The Greatest Tournament Run in Tetris History

Top Tetris player Fractal161 had a 1.3% chance to win one of the most competitive NES Tetris tournaments in its 33 year history. Here's how he defied the odds.
Check out Fractal here:
KZbin: / @fractal161
Twitch: / fractal161
Check out my Twitch:
/ amcobalt
Watch the Classic Tetris Monthly here:
/ monthlytetris
Individual match uploads can be found here:
/ monthlytetris
Here's every full Mega Masters match bundled into one playlist: • CTM Mega Masters April...
Players featured:
Rapta: / rapta725
Huffulufugus: / huffulufugus
TommyNTG: / du0ling0
AlexT: / @alexthach276
Dogplayingtetris: / @dogplayingtetris
Music used:
Foewi - Lucid Dream
HOME - Tides
e s c p - Stardrive
Foewi - Negative Gravity
HOME - Head First
LEMMino - Nocturnal
FTL Advanced Edition Soundtrack - Lost Ship (Explore)
Outro Music:
Caleb Micklus - Purdie Jazz
Some background:
Tetris tournaments, and in particular Classic Tetris tournaments have a long-winded history, stemming back to the 1990 Nintendo World Championships, the event where Thor Aackerland showed off hypertapping for the first time. Ever since the Classic Tetris World Championships (CTWC) began in 2010, the community has become closer each year, and once the Classic Tetris Monthly was created in 2017, it had an ever-increasing online presence. Fractal is a apart of the new generation of Tetris prodigies, learning the rolling technique that top player Cheez invented with its purpose being to help increase piece movement for the killscreen. This tournament run showcases Fractal's mastery of the technique, with him fighting his way through some of the most absurd matchups the tournament format has ever produced.
#tetris #nes #speedrun

[@CobaltTetris]

Additional fact: Fractal was only favored to win one of his five matches: His set against Huff, with 50.8% odds. Is elo tougher to quantify for killscreen capable players, or was Fractal truly just so far ahead of the competition?

[@ryanamburgy2791]

Fractal was underrated in elo because he’d been focusing on pal lol

[@MicroTurtl]

Subscribe to coldbald

[@ussgordoncaptain]

Rolling has more variance than Hypertapping, and Fractal is just a good player so the odds of him winning the event were still above 10% Maybe ELO rates him accurately and he had the run of his life?

[@DanielSong39]

@@ussgordoncaptain Fractal has won CTM before and was known as one of the elite players, he was a top 5 contender for certain before the tournament even started His true odds were probably closer to 10% than 1%

[@crudojoshuaricofort8795]

He just had the best day of playing... Also seen that happen to sharky in his groups stage in i think 2021 where he almost made it to top 8 as a das player. This is especially more significant with rollers. Having a good rolling day where you are stacking so efficiently while also hitting high rolling speeds can get you an additional 100k or more points than you usually do.

[@aGameScout]

“Well, fractal might have found an answer to that question. Himself.” The deadpan delivery of that line made me crack up

[@gdstuff7666]

Hi

[@KeqingOnOsu]

Hi

[@MonthlyTetris]

Cobalt, this is a wonderful high quality recap of just the insane run Fractal had. Thank you for creating! MEGA MASTERS worked really well and we can't wait to do another one in the future.

[@metropolis10]

Love how you keep these accessible to new viewers. You never know who might come from the algorithm gods. Also "speaking of broken records" was one of the best setup payoffs I've heard in awhile. Fantastic coverage!

[@metropolis10]

and also the awesome "gloves are well... off", "what does it take to beat alex T", and "decided to just roll with it". great writing, just the right amount of cheese!

[@lycanthewerewolf6801]

0:49 "rolled around" I see what you did there. Nice pun.

[@Sidnev]

This is The Greatest Tournament Run Recap Video in Tetris History

[@stevemelo]

Another amazing video. Fractal is quickly becoming my favorite Tetris player to watch. That dig against Dog on game 4 is still one of the most impressive things I've ever seen.

[@kyukyu5982]

That second to last game was so crazy... Lol Fractal got so lucky he survived and even he was stunned when he won that round lol. It was a ton of fun watching this competition.

