Infil vs Illu - Championship Result Revealed!

[Comet]

Just like every other year, this topic is reserved for matchups and results only. Feel free to post a comment about your match when the time comes, but otherwise keep all posts to the discussion topic.

Hot contest links:

Full bracket: http://www.thengamer.com/elite/2009/
Voting Machine: http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/vote.php
Bracket predictions: http://www.thengamer.com/elite/2009/predictions.php
Prediction stats: http://www.thengamer.com/elite/2009/stats.php
Match results: http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/
Voters page: http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/voters.php
Spread betting: http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/spread/
Match pics: http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i308/wiwf/Summer%20Contest%202009/
First vote results: http://speedrunwiki.com/2009_First_Vote
(If I missed any let me know)

[Comet]

Play-in Match:

Nolan Baucom vs. Alex Hollingsworth vs. Greg Larkin vs. Kingpin

A four way tie for the final spot in this year's summer contest through nominations sets up this play-in match to determine who will face off against Goose in round one of the contest. Who would come out on top? Well let's just find out!

 Greg Larkin 13 (50%)
Kingpin 7 (26.9%)
Alex Hollingsworth 3 (11.5%)
Nolan Baucom 3 (11.5%)

Total votes: 26


With a somewhat sudden start to the contest with being properly organized and ready for it, the first match suffered an incredibly low vote total. It also didn't help that Thiradell was off AIM all day and votes had to be sent through e-mail or Yuku message. Despite all that though, Lark did come out on top clearly, and I don't think there's really too much of a surprise there. Hopefully things will pick up for the rest of the contest as we head into the first official match of this years summer contest!

The first actual match of the contest starts off with a big one!

Come vs Wabs

Today's match may have instant classic written all over it pitting two ancient members of the-Elite against each other. Both are popular chatters, and both have not been incredibly active lately, although Come has been around a bit more. Will this be enough of an edge? Or will the beloved Frenchman be just too much for Come to handle?  Get those votes in people! This is match you don't want to miss!


Don't forget to talk to Ngamer to set up your voting page and you can head on over to thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/vote.php if you already have one set up
Also, feel free to check out my podcast where I take a look into the first division of the contest http://thengamer.com/misc/DK%20and%20Comet%20Show%201.mp3

[Ngamer]

Whoops, when you go directly to vote.php and try to log in, it generates a link to "personal.php" instead of vote.php like we want. I fixed that in the code but guess I didn't upload the fixed version... For now you can just change "personal" in the URL to "vote", but I'll update that tonight so that it will log you in properly from now on.

[Thiradell]

Also thanks to Come for helping out with taking votes yesterday.

[Comet]

With the contest now officially under way and the first match over and done with, let's take a look at a match that I built up to be a potential instant classic. Did it live up to what I thought it could? Or do I have no idea what I'm talking about. Looking at the results:

Come 33 (67.3%)
Wabs 16 (32.7%)

Total votes: 49
http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=01

VotDs:
Someone: Well I'm voting for Wabs here because watching him play through Guitar Hero III has really been fun (him struggling with the same songs I did, etc.) Plus he likes Roger Federer.

Someone: I called Come once, like on the phone. I was at a concert and I thought he would be interested to know that. He wasn't. I still voted for him anyway.


It looks like I really don't know what I was talking about! Come managed to double up Wabs and then some in another low vote total match. Now looking at a breakdown of this match, it seems that Come winning was pretty clear, as 34 people picked him to advance into the next round compared to only 6 for Wabs. The old school voters split down the middle, but Come just dominated the new school voting, proving that long absences just aren't going to get you far in this contest anymore. It also didn't help that Come SFF'd Wabs in chat, which is usually his strong point. The biggest surprise in this match though would be Europe splitting a 7-7 tie, although that can mostly be accounted for the fact that most Euros are big chatters, where Come has a very strong presence.


Moving on to the next match of the contest we now look at:

Goose vs. Greg Larkin

After getting only a single day off, Lark is back in action yet again. This time though, he's up against some stiffer competition. Based on the low vote totals and the number of people who would like nothing more than to anti-vote Goose, this match may be closer than you think. Of course, that's not to say it's anything to slow Goose down, he should still win this match in a landslide. Then again, looking back at my prediction for the first match, what do I know! All that matter is to get those votes in people!

[Wabs]

I'm not sure what you meant with "long absences" but I never had long absences. ^^
I'm just being less active on boards because I don't know much about GE and PD anymore but I still check these boards daily.
Oh anyway, that doesn't matter since that's a fully deserved win for Mr comeasur, good luck for next rounds steve!

And thanks to my 16 voters who prevented me from undergoing a 49-0.

[Thiradell]

A bit late with this (sorry), but VotD for the play-in goes to this creative choice!

http://www.proximedia.com...ogue/photos/264768_a.jpg

The two runners-up both mentioned Kingpin as a GH buddy.

[Comet]

Keeping the contest rolling along, let's take a look at the second match of the first round. This was a match that had SFF written all over it: both are GE players, both are chatters, and both like to spam the boards. Goose, however, seems to be more successful at all those categories, so would it hold true just the same with the match?

Goose 34 (66.7%)
Greg Larkin 17 (33.3%)

Total votes: 51
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=02

VotDs:
Someone: My vote of the day is filled with pain It doesn't go to goose because he's lame fuck that, lame is just way to nice lark could fuck his shit up and have his balls in a vice dont fuck with him or i'll kill you fuck you goose you dirty jew wait a sec...you fucking tree hugging fag your canadian now i feel way more bad if lark wins you can suck his dick durk can suck mine cause he likes that shit if he loses you can suck his dick more your mom could teach some stuff...she is a whore Goose will probably get pity votes since people seen his face your dog should of bit more off you fucking disgrace so if you dont know who this vote goes to i'll fuckin kill everyone in the cara crew one last thing said about my vote of the day it goes to lark because goose can't get that vagjay nigga.

