Welcome back to the Beat! We’ve had some time to stretch our legs, so with (we think) five episodes left before the tournament we can see where we stand as everyone finishes their third fights and moves on to their last ones. Let’s get to it, shall we? To the fights!

Black Dragon vs. Beta
Black Dragon: 1-1 (W, KO 2:05 vs. Monsoon; L, JD* 3-0 vs. Quantum)
Beta: 2-0 (W, JD 3-0 vs. Kraken; W, JD 3-0 vs. Shatter!)
First things first, they are really playing up the “Black Dragon has never been KOed and is set to eclipse Bite Force’s mark of most fights without a KO loss” angle. But the Brazilian squad, even through its cycling of members (since it’s a college team) has maintained its sturdy reputation. They did have a loss that stopped early this year, yes, but that was their loss to Quantum which was called because Quantum’s jaws were stuck.

Beta’s had a relatively easy six minutes in the Box in its first two fights. First off, the fight against Kraken, which it narrowly won. Maybe not the best performance, but understandable. The hammer battle against Shatter! they were able to get a hit in to disable the hammer. Then it was driving and potshots, and that was more of the Beta we’re used to. Also the Beta we’re used to? Still trying to figure out a valid anti-vert setup. This one is the same non-wedged, non-forked, flat front that has not worked so far, aka the “ugly armor.” This did also mean that it would have to use a thinner hammer.

Black Dragon spun up while Beta rushed, but deked enough to get out of the way of potential hammer blows. After a short sparks session, Black Dragon caught the front corner and overturned Beta. It self-righted, fired, and missed, then missed a second time, a little slower to reload. This was Black Dragon’s chance, and it took it, taking Beta, driving it into the rails, the screws, and hitting and flipping it over a second time. And this time it seemed that something failed hammer-wise and that was the issue, and Beta couldn’t self-right. After a quick look and monitor to check, the Brazilians let Beta get counted out. You know, the thing most teams do these days.

Anyway, Black Dragon wins by KO in 1:10. Speaking of, they fight Riptide next. Beta faces Bloodsport.

Cobalt vs. Overhaul
Cobalt: 1-1 (W, KO 1:27 vs. Death Roll; L, KO 2:54 vs. Minotaur)
Overhaul: 1-1 (W, JD 3-0 vs. Starchild; L, JD 3-0 vs. Claw Viper)
Last time out, Cobalt was in a Fight of the Year candidate, dominating most of the fight against Minotaur. Until the last 30-40 seconds or so, where the Brazilian Bull turned the tables and got the KO. Overhaul has beaten a winless bot (Starchild) and lost to an undefeated bot (Claw Viper) so this is a nice swing fight for them. These two bots fought in the qualifying round of Season 2, which then-horizontal Cobalt won.

Overhaul didn’t rush but veered to the side. Cobalt followed and… got themselves stuck on the rails, seriously? They were oscillating and might have worked their way off but a nudge from Overhaul did it first. Man, that would have outdone End Game’s fork in the toaster slot for dumbest stick.

Cobalt responded by flipping Overhaul with a weapon strike, then after some needling, hit something that let loose a whole lotta black rubbery things, maybe some shock mountings.

Overhaul’s forks were almost keeping Cobalt’s weapon away, but a slight turn meant that Overhaul continued to get hit and flip, or as Charles Guan put it, “Suboptimal.”

Overhaul’s forks repelled Cobalt’s wedgelets enough to have this match reach the later stages. That, and Cobalt was hitting every seam in the floor. But once Cobalt could step on it enough to get to the side, that’s when it landed its shot, flipping Overhaul, and its weapon was not moving to self-right. Fight over.

Cobalt wins by KO in 2:26. They’re almost certainly in, but a win against Lucky could net them a top-8 seed. Overhaul definitely needs a win against Shreddit Bro.

Switchback vs. Ominous
Switchback: 1-1 (W, JD 3-0 vs. Banshee; L, KO 1:44 vs. Death Roll)
Ominous: 1-1 (L, KO 2:46 vs. Claw Viper; W, JD 3-0 vs. Shreddit Bro)
Both these bots are 1-1, but the wins were not very impressive. Especially Ominous’s against Shreddit Bro, where they were advertising the main event during the fight. A win here may not be enough. Loser’s probably out.

Both bots slowly spun up, and met in the arena. Switchback retreated, afraid of the weapon-on-weapon, and Ominous gave chase. The two finally did meet weapon-to-weapon, and Ominous won the exchange, flipping Switchback, which self-righted. But this also bent Switchback’s plow into its weapon, basically rendering the strategy of having them both useless. Ominous continued to press and ripped the plow off. But flipped itself over. And at the worst possible time, the srimech crapped out. Unfortunately, that meant fight over.

Switchback wins by KO in 1:14. You know what? With a win over HiJinx they’d be 2-1. Ominous gets the omniwheel fight against Shatter! in the finale.

