Current Events > BattleBots: Fight Night week 15 discussion topic *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

The postseason is finally almost upon us!

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The final main event of this year's regular season pits two undefeated Giant Nut contenders against each other as Minotaur and Witch Doctor run it back after their controversial, rulebook-changing showdown in last year's postseason tournament. Also among the bots in action tonight are another unexpectedly 3-0 bot in Lucky and the defending BattleBots champion Tantrum. And finally, at the end of tonight's show, the full bracket for this year's postseason tournament will be revealed, with the tournament beginning next week.

As a reminder, please put any discussion of match results under spoiler tags until 24 hours after the episode airs out of consideration for people who can't watch the episode live, especially if you decide to watch the episode early on Discovery+ before it airs on TV. For this week, the 24 hour spoiler period also covers discussion of the postseason bracket and predictions for the tournament. Showtime is about an hour away.

Minotaur! Minotaur! Minotaur!

Dat bracket.

IT'S ROBOT FIGHTIN' TIME! Lucky vs. Cobalt kicks off the last night of the regular season and Lucky got fucky'd up. Cobalt ripped the battery clean out of its body. It was almost surgical.

Blip vs. Banshee was a total dud, and Monsoon KO'd Death Roll pretty quickly and anticlimactically. The fights tonight have been kinda meh so far aside from Cobalt's explosive KO.

Switchback ripping off Hijinx's blade and sending it helicoptering across the arena was pretty exciting, but that was really the only great moment from the undercard fights tonight. Pretty meh episode so far, unfortunately. All that's left is the main event and then the bracket reveal.

Minotaur beat Witch Doctor in one hell of a slobberknocker to cap off the regular season and take home the #1 overall seed in the tournament. The bracket looks really interesting, but I'll wait until tomorrow night after the 24 hour spoiler period is done to post my full thoughts and predictions.

Minotaur's team needs to get over their losses WD earned that win, eager to see the rematch.

Minotaur had to fight through every controlled movement situation last season. I'm not surprised they're still sour.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sour on Minotaur this year, due to how WD got treated last year by both the team (or I guess more specifically, Daniel), and the crowd. Made me disappointed in the sport.

As for the bracket, I think it's pretty reasonable this year. I have seen the Redditors call foul at some matchups, but I mean, there are many good bots, so some bots are going to face some unlucky circumstances even if they are a good seed. I would probably have ranked Shatter at #32 personally, but that's just me. The only shenanigans I see with the bracket this year is the Endgame vs Tantrum fight, as I personally feel Tantrum should have been ranked in the higher 20's/maybe even 30's, and this seeding felt like a purposely-made match in order to have Endgame face Tantrum.

I think the top 4 seeds were all appropriately seeded based on the performance of the teams this year. Quadrant 4 looks the most competitive to me personally for the Final Four spot (and I guess it should be in theory).

Only bracket note I have not already mentioned is Quantum should've been 4th seed over Hydra

Yeah, the End Game vs. Tantrum match-up in the first round and seeding a pair of 3-1 bots above the undefeated Huge and Quantum seem like questionable choices, but aside from those minor gripes, I don't really have any problem with the way the bracket was put together.

Honestly, this feels like it's the strongest a bracket has been. Usually, I have a pretty good idea of the true favorites, but this year, I feel like there are more potential winners than ever before.

I actually have a very good feeling about Cobalt this time. I think people recognize they are a great bot, but they have looked over to win it all in many conversations. Barring technological struggles, I am going to pick them to win the Giant Nut. Of course, they have a really tough road ahead of them. Even beyond the first round, you have either Sawblaze (who I also feel pretty good about it) or Blip (I don't feel good about any bot facing a flipper tbh), and then the likely Minotaur matchup after that.

I see a few bots that I think have a pretty fair path to the quarterfinals, but I wouldn't say any of them have a clear path to the final four, which is pretty exciting. Surprisingly, Hydra isn't one of the "Elite Eight" Bots to me, purely because Whiplash was able to shut them down really good a couple years back, and I'm hoping with how the last fight went, they'll have more time dedicated to getting the bot tournament ready vs repairs. Not necessarily counting Beta out, but I just know Whiplash is not the #20 seed bot you want to be facing.

I have my eye on Riptide. A shitty team with a dangerous bot. The whole bracket is deadly when the bots work as designed. The only real concerns I have are Beta's lack of back armor and thwacker attachment, Malice's low weapon speed, and Fusion's fragility.

Top 4 is accurate.

Slammo!/Double Tap fight was absolute dog poop.

Minotaur/Witch Doctor fight was, not surprisingly, a slugfest.

We're officially past the 24 hour spoiler period, so here's a link to the bracket for anyone who hasn't seen it yet or wants to print one out:

https://battlebots.com/bracket/

Top-left Quadrant = Minotaur's for the taking IMO. The only bot that I think can take it down is Sawblaze, but the Minotaur we're seeing this year seems like it's on a whole different level from the one that lost to Sawblaze in its first fight of last year's regular season. I'll still pick Minotaur though, because it has a good chance to avenge that loss to Sawblaze, or Sawblaze might even lose to Cobalt or Blip before then. As much as I'd like to root for Cobalt or Blip, Minotaur has beaten Cobalt twice before, and a flipper's not going to do much against an invertible killing machine like Minotaur unless they get an unlikely out-of-the-arena flip.

Bottom-left Quadrant = This might be a ballsy and wishful pick, but I'm going with Quantum. I think Quantum can beat any other bot in the bracket besides Ripperoni or Death Roll (vertical spinners that can reach and hit their crusher are their big weakness) but I think Black Dragon will upset Ripperoni in the first round and I don't see Death Roll making it past Hydra either. Hydra, Beta, or Whiplash would be a tough fight in the round of 8, but I think Quantum can beat any of them.

Top-left Quadrant = The group of death, with two former BattleBots champions and plenty of devastating spinners that could take home the prize... plus poor Lucky and Shatter getting thrown in the middle of them. I see End Game weathering the storm and making it out of this quadrant. I think they can crack Tantrum, and I think they can be the ones to finally shut Ethan Kurtz and Riptide up once and for all. At least, I sure hope so.

Bottom-left Quadrant = This one's a really tough call. I think Witch Doctor is the best bot in this quadrant on paper, but I don't think they have a good chance to make it out. I think Bloodsport has a decent chance to upset them in the second round, and Huge would be a horrible matchup for them if they get past Bloodsport because WD's weapon is so compact and low to the ground. But if Bloodsport does pull that upset on WD, then I think they would rip Huge's wheels apart and move on. I'm going to make my pick based on Bloodsport not pulling that upset and go with Huge coming out of this quadrant.

Final Four = As much as I would love to see Quantum upset Minotaur, I don't see it happening. Minotaur's gyroscopic movement (that thing where it stands up on one wheel when it turns) and Daniel Freitas' driving will make it too hard for Quantum to grab it from anywhere but head on, but the weapon is just too powerful to try and grab it head on. Then on the other side, I'm pretty sure End Game's weapon is high enough off the ground to hit Huge's central body and chop the giant down. That makes the final a rematch of a match we already saw in then round of 16 last year, and I don't see it going any different the second time. That means Minotaur is my pick to win the championship and take home the Giant Nut this season.