Master Of Blocks 4 - Apotheosis

Master Of Blocks 4 - Apotheosis
Developer(s)	Green Alpaca Soft
Publisher(s)	Green Alpaca Soft
Series	Master of Blocks
Engine	LÖVE 2D
Platform(s)	PC, Nintendo 3DS
Release	v1.0.0: Aug 16, 2021
Predecessor	Master of Blocks : Horror-Reflex
Sequel	Master of Blocks 5: Desperation and Master of Blocks 5-X: Devastation
Gameplay info
Next pieces	3
Playfield size	10 × 20
Hold piece	Yes (with IHS)
Hard drop	Yes (Sonic Drop optional)
Rotation system	SRS-X, DRS, KRS

Master of Blocks : Apotheosis (MoB: Apotheosis) or Master of Blocks 4 (MoB4) is a TGM fangame created by Green Alpaca Soft, and also the fourth game within Master of Blocks series while also being the first game of the series to be made on LÖVE 2D instead of TIC-80 unlike the previous games before it. It is based on various modes throughout the TGM series.

The game features All-spin ruleset for twists, which the game only uses Immobile detection only for all pieces (including T), along with separate Sonic Drop option that mimics TGM3’s Classic Rule gameplay when toggled, and Rotation Reverse for each rotation system.

Game modes

These modes and gameplay mechanics are inspired from various modes of TAP and TGM3.

Heaven

The mode is inspired from Master mode of the first three TGM games, with unique twists.

Gameplay

The player must try to clear lines to earn grades and progress to level 999, after which it will turn into level Ω and enter the end-game roll.

The game also give bonuses to higher line clears at once, with a slightly higher bonus for Jaftaws (Tetrises).

Furthermore, the rate at which the speed increase is variable, and based on the amount of COOLs that the player have obtained, reaching 20G at earliest level 200 and latest at level 500.

Level Bonuses

Lines cleared	Levels advanced
1 (single)	1
2 (double)	2
3 (triple)	4
4 (tetris/jaftaw)	7

Speed timings

• Gravity is measured in 1/128G (Taken from the value at level 500 which is at 2560 or 20G). Otherwise the table is identical to the gravity curve in TGM games.

Internal gravity

Speed level	Internal gravity	Speed level	Internal gravity
0	2	220	16
30	3	230	32
35	4	233	48
40	5	236	64
50	6	239	80
60	8	243	96
70	6	247	112
80	24	251	128 (1G)
90	32	300	256 (2G)
100	40	330	384 (3G)
120	48	360	512 (4G)
140	56	400	640 (5G)
160	128 (1G)	420	512 (4G)
170	144	450	384 (3G)
200	2	500	2560 (20G)

Delays

Speed level	ARE (frames)	Line ARE (frames)	DAS (frames)	Lock (frames)	Line clear (frames)
000-499	27	67	14	30	40
500-599	27	52	10	30	25
600-699	27	34	10	30	16
700-799	18	26	10	30	12
800-899	14	14	10	26	6
900-999	14	14	10	22	6
1000-1199	8	14	8	17	6
1200-1399	7	13	8	15	6
1400-1599	6	12	8	15	6
1600-1699	6	12	8	15	5
1700-1999	6	11	6	14	5
2000-2299	6	11	6	13	4
2300-2399	6	10	6	12	4
2400-2599	6	10	6	12	3
2600-2999	6	10	6	11	3
Ω (Roll)	6	10	6	12	4

Each COOL will boost Internal Level by 100.

Grade Recognition System

The mode itself comes with the most complicated grading system compared to other games.

To simplify, you need to get a lot of tetrises (jaftaws) decently fast and survive until the end.

The formula that is used for calculating across 4 smaller grading systems:

Grade = ⌊Internal Grade + [Segment COOL + Tetris COOL] + Survival Grade⌋

And each grading system of this main grading system has a cap of 30, which makes the maximum possible grade of 120.

