flareling22 wins 5-2

This time around we had a convincing victory. Some may see this as an upset, as while Farfocele is denizen, flareling22 is relatively unknown. However, I argue that flareling's smaller presence is actually a weapon. As no-one knows them well, they are actually quite hard to compliment. We saw this within this match, where flareling was able to give a long list of compliments to Farfocele, while Farfocele's compliments were more brief and generic. With this special ability, I think flareling may end up being a dark-horse contender for the title of OT's best complimentor.

However, in the next match flareling will run into a huge competitor, Scyla, who's abilities are just as, if not more unique. In fact, this may be flareling's worst matchup. As Scyla's style of complimenting does not actually rely on the quality of the compliments, but the fun and creative way in which they are presented, flareling's special ability is somewhat nullified. This is not to say that this matchup will be one-sided though. Last match we were given a chance to marvel at flareling's offensive prowess, with their compliments yet unmatched in sheer quantity and length.

This will be a very exciting matchup, be sure to tune in because you don't want to miss it.

Scyla wins 4-2

A very interesting match right off the bat. It seems that both competitors took different approaches to complimenting each other, reflective of their own personalities. While ghouly went for a very sincere approach, what captured the hearts of OT seems to be Scyla's creative use of images, showing a refusal to to conform to lame old plain text. Using the images he manages to pull off a switcheroo, seamlessly transitioning from roast to compliment.

I personally found Scyla's actual compliments quite weak compared to ghouly's, just being a list of positive traits as opposed to ghouly's genuine appreciation of Scyla's positive effect on OT. Even though this felt really close I personally would've voted for ghoulybits, as this is a compliment competition after all. However, it seems I would be in the minority with this opinion.

I also found it interesting seeing who voted for Scyla and who voted for ghoulybits, with the personalities of the voters reflecting the personalities of the competitors. Scyla voters seemed to be more on the jokey/shitposty side, while the ghoulybits voters were the types of guys drop well written, well thought out essays on the more serious threads. I wonder if this pattern would have held if the pool of voters was larger.

(btw I didn't vote in this, I'm not going to be voting in any of the matches, these are just my thoughts)

Kaaruumii wins 4-1

This was a pretty one sided match, mostly due to the fact that qwt didn't submit their compliments on time. In fact, this would have been a clean sweep if not for the single meme vote for Kaaruumii.

This was pretty lucky for Kaaruumii, as his compliment was actually pretty lacklustre, only being a single line. It's even debatable if it was a compliment at all, or if Kaaruumii was just extremely horny for some reason. qwt did end up submitting their compliments, albeit a few minutes late, after I had already made the post and a few people had voted. Looking at qwt's compliments, if they had submitted on time, they may have had a good chance to win.

However, I do not want to discredit Kaaruumii too much, as there were some noteworthy things about him. First, so far he has been the only competitor to actually submit their compliment before the reminder 2 days before the match. This showed a level of proactiveness and engagement lacking in the other competitors. This proactiveness means that he is immune to the time crunch and stress of having to submit something close to the deadline, and is also immune to accidently missing the deadline altogether.

Not only that, he was also the only one to retroactively change his submission, something that no-one else has done. The change itself was an impressive micro-adjustment, the addition of the "hey" at the start. This showed an advanced ability to express oneself in a specific, intended way, showing Kaaruumii's mastery of the language of complimenting.

All of these things point to Kaaruumii being a very strong complimentor. Even though his compliment in the last match may have seemed lacklustre, I would not be surprised if what we witnessed today wasn't his true power. I believe that he may actually be laying low to lower people's expectations by only doing the bare minimum to win, so he can strike at the critical moment. He may be a mystery, but one thing's for certain, do not underestimate Kaaruumii.

NotRaffi wins 4-1

This match was actually similar to Kaaruumii and qwt's match, being a 4-1 victory for NotRaffi, somewhat due to Jarcrafted not submitting the entirety of his compliments.

Where this match differs is that even with Jarcrafted's full submission, NotRaffi still had a good chance of winning.

NotRaffi's submission is definitely unique. This is due to the fact that their submission was clearly written as a real-time reaction as they explored Jarcrafted's profile. In fact, the start of their submission seems to be directed at me, and it was even unclear where the reacting ended and the submission began. Though this submission was brief and not well thought out, the rawness of it gave it a level of unmatched genuineness. These are NotRaffi's raw thoughts, not put through any filter or padding to make them sound better. You cannot get any more genuine then that. And because of this genuineness, the compliments themselves hold a lot more weight than your run of the mill, filtered, padded compliments. I am excited to see how far NotRaffi will take this style of complimenting in the future.

