LMAO THE OFFICIAL NETCEES.ORG AOWL TAKEOVER TOURNAMENT OPENING ROUND MAGAZINE!!!!!! WHOOOOOOO, LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO!!!!!!! [READ NOW]

[sral]

THE OFFICIAL NETCEES.ORG AOWL TAKEOVER TOURNAMENT
ROUND ONE
MAGAZINE!!!!!!



Waddup boils and ghouls!

Before we begin, can you all just take a second to admire the moving .gif type thing I managed to throw up? It’s absolutely fucking glorious and I don’t think we’ve ever had one of those before for a tournament here. Probably for good reason, in truth, but that thing is amazing and a perfect accompaniment to the topical faggotry of man poetry we’re about to kick off. I was a bit annoyed about the MakeAGif watermark to the bottom right in truth, but I can live with it. The idea was there. I just need to brush up on my .gif skills a little more.

With that said, Netcees is BACKKKKKKKKK with its second quick-fire topical tournament within just three months!!!! We’ve a mixed bag of sign-ins including some new(ish) faces along with some returning veterans from textcee past — all vying to capture a tournament win on the internets premier text battling website! Is it still possible to host a successful tournament at Netcees in 2024? Are people even still invested enough in text battling to show up these days? Could this be the final tournament ever hosted at Netcees? They’re all very poignant questions indeed, and some we’ll no doubt see answer right here as we begin the…

AOWL TAKEOVER TOURNAMENT 2024



If you weren’t around for the finals of our last effort, you can check that out HERE: http://www.netcees.org/showthread.php?t=158699 where (HUGE SPOILER ALERT WARNING) Etherwave eeked out a win over Symetrik to become Netcees first ever female topical tournament champion! (Cherry doesn’t count because A) She was a He, and B) She never won a tournament (league win only) so there is that too. Regardless, Etherwave entered our last contest as the complete underdog, bottom seeded, and with zero expectations. This time out she fails to return to defend herself, so we move on with our next topical shindig and one that guarantees we return to having a male dominated sport once more - HUZZAH!

With that said, I try not to dwell too much on the past achievements and instead focus firmly on the present. We have interest in a topical tournament right now. I think the way to (re)build is best done gradually, in incremental stages, starting small with the view towards us building up to a larger event once people see the success. Let’s get another small 8-person tournament completed, gain some momentum behind us, and then grow organically into a more standard sixteen entrant format. I’m pleased to see the returns of text stalwarts like @Headless Verseman and @Dominate who have both proven themselves writers that can beat anyone on their given day. We see long time NC moderator and manpoem aficionado @Inno return after a lengthy hiatus, along with my pal @MMLP who has been notably absent from the Netcees fold for a while it seems. Everpresents @Master Rock and @Candy are here to participate once more, alongside last tourneys finalist @symetrik and former AOWL in-season champion @Scar. It’s quite a solid roster of sign-ups, arguably stronger than that of the last tournament, and so without further ado let’s talk a bit more about those involved for people who may be unfamiliar:


BATTLER BIO’S




@MMLP The worst name in text rap is back. Fantastic. Nah, but in all seriousness for a second, we haven’t seen anything much from this guy the past twelve months or so. Prior to that we did see him mount a championship title run in the AOWL where he ultimately fell short to Universe at the peak of his powers. MMLP has previously had some success by becoming a Black August tournament finalist where he lost out to Inno, so he certainly has enough about him to reach the business end of a topical tourney here and is experienced enough to know what his audience is looking for which can play a major factor in these things. The shorter format perhaps favours him somewhat, proving more of a creative sprint rather than the marathons he’s used to in the AOWL where a higher degree of consistently performing at a high level is key. That said, there are certainly writers involved here who have been doing this for far longer than MMLP has been around and one in particular who has a decade plus more experience than him. Of course, that experience isn’t everything, and perhaps not knowing who these people are will play into his favour as it enables him to play without fear of them. He should probably stop reading the battler bios here if he wants to retain that edge though.