However, grades starting from Grand Master up to Omega Master+ covers 5 grades within 120 grade range, where Grade 100-104 is Grand Master, Grade 105-109 is Grand Master+, Grade 110-114 is Omega Master, Grade 115-119 is Omega Master+, and finally, the Grade 120 is Ankh Master

Due to this unique behavior of Master grades, the mode could only produce the total of 105 displayed grades despite the mode has 120 grades internally.

Without an account or reaching the credit roll, the maximum grade obtainable is only 99 (Master).

List of all possible 105 displayed grades

Number (#) Grades	F Grades	D Grades	C Grades	B Grades	A Grades	S Grades	X Grades	V Grades	Omega (Ω) Grades	Ankh (☥) Grades	Master Grades
9	F1	D1	C1	B1	A1	S1	X1	V1	Ω1	☥1	Master (M)
8	F2	D2	C2	B2	A2	S2	X2	V2	Ω2	☥2	Grand Master (GM)
7	F3	D3	C3	B3	A3	S3	X3	V3	Ω3	☥3	Grand Master+ (GM+)
6	F4	D4	C4	B4	A4	S4	X4	V4	Ω4	☥4	Omega Master (ΩM)
5	F5	D5	C5	B5	A5	S5	X5	V5	Ω5	☥5	Omega Master+ (ΩM+)
4	F6	D6	C6	B6	A6	S6	X6	V6	Ω6	☥6	Ankh Master (☥M)
3	F7	D7	C7	B7	A7	S7	X7	V7	Ω7	☥7
2	F8	D8	C8	B8	A8	S8	X8	V8	Ω8	☥8
1	F9	D9	C9	B9	A9	S9	X9	V9	Ω9	☥9

Internal Grading System

The first of the four grading systems, the system itself is inspired from Tetris: The Absolute - The Grand Master 2’s Master Mode.

Internal grade system

Internal grade	Decay per frame	Internal grade points awarded for:
		Single	Double	Triple	Jaftaw
0	144	10	20	40	50
1	255	10	20	30	40
2	255	10	20	30	40
3	360	10	15	30	40
4	400	10	15	20	40
5	400	5	15	20	30
6	400	5	10	20	30
7	450	5	10	15	30
8	450	5	10	15	30
9	450	5	10	15	30
10	450	2	12	13	30
11	450	2	12	13	30
12	600	2	12	13	30
13	600	2	12	13	30
14	600	2	12	13	30
15	900	2	12	13	30
16	900	2	12	13	30
17	900	2	12	13	30
18	900	2	12	13	30
19	900	2	12	13	30
20	1200	2	12	13	30
21	1200	2	12	13	30
22	1200	2	12	13	30
23	1200	2	12	13	30
24	1200	2	12	13	30
25	1200	2	12	13	30
26	1200	2	12	13	30
27	1200	2	12	13	30
28	1200	2	12	13	30
29	1800	2	12	13	30
30+	1800	2	12	13	30

It is possible to have an internal grade beyond 30, but the game will not award you with any grades exceeding internal grade 30.

Each internal grade has a cap of 1,800,000 points, once you have successfully managed to get the internal grade score to be more than or equal to the cap, the internal grade points will revert back to 0 and you will advance to the next internal grade.

If your current internal grade points is higher than 0, then the game will apply the decay rate on every frame which is dependent on your current internal grade (e.g. internal grade 29+ will subtract 1,800 internal grade points on every frame). The decay rate does not apply if you have 0 points.

The grade points you get from each line clear is calculated as follows:

Earned IGP = ⌊Base IGP × 18,000 × (1 + 0.05 √ Combo) × (1 + (Chain × 0.1)) × (1 + (Spin × 0.25)) × (1 + (Level / 300)⌋

Where:

Earned IGP = Internal Grade Points gained from this line clear

Base IGP = Internal Grade Points gained from the table above e.g. Getting Tetris within the Internal Grade of 1 will give base 40 points

Combo = Sum of the number of all of the consecutive line clears e.g. Tetris-Single-Double-Triple combo is 4+1+2+3=10

Chain = Becomes 1 if there is an active Back-to-Back chain, otherwise 0

Spin = Becomes 1 if it’s an All-Spin line clear, otherwise 0

Level = Your current level

COOL system

The COOL System is are also a part of the grading system in Heaven Mode. Master of Blocks: Apotheosis has 2 COOL systems as separated 2 grading systems in the main grading system, which are Segment COOLs and Tetris COOLs respectively.

