In March 2024, Classic Tetris Monthly (CTM) hosted the annual Mega Masters tournament. Where 64 players compete head to head to become the Mega Masters champion for a portion of a fan funded prize pool.
Fractal qualified for Mega Masters as the #5 Seed. In his Round 1 games, he built a large lead into the Level 19 transition. His opponent, Tugi, was unable to catch up to him. Fractal swept the match. (All matches are a Best of 5)
A Strange Match
Fractal was up against Hepps in Round 2 (Top 32). Unlike Tugi, Hepps was a roller who could play on the Level 29 Killscreen. It was a Roller vs Roller battle.
In Game 1, both players were dealing with a bad piece set. (Players get the same piece set in this tournament.) Their ability to survive the piece sequences was fascinating to commentator, Sharky.
During Level 18, Fractal was creating L-Piece dependency with wells that were 2 rows high. Some O-Pieces came at the wrong time for Fractal, which caused him to have a surprising early top out. Hepps took the 1-0 lead in the match.
In Game 2, the players pushed each other to play aggressively on Level 18. It did not go in Hepps favor when he could not get a T-Piece all the way to the left. This created a high left well that required an I-Piece or J-Piece to clear some lines. But neither of those pieces came in time to save him. The match was tied 1-1, which came from early topouts.
Surprisingly, Game 3 ended in less than a minute as Hepps topped out early with a very low score of 6,460. He did not get any Tetrises. Fractal leads the match, 2-1, putting him at match point.
Sharky and the livestream viewers were shocked that all these games ended with early topouts. With the skill level of these players, Level 18 is usually an uneventful moment that gives players and viewers a chance to relax. But these players were topping out on Level 18.
Game 4 – Will the players reach Level 19?
As Game 4 was about to start, I wondered if it would even go to Level 19. Both players had a messy stack at the start. Hepps could not get a long bar all the way to the left, creating a high left well. When the next long bar came, it went on top of the previous long bar. This caused him to top out early again, finishing with a score of 9,880.
Fractal won the match to advance to the Top 16.
Everyone was surprised that the match ended so quickly.
A Rematch in Round 3
In Round 3 (Top 16), Fractal and Sidnev faced off against each other for the third consecutive month in Classic Tetris Monthly (CTM) Masters.
After Fractal defeated Sidnev in the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) 2023 Finals, they faced off in 3 CTM Masters. Fractal defeated Sidnev in those 3 events as well.
In every game, the players played past the Level 29 Killscreen. They tied the match 1-1. Ultimately, Fractal won the next 2 games to defeat Sidnev for the third consecutive month at CTM.
Quarterfinals – Game Crasher Battle
The game crashers, Fractal and PixelAndy, competed against each other in the Quarterfinals.
At the CTWC 2023, Fractal had swept PixelAndy in the Quarterfinals. Same thing happened in the January 2024 CTM.
But this match was different; it went to a Game 5 Decider. Fractal won that game to advance.
The players gave their all in that game, pushing each other to score high on the Killscreen levels (Level 29-38).
Semifinals – Taking on a Score World Record Holder
In the Semifinals, Fractal competed against Alex T (#1 seed), who claimed the 10 million point bounty with a world record of 16 million points.
Like Fractal’s previous match against PixelAndy, it went to a Game 5 Decider. Every game reached the Killscreen levels.
Ultimately, Fractal won Game 5 to defeat Alex T and advance to the Finals.
The $10,000 Tetris Match
Fractal and Gerald made it to the Finals, where they were one match away from winning $10,000. Thanks to the contributions to the fan-funded prize pool.
After 2 games, the match was tied 1-1.
In Game 3, Fractal misdrops a J-Piece on top of a high stack, causing him to top out on Level 24. Gerald wins the game, putting him at match point.
In Game 4, Gerald could not get a long bar all the way to the left, causing an early top out. This gives Fractal the easy win.
The match went to a Game 5 decider.
Fractal had a 100K point lead going into Level 29. Gerald kept playing, hoping for a comeback, but topped out at Level 34. Fractal wins the game and match to become the 2024 CTM Mega Masters Champion.
On top of being the Mega Masters champion, he wins $10,000, the largest prize in a Tetris tournament.
Check out Marfram’s article on the tournament.
Here is the YouTube playlist of the CTM 2024 Mega Masters matches.
