Crawlathon WR, get down on my level.
It's because you're assuming for whatever reason that if something makes it past first round that it means anything more than "you haven't been cut yet". The "rounds" is just a way of culling the list down to something manageable, nothing more.
If a "Game X" was submitted early and is picked because there's not many good games in yet, then yeah it might make it to the next round. And it will promptly die there when it is then compared to its constituents. Your odds weren't suddenly better because of it, it just got your hopes up.
In the end, anything goes regardless, because it's not a science and they're all hard decisions, but really, plenty of games are chosen even at the last second.
If a "Game X" was submitted early and is picked because there's not many good games in yet, then yeah it might make it to the next round. And it will promptly die there when it is then compared to its constituents. Your odds weren't suddenly better because of it, it just got your hopes up.
In the end, anything goes regardless, because it's not a science and they're all hard decisions, but really, plenty of games are chosen even at the last second.