2019 Summer FTF

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2019 3:09 am

We have planned our summer FTF for July 19-21, 2019, in Tampa, Florida. It
will be held at the Embassy Suites Tampa Airport Westshore. Room rates are
$125 per night, 1-2 occupancy. There's free wireless throughout the
property as well as a fitness center, outdoor pool, and business center, as
well as a resturant and bar inside the hotel. They have the usual Embassy
Suites amenities we know and love: complimetary cooked-to-order breakfast
and evening reception, plus there's a free airport shuttle and parking is
only $4/day. The rooms are blocked -- ask for the Reality Simulations
block (RSS). Reservations must be made by 6/20.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Mar 10, 2008 Posts: 1999

Going to try to stop in and say hello.

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 7:38 pm

Tripwire wrote:

Going to try to stop in and say hello.

The game needs you back, man.

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 4:04 pm

When is the tourney Freeze? 6/8'ish?

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 1:33 am

http://www.reality.com/ff63con.htm

I believe this is the link for newsletter. I hope everyone has a great time.

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 8:54 am

If anyone has the opportunity down in Florida, I'd love to see any pictures post from the Face-to-Face.

Good luck on the sands!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

TC/RU List

Primus: TMM/TMM AB/AB
Contenders: OAB/Khisanth LU/AB
Eligibles: TMM/Dr.F AB/LU
ADM: Khisanth/HW AB/AB
Freshmen: TMM/HW PR/BA
Challengers: HW/Assur TP/AB
Champions: TDO/HW LU/SL
Adepts: TUM/TDO LU/ST
Initiates: TMM/HW LU/AB
Apprentices: Vlad/HW WS/SL
Rookies: HW/Bubba LU/AB

Bloodgames Grads

STING 98-6283 ST 9 1 4 SERPENTS HOLD 6 (722)
BLESSED 98-6483 AB 10 0 3 LAYOVER (742)
NESTORIUS 98-6356 PL 7 3 3 DARQUE HERESY (729)

GRAPE APE 99-7386 AB 8 2 5 FRUITILICIOUS (856)
SEA URCHIN 99-7099 PS 8 2 5 FREEDOM FORCE (827)
ALBERT SPICA 99-7132 ST 8 2 3 DERANGED 37 (830)

Primus Stylemasters

PARRY-STRIKE DEADLY BEAR 2-3688 5 3 0 126 THE BEARS (3)
LUNGING ATTACK MILLER KNIGHT 10-3610 4 3 0 133 THIRSTY THUGS (17)
SLASHING ATTACK SUSHI SLINGER 96-1399 4 3 0 765 SEA DOGS (82)
STRIKING ATTACK WALL PAPER HANGER 68-6885 3 3 0 129 THE BEARS (53)
WALL OF STEEL THE PERFECT DRUG 3-6943 3 3 0 744 IRATE FORMATIONS (5)
PARRY-LUNGE GAOLER 42-4504 3 3 0 572 DUNGEON CELL (43)
PARRY-RIPOSTE DEE DEE 8-384 2 3 0 125 WILD THINGS 2 (13)
TOTAL PARRY LINT 48-1380 1 4 0 151 4-LETTER WORDS (45)
BASHING ATTACK DECK SWAB 18-2148 0 5 0 657 SEA DOGS (22)

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

I decided to skip this FtF, but sent a healthy sized group of warriors by proxy and followed along from home. I ran very little basic, and very few bust-outs, focusing instead on ADM and Primus level sandbaggers, and developing warriors looking to test the waters and hopefully pick up a train or two. I also ran a MI Bloodgames team.

Total entries: 50
Breakdown by class: 10 Primus, 6 Contenders, 8 Eligibles, 8 ADM, 10 Freshmen, 3 Challengers, 3 Champions, 1 Apprentice, 1 Rookie
Breakdown by fighting style: 17 AB, 7 ST, 6 LU, 5 BA, 4 WS, 3 PL, 3 SL, 3 TP, 1 PR, 1 PS

My expectations were low, and the tourney far exceeded them. My overall record was 160-156-0-1, with the one death being a former Dead TC timing in Champions, so he'll be back alive before next tourney. My warriors picked up 1 TC, 4 TVs, and 3 Primus stylemasters. I struck out in MI Bloodgames. I won't receive the results from RSI for at least a week or two, so some details about my tourney will be lacking.

