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Tifa upset Sephiroth after controlling the early hours and held on despite his later recovery. The writeup treats the result as the burial of Sephiroth's old elite status and one of Tifa's defining wins.

SFF: The writeup explicitly calls Tifa's win the first confirmed case of Reverse SFF, with the usual same-fanbase hierarchy flipping against Sephiroth.

Mario finally avenged years of losses to Sephiroth by beating him decisively. The writeup frames the result as the emotional payoff to one of Mario's oldest contest frustrations and another sign of Sephiroth's decline.

Sephiroth unexpectedly crushed Ryu and produced by far his strongest-looking result of the main bracket. The writeup uses the match to argue that reports of Sephiroth's collapse had gone too far.

Sephiroth beat Amaterasu in the familiar pattern of losing early support and steadily climbing, but the writeup considers the final showing weaker than his old form. The result is treated as a subtle warning before stronger opposition.

Sephiroth briefly allowed Captain Falcon an opening before settling into the expected comfortable win. The writeup treats the result as evidence that claims of Sephiroth's collapse had been exaggerated.

Sephiroth beat Wesker comfortably but failed to look as dominant as a Noble Nine character once would have against similar opposition. The writeup treats the result as another sign that Sephiroth had clearly declined from his peak.

Mewtwo looked ready to win while the League rally was offline, but Draven surged back the moment outside support returned. The match became one of the clearest demonstrations of how completely rally access controlled Draven's run.

Rally: The writeup says Draven's Reddit rally was briefly removed, allowing Mewtwo to build a large lead, then returned and erased that lead almost immediately.

Sephiroth survived an expected Kirby upset attempt after a long early deadlock, then unexpectedly dominated the morning and daytime vote. The writeup treats the result as a rare 2013 case where a Final Fantasy VII heavyweight reasserted himself.

Sephiroth won a routine rematch setting while Morrigan again finished ahead of Spyro, echoing their famous 2002 upset. The writeup finds Sephiroth's modest dominance more notable than the actual ordering.

Sephiroth won easily, but Midna and Little Mac still held up far better than the writeup thought should be possible against a former champion. The match is framed as another unmistakable sign of Final Fantasy VII decline.

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.

Sephiroth struggled badly against Tifa in what the writeup calls his worst performance, framing the weakness as extreme anti-voting magnified by anger over Missingno's elimination. The result effectively ended confidence in Sephiroth beating Snake.

Missingno built the expected early lead through bandwagon support, but Sephiroth erased it decisively once the night vote arrived. The writeup treats the loss as the end of Missingno's remarkable run and as fuel for even more anti-Sephiroth sentiment.

Rally: The writeup says Missingno's rallying was organized in advance and powered a substantial early lead, though the push was nowhere near enough to survive Sephiroth's overnight strength.

Sephiroth failed to suppress Vincent nearly as hard as expected, and the writeup explicitly rejects ordinary SFF as a sufficient explanation. It instead frames the result as evidence that severe anti-voting had become a structural weakness for Sephiroth and Final Fantasy VII.

Sephiroth's opening performance looked weak compared with Snake's, which immediately raised concern about his path through the contest. The writeup views this as the first clear warning that Sephiroth was in trouble.

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.

Kirby delivered another major shock by advancing ahead of Sonic, whose long decline finally produced a costly elimination. The writeup treats Sonic's failure as the culmination of years of warning signs rather than a random fluke.

Sephiroth and Sonic advanced in a match the writeup considered essentially predetermined once Auron shared the field with Sephiroth. Sonic's solid showing quieted some of the criticism generated by his earlier loss.

SFF: The writeup says Sephiroth SFFed fellow Final Fantasy entrant Auron badly, preventing Auron from reproducing his prior win over Sonic.

Sephiroth took first as expected, while Kratos again benefited from a field that disadvantaged one of his stronger rivals. Tifa's elimination made the fanbase dynamics more important than the nominal matchup strength.

SFF: The writeup says Sephiroth's shared Final Fantasy support suppressed Tifa, allowing Kratos to take advantage and claim the other advancing spot.

Sephiroth and Tifa advanced as expected, but Tifa held up far better against Sephiroth than many feared. The writeup treats that resistance as an encouraging sign rather than a true upset story.

Link and Cloud advanced through a semifinal whose top order was never seriously in doubt. Samus nevertheless outperformed Sephiroth, providing the only notable wrinkle in an otherwise predictable heavyweight match.

SFF: The writeup says Link heavily suppressed Samus through their overlapping Nintendo support, even though Samus still performed surprisingly well relative to Sephiroth.

Link and Sephiroth advanced as expected, but Mario held up better against Link than many anticipated. The writeup treats Link's diminished dominance as the first meaningful encouragement for people hoping Cloud could beat him later.

LFF: The writeup says Mario clearly weakened fellow Nintendo entrant Link, narrowing Link's advantage over Sephiroth and briefly making Link look vulnerable.

Sephiroth beat Mario comfortably in a result that had become predictable by match day. The more notable secondary story was Fox collapsing in Mario's presence after looking strong against Nintendo opposition earlier.

SFF: The writeup says Mario heavily suppressed fellow Nintendo entrant Fox, leaving Fox far weaker than his prior-round performance suggested.

