Both kept this on a personal level. A lot of personal bars being thrown around. I feel as if both had highs & lows. I think one was conceptually better. Lock had a couple lines I was feelin like the Rent free Rule reference & the human centipede. The rest was either hit or miss for me. The deadbeat bar was iight. Dave, almost the same thing. Highs and lows for me. A lot of personals. Was feelin the Rai in the way line as well as the closing reference my lines bar. Overall I think both came with similar styles in that it was a more personals being thrown type of battle. I feel as if one was just more conceptually clever with his verse and that's where my vote is going. Good luck to both. 

This is dopeeeee. 

Ironic: you used us to "put a price on his head" cause he lives "RENT FREE IN YOURS"!..... this took it for me. Good battle, fellas. One of tha best I’ve read in a while. 100 - Respect Tha Dons vote. 

Solid battle here from both. One was much more consistent with execution and keeping their schemes intact.

Rieper - I can see why you are such a force to be reckoned with in this verse. That first half of the verse was fire, really liked the opener, and the dead beat bars. Closed it off well. Not much else to say this was a very strong verse.

Eth - After reading riepers verse I gotta say I wasn't sure it could be matched but from start to finish the compliment/insult approach you took throughout it was funny as hell. Really liked the nobody likes you and the second he left bars. 

I feel like I've had a tough time picking who I thought won several battles lately, maybe they are this close or maybe it's because I've been out of writing for too long at this point, but this is definitely the best battle I've read on the site since I've been back. I am going to lean riepers way for consistency, because I thought EtH's verse started slower a bit slower than riepers. I am still not going to get back in the battle scene those days are done for me, but if there ever was any chance of inspiration to do so, it is a battle like this. 

oooh... Honesty the only thing that made this close was Riep's closing bars. Eth had a really solid verse and the personals really smacked. I'm not usually into non punch heavy styles but he really pulled it off nicely. HONESTLY... Eth's verse just smacked harder imo. Just a bit more entertaining to me. Fun battle to read on both sides.

This was an entertaining battle. With some stand outs, and some down sides from both parties. I wasn't really feeling Rieper's closer. I get the idea, it just wasn't astounding to me. Could have taken that idea, and made it much stronger, in my opinion. The Pull the plug concept was your bar of the verse to me, though. Eth, I didn't really dig the approach you took here, to be honest. You had some funny bars, though. The Rai bar being probably your highlight to me. But, I just didn't like the backhanded compliment lines, and felt like you overdid them here. Which really cost you in my eyes. I've got my winner with the more varied concepts, which landed more frequently to me. 

eth had a cleaner flow. i didnt see any mega punches, but eth def had the flow that was hitting and i remember that most out of reading the two verses

Bha seo duilich a bhriseadh sìos oir bha e gu cruaidh an aghaidh fealla-dhà teann. Thug EtH orm gàire a dhèanamh gu ìre mhath an seo ach aig a ’cheann thall bha mi dìreach a’ faireachdainn na punchlines bho Lock beagan a bharrachd an seo. Bha dealbhaiche a ’gheama, an RULE na cheann, agus bàr Lipton dope dhomh. EtH Bu toil leam an loidhne Rai agus nas fhaisge. Is e blàr duilich a th ’ann a bhith a’ breithneachadh a bhith onarach ach anns an fhear seo tha mi a ’dol leis na punchlines nas eagraichte, nas eagraichte agus nas leasaichte thairis air a’ chomadaidh amh.

God fucking damn it I did it again. Toss that bitch into a Scottish Gaelic -> English translator and (hopefully) that's my vote.

good battle , i felt reeps punches were ok, but lacked any real power. daves was cleaner and his personals just felt more convincing

Holy fuck. I think this might be my favourite battle I've read in my time on LB. Certainly since I came back. After reading Lock's verse I was certain he would win. After reading EtH's verse I have no clue. I'm going to do that thing people do where they rate it bar-by-bar and have numbers attached and then pretend there's a mathematical way of determining it.

