Cactice World Championship

Cactice World Championship
	; Current one-time Champion, Ned Edgewalker, with the Cactice World Championship helmet
Date Established	August 10, 2016
Current champion	Ned Edgewalker
Date won	July 11, 2018

The Cactice World Championship is a title contested in games of Cactice. The current Cactice World Champion is Ned Edgewalker, who is in his first reign and is the fourth champion overall.

The title initially started as an informal term to refer to the winner of the Cactice portion of the 2016 Wiki Olympics, Squirto. It then came to refer to the winner of the 2018 version of the same event, Cactice Jack, who defeated Squirto in the finals. Eventually, on June 26th, 2018, a tournament was held in which the winner would be given the opportunity to fight Cactice Jack for his title. This tournament was won by Jack's own son, Cactice newcomer Amare. Since then, the title has been defended in games of Cactice, usually following gruelling tournaments to decide who faces the champion.

Title History

2016 Wiki Olympics

Please see the original blog for a full write-up of the event

Winner: Squirto (defeated Cannonwalker in the finals)

2018 Wiki Olympics

Please see the original blog for the full write-up of the event

Winner: Cactice Jack (defeated Squirto in the finals)

Tournament I (6/26/2018)

Originally meant to be a regular game of Cactice, this tournament was created to decide an impromptu challenger for Cactice Jack's championship. The three competitors, Squirto, El Underdog and Ned, started with an opening scrimmage; the winner would go onto the semi-finals, whereas the losers would fight in a best of 5 series for a spot in the semi-finals. El Underdog squeezed out the victory, last sending Ned hurdling into the ocean for the win.

Underdog and Cactice Jack watched on as Ned and Squirto had their best of five series. To everyone's surprise, Ned clean-swept the former Cactice Champion with ease, defeating him 3-0, prompting a post-match beatdown from the latter.

Ned and El Underdog both took to the arena for their semi-final match. However, as it was about to begin, a new competitor introducing himself as Amare entered the battlefield. The opening scrimmage, it was decided, would be tossed out and El Underdog would face Amare in a quarter-final match to decide Ned's true opponent. Unexpectedly, El Underdog was immediately put at a 2-0 deficit against this newcomer, barely even being able to touch him. El Underdog drew from his experience in difficult situations and attempted to gain the upper hand in round three; Amare pushed him against a cactus and beat him to death.

Then came the semi-final between Amare and Ned, a best of five match. Amare won the first two matches handily, though Ned did what El Underdog could not in round three and pushed Amare off the side. Though Amare was proven to not be invincible, he was still a very difficult challenger and defeated Ned in close contests the next two rounds, winning the semi-finals 4-1.

Amare thus far had proven to be a nigh impossible challenge for all who stepped in his path, but could one of the innovators of the game of Cactice, Amare's own father, Cactice Jack, finally put an end to the madness in a best of nine series? The answer is no. Amare defeated Jack in the first four games, the third of which was by a knockout, immediately putting the reigning champion in a difficult position; he would have to win five games in a row in order to remain champion. Though Jack was able to win the fifth round, Amare ultimately won the sixth and became champion with a score of 5-1.

Winner: Amare (defeated Cactice Jack in the finals 5-1)

Amare vs Ned

After Amare's simultaneously stunning and shocking victory, various defeated parties began to murmur to overthrow the champion. One such bitter individual was Ned Edgewalker, whose name is ironic because he's much more better at getting flung off of edges. Jokes aside, Ned sought revenge; after all, the one point he scored versus Amare's four had to mean something!

And so Ned trekked the snow-coated plains of southern Occa in search of his usurper. The biting cold did not serve to wipe from his mind the blow his pride had only just barely endured. There, wandering the plains which once shielded the hermit village of Denshire, Ned continued the determined hunt.

After a nomadic journey spanning more than a week, his efforts paid off. In the historic but downtrodden stadium of South Occa waited Amare, the don himself. Amare, voiced by James Earl Jones, wasted no time in greeting the visitor:

"I've been waiting for you, Edgewalker. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the master... and I'm still the master." He unsheathed his dual cactice sticks.

