This setup actually favors Saki, since they have a history of dominating through most of the tournament and then having a hard time appealing to the extra voters who start joining the tournament at the seminfinal level. It'll be even harder this year after winning half the preliminaries and getting 43 characters in, constituting one heck of a riichi declaration.
What this all means is that the pre-finals stage is Saki's best chance to knock out their strongest rivals. If they can't stop Akari here, they'll be at a huge disadvantage against her later on. If they do beat her, we'll be in Madoka territory again. Kyouko is weaker than Akari, and the next obvious rivals are Nagi and Hinagiku, whose histories in Saimoe speak for themselves. K-ON won't be allowed to take a second championship. The biggest remaining major threats, Ririchiyo and Nyarlko, are both in group F and will run into Kuro early on.
The first will be a major test of Yuri Yuri's strength and organization, since they're #2 will be in a split vote match against a mid-level Saki. If Yuru Yuri is championship calibre, they need to throw Rise under the bus mercilessly and maintain a solid lead for Kyouko from open to close. If they fail to do that, it'll be a sign of vulnerability.
Ryuuka's battle will reveal the strength of anti-Saki backlash voting. A lot of people will be mad about 43 characters qualifying, but what are they going to do about it? Ryuuka is exactly the kind of supporting character who they'll want to knock out, and she's dealing with well-known competition. If Mugi goes down easily, it'll be safe to assume that the haters aren't mobilized enough to swing the big time matches.
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