Rieper:

You're on "life support" in the Tag tourney. Only RIGHT THAT A BULL'S YOUR CRUTCH! "I provide all of ya dope lines", 'n it's TIME THAT I "PULL YA PLUG"!

I thought this was a solid punch. I could kind of see where it was going from the beginning, but the "pull the plug" phrase-flip at the end was unexpected. As a nice arbitrary rating to start with, I'll give this: 4/5

You won't "push the right buttons" goin' up against ya FAVORITE RHYMER. If you're "makin moves that'll do some damage"? You're just busy bein' a GAME DESIGNER!

This line was bitten so I gave it a 0. Just kidding. Again a solid punch, although this didn't land as hard as your opener. 3/5

He'll say he's my "father-figure", but I'm in an echelon that EtH'S REACHIN FOR. When I ended AC's? Ya said-I'm-a-faggot, Dave, 'til I "made it big, 'n ya mooched off my success-'n-my-accolades" - you're a "DEAD BEAT", FOR SURE!

I'm torn on this one. Conceptually, I think it was pretty dope, but the spacing between the main multis really through me off, and I don't know if the internal rhyming was enough to offest that here. Conceptually I think this was dope, but it's execution threw me off a little so I'll give it: 3/5

Invested in Turnbulls cause of RULE. You hate that he's someone LETSBEEF ADORES. Ironic: you used us to "put a price on his head" cause he lives "RENT FREE IN YOURS"!

I thought this was simple but really effective. Good use of two phrases, I thought this was short and sharp so I gave it: 4/5

You're always tryna stick-it-to-the-man til they hit-you-w/-a-ban cause ya got yaself conVINCED YOU'VE EXPOSED THE TRUTH! You "readin' the tea leaves is makin me drop ya bag in the water" but this ain't LIPTON I'VE CHOSE TO BREW!

I liked the internal rhyming at the start, but with such a long first line it would have been nice if the tea double-entendre was built into it somewhere. As it was I thought it was pretty obvious where the punch was going from the word tea, also I wasn't convinced it actually made that much sense. EtH tried to catch staff out on rumours so you killed him and disposed of him in a body of water? Ok, I guess, it isn't really what the set-up implied but sure. But the other meaning? EtH read some tea leaves, in the literal sense, and you dropped his teabag in water to make Lipton's? Why is EtH reading tea leaves? And how is he reading them if they're still in the bag you're about to put in water? Maybe I'm just an idiot that misunderstood this, but if that's true then be clearer. I gave this: 2/5

You're on that "human centipede swag": nurses'll have STITCHES GET SEWN IN YOU cause "your mouth's been connected to all that SHIT YOU'VE BEEN GOIN' THROUGH"!

I liked this one. It was reasonably simple but effective, again you're flipping a lot of common phrases which I think has been done effectively here, I decided to add half-marks to my scoring and gave this: 3.5/5

EtH wishes he was YOU WISH, nothin' he RHYMES IS DECENT, THOUGH. I'll "bury this grunt at Arlington National" since he wanna "DIE TO BE UNKNOWN"!

Something's off in the multis here, it's just not quite right no matter how I say it. I think it might be the cadence. I thought this was a simple but effective flip; I'm sure UA nameflips are hella played but they haven't been used in so long that it's fine. Cool concept but the execution held it back: 2.5/5

Overall: 22/35

(EtH's breakdown coming soon)

EtH:

He just ducked the 32 and now I’m HONESTLY RATTLED so you know what I’ll do?...COMPLIMENTS BATTLE!

This wasn't a punch so I'm not rating it, but it served effectively as the set-up for your backhanded compliments approach, which is what I'm going to discuss here. This was an approach I've never seen before, and I think it added a great element of sarcasm to your lines that really made your verse very funny. It also served as a constant reminder that Rieper just lost his streak to Rai in a compliments battle, making it doubly effective. I think this was a one-use gimmick, but you used it really well here and (I still haven't worked out who I'm voting for) might be the thing that wins you my vote.

