Group 8: The Group of Death / Odyssey Teamkill

The first three maps were a prime example of Betel's inhuman capabilities in both speed and consistency, with him managing to get nearly all (if not all) the top three times for each of those maps. First place was virtually guaranteed to Betelgueze after earning a staggering ~65+ points with only half of the rounds being played! The rest of it was just for pride and glory to see if he would be the only one in the preliminary stage to achieve the 100 point mark. Second to fourth however was where the real action was taking place with Jocere (whom I've underestimated) leading the head of the pack with Interters, Skullehtor, Fabianskii and Lahsanha (in that particular order if I remember correctly) following closely behind with Doinky not so astray from the pack. As a shock, Xorcist was not a force to be reckoned with and seemed on the verge of tilting during the first half of the match and one would think he would not able to qualify. Phanghuang did an admirable job in a least collecting one point before withdrawing from the match.

The latter half of the match was where things began to crumble for Operation: Odysweep as Jocere was sternly edging out of the pack and leading onwards to second place with little to no rebuttal. Betel's speed was still unmatched but his consistency had faltered as the maps were getting more difficult; that wasn't to say he had lost his contention of reaching 100 points. The progress from the rest of the Odysseyians had nearly come to a halt and things were just coming from bad to worse from thereon, as Xorcist had seem to undergone divine retribution early into the second half of the match and was making a massive resurgence into the scoreboards. He swept past the pack and found himself tied for second with Jocere with only the final map to go, leaving the rest of Odyssey in a perilous dilemma.

As the mice were eager to witness their last judgement, the last map played and fates were sealed as Noedles' dreadful map began initiating a mass exodus. Betel had three chances to complete the map but after failing the very last obstacle, there would be no cherry to top off his cake as he didn't achieve his desired result. Xorcist would seal the deal as he was the only one to complete the map, assuring his place as second. The rest wouldn't be able to make any progress towards the extremely tedious map which would then solidify Jocere's third and Skullehtor's fourth seeding. And so it became a sad loss that Interters would be eliminated so early into the competition, especially being one of the best bootcampers in terms of speed. The rest of the Odysseyians made a spectacular showing but unfortunately it wouldn't be enough to carry them past this group of death.

And so the group has been settled; Betelgueze, Xorcist, Jocere and Skullehtor would be the ones to advance to the quarter final. After brawling it out amidst the chaos and entropy, the dust had settled and the tense atmosphere had long since dissipated. This had been the most intense and entertaining group by far and now everyone was in a sense of relief regardless of their standing. The sportsmanlike congratulatory remarks and compliments were spread around as the mice danced in unison until they left one by one.
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TL;DR - Betel first by a massive amount but very salty. Xorcist chokes hard first half, goes beastmode latter half. Jocere unexpectedly qualifies. Skullehtor & Interters underperform. Fabianskii, Lahsanha and Doinky did very well for what was to be expected of them. Phanghuang did okay. Odyssey team kill.

#icriforjoshevrytiem

Checkmate, bitch.