Sixteen teams showed up to compete at SWBP’s return to Coaches Tuesday night. The most notable absence was probably the undefeated Boats and Hoes. Albuquerque said its goodbyes to Gary Cadwell, as he moved on to the greener pastures of Colorado, which left Kyle Sweetland looking for a new partner. He ended up adding Ted “dbag” Wallace to his roster under the team name TKO. Though they were both very skilled players, many didn’t think the new partnership would be able to take the gold.

Tuesday also saw the return of SWBP co-founder John Dubois, who teamed up with ABQ’s best female player Beth Goodrich to form team Lefties Do It Better. It was a strange partnership, since John’s old Vagtastic teammate Eric Searle had also made the return to the 505. Searle ended up playing with newcomer Chris Dunn. We also saw the return of fan favorites Dees Nuts, who had taken 3rd back in SWBP IV.

Other power-house teams who showed up included 10 Inches Soft, Team Donkey Punch, Pwn Stars, and Team Faded. With so many great teams, and the loss of the daunting Boats and Hoes, it was really anybody’s game.

The first round saw very few surprises. The only exception may have been Lefties Do It Better losing to Gut Shot. While both lefties shot amazing in the side games, and previous nights, they just couldn’t pull it together in the tournament. They went out after their next loss to Team Faded.

Dees Nuts ended up playing TKO in the first round. The new team apparently didn’t need a learning curve, and quickly sent the Nuts to the losers bracket with a 3 cup loss.

The third round in the winners bracket consisted of four incredibly strong teams. Team Donkey Punch faced off against 10 Inches Soft and for the first time in SWBP history, Sweetland would face off against the Pwn Stars. Prior to SWBP 5, the two teams had never played in the same tournament. After much trash talk, it turned out that TKO was having no problems sinking cups. They kept it up in the next game against Donkey Punch, taking a four cup win. This put Sweetland and Wallace undefeated in the finals.

Back in the losers bracket, the Pwn Stars wanted a rematch against TKO, but to get there they’d have to beat 3 of the toughest teams in ABQ. One after another, they sent their opponents packing: Team Faded, 10 Inches Soft, and Team Donkey Punch.

This put the two would-be nemeses against each other in the finals. TKO struggled for the first time in the tournament during the first game, which the Pwn Stars took full advantage of to take the win. Unfortunately, they would have to win a second time to take the win. TKO pulled themselves together for the second game and absolutely destroyed the Pwn Stars with a 6-cup win.

Congratulations to Kyle and Ted of team TKO for their win and for establishing themselves as the new team to beat in the 505! Also, big thanks go to Erin Weddington for helping run the tournament, giving us a chance to play. The full bracket is available at http://www.challonge.com/SWBP_5.

Until next time,
-Clawless