Multiplayer 2v2 League: Are you the "Best Blasting Duo"?

Good work both teams for me I'm just getting info of pc users , but I respect every team in the tournament.

Thanks for the video, it was a lot of fun to see the game from the other point of view. I look forward to your other games.

You two have very good communication, which is something reg and I don't. Now I realize why you were so tight on Ramp Matrix (as cheap as that was.)

Rewatching this has made me realize that Regis and I slack at the last minute of maps that we're winning and then almost lose. We gotta work on that...

It was indeed alot of fun to see those matches from ur point of view Ian, thanks for that.

I completely agree Kwill, gotta work on that.

Royal Flush falls in second match of season against /v2

Royal Flush was the home team and selected Basic Agility Course as their first match. Kwill soared twenty points ahead of Nihahhat, in second, and Dushine came in last with less than all the other three and Royal Flush picked up a solid win.
/v2 then selected Architecture, which was a bit of a lagfest for both teams. At the end of it /v2 won by about twenty points. The next map was Epicenter, known as Regislian's favorite, but Kwill struggled on the round and /v2 dominated. The last map to be played was Sprawl, Dushine's favorite and best, and althought Regislian and Kwill were barely behind Nihahhat, Dushine's score told the rest of the story.

Royal Flush 1, /v2 3

As a note to the GOTO 10 vs Royal Flush Match: Looking back, most of the games were very close. If Jeff or I had just played a tiny bit better we could have taken Horizon and Eye of the Storm. I am really looking forward to a rematch in the playoffs because that match was very tense. Obviously you guys played better and deserve the win, good game all around.

What?! I just converted the two times and got 1 a.m. and 10p.m. , which is my sleeping time. So... umm sorry krishiv. I cant just tell ian to change the time, if I did that, it will effect the whole competition.

EDIT: I just saw these news, so I dont know about the news. And i seldom saw krishiv online, all i saw is Imperial and higuy and the experts...

I like the match descriptions, they are fun and informative, especially in matches you were not a part of!

Lee, you do not HAVE to be online then, as long as your team is online and another team is, you can both play each other. Sorry to hear that the tournament time is inconvenient for you.

Team SwegMasters availability time:
we are mostly online from roughly 3:30-5:30PM and 6:30-9:30PM GMT On weekends availability is less strict and we can do matches at AM too but that's discussable.
If you want to play a match against us contact me on steam or skype (nickname for skype: rdsempire or monacledog. For steam profile go to steamcommunity.com/id/rdsempire/ ) as we both are online on leaderboards rarely.


Also nice gameplay on first match of season. Was interesting to see such tight games and as kwill pointed out they should both battle till end of the game as I see that team having huge potential if they could fix that.

Thank you for making an effort to schedule your games, RDs!

Lee, the times are just there so teams can get online at the same time without talking to one another. If you cannot make those times you need to contact other teams and make plans for game times and post when you and your partner will be online.

Unfortunately, my time has been largely constrained due to numerous musical projects as well as schoolwork. I should be on on Saturdays and Sundays in the morning and evenings, and I am normally available on Mondays and Fridays in the evenings.

Thanks, glad to hear it

No need for a long description here:

GOTO 10 loses 0-3 to Frostcage in 3 straight stomps.

GOTO 10 loses 0-3 to /v2 with two straight dominations and one close match on Ramp Matrix, a 7 point margin.

Ian, out of curiosity, how was the lag situation for your matches? During my match against /v2, three out of the four of us had lag, and mine was so bad I could barely play.

EDIT: Also, do you have videos for these matches?

Ian, did you stream your games last night? I'd like to watch them from a spectator view haha

FROSTCAGE Availability Time

(combining RC and my schedules)

Saturday and Sunday - most mornings (7am EST to 11am EST) , and most evenings (6am EST and past)
Monday - nights (9pm EST and past)
Friday - evenings (5am EST and past)

I'm personally available most saturdays and sundays for a lot of the day, and most weekdays and their nights, just not evenings (5pm to 8:30pm EST) because of sports. Friday is an all-day for pretty much every Friday this month.

