Over 100 people had registered for the 2020 Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC). Players had 2 hours to qualify and post their highest scores. The Top 64 were distributed into 8 separate double elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket advanced to the Top 8.
They were placed in a single-elimination bracket and were reseeded based on their double-elimination performance.
The Top 8 Players are:
I listed them in order of their Top 8 seeding rank. Anyways, let’s learn a little bit about their NES Tetris Journey.
Dog
- Age: 13
- Home state: Texas, USA
- Years Appeared: 2020 (1st Appearance)
- Twitch: dogplayingtetris
- Other Facts:
- Youngest Person to Maxout (Achieved this on 12/20/2019)
- Reached Level 33
- Has a PB (Personal Best) of 1,386,600
Dog discovered the CTWC after watching the 2018 Finals. In the summer of 2019, he started playing NES Tetris himself.
He later founded Classic Tetris Brawl (CTB) in November 2019. The CTB is an online server that hosts monthly divisional tournaments and events. To learn more about it, join their Discord.
On December 2019, he got his first Maxout, making him the youngest person to do so.
Dog Begins His CTWC Journey
He entered the 2020 CTWC tournament as the #4 seed after getting 6 maxouts in qualifying.
With that, he was placed in the Group C Double-Elimination Bracket. And swept Marq (#61 seed) in the first round after winning Game 3 with a 1.1 million.
In Round 2, he swept Pepe (#29 seed) to advance.
Then, he faced Koryan (#14 seed and 2019 CTWC Finalist) in the Winner’s Bracket Finals. In that match, Koryan won the first game. Dog won the next 3 games, where every game had both players reaching the kill screen, to win the match and advance.
In the Group C Grand Finals, he faced Koryan (who won the Loser’s Bracket Finals) again. This time, Koryan would need to win 2 matches against him, while Dog just has to win 1 match since Dog has yet to lose a match.
In this Epic Finals showdown, Dog wins Game 1 after both players reached the kill screen. Game 2 had both players scoring 1.1 Million after reaching the kill screen but Dog manages to win the game by 419 points. In Game 3, both players score 1.1 Million again after reaching kill screen. This time Dog wins by 1599 points to sweep Koryan and advance to the Top 8.
Dog’s consistency in this bracket earns him the #1 seed in the Top 8 bracket as he only lost 1 game. He will be facing Cheez in the Quarterfinals.
Sam Finch
- Age: 19
- Home Country: USA
- Years Appeared: 2020 (1st Appearance)
- Twitch: samfinch413
- Other Facts: Has a PB of 1,261,040
In Fall 2017, Sam Finch discovered the CTWC after watching the 2016 Finals. From that discovery, he and his friend started playing NES Tetris at the school library. At one point, he scored over 700K and eventually scored over 900K in the library.
In November of 2019, he achieved his first Maxout.
At the 2020 CTWC, Sam entered the tournament as the #7 seed after getting 6 maxouts in his qualifying run.
He was placed in Group F, where he took on Jordan (#58 seed) in the first round. Sam won the first game with a maxout and then won the next 2 games to sweep Jordan.
In the second round, he went up against Saltdsofa (#26 seed). He won the first game with a 746K. Eventually, Sam sweeps after Saltdsofa had Level 18 top outs in the next 2 games.
The next round has Sam facing Breandan (#10 seed), where the match came all the way down to Game 5. Sam won that game to win the match, 3-2, winning the Winner’s bracket.
In the Group F Finals, Sam faced Breandan again. And this time, Sam sweeps to win the Group F Bracket and advance to the Top 8. He won 2 of those games with a maxout.
In the Top 8, Sam will be the #2 seed as he only lost 2 games in his bracket. He will be facing Nenu in the Quarterfinals.
PixelAndy
- Age: 15
- Home state: Texas, USA
- Years Appeared: 2020 (1st Appearance)
- Twitch: P1xelAndy
- Other Facts: Has a PB of 1,257,524
PixelAndy discovered the CTWC after watching the 2018 Finals. He started playing NES Tetris in the summer of 2019, as he wanted something fun to do. And also to beat Dog’s high score.
Both him and Dog traded high scores, until Dog started hypertapping in his games. But, PixelAndy did get his first maxout in January 2020.
Andy was a DAS player until he scored a 1.2 Million, then switched to hypertapping.
