Update Stronghold Article (#2874)

content/articles/raise-4-raices.md

@@ -6,13 +6,9 @@ author:
      link: https://sendou.ink/u/great-hero-yellow
 ---
 
-<img width="1200" height="675" alt="Raise_4_RAICES" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e768d326-1d58-4c77-83ad-093ba6d5e1c7" />
+#### *In one tournament played by TOs across the globe, over $4,500 USD was raised for charity*
 
-Article originally posted at [www.splatoonstronghold.com/news/raise-4-raices-2025](http://www.splatoonstronghold.com/news/raise-4-raices-2025) 
+<img width="1200" height="675" alt="raise-4-RAICES_updated" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b20e08d3-1892-4f2e-802d-554c7cc9511b" />
-
-# **Raise 4 RAICES: Splatoon’s Community Script-Flip Raises 9x Its Goal for Charity**
-
-## *In one tournament played by TOs across the globe, over $4,500 USD was raised for charity*
 
 On Saturday, December 20, 2025, members of the Competitive Splatoon scene most familiar with behind-the-scenes operations put themselves center-stage to raise money for a noble cause. 
 
@@ -22,7 +18,7 @@ The story begins one week prior to the tournament date, where captains for the 3
 
 Every participant was ranked in skill level from 1-4 (1 being the highest and 4 being the lowest), and each team could only have one player per skill level. The draft, which ran nearly two hours long, started with just $80 donated, and by the end, had raised $767.67\! This far surpassed the event’s expected funding, $500. 
 
-<img width="1200" height="675" alt="sacrificesweremade" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/05ccec63-af6a-4395-bc52-9c5a1a7f941f" />
+<img width="1200" height="675" alt="sacrificesweremade" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/68863e17-915d-4fc5-b790-bc0ed52c2152" />
 
 *The four hosts doing the “67” gesture as the total donations reached $767.67. Raise 4 RAICES’s [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/raise4raices.bsky.social) posted this with the caption, “Necessary sacrifices were made”.*
 
@@ -36,15 +32,103 @@ There were five brackets following the Group stage: Alpha (which was streamed),
 
 The Group Stage and Round 1 of each bracket was a Best of 3, but beginning with the Semifinals, sets changed to Best of 5\. 
 
-[...]
+# **Epsilon Bracket \- God’s Sacred Holy Pizza vs. Agnostic Nonbinary Centrist (0-3)**
 
-Looking for the winners of each bracket and the recap of Alpha Bracket Grand Finals? The full highlights can be found at [www.splatoonstronghold.com/news/raise-4-raices-2025](http://www.splatoonstronghold.com/news/raise-4-raices-2025)! We've recently updated the look of our articles and are open to any feedback!
+God’s Sacred Holy Pizza made their way to Finals after going 2-0 over Quote Unquote and 3-1 over Starrain. Agnostic Nonbinary Centrist started the bracket in Semifinals and went 3-1 over 30 to 40 Olives. 30 to 40 Olives won 3rd place in the bracket.
 
