Climbing the RRWC 2024 Knockout Stage Bracket
Over four weeks, 32 became 1
The Roulette Rivals World Championship is the most popular and prestigious event in the Hitman community, hosted by Frote7’s Speedrun Community. If you’re interested in the rules of roulette, check out the articles about the basics here. This is the third and final part of the RRWC 2024 recap: you can read about part 1 and part 2 in their respective articles.
The group stage of the 2024 Roulette Rivals World Championship ended on November 9th, which saw 64 entrants get whittled down to a final 32. For the first time in the tournament’s history, these 32 players were drawn into a single-elimination bracket. This meant longer matches, no second chances, and (potentially) more surprises along the way.
The following article revisits RRWC 2024’s Knockout Stage, the four-week-long 32-match spectacle that crowned a world champion.
Winners No More
The defending champion, overall first seed TheTimeCube was also the most successful player of the group stage with 38 points1, so it was only fitting that he was slotted into the very first position in the bracket. He continued his win streak with another solid performance over CurryMaker, tying just one map (the only tie of the knockout stage) along the way.
Cabben’s triumphant return to roulette brought him his first knockout stage appearance, but also one of the toughest second-seeds in quatilyti, who didn’t allow a map for the Swede. In the other section, a long-awaited Yannini-In4Fun matchup was anticipated, but the champions got there with surprisingly narrow wins over zRune and Peter Dutton MP respectively.
TheTimeCube remained one of the tournament favorites, and certainly the favorite of his quarter at the start of the Round of 16, but quatilyti thought differently. Despite losing a 21-minute Chongqing, the Russian took a commanding 6-2 lead, and after narrowly losing Marrakesh in a photo finish, he got the job done in Mumbai.
1263 days after they met in the RR5 PC Final, Yannini and In4Fun finally faced off again in Roulette Rivals. Here In4Fun scored the only sweep of the second round, with their match lasting 25:59 over four maps, even faster than their RR4 encounter on Berlin, Dartmoor, and Dubai. As a result, both group winners were eliminated in the first two rounds, opening the path for second-placed quatilyti or In4Fun into the Final Four.
Lightning Strikes Twice
The second quarter of the RRWC 2024 knockout bracket is widely regarded as the toughest eight-player section of all time, featuring three champions, two finalists, the best Roulette League player, and two all-around solid players with nothing to lose. These latter two, HOUSEN and ChannelJoined, would be responsible for turning this bracket upside-down.
They didn’t get the acknowledgment they deserved, but three players reached their 100th match in the group stage of this RRWC, and all of Phanium, IlikeHitman, and Pigiero won their milestone matches:
Unfortunately, the fate of the three new inductees to the Club 100 was the same, a Round 1 exit. IlikeHitman couldn’t surprise second-seeded Nezuko Chan, Pigiero was swept by a top-form Scruffy, and Phanium lost to ChannelJoined in one of the upsets of the tournament. In the last Round 1 match, Moo won a rapid back-and-forth match against HOUSEN, where no one took two maps in a row, but scored five Personal Bests along the way.
Despite his impressive upset, few have expected ChannelJoined to fare further in the bracket, given his next opponent was Scruffy. To everyone’s shock, however, Channel won three maps in a row to take a 6-2 lead, putting the RR14 champ one map away from elimination. Yesteryear’s Scruffy might have folded under the pressure, but not this one: three impressive first tries2 turned the game around and the Irishman survived the Round of 16.
In the adjacent Round 2 match, Moo and Nezuko Chan faced off to meet Scruffy in the battle of the Brits. There were only small mistakes on either side, but mostly Moo restarted from them, leaving Nezuko to claim his biggest victory yet and Top 8 for the first time in his RR career.
Consistency is King
Along with favorites Dein Nomos and The Rieper 47, two surprises were drawn in the third quarters: lukedotpng, who defeated Phanium on his way to win Group D, and Qrescent7, who finished ahead of Frote7 in Group A. This section was so open, that any third or fourth seeds could also reasonably win it.
In reality, no upsets happened and the better seed won five of the six matches. Dein Nomos got the better of Ducker on all four maps, while Qrescent7 dominated his match against ThatObserver. After a 24-minute opening Haven spin, lukedotpng found his groove to eliminate davidredsox, while The Rieper 47 won one of the toughest Round 1 matches against Jokerj convincingly.
By defeating Qrescent7 with a strong 8-2 score, Dein Nomos won his eighth match in a row, a new personal best for the Indonesian. After a closely fought match, The Rieper 47 would become his opponent: with his narrow 6-8 defeat, lukedotpng finished ninth for the fourth tournament in a row.
Dein and Rieper’s Quarter-final matchup would become the most anticipated of the four, due to their similar career paths (RR12 vs RR14 runner-up) and both of them being the beacon of consistency lately.
Sweeps and Successes
The final quarter was widely considered Music Inc’s domain, though the heavy favorite still had a difficult Frote7 looming as a potential Round 2 opponent. He remained as threatening even after only narrowly beating Alph 8-6.
