(7)Pikachu vs (10)Scorpion 2018

Ulti's Analysis
Scorpion is a very consistent dude in these contests and is a fantastic measuring stick for other characters. He's pretty much the exact definition of a low midcard character that won't ever win anything, but he's always good to have around because he won't ever gain or lose strength. He's worth about 23-25% on Link. Always has, always will. As we all know by now, outside of fourways, which flat-out do not behave like 1v1 and this contest proved that beyond all doubts, Scorpion's only moment of relevance came all the way back in 2002. That's the year he won three matches, including upsetting the 1 seed Pac-Man before getting utterly demolished by Link. Since then, it's been a whole lot of being used as a measuring stick or missing the bracket entirely.

Why do I bring this all up? Because Scorpion helped us see very early this year what a damn monster Pikachu was going to be in this contest. Go back and look at all of Scorpion's losses in his history. I'll even include the LOL 4ways. He has lost to Link, Zero, Auron, Mega Man, Gordon Freeman, Mega Man X & Zero, Sora, and now Pikachu.

In that entire list, only Mega Man in 2007 and the Link match in 2002 had winners more impressive than Pikachu in this match. Pikachu was a damn beast for this entire contest, and we would see it right off the bat. 66% on Scorpion is just nuts. Zero only got 63%. Auron got 65. Doing this really cemented Pikachu in near elite status, and this was before the Detective Pikachu trailer happened. Had that thing come out before the contest he might have broken 70% in this match, which is hilarious to think about given only Link has ever pulled that off.

It also meant poor Kratos was even more screwed than he already was. Dude had no chance.