[dull boy]

Week 2

Des V Zuch---

Judges (Sharp-d, User-d, Adverse-d, Ajax-d, me) 4-0 des

Sharp - Zuch kind of gave up right away. Des had the best flip for me with half calves.

user - V – Des

Zuch gave up. And Des was better anyway.

ajax - Just like last week, I’m gonna vote in separate messages. Will try to get everything to you by tonight.

First one.

Des v Zuch

This was really disappointing. 4 total verses, by two guys that we all know can write a lot and participate in everything. They really seemed to dial it in here, especially Zuch. I would have favored Zuch pretty heavily in this, based on his recent form (and the fact he got absolutely robbed last week by what I thought was the worst verse in the league). Instead, he dropped four pretty good generic lines and then a rebuttal that I didn’t even get (at best, it was some kind of convoluted wordplay). He’s better than that. Des actually rebutted Zuch’s lines. Nothing groundbreaking, but solid enough.

Have to give the win to Des. But, I’d be shocked if this wasn’t the most disappointing battle of the week.

ad - Glad Zuch and Des had such a short battle this week, it was still a decent read though.

As far as rebuttals go though, Des clearly had the advantage since he got two rebuttals compared to Zuch’s one. Based on the clap backs though I think Des got this easily. The half calves line was fucking ridiculous lol though I liked Zuch’s opening lines but this being about rebuttals Des easily won’t that aspect of the battle.



Seth V Frac---

Judges (Sharp-s, User-f, Hush-S, Ajax-f, me) 2-2

Ajax - Another battle where it’s obvious the two battlers don’t like each other very much. It made for an interesting back and forth.

Once again, I have to specifically note how bad Seth’s wording is. Not only is it not next level (as anyone winning consistently needs to be), it’s awful. Borderline unreadable. If writing something that could conceivably be rhymed with some measure of cadence/rhythm didn’t mean anything, anyone could write 30 syllable jokes and pass it off as a verse. Even when his ideas are cool, they’re written so poorly, it’s hard to get into them at all. How anyone voted for him last week is beyond me... and in many respects, this verse was worse on that front this week.

So, wording wise, this wasn’t even remotely close.

From a wit perspective, they were moderately close... but, on a straight punchline basis, I had Fracture taking it as well. His concepts were consistently better, even though he went to the “Seth is fat” well a couple too many times... and the roof access line didn’t make any sense at all IMO.

In terms of who flipped/rebutted the best, I think they were even. They both specifically went at each other with pretty much every line... it was the best part of this battle. They can’t stand each other and, conceptually, they both had some really cool flips.

At the end of the day, given how even they were on rebuttals, it came down to wit and wording.... and Frac was better on both fronts. He won this.

Sharp - I wasn't in love with a lot of this. I don't understand the scientist angle. Is it the Dr. Nick avy? Right off the bat, it's a just fat bar. Seth was good about focusing right on frac's lines and Frac was generally good, aside from the weird scientist callback.

The battle started slow with a few highlights (the HGTV exchange and couple's retreat flip from frac) but didn't pick up for me until the negotiator/scientist flips were tossed.

The roof access was exchange was great, aside from frac's original bar... which was bad so it turned out about even. It came down to the very last exchange to me and Seth won out with the hinkley jr exchange. really could have gone either way to me.

v/ seth

user - V – Fracture, by a hair

Battle of the week probably. This was two vets who know how to flip/rebuttal/retort and doing it fairly well, I can’t fault either of them in that category. As far as freshness of the material involved in the flips, Fracture gets the edge there, by a fair margin to me. His retorts came off funny and entertaining while Seth’s tended to come off a little corny or didn’t really land at all for me. I think maybe these two have battled so much that it boils down to fat jokes never getting old, and Seth’s angles really needing a special something to really stick the landing that he seemed to lack during a few of his responses. There’s other little nitpicks I have with both, like it being 2021 and Seth still opting for single syllable rhyme scheme in certain places, but that’s a personal stylistic itch that he just didn’t scratch numerous times. Frac also took the longest breaks in between responses which garnered him some negatives in my eye as well – but overall I thought he had enough to see it through.



User V Adverse---

Judges (Sharp-u, Ajax-u, Me, Hush-u, me) 3-0 user

Sharp - Adverse surprised me by opening with two effective flips, answered back by a nice 'run circles' play from user. Wasn't a fan of the seconds bar because User pretty much obliterated that flip with his Interstellar bar

The rest of the battle was all User. The janitor lines in particular sealed the deal for me, but Adverse couldn't hang because his bars were playing off of User's, but always came back to 'you're fat'. User justifiably put him on blast for it. User won with consistency. Would like to see what Adverse does against someone with less of an established 'character'

Ajax -

Ok. THIS is how this league is supposed to work, and differentiate itself from others. Starting from the first rebuttal, each consistently and quickly went after each other and, in most cases, directly against the preceding line(s). It was entertaining to read, and VERY close. I thought User’s last two couplets (same joke 4 times and 200 guys better than you) were the best lines of the battle, because Adverse’s entire collective verse was essentially a fat joke flipped in different (albeit well done) ways and so User’s hit really made a solid impact. For what it’s worth, Adverse’s final point also hit (essentially rhyming a response that he was just using what was there).

I think that, compared with other battles I’ve read in the last two weeks, this may have been the best example of two guys specifically rebutting prior lines. From a wit perspective, I thought they were essentially even.. each was consistently good, if not awe inspiring.. and I didn’t see many low points at all.

