2019 Spring Mail In Spoilers and Potential Spoilers

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 12:53 am

Please make your early Mailer conversations and posts here, at least until the mailing arrives to all, so as not to spoil anyone's pleasure.

Idea

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:48 am

Yes. Some people still read your comments. Very Happy

Advanced Expert Poster Joined: Jan 24, 2010 Posts: 156

I went 0-0-0-0!

Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2019 4:39 pm

Crip wrote:

I went 0-0-0-0!

I hope you do as well in Tampa. Wink

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 1:35 pm

From Lee:

It's done, moved back, and the games for today ran and printed and
mailed. (It went smoothly, so far.)
The spy reporters are now frantically trying to figure out all of the
data for the newsletter. Lots more work to do.
I haven't started it printing yet. Tomorrow.

Nothing went over 20 rounds.

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 2:04 pm

Crip wrote:

I went 0-0-0-0!

What a coincidence, so did I!

Site Admin Joined: Jun 20, 2002 Posts: 1344

I’ll go ahead and claim 3 TVs with my 28 entrants!!!

Site Admin Joined: Jun 20, 2002 Posts: 1344

LHI wrote:

I’ll go ahead and claim 3 TVs with my 28 entrants!!!

Let’s upgrade that to.3 TCs!!!

Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:48 pm

Good luck to all! May you all Runner-Up to my TC Smile

Signing off until Uncle Sam delivers my tourney package.

Riff-Raff

Site Admin Joined: Jun 20, 2002 Posts: 1344

Do we have a full TC list yet? Smile

Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:47 am

FedExes have been received. Most of the Priority packs have arrived. Mailings should be all received in the US by mid week, Canada? (Maybe 2020?)

We hope all were happy.
For us, 25 arena warriors sent; no TVs. A few 7-3's, a couple of worthless BADD tourney runner-ups, and appx 55% W/L.
On to Tampa ………………...

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:13 am

Chatzy doesn't have the Initiates RU yet. Assume styles are listed in the tourney report (which I haven't read yet)

Primus TMM/TMM
Contenders Khisanth/TMM
Eligibles TMM/HW
ADM HW/HW
Freshmen OAB/HW
Challengers Assur/HW
Champions TUM/Mannequin
Adepts TUM/TUM
Initiates TDO/
Apprentices Floyd/Floyd
Rookies Vlad/Floyd

Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 9:50 am

A short rundown of my tourney after digesting it over the last few evenings.

ADM classes
Only one entry here.

Eligibles - This is where I sent my lone ADM class entry. Wardra is a future bust candidate (her trip 17s now sitting at trip 20s). I was hoping for a 5-3 or better as she'd had a few key trains since her 3-3 performance in Tempe including hitting awesome damage and having 30 fe added via KoP prize. Instead she found herself in the BADD tourney where she eked out one win before flagging out. She may not be busting in Tampa after all!
Class : 1-3-0-0
Overall : 1-3-0-0

Basic classes
The remainder of the fleet landed in basic. 66 of 67 entries.

Challengers - Rebuilding in this class after TCing a while back and losing a two time deep TV SL. Originally planned on sending just three but added a fourth who had received a timely graduation notice. A former TV (and also dead TV) SL led the charge with a 4-3 main tourney. My prize modified (x2) AB finally won in this class. Not once, but twice! The last minute LU ended up in the BADD tourney (along with the other LU entry) made itself known there going 4-0-1 before getting the final loss and elimination. Things are trending up during my tourney reading.
Top Style : SL (1 entry 4-3)
Worst Style : AB (1 entry 2-3)
Class : 10-12-1-0
Overall : 11-15-1-0

Champions - Entered three here as well, three different styles. Suffered the first of many deaths of my tourney in this class as my ST entry died after a 2-1 start. A great surprise of success with a SL entry who went 8-3-1 earning my second TV in this class all time. (Only 2? Can that be right?)
Top Style : SL (1 entry 8-3-1)
Worst Style : WS (1 entry 1-3)
Class : 11-8-1-1
Overall : 22-23-2-1

Adepts - Still only three per class. This time, all three were at the half way mark of 15 FE. Just trying to prep them for Tampa. The plan backfired a little bit however. The LU entry outperformed expectations and TVd, dammit! What to do with a 21 FE TV LU.........
Top Style : LU (1 entry 8-3-1)
Worst Style : ST (2 entries 6-6)
Class : 14-9
Overall : 36-32-2-1

Initiates - Now we're beginning to see more entries and seeing a ST heavy trend as well, with three of that style entered here. Had one ST going particularly well, entering round 9 with an 7-1 record and looking at another TV. His round 9 opponent had other plans and actually DID bury my ST in the sand. This one we add to the Dead Tourney list.
Top Style : ST (3 entries 15-8-0-1)
Worst Style : SL (1 entry 1-3)
Class : 23-17-0-1
Overall : 59-49-2-2

Apprentices - Twelve entries here. Several that I felt really good about. Started off great as the two named after the grandkids each got a kill in round one. Of course the 21-x-x-21 AB died the next round. Another Fall entry! The deaths continued to mount but we had several run beyond the middle rounds. Best entry made it to round 9 and lived!
Top Style : WS (1 entry 6-3-1)
Worst Style : LU (1 entry 1-3)
Class : 36-27-3-4
Overall : 95-76-5-6

Overall numbers at this point are looking great! Heading toward my best winning percentage in a mailer to date. Killed nearly as many as I lost, though a couple really hurt. Two TVs might be a little under expectations but not devastatingly so. Bring on the rookies!

