In the previous post I had just finished reviewing the first two tournaments (#159), when michael was still in the comments asking around, "Who's going to help eliminate Old Mai for me next time?" And no sooner had he said that than the script for the third "Golden Autumn Live-Action Championship" played out exactly according to his wish!
First, let's lay out the final standings of this eight-player knockout tournament: ・Champion: michael (3 wins, 0 losses—from first-round exit in the first edition, to runner-up in the second, to finally lifting the trophy in the third!) ・Runner-up: honghong (2 wins, 1 loss—also first-round exit in the first edition, semifinals in the second, and a run to the final in the third!) ・Semifinalists (tied for third): linlin, KK ・Quarterfinalists (first-round exit): maxwellzhung, chengcheng, yingying, jath
The fourth table of this quarterfinal round exploded the moment it started—the defending two-time champion maxwellzhung, who had been 6-0 with not a single loss across the first two editions, ran into honghong in the first round. Everyone had assumed Old Mai would cruise into the semifinals again, but honghong pulled his defense in tight and completely cut off Old Mai's push rhythm in the middle lane of the castle, producing the biggest upset in three tournaments and sending the two-time champion straight home in the first round!
Now the other three quarterfinal tables: At the first table, KK steadily took down chengcheng (poor chengcheng—first-round exits in all three tournaments, plus five straight ladder losses, making this an eight-game losing streak); At the second table, it was another familiar matchup—after eliminating yingying in the first round of the previous edition, michael drew yingying yet again in this quarterfinal, and the familiar formula produced another win; At the third table, linlin and jath met head-on, and linlin held off the pressure to claim a semifinal ticket.
In the semifinals, both sides played extremely tight matches: In the upper bracket, michael faced KK. KK's disconnect-and-block tactics were fierce, but michael's feel and calculation this tournament were simply too steady, and he cleared two hurdles in a row to reach the grand final for the second consecutive edition; In the lower bracket, honghong—fresh off toppling the two-time champion—was in full flow, showing no mercy against first-edition runner-up linlin in the semifinal and taking another scalp to set up a final showdown with michael!
The grand final was nothing short of "the ultimate comeback battle between two first-round-exit brothers from the first edition"—remember, at the first Grand Prix, both michael and honghong fell in the first round of the quarterfinals; in the second edition, one took runner-up and the other reached the semifinals; and by the third edition, these two had claimed the final table for themselves! In the end, michael seized the push window in the decisive round, denying honghong the chance to complete a one-through-three championship run, and swept all three matches to claim the Third Golden Autumn Live-Action Championship title!
I have to say, looking across all three tournaments, from first-round exit to runner-up to champion, michael's progression curve looks almost scripted in how textbook it is. As for yingying, who drew michael two editions in a row, and chengcheng, who has been a also-ran in all three... shouldn't you two go wash your hands before the next draw?
#ToyBrawl# #MatchReport# #Tournament#