Even though you may think these previous two matches have been pretty lame compared to the first two matches of the tournament, what's certain is that Kaaruumii vs NotRaffi will not be.

Patatitta wins 4-3

This match was actually insane, probably the closest match we will have in this tournament. I don't think anyone predicted a match to be a draw for 3 straight voting periods. Well, let's take a closer look at this amazing match.

I think this match calls back to the very first match we had, the one between Scyla and ghoulybits. Like that match, we had a funny entry facing off against a sincere entry. However, unlike that match where Scyla won handily, dPeace and Patatitta were evenly matched.

Even though dPeace lost, I'm really impressed by their entry. It was incredibly short, being pretty much only one line. However, every character in that one line was perfectly placed to maximise the intended impact of the haha funni. For example, the lack of capitalisation is masterfully utilised to create a sense of immaturity. By emulating the writing style of a stupid kid, dPeace is also able to draw from the well of stupidity and write something that sounds incredibly stupid. Not only this, but the immaturity of this compliment clearly outlines it as a joke, making it accessible and easy to understand for everyone reading.

Another example would be the use of exclamation marks and question marks. By repeating the marks at the end of each sentence, dPeace is able to imbue each sentence with incredible amounts of exaggeration, adding to the absurdity and impact of the joke. Although this may seem small, the careful usage of 3 exclamation marks followed by three question marks creates a perfect balance between the two interrobangs (cool word I learnt it just now), maximising the effect of each one. If one were to be more prominent than the other, the effect created by the interrobangs would become lopsided to either a question or an exclamation, lessening the impact of the other.

The last thing I want to point out is the structure of the joke. This joke has two punchlines, the first one being "that's so gay!!!!!" This punchline draws on the the historical usage of the word "gay" as a sarcastic insult in internet culture, which has been slowly phased out of internet lingo over time because of the increased knowledge and respect towards the LGBTQ+ movement. Nowadays, the usage of the word "gay" is as an ironic call-back to those times, exploring that stupid kid-like immaturity and ignorance we all had back then.

However, dPeace is able to turn this word on it's head with the second punchline, "(i love gay people)". This punchline is the real kicker. It is seemingly tacked onto the end of the text because of the brackets surrounding it. This was not an afterthought but wholly intentional. This isolates the statement from the rest of the text, which not only increases it's impression on the audience, but is a masterful way to separate the two punchlines so each one can hit like a truck individually. This statement functionally acts as a justification for the previous statement, which not only makes a complete mockery of the use of "gay" as an insult, but adds another layer of irony by acknowledging the irony of the previous statement.

My brain is not big enough to fully dig into the incredible amount of depth this joke holds, but I hope that my brief analysis can at least show a glimpse of said depth, and help you appreciate the ascendant nature of this joke.

However, this is not a haha funni tournament, this is a compliment tournament. And as my friend pointed out, Patatitta does a much better job of complimenting dPeace. In fact, they went as far to categorise dPeace's compliment as not actually a compliment, a perspective that I agree with somewhat.

Patatitta's style of complimenting seems to adhere to the developing meta. That being serious, lengthy, well thought out and well written compliments. Even though Patattita won (and in my opinion rightfully so), I don't have too much to say about Patatitta's submission (because I'm burnt out from spending 50 minutes analysing dPeace's one). It's very cool how Patatitta talks about the recent events in OT, making this compliment incredibly relevant to dPeace's current situation. The use of the image is also very cool. It's unclear if the lack of the full-stop at the end of Patatitta's submission is a mistake or intentional, but it makes the "Be Yourself!!" from the image to flow smoothly from the text, which is a neat way to integrate the image into the compliments.

With this win, Patatitta will be facing of with -Remi in the next round. This will certainly be an uphill battle for Patatitta as -Remi seems to be one of the strongest contestants, but I wouldn't count him out just yet.

-Remi wins 4-1

Jesus Christ Remi, it's only round one, calm the fuck down. I don't think many would disagree that not only did Remi gap Sebastian, but also just dropped the most impressive showcase of complimenting power that we've seen up to this point.

What's even crazier is that Sebastian wasn't some chump either. His compliments were amazing, and the skills he demonstrated in this match probably would've allowed him to beat most of the other competitors we've seen. However, the fact that Sebastian was absolutely destroyed in this match shows how Remi is simply a step above everybody else at this moment.

