Earth Rumble VII Skud Pai Sho Tournament

[Cannoli]

Hello Rumblers, and welcome to the last few hours of this round! Yesterday only saw one more game completed, and we’ve still got two left to go before the round ends, so get to playing! First, though, let’s take a look at the excellent match that was completed in the previous day!

LOSERS BRACKET ROUND 5

Adder vs Ntturner was a fast paced, engaging match, and it was wonderful from start to finish! ntturner went right off making a 5-point monochrome pattern and adder a 5-3, neither significantly impeding the other until turn 7 when ntturner issued a threat to win. adder blocked with knotweed and leveled his own threat on turn 8 and 9. ntturner increased the complexity of the top left quarter by adding a second knotweed to the mix to block adder, and then a rock just across the centerline on the right. From turns 9-11 each player was issuing and blocking eachother's threats, but afterward they both saw a need to reconfigure. adder was quicker to get an threat together again, as both players bloomed more flowers to grasp at an upper hand. ntturner found himself on the back foot, unable to get lines of harmony out to the top right corner, and on turn 17 adder slipped past the defenses and made a long ring to win the game and advance one more time!

Written by BaronAlbatross and Cannoli

[Cannoli]

"As a dog returns to his own vomit,
So a fool repeats his folly.
Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him."

Here we are at a precipice once again! After a one day extension the rounds are ending and a new round is set to kick off! The L bracket still has a bit of a march before the finals and it is going to be a wild slugfest to see who is worthy to face the W bracket champ also soon to be decided! We did see a match completed yesterday and Cannoli is here with the report!

"Lost in this world total stranger
Death by the sword a common danger
You know that everything is not what it seems
March on all night forever searching
Daylight ahead is only lurking
Break through the walls and use the power of your dreams"



WINNERS BRACKET ROUND 5

Liam_Keaggy13’s match with SpinxKreuz was spectacularly clever, and it’s definitely one to go watch if you haven’t seen it already! Spinx began the game with his trusty 4-5 opener, which Liam mirrored for the first couple of turns. Yet while Spinx went for the traditional fast opener, Liam planted a lotus as his third flower rather than a white 5, and subsequently brought out his orchid. This was a risky move, since if Spinx was able to consistently make win threats, Liam might get stuck behind without the ability to form a ring. Yet Liam’s gamble paid off, and he was able to safely get his orchid out of the gate, using the next couple of turns to plant the necessary tiles as Spinx continued to slowly work on his ring. On turn 10, Spinx made his first proper win threat, which Liam blocked on harmony bonus, bringing a lily out of the southern gate to do so. Spinx then threatened to capture Liam’s Northern lily, but by then it was too late, and Liam unveiled his plan, sneakily wheeling away Spinx’s basic block on harmony bonus to win the game!

Life has unfortunately gotten too busy for Tree, and he has had to withdraw from the tournament. PaiShoAce will therefore advance to the next round by default.

-Cannoli and BaronAlbatross

[Cannoli]

Rumblers, the Losers Bracket quarter finals have begun, and only twelve people remain in the whole tournament! We’re excited to see the incredible games that take place in these upcoming days, but first it is time to acknowledge the absolutely crazy game that finished yesterday!

TheRealMomo and TwoTheSecond played what is, by far, the most incredible match of this tournament so far, finishing after a whopping 55 turns! The game began in a deceptively simple way, with TwoTheSecond planting her white 4 and white 5, and Momo doing the same. From there, both players played along the lines of the classic 4-5 fast strategy, while maintaining control of the North and South gates, respectively. On turn 7, Momo placed the first accent tile of the game, a preemptive knotweed that slowed TwoTheSecond down. Soon after, both players brought out their orchids, neither of which was paired with a lotus, though Momo was quick to bring hers out afterward. TwoTheSecond skillfully blocked each and every attempt Momo made at a harmony ring, but Momo defended just as deftly, and the two players danced back and forth as they tried to wear each other down. On turn 18, Momo began a capturing rampage with her now wild orchid, tactically taking out Two’s tiles. Though TwoTheSecond was still handily able to block Momo, she wasn’t able to capture her orchid until turn 32, and by then, Momo had done significant damage to Two’s defenses. Even still, Two held strong, defending carefully as she brought out her lotus, and subsequently chipped away at Momo’s formation with her orchid. Two avoided capture from Momo’s basic tiles, using clash mechanics to protect her weapon, though by turn 47, Momo had functionally stopped Two’s orchid movements, and the orchid was captured by turn 49. For the past few turns, both players had given extra attention to midline harmonies, as the game began drifting towards possible alternate win conditions, and going forward it looked like that indeed would be the final outcome. Yet on turn 55, Momo made a fantastic move, clash capturing Two’s white 4 and using a wheel to create a 4 piece harmony ring amidst the chaos, winning the game!

