A Better, Fairer, Summer Event
RR17's Swiss Stage recap
Roulette Rivals 17 is the newest installment of the primary Hitman tournament series, hosted by Frote7’s Speedrun Community. If you’re unfamiliar with the rules of roulette, be sure to check out the introductory articles on the basics.
Following the positive reception of the debut of the Swiss format in Roulette Rivals 16, admins faced important decisions about the future direction of the series. On one hand, plenty of improvements were identified that could make a second Swiss tournament even better. On the other hand, time constraints made it difficult to run three more tournaments in 2025, especially with RR16 ending two weeks later than similar “Winter” editions.
The final decision was to host another Swiss tournament, this time in a new Summer slot: June and July, halfway between RR16 and the 2025 World Championship. RR17 builds upon the foundation of its predecessor with several technical improvements:
The primary tiebreaker was changed to Differential instead of Buchholz, giving players more direct control over their standing, rather than relying on their opponents’ performance.
Instead of a fully random draw, a Buchholz-balanced algorithm was introduced to ensure fairer pairings, compensating players who had tougher opponents earlier in the tournament.
The Knockout Stage draw followed the RRWC model: the top 16 players were divided into four seeded pots, each containing four competitors, drawn into a semi-random bracket.
The condition pool also went through significant changes before RR17. Four unique kills were added (Silvio Seaplane, Yuki Sauna, Rico Hippo, Jorge Cocaine Machine), bringing the total to nine. Meanwhile, some of the most debated Impact Explosive and Loud Live kills were banned (such as Hush), but at the cost of some tricky Accidents returning (like Yuki Fire). All of these changes will be evaluated after the tournament.
The main trade-off of the Swiss format is a reduced number of tournaments: RR17 will be the last regular Roulette Rivals event of the year. This shift was acknowledged by the admin team, and further discussions around tournament structure are expected at the end of the year.1 But for now, the spotlight is on RR17: who’s off to the strongest start in roulette’s second-ever Swiss Stage?
Round 1
Just like in RR16 four months earlier, the opening match of Roulette Rivals 17 featured GleBaLK, who once again suffered a defeat, this time to Nezuko Chan. It was an unusually packed opening day, with four more matches played, including several sweeps and Kum Boychuk’s victorious return after RRWC 2024.
Three rookies made successful debuts in Round 1: magicdave94 earned a win over AlexHiller, while Smokelweiss and Omni_TMN were handed tough opponents in Alph and Frote7, respectively.
The completely random Round 1 draw resulted in surprisingly few close contests. Apart from Zi defeating Pac 7-3, only two matches reached a fifth map: Some Random Person’s back-and-forth win over returning player Meekah, and SpottheCat’s upset over Ducker.
Not every result was predictable, though. One matchup, in particular, stood out as an especially unlucky draw for both players. The highlight of Round 1 was Dein Nomos vs graory, a clash between the RR16 runner-up and one of RR17’s most prepared competitors. After a tense Dubai, graory completed a sweep with wins in Santa Fortuna and New York, establishing himself as one of the tournament favorites.
Round 2
48 players prepared for the Round 2 draw, which was still essentially fully random aside from the rule that Round 1 winners would face other winners, while 0-point players were matched with fellow 0-pointers. This seemingly simple setup produced the closest Swiss round to date, featuring a record four 5–5 ties.
Round 2 began with ChrisX3 defeating Frote7 in their first meeting since the RR6 Grand Final. The following night, Dein Nomos claimed his first win of RR17, overcoming BigMachete13, which both players considered an unlucky draw.
That same evening, viewers witnessed a streak of 5–5 ties in back-to-back matches. First, CurryMaker and aphro each took two maps, along with a Santa Fortuna timeout. Then, lukedotpng and Yannini ended level as well: after Yannini jumped out to a 4–0 lead, Luke mounted a comeback that included a photo-finish tie in New York. As if that weren’t enough, a day later, HOUSEN came back from a 0–4 deficit to force a Miami decider, ultimately tying it with In4Fun. Finally, PurpleKey and rookie Smokelweiss wrapped up Round 2 with yet another 5–5.
Round 2 had plenty of exciting, decisive results as well: Qrescent swept Alph in a clash of rising talents, while SpottheCat continued his strong form by defeating Zi. But the most significant result came from quatilyti, whose 6–4 win over Scruffy ended the defending champion’s 23-match win streak.
Round 3
With both RR16 finalists, Scruffy and Dein Nomos, already having dropped a point, and a larger-than-usual group of players carrying draws on their records, the middle round draws promised to be more exciting than in RR16.
Four matches featured players on two points, with results ranging from convincing sweeps by Qrescent7 and graory to a surprise 5–5 tie between Jokerj and SpottheCat. quatilyti became the fourth and final player to reach 3 points in 3 matches, defeating Nezuko Chan, while In4Fun, HOUSEN, and lukedotpng all followed just half a point behind.
