Edge Master Series - Random Midweek Thing

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Report for EMS on 12th September 2012:

They say life is a game of chance (does anyone actually say this? I have no idea) and on Wednesday, sixteen hustlers randomly found themselves in the chaotic bustle of central London, ready to take their chances against whatever obstacles may fall their way.

As luck may have it, there was another EMS tournament to participate in, and we saw the first appearance of the bluffing, conniving and definitely very random Dampierre, manipulated by his cruel puppet master SomeRandomFreak, returning with a vengeance knowing his main would be available this time (cross fingers).

Familiar faces were interspersed with a few new ones to the EMS madness - they were Dazzler aka LoneWolfThe, rocking the Maxi as so many are wanton to do; Master Brewer, bringer of destruction and ally of Dan the Nightmare; and Amatosk, the wily Yoshi player who began his career at the Tooting event only a couple of weeks before.

Player List:

Grunt Dude | Hollow | Hyrul | Talon | Deathsm8 | Bushy | Nicotine | Silent Joel
WolfLoneThe | So Real Josh | Master Brewer | Amatosk | Wai | Sotiris | STB Hot Dickings | SomeRandomFreak

 

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And so to the Group Stages. Who knows what mysterious, random and luck based happenings would occur with the veil of possibilities cast magnificently wide across and endless chasm of events, some probable, some improbable... (etc. etc. etc.)


GROUP A

Nicotine was the first to fall at the roulette wheel, dropping key games against Wai and Hyrul to see his tournament end as quickly as it had begun. His victory over Amatosk was purely consolatory, who in turn beat Hyrul but fell to Wai to suffer a similar fate.Hyrul's win over Wai left him with a slightly better W/L record to top the group.

1. Hyrul | 2W | 5-2
2. Wai | 2W | 4-2
3. Nicotine | 1W | 2-4
4. Amatosk | 1W | 2-5


GROUP B

Every single match in the group fell 2-0, making this an extremely straightforward and uncharacteristically unrandom set of occurences - or so we would suppose. Master Brewer fell to So Real Josh, who was subsequently undone by Bushy, whilst Grunt Dude reigned supreme having won all of his sets.

1. Grunt | 3W | 6-0
2. Bushy | 2W | 4-2
3. SRJ | 1W | 2-4
4. M Brewer | 0W | 0-6


GROUP C

This extremely tough group found LoneWolfThe with three regular top 8 players fighting to keep afloat and emerge from the pool unscathed. He got his first victory against Sotiris, and this was to cost Sot dearly, as his excellent win over Hollow came ultimately for nothing. In an otherwise very close group, HD Hollow dispatched his main rival Silent Joel extremely quickly to take the top spot.

1. Hollow | 2W | 5-2
2. Joel | 2W | 4-3
3. Sotiris | 1W | 4-5
4. LWT | 1W | 2-5


GROUP D

In a pool arguably as tough or even tougher than Group C, Deathsm8 was paired once again with Trolldo aka Hot Dickings aka many many names, and his revenge was to be exacted as he swept through the group with no defeats. STBHD was then toppled by second-placing Talon, and the day's epitomising surprise factor, Dampierre, was plucked by the claw crane and promptly flung out of the tournament, despite some strong performances by SomeRandomFreak.

1. Deathsm8 | 3W | 6-0
2. Talon | 2W | 4-2
3. STB HD | 1W | 2-5
4. SRF | 0W | 1-6

 

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Top 8​

It was not to be for Wai or Bushy, who unfortunately failed to win another game following their progression into top 8, with Zeus and his pals conspiring against them. Hollow and Joel both made the Winners semis, but then lost in quick succession, with Deathsm8 and Talon coming back from Losers to overtake their rivals and battle for top 3.

Deathsm8 was on a roll of confidence after his disappointing early exit in the previous EMS, and looked ominously solid throughout, putting both Bushy and Hollow out with solid 2-0 victories. But he was, ultimately, Pyrrha-ed to death, with stab punishment proving too much for Nightmare against both Joel's vanilla and Kaz's crackbong-enhanced version, and his last ditch switch to Ivy was in vain against the stabby onslaught.

Meanwhile, Talon's return from obscurity was rewarded with his strongest performance yet, getting to top 3 before the luck 255 stat implausibly dropped, and random CEs just stopped working.

This left Grunt Dude and Hyrul to throw their chips down. Grunt already had the initiative of some good reads, having dropped his opponent to Losers earlier, using his two favourite things (walls and 2K). Hyrul stuck with Tira and took a crucial first round, which led to a 3-1 win and a reset. The pattern was to repeat itself, except with Hyrul switching to Leixia at the last minute and securing the win.

Shout-outs to special guest star Wil for surprising us all by not showing up!

Thanks very much to everyone who came down, and to Joel for organising the brackets and James for streaming the event. The level of hype was a bit low for this tournament despite a decent turnout, but I hope we can continue to run these and that we don't get buried under TTT2 and DOA as well as the Capcom games. Any casual sessions will naturally help things keep going.