[Cannoli]

"Scoffers set a city aflame,

But wise men turn away wrath."


We are back from the weekend and tonight marks the end of another round. We saw some action over the last couple days so lets recap before we get into the new week and the last stages of this incredible tournament.


"Cry far away as we reach for the day

Blasting our way through the punishment and the pain

Reach for the world as the sky begins to fall

Rising through the darkened ashes praying that I'll see you all"
The match between Sirstotes and Minkey was certainly spectacular, and it is definitely a highlight of the tournament! Minkey began the game with a 4-5 opener, and while Stotes mirrored the first two plants, he soon made it clear he would be taking a different approach from Minkey, planting first his lotus and then his orchid before even getting out a fourth harmonizing tile. Minkey quickly took advantage of this, and took control of the remaining three gates as he continued to work on his harmony ring, a play that would cripple Stotes’ early game offensive viability. Stotes moved around the board with the tiles he did have, blocking Minkey’s ring attempts and holding his orchid in the Northern gate. Eventually, however, Stotes gave up his last gate in favor of breaking down Minkey’s offense, and this gate was taken soon after. Minkey still had Stotes completely on defense, though with a wild orchid to deal with he now had to focus more on rebuilding his offense. Minkey began moving out of the Northern gate, and he was able to get a white 3 and an orchid out, losing the former once again to Stotes’ orchid, though this was trapped with the latter tile. On turn 18, Stotes regained the Northern gate with a chrysanthemum, and finally had the chance to build a proper offensive threat. This turned the tides of the game, and soon Minkey was the one carefully defending without a good offensive option. For the next few turns, the game went on like this, with Minkey blocking Stotes’ ring attempts while trying to get a piece to the Northwest quadrant to rebuild his own offense. Finally, on turn 34, Sirstotes broke through Minkey’s defenses, wheeling away a rhododendron to form his winning ring!
TheRealMomo vs Yagalo ran a whopping 43 turns of non stop action, ending on the razor's edge between a harmony ring and the alt win condition. At the end of the match Yagalo said, "This was definitely one of my more enjoyable games in the tournament with way too many twists and turns to count." He was right! But as long as we are here lets try to count them. TheRealMomo began the match by holding onto 3 gates and making the first threat on turn 7. Yagalo blocked with knotweed and issued his own threat on turn 10. A wild Orchid put a quick end to that and initiated a run of shuffling and planting by both players. On turn 18 TheRealMomo had a serious setup ready, but Yagalo crushed it by both capturing her orchid and breaking up the ring in one move! What followed was an extensive back and forth of planting and blooming and shuffling around which lasted until turn 10 when Yagalo was able to threaten a winning ring again. TheRealMomo blocked and it was back to the shuffle again. Both players were compressing the concentration of tiles tighter and tighter toward the center of the board. It was hard to follow as a spectator, but I did notice Yagalo get dangerously close to making a ring on turn 36. This did not get past TheRealMomo however, and after blocking she appeared to be pushing for the alternate win condition. On turn 43 however she saw the chance and using a wheel to extend the range of a rose made a winning ring.

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The 7th Losers Bracket round of the Earth Rumble VII tournament has begun! Before we dive into the two excellent matches that have yet to come, let’s look at the wonderful games that came to a close yesterday!