Segment COOL

Segment COOLs are determined by how fast the player can complete x00-x30, x31-x60,and x61-x90 segments of each section, and will give a COOL on levels x30, x60 and x90 and add 1 COOL to the grade if the requirement is met.

The time for each Segment COOL is:

Segment time = 1320 - 60 x ⌊(Level - 10) / 100⌋

Which converges to the following table:

Level	Segment COOL Time (Seconds)
0-30 31-60 61-90	22
100-130 131-160 161-190	21
200-230 231-260 261-290	20
300-330 331-360 361-390	19
400-430 431-460 461-490	18
500-530 531-560 561-590	17
600-630 631-660 661-690	16
700-730 731-760 761-790	15
800-830 831-860 861-890	14
900-930 931-960 961-990	13

Tetris COOL

Tetris COOLs awards every time the player score a Jaftaw (Tetris).

Spin clears (regardless to the amount of lines clear) also contributes to Tetris COOLs, but you need three of them to count as a Tetris COOL.

However, players could only obtain this type of COOLs before the level x90 of each section, and you can only get 3 Tetris COOLs per section (or lower if played on lower difficulties)

Survival Grading System

The Survival Grading System is the only grading system that is completely unique to Master of Blocks: Apotheosis, featuring calculations based on your current grade. The system also determines the speed curve of the game, as higher grades will result in a higher speed level.

The formula for speed boosted in the game is calculated as follows:

Speed Boosts = ⌊Current Grade / 5⌋

Current Grade is capped at 100.

The Survival Grade is then calculated as follows:

Survival Grade = ⌊Level / 100⌋ + Speed Boosts

"Credits" Roll (End game roll)

When the player had successfully completed the main game, the player enters the "Credits" roll state, where player has 50 seconds of survival and perform their attempt to reach the maximum grade of their current run.

From 0-999, the maximum grade attainable is 99, and displayed as M grade. This is also the highest grade obtainable without an account.

For grades Grand Master and beyond, the grade cap must first be raised by getting Roll Points:

Roll Points

Lines cleared	Roll Points
Single	1
Double	2
Triple	3
Jaftaw	5

Aside from this, the game precalculates the maximum grade obtainable at the beginning of a run based on the formula formerly mentioned. The precalculated grade is then converted to the maximum display grade of that run.

Like in TGM3, you must be qualified at a certain grade in order to unlock higher grades:

Credit Roll Grade Requirements

Roll Points	Displayed Grade	Grade Range (Calculated via the formula)	Extra Requirements
0-4	GM	100-104	The player is playing with a save file.
5-9	GM+	105-109
10-14	ΩM	110-114	Must qualify as GM or GM+ grade
15-19	ΩM+	115-119
20+	☥M	120	Must qualify as ΩM or ΩM+ The player must survived the “credit” roll

Qualification exam

Similar to TGM3, the game also features a grade qualification exam, with a few changes:

For grades below Master (M), the game groups the qualified grades as follows:
9 to 7 - Displayed as #-
6 to 4 - Displayed as #
3 to 1 - Displayed as #+
Letter grades from 1 to 3 - Displayed as Letter grade-
Letter grades from 4 to 6 - Displayed as Letter grade
Letter grades from 7 to 9 - Displayed as Letter grade+

While grades since Master all the way to Ankh Master will use the same exact display grade as your qualified grade

The qualification process itself also follows a radically different process: Starting from the first ever play (or after a qualifying play), the game takes the weighted average grade (unconfirmed) of a series of 5 plays, in order to create a TRY grade as your precedent grade.
After which, the player will go through an another series of 5 plays, and at the end of the last play of the series, the game will evaluate the average grade of 3 best runs and compare it to the TRY grade. If it is higher than that, a screen will pop up after the grade history screen, telling the player that they are promoted. Else, the game simply goes back to the main menu after the grade history screen.

