ENDED Free Rider World Cup 6

LOSERS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS MATCHUPS:

Hey, guys. We have our finalists set. Cerasium and RadiumRC are going to the Championship Finals, so you guys will be getting a deserved 6-day break. Go enjoy Thanksgiving, watch the World Cup, practice in the new tracks, whatever you guys want. The same goes for Reborn and Xenom, that despite not advancing it to the Championship Finals, have their spot secured in the 3rd Place Match, that will take place in the same track as the Championship Finals, so you guys also get the break. With that said, it's time to have the final two rounds for the Losers Championship, to decide who'll join Reborn and Xenom in the 1v1v1 match for the 3rd place medal. Let's see the matchups and the track then:


Track: https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/924153-the-wet-light-lc-semifinals/ by Cerasium. It's a pretty hard track, so it'll be challenging to optimize, but we are getting to the end of the Losers Championship, so it could be an interesting one. Let's see how it goes.

So without further ado, here are the matchups:

Uniior vs MatthewMatthew58 vs Coated_Badger
Setsu vs Sidewalk vs Totoca12
​

 

R.I.P. GG, man.

 

Also, thanks to CHARREDLIZARD21, lightninggod, Stevie.T, ShamatoZ, Cork and R1ley070 for participating. Good job, guys! I hope you guys enjoyed it.

 

New poll is up

 

Yesterday we had something interesting. Was it because people in the US (and Canada?) were celebrating Thanksgiving (hope you guys had a good one)? Was it because Brazil had a solid win in the World Cup? Is it because we are finally realizing that the year is ending? Maybe all of the above are correct, but we had something else (lol). The Free Rider World Cup has its finalists and it'll be a legendary match.

The end is near! People had hopes, heroes had risen, we had some surprises along the way, but the supreme beings in the ghosting community right now are confirming their favoritism in the final match. It'll be a war between two legends of this game. Who will prevail? We'll talk more about that in the expectations part.

Right now, let's talk about the track and then the semifinals results.

THE TRACK:

We had some issues with the calendar for this round, but after an one day delay we got the track ready. The track was made by SilentFinger and robbieraysfan and it was a great one. I feel like initially my problem was that it was kinda short, but they did extend a little bit, so I guess everything worked well. It was curious seeing some people going with MTB and other going with the BMX, really interesting when that happens. It was a fun one.


WINNERS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS:

Reborn 25.77 vs 23.67 RadiumRC

What an interesting match! We had the Best Ghost Of 2021 (lol) against the Best Ghoster Of 2021, according to the FRHD Awards. It was a battle between Reborn, that was surprising everyone and killing it in the contest with some comebacks and RadiumRC, the current GOAT of FRHD Ghosting that was destroying everyone with little effort. However, despite the favoritism in favor of Cerasium, the community wasn't quite sure of who would win. The poll was 12 votes to 9 in favor of RadiumRC. It was closer than usual, especially for a RadiumRC match. This shows the respect Reborn has among the community members. As for the match, RadiumRC did his usual early good ghost, that was a time of 25.50. He kept this time for like 90% of the round, so things were getting interesting. Each day Reborn was getting closer and closer to RadiumRC's time and Radium wasn't improving. 1 or 2 hours before the end of the round, Reborn already had his 25.77 time, so it was a 25.77 against's RadiumRC's 25.50 time. A possibility of a last minute comeback from Reborn was real. But a motivated RadiumRC is relentless. With like 1 hour remaining until the end of the round the Early Round Killer became the Late Round Annihilator and secured an unforgiving 23.67 time, 1st place in the round by a good margin. He got most of the spots where both Cerasium and HyperCube (that kind of decided to join the ghosting battle here) had an advantage on over the other players and combined them with a supreme ghost that brought the W once again for RadiumRC. Will Radium be the Rightful Champion of the contest and give a new layer to his name? We'll need to wait and see. Enjoy the 6-day break. As for Reborn, what a warrior! You fought until the end and got really far in this contest. Yeah, you lost, depite getting the 5th best time in the round with a good ghost, but it's not the end. You still have a chance of getting 3rd place here, so stick around and see if you can pull off a win in the 3rd place match in a few days. You have some time to rest now.

