-THE WINTER TOPICAL SECOND ROUND MAGAZINE-

[PancakeBrah]

THE WINTER TOPICAL
Second Round Magazine

Welcome to the Second Round Magazine for The Winter Topical. The First Round was a success; thirty out of thirty two writers posted verses, fourteen of six matches went to votes, and aside from the five 5-0 shutouts every match received at least seven votes. Three of the fourteen matches went down to the wire with one vote being the difference. We had two major upsets with the #4 and #6 seeds both losing, and one minor “upset” with the #16 seed losing. Although the First Round was one of the best I’ve seen in terms of talent, the Second Round is ridiculous as nearly every match has Battle of the Week potential.

This magazine will contain profiles of the reserves who advanced, a synopsis/review of every First Round battle, a preview/prediction for every Second Round battle, interviews, and, again, my try-hard pseudo-intellectual hipster taste in music. Enjoy.

THE BRACKET
Frank is still mad.

<iframe src="http://challonge.com/wintertopical/module" width="100%" height="500" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>

The First Round went mostly as planned aside from the two aforementioned upsets. We had six reserves put in for Bags, ill nik-A, symetrik, Adonis, Coup, and Zenland. Bags and nik realized they were out of their element here so they signed out to check boarding stats and buy a pair of Jordan XI Chocolate Meringues, respectively. I think symetrik signing out is his only post on Netcees. I can’t confirm that. Adonis and Zenland were too busy pm’ing each other reminiscing about the glory days of the AOWL Discussion threads. Coup just signed out. I have nothing really interesting to say about Coup. Sorry Coup.

Looking at the bracket in quarter sections the dead man and Pent uP divisions look to be in a dead heat for the title of toughest/best competition. deadman, ZYG, and big baby were all talked about prior to the tournament as having legitimate shots at winning the entire thing. Witty won in convincing fashion, 6-2, in the First Round and was picked by at least one writer to upset dead man in this round. The Pent division, though, probably has the best talent top to bottom. Pent uP, Lars, and Certain are all storied veterans of the topical community having won multiple tournaments and leagues between them and Wise wrote my second favorite verse of the opening round and should be looked at as legitimate contender as well. The Vulgar division falls to third with Vulgar, Split, and oats all as heavy hitters and uh-oh as the surprise. uh-oh pulled the biggest upset of the First Round and should be respected but he doesn’t have the pedigree of most of the writers in this tournament and as a result the top to bottom depth of this division is a bit lacking in comparison to the first two. Lastly, the NYC division has a heap of talent with some caveats. If all four writers show and write to their full potential it could be viewed as one of the tougher quarters but NYC and oXus aren’t known for their steady dedication and while Nigma is a talented writer he put forth a relatively weak effort last round considering his talent. I’m still not overly familiar with trap but he beat a noted Open Mic writer in his opener. Overall, I could see eleven to twelve of the remaining writers winning the whole thing without being surprised which is a testament to the overwhelming amount of talent in the tournament.