USATL 2014: Day 2

And here's today's fights. Thanks again to Brad for having this livestream running so I can archive the matches here in text form.

Day 2

El Gran Rey Cholo vs Hurricane Cindy
Our first match of the day is a match in the 120lb loser's bracket. Cindy lost to Touro in a vicious knockout, Cholo broke down against Frankencat. For both of these robots, this is their last chance. If they lose they're out.

3 2 1 Fight! Cholo seems to still have issues. Cindy comes out and gets some good hits on Cholo. Cholo spins up, still with drive issues, and Cindy is able to grind up the back end of Cholo. Cholo is still sluggishly moving around, and there's some noticable damage on Cholo's top. It's still moving only enough to not be counted out. Then Hurricane Cindy makes the decision to drive into the arena bumper at full speed and stops moving. A cheap win, but a win nonetheless for Cholo. Maybe next time they'll actually move out of their square.

Marvin vs The Mutt
Both bots are silver drum bots. Both lost their first match. Who moves on? We're about to find out.

Fight. Mutt's weapon isn't spinning, but he does a good job juking Marvin's initial charge. there's no contact made for a good half minute, and then Mutt takes the upper hand, shoving Marvin into the wall. Marvin narrowly misses the hammer, then gets maneuvered into it by The Mutt. One, two, three, four, FIVE solid hammer hits dent the top of Marvin, and it escapes. Mutt pins Marvin to the wall again. After this there's more boring maneuvering, neither bot seems to have their weapon working, and then Marvin stops entirely. Mutt wins by knockout.

General vs Touro Classic
Back up to the winner's bracket now. Touro and General are both big names from Brazil. Touro's attached a wedge to the front so it can attempt to stave off General's forks.

Fight. Both robots spin up. The first hit causes sparks and flips General on its back. General tries to self right, Touro gets another big hit and seems to have some driving issues afterwards. General hits Touro a few times while inverted, and Touro's drive is working again. Oh wait, now it's spinning in circles. Another big hit knocks General back on its top, and then sparks fly as General hits Touro hard, then sends it flying. Twice. Touro stops moving! General wins!

Touro Maxmimus vs Shrederator.
Ohhh boy. This is the match everyone's been waiting for. Touro Maximus, the most feared robot at this tournament after annihilating Tanto, is facing off against the fresh-out-of-retirement full body spinner Shrederator, formerly known as Phrizbee from BattleBots. Its internals have been upgraded from the last time it fought and it's ready to square down against the sleek bull from Brazil.

3, 2, 1, Fight! Both robots spin, Shrederator is kinda wobbly. Touro is up to full speed, there's a hit, sparks fly, and... Shrederator stops moving entirely?! That's it?? Touro wins by knockout and continues its one hit KO record. Post fight review shows that the battery connection was severed on that one hit, stopping the robot dead.

Black vs GLaDOS
Black is back from its close loss to Aquiles yesterday, and it seems GLaDOS has recovered from its beatdown yesterday courtesy of K2. Black is sporting its plow setup.

Fight. GlaDOS is up to speed fast and gets two good hits on Black, but after every hit GLaDOS has a chance to shove around the drumbot. There are some hits, but it seems that GLaDOS isn't spinning as fast as it was. Black takes advantage of this, slamming GLaDOS into the wall hard. GLaDOS has now stopped spinning entirely. There's a close pushing match in the back corner of the arena, then Black drives straight under the hammer, taking a solid hit. Black can't really get a good position to shove around GLaDOS. Black tries a sit and spin maneuver as the match ticks down. After the match ends we see a puff of smoke and apparently fire from GLaDOS. Black wins the judge's decision.

Aquiles vs K2
Two undefeated robots in the lightweight division. Aquiles never spun up in its first fight, so there's no idea as how powerful its drum is. There's no question, however, as to how powerful K2's weapon is, as it caused a massive lipo fire at the end of yesterday's fighting.

Fight. Both bots spin up and the first hit knocks Aquiles into the air. Aquiles answers with a massive uppercut that knocks K2 up, over and onto the wall, and there is smoke pouring out of K2's undercarriage. Aquiles is moving on.

Maelstrom vs Killa KT
And we're back down to the middleweight loser's bracket. Both these bots lost pretty fast, so it's a chance at redemption for these teams.

