Schedule: Tournament 8 Begins Tomorrow!

For just the second time in the history of The Great Arena, one hundred and twenty-eight fighters will unite in the common pursuit of fighting supremacy in Tournament 8: Grand Slam [Singles]!

A field of 128 was last seen during Tournament 5: War for the Kr0wn, where Cr0w emerged victorious to claim his second tournament win. A bracket of the same scale was featured in the original Tournament 1, with only 114 fighters competing with several byes on offer.

Unlike previous tournaments, Tournament 8 will run the duration of a complete fortnight, coinciding with Tournament 9: Grand Slam [Doubles] (starting September 4). T8 will also mark the first time League Rankings have been used to determine favourites in the field. The top ranked sixteen fighters have been seeded at the top of bottom of randomly drawn mini brackets, arranged in a closing order based on the standard Wimbledon system. At each end of the the complete bracket sits #1 Cr0w and #2 Ratt, able to meet no sooner than the Grand Final, after seven rounds of competition.

Tournament 8 begins tomorrow (Aug. 29), with an as yet unrevealed randomly drawn order of combat. Each day will reveal the successive following scheduled fights after completion of the bracket. Here is a preview of the first sixteen fights coming up:

1. Cr0w [1] versus Menas
2. KittyKat versus Dolce
3. foahchon versus giandavil
4. rxvt versus wife_smasher
5. ThePredator151 versus Khan
6. Hidin versus Kiddcade
7. jess versus nikb
8. Scott-Howell versus DECEPTION [15]
9. TonyTheTiger [10] versus Jironobou
10. Buster versus NightHawk
11. Kiara85 versus Casselman
12. FunGuyInTheVan versus Queequeg
13. ZachAngel versus CaTigeReptile
14. Swisher versus ShingoEX
15. Shoe versus Bronzie
16. Shizuma versus Ninja_Mime [6]

Cr0w sits perched at top the bracket as the #1 fighter to beat, entering with the goal of extending his already impressive seventeen match win streak, which included total victory in his last tournament appearance, T5: War for the Kr0wn! The reigning Undisputed Champion will be the measure of competition, with a reasonably safe run toward the Quarter Finals in comparison to other seeds.

It seems unlikely any of the other seeds will be upset, but Scott-Howell and DECEPTION [15] will be a big match Day 1, pitting two Duo Division rivals against each other in a stunning first round punch-up! TonyTheTiger [10] will look to do better than his Tournament 7 second place, likely to continue a path of decimation when he takes on debuting Jironobou. Shizuma will bring a certain mystique to her fight with Ninja_Mime [6], statistically unlikely to win, but always a danger.

ZachAngel and CaTigeReptile will make for another intriguing match-up, with CTR looking for the path to a comeback after her loss at Supercard 11. CTR asserted herself in the last 128-tour, reaching the Quarter Final of T5, where she went down to Shoe. The Tournament 4 winner will also appear in this bracket, attempting to resurrect a career that has seen him beaten and battered in vengeful bouts with former-victims, Mimik (SC8) and The_Purple_Bunny (SC11). Bronzie presents a modest challenge, but Shoe has struggled since taking a lambasting for his crimes.