Someone: If I appreciated Goose a lot in his ealry days in the elite, he has become someone you never know if he is joking or not, you never know if he has grown up or not, you never know if you can trust him or not. Added to that, I'm sure he has made some people go away from the boards due to all his spam messages. So even if himself alone is a part of the elite, I'm voting Lark.


Maybe not as bit of a win that some might have expected, but still, very impressive nonetheless. Goose managed to win every major category without too much trouble, and putting up consistent percentages throughout. The win in itself came as no surprise, but Lark taking in as many votes as he did leaves a few questions. The issue that comes to my mind would be: did Lark get that many votes because people like him that much? Or are that many people just out to anti-vote Goose? I suppose that question won't be answered until we see how Goose preforms in the next round. The funny thing is though, when you look at it, Lark is just a more subtle version of Goose...or maybe I'm just imagining things...


Anyway, looking ahead a match that could potentially go either way, we move on to:

Rayan I. vs. Wheatrich

This is a matchup between two completely opposite people. On one hand, we have Ace who absolutely dominates both the GE and PD ranks, but doesn't seem to associate much with anyone in the elite. On the other hand, we have wheat, who has never really played a whole lot of either game, and when he did had very limited success (if you could even call it that). Wheat, though, will draw strongly from the chat crowd. It should also be noted that chatters accounted for more than 60% of the votes cast in the last two matches, which should give wheat a slight edge. Happy voting people!

[RWG]

Nicely done Larkin. I always enjoy a match against a good friend, as I will be content whatever the result.

I can't personally see Larkin having received less than 12 "real" votes, meaning I think people have forgiven me for my mishaps and mischief over the years. Yeah, the two VotDs were against me and I'm sure both Come and Dayle anti voted me, but you have to ask yourself, how many anti-votes against me would have been pro-Lark votes anyways? A good friend of Larkin might vote for him and in his vote make it sound like he hates me, which might be true, but in the end, even if he liked me, he would have voted Larkin anyways. I am seeing anti-voting in a new light... one that doesn't matter. Anyways, good job again and I look forward to a great grudge match of me vs. Come!

[wheatrich]

I can't wait for the VOTD's in this one. I usually get slammed quite well in those so my expectations are quite high. Don't let me down elite!

"Wheat, though, will draw strongly from the chat crowd."

would help if I was in there these days lol

yeah there's really no reason to vote for me over ace. I'd vote for ace. Everyone should vote for ace. Go vote for ace right now.

just as a small update from me though

The wheatfield will be in EE Pro (GLB durk's favorite) in a few days

and for those of you who've always yearned to see my gaming stuff--I've setup a youtube channel with a fair number of my kart pr's

http://www.youtube.com/wheatrich

enjoy

[Lark]

Saying I'm a more subtle version of Goose is like saying Jimmy Fallon gets more pussy than Brad Pitt.... It just isn't true.
Congrats on your victory, Ryan.

[Matis]

nice try lark! <3

[wheatrich]

since I'm impatient and I demand writeups...

Line: Ace with 54%

OVER - 24, UNDER - 24

talk about the book being perfect on this line! If only spread was like real books and we had -110's in there the book would have raked in some $$$. But was this line SPOT ON?


http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=03

Ace - 27,
wheat - 26
(50.9% - 49.1%)

Well the UNDER wins but ace also wins (always the best scenario for the book if we had ML's in there)

This match was very streaky here. Wheat stormed off to a 11-2 lead early thanks to the FV'ers then the mors (of ning) kicked in here and ace raffled off a massive streak of his own to tie the match at 14. After some back and forth for a bit then Ace grabbed a 27-21 lead late but as expected the last call nightcap went all wheat as he took the last five votes but it was one short of sending it into OT.

as expected ace took down europe 9-4 GE 19-10 and the new and newest schools (16-12, 12-9) and wheat won ancient and OS (9-5 and 14-11)

but there was one really unexpected stat
18 PD voters and 12 of them voted for wheat. Ace is the Perfect Dark Champion and lost his own category 6-12 and STILL WON. That's insane.

North America and chatroom although going in wheat's direction they were only a small victory for him (In fact wheat's never won chat by more than a few votes in any of his matchups historically--so much for third's "strong support in chat" thinking)

General chatters were tied and so was the most important australia category.

...... 31 US Voters (58.5%) 15 - 16 | (48.4%) The Wheatfield has a better home field advantage playing in europe than wheat himself does in the US.

Here's some VOTD's

Someone: Wheat's a pretty cool guy and was surprisingly gracious in defeat when I knocked his ass out of the poker tourney. However, dropping like 3 passes for would-be touchdowns nearly cost him my vote.

Someone: Sure Ace has given PD and GE's arse's a real pounding, but is that enough? He has been called a robot for his precise robotic playing style and not expressing much emotion or personality on the boards. Yes he is a star player but I'm going to vote for the underdog, Wheat. He does get involved with elite meets and Id like to see him go further as he does seem like a humourous fellow.


ace will now face the winner of today's match is clemens v matthjis. It's another potentially very even matchup with another top player vs a ridiculously popular guy matchup. NA gamer vs EU popular.

About a third of the perfect brackets went down on the last match and this one also has that same type of potential.

somehow QB already has amassed 138 points so he'll be very tough to beat in the prediction contest.

