(7)Minecraft vs (10)Halo: Combat Evolved 2015

Ulti's Analysis
205 people picked Minecraft to win this entire contest. 203 people picked Mario 3. 124 picked Undertale. 4145 picked Ocarina.

There are a smart group of bracketmakers who know that contests are very likely to be decided by massive outside rallies, and plan accordingly. There are two main reasons for this, one being L-Block breaking the mold and the other being people are beyond done with Link or Zelda winning every year.

All contest winners:

Summer 2002 - Link Summer 2003 - Cloud Spring 2004 - Final Fantasy 7 Summer 2004 - Link Spring 2005 - Sephiroth Summer 2005 - Link Spring 2006 - The Legend of Zelda Summer 2006 - Link Summer 2007 - L-Block Summer 2008 - Link Summer 2009 - Ocarina of Time Summer 2010 - Link Game of the Decade - Majora's Mask Rivalry Rumble - Link/Ganon Winter 2013 - Draven Winter 2015 - Undertale

Even Majora's Mask, which definitely qualifies as a shocking bracket winner, is a Zelda game. So when people looked at this bracket and tried to figure out who could get a joke rally for the title, Minecraft was one of the games highlighted.

There are a lot of things that go into a rally. You need timing, luck, a true internet buzz, a rabid fanbase, a justifiable cause, more luck, and most importantly you need the right contest path. L-Block did what it did because it had the perfect setup to sneak by over and over until it grew out of control. Majora's Mask did the same thing until it eventually caught lightning in a bottle, caught a massive rally against FFX, then beat Brawl on the back of anti-votes. Draven caught a rally in round 1, smashed the fuck out of Capcom, and the rest was history. We'll get to Undertale later.

Minecraft was seen as potentially having that path. Halo is an anti-vote magnet, and then it would have another anti-vote magnet in Final Fantasy 7 in round 2. From there, who knows?

Unfortunately, it wouldn't quite work out that way. Halo definitely ate some anti-votes early, but it was able to build a comfortable lead and ride a very comfortable, very steady 56-44 percentage all day long. People were scared to death that Minecraft would beat Halo here and then laugh at our contest; they had the right idea, but were scared of the wrong game doing it. It was the 124 Undertale fans that were the real MVPs.