"Only a master of evil, Amare." replied Ned, hiding his fear behind bold words as he, too, drew his weapon.

And the display seemed to pay off; a great initial offense by Edgewalker saw Amare quickly launched from the platform at 1-0.

"You can win, Amare. If you strike me down, I shall become weaker than you could ever imagine." said Ned.

"Your powers are weak, old man!" replied Amare, now mounting a vigorous offensive which Ned could not protect against. He was quickly launched off, evening the score at 1-1. And Ned would never win again; despite a few close calls, the cacti were on Amare's side, and his skills only sealed the deal.

The match was now 3-1 in Amare's favor, and Ned was walking the edges...

"You should not have come back." said Amare ominously... before ganking Ned and launching him into the horizon. With Ned seemingly disappeared, and the score at 4-1 in a relative sweep for Amare, the first successful championship defense was written in history books.

And Amare returned to sleep, waiting for his next challenger...

Tournament II (7/11/2018)

This tournament was held on July 11th, 2018. Though most records relating to this tournament were destroyed in the Great Comayagua Baked Potato Cooking Incident of 2018, it is known for certain that this was a four-man tournament, whose first matches consisted of Sam facing Ned and El Underdog facing the champion, Amare. Ned and Amare won their respective matches, meaning Ned would receive a second chance to fight Amare for the Cactice World Championship.

No specific records of these matches still exist (to our knowledge), but it is known that Ned defeated Amare on this day and became the Champion. Ned claims he defeated Amare 4-2, and Amare could not be reached for his side of the day's events because he ~~went inactive indefinitely to focus on school~~ felt great shame from his defeat and went to live in the mountains as a hermit.

Ned vs Sam

To celebrate construction on the 2019 Wiki Olympics arena, early in the year, Ned invited Sam to face him in a game on the arena's Cactice stadium. This game would have one small caveat though; it would be for Ned's Cactice championship, which hadn't been defended since the previous year's summer. No official records remain of this battle, but Ned claims Sam was defeated 5-3, making Ned only the second of four champions to successfully defend the title.

Tournament III (3/26/2019)

Tournament bracket: https://challonge.com/o6se6hk2

On March 26th, nine months after the previous tournament, everyone was pulled together once again to decide who would face Ned for the Cactice Championship. This tournament was one of the largest Cactice events ever held, with seven people involved: the current champion Ned, the previous champion Zoomer, the first champion Squirto, Sam Darkwalker, El Underdog, and two newcomers in MokikiMorgan and HoppeMC/Ryan. The first round brackets, all contested as best of seven, were El Underdog vs Sam, Ryan vs Morgan, and Zoomer vs Squirto, with Ned receiving a bye.

Ryan vs Morgan was the first match to be decided. Both newcomers to the game, nobody knew what to expect from these two in their first-ever match. What nobody was expecting though was for the first game of their match to end in an exact draw, with both launching each other over the edge simultaneously, but this was exactly what happened. From thereon, most rounds between the two would end in one decisively launching another off the edge early on, often in the only blow of the match, eventually resulting in Morgan picking up a 4-2 victory.

El Underdog vs Sam was the second match to be decided. Both men, considered underdogs in their own ways, were determined to prove that they had what it took to bring home the prestigious championship at the end of the night. Sam quickly launched his assault, catching El Underdog in a very precarious 3-0 deficit; Underdog would have to win four games in a row to advance to the next round. Underdog quickly made the score 3-1, slowly attempting to close the gap. In the next game, Sam widdled Underdog's health to half a heart and almost depleted all his food, but Underdog launched Sam off the edge to make the score 3-2. With this newfound momentum, Underdog quickly bridged the gap, bringing the match 3-3 and resting the entire fate of the match on game seven. In a shocking upset, Underdog launched Sam off the edge in this round as well, heralding cries of "WHAT A FUCKING GOD" from a particularly excitable audience member, winning 4-3 and moving onto the semi-finals.

Zoomer vs Squirto was the third and final match of the first round, Zoomer the previous champion and Squirto the first champion. This match was not as close as one would have expected; the hard-hitting, brutal style associated with Zoomer, combined with Squirto's own lag, meant Zoomer handily won 4-1. Squirto demanded another opportunity due to these circumstances, which Zoomer graciously obliged. Zoomer won that match too, as he does.