[Comet]

David Clemens 28 (48.3%)
Matthijs ten Ham 30 (51.7%)
http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=04

Total votes: 58

VotDs
Someone: Wow! What a choice! Current world champ and arguably the most active GE player who is almost single handedly lowering the total time every month VERSUS a guy who is involved in speedrunning on many levels and one the most popular guys around, period. Full respect to the both of them, my vote is going right down to the line. Clemens.

Someone: this was a tough one for me...matthijs is so old school and watching a lot of his vids really helped me understand and want to speed run more. Clemens is just amazing at the game now and is just wowing us with so many great times..how could you not vote for him. Matthijs is inactive while clemens active its hard to do this but my vote is for Clemens because he deserves this one although I feel i'm kinda betraying matthijs...well he probably doesn't even know we exist anymore.


A very interesting result for this one, with a lot of weird results. Clemens was a big favorite coming in going up against a Matthijs who hasn't posted in a very long time. That's not to say, however, that Matthijs being away didn't hurt him. Clemens easily took the newest school vote 15-4, although everything before that he lost a combined 26-13, proving that Matthijs has not been forgotten and is still a very respected Eliter. Clemens did manage to win his own category, taking the GE vote 18-13, but was really destroyed in PD losing 14-5. When you take into consideration how many WRs Clemens has in PD and how fast he is moving up the ranks, that makes for a strange stat. Even moreso when you consider that Matthijs, when he was around, was primarily a GE player! Another really surprising stat was the fact that Clemens convincingly took the European vote, but lost the NA vote even more convincingly. All in all a very strange match that, despite being a 2 vs. 7 seeding wise, was really toss up between the new and old that, unfortunately for Clemens, went in favor of the old school hotshot.


Matis vs. Fal

[Comet]

Fal 26 (53.1%)
Matis 23 (46.9%)
http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=05

Total votes: 49

VotDs
Someone: Matis is a loose cannon and though most seem to like him, I'm not certain that people won't vote Fal simply to peeve Matis...

Someone: I like Fal, but I like Matis more... despite the fact that Holy Water Part 2 is now 4 years overdue.

A bit of an upset here. Matis was the favorite coming in with the higher seed and the spread on his side. Also, Fal "quitting" the Elite certainly wouldn't help him any. Pretty standard match, though. All categories were split basically evenly, aside from Fal taking Europe, essentially giving him the match. This showed on the voting breakdown where Matis got out to an early lead before Europe started waking up allowing Fal to catch up and eventually take the lead and the match.

[Comet]

A 1 vs. 8 seed here with OD being the clear favorite. Results shouldn't be too exciting, but let's take a look anyway:

OD (Glen Stevens) 37 (75.5%)
Mark 12 (24.5%)
http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=06

Total votes: 49

VotDs
Someone: While the stakes might be a bit too high for Mark here, I have to believe that he will hit a full house on the river. So I flop my vote over to him!

Someone: Who is Poker Mark? If Glen loses, I will run around the city naked and and go into random bathrooms and rip the sinks off the walls because I am such a fucking badass.

Like I said, not too exciting. And there's really not much to say about this one. Glen is a very popular Eliter who is a great GE player and has been active lately. OD is also quite the chatter which allows him to draw well from basically every category. Mark, on the other hand...well to be honest, I doubt a lot of people even know who he is outside of chat. Even though he is in chat a good bit though, Glen is apparently just too cool not to vote for.

Moving on we take a look at

Woll vs. Ryan Lockwood

Classic case of oldschool vs. newschool.  Woll comes into this match as a clear favorite, but considering Lockwood ended up as a 5 seed, he's deffinately not to be underestimated. Woll also seemed to have almost completely disappeared from the Elite, although I'm sure he's around more than I think. Either way, this could turn out to be a very exciting match, and I really don't expect Woll to come close to the spread of 70% (although I have already been wrong several times this contest!).

[Comet]

Another matchup of old school versus new school. After seeing ten Ham upset Clemens, was there really any doubt that the ever lovable Woll could fall victim to the up and coming Lockwood? Well that's why we have this contest! To find this sort of thing out!

Woll 36 (73.5%)
Lockwood 13 (26.5%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=07

Total votes: 49

VotDs
Someone: First of all, I don't even know who Lockwood is. Second of all, Woll is pretty much the greatest GE player of all-time. In fact, the GE rankings should be reconstructed so that Woll has all 60 WRs. He's just that awesome.

Someone: Too bad Lockwood got stuck in this matchup; he's been one of the few impressively active GE players this whole year, geez not to mention he can solve a Rubik's Cube in under 15 seconds. Very helpful to those of us who can only do it in 40...Greg is one of my 2 best friends in the-elite so of course I'm voting for him, just wanted to give Lockwood a little extra mention, but the Woll Factor is not to be outdone.

The old school is once again triumphant as Woll easily dispatches of the contest rookie with almost no effort. It's always been obvious that Woll has been one of the more likable Eliters to ever grace us with their presence, but I'm still surprised that Lockwood preformed so poorely in this match. An up and coming GE player with a lot of skill who is fairly active on the boards was bound to attract some attention. Unfortunately for Lockwood, however, GE is Woll's territory as well, and in the end he just proved to be too much for the new guy to handle. Breaking down into categories it was a blowout everywhere except for Europe, which Woll still managed to win...just not as convincingly.


With a very strong chance of having consecutive blowouts, we take a look at

Shep vs. BloodE

BloodE is a guy you either love or hate...or love to hate. Either way, his only real connection to the Elite over recent years has been through chat, a place where he no longer goes. When you take into consideration that Shep is a huge chatter, and a very likable guy, it's hard to see this match being any closer than yesterday's.

