Week One Wrap Up & Week Two Previews

[Wynn Whittaker]

Week One Wrap Up & Week Two Previews
By Wynn Whittaker for the Rhydin Review

Lookie there, everyone survived Week One of Hydra. Going into Week Two, we’ve got some interesting matchups to look over but before we do that, let’s see how my predictions fared compared to last week.

Chemical Burn at Deathcake

As expected, Chemical Burn made a good showing of wiping the floor with Deathcake, taking all three matches. Despite that, Deathcake still managed ten points out of the whole deal, so… small victories. Bile threw a wrench in my prediction by stepping in for everyone’s favorite slaver Anubis, but beyond that, my guess panned out and Captain Creepy edged out Super Scary Skid by a single point. Xanth plowed through Canaan and to top it off got the Wild Card bonus from both teams for the week. Pretty sweet, not going to lie. Layla, in fine form, made quick work of Aoife, though the latter still managed three points against the newly minted Warlord. This week CHM hosts Royal Pain and DCK hosts the Rock Hards. We’ll see how they both do.

Royal Pain at Hydra-Foil

So this one sort of threw me off, not going to lie. As I thought, Eden did a wonderful job of placing her people and almost threw Jewell’s Pains off enough to take the win. RPN still narrowly got out alive with a two point margin of victory. To totally wreck my preview, April beat the tar out of Mason, 5-2. Probably in front of his wife too, poor guy. In what was a close battle, Juliane trumped Shae and also took home a wild card bonus. My homegirl Jewell struggled a bit with Jolyon, but we’ll chalk that up to beginner’s luck, like I said and just congratulate Jewell on her victory. This week, RPN visits the bad guys of Chemical Burn and HFO will be at Team Fist.

Team Fist at Rock Hards

This one was all over the place, and not in a good way. Rachael surprised the hell out of us and upset Andrea Anderson, Colonel Simon squeaked out a narrow win over Captain Kruger who subbed in for Spider, and Kalamere managed a solid win over Red urThorne. Andrea! What happened?! You’re the Diamond, FFS! Now, I’m not the acronym sort but I know my editors won’t let me sneak that one in so, figure out what it means. I think had Spider fought rather than Kruger, that we would have seen a Rock Hards win for the week, because as tough as Matt is, living in Rhydin has taught me to never trust a Drow. Kal, I’ll stop by the Line to pay my tab later this week, I promise. TMF hosts Hydra-Foil this week and ROC will take a trip to see Deathcake. More on that, coming right up.

Week Two

We’ve got a whole lineup of fun in store for you this week, and I’ve got to say, I think I’m even more pumped than I was for the first week! A double Wild Card Magic match from HFO/TMF, a double Wild Card Swords match from ROC/DCK and some pretty sweet fights lined up for RPN/CHM… trust me, you won’t want to miss any of this.

Up first, we’ll talk about Hydra-Foil and Team Fist. I’m supposed to remind readers of my innate Fist Nation bias so that the Review doesn’t get sued or anything like that, but what can I say? I can’t help it, awesome follows awesome. And we’ve got plenty of awesome coming from this match. Last week, HFO almost squeaked out a win against RPN and TMF barely made it past ROC. Will it be a battle of the underdogs versus the underachievers? We shall see!

In Fists, everyone’s favorite blonde Juliane “Crazy Legs” Smith faces Kheldar “Built Like a Brick Craphouse” Drasinia. Jules managed a solid win over Shae last week but this week… she’s definitely the David to Kheldar’s giant Goliath. Has anyone ever seen this guy? He’s huge. It’s no wonder he’s got eight trillion Diamonds under his belt. Should Crazy Legs be scared? Yes. Yes, she should. This should be a walk in the park for Kheld.

Prediction: Kheldar defeats Juliane Smith, 5-2

Set for Magic, we’ve got two relative unknowns that are sure to gives us a good show for double Wild Card points. On one side, sweet faced Eden Parker with her adorable dimples… and on the other, straight out of a grindhouse movie, Lilith, because who needs a last name. The bit that I’ve found on the pair isn’t very encouraging one way or the other, but Eden’s done enough to get herself a rank bump on the Isle so on that alone, I think she might have what it takes to beat out this Lilith girl. This match could literally make or break the week though, so keep an eye on it.

Prediction: Eden Parker defeats Lilith, 5.5-2.5

Finally in sword, we’ll see Bailey Raptis face Kalamere Ar’Din. After a sound victory last week, I think Kalamere might be in the right place to make this a quick and dirty victory. That said, I’ve not seen much out of this Bailey guy… girl… guy… person, so I think Kal needs to play it safe and rely on his experience to get him past what I expect will be the standard unpredictability of a newer duelist.

