L-Block's Contest History

Who is L-Block?
"What is L-Block?" is probably a more appropriate question. L-Block is one of the seven Tetris pieces, or "tetriminoes", along with I-Block, J-Block, O-Block, S-Block, T-Block, and Z-Block. It is unclear exactly why L-Block was chosen to represent the series in the character battles, but I-Block, though more beloved by Tetris players, was probably deemed too generic-looking to make an impact, and so L or J would be the next-strongest as they are the only other pieces that can clear three lines at once.

Many had their doubts that a Tetris piece could even be considered a "character", but L's performance proved that sometimes, simpler really is better.

Contest History
Win-Loss Record: 9-1

Summer 2007 Contest: Division 7 - First Group Character Battle 6 saw an expansion to 128 characters and a reformatting to four-way polls, and with the expanded field came a lot more room for so-called "joke entries", such as the long-rallied Midgar Zolom, the 4chan-driven Mudkip, and L-Block here. The jokes had plenty of fun, but most of them bowed out after Round 2. Not L-Block. At first, there were excuses made for how L-Block was being kept in. The first round saw it in a fourpack with two pieces of fodder; the second round had a fanbase split allowing L-Block to slip by. By the third round, though, the excuses were running thin, and the rest of the Internet was starting to notice. Take a good look at those vote totals: L-Block's totals were higher in Round 3 than in Round 1, and higher still in Round 4, but its percentage in both of those rounds was well below what it put up in Round 1. By the time L-Block took first place in the quarterfinals, knocking off a Noble Niner in the process, L-Blockmania had swept the web, and voters turned out in record numbers to push the Block to the championship. A bonus match was then set up pitting the champion against three other inanimate objects, and faced with SFF for the first time ever, L-Block came in second to the Mario series' ? Block. Regardless, L-Block's legend is forever set in stone.
 * Division 7 Round 1 --- 2nd place, 40116 [30.89%] - Kirby, 57652 [44.39%] - Laharl, 22011 [16.95%] - Nathan Hale, 10098 [7.78%]
 * Division 7 Semifinals --- 2nd place, 37825 [28.33%] - Kratos, 43362 [32.48%] - Kirby, 33122 [24.81%] - Donkey Kong, 19213 [14.39%]
 * Division 7 Finals --- 2nd place, 40774 [28.63%] - Solid Snake, 46201 [32.44%] - Kratos, 29772 [20.91%] - Riku, 25656 [18.02%]
 * Contest Quarterfinals --- 1st place, 44753 [29.03%] - Solid Snake, 44489 [28.86%] - Sonic the Hedgehog, 33339 [21.63%] - Squall Leonhart, 31584 [20.49%]
 * Contest Semifinals --- 1st place, 56925 [34.63%] - Solid Snake, 43081 [26.20%] - Master Chief, 39515 [24.04%] - Dante, 24880 [15.13%]
 * Contest Finals --- 1st place, 65462 [33.51%] - Link, 58100 [29.74%] - Cloud Strife, 47834 [24.49%] - Solid Snake, 23964 [12.27%]
 * Bonus Match --- 2nd place, 49699 [30.03%] - ? Block, 68527 [41.41%] - Weighted Companion Cube, 32461 [19.61%] - Paddle, 14812 [8.95%]

Summer 2008 Contest: Division 4 - Second Group L-Block was given an immediate test with another "joke" character in its opening round match, but The Dog never really threatened and L-Block managed to pull off first place. In round 2, however, L showed weakness for the first time, falling off a little bit with the spike in competition, the opposite of the previous year's trend for a better performance when facing multiple strong opponents than facing a single one. Aside from L-Block, the biggest beneficiaries of the "joke" trend had mostly been Pokemon, so it was fitting that the series' strongest/most legitimate contestant, Pikachu, would be the one to finish off the '07 champ.
 * Division 4 Round 1 --- 1st place, 44325 [31.81%] - Ryu, 43990 [31.57%] - Meta Knight, 31510 [22.61%] - The Dog, 19519 [14.01%]
 * Division 4 Semifinals --- 2nd place, 39556 [27.74%] - Crono, 45757 [32.09%] - Ryu, 34004 [23.85%] - Amaterasu, 23270 [16.32%]
 * Division 4 Finals --- 3rd place, 33545 [24.40%] - Crono, 42837 [31.16%] - Pikachu, 37113 [27.00%] - Alucard, 23965 [17.43%]

On another note, Weighted Companion Cube managed to parlay its 2007 Bonus Match appearance into a legitimate contest entry in 2008 and managed to reach the contest quarterfinals. Perhaps next time they stack the bracket to make "interesting" second-round matches, they'll set up L-Block and WCC for a 3-6 tussle.

Winter 2010 Contest: Heart Division - 3 seed
 * Heart Round 1 --- vs. (14) HK-47