I didn't put them on Youtube because they were pretty much dominations except for the one match on Ramp Matrix. You can dig them out of my Twitch page if you are curious.

We haven't had significant issues on the Dedicated server yet from our experience. We believe it's the most fair that we can make it. I'm sorry you had issues.

I can't seem to find my own match. Can you give me a link? Thanks

GOTO 10 finally wins one against SwegMasters in a quick 3 - 0.

Game 1: Sprawl - Jeff and Ian use teamwork to arrive at cross-map camps almost instantly and pick up a win.
Game 2: Ramp Matrix - You know what happened here. Blue camping wins games.
Game 3: Playground - Jeff dominated blue spawns and picked up endless gems, almost didn't need me in the game at all.

GOTO 10 also picks up a win against Penguin (peguin?) 3 - 0.

Game 1: Ramp Matrix - Very one sided blue camping. Jeff got 7 blues of the total 8.
Game 2: Promontory - Closer match, but Jeff and Ian just have a bit more teamwork.
Game 3: Basic Agility Course: Not much of a match here either.

View the matches: GOTO 10 vs SwegMasters -- GOTO 10 vs Penguin

---

@Frostfire, here.

/v2 barely pulls a victory out from Frostcage, winning 3-2.

Game 1: Promontory - An odd first pick, /v2 pulled out a very close win from Frostcage, with neither team leading for more than a minute. After seeing the ruthlessness the four players gave this poor map, it is obvious that neither team will go down without a fight.
Game 2: Eye of the Storm - /v2 picked Eye of the Storm possibly just to annoy Frostfire. Whatever their reasons, it quickly backfired. At 45 seconds in, Frostcage was leading 20-1. The rest of the game continued in a similar fashion, tying the total score 1-1.
Game 3: Architecture - Frostcage, pumped up after their last win, chose Architecture next. I'm sure you can guess how this went down. /v2 put up a good fight, but were not quick enough to be able to pull out a win.
Game 4: Horizon - Coming down to the wire, someone mentions that, yes, there is such a thing as private team chat. Everyone goes absolutely nuts. /v2 decide on Horizon after shutting down my suggestion for Spires. Both teams played exceptionally well, this was definitely the closest game out of all five, with /v2 narrowly coming in for a 1-point win.
Game 5: Sprawl - Tied 2-2, Frostcage decides to go all out and picks Sprawl for their final game, hoping that RC's extreme skills will net them the victory. Unfortunately for them, /v2 managed to grab the lead early in the game, and kept a tight hold over them. 5 nail-biting minutes of skillshots later, /v2 comes out on top by 5 points, winning them the game and the match.

View the final match here: Frostcage vs /v2: Sprawl

This is the match that I'd want to see the most. Thanks HiGuy for uploading the video for the last game, though I'd really want to see the other games too. Anyway, watching 4 top MB players devouring the gems in such a fast pace is mind-blowing and extremely fascinating to watch. Well done to both teams and especially /v2 for a close win. The two teams are that close in skills that who knows which team will win in the play-offs.

First of all, I JUST noticed how cheeky Ian and Jeff are after watching their match against RDs and Ui, those guys can split the map and they can also do it anytime during a game! Works to deadly effect especially on Ramp Matrix!!

Thanks Imp, and thanks HiGuy for the match summary

To be honest, I was shocked we won Promo, because it is my least favourite level and I didn't expect to win it, but looks like we all suck on that map
Eots surprised me because we had a horrid start which cost us the game...
Architecture, had a bad run while Niha played well, but frost shocked us all with a heck of a match.
Horizon in all honesty was the one I counted on, and even though we were so close, I just felt we had the match, especially when I figured out their game style , because we led most of the time, and unfortunately I made some mistakes towards the ending that made the game too close to call a comfortable win.