LOSERS BRACKET ROUND 6

ZxTinyJ vs Adder was relatively short compared to other recent games, but it ran like a candle with a fuse for a wick! Both players started out with a standard set of accent tiles and a 5-3 planting. ZxTinyJ aggressively preempted Adder on turn 6 with a rock, even though he was not yet threatening to win. Adder did threaten to win on his next turn however, and ZxTinyJ was forced to use his other offensive tile and blocked with a basic flower. Struggling to catch up, ZxTinyJ planted their fourth flower on turn 8. Adder gave him the same grief that he was dealt and poisoned his plan with a knotweed. The next turn Adder planted his rock and set himself in position to make a winning ring. Not to be outdone, ZxTinyJ made a quick, though not advantageous, harmony and used his wheel to shuffle Adder's flowers with a knotweed. Adder repositioned and planted his Orchid in the north gate, conspicuously opposite his Lotus in the south gate. As ZxTinyJ worked to recover despite the duress of this looming danger, Adder cleared his most convoluted corner with a boat threatening again to win. ZxTinyJ could find no way forward but to use his last accent tile to disrupt the arrangement. The wild orchid took revenge, and both players used the reprieve to call in more flower tiles. Adder although having spent every other measure retained his wheel and on turn 17 found the opportunity to use it in a final bound making a harmony ring and advancing through the thinning ranks!

PaiShoAce and BaronAlbatross shared a fantastic game together! Baron elected to use an alternate 3-5 opener, “hoping for a less complicated game by avoiding the… 5-4 pattern.” PaiShoAce mirrored these first two plants, and quickly demonstrated that the game would be no less complicated just because of the 3-5 as he began playing for gate control, a tactic that heavily influenced Baron’s strategy. From there, the pace of much of the game was set, with PaiShoAce utilizing gate control and strategic plants to try to overwhelm his opponent, as Baron played with precision and efficiency, using fewer resources to press just as much of a threat. Though BaronAlbatross made the first ring threat, PaiShoAce quickly pulled ahead in the early game, using a lotus-orchid combo along with clash captures to nearly completely destroy this threat, forcing Baron to reset on offense. BaronAlbatross was able to trap his opponent’s orchid with his own, and though he had to rebuild his offense, PaiShoAce was slow to their own ring threat, which gave Baron a decent amount of time to reset. The pace persisted, and PaiShoAce maintained his tile count significantly above Baron’s, attempting to slowly weave around his opponent’s defenses. However, on turn 30, BaronAlbatross was finally able to sneak a harmony ring past PaiShoAce, and he won the game with a clean wheel finish!

[Cannoli]

Heeeeeeeey Rumblers! Fans and players who likes catsup? Ketchup? Catching up? There was a joke there, somebody help me out with that. Anyway we are catching up on reviews as we get into the last leg of the tournament! It has been a wild week for everyone in administration as well as the players and the matches we are looking at today were OFF THE CHAIN!!!!

Adder and BaronAlbatross shared an excellent match together! BaronAlbatross began with an alternate 4-5 opener, and Adder mirrored these plants. As Baron moved out of the Southern gate, Adder planted behind him, taking control of both vertical gates in the process. BaronAlbatross chained harmonies to take the West gate, and attempted to make use of Adder’s lotus in the North to form a harmony ring, yet Adder quickly broke down this ring threat with his wild orchid. Adder presented the next threat, which Baron cleanly blocked with a rock on harmony bonus. Adder then sacrificed his orchid to once again break down Baron’s offense, though BaronAlbatross had bought himself enough time to safely begin to reset. Adder swiftly put the pressure back on, however, and Baron was forced to play defensively for the next couple of turns. Indeed, this was just long enough for Adder to set up and complete a harmony ring, winning the game and advancing to the next round!

