One round down, 16 winners, and 16 losers. And now we reach Round 2, where the victors struggle to put that much more distance between themselves and their foes, and the losers simply struggle to stay alive! Behold the full bracket of doom, as the Twink League starts cutting down on contenders!
Winners Bracket - Round 2
#1: Squall v Bowman Jean
In the one corner, you have a hardened mercenary who'll do anything to win, and in the other a pharmacist. Normally, this would be an easy pick, and at first glance you'd think it would be here too. I mean, Bowman comes into this with the Bloody Armour protecting him from all forms of damage, and the Weird Slayer, to give him parasitic healing, and all Squall has is a physical attack. Of course, being willing to do anything to win means that if there's a way, he can and will use it. And so it is that Squall takes a page out of Seto Kaiba's book and uses the Emo Strategy. With Drain set to Status defense, and Ultima to Elemental defense, Squall just picks his favourite flavour of element, and keeps himself alive by cutting himself. Pair this up with boosting his speed and HP, and he should be able to outlast the pharmacists' assault.
#2: Sephiroth v Fei Fong Wong
This time Sephiroth won't just be able to fly away from his troubles, since all that will really accomplish will be to force Fei to swat him, or shoot laser beams from his eyes. However, that doesn't mean all is lost for the One Winged Angel. Despite being in a big ass robot, Fei is still oddly vulnerable to status, meaning that Sephiroth's usual stable of PC killers are still in effect. Especially since not even God can withstand the planet busting power of Supernova. Of course, Sephiroth is oddly frail, and Fei probably only needs one clear shot to crush yet another challenger.
#3: Rinoa v Unlimited Indalecio
This match will see two master magicians facing off, with Indy showing off his full force in single, yet powerful spells, while Rinoa has infinite healing, and the might of three spells at once. Of course, Indy does have the edge, but if Rinoa can keep up her defenses as well as use the Recover command, she should be able to out last even the Divine Sage's MP totals, and then claim victory with a barrage of Triple-Meteors.
#4: Ash Ketchum v Barret
Ash is in an odd position here, seeing as he's guaranteed that Barret will need six shots to take his party out, he's got plenty of time to try and take out the Avalanche leader, and his durability isn't much worse given almost everything in this league can one shot his pokemon. Of course, the issue for him is accuracy. Barret is highly evasive, and there's not much he can do that will one shot Barret while he's packing a Mystile and 2 HP+ Materia, meaning that he'll need to land enough hits before his six shots are up.
#5: Butz v Brahms
It's a match seen a thousand times, a young and plucky hero facing off against the all powerful lord of the Undead. In this case, the lord of the undead comes in with offensive power that not even the best of Butz's defenses can hope to withstand, and a defense that no sword can hope to shatter. Of course, Butz has a few tricks remaining up his sleeve, with the Masamune for first strike, and his combination of Mix and Magic Sword paired with Agility, giving him his choice of status and magic to try and fell the dark lord before the inevitable Bloody Curse comes his way.
#6: Ramza v Lucian
In what will undoubtedly be a heated battle, we now have the powerful Crystal Shield + Feather Mantle with Abandon going against Guts and an Angel Curio! That's right, it's that epic battle between Can't Hit and Can't Die! Will Can't Die land a hit before Can't Hit forces him to choose a new name?! Tune in and find out!
#7: Mog v Worker 7
This match is interesting due to the quirks of both systems. Vanish, the status on which Mog will be reliant, renders one immune to all physical damage. However, Work, the special job command of Worker 7, is not actually physical, existing in that nebulous place inbetween physical damage and magical damage. Meaning that it may or may not be able to pierce through the protection of Vanish and grant victory. Given that Mog's relying on the Snow Muffler and having every spell in the game, most of his tricks are going to be gone unless it relies entirely on hitting himself with magic, though that still gives him enough to pull off a win through Haste/Heal/Life 3 cheese. That is, of course, unless you subscribe to a third school of thought. Which school is that? Why, the Worker 7 CRUSH puny OHKO meat thing school of thought!
#8: Yunalesca v Belial
Two bosses who specialise in killing off PCs now face off. Yunalesca comes into this with decent speed, but bereft of her favourite trick of zombification followed by swift, inevitable death. However, she still has loads of HP, and that should be more than enough, right? Perhaps not! Belial also enters with a great deal of speed, and a chance for 4-D Pocket to work. And even if it doesn't, she still has her TIme Distortion to keep her safe from harm, preventing Yunalesca from finishing her off.
