It was down to the Top 8 players, who would be competing head to head in the Quarterfinals. This year, there was a wrestling style entrance for the players to get on stage.
The host, Kingsman, was on stage to introduce the first group of 4 competitors. After introducing a player, they would walk through the doors located to my right. From there, they entered the stage from the middle aisle and got themselves situated at a game station.
Fire Alarm!
While the 4 players were warming up, the commentators (James Chen, Chris Tang, and Sharky) were giving stats about the players. During that discussion, bright flashing lights filled the room followed by the sounds of a fire alarm. I did not want to believe it, but it was indeed a fire alarm. This was the first time in CTWC history that a fire alarm went off.
Everyone walked out of the Tetris area. I was in the hallway by the Tetris area, when I heard Vince jokingly proclaim that we have a new champion. From there, I got back into the Tetris area to hang out with Vince. Moments later, security gave the all clear to get back into the building.
Vince continued to stall while everyone got back to their seats. The expo organizer went up on stage and said that the fire alarm was caused by a popcorn machine.
As inconvenient as the fire alarm was, it was a good thing that it did not happen in the middle of a match. Fortunately, the fire alarm did not cause a huge delay.
First Group of Quarterfinal Matches
Game 1
This time, 2 matches would be happening at once instead of 4. All the matches would be livestreamed on CT1.
The first 2 matches were
Tristop vs Blue Scuti
DMJ vs Alex T
Once the judge signaled to the commentators that the players were ready, we did a countdown for the first game of the matches.
The Top 8 is when the tournament gets exciting. Everyone in this round is an elite player that can consistently reach the Level 29 Killscreen and score Tetrises beyond that level.
Which is what happened in the first game when all 4 players reached Level 29. I watched in silence, worried that I might somehow distract the players, as they were getting Tetrises while the pieces were falling at Killscreen speeds.
Tristop tops out at Level 36, and then Blue Scuti successfully chases down the score to win the game.
Meanwhile, Alex T tops out at Level 37 with a score lead. DMJ could not chase down the score, which meant Alex T won the game.
Blue Scuti and Alex T win the first games of the match.
What Was It Like To Be In The Audience?
Dog and PixelAndy were sitting behind me. They caught the attention of Blue Scuti’s documentary crew. During a gap between games, the crew were getting extra footage of the audience. One of the crew members instructed the camera operator to film the 2 people behind me, which were Dog and PixelAndy. I leaned forward so that they could get a clear recording of them, not sure if that was necessary.
Later on, Myles was sitting next to me (in front of Dog). As a tall person, he slouched on the chair to avoid obstructing Dog’s view, it did not work.
Game 2
Just like the last game, all 4 players reached Level 29.
DMJ topped out at Level 31, giving Alex T the win.
From there, the attention turned to Tristop and Blue Scuti. Tristop had a big lead going into Level 29.
Blue Scuti played aggressively (going for Tetrises) at the Level 29 speeds to try to catch up, but Tristop also continued to play aggressively.
Both of them ended up reaching the Level 39 Super Killscreen, with Tristop finishing with the higher score to win Game 2.
Blue Scuti and Tristop were tied in their match, 1-1. While Alex T was at match point against DMJ, 2-0.
Game 3
All 4 players made it to Level 29.
Tristop and Scuti had messy boards and were digging through their messy stack. Scuti does not survive and tops out at Level 31. Tristop wins the game and leads the match, 2-1.
With that game over, the audience and commentators focused on the other match.
By Level 36, Alex T tops out with a large lead. DMJ did not have a lot of lines to work with before Level 39 to complete the chasedown, he could not chase down Alex T’s score.
Alex T sweeps the match, 3-0, to advance to the Semifinals.
Blue Scuti In Danger Of Elimination
The players sitting near me were talking about the upcoming Game 4 between Tristop and Blue Scuti.
Myles brought up that Tristop was going to win this game because he had the momentum from winning the last 2 games. It was interesting to hear that from Myles. He was one of the Top 8 competitors this year, so he obviously knows what it is like to be in that situation. (His Quarterfinals match was coming up next)
Blue Scuti’s camera operator had recorded the conversation, there is a good chance that conversation will make it into the Blue Scuti documentary.
“Let’s Go Scuti!”
Game 4 was crucial. If Tristop wins the game, he defeats Blue Scuti. If Blue Scuti wins, the match will go to a Game 5 decider.
As soon as Game 4 started, Blue Scuti’s family cheered for him, chanting “Let’s Go Scuti!”
Other audience followed along by chanting “Let’s Go Tristop!”.
The crowd went back and forth with the chants, “Let’s Go Scuti!” “Let’s Go Tristop!”.
This was something the audience started doing at the 2022 Finals. I did not participate in the chant, because I would lose my voice.
When both players got to Level 29, Tristop had a large lead. He topped out at Level 37 with the score lead.
It was a chasedown situation for Scuti. By Level 38, he was one Tetris away from winning the game. He was unable to get another Tetris before reaching the Level 39 Super Killscreen.
Tristop defeats Blue Scuti to advance to the Semifinals
When Scuti got off stage, his family were there to talk to them. They were surrounded by camera operators and mic operators.
This was not the best ending for the documentary, it will be interesting to see how they approach the story.
Behind the audience section, players were congratulating Tristop on making it to the Top 4.
Tristop and Alex T made it to the Semifinals.
Second Half of Quarterfinals
There were 2 matches left in the Quarterfinals.
It was
Noah Dengler vs Sidnev
Myles vs Dog
Promoting Tetris Gummies
After the first game, there was a promotional segment for Powerbears Tetris Gummies.
During the break, Kingsman interviewed Jeff Moore, Chris Bidwell, Alex Kerr, and Ben Mullen to get their review on the Tetris Gummies.
It was hard to hear what they were saying. For some reason, the microphone was quiet during that segment. On the livestream, the audio was fine.
Rewatching Their Victory
After the promotional segment, I saw Tristop (who was sitting next to me) watching a Tetris match on his phone.
He was watching his Quarterfinals match that he had just won 20 minutes ago. (It felt like it happened a few minutes ago.) I did not say anything to Tristop, I let him have his moment
Technical Problems On Stage
During Game 2 between Myles and Dog, the game from Myles was not showing up on stream.
The organizers decided to end that game, it would not count towards the match.
The players are playing NES consoles that display the game in 240p. The tournament uses a software, called NestrisChamps, which captures the game and redraws it in high definition (HD). That is what gets shown to the viewers.
Richard Wolf VI (who was managing NestrisChamps for the tournament) went up to the laptop that was capturing the games in the match between Myles and Dog. From there, he was recalibrating NestrisChamps to fix the issue.
Eventually, everything was working and the match between Myles and Dog resumed.
At the end of the matches, Dengler defeats the 2023 Finalist, Sidnev. And Dog defeats Myles.
Dengler and Dog advanced to the Semifinals. It was down to four players. One of them was going to become the 2024 Tetris World Champion, which I talk about in the last part, Part 9.
