LogFAQs > #911206214

Day 7, Match 3 - Terra Branford vs. Charizard
(5) Terra: 47.2% - (12) Charizard: 52.8%

What happened?: Good goddamn question. This match seemed open and shut. Nintendo has been beasting, Final Fantasy has been not, Charizard has looked great twice in earlier contests, Pikachu looked great, Red looked great. Then this match starts.. And it's neck and neck during the board vote? What? Terra then spent a long time over 47%, looking like she might take the whole thing during the power hour. Then things started to go Charizard's way and he began winning updates consistently, and Terra never really got it back. It is very interesting that Terra was best during the Power Hour here, and the match was relatively stable otherwise. Charizard didn't have the 3-5% losses that other Pokemon characters have shown, instead only bleeding less than 1% from his peak. Lastly it's really significant that the match was effectively tied between anonymous voters with the registered boost helping Charaizard keep clear. It didn't change the result, but I wonder if it hadn't happen, would there have been rallies to push Terra over? Who knows.

What could this mean?: A lot of people are calling Charizard and Pokemon/Nintendo/whatever a fraud, I dunno. Both Nintendo as a whole and Pokemon more specifically have looked consistently great, including in this match. Really I think this is just Terra. She didn't act like most Square characters have, though it's likely no coincidence that the closest comparison is Kefka. I think a lot of this is on her strength. FFVI has been growing over the last several years, and she likely earned that 5 seed. It would be interesting to see Terra put up against some typical midcarders, she could probably do a lot of damage. As for Charizard, well I suddenly feel glad I have Bowser, but a lot of that is to do with the next match.

Day 7, Match 4 - Bowser vs. Gordon Freeman
(4) Bowser: 77.39% - (13) Gordon: 22.61%

What happened?: If it wasn't for the other match's insanity, this would have been the surprise of the contest. Maybe it still is! WTF Bowser? WTF Gordon? For years this potential matchup has looked like a straightforward 60-40 affair. Bowser's great, Gordon is good. The "Gordon Freeman Never Wins" days are long gone. Well, not anymore. Bowser came out of the gate with 80%, and although it did subside after the power hour he still dominated this match. For the gap between these two to widen by nearly 20% between contest He beat Gordon Freeman nearly as badly as Ganondorf beat Neku! That's really all you need to say to summarise this match.

What could this mean?: One of my favourite jokes to come out of this contest is that Gordon saw that Cecil took his gimmick and got pissed, so did his best to get it back. A 20% discrepancy doesn't just appear, so I think that this is due to two factors. First, with Nintendo in general being great and Odyssey being what it was, I think Bowser has boosted a lot. Even now I don't think Gordon would lose to Neku. Second, Valve has completely abandoned Half-Life (and all games not called Dota2) and Gordon is feeling a direct consequence. Even with a Bowser boost this may be the biggest drop in contest history. we got a preview of this in 2015 when Half-Life 2 looked notably weaker than during Game of the Decade, but this is a whole other level. Also Cecil vs. Gordon bonus match please Allen!
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I just decided to change this sig.
Blaaaaaaargh BKSheikah