Scummies Nominations 2021!

[RH9]

I second notscience's Rising Star nomination for Lukewarm and want to add a couple more games for consideration.

Rising Star
04/01/22	fferyllt	Lukewarm	In the Not Quite Normal large theme game, Luke was a significant member of the town that pulled off a perfect win. The setup was advertised as multiball with a double traitor. He went through the entire game coming under only the slightest suspicion early Day 1. His arguments for the day 1 elimination were strong enough to move several players onto the werewolf's wagon. He was extremely concerned that he was in a monkery (neighborhood guaranteed to not contain werewolves) with possibly two mafia, but kept his cool, fake claimed bulletproof just in case he was the planned night 1 kill, and ultimately came around (correctly) to seeing his hood as all town. It's easy to get lost in the fog of a multiball game, but Luke stayed focused and, as I said was a signficant factor in the win. In the first running of Guardians of the Fortress, Luke had the correct solve of his mini-game. Unfortunately, my heel-dragging led him to putting down a vote he correctly believed was wrong. This was a tough game with a very experienced player list. Luke used his prior experience with unwnd in his first newbie game to correctly call him scum. One of Luke's strengths as a player is his ability to take all the role-claim jigsaw pieces and see which ones don't fit from a balance AND flavor perspective. That takes a lot of homework sometimes. As his reputation as a player has amassed this year, his solves are getting listened to more and more, and his influence on games is going to continue to grow. To me, this is the very definition of Rising Star. Potential and reputation combine and lift a player into "beyond the ordinary" territory.

Nth

[catboi]

Rising Star
07/01/21	catboi	Roden	In a very short time on site, Roden has assembled a very impressive resume as a scum player. In Newbie 2066, he took the game to 3p ELO and only lost there because he wound up cornered by experienced replacements undoing his work. SInce then, he's taken his team to victory 4 times, in Newbie 2070, Newbie 2073, Newbie 2076, and Newbie 2080. Twice he's endgamed after losing his partner on day 1. He's already able to write smooth, natural-sounding posts and rarely encounters suspicion, which is even more impressive since he came to the site with no mafia experience. Normally learning how to post well as scum is a hurdle most new players take some time in overcoming, and he's already surpassed it. I have less experience with his town game, but from what I've seen it's solid and he frequently ends up as a nightkill target for scum. Again, for someone with no prior mafia experience, he's good at making logical arguments and has decent instincts, often voting scum. I expect his town game is only going to get stronger with more time.

edit: changed to use the proper form

[fferyllt]

nth Roden

[RH9]

Rising Star
07/01/21	catboi	Roden	Newbie 2070, Newbie 2073, Newbie 2076, Newbie 2080	In a very short time on site, Roden has assembled a very impressive resume as a scum player. In Newbie 2066, he took the game to 3p ELO and only lost there because he wound up cornered by experienced replacements undoing his work. SInce then, he's taken his team to victory 4 times, including twice after losing his partner on day 1. He's already able to write smooth, natural-sounding posts and rarely encounters suspicion, which is even more impressive since he came to the site with no mafia experience. Normally learning how to post well as scum is a hurdle most new players take some time in overcoming, and he's already surpassed it. I have less experience with his town game, but from what I've seen it's solid and he frequently ends up as a nightkill target for scum. Again, for someone with no prior mafia experience, he's good at making logical arguments and has decent instincts, often voting scum. I expect his town game is only going to get stronger with more time.

Nth

[catboi]

Don Corleone
07/01/22	catboi	PookyTheMagicalBear	Not one, but TWO utterly improbable come from behind wins where he survived losing his entire team early to win in F3, first in Gensokyo (as Sanae), then in Pokemon Large Theme, where pulled off a risky gambit by vigging his teammate on night 1 and rode the cred from that to endgame. A single one of those games would be a signature win, two in the same year is absolutely remarkable. Additionally, was part of the scumteam that bullied their way to a sweep in TENET. "Pooky is very good at not getting limmed no matter how scummy he seems" - Infinity 324, Micro 1005: Help Isis, Scholarship Student at Noon

[Cephrir]

SCP upick belongs in that roden nom too.