[Comet]

Shep 42 (85.7%)
BloodE 7 (14.3%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=08

Total votes: 49

VotDs
Someone: Well I don't know Shep very well, but I did do some puzzle hunting with him not long ago, and that was great fun! BloodE sucks anyway, so this vote is easy.

Someone: As much as I love shep, I have to vote for BloodE here, if only for the fact that his name is Ruaidhri Ball and he lives in Scotland.

Well this was no more than total annihilation on Shep's part...although that was completely expected. Not much to say about this match, as Shep easily dominated every where. BloodE, howerver did manage to take Australia. Also, Shep managed to take 23 consecutive votes to end the day, which is quite the streak.


Infil vs. Karl

The next match we look at comes between Infil, one of the most lovable Eliters around, and Karl Jobst. Karl, however, does have a loyal fanbase, although he's more of a guy you either love or hate. Expect Infil to take this one in a landslide, but don't be too surprised if Karl keeps it close.

[Comet]

Infil 44 (83.0%)
Karl 9 (17.0%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=09

Total votes: 53

VotDs
Someone: If Infil's infinite intelligence is indeed ideal, it is imperative innumerable invitations in ink inviting icemen into Infil's igloo issued in immaculate ivory are created and prepared by the whitest soul in the-elite. The icy white world Infil lives in must be experienced by everyone! Who wouldn't like to live and breathe the closest thing to god in the elite? Infil's so godly you can't look at him because he's just so white.......oh wait, that was someone else :-

Someone: Karl is rather anonymous nowadays, while Infil is shining like a high-profile serial killer thanks to his Master Thesis which tries to explain why mainly old people are attracted to lemon parties. Naturally, I vote for Infil.

Well speaking of lemon parties, I'm sure Infil will have no choice but to partake in one after this slaughter of a once for popular Eliter. Infil absolutely dominated chat, taking it 29-2, proving that he is one of the most popular chatters around. With the chat voters making up the large majority of the voting population, it doesn't look like anything will slow Infil down anytime soon. Nothing really noteworthy in this match, expect maybe that Karl didn't manage even a single vote from his fellow Aussies.


Looking at a match that could potentially be a little more interesting

Red Bull vs. Nate Stinson

The ever lovable Bully goes up against Virginia addict Nate. Bully draws well from all crowds because of being a chatter, a top rank PD player, an active poster on all boards, and just for being Bully. Nate, on the other hand, hasn't really indulged in any games outside of Mariokart, but he's also a big chatter and also keeps up with general chat. Nate will probably get a boost from because of his efforts with the Virginia meets, but don't expect it to be enough to take down Bully.

[NathanStinson]

"Nate, on the other hand, hasn't really indulged in any games outside of Mariokart"


lol

[Comet]

Bully 30 (56.6%)
Nate 23 (43.4%)
http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=10

Total votes: 53

VotDs
Someone: As much as I appreciate Red Bull for speedrunning Perfect Dark, I just cannot stand to talk to the guy because he seems incapable of having a real conversation...instead he tends to go off saying random stuff, and his obsession with Lady Gaga and Gwen Stafani is sickening to say the least. Therefor, I am voting for my boy Nate.

Someone: I'm surprised to see the line going to Bully with 59%: even if it's true that Nate has never been a true member of the elite (GE - PD wise), the meeting alone may provide him enough support to take this one, or at least get a very close result. This is why I think Bully should be careful, otherwise he might unexpectedly take Nate's secret move: a Stinson smash!!


Pretty consistent all around, with Bully pulling either a draw or a small win in each individual category, except North America, where Nate won by a single vote. Nate got out to an early lead with the FV crowd and early morning chatters backing him strongly, and actually led for over half the match. Unfortunately for Nate, however, Europe just seems to love Bully too much, as he took that category 12-4, which was what it took to pull off the victory.


The next match is one of the more interesting ones of the first round

Axel Andersson vs. Alex Anderson

That's not a mistake, folks! These two actually do have names that are THAT similar. What makes it even better was that they were both top GE players, and both were on the chat scene, although only Axel remains there. Axel's time in chat is usually spent discussing WoW, lemon parties, and din mor...very similar to his Swedish counterpart, ShadowZero. Alex has lately only been really posting on the videogame board, mostly involving Runescape. At the same time though, Axel doesn't exactly post on the boards much himself (although I know he follows them very closely. Axel should take this match easily, but at the same time, people might not be able to tell the difference between the two! (That is, if they even realized they were two people to start with.

[Infected Mind]

Alex vs Axel

Runescape Vs WoW

EPIC Mirror match!


This also goes back to the good ol days of teh noob rivalry, where axel got depot 26 first, and a bunch of us up-and commers got started on GE. Me, Axel, WIWF, Emile(Pascal Viets) etc

[Ngamer]

The matchups and results post is not for general discussion. Please continue this conversation in general Elite Contest topic (I've moved the posts over).

[vitor]

Sorry bout that Jon. Go Alex!

[Comet]

So who exactly was the ultimate winner of the epic Axel vs. Alex match? Well let's just take a look

Axel 32 (64.0%)
Alex 18 (36.0%)
http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=11

Total votes: 50

VotDs
Someone: Remember when arcade games used to have messages like "winners don't use drugs" and "vote for OB?" I could never figure out what that second one meant, but it seems fairly obvious now...

