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My page will be moving very, very soon! This year, I'm relocating to the AC blog to become a permanent writer there. Please visit there to see my predictions! Navigation Neomail me with comments! |
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For first place, you can see that I put Meridell. This is quite a jump. The best that they have ever done is 5th, and yet, I'm saying that they can take home the gold. Why? MD has the YYB, plain and simple. They would have been a terrifying force in the top tier last year with a run at the championship themselves, if only they'd managed to glean enough altogether points for top tier. This year, I'm betting they will. Last time that MD was in this position, I expected great things, and they fell so hard that hardly anyone remembers how good they were. Call me stupid, but I'm betting on them again. It's a different game now, with different teams on top, and I feel like this is MD's year. In second, I have Tyrannia. They made a vast change last year. Their side games dropped (slightly) and their YYB rose significantly. This is exactly what the AC has been begging to see since TY arose as the side game masters. Finally, I think TY is making the change... and this year, I think they'll either drastically rise or drop back down to where we're more used to seeing them. I'm taking a gamble. I'm thinking that TY isn't going to be prone to freeloaders, and that they'll have every opportunity to make their stand this season. Let's see how it goes. ;) Krawk Island, as we know, is a formidable team. They have a fantastic yearly average, and I think we all expected them to make the comeback that they did. Many probably think they have a great chance at winning again, but... Well, now that they're back, their freeloaders will be back, too. KI dipped in size last year (though they are still by no means small) and pretty much everyone left at that point was the diehard KIer we know and love. Now, they'll have some freeloaders back, and while I don't really expect that to harm their overall gameplay much, I think it will hinder them too much to put them first. Fourth, I have KD. I feel like that if KD was going to win any time soon, it would have been last year. Last year was their best YYB year, and while that doesn't mean necessarily that they'll depreciate in YYB, my guess is that their time at the top is starting to wear on them. They can't make that championship spot, and basically, the longer they stay in the top tier, the less and less likely that they'll actually win. If you'll remember, pretty much every year before this, KD has been expected to drop back out. Now, however, KD is recognized as a powerhouse, something that was still foreign even last year. KD has had something of a veil that somehow made everyone think that they'd drop back down to anonymity each year, but they've lost it. Now, they're completely susceptible to freeloaders, because the majority of people now think that KD is in the top tier to stay. Since KD is the smallest powerhouse (though, now that I think about it, I'm not so sure anymore), freeloaders affect them more than their larger rivals. In fact, I feel so strongly this way that I nearly put KD out of the top tier altogether- however, KD's three-year reign at the top of the DRR has convinced me to give them one more year in the top tier. They're very good at getting all points possible during the DRR, so I'll leave them be for now. |
   
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Next, I have MQ. They are actually a pretty large team, but they couldn't hold it together for finals, and I think that the bit of freeloaders that they'll pick up next year will push them into the second tier. They had what it took to make it last year, but they couldn't seem to go the distance- MQ has been a team prone to fatigue, and I feel that they won't be able to pull top tier next year. I predict a rise for RI. They had the YYB of a top tier team last year, but they just didn't have any sides to back it up, so they didn't get near enough points to compete with the big boys. This year, I'm predicting that they'll gain some side game strength, but lose just a touch of YYB strength. That means I think that they'll gain enough overall pointage to make second tier, but they won't have the YYB strength to make a big threat. I gave LD quite a big comeback, but I still don't predict them at a competitive level. In fact- this is probably a stretch. The reason I put them here is because ACV RI made a fantastic comeback to fourth, the best they'd had since their winning year. Well, ACVII will be the second year after LD's win- just like ACV was the second year after RI's win. I don't expect identical results; after all, I put LD in 8th, a far cry from fourth. I simply expect that this is LD's time to start to recover, if they ever will. |
   
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As for the reigning champions, I predict 10th. Not so large a fall as LD, but maybe a bit worse than others. VP will be a team to watch for ACVII- they're the smallest team to have ever won, and I wouldn't be shocked if this completely changed their post-win year to something we have never seen before. Haunted Woods I put in 11th. I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop predicting an improvement. Until we see that HW can keep up some consistent gameplay throughout the cup- even after losses- there's no reason to expect them to use their strength to the fullest. Brightvale showed a lot of promise last year, and while I hate to predict someone in the same place as last year (twice in a row nonetheless...), I don't see much of a difference. If anything, I simply expect BV to upset less but increase in their average strength. Basically, gaining consistency but losing their surprise factor. |
   
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I expect a very significant drop for TM. I think that last year was their shining moment- something that won't be repeated. If TM hadn't gained so many points so early from surprise and managed to hold on to their upper-level standings with very balanced overall strength, I don't think they would've done so well. Call it what you like, I think TM's ACVI was a one-hit wonder. Strengths fluctuate every year for every team, and I don't think TM will be so perfectly balanced again. Mystery Island has lost their spunky, constant upsets that we have come to expect from them. They've settled down. gameplay-wise, and that means that I don't expect them to recover just yet. Sure, they could gain strength- but so could any other team, and I don't see it happening for MI this year. Moltara is still quite a young team, so I don't expect them to hold still for long. I'm predicting a slight increase, but nothing earth-shattering. Just a little tier hop. |
 
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AL, I have last. I hate, hate, hate, hate predicting stagnancy, and I feel like I'm doing it a lot this year... but AL simply had the worst YYB record the cup has ever seen last year, so I predict them last. I realize they had 17th, not 18th- but they REALLY upset, having never touched YYB for the entire year until finals. I don't think their strength changed, I think MT just didn't expect it. There have been no plots, no changes, no nothing for me to expect AL to change from their bottom-of-the-pack consistency that they've had since ACI... so I won't predict it. |
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