With Cage Match upon us, it’s important to realize why we time the event when we do. The reason: this is March Madness. Know what that means?
Filling out brackets!
So the good folks at Del Rey and Spectra have gone through the bracket and made their own bold predictions (note: the % in the center denotes how much of the final vote they expect the overall winner to get in the Championship match).
So, without much further ado, here are our brackets (starting with mine–going with the Number One overall seed):
And here is our Editorial Director Tricia Pasternak’s (going Lannister):
Assistant Editor Mike Braff’s (Revan in a close one over Tyrion):
Del Rey Publisher Scott Shannon’s (also taking Tyrion):
Del Rey Associate Publisher Keith Clayton’s (seeing a pattern here…):
From our Digital Group, Jackie Mueller’s (with our second Revan vote):
Del Rey Spectra newcomer Sarah Peed’s (a third Revan vote…):
Del Rey Marketing Manager Joe Scalora’s (with a surprising new name):
Also from the Digital Group, April Flores’ (and Tyrion takes the lead again):
Well, that’s just a few of ours. Hopefully we’ve inspired you, though: make sure to print out your own bracket (you can find the link for the pdf by clicking on the main bracket this page), and get ready–because on March 5th, Cage Match 2012 begins!
I am kind of amazed how many people picked Tyrion to win this. Maybe I am overlooking his strengths somewhere but I don’t see how he can overcome, even with his craftiness, most of these characters. In the books, the few times he wins a fight it is normally because someone else does the killing through his conniving or he got relatively lucky. And he normally needs a lot of time to pull off his conniving.
On Gimli, I don’t see why that many people picked him winning over Kylar Stern in Round 1. While a great character, he is really just a pretty normal warrior dwarf. Kylar is basically an invisible, silent, high-speed, high-strength assassin with his own “spidey-sense” of the Ka-kari warning him when danger is about to kill him. Along with the ka-kari’s magic eating and transforming, I feel like this is a puppy vs a Direwolf.
Outside of those two. I see Moraine going pretty far (I mean, Balefire), along with Atticus or Bast (especially being we still don’t really know how powerful Bast is). Kylar and Revan should make it far too.
Yeah, I think Tyrion is way overrated. I also think that Richard Rahl is being given too much credit. Against the likes of bast and Rake, I think Rahl gets whooped. I like Revan, but do we really think he can beat Odin (Mr. Wednesday)? I am looking forward to the matchup between Erevis and Carnival.
Final four should be Kylar V. Revan (Kylar wins) Richard V. Moraine (Richard Wins) Kylar takes the final 57%.
It would be interesting to see him up against Moiraine – Game of Houses vs Game of Thrones.
So many picks for Tyrion? Don’t get me wrong. I like the character but how in the Seven Kingdoms would he beat some of the characters he is matched up against? I don’t understand.
Wow, there are some serious aSoIaF fanboys and girls at suvudu (I guess it makes sense). But c’mon there is no way Tyrion stands a chance of killing anyone outside of Zaphod Beeblebrux, and that’s a long shot. Fan support might get him to the elite 8 but if he gets past there we have entered into some kind of seriously screwed up fantasy world.
You heard it here first: Granny Weatherwax takes this one home. I’ve scrutinized the matchups, and she’s got a clear path to victory.
For the record, she beats Moraine in the finals.
Many of these characters are skilled, some are incredibly intelligent, and others are massively overpowered. But only one can win, so here are my picks and why I think that they can go the distance.
My overall pick: Anomander Rake. He has been massively underrated by the people at Suvudu. He’s the son of an Elder God and has killed at least one (if not more) of the other Elder Gods, in addition to hundreds of dragons, demon lords, and other assorted badasses. He has waged war for over 100,000 years against everyone in the Malazan continuum and has never lost. The worst to happen to him was a draw when he fought a magical battle against four High Mages (one of whom was an Elder God in disguise), another mage powerful enough to be a High Mage, and their cadre/battalion of supporting mages. There is also his prowess with the sword. He is beyond skilled with it, having used it to kill the aforementioned Elder God and countless other powerful and skilled entities. His sword also contains an alternate dimension in which those he has slain are chained to a wagon and forced to pull it for all of eternity or be consumed by chaos. Finally he is one of the master planners of his world. In over 100,000 years, no one that he has crossed paths with views him as anything less than a genius.
My backup: Revan. Because he is a master swordsman, powerful in the Force, skilled with both Jedi and Sith techniques, and is a master tactician.
My Dark Horse: Gimli. I’d love to see him take the crown. It’d be amusing beyond description.
My no-way-in-h&ll-but-why-not-take-a-shot pick: Lady Jessica. It was a travesty that Mua’Dib was eliminated from a previous contest so quickly, and the fighter that he lost too was way under his league. She’s a smart and skilled fighter in her own right, with the ability to move faster than most people can see and control you with her voice, so she’s got the credentials down pat. Show some love for the classics people!
Other fighters whom I’d like to see go far but still lose to my overall pick:
Kylar Stern – The Nightangel Trilogy is a fantastic read, one that I would recommend to anyone in need of a good recent fantasy series. He’s skilled and incredibly powerful, so much so that he’s probably just below the top tier powerhouses.
Kelsier – The other two novels of the Mistborn Trilogy suffered for his absence. He was powerful, skilled, and determined, and it would be cool to see him do well.
The Horned King – he has no chance at all. But like I said before, show some love for the classics people!
