1ST ROUND IS COMPLETE

With a legendary 1st round in the record books, let’s take a look at where things stand now on the bracket:

As you can see, there were some hugely tumultuous and, frankly, unexpected results from round one. The theme for this year’s tournament is very much “Rookies vs. Veterans” and i’ll be damned if almost every single one of these rookies came out with guns blazing, giving the established veterans all that they could handle. Funnily enough, after one round the bracket seems to have settled into almost a rookie half and a veterans half, with the_man_diva as the lonely veteran attempting to stem the assault of these exciting newcomers. With two round to go before our riveting finale, anything can happen, and anyone could still be crowned the King of Rajah!

Let’s look a little deeper into each of the round 2 matchups…

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Badger probably had the easily time of it in round one, as the hurricanes prevented Samuel Hall from really going for the upset, but don’t think that means he’s not on his game. This is the best he’s looked in years, and with some real competition we may be looking at fireworks from the get go. Meanwhile, Zyphilin avoided a 1st round exit only to walk right into a matchup with the number 1 seed. Zyph has always been competitive in these tournaments, but in the end, he’s always failed to win the big one and really make a name for himself. With these being the official tournament of Cinderella upsets, he could put his name up in lights if he takes down the godfather of the Rajah debates in one spectacular run at the top.

As the steward of these debates, it’s my job to be impartial and practical no matter what, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t hoping to see us get this matchup. This is a rematch of last year’s Rajah Debate finals, which were mired in controversy and really didn’t provide a satisfying conclusion to their epic rivalry. Each one of these men are class A, amazing debators in their own right, and they have both been laser focused on this matchup since the bracket was unveiled, both looking to prove that they were last year’s deserving champion, and this year’s as well. Only one man can take the next step towards an undisputed reign as King. This has all the makings of a match of the tournament nominee.

After the shocking first round, the_man_diva’s task is clear. He will have to carve his way through a cavalcade of hungry upstarts in order to make it back to the throne that he once held. And while, in years past, this may have seemed like a cake walk, this year the rookies are DANGEROUS and he now finds himself eyeing up a murderers row of unpredictable bastards who have all tasted veteran blood already. His next challenge is the man I named as the dark horse to win this entire tournament, Honey Badger. Blessed with all of the wit and wile of his veteran namesake, but with a boatload of youthful enthusiasm to boot, HB would easily be my vote for the guy i’d least like to see my name up against in this round. TMD is in a tough spot. Lose, and he let himself get bested by a kid, and he damn sure might lose.

I don’t mean to disparage either of these guys when I say this, but NOBODY saw this matchup coming. A ton of people discredited Peter Griffin coming into this tournament, and BGMaverick, while a respected poster, struggled with not having the same name recognition as some of the other big players here. Well so much for that shit! With heavy favorites Defrost and BBF laid out at their feet, Pete and BGM have arrived on the scene and are looking to cause some serious damage. I’ll be honest. I have absolutely no idea what these guys have in store for us, or if either can carry their Cinderella run all the way to the finals, but i’ll be damned if i’m not excited to find out!

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That’s our round 2 lineup, with the new debates set to begin tomorrow afternoon! But before we get out of here, I just want to give a huge thank you to all of the participants and even moreso, all of the people who took the time to read and vote on the competition. Even if you aren’t actively involved, and even if you don’t throw down a vote, the fact that you guys are taking the time to read the great work these guys are doing and being part of this cool community event is special in and of itself. You’re all amazing, and please keep it up as we get closer to crowning a champion! Who knows. Next year, it might be you wearing the crown…

And one more time, please join us in the Rajah forums to see more about these debates, and all the other cool stuff we’ve got going on!