Someone: good thing i read the bios, as in my head i had these individuals confused for one another axel loses for the din mor introduction. shadowzero is the guy i really hate for it's use, but apparently axel is responsible so he takes heat. also alex is pretty cool


Well it looks like Axel came out on top of this one, although it's not too much of a surprise. While this match has been much closer than most of last couple, there's still not a whole lot to say about it. Axel took all major categories fairly convincingly, with the exception of North America and Goldeneye. Even in both those categories, however, Axel still managed to win. Without Alex being backed by his strong points, he easily lost this match. Axel really had this match wrapped up as soon as it started, getting a huge boost from the FV crowd. Alex managed to pull within a couple overnight, but was blown out as soon as Europe started waking up. After that huge wave, the votes split basically 50/50, but the damage had already been done.


With another intersting match coming up we glance into

Eddie Lovins vs. YourEliteness

Two old school Eliters who are top players at their respective games, Lovins goes head to head with YE. Although both don't really partake in anything outside of the games they play, and YE not even being around anymore, I think Lovins is the clear favorite to win this match. If you take into consideration that Lovins is active, posts quite frequently with basically none of it being spam, is one of the top GE players, and went to the Virginia meet, it's hard to see any way the former PD champ can slow him down, other than, of course, the PD vote.

[Axel A]

Yeah lol the noob rivalry is classic. Anyway good match, and thanks all who voted for me!

Also, i don't play WoW

[Thiradell]

How about a BRACKET PREDS UPDATE?

There are four people left who only picked one match wrong:
-Patrik and DK chose Matis over Fal
-Bozon chose Clemens over MTH
-wiff chose wheat over Ace

wiff also chose YE to defeat Lovins in this match, so tomorrow he'll either be at the head of the pack, or tied for second with quite a few others.

[Comet]

Loving was predicted to win win this match in a blowout, according to our so called "experts". Let's see how right they were:

Eddie Lovins 29 (55.8%)
YourEliteness 23 (44.2%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=12

Total votes: 52

VotDs
Someone: This is by far the hardest decision for a match thus far in this contest for me. On one side, we have a guy who is friends with almost everybody from the Elite and always compliments people, and on the other we have a guy who has done a lot for PD and is a major contributor to the Elite. But during the past few years, some things have been said and done that have allowed me insight into the personalities of these 2 people...one of them takes every criticism or negative comment very personal and has a ridiculous need to try and prove himself to be right, and the other is just an all-round nice guy. I mean dont get me wrong, there is no harm in having an ego or being arrogant to an extent, but when you put "actually an actuary" below your avatar, it comes off pretty laughable... Sure we all respect your accomplishments, it is a good thing of course, but why broadcast it? Therefor in the end I have decided to vote for Mr. Dwyer.

Someone: I'm voting for Lovins because he's an active GE player with an immense amount of talent. I respect YE for updating the ranks for so many years, but he just isn't around anymore.

Looks like this was the worst line set all year, although it still tripped up lots of people! A pretty balanced match the whole way though. Lovins started and finished this match very strongly, while YE was very dominant in the middle of the day. Lovins won the GE vote, while YE took the PD vote, showing that both are respected player at their own game. The old school, and even the middle school vote sided more towards YE, while Lovins completely dominated the new school voters. Region wise, Lovins managed to take North America relatively easily, while YE won in Europe...although did end up losing in Austrailia, strangely enough. Lovins also managed to take the chat and general chat vote quite easily. So, all in all, a very close and exciting match that came down to Lovins having part of the larger voting fanbases (GE/NA as opposed to PD/Europe).


With the potential of another very close match we take a look into

Patrik Nilsson (HighScore80) vs. Jack William Wedge II

Don't let seeding fool you in this match. Despite the fact that it is a 1 vs. 8 seed, this match could easily go either way. Patrik comes into this contest as probably the most surprising 1 seed, while Jack comes in being probably the most surprising 8 seed. Patrik is a long time GE player who is one of the top players, even today. Jack has also showed that he has the ability to play GE, although his contribution to the game was introducing us to some excellent TAS videos. Both Eliters take part in chat, and neither have really explored the world of PD. With that being said, you can expect a lot of SFF...although with how popular these two are, I don't expect a blowout either way, which would be how a regular SFF match would work.

[DavidK5]

Not a shocking result, imo. Just look at how well YE did last year (beat Boss and missed making the final 4 by one vote).

[Lovins]

Thanks for the votes, good job to YE as well!

Just for the record, my "Actually an Actuary" title was chosen by Come, not me.

[Comet]

Patrik 27 (56.3%)
Jack 21 (43.8%)
http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=13

Total votes: 48

VotDs
Someone: ← ← → ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ← →

Someone: Jack's been a great asset to the GE game with his TAS vids. His writeups on the status of both GE and PD for the Elite have been entertaining to read. I think Patrik has widened his audience by going to these meet-ups, but I just like Jack for his humour. And besides he's got some TAS filmmaking he's gonna be doing, I want to give him my vote as a thanks for that in advance.


Close, but no cigar. The top seed comes out on top, but in a close match. Jack drew very well from the new school crowd, but Patrik's old school resumé along with General Chat domination was what put him out on top of this one. Pretty close the rest of the way, with Jack taking PD and North America, while Patrik did the damage in GE and Europe, along with taking chat, which was really Jack's biggest hope to winning this match.


Trent Hovis vs. Flash (Brick/Thingy/isthatagoodt)

[Comet]

Trent 35 (70.0%)
Flash 15 (30.0%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=14

Total votes: 50

VotDs
Someone: This is the current leader for worst contest picture matchup so far. Even though I've met Trent at the meet Flash by far wins this vote. He's always in chat and is willing to look incredibly stupid by asking questions to gain knowledge to help himself out. Kudos there sir.