Before I break down Remi's compliments, I want to give Sebastian's compliments a look over, which I don't usually do for the loser. However, I think Sebastian's compliments are worth looking into, because of their high quality. I feel that Sebastian's style harkens back to the style of ghoulybits, who lost to Scyla in the first round. A style which is very sincere and well written, with a level of seriousness to make everything said incredibly meaningful. What's notable in his submission though is the last sentence. This sentence shows that what Sebastian is writing is not merely platitudes, but that he is writing to someone who is meaningful in his life. This personal connection is sorely missed in the other matches, maybe in part due to the competitors not knowing each other very well, but Sebastian utilises it beautifully in this match.

Now onto Remi. What immediately stands out is the sheer length of Remi's compliments. This is the longest submission we've had until this point. But what's more impressive is it's density. Each sentence is it's own compliment, and each one touches on a unique aspect. Yet, it all flows so smoothly together, like butter. Not only that, but each compliment is masterfully written. I know this feels irrelevant to bring up, but even just the small things like good grammar and spelling really help elevate everything in this style of complimenting, as it shows that everything written with painstaking consideration and surgical precision. This style is a style pioneered by ghoulybits, expanded upon by Sebastian and mastered by Remi, and I'm excited to see how far competitors will be able to take this style, as it is my personal favourite.

By the way. Remi doesn't lack in the personal aspect as well. This is the first time we've seen someone use the word "friend".

I honestly feel a bit bad making random bullshit up and calling it "commentary" for compliments like these, it kind of feels really insensitive because of how nice they are. But this is my job, I can't just not say anything about the matches. If I don't my master I mean my friend abraker is gonna put me back in the dungeon I mean give me some friendly advice.

Aireunaues wins 4-2

This was another close match, being a draw in the first round of voting. Luckily we don't have to go to a third round though, as Aireunaues pulled ahead convincingly in the second round. Like the match between dPeace and Patatitta, this felt like a battle of funny vs sincerity, with Dementedduck rocking the funny and Aireunaues rocking the sincerity. Like the last match we looked at, in this match the sincerity won over the funny, as sincere compliments hit harder than funny compliments. When you read funny compliments you laugh, but it's the sincere compliments that make you blush and feel all fuzzy and warm inside.

I think Scyla's match was an exception, as Scyla's joke was so creative that it somehow managed to outweigh the sincerity of ghoulybits' entry, which looking back feels incredibly brief.

Let's take a closer look at Aireunaues though, to see what he has to offer going forward in this tournament. Unlike many of the sincere, lengthy compliments that we have read, Aireunaues does not really create a strong personal connection between himself and duck. Instead, he goes in a unique direction, mixing in humour with the sincerity, a union of the two opposing styles that we've seen in this tournament. I particularly liked the use of the word ducky, because it somehow makes no sense and perfect sense at the same time.

The use of emojis/emoticons was also pretty neat, they really added to the emotionality of the compliment, as well as making it feel more friendly as opposed to serious. We can see this friendly approach throughout Aireunaues' submission, as he utilises jokes and a light-hearted tone. This is a pretty unique style, being a slight sidegrade from the meta currently. I wonder if this slight departure will be a benefit or a detriment for Aireunaues moving forward.

Stomiks wins 3-2

I know I said that dPeace vs Patatitta was going to be the closest match, but I honestly think this one was closer. Not only was it a draw for multiple voting periods, but I also had multiple people tell me that they couldn't decide on who to vote.

This was because unlike dPeace vs Patatitta, Stomiks and ShinRun had near identical submissions. Identical in style and length, with similarly themed content. They both literally start off by saying each other's name and talking about when they first met each other, before going into the positive effects that the other has had in OT. Even I'm stumped on this one, I would've probably refrained from voting like some of you did because I couldn't have confidently pick out which one I liked better.

I also want to add that both their compliments were extremely high quality, both of them being on the level of -Remi's compliments in my opinion. I think -Remi does barely edge out both though, because he complimented [ Sebastian ] as a person, while both Stomiks and ShinRun complimented each other in the context of OT. It's a shame that both Stomiks and ShinRun had to face off in the first round, because I'm confident that both of them had the potential to make it very far.

Overall, both compliments fit the sincere and serious style with some personal connection mixed in, the most established and premier style of complimenting that we've seen in this tournament. Honestly I don't really think I can say much more, as I've already talked about this style to death in my other commentaries, and I'm not sure if I can add on any more that would be interesting.

I guess this just confirms that Stomiks is ShinRun's clone, but the superior clone because he won the coinflip to advance to the next round, where he'll be up against Aireunaues. I expect another very close match, but I'm see if the more friendly/joking style or the more sincere/serious style will triumph over the other.

flareling22 wins 2-1

This match was one of my favourites. In a sea of people sincerely complimenting each other, these two gentlemen broke the mold by taking complimenting in a completely different, more creative direction. It's really refreshing to see, especially after all the walls of text that everyone else submits.

