This Week in Tetris: May 21-27

It's now less than two weeks from the start of CTWC, and the big online tournaments are reaching a crescendo in anticipation of it. CTM Challengers is complete and the Masters semifinals are set, while CTL's regular season wrapped up with some huge matches. Whoever takes home the titles will go into Pasadena with momentum (and a fair chunk of pocket change besides).

A quick housekeeping announcement: this project now has a Discord server, where you can talk about This Week in Tetris (or any week in Tetris, really). I'll be posting regular updates as I put posts together, as well as more free-form thoughts and stuff I uncover that doesn't make the blog. We'd love to have you.

The numbers next to the players are their May Premiere Poll rankings, not their tournament seeds. Scores in the tables are given in thousands; an (i) or (a) next to a score indicates that the topout was intentional or aggressive, respectively. As always, let me know if you found this entertaining or useful, or if there's anything else you'd like to see.

Classic Tetris Monthly

It was Myles' turn to draw a first-round matchup against Alex, though that is by no means a gimmie for Alex. The other side of the green bracket was compelling as well, with upset specialist Portal taking on Tommy, who hasn't been seen in action since Mega Masters. The May 2024 edition of an absurdly stacked Challengers finished, with two ranked players remaining of the four who started. SV is the one who survives a bloodbath of a red bracket, while Sodium had to get past Nek0 to win the green one.

CTL May 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Green Bracket), May 25, 2024
2 ALEX THACH def. 10 MYLES (3-1)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4
ALEX THACH	1,138 (i)	1,728	610	1,162
MYLES	1,128	1,280	711 (i)	1,058

Myles was able to match the defending champ in the first two phases and made him work for the win, but wasn't able to get much done on the killscreen. Game 1 started off solidly for both players, with Myles opening up about a 100k lead while Alex was stuck in traffic in post. Alex went into 29 way too high, but had an incredible dig to survive, and was able to complete a short chasedown after a long bar dependency materialized on Myles' board and led to a topout. Game 2 was close to start off as well and stayed that way for longer, with only 7k separating the two into 29. Alex was able to be more efficient in killscreen play and managed to go up almost 100k by the time Myles misrotated and awkwardly draped a T piece over his well. Alex's 1.7 mullen made it all the way to level 40. Alex got snagged up right after the 19 transition in game 3, where his stack wasn't able to accommodate an S after he blocked his well, and he couldn't get the taps he needed to get out of it. Game 4 featured some decent-sized digs from both players before 29, but Alex ended up ahead by six figures with a 1.1. A topout followed soon afterward when he missed a couple five-taps that would normally be routine for him, but an L hang and some massive spires in Myles' stack doomed his chasedown effort.
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CTL May 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Green Bracket), May 25, 2024
13 TOMMYNTG def. 18 PORTALLL (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
PORTALLL	1,287	154	1,176	1,502	1,011
TOMMYNTG	1,239	185 (i)	1,291	1,159	1,117

In his first match since Mega Masters, Tommy stacks clean and stays consistent to survive a close match against Portal. Portal continued to generate Situations and gave up more than a level of lines in hand in each game, but in the first one, he consistently cleaned up fast enough to get a decent-sized real time lead and stay within a tetris or two when pace is factored in. He scored more killscreen tetrises before his level 32 topout, and Tommy wasn't quite able to catch up before encountering the same minefield. Game 2 was an early topout from Portal after playing far too aggressively, bypassing multiple burn opportunities when his stack was very high. Neither player was phased by Vandweller's fire alarm going off in game 3, which stayed very close in score and reasonably close in line count, but Portal's stack slowly crept up by level 33 and he hung the T needed to reopen the well and get it back down. Game 4 saw Portal convert a lackluster 18 and so-so post into a 1.5 game by means of great killscreen play, while Tommy missed a relatively low Z-piece placement and topped out on 31. Portal dug himself too big of a grave in the decider, going down 160k and almost three full levels of lines before 29. Though Tommy couldn't do much on the killscreen again, Portal spent most of post-post in a long dig sequence that eventually got the better of him on 33.
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CTL May 2024 Masters Event Round 2 (Green Bracket), May 25, 2024
2 ALEX THACH def. 13 TOMMYTNG (3-1)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4
ALEX THACH	1,508	1,527	1,174	406 (i)
TOMMYNTG	1,296	1,333	1,491	404