Fight. Maelstrom is still kinda shaky spinning up. Killa KT gives no craps and plows straight into it, stopping its spinning. Killa KT maneuvers Maelstrom into the hammers, and Maelstrom takes several hits. Maelstrom is no longer spinning. Killa KT takes a hit from the pulverizer. Killa KT has most of the control over this fight, wedging Maelstrom into the corner and keeping him there. And then the entire shell of Maelstrom breaks from the top bars! Maelstrom is shoved back under the hammers where it takes hit after hit and is eventually counted out. Wait, no that was the end of the match. The judge decision, unsurprisingly, goes to Killa KT.

And now we go to break. During the break, we see Shrederator being tested, and it looks functional. Excellent. Hope they've fixed that battery problem.

Tanto vs Polar Vortex
We're back with another heavyweight matchup! Tanto has recovered from its match yesterday and is ready to face off against the unique Polar Vortex, still in the fork setup it used against Ziegenkase yesterday. Tanto is sporting a Team Toad flag, thanks to the fact that they helped the British team get Tanto ready for this match.

Fight! Tanto still has some slight drive issues but wedges under Vortex first. Neither robot really takes the upper hand early as there is lots of jockeying for position. Both robots take a hammer hit. Polar Vortex is unfazes, Tanto's top has fallen off and it's stopped moving. Is that it? Yeah it is. Tanto is out of the competition.

Tetnis vs UBRuined
Tetnis made it to the second round of the loser's bracket after forfeiting to teammate GLaDOS in round 1 and then taking a forfeit from RIP in its first loser's bracket fight. Tetnis is a non-invertible box with a set of horizontal spinning hammers at the front. UBRuined has been repaired from yesterday's match against UnMakerBot, got a much-needed bye into this fight and still has an undercutter.

Fight. Tetnis spins up as soon as the fight starts. UBRuined is a little more hesitant but does get spun up. There's one tap between the two robots and then there's a big hit which sends UBRuined skidding away, and a wheel falls off. UBRuined is still skidding around on its weapon but can't really move. UBRuined's weapon then gives out, and that's the end for UBRuined.

Black and Blue vs Touro
Both Black and Blue have their plows on. Touro is unchanged. Only one of these 60lb bots needs to die for the match to end.

Fight. Black and Blue are pretty tentative, and they both eat a direct hit from Touro's weapon, the hit on Black actually causing the arena camera to bend lower and give us a worse perspective of the fight. Both clusters are still alive. Touro's weapon has stopped. There's a little infighting involving Black and Blue, and Touro spins back up. The next sends Black out of the arena, and that's the end of the fight. Touro wins.

Mrs. Plow vs Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy
Mrs Plow and Electric Gnome both dominated their first matches to get here. Neither bot has changed.

Fight. Gnome spins up, Mrs Plow tries to stop it and gets a shower of sparks in return. The next hit flips Mrs Plow on its back, and the wedge won't work anymore. A third hit flips Mrs Plow back right side up, but they've stopped entirely. There's a count out, and your winner is Electric Lawn Gnome Supremacy.

UnMakerBot vs Touro Light
Both these bots are silver drums. Both beat horizontal spinners to get here. Who's the better bar killer? Let's find out.

Fight. Both robots are up to speed. They're kind of tentative to hit each other, and the first one sends Touro Light flying. So does the second. Smoke starts coming out, and a third hit sends sparks flying. There's smoke everywhere, the drum stops, so does a drive motor, and the last hit of the match props Touro Light in a way that it can't move. UnMakerBot is moving on.

Witch Doctor vs El Gran Rey Cholo
Both bots are very nasty vertical spinners from Florida. Witch Doctor's replaced the burnt weapon controller from yesterday.

Fight. Both bots spin up, Cholo is still fairly slow. Witch Doctor speeds behind Cholo and flips it over with one hit! El Gran Rey Cholo can't drive inverted, so that's the end for Cholo.

Blue vs Federal M.T.
Federal M.T. is the lightweight from Team Uai!rrior and is essentially the same as the team's middleweight General: A wedged robot with a vertical spinning disc. It got this far thanks to a forfeit. Blue's got the anti spinner plow on for this match.

