While this post has been a long time coming, it's important to feature the hard work that our staff writers, sonic and stolenshortsword, have been doing, so we hope you enjoy revisiting some of October's matchups. TWiT will be experimenting with different formats as we attempt to return to a weekly cadence, so please feel free to give us any feedback you have about what you like or don't like.
We're always looking for new contributors, so if you're interested, join our Discord server and say hello. The server also features the Almost-Daily Update, which provides the scores of yesterday's big matches and lets you know what's going on in the future.
The numbers next to the players are their
October Premiere Poll
rankings, not their tournament seeds. (A November edition has since been released.) 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.
CTWC Stillwater Showdown
We return to the American South and its circle of Tetris talent with a CTWC regional in Scuti's hometown of Stillwater. Our beloved pumpyheart is running the show, thus giving us another DAS regional like in Kansas City. The atmosphere is certainly unique; instead of a local retro gaming convention its held in Stillwater's public library, making games particularly tense when all you can hear is abated commentary and controller tickles on 29.
Ranked players Coalbucket and Cobra were in the quarterfinals trying to make a name for themselves; Cobra certainly did with an E score by storming past dog on the killscreen in game 1. It wouldn't be replicated for the rest of the set, however, with topouts on level 20, 29 and 30 comfortably giving Dog the match. Coal would draw the easier of the Artiagas by matching up with Andy, who was tapping like it's 2021 while continuing to nurse a rolling injury. His consistent maxout+ 29 transitions took Coal to game 5, who finally got his killscreen play together to advance to the semis.
-stolenshortsword
CTWC Stillwater Showdown (Open Playstyle) Semifinals, October 26, 2024
6 MYLES def.
20 COALBUCKET (3-2)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| MYLES |
736 (i) |
863 (i) |
1,029 |
1,330 |
1,138 (i) |
| COAL |
553 |
847 |
1,099 (i) |
1,440 |
1,026 |
Coal quickly goes down 2-0 with early topouts on levels 19 and 24, unable to throttle his aggression properly. To his credit, his solid lead into 29 in game 3 paid him a win when Myles couldn't get out of a dig fast enough before the speed increase. Game 4 went all the way to level 38, as Myles transitioned with a clean board into 29 and Coal dug out of a nasty long bar hang soon after the second transition, performing better on 29 than he did on 19 in the first two games. Coal ran away with the game after that, cobbling together a post-post 128k higher than Myles'. The set, however, ended with a whimper after Coal couldn't deal with an ugly spire and some bad pieces on level 30. Calm as ever, Myles advances to yet another finals, but he faces an uphill climb if the tournament favorite continues to be unfazed by accomplishments starting with "R" and ending in "birth".
-stolenshortsword
CTWC Stillwater Showdown (Open Playstyle) Semifinals, October 26, 2024
2 BLUE SCUTI def.
4 DOG (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| BLUE SCUTI |
983 |
1,390 |
1,153 (i) |
1,407 |
| DOG |
1,117 (i) |
1,225 |
1,082 |
1,404 |
Dog is still looking for a statement win over a top player that, excluding beatdowns of Dengler, hasn't really happened since he swept Alex in CTL season 24. Scuti is still growing his case as #1.
After weak transitions, Scuti surprisingly didn't even make it to level 32 before a sub-maxout topout. It seems like Dog has finally found his opening. After an expected strong response that Dog couldn't keep up with in game 2 and his own game that he couldn't dig deep into killscreen with, the stage is set for match point.
Dog looked prime to take this to a decider. He actually tapped for 37 lines, possibly to get over some roller breakage, but it actually started a great 19 transition and lended him his first lead into killscreen since game 1. Scuti was gathering momentum, however, as his 80k deficit at 19 was 20k by 29 and he seemed to be poised to take an insurmountable lead by level 35. Dog looked absolutely locked in, but he was stuck in one of those extended digs on top of several rows of garbage that feel like quicksand in how perpetually they drag on for. He handled it gracefully though, and once he got clean, Scuti was overwhelmed by the same garbage and topped out. This is it. He's got 35 lines of runway and 188k to chasedown, but contrary to what Mari is saying on comms (!mari..), he doesn't need to go perfect, or near-perfect at all. His runway is actually 414k. Difficult, but we know Dog is more than capable.
