King of /v/ 2021

King of /v/ 2021

Gallery

King of /v/ 2021 was the third edition of the annual King of /v/ tournament held in the /v/ board of the anonymous imageboard 4chan. Featuring 961 nominees and a 128-player randomized single elimination bracket, the tournament concluded with the 19th seeded purificator The Batter from OFF winning the championship over the evil genius Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog. Third place went to former yakuza Kazuma Kiryu from the Like a Dragon series, while the YTP icon Morshu from The Legend of Zelda claimed fourth place.

Useful links:

• Plus4chan pre-tournament discussion thread
• DominosAnon's Tourney info Pastebin
• /v/alhalla booru

Rules

Nomination Rules

• To nominate a character, you must post their name, image, AND series. Nominations must garner at least 10 replies (supports) within a single thread in order to enter the qualifying poll.
  • If any of the three infos is missing in the nomination, you can reply to add the missing relevant info, although that reply won't be counted as a support.
• All characters must either originate from a vidya property or be a member of a vidya's universe.
  • Example 1: Saxton Hale and Miss Pauling (Team Fortress 2) are eligible even though they appeared in the comics first.
  • Example 2: Danganronpa series also includes characters who first appeared in the Danganronpa 3 sequel anime (e.g. Chisa Yukizome, Juzo Sakakura)
  • Example 3: Android 21 (Dragon Ball franchise) is eligible because she debuted in the fighting game Dragon Ball FighterZ, while mainline manga characters like Goku and Vegeta do not.
• Characters must be sentient (i.e. no inanimate objects / weapons unless they can talk or think on their own. Sorry L-Block.)
• Characters whose gender is neither female nor male (sexless, unknown / ambiguous, gender-fluid, or can possess both sexes) are eligible for both King and Queen tournaments. However, if the character was successfully nominated for the Queen contest, then they cannot be entered into the King contest.
  • Examples: NiGHTS, most Pokemon species (i.e. Gardevoir, Vaporeon, Lucario, etc.)
• No depictions or caricatures of real-life people. (E.g. JFK from Call of Duty Zombies, Gandhi from Civilization, Charles Barkley from Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden)
• No fanmade characters (e.g. Coldsteel the Hedgeheg)
• Unreleased games are not allowed, but episodic games that are not fully finished yet (e.g. Deltarune) are eligible.
• FOTM Rule: All characters must be at least one month old. This means that a character is ineligible if their game was first released, or the character first appeared on 2021 October 1 or later.
• No Grandfather Clause - just because a character qualified for the main bracket once doesn't mean that they'll be allowed again
• The Elite Eight of /v/'s 2019 King contest will be eligible for this edition after serving their temporary ban in 2020: Doomguy, Kazuma Kiryu, Phoenix Wright, Heavy, Solid Snake, Duke Nukem, and Wario.

Excluded Characters

Characters who reached the Elite Eight of the previous tournament are temporarily ineligible this year; they will be eligible for nomination next contest. Tournament champions, on the other hand, are permanently retired and will be banned for future editions.

2020 Elite Eight (Will be eligible next contest)
2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Raiden	Travis Touchdown	Vergil	JC Denton	Jetstream Sam	Miles Edgeworth	Scout
Metal Gear Solid	No More Heroes	Devil May Cry	Deus Ex	Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance	Ace Attorney	Team Fortress 2

King of /v/alhalla (PERMANENTLY RETIRED)
2019							2020
Senator Armstrong							Dante
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance							Devil May Cry

Qualifying Results

Live nomination list: Google Docs
Results (w/ votes): Google Sheets
A total of 968 nominees were successfully nominated.

All nominees will be subject into a single qualifying poll, where voters select any number of nominees that they want to advance into the main bracket (approval vote). 128 contestants with the highest votes - excluding those over the series limit - will qualify.

