Did you intentionally pair solos by the same guitarist in the semis, Foro? If so, not good.
I did not pair anything in this stage. However, before the game started I had a scheme of 128 solos and I divided them in estimated strength categories (the two "best", the four, eight etc.). The goal was that solos in the same category would meet each other as late as possible via the scheme. The bigger the estimated strength, the later they'd meet.
The two strongest solo's (highest category):
These would meet not earlier than in the final, so I put these in the bottoms of each half of the scheme. They are one by Dave and one by Adrian. Not because I wanted one of each in the final: no, because I thought they two would be the most popular.
On the category of four strongest solo's:
Two in the upper half, two in the lower half. These four include two from the highest category I just mentioned, plus two more solos from a level I estimated to be (just) a little less successful. These two also happened to be one Dave solo and one Adrian solo. I put the Dave solo in the upper half and the Adrian solo in the lower. Should this have been done otherwise? E.g., should the strongest Dave solo have met the one but strongest Adrian solo in the semi final and the strongest Adrian solo should have met the one but strongest Dave solo? I don't know. I didn't think of it that way. By the way,
if I would have done that, then the second semi final could easily have been Powerslave vs SIASL. I guess we'd have a lot more protest if that would happen.
As it turned out, these two solos are (probably) going to reach the final. ..... Wait a minute, I hear some of you think....
Powerslave was
not estimated as one of the two most successful (highest category of the tournament)? Indeed. I thought Dave's Alexander solo would be slightly more popular. But no, the other one won in the semi.
The bottom half of the scheme:
I put the two estimated strongest Adrian songs in the bottom half, in the same way that they would not meet before the semi final. But I estimated wrong. Before the game started, I thought Adrian's Alexander the Great would be more successful than his Caught Somewhere in Time solo. The former I put in the "best 4 category" and the latter in "the best 8 category". Then I noticed how easily CSIT won. And along the way it got so much praise. And then I realized that CSIT and SIASL would already meet in the Quarter Final if I wouldn't change anything. So before round 4 started, I decided to switch the positions of Adrian's Alexander the Great with Adrian's Caught Somewhere in Time. Because of this, ATG met SIASL in the quarter final, and Caught Somewhere in Time met SIASL in the semi final. I could also have switched CSIT with another best 8 category solo from the other half of the scheme. That would be Wasted Years or Sea of Madness. Perhaps it would have been better, but also these solos had lots of praise (more than Adrian's Alexander the Great, in my impression). But there would be another downside to this: by then, I felt that CSIT was best 4 category (more so then Adrian's ATG), so if it would have met Powerslave or Dave's ATG solo, that would not have solved the problem. I'd still have 2 best 4 category solos meeting too early. In hindsight, perhaps the best thing could have been a CSIT switch with H's Rime or Dave's Fear of the Dark. But then H's CSIT could have met his ATG solo in the Quarter final, and one of these would meet SIASL in the semi final (same result).
You see, everything is connected. If a solo would be somewhere else, that would mean another solo would also be somewhere else.
I hope you're not too disappointed about this. I did what felt right and I hope you understand how it was prepared and how it worked out.