@Candy aka Cereal_Killer is a former RapMusic.com regular and known for competing in its RSTL - the largest active topical league there has ever been online. I’m not entirely sure if he ever made it to the title match, by memory I can’t recall him doing so, but regardless he has proved himself an ever-present by turning up week in - week out - consistently over the years and has continued doing so during his time here at Netcees. This guy has been everywhere, truth be told, and yet remains somewhat of an enigma in both his character and writing ability. Never huge on posts in the Discussion forums, he instead tends to quietly go about his business and writes to have something to write about. The process seems to be less about the competitiveness of competition with him, and more about him honing his own sword through this weird hobby of ours. He never takes himself too seriously. He simply shows up, often on short notice, goes about his votes and you seldom hear from him otherwise until the next opportunity comes around. While Candy perhaps isn’t expected to reach the finals of this tournament, I’m always glad to have a mainstay involved that I can trust will show up for what they signed up for and compete. I respect the grind.



@Dominate So here we have one of the first proverbial big fish entering the tournament, a real powerhouse of a writer who has proven himself equally proficient both in the text battle and topical realms respectively. If you were looking at the names to beat, Dom is definitely one of those guys you don’t want to see your name drawn against in the opening round. It’s great to see him throw his hat in the ring here, and I really hope he sticks around because during his showings for the AOWL (and even to a lesser extent his run in the Guerrila Writing League) he showed he can compete with just about anyone on his day. Now he’s done this whole text thing an incredibly long time, so it’s difficult to add much to his bio here that hasn’t already been said before, but back in my formative text years, especially on the likes of HipHopHeads.com, there was a huge deal made of those that could compete just as well in both fields - text battles and topicals. I suppose that’s why I largely text battled initially (weird to think, right?) but also began competing in topical leagues alongside it later on. There aren’t many in the modern game that try their hands at both, and you’ll find those that do are largely old heads, but Dom is one that can lay claim to doing both well for sure. One of the handful of writers remaining that can claim to do the two things to a really high standard with success. He’s surely an early favourite to potentially take the entire thing, and I don’t think it’s disrespectful at all to the other competitors to say such. He will tick many boxes in terms of his technical ability, creativity, and execution here - a firm fan favourite who may set the bar exceedingly high from the opening round. Watch this space.

@symetrik - The tournament finalist, losing out by the thinnest of margins at the last hurdle, returns here looking determined to go one better than he managed last time out. Symetrik has a perhaps been a dark horse, quietly growing into his writing, and yet somehow finds himself continually overlooked here despite his achievements. Did anyone have Symetrik reaching a topical tournament finals down on their Netcees Bingo Cards even as little as twelve months ago? I doubt it. Yet, here we are, a year on and with some impressively consistent back to back showings under his belt he was in with a serious shout of claiming his first tournament victory. Headless had him winning in fact. The motivation is certainly there for him, and a big win over some of the names involved in this tournament would certainly be a statement of intent on his way to the finals if he were to make back to back appearances in one. The thing with those moments is partly how you manage to deal with the weight of the expectation. For people who perhaps haven’t found themselves in that position before, the pressure is cranked up, and knowing how to handle that can come down to experience, but you need to put yourself in those positions in the first place in order to learn what you have to do and how. Sym has been there now, he came agonisingly close, he’s certainly tasted defeat and will want to wipe that sour taste from his mouth. It’s time he licked those wounds and threw himself right back into proceedings to put that last loss right again. He’s shown he can reach the finish line. Now we want to see if he has it in him to cross it.



@Scar I’m perhaps more familiar with Scar than most here, having witnessed him over at his former homesite prior to him coming to Netcees. The return comes after a somewhat lengthy spell away, so it will be interesting to see how much ring rust has set in and how sharp his pengame remains - though the same can arguably be said for several of the other entrants to this topical tournament. Scar has certainly had as much success here as the opposition, even if he isn’t as experienced as some involved. I think it’s fair to say that Scar is somewhat of an unfinished product, despite the obvious skill, and I still find him very much experimenting with form and execution - almost testing the waters at times, while some of the more self-assured writers will already have their own styles refined, polished and downpat. I don’t think Scar does yet, he has a grasp of different elements and can bring all of those together at times, but finding his own writers voice is the key to him unlocking his full potential in my opinion and if we can see him do that we could see him make a lengthy stay in our tourney here. The fickle mistress of ring rust may also play a factor and it will be interesting to see who from the pack manages to relieve themselves of her first.