Losers Bracket - Round 2
#1: Lady v Baofu
Relying on the power of his inner masks, Baofu will be heading forth armed with the massive resists given to him in this last chance. Of course, Lady, a feared and respected final boss, can't afford to fail twice in a row either, and so she'll be bringing the full might of her malice to bear in this match.
#2: Rudy Roughknight v Kefka
Poor Rudy, his luck must assuredly be set to Worst to get two draws that play against his weaknesses. In this case, it's another boss that can still run circles around him and doesn't rely on elemental damage. Indeed, Kefka's vaunted Havok Wing might not kill the Drifter in one hit, but it'll still hurt, and Rudy's only real chance is to dodge it. And this is assuming Kefka doesn't just pull out Fallen One. But, Rudy does have a chance if he can survive long enough to pull out a Fury shot, given that his target, although strong, is also frail.
#3: Fou-Lu v Profound Darkness
One is half of the greatest God of them all, founder of an immortal empire and a mighty combatant in his own right. The other is the manifestation of darkness, spawner of the Dark Force and destroyer of a whole world. These two shall now clash to determine which of them is truly the greater power, each of them bringing in strong defenses, obscene amounts of HP, and multiple forms. They're both similar flavours of power, it's just a question of which one does it better.
#4: Sheena v 1337 Jogurts
Sure, Sheena's burning passion (for that hot chick in the front row) couldn't help against that flying coward, Sephiroth, but he'll be able to smash these cute fuzzy animals into a bloody pulp with ease! Wait... cute fuzzy animals? Well... some days, you just can't win. That said, of lesser concern to Sheena but of more concern to the rest of us, there's a lot of these cute fuzzy animals, and Sheena's going to have to cut his way through one thousand, three hundred and thirty seven of them before he can win, and he's got four attacks a round if he's lucky. And as we all know, Sheena never gets lucky.
#5: Xorn v T.G. Cid
After the humiliation of losing to a mere pharmecist, at least now Xorn faces something a little more respectable to fight, a legendary warrior and leader of men. Of course, it doesn't help that this legendary warrior is almost as fast as he is, and can drain HP without any loss of speed. So Xorn will be hoping that he can out slug the famed Cidolfas Orlandu, because any hint of attrition is just not going to go his way.
#6: Liza v Ilia Pegasus Squad
Liza just can't seem to catch a break. Despite coming into this league with the infamous DSC Combo, able to kill almost anything here in a single shot, she just can't seem to find a single opponent to fight. This time she's facing the Ilian Pegasus Knights, and while she can try and off Farina with the Uberspear before they can kill her in one fatal Triangle attack, she still needs to then face three Killer Lance attacks at the least and hope that her 3-shield and Backpack setup sees her through. Will lady luck finally go her way? Or will the dreaded critical find her regardless?
#7: Tir McDohl v Toadstool
An odd match, we get ball lightning McDohl against the virtually unkillable Toadstool. Indeed, so strong are Toadstool's defenses, with the Defense boosts and damage halving of the Lazy Shell and the ID immunity of the Quartz Charm, that 2 Judgements likely won't be enough to finish the job, leaving McDohl having to use his Suikoden 1 form and hoping that he can triple turn Toadstool in spite of her speed boosting Feather and unleash three Judgements. Of course, if that isn't enough to kill her, then she has healing a plenty to make sure that he never gets another chance to try.
#8: Yuna v Zophar
Ah, Zophar. Yet another powerful final boss now on the brink of elimination. Of course, now he faces someone who can't just randomly null and evade his attacks, so he can show off his true power. Of course, this true power is going to mostly be against a small army of meat shields, as Yuna will be hiding behind her Aeons for as long as possible to avoid the potent Fate Storm and its overkill damage. This means that Zophar's best option will likely be to try and take out an Aeon with Fate Storm and then hopefully switch over to a quick status attack to cripple Yuna, but if that fails, he might just have the durability to tank through the whole progression and win a fair fight against the last summoner.
Quick Vote Form!
Winners Bracket - Round 2
#1: Squall v Bowman Jean
#2: Sephiroth v Fei Fong Wong
#3: Rinoa v Unlimited Indalecio
#4: Ash Ketchum v Barret
#5: Butz v Brahms
#6: Ramza v Lucian
#7: Mog v Worker 7
#8: Yunalesca v Belial
Losers Bracket - Round 2
#1: Lady v Baofu
#2: Rudy Roughknight v Kefka
#3: Fou-Lu v Profound Darkness
#4: Sheena v 1337 Jogurts
#5: Xorn v T.G. Cid
#6: Liza v Ilia Pegasus Squad
#7: Tir McDohl v Toadstool
#8: Yuna v Zophar
