Classic Tetris Monthly (CTM) is an online NES Tetris Tournament. Each month, the event features players from around the world. Their Masters event is where the Top 16 players compete for a fan-funded cash prize.
In December 2017, Fridaywitch founded the tournament, wanting to create additional Classic Tetris content. A few months later, she handed ownership of the tournament to Vandweller.
Fridaywitch talks more in-depth about running the early years of the tournament in the Tetris Gal Talk podcast.
To ensure that all participating players get a chance to participate in CTM, lower-tier tournaments were created. Which brings me to the format of the tournament.
How To Participate In Classic Tetris Monthly
First off, you will need to have the game and a Twitch Streaming setup.
The beginning step to entering the tournament is qualifying. Entering the qualifying session allows you to participate in the following month’s tournament.
In the session, players have unlimited attempts at getting the highest scores in an hour. The average of your Top 2 scores is used to determine Seeding ranks and which tournament you will participate in.
The Top 16 enter the Masters Event, the Top 17-32 enter the Challengers event, and so on.
The types of tournaments range from Community to Masters.
Scheduling the Tournament Matches
Scheduling a tournament match in the Community event is simple. In each round, the player and their opponent will decide the day and time to play their match. After that, the players will request a restreamer to stream the match on Twitch.
Each round has a due date to complete the match.
Higher Tier tournaments, such as Masters, require more flexibility on the player’s part. In each event, 16 players are split into Groups of 4.
In each group, the players announce when they are available to play their matches. From there, a tournament ambassador will decide the day and time for the entire group to play their matches.
The winners of each Group bracket advance to the Semifinals. The scheduling process repeats for the Final 4 players.
Fun Fact: In the early years, the Masters tournament had all 16 players compete on the same day. Obviously, the commentator got exhausted from it. The Red Bracket Rant says it all.
For more information on how to compete, check out the CTM website’s rule page.
Where to watch Classic Tetris Monthly
To watch the events live, follow their Twitch Channels: MonthlyTetris and MonthlyTetris2.
Full matches can be found on their YouTube channel.
Video clips of top moments can be found on their other YouTube channel, Linespin Media.
If you have any questions, join the CTM Discord Server.
