osu!weekly #48

The osu!mania 7K World Cup has concluded! Team China faced off against Team Korea in one last rematch to decide who would be crowned champion of this year's 7 Key tournament. Elsewhere in the community, we have some cool things that our players are setting out to do that really deserved to be shared with everyone. If you are thirsty for details, be sure to read on to find out more!

One of the more well-known mappers from around the time I first started playing the game was Natteke. For the members of the community that are from that time, especially mappers, Natteke's mapping served as a major influence, and greatly affected how mapping eventually developed. Personally, I would have loved to sit down with Natteke again for an interview to show you guys, but it seems nold_1702 has gone and done that before I could! Joking aside, it appears that the two mappers crossed paths in the third dimensional realm and chatted over some beer. The content from the interview provides some insight on what kind of person Natteke is, and where he has been all this time. If you are interested, you should give it a read!

The osu!store has some new items in stock! Remember when I mentioned that the mugs will be available in the store soon? Well they couldn't come sooner! The osu!mug (confirmed compatible with both Milk AND Orange Juice) is now on sale for the low low price of just $15! For those of us who find just an osu! logo too normal for our tastes, there's the shiny and ought-to-be-illegal adorably cute pippi version of the osu!mug. Either way, there's a tastefully crafted drinking contraption here for everyone!

I too, am guilty of using pippi like this...

It seems almost too good to be true, but that's not the only new product that found its way onto our fancy merchandise page! A high-quality USB dongle pre-loaded with the osu! client is now available for those of us who want to fly the colors of osu! on the go. Appropriately titled "osu!go", this marvel of modern technology supports transfer speeds close to that of SSDs, using the latest in USB 3.0 advancements. That, and it feels frickin awesome to just rub your thumb across it all day. It also comes with a cool decal for your laptop or messenger bag to show off your osu! swag.

osu! is just a stick away! (credit: \@bahamete)

For a lot of us, the dopamine rush from achieving a new top performance is what keeps us hooked on the prospect of ranking up. We get our highs and lows from how well we can do on hard maps and whether or not our performance rating goes up from a play. That's amazing and all, but for Haxwell, the simple pleasures of raising a number on your profile is not enough for him. Haxwell ranked #1 on over 3000 scoreboards, taking a little more "classic" approach to the rhythm game genre. While it may not reflect greatly in overall ranking, the fact that there are players are going out to set their own goals is something that deserves to be recognized and appreciated!

Here at the osu!Tournament headquarters, the tournament season never ends! This time, we're moving the spotlight from the keyboard mashers to the drum beaters of the community. That's right, registration for the Taiko World Cup of 2016 has begun! Additionally, we have a fancy new registration page that we're trying out. If you want any other details on this tournament and how it's being ran, be sure to check out the wiki page for information.

Do you want to be a part of the group that decides what maps get a scoreboard in the game? Beatmap Nominator applications for standard mode applicants are now open. Think you have what it takes? Head over and take the test now! Be warned though, this test is not for the faint of heart.

Flyte is giving us a sneak peek at some interesting looking icons! Identically marked icons in different progressive colors? What could those POSSIBLY mean?

If only we got as much pp as we got gamerscore.

I don't think I really need to remind anyone, but the osu! community carries a lot of talent within its members. Today, Stefan created a pack that pays tribute to all the different artists we have within the community that contribute to the game in the form of music. This pack features both covers and original works and is titled the osu!tunes pack.

Going into the Grand Finals, the seemingly undefeatable South Korean team had only lost one point in the entire tournament. While that one point didn't really prepare us for what was to happen in the Grand Finals, it is interesting to note that it was lost to Team China. Team China was undoubtedly widely regarded as the underdogs going into what promised to be a re-enactment of the semi-finals, where Team China was sent to the loser's bracket by a confident Team South Korea just a few weeks ago.

It isn't any wonder then, when the final score was set in stone, I had to give myself a little pinch in the cheek to make sure I was still in fact watching the osu!mania 7K World Cup.

Picks and bans for the Grand Finals

Team China completely cleaned up the Korean Team in the first match, effortlessly resetting the bracket to force a second match with a 7-0 score. While it eventually seemed like Team Korea was showing some signs of recovery in the second match, the match closed out with a still overwhelming victory for Team China with a score of 7-4.

Neither team banned out the previously obliterated map 12 little fragments of silence, daring each other to put on the pain. This makes the Finals Map-pool the only map-pool of the tournament where a map was not completely removed! However, Kamisama Nejimaki was once again completely ignored.

Team China picked Streaming Heart, which was mapped by SeonRae of the Korean Team, twice! It seems that Team China has gathered an immense amount of confidence for this match in order to make such a bold decision. On the topic of confidence, they also banned the same maps for both matches, showing that they were not fazed by the prospect of the second match at all.

Hey, I get to take a break next week! I'll be likely leaving the weekly in the capable hands of Tasha again, so be sure to not stop with the stuff being sent to news@ppy.sh! If you see anything cool happening around the community, let us know and we'll be sure to see about getting it on the weekly. If you have any feedback on this edition, feel free to leave a comment below or in the r/osugame thread.

—Nyquill