L-Block vs Link vs Cloud vs Snake 2007
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Contents |
[edit] Results
[edit] Stats and Analysis
| Round | Final |
|---|---|
| Match # | 63 |
| Match Date | Sunday, November 4th, 2007 |
| Oracle Expectations | Link - 30.77% L-Block - 28.89% Cloud - 25.69% Solid Snake - 14.61% |
| GameFAQs Expectations | L-Block first place (64pts) - 0.27% L-Block second place (32pts) - 0.72% Link second place (64pts) - 9.00% Link first place (32pts) - 32.47% |
| Top Two Prediction | L-Block - 0.99% (364) Link - 41.47% (15,229) |
- L-Block finishing in the top two was the #1 most surprising result of 2007
- the result was also the #1 most surprising result of All-Time, surpassing the old mark of 6.04% achieved by Cloud when he won the 2003 Contest
This was the single most anticipated and important match in four and a half years -- since Cloud/Link 2003. I actually made up an excuse to my friends so I could be home by midnight to catch the craziest contest final ever. no way was I going to miss a Tetris Block against our contest gods, Link and Cloud.
To people who follow our contests closely, Link is a force, a character that has an aura of absolute invincibility. Link is so revered for his contest strength that when people suggested Cloud as a possible winner, they were usually met with jeers and insults. Link was seen as being so invincible that, even when the hugest bandwagon you can ever imagine formed, people still picked him to win the contest. I won't call it "fanboyism", but people have come to expect Link to crush everything in sight. The only thing that can stand up to Link is Cloud, and even then it takes Wind Waker pictures and Kingdom Hearts and who knows what other factors in order to eke out a win. Even then, Link came back and beat him worse the next year, and then even worse the next year, and then won by even more the year after. Link is unstoppable. Even the analysis crew sided heavily with Link - even Cloud had more picks to win the contest than L. Clinkfear! ohh yeah.
that's what makes this match rank so high. L-Block, by all reasonable expectations, should have been viewed as the favourite here. everyone could see the bandwagon growing, but few would admit that Link was actually in trouble. even when L-Block took its familiar massive lead -- 55% of the vote after five minutes -- people still held out hope for Link. truly, this match was over in the opening minutes, and was almost anticlimactic by the way L-Block dominated during its first hour. but in a way, that was what made it so amazing. when was the last time Link or Cloud was done for in the opening minutes of a poll? I'm gonna go with "never", but L-Block made that happen.
L came out with its domination in the opening minutes. 65, 70% was nothing new, but to see it happening against Link was an impressive performance indeed. L had a lead of 820 votes at the freeze, and when the first update came, another 500 got added. at 00:20, it was up to 2000. L built a 5500 vote lead on Link in three hours, and then went essentially 50/50 for the rest of the match en route to a 7300 vote win.
the real sight to see here was the board - never before have I seen anything like this. board 8 has never been this fast, unless there's a tight match at the end. there was nothing but L-Block topics. we received 195,000 votes. that's insane, 25 hour match or not. it was a fitting end to a ridiculous contest, the greatest single contest run in history. L-Block will probably never be repeated, but you can't say the words "Character Battle VI" without thinking "L-Block".
[edit] Match Trends
[edit] Ed Bellis' Analysis
I couldn’t decide which L-Block triumph should be highest, and in the end this one wins out for being the ultimate victory, the ultimate joke character gone horribly, horribly wrong. L-Block vs. Snake was where people starting really believing that this could happen, but it wasn’t until this poll began that it truly sunk in: Link was losing. The king was dead… to a Tetris block.
A breakneck first hour acquiesced to an inevitable truth… the 2007 contest had ended, and L-Block was king. All glory to the Block.