TheRealMomo and Sirstotes played an absolutely bonkers game, finishing out after a whopping 53 rounds! The game started simple enough, with Stotes playing a 3-5 opener, moving his 5 directly out once he had both plants down. Momo played for gate control, taking the East gate after Stotes moved out. Though Stotes slowed Momo down in her gate control strategy with a plant to the West, he elected to move out and instead focus on offense, later planting a W4 up North in order to work on his harmony ring. With control of both the East and West gates, Momo was able to rush on offense as well, and she made the first ring threat, which Stotes promptly blocked with a knotweed. Unfazed, Momo brought out her lotus and orchid as she pivoted to her rose as her fourth harmonizing tile, though this gave Stotes enough time to work on offense as well. Over the next couple of turns, both players cleverly used basic blocks to defend as they maneuvered their tiles into place, a pattern finally broken when Momo brought out her orchid and began to capture Stotes’s tiles. Stotes brought out an orchid of his own, and he cunningly used his tile placement to evade capture, as Momo could not take his orchid without losing the game. Momo captured Stotes’ lotus, and though Sirstotes attempted to further threaten his ring by planting a white jade, Momo swiftly captured his W4 as well, forcing an offensive reset. For the next few turns, Stotes was forced to play more on the defensive as Momo continued her unrelenting assault, and though he was able to begin rebuilding a horizontal ring, his own knotweed effectively blocked him from making any speedy threat. On turn 31, Momo went on a short capturing spree, taking three of Stotes’ tiles, including his orchid. On turn 35, Momo’s orchid was taken out of the game, its reign of terror finally over. By then, however, she had put herself significantly ahead, with a greater tile count, three accent tiles to Stotes’ one, and a weak albeit useful offensive threat. Momo at first continued to use each of these advantages to try to force past Stotes’ defenses, but Stotes had the board on lockdown, and used clashes and basic blocks to shut down any openings Momo created. As Stotes defended, he began chaining out tiles, working as quickly as he could towards the alt win conditions. Not long after, Momo recognized this attempt, and began pumping out midline harmonies as well. Momo used her favorable positioning, larger amount of tiles, and skillful movement to quickly overwhelm Sirstotes, and by the time he only had one tile left to plant, Momo had more midline harmonies on the board, and more tiles to spare. Stotes attempted to block out some of Momo’s harmonies, but her advantage proved to be too great, and she finally won the game on turn 53, planting her last two tiles rather than chaining them out. This game was absolutely incredible to watch, and though Momo had Stotes on the ropes for the last few turns, the sheer talent of both players cannot be overlooked—both TheRealMomo and Sirstotes are truly Pai Sho masters!

- Written by BaronAlbatross and Cannoli

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Good morning, afternoon, evening and night to all you Rumblers across the globe! The games from this round have been completed, and the Losers Bracket pre final between Spinx and Momo will be up in the coming hours! The tournament is getting close to its apex, and we already have one of our grand finalists! To see how the pool has been whittled down to just four players remaining, let’s take a look at the three fantastic games that took place this round!

Liam_Keaggy13 vs Cannoli put an end to the matches on the winners board! That's right folks we have decided one of the players for the grand finals! This was a special match start to finish and I BaronAlbatross am gonna break it down for you! We had a noted anomaly in the beginning when Cannoli dropped his rock in favor of two wheels. Yes that had all our gears turning right out the gate but the first 4 turns both players mirrored each other in hypnotic symmetry. On turn 6 Cannoli spent one wheel to actually make the earliest threat to win I can personally recall. Liam_Keaggey13 could not make a harmony so he moved a flower out of position to block. Cannoli, sparing no expense, used a boat to push Liam_Keaggey13's piece back into harmony and out of the way. He blocked again though, and this time lined himself up to make a harmony so that when Cannoli threatened to win again on turn 8 he was able to deliver a tangle of knotweed right where it hurts! On turn 9 Liam_Keaggey13 was able to issue his first threat while Cannoli looked to be changing tactics. Cannoli blocked effectively as both players pushed more and more flowers into play. Cannoli's orcid came out to make an arrest only at the last moment to stop Liam_Keaggey13 from making a good ring with his new flowers. On turn 14 Liam_Keaggey13 actually sent his own orchid to hold Cannoli's as well as one other flower making a big immobile block on the west side of the board. Undeterred, Cannoli pushed ahead using his advantage in flower count to spread Liam_Keaggey13's forces thin. Cannoli expanded this advantage until turn 19 when he presented a double threat. Liam_Keaggey13 was not able to handle both so on turn 20 Cannoli pulled together a winning ring and strode confidently into the next arena!