[@PieceDependencyPodcast]

Fractal shredding his tournament demons in a big way with this Mega Masters win

[@DanielSong39]

He is now a 2 time champion

[@heyitslok]

amazing content as always, really sound analysis with such hype moments!

[@rapta7258]

Amazing video and great honor for me to be in it

[@Ayocuanstrings]

He has gotten a spot in the finals, so did his opponent. Oh really? I would not have expected that 😂

[@unruh_8470]

Ita very surprising

[@PanchoKnivesForever]

Thank you for your videos, OkCobalt! I used to be able to rely only on aGameScouts videos for updates on the Classic Tetris scene, but I’m sure he’s just been very busy. I’m glad I can follow both of y’all’s awesome channels for crazy updates:)

[@slidenaway]

Ahhhhhhh this video!! The run was amazing, fractal is cracked beyond belief and I also was going nuts watching it live. But Cobalt your editing is SUPERB. This was so good!! Keep up the good work!

[@daniilde6801]

*Awesome video, thanks for it!*

[@wingfryer]

I enjoyed the overview of Fractal's journey. It's always impressive to see players manage a high dig situation.

[@erikkoster352]

I like the video, but I saw fractal as the favorite. I was just waiting until fractal finally popped off during competition.

[@storminorman315]

You are so good at making these recaps! Even though I had already watched all the matches, I still felt the thrills of watching these games as if it were the first time. Fantastic job as usual :D

[@irritant623]

I'm happy I found this gem of a channel. Subbed and loving it bro

[@SamTheS]

heeeey, i recognize that intro structure hmmmmmm... All joking aside, great video, Cobalt!

[@NerdTheBox]

11:54 "You know they say that all men are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Samoa Joe and you can see that statement is not true. See, normally if you go one on one with another wrestler, you got a 50/50 chance of winning. But I'm a genetic freak and I'm not normal! So you got a 25%, AT BEST, at beat me. Then you add Kurt Angle to the mix, your chances of winning drastic go down. See the 3 way at Sacrifice, you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning, but I, I got a 66 and 2/3 chance of winning, because Kurt Angle KNOWS he can't beat me and he's not even gonna try! So Samoa Joe, you take your 33 1/3 chance, minus my 25% chance and you got an 8 1/3 chance of winning at Sacrifice. But then you take my 75% chance of winning, if we was to go one on one, and then add 66 2/3 per cents, I got 141 2/3 chance of winning at Sacrifice. See Joe, the numbers don't lie, and they spell disaster for you at Sacrifice." -Alex Thach

[@alexthach276]

Wtf is this wwe reference

[@Alvin_Vivian]

@@alexthach276 I don't even think it's a WWE reference, I think it's a TNA reference.

[@EebstertheGreat]

@@alexthach276 He said it three times, it's Sacrifice! (2008)

[@danielhicks4826]

Is that a real quote? cause if so thats brilliant what kid would use a Samoa joe and Kurt Angle reference, a true legend is who.

[@EebstertheGreat]

@@danielhicks4826 kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6SnpoGQrr50f7M

[@fictionisfake4280]

By far the most exciting gaming scene of the last decade.

[@Vijver]

Great work Cobalt, really enjoyed watching this video :) keep it up! What a run by fractal. I saw a clip of the dig before, but not a lot else, wow

[@dillonfreed]

Great video man!

[@anh-toando6464]

Excellent narration and explanation! Great Work!

[@johnp2860]

great VID : ) I thought i had FTL open in the background at the end haha.

[@joshuapatrick682]

Well, I feel like the word “human” needs to be interjected in there because Tetris is a game that for sure exists(Ed) somewhere and at some point in the Universe aside from here and now.

[@elbow838]

Once 2022 ROLLED around. I see what you did there haha

[@mauricioguerra1794]

Cobalt, I need you to recap every month of CTM, please, your storytelling skills are great. Wish you would do sports style commentary, a highlight reels.

[@MicroTurtl]

The greatest tournament run was when boog ran away from tetrisluver32 at the 2018 ctwc

[@Fleetato]

fractal is insane was on the edge of my seat every time he played

[@melvintnh328]

1:55 Cheez casually getting a 1.6 million average

[@pikachu-fe7tx]

0:48 once 2022 ROLLED around

[@crudojoshuaricofort8795]

Imagine being swept with a 1.3m, a 1.2m and a 1m score... Pain...