Now that the first round was complete, Ned's bye was over and he would finally step into the fray, facing newcomer Morgan in the first of two best of nine matches. One could not judge whether it was due to rust, underestimating the newcomer, or something else, but Ned quickly found himself at a 2-0 deficit against Morgan. He got a victory soon after, putting the score at 2-1, but Morgan quickly traded wins with him and put herself back at a two-point lead with 3-1. El Underdog, seeing that Ned was in serious jeopardy of being dethroned in the semi-final round, handed him a piece of blue wool for good luck. Evidently this helped, as Ned quickly bridged the gap and tied the match up at 3-3. At this point, Morgan changed up her strategy by putting on an Ender Dragon head, seemingly attempting to frighten Ned. This strategy backfired, as Morgan only scared herself, allowing Ned to pick up a 5-3 victory and move on to the finals to defend his title.

With Ned advanced to the finals, El Underdog and Zoomer's semi-final match was the penultimate match of the night; the match to decide who would get a championship match against Ned. Zoomer, a once indestructible force of nature, sought retribution for being dethroned at the hands of Ned, and El Underdog, the man who came close so many times but never won the title, sought to prove he has what it takes to become champion. Underdog got a 1-0 lead, but Zoomer immediately closed this gap with a win of his own; this pattern would repeat throughout the entire match, with no man getting more than 1 win ahead of the other before the point gap was bridged again. The match eventually found itself at 4-4, with game nine being game point. El Underdog, ever perseverant, managed to squeeze a very close victory on Zoomer, winning the game 5-4; he defeated the man he had never beaten before, but would this be enough to dethrone the champion and take the Cactice World Championship for himself?

Ned allowed Underdog to choose the arena which they would face in; Underdog chose the roof of the Cactice+ arena, though Ned said every three rounds they would swap out and start at the lower level. The two swiftly swapped wins, setting the game at 1-1. In the third game, Ned was knocked off but landed in the lower level, barely surviving, only to soon after be shoved into a cactus and die at the hands of El Underdog. After swapping to the lower level, Underdog's momentum came to a screeching halt, as Ned turned his 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. Upon returning to the top level, Underdog and Ned each took a win a piece, putting the score at 5-3; Underdog would have to win three in a row in order to capture Ned's championship.

Ned seemingly launched Underdog off the edge to set the score to 6-3, but Underdog persevered, held on at the lower level and climbed back up, though this would not matter as Ned beat him to death upon his return. Underdog, unable to give up, demanded a rubber match, which Ned graciously accepted. Ned knocked him off the edge and he managed to land on the lower level once again, though he only survived with half a heart, so as soon as he climbed back up Ned simply smacked him once, snuffing out El Underdog's dreams of becoming Cactice Champion on that night. On this night, Ned also became the most prolific defender of the Cactice championship in history with two defenses.

Competitors

Title Reigns

#	Competitor	Reign	Date	Days Held	Event	Arena	Successful Defenses	Notes
1	Squirto	1	August 10, 2016	515	The 2016 Wiki Olympics	Cactice+	0	Defeated Cannonwalker in the finals 6-5
2	Cactice Jack	1	January 7, 2018	170	The 2018 Wiki Olympics	Original Cactice	0	Defeated Squirto in the finals 6-2
3	Amare	1	June 26, 2018	14	Tournament I	Original Cactice	1	Defeated Cactice Jack 5-1
4	Ned Edgewalker	1	July 11, 2018	259+	Tournament II	Cactice+	2	The records of this match were lost; it's believed Ned won 4-2

Combined Reigns

Reigns are ranked based on successful combined title defenses, and if those are the same between multiple competitors, number of combined days as champion; the one marked in italics indicates who the current champion is.

Rank	Competitor	No. of reigns	Combined defenses	Combined days
1	Ned Edgewalker	1	2	259+
2	Amare	1	1	14
3	Squirto	1	0	515
4	Cactice Jack	1	0	170