First, let's take a look at Scyla's submission. In this match, Scyla stayed true to his strategy of creativity, the strategy that had lead him to victory in his first match. This time, instead of using images, Scyla channels his inner Shakespeare to compose a poem. I personally don't know much about poems, but that just makes this even more impressive. Aside from the rhyming, what struck me was the visual aspect of the poem. If you take a look at each stanza, the first line is always the longest, the second line is the always the shortest and the third line is always somewhere in the middle. So satisfying.

Taking a look at the actual compliments, most of them just feel like Scyla pulled them out of his ass. Like what does "To down people you could be a saviour" even mean. Even though the absurdity of these compliments make it clear that they shouldn't be taken seriously, the exaggerated, satirical nature of them is very humorous, a strength that we have seen Scyla flex throughout this tournament.

One last thing. In the last two lines, Scyla urges the reader to vote flareling22 as they are "more deserving". This was a very prophetic sentence, as flareling22 ended up winning, and in my opinion, was also more deserving of the win. However, maybe this was just as Scyla intended, so who's to say that he isn't the actual winner in this case?

Now let's take a look our victor, flareling22's compliments. I think this image sums up flareling's submission quite well:
Flareling made a whole ass youtube video for their submission, putting in easily more than double the effort that anyone has put into this competition up to this point. From the cover of harumachi clover, which they sung themselves, to the editing, every aspect of the video was majestic. The lyrics even rhymed, so Scyla doesn't even get an advantage in this one very specific, niche aspect. Like they literally end with the lyrics "harumachi clover", perfectly mirroring the song itself, like bruh that's so cool.

Taking a look at the actual compliments themselves, they are also pretty jokey, like Scyla's. However, this time, they are actually pretty relevant, with flareling referencing many of Scyla's threads, making the compliements stronger overall. Stand up and take a bow flareling22, you truly went above and beyond, even managing to beat Scyla at his own game. And with this match, I think flareling22 has fully cemented themselves as the dark horse, the competitor who started off as relatively unknown and fully goes against the meta. Literally anime protagonist stuff.

NotRaffi wins 3-1

This was indeed a match that happened. I think I grossly overestimated Kaaruumii's ability last in his last match. It looks like his strategy was to hope the opponent didn't submit anything at all, and win by default. It worked his the first match, and nearly worked in this match as well. This was because NotRaffi was inactive on the osu forums at this time, and only ended up submitting something at the last second when I messaged them on discord. Yet, with NotRaffi's clutch, singular, extremely vague compliment, they were able to handily defeat Kaaruumii who provided absolutely nothing of substance in a failed attempt at humour. I'm honestly not sure how NotRaffi got this far, they've literally made it to the semi-finals and guaranteed themselves at least a month of supporter. I think NotRaffi's whole group was just a mess.

Hopefully, against flareling22 we get to see an actual fight. NotRaffi is still not out yet after all, who knows what they could have in store for us.

Patatitta wins 3-0

Wow. Possibly the strongest contender coming out of the round of 16 just got absolutely obliterated. This is the first ever match to have a 0 put up on the scoreboard, and it was up against one of the strongest competitors. I think Patatitta may have just taken the crown for the best compliments in this tournament so far, dethroning -Remi's compliments from last round.

It looks like Patatitta did his homework in reading these commentaries (or not, idk). This is because there are two crucial aspects that both Patatitta's compliments this round and -Remi's compliments last round have which put them above the rest, which I have talked about numerous times in regards to -Remi's compliments. The first aspect is the personal connection. We see this prevalent throughout Patatitta's compliments, with how he describes his relationship with -Remi. The second aspect is complimenting the person as a whole. Instead of complimenting a person in regards to OT, complimenting their self directly is a lot more strong. This is because while OT might be a small part of a person's life, their self is their entire life.

In fact, what made -Remi's compliments weaker this time around was that he lacked both of these aspects which were present in his first match. -Remi just settled with complimenting Patatitta's presence in OT, which while an effective method of complimenting, is also a pitfall as it is so easy and obvious to do. -Remi's compliments also lack that personal tone which he had last round. They feel like a congratulatory speech at an award ceremony or something, while Patatitta's sounds like they come straight from the heart.

What's even more incredible is how cognizant Patatitta is of these aspects. Straight off the bat, he acknowledges -Remi's positive effect on OT. However, realising the power of complimenting -Remi directly, Patatitta goes a step further to "compliment [-Remi] in a more personal way", using the compliments related to OT as a ladder to prop up the personal compliments even higher.

I also want to point out that both of the two best submissions we've had, they've both involved affirming a friendship between the two contestants. This is just so wholesome.

