Alex Thach, who goes by Alex T, was a top contender going into the 2024 Classic Tetris World Championship.
He had multiple World Records in separate categories and became the 4th player to crash the game.
Going For The High Seeding Rank
The qualifying round was the same as last year, where players raced against each other to get the most maxouts (where the score counter maxes at 999,999) in 2 hours. The highest non-maxout score (kicker) was used as the tiebreaker. This determined the seeding ranks of the players.
Alex T managed to get 14 maxouts in his qualifying session, giving him the #4 seed going into the tournament.
Round 1 – Eren Again!
Alex T faced Eren in Round 1, in a rematch from last year where Alex swept Eren.
Eren advanced to Round 1 with his hypertapping prowess, having defeated a Roller in Round 0. Alex T had a bye to Round 1 as one of the Top 16 seeds.
In the first 2 games, Eren pushed Alex T to the Killscreen, but Alex T survived the Killscreen levels to score enough points to win the games.
(At Level 29, the pieces move too fast which makes it impossible to move the pieces left and right with the game’s auto-shift mechanics. A new technique, called Rolling, allows players to survive the Level 29 speeds.)
Game 3 was neck and neck. Towards Level 25, Eren’s board started to get high. He tried to dig his way through with the hypertapping technique but topped out on Level 27. Alex T won the game to sweep the match. (All matches are a Best of 5, first to 3 wins)
Round 2 – vs Sodium
In Game 1, Sodium tops out at Level 31. Alex T successfully chases down the score to win the game. (The player with the higher score wins the game)
In Game 2, as Sodium approaches the Level 19 transition, he gets a bad set of piece sequences that include back-to-back O-pieces that create a spire in the middle. This causes an eventual top out.
In Game 3, Alex had a tall stack going into the Level 29 Killscreen. He was unable to lower the stack and tops out. Sodium wins the game to avoid elimination. Alex T continues to lead the match with a 2-1 lead.
In Game 4, Sodium enters the Level 29 Killscreen with a 90,000+ point lead. But then, Sodium could not flip the Long Bar in time, forcing him to lay it horizontally. He had a chance to clean the stack with another long bar, but could not place it in time to clear a single. This eventually leads to a Level 30 topout.
Alex T gets a Tetris to chase down the score and win the game and match.
Quarterfinals – vs DMJ
Game 1 turns into a neck-and-neck Killscreen battle. At Level 37, Alex T could not get the Long Bar all the way to the left. Instead, it is dropped on column 2, creating a left well.
At the Killscreen level, it is difficult to get the long bar all the way to the left because it involves moving the long bar 5 spaces. With the Rolling technique, getting the fifth consecutive tap on the back of the controller is difficult.
When the next long bar showed up, Alex T could not get the fifth tap in time. That long bar gets hung on column 2. At that point, he could not get anything over to the left, which would lower the stack. He tops out with a 72,000-point lead.
This leaves DMJ in a chasedown situation, with only a few levels left to work with. (There’s a Level 39 Super Killscreen implemented in the tournament, it prevents players from playing forever with the Rolling technique.)
He gets a Tetris at Level 36, putting him very close to winning the game. A triple-line clear on Level 38 would give DMJ the win. A J-piece arrives at the perfect time for DMJ to use for a triple. But he misdrops the piece and it cascades to a top out. DMJ is unable to complete the chase-down.
Alex T jumps out of his chair in celebration, or perhaps relief, that he won the first game with a thin margin.
In Game 2, DMJ tries to get a long bar to the very right but misses it. He tries again with the next long bar but hangs it. Leading to an inevitable top out. Alex T wins the game and leads the match 2-0.
In Game 3, Alex T has a 100,000 point lead going into the Level 29 Killscreen. He tops out at Level 36 with a 200,000-point lead. This puts DMJ in a tough chase-down situation where he only has 3 levels left to work with (about 30 lines) before the Level 39 Super Killscreen. (After the first level transition, the game levels up after every 10 lines)
DMJ is unable to complete the chase-down.
Alex T wins the match in a sweep.
Semifinals – Battle of the Game Crashers
In the battle of the Game Crashers, Alex T and Tristop meet in the Semifinals. They are the 4th and 5th players to “beat” Tetris, respectively.