Triton vs. Glitch
Triton: 0-2 (L, KO 1:12 vs Lucky; L, JD* 3-0 vs. Copperhead)
Glitch: 0-2 (L, KO 0:47 vs. Riptide; L, KO 0:52 vs. Lock-Jaw)
Man, talk about a letdown fight. Triton was supposed to be horizontal Deep Six, this year’s Tombclone since Tombstone was out. Instead, it lost to Lucky’s puncher and got its ass blown up by Copperhead which led to the dumbest double KO ever when Copperhead got high-centered on a battery. Glitch is the clubhouse leader for the Plunderbird “Have you got a srimech?” Award.

The two bots spun up and Glitch won the first exchange, as its drum withstood the mighty blade and Triton spun across the floor. Triton responded though as its next attack hit Glitch’s side and caused some battery smoke. Triton waited for Glitch to see if it still worked, and the battery smoke cleared, and the weapon still worked, though drive was diminished.

Triton came back in but hit at a weird angle. It went flying from the recoil, landed hard on the floor, and one of its weapon belts came off, and the weapon was dead. Which is a problem when that’s Plans A-Y.

Plan Z was to use the weapon, which was also now slightly tilted, and push the less mobile Glitch into the wall. Then, from there, Triton managed to gently nudge Glitch, blade first, between the wall and its weapon, and… Glitch flipped over from the impact.

Well that was dumb. And also it worked and Glitch is definitely winning the Plunderbird award.

Triton wins by KO in 1:46. With a fight against Horizon, they… could make the tournament? Maybe? Glitch is 0-3 and gets a disappointing so far Valkyrie as their last fight. I doubt it.

Gigabyte vs. Starchild
Gigabyte: 0-2 (L, KO 2:01 vs. Free Shipping; L, KO 2:02 vs. Bloodsport)
Starchild: 0-2 (L, JD 3-0 vs. Overhaul; L, 3-0 vs. Mammoth)
Oh good, I can just do this.

Gigabyte wins by unanimous decision. They needed that as they’ll need an upset of End Game to make the tournament. Starchild is 0-3 and gets HUGE in their finale because more oversized robots! A win against HUGE might have them on the bubble? Maybe?

Captain Shrederator vs. Jackpot
Captain Shrederator: 1-2 (L, KO 2:38 vs. Quantum; W, KO 2:22 vs. HiJinx; L, KO 1:09 vs. Riptide)
Jackpot: 1-2 (L, KO 0:55 vs. Skorpios; L, KO 2:49 vs. Rotator; W, JD 3-0 vs. Ribbot)
We finally have two bots finishing up the schedule. This is fight #4. Winner’s got a decent chance of the tournament, loser is likely out.

Captain Shrederator was basically a total rebuild, so it’s a fortunate thing they’re in the box. Thanks to Riptide the anti-vert shell they would have wanted to use is toast. Jackpot had its single-disk Heartbreaker setup.

Jackpot came in and Shrederator tried to dodge the rush and basically worked itself into a corner. Jackpot was able to come in and do some tooth damage as a result. Shrederator tried to get out, but Jeff Waters and Jackpot did a good job of controlling the Box, again, playing keep away in the corner.

Eventually Jackpot landed a bigger shot, taking a chunk out of the shell, but this also took its toll on Jackpot’s weapon. It was still spinning but it was diminished as we went through the later stages of the fight and to the judges.

Jackpot wins by unanimous decision. At 2-2 it’s got a shouting chance, though wins against an 0-3 and unlikely to make it Ribbot and a 1-3 and unlikely to make it Shrederator aren’t the greatest. They’re definitely Ribbot fans here.

Captain Shrederator we know is being retooled and reworked from the ground up for the first time in over 20 years. Will we see the bot in Champions? No idea.

Main Event: Bloodsport vs. Rotator
Bloodsport: 1-1 (L, KO 0:35 vs. Copperhead; W, KO 2:02 vs. Gigabyte)
Rotator: 1-1 (L, KO 1:24 vs. Hydra; W, KO 2:49 vs. Jackpot)
Two bots we’ve penciled in to make the tournament, yes, but the big question is whether Rotator’s at 100% yet. And the answer is yes! So that’s what we want.

What we don’t want is Victor Soto turning the wrong way before the first hit, and instead of meeting Bloodsport’s blade with Rotator’s wedge, it was with the wheel guard portion. That immediately got hit and that loosened the whole wedge. That meant that Rotator couldn’t really attack with the wedge, so a switch to the undercutter was necessary. But with Bloodsport having the reach advantage thanks to its longer bar, even that wasn’t great. Rotator could get some nibbles, but not really bite.

Rotator turned on the aggression, which worked to hit Bloodsport onto the Upper Deck screws, where it was in some bother before they reversed, but Rotator’s drive was feeling the effects and couldn’t get there in time as the wheel guard damage was doing enough to limit the wheel. Bloodsport, smelling, well, blood, was able to move in and score the hits necessary to end the fight.

Bloodsport wins by KO in 1:47. They get Beta in their final fight. Rotator gets Fusion.

Okay, we’re already an hour behind so let’s wrap this up and see you next week!