THE WINTER TOPICAL
Opening Round Magazine
Welcome to the inaugural Winter Topical, the topical leg of the Seasonal Big 4 Tournaments (The Summer Classic, Fall Brawl, and Spring ???? being the others). The administration/mod team hopes this will be a success and maybe spark a little more activity on this site. With a stacked roster of participants which consists of multiple Hall of Famers, Open Mic Hall of Famers, and league champions there’s no reason this can’t be the best tournament of the year. There will be a magazine at the start of every round, no Strikta, to help increase interest and decrease the no show rate. In this mag I’ll reveal the bracket and seedings, give a topical profile of each participant, preview all 16 opening round matches, have an interview with……., showcase some recent high level open mics/topicals, and assault your ears with my hipster ass taste in music. Hope you enjoy the magazine and I wish you the best of luck in the opening round.
THE BRACKET
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There it is. The path to the championship for every participant. There are obviously many positives to having such a stacked field but one of the drawbacks is that talented writers will be forced into lower seeds and in turn must face other talented writers from the jump. I’m sure that there will be more than a few participants who will take issue with their seeding and possibly think I’m retarded. My response is that yes, I am partially retarded, and that the bracket is what it is. Your only recourse is to outwrite the opponent you’re given and prove my assessment of your seeding wrong. As for the actual match ups we have some interesting battles right off the bat which should produce a number of candidates for battle of the week and the matchups will only get better as we advance.
What does Vulgeth even mean?
Interview
PB: Aside from yourself who do you think has the best shot of winning this tournament? Who do you think could surprise some people? Why?
Vulgar: Baron Mynd was the first person to sign up, which might indicate that he is ready to return to his former glory. He was a topical beast when he put the effort in, a writer no forum on the net couldn't deny respect. I'd say he is the darkhorse of the tournament simply because he has become something of a dark troll during the past few years. The best shot of winning goes to Certain, who I think will pull out all his tricks to leave a dent in the Netcees paradigm. Who could surprise some people: big baby, Split Eight and Objective, and possibly Coup. There are others too worth mentioning too.
PB: Who are you favorite writers to read in the open mic section?
Vulgar: As of late, Nigma. Also Genocide, dead man, Zygote and oXus. Honorable mentions to Split, Vividlyvague and Mr. J.
PB: How do you think the more battle-oriented writers (namely Bags and nik) will fare in such a stacked field?
Vulgar: They will fare very well. They know how to write and they know how to compete. Look for well thought out concepts with emphasis on crowd pleasing flow.
PB: Let's say everything you and Chyeah post is correct. How does it effect your day to day life?
Vulgar: Waking up every day to resist the new world order, spiritually, psychologically and even just casually is a good feeling. If you are unfamiliar with this so called 'conspiracy theory' I will briefly summarize it as a group of elite members of world society plotting for a world government system under their control.
PB: In your opinion, what's the best album released in 2013?
Vulgar: Cryptic One is the only rapper that I really listen to recent work from, otherwise I'm diggin' in the crates via Discogs and Youtube, so I'd probably say his album entitled "Whole Truths, Half Truths, Lies."
PB: Who and what influences/influenced your style of writing?
Vulgar: Vast Aire and Vordul Mega of the rap group Cannibal Ox were at the forefront of my inspiration for my style, flanked by the inimitable Aesop Rock, who dazzled me in my young years with his album Labor Days. I also integrated the soundscapes of Massive Attack into my writing - to hypnotize you with portrayals that you don't see or read everyday. Aside from those, a slew of writers at Rapflava gave me good direction in honing my style throughout the years.
PB: Suppose everyone who frequents netcees is put into a Hunger Games/Running Man situation wherein the last man standing wins and gets to live. What's your strategy in this situation? After Bags' eventual death at the hands of Allen Knight would you feast on his corpse or just deal with the starvation? Would you play the aggressor and actively kill or would you lay back and let everyone fight it out, only to swoop in at the end?
Vulgar: I'm the type of guy who is sterile until provoked, which isn't the best strategy for this situation, so first I'd eliminate the extraterrestrial threat in Zygote before going any further. Once the otherworldly being is slayed, I would become an assassin at night, picking off my prey until I am the last man standing over the remnants of Starscream's wheelchair. I'd likely think of a reason not to kill anime_boners so we can watch anime marathons together and eat freedom fries.
PB: Anything else to add/shout outs?
Vulgar: Shout outs to Chyeah. Keep fighting the good fight my dude!