Prediction: Kalamere defeats Bailey Raptis, 5-3

All in all, this really could go either way depending on how that magic match there goes. With so many points riding on duelists we’ve barely seen, this literally is a toss up. Should Lilith lose to Eden, Kheldar and Kalamere will need nearly perfect showings against their respective opponents to save the week, and that’s only if Lilith manages a few points of her own against Eden. If it’s a blow out either way? Certain doom for the losing team. Godspeed, all of you.

Next up, Rock Hards face Deathcake. We’ve got probably one of the funnest teams up against one of the scariest. Not scary dueling prowess wise, but more like shank you in an alley wise. This time around, ROC’s gonna need to put on their serious business faces if they hope to get past the DCKs.

In Fists, we’ll see Emerald Rachael Douglas face Ruby Canaan Devillier. Cane’s a pretty feisty guy, I’m not sure if you all have seen him around. But he’s quickly showing promise in the unarmed rings and if the rumor mill is true, has had several cry about how brutal he is. I hear they sell cream for that butthurt at the corner store. But anyways, despite this, Rachael’s methodical technique should be enough to get her by him.

Prediction: Rachael Douglas defeats Canaan, 5-3

In Magic… I’m not… really… sure… what to think about this. We’re seeing Salvador Delahada, yes, that Salvador, in a Magic ring. Has Hell frozen over? I’m not sure. But we’ll see how he handles the babyfaced Noah Bird in a battle of spells. Really, I think I’m just going to roll a few dice and see what they tell me to say the score is going to be. Because I have no freaking idea. Just because it’s funny…

Prediction: Salvador defeats Noah Bird, 5-3.5

At last, here’s the match I’ve been waiting for. In a double Wild Card setup, we’ve got red hot Warlord Red urThorne up against cold as ice baroness Sabine Gabrielle. This should be a beautifully violent matchup that I think I might even show up for myself, just to see the brilliance of it all. Much like the week before, Red is going up against one of her contemporaries and as such, I think the score will reflect this. This time around, I think Red edges it out.

Prediction: Red urThorne defeats Sabine, 5-4

Another close match that will be determined mostly by the double wild card setup, that’s for sure. Again, just like the others, the swords match will be the one to watch for that reason alone. Ye who takes that duel, should have no problem claiming victory on the week. The Rock Hards ought to get a well earned win out of Week Two.

Finally we see the Beauties versus the Beasts with Royal Pain at Chemical Burn. Both have incredibly scary duelists on their teams and I truly believe that this lineup will only serve to reiterate that point. Just you wait and see. Where the other matches have the cool double wild cards, we just have straight up awesomeness here.

In Fists, we’ll see April Brell duke it out against the Minion of Deathlord. April made a right fool of Mason Harrigan last week and I don’t think she’ll have any trouble against the undead whatever Minion is. Just beware the whole unlifing thing. I’d really hate for anyone to die so early in the season. Let’s save that for the finals, okay?

Prediction: April Brell defeats Minion of Deathlord, 5-2

When it comes to Magic, we’ll see the beautiful Archmage Rena Cronin face the not so beautiful but still formidable Bile. Bile briefly held the Tower of Fire, so he’s definitely no slouch when it comes to Magic. Rena, well, we’re all very aware of what she’s done in the magic circuit, including holding the Celestial Tower as well as several of the elemental towers. It should be a legitimate fight, with bonus points to the winner thanks to Jewell’s designation of this match as RPN’s wild card. Still, the lovely Rena should take this.

Prediction: Rena Cronin defeats Bile, 5.5-4

At last, we’ve got Jewell Ravenlock against Anubis Karos in a battle of the blades and also Chemical Burn’s wild card match. Anubis is well seasoned but Jewell’s got that sass, so it’s a matter of what’ll win out; beauty or brawn? I think, and this is reluctantly so, that Anubis should take this one. Barring any unforeseen difficulties such as tag ins and the like, that is. Even still, should sub Xanth jump in, Jewell might be in real trouble here.

Prediction: Anubis Karos defeats Jewell Ravenlock 5-4

All in all, another close battle. This one won’t necessarily be determined by the wild cards so much as the points garnered by all of the others who don’t necessarily win the WC designation. That’s some pretty crazy power right there. In the end, I think Chemical Burn won’t repeat their success of last week and Royal Pain should claim another win.

Critical Matches to Watch:
Eden & Lilith (DoM-HFO/TMF)
Red & Sabine (DoS-ROC/DCK)
April & Minion (DoF-RPN/CHM)

Stay tuned for more Hydra fun all this week! With that, Wynn is out so until next time, Hail Hydra!