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Solid Snake entered as one of the contest's biggest favorites and easily handled a well-supported Squall. The writeup attributes Squall's poor showing to his weak standing at the time and explicitly describes the result as non-SFF.

Minor Knuckles upset hype disappeared almost immediately as Solid Snake controlled the match from the start. The writeup treats the result as confirmation that Snake belonged among the contest's serious contenders.

Solid Snake ended Aeris's underseeded run in an expected victory. The writeup focuses less on the match itself than on how Snake's showing might translate against the much stronger Crono.

Crono's earlier warning signs became impossible to ignore when he controlled a heavily favored Solid Snake. The writeup treats the victory as the culmination of an unlikely run that had grown stronger with every round.

Snake routed Raiden in an expected same-series mismatch. The writeup emphasizes that the result was a severe SFF beating, though Raiden retained enough support to avoid the historically extreme percentage some expected.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Raiden was heavily SFFed by fellow Metal Gear character Solid Snake, while noting that Raiden still performed better than many expected.

Snake comfortably beat Knuckles in the first rematch in Character Battle history, producing little suspense because the same matchup had already ended decisively the year before. The writeup treats Knuckles as another stepping stone toward Snake's eventual Mega Man test.

Snake comfortably beat Ryu despite pre-match concern that his poor sprite image could hurt him. The writeup says the feared picture effect did not materialize here, though the performance did little to improve Snake's chances against Mega Man.

Mega Man beat Snake in a steady match that produced little drama but finally sent him back to Sephiroth for a rematch of their near-upset from 2002. The writeup treats the coming Final Four as far more interesting than the match itself.

Solid Snake annihilated Tanner in a blowout the writeup treats as evidence of Tanner's exceptional weakness rather than Snake's true ceiling. The mismatch became a lasting Board 8 reference point for hopeless new entrants and entertainingly lopsided polls.

Solid Snake beat Knuckles yet again, but the writeup is mostly exasperated that the same second-round pairing kept recurring. Knuckles looked better than in their earlier meetings, leaving open whether he improved or Snake declined.

Solid Snake survived Frog, but Frog's ability to stay competitive made Snake look like one of the contest's biggest disappointments. The writeup uses the match to criticize overly literal reliance on extrapolated standings.

Mega Man beat Solid Snake in a repeat of the previous year's divisional final, with the writeup treating Snake's showing as another major flop. It also mocks the persistent tendency to underestimate Mega Man in bracket predictions.

Snake predictably overwhelmed Manny, but the writeup treats Manny's appearance itself as a victory after a long Board 8 nomination campaign. Much of the discussion pushes back against claims that Snake's huge win was somehow disappointing.

Snake quickly dismantled a Zelda upset bandwagon that had grown from mismatched old statistics and concern over his ugly picture. The writeup treats the match as another example of Board 8 talking itself into a close contest that never materialized.

Snake demolished Sora after entering the match somewhat underestimated. The writeup sees the result as both a statement of Snake's true strength and an example of a broader fanbase-overlap effect working against Sora.

SFF: The writeup rejects a simple PlayStation 2 explanation but argues that a broader form of SFF hurt Sora badly against Solid Snake.

Snake built a large lead before Bowser mounted a long afternoon comeback that fell just short. The writeup considers the close win a major validation for Snake and argues that his poor match picture made the result look closer than it otherwise would have.

Pic: The writeup argues that Snake's hard-to-recognize sprite hurt him while Bowser had a clear, recognizable picture, and says Snake likely wins by more with a fairer image.

Mario controlled Snake throughout the semifinal, although Snake earned the moral victory his fans wanted by stealing a handful of updates. The writeup sees the overall margin as further proof that Mario had risen sharply and was the clear tournament favorite.

Snake overwhelmed Soma in a stronger opening performance than his familiar early-round fodder beatings. The writeup still notes his history of fading later, but treats the result as the first hint that this contest might be different.

Snake crushed Squall in a match that had drawn meaningful upset discussion beforehand. The writeup calls it the first clear sign that Snake had made a major leap in strength during this contest.

Snake avoided the sprite-round collapse many expected and handled Yoshi more respectably than his past history suggested. The writeup treats the result as another confirmation that Snake had become much stronger this year.