• Voters can change their choices here, but only for this round.
• If the 128th and higher spots are accessible for multiple characters with the same amount of votes, whoever gets the spot will be decided on either a wheel spin or whoever character got the 10 replies first.

Series Limit: Only the top three (3) characters with the highest votes in the qualifying poll will be entered and the rest will be disqualified.

• Spin-offs are treated as separate series if they have 2 or more installments. Examples: Shin Megami Tensei -- Persona, Drakengard -- Nier.
• For crossover series, each character will be based on which series they originally appeared in. If their original appearance was in that crossover, they will be entered under that name instead,
  • Examples: Kingdom Hearts: Sora, Aqua, and Riku (original)
  • King of Fighters: Leona (original appearance), Fatal Fury (Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui), Athena series / Psycho Soldier (Athena Asamiya), Art of Fighting (King)

Advanced

Polling Error Notice: Shortly after the round 1 poll was posted, it was revealed that Ichiban Kasuga, the 3rd rep of Yakuza series, was actually a mistake; rather it was Template:Daisaku Kuze who actually qualified instead of him. Fortunately, this error occured early in the round, and Ichiban was replaced with Kuze in the poll. As a result, Ichiban's prior votes were retroactively added to Kuze's tally.

Advanced to Main Bracket (128)
Seed	Character Name	Franchise / Series	Votes
01	Doomguy	Doom	411
02	Phoenix Wright	Ace Attorney	390
03	Spamton	Undertale / Deltarune	374
04	Solid Snake	Metal Gear	347
05	Baba	Baba Is You	340
06	Kirby	Kirby	335
07	Solaire	Dark Souls	334
08	Wario	WarioWare	328
09	Gordon Freeman	Half-Life	327
10	Heavy	Team Fortress 2	324
11	Coach	Left 4 Dead	323
12	Kazuma Kiryu	Yakuza	322
13	Leon Kennedy	Resident Evil	319
14	Chaos	Final Fantasy I	314
15	Revolver Ocelot	Metal Gear	313
16	Dr. Eggman	Sonic the Hedgehog	308
17	Big Boss	Metal Gear	306
18	G-Man	Half-Life	304
19	The Batter	Off	303
20	Soldier	Team Fortress 2	301
21	Garland	Final Fantasy I	300
22	CJ	Grand Theft Auto	294
23	King Dedede	Kirby	292
24	Agent 47	Hitman	287
25	Goro Majima	Yakuza	286
26	Alucard	Castlevania	284
27	Spy	Team Fortress 2	281
28	Demi-fiend	Shin Megami Tensei	277
29	Jack Frost	Shin Megami Tensei
30	Albert Wesker	Resident Evil	275
31	The Knight	Hollow Knight	274
32	Grimm	Black Souls	272
33	Dracula	Castlevania	267
34	Simon Belmont	Castlevania	266
35	Ridley	Metroid	264
36	Chris Redfield	Resident Evil
37	Nero	Devil May Cry	262
38	Battler Ushiromiya	Umineko (When the Seagulls Cry)	258
39	Roland	LobCorp / Ruina	252
40	Dick Gumshoe	Ace Attorney	248
41	Big Smoke	Grand Theft Auto	246
42	Master Chief	Halo
43	Duke Nukem	Duke Nukem	242
44	Regigigas	Pokemon
45	Cave Johnson	Portal
46	Jevil	Undertale / Deltarune	241
47	Morshu	The Legend of Zelda	238
48	Impostor	Among Us	235
49	Captain Falcon	F-Zero	234
50	Meta Knight	Kirby	233
51	Godot	Ace Attorney	231
52	Pepsiman	Pepsiman
53	Starwalker	Undertale / Deltarune
54	"Fuhrer"	Persona 2	229
55	Big Daddy	BioShock	228
56	Shadow the Hedgehog	Sonic the Hedgehog
57	Helltaker	Helltaker	227
58	Luigi	Super Mario
59	Tom Nook	Animal Crossing	225
60	Alex Eggleston	YIIK: A Postmodern RPG
