Initial placement: D6
Thoughts: not very optimistic.

Ghosting D5 and D7 for funsies

---Round 1---
D5: Walking the Streets of a Former Hell 1.2x rate (10-0-0-2)
Fun file, but the hand bias forced mirror. Done on 1.2x rate for the meme factor, lets see if i can survive round 1.

D6: NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A [[BIG SHOT]] (7-0-1-1)
14.4g on sightread run, SDG is doable. I think i'll be okay despite the wooze jacks in this file. The song is poison and i cant get it out of my head- Update, got 9.6rg, feeling pretty good.

D7: The Lady Is A Trump (25-0-0-0)
I loooooove this file, but it looks like im in for a round 1 elim on my d7 ghosting adventure. The bursts in the second half are a little too demanding for me to hit consistently.
Update: Getting the hang of the patterns. mindblocks on the 32nd streams and bursty intro + consistency on the ending is making it a bit challenge, but sub 20 raw goods is doable

Thoughts: IM REALLY GOING TO HAVE TO SWEAT ROUND 1 ON A JACK FILE ;-;

---Round 2---
D5: GLAZ 1.2x (11-0-3-0)
Excellent file, jacks are hard AF on 1.2 tho
UPDATE: set this score in the last hour of the round. ezpz safe score.

D6: Janus (4-0-0-2)
One of my least favorite files in the game, not enjoying this in the slightest. can't wait for round 3 to arrive.
UPDATE: jumped from 10.6 to 4.4 on day 2. no more janus

D7: safe_space (?-?-?-?)
The "Miya punching you in the arm over and over again" experience. fun file, but takes everything i have to keep up with the jacks.

Thoughts: J FUGGIN ANUS

---Round 3---
D5: The Friendly Wolf (Part 1) 1.2x (18-0-0-1)
Love the rolly streams in this file but D5 is already getting pretty tricky to uprate... seems like this score should be safe?

D6: Micro Media Broth (14-0-0-1)
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

D7: Apocalyptix (?-?-?-?)
Probably the last round ill be able to keep up with the d7 files. JS is pretty fun but the streams at the start are pretty demanding for me.

Thoughts: Fun charts but MMB is rough to score on

---Round 4---
D5: Evanescence 1.2x (bad-bad-bad-bad)
I like the file, but its too hard for me to SDG on 1.2x, so my ghost ends here

D6: Sapling (20-0-1-2)
Barely survived this rounds cutoff- the intro bursts posed a huge problem for me and it was only by luck that i managed to scrape by. The file was wayyyy too easy to mindblock. That being said, i quite enjoyed playing it and cant wait to revisit it with a fresh mind.

Thoughts: This is getting really scary ;-;

---Round 5---
D6: POOPA (19-0-4-3)
This file is fugging hard and might pose an end of the road for me. I have a good method for maniping the ending difficulty spike, but its quite demanding overall and will take a lot of grinding for me to even stand a chance. High hopes, but it looks like I'll be going out top 16.

Thoughts: This was a lot of fun! I'm not giving up yet though! c:

Since the OT is over with, I feel the need to go back to setting goals for my play- so I'll do so here and update as I go along.

[FFR]
Top 100 scores above 81
Top 100 average above 83
Top 5 scores above 86
Set an 88 AAA Equiv score
900 Tier Points
600 AAAs
Unlock St. Scarhand [Heavy]
SDG >= 91 chart
FC a D8 chart

[Etterna]
24 MSD in Chordjacks
25 MSD in Technical
27 MSD in Jumpstreams
26 MSD in Handstreams
27 MSD in Stamina
26 MSD in Streams
26 MSD Overall
Get an AAAA

[Quaver]
Just playing for high difficulty passes at the moment- no real goals to mention

Final Placement: 6th place Division 5

Round 1: The BADDEST
Sightread - 2-0-0-0
Final - 1-0-0-0

Thoughts: Cute chart, will be annoying to AAA. Is it round 2 yet? Getting really really tired of listening to this song. Yeah, probably just going to keep the Blackflag.

------------------------------------------

Round 2: Gym Leader Battle Music [Hi Tech Remix]
Sightread - 19-0-4-3
Final - 11-0-0-2

Thoughts: whyyyyyyyy. I've come a long way with jacks in the past few days, but I'm having a really hard time closing out an SDG run on this. too many places im not consistent. will keep working on it. I got quite lucky to remain in the tournament here.

------------------------------------------

Round 3: Traveler ~Stand Aloof~ [Heavy]
Sightread - 8-0-0-0
Final - 4-0-0-0

Thoughts: Huge step down in difficulty from last round. Been playing poorly and want to take a short break from playing so the -4 is probably good enough. Very fortunate to get a break week. Overall the file is quite fun and still poses a challenge through its 24th bursts and outro stream / jack section. Hopefully a few days off helps me leave behind some bad muscle memory i've been developing and puts me in a good position for round 4 (where i'll probably need to step up my game a bit).

Update: My score has drifted down in placements pretty considerably since it was sent. Will work on a -2. Never ended up getting it, though.

------------------------------------------

Round 4: Lucid Bass II
Sightread - 38-0-0-1
Final - 6-0-0-1

Thoughts: Still easier for me than round 2. This chart presents a more diverse set of challenges, the main one being consistency on the minijacks (and not hitting them early). Very easy chart to choke. As of writing this I've got a -6.2 but I believe i can shave off a few more goods with the right run. Only going to bother if the rest of the players are closing out SDGs of their own. One way or another I'm feeling pretty safe this round. Will update if that changes.

------------------------------------------

Round 5: Tuberculosis
Sightread - 17-0-0-6
Final - 3-0-0-1

Thoughts: boi this file is fuggin hard. Hugely inconsistent on the intro and most of the middle part after the 24th wall. Going to grind my butt off to take top 8. I'm unsure if -3.2 is going to be safe with how stiff the competition is this round, but im cautiously optimistic that i can make it to round 6. Thanks for the kind words when i was initially grinding the file Marcus!

------------------------------------------

Round 6: Daraku No Sono
Sightread - 125-6-13-10
Final - 27-0-2-8

Thoughts: So this chart is REALLY not messing around. The trills, 48th bursts, and even some of the 24ths and 32nd streams provide constant chokepoints which make even scoring an FC on this chart very difficult. My entire win-condition this round depends on 3 very good players failing to score well and as a result I would predict this to be the end of my OT-14 run. I'll grind out scores until the very end, but as it currently stands i have a -33 and I'm not sure how much i can improve it.

As of the time of writing i have 1 day left to score and im just under the elimination line. I'll continue to put runs in but its looking like this is the end of the road for me. I can live with top 8.

Yup, thats the end of my OT14. Was fun.

hello!

Butt

thank you!

owo