Sprawl? Well coming into this I was not sure but I got to say a round of applause for Nihahhat for owning that one. But even though I had less than fun or eventful match, I figured Niha, RC and me would all go for the same gems and my net being as sucky as it is, I would lose a lot, so instead I took the gems around...Seemed to work out.

In summary, it is like[strike] RC[/strike] FROSTFIRE said: "Nobody say gg (good game), it was too intense."
P.S. I laughed my ass off for the ending spam, so much mute!

Haha nice write-ups guys. I agree completely with the cheekiness of Jeff and Ian lol.

Also dushine, I was the one who said it was too intense for gg.

Frostfire's Power Rankings (+ playoff predictions)

Power Rankings

1. /v2 - This team managed solid wins over every team they've played so far except Frostcage, whom they still managed to defeat by five points in game five of an intense battle. Nihahhat so far has performed outstandingly when up against pressure which could definitely help this team along the road. Dushine performs exceptionally in most of his games as well, and this puts them as #1 on my list.

2. Frostcage - After only two games Frostcage sits with a 1-0-1 record, something admittedly they weren't expecting. With an ever-improving Frostfire and a fantastic RC, they sit solidly on the #2 spot after a squeezed loss against /v2.

3. Royal Flush - With the same point total as Frostcage after two games, Royal Flush doesn't look like a team who's simply going to drop out of title contention. They put up a fight against /v2 and pulled out a 3-1-1 victory against GOTO 10, leaving them currently in an acceptable position tied for third.

4. GOTO 10 - Currently tied for first with /v2 (though having played two more games) GOTO 10 secured the #4 spot in my power rankings. Ian is a solid player on most levels and Jeff typically does well on the ones Ian struggles with. Good communication also adds to this team's ability in the hunt for a top 3 final positioning. What they need to improve the most is a level that they both excel at. They currently have only one of those - Ramp Matrix.

5. SwegMasters - After only one game the SwegMasters have moved up to a solid 5th place selection for me, even though they lost their game 0-3. The matches (except Ramp Matrix) were relatively close against GOTO 10, which means they may have the possibility of defeating them in a rematch in the playoffs.

6. Blue Miners - They still haven't shown up for a match but from past experience both players are decent and could put up a fight against some of the better teams.

7. Penguin - After a tough loss to GOTO 10, Penguin is looking to recover in some matches against easier teams. If they put some time and practice into the league they could come out better than tied for 5th, what they are now.

8. UnknownVoid - I haven't seen either Loquendomaster3000 or legenda1236 on after the tournament started, not once. From past experience I can make an educated guess that this team will most likely struggle, though they may be able to take down some of the weaker teams.

PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS (note... seedings may be different from my power rankings based on points and assumptions for later on.)

Round One

#1 /v2
#8 Unknown Void
/v2 wins 3-0

#4 Royal Flush
#5 SwegMasters
Royal Flush wins 3-1

#3 GOTO 10
#6 Penguin
GOTO 10 wins 3-0

#2 Frostcage
#7 Blue Miners
Frostcage wins 3-0

Round 2

#1 /v2
#4 Royal Flush
/v2 wins 3-1

#3 GOTO 10
#2 Frostcage
Frostcage wins 3-0

Third Place
#4 Royal Flush
#3 GOTO 10
Royal Flush wins 3-2

Final
#1 /v2
#2 Frostcage
Frostcage wins 3-2

I like how you predict yourself winning
After last night's match I'm less certain of who will be the winner, it seems most games are completely dependent on getting a lead in early. Will be super intense to see how this all plays out.

Power Rankings

Power rankings are created by game analyst Ian Cordle to see what teams are favored before you watch every match.