Primus

This turned out to be my best Primus tourney ever. I ran 10 warriors in the class, 3 ABs, 1 LU, and 6 warriors of different styles hunting for stylemasters.

HOT didn't show up this tourney (presumably he is already +16 and doesn't need more bonus potions), so I was able to luck into my first stylemaster with a BA named DECK SWAB at 0-5. MrM lost out with his 0-5 BA on the recognition point tiebreaker.

I followed that up in the 6th round with a PL stylemaster with GAOLER. That was a close contest between him and TUM's SOLSBURY HILL. They actually fought in round 4 and GAOLER lost to him, but in round 5, GAOLER won to move to 3-2 while SOLSBURY HILL was eliminated at 2-3.

Finally, in round 7, SUSHI SLINGER finished off his best Primus performance in quite some time with a 4-3 SL stylemaster. He edged out TUM's SMELLY SOCKS who finished 3-3.

The big surprise for me, though, was the performance of my top AB, SNAKE OIL SALESMAN. He is not perfect, but is the best I have, and my previous best performance in this class was a 6-3 run by a different AB. SNAKE OIL had a good group of match-ups through round 5, going 4-1 with his only loss to a perfect TMM AB named FRANKENBERRY. Starting in round 6, though, the match-ups get much tougher. Round 6 saw a match-up with another perfect TMM AB named ZERO, and SNAKE OIL pulled out the victory in a 129 minute fight. Round 7 brought a match-up with TUM's perfect AB DRAT, and SNAKE OIL won again in 34 minutes. He got super lucky in round 8 and was matched up with the last remaining non-AB, DEADLY BEAR, to improve to 7-1. He just needed to win one of the next two matches in order to be my first Primus TV!

The only problem was that the remaining field consisted of 17 TMM ABs, 1 TUM AB, and 1 Papa Bear AB. Two rounds later, 5 and LITTLE GIRL CRUSH escorted SNAKE OIL SALESMAN out of the arena at 7-3.

Despite missing out on a TV, this was my best performance ever in Primus, with three stylemasters and a 7-3. Winning 2 out of 5 against perfect ABs with SNAKE OIL SALESMAN is a step in the right direction for my lowly Primus ambitions.

Contenders

SHEWISH WHALER's first fight in the arena was in April of 2006. When he graduated from DM 18 in August of 2008, he and I wrote this column:

Quote:

DUELMASTER'S COLUMN
Notes from the arena champ.

The transition from whaling to dueling has not been an easy one. For one thing, the targets are much smaller here. In addition, when I first began, I was used to the rolling sea beneath my feet, not this terra firma. You would think this would be easier, but it took some time to adjust. Not only that, but I found that with a few notable exceptions, my opponents here swung back much more than those gigantic beasts on the high seas. In the end, though, if you can drive a harpoon into tons of blubber, you can drive your longsword through platemail.

It is nice to leave Talcama on a high note. The throne will be up for grabs as I flaunt my immortality by venturing into the Dark Arena. Take care, fellow gladiators. -- Shewish Whaler

Shewish Whaler is 11-5-19-15-19-4-11 LU good end/trem dam +4 Defense +3 Rip. His favorites were part good (Longsword) and part bad (mod/mod, rip learn, no tactic). His closest brush with greatness was a 7-3 in the Apprentices tournament. I have a soft spot for decent warriors with large SZ, so I suspect I will run him for some time to come. Who knows, maybe he will make something of himself years from now when he has gotten Unearthly damage. -- One Armed Bandit

I honestly don't know if I have an eye for talented arena warriors, or if I have just been incredibly fortunate. I have a number of warriors who accomplished nothing in the early tournies, but then started doing great in Challengers or ADM or Primus, winning TCs and other accolades. I've had spectacular failures, as well, but luckily SHEWISH WHALER has not been one of them.

