Here is your bracket. I unfortunately have things on Thursdays now, so I don’t get to watch these eps live for the rest of the summer! Isn’t that great? But here’s my opinions on the first round match-ups.

(1) Tombstone vs. (32) Escape Velocity: I could see Escape Velocity getting a flip in and the probable strategy’ll be use the flipper to distract while the full-body spinner attacks Tombstone’s wheels, but when it comes to fighting spinners like Tombstone a problem shared is not a problem halved. Even though the rule is now 60% of the bot needing to be down instead of at least half still mobile, I take Tombstone.

(16) Brutus vs. (17) Lock-Jaw: I still don’t like the spring launcher, never really did, and they showed their problems by the springs getting beaten up making it impossible for Lock-Jaw to close and even the jaws took some damage. I don’t want to count out the legend, but it’s been a long time since Diesector grabbed Dreadnaught’s blades. I take Brutus, even it’s by decision.

(8) Icewave vs. (25) Nightmare: This is probably going to be a quick battle. Nightmare has to stop Icewave’s blade in order to get to the engine (but if that happens he could attack it directly), but I seem to take the horizontal spinner against the vertical (again see Nightmare vs. S.O.W), so I take Icewave.

(9) BETA vs. (24) Overhaul: I don’t think this is a great matchup for the hammerbot due to the clamping jaws making it a tougher profile to land a solid shot from overhead. I’m gonna take Overhaul in the upset.

(4) Bite Force vs. (29) The Ringmaster: Bite Force killed plenty of spinners last year with that rear wedge. I imagine it’ll still be using that wedge against the ring spinner, so I’ll take the defending champ Bite Force to move on.

(13) Chomp vs. (20) Captain Shrederator: Even with the auto targeting Chomp didn’t land a whole ton of shots against Disk O’ (STILL GOT ROBBED I’ll shut up now). Cap got the worst matchup last year against the king of spinner-killers in Stinger. Chomp has some armor low on the sides, but I didn’t like how she teetered from every hit, and if she topples the Captain will go to town on the bottom. I take Captain Shrederator.

(5) Stinger vs. (28) Mega Tento: I think Stinger’s got more than enough power to drive through the shell, more than enough armor to tank the drum inside’s non-hit, and will drag her all over the arena to the hazards that don’t actually do anything. Give it to Stinger.

(12) Yeti vs. (21) Lucky: Gary Gin (Lucky) might be the best driver in the tournament, but flippers can’t do anything to damage the admittedly weak armor that Yeti has. I pick Yeti.

(2) Bronco vs. (31) ChromeFly: Bronco looked dominant, ChromeFly did not. The question is whether ChromeFly’s main bot with take the drone out of the air. ChromeFly also doesn’t have a srimech. This could become the most lopsided fight of the round, I take Bronco.

(15) Razorback vs. (18) Ghost Raptor: The best thing to happen to Ghost Raptor last year was breaking its blade on Complete Control. But crazy black magic shit seems to happen, so fuck it, pick Ghost Raptor.

(7) Minotaur vs. (26) Blacksmith: Minotaur deserves much higher than the 7 seed, but it’s the highest seeded newcomer (2nd-highest if you want to include the revival of Son of Whyachi). Blacksmith’s gonna get airborne again, this time from Minotaur’s drum. Pick Minotaur and expect a legendary quarterfinal (assuming chalk holds)

(10) Complete Control vs. (23) Warhead: First off, I think this time Warhead goes with its old dome spinner rather than the head. Second, not sure about Complete Control’s armor. So I’m taking Warhead with my head and not just because of my heart, because that heart shuddered at its potential second-round matchup.

(3) Witch Doctor vs. (30) Red Devil: Red Devil is probably underseeded because of how much Wrecks sucks. (Wrecks really sucks.) But Witch Doctor looked really good against RotatoR and Red Devil has treads. I take Witch Doctor to go through.

(14) Cobalt vs. (19) Bombshell: Both these bots smoked out during their fights, except Cobalt somehow kept hitting and pushing through to earn a victory. I imagine Bombshell will go with either the axe or the vertical spinner, but I don’t think it’ll be enough, I’ll take Cobalt.

(6) Son of Whyachi vs. (27) Poison Arrow: Didn’t see how good Poison Arrow’s weapon was, but it’s another tread bot, so on that alone I’ll take S.O.W. to cut into the treads with those spinning hammers.

(11) HyperShock vs. (22) Warrior Clan: HyperShock could face both Whyachi bots in the first two rounds! Or even more interesting, an upset here could give us a family battle in Round 2! The question for this fight will be if Warrior is too low for the drum, but I don’t think so as long as HyperShock comes in from the side. I don’t think Warrior’s flywheel is as strong as HyperShock’s drum so it’ll win the weapon on weapon battle unless he’s on the business end of the flipper, so I’ll take HyperShock.

There you have it. I’m doing a rough idea of my bracket, and once you get to the quarters in becomes really tough. There are going to be some really good fights on. There’s a decent semis potential of either last year’s finals (Tombstone vs. Bite Force) or the longtime rivalry renewed (Tombstone vs. Stinger), there’s a potential quarterfinal matchup of the two most destructive bots last year (Tombstone vs. Icewave), a potential semis rematch from last years prelims (Bronco vs. Witch Doctor) a battle of the bulls (Bronco–Toro/The Matador’s spirtiual successor vs. Minotaur), and my champ is not who I expected it to be, even though their victory would not surprise me. The round of 32 begins this Thursday for the next three weeks. In the meantime, you can fill out your own here (you’ll have to create an account but it’s free), and we’ll figure out something for the winner.