Michael “DogPlayingTetris” Artiaga won the Classic Tetris World Championship on December 6. At 13 years old, this makes him the youngest world champion in Tetris history. Notably, DogPlayingTetris faced his 15-year-old brother, Andrew “PixelAndy” Artiaga, in the Finals.
Unsurprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic resulted in several changes to the Tetris World Championship this year. For the first time ever, the event was hosted entirely online. The tournament had taken place in Portland, Oregon every year since 2012.
DogPlayingTetris finished 4th in the qualifying rounds, giving him the No. 1 seed in his double-elimination playoffs pool. Likewise, PixelAndy finished 6th in the qualifying rounds and was also the No. 1 seed in his playoffs pool.
They both advanced into the top 8 single-elimination bracket, ultimately setting up for their iconic Finals set. DogPlayingTetris went down 0-2 before making a reverse 3-0 comeback to win the set and the tournament.
Congratulations to the 2020 CTWC winner… dogplayingtetris! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/XUq6CHqfQ4
— Tetris (@Tetris_Official) December 7, 2020
Other results from the Classic Tetris World Championship
Jacob “Huffulufugus” Huff and Nenu Zefanya Kariko rounded out the top 4 at the 2020 Classic Tetris World Championship. Interestingly, they both had somewhat shaky starts, as neither of them was the first seed in their playoffs pool.
Kariko finished 9th overall in the qualifiers and was the second seed in his pool. Meanwhile, Huffulufugus finished 18th in the qualifiers and was his pool’s third seed. Nevertheless, they both managed to win their pools and take a set in top 8 before getting eliminated by the Artiaga brothers.
Reigning two-time champion Joseph “JdMfX_” Saelee had a phenomenal start at this year’s Tetris World Championship. He finished 1st in the qualifying rounds and managed to win his playoffs pool as well. However, he lost to Huffulugus in Quarterfinals, preventing him from defending his title. Previously, JdMfX_ was the youngest Tetris champion, as he won the 2018 Championship at only 16 years old.
Tetris GOAT Jonas “Nibnubs” Neubauer also competed at the 2020 Classic Tetris World Championship. However, he had a lackluster performance, finishing 31st in the qualifying rounds and failing to advance into top 8. Nibnubs won the Tetris World Championship seven times between 2010 and 2017. In addition, 2019 was the first year he did not finish in the top 2 of the Championship.
Published: Dec 8, 2020 01:09 pm