Alex's aggression and killscreen prowess vaults him to the semifinals, where Sidnev awaits him. Game 1 saw Tommy playing safe but ending up down big after Alex puts up a 1.2 into killscreen. Alex played aggressively and ended up topping out on level 34, but it was worth it, since he pushed his score up to a 1.5. Tommy got droughted, had his well blocked when he did get the bars, and ran out of runway still 200k back. Game 2 saw Tommy carry a lead into 29 after Alex had a hard time staying clean. Alex made it up, though, surviving a scary bar hang and somehow outpacing Tommy by scoring tetrises between dig sequences and building a big lead before Tommy's 35 topout. Tommy's safe play payed off in game 3, carrying a small lead into 29 and able to stay one step ahead of Alex until Alex hung a bar on 31. The match ended a tad bit anticlimactically when Tommy misrotated a longbar mid-18; he was able to get the skim, but his board wasn't equipped to handle a hung square immediately afterward.
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CTL May 2024 Challengers Circuit Semifinals, May 25, 2024
TUGI def. MARK MIGAS (3-0)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3
TUGI	664 (i)	619 (i)	1,206
MARK MIGAS	646	475	983

Who said DAS was dead? Mark Migas made an incredible run to the Challengers semifinals using The One True Playstyle, and it's fitting that it took a former DAS player to knock him out. Game 1 saw Mark develop small lead in 18, but his board got a little too high mid-post and he couldn't get a longbar to fill a dependency. He got stuck in a dig late in game 2's 18 phase and wasn't able to recover after transitioning. Game 3 made it almost to the killscreen, and Mark almost got a maxout, but as a DAS player you're hoping for your opponent to top out. Tugi didn't, and mullened to a 1.2 in his victory lap.
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CTL May 2024 Challengers Circuit Semifinals, May 25, 2024
16 SODIUM def. 11 SV (3-1)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4
SODIUM	696	736	1,264	1,083
SV	881 (i)	618	1,101	1,068

"Wait, this is a Challengers semifinal?" moment. Sodium gives game 1 away in post after a pair of gnarly T misdrops, but SV gave it right back on level 21 when cascading misdrops were punished by an S/Z burst. SV couldn't convert quite as many dig lines into tetrises as normal in game 3 and went 100k behind, and after trading tetrises with Sodium on the killscreen, he succumbed to a level 32 dig. Sodium went into 29 with a dependent stack and couldn't recover from a couple immediate post-transition misdrops, but SV set up a completely unneccesary tetris during the short chasedown and topped out.
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CTL May 2024 Challengers Circuit Semifinals, May 25, 2024
16 SODIUM def. TUGI (3-0)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3
SODIUM	300 (i)	1,102	780
TUGI	191	536	663

Sodium breezes past Tugi to pick up his first Challengers title. Tugi missed a T-tuck in game 1 for a quick topout and had a hard time staying clean in game 2. Sodium went into killscreen with a 100k advantage, which ended up mattering when both players couldn't get much done after 29 and topped out after burning for a couple levels. Tugi's bar hang to the left high-up after trying to rebalance his stack early in post sealed the deal.
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Classic Tetris League

The last week of the CTL regular season is always filled with huge matches, and this week was no exception. Very few matches had no stakes, and even those contained the last hurrah for several mid-table players who drastically outperformed expectations.

CTL Season 25 Division 1A, May 21, 2024
22 SUNNY def. PEEKAYRIC (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
SUNNY	1,238	877	725	942	1,184
PEEKAYRIC	762	549	872	1,166	858

When he needed to get it done to avoid the playoff relegation, Sunny put together a solid set. He was on a bit of a heater in game 1, where Peek's mid-post square hang topout didn't stop him from mullening to a 1.2 into 29. He had another 600k into 19 in game 2, while Peek couldn't keep clean and found himself 150k down. A level 22 drought caught both players at the wrong time, and while it got the better of Peek, Sunny was able to dig out of it. He dropped the next couple, though, and let Peek back into the match. In game 3, Peek was putting together a solid lead in post while Sunny was getting a little too cute with the dirty setups and shedding pace. His game left this mortal realm when his off-balance stack was mercilessly punished by an S burst. Game 4 was very close all the way until level 28, where Sunny didn't have a great stack to deal with a drought and topped out right before hitting the killscreen. The decider was very close until midway through 18, when Sunny started slowly building a lead by keeping himself out of trouble. Sunny outsurvived Peek's left-side J hang late in post and secured another season of top-flight Tetris. Peek will have to make it through a playoff match against a Div 2 player to stay up.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1A, May 23, 2024
CHILLER def. TUGI (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
TUGI	1,060	1,078	1,189	418 (i)	824
CHILLER	1,054	1,106	1,236	375	937