PixelAndy’s CTWC Debut
In the qualifying rounds of the 2020 CTWC, he got the #6 seed after getting 6 maxouts. During his qualifying stream, Dog made a cameo appearance which revealed that they are brothers.
PixelAndy was placed in Group H Bracket, where his first matchup was Johann (#59 seed). He was able to win the first game by a landslide after scoring a maxout. Eventually, he won the next 2 games to sweep Johann and advance.
In Round 2, he won the match against Lazer (#27 seed) after winning the first 3 games to sweep him.
This meant that Andy would move on to the Winner’s Bracket Finals, where he faced Sodium (#11 seed). Sodium won the first game, after Andy was unable to catch up to Sodium despite reaching the kill screen. However, Andy wins the next 3 games to win the Winner’s Bracket.
In the Group H Bracket Finals, Andy faces Sodium again. During this match, Sodium won Game 1 and Andy won Game 2.
In Game 3, Andy manages to win by 4220 points after both players reach the kill screen. He wins Game 4 to win the match and advance to the Top 8.
He gets the #3 seed in the Top 8 Bracket and will be facing Allen in the Quarterfinals.
Joseph Saelee
- Age: 18
- Hometown: Visalia, California, USA
- Years Appeared: 2018, 2019, 2020
- Twitch: JdMfX_
- Other Facts:
In Summer of 2017, he discovered CTWC after watching the Boom! Tetris For Jeff meme videos. And then bought an NES Console and a Tetris Cartridge.
In March 2018, he achieved his first Maxout.
His 2018 CTWC win had inspired a generation of younger players to pick up the game and dominate. aGameScout explains it in his video where he talks about his experience at that event.
Besides winning the CTWC in 2018 and 2019, he holds the world record for highest score. I write more about him in the Champions page.
Joseph’s Third Run At The CTWC
In the 2020 CTWC, Joseph qualified with a record breaking 12 maxouts which made him the #1 seed. He was placed in Group A Bracket.
For the first round, he faced Moodeuce (#64 seed), who barely qualified with a 919240. Joseph won the first three games to sweep Moodeuce and advance.
In the second round, Joseph got the opportunity to face Jeff Moore (#32 seed and Boom! Tetris For Jeff). Joseph also swept in this match to advance.
He faced Richard in the Winner’s Bracket Finals, where they both alternate wins against each other. With Joseph winning Games 1,3, and 5 to win the match.
In the Group A Grand Finals, he competes against Richard again. Joseph wins the first game. In Game 2, he wins again after both players achieve a maxout. Richard wins Game 3 after scoring a 1.1 Million. In Game 4, Joseph wins the game and match to advance to the Top 8.
Joseph enters the Top 8 as the #4 seed after losing a total of 3 games in the Group A Bracket. He will be facing Huff in the Quarterfinals.
And speaking of Huff, you can check out what I wrote about him just by scrolling down. Isn’t technology great?
Huffulufugus
- Age: 18
- Home state: Michigan, USA
- Years Appeared: 2020 (1st Appearance)
- Twitch: huffulufugus_
- Other Facts: Has a PB of 1,233,500
Huffulufugus discovered the CTWC after watching the 2016 Finals. He played NES Tetris on an emulator in 2019, but did not play it that much since he did not like the emulator.
In January 2020, he started playing NES Tetris on a CRT and Console. That’s when he started playing seriously. And it showed when he got his first Maxout in February.
Fast forward to the 2020 CTWC, he qualified as the #18 seed after getting 2 maxouts in his qualifying run.
With that, he was placed in Group E.
In the first round, he faced Feoden (#47 seed) and wins the match, 3 games to 1, to advance.
He faced B14NK (#50 seed) in Round 2, where B14NK won the first game with a maxout. Huff ended up winning the next 3 games to win the match, with 2 of those games ending with a maxout.
In the Winner’s Bracket Finals, he faced Eric (#2 seed). Huff swept Eric after winning Game 3, which had a double maxout ending.
In the Group E Grand Finals, he goes up against Jonas (#31 seed and 7-time CTWC Champion). Huff wins the first 2 games with 900K scores. He loses Game 3, but wins Game 4 to win the match and advance to the Top 8.
Huff enters the Top 8 as the #5 seed and will be facing Joseph in the Quarterfinals.