61	Asura	Asura's Wrath	224
62	Neo Cortex	Crash Bandicoot
63	Nick	Left 4 Dead
64	Tohru Adachi	Persona 4
65	Waluigi	Super Mario	223
66	Postal Dude	Postal
67	Bowser	Super Mario
68	Link	The Legend of Zelda	220
69	AM	I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream (1995)	219
70	Niko Bellic	Grand Theft Auto	218
71	Quote	Cave Story	216
72	Not Important	Hatred	215
73	Brad Armstrong	Lisa: The Painful	214
74	Artorias	Dark Souls
75	Frog	Chrono Trigger	213
76	Donkey Kong	Donkey Kong Country	210
77	Francis	Left 4 Dead	209
78	Steve	Minecraft	208
79	Ayin	LobCorp / Ruina
80	Funky Kong	Donkey Kong Country	207
81	Sekiro	Sekiro	206
82	Adam Jensen	Deus Ex	204
83	Isaac Clarke	Dead Space	203
84	Gex	Gex	202
85	Mr House	Fallout
86	9S	Nier	196
87	Ganon	The Legend of Zelda	194
88	Cuphead	Cuphead	193
89	The Hunter	Bloodborne
90	Charles	Mafia City	191
91	Rance	Rance	190
92	Ancestor	Darkest Dungeon
93	King K Rool	Donkey Kong Country	189
94	Banjo	Banjo-Kazooie
95	Papa Nier	Nier	188
96	Harry Du Bois	Disco Elysium
97	King Dice	Cuphead	187
98	Max Payne	Max Payne	186
99	Terry Bogard	Fatal Fury
100	Joshua Graham	Fallout	185
101	Ludwig	Bloodborne	184
102	Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd	Fire Emblem	183
103	Ichiban Kasuga Template:Daisaku Kuze (see above)	Yakuza	182
104	Dagoth Ur	The Elder Scrolls
105	Sonic the Hedgehog	Sonic the Hedgehog
106	Sol Badguy	Guilty Gear
107	Frank West	Dead Rising
108	Dark Sun Gwyndolin	Dark Souls
109	Crash Bandicoot	Crash Bandicoot	181
110	Handsome Jack	Borderlands
111	Mothman	Shin Megami Tensei	180
112	Strelok	S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
113	Henry Stickmin	Henry Stickmin
114	Zagreus	Hades (2020 RPG)
115	Mr. Game & Watch	Game & Watch
116	Missile	Ghost Trick	179
117	Reynauld	Darkest Dungeon
118	Sissel	Ghost Trick	178
119	Gene	God Hand	177
120	King Of All Cosmos	Katamari	175
121	Sephiroth	Final Fantasy VII
122	Conker	Conker's Bad Fur Day
123	Pyramid Head	Silent Hill	174
124	Raven Beak	Metroid
125	Rando Armstrong	Lisa: The Painful
126	Mega Man	Mega Man	173
127	Ryu Hayabusa	Ninja Gaiden	172
128	Kratos	God of War	170

Got 5th or below within your own franchise? Tough luck for you.
Seed	Character Name	Franchise / Series	Votes
28	Engineer	Team Fortress 2	278
30	Template:Medic (TF2)	Team Fortress 2	276
31	Sundowner	Metal Gear	274
33	Template:Demoman (TF2)	Team Fortress 2	271
48	Template:Sniper (TF2)	Team Fortress 2	237
49	Template:Saxton Hale	Team Fortress 2	234
54	Sans	Undertale/Deltarune	230
55	Template:Kris Dreemur	Undertale/Deltarune	228
61	Template:Pyro (TF2)	Team Fortress 2	224
68	Template:Berdley	Undertale/Deltarune	220
76	Template:Monsoon (Metal Gear)	Metal Gear	212
78	Template:Merchant (Resident Evil)	Resident Evil	208
81	Template:Lancer	Undertale/Deltarune	206
84	Papyrus	Undertale/Deltarune	202
87	Template:Kazuhira Miller	Metal Gear	195
90	Template:Ethan Winters	Resident Evil	191
91	Template:Annoying Dog	Undertale/Deltarune	190
95	HUNK	Resident Evil	188
103	Ichiban Kasuga	Yakuza	182
103	Template:Louis (L4D)	Left 4 Dead
111	Template:Mettaton	Undertale/Deltarune	180
111	Template:Rouxls Kaard	Undertale/Deltarune
111	Mario	Mario
120	Groose	The Legend of Zelda	175
120	Template:Matador (SMT)	Shin Megami Tensei
128	Template:Blade Wolf (Metal Gear)	Metal Gear	170