Immediately after knowing his target, dog is handed two S-pieces that he stacks on top of the well -- quite possibly the worst combo of RNG he could've gotten, but no bother, he's got plenty of lines in hand. He gets a longbar to fill out the left, three pieces to get tetris ready, and seven more before he has to burn another double. No worry, he scores a tetris soon after. He's at 305 lines now. He's tetris ready for 10 pieces before he has to burn two more doubles, forced to use a bar to open the well. It's ok, he gets another soon after! Tetris! He's got this.
Dog enters level 37 with 1.34 million and about 75k to chase down. That's two tetrises. He got a clean board, and goes 7 pieces before burning a single. 4 more pieces and he's tetris ready. 8 awkward pieces and he's burnt three more lines and a double. 1.43 million now at 319 lines. It's tight, but he's absolutely poised to clutch this out. He only needs two tetrises to be safe, or even a tetris and two triples.
9 more pieces. No bar. Okay, the board's parity is garbage now. But he's got 6 perfect lines but a S ot T would give him 8.
12 pieces. No bar. He's had to throw pieces to the left, inhibiting any clean line clears. And after a square creates a two-tall hole, he burned a double. He finally gets a bar on that 13th piece. Readers counting at home would get a total sum of 40. A 40 piece drought. He tucks a T, and gets a terrible Z that he has to throw in his well. In his sold-out board, he manages to burn 5 singles and a double. It leaves him, agonizingly, less than three thousand points short. Maybe he shouldn't have burned that first double, maybe he could've thrown the Z to the left instead of locking away his two clean lines at the bottom. But this is 29 speed, and I'm writing in step-by-step detail with the privilege of hindsight, a calculator and a pause button. Dog's effort should've been enough, but it wasn't.
-stolenshortsword
CTWC Stillwater Showdown (Open Playstyle) Finals, October 26, 2024
2 BLUE SCUTI def.
6 MYLES (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| MYLES |
1,255 |
1,228 |
997 |
1,103 |
| BLUE SCUTI |
1,309 (i) |
1,183 |
1,185 (i) |
1,781 |
Our finalists opened solidly, with great pre-killscreen play landing both high A scores into killscreen. After a patented dig to reach level 31 and a tetris on 32, Myles couldn't fill out the left in time and topped out soon after. Myles 1-upped himself in game 2, pushing for a 600/600 pre and post transition splits that gave him the confidence to build a center well on 29. Unfortunately, the stack allowed for no burn options, and a drought spelled doom. He looked like he's already accepted the 2-0 hole, but he's given a second life when Scuti hung a bar and failed the chasedown 100k short, unable to recoup the pre-killscreen lead. But in game 3 Myles just couldn't maintain his pace, and terrible parity and missed 4-taps spelled the end for him in a sub-maxout game. Scuti closed out the set with an authoritative mullen in game 4, ending with a 1.781 million, by far the highest score of the day.
These finals marked Myles and Scuti's 15th matchup, the eighth in 2024 alone. Myles has faced Scuti in CTM, CTL, Gauntlet, and the CTWC. They've competed in-person at four regionals across three states, not counting a third-place match for a Genesis X medal online. Stillwater adds to Scuti's tally of now ten series wins against five losses. These are Andy vs. dog type numbers. Quite the rivalry to look out for.
-stolenshortsword
Classic Tetris Monthly
Masters Red Bracket
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Red), October 18, 2024
5 TRISTOP def.
17 ALLENBOT (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| ALLENBOT |
1,041 |
1,145 |
1,134 |
| TRISTOP |
1,325 (i) |
1,338 (a) |
1,626 |
Despite playing some very good Tetris, Allen has been knocked out by Tristop in four consecutive Masters Events. With an expanded Masters tournament all but assured in January, he may be able to play a more compeititive match and have a chance to shine.
-arbaro
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Red), October 18, 2024
2 BLUE SCUTI def.
12 SODIUM (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| BLUE SCUTI |
1,318 |
1,589 (a) |
642 |
652 (i) |
| SODIUM |
1,275 |
1,317 |
1,006 (i) |
651 |
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 2 (Red), October 18, 2024
2 BLUE SCUTI def.
5 TRISTOP (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| BLUE SCUTI |
1,159 (i) |
1,792 |
1,280 (i) |
| TRISTOP |
1,157 |
1,748 |
1,186 |
Masters Green Bracket
This was a special bracket to witness -- four players who are all, arguably, rising stars; none have won CTM Masters before, or even made the semis (top 4) in the past, and have only become more prominent in the last few months.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Green), October 19, 2024
16 MEME def.
GALAXYBISCUIT (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
MEME |
1,109 (i) |
1,317 (i) |
1,547 |
| GALAXYBISCUIT |
915 |
1,204 |
946 |
Despite getting swept, Aussie player GalaxyBiscuit made a solid impression in his Masters debut, with no early topouts, healthy into-29 pace and many a memorable digs (and facial expressions!). He doesn't have much 29 playability yet, but it'll be interesting to see how he progresses in the next few months.
