It seems like just last week when I was contemplating my DOA predictions for the 2008 North American season. Now, on the eve of the World Final, it is time again to call forth the power of foresight. The first set of matches pits the BIRMINGHAM SALVO against the MEXICO CITY FURIA and the CAROLINA CORE against the WUHAN DRAGON. From a DOA standpoint, this offers two very good matchups and a few that will likely be very one-sided.

BIRMINGHAM SALVO vs. MEXICO CITY FURIA

El Divino surprised a lot of people with his performance against Rudolf "THE_TACTICAL" Fischer during the Individual World Final, but he fell quickly to Emmanuel "Master" Rodriguez in the championship match. Tonight he faces MESSY, who seems to be going through a troubled period after disappointing losses to Avtar "Paddaman" Padda and THE_TACTICAL during the UK Final and the Continental European Final. While El Divino didn’t look like the same player who defeated Master at the 2006 World Cyber Games Grand Final, if MESSY doesn’t snap into shape, he’ll fall victim to the Mexican Champ.

Predicted Winner: El Divino (5-4)

Under normal circumstances I would say that Hitomi 1 has this match in the bag. However, Hitomi 1 has been lackluster this season after having a rumored offseason consisting of very little DOA action. Meanwhile, Sarah Lou has been on fire with an undefeated 2008 season aside from a loss to Vanessa Arteaga in the Individual World Final. If Hitomi 1 was anywhere near her 2007 persona, Sarah Lou would be in trouble, but as it stands, Sarah Lou has a huge advantage over Hitomi 1 and should make quick work of the Latin American star.

Predicted Winner: Sarah Lou (5-3)

CAROLINA CORE vs. WUHAN DRAGON

After having only seen kindfox play against Daniel "Berzerk" Chlebowczyk during the Pan-Asian Final and Master during the Individual World Final, his reputation of being a top player doesn’t seem to have followed him to US shores. He doesn’t have a main character, and instead chooses to play as whichever character he feels would be best for the situation. This resulted in Hayate against Berzerk and Kokoro against Master. If this trend continues, he’ll have an extremely tough time defeating Offbeat Ninja, who is versed in fighting against nearly every character at the highest level of play. This one should be very one-sided, unless kindfox selects the one character Offbeat Ninja is weak against.

Predicted Winner: Offbeat Ninja (5-1)

Throughout the season Mystik has proven that she has tremendous skill, but fails when it comes to closing out tough matches. She had Vanessa up 4-1, but ended up losing the match 5-4 with the franchise victory on the line. However, catpower plays a very basic Gen Fu that pales in comparison to the likes of Michelle "Phoenix" Pleet’s Gen Fu. After having played Phoenix numerous times in practice and on stage, Mystik knows exactly what Gen Fu is capable of and how to defend against it. There’s very little chance catpower will be able to get a single round on Mystik, let alone win the match.

Predicted Winner: Mystik (5-1)