2024 Update:As we enter 2025, it's time for a re-cap on the 2024 season, which is currently about 93% completed!
Grand SlamsJanuary started in usual fashion - with a
tornado victory on Blitzkrieg Bork! He defeated Aika in a quick four-turn final burst, with Naviiso and Mathematician joining them in the last four.
The next slam, on Belarus, saw newer names reaching the last four, with only one previous Slam semi-final achievement between them.
Vaups put that experience to good use, claiming victory over (ง︡'-'︠)ง let's fight!! in another four-turn game, countering LF's first-turn bonus. UsualSuspect and mslasm settled for semi-final points in their respective first last-four showings.
Icelandic Turtles ran riot on the next Slam, with the last four all from the same clan. The final lasted slightly longer this time, with
alexclusive taking down tornado in nine turns in a true French Brawl, whilst Edge and simone were the remaining Turtles in the semis.
The final Slam is still ongoing - once again tornado will have a seat at the showpiece, booking his spot courtesy of victory over Poldi; he awaits the winner of rakleader v schwarz in the other semi.
Masters 1000Six of the eight Masters 1000 events have finished so far, and the top three have dominated, winning two each!
Octane started the year on fire, taking down the first two events - he beat psinoza to win the Guiroma event, before taking down adrenaline on Battle Islands V, and his early burst of points put him at the top of the ranking early doors.
Aika then joined the party, taking revenge on tornado to land the Timid Land trophy, before besting awesomeusername on Strat 1v1 for his second victory.
tornado also took two victories, going back-to-back on Elitist Africa by beating Timinator • apex, following that up with victory on British Raj over malakkan. Biomes of America is the penultimate Masters - Timi, Alex and Octane are all safely in the semis there, while it's still very early days on Georgia Army Cap, the final Masters event.
Qualification BattleThe top two are exactly the same as last year;
tornado has once again accumulated the most points throughout the year, with one Grand Slam victory, one losing final, one pending final appearance, 3 final Masters appearance, two of which were victorious, two 500 Series tournament victories and a 250 series victory too! An impressive season has seen him smash the 8k point mark once again, which more points on offer once all tournaments are completed.
Octane has broken the 5k point mark for the second season running - victories in two Masters events help, as do four final appearances in 500 Series - one victory, two runner-up spots and one result pending there! He's also won three 250 series events, but only two count towards his points total, such is his accumulation of points over the lower series!
Aika is hot on his coattails; two Masters victories and one Slam runner-up showing are boosted by three 250 series finals - one victory, one runner-up and one pending. There's also two pending quarter-final performances (250 + Slam), so topping the 5k mark is not out of reach in Aika's debut year.
alexclusive sits a bit further back in fourth; the aforementioned Slam victory bringing in a bunch of points, as did the still active run to the Semis of the Biomes Masters event and two final appearances in 250 events; one victory and one runner-up showing there.
Timinator • apex is hot on his heels; whilst a large chunk of his points came from the Masters runner-up finish and the active run to the Semis, he's also reach four finals (1x 500, 3x 250) of the lower series, and impressively won all four!
rakleader sits in sixth as things stand, but still has two active runs with big points potential - a Slam semi and Masters quarter could yet boost his points total. He's reached 5 finals already this year, taking home one 250 series trophy. The two Belarus finalists are next;
(ง︡'-'︠)ง let's fight!! sits in seventh courtesy of victory in a 250 series, as well as separate semi and quarter appearances in Masters events.
Vaups currently holds the final seeding spot, in eighth; the Slam victory is predictably contributing a lot of points here, but there was also an appearance in a 250 series final to show it was no one-off.
awesomeusername backed up his Masters runner-up showing with victory in both 500 & 250 series events - annoyingly, both victories came against me (Dom)! Two of the admin team come next;
Texx backs up a 250 series victory with a Masters semi and two Slam quarters to sit within touching distance of the 2k mark, with
John hot on his heels. He's got a 500 series victory to go with four quarter-final showings across the Masters events.
malakkan is only 5 points back; his record shows a Masters runner-up, a 500 series runner-up and 2 appearance in 250 series finals (one victorious).
Edge is the highest scoring competitor without a tournament victory this year; he's reached the final three times in 250 series, coming up just short each time, but has also reached the semi and quarter of Slams to secure his spot in the season-ending Tour Finals.
The battle for the remaining three spots is hotting up; both
UsualSuspect (2x 250 series wins, Slam semi) and
Dom365 (2x Masters quarters, 1x runner-up in 500 series & 250 series) hold a 170 & 140 cushion respectively, but are vulnerable to high scores in the remaining tournaments. Separated by only 10 points as things stand, two Masters runner-ups straddle the qualification line - currently
psinoza (250 series runner up, Slam quarter) holds the last spot, just above
adrenaline - he has no active tournaments left, so would be relying on drop-outs to make the top 16. Other notable threats include
schwarz - currently 27th - (in a Slam semi - victory there would catapult him a confirmed qualification points tally) and
Naviiso - currently 23rd (in a Masters quarter - victory there would catapult him a confirmed qualification points tally, and a runner-up showing would probably be enough).
The full spreadsheet can be seen here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EZWx5h8nfTw_z0RGTcO_aVwd9He8nbDHz4wrPTyf2Uo
