The osu!mania 4K World Cup concluded as fast as it started. Get up to speed with the tournament's most memorable highlights!
After many fierce battles between keyboard smashers during the months of August and September, it is with great pleasure we can announce that the 10th edition of the osu!mania 4K World Cup has been a resounding success. Since its first edition in 2014, players all across the globe have been able to cheer for the the best of the best players their countries were able to offer! Ever since then, the game and community has evolved quite a lot. The 10th edition of the tournament is a culmination of everyone's efforts.
Reminiscing aside, let's recall the present shall we? We would like to use this opportunity to focus on the players of today while thanking the efforts of the community of yesteryear!
First and foremost, congratulations to the United States of America for standing atop the podium! This is the second time they managed to reach the coveted 1st-place spot since 2015. Suffice to say, the team — although with different rosters — has participated ever since the tournament's humble beginnings. This feat cannot be understated, and despite the multiple frustrations reaching 2nd and 3rd place multiple times, they managed to snatch the gold medal from everyone else!
Why is this a big feat, you may ask? Getting first place isn't easy, that much is obvious; but meeting the former 4K World Champion in the tournament's decisive Grand Finals match? ~Now that's scary~. For those who missed it, we suggest checking the VOD of the match at your own leisure:
Regardless of the outcome, this tournament was full of surprises to everyone. You could feel the tension in the air in every match. Every map, every note, every millisecond counted. Even for the high calibre a tournament series such as the World Cup strives for, expectations were not only met, but surpassed. All teams gave their best, and their efforts were not for naught. Their display of skills will always be looked at in awe!
But players aren't the only factor to consider in tournaments; the amount of time and effort sunk in to prepare for something like this cannot be underestimated. It is thanks to all staff members that the community was able to enjoy this 10th edition as smoothly as they did!
Most importantly, thank you — the spectator — for supporting the players, the staff team, and the community. Passion drives these projects forwards. Your passion towards the end product is just as valuable as the passion showcased by all members in the team involved! Lets hope for 2024 to be just as full of surprises.
Unfortunately, a quick summary alone isn't enough to really showcase how impressive this year's tournament was. We've prepared a bunch of highlights that we wish to be remembered for a long time!
To everyone's surprise, a particular team stood out in this year's podium, and that is Indonesia! This is the first time they've managed to reach the podium in the 4K key mode. They were last seen in the osu!mania 7K World Cup back in 2017. This is an achievement worth celebrating for all of their team's fans — congratulations!
It is no secret that osu! has been pushing and promoting original and featured content ever since the introduction of Featured Artists back in 2016. You may have noticed all of the original tournament charts recently getting ranked. That's no coincidence! The artist outreach team has been working together with several artists to bring 7 new original tracks to unveil specifically for this tournament.
It's been 10 rather short years. Since then, the philosophy behind mappooling has drastically changed, to say the least. osu!mania was only two years old when the first 4K world cup was held. It was a rough start with a content draught in the platform.
Slowly but surely, we went from converts from Stepmania, to more structured pools by the time the Springtime Osu!mania Free-for-all Tournament (SOFT) was released, to where we are now — a refinement of 10 years of experience!
Nowadays, it's easy to compare the differences. The difficulty has sharply increased as players' skills kept evolving, involving actual skill and thought placed into how teams pick and ban maps. The introduction of more original tracks and charts has also had a big impact on how pooling goes. Regardless, the team is quite happy with the improvement made. And it can only get better from now on!
One of the most important parts of competition is the performance of its participants. We had quite the amount of nerve-wracking matches this year — nerves so tense you could play violin with them!
We'd like to reserve a special spot for the following matches, so they will hopefully be forever remembered.
Links to all VODs can be found in the wiki article.
With these teams facing off, having seeded 8th and 9th in the Qualifiers respectively, Vietnam vs. Thailand was the most anticipated match of the Round of 16. After numerous break points and close calls on both ends, it came to a tiebreaker on of Ambrosia, a smörgåsbord of rhythmically complex and technical patterns for 6 minutes. The scoreline was absurdly close during the entire map, but Thailand pulled through and secured their win, with --Pavin-- getting a full combo.
This round also featured an absurd 999.8k score from myucchii on Lift-off! at 1.05x rate. With only 7 300s and no other bad judgments being hit, the accuracy rounded up to 100.00% on ScoreV2, a feat that has never been seen in MWC at any point in history. This is probably the only map in the tournament where an achievement like this is even close to viable, with it having been the easiest chordjack map in all the pools; but such a score is impressive nonetheless.
Two powerhouses of the osu!mania scene, Philippines and Brazil, first clashed with each other in the Quarterfinals winners' bracket, bringing top-notch performances and high tension among the audience and players, where points were determined by singular slip-ups. At the end of an intense back-and-forth, Brazil emerged as the more consistent team, dethroning Philippines with a score of 6–3.
With a final score of 6–4, Korea narrowly avoided a tiebreaker scenario against Thailand by a mere 72 points on Baka Mitai. The cracks truly began to show during this match, where the team that obtained the highest seed in Qualifiers began to show glaring vulnerabilities, which were eventually taken advantage of in the Finals and Grand Finals matches by the United States.