Snake decisively reversed his old history against Mega Man after Mega's earlier warning signs finally became impossible to dismiss. The writeup treats the upset as the moment the Year of the Snake fully arrived and Mega Man's long-term decline became a serious concern.

After an erroneous opening poll was restarted, Snake took firm control and never let Sonic seriously threaten the result. Sonic recovered respectability during the day, but the writeup treats the win as the latest proof of Snake's remarkable 2006 surge.

Snake kept the championship close early, but Samus broke away once the morning vote arrived and finished the contest on top. The writeup still treats Snake as the spiritual star of the tournament, with his extraordinary run continuing into the Battle Royale.

The first Battle Royale largely followed expectations at the top, while Samus became the first elimination after being squeezed by the other Nintendo heavyweights. Snake finishing ahead of Mario was the main unexpected development and set up the next day's drama.

SFF: The writeup says Link and Mario SFFed Samus heavily enough to drive her into last place and eliminate her.

Mario became the second elimination as Link absorbed the Nintendo support that had been shared with Samus the day before. Snake again outperformed expectations, while Sephiroth's repeated struggles to escape last place foreshadowed the next round.

SFF: The writeup says Link SFFed Mario to death, pushing Mario into last place despite his status as a traditional heavyweight.

Snake survived Sephiroth after a dramatic late comeback attempt and another last-minute Metal Gear response. The result became the capstone of Snake's extraordinary run, while Sephiroth was remembered as the Battle Royale's major disappointment.

SFF · Rally · Cheat: The writeup says Cloud heavily SFFed Sephiroth, helping leave him vulnerable to Snake. It also describes intense late rallying and records cheating allegations around the finish, while noting that CJayC said no cheating was found.

With Sephiroth gone, the fourth day became a predictable Link-and-Cloud show and finally ended Snake's run. The writeup spends most of its attention celebrating how many elite opponents Snake had already survived before the two remaining giants eliminated him.

Snake took first comfortably and Nightmare secured second without much difficulty, while the hoped-for strength of Vyse's cult fanbase failed to materialize. The writeup treats Vyse as another aging RPG character whose contest relevance had faded badly.

Snake advanced easily, while Riku reversed his opening-round loss to Ryu Hayabusa and took the other spot. The writeup treats the reversal as another example of how unreliable direct comparisons could become in the four-way format.

Snake eventually won, but L-Block dominated the opening and advanced with ease over Kratos and Riku. The writeup marks this as the first match where the joke entrant looked capable of threatening the contest's established elite directly.

L-Block led from the opening minutes and held off a long Snake comeback to take first. The writeup identifies this as the match where the joke entrant became a genuine Internet-backed force capable of defeating Noble Nine characters.

Rally: The writeup describes L-Block's growing Internet support as an active rally and says a late counter-push helped stop Snake's comeback.

L-Block's Internet momentum exploded as outside sites discovered the run, and Snake was left fighting Master Chief for the other final spot. The writeup treats this as the moment the joke had grown beyond Board 8 into a broad online bandwagon.

Rally: The writeup says outside attention from Kotaku, 4chan, Vote for the Worst and other sites expanded L-Block's support, including a visible surge after a Kotaku link.

L-Block completed its improbable run by beating Link in a final dominated by an enormous Internet bandwagon. The writeup remembers the result as the ultimate joke-character triumph and the defining match of the contest.

Rally: The writeup explicitly describes the final as driven by massive rallying and broad Internet support for L-Block, which overwhelmed Link's attempted comeback.

Snake and Vivi advanced exactly as the writeup expected, with little genuine suspense. Snake's strong showing was more notable than the order of finish and fed expectations for a major run.

Snake delivered another statement performance, while Zero and Vivi fought a much more entertaining battle for the second advancing spot. Zero survived, but Vivi's late resistance made the race memorable.

Snake controlled the match, while Mega Man and Weighted Companion Cube fought for the other advancing spot. The Cube's late surge completed another inanimate-object upset and ended Mega Man's run.

Rally: The writeup explicitly says Weighted Companion Cube rallied during its fight with Mega Man, producing the decisive swing that carried the Cube into the next round.

