LocKtar vs. Bulat

LocKtar will be facing off vs. the best pov in Russia in what promises to be an epic battle. The Swede holds an advantage on dm4 while Bulat should be stronger on ztndm3 and to lesser extent on aerowalk too. Another point of interest is what kind of conditions they will have to deal with as LocKtar is usually not too eager to play with high ping.

xpr vs. arnette

For some reason these two players have always seemed very similar to me. Their styles are smart and aggressive, they won't give you any breathing room. They don't have any weak maps. Both are top duelers, but just below the true div 0 level. Maybe in this tournament we'll see one of them raise his skill just a hair more and contend for the top spots. In any case this match is bound to provide at least 20 minutes of non stop action, and you won't want to miss that.

xenic vs. kingpin

We know that xenic will pick dm4 as he has a clear advantage there. These last few days we have seen xenic beat Milton more than once in the Bad Place. kingpin has a more interesting choice to make between dm6 and aerowalk. Neither map can be considered an easy victory, but maybe the fact that his favorite power-up doesn't spawn in duels will make ringpin go with aerowalk. Either way there is a good chance that the game will be decided in a close battle on either dm2 or ztndm3. I'll give xenic the advantage here provided he can keep his nerves and play his best game.

Milton vs. lacsap or bps

I guess this could be called the first real game for the tournament favorite. Anything but Milton 2-0 would be a surprise for most, but it's a best of three and no matter which Swede ends up being his opponent they have a legitimate shot at winning on dm2, dm4 and dm6.

mawe vs. valla

In my opinion mawe is the second biggest favorite in the tournament. He shouldn't have too much trouble taking down valla, especially since aerowalk and ztndm3 can be considered free victories for him.

avenger vs. slabi

The last two Poles remaining in the winner's bracket are facing each other. I think everyone knows who the favorite here is. slabi is a formidable opponent especially on dm6 and ztndm3, but I really can't see him taking down avenger who is just such a good all around player.

Rikoll vs. maga

This match might not feature the biggest name of round of 16, but it still might be one of the more interesting ones. The dm4 match should be really high quality and the rest of maps promise to be really tight. Rikoll is the favourite, but I'm sure maga will punish him if he gets sloppy at all.

locust vs. meshuggah

Apparently meshuggah is fighting kangaroos instead of locust, so the Swede will get a walk over to the round of eight.