Three of the four Round 1 matches here ended in sweeps: graory and Music Inc allowed no maps to Fly4u and OhShitMan respectively, while ChrisX3 became the only third-seed to sweep a match in the knockout stage, at the expense of BigMachete13.
Chris’ strong return to Roulette Rivals continued with another upset, this time against group winner graory, becoming the only third-seed to advance to the final eight. Meanwhile, Music Inc played his closest match yet but still beat Frote7 8-4 in a quick six-mapper.
With the stage set for the Quarter-finals, an interesting parity was observed. The only two RR champions left (Scruffy and In4Fun) were both found in the upper half, while the lower half had four one-time runners-up remaining: ChrisX3 played finals in RR6 (more than three years ago!), Dein Nomos in RR12, The Rieper 47 in RR14, and Music Inc last time around in RR15.
The Battle for Thirty-third
While the competition was slowly whittled to eight and beyond, a different group of eight players also decided to make their November special. Organized by Dynaso, Fight for Fifth was a community event held among the eight fifth-place finishers of the group stage, the best players to miss out on the knockout stage.
An invitational event with people of similar caliber is always a promising concept, but the final result exceeded all expectations. Four of the seven matches went down to the final map, but the remaining games were also close. With a 10-6 victory over Channel Reindeer, Parapluie was crowned the Fight for Fifth champion, with SovietDubov and aphro rounding off the Top 4.
Unprecedented Lengths
Throughout RR history, only seven matches lasted until the winner reached ten points: the four World Championship finals and this year’s three regular finals. In the final two weeks of the World Championship, seven more of these matches would be played, with four players who never played these lengths before.
TheTimeCube-slayer quatilyti had already equaled his best-ever result by advancing to the Quarters. He had high hopes of making it even further, seeing he beat In4Fun in their previous encounter one year ago. After both players took their map picks, In4Fun won Dartmoor’s Consumed Poison spin. Then Quatilyti won Marrakesh’s Prisoner spin before In4Fun won the match on favorable RNG maps (Isle of Sgàil and Bangkok).
One champion survived and the other one followed through as Scruffy defeated Nezuko in the most entertaining match of the round. With almost no mistakes on either side, each map took 6:44 or less, making the Quarterfinal last just 39 minutes despite taking eight maps. Highlights of the match include Nezuko Chan’s flawless Bangkok which would have been Scruffy’s first match point, and a Dartmoor which lasted almost six minutes thanks to late rips from both players.
The Dein Nomos vs The Rieper 47 Quarter-final started with two shaky maps: a 10-minute Miami and a 14-minute Mumbai. Unfortunately for Dein, a game crash came at the worst time and he narrowly lost Mumbai to it, despite having better in-game time. After the bad news, the Indonesian still managed to equalize, but it was all Rieper's from then on, winning the match 10-4, the largest gap in the Round of 8.
ChrisX3 said he didn’t have high hopes before his match against Music Inc, but being the underdog has benefits: most of the pressure to perform rested on the Canadian. Despite an impressive Paris from Music, ChrisX3 took the early lead, 4-2 into three shorter maps. The RR15 finalist ran the board on these quick spins, earning him three match points. Though Chris started a comeback with a Colorado win, Music put the game away in Mumbai, earning himself two more matches in December. ChrisX3 didn’t make it to a final this time, but this one was still a memorable comeback tournament from one of 2021’s best players.
Inevitable
Watch: The Rieper 47 vs Music Inc, the second match in RR history to reach map #10.
There were mixed sentiments regarding the four players left in RRWC 2024. On the one hand, they have all accomplished great things throughout the year, so they could easily have a shot in any given match, and the win could come down to the form of the day. On the other hand, Scruffy and Music Inc have been the two best players throughout the tournament, and even if they meet consistent, solid opponents, there’s little chance they would lose a long match like a Semi-final.
The first ever First-to-12 match in Roulette Rivals history was held between The Rieper 47 and Music Inc on December 1st. Rieper took the lead by the tiniest of margins (roughly 2.5 seconds) before Music stormed through to a 6-2 score on three quick maps. But as Rieper took Miami in 7 minutes, and Colorado in just 6:07, the game was back to even after the six chosen maps.
The first random map brought a quick Berlin spin, which Music flew through in just 5:01, #2 on the all-time leaderboard as of the end of 2024. This map, as well as the Isle of Sgail, featured two first-try runs, with Rieper finishing just outside the photo finish range. The Hokkaido spin went Rieper’s way, for a score of 8-10, but there was no deciding map as Music Inc secured his spot in the final with a strong Haven Island performance.
But which European would meet Canadian Music Inc in the final, the RR13 or the RR14 champion? Scruffy had the lead on each of the first four maps, staying green twice, but having to restart twice as well: 4-4 after Berlin. In4Fun struggled to get going in Bangkok, then Scruffy ripped to a guard’s head turn in Hokkaido. Like the day before, the Semi-finalists entered the random maps at a score of 6-6.