@Master Rock - Ah man, I feel for Master Rock. I really and truly do. Prior to The Topical Tournament 2024 he had put on back to back solid showings, beasting in the Guerrilla Writing League with some of his career best work, he had a fantastic record in the last season of the AOWL and made it all the way to the three-way finals of its championship conclusion, entering The Topical Tournament 2024 riding high on the back of that output to be drawn against Etherwave (the eventual winner) in the opening round and making an early exit. At the time it was a huge shock and upset victory, perhaps looking back on it now after her winning the whole thing that loss isn’t as heavy a defeat as first appeared. Let’s not write him off completely here. One loss never defined a career. It’s never about the defeat, but the bounceback. What I enjoy about Master Rock is he hasn’t let it play on his mind, he hasn’t taken a leave of absence, he’s thrown himself straight back in the ring to do it all over again - and he continues to do so. The final of the AOWL season was probably the highest point he has reached in the competition, and while he ultimately came up short (similarly to Symetrik in The Topical Tourney 24) after having come so agonisingly close to a big victory he will want to go one better and solidify his spot with the best. Some could argue the last tournament was the easier opportunity to do so given those involved, but ultimately you can only beat what is put in front of you. It’s another short 8-man tourney, single elimination, three weeks of completion before we crown our champion - and it really is anyone’s game. I fully expect some upsets, twists and turns to occur as we progress, but if Master Rock can recapture some of that previous form he had shown he could put himself in a very strong position indeed. Don’t sleep.



@Inno - Netcees birthday boy (I won’t reveal his age, he can if he wants), but let’s just say he’s now moving towards his mid-forties. He has an army of children. Yet he still finds time to actively participate when many of his younger peers around here seemingly can’t (or won’t) find the time to show up and take part anymore. He puts the younger heads to shame. It’s been a good long while since we last saw Inno actively writing, the good news for him perhaps is that a lot of those signed up are in a similar position to himself. The theme of this opening round may as well be ring rust, seeing as the majority may we be showing signs and there’s very few rounds from which to knock that off. The slow starters may therefore find it difficult making it to the finals, let alone winning. It could play a huge factor as the tournament progresses, only time will tell. Inno certainly has been there and done what was needed. The question isn’t about his ability, but perhaps his application this time out. Don’t sleep I’d he could catch you off guard unexpectedly. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

@Headless Verseman - Last but by no means least we round things out with Headless Verseman, another predominant text battler who has also had success on the topical scene. It’s been a long time since we last saw anything of note dropped by him, the last I heard he owned a fishing tackle type store that was doing reasonably big things in the fly lure world. If that is even a thing. I don’t know. Headless is here by way of RapMusic.com, UrbanProwlers.Net and ProjectRhyme.com - all websites with a deserved pedigree - so he certainly has the experience to his game some newer heads such as a Scar and MMLP may not even be familiar with. I’m sure at least Candy and Master Rock will be familiar with his ability, Dominate is likely to have heard of the name also if not the skillset. Regardless, those that don’t know are no doubt about to find out. Headless means business. He’s the reason this tournament came to fruition. Let’s see if he can keep that drive up because he is looking really determined to make a splash right now, and he has his sights firmly affixed on that final (or would, if his head wasn’t missing, that is).



TOURNEY BRACKETS

So given the nature of the tournament - and the fact many of you guys have lay dormant for a year or more - I’ve thrown caution to the wind and seedings out of the window. I used a randomised bracket generator to keep things fair, threw the eight names down and clicked generate, this also avoids any further delay to the tournament getting underway while interest is at its peak. The results are below and indicate who your first round match up is to be against:





Which brings us neatly onto our most highly anticipated segment of the magazine as always, where Lars talks you through who you’re against and how I think things are going to play out in the matches. If you want to know how I expect you to win, get ready for….