[catboi]

SCP upick belongs in that roden nom too.

wasn't as familiar with the game, saw you giving him credit in postgame but GIF hasn't released the scum PT *COUGH* so I can't see the planning that went on

[Prism]

Don Corleone
07/01/22	Prism	petapan/catboi	petapan should be the first-ever two-time Don Corleone. He has absolutely torn it up all year across a variety of accounts. His scumgames are all hallmarked by both extremely strong and extremely flexible play, and he showed immense creativity in finding or inventing a variety avenues to win. I'll touch on 4 accounts of his: petapan, catboi, Retti, and bloodhail. First, let's hit on two of the marquee scumgames of the year from this player. Happy Face Mafia (Retti): This game was absolute hero shit. Virtually every town player had nailed 3 out of 4 of the mafia players. Retti's response was to dominate the game through dayplay, strategically cutting lose his partners only as they became doomed, and most importantly using his role as the scum gladiator to gladiate all three of his scum partners , and willingly no elim the single time he gladiated town. He planned out a gambit Day 1 (lying about a reward for correct gladiates), followed it up with a plausible claim that put him in the clear, and correctly navigated my own role which threatened to put him in autoloss. Town got a million free elims this game from numbers, a vig, and mechanical clears...and Retti still managed to win the game. Easily one of the top 3 individual scum performances all year. FGO II (petapan/Servant Alter Ego): This was a tough loss but one of the most publicly celebrated scumgames of the year. petapan once again drags a mostly dysfunctional scumteam to the finish line, doing his best to assist them but cutting them lose when it becomes apparent they're doomed. Town wins the election to gain a clear, eliminates two members of the scumteam back to back Day 1, and eliminates the third scumteam member Day 2. peta is left alone, and dodges a variety of mechanics, elims, and other obstacles to drag it out all the way to Day 6. At this point he has been mechanically confirmed after 2 suboptimal nightkills, and he still nearly wins the game purely off the strength of dayplay . Easily the best losing performance of the year. Alright, sure, he can powerbus. What else has he done all year? It's easy to think petapan just powerbusses his team all game looking at the above, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Let's look at some more collaborative and inventive samples. Large Normal 232: Sibyl's Elegy (bloodhail): A marquee team win where the team widely credited bloodhail for dragging them to the finish line. The scum PT shows why; bloodhail is constantly coordinating his teammates, seeking out the traitor, and arranging miselims, coordinated pushes, hammers, and the rote mechanics, coaching his teammates all along the way. Bulge sums it up best: "looking a lot better for scum today for sure. bloodhail definitely carrying in terms of strategy and level-headedness, i wonder who they're an alt of." Held together by bloodhail, scum cruises to the win with most of the team intact despite multiple members under threat early. Open 812: Guardians of the Fortress (catboi): With catboi's minigame unresolved in a scum 2-0 victory, it would be easy to dismiss this game. It featured a strong scumteam working in concert, and Briar and unwnd played extremely well to clinch it. But catboi was still a force of nature, poised to win his own minigame if necessary, and focused on creating an abudance of interactions for his teammates to both distance from him and thrive individually. I think post 2006 sums it up, both setting himself up well for sheer effort and presenting several reasons to call unwnd town in the wake of Briar's scumflip. Mini 2206: Perpetual MELO IV (petapan): petapan replaces into the game, and correctly realizes that Venus Fly Trap is having one of the best scum performances of the year on their own. Rather than trying to carry on his own, he leaves it to the team and sets them up as best as he can. He leverages the knowledge that he's in a scumread slot to help sink Nacho Day 1, exits using the built-in mechanic that night, and left interactions to set the team up well for the rest of the game. Spoiler, it works and his play complements VFT's perfectly and confirms her as a universal townread. Scum wins. Open 817: Nightless Exploder Pandemonium (petapan): Short, easy, sweet scumwin in a meme game? Why is this relevant? Because petapan immediately identified it gave scum the best shot of winning, and quickly leaned in to help push it that direction. The result is an easy scumwin. micro 1017: mystery: box of silver (Retti): Again, not just a power bussing one trick but an extremely creative player and master of mechanics. Worked well with Datisi, both planned mechanics indepth and right from pregame. Scum realizes they're in a dangerous spot if the game goes to Elo...and work together to put together the setup and bet it all on a triple kill N2. It works. Scum wins. Mini Normal 2252: W;ldlife amd strange critters (Retti): Another day, another game of Retti getting widely townread as scum. He realizes that scum can't blitz because of a vig gambit, warns his partners, watches them do it anyway ...and still wins after he immediately knows the game is still on, plays dumb, and gets Natalya voted out. Scum win from the brink of disaster. Open 824: White Flag (bloodhail): Very basic game but an example of flexibility and team emphasis. He replaces in, sees he's getting bussed, and works with the team to set them up well after the flip. It works and scum wins. Open 804: Popcorn Mafia (petapan): Bit of a circus of a game, but peta endgames essentially without even trying. Mostly sharp play but after he feels he's caught by Imperium, he switches just to running interference and keeping his partners out of the discerning eye. Not exactly as he planned but still works, scum wins. The sheer variety of ways he played and won scumgames this year was just mindboggling. Ridiculous level of flexibility, adaptability, and extreme skill in virtually every category of scumplay. When you combine that broad skillset with with depth and level of strength he brings to any given one, nobody else onsite compares. He not only had the strongest scumgames onsite in 2021 but the most varied, and should run away with a second award.

