A highly anticipated match today as SupernovaStarbright meets Trapdoorspyder - for the third time in this tournament, in fact. This has become one of the classic pairings, as no two operators have met each other as often, and going into the bout the score is tied - their first meeting in Bout #13 was a DuckTank win, while their more recent interaction in Bout 21 was famously the bout that SupernovaStarbright threw in order to get onto Trapdoorspyder’s LED board. We of course can’t know what happens behind the scenes here at the arena halls but the rumour is that she has recanted that position, and possibly also that Trapdoorspyder reneged on his side of the deal anyway, so we should see a more competitive match today.

In the left, in position 4, it’s DuckTank - still a chunky little pusher, now decked out with a nuclear engine to give some heft to its battering ram / cow catcher combo. Assessors seem to think that DuckTank is now likely to have similar pushing power to Hard Hat, but of course the shoving meta has faded a bit since the mid-portion of this tournament - we’ll see if Annoy-o-Tron has the answers.

Except that Annoy-o-Tron is no more! Over in position 15, instead of the usual mound-shaped body, we have the newly rechristened B.A.D, as it seems like Trapdoorspyder wants to capitalise on his recent infamy - under the hood it looks like the same sort of loadout as Annoy-o-Tron, but the whole presentation is much gothier, like the robot version of black eyeliner and a tattoo on the inside of your lip.

And they’re off!

DuckTank steams forward to position 13, getting right into the range of B.A.D.‘s axe but not close enough to get a shove in or give a poke with that battering ram - but what do I know - position is everything here, after all. B.A.D. declines to take a swing, instead opting for an evasive move, clearly anticipating a shove, but DuckTank has anticipated the anticipation and makes its own blocking pattern, trying to dissuade B.A.D. from attempting to bypass! This is some very high-level tactical play from these two, play and counter-play being rolled out seamlessly - and the crowd loves it - even BAD is getting some encouraging cheers amongst the usual boos.

BAD breaks formation first, swinging in with a quick axe attack - but this requires BAD to stand still for a second, and that gives DuckTank an opening, which it uses to crunch forward, moving to position 17 and pushing BAD to 18 in the process! The damage from the ram is superficial but the danger is acute - the edge of the arena is right there - BAD tries evasive moves again but DuckTank snaps right back into that blocking pattern, keeping BAD corralled into the corner, and BAD is going to try to fight its way out, another huge swing with that axe, but DuckTank isn’t missing an opportunity like that! One more big shove and that’s it - BAD is in the gutter and out of this match! What a Bout!

DuckTank wins by TKO!