Someone: Is Flash supposed to be the Elite clown or jester by any chance? Only one winner for me here, Trent. He's beginning to morph into Wolverine I think with this extra facial hair he's growing.


Another day, another blowout. Trent takes this match easily, earning a blowout in every major category. Flash didn't even manage to keep it close in chat, which would probably be his strongest point. On top of that, he only managed one vote in all of Europe which just spells disaster. Not much else to say about this one, although it is interesting to note that Trent took 22 of the last 26 votes.



Carathorn vs. drag

Two chatters go head to head which could really spell disaster for drag, especially since he doesn't really draw well from any other voting blocks outside of chat. Hugo is active on the boards, an active PD player, and an active chatter. We're probably looking at another blowout, but who knows, I'm usually wrong!


Also, take a look at the newest episode of the DK and Comet show! I've been very busy lately and haven't been able to do this as frequently as I hoped, but better late then never I suppose. We'll try to work on getting the episodes out faster and I hope you all enjoy.
DK and Comet Show 2

[Ngamer]

Hey there gang! 15 matches are in the books, meaning we're nearly a quarter of the way through the 2009 season. Seems a wonderful time to update those Vote of the Day standings!

 17 Eliters have won a VotD in 2009.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Rank	Ng Says	aka...	VotDs Won
1	SZ	Jim Soderlund	3
2	Jones	Mark Jones	3
3	Shang		3
4	Clemens	David Clemens	3
5	Mgay	Mike Gaydeski	2
6	Matis	Adam Matis	2
7	SA	Quentin Meunier	2
8	Third	Tyler Wishall	2
9	fanofrings	Shawn Johnson	2
10	Neo	Paddy Johannessen	1
11	DK	David Kovaz	1
12	Matt	Matt Hedding	1
13	Lark	Greg Larkin	1
14	Keefer	Keith Macwhirter	1
15	wheat	Brent Wingert	1
16	Lovins	Eddie Lovins	1
17	Flash	isthatagoodthing	1

Now naturally I can't update these TOO often without giving away some voter privacy, so look for the next update in 10 days or so.  In the meantime, keep sending in those interesting and/or funny writeups so you can get your name on the board alongside these superstars!

As a side note I've been really happy with how the new voting system has been working out this year.  It's a major relief to not have to worry about staying online, making sure you don't get signed off AIM, power outages... and then when those things DID happen we used to have to tell people to send an e-mail for their vote instead, but almost no one would, etc etc.  So much nicer to just have a link everyone can click 24 hours a day.

The other thing I really love is how much this automation has helped the Spread process!  If you haven't look that over, here's the page with all the results and current standings

http://thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/spread/

This is just the way I'd always wanted the spread to work... most users lock in their vote to start, THEN see the spread right afterward (so it doesn't unfairly affect their vote, as in "whoa, I'd have supported X if I knew he was such a huge underdog!") when they've had a moment to consider the match and guess at how it will play out.  And as you see on that page, the system is really paying off, with over 80 Eliters having made a bet already this Summer.

The OTHER thing I really love is how much is has helped for VotDs.  In previous years people didn't want to waste my time on AIM coming up with witty reasons for their votes and so many days we'd only get 4 or 5 options to make our VotD choice out of.  These days there are about 20 writeups coming in consistently each day, which makes choosing much more enjoyable.

In short, keep up the good work everyone!

[Comet]

Carathorn 26 (57.8%)
drag 19 (42.2%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=15

Total votes: 45

VotDs
Someone: Cara promises to dominate in this match for several reasons; the least of which is that he gives his followers all the window love that they can handle! also, when i'm not quite in the mood for the Daft Punk and not quite in the mood for Jamiriquai either i can realx and groove with some Dancing Bears-and THAT'S what really matters here!

Someone: Stalking women doesn't give drag any popularity points from me, that's for sure. Meanwhile, Cara is a fellow WoW player who taught me that selling Mechnaical Yetis on the auction house can be quite profitable. As implied, Carathorn is my man of today!


Two popular chatters go in, and only Cara comes out. This was a very close match throughout the whole day. Drag came out to an early start with support from FVers and early NA chatters. Even around the time the European vote normally starts pouring in, drag still seemed to be standing strong (although he did lose Europe 11-3). In fact, drag led for well over half of this match...and Cara didn't pull into the lead for good until the 33rd vote of the day. From there, Cara the Cara crew and other supporters managed to finish the match strongly to come to an eventual 7 vote win. Drag's recent inactivity really didn't help his cause, but this match was certainly closer than it looked.


Neo vs. failurewarning

[Comet]

Neo 29 (54.7%)
failurewarning 24 (45.3%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=16

Total votes: 53

VotDs
Someone: Neo showed off the best part of him a couple months back when we needed help with a puzzle. All we had to work off of was a paper full of music, and Neo had his trusty mor sit down and play it on the piano until she realized they were Christmas songs in reverse! Needless to say, I gave Neo's mor extra special treatment THAT night

Someone: FW deserves my vote, not only because he's one of the kindest guy I've ever met, but also because I've got the honor to be present at his wedding, and that's a pretty amazing souvenir.


Despite the fact the Neo is Australian, this match played out quite like a regular popular North American versus a popular European would play out. Neo jumped out to a HUGE lead early, leading by as many as a dozen at one point of the match helped out by the early morning chatters along side of the FVers. Failurewarning managed to make up most of the lost ground when the European vote caming roaring in midday. Unfortunately for fw, it wasn't quite enough, and Neo went on to win the match. It would have been interesting if failurewarning was still active, as we saw how strong he can be in past contests. An interesting match nontheless though!