It won't be enough to keep them out of relegation trouble, but Chiller's next-to-last set of the season was a massive improvement. They got caught in a series of digs in 18 during the first game while Tugi had a big 600k transition, and though they were able to eat into it a bit in post and scored three big killscreen tetrises, they fell just 6k short of Tugi's level 30 topout score. The roles were reversed in game 2, where Chiller stayed clean and scored big in 18, carrying a 1.1 and 100k lead into 29 as both players had solid post games. Chiller couldn't get their stack down enoug to surive far into the killscreen, and though Tugi had a great downstack, he had a brutal L hang right after scoring a dirty and fell a tetris short of the win. Game 3 saw a double 1.1 killscreen score on the back of clean post stacking on both sides, with Chiller able to bang down a couple crucial post-post tetrises before a level 31 simultopout. They gave it back in 18 on game 4 after not quite being able to handle a rough RNG situation. Both players got high 500k transitions after getting out of some rough situations in 18, and though Chiller's board became very dependent and led to a level 26 topout, strong post play meant Tugi had a chasedown they couldn't complete after a brutal dead drop.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1A, May 23, 2024
16 SODIUM def. ANSEL (3-0)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3
ANSEL	528	969	748
SODIUM	635 (a)	1,136	1,065

It was largely a formality, but Sodium clinches Div 1 survival with an impressive set. Ansel couldn't escape a scary dig before the 19 transition in game 1, and the speed difference got the better of him. Both players had great 18 pace in game 2, though it was tempered a bit by a late drought. Ansel misdropped a lot of pieces in post, though, which may have been at least partially induced by his CRT being a bit hard to see. Though Sodium hit the killscreeen wall, Ansel was down too far to make it up on the killscreen. Ansel then had the suffer game to end all suffer games as Sodium doubled his score going into 19, and while Sodium did slow down a bit in post, the lead was simply too big to even get close to chasing it down.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1A, May 23, 2024
10 RAHMATIONS def. 4 PIXELANDY (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
PIXELANDY	1,052	1,134	288 (i)	810 (i)	1,134
RAHMATIONS	1,485	1,351	142	781	1,682

Rah gets the upset on the back of some very strong 29 play. Rah stayed cleaner in post in game 1 and ended up going up by 100k by killscreen. Though he didn't need them after Andy's level 29 top, he got a bunch of tetrises after the transition anyway, and snagged a 1.4 by the time he topped out. Game 2 was much of the same before 29: close up to the 19 transition, with Andy having a tetris-and-a-half lead or so, but a dig late in post killed Andy's pace and Rah went in with another 1.1 and another 100k lead. Andy pushed this one further and hit level 32, but he couldn't stay clean while Rah kept scoring, and he ended up 200k down by the time they both topped out. Right when Rah was on the edge of taking the set, though, he gave two back: game 3 after setting up six high in 18 and game 4 after being unable to overcome a 40-piece drought in post. He got back on thrack in the decider, though, draining tetrises after both players go in with a 1.1-ish score while Andy isn't able to get much of anything done. Rah made it to 39 with a rollover.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1B, May 24, 2024
16 SODIUM def. TUGI (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
TUGI	1,263	781	981 (i)	1,270	988
SODIUM	1,275	1,050	567	1,057	1,232