Moraine Damodred – Aes’Sedai that she is, Moraine can rock a few magical battles and scheme with the best of them. The ability to utterly remove anything from existence that she hits with Balefire is also a plus.
With all of that being said, I’ll come clean and state the fandoms that I consider myself to be a part of: WoT, MBoTF, LOTR, Dune, and a former Star Wars novels fan (I dislike the direction the Expanded Universe has taken in recent years). I’ll vote along party lines for those groups and for the characters that I mentioned, but everything else is up in the air.
There can be only one.
I think there should be a convention that if Moraine beats someone using Balefire the bracket should show a Bye because her opponent was erased from the timeline and didn’t show up to the fight.
@Adam well I guess that all depends on how strong the stream of balefire is and how long the fight lasts.
My top picks are Revan, Moiraine Damodred, and Anomander Rake. Of the three, I’m personally pulling for Revan, if only because the Wheel of Time and the Malazan Book of the Fallen have already dominated past tournaments.
Some of these brackets have Rake going down to Mellorin, Ferro Maljinn, or even the Gray Mouser. I don’t think that I even need to say how ridiculous this is, but if I did, I’d probably put it on the same level as Tyrion beating Kelsier, Moiraine, and Revan.
if moiraine and tyrion meet, i would love the write up to portray tyrion attempting to talk his way into moiraines pants. as someone above mentioned, game of thrones v. game of houses would be cool
I think Del Rey Marketing Manager Joe Scalora’s (with a surprising new name) got it right.
Atticus would wipe the floor with all of them. Nuff said.
All he has to do.. Is get every god ever thought of into existence on his side. I mean.. lets face it… If everyone else can use their weapons and abilities… His ability to transverse dimensions and get gods on his side has to be considered a talent. Not to mention nature itself is on his side… He could probably beat Sparhawk and Revan at the same time.
I have no idea how Gimli is possibly supposed to beat Kylar. I see him going all the way to the final fight in his bracket at least. He’s just so awesome. I don’t get why so many people have him losing to Gimli who’s just a normal dwarf. I guess it’s more of a popularity thing.
What Tyrion has going for him: A loyal fanbase that doesn’t care about logic.
What Tyrion has going against him: He’s an unskilled (fighting-wise) dwarf that the universe hates.
I would like to see a Tyrion vs Gimli for the sheer hilarity of it, but I will be mad if actually happens.
Anomander Rake FTW!
Well I must pick Erevis Cale, just one of my favorites overall. So many i see stand no chance, Gimli(damn dwarves!!!) Tyrion (As much as i love him, he’s no fighter.) Even Moraine Damodred just stand no chance against this priest/shadow walker/assassin.
From the characters i see here, only a few stand an actual chance. I’d love to see Erevis VS Revan.
It’s all about Tarzan.
He has fought countless battles documented in film, television, and print.. he has been found on the earths surface as well as in the realm of Pellucidar.. Dark Horse Chronicled Tarzan’s deeds with (against) John Carter in 1996.. So that makes earth, inner earth, AND Mars.. pretty versatile….. I think he even fought to get out of a pair of pants at one point. Drop him in any situation and he will MacGuyver a solution using a stick and some bashing of heads.
But the strongest trait in his favor, is his ability to overcome illiteracy in the tree house owned by his dead parents.. Illiteracy is a dark secret many people hide, but he fought it, ALONE! The man could be teaching Adult Education and ESL courses.
Anyone who can beat the social stigma of illiteracy and still choose to sport a loin cloth in public.. He has my vote… all the way to the end, where he will destroy Odin the All Father.
Tyrion/Revan be damned, Tarzan FTW
http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2012/03/cage-match-2012-round-1-moiraine-damodred-versus-tarzan.html
I am pulling for underdog Chess Putnam! She is always her own worst enemy, and if she can overcome her doubts in a battle, she can find a way to win. She may not have the magics some of these others have, however she is pretty scrappy, and she does have a few tricks up her sleeve. Common Chess!
I agree with Laura… I vote for Chess…. She doesn’t get beaten very easily….And if she can keep going with herself as her enemy… She can keep going no matter who her adversary is…
Tyrion advances to the finals after beating Anomander Rake and Tomas (not Revan) advances to the finals after defeating Erevis Cale. Anomader takes the bronze by a slim margin and Tyrion takes the finals by 15-25%.
I’m not sure if anyone has figured it out yet, but a very large number of WoT fans have something against aSoIaF (it only got worse with the Lannister-Rand fight), which of course means that you should not, ever, count on Tyrion being able to win. If, somehow, he manages to beat Kelsier (who he seems to be a lock to go up against) he will lose against Moiraine immediately. WoT fans have simply proven better at getting out here.
Going into the quarterfinals, the overall accuracy of these predictions is 25%.
2 were entirely off the mark, 2 guessed one quarterfinalist correctly, 2 guessed two, 2 guessed 3, and 1 guessed quarterfinalists correctly, failing only in the Miskatonic University Field House.
Not one of the current quarterfinalists were predicted to win the entire competition, and only two were predicted to make it to the finals (Morraine and Cale).
Kinda ticked off my favorites got the boot (Atticus, Bast, Rachel Morgan). I wish we could go through a run-through of all the fight scenarios like they used to do on Deadliest Warrior. Then people may look at both sides based on more of the characters’ skills. Still, got hope on a few dark horses in the future matches though.