Tournament Phenomena

From 4chan Tournaments Wiki
The original image used by the anon making the phenomena thread.
What's this?

This page covers some of the weird and unusual events and patterns that have occurred in 4chan's character tournaments, such as Ms. /co/ & Mr. /co/lympus, TagTeam Tournament, Queen & King of /v/, and sometimes Mr. and Ms. /mlp/. These events are usually niche, unnoticeable, and happen infrequently, but in some instances they can be either game-changing or utterly devastating depending on a given tournament's context. They are also useful terms to refer to when said events tend to transpire.

Discussions about certain patterns and tendencies have been talked about on plus4chan's /tnt/ board.


What's this?[edit]

The following listed below are some of the most (in)famous phenomena found in the tournaments:


Omni-Man Syndrome[edit]

"When a character has had huge hype around them but absolutely fails to deliver."

A not uncommon phenomenon (especially compared to those listed below), the "Omni-Man Syndrome" typically involves, but is not limited, to "FotM" (Flavor of the Month) characters that have become famous recently either due to new media releases or board trends, gathering a sizable following and hype around them as a result. These characters are usually claimed to make a deep run or at the very least perform decently in the tournaments (best known examples being the Ms. /co/ champions Spinel and Fang), but there exist some instances where they absolutely fail to make it past round 1 or even not qualify for the bracket at all. The most notorious case and the namesake of this phenomenon is Omni-Man, whose show Invincible made a very big impact on /co/ and all over the Internet during its release in 2021. However, as of Mr. /co/lympus 2021, he has yet to make it past the first round.


Black Canary Phenomenon[edit]

"Character that only ever appears in one tournament, makes it to the Elite Eight, and fucks off, never to be seen again."

As the description says, this phenomenon occurs when a character that has never appeared in any other previous tournament pulls a miraculous run that gives them a spot in the Elite Eight, only to never make the bracket again after their one year hiatus. Some anons may claim that their only run is a fluke.

The phenomenon is named after Black Canary from DC Comics, notable for her Cinderella run in Ms. /co/ 2018, but has never managed to come close to qualifying again. Till very recently, this was the only recorded case of this happening until the latest Ms. /co/ 2022, where Shirley the Medium made a controversial appearance in the Elite Eight, with many doubting her future chances as a contestant. Another recent example would be Mr. Incredible in the Mr. /co/lympus tournaments, whom while had two tournament berths at the time of entering the quarter-finals stage of Mr. /co/lympus 2020, failed to qualify two years later.


The Kronk Effect[edit]

"A character appears for the first time in the tournament and manages to take the crown."

Barring the champions of the inaugural tournaments (Jenny, Johnny Bravo, Samus Aran and Senator Armstrong), this list includes Kronk, champion of Mr. /co/lympus 2019; Spinel, infamous champion of Ms, /co/ 2019; Reimu, Queen of /v/ 2020; Recette Lemongrass, Queen of /v/ 2021; and last but not least, The Batter, King of /v/ 2021. Most other winners are tournament veterans with at least two tournament berths at the time of their victory.

In character tournaments outside 4chan, this phenomenon is dubbed "Royal Road", after a term used in the Korean StarCraft esports scene.


Montezuma’s Revenge[edit]

"A grudge rematch where a previous popular winner gets defeated by the same character they won against previously."

Named after elite member Chel, who made a remarkable and equally surprising victory against Queen Tyr'ahnee in the Ms. /co/ 2022 quarter-finals. This also occurred when Megamind beat Zuko in 2020 after losing to him the previous tournament. Given most rematches usually result in the same character being victorious, this is a strange sight to see, especially when it isn't motivated by any sort of campaign, like the two examples listed above.


Bejita Theorem[edit]

"Characters that are secondary and/or jobbers in their source material do better than most protagonist characters."

This effect is named after Vegeta from Dragon Ball, a prideful Saiyan warrior and rival of protagonist Goku, who became infamous for consistently getting humiliated by many of the series' major villains. The following characters have attained greater success in their respective tournaments than their series' designated main character:


Omnipresent Egg Paradox[edit]

"A character that is eligible to join in every board tournament and is considered a powerful contender in all the tournaments."

Named after the rather obvious Dr. Eggman, who is among the few rare characters who is eligible to compete in both Mr. /co/lympus and King of /v/ and be considered a powerhouse in both. It is also made as an inside joke in /tnt/ to find weather or not he'd be able to participate in some hypothetical tournaments such as SaiGAR, Mr. /tv/, or King /lit/ due to his widespread presence in general media. Dr. Eggman isn't the only character who is capable of participating in both /co/ and /v/ tournaments, many cases such as Miss Pauling, Saxton Hale, Princess Zelda, and characters from Wakfu are capable of intermingling in both /co/ and /v/ but they are rarely if ever successful. To date this remains one of the rarest phenomena as there are few characters that can participate in two board tournaments and be considered successful.

OC Snowballing[edit]

"Character doesn't start off strong, but over the course of the tournament they become a stronger contender."