His first taste of success was an 8-3 Freshmen TV. He followed that up with three 9-3 ADM TVs, and then the big one, a 14-0 Eligibles TC in April of 2014. With six months of free fights ahead of him, it was a no-brainer to set him up for Contenders.

By the time he got up to the Contenders line, he was a 25(14)-25(20)-19-25(10)-25(6)-7(3)-25(14) LU, with the same bonuses and favorites that he started with, still completely natural. He managed four Contenders TVs over the years, going 9-3, 8-3, 11-3, and 9-3. I almost screwed him up, as I calculated that he was slightly below the line and I wanted to learn his last Defense skill (he has 25 Att and 24 Def learned). So I learned a turn of skills and got a bunch of Par and that ALMOST sent him to Primus permanently. With 296 total skills, he was now straddling the line. After each TV, he would go to Primus for a year, then drop back down into Contenders.

I didn't expect a TC out of him this tourney, as I think the class has gotten tougher over the years with a logjam of near-perfect ABs at the top. But never underestimate what Unearthly damage and a can-do attitude can accomplish.

Along the way to the finals, SHEWISH WHALER beat FORBIDDEN FRUIT, SHOTGUN GANDHI, MINGE THE MARVELOUS, GINNY'S SECRET, BILBO BAGGINNI, THAT GUY, MARV, CADILLAC DUARDO, ALICE BLUE, FRANKLINS TOWER, MIFFED SANDY, and BOSOMY GOLDMINE. There were some talented warriors in that group. He also lost to A BALCONY and BOLD MR. WASABI to enter the finals vs DAWN of ZOMBIE SQUAD with a 13-2 record. DAWN was 14-1-1, so SHEWISH WHALER would have to win two fights to win the TC.

And that he did. The fights appeared pretty one-sided, with SHEWISH WHALER landing Unearthly damage LO crits and winning in 1 minute each fight. He clearly got very lucky, because DAWN was outstanding versus everyone else. I'm sure she'll have another opportunity to win Contenders down the road.

That is really all I know about my unlikely Contenders TC, since I haven't seen the fights yet. But I am super excited to have won.

I also picked up an 8-3 TV in Contenders with a weapon AB named DUSKBLOOD PUDDING. His accomplishment was overshadowed a bit by his guildmate.

The Rest

I ran four warriors after the ADM freeze going for uncertain trains. They were one-dimensional warriors who could function on a single strategy and with a single train during the tourney. I figured that if they hit their train, they could be sneaky bust-outs, and if they missed, I'd just wait until next time.

The TP and SL in ADM both missed their trains, but two STs in Freshmen got them. EXECUTIONER had Superhuman damage and BLACKGUARD had Devastating damage, and both had a 21 WT to bust. They put up a good fight, but both were outmatched by WHOOPIE DOO and MAXIMILLIAN and finished up with 9-3 TVs.

My only other TV was a lone AB in Rookies who went 8-3. I did a search through my minis a while back looking for warriors that I might have rolled up in the past and overlooked and PRISONER 0490 was one of the ones that I found. He was a 10-9-4-17-9-18-17 AB with very little endurance and normal damage, and I thought to myself that this would be a good entry to run on autopilot going 10-10-7 in Rookies. He reminded me of one of Mgrr's Rookie TCs. He only TV'd and that is probably better than I deserved since I paid very little attention to him, but it was fun to find a forgotten gem on my minis.

And that was my tourney. I had a blast following along from home. Thanks to Howlin Wolf and Darque who submitted some strategy changes for me in the later rounds.

Congrats to TMM on his 4 TCs, HW on his 2 TCs, and Khisanth, TDO, TUM and Vlad on their single TC performances.

Congrats to Khisanth, JE, Darque, Malaquar, DDarkheart and I'm-not-sure-who-the-sixth-manager-is on their Bloodgames graduates. I hope you have great fun with them!

And nice Primus runs by Papa Bear, DMobster, TMM, and TUM with their stylemasters.

