HappyStick Summer Tour 2017 - Results

After an exciting five weeks of matches in which 768 initial contestants were narrowed down to 26, the HappyStick Summer Tour reached its riveting conclusion. Over the course of the tournament, players from 56 countries across 13 rank brackets ranging from the 250 - 500 to 100,000+ tiers fought their way through 537 matches until only the Grand Finalists remained. Those select few fought it out mano a mano on the grand stage of the finals where they clashed for the crown of Summer Tour Champion. Read on for results and VODs of our featured matches!

As the dust settled on the Winners and Losers Finals of the double-elimination tournament, only one of the 26 Grand Finalists was a repeat from the Spring Tour, leaving us in the thrilling position of witnessing all-new champions across the board. And thrilled we were, with seven of the 13 matches going to a bracket reset as the players fighting their way from the Losers Finals sought to show that they deserved to be there just as much as those who hadn't dropped a match and advanced from the Winners Brackets.

Would the favorites find victory, or would the underdogs claw their way through the grueling task of winning back to back best of 11-map series to find glory?

The 250 - 500 rank bracket saw well-known all-around player -GN pitted against smh, a former tourney winner himself in the 2016 osu! Indonesia Tournament. In a surprising result in the Winners Final, smh knocked -GN down to the Losers Bracket in a back-and-forth clash where he ultimately won in a tiebreaker, and so -GN entered the Grand Final seeking revenge.

The match would prove to be a strategic one as early as the ban stage: recognizing smh to be a skilled Double Time player, -GN banned Approach Rate 10.3 DT pick Utagumi Setsugekka - Yumemi Sunrise, while smh in turn targeted -GN's unparalleled reading ability by banning Eisyo-kobu - Oriental Blossom. As the winner of the roll, -GN selected the first map, but despite having his choice he was defeated on xi - Aragami.

The players would split the next two picks before smh managed to hold his own on technically challenging Camellia vs Akira Complex - Reality Distortion to take the lead at 3-1. Both players won their next two picks, leaving it match point for smh at 5-3. -GN selected Hidden map ginkiha - Anemoi, and it would be here that smh seized his opportunity as -GN broke partway through the map while smh held his combo to an insurmountable lead to seal a 6-3 victory.

View multiplayer match history for smh vs -GN

In the 500 - 1000 bracket, Exarch advanced through the Winners Bracket in dominating fashion, dropping only 4 maps en route to the Grand Final. There he would meet pyccknn in a repeat of their Winners Final matchup after pyccknn triumphed convincingly in the Losers Bracket Final.

Unfortunately, real-world circumstances caught up to pyccknn, as he was unable to utilize his normal tablet and PC setup to play. After Exarch took an early 3-0 lead playing his standard tablet and keyboard style despite pyccknn being forced into mouse-only, he recognized the situation and they played out the rest of the series with both only using their mouse. In the exciting and hilarious showmatch that followed, Exarch ended up winning 6-5 on the tiebreaker, Demetori - Youkai no Yama ~ Mysterious Mountain.

View multiplayer match history for Exarch vs pyccknn

Fans turned out in droves to watch the 1000 - 3000 bracket Grand Final featuring fan favorite Lee Jung Hyun (affectionately nicknamed "Shakeman" for his almost bizarrely shaky playstyle that belied impeccable aim) against _verto_, who quietly made his way through the Winners Bracket while losing only 5 maps to make it to the Grand Final. However, Lee Jung Hyun was not to be trifled with, as shown by victories in the Losers Bracket over multiple strong opponents.

In the Grand Final, the players utilized the entire mappool, as both showcased their diverse skillsets by selecting maps from every mod. After trading map wins to start the match, Lee Jung Hyun took the first point on an opponent's pick by winning on MY FIRST STORY - ALONE (in spite of shakes normally reserved for locations of an ongoing earthquake on the ending jumps) to take a 3-1 lead, then each player won his own pick for the next 4 maps, giving Lee set point at 5-3. Selecting notoriously difficult alternating map HujuniseikouyuuP - Talent Shredder, Hyun capitalized and took the first set 6-3, sending the players to a bracket reset match.

The second set was a familiar sight as both players won their early picks until Lee Jung Hyun took a 4-2 lead by taking advantage of an agonizing last-second fail on the absolute last slider tick of Hard Rock pick Nardis - Cosmo Memory from _verto_, then repeated his Talent Shredder success to reach championship point at 5-2.

There, _verto_ selected Igorrr - Unpleasant Sonata from the Freemod pool. Both players held strong combos for much of the map until _verto_ broke two-thirds of the way through. Holding on for another 60 combo, Lee Jung Hyun took the lead and held on to win by under one million points to win the match 6-2.