Cerasium 24.47 vs 25.27 Xenom

This was a very anticipated match. As I pointed out in the last expectations post, Cerasium and Xenom finished in the top 3 in almost all of the rounds, so this was supposed to be a tough duel, despite the favoritism towards Cerasium (as shown by the poll being 14-2 against him), that is more experienced and has more awards and achievements in the ghosting community than Xenom. However, the biggest enemy of this round was Xenom's schedule. He mentioned a few times that he was busy (I'm sorry that the transition between the previous round and this one ended up happening with a weird timing), so although he did a great ghost and ended up having the 3rd best time of the round once again, it wasn't enough to threaten Cerasium's epic ghost, that ended up being the 2nd place in the round. Cerasium will have the opportunity to get his revenge for that loss in the End Of Season Tournament last year. Will he be able to get a different ending? We don't know. But I'm excited to find out. As for Xenom, legendary Free Rider World Cup debut, really really good. You are a strong contender for the 3rd place medal, so go get it. Enjoy the break now, though.

LOSERS CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINALS

TypicalEshay/CHARREDLIZARD21 27.60 vs 26.10 Uniior

Good match. Two great ghosters facing each other is always interesting. Two ghosters that started being well-known with their vehicle ghosts, but that are showing a great progression with the bike as well. CHARREDLIZARD21, experienced in ghosting contests, came from a solid payback win against Chaos-Fallen after losing to him in the Group Stage so he had reasons to believe he had a chance here. Uniior is having an impressive performance in the contest so far, only losing to Setsu and Reborn, but always getting great times, so this was a good matchup for sure. The community sided with Uniior (12-2 in the poll), that got the W in the end, despite the improvements from CHARREDLIZARD21 in the final days. CHARREDLIZARD21 leaves the contest having the 10th best time in the last round, knowing that he did a good job this time. I hope you enjoyed the contest, man, despite some issues with the calendar and the matchups system here and there. Good stuff. As for Uniior, that got the 7th best time in the round, he stays in the hunt for a medal, advancing to the Losers Championship Semifinals, being a good contender for the Losers Championship crown.

MatthewMatthew58 35.67 vs --- Stevie.T

Well, those particular comments aged well:

​

Well, for some reason, Stevie.T didn't ghost the round, so MatthewMatthew58 is still alive in the contest, haha. This was a major upset, since we had a brutal 15 votes to 1 in favor of Stevie.T in the poll. Matthew only got the 12th best time in the round, but it was enough to advance for the Losers Championship Semifinals. Let's see if he can pull off one more upset this time. Good stuff! As for Stevie.T, it's sad the the FRWC3 3rd place won't be fighting for another 3rd place medal, but it's all good. I hope you enjoyed the contest while you were in it. Good performance, man!

lightninggod 4:14.83 vs 31.10 Coated_Badger

Coated_Badger refuses to die in this contest, lol. He got saved in the last round after being the best among the losers in the round, which happened in previous years as well, and is still alive in the contest. Fun fact is that he actually lost to R1ley070 in the last round and now he's going further than R1ley in the contest, lol. This guy. The poll was 13 votes to 4 in favor of Coated_Badger and he came with the W, getting the 11th best time in the round, while lightninggod got the 13th. Nicely done. Coated_Badger will advance to Losers Championship Semifinals now. Good luck there! As for lightninggod, he's saying goodbye in the contest, but he had a solid participation for sure. Good stuff, man. I hope to see you in future years.

ShamatoZ --- vs 25.77 Setsu

Here we go again. For the second time in the contest, Setsu beats ShamatoZ in a round. Yeah, unfortunately ShamatoZ didn't ghost the track again and now is sadly being eliminated from the contest, but it's all good, I hope you liked it. As for Setsu, he's coming strong for the Losers Championship crown, but he'll have some tough challenges now. Good luck, man! The poll on this one was a 9-5 in favor of Setsu and he confirmed his earned favoritism, getting the 4th best time in the round.

Sidewalk 26.03 vs 26.40 Cork

Hands down the best Losers Championship match on this round. Both ghosters showed a great level of ghosting, there were some improvements and changes here and there and in the end Sidewalk prevailed with a 0.37 second lead over Cork. Really solid match! Cork was really busy but ended up putting up a solid fight and securing a solid ghost. Unfortunately, he is sadly ending his participation in the contest. What a fighter. Pulled off a fight round after round, did some great ghosts and only lost by a small margin against one of the legends of this game. Bravo! As for Sidewalk, really dope ghost, deserved win. You'll continue in the Losers Championship Semifinals as a solid contender for the crown in the Losers Championship. Let's see what happens. The poll was a 12-5 in favor of Sidewalk, that finished with the 6th best time in the round, while Cork had the 8th.

R1ley070 --- vs 26.70 Totoca12

I have to say that this was a bit anticlimatic. After your great performance in the contest, I was expecting a ghost, although you mentioned you were a bit busy. In the last few hours of the round I saw that the track for last round was in your history of last tracks checked in the game, so I admit that I got a little scared after what you pulled off against Coated_Badger, but thankfully (or not) it wasn't anything like that, though. But man, for your FRWC debut you did great. Really solid performance. I hope you enjoyed it. You should enjoy future editions, if those do happen.