Allen Qiu
- Age: 16
- Home Country: USA
- Years Appeared: 2019, 2020
- Twitch: brodindamp
- Other Facts: Has a PB of 1,316,650
In July 2018, Allen discovered the CTWC from watching the 2016 Finals. He also started playing NES Tetris around the same time as he thought it looked easy. I am sure other people can relate to that.
In January 2019, Allen made his first appearance at a CTWC event by competing at the West Coast Qualifier. He qualified as the #4 seed with a score of 810,486 and faced Trey Harrison in the first round.
In October 2019, he got his first Maxout.
He qualified for the 2019 CTWC as the #10 seed with a qualifying score of 932,240. He faced Paul Yeo in Round 1 and Terry Purcell in Round 2.
Allen finished in the Top 16 in that tournament.
Allen’s Second CTWC Appearance
In the 2020 CTWC qualifying round, he got 3 maxouts. This put him in the tournament as the #14 seed. He was placed in the Group G Bracket.
For the first round, Allen won the first game with a maxout. He then went on to win the next 2 games to sweep Gregboom (#51 seed) and advance.
Allen faced Asta (#19 seed) in the second round. In this match, Asta won the first 2 games, but Allen ended up winning the next three games to advance.
During the Winner’s Finals, he managed to sweep Tristop (#3 seed).
And then, in the Group G Grand Finals, he dueled against Hydrant (#62 seed). In Game 1, Hydrant won the first game with a maxout, Allen did the same thing in Game 2. In the end, Allen won the next 2 games to win the match and advance to the Top 8.
Allen will be the #6 seed in the Top 8 and face PixelAndy in the Quarterfinals.
Nenu
- Age: 23
- Home Country: Indonesia
- Years Appeared: 2020 (1st Appearance)
- Twitch: ZefanyaNenu
- Other Facts: Has a PB of 1,305,980
Nenu discovered the CTWC from watching the Boom! Tetris For Jeff! meme video. From that, he started watching all of the CTWC videos and played NES Tetris casually.
In May 2019, he found out about Classic Tetris Monthly (CTM) which is a place that host monthly NES Tetris tournaments. He decided to join their Discord. This was when he started striving to improve his gameplay.
In June 2019, Nenu got his first Maxout.
Fast forward to July 2020, Jeff and Kim shipped an NES to Nenu so that he can participate in the 2020 CTWC.
Xerxos also helped out by shipping a Tetris Cartridge and Game Genie to Nenu.
Beforehand, Nenu had been playing the game on the emulator. So he needed approved hardware to compete at the 2020 CTWC, and the people I mentioned above were able to provide him with that.
Nenu’s Wild Journey in the 2020 CTWC
Now, that he has the required hardware, Nenu registered for the 2020 CTWC. He ended up getting 5 maxouts in qualifying, entering the tournament as the #9 seed and was placed in the Group B Bracket.
In the first round, he faced Josh Tolles (#56 seed) where Nenu won the first game by scoring a maxout. He then won the next 2 games to sweep Josh and advance to the second round of the winner’s bracket.
Nenu faced Sharky (#41 seed) in the next round, where Nenu won the first 2 games putting him one win away from winning the match. However, Sharky won the next 3 games to win the match. Since this is double-elimination, Nenu was brought down to the Loser’s Bracket so he was not eliminated yet.
He faced Ben (#24 seed) in the Loser’s Bracket, where he managed to win the match 3-1 after winning Game 4 by beating Ben’s maxout score by 2681 points.
In the Loser’s Bracket Finals, Nenu faced Paul Yeo (#28 seed) where he sweeps Paul to win the Loser’s Bracket and advance to the Group B Finals.
To the people keeping track of seeding matchups:
Paul Yeo (#28 seed) and Quaid (#25 seed) switched Groups to accommodate Paul Yeo’s schedule. The Group that Paul was originally in required him to be available throughout the early morning on a Monday in his time zone.
Nenu’s Group B Finals Showdown
For the finals, he faced Sharky again. Sharky wins the first game, but Nenu wins the next 3 games to win the match and force a bracket reset.
(A bracket reset happens when a player from the loser’s bracket wins a match against a player from the winner’s bracket in the finals. In Double Elimination, players get eliminated after losing 2 matches. This meant that Nenu had to defeat Sharky twice to because Sharky had not lost a match when he made the finals.)
Now that the bracket has been reset, Nenu and Sharky have both lost a match. So whoever wins the second match of the finals wins the bracket. And Nenu ends up sweeping Sharky to win that match and advance to the Top 8.
