RNTS-8-BBCTB Tournament Results

Thursday, August 23rd marked the 8th tournament for THE REAPER NIGHTMARE TOURNAMENT SERIES | 死神の悪夢トーナメントシリーズ for BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle!  9 entrants came together to battle it out to see who was the best!

This tournament did not have many people at all, did not even make it into double digits, which is a letdown compared to the previous tournament which had decent number and fierce competition.  Still, we get to see white-hot battles and the new implementation of a more structured system to make the online tournament system more streamlined and less chaotic (at least before we get to the easy-going Top 8 Matches).

 TIME STAMPS 

• Unsafeonhit has won his second tournament in a row, something previously not done by any competitor who has competed in THE REAPER NIGHTMARE TOURNAMENT SERIES | 死神の悪夢トーナメントシリーズ.  This was done on the winner’s side of Grand Finals against Riot_Z32 who he sent into the Loser’s Bracket in their very first match with a score of 3-2 and finally eliminating him with a score of 3-1.  While Unsafeonhit went with Labrys/Mika for most of the tournament, after his defeat to Riot_Z32 in the very first match of Grand Finals he made a switch to an alternate team of Blake/Carmine to counter.
• Riot_Z32, an RNTS commentator and my main training partner for the last decade, made a more impressive run this time in comparison to his previous tournament entry in RNTS-4-BBCTB, his team switch from Gordeau/Weiss to Gordeau/Nine really seemed to pave dividends in neutral control and controlling the mid-range.  However, no confidence in unassisted offensive pressure and rampant Reversal Actions may have costed against our champion.  Also, he has had the most matches on stream for RNTS-8-BBCTB and undoubtedly had 2 of the fastests matches in RNTS history right now as he 3-0’d two opponents in record breaking time.
• MaxxOblivion did well, his team of Yuzuriha/Ruby seemed to control the game pretty well.  However, he ended up losing to our Champion Unsafeonhit in a stunning 0-3 loss, only to also lose to Riot_Z32 with a loss of 0-3.  Pretty good overall, but his lack of dealing with pressure made him fold against Unsafeonhit and a lack of defense against Riot’s mid-range control last him that match heavily.
• Rennikz, our champion for RNTS-6-BBCTB, got pretty far.  His Kanji play is always good, but he seems to have a hard time controlling neutral against long ranged characters and projectile users.  Many good reads and use of Reversal Actions cemented him a firm place at 4th; looking forward to his improvement as he continues to hone his team and become a danger up close with Mr. Tatsumi.
• Shokame88 showed improvement this tournament compared to the very last one.  While his newly formed team of Yuzuriha/Gordeau seemed skittish and afraid last tournament, he has found better ground with applying pressure and advancing instead of retreating.  I for one am looking forward to what he accomplishes as he continues to craft it into something reminiscent of the play we saw with his Narukami when he first entered back in RNTS-2-BBCTB.
• KuroShinryu, a newcomer who played a team of Linne/Nine, did impressive at first but then fell apart.  Despite his threat level being judged as a “light blue”, he did impressive against Rennikz initially but eventually lost 1-3 to him and had a poor showing against Riot_Z32 with a 0-3 loss.  Hopefully Kuro comes back and perfects his team!