MoistCr1tikal has returned with his highly-anticipated third $10,000 speedrun challenge after a three-month hiatus. If you're new to the challenge, here's what you need to know: Following the success of his first challenge, Cr1tikal announced that he planned to make it a regular event, with a monthly occurrence if possible. He also revealed that in each challenge, $1,000 would be awarded to the person who discovered the most impactful glitch, in addition to the $10,000 prize split among the top three runners at the end of the two-week period. That means first place takes home $6,000, second place gets $2,500, and third place receives $1,500.

## The game

The selection process appears to have been quite challenging, which explains the lengthy gap between challenges. [Here’s what Cr1tikal had to say:](https://youtu.be/5Ht3biCKD8Y?t=330)

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/2yzrme4d.jpg)

“*When we did Exodus from the Earth (EFTE) as our second one, I don't think we realized just how good of a speedgame it turned out to be and I don't like going backwards. So like, Exodus from the Earth was amazing - I wouldn't want to just choose another stinker kind of like Amok Runner was.*” (The game from the first challenge) -MoistCr1tikal

This brings us to game number 3, The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard! TESAR is an action/adventure game much like the others in the famous Elder Scrolls series, however, this one is unique in that it’s the only title where you play as a pre-determined character (Cyrus the Redguard) with a forced third-person perspective.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/v5ngkzqp.jpg)

Similar to EFTE, before the challenge was announced TESAR had just one runner - [Solitaan](https://www.speedrun.com/user/Solitaan). In 2018, Solitaan themselves managed to bring down the record from nearly 3 hours to [just under 2 hours](https://www.speedrun.com/the_elder_scrolls_adventures_redguard/run/mr84kkgy) with a few new skips and much better gameplay, with the idea that a time of 1:55:00 should be doable with the route at the time.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/9qzpwe3v.jpg)

## The skip(s)

Fast forward to the announcement of the challenge yesterday, May 3rd, 2023. Cr1tikal’s [announcement video](https://youtu.be/5Ht3biCKD8Y) gets 1,300,000 views in less than 24 hours and almost 2000 new members join the Challenge Discord.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/v5e15n02.jpg)

With this kind of exposure, it was only a matter of time before some serious tech was discovered.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/qoeojngp.jpg)

Around 3pm EDT (just one hour after the announcement of the challenge), top contender from previous challenges [Zach](https://www.speedrun.com/user/zach) discovered that you were able to [clip through objects when getting attacked by enemies.](https://clips.twitch.tv/MistyBeautifulChinchillaOSkomodo--HGt39Zjs4j1cd_J) Nothing could make use of this yet, but the day was only just getting started.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/d3ek5exp.jpg)

Many other new small skips were found, and even [one that was confirmed to save around 35 minutes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaVNQfyAyTM) by [Gizmovor](https://www.speedrun.com/user/gizmovor) which was found at 7pm EDT.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/3xz01el0.jpg)

However, between 8:34 and 8:46pm EDT glitch hunter [ontrigger](/users/ontrigger) posted these messages, sharing screenshots of the final boss.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/9kzwjnq1.jpg)

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/oxzd9nmq.jpg)

As it turns out, [ontrigger](https://www.speedrun.com/user/ontrigger) had found an incredible spot to use the enemy clipping method from [Zach](https://www.speedrun.com/user/zach) - one that would cut the 2-hour run down to just 15 minutes.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/y1n5ve3v.jpg)

In the old 2-hour route, players had to visit different locations to collect resources such as gold or key items. The primary goal was to obtain N'Gasta's Amulet and deliver it to Governor Richton at the Palace. However, after handing over the amulet, Richton betrays the player and sends his guards after them. This event leads to the player spending the majority of the rest of the game trying to get back to the Palace to seek revenge on Richton.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/l1n75z5r.jpg)


In the new route, with ontrigger’s clip, you simply need to clip through a door next to Richton in the Palace and the game allows you to pick up the rest of the main questline from that point - **saving a whopping 1.5 hours.**

Here’s the first recorded successful clip from [mickyyyr](https://www.speedrun.com/user/mickyyyr)

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/97n6xnqm.gif)

For audio, [watch the Twitch clip here](https://clips.twitch.tv/NimbleClearWombatBlargNaut-9MANWJD8P9prilWm)

Runner and glitch hunter [SabulineHorizon](https://www.speedrun.com/user/SabulineHorizon) would also find [a faster, easier, and more consistent setup for this clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovnCE6K108o) by 10:30pm EDT in the same night.

As of now, I am writing this just 25 hours after the announcement of the challenge and this is what the leaderboard looks like - with plenty more runs still awaiting verification!