[@EebstertheGreat]

2:40 small typo. The yellow Post-Transition should say 19-28. Probably most people won't even notice, though.

[@CobaltTetris]

Apologies! That was an error on my part.

[@DanVWeller]

@@CobaltTetris completely ruins the video, disliked, unsubscribed, blocked

[@danielhicks4826]

Its kind of a shame Alex T is likely gonna just roll full time soon his tapping is quite literally the best in the known world today and he is the only tapper in the world whop can equal and even sometimes surpass elite rollers on killscreen and get to level 36-40 on a somewhat frequent basis its extremely abnormal and impressive, the only other tapper who comes even close to that is Moja they are pretty much the only two tappers who can do that with Alex T being way ahead of him even.

[@DanielSong39]

Tapping put him in a handicap, looking forward to seeing how far he can go with rolling We can make the same argument with NGCMan and DAS

[@aenstreams1998]

Awesome video dude!

[@LovenRazu]

great video as always :approvalbear:

[@crimsoncraft1778]

Fractal is cracked

[@henry_b1230]

Great vid thank you!

[@Alvin_Vivian]

"Oh my word" Whose favorite phrase is that? 🤣

[@PertCesht]

I like Fractal

[@naiale6974]

You would think they would ban robots like fractal from Tetris competitions

[@geraldfreeman2164]

Yo i made a cameo pog

[@grashoprsmith]

Great vid

[@amyx231]

What’s the best iPhone Tetris app? The official one won’t load cause I have slow data I guess

[@MMenyan]

tapping fast, whatever the context, isnt genetics. it's practice, experience and talent you have to put in the time and do it in a way that's effective for you, including what youve learnt and things that naturally felt right

[@kjellrni]

Amazon link to Fractal's rolling oil?

[@doc8616]

I dont even play tetris but watch the whole vid

[@hallucinatedovens8414]

can someone please explain to me what "elo" is?

[@CobaltTetris]

Elo is a way to calculate a player's skill rating based on their match history, and given enough sample size, it can accurately determine a player's strength and represents it with a number value. This video goes in depth if you want to know more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6S8l5WjpZWHpZI

[@EebstertheGreat]

I wonder: do rollers ever have a problem with double-flips caused by rolling a finger at the exact time they start to press or depress A or B? Like, imagine you are pressing A, but while your finger is just halfway into pressing it, you get a really fast tap from a finger on the back of the controller, which causes a quick A press and release. Then you tap A for real, so it's a double flip.

[@DanVWeller]

Double flipping is a huge issue for rollers but it happens less over time as technique improves

[@ChiefSupreme6803]

Did Cheez invent rolling?

[@CobaltTetris]

He was the first to do it on a Nintendo controller. Other people such as Hector Fly had done it for the buttons on arcade cabinets, but that was rolling the fingers on a singular large button rather than on the bottom of a controller like Cheez does. He cites the inspiration for rolling to a similar technique to hit keys in quick succession on the piano, so while he didn't entirely "invent" it, he was the first to apply its use to a controller for a video game.

[@ChiefSupreme6803]

@@CobaltTetris I found it odd that the video does not give credit to Cheez for the technique at all

[@frankwhite2072]

So dbz/yu yu hakusho bsa training actually works. TMYK.

[@sawyermerkle8835]

5:49 the score didn’t go above 999999 that may be a unfair win

[@thatsbrutal]

GG

[@matheuscabral9618]

the youtube algorithm is not beind kind, you should not have only 6k subcribers

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

👍

[@daxmoney5011]

2:53 that’s actually not true in nes Tetris there are only 256 levels in the game so if I remember with stack rabbit they got like 100 million points playing to 256

[@bqh3795]

Fractal rigged

[@kacperzimowski4626]

Such a one-sided, subjective view... I would personally say that it wasn't a deserved, nor was it a spectacular win by any means. Dog was just out of form in that match.

[@fractal161]

yea i think fractal just got lucky

[@brightonpopsoff4970]

Fractal is shit. I agree

[@HoshinoMirai]

@@fractal161 lol

[@DanielSong39]

That has to be a joke right