Cloud and Snake advanced through a deliberately uneventful quarterfinal after the drama of the prior match. The Cube's quiet exit confirmed that the inanimate-object wave had largely run out of steam.

Snake converted the divided field into a surprise first-place finish, while Cloud recovered enough to secure the other final berth. Sephiroth's collapse and Kirby's early pressure made the semifinal far stranger than expected.

SFF · LFF: The writeup says Kirby SFFed Sephiroth badly, leaving Sephiroth unusually weak. It also says Sephiroth leeched enough Final Fantasy support from Cloud to keep Cloud from catching outside contender Snake.

Link completed his revenge tour and reclaimed the championship, but Snake supplied the final surprise by finishing ahead of Cloud. The writeup treats Snake's run as the culmination of years of gradual growth and one of the contest's defining stories.

Rally: The writeup describes Solid Snake as the contest's biggest rallied bandwagon, saying his accumulated support carried him to a shocking second-place finish in the championship.

Snake won comfortably but again looked oddly weak against a Nintendo-associated opponent. The writeup uses the match to argue that some of Snake's newer support disappears against Nintendo characters.

Snake again started poorly with the board vote before recovering into a solid win. The writeup finds Fox a difficult measuring stick because so many of his prior losses involved Nintendo overlap.

Pikachu briefly led Snake behind a strong opening vote before Snake finally took control and pulled away. The writeup remembers the opening as entertaining but ultimately sees Snake's recovery as convincing.

Snake improved again against Squall in their latest rematch and looked strong throughout. The writeup treats the result as the point where a Snake upset of Sephiroth became the dominant expectation.

Snake defeated Sephiroth in a matchup that had shifted from pre-contest dream upset to expected result as Sephiroth deteriorated. The writeup treats Snake's control as decisive and immediately turns attention toward whether he could beat Cloud.

Snake spent hours trading the lead with Cloud and even stalled through Cloud's normally dominant overnight period, creating genuine upset hope. Cloud's morning strength finally broke the deadlock and ended Snake's deep run.

Snake delivered a dominant opening and immediately looked more dangerous than Link had in his own first-round match. The writeup treats the performance as serious evidence that Snake could contend for the contest if the bracket broke correctly.

Snake crushed Alucard and Bayonetta in a match with almost no suspense. The performance later became important because Snake was one of the few Noble Nine members still looking consistently dominant.

Snake won easily while GLaDOS and Kefka spent nearly the entire match in an extraordinarily tight fight for second in the Expert Challenge ordering. GLaDOS finally survived by only a tiny margin after repeated lead changes.

Snake advanced to the final while the two Pokémon entrants split their shared fanbase and fought over second in the Expert Challenge ordering. Pikachu ultimately beat Squirtle after the morning vote.

LFF: The writeup says Squirtle and Pikachu cannibalized each other's Pokémon support, destroying their chances of challenging Snake for first.

Snake closed most of Draven's lead with celebrity-backed support before a much larger Reddit surge ended the comeback and delivered Draven the championship. The writeup treats the final as the culmination of the contest's rally controversy.

Rally: The writeup says rallies determined the championship: David Hayter helped Snake mount a comeback, then a large Reddit push for Draven overwhelmed him and decided the result.

Zelda narrowly beat Solid Snake after a long fight in which Snake repeatedly threatened to retake control. The writeup treats the victory as the match that buried the old Noble Nine order and confirmed Zelda's elite-level rise.

SFF: The writeup says Snake's Nintendo-derived support consistently abandons him against Nintendo characters and identifies that overlap, combined with Zelda's boost, as a major reason he lost this match.

Solid Snake crushed Auron and used the matchup as another counterexample to complaints that Snake's old sprite hurts him. The writeup treats Auron as the weakest Legends Bracket entrant and Snake as clearly above him.

Solid Snake beat Sonic more decisively than Zelda had, reigniting arguments about the usefulness of extrapolated statistics after Zelda had beaten Snake directly. The writeup uses the result to emphasize that individual matchups do not obey clean transitive logic.

Samus crushed Solid Snake and reinforced the writeup's long-held view that Snake loses much of his support against Nintendo characters. Historical rallying from their 2013 meeting is discussed, but not treated as part of this match.