There were a lot of matches happening in Round 0 and Round 1, but a few matches stood out to me in Round 1.
The Mari vs Blue Scuti match stood out because of what the commentator did. Fractal was commenting on it, noting how things were not going well for Mari. Shortly afterwards, Mari tops out and loses the game and match. You can watch it for yourself.
At the same time, Sharky (#1 seed) was facing Kirby (#32 seed). You would think this would be an easy match for Sharky, but it was not. The match went to a Game 5 decider; Sharky was in danger of an early elimination. Fortunately for Sharky, he won the game to advance.
Another match stood out, also involving Fractal’s commentary. In the match between NGC Man and MegaRetroMan, Fractal noticed that NGC Man was ahead in lines from pushing down. Fractal then went on to discuss push-down theory until NGC Man shut the conversation down.
As we reached 9 PM, there was one match left. Harry Hong (2014 Tetris World Champion) vs Svavar. (2018 CTWC Quarterfinalist). A rematch from the 2020 CTWC, where Svavar defeated Harry Hong. These veteran players pushed the match to a Game 5 decider. It was getting so late that the expo turned the lights on in the middle of the game, signaling that we had to get out of here soon.
The game was neck and neck. Harry had a spire in the middle of his board which caused him to topout. Svavar completes the short score chasedown to win the game and match. That concluded a long Day 2 at Jonas Cup.
It was 10 PM at this point, and most of the expo was closed for the day. I went back to the hotel, wanting to make it back to the expo the next morning.