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE LOSERS CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS:

Uniior vs MatthewMatthew58 vs Coated_Badger

Interesting matchup for sure. Those 1v1v1 matches are always exciting and tricky, since you do have to watch your back at all times and I wonder how this one will go.

First off, we have Uniior. Skilled player, really solid on vehicle ghosts for a while, but that is improving a lot with the bike, which made him reach many achievements this year. He climbed up from 56th to 37th in the FRHD Top 100 All-Time Ghosters list, he got a peak of 12 features in the Official Featured Ghosts list, got the Pro Ghoster medal and also was two times this year in the top 3 Ghosters of The Month in the Ghosting Awards thread. What a year! He's probably the favorite here, but he'll have to confirm that in the track. During this contest, he got 6th place in the Qualifiers, then he beat pawflix, lost in a close match to Setsu, won against RandomTurtleBoi, finishing with the 4th best combined time in the group stage, beat Chaos-Fallen in the Round of 16, lost to Reborn in the Winners Championship Quarterfinals and won against CHARREDLIZARD21 in the Losers Championship Quarterfinals. Could he get another win here?

The second player is MatthewMatthew58. The guy wasn't that well-known in the ghosting scene before this contest, which could be seen since he got almost no votes in the Qualifiers poll. However, he was 22nd in the Qualifiers, getting in without too much struggle, then he ended up losing all 3 matches in the Group Stage, but he did great still. Like, I'm not joking, from the Group Stage to the Round of 16, obviously 16 advance in the Winners Championship, so the idea is like those are the 16 best players in the contest. If it was by the combined time, Matthew would be in, since he got the 16th best combined time in the contest, even better than adversitas's combined time, even though MatthewMatthew58 finished in last place in his group. In the Losers Championship, he had a really though path, facing RubeGoldberger, adversitas and Stevie.T and somehow, he is still alive here. So props to him for the consistency. He might not be a favorite here, but he already did enough to earn our respect.

The third player of this matchup is no other than Coated_Badger, the Undying Man. Even when he loses, he wins, haha. His great performance started with an impressive 12th place in the Qualifiers, tied with Chaos-Fallen. That was a message he sent, showing that he was in a different category now. He got in the 2nd pot and entered in his group as one of the favorites to qualify for the Round of 16, and he didn't disappoint. He beat Tubiek, had a respectable loss against RadiumRC and then beat we_are_number_one, finishing with the 12th best group stage combined time. In the Round of 16, he put up a fight against Cork, but ended up losing the match. In the Losers Championship he lost to R1ley070, but was "saved", since he was the best among the losers and there was one match where none of the ghosters completed the track, so he qualified as a replacement for them in the Losers Championship. This reminds me of last year, when he was the 33rd in the Qualifiers but someone dropped out so he got the spot or even 2 years ago, when he qualified in pot 3 and had a tough group with Backtwice and TuttiFruity, but all of the other players only completed 1 group stage track, so Coated_Badger was 1st place in that group. He's the Lucky Man for sure. He'll need a bit more than luck this time, though. It'll be a tough battle. Let's see what he can do here. Does he have another trick on his sleeve?

Setsu vs Sidewalk vs Totoca12

This is a crazy matchup. 3 experienced ghosters, let's see who will get the W.

First of we have Setsu. We knew Setsu was good. He has been in all 4 FRHD Top 100 All-Time Ghosters list that he did (since 2019), initially as Pandagaming01. However, we really are seeing a new skill level from Setsu this year (which should grant him great climb in the ranks for next year), that is showing to be enough to match some great ghosters in the community. Setsu started the contest well, finishing the Qualifiers in 9th place. In the Group Stage, he beat RandomTurtleBoi, got an epic an surprising victory over Uniior and then beat pawflix, finishing with the 5th best combined time in the Group Stage. In the Round of 16, he was a surprise once again and beat 1st place in the Qualifiers ShamatoZ. In the Quarterfinals, he had to face the legend Cerasium and couldn't beat him, but he recoverd well beating ShamatoZ once again, this time in the Losers Championship. He comes a strong contender to get this Losers Championship crown. Can he do it? This might be his major ghosting moment, after years of being solid. Let's see how far he can go.