Nenu enters the Top 8 as the #7 seed, since he did lose a match. He will be facing Sam Finch in the Quarterfinals.
Cheez
- Age: 14
- Home state: New Mexico, USA
- Years Appeared: 2020 (1st Appearance)
- Twitch: CheeZ_Fish
- Other Facts: Has a PB of 1,380,000
In 2017, Cheez discovered the CTWC after watching the 2016 Finals. After watching the video where Trey Harrison played Tetris Effect, he started playing NES Tetris seriously.
In September 2019, he achieved his first Maxout.
Fast forward to September 2020, Cheez decided to go for the slowest 0-29 Level record in NES Tetris. He got the world record for this by finishing with an excruciating time of over 45 minutes.
Cheez’s Qualifying Run
At the 2020 CTWC, Cheez got one maxout in qualifying which placed him as the #37 seed which gives him a spot in the Group D Bracket.
It is insane how scoring a maxout put him at a low seeding rank. In the past 2 years, getting a maxout put you in the Top 7 seeding rank. This year, 40 players had maxout in qualifying. And the cutoff score for qualifying for the tournament was 919240. There were 3 players that scored over 900K that did not make the Top 64, therefore not being able to qualify. You can check out the qualifying scores here.
Basically, we had a ton of elite players this year. Okay, that’s enough talk about how insane the qualifying rounds are.
Cheez’s Epic Playoff Journey
In the first round, Cheez, with his keytar NES Controller, takes on Hauser Zzyzx Quaid (#25 seed and 2015 CTWC Finalist). In the first 2 games, Cheez wins after Quaid tops out on Level 18. Game 3 happens the other way around where Quaid wins after Cheez tops out on Level 18. In Game 4, both players finally go the distance and Cheez wins the game and match to advance.
If you are wondering why Cheez was holding the controller as if he was playing Guitar Hero, all players are required to have the controller visible on camera and his camera cord was too short.
Cheez’s Round 2 opponent is DaAsian (#5 seed). This was also an interesting match as Cheez wins the first 2 games after DaAsian tops out at Level 18. In Game 3, both players reach the kill screen and Cheez manages to pull off the victory to win the match.
For the Winner’s Bracket Finals, Cheez faced Fractal (#21 seed). Cheez wins the first game after both players top out around the same time. Fractal wins Game 2 after Cheez tops out early. In Game 3, both players reach the kill screen with near maxout scores, but Cheez wins it by 7260 points. Cheez wins the 4th game to win the match.
Cheez’s Epic Finals
In the Group D Grand Finals, he takes on Fractal again. This match was interesting, Cheez won the first 2 games. But, Fractal overcame the 0-2 deficit and won the next 3 games to win the match and reset the bracket. (Remember, this is double-elimination)
In the Second Grand Finals matchup, both players manage to drag it all the way to a decisive Game 5. With Cheez winning the last game to advance to the Top 8.
Cheez will be the #8 seed in the Top 8, as he did lose a match. But, the finals was epic for sure as both of the finals came down to Game 5. Cheez will be facing Dog in the Quarterfinals.
Concluding Thoughts
I have said this in past articles, but I will say it here. The organizers did a good job making up for the lack of same piece sets by making the early rounds double-elimination. Trey Harrison did a good job with the visual graphics which improved viewer experience, I did not think that would happen this year.
Overall, the organizers have done a good job in hosting the 2020 CTWC despite having to do it online. The Tetris Company was able to interview CTWC organizer, Vince Clemente to get his perspective on this year’s tournament. You can read the article here.
As for the Top 8 players, I got a chance learn and write about their background with the game and it is amazing to see how quickly they were able to master the game. The Tetris Company have also reached out to the players and asked them a series of questions, you can read their article here.
aGameScout has also interviewed the players and you will get to see those videos during the main event. (Update: Check out the video here.)
The 2020 CTWC Top 8 Main Event will start on Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 12 PM PST (20:00 UTC) on the Classic Tetris Twitch Channel.
The Top 8 will be Best of 5, single-elimination tournament. The winner will become the 2020 Tetris Winner and will be featured in my Champions Page. This time, the players will be sent the tournament cartridge which will allow them to compete with the same piece sets.
To keep up with latest CTWC news, follow them on social media using the @ClassicTetris handle.