Me and Lock were cool and the DUDE WOULD BEFRIEND PUNK then he spoke with the mods and made a MOVEMENT AGAINST US! We thought he back stabbed and we’d LOOK FOR REVENGE BUT we said to ourselves….“who WOULDN’T DEFEND GUTZ”?

As far as personals go I don't think this was great tbh. It functions more as a Guts diss than anything, which might be effective for voters who hate Guts' guts, but in my opinion it didn't really bring your opponent down here. The fact there wasn't any punchline going on also really hurt this bar, I think it was a usable angle but I don't think you executed on it very well here: 1.5/5

You’ve never made the wrong call and I’m SHOWING YOU HAVEN’T and when all the mods lost their spot how could you KNOW THAT WOULD HAPPEN? Also that shit with ROHAN WAS TRAGIC! But Lock, you really TAKE IT ON THE CHIN; you’ve only deleted 7 accounts since, maaan I’ll SAY THAT IT’S A WIN!

I've seen the Rohan personal brought up so many times in so many ways, but this was genuinely unexpected and I think one of the few viable ways to use that personal. I'm finding it really hard to judge your bars here because of your unique style, but I personally think this is a really damaging bar because for me it really hits home in a way Lock personals basically never do: 4/5

And now we’re tagging? Fuck, this dude’s my ROAD TO THE TITLE and I’m sure that you’re not only tagging with me because NOBODY LIKES YOU!

This was a simple one-liner, but I actually thought it accomplished a lot by flipping the narrative that EtH is the only one who gets anything out of their tag partnership. That said, it was quite simple and I don't think it really hits home too well because plenty of people have been willing to tag with Lock quite recently: 2.5/5

If you listen to his BATTLES ON REPLAY there’s a CHANCE OF A HEATWAVE and you know he’ll beat anyone STANDING IN THE WAY...it’s not his fault that only ever HAPPENS TO BE RAI!

Lmao I think this is absolutely the best angle you brought this battle. The multis are off though, I don't think "the" would be stressed and pronounced "thee" by 95% of people reading this bar. That unfortunately held back a nice backhanded compliment which I ended up giving: 3/5

If Bleu faced Jim he’d be GETTING THE DEATH it’s just a shame that Lock only improved...the SECOND HE LEFT!

"getting the death" is such a comically weird way of putting it that I actually think it works in such a sarcastic backhanded compliments verse, although it still hurts your bar a little. But fuck, I love this line. I think it's a great continuation of your previous angle without being repetitive. "Getting the death" made me reluctantly give this: 3.5/5

What are the chances? And he carried me in the tag if I'm KIND AND HONEST, even I think it's weird how the votets exclusively quote my LINES IN THE COMMENTS!

From my knowledge of your verses and the voting comments on them, there is an element of truth to this that makes it really sting. Unfortunately it's held back by an absolute rookie mistake, "kind and honest/lines in the comments" is 4 syllables vs 5 syllables. It was a dope concept but such a basic error really hurt the execution here, especially when there's no punchline to speak of and so flow becomes so much more important. I gave it: 2.5/5

Overall: 17/30

As you can see, Rieper had a higher average and total score, which saves me from having t work out which I would judge it on. Ultimately I think EtH was held back by several silly errors, which he couldn't afford to have in this kind of style. Still one of the more enjoyable reads I've had though. The bar ratings are so savage because every bar here was at a high level and it only matters relative to each other, my actual ratings are much higher lol.

DieSlow

if there ever was a tourney based on humour EtH would definitely body the whole site single handedly this was a fire ass battle dope verses from both, so much variety and diss angles in display here i learnt a thing or two by just reading both verses. very close battles here too i almost had EtH winning up until the RAi linebut Lock's last two lines had me sway towards him for the win. amazing battle guys !!

Site full of dickriders. Didnt they see the dope line where I said nobody likes him? Future GC shit.