Hell Mode

Hell Mode is the second gamemode of Master of Blocks 4. It is somewhat similar to T.A.Death mode of TGM2, with only 1000 levels, and has a speed curve somewhat resembles Shirase of TGM3.

Speed timing

Gravity is always fixed at 20G.

Delays

Speed level	ARE (frames)	Line ARE (frames)	DAS (frames)	Lock (frames)	Line clear (frames)
000-099	8	14	8	17	6
100-199	7	13	8	15	6
200-299	6	12	8	15	6
300-399	6	10	6	14	5
400-499	6	10	6	13	5
500-599	6	9	6	12	4
600-699	6	9	6	11	4
700-799	6	8	6	10	3
800-899	5	6	6	9	2
900-Ω	5	6	6	8	2

Additionally, starting from level 500, a gimmick from The Master of Blocks (MoB1) called "Shadows" activates from this point, where the pieces and the current stack will only display its outlines. And the gimmick permanently lasts until the end of the mode (including the roll section)

With each section passed, the player is awarded with a 🜏 (Leviathan) grade according to the number of sections cleared.

Pandemonium

The third of the main modes of MoB: Apotheosis. It is a much more difficult take on the Hell mode, with an extremely cruel speed curve that can easily overwhelm unexperienced players.

The mode itself is designed so that it's not beatable by human players.

This mode is unlocked by playing either Heaven or Hell mode until the progress reaches 100%, or reach level 500 in Hell mode.

Speed timings

Gravity is always fixed at 20G.

Delays

Speed level	ARE (frames)	Line ARE (frames)	DAS (frames)	Lock (frames)	Line clear (frames)
000-099	6	9	6	12	4
100-199	6	9	6	11	4
200-299	6	8	6	10	3
300-399	5	6	6	9	2
400-499	5	6	6	8	2
500-599	4	5	4	7	1
600-699	4	5	4	6	1
700-799	4	4	2	5	1
800-899	4	4	2	4	1
900-999	2	3	1	3	1
Ω (roll)	2	3	1	2	1

As of now, the world record is Lv.735 (video here)

In addition, starting from level 500, another gimmick will kick in which are called "Polymorphs" (formerly "Shapeshifting" or "Fake pieces"): The color of the pieces are still correct, but the pieces' shapes are changed to one of the seven tetrominos. It is also entirely possible to create a "real" piece this way.

• At level 5xx, the third piece in the NEXT queue becomes a polymorph.
• At level 6xx, the second piece in the NEXT queue becomes a polymorph.
• At level 7xx, the next piece becomes a polymorph .
• At level 8xx, the HOLD piece becomes a polymorph .
• At level 9xx, every piece is a polymorph, active polymorphs will transform to the correct piece on lock.

Activation

The final mode in MoB: Apotheosis. It is somewhat like the Item Mode of TGM2. The player must survive an increasing amount of cards with each stage, with some cards are defending players and some are attacking players. There are 15 stages in total listed as Roman numerals.

During gameplay, each card’s behavior splits to 3 phases; Activation phase, Attack phase, and Cooldown phase.

• Activation phase - The card will lit itself up and will enters Attack phase after 15 pieces had played during this phase.
• Attack phase - The card will reveals the gimmick that the player about to dealt for a brief moment and hands out that said gimmick before entering Cooldown phase.
• Cooldown phase - The card will dim itself down to let the player had a breathing time to prepare for the next card, and the phase lasts for another 15 pieces before reentering Activation phase again when there are cards left or entering the “credit roll” state for 50 seconds before the stage is cleared when ran out of cards.

In this game mode, rotate 180 is disabled; instead, pressing the rotate 180 key in the Activation phase would skip this phase immediately.

