From 16 Players to the RR16 Champion
Recap of RR16's Knockout Stage
Roulette Rivals 16 is the newest installment of the primary Hitman tournament series, hosted by Frote7’s Speedrun Community. If you’re interested in the rules of roulette, check out the articles about the basics here. Tournament results can be found on RRStats or in the community spreadsheet. This is the second part of the RR16 tournament recap; you can read about the Swiss Stage here.
The first-ever Swiss Stage in Roulette Rivals history received high community praise. All 53 players had something to play for—whether it was winning the stage, advancing to the Knockout Stage, or securing their first match or map wins. However, the Swiss Stage could only ever be a qualification stage so that the title could be decided in an intense single-elimination bracket.
Seeding for the Knockout Stage was set in advance, meaning matchups were known as soon as the Swiss Standings were finalized. Despite winning the Swiss Stage, Scruffy’s quarter seemed the hardest, featuring #16 Frote7, #8 The Rieper 47, and #9 Moo. Second-seeded ChrisX3’s quarter was the most evenly matched, featuring four quarter-finalists from last year’s world championship.
#3 Qrescent7 was surrounded by established Americans ChannelJoined and lukedotpng, as well as the returning Hashashin47. Lastly, #4 Alph had the toughest draw among the Top 4, facing Yannini in the first round before potentially meeting the winner of Nezuko Chan and Jokerj in the quarterfinals.
The Final Sixteen
The RR16 Knockout Stage began with Qrescent7 taking a 4-0 lead against ChannelJoined before securing an 8-4 victory to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. In a battle of speed and consistency, Dein Nomos got off to a 6-2 lead before quatilyti mounted a comeback for the first Map #7 of the tournament. In the straightforward Whittleton Creek decider, Dein Nomos maintained his lead from start to finish, and despite one of the biggest saves of the tournament, quatilyti ultimately lost by 13 seconds.
March 5th also saw two of the three sweeps in the Round of 16. Yannini reached the Final Eight for the first time since RR12 by defeating Alph 8-0, a match mostly remembered for Ken Upshot shenanigans. An hour later, Scruffy eliminated Frote7 in a 21-minute sweep, the fastest match of the Knockout Stage.
Thursday, March 6th, proved to be one of the most memorable days of the tournament. Nezuko Chan dominated early against Jokerj, storming to a 6-0 lead, but Joker turned the tide just in time, winning three consecutive maps. Nezuko regained control and was on the verge of victory in the Haven decider but stumbled at the final hurdle, handing Joker the win in the first-ever 8-6 reverse sweep in RR history.
The next match also went the distance, with Hashashin47 and lukedotpng tied 4-4 after their four map picks—each player winning their own selection. Luke set a new Hokkaido map record to reach match point, but Hashashin responded with a clinical Haven performance and kept his cool in the Dartmoor decider to secure the win. The American finished ninth for the fifth consecutive tournament, while the Norwegian extended his best-ever run into the Top 8.
The final evening of the Round of 16 featured two highly anticipated matchups. First, #15 In4Fun secured his first-ever win over #2 ChrisX3. Then, #9 Moo secured a commanding 8-4 victory over #8 The Rieper 47, preventing a rematch of the RR14 Grand Final.
The Fine Margins
Roulette Rivals 16’s Final Eight featured a compelling mix of players. Three players (Scruffy, In4Fun, and Dein Nomos) returned after securing Top 8 finishes in RRWC 2024. Another three (Moo, Yannini, and Qrescent) improved on their previous Top 16 placements, while Joker made a Top 8 appearance after falling in the Round of 32 last time. The outlier was Hashashin47, the only player who hadn’t competed in RRWC or any other tournament since 2023.
Kicking off the Quarter-finals, Scruffy faced Moo in the last match of the most difficult quarter. The defending champion and the RR10 runner-up each won their chosen maps, beginning with Miami—completed in under four minutes for the first time. Scruffy reclaimed the lead on the RNG maps with a clean Ambrose Island spin, then sealed the win on a chaotic Dartmoor, where both players had to restart.
Later that evening, Qrescent7 and Hashashin47 battled for the biggest achievement of their careers: a spot in their first Semi-Final. As in the previous match, both players entered the RNG maps tied at 4-4, having secured their home maps in under ten minutes per spin. Hashashin blazed through Dubai in 2:11, but Qrescent stayed alive with a decisive New York performance. In a dramatic Whittleton Creek decider, Hashashin executed the Nolan Drowning kill earlier, securing an 8-6 victory.
The final week of the tournament opened with two more Quarter-finals, beginning with Yannini vs Jokerj. Both players entered on four-map winning streaks—Yannini having swept Alph, while Jokerj having reverse-swept Nezuko Chan. After a shaky start from both players, Jokerj surged to a 4-0 lead, winning Paris and Bangkok in 25 minutes combined. Though Yannini fought back with a Mendoza win, it was his last of the match, as Jokerj secured his first Semi-Final appearance since the summer of 2022.
