I haven't forgotten that I still owe you one more list of rankings from the last round... but I would like to actually get to vote in this round so I'll handle that first. I made my own little re-draft for this one -- most of these categories will be self-explanatory. Dealer's Choice just means the highest drafted game from your list that I didn't already pick.
Team Löwenherz' Starting 5:
- Favorite Game I Have Played: Chrono Trigger (SNES)
- Most Want to Play: Skies of Arcadia (Sega Dreamcast)
- Wild Card #1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Nintendo Switch)
- Wild Card #2: Hollow Knight (Nintendo Switch)
- Dealer's Choice: Persona 5 Royal (Nintendo Switch)
Team Löwenherz' Bench:
- Hades (Nintendo Switch)
- Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
- Super Metroid (SNES)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown (PS3)
- Mega Man X (SNES)
- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
- Bioshock: Infinite (PS3)
- Odin Sphere (PS2)
vs.
Team Tetsujin's Starting 5:
- Favorite Game I Have Played: Diablo II (Nintendo Switch)
- Most Want to Play: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch)
- Wild Card #1: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo Switch)
- Wild Card #2: Metroid Dread (Nintendo Switch 2)
- Dealer's Choice: Pokémon [Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Version] (Nintendo Game Boy Advance)
Team Tetsujin's Bench:
- Oregon Trail (PC)
- Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch)
- Final Fantasy X (PS2)
- Jak 3 (PS2)
- Madden NFL 08 (PS2)
- Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo Switch 2)
- Dr. Mario (NES)
- Rampage World Tour (Arcade)
- Spider-Man [2000] (PS1)
- Zoo Tycoon (PC)
Team Löwenherz has a fantastic backcourt with the old reliable
Chrono Trigger running point and
Skies of Arcadia looking spry and deadly out there on the wing. The forward positions are solid too with
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge bringing versatility and swagger (turtle power!) and
Hollow Knight winning over new fans by the day with its flashy ball skills. I'm a little worried that
Persona 5 Royal might not have the size to handle this matchup but this squad is coming in as the #1 seed so it hasn't been a problem for them all year.
Team Tetsujin's strength is more on the interior with
Diabo II being an absolute load in the paint and an intimidating deterrent that all those speedy guards and wings on Team Löwen are going to have to figure out. The
Zelda twins are handling forward duties and we all know that they're a force to be reckoned with. When the shots are dropping for them, they've been blowing opponents out of the water.
Metroid Dread is a steady floor spacer with a tried and true winning formula at off-guard but I worry that
Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald might not have an answer for Chrono's Triple Tech attack.
I can see Team Löwenherz coming out early trying to get Diablo II in foul trouble but with
Rampage World Tour on the bench, that might not be the winning strategy.
Oregon Trail is looking a little weak in the knees at backup point and the young guns,
Super Mario Odyssey and
Donkey Kong Bananza, are both super talented but might not have the maturity yet to rise to the moment which would leave
Final Fantasy X to do a lot of the heavy lifting.
On the other side we've got an actual demigod with
Hades' hero Zagreus honing his skills through repeated runs through the underworld and the bionic arms of
Mega Man X,
Super Metroid's Samus, and Keanu in
Cyberpunk 2077. That's a whole lot of firepower for any defense to handle and I also have to shout out
Bioshock: Infinite and
XCOM: Enemy Unknown bringing the muscle for what might be the deepest bench unit in this tournament.
...
I'm actually a little surprised to make this call because I did not have his list ranked anywhere near the top in my initial team rankings, but after taking the time to look at each selection in the first two rounds of the playoffs, it is
@Löwenherz' list that has benefitted the most from close examination and that's who I'm picking here.
