As the minutes tick down to the end of the third quarter, the action seems to have slowed across the board.
Lost Pig has regained lost ground and returned to a comfortable four point lead over its opponent Suveh Nux.
Superluminal Vagrant Twin has extended its lead over Excalibur and now has what may be an insurmountable margin.
In A Long Way to the Nearest Star vs. The Impossible Bottle, neither side has scored since the first quarter, leaving the latter with a three point lead going into the final 42 hours of the match.
20th seed Junior Arithmancer has picked up another point, finally erasing 43rd seed Cryptozookeeper’s early lead and throwing the outcome of their match into doubt after a strong initial challenge by the tournament’s sole Hugo entry.
In Dr. Ludwig and the Devil vs. Midnight. Swordfight., the most recent IF Comp winner’s precarious one point lead has evaporated, leaving the closely-matched pair once again in a dead heat.
In City of Secrets vs. The Wizard Sniffer the newer pig-oriented entry in this segment has picked up another point, edging slightly ahead of its opposition.
Birdland and Of Their Shadows Deep both scored single points almost simultaneously, leaving the latter’s two-point lead unchanged.
In the segment’s final match, And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One has held onto its large lead over Zozzled, leaving the winner of 3 1/2 of 2019’s XYZZY awards with a lot of ground to make up as time begins to grow short.
Also FYI: Fan registration for Division 2’s Round 1 is now open at Free IF Playoffs: Round 1, Division 2 (Fan Registration). Matchups will be announced Saturday but have already been determined and delivered to mathbrush, so expect his informed commentary early when the next segment begins.