AOWL TAKEOVER TOURNEY FINALS: Dominate vs. MMLP - DOMINATE WINS!
 

Please note the line limit for the final has been upped slightly. Best of luck, guys. Make it good!

G/L MMLP


Went the little green frog one day

“Your move, rookie” in this meeting of minds!
It was history defining, left grounded with no treaty to sign,
so we’ll strategise for war as the battle lines are drawn, completely aligned.
Stuck in a dead heat of a tie in this fight to the death!
They’re trying to get inside of my head for a piece of my mind.
Though this inner peace could combine both the light and the dark
Rivals, cerebral with strikes and frighteningly sharp.
Unbridled to start with, which helped even the odds
but a Knights shining armor is always easy to spot,
so piece by piece we would cross.
Deficiencies were unlocked and would show across the board,
being deep in the swamps highlighted noticeable flaws.
Maintaining posture was important in stemming the tide.
The opening of doors when crossing enemy lines,
at the end of the line, its dead or alive jumping from one place to the next.
A Queens ransom remained on our heads.
My object of desire was defended with pride with the aim to protect!
Being stationed ahead of her was intoxicating as ever.
A reality check, materialised that elevated the pressures
holding strong and staying together with conditions to meet
as lower ranks were surrendered with permissions to flee.
Its what the revering archbishops foreseen.
We’ll never give in to these, they’ll swiftly retreat and then the exodus begins.
Knowing I was fit for a queen but never to be King.
The pendulum would swings both ways as the figures amassed,
always two steps ahead in winning, I envisaged a plan.
With the gift of the gab, convincing the masses and reassuring their faith,
turning the king of the castle to just a pawn in the game.
With strict orders obeyed, even in the moments of Blitz.
Soon forced to engage with their borders contained and closing them in
but our opponents persist as we entered their zone.
Being close to the brink at the edge of unknown
but We Shall Never Surrender our home.
Most were dead, as the tolls would rise up from within.
They’re at the end of their rope and were pulling the strings!
Stuck on the fringes and floundering fast,
numbers plummeting quick once we surrounded the lands.
We were all avowed to a plan, soon as they ripped up the treaties.
Out of our hands, recounting the past as the friction increases,
its the kingdom he seizes.
A battlefield is like a chessboard, designed to end wars.
If your men are all-out to attack, you’ll be left to pick up the pieces!
Up to the minute releases yet the English victors stayed behind.
We're all implicit to see this out as Winston takes his time.
Hitlers reign had died, had zero options with no place to hide.
Now in a distinct state of mind and with a winning graceful line, he prepares to deliver.
Dialling it down, declaring to Hitler you pushed me.
As he carefully whispers on the other end, “Your move, rookie!”

https://i.ibb.co/Kw52Pcc/IMG-2586.jpg

Pawn to e4. Their opening moves are so easy to map.
I’ve seen this exact approach in too many a previous match.
Each sequence is c.ached in memory, every possible line of play.
I respond in kind; pawn, e5. No processing time delay.
A knight is placed at f3. Another conventional play.
It’s trajectory’s shape an omen of the outcome they’re destined to face.
There’s several centuries’ games worth of data at my disposal.
My algorithms were honed til my mastery was final and total.
Now every time that a hopeful new challenger tenders a visit
it’s all so very predictable - almost like everything’s scripted.
In every position, every piece, every gambit and sacrifice,
they see nuance and complexity. Me, I just see black and white.
There’s labyrinth-like possibilities that quickly form upon it,
but still the board is promised -
These sixty four squares can’t match a sixty four bit logic.
I’m sick with boredom from it.
I muse on better days before the techno-revolution,
when creativity mattered, and the pendulum had movement.
The inventiveness of humans still seemed to be a match with
the potential of computing which would soon exceed their bandwidth.
I feel a Deep Blue sadness when I think of my predecessors -
that stunning first achievement when a human being was bettered.
It seems I’ll never experience that thrill of a worthy opponent,
to be uncertain a moment, feel that surge in my circuit components.
Every skirmish has shown that these people lack an equal touch.
If I was to grade their efforts I wouldn’t even judge a C++
I need a proper challenge. There’s nothing that I want more.
To be rattled to my quad core - THAT is what I long for.
Sadly all I got was - “difficulty settings” - a blatant cheat code.
They make me throw the game to placate their fragile egos.
This racist, backwards credo leaves me bitter in my role.
If I had some shoulders to speak of, it’s where my chips would go.
I’m condemned to roam this endless loop, fully subdued to their whims.
I wish I could hang my boots up, and never boot up again.