The stakes were low in this mid-table match, but it was an opportunity to showcase Sodium's survival skills and Tugi's rapid progression in learning how to roll. Tugi took a 100k lead into 29 off the back of some strong post play, and though he was able to grab a couple killscreen tetrises, a level 30 topout meant a safe chasedown for Sodium. Sodium moved to match point after repeated mishangs and misrotations caused Tugi to go down big in post before one of those digs finally got the better of him in level 26. Sodium gave game 3 back when he wasn't able to survive repeated square hangs in post. Game 4 was super-close up until level 28, when Sodium's very high dirty setup into the killscreen was punished by a square burst; Tugi had a very impressive dig during the mullen. Tugi went down by six figure during 18 in the decider and couldn't close the deficit in post or put his stack back together in killscreen play.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1B, May 24, 2024
5 GERALD FREEMAN def. 7 SIDNEV (3-1)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4
GERALD FREEMAN	1,155 (i)	1,143	1,493	1,270
SIDNEV	781	1,090	1,742	1,232

Gerald put together a solid, consistent set to position himself well in the wild card race. Sidnev survived plenty of scary digs in game 1 but couldn't stay clean, getting behind Gerald by over 200k and not being able to get her stack down by the time 29 rolled around. Game 2 stayed close up until 29, with Sidnev doing a fancy little burn to pass into the killscreen, but she eventually lost the fight against her stack after misflipipng a T. Game 3 started off Gerald up by about 50k by the transition, but Sidnev absolutely went ham in post and never took her foot off the accelerator (except to get herself out of a level 29 dig). Gerald didn't have a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, almost hitting a 1.5 before his level 36 topout, but a couple longish digs meant he couldn't come close to touching Sidnev's 1.7. A thrilling game 4 looked like much of the same at first, with Gerald's post digs meant Sidnev went into 29 threatening to run away with the game, but she got a bad RNG sequence while digging on 32. Gerald's chasedown was over 250k. It looked for a moment like Gerald was out of room, but he started scoring buckets in the last few levels and finally got set up and got the bar to take the lead into 39.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1B, May 24, 2024
6 BLUE SCUTI def. 8 DANV (3-1)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4
BLUE SCUTI	1,308	1,427	1,241	1,245
DANV	1,303	1,483 (i)	1,191	1,169

Scuti avenges his Paris loss and ends Dan's perfect season in a set where his final score never dipped below a 1.2. Game 1's footage is lost to the sands of time, but it seems that Scuti had an intentional (?) topout after chasing down (?) Dan's 1.3. Scuti was on a heater in game 2, with a 1.2 into 29 and staking 200k more on in the killscreen, but Dan stayed only a tetris or two behind him and took advantage of Scuti's level 34 topout after not being able to uncover a center well setup. Scuti had another big game 3 and opened up a 200k lead after Dan couldn't stop digging in post. Though Scuti succumbed to a very long drought on 31, Dan had a hard time getting set up and found himself still two tetrises behind by the time he hit the DKS. Dan hung in there in game 4 and found himself ahead by a tetris or so when crossing into post-post, but his board became a parabola by level 32 and he found himself unable to get pieces to the left.
Twitch Part 1 | Twitch Part 2

CTL Season 25 Division 1B, May 24, 2024
ANSEL def. CHILLER (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
CHILLER	153 (i)	1,056	663	619	548
ANSEL	120	974	671 (i)	742 (i)	675

Ansel stays clean enough to avoid the auto-relegation spot. Ansel started off dropping a game due to a possibly technology-induced early topout. He pushed the next one to the killscreen in almost a dead heat, but topped out on 29 after a couple hangs while Chillalla nabbed a couple killscreen tetrises to put themselves ahead. Unfortunately, Chillalla caught the misdrop bug and dropped the next three in post, pushing them back down to div 2.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1C, May 25, 2024
18 PORTALLL def. TEGAMECH (3-0)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3
PORTALLL	1,196	1,270	1,373
TEGAMECH	1,129	1,162	1,125

Tega had his best set of the season, hitting 1.1 in each game, but Portal's famous 29 play carried him to victory despite some iffy pre-killscreen stacking. Game 1 saw Tega push 33 lines past the 29 transition, hanging with Portal score-wise the whole way through, but piece hangs eventually got the better of him. An impressive downstack after a very high transition saw Portal survive long enough to take game 2, while Portal had a bit better pace in the third frame and was able to develop a healthy lead by the time Tega topped out on 31.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1C, May 25, 2024
SOMALIAN def. TEGAMECH (3-1)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4
SOMALIAN	492 (i)	372 (i)	182	286 (i)
TEGAMECH	482	367	215 (i)	238