Thailand and China faced off in the losers' bracket Semifinals. As a team that delivers the spiciest performances when you least expect them to, Thailand recovered from a 3–5 deficit, bringing China to the inevitable "thai-breaker". And despite a super impressive 1-miss run from [GB]nyasun, Thailand takes a fabled win of 6–5, showing that their late-game abilities and grit were not to be underestimated.
Emerging as dark horses in this tournament, Chile and Vietnam faced off in a fight to the death for the top 6. In this match, Chile took a strong stand in LNs, while Vietnam attempted to exploit Chile's inconsistencies in SV and hybrids, leading them to a heated tiebreaker where Chile turned the tables against Vietnam in the last 2 seconds of the match. The match isn't over until it truly is!
Every tournament player knows that a jack pick demands the most brazen of nerves, and the best performances possible. It can't get any more obvious with Japan barely winning their pick on Matt Silver against the United States, by the literal meager difference of 1 POINT, a first ever in osu!mania history!
And what would have been the Finals without their historical tiebreaker matches?
Thailand cooked up their next show as they went to their third tiebreaker in MWC this year, this time aspiring to Catch the Glory against Japan with a very decisive late-game advantage of 78,000 points!
But this week, they were also joined by the pair of Brazil and Indonesia. After a triple 982k-score performance from Indonesia on Clover, Brazil winning by a tiny score gap of 507 points on Braindead, and Indonesia recovering from a 3–6 deficit, the two titans faced off on the tiebreaker, with Indonesia securing top 4 in the end!
As eternal rivals in the osu!mania competitive scene, the well-rounded South Korean team first met a rice-invincible United States high up the hill climb, in the winners' bracket Finals, and further boasted their capabilities in a tense battle of wills.
In this match, the United States showed why they were the rice powerhouse of the tournament, flaunting proud 99.8% accuracies across the board on a daunting Finals rice pool, while South Korea stayed hot on their heels in all other aspects, overpowering in SV and competitive in LNs.
Despite the outstanding performances in this historical matchup, a few unfortunate break points to the Korean team allowed the Americans to leave their rivals in the dust, winning 7–3.
And finally, it was down to the last of the showdowns, with South Korea and Indonesia fighting to determine who would move on to face the United States in the championship match, but it seemed like the physical demands of this last pool had caught up to the Indonesians, as they were met with the towering consistency advantage from the Korean team, leading them to the end of their run, a 3rd-place finish with South Korea claiming a 7–0 sweep, moving on to face the United States once more in a final duel.
Despite the final team scoring, there were many impressive scores being set by both teams, including bad hd player's 0-miss run and gaesol's full combo on Mugen houyou. Well done to Indonesia for their podium finish, and for putting up their best fight possible.
South Korea, initially defeated by the United States in the Finals weekend, rose to the occasion once more, hoping not only to exact revenge against the Americans, but also to reclaim their title as the 4K MWC Champions. On the other hand, the United States sought to claim their second MWC Champion title after a long-awaited 8 years.
Who will take home the championship? To answer that, we have to look into their Grand Finals showdown, the be-all-end-all of the grandest osu!mania World Cup known to mankind.
Just as they had felt out each other's weaknesses the week before, the United States stuck to their overall dominance on rice, claiming points while trying their best to steal break points from rice-dominant hybrids and LNs by virtue of consistency. During this grand finale of a match, a couple of break points were lost by the Koreans to the Americans, including Kyuusei Argyros and Angel Echo, all which led to the game tilting in the favour of the United States.
With a definitive 32,000 score difference on Shinsha / HgS, the United States claimed a 7–3 victory, bringing the osu!mania 4K Champion title home to the Americans once more, and with the Koreans claiming the silver medal after a tough struggle to the top of the summit. Congratulations to both teams!
Along the way, we paid witness to some of the most impressively consistent and clean scores on the toughest MWC pool thus far:
Here are some brief snippets of player interviews conducted by -mint-, to give some insight into how these players were feeling throughout the tournament.
Hello myucchii! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this quick interview with us. Let's just cut straight to the chase. First things first: let's talk about the tiebreaker between Chile and Vietnam. Walk us through what was going on in your mind, how you felt before, during, and after.
myucchii: The match against Vietnam was overall very stressful to me. Even though I was feeling good, and the team was performing very well, we weren't getting the points we were expecting to get in the match. I was also really nervous because this was my first time getting into the semifinals. We ended up getting to the tiebreaker, HALL, and I never checked the scoreboard at any point; I was only focused on comboing and trying my hardest to get my team to win. The moment I saw the final message from the referee, saying that we won the match, was probably one of the best moments I've ever experienced in my entire osu!mania career as a player, to the point where I cried because of how happy I was. Every time I scroll through my maps in the osu! menu and see HALL, I just think of that moment.