Below are the cards used in this mode. Odd numbered cards have positive effects, even numbered cards have negative effects, and the last four cards (X1 through X4) are neutral and have no number:

• 1. GRAVITY DOWN - Reduces gravity temporarily.
• 2. COPY GARBAGE X1 - Adds 1 line to the bottom of the stack, which copies the bottommost line.
• 3. INFINITE RESETS - Allows the next piece to use an infinite number of lock delay resets.
• 4. RANDOM ROTATION SYSTEM - Transforms the next piece's rotation system into one of the game's three rotation systems, chosen at random.
• 5. LINE DEFENSE X2 - Removes the two bottommost lines from the stack.
• 6. RANDOM GARBAGE X3 - Add 3 lines of garbage with randomly placed holes.
• 7. CARD BLOCK - Blocks the next negative card’s gimmick completely.
• 8. GRAVITY UP - Increases gravity temporarily.
• 9. FREE FALL - Works like the corresponding item in the TGM series; pushes all blocks downwards as far as they can go, eliminating all holes.
• 10. SHOT GUN - Works like the corresponding item in the TGM series; one block per row, chosen randomly, is erased (regardless of whether or not it was full already).
• 11. ACID RAIN - Erases the two topmost blocks in each column of the stack.
• 12. ROULETTE! - Based off an unused item in TGM1. After choosing one of the seven block colours at random, a laser is then shot from the middle of the playfield, deflecting off the specific colour picked earlier. The laser erases all other coloured blocks in its way until it reaches the bottom of the stack.
• 13. NEXT >13 -10 - The next card you draw that has a number greater than 13 acts as if it were the card with the number 10 lower. (For instance, turns Instant Lock into Random Rotation System).
• 14. INSTANT LOCK - Immediately locks the piece once it touches the stack or the bottom of the playfield
• 15. DEL EVEN - Deletes every even rows (2nd, 4th, 6th etc..) of the stack.
• 16. EXTRA PATTERN X4 - Pushes up 4 rows of garbage, which come from the pattern in TAP’s TGM+ Mode.
• 17. AMULET - Deletes the four bottommost lines of the stack.
• 18. DEATH BLOCK - Works like the corresponding item in the TGM series; makes the next block twice as big.
• 19. DEL FIELD - Clears the entire stack.
• 20. INSTANT SECRET GRADE: JUST ADD BLOCKS! - Converts each non-empty row to the equivalent row in the Secret Grade pattern.
• X1. 180 FIELD - Works like the corresponding item in the TGM series; flips the stack vertically, then pushes it down to the bottom of the board.
• X2. EMPTY GARBAGE X5 - Inserts five empty garbage lines at the bottom of the stack (equivalently, pushes the stack up five rows).
• X3. NEGA FIELD - Works like the corresponding item in the TGM series; for each non-empty row, converts full blocks to empty spaces and vice versa.
• X4. DOUBLE WILD - Picks one positive and one negative card at random, and activates them both.

The mode uses speed timings similar to Heaven mode, without the COOLs taken to account. And the speed curve does increase by time instead of usual level increment.

Secrets

There are a few secret functions that can be unlocked via codes.

Cheat Menu

This can be accessed by holding down Escape (or B button on the 3DS) on the main menu until the visuals change.

This will unlock options such as:

• Big Block Mode
• 20G Mode
• Difficulty settings

In Difficulty settings, there are 5 options:

Beginner

The easiest difficulty setting.

• The speed curve is capped at Level 500 speeds in Hell and Pandemonium.
• You can only get 1 COOL in each COOL system per section in Heaven.

Novice

• Removes the Lv.500 outline-only effect in Hell.
• Removes the Lv.500 fake pieces effect in Pandemonium.
• You can only get up to 2 COOLs in each COOL systems per section in Heaven.

Standard

• The default settings.

Expert

• Applies the Shadows gimmick effect on active piece and piece previews on every mode, for the entire mode.

what even is life
"heaven" <-- swift lie

• Forces the Polymorph gimmick (shapeshifting block effect) on active piece and piece previews on every mode, for the entire mode.

Alternative Mino SFX

An alternate SFX pack for the tetrominos can be toggled by holding Enter to enter the Credits screen then press Escape, then press Enter to back into the menu.

The next piece’s SFX is then changed to the name of the tetrominoes as said in Dropout (formerly College Humor)’s The Tetris God video:

• J = Reverse L block
• L = L Block
• O = Square
• S = Reverse squiggly
• T = T block
• Z = Squiggly
• I = LINE PIECE