This phenomena is a very recent and now prominent since Queen and King /v/ 2021 onward. This phenomena usually includes characters that would barely qualify or be round 1 eliminations, but in their lucky year they get a huge campaign and OC boost which results in them gaining popularity and hype which makes them contend with tournament heavy hitters. In /tnt/, this phenomena is separated into two different categories which are:

  • Shattered Snowball: Character who has a lot of hype and OC but faces a heavy hitter early rounds and stops it's momentum before it could gain more popularity. Examples would be John Silver and Charles from Mafia City, who had a lot of hype and campaigns going for them but were stopped by heavy hitters and board classics such as Squidward and Heavy and had their momentum stopped.
  • Avalanche: A character who has gotten so much momentum that they enter Elite Eight or win the crown. The most notorious case is Recette who is the winner with the lowest seed in board tournament history (seed #113), managed to garner hype and momentum due to a dedicated drawfag who would pump high quality OC for Recette. More recently, Zorak experienced the most dramatic OC snowballing to date, who went from a round one elimination to the Mr. /co/lympus 2022 due to it's dedicated campaigners and overall good nature of his supporters.

Runner-up Curse[edit]

"A character that has previously gotten 2nd place becomes S̶̶̶H̶̶̶I̶̶̶T̶̶̶ ̶a̶̶̶n̶̶̶d̶̶̶ ̶F̶̶̶I̶̶̶N̶̶̶I̶̶̶S̶̶̶H̶̶̶E̶̶̶D̶̶̶ de facto barred from winning the tournament in the future."

A character has never won the tournament they have gotten 2nd place in before, and has never repeated finals until Eggman in KoV 2023. Despite this, characters with previous E8 placements and even 3rd place have gone on to win before (e.g. Fang). This may be attributable to the idea of the character not being a "fresh" enough finalist to be seen as the winner, and supporters losing morale as a character gets so close only to lose. There is speculation that with enough passage of time this "curse" can be broken, but it has yet to happen. Following Eggman's double runner-up loss the curse has taken a renewed perceived strength, as well as more anons wanting to see it broken.

This phenomenon has also been conversely dubbed by some tourney-goers as "The Batman Laugh" due to association with ritualposters bad mouthing these characters with the phrase "SHIT and FINISHED", often accompained by reaction images of Batman laughing. This form of posting began with Johanna in anticipation of her return in Ms. /co/ 2023.

Nigger Buff[edit]

"A character becomes notorious for having an especially eye grabbing or memey poll picture."

This phenomena has been associated with several characters, with the phenomena's name coming from Alex Eagleston from YIIK's King of /v/ 2023 appearance, where his poll picture contained a zoomed in shot of Alex screaming "NIGGER", which gained criticism from some anons due to the assumption that his matches were won solely because of /v/irgins voting for the picture saying nigger than the character himself as well as that shouting nigger does not accurately reflect the character of Alex, who is an overbearing millenial soyboy.

Other characters accused of having been buffed due to their poll pictures are certain female characters in Ms. /co/ and Queen of /v/ with off-model fapbait images as poll pictures due to attracting a perceived bias from the coomer voters, as well as Jimmy Neutron in Mr. /co/lympus 2023 who was notorious for having the "↑ this person has 500gb of child porn" meme image as his poll picture, which caused Sneed and Iroh to be framed as pedos.

See Also[edit]

Terminology

Navigation[edit]

4chan Tournaments
/co/mics & cartoons Ms. /co/ 2018201920202021202220232024
Mr. /co/lympus 2018201920202021202220232024
/v/idya Queen 201920202021202220232024
King 201920202021202220232024
/mlp/ My Little Pony Ms. /mlp/ 20192020202120222023
Mr. /mlp/ 20192020202120222023
plus4chan's /tnt/ - Tournaments & Events Tag-Team 20192020202120222023
Co-Op 20232024
Other events Villains of /co/Heroes of /co/Villains of /v/Heroes of /v//cov/Heroes of /a/Villains of /a/
Other 4chan tournaments SaiGAR 2007SaiGAR 2008Ms. /aco/ 2021Ms. /aco/ 2022Ms. /aco/ 2023/an/lympics 2023/an/lympics 2024Emperor of /his/ 2023


