Gameroom Rock/Paper/Scissors Tournament IV

**GeneralHankerchief** · 04-02-2016, 13:39

Okay, okay. Incoming.

**GeneralHankerchief** · 04-02-2016, 14:50

Finals result

At last, after 89 matchups, the moment of truth has arrived.

There have been lots of twists and turns to the tale along the way. Al Sipsclar's misadventures with Bertha. El Barto's memory loss, believing that he was an 18th century pirate. Jolt's return after a tournament off and his efforts to crack the top four. Sigurd's ultimately unsuccessful attempt at finally becoming the champion after three consecutive tournaments of being the bridesmaid. edse's heroic rally to get into the knockout round, coming up just short after accusations of collusion. Zack's temporary shaking off of his bad memories of the last tournament before a defeat in the quarterfinals. Myrddraal's desperate, doomed search for consistency. And of course, seireikhaan and BSmith's upsets of heavily-favored atheotes and Csargo, respectively.

But at the end of the day, all of those stories are simply the sideshow. The main event has revealed itself: Challenger vs. Champion, Winston Hughes against Visorslash for all the marbles. Either a legacy will be cemented, or a new one will be constructed.

#3 Winston Hughes started out inauspiciously enough, only picking up a half point from the first two days and quickly falling behind in the leaderboard. From there on out, though, he was always good for a battle, scoring three and a half points over the next four days, including a victory over Visorslash himself on Day 5. A loss to Zack on Day 7 brought him back to earth heading into his bye, but coming out of it he took no prisoners, taking three out of his next four matches and clinching himself a spot in the top four before finally ceding the #2 seed to Csargo on the last day of the round robin. This temporary setback did not hurt him at all, as he easily dispatched #8 Myrddraal in the quarterfinals and #11 seireikhaan in the semis, while Csargo actually fell to #10 BSmith. With one final match to go, Winston at last will be facing someone who did not have an underwhelming round robin. If he wins this matchup, against the defending champion, no one will be able to accuse him of having an easy go of it.

#4 Visorslash's record speaks for itself: He's never finished out of the top four in the round robin. Even if he did, it wouldn't matter, as he's 5-0 all time in the knockout round. Unlike Winston, he started out strong, cruising to a victory and a draw in his first two matches before stumbling against Al Sipsclar on Day 3. He went 3-2 in the stretch before his bye (with a loss to Winston included in that), treading water and remaining on the periphery of the top four. In the home stretch of the round robin, he ran the gamut of results: a victory over Sigurd, a loss to atheotes, and a draw to Csargo before clinching the final bye on Day 13 with a timely victory over Myrddraal. Once in the knockout round, Visor did what Visor usually does, with victories over #5 Zack (again) and #11 seireikhaan (also again). Unlike the last finals over Sigurd, though, Visor is going into this one having lost the round robin matchup. It seems as if there is still uncharted ground for Visor to cover after all.

During that matchup on Day 5, each man's initial throw was the second time they had started off with that choice in the round robin to that point: Winston with Rock, and Visor with Scissors. Winston had scored a victory with it, Visor a defeat - and obviously the pattern held here. Would either of them go back to that same well with everything on the line? Over the past day (and during the consolation match), both of them have thought a lot about that, but now, with the supreme moment bearing down on them, they stop thinking. Now, instinct takes over. Now is the time to act.

The audience in the stadium is cheering wildly, madly. They have seen an amazing tournament. They want it to be capped with a bang. The PA announcer comes on and begs for silence, but nobody can hear him over the sound of their own cheering. Eventually, finally, after fifteen long minutes, they calm down enough for proceedings to begin. And, for one last time, the referee walks out, acknowledges the contestants, and raises his hand in the air.

"Rock... paper... scissors... shoot!"

Time slows down for everybody. Winston can see the single bead of sweat trickle down Visor's temple, millimeter by millimeter. Visor can see each individual hair on Winston's forearm tingle as he makes his movement. In this nether zone, each man digs deep to the heart of his soul to determine his choice. In this moment, legacies are made and fates decided.

And then everything speeds back up and it starts to happen very fast. Now it is a blur, and at the end of things it has been decided: Winston, thinking that Visor would not go back to his well of Scissors and instead base his throw off a reaction to that Day 5 result, opts for Paper. Visor, though, has stuck with his choice.

Scissors.

It is done, then. As the audience loses its mind over its result, Visor raises his arms to the sky and emits a primal scream of victory. After 16 separate matchups, he has done what two others before him had failed to do: he has successfully defended his title. Winston has given it his all, but he has come up just short, and there is absolutely no shame in that.

After some time, the post-tournament celebrations have begun. Visor goes through them almost automatically, as if it is old hat for him - and it is. Winston has a bittersweet expression on his face, sensing what was almost in his grasp but then snatched away at the final moment. #10 BSmith is the only other truly satisfied person there - an unexpected third-place finish will do that to you. Everybody else - seireikhaan, atheotes, Csargo, Zack, Myrddraal, Jolt, Al Sipsclar, El Barto, Sigurd, and edse - applauds politely, but they all have peculiar expressions on their faces. If only they had done a couple of things differently.

But no eyes are focused on them. They are all on Visorslash, who, for the second tournament in a row, is accepting the first-place trophy. Once again, he has proven himself to be the Rock/Paper/Scissors champion of the world.

Visorslash takes first place in the tournament!
Winston Hughes takes second place in the tournament!
BSmith takes third place in the tournament!

Thanks to all for participating and making it a great tournament!