1. Frostcage - They lost against /v2 but I'm not leaving my opinion here yet. I think that Frostcage will beat /v2 in their rematch, they have a lot to prove.
2. /v2 - Nihahhat shocked me with his performance against Frostcage and I want to put them first but I don't know if they can survive a more grueling series that they might have to face in the playoffs.
3. Royal Flush - Still 3rd but I think that GOTO 10 is riding on coattails for their spot. I don't know how much planning they're doing but if they don't get something ready before the playoffs GOTO 10 might surprise them.
4. GOTO 10 - Communication has gotten them to where they are now, individual practice will get them to 3rd if they work hard enough.
5. SwegMasters - After seeing one game against them, they have decent potential. RDs isn't a bad player, they just need to get some practice in.
6. Penguin - Not absolutely horrible, they surprised us with a Promontory pick and although they didn't beat GOTO 10 on any map they were not sitting ducks.
7. Blue Miners - Their inactivity is going to kill them against teams that are actually playing.
8. UnknownVoid - Being inactive never helps your perceived skill.

Interview with Dushine

I asked Marble Blast veteran, dushine, a few questions about the league so far. [Bracketed text has been paraphrased]

Q: After playing against, and beating Frostcage last night, do you think /v2 will be able to replicate the performance in the playoffs or are the finals too close to call?

A: Depends on how much practice we get in before then and how well organize we will be. Nihahhat, RC, and I have clashing styles so if we can sort that our, we might... I'm fairly confident [we can beat them on a good day.]

Q: Is there any contender for the top two that people are overlooking?

A: Royal Flush and GOTO 10, but GOTO 10 will have to chose maps thet they can use their advantage on, [but their lack of practice on larger maps is what will do them in].

Q: Who would you say has been the MVP of the season so far?

A: Frostfire because he has improved so much in such a short time.

Q: What team has surprised you the most?

A: The team that has surprised me the most was GOTO 10, easily. They communicate to deadly effect and I did not expect them to work well together.

I was deeply surprised by Nihahhat's and Dushine's performances last night, and I now realize that this is going to be much tougher than I thought. Choosing Promontory last night was a huge mistake that unfortunately cannot take back, and my performance on Architecture (which is in fact my best map) was regrettable as well. Luckily, Frosty saved us on Architecture, but it has opened my eyes quite a bit in terms of effort and persistence. That final match on Sprawl was simply in my opinion the best game ever played. I even enjoy watching it over and over again now, and even though we lost, it was the most intensity I have felt in a long time. Not for a long time will I play a match like that again.

Considering we make it into the playoffs, I'm looking forward towards a rematch. I've really enjoyed playing with these guys, and they have brought the fun of this game back for me.

"I've really enjoyed playing with these guys, and they have brought the fun of this game back for me."

This is really the point of the league. I'm very glad that the league has brought back a competitive spirit for multiplayer - I think it has achieved that goal for many players including myself. Some of those games on Ramp Matrix really got my blood pumping as well - it's really fun when you have something on the line. I hope the organization of the league and future leagues is up to par with player's expectations.

Also, all teams are in playoffs, as long as they play at least one game in the regular season.

I am missing out on so much awesomeness. Can't wait to play everyone in the future.

You can just call instant-win, Canadian hockey style, for the 1v1.

Agreed with Rollcage, this reminds me so much of MBO, except I can actually join most matches
I do not think there has been such a high scoring game in MP for players on these forums, 355 points in total!! Only MBU players might have had more competition, because they are all together on another level but they didn't really organize leagues (thanks Ian).

Matan I can't wait to play you, I have gotten a little better since we played and want more close matches like we had

Just to put it out there, if and when we do have future leagues, I will probably be switching partners, as long as others will be available.
This has nothing to do with playing with Nihahhat, it is just that I find this tournament so fun and diversity would be great, as after all, I am in it for the fun mostly.
I want to see how I work with other players and I believe us changing partners makes for an all round more unpredictable and definitely more fun tournament.
Not to mention it also makes it a little more fair, as I have seen, it takes practice to make a team work as two top players will not always have things work for them if they do not!