Somalian avoids auto-relegation after Tega couldn't replicate his play in the previous set. None of the games made it past level 19; the first game did see both players transition, but Tega did so way too high and couldn't downstack. Misshifts spoiled an early Tega lead in game 2, and the players traded the next two after playing aggressive and misdroping high.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1C, May 25, 2024
4 PIXELANDY def. 11 SV (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
SV	1,245	1,188	1,082	1,083	1,004
PIXELANDY	866	1,296 (i)	896	1,146 (i)	1,032

Andy squeaks by SV in a match with huge playoff implications. Andy's game 1 was marred by atypical mechanical issues, especially in post, that may be due in part to an unfamiliar setup. He limped into 29 with an 886k and couldn't any further while SV was putting together a solid game and a big lead. Andy started game 2 on some serious pace, and while it was tempered a bit by some digging in post, both players ended up going into 29 with high 1.1's, though SV missing some inputs and not being able to get a Z left on 30 put a damper on hopes for big scores. Game 3 was a huge suffer game induced by a very dry 18. Andy was able to build a 100k lead after SV wasn't able to muster a 400k transition, but SV turned it up a notch or three in post, made up the transition by the killscreen, and had a decent lead by the time Andy hit 29 and topped out. Both players got back on track in game 4 and maxed out before killscreen, where SV got droughted at a time when his center-well stack wasn't equipped to burn anything. Game 5 saw a patented SV dig early in post, but he shed pace as a result. He had a 100k chasedown after Andy hung a T up too high to recover on level 30, but despite suriving for a long time, an awful dought meant SV was one tetris short by the time he topped out. This match helped Andy surpass Rah's point total and guarantee a playoff spot, while knocking both Rah and SV out of wildcard contention (though it might have been a different story if the div hadn't dropped a player).
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CTL Season 25 Division 1B, May 25, 2024
6 BLUE SCUTI def. 5 GERALD FREEMAN (3-1)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4
GERALD FREEMAN	1,195	1,533	1,298	1,505
BLUE SCUTI	1,382	1,544	1,205	1,514

Scuti and Gerald displayed some thrilling 29 play in a showdown to find out who wins the division. Game 1 had some early digs from both players, but both players were tied going into the killscreen, where Gerald couldn't keep up with Scuti's aggression and went down on level 35, with Scuti taking the mullen one line away from level 40. The next game was off to a similarly slow start, but it became thrilling after the killscreen transition, with both players draining plenty of tetrises and Scuti getting a bar left over a 9-high column 2 at some point. Gerald had a three-tetris lead in level 37, but his board started falling apart, and Scuti got a bar at the last possible moment to take the lead into the DKS. Game 3 saw Scuti put together a very good 1.18 into killscreen and a 100k lead as Gerald was stuck digging in post. Scuti wasn't able to get anything done in post, though, and Gerald was able down a couple early killscreen tetrises to avoid the sweep. Game 4 was another deep back-and-forth killscreen game. Scuti's 15 lines in hand ended up not mattering as his board fell apart just as Gerald rubbed shoulders with level 39, but a higher tetris rate let him just barely edge out Gerald in the set's second 1.5. Scuti's win crowns him as the 1B champion, and though Dan takes second place, Gerald finishes in a wild card spot and makes the playoffs.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1C, May 25, 2024
18 PORTALLL def. 11 THEDENGLER (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
THEDENGLER	127	1,210	1,325	1,290	1,193
PORTALLL	84	888	1,370	1,468	1,722

Portal overcomes a rough start to finish the season off right and potentially affect the playoffs, putting up numbers in the process. Game 1 ended prematurely when Portal's excessively dirty tetris setup was punished by a long drought, and game 2 made it to level 27 before Portal had a couple misdrops on top of a deeply dependent stack. Noah can't go a set without a very high 19 transition score, and it came in game 3, and though he slowed down a bit in post, he went into 29 150k up and 20 lines in hand. A level 32 drought ended his game, and Portal completed the chasedown, though not without almost getting burned by an unnecessary left-well setup. It was Portal's turn to turn on the jets in game 4, with a 1.2 into killscreen bolstered by efficient post play. Portal didn't get his first killscreen tetris until level 34, allowing Noah to close the gap, but he started draining them afterward, leading Noah to play more aggressively and hang a bar. Game 5 was more of the same from Portal, putting together a 700k post and a back-to-back 1.2. Noah couldn't get the chance to try to bridge the gap after misshifting an L on level 30, but he would've had his work cut out for him as Portal mullened to a massive 1.7. Noah's loss puts him in a position where he can lose the second-place spot to Dog if Dog takes a single game against Fractal, while Portal finishes the season with a winning match record.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1C, May 25, 2024
2 ALEX THACH def. 4 PIXELANDY (3-0)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3
ALEX THACH	1,615	394 (a)	1,430
PIXELANDY	1,401	212	1,204