Both RR16 finalists faced challenges in Round 3: Scruffy lost Bangkok to Peter Dutton PM, who extended his win streak there to 10 spins, while Dein Nomos could only manage a narrow 6–4 victory over Kum Boychuk. Long-time players such as Frote7, Ducker, and ThatObserver also notched their second wins this round. Players sitting on one point, like CodenameKenny and Meekah, found themselves down but certainly not out, even at this stage.
Also securing their final tickets to potential qualification were those who won their first matches in Round 3, including aphro, BigMachete13, and Channel Reindeer.
Round 4
Eliminations began late in Round 3, while the first confirmed advancing players emerged in Round 4. In RR16, 17 players finished with 4 points or more, but this time (due to a slightly smaller field), it was expected, though not guaranteed, that 3.5 points would be enough to qualify.
Moo skipped Round 4, leaving three players with a chance to stay perfect after four rounds. In the top matchup of the round, two players met who had yet to lose a map: graory jumped out to a 4–0 lead and eventually secured a 6–2 win over Qrescent7.
All matches featuring 2.5-point players ended decisively: quatilyti kept his momentum after beating Scruffy, this time defeating HOUSEN. In4Fun triumphed over lukedotpng in a battle of 2.5-pointers, while SpottheCat continued his rise with a win over ThatObserver.
Aside from Observer, 14 players with 2 points awaited their Round 4 opponents, and to everyone’s delight (except the two players), Scruffy and Dein Nomos were drawn against each other. In a rematch of the RR12 and RR16 Grand Finals, Dein Nomos finally got his revenge for the past two defeats, putting Scruffy in a must-win position with two rounds remaining.
With their third wins, players like ChannelJoined, Alph, and Ducker moved within reach of qualification, while Frote7, apricope, and Pigiero remained one step behind. Some of the closest results came from 1-point vs 1-point matchups: Meekah, Channel Reindeer, TK47, and magicdave94 stayed in contention thanks to clutch performances on decider maps.
Round 5
The Swiss system worked its magic again: by Round 5, most matches were considered too close to call. The final two undefeated players, graory and quatilyti, met on the final Monday of the Swiss Stage and delivered one of the most entertaining, high-level games of the tournament, eventually won by quatilyti after a few restarts in Sgàil.
That same Monday featured several other exciting and impactful matchups. SpottheCat defeated In4Fun 6–2 to secure a spot in the Knockout Stage, as well as a career-best Top 16 finish. Moo returned to action and picked up his fourth point by beating ChannelJoined. Meanwhile, Lord Munk and Meekah made the qualification race even more interesting by drawing 5–5, putting both on 2.5 points after five rounds.
Also advancing by the end of Round 5 were Nezuko Chan, Dein Nomos, and Qrescent7, all earning their fourth wins. Yannini defeated aphro to reach 3.5 points, confident that his tiebreakers would be strong enough to see him through even with a Round 6 loss.
Among the 2-point elimination matches, most of the favorites advanced, including Pigiero, Scruffy, and Frote7. There were no 6–4 results in this group, just the Meekah-Munk draw and one notable outcome: Kum Boychuk eliminated ThatObserver to stay alive in his Knockout Stage fight, hoping to improve on his career-best 25th place from RR15.
Though they could no longer advance, players with 1 point or less produced some of the round’s closest and most exciting matches. Highlights included 6–4 wins from Crazy4Daisy, Script, and Peter Dutton PM; a 5–5 draw between PurpleKey and DeadlyMuffin_Man; and Dynaso picking up his first point against GiggsRH.
Round 6
Only nine players were guaranteed to advance after five rounds, and a mad dash was underway to fill the remaining seven spots. At the same time, players were looking to end their Swiss Stage on a high note: some for personal satisfaction, others to secure the best possible seed for the Knockout Stage.
More than half of the Round 6 matches had direct Knockout Stage implications. The first decider was won by Ducker, who convincingly defeated TK47 to secure his first Top 16 finish since RR15, ten months ago. The following evening, Moo completed his unbeaten Swiss Stage, defeating Dein Nomos for his fifth win in five rounds. That same night, Yannini got revenge for his RRWC 2024 loss to In4Fun, scoring a strong 6-2 win.
Later that evening, two more crucial deciders were played. Alph swept ChannelJoined to reach his second consecutive KO Stage, while Pigiero beat Frote7 6–2 to emerge as the top-performing Dutch player of RR17. Although CodenameKenny lost his elimination match to Scruffy, all three Dutchmen finished 21st or better, marking the country’s best tournament performance in years. The final 3–3-point decider was won by Kum Boychuk, who defeated Zi to reach the Top 16 for the first time.