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/67e95z1o.jpg)

And here’s a sneak peek at the “History” feature with TESAR WR’s! History will enter beta in a future update ;) [Note: This will not replace WR History charts]

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/3ynl3n6o.jpg)

With such impactful activity on this leaderboard in the last 25 hours - who knows what the next 13 days of the challenge will look like?

Big thanks to a bunch of the people in the Challenge Discord who helped me sort out information and make sure this article was as accurate as possible! Huge thanks to Ellie, Artemis, ChristianRoyle, BobToad, CreamSock, ZumoDePapaya, Letanda, and the rest of the Challenge Discord! You are all absolute legends :)

MoistCr1tikal has returned with his highly-anticipated third $10,000 speedrun challenge after a three-month hiatus.

Cr1tikal's third $10K challenge shaken up by 1.5 hour skip on day 1

The challenge lasted two weeks, with a promise of an extension if anybody was caught hiding run-changing strats, and so runners flocked to Amok Runner in droves hoping to claim prize money - or just to participate in a fun community event! ![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/v5e1dve0.jpg)



After the challenge was over, Moist announced that this wasn’t just a one time thing but rather a **monthly** occurrence. He also mentioned that the next challenge would award $1000 to the person who finds the most impactful glitch (separate from the other $10,000 ) and that any following challenges will split the $10,000 among the top 3 runners when the two weeks is up. That means $6,000 to first place, $2,500 to second place, and $1,500 to third place.



If you want to catch up from the previous challenge, I recommend you check out Moist’s [History of My $10,000 Speedrun Challenge](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFY1bUHBKfI).



Now that a month has passed, Moist [announced the latest challenge](https://youtu.be/5c7OK3xmGpE) just yesterday and already runners from all areas of the speedrunning scene are taking it upon themselves to learn the new challenge speedgame [Exodus from the Earth](https://store.steampowered.com/app/12390/Exodus_from_the_Earth) - a first-person shooter from 2007.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/9kzwlyeq.jpg)Before the challenge came along, there was just one runner of the game - [deluxyze](https://www.speedrun.com/user/deluxyze). Deluxyze had already brought the game down to just above the hour mark, from a roughly 5 to 6 hour casual playthrough with a solid amount of tricks and combat optimizations - although even he claimed that the time could go much lower because there were some tricks he didn't include in that run.

 ![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/3xz0w0nl.jpg)



Now seeing as we’re still only on what is essentially day one of the challenge not many runners have actually finished learning the run yet, but by taking a look at all the streams of people learning the speedrun on Twitch I think it’s safe to safe this leaderboard is going to absolutely **explode** with runs in the coming days. 

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/oxzd3qnm.jpg)

Even taking a look at the Exodus Discord voice channels, we can see 30+ people who have gathered to learn the run or glitch hunt together.

![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/y1n5vme3.jpg)While in the middle of writing this very article, speedrunner [spicee](https://www.speedrun.com/user/spiceeTV) managed to get an incredible run of 56:08 LRT / 59:16 RTA. The very first sub hour in the game in the 16 years since its release. 



![](https://next.speedrun.com/static/blob/l1n7x0e5.jpg)

While this is only the second challenge hosted by Moist, it’s already possible to see the effect it's having on the entire speedrunning scene, uniting runners from all different kinds of speedgames, and introducing new people who’ve never been exposed to speedrunning before now - and that’s truly a beautiful thing to witness.

If you’d like to follow the challenge over the next two weeks, you can see all the verified runs over at [Speedrun.com/EFTE](https://www.speedrun.com/efte) or watch runners compete live at [TheRun.gg/Moist.](https://therun.gg/moist)



At the end of last year MoistCr1tikal hit the speedrunning community with some huge news, announcing a $10,000 speedrun challenge for a game almost no one had ever heard of before - its time for round 2.

MoistCr1tikal Announced Yet Another $10k Speedrun Challenge

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Submissions will be available 2 weeks after the official release (November 8th). These 2 weeks serve to help the moderation team create main categories, the IL leaderboard and respective rule-sets. Until then feel free to join and help the community with your findings and personal bests on the freshly opened SXS Generations-[Discord](https://discord.gg/M6CyCfC6M7)

Shadow Generations

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies

UFO 50

Submissions will be available 2 weeks after the official release (November 8th). These 2 weeks serve to help the moderation team create main categories, the IL leaderboard and respective rule-sets. Until then feel free to join and help the community with your findings and personal bests on the freshly opened SXS Generations-[Discord](https://discord.gg/M6CyCfC6M7)!

Sonic Generations (2024)

The leaderboard is under an embargo period for 2 weeks after release. This is to allow players to enjoy the full experience of the game casually without feeling like they have to rush into developing the speedrun right away. Please take your time and enjoy the game!

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

We will start accepting runs for this game one week after release to give enough time for an optimal route to be placed and for runners to have a run they like ready to submit.