Tell us about your vision of the future for Team Chile. Do you have plans to continue to coach or develop players from your team to eventually reach the podium?
myucchii: I've always had plans to continue assisting in fostering the competitive 4K environment within the Chilean community. I'm very glad to already have been able to assist players along their journeys and witness their potential manifest in real time; for instance, MyAngelKokomi and [LS]bambi fnf, who had never even played in 4K MWC before, proved themselves to be two of the most capable tournament players Team Chile has seen. With them and even more players on the horizon, top 3 feels ever so slightly closer. It's still my ultimate goal to achieve in this game, and I won't ever stop trying to encourage my fellow Chilean players to share in that dream.
Any closing thoughts?
myucchii: 4K MWC 2023 was very memorable to me; it was by far the best tournament I've taken part in, and I cannot express my gratitude enough for the mappoolers, referees, casters, and everyone else on the staff team for making this such an incredible experience. You all deserve the world and more credit for your work through this tedious process, which will always have a place in my heart forever. Thank you so much.
Congratulations to Team United States on the first place in 4K MWC 2023! Nepijin, you've been playing in 4K MWC since 2021, as well as taking the leadership role as Team Captain for the past two years. You must have had quite the journey to get here; how are you feeling?
Nepijin: I'm extremely ecstatic! Winning MWC has been a dream of mine ever since I started this game. From the very beginning, I've had a flame inside me to be one of the greats, and MWC always reignited it. To me, this win is a dream come true and a reflection of my growth as a player.
How has playing in 4K MWC for the last 3 years shaped your outlook on the game itself?
Nepijin: Playing in 4K MWC, and osu!mania tournaments overall, has made this game a lot more enjoyable, because they're just so much fun. But this dream coming true has made me find success in my passion to help others find their spark. There is so much beauty in seeing how people get so inspired, and that passion carries on. If there's one thing I want people to take away from this, it's this: I hope you can all create your own path, and to find those passions in your life.
To many of us with a trained eye in these sorts of things, it's very apparent that a lot of thought was put into the formation of six players that make up Team United States. Let's talk about that: what sort of factors did you have to take into account?
Nepijin: We had a very solid team last year in 4K MWC 2022, and that team had a lot of influence in the creation of this year's team, particularly with regards to our rice capabilities. From there, what we needed was an all-rounded team that can take on any adversity, and I think we succeeded in creating that.
And here we have the captain of Team Indonesia, bad hd player a.k.a. Reyi! This is Indonesia's first time reaching the podium. Let's go back all the way, before the qualifier round even started – at that time, did you expect your team to make it to top 3? What was the original aim for your team, and did it change over the course of the tournament? What about when your team was knocked down to the lower bracket by Japan?
bad hd player: Our primary goal ever since 2021 was to get top 6. Our attitude was essentially to make sure everyone does their best, even with some mistakes. During the match against Japan, we all expected to lose against them, but that did not stop us from trying our best. After going down to the losers bracket, we were extremely confident going up against Hong Kong and Chile, and both teams fought extremely well.
Describe how you felt during the Finals weekend. After a close call with Brazil that went to a tiebreaker, and a 7-4 win against Thailand, your team fought valiantly to secure a top 3 position. What was the general atmosphere among your team? Were you feeling nervous, or excited, or a mix of both?
bad hd player: Finals weekend was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions for me, and my teammates probably felt the same way. However, we didn't want to go down without a fight. One key moment of that match was our 500-point victory on Hybrid 2 (GENE ~A mix~ by lemonguy), which ultimately boosted our collective mental state going into the tiebreaker, and we came out victorious.
How did you feel after winning against Thailand, knowing you had just secured a podium spot?
bad hd player: During the Thailand match, we were very confident in taking them down, which in general made us very excited going into the match. Despite the slip-ups, we were able to keep our stamina intact and away from fatigue and secured our victory. The feeling of getting a podium spot in an osu! World Cup has been indescribable; it's a spot very few osu! players can even reach.
Any closing thoughts?
bad hd player: I'm going to be completely honest: I did cry after winning against Brazil. That really showed me how much this game means to me, and how close it is to my heart. Many people will dismiss this and say, "it's just a game", but I think they are forgetting the whole process that goes into it. The players that play in an osu! World Cup not only demonstrate that they are good at the game, but also show their months- or years-long dedication put into it. We should give props to everyone that put in their all for the osu!mania World Cup; they all deserve as much love and care as the countries in the podium spot.
We'd like to have a final round of applause for everyone who was involved in making this possible. We really hope to see you all next year and where the community will take the tournament scene — the sky is the limit! And while 10 years have passed, the organisers' ambitions will only keep increasing. Special thanks to the staff team for blowing everyone's expectations out of the water.
If you'd like to know more, all the tournament's relevant information can be found on the wiki page, alongside all the statistics and details for all data nerds out there. For now, we close another chapter in this tournament's history. We hope the up-and-coming osu! World Cup 2023 gets to be as amazing as this year's 4K osu!mania edition has been.
See you around!
—Polytetral, -mint-, Walavouchey, and RandomeLoL
big shoutouts also to ninomae ina'nis
Comments27