And since the second round has finally chosen all of the match-ups, Ima do a fun little preview thang! I'll do a small showcase of each of our top 16 battlers.
Ito_Igami vs. MasterUmbreon
Ito_Igami has been on and off the battle circuit for a bit, with a surge over the summer, a small time period of not battling, then a big comeback in the Fall. He's the winner of the Viridian City Open on the Champions Tour and he's vying for another title on it as I type this. His last big tournament appearance was the PC Wifi Tournament held over the summer, where a technicality forced him out versus POKEMASTERALEX in the first round. He's come a long way since then, going 3-0 in the first round and storming his way to the #5 seed.
MasterUmbreon is a newer face around these parts. While no big tournament results does he have under his belt, he's entered in the ESO and has reached round two: what more could you want? gee, idk, Ryan, how about the title?.. Umbreon racked up 6 wins in round one and was the last official qualifier (and was quite excited about it to boot.) It might be considered an upset if he manages to defeat Ito_Igami, but we can't deny he'll put all he's got into the match and give us a good show.
Volkner's Apprentice vs. -Kairyu
-Kairyu is new to the competitive scene, often viewing the Quick Battle topic, he's just gotten into his first few tournaments/gyms such as the ESO and the Whirl Cup. A quite good fighter, from what the rumors say, in addition to him going 4-1 in the first round of the tournament. While perhaps a little cocky on some fronts (who isn't nowadays?), he's a force to be reckoned with and would receive another notch on his Poke-belt can he take down the only ESO Coordinator entered this time around.
Volkner's Apprentice is extremely shallow for making one of these for himself. Still searching for his 70th win of 2008, VA's come a long way from his n00bcake days of '06 when EV training was just a myth, and even attempting IVs would be catastrophic to the mind. He reached the Semi-Finals in the PC Tournament back in May, and while he lost in the 3rd Round in the following tourney, it was to the eventual champion, Aurafire. It's been a rollercoaster two months on the battle circuit, including only going 3-2 in round one here, he's still sure to give -Kairyu a run for his money. Although -Kairyu managed to grab a win in their only previous encounter (a 1-0 UU victory), he might find things slightly more challenging/surprising this time around.
I'll do more later. :P