Last thing I wanted to point out about Patatitta's submission is the way he writes, because while I didn't point this out in his first submission because I didn't think it was a big deal, I think it's notable to point out now, the dude literally uses no full stops, just commas to separate each individual compliment, and even though it's a bit awkward to read, it's machine gun speed overwhelms whoever reading, as the compliments just pile up one after other before you can breath, truly a strange but very effective technique, and dude also really likes the word "really", which he used 7 times, because it's a really amazing word to use when complimenting, as it really gives every compliment it's attached to that extra emphasis, showing how much Patatitta really believes in and really, truly means his compliments.

Semi finalists, take notes, because this is a textbook example of how to compliment someone. And not only that, but this is the man you will have to defeat if you want to be the winner of this tournament.

Stomiks wins 3-1

This was a very nice match, between two very strong competitors. It looks like both chose to stick to their guns in this match, building upon what they showed us in the first round.

First, lets talk about Aireunaues' submission. Throughout Aireunaues' compliments, his speciality, the friendly tone, shines through like a diamond. However, instead of utilising many jokes like last time, Aireunaeus opts to go for the more sincere route of complimenting. Although a slight departure from his original strategy, this new strategy fits in perfectly with his signature tone.

However, Aireunaues unfortunately fell into the trap of complimenting Stomiks based on his presence on OT, which was the focus of his first two paragraphs. This was something that Stomiks was able to capitalise on, but more on Stomiks later. Aireunaues does build up to the personal compliments in the second half, but they are unfortunately too little too late. First off, the compliments have a pretty low density. There are really only three seperate personal compliments, with a lot of padding inbetween. I can tell that Aireunaues really values his friends, but bringing them up while complimenting someone else doesn't feel like an efficient use of words. I commend Aireunaeus' last compliment though, "You especially made my year better, because you are always there for me, like a real homie." This compliment felt like the climax of Aireunaues' compliments, a climax which steadily built up throughout hi submission. It was truly a gutpuncher. If only the rest of the submission could have been as strong as this, instead of wasting time with the buildup.

Also, the jokey compliment at the end was very well done, maintaining the friendly tone after the climax of the last compliment and lightening up the mood. Now I'm really curious what Stomiks' voice is like.

Even though all I've mostly been doing so far was criticizing Aireunaeus' compliments, I do think they are very strong. Not only would Aireunaues have completely wiped the floor with many of the first round competitors with this level of complimenting, but you can clearly tell how much he thinks positively of and values Stomiks. It's just that this is the second round, and Aireunaues was unfortunately unable to step up his game enough.

Now let's take a look at Stomiks' compliments. Stomiks, instead of utilising a buildup, just gets straight into it, complimenting Aireunaeus directly. Although Aireunaues was able to peak higher with his last compliment, Stomiks' consistent quality was able to outweigh his competitor's varying quality. Something else that was notable about Stomiks' submission was thar it showed how well he knows Aireunaeus. Stomiks was able to bring up many aspects of Aireunaeus' personality and interests, things you wouldn't just know if you only saw him through his posts on the osu forums.

The joke Stomiks had was also amazing. It was initially set up at the start with the clear misspelling of Aireuneuss' infamous name. To the reader, this honestly seems like a mistake, something that decreases the overall reliability of Stomiks' submission. Like he says all this stuff, but can't spell Airunaues' name? What a fraud. But then the last sentence drops, and you realise the whole time you were the fool, and that Stomiks truly knows Aireneaus better than anyone else. I actually nearly pointed the irony of the misspelling out to Stomiks, but luckily I was able to stop myself at the last second and prevent myself from getting obliterated. And finally, the winking gif at the end was the cherry on top.

I honestly don't have too much else to say about Stomiks' submission, it was just an extremely solid example of the compliments we'e come to expect in this meta.

I'd say that Patatitta's compliments are superior overall though. Not only were they consistently high quality throughout, like Stomiks' compliments, but he also used a buildup similar to Aireunaeus to deliver a gutpunch at the end. Stomiks certainly has an uphill battle in front of him in the next match. However, we've also seen Stomiks vastly improve between his first two matches. Who's not to say he won't take a huge step forward again.

You're working in the safety team in the Monster Lab, a secret lab hidden in an ordinary-looking building in OT, home to strange monsters with supernatural abilities. Suddenly, the lights turn red, and an alarm goes off. A message from the speakers says that one of the cages has stopped working, and that the (very hungry) monster inside it has escaped! The only way to get the monster back in the cage is to give it a sleeping pill. You sneak up on the monster very quietly, but it hears your footsteps. It turns around and sees you, and starts running after you. It hasn't eaten humans in a long time. What do you do?