[Team Rocket Elite]

The idols put up quite a fight but even with a combination they fall short of winning. Sanya and Kirame end up doing about as well as I thought they would. Sanya is going to make things very tough for the character that comes out of the other side of E Block. Should Kuro fail to make the Block finals, Kirami looks good enough to try and be a backup winner for the Saki fanbase.

First match is a battle between midcarders to try and advance to Round 3. To me, Rin looks like the strongest of the three but you can't really discount the Idolm@ster character here. Hibiki has a pretty good chance to take out Rin and they need to make up for the double loss they just took. I don't really expect much from Charlotte. While she's not that weak, she's probably going to get left behind. The second match is a vicious match between the winners of preliminary groups 9, 10 and 11. The worst part is, winning this match isn't enough to cruise into the Top 8. A strong opponent awaits the winner in Round 3 as well. In terms of base strength, Kuro should be the strongest. She should be Saki's #2 and arguable the second strongest character in the tournament. The problem is Ryuuka. Ryuuka is one of the stronger Saki characters will split the Saki fanbase a bit with Kuro. This give Nyaruko a great opportunity to steal the win. While Ryuuka is likely to get thrown under the bus she'll hurt Kuro at least a bit and every vote may count in Kuro vs Nyaruko. I think Kuro will come out on top still.

Votes:
Charlotte Dunois
Matsumi Kuro

Predictions:
Toosaka Rin
Matsumi Kuro