The cup climbs: easy to hard, deterministic — the shuffle retires with its screen

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/beats.js

@@ -354,13 +354,12 @@ export function watchdog(dt) {
 // the match mode ends. Regicide is inherited for free: smashing the ball into the body still wounds
 // it, and killing it outright wins the game early (killZombie fires resolveInterlude('P'), which
 // lands in matchGameWon via the empty-court check).
-// `draw` is an optional pre-settled list of rungs, one per cup round — null (the normal case
-// since the bracket screen was deleted, 2026-08-29) means "roll each round as it comes". The
-// parameter stays: the suite uses it to pin the validation below.
 // `train` (2026-08-28) is a RUNG NUMBER and turns the run into the TRAINING COURT: that one
 // opponent, one game at a time, nothing banked. The ladder is parked — d.opp never advances, a
 // felled body walks straight back on, and bleeding out costs a modal instead of the run. All of
 // it rides the ordinary match machinery behind the d.train flag; see matchGameWon / matchPoint.
+// `draw` is DEAD weight kept only for call-site arity — the cup runs easy to hard now
+// (cupRoundsFor is deterministic, 2026-08-29) and nothing reads it.
 export function startMatch(cup = false, draw = null, train = 0) {
   if (G.interlude || G.horde || G.bossFight || G.drill || G.match || G.bench || G.net) return false;
   // THE LEAGUES: the profile's league is the world (band, pace tier, court — see PROJECT.md).
@@ -376,7 +375,7 @@ export function startMatch(cup = false, draw = null, train = 0) {
   // on (a rung DRAWN from the round's band — cupDraw sets d.opp, so every ladder dial downstream
   // scales off the drawn rung untouched), how deep the body's pool is (matchOpponent multiplies
   // by the round's `need`), and where a won game goes (cupGameWon). See config.cupRoundsFor.
-  if (cup) { G.match.cup = { round: 0, g: 0, draw: draw || null, rounds: cupRoundsFor(G.league) }; cupDraw(); }
+  if (cup) { G.match.cup = { round: 0, g: 0, rounds: cupRoundsFor(G.league) }; cupDraw(); }
   G.matchFall = null;
   G.hp = G.hpMax = TUNE.matchPlayerHp;  // a real match is longer than four mistakes — the gore
                                         // mode's 4 was "too weak" here, felt not calculated
@@ -412,25 +411,12 @@ export function startMatch(cup = false, draw = null, train = 0) {
   return true;
 }
 
-// The round's rung, drawn from its band. d.opp carries it so matchFoe, the ladder speed dials and
-// the felled arithmetic all read the drawn rung with no cup-awareness of their own.
-// A PASSED DRAW IS THE DRAW THAT IS PLAYED (it once arrived from the bracket screen; the suite
-// still passes one) — this reads it off rather than rolling again.
-// Guarded on the band all the same: a saved or hand-passed draw that names a rung this round does
-// not contain falls back to an honest roll rather than dealing the champion in round one.
+// The round's opponent. No draw and no roll any more: the rounds ARE the band, ascending, so
+// this simply reads the round's one position off (cupRoundsFor carries the order). d.opp carries
+// it so matchFoe, the ladder speed dials and the felled arithmetic stay cup-unaware.
 function cupDraw() {
-  const cup = G.match.cup, R = cup.rounds[cup.round];
-  const drawn = cup.draw && cup.draw[cup.round];
-  // WITHOUT REPLACEMENT: a league band is 3-4 rungs and every non-final round carries the whole
-  // sub-band, so the run remembers who has already fallen (cup.played) and never deals a body
-  // twice — a repeat would read as the bracket screen lying. The final's band is one rung and
-  // sails through untouched.
-  cup.played = cup.played || [];
-  const pool = R.band.filter(r => !cup.played.includes(r));
-  cup.rung = R.band.includes(drawn) && !cup.played.includes(drawn) ? drawn
-    : (pool.length ? pool : R.band)[Math.floor(Math.random() * (pool.length ? pool : R.band).length)];
-  cup.played.push(cup.rung);
-  G.match.opp = cup.rung;
+  const cup = G.match.cup;
+  G.match.opp = cup.rung = cup.rounds[cup.round].band[0];
 }
 
 // Every point starts like a real one: the server behind his line (setupPoint's tennis branch) and