroth 56.25%
Squall Leonhart vs. Seifer Almasy 43.75%
TOTAL VOTES: Philippines

Well, here's the problem. Cloud's power base, the place that always returns 85% for him against Link, is barely supporting him tonight.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Well, knowing that it's FFVII, I supposed they've still got a shot at beating Link's percentage from yesterday. I guess if they don't match that but beat Link's performance on Megaman, I can still take them next round on the theory that Squall/Seifer > Alucard/Dracula and there's only so much SFF can do in the face of anti-voting. But if they can't even outdo the performance on Megaman, it's time to give up.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

If my memory doesn't fail me, then yes....

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

This is completely unacceptable, Cloud. Did you just see Link put 77% on Alucard? Get yourself up to 80%, pronto!

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

If it turns out that he actually picked Alucard/Dracula instead of just missing the deadline.........wow. It's like losing our last 3 perfects on Cloud/Sephiroth 2004, except far far worse.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Darn it, Cloud/Seph won the super early board vote?

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

They're really going to get that 80%.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Highest percentage in:

Round 4 match
Elite 8 match
Non Region/Division match
Third to last round

But but but......those are all the same thing. In 64-entrant brackets anyway. Well, Cloud's gotta break all those records tonight if he wants to win next round. Today's match I am very impressed with.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

You mean all FOUR of them, right?

All four of them? I'm missing what they are, sorry.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

BTW - what's with all the low 70's predictions for Cloud/Seph against Squall/Seifer? I see a bunch of preds hovering around 71-73%. That seems so low to me...I mean Cloud got 74% on Squall alone. Perhaps that match is closer today, but Seifer ain't helping. Cloud should roll here. Am I missing something...? Perhaps people are thinking this really is like a series/games contest, and this result will be more like FF7 vs. FF8, I guess.

I think it's just that neither Cloud nor Seph has gotten a true blowout in ages. I think......that neither of them has managed to put up 80% in a poll since 2004.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Cloud vs. Sephiroth - 81.00%

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

I want 80% from Cloud here. At the minimum, he has to break the record Link just set today. And yeah, if he can't get 75%, it's time to throw in the towel.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Squall is going to show us the record for biggest round 4 blowout ever. And it will be a championship performance that answers Link's championship performance today.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

The odds of Batman vs. anything VG being considered SFF are slim...unless it's Solid Snake or something, who he wouldn't face in the first round anyway :)

Knowing Bacon, I wouldn't put it past him. Oh no, I've got to find someone to give Batman an SFF match.......oh! Let's try Solid Snake! That's as close to SFF as I can find in this bracket!

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2

Fictional characters don't really need to prove themselves to get a shot at a contest. I think most people here think they could be very strong; only a few people are of the opinion that they'd be fodderized by the VG characters.

Batman vs. Fodder/Low Midcard VG character in the first round wouldn't ruin Link/Batman. Vincent's 79% on Kerrigan and Tifa's 79% (or whatever it actually was) on Vyse didn't turn into the final four runs that they could have forebode. We likely will not be able to draw anything conclusive from Batman and Link's first round matches.

On the other hand, if Link/Ganon beats Batman/Joker, a huge part of the appeal of the fictional character contest goes out the window. Because no one will take Batman > Link if Batman/Joker can't beat Link/Ganon. And people would have to be pretty daring to take any other fictional character if it looks like Link would handle Batman without a problem.

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2002 Link, 2003 Cloud, 2004 Link, 2005 Link, 2006 Link, 2008 Link, 2010 Link, 2011 Cloud.
Link 6, Cloud 2