Game 1 saw Galaxy get into several scary situations on 18 and 19; he survived all of them, but that put him 100k behind Meme at transition and about 60k behind into 29. Unfortunately he missed a tuck once he got to the killscreen and his board spiraled out of control quickly, topping out when Meme was already ahead. In Game 2, both players had healthy transition scores going into 19 and 1.1s into killscreen, keeping pace with each other all the way. But Meme's 29 consistency was what won her the game, as Galaxy hung two bars to the left and topped out soon after the 29 transition. Game 3 followed a similar pattern as Game 1 -- Galaxy got into digs that Meme didn't pre-killscreen, setting him 100k behind going into 29. He got a tetris on 29 but wasn't able to set up for more before he topped out, losing in a sweep.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Green), October 19, 2024
20 COALBUCKET def.
11 NEK0 (3-2)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
COALBUCKET |
1,598 |
1,325 |
1,252 |
1,192 |
231 (i) |
| NEK0 |
1,152 |
1,224 |
1,326 |
1,275 (a) |
158 |
Coal and Neko are among the fastest-rising players in the Tetris scene right now, and they certainly lived up to the hype in this five-game set, putting up some big scores and tense pace throughout.
Game 1 saw Coal pull into a small lead into 19 and widen that to almost 100k with a 1.1 million going into 29, as Neko had some untimely misdrops that forced him to dig at certain points. Neko was able to score a decent amount before he was greeted with a drought right as he created a long bar dependency, and soon topped out after an effort of digging himself out. Coal mullened this game out and was just a single away from a rollover when he topped out at level 37.
Coal again had a commanding lead in game 2 going into 19 and 29 as he got another high 1.1 into 29; Neko getting into a couple of digs pre-29 put him over 200k behind as he entered the killscreen. Both players scoring on 29 efficiently meant that Neko still had that big deficit when Coal topped out due to a misdrop on level 33; with not that many lines to go, Neko dialed up his aggression and chased over half of it down before he faltered on a 5-tap and topped out 100k short.
The tides turned in Neko's favor in game 3; both players had a strong start to the game with Coal slightly behind on 19, but Coal got into a multi-level dig on 19 that set him even further behind as he entered the killscreen 100k behind Neko, who was the one with the 1.1 into 29 this time. No lead is guaranteed when both players are able to score tetrises on 29; Neko once again falls to a long bar drought, leaving Coal with a 180k chasedown. He got half way through before a misplaced J covered his well and he topped out, handing Neko his first game of the set.
Both players paced intensely in game 4, with 600k plus transitions and 1.1 into killscreen; Coal had a big lead on 18 as he transitioned with a 693k, but he slowed down a bit on 19 and Neko caught up to him. With no long bar in sight, Coal had no choice but to take a high board into 29 and almost immediately topped out; Neko was already ahead by that point and forced a decider.
The final match was anticlimactic after the deep runs in the first four games; Neko had a huge spire on 18, delayed filling in a dependency, and his board began to climb. One hung L piece later he was done just 51 lines in, and Coal would advance to the next round.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 2 (Green), October 19, 2024
16 MEME def.
20 COALBUCKET (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
MEME |
1,633 |
1,287 |
1,604 |
101 |
| COALBUCKET |
1,768 |
1,254 |
1,342 |
97 |
Game 1 was a monster performance from both Coal and Meme, featuring a double rollover. Both had healthy paces going into the killscreen -- 600k transitions and (almost in Meme's case) 1.1s into 29 -- but Meme taking a couple of burns before 29 set her back 50k or so into killscreen, when this game really kicked into action. But both of them were able to continuously score tetrises on 29, meaning Meme couldn't make up the deficit at all despite putting up 549k in post-post to a rollover; Coal already had a 1.7 and took this crazy double rollover game.
Coal and Meme were neck and neck all the way in game 2 as they traded the lead back and forth. Coal had a small lead into 19 but slowed down a bit, but both were good for maxouts into the killscreen. Every time either player tetrised they would take the lead, and this situation continued until Coal topped out as some less than ideal pieces didn't let him dig his way out.