In Colorado, both players struggled with Penelope Electrocution but Scruffy’s second try was a lot faster. Later in Sapienza he also escaped several close calls to finish as the Hungarian kept struggling. Down 6-10, In4Fun couldn’t have liked the execution-heavy Dubai as the first match point, and there were no more surprises: a quick photo finish waive confirmed Scruffy as the second finalist.
Favorites throughout the tournament, but never having met before: the first step of the Scruffy vs Music Inc rivalry would begin in the fifth world championship final.
Not pictured on the brackets, but the tournament featured a third-place playoff for the first time. Though originally advertised as a First-to-12, The Rieper 47 and In4Fun agreed to shorten it to a First-to-8. While motivation was low on both sides, the second-to-last match of the world championship turned out to be an exciting one. Rieper took the lead on Dubai, and then In4Fun pulled ahead. From 2-4 down, Rieper took the remaining three maps, including a Hokkaido in which both players struggled with the Falling Object kill.
The World Championship Final
And so the stage was set for the greatest match of the year, between RR12 and RR14 champion Scruffy, and RR15 runner-up Music Inc. Both entered the final undefeated, on a winning streak of 11, both wanting to do better than last time. This was Scruffy’s second world championship final, one year after losing to TheTimeCube 8-10. This match would not end at 10 points though, a staggering 14 were needed to become world champion.
The Grand Final had to feature fourteen different maps, so there wasn’t a lot of room for bans: apart from Mumbai, Mendoza (banned by Scruffy), Paris, Bangkok (banned by Music Inc), and Dartmoor (only map not chosen by RNG), every other map could have been played. Both players were confident in the same map pool, so it was down to the players to perform on Sunday, 8th December.
Music Inc’s first world championship final started with nerves: he and Scruffy were tied in New York until Music forgot to pick up his final data disk, so a photo finish was denied. Both finalists are very sharp Dubai players, with perhaps Music having one extra snail strat in his toolset. The spin came, and the strat was used, but Scruffy’s simpler solution was still faster, 4-0.
After the two fastest (available) maps, players moved to two of the slowest maps of the final. The Berlin spin was open-ended, with Scruffy starting Biker and Music going for Club Crew start. After a couple of restarts, Scruffy’s got a 90-second lead, most of which he carried to the finish. Thanks to late rips from both players, Santa Fortuna lasted a staggering 16 minutes, but Scruffy again finished first by 38 seconds.
Spectators started to worry about the final’s competitiveness, and more people started mentioning the RR15 final, in which Music lost 0-10. Luckily no sweep would happen on the biggest stage, as Music Inc would get on the board with a Chongqing win, beating Scruffy by 19 seconds.
Two different electrocution methods battled in Haven Island, with Scruffy’s sink proving more versatile than Music’s jacuzzi. Ambrose Island also featured a pivotal accident, and with Scruffy handling Akka's explosion better, he was already on match point. Under immense pressure to keep the final going, Music Inc extended his unbeaten record on the Isle of Sgàil to save the match to the other side of the 15-minute analyst break.
While the advertised long break would have been better used at a closer score, it still allowed players to take a rest and perhaps put the previous maps behind. It’s possible that Music did just that because he managed to outplay Scruffy on a map the Irishman had a 13-1 record.
At a score of 12-6, Scruffy’s third championship point was on Colorado. The map was even until the Maya Fall approach: Scruffy quickly chain lured her above the slurry pit, while Music had to restart due to a guard being revived too quickly. After succeeding on a similar Sean kill that cursed his RR15 elimination match against Ducker, Scruffy didn’t put a foot wrong and won Colorado, and the 2024 world championship.
With his win, Scruffy became the fourth world champion after In4Fun (2020), DaniButa (2021 & 2022), and TheTimeCube (2023). He also became the sixth player to win at least three titles (behind Ducker on 6, Phanium on 5, Frote7 on 4, and Yannini & DaniButa on 3). Music Inc is now 0-2 in Grand Finals but is surely the closest to becoming RR’s newest champion, while The Rieper 47 scored his second medal in 2024.
Watch: Scruffy vs Music Inc, the 2024 world championship final.
What’s next?
While many in the community like to begin their periodic break after the world championship, there is still a lot to look forward to before the holidays and in the new year:
The first RR Awards will be hosted by CurryMaker on Sunday, December 15th, celebrating the best players, matches, and moments of the year.
Frote7’s Speedrun Community is conducting an end-of-year survey. Admins are asking about the general sentiment on Roulette Rivals and potential changes to its format and rules, followed by speedrun-related questions.
Players are grinding roulette in a relatively new way. In Trilogy Roulette, the goal is to complete the 19 maps in order, like in an actual speedrun. The current record is 1:56, held by Moo but with more challengers on the horizon.
Those who prefer head-to-head competitions can find friendly races in Providence. Ranked matches have returned to the Roulette League Discord, with Roulette Divisions likely returning there in a few weeks.
That is 19 maps won, and only 2 lost: one to Frote7 and one to Qrescent7.
This includes a map record. Scruffy’s first two map wins (Map 1: Dubai and Map 5: Hokkaido) were both records.