D6 and OT15 Thoughts
Posted on: June 29, 2022, at 09:17:56am

After spending a couple of months agonizingly close to achieving D6 (<20% of a level away), I finally managed to get the last score I needed yesterday. 6-0-1-2 on Grief & Malice, who would have thought?? With the OT starting in just a couple of days, this is really perfect timing -- since I'd already been placed to compete in D6 this year anyway.

Like last year, I'm planning to keep a brief log here of my thoughts each round. Might shadow d5 as well, just out of curiosity how I would have done if I had been placed there.

Round 1: NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A [[BIG SHOT]] (gomotion RMX) (Score: 8-0-2-1, 13rg; cutoff 30.4 rg)
Quite a fun file, but there are some easily mindblockable bursts in this. Struggled a bit on the first day of the round, but after taking a day off any trying it again, I'm now sitting on 8-0-2-1. I think this will likely see me through to r2, so I'll probably leave my score there unless it looks like I'll be in danger.
D5: Walking the Streets of a Former Hell (Score: 1-0-0-0, 1 rg; cutoff: did you even play the song)
Swing file with a scary ass trill in the middle. Sightread the blackflag (51ms in the trill).

Round 2: Janus (Score: 14-0-1-4, 17.2 rg; cutoff 27.2 rg)
I have to be honest -- I really don't care for this file. Nor am I super excited that we've had two jack files back-to-back. Hoping 17.2 rg will see me through to round 3.
D5: GLAZ (Score: AAA; cutoff 36.2 rg)
Really enjoyed this file and picked up the AAA on my first full playthrough. Really jealous that d5 got such a fun file.

Round 3: Micro Media Broth (Score: 9-0-0-2, 9.4 rg; cutoff: 34.4 rg)
My first impression upon seeing this had been picked for this round was that we had received another glut-heavy song. However, this plays infinitely more comfortably than Janus did. My first play was 12-1-3-0, then improved to 9-0-0-2 on my second try, which was very unexpected (but welcome!). I might give this another shot if I happen to have a session with some speed later this week, but otherwise I'm pretty content with my score for now. Really didn't expect to still have a shot in this tournament by round 3.
D5: The Friendly Wolf (Part 1) (Score: 4-0-0-0; cutoff: 17 rg)
This is a little like a slightly tamer Shatterscape. It's pretty easy to mistime notes here and there, so I probably won't grind out a AAA on this.

Round 4: Sapling (Score: 25-0-1-3, 28 rg; cutoff: 22.8)
Oh hey, I'm still in this somehow. Likely to be short lived, because while Skayles made a great file, it is very much not aligned with my skillset. I cut a fair number of goods in my first few plays by fiddling with my settings a bit, though I'm still sitting around 58rg and don't expect any major upscores by the end of the round. I might give my hands a couple of days off to see if that helps things.
Mid-round update: I actually managed to improve my score on this quite a lot, but the cutoff is almost assuredly going to be closer to low 20s compared to my 28. I'm not sure I really want to pressure myself to grind out that kind of score, and I'm satisfied with my OT performance thus far -- so I'm okay with going out this round.
D5: Evanescent (Score: AAA; cutoff: 8.4 rg)
I really love this chart. Good job, Pizza!

Round 5:
Sure enough, I went out at the end of round 4 in 19th place out of 58 competitors. I'm pretty happy with where I ended, to be honest -- being ranked so close to the bottom of the division at the start of the OT didn't inspire me to think I'd get this far. And now it's time to be a piss zombie!
D5: Keep Shredding, Little Man! (Score: 12-1-0-0, 13.8 rg; cutoff: 17 rg)
This file is super fun, d5 has really been getting all the best files. I feel like I have an sdg in me but haven't gotten there yet.

Round 6:
D5: The Everlasting Calamity... [more title here] ...Basis (Score: 15-0-0-2, 15.4 rg)
Probably my favorite file of the tournament so far. I'm glad I managed to set an okay score on this the first day, because I've been struggling a little bit with speed on some of my other sessions this week. There are two days left in the round as I'm typing this and I'm not 100% confident this will remain safe, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

1. 1: ToonE156
   Posted at 1:22pm on June 29th, 2022

   Glgl