I'm planning on sending a big squad of 100 warriors in October since I skipped basic this tourney, and I also plan on being in Tempe in January if my work schedule permits. I'm already looking forward to the next tournies.

See you on the sands!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

And congrats to Chief I on his Bloodgames graduate!

Also, my condolences go out to Dr. F, Assur, and Bubba, who came close to winning Eligibles, Challengers, and Rookies, but came up short in the end.

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:57 am

A great FTF!
Although, we long lobbied for Charlotte, this was a fine one. Some observations:
1. Room was spacious, nice, and had plenty of storage, and came at a VERY nice FTF rate.
2. Motel was great, had excellent free food (Happy 2-Hour was super).
3. Elevators were fast! (Garth and I were on 15th floor) So we felt close.
4. Conference room was super! Plenty of outlets; just the right size; lots of windows with a decent view; out of the way; but next to everything.
5. RSI staff (Lee, Sandy, Mike, Morgan, Morgan's "Friend) were all (Yes, I mean ALL!) cheerful, helpful, and kind the whole time.
6. The arena action flowed well. (Kudos to RSI.)
7. Congrats to the TC and BG winners. (The cretins!) And a special shoutout to tablemate , Master Darque, for his BG winning plunger.
8. Just a very very nice FTF. (Perhaps 2nd only to New Orleans.)

Consortium results …
A somewhat mediocre 53.5% W/L after a fine start. (55 entries - none in advanced)
A mere 3 TVs
a. 19(+2)-21(+2)-11-3-21(+2)-3-13(+3) TP finished 3rd at 11-3 in Inits and was the only "World" winner in the master grudge match. (more later)
b. 10-14(+1)-15-21-17-6-5(+1) ST was 8-3 in Adeps
c. 8-9-8-21-17-10-11 SL was 9-3 in Apprentices
Not necessarily the standard godlings, eh?

In the master grudge match --- Bob verses The World (actually, we Worlders entitled our team WORLD CANNON FODDER EXTRAORDINAIRRE), the cannon fodder was embarrassed by a bunch of TCs and TVs and Kisanth's powerful basher who critted constantly with both a mace and a shield. The final was 7-1. (But we have to taut that the only Fodder win was the non-godling, highly burned, TP over tDO's godling, greatly award-winning lunger. Cool

)

It really was a fun tournament with much friendly interaction from/between all the managers and the RSI staff. We have a great, friendly nerdly community!

Advanced Expert Poster Joined: Jul 15, 2014 Posts: 192

Welcome to the “It’s Greek to me!” version of Monday Morning Tourney Quarterback (IGTMMMTQB)! Fresh back from Tampa with love in the air and grape on my breath, I am ready to dive into this tourney’s performance. Please pass on the papyrus, people! As Joe Walsh once said during the recording of Hotel California, let’s go “straight to the wax!”

Awards of the week

I sent 75 warriors in and then arrived at the arena to find some immortals awaiting me with weapons in their hands and expectant looks on their faces. How do you say no to an immortal, let alone an armed one? Maybe you do. But I don’t. So, I upped the entries to 78. In retrospect, that turned out to be a mistake as my immortal – a fine Evanescence song and a warrior I might eventually get around to running – squad went a sad 7-9.

To my surprise, I attended a party expecting just some Hors D’oeuvres and wound up staying for dinner, dessert, dessert wine and then a last call flight of port, though I had to fight someone for it! So, my warrior returned with this tourney’s coveted Tournament Champion trophy, an autographed set of Dirty Zealot “High Sparrow” rough-spun robes™. As BoV would say, they’re very trendy.

I wound up with six people qualifying for awards of sorts. With 5 TVs and 1 TC, I have yet again fallen short of the 10% award goal espoused by the megas. Well, maybe I am not a mega! Did you ever think of that?! Huh?! Well, screw you!