Samurai_Appa vs TheRealMomo was not the first time Appa and Momo had met on the battlefield (documentation of a previous conflict the two had can be found below), and each came prepared. TheRealMomo began the match with a 3-5 opener, and Appa followed suit. Momo first moved out her Southern rose, and Appa quickly planted a jade behind it. As Momo moved into position to harmonize on the next turn, Appa used this jade to block her potential harmony, and over the next few turns, the two shifted back and forth as Momo tried to find an opening for her first harmony. Appa used these turns to place himself in a favorable position, and finally allowed Momo to get her first harmony on turn 6, electing to plant a W4 in the South rather than continuing to block his adversary. From there, Momo began building her ring, using only the East gate to get out every tile she needed to form her first threat, including a white jade that she sent across the board to put pressure on Appa. Meanwhile, Appa was attempting to construct a ring using the vertical gates, though Momo’s first threat came into play before Appa was able to complete his. Appa used a rock to block Momo’s first ring attempt, and Momo swiftly removed this rock, using one of her two boats to do so. A knotweed and a well placed orchid from Appa were able to maintain this block, however, and Momo began looking for new options for a harmony ring. First, however, she brought out her orchid to scare off Appa’s wild orchid, strategically pushing it away from her next point of attack. Momo then began to use Appa’s lotus to steal his vertical harmony ring, which Appa quickly took notice of, taking the time to move his lotus out of position as he worked on his own threat from the West gate. Momo used a chrysanthemum to capture Appa’s W4 in the South, setting herself up for a sneaky boat finish. Appa, not fully realizing the danger he was in, made a further offensive move, planting a white jade in the South on harmony bonus to threaten Momo’s R5. By then, however, it was too late, and Momo reformed her harmony with Appa’s lotus and used a boat to move her chrysanthemum into place to create a harmony ring and win the game!


Adder vs SpinxKreuz was a fascinating game, and a fantastic send off for Adder, who has more than proven his talent this tournament. SpinxKreuz began the game in an interesting way, electing for the first time in this tournament to open with a 3-5 rather than his signature 4-5. Adder responded in a more predictable way, utilizing his clever 3-rush opener and immediately sending his rose out of the gate. Spinx quickly stole the North gate, and Adder secured the West soon after. Spinx did not hold the North for long, and Adder was able to take this as well, but as he tried to maneuver his Western jade to the East side of the board, Spinx used a preemptive knotweed, throwing a wrench into Adder’s positioning. A couple turns later, Adder found himself defending with only 3 harmonizing tiles on the board, and though he had no trouble making use of cunning movement and positioning to thwart Spinx’s offense, he was unable to make a threat of his own. Finally, on turn 13, Adder was able to send out a lily in the South to threaten a win, using a rock to maintain his defense. Spinx swiftly sent out his own rock to block this attempt, and the two continued to dance back and forth between offense and defense. On turn 17, Spinx removed Adder’s rock, opening an offensive lane back up. Adder promptly blocked this attempt with an orchid, and Spinx brought his lotus out, his own orchid ready to go. Adder moved to protect his tiles, yet Spinx’s orchid was just a distraction, and he used the lotus as a part of his harmony ring, wheeling away Adder’s orchid and winning the game!

Written by BaronAlbatross and Cannoli

[Cannoli]

The board finals are over and tonight we get to watch the Grand Final match! The last match was TheRealMomo vs Liam_Keaggy, and it was a nail biter! Be sure to watch Dallin's coverage on his youtube after this.