Rookies - I had a lot of these laying about. Entered 38 after holding back what I felt were my top 20 for Tampa. That, in hindsight, may have been a mistake. Those that I expected to to well couldn't hold up. I don't think I can count on two hands the number of warriors that entered the BADD tourney. Early rounds were unpleasant to read. By round six most of my horde is eliminated. It was then though that the read took a positive turn. I realized I had an undefeated PR of all things. As it would turn out I would have three TVs in this class. One, a SL who was on the bubble after round six went the deepest for me, ending with a 12-3 record and 3rd RU? Another PR, who had been on the bubble since round three snuck through with an 8-3-1 TV. The aforementioned undefeated PR ran into some trouble in rounds seven and nine but showed a lot of knack in powering his way to an 11-3 TV! Now I can cross off the TV round robin without counting on a dead tourney TV!
Top Style : PR (5 entries 24-15-1)
Worst Style : LU (3 entries 2-8-0-1)
Class : 91-108-5-5
Overall : 186-184-10-11

Rookies definitely ruined my win percentage. It did give me over half my rewards including my last style to really TV. SO yeah, pretty mixed feelings on my overall tourney.

Overall style breakdown....
Num W L K D A
AB 10 27 23 3 2 0
BA 6 9 18 0 0 0
LU 8 16 23 1 1 1
PL 1 3 3 0 0 0
PR 7 29 21 1 0 2
PS 0 0 0 0 0 0
SL 12 35 35 3 2 2
ST 14 41 35 1 5 0
TP 3 11 9 0 0 0
WS 6 15 17 1 1 0
Total 67 186 184 10 11 5

Observations...........

I've apparently got to learn, or relearn, how to run LUs. They are a power style in any other managers hands. I must be doing something really weird with them.

I may have finally decided to dislike the BA. 33%? C'mon!

Top overall style was PR! Weird flip, as they usually disappoint for me.

I can win with STs if I keep them alive.

Congrats to all the TC managers! Nice to see the awards spread among so many! See you in Tampa?

DD

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2958

I had 94 entries in this mail-in, with a high percentage of ABs (31%), LUs (16%), and STs (16%).

They ended up going 314-283-4-7 and winning 9 awards, for a 53% win percentage and a shade under 10% awards.

Primus

I was excited to see what SNAKE OIL SALESMAN could do now that I knew his exact favorite OE and AL. It turns out, not that much. Instead of his usual 4-3, he went 3-3 this time. He lost to 2 LUs and 1 AB. The LU thing is just embarrassing, so I'm going to have to work on that.

Contenders

I had 3 warriors (out of 7) make it past round 5 in this class. DEAD MAN WALKING, a PR who was training and learning over the line, went 5-3. SHEWISH WHALER, who has TV'd the class four times, also went 5-3. The final warrior was a nice surprise. CANNIBAL COOK, who I recently learned his exact favorite OE, put up a solid 6-3. No TVs, but not terrible.

ADM

I guess I was right to be cautious about my low damage ADM warriors. I nudged a bunch over the line and busted one out. The bust-out, MAIDEN HAIR PASTA, went 6-3. Everyone else did worse. I was coming dangerously close to blanking on TVs in the ADM classes, again.

Freshmen

XI AQUILAE, an AB whose starting stats were 13-13-10-5-19-3-21, threw caution to the wind and busted out, despite having low Defense. In the post-freeze turns leading up to the tourney, he trained ST to 15, WL to 21, and WT to 7. I had him train WL in round 1, DF in rounds 2-9, and WL in rounds 10+, a simple training regimen that would have him going for easy trains for the first 4 rounds at least. He has nice bonuses (+4 Ini, +4 Att, +3 Par, +2 Def) and is FI favorite, so I'm happy to push him on up the classes relatively quickly, taking his shots along the way. His Great damage roll from birth gave him a bit of an edge setting up for Freshmen. I had him use FI/SC and ASM against parry-types, and FI and APM vs offensives.

The first two rounds saw match-ups with a TP and a WS, and XI AQUILAE went to town on them with his off-hand SC. Unfortunately, he didn't get a WL or DF train.