The five TV’s consisted of 2 wastes, two lungers, and an offensive – just ask his opponents! – total parry. The TC was a total waste. The awards spanned the rooks, apps and champs classes. Additionally, five warriors came home with seven wins and notched weapons. One of these was a BA, disappointing me just shy of an inaugural BA TV. I currently have the woodsmith working on carving that warrior’s initials, which oddly enough are “D.D.D.”, onto the handle of the torch he will be carrying into the dark arena. The others were 2 LUs, 1 scum TP and a rook ST for whom I have high hopes in the future.

Quotes of the week

"Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises." – Demosthenes

A year ago, at the FTF in Virginia, I finally had my first WS TV. This is contrary to my last MMTQB report; I had simply misremembered him as a PR. I’m pretty sure the genesis of the experimentation with the design was from watching Dr. F in the finals chair at some FTF, listening and – if I recall – cackling as his warrior was taking shot after shot after shot to the face. I began to experiment with more physical PRs and WS’s in the lower classes, outfitted in some form of AP(X). Previously that approach had been relegated to scum TPs in my playbook.

Fast forward to today and I now have 4 WS TVs and a WS TC, all in rooks and apps and all generally following the same basic design. Here are the original numbers of those 5, in no particular order:

17 17 5 13 17 4 11
15 16 10 7 21 4 11
15 11 4 11 21 9 13
17 17 8 11 15 5 11
17 15 8 7 21 5 11

As for the TC run itself, it was fantastic to read. Hors D’Oeuvres came to play in the Apps class with an Expert in PAR, which was handy against her first two AB opponents, the first of which (I believe) was JE’s. HD picked up her EX ATT on the second fight and then began a run of various styles, hitting almost every one. Round three was a hard-hitting, adept attacking PL in Peter Cushing who HD managed to parry into submission after going desperate a few times. The fourth round introduced a Howlin Wolf' WS who was taken out on the merits and then another very close parry-down against a tDO LU, armed with a longsword, who knew its length.

Round 6 involved another AB and was the first time I decided to make a strategy adjustment due to the opponent style. Shockingly, the stratagem worked and HD took out the AB on wounds. The next match resulted in a satisfying win against a TMM LU and then the next a bubbling striker Ukat. The ninth fight brought round another HW waste, Lonely Island, and, after a knock-down drag-out, a win and an ADEX ATT for the home team. Rinse and repeat for a HW striker Quick Step followed by a Parry-Strike parry-down for Cheese Boy to put him out. A reasonably straight-forward win against a SL and then a nailbiter against a DMobster ST brought our hero to a 13-0. I’d done my research on Howlin’ Wolf’s third WS du jour, Malort, and changed HD’s strategy again, resulting in a close win.

Normally, I would be shocked at having an undefeated warrior coming into the finals, but after so many close wins and a few timely strat changes, I managed to process that and, needing only one win, was reasonably optimistic going up against a slasher, even one run by Howlin'. For better or worse, my armor choice resulted in Funky Introduction walking onto the sands with a longsword instead of the usual hatchet which had carried him so far. Seven wicked criticals in nine attacks later, Hors D’Oeuvres was hobbling shame-faced off the sands.

I believe at this point, HW had sat for, and lost, two finals. My initial reaction was, “well, crap. I’m going to be that guy who loses three to his on-the-bubble warrior.” After seeing the devastation he wrought with that longsword, any hopes of parrying out Funky Introduction with my go-to strategy went out the window. I talked it over with Jerman and MrM, both of whom were patient, great sounding boards and provided fresh perspectives. Figuring I had a 3rd fight to adopt MrM’s minute 1 riposte tactic suggestion if need be and that Funky was probably coming in slower to conserve his endurance, I ultimately went with my gut and, if you will, gutted my conservative, parry-based strategy by going extremely offensive. As far as I could tell, sitting in the chair again and listening to Floyd read the second fight, the strategy change didn’t accomplish much. Funky still got the jump, promptly planted HD on his bum with a critical and proceeded to whale away on him. However, far fewer of his attacks were criticals. After a 3rd crit – this one of the “horrific power” variety – sent Hors desperate, he went into his desperation strategy which I had changed to include riposte, courtesy MrM. Suddenly Hors was parrying, block 3 of Funky’s next 5 attacks. Props to Floyd who, as always, smells a shift in the winds quicker than I and, with the perfect intonation, read “Funky Introduction appears winded…” A flurry of swings that were mostly parried, and then Hors D’Oeuvres finally pulled herself back onto her feet swung back twice to win the class.

