Bushy hands Season 4 Favorite NuclearPastaTom 13-11 Loss in Day Two of Bingo Brawlers Season Four

It was a nightmare for vtuber NuclearPasta Tom ("Tom").  A key death to Ancient Dragon Senessax while down 11-12 to live underdog Bushy sent Tom to an opening round-loss on the first Saturday of Bingo Brawlers Season Four.

The previous day, Tom had melted down live on stream before a practice match with tour organizer Captain Domo.  Tom's complaint to Captain Domo was that a late change to the rules would slow down a cheese strategy he had developed to quickly kill dangerous NPC enemies -- by letting gravity kill the non-player characters as they fell to their death.

Hopefully Tom wasn't carrying the enmity he expressed to Domo on stream into the first match, but he did seem a bit shaken by indecision at times.  The perspective in these pages is that this overanalysis also hurt Tom the prior season where he teamed with Saturday's opponent Bushy.

Bushy, known as a Gwent streamer, and now for his YouTube challenge runs of Elden Ring, where he is far more popular than on Twitch, executed Sennesax flawlessly to open the season 1-0.  

A few years ago Bushy was an elite level top player, and despite some setbacks last season, he showed a solid mastery of the Shadow of the Erdtree content that is the focus of this season's format.  Bushy used the flipping Lion's Claw ash of war to stagger npc opponents, a strat which had not been employed up this point, but is likely to become the new meta after Saturday's upset.

LilAggy takes out best friend Star0Chris, Parky smashes GrandPooBear in unmerciful thrashing: Elden Ring Bingo Brawlers Day One

The first matches of Elden Ring Bingo Brawlers Season 4 established the season's clear favorite, LilAggy, and debuted a new potential threat in his longtime partner Parky, who debuted in the Elden Ring e-sports competition with a resounding win over another new player, GrandPooBear.

The biggest story of Day One was the matchup between close friends Star0Chris, who was coming off a disappointing performance in Randomania last month where he talked to his Mom on the phone during a match, and LilAggy.

Widely regarded as two of the best competitors in bingo, the matchup delivered with what some were calling the best Bingo Brawlers match of all time.  The two were relatively even when Chris made the decision to pivot to Enir-Ilim instead of taking out Midra.  The choice was costly, as Chris' priority on Midra evaporated and Aggy quickly skipped through the Darklight Catacombs to take our Jori and Midra.  

The enthralling match came down to a race for Count Ymir, Mother of Fingers.  This boss involves getting a necklace, blowing two whistles in Finger Ruins all over the map, and killing a difficult boss, Metyr, Mother of Fingers.  Aggy's Metyr was cleaner as a result of an August experiment where he killed every boss with a +0 club.

With a faster Ymir, Aggy took the match and got a much needed win before facing off with NuclearPastaTom next week in a battle of the two pre-season favorites.

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For parkenharbor, a Canadian-based twitch streamer most known for her challenging playthroughs of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, there was considerable anxiety about being able to compete in Bingo Brawlers.  Her first match showed off the uncanny technical ability she displays in her challenge runs.

Parkenharbor is the latest in the line of talented women who have competed in Bingo Brawlers, including Denmark-based Souls streamer puppery and the world's current No. 2 ranked Elden Ring player, Wisconsin streamer Blueberry Brioche.

Parky was expected to dominate GrandPooBear, who was completely new to Bingo Brawlers and is more well-known as a Mario streamer.  It wasn't a particularly impressive debut and some questioned whether enough practice has gone into his performance. 

Parky will be facing Chris next week, and while it may be intimidating to compete against a former No. 1 Elden Ring player in the world, the feeling in this space is that the Week One win will give her much needed confidence.