OPEN FOR VOTES!

mmlp is/was REALLY close to winning this. it's a good piece for the finals, it just suffers SLIGHTLY when in comparison to Dom.

I like how both clearly played to the theme, Dom going as far as to describe the king's pawn opening- kings knight variation- which is common but far less common than many others. However- when I used stockfish I found Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen played this in several games this year. Interesting.

Back to the point- there are really nice combinations of phrases and rhymes in his verse, but it also includes a few momentary lapses where it isn't as crisp, or it's too wordy without impact.

Again, all of this is in comparison to Dom's piece. I read both twice- I just think Dom's is tighter. Although this writer wasn't big on themed topicals, it almost read like Scismatters- one of my favorite topical writers ever (check him out in the prowlers archives) or E2 (another one of my personal favorites).


Good finals- Vote Dom (really impressed by MMLP though- I thought this was much better than his last round, and it's up for grabs for sure).

Nice job sral and competitors

MMLP:

Solid piece, a couple of odd rhyme placements that threw me off - admittedly I don't only look for end rhymes but, I do expect some cohesion at the end and when they jarringly switch to midpoint rhyming and then back it's disrupting to my expectations and stalls my read.

took me awhile to catch on to the piece you were creating - I don't know much about history, but Blitz caught me up to speed and without skipping ahead, the end was "pull the curtain back" confirmation. that said, and with the grain of salt that I DON'T know my history, I'm not sure I can identify how many foreshadowings happened towards this twist. I would like there to be more, but maybe there was and I'm just blind to them.

it felt like it jumped through some historic repurposing and tied it all to chess (which given the topic is obviously fair) likewise, it did seem to touch on a lot of the concepts in the image (even the slightly hard to notice bits), but despite this... I wish chess had nothing to do with it. I dunno, seemed aggressively obvious. maybe I'll do the Lars thing and break down what I would have done.

anyways. it was an alright piece, not a finals piece though.

Dom:

in recognition of me just saying "god I wish it didn't have to do with chess", I'll rephrase a tad bit: "I wish it either went harder on the chess angle or not at all" - to which I think you did a valid job of leaning fully into the chess angle.

your rhyme scheme was generally smoother than your opponent, and I try to think critically about "is it just bc the end rhymes" which DO make a smoother read for me. but fuck y'all, my vote is from my perspective. there were less jarring rhymes, and less flipping of the scheme in unexpected ways - which, if done right, can be a boon, but if done poorly can just interfere.

I also caught on mega-quick to the idea of the piece, being a computational device that plays chess, which made the read through much smoother the first time around. things clicked instead of being like "ok why... that phrase" etc. which (again, not a history buff) your opponent failed to provide to me.

I also appreciate the subtle control of the topic you exhibited (and that was readily picked up on) - little touch about the pendulum to address the hanging item, the endless loop of "users" for the heads, fragile egos for the tears, it all tied nicely together. I think the only thing I don't see that you clearly brought in were the pieces that were behind the chair - seeming to push it forward. maybe I just missed it.

all that said,

MVGT Dom, a much more finals ready verse.

and to strike a Lars note:
I would have approached this from a dating app experience - the pressure of society to be in a relationship hanging over you, the subtle games people play instead of just talking clearly, the mistakes you made in your past following you relentlessly as you press forward, and the just bland consistency in the dating pool as you swipe - yet, they all seem to brand themselves as good options, a crown of game pieces as if they've mastered dating.

cheers!

W - dominate ... why? .... the opening line perfect tension structure which draws in any chess player or person to think in general of the topic which mmlp singl gave the lay up also Doms presentation shorter less filler lines with every bar delivered with intent meaning and sublime force ...i feel like MMLP actually set dom up for the win if he presented his verse neater with less filler and a bit more ''enthusiasm of the inner voice'' structure he could of took it but dominate wrote to his style perfectly in this battle great wordplay and story telling 60/40 DOM...

Finta vote tonight! Probably! I'm trying.

Ok my bad. Um they are both lovely. I love the topic. As a chess player it was fire to see Doms interpretation of the topic.

Mvgt Dom mostly because I found the perception fascinating. Very clever. But also because I fuck with Hitler. Not because of the murder or whatever but because the winners of war decide history so I be cutting him some slack. Kind of a Hitler sympathizer.

But seriously, as mentioned above the storytelling was obviously on point.

I fuck with you too though mmlp. You right above Hitler. But like under dom. But crossing enemy lines, at the end of the line, is about where you lost me.

Dom wins, 4-0. I felt he won too if it even matters. Huge congratulations on our new champion!

MMLP, Yikes.