osu!taiko World Cup - Finals Recap!

The drum mashing of the osu!taiko World Cup 2018 has concluded. The journey for the gold medal has left us with one winning team, but definitely not in the dominant fashion that was expected. Read on to find out more!

Finals Matches

In the first match, Canada claimed their top 4 placing by taking down South Korea 7-3. The Koreans dominated the speedy nomod picks Nanoka - Tsukimade Todoke, Fushi no Kemuri and Lily - Scarlet Rose, but that only got them so far. Having reached the Finals as the only remaining mid-seed, this hailed the end of South Korea's spectacular run this TWC. Just imagine what they could accomplish with a bigger roster in future cups!

History was simultaneously repeated and made in the Winners Finals match between Japan vs. Taiwan in one of the most exciting matches we've seen thus far. Everyone was on the edge of their seats as clever exploitation of the weaknesses in Japan's armor turned into an unprecedented 3 - 3 tie halfway into the match.

Japan however, regained their composure and pulled ahead to end the match with a 7 - 3 victory over Taiwan. With Japan's historically inscrutable defense not quite as impenetrable as first thought, the stage now was set for perhaps the most exciting Grand Finals in a long time.

Due to the forfeit of United States, Indonesia got another chance against Canada in the match for 3rd place. Unfortunately, one of the key players from Indonesia was missing for the rescheduled rematch, which left the rest of Team Indonesia not on par with Canada's synergy. The Canadians swept their way into top 3 with a 7-0 sweep.

When Canada went up against Taiwan, their memorization game was on point as they opened the match with a solid win on the SV map cranky - R176. After that, Taiwan remembered their warmup map Dave Rodgers - Deja Vu, and that in order to keep up with their long-held tradition, they'd have to make it to the Grand Finals at any and all cost.

In an outstanding display of skill and strategy, Taiwan mustered their very best effort and hit full throttle, surging past Canada to secure their spot in the Grand Finals with a 7-1 lead.

There were now only two - Taiwan, and Japan, facing off for the championship.

Knowing all too well how formidable a foe Japan can be, Taiwan kept their incredible momentum, scoring the first 3 points in the set in a shocking turnabout on Japan's typically dominant play.

Not content with losing their title to Taiwan, Japan kicked into high gear to match Taiwan's pace, but this did not stop their intrepid players from scoring another 2 victories, before Japan's supremacy truly came to bear, ending the Grand Finals (and thus the osu!taiko World Cup 2018) with 7-5 in Japan's favor.

Taiwan may have lost the match, but they had put up a fight that the likes of which had not been seen in literal years among the osu!taiko community. To top it all off, they ended the tournament with a win on the tiebreaker showmatch, leaving few doubts left as to the skill of the Taiwanese team.

And that wraps up all the matches for this year! Here's how the entire elimination bracket went down:

Note: Due to a series of regrettable circumstances, team United States has opted to forfeit from the TWC. You can read about the situation in this thread if you're interested.

Finals Mappool

There was bound to be diversity in the picks, since teams required a whole 7 map wins in order to win in this stage. As the work for the mappool selectors this year has come to an end, here is a closing comment from mangomizer:

"It may come as a surprise to you that the Finals Mappool was the second mappool we started work on, immediately following Group Stage. This was done as a precaution to avoid having a repeat of the thermal runaway mappool that almost killed everyone last year. In spite of this, the Finals Mappool still ended up being extremely difficult – perhaps even more challenging than last year. We are thankful to have started this early, as it gave us more time to ensure the balance of the mappool.

With regards to the matches last weekend, I'm certainly glad to see a fairly even spread of picks across the board. Nanoka - Tsukimade Todoke, Fushi no Kemuri was probably my greatest oversight – I had seriously underestimated the difficulty it would pose on the players. Otherwise, I am seriously impressed with how players are coping with this mappool – their stellar performances exceeding my expectations more times than I can count. It has been an absolute pleasure to mappool select this year, and I cannot wait to do it again next year."

Conclusion

Congratulations to Japan for their outstanding performance in the osu!taiko World Cup 2018!

We might have talked Taiwan up a lot in this recap, but we really can't refute the incredible levels of skill and prowess demonstrated so consistently by the Japanese team over the years, and the continuation of their championship streak is absolutely a testament to their incredible discipline and dedication as players.

Well done, and well earned!

We also saw some mid-seeded teams really step up this year. Hong Kong taking Canada to tiebreaker, Spain reaching top 8 and South Korea reaching top 6 appear to be signs of the skill gap between teams evening out, so let's hope this trend continues in future cups!

You can also watch the entire Grand Finals segment over on the official osu! YouTube channel if you missed it!, or check out osulive on Twitch for VODs of the past matches live, including chat!

For more information surrounding the tournament, you can check out the wiki page or the statistics sheet by Nwolf and deadbeat.

Now then, it's time to set our sights on the next event, which is the osu!catch World Cup 2018 starting in June. Feel free to hype it up in the discussion thread while we wait.

Until next year, keep hitting those dons and kats, and we'll see you around!

—Eiuh