Notes

Hmm, time to check how everyone di- oh my god...

The computer's choices of the Bumblebees (BEE) and Balls of Chaos (BOC) weren't ideal, but it more than made up for it with the other 3 picks. Bronze medalist x1. 5th place x2. And the biggest fataility: the winner of the event as x3. All of this sums to 117 points.

I told you guys that the 8th round is always a bloodbath. I might have been more right than I had hoped. That's 60 STRIKES. Only 23 submissions beat the computer. This is the point in the competition where you have to either step up or shut up. It's only going to get harder, and this is just the beginning.

That being said, 23 survivors means that you won't see blue marks with strikes in them. And who got those blue marks?
Jøsh994
Solaris
riyancil
turtlepower0704
JC
JustAPerson62
OffbeatObject

Hey, it's me again! However, just like myself, the other 6 players listed here were unable to grab the purple mark. Instead, HemaG comes through and puts KD9's record down by scoring 147 pts!
...and just like KD9's record, all he had to do to max out his score was to substitute the Gliding Glaciers (GLG) with another team. This is the 2nd time now. Why can't the defending bronze medallists just do well and quit screwing over possible perfect predictions?

Average player score: 98.79 pts
Score range: 101 pts (147 max, 46 min)
Most frequent scores: 78, & 124 pts (4 players each)
Survival rate: ??.??% (?? of 83)

1 player is guaranteed to reach Round 12 (turtlepower0704)
13 players are guaranteed to reach Round 11
19 players are guaranteed to reach Round 10
?? players are bumping off the walls again
?? players have exhausted all of their chances

<<CHECKPOINT: HALFTIME>>
Well, for better or for worse, we're now halfway to the finish line. There's no medals to give out this time (but if you reach E10, you'll officiall cross the silver medal threshold, so that's fun), but the field has changed a lot. Just as a glimpse, here's the top 10:

[1] At the tip of the totem pole we have... me? Wow, wasn't expecting that. Let's just move on to...
[2] HemaG, who just reset the record for largest score in a single round.
[3] Solaris, the man who just needed a shoutout from E.P. to go out there and erase his last remaining strike and vault up into 3rd.
[4] Just off the podium, it's Human86, who's never taken a strike, but also has no blue or purple marks. He's the only remaining player with this distinction.
[5] And speaking of shoutouts, ryancil not only removed both of his strikes, but he's now got another streak of 3 blues!
[6] Representing the grace period victors, we have turtlepower0704, who, alongside Human & myself, is the only other player to go 8 for 8.
[7 - 8] Next up, we have Ore and JC; 2 men with short nicknames. After they both took strikes in the premiere, they quickly ditched them both, only increasing their scores since then.
[9] JustAPerson62, who's simply vibing there. He's got no strikes, and he got rid of his only X as quickly as he received it.
[10] Lastly, we have Irixib. His loss this round knocked him off the podium, but he's definitely not out of it yet. Good luck sir!

Now, I know some of you who are watching this are thinking "okay, that's too much stress. Give them a break already!" Well, I totall disagree: here's Round 09.