The second player here is the myth, the legend Sidewalk. The guy that dethroned the finnish kings from BHR, being handed the crown by Backtwice himself. The guy that was an enigmatic legend that disappeared for years. After he came back, many thought that he couldn't keep up with the insane level some ghosters were having, but they were wrong. Sidewalk reached another peak of features (it's 25 now) and he got the Legendary Ghoster medal, remained in the top 10 in the FRHD top 100 all-time ghosters list, got 6 participations in the ghosting awards (5 in the top 3 ghosters of the month award, with 2 wins, and 1 in best ghost of the month award) and much more. The guy is still a force to be reckoned with. Don't understimate this guy. He got 10th place in the Qualifiers, beat RubeGoldberger, lost to Reborn in a very close match and beat Overthrown in the group stage rounds, finishing with the 8th best group stage combined time. In the Round of 16, he lost to Cerasium. In the Losers Championship he beat the legend WrzodX and then the great ghoster Cork. He has faced many experienced ghosters and we'll face two more now. Can he advance and keep dreaming with his first ever ghosting contest medal?

The third player is a guy named Totoca12. Alongside WrzodX, we are the only players in the 6th edition of the Free Rider World Cup, that were in the first edition back in 2015. He got 2nd place there, I got 3rd, but times have changed, haha. It's a tough ghosting scene right now, so I honestly don't expect to get through this insane matchup. I'll try, of course, but it will be a challenge to succeed here, for sure. Good luck to you guys! In the contest, I got 11th place in the Qualifiers, beat Rippedmagnet, lost to Stevie.T and beat HoneyBadgers in the group stage, finishing with the 9th best group stage combined time. In the Round of 16 I lost to Xenom. In the Losers Championship I beat Cynosure and R1ley070 so far. Let's see if I can pull off something now.

QUICK EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WINNERS CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS:

THIRD PLACE MATCH:

Tough to say, since we are still missing one player here. In the previous 2 editions the Losers Champion won the 3rd place match, so it's tough to be sure about what will happen here. It'll be Xenom vs Reborn vs someone else. Reborn and Xenom won all of their matches besides the semifinals, so they are in a good form, but we never know. The Losers Champion will probably be motivated.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS:

YES! IT'S TIME! We'll have the most insane FRWC final ever. As someone that was in all of the FRWCs and hosted 4 out of the 6, I say that with confidence. Noob vs WrzodX was iconic in the first edition, but Noob, as a great spacebarrer, was the clear favorite. The 2nd and 3rd editions had a league system. In the fourth edition, Anonyymi vs Calculus was great, but Anonyymi was the clear favorite. Mudkip vs Backtwice was quite interesting last year, but Backtwice was the favorite, despite the upset. But this time we got two top 5 ghosters in the top 100 all-time ghosters list in a FRWC final. That never happened! We are talking about the best ghoster from the FRHD Awards last year vs the best ghoster from the Ghosting Awards last year. The 1st and 2nd place in the Official Featured Ghosts leaderboard. A battle between two Legendary Ghoster medal winners. A battle between the 2 with the most wins and most top 3 participations in the Ghoster Of The Month Awards. A battle between the only players that have won all of the polls they were in. A battle between the 2 best combined times in the contest so far (among the players that raced all 7 tracks). If we asked before the contest, many players would say that this would be the best final possible in terms of skill. We wanted that, expected that and we got that. Let's see who will prevail. Cerasium is more active lately, but RadiumRC's form is legendary for at least 1 full year. This will be a battle between 2 giants, 2 FRHD gods that will descend to our plane to set the record straight. RadiumRC took the End Of Season Tournament trophy and the FRHD Awards Ghoster Of The Month Award from Cerasium due to his great few months last year, but Cerasium is still a dangerous opponent with the right motivation. THIS. IS. WAR. Good luck, guys! We'll talk more about it when it's close to the date. ​

 

I'll admit that this track is indeed too hard for the contest. Especially the beginning. However, I feel like changing the track in the middle of the round after 5 out of the 6 players having already completed the track is complicated. The next track is way easier, so I probably should have switched them, but I was really busy in the last few weeks so it was hard to make relevant changes here, especially since we already had 4 trackmakers that either didn't meet the deadline initially set or dropped out of the contest entirely. So hosting something last minute and having those changes while we went through the contest, considering that I didn't have as much time available as usual is a bit complicated for sure. Right now, we do have 2 backup tracks, but we already have the last 2 tracks lined up and I wouldn't like to delay the contest once again, so it's a tough situation. I'll let you guys know if I make any changes, though, and sorry for anything.

 

Beat Cerasium's time here (https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/924153-the-wet-light-lc-semifinals/r/cerasium) and I'll put you in, haha. There's not much time for that, though

 

Also, sorry for not being able to post the updates this time. Another busy weekend for me. As for the round, there's 2 hours and 43 minutes left. Uniior and Setsu are advancing to the Losers Championship Finals so far. Will we have that rematch?

 

Round is over. Results soon.