ROUND ONE MATCH-UP’S



MMLP vs Inno: This one is somewhat of a spicy meatball for our opening round, two former Black August tournament finalists that have some shared history since they met at the top and Inno ultimately overcame MMLP to be crowned champion. This was, of course, several years ago now and we haven’t seen a great deal of output from Inno since. While MMLP has partaken sparingly during that time, he’s also returning after a somewhat lengthy layoff of his own, and so this one could be decided by who’s own pen remains the sharpest of the two. So who wins? Well, history favours Inno with him having got the dub over MMLP previously at the business end of a tournament when the stakes were much higher. I can definitely see this one polarising opinion stylistically as the two approach verses very differently, Innovator with a much more poetic use of language, a great use of imagery and unique turn of phrase, while MMLP seems to prefer a more structured technically proficient verse focusing heavily on the rhyme scheme and multi syllable rhyming. Can one, or both, adapt their styles to counteract what their opposition will try to do here - perhaps closing the gap on the differences between the two style wise and creating something that shows they can match them pound for pound while doing what their opponent can’t? To me, that would be the haymaker needed, sticking solely to their tried and trusted methods really leaves room for this being more of a 50/50 tossup when they could perhaps land a heavy shutout in their favour if either adapt a different strategy. It is a risk, though, for sure, so if you do so please ensure it’s a calculated one. This is likely one of the closest battles this round.

Scar vs Symetrik - These two will be familiar with one another from their time in the AOWL and Guerilla Writing Leagues respectfully. Scar has had a noticeable absence from the game of late, whilst Sym comes in with the sharper pen of the two having just reached the finals of our previous tournament here. He’s fresh. He’s competitive. He’s writing regularly. Everything almost points towards a Symetrik victory in one sense, but Scar has a knack of showing up and shining brightest on the bigger stages. A win in this tournament would definitely be a statement of intent, and is by no means beyond the realms of possibility for him. I don’t feel like it would be an upset we’re Scar to come out victorious here, but it would perhaps be unexpected given Symetrik’s own recent run. I expect this one to be close, perhaps coming down to personal preferences on the concept, execution, or stylistically. They’re both quite different in their approaches, Symetrik for me is the slightly more varied and prepared to take the larger risks - while Scar is perhaps the more calculated and direct in his own narrative. Is there an underdog? Not particularly for me, though perhaps I would say the odds to favour Sym slightly more given recent showings and his finals run. It’s really dependent on which Scar shows up, he can be his own worst enemy and it’s rarely Scar being defeated so much as him losing to himself when he does. 60/40 Sym if you want me to throw some odds your way. Oh, I did try to throw you guys a topic I felt both could do well with though actually - there’s definitely more than one way it can be interpreted, plenty of imagery to latch onto, some world building perhaps required to really anchor the verses that I’m sure will be toyed with by both, fairly open-ended in what can be done with it. I think both will enjoy it for different reasons and it gives the two of you the opportunity to turn it on its head.

Dominate vs Candy - I hope the two of you enjoy this topic, it’s somewhat surrealist and Dali-esque in appearance but can easily be worked into a story driven narrative with a moralistic twist or a more abstract topical on how to not lose your head in an existential crisis or… something completely different. Lol. I think both will attack this in vastly different ways, Candy perhaps going for more of a left-field approach heavy on imagery and unique turns of phrase while Dominate turns the entire thing on its head with a well written storyline and writers voice. I can see it doing down exactly like that in fact. In retrospect I should have probably given this topic to Headless, that could have been fun. Alas, here we are, two writers who have been around easily the best part of two decades that may never have met before. At least I don’t think so (happy to be proven wrong?). For my money Dominate is the favourite here, I think he’ll enjoy the challenge of writing to this obscure little artistic piece (at least I hope he will) and Candy will likely drop something before this magazine even sees completion. He’s that sort of guy. Zero fear and complete unwavering belief in his own abilities. Rightly or wrongly.