-<img width="703" height="800" alt="R4RalphaBracketWin" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/05268543-f00c-4bd5-b01a-5ed6ec3802f5" />
+Finals kicked off with Rainmaker on Undertow Spillway, then went to Clam Blitz at Scorch Gorge, and finally, to Tower Control at Hagglefish Market. Agnostic Nonbinary Centrist got the set shutout over God’s Sacred Holy Pizza, 3-0, and took the gold for Epsilon Bracket\! 
+
+<img width="1200" height="675" alt="ANCEpsilonBracketWin" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5432da18-2d47-4f0b-ab02-2866ff71da4e" />
+
+*The members of Agnostic Nonbinary Centrist, from left to right: Tessaract, YELLOW (that’s me\!), Static, Sibirrino*
+
+## **Delta Bracket \- Dio and the they/thems vs. Nauty List (2-3)**
+
+Dio and the they/thems reached Finals after going 2-0 over Beating the support allegations and 3-1 over Game Changers, a team sponsored by Revolution Gaming. Nauty List made their way up from Round 1 by going 2-1 over Did you pray today? and 3-1 over El Gato Volador. Game Changers took the bronze as 3rd place in the bracket. 
+
+Delta Bracket’s Finals went all the way to a game five: Dio and the they/thems took game one, Clam Blitz at Museum d’Alfonsino. Nauty List won Urchin Underpass Splat Zones, and then Dio and the they/thems took the Rainmaker game at Scorch Gorge. Nauty List closed out the set for 1st place in the bracket by taking wins at Tower Control Shipshape Cargo Co. and the tiebreaker back at Clam Blitz at Museum d’Alfonsino. 
+
+Congrats to Ace Astro, Half, Squidoku, and Dittogami on their hard-earned win\! 
+
+## **Gamma Bracket \- 3/4th of Roger Craig Smith vs. We’re Better Together (0-3)**
+
+The Gamma Bracket saw 3/4th of Roger Craig Smith dominate their way to Finals, dropping no games against Fruit Basket Fiends or The Phantom Players. We’re Better Together went 2-1 over Violence Store and Mako Mart Employee Union, who ended up in the 3rd place spot. 
+
+We’re Better Together swept 3/4ths of Roger Craig Smith, going 3-0 in Splat Zones at Robo ROM-en, Rainmaker at Scorch Gorge, and Clam Blitz at Barnacle & Dime. 
+
+<img width="1200" height="675" alt="GammaBracketWin" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a5f6921e-b550-4728-9697-62bcc6a69c1f" />
+
+*Celebratory drip pic featuring Turtle, osa?, BROSHI\!, and Broken Pinky (We’re Better Together) on the left, and Jokera, lemon, Joryan, and frostiix (3/4ths of Roger Craig Smith) on the right.* 
+
+## **Beta Bracket \- Christmas Reef vs. After Shadows (3-0)**
+
+Beta Bracket’s Christmas Reef and After Shadows both advanced from Round one having gone 2-0 (against 3 Supports and a Bow, and Silence, frontline, respectively). Christmas Reef went 3-1 over sendou simps to arrive in Finals to meet After Shadows, who went 3-2 with Yuri Plane, the 3rd place team. 
+
+Christmas Reef didn’t drop one game against After Shadows, winning on Clam Blitz at MakoMart, Rainmaker at Robo ROM-en, and Splat Zones at Mahi-Mahi Resort. After Shadows took silver in the Beta Bracket, and Christmas Reef earned the gold\! 
+
+<img width="1200" height="675" alt="CRBetaBracketWin" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f3e1bd9e-5e02-4e50-971b-742132eda91b" />
+
+*Christmas Reef, from left to right: Nato, Echo, thatACkid, and iMAD*
+
+## **Alpha Bracket \- Into the Soup vs. See you tomorrow (1-3)**
+
+By the time Alpha Bracket arrived, the donation pool had exceeded $3,000, unlocking the second stretch goal: an announcement from IPL about a new project, which \[K\]yo teased having a connection to. 
+
+After a close call in Round 1 of Alpha Bracket, Into the Soup beat Bunny Criminals 2-1, then went on to 3-1 the 3rd place team, No Good Ideas, to meet See you tomorrow in the Finals. 
+
+See you tomorrow arrived to the Finals set having lost no games to Team Naga or Mr. Worldwide, and having already seen Into the Soup in the Group Stage, where they went 2-1 over Into the Soup. 
+
+Game one began with Rainmaker at Museum d’Alfonsino. See you tomorrow pushed the Rainmaker early in the game, making it to 34 in the first 40 seconds. Into the Soup countered with their own checkpoint clear before the game passed the halfway point; See you tomorrow’s response was to push their lead further, to 27\. 
+
+The game went into overtime with the Rainmaker tucked into a corner. Into the Soup was able to pop the Rainmaker shield halfway through the overtime counter, but See you tomorrow picked it up and ended the game in a victory, 73-42. 
+
+Game two was Splat Zones at Robo ROM-en; Into the Soup now kicked things off early by capping the zone 12 seconds in. See you tomorrow was able to take the lead after setting up a lockout over their opponent. 
+
+<img width="1200" height="675" alt="ItSzoomout" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6d386ea4-bf40-4a5e-bd8e-b3657c45538b" />
+
+Managing to hold the zone through several of See you tomorrow’s specials, Into the Soup once more took the lead as the game reached the halfway point on the clock, but again, See you tomorrow was quick to reclaim it. They held the zone all the way up to an early knockout.
+
+Game three, Tower Control at Hagglefish Market, saw See you tomorrow move the tower slightly early into the game, which Into the Soup surpassed easily and got their first checkpoint from. They gave See you tomorrow a challenge to take the first checkpoint, and were able to pass the second one with ample time to spare. 
+
+\[K\]yo and Shak had plenty to praise about the players, between movement mix-ups, specials, and sudden doubles. At the last second, See you tomorrow was close to clearing their second checkpoint, when Into the Soup wiped out their opponent with a double on the tower, winning the game before overtime, 70-67. 
+
+By game four, the donations had exceeded $3,500, and now the game was at Barnacle & Dime for Clam Blitz. See you tomorrow snuck past Into the Soup and scored just after 30 seconds passed, all the way to 44\. 
+
+The next time either team scored, it was Into the Soup, with about one and a half minutes left on the clock. After tossing in the Power Clam, they wiped out See you tomorrow, and brought their score to 45-44. 
+
+See you tomorrow fought their way to Into the Soup’s basket and scored again, increasing their lead to 32, with 30 seconds to go. Overtime expired before Into the Soup could get across the map to contest. 
+
+With a final score of 68-55, and a set score of 3-1, See you tomorrow walked away as the winner of the Raise 4 RAICES charity tournament\! 
+
+Shout-out to the players on the top three teams of the event: 
+
+**1st Place \- See you tomorrow:** 
+
+- Alice  
+- Cactus  
+- Thoma  
+- Soren
+
+**2nd Place \- Into the Soup:** 
+
+- Radha  
+- eli  
+- Pinky  
+- WaffleCat
+
+**3rd Place \- No Good Ideas:**
+
+- Nep2ne  
+- SLett  
+- LiberoWolf  
+- yoshido
+
+<img width="703" height="800" alt="R4RalphaBracketWin" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7b810dfd-feb1-49db-ad60-3942a35e7c71" />
 
