My Madrid Round 1 Preds:

GenG 2-1 Loud

Should be a banger of a game, but I feel GenG take this because: 1. The weaknesses of Loud's Phoenix comps have been made clear in Playoffs 2. APAC teams have had a lot of resting time because APAC kickoff ended earlier and GenG coach Solo said in post match interview after finals that they are going to change up strats and maybe comps, so Loud won't even be able to get good anti strat with the limited time they have. 3. On average, I'd say the GenG players are mechanically better. Less is the best one in the server between these two teams, but Meteor, t3xture, Karon are monsters in their own right, and even Lakia and munchkin can step up when they need to. Saadhak will obviously have better midrounding than Munchkin, but from what I saw in APAC finals (Ascent in particular), it won't be by much.

PRX 2-1 EDG

This will be a good game, and tbh it might be a 50-50, but I'm going to go with PRX because I have faith in Aleck's coaching to find a solution to their current issues + the PRX players will have confidence from beating EDG before. PRX started shaky last year, but were able to consistently improve. Of course, EDG really wants to finally beat PRX and have grown a lot from their experience last year, so that's why I have it 50-50. PRX do have strong points in their map pool, and I think the deciding factor will be that EDG just won't be ready for some wacky prx util combos. Also PRX have had more time to prepare.

KC 2-1 FPX

I am fully confident that KC wins this, but I think people are underestimating FPX. While they lost 3-1 to EDG in China Kickoff finals, two of those map losses were in OT, so they're not that far behind EDG. I think they surprise and take away a map that KC is weaker on (Ascent or Sunset), but KC's map pool overall is way too strong. Plus Enghh is goated and has great antistrat.

SEN 2-0 Heretics

Maybe Heretics take a map, but SEN should win this 100%. Heretics were overly reliant on fragging from the games I watched, and SEN has fraggers + extremely deep strategy. Heretics aren't beating SEN on Split, Lotus, or Sunset. SEN's weaknesses right now are Ascent & Breeze, and one of those will be banned and I'm confident in SEN fixing the other. SEN's split improved so much over a short time. SEN 100% should take this.

i highly doubt saadhak keeps the phoenix comp on more than 1 or maybe 2 maps unless more "normal" comps don't work with QCK

How is everyone still doubting saadhak.

LOUD 2-0 (core LOUD have so much exp + Saadhak cant be underestimated)
Agree
KC 2-0 (this team looks on fire rn, if they dont drop performance this should be a 2-0 sweep regardless if FPX is looking good)
SEN vs TH 50/50 (I just like both of these teams, SEN has a slight edge but if TH take Sunset or Lotus it could be a 2-1 for them + W crowd buff)