[fferyllt]

Nth catboi

Damn, that's impressive.

[Prism]

Also Nthing Pooky for Paragon and submitting the recently finished Guardians of the Fortress, where he saved a minigame universally considered lost by town.

Nthing Lukewarm. I don't even have to think about this: Hit the ground running, has improved rapidly, and it scares me to know that he still has a long way to go before he's finished.

[lilith2013]

nthing the peta DC nom especially for FGO and perpetual melo, I was considering writing a nom but too lazy. thanks prism!

also nth lukewarm paragon

[fferyllt]

paragon

rising star?

[lilith2013]

oops my brain. yeah that one

[RH9]

Don Corleone
07/01/22	Prism	petapan/catboi	petapan should be the first-ever two-time Don Corleone. He has absolutely torn it up all year across a variety of accounts. His scumgames are all hallmarked by both extremely strong and extremely flexible play, and he showed immense creativity in finding or inventing a variety avenues to win. I'll touch on 4 accounts of his: petapan, catboi, Retti, and bloodhail. First, let's hit on two of the marquee scumgames of the year from this player. Happy Face Mafia (Retti): This game was absolute hero shit. Virtually every town player had nailed 3 out of 4 of the mafia players. Retti's response was to dominate the game through dayplay, strategically cutting lose his partners only as they became doomed, and most importantly using his role as the scum gladiator to gladiate all three of his scum partners , and willingly no elim the single time he gladiated town. He planned out a gambit Day 1 (lying about a reward for correct gladiates), followed it up with a plausible claim that put him in the clear, and correctly navigated my own role which threatened to put him in autoloss. Town got a million free elims this game from numbers, a vig, and mechanical clears...and Retti still managed to win the game. Easily one of the top 3 individual scum performances all year. FGO II (petapan/Servant Alter Ego): This was a tough loss but one of the most publicly celebrated scumgames of the year. petapan once again drags a mostly dysfunctional scumteam to the finish line, doing his best to assist them but cutting them lose when it becomes apparent they're doomed. Town wins the election to gain a clear, eliminates two members of the scumteam back to back Day 1, and eliminates the third scumteam member Day 2. peta is left alone, and dodges a variety of mechanics, elims, and other obstacles to drag it out all the way to Day 6. At this point he has been mechanically confirmed after 2 suboptimal nightkills, and he still nearly wins the game purely off the strength of dayplay . Easily the best losing performance of the year. Alright, sure, he can powerbus. What else has he done all year? It's easy to think petapan just powerbusses his team all game looking at the above, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Let's look at some more collaborative and inventive samples. Large Normal 232: Sibyl's Elegy (bloodhail): A marquee team win where the team widely credited bloodhail for dragging them to the finish line. The scum PT shows why; bloodhail is constantly coordinating his teammates, seeking out the traitor, and arranging miselims, coordinated pushes, hammers, and the rote mechanics, coaching his teammates all along the way. Bulge sums it up best: "looking a lot better for scum today for sure. bloodhail definitely carrying in terms of strategy and level-headedness, i wonder who they're an alt of." Held together by bloodhail, scum cruises to the win with most of the team intact despite multiple members under threat early. Open 812: Guardians of the Fortress (catboi): With catboi's minigame unresolved in a scum 2-0 victory, it would be easy to dismiss this game. It featured a strong scumteam working in concert, and Briar and unwnd