Giants edged the Blues by just 33 points to make it into the Sudoku Franchise Faceoff playoffs, thanks largely to Xingjian Cui, Hannes Sidorov and Hideaki Jo. Vincent Bertrand, Claudine Thiry, Matteo Fedeli and Hikaru Muraoka all scored well this week to take Bears to top spot and another weekly win, while Lucy Epstein’s brilliant season led her to become top contributor again and meant that her Redwoods took second spot. CJ Tan’s Soul have had a strong couple of showings and are well placed for a close match against them.
https://www.thepuzzle.place/sudoku-franchise-faceoff/
The format changes for the semi finals as each team are lined up in order of their 2026 averages in one-vs-one battles. The team with the most victories progresses to the Grand Final. Sadly the semi finals will be without Nora Borst and Calum Mailer, two solvers who have had excellent seasons, topping their 2025 averages by nearly 250 and over 160 points per round but the Franchise Faceoff is a team event.
Bears face Redwoods in Sudoku Franchise Final