Tristop made it to the Semifinals after defeating Blue Scuti (#1 seed and first game crasher) in the Quarterfinals.
Game 1 did not disappoint, both players went deep into the Killscreen levels. At Level 37, Tristop misflips an L-Piece which leads to a top out. Alex T takes the first game.
In Game 2, Tristop was falling behind going into Level 29. As he continues to go for Tetrises, he hangs the long bar at Level 31 and tops out. Alex T is one win away from winning the match.
Game 3 went to a Killscreen battle, as always. At Level 30, Alex T hangs the T-Piece, followed by the J-Piece. This creates a tall left well that makes it difficult to get pieces all the way to the left. He tries to get the long bar over to the left, but accidentally double flips the piece. It creates a roof over the left well.
He manages to clear off the horizontal long bar to open up the left well. At Level 32, the left well is currently open and the long bar shows up. But, Alex T is unable to get the long bar over and eventually tops out with a small score lead. Tristop chases down the score to win the game and stay in the tournament.
In Game 4, Alex T hangs an L-piece in the middle of the stack creating a messy situation. Which eventually leads to a top out. Tristop wins the game to force the match to go to a decider.
The Game 5 Decider turned into a deep Killscreen battle. At Level 37, Tristop hangs the long bar on column 2. The only way for him to lower the stack and survive was to get another long bar all the way over to the left. He is unable to do so and tops out. Alex T had the score lead already, so he won the deciding game to win the match and advance to the Finals.
Finals – Taking on the 2-Time Champion
For the first time, Alex T made it into the CTWC Finals. He would be facing 2-Time Champion, Dog, who makes a return to the Finals since his back-to-back victories.
Game 1 had a surprising end. Dog missed an S-Spin at Level 23. This throws him off rhythm and misdrops the next 2 pieces which causes him to top out. Alex takes the first win.
Perhaps his chair was not sturdy, so he walked across the stage to get another chair.
After the chair switch, Game 2 began. It went the distance, as both players went into a deep Killscreen battle. Alex T topped out at Level 37, with Dog taking the win with a whopping 180,000-point lead. At that point, Alex T would not have been able to catch up even if he made it to the Level 39 Super Killscreen. The chair switch worked in Dog’s favor, as he tied up the match, 1-1.
In Game 3, both players entered the Level 29 Killscreen. At Level 31, Dog hangs the long bar on Column 9. He could not get the long bar all the way to the right side to get a Tetris. Later on, he tries to get another long bar over to the right side but hangs it. This causes him to top out with a lower score than Alex T.
Dog leaves his chair and lies on the floor in total exhaustion. Alex T falls onto the floor after his game.
Alex T leads the match, 2-1. Putting him one win away from winning the match and tournament.
In Game 4, the players went into a Killscreen battle. At Level 33, Alex T is unable to get the L-Piece all the way over to the right. He attempts to get the S-Piece to the right side but hangs it on the misdropped L-Piece. This causes him to top out and give Dog the win. With the match tied, 2-2, the next game was the decider.
The audience and commentators were hyped as they did a 5-second countdown for the last game of the tournament.
The room was very intense as both players reached the Level 29 Killscreen. Very soon, everyone was going to find out who the Tetris World Champion would be.
Dog was falling behind in score so he passed up on a triple clear on Level 36 by moving the long bar to the left. But he hangs the long bar on column 2, which blocks off the left side. This makes him desperate for another long bar, as he is unable to burn singles and doubles to lower the stack. The stack gets dangerously high. By the time the next long bar showed up, Dog could not get it into the right well. He tops out and loses the game.
Alex T becomes the new Tetris World Champion, winning the 2024 Classic Tetris World Championship.
CTWC host, Kingsman, gave Alex T’s mom the Golden J-Piece trophy so that she could be the one to hand the trophy over to her son.
Parmesan Cheese!
Afterward, there was a surprise. An empty inflatable pool was brought onto the stage. Alex T went into the pool for his signature celebration that was coming up. In celebration of his victory, a few people on stage poured parmesan cheese on him.
Here are all of the 2024 CTWC Matches.