played extremely well to clinch it. But catboi was still a force of nature, poised to win his own minigame if necessary, and focused on creating an abudance of interactions for his teammates to both distance from him and thrive individually. I think post 2006 sums it up, both setting himself up well for sheer effort and presenting several reasons to call unwnd town in the wake of Briar's scumflip. Mini 2206: Perpetual MELO IV (petapan): petapan replaces into the game, and correctly realizes that Venus Fly Trap is having one of the best scum performances of the year on their own. Rather than trying to carry on his own, he leaves it to the team and sets them up as best as he can. He leverages the knowledge that he's in a scumread slot to help sink Nacho Day 1, exits using the built-in mechanic that night, and left interactions to set the team up well for the rest of the game. Spoiler, it works and his play complements VFT's perfectly and confirms her as a universal townread. Scum wins. Open 817: Nightless Exploder Pandemonium (petapan): Short, easy, sweet scumwin in a meme game? Why is this relevant? Because petapan immediately identified it gave scum the best shot of winning, and quickly leaned in to help push it that direction. The result is an easy scumwin. micro 1017: mystery: box of silver (Retti): Again, not just a power bussing one trick but an extremely creative player and master of mechanics. Worked well with Datisi, both planned mechanics indepth and right from pregame. Scum realizes they're in a dangerous spot if the game goes to Elo...and work together to put together the setup and bet it all on a triple kill N2. It works. Scum wins. Mini Normal 2252: W;ldlife amd strange critters (Retti): Another day, another game of Retti getting widely townread as scum. He realizes that scum can't blitz because of a vig gambit, warns his partners, watches them do it anyway ...and still wins after he immediately knows the game is still on, plays dumb, and gets Natalya voted out. Scum win from the brink of disaster. Open 824: White Flag (bloodhail): Very basic game but an example of flexibility and team emphasis. He replaces in, sees he's getting bussed, and works with the team to set them up well after the flip. It works and scum wins. Open 804: Popcorn Mafia (petapan): Bit of a circus of a game, but peta endgames essentially without even trying. Mostly sharp play but after he feels he's caught by Imperium, he switches just to running interference and keeping his partners out of the discerning eye. Not exactly as he planned but still works, scum wins. The sheer variety of ways he played and won scumgames this year was just mindboggling. Ridiculous level of flexibility, adaptability, and extreme skill in virtually every category of scumplay. When you combine that broad skillset with with depth and level of strength he brings to any given one, nobody else onsite compares. He not only had the strongest scumgames onsite in 2021 but the most varied, and should run away with a second award.

Nth.
(I thought that catboi was acting like petapan in Mini 2250. Wait, Prism, how do you know all this?)

[Prism]

He kidnapped my pet goat and threatened to run over it in his Honda Fit if I didn't post that on his behalf.

[Ydrasse]

nth pooky nth catboi
nth lukewarm

[Aristophanes]

Don't forget there is only (expired on 2022-01-07 23:59:59) left to get your final nominations for 2021 in!

Don Corleone, Rube Goldberg, and Game of the Year need noms; they still have zero! Modfather, Mad Scientist, and Hannibal Lecter could also use a few more noms.

I got to this late and I apologize for that, but after some consideration from the SSC the deadline has been extended!

You now have until the end of Saturday, January 15th, or (expired on 2022-01-15 23:59:59) for nominations!

My apologies for not doing this earlier.