Looking over the finals battle again, as Howlin' Wolf himself would say, “Crushed it!”

“Excess of grief for the dead is madness, for it is an injury to the living, and the dead know it not.” – Xenophon

With only four lost, this tourney was better from a death standpoint than the mailer. I still lost a couple of folks I would rather not have. I will say, I seem to be developing inurement to losing sweet lungers. In this instance, that was one of my better adepts, coming into the class with masters in INI/ATT/DEF, with +4 bonus in each of the latter two, as well as a DEC expert and +4 in that for good measure.

“The easiest and the noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves.” – Socrates

JE, after blue-sheet sliding™ a matchup line by line with his opponent, Howlin’ Wolf, sat back and said despondently, “Well, there goes my hopes for that warrior.” Someone in the crowd said supportively, “Hey, you got pretty far!” Howlin’ Wolf, heading back to his seat, said “Crushed it!”

"The gods, too, are fond of a joke." – Aristotle

Condolences to Otto X for killing his own warrior in the grudge matches with a 1 Kill Desire while aiming for the arms.

“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.” – Socrates

Happiness is ultimately winding up at the bar Sunday night, when the dust has settled, and talking shop with like-minded individuals about this game we all enjoy. There was a lot of back and forth involving a varying group of people, including JE, Dr. F., Howlin Wolf, DMobster, Jerman, myself and probably others I am forgetting at the moment. Theories and in some instances supporting data were bandied about with spirit on all sides.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." – Plato

One of the high points for me this FTF was having the inimitable MrM, a.k.a. “Antman” consent to share a table with me and Jerman. His insight and perspective were eye opening to me, particularly his analysis of my strategy in the first Apps finals fight. Plus, he brought licorice and a cool handmade mug.

“I'm trying to think, don't confuse me with facts.” ― Plato

One of the fun conversations I mostly listened in on was where Jerman was describing some of our (read: his) findings around the fight data we crunch. It’s safe to say we’ve found it insightful, eyeballing everything from weapon crit percentages by style to weapon knockdown percentages to warrior damage bias by style. Anyway, as Jerman is showing the data to a few different folks, the reactions were drastically different, ranging from shocked to impressed to nonplussed to dubious.

"Quality is not an act, it is a habit."— Aristotle

Seven final chairs. Seven final chairs. Seven final chairs! Out of ten, not counting Primus because TMM. That’s 70%, if you’re math challenged like me. I struggle to achieve fifty percent from a wins perspective. Sitting around at some point, drinking and chatting with Howlin’ Wolf, he commented that he doesn’t enter anyone that he feels doesn’t have a reasonable shot at winning. Whatever he is doing, props to him for the success!

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." – Aristotle

I think back on a conversation with Howlin’ Wolf that took place way too late Saturday night after way too many Jai Alai beers. Somehow, I got around to mentioning I had considered entering a 12FE warrior in Adepts for skills and challengers prep. HW assured me, in no uncertain terms, that the idea was a mistake. Somehow, perhaps even in the same breath, he explained that a 14FE warrior was ay-oh-kay for Adepts. I remember sitting back, incredulous. “So twelve FE is a mistake?” “Yes.” “But fourteen FE is just fine?” “Correct.” “So you’re telling me fourteen is fine but twelve is a mistake.” “Yes.” I opined at that juncture that he was either yanking my chain or insulting my intelligence. He assured me he was not yanking my chain. True to the Greek theme of this MMTQB, I may have even muttered “Sophist!” in parting.

I’m not sure which, if either, of us had an educated mind at that juncture, given the Jai Alai, but I am pretty sure I failed Aristotle’s test.