Game 3 was a true 29 chasedown for Meme; she was behind all through 18 and 19, as Coal had his third 600k transition of the set and continued to have a two-tetris pace lead into 29. Meme's incredible 29 play meant that she was already able to make up that deficit when Coal topped out on Level 32 as his stack got too high, mullening to a second rollover in this second win.
Unfortunately, we got another anticlimactic ending when Coal suffered an early topout at 40 lines after he hung a J to the left, cutting off access to column 1 and handing Meme her ticket to the semifinals. Still, this was an impressive performance by both players, especially in their confident killscreen play. It's impossible to get to the top these days without some good 29 play ability; these two players definitely have it in the bag.
-sonic
Masters Orange Bracket
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Orange), October 20, 2024
4 DOG def.
24 COBRA (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| DOG |
1,601 |
1,424 |
390 (i) |
| COBRA |
1,176 |
1,415 |
323 |
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Orange), October 20, 2024
7 THEDENGLER def.
10 DANV (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| THEDENGLER |
1,307 (i) |
1,701 |
1,839 |
| DANV |
1,291 |
1,354 |
1,230 |
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 2 (Orange), October 20, 2024
7 THEDENGLER def.
4 DOG (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| DOG |
1,162 |
1,212 (i) |
1,027 |
1,305 |
1,367 |
| THEDENGLER |
1,362 |
1,170 |
1,144 |
1,269 |
1,657 |
Dengler leaned on his legendary pace and showed enough stuff on 29 to put together a statement win against the two-time world champ. Noah, sporting a similar shirt and hairstyle as Dog, held the lead going into 29 in four of the five games, sometimes by huge margins as Dog struggled to get anything going on 18 or in post. Though a few games struggled to get very far into the killscreen, all five made it there, and a rollover on the decider mullen showed just how high Dengler's ceiling can be.
-arbaro
Masters Blue Bracket
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Blue), October 21, 2024
6 MYLES def.
25 LAZER (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| MYLES |
1,247 (i) |
1,155 (i) |
1,333 |
1,670 |
| LAZER |
912 |
1,103 |
1,422 |
1,244 |
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 1 (Blue), October 21, 2024
25 RAHMATIONS def.
8 FRACTAL (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
| FRACTAL |
474 (i) |
771 |
1,432 |
963 |
| RAHMATIONS |
336 |
1,376 |
1,490 |
1,031 |
Fractal, who pushed through considerable pain to complete this match, opened up a larger discussion about the long-term health effects of rolling. Rah certainly deserves credit for his win; despite a single early topout, he put himself far out of reach in game 2 with a 1.1 29 transition in game 2, and he matched Fractal blow-for-blow in a double-1.4 game 3. Fractal has worked with Guerrero, a medical professional, to develop a unique DAS grip that's effective enough to win him the Jonas Cup. Esports are indeed sports and the risk of injury is always present, but hopefully, as the community matures, the ergonomics and safety of rolling can be analyzed with the seriousness that they deserve.
-arbaro
CTM October 2024 Masters Event Round 2 (Blue), October 21, 2024
6 MYLES def.
25 RAHMATIONS (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| MYLES |
878 (i) |
1,322 (i) |
1,338 (i) |
| RAHMATIONS |
833 |
1,044 |
1,158 |
Challengers Circuit
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 1 (Blue), October 16, 2024
TETRISTIME def.
ANPU (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
TETRISTIME |
731 (i) |
1,025 |
418 (i) |
1,177 |
| ANPU |
624 |
1,058 |
384 |
437 |
Despite winning a game when he outplayed TetrisTime pre-29 and the latter couldn't chase down the score, DAS player Anpu still couldn't overcome the roller, as TetrisTime pretty much stomped over him in the other three games.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 1 (Blue), October 16, 2024
KUNFUSINGPOKE def.
O (3-2)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
KUNFUSINGPOKE |
792 |
945 |
1,305 |
758 (i) |
1,185 |
| O |
888 |
978 |
962 |
694 |
976 |
Poke had a difficult first two games where he couldn't stay clean pre-29 and struggled to get a 29 going. His confidence was back in Game 3 when he mullened to a 1.3, carrying over to a strong showing to reverse sweep O.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 2 (Blue), October 16, 2024
KUNFUSINGPOKE def.
TETRISTIME (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
KUNFUSINGPOKE |
1,016 |
1,059 |
1,212 |
| TETRISTIME |
995 |
890 |
807 |
Poke's momentum was able to carry through from his reverse sweep in round 1, as he was able to chase down in game 1 and was well ahead of TetrisTime in pace in the next two games to force a sweep.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 1 (Orange), October 18, 2024
REDSHURT def.
