*June 25: This post has been updated with some words from Mos Prob. Scroll to the bottom for them if you’ve already read the rest.*

As KOTD starts booking battles for August’s World Domination 5 in Toronto, we figured we’d toss out a few quick ideas about what we’d like to see at the event. This will be the third time KOTD Toronto throws battles on a big stage and we’re hoping after the audio and crowd control problems of WD4 and the no-shows of BO4 that they’ve learned some lessons and this time will be the charm.

Re-establish the Canadian elite

World Domination’s original concept was to show that Canada’s talent could hang with the world’s best. With the impressive rise of the Fresh Coast division, we’re already seeing a lot of American battlers on KOTD’s main stage, so try to bring back some Canadian fan favourites like Kid Twist, poRICH, Knamelis and Osa alongside established and emerging talent like Charron, 100 Bulletz, Loe Pesci, Hollohan, Sketch Menace and Tycoon Tax.

Scale it down

We mentioned in the intro that this will be the third “big stage” event - but it doesn’t have to be. KOTD has been pushing to be “bigger and better” with every event, but the problem is that when things get too big you start losing the ability to control quality. Large crowds can ruin battles with booing or background chatter and booking 30 battlers in a weekend inevitably leads to no-shows. The best KOTD events in Toronto (Blackout 2, World Domination 2-3) and the current crop of excellent events on the Fresh Coast have all been in mid-sized venues that hold around 500.

Focus on reliability

Only book battlers who already have passports in hand, can cross the border without incident and who have shown they’ll put effort into a KOTD performance. It might keep some big names off the card, but we’d much rather see hot battles than a hot card.

Capitalize on the KOTD/Don’t Flop rivalry

Things have settled down between the two leagues, which makes it the perfect time to actually get some dope battles out of last year’s bad blood. We’re not expecting Eurgh vs Organik, but matchups between KOTD and DF veterans would have something at stake and give the battlers plenty to talk about.

Judge the battles

It looks like our suggestion from a few months ago caught Organik’s eye, because he’s announced that WD5 battles will be judged. To avoid too much blowback on any unpopular decisions, we recommend having a consistent panel of high-profile, respected judges from all different backgrounds, along the lines of Poison Pen, Drect, Soul Khan, Knamelis, Dirtbag Dan, Jay Blac, Jon Rines, Chris Unbias or Angryfan. Whoever is chosen should also make a video ahead of the event explaining how they judge battles.

Article: How to judge a rap battle

Push for the title match

From the sounds of it, Pat Stay is sitting World Domination 5 out (which we at T.O. Battle Blog speculated on weeks before his announcement by the way…). We’d prefer if he defended the chain against someone, whether it be Charlie Clips, Charron or even Daylyt. Title matches are usually the apex of a weekend of big battles at Toronto events and it would be better to have one than not have one.

Whatever the case, we’re confident KOTD has a handle on things and we’re already looking forward to the weekend.

We’ve also put together three cards for the event, from TOBB writers Chris, Matt and Adam (AKA Mos Prob). Not predictions, not leaks, just trying our hands at putting together a card of this magnitude. It wasn’t easy. We tried to be as realistic as possible, so as much as we want to see people like Bigg K, Caustic or Illmaculate up in Toronto, their border issues have kept them off these cards.

CHRIS’ CARD

Day 1

Charron vs Charlie Clips (#1 contender match, unless it would lead to Clips/Daylyt II)
Kid Twist vs Rone
Knamelis vs Tony D
poRICH/Diaz vs Marlo/Shuffle T
Real Deal vs Tumi
Ness Lee vs Dialect
Rum Nitty vs 100 Bulletz
Uno Lavoz vs Deffinition

Day 2

Pat Stay vs Daylyt (title match)
Hollohan vs Dizaster
The Saurus vs Shotty Horroh
Arcane vs Dirtbag Dan
Soul vs Chilla Jones
Tycoon Tax vs Megadef
Sketch Menace vs Tantrum
Anygma vs Danny Myers

Day 3 [GZ Battles]

N Pose vs Lexx Luthor
Yung Casper vs Citty Towers
Step Easy vs Ayem
Mos Prob vs Carter Deems
Pigsty vs Olde English

And for a special surprise battle: Marlo/Shuffle T vs Charron/Tricky P (I’m making Marlo/Shuffle do two battles since they only have to do half the work as everyone else otherwise. I’ll even let Charron freestyle his way through this one too.)

MATT’S CARD

Day 1

Organik and Knamelis vs Cruger and Eurgh
Kid Twist vs Rone
Bender vs Big Kannon
Shuffle T vs The Saurus
Henry Bowers vs Daylyt
Osa vs Fresco
Uno Lavoz vs Dirtbag Dan

Day 2

Pat Stay vs Charlie Clips
Pass vs T Rex
DNA vs Rum Nitty
Charron vs Soul
100 Bulletz vs Chilla Jones
J-Pro vs Danny Myers
Madness vs Oshea

Day 3 [GZ Battles]

Prince Ali vs Cee Major
Megadef vs Ty Law
Lex D vs Kinaze
Carter Deems vs Trick Stephens
N Pose vs Illite MC
Reverse Live vs Isaac Knox

ADAM (MOS PROB)’S CARD

I’ve been absent for a few months, moving house twice, making my laptop not dead and watching helplessly as my fiancée eats up more visa issues than Blackout 4. On a positive note, both my brain and my glorified calculator have chugged precariously into life again, so if it’s more words you want, more words you shall have. If not, that’s tough, isn’t it?

I’ve been distracting myself with the prospect of World Domination 5, KOTD’s flagship event that really sets them apart from pretty much every other league on the face of the planet. Who do I think will show up to the showdown to [complete the catchphrase for the special bonus prize of absolutely fuck-all]?

I have written about judged battles for the Don’t Flop blog, and I’m on the fence, in all honesty. I enjoy the fierce competition that comes from judging, however questionable the eventual decisions can sometimes be. With that said, the recent crop of King of the Dot events have not wanted for drama, lyricism and hunger, so the showcase-y standard promo issues haven’t truly affected the quality of recent output.

But with judging added to that? We’re in for a right old time.

My one change to Chris and Matt’s suggestions (and this is a tentative one) is reducing the weight of the URL influence we’ve seen permeate KOTD’s style for the last year or so. As esteemed as the URL crop are, I think the variety and global ambitions of the World Domination series dictate a larger picture. As Chris mentioned, WD is really about pitting Canada against the world and setting up some tasty, never-likely-to-happen-in-any-other-context matchups featuring international talent.

I’ve also got a heavy influx of British battlers. Because, well, obviously.

DAY 1

Daylyt vs Charron
Kid Twist vs Shotty Horroh
Knameils vs Rone
Ness Lee vs Hollohan
Tumi vs Tony D
Rum Nitty vs Soul
Joe Cutter vs Henry Bowers

DAY 2

Organik vs Eurgh
Bender vs Arsonal
Charlie Clips vs DNA
Chilla Jones vs Arcane
Dialect vs Loe Pesci
Danny Myers vs Unanymous
Sketch Menace vs Anygma

DAY 3

Ogmios vs Nils m/ Skills
Carter Deems vs Notez
Mos Prob/Rapunsell vs Math Hoffa/Bonnie Godiva (okay, fuck off, we can dream)
Hansen (Germany) vs Rupert Common
Zain Azrai vs Tiger Ty

I’ve made Day 3 a fun one with a dope headliner. That’s more just the little light-hearted corner for me to nerd out in.
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Let us know what battles you want to see on the card on Twitter or Facebook!

And check out all of our World Domination coverage from last year.