RLO Swipe 1v1 #7: It's Seven, It's Heaven For Schmory

Another week, another Schmory victory. Although top 4 saw a new name progressing, as well as first time grand finalist Scarth, Schmory was his dominant self once again, notching up a 7th straight 1s first place finish. And with playoffs hanging in the balance for a handful of players, some rose, whilst others greatly faltered at the final hurdle.

Tahbro VS Fin

Tahbro, a new player to the stream, appeared nervous and outpaced throughout the series, with own goals and an overcommit guiding the long time high achiever Fin to a game 1 win. In game 2, unfortunately for Tahbro, the goals kept piling on, with a combination of gold shots, reads and kickoffs granting a comfortable victory, sealing the series 2-0 and providing Fin with a last gasp chance at finals, whilst Tahbro gained some valuable on stream experience.

Fin VS Alireza

This top 16 matchup was critical for Fin if he wanted any hope of finals, and with a quick flick up and finish, he found an early lead. After sitting back defensively, a bizarre own goal dribble from Fin, with almost no pressure from Alireza, tied the game up, before thankfully redeeming himself with a perfect bait to secure game 1.

After an early whiff from Alireza granted Fin his first, a critical crossbar miss from Fin granted Alireza an open net finish, once again finding the tying shot. However it was here that the normally calm, defensive Fin really turned it up, producing a Schmory like full pitch chain stall, finishing perfectly in the top of the net, to clinch a 2-0 series sweep and first top 8 since the first week.

Schmory Personal Stream Games

In the midst of on stream issues, our focus turned to Schmory's own private stream, which was thankfully running tonight, where we got to witness a masterclass of the best in the region. First coming up against Sniper in the round of 16, his stalls and perfect fakes helped him to ease past his champ competitor. Following this was his quarter finals matchup with Melon, who after unfortunate early RLO Swipe issues and brackets, has bounced back as of late, but the grand champion could do nothing to dampen the soon to be 7 time champion as his gold shots and poise from the bottom corner helped to secure another sweep and top 4 finish.

Scarth VS Fin

After cruising through twice on stream before, Fin was quickly outclassed by the higher ranked Scarth, who sailed to an early 3-0 lead in game 1. Although a perfect 50, and classic own goal from Scarth, brought it back to 3-2, it wasn't enough to stop Scarth from claiming game 1.

Game 2 was initially delayed with technical issues causing stream to violently flash, but was able to return for game 2, where a kickoff goal, bait and perfect under shot granted Scarth a 3-0 lead. From there, it was mission impossible for Fin, who fell 6-2 in a messy second half of the game, eliminating Fin from playoffs, whilst granting Scarth a third straight top 4 finish.

Schmory VS Jordy

The rematch of last week's epic final this time came in semis, with Jordy off to a hot start after perfect defence granted him a 2-0 game 1 lead. Yet time and time again, Schmory delivers, finding his way into Jordy's head on kickoffs, holding his flip for perfect top in gold shots, and reading the play perfectly to bait out an overcommit at zero seconds and somehow comeback to win 4-3.

Game 2 felt like deja vu, with an overconfident Schmory allowing for a 2-0 lead again from Jordy, starting slow as always, which appears to be his one kryptonite. But once again, he found his way back into it, producing another incredible set of goals, with Jordy a mere spectator of his millimetre perfect reset and gols shot, ceiling pinch double tap, and a perfect zero second fake to tie the game up. Schmory would go on to score a top in purple shot to again secure the game 4-3, sweeping his now main rival, yet who knows what might've happened had the series been a BO5 like last week, where Jordy fought back from 2-0 down.

Off-stream Results

Ocean’s Bracket Run:

Placed in 8th coming into the event, Ocean needed a top 8 finish, but an early pools lose to TeaRizz threatened to send him home early.

Thankfully for Ocean, he bounced back perfectly in playoffs, conquering a run filled with Sour, team mate and #2 seed Deathlikepeak, and fellow top 8 player De-Papel, to make the run to top 4 and lock himself in for finals.

Rubblage Out In Pools:

Ocean’s 9th place counterpart, Rubblage, drew the group of death with strong competitors Melon and Sour. Unfortunately, he was unable to conquer neither Melon nor Sour, sending him home in groups and eliminating any chance of making finals.

Lobby Momentarily Keeps Finals Hopes Alive

Coming into the event in 11th place, Lobby needed a big result this week, and very nearly did so. After sweeping a strong group, Lobby was able to make a third top 8 after sweeping top 4 candidate Trademrk, sending him into 5th seed whilst keeping his own hopes alive.

Sadly for Lobby, he fell in a tight 2-1 to Jordy in quarters, sending him home with a devastatingly close attempt at making finals.

Scarth Makes Breakout Grands

After drawing Schmory 4 weeks in a row before top 4, Scarth has finally had his opportunity, fighting past Emperor, Fin and the in form Ocean to make it to grands.

Schmory VS Scarth

Scarth finally found himself in grands, after 6 weeks of trying, and looked good early, finding the angle for the first and scoring a breakaway for the second. But Schmory has given up two goals early so many times now that it must be a planned jinx for his opponents, as he managed to full fake and outpace Scarth to quickly tie it up, before the perfect purple pop gained Schmory the 3-2 lead. Some cool, calm top corner defence helped Schmory hold onto the game 1 victory.

In game 2, Schmory had finally played like he was awake at the start of the game, reading Scarth perfectly throughout to bring up a 3-1 game victory, with Scarth now up against the ropes, 2-0 down.

But the 3-time 2s champ wasn't ready to go out just yet, with a fake to go under, excellent 50 and well timed flick bringing up the 3 goal early lead. Although Schmory has come back from 2 goals down, time and time again, it appears that 3 may be the magic number, as he fell 3-2 in his first individual game loss of the night.

After losing a game, Schmory looked angry. A perfect kickoff, which had been solid as ever, granted Schmory the early lead, and he never looked back, forcing in a second to lead 2-0 with 20 seconds to go. Sensing the game was all but over, Scarth memed the end of the game, instead deciding to seemingly protest the lack of half roll support on emulator, a definite pressing issue, and accept the 3-1 series loss, an admirable effort in the face of one of the game's best.