Did not qualify? Try again next year.
Seed	Character Name	Franchise / Series	Votes
129	Template:Nahobino	Shin Megami Tensei	170
130	Ralsei	Undertale/Deltarune
131	Isaac	The Binding of Isaac	169
132	Template:Dismas	Darkest Dungeon	168
133	Plague Knight	Shovel Knight
134	Template:Argalia	Lobotomy Corporation/Library of Ruina	167
135	Parappa	Parappa the Rapper
136	Bomberman	Bomberman	166
137	Giygas	Mother
138	Lucas	Mother	165

Tournament Format

Full bracket

To see what the bracket would have looked like if no series limit was enforced, click here. Format: Same format as before: 128 characters, single-elimination bracket. 7 rounds, 7 days. Characters are seeded based on their rankings in the qualifying poll.

• Which means that in the first round, top seed plays the lowest seed, second-highest seed plays the second-lowest seed, and so on. The bracket is designed so that the top 2 seeds will only meet in the final, top 4 in semi-final, etc.
• Each round lasts 24 hours after the link to the poll was posted. Countdowns are provided by the its.almo.st website.
• If a match is tied in votes, the better-seeded contestant advances. If a tie occurs in the final, an extra runoff vote is held instead.
• All guys who reach at least quarter-finals will be granted Elite Eight status, making them temporarily ineligible for King of /v/ 2022.
• Losers of the quarter-finals will play a 4-way consolation match in order to rank from 5th-8th. This will take place during the semi-finals.
• Semi-final losers will play each other at the final round to decide 3rd place.
• Lastly, the winner of the final match will ascend into /v/alhalla as the 2021 King of /v/, and will permanently retire from the tournament.

Voting policy:

• You must log-in to a Gmail account in order to vote. All emails will be anonymous to the organizer and other voters.
• You must answer one or more questions related to 4chan and /v/ culture before you can access the voting form.
• You must vote on all match-ups. In other words, no abstaining.
• You cannot change your votes for the entire bracket You can change your votes at any time.
• You must answer one or more Captchas before you can submit your votes.

Tournament Bracket

Google Polls Results: Round 1 - Round 2 - Round 3 - Round 4 - Quarters - Semis - Final
Responses per Round: 1159 > 1207 > 1138 > 1456 > 1348 > 1221 > 1418

Bracket A

Bracket A
	Round of 128				Round of 64				Round of 32				Sweet 16
1	Doomguy	928
128	Kratos	231
				1	Doomguy	700
64	Tohru Adachi	679		64	Tohru Adachi	507
65	Waluigi	480
								1	Doomguy	680
32	Grimm	599						33	Dracula	458
97	King Dice	560		32	Grimm	520
				33	Dracula	687
33	Dracula	744
96	Harry Du Bois	415
---												1	Doomguy	616
16	Dr. Eggman	915										16	Dr. Eggman	840
113	Henry Stickmin	244
				16	Dr. Eggman	857
49	Captain Falcon	744		49	Captain Falcon	350
80	Funky Kong	415						16	Dr. Eggman	654
								17	Big Boss	484
17	Big Boss	839
112	Strelok	320		17	Big Boss	913
				81	Sekiro	294
48	Impostor	514
81	Sekiro	645