LOSERS BRACKET PRE-FINAL

TheRealMomo vs SpinxKreuz was a quick and decisive match! Spinx began the game with the usual 4-5 opener, which Momo promptly mirrored. Spinx focused on maintaining control of the Southern gate, planting a rose to the East and moving out before he touched his W4. Momo stayed up North, moving more quickly by planting her rose up top on harmony bonus. In response to Spinx’s opener, she brought out an orchid, placing it under his rose and blocking his first ring threat. Spinx tried to pressure this threat, planting his lotus to maintain control in the South, but Momo continually kept him blocked, first with a knotweed, and once that was boated away, with her rose. This rose block signalled Momo’s first ring threat, and Spinx was forced to switch to defense. After Spinx used his own knotweed to block his opponent, Momo took advantage of the placement and formed a harmony as she moved out of its range, planting her lotus on harmony bonus. As she moved her lotus out, she used one of her boats to remove Spinx’s knotweed, providing both an offensive and defensive threat, as her orchid was now ready to capture. Spinx easily blocked the former, harmonizing with Momo’s lotus and planting his orchid on the bonus, but the latter threat proved to be devastating for him. Momo used her orchid to quickly disassemble the remnants of Spinx’s offensive threat, removing his jade and rose from the board. Originally using his orchid to block rather than capture, Spinx was pressured into sacrificing his orchid to remove Momo’s lotus, effectively ending her capturing rampage. By then, however, Spinx was left powerless to stop Momo’s offensive push, and she completed her harmony ring unobstructed on turn 18, moving on to the LB Finals!

LOSERS BRACKET FINAL

In case you missed it, here's how it went down. Right off the bat TheRealMomo took over 3 gates leaving Liam_keaggey13 to build up a glut of flowers at the south gate. He also planted a knotweed to buy time, and TheRealMomo was not able to assemble a threat until turn 9. The pressure was still on and TheRealMomo cleared the knotweed on turn 12. Liam_keaggey13 put her back quite a ways with a rock so out came the orchids, both of them wild and ready to fight! Liam_keaggey13's orchid took out a flower, but ended up getting captured freeing up TheRealMomo to go on a killing spree. At turn 22 TheRealMomo set up a second threat ring, and Liam_keaggey13 had to further scatter his few flowers to keep things moving. Liam_keaggey13 got a little revenge with a clash capture bit TheRealMomo kept the pressure on hard threatening to win with one or another ring almost every turn! TheRealMomo sent her orchid on another rampage, clearing the board as Liam_keaggey13 struggled to block and flee. On turn 39 TheRealMomo was in full control of the board and made a winning ring just by clearing a rock. What an incredible and shocking match!

Don't forget to tune in later TODAY for the first Grand Final match! TheRealMomo will be facing Cannoli, and if she wants to win the title of Earth Kingdom Rumble Champion she will have to beat him twice! Will Cannoli sweep the tournament undefeated? Will TheRealMomo rise from the Loser bracket to become the champion? Only time will tell so watch it all tonight at 16:30 pacific! Available on pay per view, livestream and on skudpaisho.com!!!! Don't live under a rock, be there when the battle everyone will be talking about happens!

- Written by BaronAlbatross and Cannoli

[Cannoli]

"Come, eat of my bread

And drink of the wine I have mixed.

Forsake foolishness and live,

And go in the way of understanding."


The word is out that the Earth Kingdom Rumble VII is OVER!!!!!! TheRealMomo and Cannoli ran a crazy match, a golden cap on this towering competition! TheRealMomo went nuts planting and had all 4 gates occupied at the end of turn 4. Once the gates burst open though Cannoli wasted no time in planting. TheRealMomo by turn 9 had two partially constructed rings, and planted her orchid to see them to completion. Cannoli's orchid followed behind and seized two of TheRealMomo's flowers at once! Cannoli was now free to put together a ring, forcing TheRealMomo to block with a knotweed. But no sooner did the knotweed hit the table but Cannoli tossed one right back at her! Well both players cleared the knotweeds and on turn 20 TheRealMomo sent her orchid off towards Cannoli's, but he did not take the bait! Those two flowers remained in the custody of Cannoli's orchid through the end of the match. Both players called more flowers to the table, but Cannoli managed to box one of TheRealMomo's planted flowers in at the gate! She used her last boat to free her flower, leaving each player with only a wheel and a shrinking number of flowers in reserve. Cannoli doubled up his ring pattern and on turn 27 managed to put together a winning harmony ring with the wheel he saved. Congratulations on a hard fought win Cannoli! Ladies and Gentlemen, your undefeated champion!

Thank you all for playing and watching the action over the last weeks. On behalf of Cannoli as well I would like to thank you all for the excitement and camaraderie, the struggle and the good times as we played and commiserated. We are looking forward to seeing more of you all in game, on Discord, at meetups and of course at the upcoming tournaments!

- Written by BaronAlbatross