I’ll also say that I think this was the best I’ve seen from Adverse, overall. His wording was much better and more concise than I’ve seen from his earlier stuff.. and maybe he has a knack for rebuttal style rhyming. He could be a problem for people moving forward. His flip on Fantastic For after User’s relatively weak Thing punch was really well executed, and an example of how wordplay can work if done well.

I think they tied in terms of response time and wording... so, this really was as close to an overall tie as they come. I think it ultimately came down to User’s final set, which undercut the entirety of Adverse’s verse. Because, by that point, it was clear reading this that Ad had spent a little too much time on that one point, so User pointing it out was perfect. But, this was really close.. and seems to really suit both of their styles. Good stuff. User barely edges it.



Sharp V Mac---

Judges (User-s, Adverse-s, Ajax-s, Hush-s, me) 4-0 sharp

Ajax - Another disappointing turnout. 6 total drops, with an average of almost a day between them, is just a reflection how little they cared about the battle. Made it much less interesting. And, frankly, I thought the quality of the punchlines, from a wit and rebuttal perspective, was lacking from both... from a wording perspective, both were better than Seth, for example, but pretty standard fare.. nothing spectacular.

I do think that Sharp was markedly better with his disses, although it seems like there was a translation issue for Mac that led to Sharp’s best disses (the “pooser” line was the best in the battle.... although it’s ironic that Sharp included a typo in that line).

All in all, I think Sharp took this, in a pretty underwhelming battle.

user - V – Sharp, by a mile.

Flipped more creatively, concepts were better, and oddly enough to even say this – but he RHYMED better.

ad - Sharp and MAC is another easy one to decide. Mac was hitting more last week against Des

Sharp got this easily with the English tutor line and especially the Van Gogh bar. Mac didn’t hit as hard as I thought he could have done more, but Sharp had it right when he said his concepts were dope but he didn’t make much of them. Sharp wins



Dave V Coop---

Judges (User-d, Ajax-d, Sharp-c, Adverse-d, me) 3-1 Dave

Ajax - Interesting battle. They didn’t seem to care much, in what is unfortunately a pattern apparently, by only posting a few drops... but, it swung back and forth more than some of the other battles. Coop started out hot... but Dave was better at the end. And, he was better at specifically rebutting what Coop did.

Wording wise, they both did a good job... Concise, well worded multi’s.... and I’m probably the last person who reads text to enjoy non-“setup then punchline” disses, so I really liked the “name’s Dave” and “name’s Coop” back and forth... Would have played really well in a live setting.

Wit wise, I thought they were fairly even... Coop’s “no shot” line was a solid opener playing off his own fault... and Dave’s “did to yourself” reply was a good jab back... That said, I did think that each had a couple lines that were fairly subpar (Dave’s opener, Coop’s anal mastered, etc...) and there wasn’t anything mind-blowing from either. And Coop, for some reason, didn’t rebut anything in his second verse.... then Dave dropped the best sequence in the battle with the “name’s Coop” and follow up.

So, in what was effectively a tie, it came down to who was better rebutting.. by a hair.... and I think Dave was, barely.

Sharp - Crazy close. Coop had the lotb with no shot, but Dave made it close with his last post. I think if this went on, Dave would have won, but Coop definitely made the most of out of the shorter exchange

v/coop

user - V – Dave, slightly

This was another close one, and it’s due to consistency that Dave gets the nod. Coop’s first and final rebuttal’s were just complete whiffs for me. His second one was easily his best, and Dave came right back at him and minimized the impact of it enough to give him the nod overall for me. Cool match though.

ad - Think Coop and Dave wasn’t much of a match either. Only real rebuttal I liked from Coop was the not having a shot bar in response to the anti vax shit. Other than that Dave ran away with it in every category. He actually had rebuttals And didn’t focus primarily on rhyme schemes.



Blue V Flow---

Judges (Ajax-b, Adverse-b, Sharp-b, Hush-b, me) 4-0 Blue

Sharp - Rebuttals weren't the strongest part of this battle to me. The bars themselves like Jon Rahm and NBL is your baby were great, but are more highlights from a reg battle. Pretty much all of the flips were predictable or uninteresting aside from curls on the side.

I think blue was more generally effective, consistent, and had the lotb with his Jew flip. It's rare he has a chance to... be jewish?... and I'm glad he capitalized on it so well. Shalom.

v/blue

ajax - Ok, this was more like it. At least you could feel some real malice in the back and forth.

It did take several rebuttals for this battle to get moving, but once Flow brought up the recycling punch angle, things got interesting. I thought Blue handled it perfectly though. Combing back with the “let me know when you drop an actual punch” was probably the best way he could flip it... then his “curls on the side” rebuttal to the weird Jewish punch from Flow sealed it. Easily the wittiest punch of the battle and a perfect way to tie in the missed punch from Flow.

Blue is one of the best here at NC and has to be one of the favorites to win the league if he stays in it. Winning battles like this (where, frankly, Flow was ok, but overmatched) are what you need to do to win it... and Blue took care of business.

ad - Flow and Blue is the most competitive match I’ve had to vote on. I say that but honestly there was one that stood out to me and that was Blue, Flow might be rusty. Blue has the dirt tracks, claws, across the pond etc. Flow honestly had pointing out the fact Blue recycled a line. So Blue gets the vote