Fight. Both robots move out and Federal MT gets the early upper hand, knocking around Blue all over the place and getting some good hits in. Eventually Blue is knocked under the hammer where it takes a few good hits.  Federal MT is relentless with its hits, continuously knocking Blue into the air. Blue keeps coming at Federal MT, but each time he does he gets knocked a few feet into the air. Eventually Federal MT pins Blue against a side wall but is forced to let go. A few more hits from Federal MT and the match ends. Federal MT wins the judge's decision, although massive props are given to Blue for surviving the 3 minutes.

Touro Classic vs Octobot
Both bots are completely unchanged from their last matches. Touro Classic has already inverted a spinner once here, so let's see if it can do it again.

Fight. Both bots spin up. The first hit knocks a piece off of Octobot and sticks Touro on its side, while Octobot starts smoking. Touro sticks itself on the arena bumper, and we see Octobot still moving in its smoke screen. Touro gets off the arena wall and moves in to attack Octobot again, and then we see all sorts of fire coming from Octobot. That thing is seriously on fire. It gets counted out and the crewbots go in to put out the blazing Octobot.

Proton Shaker vs Killa KT
And after this latest lipo fire break, we have two school teams up against each other. Proton Shaker's still red and blue and has a spinning drum. Killa KT is still a paintless wedge.

Fight. Proton Shaker is up to speed. Killa KT gets under, shoves Proton Shaker into the hammer and a belt is knocked off. The drum stops moments later, and Proton Shaker takes another hammer shot. Now it's pinned against the wall. The drum is not doing any damage whatsoever to Killa KT. Proton Shaker drives under the hammer itself and takes a hit. Proton Shaker is then driven under the hammer again by Killa KT and there's some noticeable damage to the back of the drumbot. Proton Shaker somehow gets to the back of Killa KT and is able to pin the wedge in a corner, but the match ends with Proton Shaker pinned against the wall. Killa KT takes another decision.

General vs The Big Cheese
General and Big Cheese are both coming off fairly tough matches against Touro Classic and Witch Doctor respectively.

Fight. The first hit inverts The Big Cheese, and so does the second one. Big Cheese is able to maneuver General into the hammers for a shot. The next hit from General is massive, sending The Big Cheese flying and killing it. General moves on.

K2 vs Black
And back into the lightweights for one more fight. K2's been repaired from blowing up earlier today, and Black is coming off of a fairly dominant victory over GLaDOS. Black has the plow setup once again.

Fight! K2 is not spinning up its weapon at all and is able to use its wedge to maneuver Black around the arena and into the hammers early. Black tries a sit and spin maneuver, but K2 gets Black to the hammers again. And again. There really isn't much Black can do against K2's wedge. And there's another hammer shot. K2 is absolutely dominating this match. K2 gets some more pins in. Black goes back to the sit and spin technique and it works for a short time, knocking K2 away, but K2 gets Black back to the pulverizer again. The match ends with Black being pushed around by K2. K2 wins by a judge's decision, even though it doesn't have its weapon.

Polar Vortex vs Shrederator
The last match of the day is the semi finals in the heavyweight loser's bracket. This is it for Shrederator. It lost in one hit against Touro Maximus earlier in the tournament, and so it's in the loser's bracket now. Polar Vortex is using the steel scoop for this match.

Fight. Shrederator spins up to speed and hits Vortex on the wedge, but bounces back and takes a hammer shot. Vortex pins Shrederator in the corner and lifts it up, but Shrederator is back to life. A chain is seen dangling from the bottom of Shrederator but it seems inconsequential. Shrederator spins up again and pinballs off Vortex's wedge, then comes in for another hit. This one damages one of Polar Vortex's wheel hubs. Vortex is tentative to hit Shrederator, but it pinballs off the wall anyway. There's more hits and more sparks, but Polar Vortex gets Shrederator stuck in the corner again and that seems to be it for Shrederator's spinning. It's stopped, and it doesn't spin up again. The rest of the match is Polar Vortex dominating with its wedge. The match ends with Polar Vortex rushing Shrederator and tipping Shrederator up against the wall right as time runs out. You probably don't need me to say this but the winner of the match is Polar Vortex.

That's the end of Day 2 fighting. Tomorrow is the last day of the event and there's still lots of bots in contention. Massive props to everyone still in the tournament and good luck to everyone tomorrow.