Dein Nomos would then face off against In4Fun for the final spot in the Semi-Finals. The Indonesian edged out a win on Hokkaido by just 2.47 seconds before the Hungarian struck back in Santa Fortuna. Dein confidently took two more of the Big Five on his first attempts, then sealed the match by outpacing In4Fun in Bangkok. Just like their only previous matchup in RR13, this match lasted five maps—this time ending in 8-2 instead of 4-6.
The Familiar End
Though many different storylines could have unfolded, the main question before the RR16 Semi-Finals was whether Scruffy and Dein Nomos would meet again after their explosive RR12 encounter, or if either of them would be stopped by the resurgent Jokerj or the dark horse Hashashin47.
Thursday, March 13th, was Semi-Finals day, beginning with Dein Nomos vs Hashashin47. Dein’s first map pick, Ambrose, was immediately stolen by Hashashin, who executed a flawless second half of the spin. However, this didn’t faze the RR12 runner-up, as he shifted into a higher gear after the opening loss. The rest of the match saw no significant restarts, but Dein consistently finished about 10 to 60 seconds faster. Though Hashashin47 avoided major mistakes, he had to settle for a place in the third-place playoff.
With Dein Nomos in the final, the pressure was on Scruffy to make their rematch a reality. His path ran through Jokerj, in a rematch of 2024’s Match of the Year, where Joker had beaten Scruffy over two days and seven maps. This match picked up right where their last one left off: the players were virtually tied in Whittleton Creek until Jokerj’s emetics brought Nolan to the wrong bin. A photo-finish win by Scruffy put him up 4-0 before a chaotic Haven pulled Jokerj back into contention. However, after Scruffy convincingly took Santa Fortuna, Jokerj needed to hold his home turf, Dartmoor, to stay in the match. Tragically, however, he accidentally entered a closet, losing the map by 2.023333 seconds1, and ending the Semi-Final at 8-2.
This meant that the RR16 Grand Final would feature a rematch of the RR12 Grand Final, between Scruffy and Dein Nomos. Last time, Scruffy was considered the favorite, despite Dein defeating him in the WB Final and sure enough, he claimed his first title with a narrow 8-6 win. This time, Dein had no draft advantage, and unlike Scruffy, he had been defeated twice throughout the tournament, so many expected Scruffy to win comfortably.
The map pool included surprises, particularly concerning bans: Dein Nomos successfully banned all three of the shortest maps, while Scruffy chose short but straightforward maps, including Ambrose Island and Miami. The world champion got off to a strong start, winning his first two picks in world-record time. Dein initially kept up by winning Santa Fortuna and nearly finishing Mumbai, but he had to restart after wearing the wrong disguise at the end of the Fire kill.
By winning Mumbai, Scruffy regained control with a 6-2 lead, but neither player managed to win their own map pick for the rest of the final. In Chongqing, an early restart by the Irishman gave Dein Nomos a 50-second lead, of which he maintained 20 seconds by the end of the map. Bangkok proved to be the most entertaining map of the final, with both players losing their runs very late. Eventually, Scruffy reached match point by completing the spin in 15:05.
With his tournament life on the line, Dein Nomos mirrored Scruffy well in Sapienza and eventually won the map after Scruffy suffered a side KO on the Lab Technician. The eighth map of the final was Colorado, where Dein had never lost before, featuring a brand-new Sean condition. Under the tense conditions, Dein opted for an early explosion that revealed a body being found, allowing Scruffy to cruise to a map win and his fourth championship.
With his third title in four tournaments, Scruffy has elevated his status from one of the best in the game to a level of dominance seen only every few years. He became the first to cross the 1500 Elo threshold, achieving a staggering 86% win rate in the process, far ahead of anyone with similar experience. But most impressively, he has won his last 22 matches in a row since being eliminated from RR15 and is now just one away from tying Ducker’s legendary 23-match streak from 2021.
Watch: The RR16 Grand Final between Scruffy and Dein Nomos.
Despite losing the final, RR16 was still Dein Nomos’ best tournament in a year, reinforcing his status as one of the most consistent players in the community, with the fewest restarts. With a commanding 8-0 victory in the third-place playoff, Hashashin47 was undoubtedly the star of the tournament, making an incredible return to roulette with a podium finish; but Jokerj can't complain about his first Top 4 result in three years either.
The community is currently in a unique spot since it’s still uncertain when the next tournament will take place. In the next week or so, two surveys will be released to help shape the future of Roulette Rivals: one focusing on the tournament format and potential 2025 timeline, and another on the kill conditions. One thing is for sure, however: the roulette family remains as enthusiastic in year six as they were on day one.
Roulette Rivals is the biggest 1v1 competition series of the Hitman community. Join Frote7’s Speedrun Community to find out more, or learn about Roulette by clicking here.
Courtesy of ChrisX3, who counted the photo finish frame-by-frame.