User blog comment:B214/Shin DxD 1 discussion/@comment-185.29.98.173-20180723103945/@comment-2601:8C:601:5692:B0E4:9F46:19E8:43DE-20180723171659

@2nd Anon: I think you're misunderstanding something...what was said was the most likely potential 2nd round match-ups are Ise vs Zeno OR Rias vs Diehauser, not that they both will happen. Though, IMO, Ishibumi could give the losers a chance to fight each other in order for the other match to happen.

@1st Anon: I do agree that it's frustrating the way the matches were set up in this regard, however, there was never going to be a set up that allows us to see all of what we'd want (for no other reason than that I'd want to see Ise vs every team he hasn't faced before, except maybe Wukong). What Ishibumi did, IMO, was choose each of Issei's opponents, then set up the brackets so that other "fated" matches would occur, namely Indra vs Mahabali, Vali vs Wukong, and Vali vs Tobio while letting teams like Ruval's have the spotlight as well.