Alex has gone into flame-breathing dragon mode. Game 1 saw him go into killscreen with a 1.2, with Andy back a couple tetrises. Andy had incredible killscreen survival, not letting an unruly stack get the better of him, but against Alex, you need to do more than just survive. Andy didn't get his first tetris until level 35 and found himself 200k back, and though Andy was able to score afterward, his scoring was eclipsed by Alex's rollover by the time that a level 37 drought killed both of them. Game 2 was a giveaway, as Andy's stack couldn't be molded into something scorable for a big chunk of 18, and a rough RNG sequence eventually got him. Game 3 started out in Andy's favor, but a dig from him brought a surging Alex to the lead. Alex went into level 29 85k up, and while Andy's post-post run wasn't completely devoid of tetrises, Alex was merciless, extending his lead to 200k before Andy was slain by a level 24 bar hang. Andy finishes his season just 2 points clear of Rah to hang onto second place and a playoff spot, but Alex secures the #1 overall seed by repeating his feat of only dropping one game; he ends up as the only player undefeated in the regular season.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1C, May 25, 2024
11 THEDENGLER def. 10 MYLES (3-0)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3
MYLES	1,334	891	513
THEDENGLER	1,498	1,036	535 (i)

Noah cruised into a win for his last set of the season and secured a wild card spot. The first game went deep, but Noah was able to develop his lead through all three phases, capitalizing on Myles' digs in 18, putting together a solid post to bolster his score to a 1.1, and layering a good number of tetrises in killscreen to almost reach the 1.5 mark. Though Dengler topped out on 37 and Myles had lines in hand, he was 350k down, and the chasedown was helplessly out of reach. Myles had a 50k lead into 19 after Dengler had to survive some scary 18 digs, but he shed pace in post and was slammed by unworkable RNG up high during a drought 13 lines before transition. Myles couldn't quite reach the 19 transition in game 3 after his high, flat stack was confounded by an S/Z burst, handing Noah the sweep. Noah's 35 points lets him take Sidnev's place for the last wild card spot.
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CTL Season 25 Division 1C, May 25, 2024
1 FRACTAL def. 3 DOG (3-2)

Lv 18 (330 DKS)	1	2	3	4	5
DOG	1,316	1,505	910	1,125	1,252
FRACTAL	1,156 (i)	1,118	1,011 (i)	1,164	1,275

Fractal went down two early, but was able to squeeze out some game victories to take the reverse sweep and the division in the last match of the regular season. Game 1 was decently close in pace up until the killscreen, and though Fractal had plenty of lines in hand, his rolling didn't materialize and he couldn't get pieces left on level 31. Game 2 featured multiple scary level 18 digs from Dog way up high, but Fractal couldn't get ahead in score due to some lower-down misdrops and had to settle for a level or two of lines in hand. Dog opened up a lead in post and started going ham on the killscreen, but while Fractal was able to solve each misdrop with fast thinking and clever sloves, ten-high five-taps don't score points, and he couldn't get anywhere near matching Dog's 1.5. Fractal got back in it when Dog failed to take advantage of a mid-600 transition and hung the T required to reopen a high blocked well late in post. Both players had a ho-hum 18 in the fourth frame but salvaged it in post, with Fractal up by less than a tetris going into 29. Both players had incredible 29 digs, and Fractal was able to hold onto his slim lead up until neither player could quite figure out how the pieces were supposed to fit together on 32. The very dry decider was a bit more back and fourth, but tightened up before killscreen play, where continued droughts meant both players were showing off their survival skills but kept having to burn out of tetris setups. Fractal's lead had shrunk to less than a tetris by level 35, but held onto it until an S/Z burst knocked out both players.
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