BISBY (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
REDSHURT |
958 (a) |
917 |
1,205 |
1,018 |
| BISBY |
828 |
1,066 |
924 |
513 |
Two strong players whose sometimes aggressive tendencies caused some pre-29 topouts, but otherwise Redshurt was the more consistent player and showed why he is now a CTL Division 1 player.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 1 (Orange), October 18-25, 2024
15 SVNESTRIS def.
CRYTICALAPIS (3-2)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
SVNESTRIS |
1,298 |
142 |
440 (i) |
212 |
601 |
| CRYTICALAPIS |
771 |
272 (i) |
384 |
480 (i) |
416 |
SV's controller issues continued to haunt him in this set; despite a good game 1 where he got a C into, his controller malfunctioned in game 2 bad enough for the match to be postponed. It didn't seem much better on return as he ended up with another early topout, but he managed to squeeze out a win in the decider.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 2 (Orange), October 28, 2024
15 SVNESTRIS def.
REDSHURT (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
SVNESTRIS |
1,020 |
1,321 |
1,628 |
| REDSHURT |
909 |
1,249 |
1,284 |
SV, with a good controller, still reigns supreme. Redshurt put up a solid performance, with a 1.2 into killscreen in game 2 and 300k post-post in game 3, but SV took two games to 39 and won the set in a sweep- with a rollover to boot.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 1 (Red), October 19, 2024
ARMSTRONG def.
FUR OF KITTEN (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
ARMSTRONG |
608 (i) |
238 |
209 (i) |
1,115 |
| FUR OF KITTEN |
519 |
357 (i) |
102 |
253 |
Early topouts continue to be Kitten's enemy in competition, as only the first game saw both players survive until the transition to level 19.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 1 (Red), October 19, 2024
TUGI def.
CHROMA (3-1)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
TUGI |
744 (i) |
739 (i) |
101 |
411 (i) |
| CHROMA |
622 |
621 |
169 (i) |
387 |
Tugi wins despite his 18 topout in game 3, as Chroma struggled to get games on 19 going and sadly ended up with multiple early topouts.
-sonic
CTM October 2024 Challengers Circuit Round 2 (Red), October 19, 2024
ARMSTRONG def.
TUGI (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
ARMSTRONG |
1.043 |
1,074 |
930 |
| TUGI |
1,041 |
817 |
883 |
Neither player could get much killscreen momentum going even in mullens, but all three games it was Tugi who topped out first, and Dylan was able to eek out enough points on 29 if he ever was at a deficit.
-sonic
Classic Tetris League
A fresh season of CTL means new divisional draws and another chunk of league play to bless us with regular games and matchups reglected by other formats. Divisions have slightly contracted to 8 players each, welcoming back championship semifinalists Dog, Scuti, Myles and Sodium. Although Tristop, Sidnev and DanV won't be returning, they're replaced by comparably strong contenders in Alex T, SV and Meme. CRTs are unfortunately prohibited in Portal's university dorm, so we say goodbye to him, although CIS compatriot nek0 stays on to prove he's worthy of Ryan Hamburger's hype. Although Masy and Tugi avoided relegation, they're sitting out to make room for perennial CTM challenger Kitten and veteran Jerpi, who won Div 2 in season 25. Last season's Division 2 promotions see TetrisTime and Redshurt enter Div 1 to prove themselves. And, of course, Cobra, iBall, Coalbucket and Rahmations all retained their spots finishing by middle-of-the-pack in season 26 league play.
Note that initially there was going to be a play in between HydrantDude and Curi for the last Div 1 spot, but was eventually given back to Rahmations due to a misunderstanding about registration. The play-in never actually happened as scheduled because Curi's electricity was unreliable, so how serendipitous. Both Hydrant and Curi stay in Div 2.
Divisions are drawn via splitting pools of players organized by their CTL results for a fairer skill distribution, although a division of death is the result this time around. 1B lands both #1 contenders Alex and Scuti, whilst 1A's equivalents are Dog and Myles. 1B has iBall and Nek0, 1A has Meme and SV. 1B has Sodium and Rahmations, 1A has Coalbucket and Cobra. While the Div 2 promotees on 1A side (kitten and TTime) have an edge over Jerpi and Redshurt, I think I'm taking 1B's head-to-head matchups every time if we were to order by strength. And as a crude quantification, 1A's players have 1582 total Premiere Poll votes between them; 1B has 2007.