Henning vs. Disco

[Comet]

Henning 24 (52.2%)
Disco 22 (47.8%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=17

Total votes: 46

VotDs
Someone: Randy is a great guy... I enjoyed talking with him, watching his runs, and he is one of the best speedrunners ever. But, Randy has also sort of disappeared, maybe someday he will return with Runway 00A :36. With that said, Henning is one of my best friends, I have talked with him ever since I joined the Elite and seen him make progress as well as he saw me do so. So the decision here is obvious...HENNING.

Someone: Henning is always posting at the forums, is a VERY skiled player, but Disco is a legend.. one of the best players we've seen here, yet one of the oldests. His Chicago 15 vid released at the Illinois meeting (with the epic lollypop music) just marked my life... and how I wish I was there at the meeting to see it happenning. As any mid-old school player would do, it's a vote for Disco!


A new school GEer versus a former dual champ and old school legend. Old school support thus far in the contest has been quite strong, even more than past years it seems. That being said, it's not really much of a surprise that Randy kept it so close with Henning, a popular European who is a highly skilled GE player. This match actually looked very similar to the previous match between Neo and failurewarning. Randy got off to a big start with the help of NA support, and Henning managed to catch up when the European vote started coming in. The only difference in this match, however, is that Disco was not able to get enough support from NA and fend off the up and coming Henning, as Henning was able to overtake Disco in the end.


Sterling vs. Paragon

[Thiradell]

A shocker in the preds department...only TWO PEOPLE correctly predicted Paragon to defeat Sterling! (matt8000 and PSK) Patrik and DK currently sit atop the leaderboard.

[Red Bull]

A shocker is the SPOT ON in Axel Z's match; it was also the only match so far where I was really in doubt whether I should even vote, because I just didn't know what to do.

[Henning Blom]

Wow, thanks everyone who voted for me!

Also congrats to Randy, I didnt expect to win at all and he wasnt far behind so it was atleast a fair match.

Thanks again hehe

[Worlds-One]

With 2 days wait can't wait to see what "someone" wrote on me. They must of been busy this weekend. I would of like to re write my bio.. Oh well. Good job if my seed was 1 and was beat by an 8 seed... Sigh

[Comet]

A battle of former champions...The original king of GE versus the original kind of PD. Two Elite legends who have done so much for this community square off head to head in an epic classic showdown. Sterling comes into this match as one of the more surprising 1 seeds, while Paragon is a mere 8 seed. With the GE vote being much more important than the PD vote, and Sterling's recent comeback to the boards, on top of his appearances in chat, and Virginia meet to boot, it would seem that there is no doubt Sterling would take this match.

Sterling 23 (48.9%)
Paragon 24 (51.1%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=18

Total votes: 47

VotDs
Someone: Like I always say, let P-gons be bygones. Wait, that completely jives with my vote...

Someone: Paragon used to insult PAL players a lot even though we had a great lift and door disadvantage in PD. Despite this, I'm voting for him today as he came up with some truly genius strategies that deserve to be rewarded even years after their discovery. Pornstar Sterling Neblett, I'm sorry, but don't point your penis in my direction.


Yikes! Folks, this is definitely one we can call an instant classic! Every major category was split, with the exception of the two gaming categories where each player dominated their respective category. Sterling snagged NA vote by a single, Paragon took Europe by a mere two, Australia split 50/50, General chat split 50/50, Sterling took the new school by one, Paragon took the old school by two. Surprisingly though, it was the middle school section that back Sterling the most, as he actually lost the newest school vote despite the fact he did make a comeback and Paragon has been away for basically forever. This win, however, can be mostly pointed towards the fact that Paragon managed to steal 9 votes out of the GE category (although that's not really THAT big of a surprise since Ben was also a great GE player back in the early days). Also, the fact that Sterling lost chat even though he's been spending a fair bit of time there didn't help the cause. Overall though, a great match. We certainly couldn't have asked for any better (unless you're a Sterling fan, I guess ). Definitely an instant classic that will go down in contest history though!


Axel Z vs. Simon Sternis

This is just here for consistency... I actually managed to completely miss the Sterling/Paragon match originally.

[Comet]

A match up between two highly talented GE players with the potential to really go either way. The line going in had Axel Z. at 64%...let's see how close it was!

Axel Z 32 (64.0%)
Simon Sternis 18 (36.0%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=19

Total votes: 50

VotDs
Someone: Axel is a genuinely nice fella here at the Elite. He is always up for giving you his reviews on movies and is still getting pr's in GE! though this is the 1st time I see him in the Elite's Summer Contest-I don't think it will be the lastth. Probably at least 2th time!

Someone: This is a tough one, kind of like Patrik vs. Jack with a solid GEer vs. a primarily TASer. Except, I've never really talked to Axel, and wait, Simon's not just a TASer, he's also ranked high in GE. All this will have to add up to a vote for Simon.


And it turns into our first SPOT ON line of the contest. Quite impressive actually! Looking at the breakdown, Axel managed to win quite easily in most places, especially Europe where he really dominated. The match tally also showed that, when he managed to pull in 12 consecutive votes which would have spanned over the time that most of Europe had just woken up. Simon managed to keep it close in GE, and actually tied in NA, but Axel was just a little too strong for Simon to climb over the mountain in front of him and take this match. It would have been a much different match if Simon had any support at all in Europe, but unfortunately it was not the case and turned into a rather large win for Axel.


