How You Betting? - Madness Round Two

The Most Anticipated Tournament of the Year

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Conner Reid
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How You Betting? - Madness Round Two

Post by Conner Reid »

Alright mates, the Line be thrilled with this here writer’s recommendations considering we picked just 4 out of 16 fights correct in the first round. Appreciate your kindness that we not yet been tarred and feathered in the Market Square.

Well we been paid in advance, so here be our picks for the next round of fights.

Ilnaren Division

(1) Salvador Delahada vs. (9) Jay Capistrano

Delahada finally hit a wall last week when he were unseated by Jaycy Ashleana for the Baron of Seaside. But even with that loss, we weren’t surprised to see him carry off a win as one of this here writer’s few correct picks. Salvador got dueling skills and only a fool would be underestimating him. That said, Capistrano made a BIG statement in his opening round, knocking out Rachael Blackthorne in a shutout. That feat were made only the more impressive by the fact that she came in and won the All Ranks Tournament the following day without recording a single loss. Capistrano knows how to fight and he knows how to fight some of the Arena’s best fighters. Have it on good authority that this weren’t Capistrano’s first Madness opening round shutout---in fact it were his third. Third! So iffin someone were able to stop Delahada’s Madness ambitions it could be him.

That said, a couple weeks ago, we picked Delahada to go all the way. And we be sticking to our guns here. Delahada.

(5) Doran Ilnaren vs. (4) Jaycy Ashleana

Well these here two fighters both proved us wrong in pretty spectacular fashion between last round and this round. The younger Ilnaren demonstrated that it were no fluke that he made it to the final four in last year’s Madness by defeating accomplished duelist Haru Jeong. And Ashleana not only fought her way past Mallory Maeda---a tough draw in the first round---but also picked up the aforementioned Seaside barony last week from the tough opponent Salvador Delahada. In other words, this be a good fair fight. Would expect this fight to be close and thinking you might as well flip a coin on it.

But we’re giving the edge in this fight to Jaycy. With her recent title success, we be thinking the lass got the momentum to carry her on to the next round.

(6) Gatito vs. (3) Anubis Karos

Och what a fight it were between Skid and Gatito! Despite playing in a ring full of toys, these two showed that their skills were anything but child’s play. Gatito jumped out to an early only to see Skid come roaring back in! But it were Gatito who come out on top and earns himself the dubious reward to face Anubis Karos in the next round. As expected, Anubis’ first round opponent, Captain Morgan, put up a good fight against the longtime Arena fixture, but Anubis held the bloke off and picked up the win and his second round ticket. The fight we’ve got teed up now be a bit of an old guard versus new guard faceoff. Don’t be thinking Anubis will be as interested in destroying a model city as he’ll be interested in destroying Gatito’s defense, something he proved well capable of as he placed second in the recent ART.

But we’re calling this one for Gatito. Lad has a whole bag of tricks that were on display in the first round and we still don’t think we’ve seen the half of it.

(10) Myria Graziano vs. (15) Amaris Silhaeven

Och, Karma, lass. You done broke my heart. And my bracket. That first round matchup against Myria Graziano proved that when you be faced with a choice between old and new talent you be damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Myria might be taking a shot at yet another Madness win and she be off to a good start by fending off a tough first round draw in Karma. Now while we went the other way with our picks, we be not surprised to see Amaris here having made it past the tough first round matchup of young Maggie Harker. As we said, with her previous ART victory, we felt Amaris were underseeded in these here brackets and she proved that right, taking the win and getting her here to the next round.

And you know what? We think she’s going to do it again. We’re calling this one for Silhaeven.

Anderson Division

(1) Hope Naharis vs. (9) Eden Parker

This here matchup be one we got entirely wrong. Despite a good performance, Jedi were not able to pull out the victory over the skillful experienced fighting of Overlord Naharis. And Caleb Feren also fell to the bouncing attacks of the winged Eden Parker, despite his consistently impressive performances in the Arena. Think Parker got lucky on that one (and we got unlucky). Now Naharis and Parker be teammates on Real Rhydin, and have something of a mentor/mentee relationship that as we understand it goes back to their time in the Outback. In those cases, we often give the edge to the mentee---students fancy showing up their teachers on the biggest stage possible. In addition, Naharis might be distracted by her coming OL challenge from Rachael Blackthorne. But in this case, we’re not sure the younger lass can match the level of skill, knowledge, and expertise that Naharis has shown in the Arena.

The edge here goes to Naharis.

(5) Ebon Ilnaren vs. (13) Kheldar Drasinia

Ebon looked strong in the first round as we expected. He were not as distracted by Skunk the Great’s dashing good looks and charm as we were, and he managed to tie up a first round win. Kheldar had a lot more trouble on his hands with Baron of Old Market, Ettyn Gedda. After Kheldar jumped out to an early lead, Gedda fought her way back to a tie and pushed it to sudden death. Kheldar came up with the win in the end, but bookmakers gotta be asking iffin her axe might have left a bit of lasting damage on the big guy. Ebon is more than capable of running his way to another final four, but Kheldar gotta be hungry for finally getting to the big show in Madness.

We picked Ilnaren in our bracket and despite him facing a different opponent we be sticking to it.

(11) Suturi vs. (14) Dris

Didn’t think we’d be seeing either of these here fighters in the second round but here we are. As we said in our last round of picks, Suturi brings a sort of chaotic energy to these here fights. But Dris got the same energy to match (even iffin he be better dressed). Both Tali Zhdanova and Bailey Raptis did what they could against these wily opponents (better than most probably could given their respective excellent skills in the rings), but we suppose it be fitting that they be facing each other in the next round (even if it did leave our own brackets a wreckage).

Och, mates. Flip a coin. We came up with Dris.

(10) Runt vs. (15) Luna Sanguinem

No shine on Runt’s skill as a master of the duels, but we suspect that a bit of the Madness nerves might have struck the lovely Anya de la Rose in their first round duel. Whether that be on account of his size or on account of the tournament, we can’t say, but we still think Anya had the skill to go further in this tournament than she did, perfectly evidenced by yet another solid performance from her at the most recent ART during which she finished in the top four. But Runt surely found his opening and ran with it, picking up an impressive win that might stand as a warning to the rest of the entrants (and surely the bettors) not to underestimate him. Sanguinem be the proverbial Cinderella in this here competition. Matt Simon has the long history at the duels that would surely suggest he has the skill and ability to go further, but the young lass stopped him in his tracks and picked up the win. Sanguinem surely be looking promising!

But we think it will be Runt. His intimidating size gives him an edge that be unmatched in this here competition.



Now there were a lot of talk last week about the ‘Curse o’ Conner’ so let me assure you readers at home that we took all necessary steps to ensure that there be no mystical mischief in the Arena bobbling with these here outcomes. We also took the necessary steps to ensure that there were no hellacious hex clinging to ourselves and causing our picks to go astray (we done bathed in the sea under the dawn’s first light and walked home backwards while tossing salt over our shoulder every few steps). All should be well, aye?

Should be anyhows.

Och, bet at your own risk, mates.

See you at the fights.

Reid.
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