Overheard at the Face

Things I heard that struck me while sitting in or around the conference room:

“Rookies, you don’t get attached to them.” – TUM

“What kind of land is this where I can’t hit my buddy in the chest with a hatchet?!” – Otis

“Was it that guy that… Asshole.” – Manager

Sandy: “It’s three hours earlier at home than here. Lee shouldn’t be awake yet.” TUM: “She shouldn’t be asleep yet.”

“The next time a warrior of mine dies, I want to press charges!” – JE, to the Right Honorable Baron Bentsword.

“If you had done your job, we wouldn’t have to worry about 207!” – Howlin’ Wolf

“Very clever, you cheeky bastard.” – Dr. F

Stats of the week

The crew achieved a 261-226-3-4, or 53.59%. This is a hair lower than the mailer and Winter FTF. I think I may have plateaued in this area – which I would be ok with, given the journey from the low 40’s when I first returned. I am not sure I have the discipline to forego the opportunity cost to run additional warriors just for development purposes.

Best class(es): A repeat of Champs at 60%.

Worst class(es): Also a repeat, Initiates at 48%.

Best style: WS’s at 66%.

Worst style: Aimed Blows ( Shocked

) at 43%.

Factoids that may only interest me

I. My warriors with a 21 DF achieved a 43% win / loss ratio. This is not shocking when you look at my AB win rate, above. Those with a 21 WT landed at 51% and those with a 21 WL accomplished a 65% win ratio. Those without a 21 in any of those stats achieved 55%.

II. Five out of six awards went to warriors with 21 WLs. Walls of Steel constituted 10% of my entries and 50% of my awards.

III. Five out of 78 warriors went winless, for a 6.4% winless rate. I’ll take this all day long; however, a couple were surprising, including a 11-7-10-21-17-5-13 Champs lunger and a 15-3-9-21-17-6-13 ST.

IV. DEC remains a mystery and will probably always be, but I continue getting some data points. I sent two Adepts STs with 26 and 27 DEC. Combined record, 3-6.

V. Last tourney, I wondered if anyone has an example of a 15 or lower WT warrior in a basic tourney class learning 3 skills. Put a check on 15 WT this tourney. Next stop, 13 WIT! It should be noted I am referring to basic since ADM is more liberal from a learns perspective.

Mr. United Global Services Member Travel Note

One of the benefits of being a Global Services member is that you are upgraded to first class pretty frequently on national flights. It’s one of the ways they encourage you to keep flying with them whenever possible. Another benefit is that you and your family generally board first, which gives you time to ensure everyone’s carry on has space and everyone can get settled. This flight, on the way down to Tampa, I was upgraded and wound up in Row 1.

Being that close to the 1st class galley, you can often hear the flight attendants gossiping; sometimes, you can even hear them gossiping about other passengers. For example, on a recent flight home from Europe, I heard them gossiping about a passenger who had apparently gotten very drunk, to the point they made an announcement asking if there was a doctor on board.

On this flight, as we began the descent into Tampa, they were talking in hushed tones about this demon toddler in the back of the plane. Apparently, the boy had decided he’d had enough of flying and was demanding to be let off the plane. The mother had taken him to the back of the plane, by the restrooms, to try to calm him down and, to hear the attendant tell it, he was just whaling and wailing away on her. As one flight attendant recounted the story and imitated the demon, the other watched her in rapt attention with open mouth and wide eyes.

It wasn’t until I met up again with the family at the top of the ramp at the arrival gate that I learned more of the story and was given to understand that the demon child was my boy. Embarassed

Interlude – a Greek joke

A man walks into a tailor’s shop in ancient Athens bearing a bundle of cloth. He hands the pants over to the worthy behind the counter. The tailor takes the cloth and examines it closely. Then he looks up.

“Euripides?”

“Yes,” the man replies. “Eumenides?”

Brief truths

A. It is frightening to lose to a warrior in round 7 just to see a message at the bottom of the fight: “can no longer train CONSTITUTION in this arena”. In rooks.

B. Sometimes you piss in the urinal and sometimes the urinal pisses back on you.

C. It is a great thing to have to lean over the tourney table in disgust and tell Jerman to quit beating my warriors. It is equally cool to have MrM put your hopeful down like a chump in Round 15 of rooks.