View multiplayer match history for _verto_ vs Lee Jung Hyun

The 12000 - 18000 Grand Final told a fascinating story. On one side was Cyndere, the bracket's Spring Tour champion reprising his performance by making his way through the Winners Bracket quickly and efficiently. On the other was egedi, who lost in a tiebreaker in the first round of the brackets before fighting his way through six rounds of the Losers Bracket to make it all the way back to the Grand Final.

The two were evenly matched throughout the first best of 11 series, going back and forth showing off their skills. Highlights included egedi's Full Combo of nomod pick xi - Akasha and an incredibly tense match on another nomod selection MISATO - Necro Fantasia in which egedi would emerge the victor by a mere 620,000 points after both players broke on the exact same note (a slider-velocity slowdown following an incredibly intense section of the song) after building up over 1100 combo. The set culminated in a somewhat anticlimactic tiebreaker on Demetori - Fall of Fall ~ The Door Into Summer as egedi ran away to a dominating victory to claim the first series 6-5.

In the bracket reset match, egedi showed off his incredible aim and consistency to jump out to a fast 5-1 lead to hold multiple championship points. Cyndere brought it back to 5-3 after a nail-biting win on THE ORAL CIGARETTES - Kyouran Hey Kids!!, but egedi was not to be denied.

Selecting DT map Horie Yui - Vanilla Salt (surprisingly, as Cyndere showed off a convincing win on the same map in the first best of 11), egedi put on an inspired performance, missing only one note en route to victory on the map and with it a 6-3 championship win.

View multiplayer match history for Cyndere vs egedi

From the 62500 - 80000 bracket came one of the most exciting matches of the day, if not the entire tournament. On the surface it looked similar to the 12000 - 18000 matchup: the Winners Bracket was won in impressive style by snowdeep, while Dreamtwolf dropped to the Losers Bracket via tiebreaker in the first round then fought all the way through, winning another tiebreaker in the Losers Final to secure his ticket to the Grand Final.

And what a Grand Final it was.

In the first best of 11, the players went back and forth until 4-4, their abilities tested on Nomod, Hidden, and Double Time picks. The last three maps of this series would prove to be the highlight of the match. On Krewella - Surrender the Throne, both players held combo for over half the map before Dreamtwolf missed just before a break in the map; seeing his chance, snowdeep took the opportunity and built up a lead that proved to be insurmountable.

Next up was Reol - Asymmetry, where Dreamtwolf put on a fantastic performance, despite HappyStick invoking his famous caster curse four times in a row, to send the set to a tiebreaker. Treyarch Sound - Abracadavre would be the scene, both players electing to play with Hidden. Over the course of the map's near-six-minute duration the players would go back and forth constantly as the drama rose to a crescendo with Dreamtwolf coming out on top by a mere 280,000 points, taking the match to a second best of 11.

The reset match would turn out to be all Dreamtwolf all the time as he put on an utterly dominant performance including three Full Combos showing off his incredible Hidden consistency on senya - Kanjou Chemistry (Drum 'n' Bass Remix) and Madotsuki@ - Ikanaide to race to a 6-2 win and the championship victory.

View multiplayer match history for snowdeep vs Dreamtwolf

For full results including all ranking tiers, check out the tournament's brackets here. You can also check out a podium display of the winners from each bracket here.

Congratulations to all 13 victors in the HappyStick Summer Tour who will receive their share of the prize pool and a unique profile badge in addition to being able to lay claim to the title of HappyStick Tour Champion until the next Tour event!

Congratulations as well to all the Grand Finalists who will also receive prize money to recognize their impressive performance, and to all the third and fourth place finishers who will receive prize money and osu!supporter rewards, respectively.

If you're interested in more information about the tournament, you can find it here. The Finals mappools, crafted with care by a fantastic mappooling team, are available here, and thanks to the tireless work of the website developer you can find public data such as lobby information and mappool statistics at HappyStickTour.com.

Finally, thank you: first, to all the participants, who played their hearts out on a huge stage for our entertainment. Second, to the incredible staff - referees, mappoolers, admins, and everyone else who played a role - for their hard work in making sure the tournament ran smoothly. And last but not least, a massive thank-you to all of the viewers who tuned in weekly to watch the matches, support their favorite players, and to make the HappyStick Summer Tour an incredible experience for all involved.

I'm sure I'm not alone in already being excited for the next installation of the HappyStick Tour, and I can't wait to see everyone there!

—this1neguy