Headless Verseman vs Master Rock - This could be quite a good battle, both hailing from a land long forgotten in the B-Boys/ProjectRhyme mould, but something like a decade later they meet again here in the opening round of our tournament. Headless hasn’t written anything in years, literally YEARS, while Master Rock hasn’t really stopped at all in that time. He definitely isn’t the same guy he was back then, having been on something of an upswing in the topical leagues and tournaments here since then, perhaps peaking last year as noted earlier (at least up until his early exit last tourney). So who wins this one? Well, that largely depends on the return of Headless Verseman. How much of a step do we think he may have lost since he was last around? We can take a look at the battle verse he dropped here against Rican recently and see he hasn’t really changed his style too dramatically, the battle verse was relatively straight save for a couple of excusably semi-played lines creeping in which may be forgiven if not expected. The wording to his lines there is perhaps most interesting to me, still short and concise, and adhering to the old adage on how form is temporary but skill is permanent. You never quite lose it, do you? I’m going to bare that in mind here and say that Headless wins this battle, despite how good Master Rock had looked recently, I think Headless just seems hungry. He wanted this tournament. He wanted to come back and prove himself. He seems determined. I don’t think a Headless win would be considered an upset, outside of perhaps those unfamiliar with him from years previously. I’m giving Headless the nod here in the predictions. Sorry Rock. Feel free to prove me wrong and make me eat my words, the tourney would benefit from it if you do so.

LMAO & WTF’s OF THE WEEK



WTF @ No Etherwave defending her title. For shame.
LMAO @ a wild Headless Verseman appears
WTF @ Mike Wrecka acknowledging signups but staying out?
LMAO @ You guys keep pulling me back out of semi-text retirement for one more go round
WTF @ How good the line-up is this time out?
LMAO @ Master Rock pulling two of the worst opening round battles back to back. The random generator must hate you.
WTF @ some of those view counts from the last tourney. The semi final magazine had 13,500+ views!
LMAO @ those interested that were too late. Sorry guys. Stick around, make it successful, we’ll shout for 16 person tourney next I swear
WTF @ that opening graphic though?!
LMAO these magazines are always fucking crazy. Don’t forget to rep and rep again!

[Inno]

@sral thank you for always putting 100% every time. Appreciate your effort and thank you for including me in this. Dope magazine like always. Good luck @MMLP

[symetrik]

how DARE you. lmao

[Candy]

good mag the match ups a better this time around much in fact but we lack ethers wild card

[sral]

I dunno man, I consider these returning heads who haven’t wrote anything for YEARS wildcards this time. We don’t know what to expect from MMLP, Headless, Scar or Inno really. They’ve been away for a while. Huge unknown quantity over them right now

[sral]

Originally Posted by Inno

@sral thank you for always putting 100% every time. Appreciate your effort and thank you for including me in this. Dope magazine like always. Good luck @MMLP

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRUH!!!!

[Headless Verseman]

Great mag- and I agree like I've had some dope spurts in the topical realm, but even at my peak I was never consistent (maybe most consistent on project rhyme). Battling sure- I was grinding the RBL and anything else back then- but I thought rap musics topical league was absolute shite for a lot of it's duration except when I ran it after Richard Corey or another mod quit. I thought the writers were better, but there were so many crews back then, nothing was unbiased and they definitely had a preference for stuff that I never thought was that dope in style- I thought project rhyme was way better top to bottom- but then again in 1996-2000 they had a section on the website where you could get text help and learn to battle and write topicals- it wasn't new- other sites popped up before them- Davey D's, Sethros, HG, some website with a mic count for battle wins I forget the name.... I still can't really stand Richard Corey and some of the others that really excelled on there (forgive me for not remembering any other names- but they had at least 4-5 really good topical heads before transferring sites.

I'm definitely feeling a little pressure for this.....we do have money on a 3 round topical challenge series. I have to play a game of winning by enough to satisfy the expectations of my myself (and on myself by some of you) while also still having enough left for that match up.

[Etherwave]

I'm so jealous ngl. I wish I has been vs headless

[Etherwave]

Had been*

[Headless Verseman]

nice subtle diss lol jk

I liked what you wrote- I just HATE your formatting

[symetrik]

Originally Posted by Headless Verseman

nice subtle diss lol jk

I liked what you wrote- I just HATE your formatting

fuck I was gonna say it first xD lmao

[Etherwave]

I mean, technically I hate your formatting too, so fair. But we should've been vs.

[Dominate]

Originally Posted by sral

Lol.

Thanks for keeping text alive.

[Objective]

Damn, was too late for this one but will watch from the sidelines :)

[sral]

and vote, hopefully

[sral]

voting secures you priority in the next tourney