D. It was really nice to meet Otis and Bubba and to see a number of DM extended family visiting the room.

Ten things I think I think:

1. I think having a FTF conference room with windows was a plus. I also think the two-hour happy “hour” was a nice touch.

2. I think Floyd didn’t realize, as he patted me on my shoulder in passing when we crossed paths on Sunday, that he had just put the second loss on my rookie in round eleven.

3. I think Jerman’s program, Watson, did even more to enable me to manage against upcoming opponents than the previous FTF. I think I initially had written “successfully manage” but there is no doubt that some of my customized strats failed miserably. I think in a few years Watson will use predictive modeling to spit out strats for me taking into account all available, relevant data. I think then I will have more time to hang out with other managers.

4. I think I am beginning to get the first inclination of how to get a start on the basics of having the hang of Walls of Steel foundational principles. I think I may be overstating that.

5. I think I was inordinately excited about expanding into the ADM tourney game, even if my results (10-12) weren’t fantabulous.

6. I think the concept of a random, or perhaps semi-random, tourney “seed” which is added to a warrior’s existing knack and influences success or lack thereof is growing on me.

7. I think the luster of immortals as late additions to tourney squads is fading for me.

8. I think warriors getting served with Isle process before they can even leave the damn sands on their last fight is just wrong.

9. I think I may have my first true Challengers warrior in an upcoming tourney.

10. I think these are the other things I think this week:

a. I think I am seeing more instances of warriors excelling in one tourney, crashing in the next, then excelling in the following; for example, an 11-7-10-21-17-5-13 LU goes 2-3 in rooks, then 7-3 in apps, then 0-3 in inits then 7-3 again in adepts. Another went 11-3 in inits, 0-2 in adepts then 11-3 in champs. I think this puzzles me.

b. Coffeenerdness: With the exception of Newark, this FTF had the most distant Starbucks of any since I returned to the game. Floyd was actually visibly moist by the time he went and got back with Sandy’s coffee. I think, like urinals that don’t pee back on you, a Duncan or Starbucks should be required at FTFs.

c. Winenerdness: Jerman and I got to hit up our favorite Tampa restaurant, Berns, and treat our respective better halves to a fantastic dinner and then dessert / port in the separate dessert room. We had two very different wines, each of which were quite good. The first was a Napa Franciscan cab that hearkened back to the decade in which our wives were born. The second, well, we’re just not remembering the second but it was good. If you enjoy the grape, I would recommend you consider a really old bottle every once and again because a 40-year-old wine can be not only thought-provoking but quite good.

d. I think other managers would have done better than I with the Team Stat Switch prize in basic. I think I had two more 7-3s from stat switch warriors but no real love.

e. I continue to think that defeating a TMM warrior always feels good, even if it is an “experiment” or “junk”. Ending one’s tourney run at 7-3 can flat out make someone’s day, particularly two tourneys in a row.

f. I think I am coming around to the idea that scum can have a worthwhile basic tourney presence past apps.

g. I think tourney prepping in a slow arena increases the risk of one or more of the following: depression, self-mutilation, alcohol consumption, and blood pressure.

h. I think my OAB Sunk Cost School of Tourney Entry™ candidate once again did reasonably well, coming in at 3-3 as I grind him towards graduation. I think this sort of approach would bring tears to OAB’s eyes and not the good kind.

i. Speaking of tears and OAB, I think my Gamma Delphini copy continues to disappoint though I still remain excited about the bust possibilities.

j. I think I continue to be dubious of the value of P/G offensives. Two entered this tourney for a 4-6 record.

k. Obit of the Week: One of my better lungers going into the tourney in adepts, a 14-4-6-17-21-11-11 with MAS’s in INI/ATT/DEF and Ex DEC with +12 across those categories, Obit-it at 4-2.

Adieu Haiku

Tampa, what a waste!
An awesome appetizer
Now bring out your dead!

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2019 1:07 am

As usual, a fun read. Well done, Vlad.

And a salute to your TC!