THE UNSUNG STARS OF SCHMOEDOWN SEASON FIVE (Patreon)

By Tom Maston (@SchmoedownBlog)

The Schmoedown is not short of star attractions when it comes to movie knowledge, with most if not all tasting some kind of success already in Season Five.

There are those, however, who are less heralded. While the entertainment they bring to the show is in some cases unmatched, when it comes to crunch they are not always on the right side of the final result.

So for this month’s Patreon article I want to celebrate those who might not have gotten the credit they deserve for the way in which they have begun 2018 in the ring. Here are your four unsung stars of Season Five so far…

JOSH MACUGA

Following his knockout defeat to Mike Kalinowski in the 2017 Ultimate Schmoedown and the Wildberries’ claim that they were aiming to set a new record for successive defeats, it was difficult to imagine Josh Macuga making much of an impression when it came to winning matches in Season Five.

Just over four months in, however, and “The Wildman” is on course for perhaps his best campaign since reaching the inaugural tournament final all the way back in Season One.

Paired off with Nick Scarpino for his first match of 2018, Macuga put in statistically the best solo performance of his career to move back to a 500 record of 8-8. While it still leaves him well off title contention ahead of his recently-announced match with Stacy Howard, it does at least leave him in a position to earn a decent seeding for the tournament come the second half of the year.

If that was not enough, he and Eliot Dewberry have been on a charge, with the Wildberries seeing off both Reel Rejects and The Kingsmen in performances that suggest the duo are starting to learn each other’s games and working far better as a team than in their chaotic opening salvos. One of the league’s established teams will likely now be their next opponents.

Macuga’s 3-0 record for the calendar year is impressive in itself, but perhaps the clearest sign that he is finding his best form came during Free 4 All, where he was able to survive for four rounds before eventually being eliminated. That tally was surpassed by only seven other competitors in the 48-player event, and suggested that “The Wildman” might just be ready to go toe to toe with the big guns yet again.

MATT KNOST

Matt Knost is one of the Schmoedown’s unsolved mysteries. Is he good and just unlucky? Or is his career destined to be one of inconsistency in singles while John Rocha pulls him along in the team division.

If his early displays in 2018 are anything to go by, then the answer may well be the latter.

Many predicted that Top 10 would come unstuck when pitched against Top That in the first team match of Season Five. Knost and Rocha responded by pitching an almost perfect game, albeit helped along the way by the inexperience at the highest level of their opponents.

In that match Knost missed just one of his individual questions. Clearly still hurting despite gaining revenge for the apparent injustice of Top 10’s defeat to Action at the semi-final stage of the Ultimate Schmoedown last season, there was a renewed focus from “Mighty Matt”.

As if you did not know by now, Top 10’s subsequent title match against the Patriots did not go so well. However, it is not beyond the realms of all possibility that Knost would be a two-time team champions right now were not for his partner’s inability to write the words ‘Jane Fonda’ in a legible fashion.

If the loss to Action hurt Knost, then that defeat was almost terminal in terms of his movie trivia career. The man himself has since admitted that he pondered retirement in the aftermath of #TheRespin, but it seems that disappointment is being channelled in the correct fashion.

ERIC ZIPPER

Though his victory over Ken Napzok – himself a player who looks to have improved his game during the off-season – rubberstamped Knost’s return to something approaching his best form, and with a 3-3 record he is now primed to make his play for a spot in the rankings during the second half of the year.

Of all the new faces the Schmoedown was promising in 2018, the name of Eric Zipper was rarely, if ever, given any airtime.

And yet – Ethan Erwin apart – he is arguably the most impressive rookie the show has seen this year when it comes to pure movie knowledge.

He and Winston Marshall have skyrocketed into title contention with victories in both of their two matches together as World’s Finest. Though victory over The Kingsmen might not go down in history as the most challenging the Schmoedown has ever seen, to back it up with a win over a former No.1 contender in the shape of Trek was a real statement of intent.

Though Marshall has been able to shock himself with some of his correct answers, it is Zipper who truly leads the team with a wide knowledge base ensuring he is rarely too far out of his comfort zone.

A slightly underwhelming Free 4 All showing did temper expectations in terms of a potential singles bow, but with only four other active teams able to boast that they have won at least two more matches than they have lost, Zipper’s future as part of a pair certainly looks bright.

STACY HOWARD

While Stacy Howard might only have made one singles appearance so far in Season Five, that victory over RB3 should have cemented her place among those with a realistic chance of challenging for the belt in the near future.

Though her win over Mark Ellis is regularly cited as the best of her four-match career, it is easily forgotten that in both her victories over Peri Nemiroff and, more recently, against RB3 she has gone been almost flawless when it comes to showcasing her knowledge.

It is true that the odd answer might have come more from guesswork than others, but those guesses are certainly educated, and as such serve as an illustration to other competitors that at least thinking about the question can lead to success rather than needlessly throwing points away when the answer does not immediately come to mind.

“Sassy Stacy” now finds herself in a position where a win over the aforementioned Macuga would see her in a position where she could legitimately demand a No.1 contender’s match given her prospective 4-1 record. For context, Rachel Cushing played in her recent title match with exactly the same record.

So while the likes of McWeeny, Erwin, Bibbiani and Sneider fight it out for the chance to get a shot at the champion, Howard might yet have usurped them all by the time the year is out.