Round three saw a match-up with a SL, FILLETED MINION. XI's low Defense really hurt him in this round, as FILLETED MINION was able to land five SC crits in minute 1 before XI AQUILAE was able to riposte and start punching. Even so, I thought I had him, as a punch and elbow to the face and throat had FILLETED MINION bleeding badly. Somehow, FILLETED MINION managed to dodge the next attack, riposte and land a final SC crit to give XI AQUILAE his first loss. The only good part of this round was a train to 22 DF.

Rounds four and five saw two more match-ups with parry-types. The Superior Forces PL gave XI AQUILAE a scare by getting the jump and landing three LO crits, but desperation kicked in and XI was able to dodge, riposte, and start raining SC crits down on him. The TP in the next round put up a good fight to, but XI prevailed and picked up a DF train to 23.

Round six was BOZO of CLOWNING AROUND. I'm pretty sure this one belongs to Assur. He is a 7'2" BA in APA/F with WH/LG. BOZO got in a one WH attack, which XI AQUILAE dodged and started punching and kicking. My AB was doing some damage, but was also taking damage from parries. BOZO sneaked in a second attack in minute 2, which XI parried with his bare hands and took damage. At the end of the fight, XI had launched 16 crits, 9 of which connected, but 6 of which had caused parry damage. It was too much for my poor AB, so BOZO won the match. XI AQUILAE did pick up a DF train to 24, however.

At this point, my Freshmen bust-out was 4-2, having lost to a SL and a BA. Things weren't looking good. All the other Freshmen that I entered had been eliminated at 2-3, 1-3, and 0-3. I had earned 0 TVs in Primus, Contenders, Eligibles, and ADM, so XI AQUILAE was my last hope for any sort of ADM-level redemption. Nothing for me to do but read on.

The next 3 rounds saw a DF train to 25, and three wins against a LU, an AB, and a BA, none of which were able to hit XI AQUILAE.

At 7-2, XI AQUILAE was matched up against DRES, a HowlinWolf SL. DRES put a scare into XI with a SC crit to the chest, but the next attack was dodged and riposted and DRES was never able to take back the Initiative. Along with the TV, came a WL train to 22.

Round 11 saw a match-up with a FI AB named DEE DAA, but it was a one-sided fight and XI AQUILAE picked up a WL train to 23 at the end. At this point, XI AQUILAE was up to 180 total skills. Despite the 2 losses, I was feeling optimistic.

Round 12 brought a TMM ST named GUM FIN. I'm not sure if he was busting or what, but he almost beat my AB. A SS crit knockdown to start out the fine (which XI bounced back up from), and a few more SS crits later on to send him desperate, but XI just barely pulled it out.

The next two rounds had XI AQUILAE fight a PS and a PL. Neither was able to hit him and he achieved quick victories. And then it was done. XI AQUILAE had ridden the bubble from 4-2 to 12-2 and won a TC.

Basic

I managed two TVs in Adepts, with a LU named PI TUCANAE and an AB named MORDANT DESSERT. Not too shabby.

My Initiates hopeful, CAPTAIN COOK, suffered a loss in round 3 to a WF wielding BA and another loss in round 5 to a ST who got a knockdown on his first attack. Could CAPTAIN COOK ride the bubble from 3-2-1 to a TC like my Freshmen did? He gave it a good try, but ended up picking up his third loss in round 13 against a FI AB. It was a close fight, as CAPTAIN COOK landed a few hits and even got a knockdown, but his opponent jumped right back up and started dodging and riposting like FI ABs are fond of doing. So my last TC hopeful finished in 3rd place with a 10-3-1 record.

I picked up one 10-3 Apprentices TV with a PR named DELTA CYGNI. He was a non-traditional trip-17 design (17-17-5-17-8-9-11), and he fought really well. With his 17 WT and him landing at 11 FE, he is going into retirement, but I'm going to keep an eye out for more ST-CN-WT trip-17 PRs, as this is the second one that has been successful for me.

To round things out, Rookies brought me 4 TVs, 2 with WS, 1 with an AB, and 1 with a TP. They were all 8-3 and 9-3 TVs, but they successfully padded my award percentage.

All told, I am very happy with my tournament. If a few things didn't go my way, I could have very easily had another terrible tourney like in January. But they went my way, and I had a good one. I'm probably going to be skipping the Tampa FtF, although I plan on sending a bunch of ADM warriors searching for tough trains and FE. Maybe I'll even sneak in a good warrior or two.

Congrats to all the TC winners (9 managers in total!). It was nice mix of managers and styles that won TCs. I'm looking forward to the next tourney, as always, even if I'll probably just be following along online.

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:11 am

Primus TMM/TMM
Contenders Khisanth/TMM
Eligibles TMM/HW
ADM HW/HW
Freshmen OAB/HW
Challengers Assur/HW
Champions TUM/Mannequin
Adepts TUM/TUM
Initiates TDO/DMobster
Apprentices Floyd/Floyd
Rookies Vlad/Floyd