DK vs. Sliver Angel

My good pal DK goes up against a popular Frenchman in Quentin Meunier. DK usually has high success in Europe in his matches, but going up against a European we'll have to wait and see how the vote swing goes. DK will pull very well from the chat vote, but Quentin will cut into the NA vote because of his appearance at the Virginia meet. Should be an exciting one!


Also, just to note my write ups over the last few days haven't been done because I have been very busy with work and preparing for my brother's graduation party which was yesterday, so write ups should be on time now (for the most part anyway).

[Comet]

Another match between a popular North American and a popular European

Dk 30 (60.0%)
Silver Angel 20 (40.0%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=20

Total votes: 50

VotDs
Someone: Voting for silver first of all because he is european and secondly he is one of the nicest guys i have ever spoken to. DK can be same (apart from european) so this was a tough pick for me.

Someone: I like SA, he's imo the most placid eliter i know. Though i think DK has just been surfing the wave of his successful 3rd place last year and hasn't really let up. I was suprised he got as far as he did, but he's a cool easy to talk to fella and i'm a DK fan now.


We continue with the recent trend with this type of match. We saw DK get out to a big lead early with the help of the FV crowd and early North American voters. SA started to climb back into it when Europe started waking up. DK, however, draws rather well from Europe himself, although he still lost there 12-6. After the European swing went through, DK went on to dominate the remainder of the match, cleaning up in the rest of the major categories rather easily.


octo vs. Bcks

Octo is coming into the contest as the favorite to win it all this year. His first challenge is a fellow old schooler who was a good GE player a few years back. Brandon has since fell into inactivity, like so many others have. Seems like octo will have a pretty easy ride moving on out of round one.

[Comet]

To make up for my lack of consistent updates lately, I treat you all with episode number 3 of the DK and Comet Show with special guest Jon "Ngamer" Bearder himself. Enjoy!
Also, remember that if you want to come and and get a chance to share your opinion, feel free to contact one of us for details!
http://thengamer.com/misc/DK%20and%20Comet%20Show%203.mp3


Edit: Just as a side note...please remember this topic is NOT for general discussion and all unrelated posts will be deleted. Please refrain from filling this topic with clutter.

[silver angel]

I'd like to thank all the people who voted for me in this match. I'm glad my match was against DK, even though it didn't let me many chances for winning
Anyway, congrats to DK and best of luck for next rounds!

[Worlds-One]

"Someone:" that's funny pornstar sterling. Hmmm dead give away or?? Ive had a girlfriend for 3 years so I don't get where you get pornstar from. Just because I have experience with females in the past is pred calling me a pornstar IMHO.

Either way good match nice to see I kept it close....

[DavidK5]

Good match, SA! After getting to know you last year as I was collecting votes, I can honestly say you're one of the nicest eliters around. I would have been happy with either of us winning.



Thanks to all who voted!

[Comet]

octo 31 (75.6%)
Bcks 10 (24.4%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=21

Total votes: 41

VotDs
Someone: octo get the vote easily for all his hard work - over the last few years in particular. It would be great to see bcks posting again. He also gets a notable mention for his times page (http://www.geocities.com/bcks3/Jordan.html).

Someone: Bcks hasn't been around lately, while Octo is still making efforts to live up with the community. Plus, I'm sick of this old Hitler-like picture we're seeing since at least 2005, so this one is a 100% Octo.


Not really much to say about this one. Octo dominated everywhere except for ancient, which he still managed to win, just by a slimmer margin. This match basically played out exactly as expected, and no surprises at all. Probably the most notable thing about this match was the absurdly low vote total...only 41 votes cast, which, if I'm not mistaken, was the lowest total all year outside of the play-in.

Comet vs. PDO

My own match up! I go up against a fellow Canadian in PDO. I like to think we are quite similar in many ways...the biggest difference being PDO is more of an old schooler while I am of the newer class. Hope it's a good one and happy voting everyone!

[Comet]

In another old school versus new school clash, we had two PD playing Canadians going head to head

Comet 32 (62.7%)
PDO 19 (37.3%)
http://www.thengamer.com/updates/elite/2009/match.php?match=22

Total votes: 51

VotDs
Someone: Tonight's sky is a Perfectly Dark One... but wait! What's that I see? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a Comet, and it's heading directly toward my vote!

Someone: I like PDO - he's a good guy, and I've always gotten along well with him. However, after spending the morning listening to the DK & Comet show, I can't ignore such a great contribution to the community.


It looks like the new school prevails once again! Comet (yes, I know, that's me) managed to gain the support of the groups neither Eliters really draw from. SFF really wasn't and issue here either, as PDO managed to win the ancient voters, PD, and the NA vote...all the places where he draws best from. PDO was also able to keep it close in chat, only falling by 3 in arguably Comet's strongest category. The big decider in the match, however, was the fact the Europe sided almost entirely with Comet...he took Europe 15-2, a 13 vote difference, which was the vote differential to which the match was decided by.


Looking at the next match, which is a very interesting one

Thiradell vs. marsh

Another match up between the new school and the old school. We have our newest updater, and one of the youngest, newest members of the Elite going up against a former PD champ, who has basically dominated every game he's ever played. Marsh has a lot of gaming talent, and has a lot of respect from the communtiy while Third is an up and comer and could really be a wildcard in this match. With the strong support of the old school so far in this contest, don't be surprised if the lower seeded marsh takes this match. Also, just a note of how close the experts think this will be...the line for this match was set at 50%.

[Comet]

I'd also just like to take this opportunity to thank all who voted for me in this match. PDO is someone I would consider a good friend around here, and it's just a shame one of us had to lose so quickly in this contest.