Ms. /co/
Tournaments 201820192020202120222023
Champions Jenny XJ9 Spinel Dr. Mrs. The Monarch Betty Boop Fang Wuya
Elite Eight
Bold indicates semifinalist status. Bold underlined indicates finishing as runner-up at least once.
Alex Azula Black Canary Chel Clover ENA Eris EVE Frankie Foster Harley Quinn Helen Parr Hilda Johanna Jucika Kim Possible Lord Dominator Miss Bellum Miss Pauling Mrs. Brisby Muriel Bagge Nani Pelekai Nicole Watterson Pearl Peridot Queen Tyr'ahnee Raven Shirley the Medium Starfire Shego Toph Beifong Velma Dinkley
Qualified Characters
Alice Amelia Bedelia Amity Anne Boonchuy Ariel Ashi Aunt Cass Beatrice Candace Flynn Captain Amelia‎ Creepy Susie Charlie Magne Coraline Death Demencia Dexter's Mom Eda Clawthorne Emmy Giffany Gwen (TD) Gwen Tennyson Gwenpool Hekapoo Izzy Jackie Lynn Thomas Jessica Rabbit Karen Kim Pine Leni Loud Librarian Lola Bunny Loona Luz Noceda Marceline Marcy Wu Marie (CotC) Marie Kanker Mira Miko Kubota Millie Noodle Pacifica Northwest Propane Princess Marco Rapunzel Sasha Waybright Slappy Squirrel Snowman Star Butterfly Tak Ty Lee Vanessa Doofenshmirtz Wendy Corduroy Wendy's MascotZatanna
Other Characters
Goldfish Crackers (Coral) • HenchGwenIncidental 87’s MotherRuby Rose
Mr. /co/lympus
Tournaments 201820192020202120222023
Champions Johnny Bravo Kronk Tom Cat General Grievous Zorak Skeletor
Elite Eight
Bold indicates semifinalist status. Bold underlined indicates finishing as runner-up at least once.
Aku Batman Bugs Bunny Captain America Carl Brutananadilewski Courage Daffy Duck Dale Gribble Eustace Bagge Farquaad Grim Hank Hill Heinz Doofenshmirtz Hugh Neutron Iroh J. Jonah Jameson Kuzco Marvin the Martian Max Mr. Incredible Optimus Prime Samurai Jack Shaggy SpongeBob Squidward Superman Wallace WALL-E Xavier Zim
Qualified Characters
Alastor Benson Bill Cipher Black Hat Captain Silver Candlejohn Chris McLean Dan Dick Dastardly Doctor Doom Donald Duck Double D Robotnik Dr. Livesey Duck Ed Eddy Felix the Cat Fred Jones Gaston Jack Skellington Jack Spicer Joker Kermit the Frog Lord Hater Master Shake Megamind Mickey Mouse Mung Daal Omni-Man Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Peter Parker Plank Professor Utonium Ruber Sam Simon Laurent Sneed Spear The Monarch Twig Uncle Ruckus (No relation) Wirt ZoidbergZuko
Other Characters
John BlacksadKent MansleyMarco DiazMr. BossRamesesThe Emperor of MankindWilkins


Queen of /v/
Tournaments 20192020202120222023
Champions Samus Aran Reimu Hakurei Recette Midna Curly Brace
Elite Eight
Bold indicates a girl has achieved semifinalist status. Bold underlined indicates a girl finished runner-up at least once.
2B Ashley Ashley Graham Aigis Alipheese Alice Amaterasu Bayonetta Cirno Chun-Li Fio Germi GLaDOS Hornet Madotsuki Malon Marisa Kirisame Maya Fey Morrigan Aensland Princess Peach Ranni the Witch Roll Shantae Taokaka Tifa Lockhart
Qualified characters
AK-12 Adeleine Angela Baba Beatrice Buddy Cammy White Chell Chie Satonaka Ebony & Ivory Essex Fang Felicia Filia Flandre Scarlet Franziska von Karma Gardevoir Gebura Glamrock Chica Gruntilda Hat Kid Hatsune Miku Hex Maniac Illyasviel von Einzbern Jill Stingray Jill Valentine Kaine Kat Lady Lady Maria Mari Miss Pauling Monika Muffet Neco-Arc Palutena Peacock Pixie Plague Doctor Plain Doll Princess Daisy Pyro Remilia Scarlet Rosalina Rouge the Bat Roxanne Wolf SHODAN Tali'Zorah nar Rayya The Boss Tron Bonne YoRHa Type A No. 2 Zelda
Other characters
Erika Furudo Koishi Komeiji
King of /v/
Tournaments 20192020202120222023
Champions Senator Armstrong Dante The Batter Jack Garland Grimm
Elite Eight
Bold indicates semifinalist status. Bold underlined indicates finishing as runner-up at least once.
AM AM Albert Wesker Demi-fiend Doomguy Duke Nukem Dr. Eggman "Fuhrer" Heavy Jack Frost JC Denton Jetstream Sam John Ward Kazuma Kiryu Leon Kennedy Luigi Miles Edgeworth Morshu Phoenix Wright Raiden Rayman Scout Solid Snake Travis Touchdown Vergil Wario
Qualified Characters
Adam Jensen Agent 47 Ancestor Ayin Baba Banjo Battler Ushiromiya Brad Armstrong Captain Falcon Charles Chris Redfield Christopher Robin CJ Coach Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd Doc Louis Dracula Engineer Frank West Frog Gene Geralt of Rivia Giygas Gordon Freeman Goro Majima Harry Du Bois Hollow Knight Isaac Clarke Isaac Kleiner Jacket James Sunderland Jevil Joshua Graham JPEG Dog Kefka King Boo King Dedede King Of All Cosmos Kirby Little Mac Luka Mario Max Payne Meta Knight Pepsiman Postal Dude Rance Regigigas Revolver Ocelot Ridley Roland Sekiro Soldier Spamton Spy The Hunter The Knight Tohru Adachi Waluigi Zero
Other Characters
Claptrap Philemon Yugi