 After the tournament concluded, the donation pool–thanks to one last donation from Shak–was at $4,167.69. \[K\]yo and Shak signed off with a goofy 67 emote, another reminder about IPL’s surprise tournament teaser to be announced later, and a heartfelt thank-you to the hard work of the organizers for making Raise 4 RAICES a reality.  
 
-Donations for RAICES closed 24 hours after the stream, where the final donation reached a total of **$4,545.92**\!
+Donations for RAICES closed 24 hours after the stream,   
+where the final donation reached a total of **$4,545.92**\!
 
 The Raise 4 RAICES tournament was a global effort, with tournament staff, creators, commentators, and more around the world participating for a good cause. In addition to those who either played or organized, a handful of artists and players also offered their skills as raffle prizes to donors in the form of art prizes and coaching sessions. 
 
@@ -70,6 +154,6 @@ Interested in watching the tournament or the draft stream? You can find them at:
 Draft [youtu.be/kRpcX-mgZgU](http://youtu.be/kRpcX-mgZgU)  
 Tournament [youtube.com/live/VlU09-X...](https://youtube.com/live/VlU09-XnUEw?feature=share)
 
-Original Posting Date: December 23, 2025
+Original Posting Date: December 23, 2025 at [www.splatoonstronghold.com/news/raise-4-raices-2025](http://www.splatoonstronghold.com/news/raise-4-raices-2025) 
 
 Written and formatted for publication by [YELLOW](https://bsky.app/profile/great-hero-yellow.bsky.social).