Bracket B

Bracket B
	Round of 128				Round of 64				Round of 32				Sweet 16
8	Wario	783
121	Sephiroth	376
				8	Wario	737
57	Helltaker	554		72	Not Important	470
72	Not Important	605
								8	Wario	609
25	Goro Majima	643						25	Goro Majima	529
104	Dagoth Ur	516		25	Goro Majima	699
				40	Dick Gumshoe	508
40	Dick Gumshoe	715
89	The Hunter	444
---												8	Wario	798
9	Gordon Freeman	601										73	Brad Armstrong	658
120	King Of All Cosmos	558
				9	Gordon Freeman	565
56	Shadow the Hedgehog	523		73	Brad Armstrong	642
73	Brad Armstrong	636						73	Brad Armstrong	582
								24	Agent 47	556
24	Agent 47	744
105	Sonic the Hedgehog	415		24	Agent 47	682
				41	Big Smoke	525
41	Big Smoke	778
88	Cuphead	381

Bracket C

Bracket C
	Round of 128				Round of 64				Round of 32				Sweet 16
4	Solid Snake	776
125	Rando Armstrong	383
				4	Solid Snake	775
61	Asura	604		61	Asura	432
68	Link	555
								4	Solid Snake	660
29	Jack Frost	677						29	Jack Frost	478
100	Joshua Graham	482		29	Jack Frost	695
				36	Chris Redfield	512
36	Chris Redfield	724
93	King K Rool	435
---												4	Solid Snake	669
13	Leon Kennedy	766										13	Leon Kennedy	787
116	Missile	393
				13	Leon Kennedy	665
52	Pepsiman	796		52	Pepsiman	542
77	Francis	363						13	Leon Kennedy	702
								20	Soldier	436
20	Soldier	779
109	Crash Bandicoot	380		20	Soldier	828
				45	Cave Johnson	379
45	Cave Johnson	722
84	Gex	437

Bracket D

Bracket D
	Round of 128				Round of 64				Round of 32				Sweet 16
5	Baba	705
124	Raven Beak	454
				5	Baba	565
60	Alex Eggleston	364		69	AM	642
69	AM	795
								69	AM	589
28	Demi-fiend	712						28	Demi-fiend	549
101	Ludwig	447		28	Demi-fiend	684
				37	Nero	523
37	Nero	711
92	Ancestor	448
---												69	AM	636
12	Kazuma Kiryu	886										12	Kazuma Kiryu	820
117	Reynauld	273
				12	Kazuma Kiryu	786
53	Starwalker	391		76	Donkey Kong	421
76	Donkey Kong	768						12	Kazuma Kiryu	799
								21	Garland	339
21	Garland	633
108	Dark Sun Gwyndolin	526		21	Garland	610
				44	Regigigas	597
44	Regigigas	645
85	Mr House	514

Bracket E

Bracket E
	Round of 128				Round of 64				Round of 32				Sweet 16
2	Phoenix Wright	820
127	Ryu Hayabusa	339
				2	Phoenix Wright	664
63	Nick	465		66	Postal Dude	543
66	Postal Dude	694
								2	Phoenix Wright	708
31	The Knight	563						98	Max Payne	430
98	Max Payne	596		98	Max Payne	689
				34	Simon Belmont	518
34	Simon Belmont	681
95	Papa Nier	478
---												2	Phoenix Wright	702
15	Revolver Ocelot	786										47	Morshu	754
114	Zagreus	373
				15	Revolver Ocelot	846
50	Meta Knight	703		50	Meta Knight	361
79	Ayin	456						15	Revolver Ocelot	540
								47	Morshu	598
18	G-Man	661
111	Mothman	498		18	G-Man	446
				47	Morshu	761
47	Morshu	727
82	Adam Jensen	432