-stolenshortsword
CTL Season 27 Division 1B, October 13, 2024
25 RAHMATIONS def.
JERPI (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
RAHMATIONS |
1,216 |
221 (i) |
872 |
| JERPI |
1,132 |
122 |
264 |
Rahmations' last-minute CTL registration was especially timely given his rank in the Premiere Poll has been slipping due to inactivity, having been absent since his fourth-place finish at MinneD. Although he put up a respectable fight against Dengler in Gauntlet, another chance to prove that it was a pattern, not a fluke can't hurt. He's challenged by veteran Jerpi, who returns to competition for the first time since CTWC 2024, coupling this set with a stab at CTM Challengers. Her one-handed roll grip continues to mesmerize and confuse, including caster roncli who is bewildered at her killscreen play after thinking she was playing DAS (or thortapping).
The set itself was a little less exciting than the stories of its competitors. Rah threw down hefty 19 and 29 transition scores; although he topped out immediately on the killscreen, Jerpi didn't do much better and failed to chasedown the difference between their pre-29 scores. She then early topped the subsequent two games before 65 lines, perhaps showing her rust in getting 5 taps to the left. Rahmations took the set in a sweep, his mullen topping out on level 24 not helping to punctuate things.
-stolenshortsword
CTL Season 27 Division 1A, October 13, 2024
4 DOG def.
20 COALBUCKET (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
DOG |
1,786 |
1,000 (i) |
1,710 (a) |
| COALBUCKET |
1,607 |
942 |
873 |
Dog is trying to pull away from the pack of Sidnev, Myles and Tristop as his rebirth run puts the current Tetris order into question. His run to the finals in Masters, although it fell short, was hardly disappointing stat-wise (1.473m FMS!), still keeping Scuti as the tentative #1 in a lot of people's eyes. New-look Coalbucket himself is attempting to push into the top 15, with all the momentum in the world.
Game 1 certainly lived up to these lofty expectations: a double rollover. Both were pacing hard, but Coal just paced harder through 18, throwing down a near 700k transition and pushing for the 1.3 into-29. He even pulled off 2 delayed VITSes to max on 24, at one point amassing a 200k+ lead. Dog seemed content to let his killscreen play do the work, because whilst Coal had to deal with a perpetually messy board from squeezing out every last point from the slower speeds, Dog just piled on the points as the level scaled his tetris values. Coal absolutely did not let up, but even when he rolled over, Dog had already done so in fewer lines. He knew the mission. Dog would mullen another 100k to put up a spooky high 1.7 million. Roncli has said he felt the momentum already slipping away, and Coal, seemingly winded, couldn't manage a maxout in the following 2 games, even after a 100k lead at transition in game 3. Dog made his supremacy known by mullening out another 1.7 million by pacing hard through the killscreen.
-stolenshortsword
CTL Season 27 Division 1A, October 13, 2024
9 IBALL def.
1 ALEX THACH (3-0)
| Lv 18 (Lv 39 DKS) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
IBALL |
1,469 (i) |
1,187 |
475 (i) |
| ALEX THACH |
1,242 |
1,016 |
351 |
Alex marks the end of his well-deserved break from competition (excluding tapovers in Basement Battles and Gaunlet) by returning to CTL. It'll be an important season in proving he deserves his spot at #1 after a handful of pollsters felt his defeat to Scuti was convincing. iBall also took September off, and with the top 10 being so competitive his games, especially against rising star Nek0, will be ones to watch.
Huh. Alex couldn't get into scoring position on the killscreen, and an empty left spelled the end. iBall coasts to a 1 game lead. They trade leads of less than 2 tetrises throughout game 2, until level 36 where a dig up high for Alex put him in a 4 tetris deficit that his 29 aggression doesn't repay. In fact, it just looks like recklessness that made him top out. And whilst iBall also tops out on level 31 due to a spire, his pre-29 cleanliness gave him a 2 game lead. Filled with confidence, iBall goes shirtless. Alex says in chat he wants too also, but it's too cold, and he needs to keep his sweater on. That was his first mistake. Shirtless iBall, unanswered too, gives off a dangerous aura and Alex tops out at 91 lines. In an elimination game. A man with the highest Masters F19% of 96.7%. Alex said he wasn't warmed up — and maybe that, in combination with the rust of a break and the expectations of a return meant losing in a sweep, and not a pretty one at that. It's enough for the almighty Ryan Hamburger to bump him below Scuti and Dog at third on his power rankings.
-stolenshortsword
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