Sephiroth and Fox advanced exactly as expected in a match the writeup considers almost completely predetermined. Sephiroth nevertheless looked especially strong against a field otherwise composed entirely of Nintendo characters.

Sephiroth won as expected, but Meta Knight unexpectedly took a clear second over Peach and CATS. The writeup attributes much of the surprise to Meta Knight's pre-release Brawl visibility and treats Peach as poorly suited to the four-way format.

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.

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.

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.

Link beat Sephiroth comfortably in a final that the writeup considered largely predetermined. Sephiroth still did better than expected, reinforcing the view that Advent Children had strengthened the Final Fantasy VII characters even though Link remained clearly on top.

Sephiroth overwhelmed the newly crowned Mario and ended speculation that Nintendo's 2005 boost had lifted Mario above him. The writeup sees the result as strong evidence that Advent Children had substantially strengthened the Final Fantasy VII cast.

Ganondorf gave Sephiroth some resistance early, but Sephiroth pulled away and won the villains championship as expected. The writeup is more interested in why Sephiroth looked less dominant against Bowser and Ganondorf than against his earlier opponents.

Sephiroth was always expected to advance, but Bowser briefly held him even and produced a memorable exact tie at the thousand-vote mark. The writeup treats that early moment as the real legacy of an otherwise straightforward semifinal.

Sephiroth crushed Liquid far more thoroughly than old projections suggested, leaving the writeup struggling to explain what had happened to Liquid and the 2004 20XX group. The result reinforced Sephiroth's overwhelming status while making earlier statistics look suspect.

Sephiroth buried Vergil in a match whose result the writeup considered completely predetermined. Vergil had fulfilled his bracket role by beating Ghaleon, and this round offered no sign that Sephiroth would later encounter trouble.

Sephiroth annihilated Ramirez in a deliberately lopsided matchup born from a Board 8 request. The writeup treats the result as confirmation that the overwhelming pre-contest favorite showed no sign of vulnerability.

Cloud defeated Sephiroth comfortably despite the rematch carrying at least some plausible upset intrigue. The writeup says the win restored confidence in Cloud just before the expected showdown with Link.

Sephiroth beat Auron exactly as the bracket seemed designed to produce, leaving little suspense. The writeup's main takeaway is that Sephiroth looked clearly weaker than Cloud against a common opponent.

Sephiroth beat Vivi comfortably, but Vivi held up better than many expected against a fellow Square entrant. The writeup uses the result to argue that Square fanbases are less easily compressed than Nintendo fanbases.

Sephiroth obliterated Sly Cooper in a match the writeup considers entirely predetermined. Its main complaint is that the company-based division reduced Sephiroth's early path to meaningless setup matches before the expected confrontation with Cloud.

Cloud recovered from Sephiroth's early lead and won a final that the writeup says was less competitive than the ending suggested. It frames the result as the culmination of Cloud's strengthened post-Kingdom Hearts standing and likely same-fanbase suppression of Sephiroth.

SFF: The writeup says SFF likely had the most to do with Cloud beating fellow Final Fantasy VII character Sephiroth, and treats their later rematch as confirmation that Sephiroth was suppressed here.

Sephiroth dominated Mega Man in a rematch that had been nearly even one year earlier. The writeup treats the dramatic swing as some of the strongest evidence for the Kingdom Hearts Factor before the all-FF7 championship match.

Sephiroth unexpectedly demolished Mario in what had been expected to resemble the previous year's Mario-Cloud classic. The result became the writeup's clearest evidence yet for a broad Kingdom Hearts-era boost to several Square characters.

Sephiroth dispatched Alucard in a match largely ignored because it followed the Mario-Crono controversy. The writeup mainly uses the result to strengthen Sephiroth's case before facing Mario in the divisional final.

Sephiroth demolished Max Payne in a match the writeup considered almost entirely predetermined. Its main significance was completing the path toward the long-awaited Mario-Crono-Sephiroth endgame in the South.

Sephiroth crushed Raziel exactly as expected and remained one of the division's dominant favorites. The writeup's lasting historical note is that a perfect percentage prediction around this match helped inspire the Oracle Challenge.

Link dominated Sephiroth from the beginning, confirming fears raised by Sephiroth's earlier struggle with Samus. The writeup treats this as the match in which Link effectively secured the championship before the final was played.

Samus surprised Sephiroth with a strong opening lead, but Sephiroth recovered quickly and controlled the rest of the match. Even in defeat, the writeup says Samus validated her earlier Sonic win while Sephiroth raised concerns about how he would fare against Link.

Mega Man built a surprising early lead on Sephiroth before Sephiroth reversed the match and pulled away late. The writeup considers it one of the contest's best fights, but one overshadowed by the famous matches immediately before and after it.

Sephiroth easily eliminated the much higher-seeded Crash and left no doubt that their seeds had badly misstated their relative strength. The writeup treats the match mainly as the final setup for the anticipated Mega Man showdown.

Sephiroth easily dispatched Gabe Logan while reinforcing the view that his seed badly understated his strength. The result intensified anticipation for his eventual showdown with Mega Man.