The battle for the last two qualification spots remained uncertain throughout the week. lukedotpng, sitting on 2.5 points and a negative map differential, needed both a sweep and outside help to advance. First, he delivered a 6–0 win over Meekah2, then, when HOUSEN lost 0–6, Luke leapfrogged him in the standings. This set up a winner-takes-all match between aphro and Lord Munk, and after a tense Ambrose Island, it was Munk who clinched the final spot.
Everything about the Knockout Stage was locked in by Saturday evening, allowing for an early bracket draw. The final day of the Swiss Stage featured two matches without Top 16 implications, won by SkyL3R and PurpleKey, respectively.
The Complete Table
The second-ever Swiss Stage of Roulette Rivals went much smoother than the first, with only eight of the 132 matches ending in forfeits. This tournament also featured a perfect 6/6 player: last time Scruffy converted the #1 seed into the title, which can make quatilyti hopeful for the next two weeks. The Russian faced exceptionally tough competition; at one point, there was a possibility that all six of his Swiss opponents would advance, and in the end, four still did.
All three 5-point players showed great potential throughout the Swiss Stage. Moo went undefeated, skipping only Round 4; graory came very close to defeating quatilyti in Round 5; and Qrescent7 was virtually flawless aside from a slip-up against graory. While drawing a match is usually associated with having a more complicated path later on, both Yannini and SpottheCat managed the Swiss Stage perfectly, each scoring four wins alongside an early 5–5 draw. Yannini showed his best form in quite some time, and SpottheCat has emerged as the strongest among a long list of great players returning after a break.
Both RR16 finalists ended their stage with four points: Dein Nomos lost an inconsequential last round, while Scruffy easily won his decider. Due to the smaller field this year, only 7 players ended up on 4 points (compared to 11 in RR16), with Alph and Nezuko Chan returning to the Knockout Stage after RR16, while Ducker, Kum Boychuk, and Pigiero made it there for the first time this year.
The battle for the final qualifying spots unfolded differently this time: the threshold ended up at 3.5 points, with map differential deciding the outcome. In4Fun was not in danger in Round 6; Lord Munk’s 6–2 win proved more than enough, and lukedotpng nervously waited through all of Round 6 before learning he had just barely edged out HOUSEN.
Though they narrowly missed out, the efforts of Zi, CodenameKenny, ChannelJoined, and aphro deserve applause; they would have qualified under slightly different circumstances. All three rookies, magicdave94 (2 points), Omni_TMN (2 points), and Smokelweiss (1.5 points), had impressive first tournaments, and overall, everyone won multiple maps throughout the event, with many winning one or more matches as well.
A New Dawn?
Saturday’s semi-seeded draw set the path for the final sixteen as they now compete for the RR17 title. Unlike last time, there are no immediate rematches like Jokerj facing Nezuko Chan in Swiss Round 6 and again in the Round of 16 six days later. Fittingly, #1 seed quatilyti was drawn into the first spot, facing Lord Munk, the last player to advance chronologically. Yannini will meet Ducker for the eighth time in their careers, leading their head-to-head 5–2.
The second quarter features four players who reached the knockout stage again after RR16, including Dein Nomos, who made it all the way to the Final in March. While he then defeated In4Fun along the way, a rematch may be unlikely, as RR16 Quarter-finalist Qrescent7 is currently considered the player in the best form, sweeping five of his six Swiss matches.
From the third quarter, someone will make it to the Semi-Finals for the first time in their career. It promises to be a close battle between the in-form graory, the lightning-fast Nezuko Chan, the consistently top-10 finisher lukedotpng, and the dark horse, returning SpottheCat.
Depending on how you look at it, the final quarter could be seen as either second-seeded Moo’s domain or defending champion Scruffy’s territory. Many expect their likely Quarter-final clash to shape the bottom half of the bracket, but Pigiero is playing his best tournament in years, and Kum Boychuk is ready to pull off a surprise.
Five RR champions remain in the tournament, including Scruffy and a promising Yannini. However, none of the Swiss Stage’s top four finishers have won a title yet, raising the question: Will RR17 finally be the tournament to crown roulette’s 13th champion? In the next two weeks, we’ll get all our answers.
Roulette Rivals 17 runs from May 30th to July 13th in Frote7’s Speedrun Community. Spectators can follow the results in several places both inside and outside the Discord server. All scheduled matches appear on the HITMAPS main page, while detailed results are available on the RRStats website and the community spreadsheet.
Community sentiment may change, but for now, a popular compromise for next year could be to hold two Double Elimination tournaments, one Swiss event, and the year-ending Roulette Rivals World Championship.
This match counts as a forfeit win, with Meekah forfeiting due to technical reasons at a 4-0 Luke lead.