BattleBots Bracketology
With the Knockout Round upon us, who's best positioned to win the Giant Nut?
Last Thursday was the regular-season finale of BattleBots on The Discovery Channel. We’ve whittled it down to the top 32 teams to win the BattleBots World Championship, also known as the Giant Nut.
POD #1:
Pod # 1 is anchored by the # 1 seed, the seemingly unbeatable Hydra from the legendary Team Whyachi. Luke Ewart’s impressive win over Uppercut in the season finale locked up this top seed, and bluntly it’s hard to see this bot losing at all in the tournament. All that being said, Hydra did go undefeated in the 2019 previous season only to be knocked out by Minotaur in 42 seconds in the 1st round of the tournament.
There aren’t a lot of killer bots in this pod, though you can’t really count out # 8 seed Whiplash and the otherworldly driving skills of Matt Vasquez. They shape up to have a tough second-round matchup presumably against # 9 Valkyrie. Either bot would give Hydra fits, but I fully expect that Hydra will make it to the Final Four.
POD # 2:
This pod is anchored by # 2 seed Bloodsport, and you could make a serious argument that they deserve the top seed over Hydra. They bludgeoned a lot of robots this season and are by far one of the top robots in this field. But that selection committee did them no favors in this bracket. # 31 seed Gruff is a tough first-round matchup, and if they make it to the third round they could very well be facing a tough team like # 7 Saw Blaze or the # 23 seed Witch Doctor. Witch Doctor was in the finals last year, had a tough start, and seemed to have turned the corner with a big win over SlamMow!
POD # 3
An argument could be made that this is the bracket of death.
3rd seed Copperhead is without question one of the top bots in the world. But they get Mammoth, the Baltimore-based 30th seed, one of the most unusual bots in the entire tournament. But this pod also includes legendary builder Donald Hudson and Lock Jaw, the New Zealanders with # 6 End Game, an 11-year old prodigy with #27 Perfect Phoenix, the undefeated budget bot 11-seeded Jackpot, and Victor Soto’s 22nd seed RotatoЯ. Almost any of those bots could very well make it through to the next round.
POD # 4
Despite losing to Hydra, Uppercut still managed to grab the # 4 seed in the tournament and a first-round matchup against 29th seeded Hijinx. There are, however, a few good bots in this bracket with them. There’s a potential 2nd-round matchup with # 13 seed Beta, the Brits with their devastating hammer pill. The Brazilians with Black Dragon are seeded 5th. And, in what may be the most intriguing first-round matchup of the tournament, undefeated 12 seed Mad Catter will take on the legendary Tombstone. It’s been four years since Tombstone last won it all. It might very well but Ray Billings time once again.
FINAL FOUR PREDICTIONS
# 1 Hydra vs # 21 Tombstone; # 2 Bloodsport vs # 11 Jackpot
FINAL PREDICTION
# 1 Hydra def. # 2 Bloodspot