Bracket F

Bracket F
	Round of 128				Round of 64				Round of 32				Sweet 16
7	Solaire	861
122	Conker	298
				7	Solaire	664
58	Luigi	703		58	Luigi	543
71	Quote	456
								7	Solaire	555
26	Alucard	810						90	Charles	583
103	Template:Daisaku Kuze	349314+35		26	Alucard	598
				90	Charles	609
39	Roland	484
90	Charles	675
---												90	Charles	691
10	Heavy	661										10	Heavy	765
119	Gene	498
				10	Heavy	785
55	Big Daddy	586		55	Big Daddy	422
74	Artorias	573						10	Heavy	713
								23	King Dedede	425
23	King Dedede	678
106	Sol Badguy	481		23	King Dedede	643
				42	Master Chief	564
42	Master Chief	649
87	Ganon	510

Bracket G

Bracket G
	Round of 128				Round of 64				Round of 32				Sweet 16
3	Spamton	581
126	Mega Man	578
				3	Spamton	631
62	Neo Cortex	673		62	Neo Cortex	576
67	Bowser	486
								3	Spamton	582
30	Albert Wesker	611						30	Albert Wesker	556
99	Terry Bogard	548		30	Albert Wesker	619
				35	Ridley	588
35	Ridley	800
94	Banjo	359
---												3	Spamton	632
14	Chaos	665										19	The Batter	824
115	Mr. Game & Watch	494
				14	Chaos	567
51	Godot	725		51	Godot	640
78	Steve	434						51	Godot	467
								19	The Batter	671
19	The Batter	776
110	Handsome Jack	383		19	The Batter	725
				83	Isaac Clarke	482
46	Jevil	465
83	Isaac Clarke	694

Bracket H

Bracket H
	Round of 128				Round of 64				Round of 32				Sweet 16
6	Kirby	684
123	Pyramid Head	475
				6	Kirby	722
59	Tom Nook	482		70	Niko Bellic	485
70	Niko Bellic	677
								6	Kirby	592
27	Spy	664						91	Rance	546
102	Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd	495		27	Spy	527
				91	Rance	680
38	Battler Ushiromiya	516
91	Rance	643
---												6	Kirby	586
11	Coach	727										54	"Fuhrer"	870
118	Sissel	432
				11	Coach	425
54	"Fuhrer"	873		54	"Fuhrer"	782
75	Frog	286						54	"Fuhrer"	741
								43	Duke Nukem	397
22	CJ	718
107	Frank West	441		22	CJ	583
				43	Duke Nukem	624
43	Duke Nukem	820
86	9S	339

Elite Eight

Elite Eight
	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
16	Dr. Eggman	746
8	Wario	602
				16	Dr. Eggman	668
13	Leon Kennedy	619		12	Kazuma Kiryu	553
12	Kazuma Kiryu	729						16	Dr. Eggman	659
								19	The Batter	759
47	Morshu	755
10	Heavy	593		47	Morshu	557
				19	The Batter	664			3rd place match
19	The Batter	831						12	Kazuma Kiryu	822
54	"Fuhrer"	517						47	Morshu	596

5th to 8th

5th-8th Match Result
Name	5th	6th	7th	8th	Total
Wario (5th)	452	347	234	188	1221
Leon Kennedy (6th)	190	445	411	175
Heavy (7th)	259	296	412	254
"Fuhrer" (8th)	344	123	156	598

Recap

Pre-Tournament:

• The Alliances (Schizo, Merchant, Daddy, Femboy, etc.)
• Spamton (Deltarune) and Garland (Final Fantasy I) being vocal favorites
• Battler, Rance, and the "sacred ointment"

External links

4chan archived threads

Arch.b4k.dev

Archived thread links: Nominations: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Intermission Qualifiers: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Results Round 1: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 Round 2: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 Round 3: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 Round 4: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 Quarter-finals: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 Semi-finals: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 Final: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 (Results) Afterparty: Part 1 (Anon) - Part 2 (Host) - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6