Those who have played Symphony of the Night know of Alucard's greatness, and those who haven't have likely never heard of him. For this reason, Alucard's success in the contests are still a surprise to some people. His four victories are all against decent mid-carder opponents, and his three losses are all against characters who have placed in the top ten in the Xsts at least once. Alucard's strength puts him ahead of roughly two thirds of the field every year, yet despite this, there are those who have still never heard of him and bet against him each year. He may have lost in the first round this year, but whenever Alucard goes up against characters that he can likely take down, he is always underestimated. Alucard has always been constant enough to be able to win matches against lesser opponents, and if he were to ever have a contest in which he didn't face an elite character until very late, he could cause some true damage. The same can be said of many characters, but Alucard has had bad luck in opponents that few others can match. His first two losses were two the Final Fantasy 7 titans, and his third was to Ganondorf. That is elite company, and though Alucard may never build the strength necesarry to bring the likes of elite opponents down, Alucard will never be embarrassed in a match.

Division 5 Round 1 --- 2nd place, 35427 [27.785%] - Liquid Snake, 35430 [27.787%] - Ness, 32413 [25.42%] - Zidane Tribal, 24234 [19.01%]
Division 5 Round 2 --- 3rd place, 28481 [19.22%] - Master Chief, 64881 [43.78%] - Yuna, 35505 [23.96%] - Liquid Snake, 19332 [13.04%]

Alucard's first round fourpack was one of the most heavily debated of the contest, but he was the favorite to win and advance. He did advance, but he fell just short of a victory. He fought hard with Liquid Snake all day long, gradually making a comeback throughout the second half of the poll. He finally caught up with 15 minutes left, and they went back and forth for the last few updates. On the next-to-last update, Alucard was ahead by 17, and people figured he had it in the bag after making that huge comeback. However, when the dust settled, Liquid had taken first place by the smallest margin in contest history, 3 votes. This duel still had a measure of tension to it, but the fact that both participants advanced did take away a certain measure of drama here.

Alucard performed decently in the second round, though he was eliminated. He did finish far ahead of Liquid Snake this time. While he is still a solid midcarder and he restored a bit of dignity after a round 1 blowout last year, he's still going to struggle to advance against more mainstream characters. The days of Sweet Sixteen appearances are probably gone...until The Plan finally comes to fruition, that is.

-Ulti