Earth Rumble VII Skud Pai Sho Tournament

[Cannoli]

Rumblers, the current rounds have officially ended, and the games for round 3 of the Winner’s Bracket and round 2 of the Loser’s bracket are up! Before everyone dives into their games, it’s time to look at the final matches completed in the previous rounds.

WINNER’S BRACKET ROUND 2

Shader17 vs Erumi321 was among, if not, the shortest game of the tournament so far at 8 turns thanks to a cunning twist finish that shares a good lesson for all players to keep in mind. The game ran in a pretty common way as both players went right after their 5-3 ring patterns. Erumi321 may have had something in mind by playing a clashing rose, however it ultimately lost him the speed advantage he had been enjoying up to that point. Eager to reclaim advantage, Erumi dropped a knotweed to the side of one of Shader17's flowers. Now this is the last move and the interesting lesson I mentioned. The flower had one harmony which was broken by the knotweed. When Shader17 moved the flower upward, the harmony was restored. Erumi321 had a flower blocking the final horizontal harmony, but because moving the flower restored the harmony Shader17 was able to move the obstructing flower with a wheel and win. I recommend watching the match to get a better idea of how this brilliant play worked out.

TwoTheSecond’s match with SpinxKreuz was certainly a sight to behold! SpinxKreuz began with his—and indeed also TwoTheSecond’s—favorite opener: the 4-5. Spinx played his opener decently fast, only stopping to plant a W3 in the Western gate in order to maintain gate control in the South. TwoTheSecond played more cautiously, yet did not start too far behind her opponent. The two exchanged threats and blocks for a few turns, until the pattern was broken by Spinx, who planted an orchid on turn 11. With a lotus soon following out onto the board, Spinx was able to chip away at TwoTheSecond’s defenses, though she held strong, skillfully using basic blocks to keep Spinx at bay. TwoTheSecond defended from within Spinx’s ring, but was unable to work on one of her own, as Spinx kept the Northern gate blocked. Finally, Spinx baited away one of TwoTheSecond’s tiles with his orchid, allowing her to capture it so that he could unblock his ring and win with a wheel finish.

Sirstotes vs Wolf was an absolutely brutal match. The game started off in an unassuming way, with Wolf playing out a 5-4 opener and Sirstotes following suit. The two mirrored each other until turn 4, where Stotes elected to plant a lotus on harmony bonus rather than a rhododendron. On the next turn, rather than planting a basic flower tile when moving out his lotus, Stotes planted an orchid, leaving him with only 3 harmonizing flower tiles on the board, a purely defensive move. This move ended up paying off beautifully, as Stotes wreaked havoc on Wolf, devouring almost every flower in sight. Somewhere in the midst of his defensive assault, Sirstotes planted a fourth harmonizing flower tile, and was able to slowly inch it out into place. Wolf, devoid of basic tiles to block with, was quickly forced to use their accents, which Stotes deftly took care of, using clever movement and his extra boat to push his offensive threat. By turn 20, there was nothing Wolf could do to stop his opponent, and Sirstotes took the win on turn 21.

Lalalandikki vs Campolobaja was a simple, to the point game. Campolobaja started with a 5-3 opener, and Lalalandikki mirrored their first two plants. As Campolobaja moved their Southern rhododendron out, Lalalandikki planted behind them, a move that would ultimately win her the game. Campolobaja slowly worked on ring construction for a few moves, and even planted an orchid, but they were no match for Lalalandikki’s opposite gate vertical ring, and she handily won the game on turn 8 with a clean boat finish.


Minkey beat Ghost117 by default



LOSER’S BRACKET ROUND 1

Padre demonstrated in their game against MrMango123 that simple gate control and opposing gate rings are not the end all be all, and that clever plants and thoughtful movement will prevail. Mango attempted to work toward a horizontal opposing gate ring, yet they built it in a very slow manner, with only their lotus being planted on harmony bonus. This gave Padre enough time to cleverly defend and form a ring threat of their own, and on turn 10, they won the game, wheeling away from a poorly placed knotweed to complete their ring.


Obscuris beat themagicodd by default

Cajuncoder beat NotSbeve by default

PaiShoAce beat sadman by default

Jay77 beat GeneralButtercrust by the flip of a coin

1styethkaage beat NinjaB35 by default

Lexi beat electrohex by default

5up3r beat Elaitha by the flip of a coin

Hoid148 beat klammazu by default

Toni beat Maci by the flip of a coin

HarpistforHim beat KatarasLotus by default

SkudPaiSho beat Deadguppy by default


Written by BaronAlbatross and Cannoli