July 2020 Mail-In

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

The unofficial word from RSI is:

-- There will be a July MI tourney instead of the usual July FtF tourney.

-- They are reportedly deciding between July 11 and July 18 as the tourney dates.

-- Since the ADM freeze is always 6 weeks prior, this makes the likely ADM freeze dates May 30 or June 6.

-- As a reminder for any recently returned managers, there is no basic freeze. Warriors are placed in basic classes based on their FE at the time of the tournament.

More details will follow as soon as they are discovered!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

Further unofficial word from RSI:

-- They think they are going with July 19 as the tourney date.

-- This would put the ADM freeze on the weekend of June 6.

There were no details on the format or anything else. But it is probably safe to save your post-freeze minis requests for a week from now.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

We have official word from RSI in this week's DM 102 newsletter:

Quote:

Summer 2020 Face-to-Face: In case there is any lingering doubt, the 2020 summer face-to-face is cancelled. It just doesn't seem wise to hold it, and feedback is that most of you would not be able to attend. Better to stay safe and stay at home, this time.

Summer 2020 Mail-In: So we'll hold a mail-in tournament this summer. It will be held on the weekend of July 17-19, 2020. We are still finalizing the format--look for the tournament announcement shortly after the freeze on June 6th.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

The ADM freeze has been frozen. If you requested electronic copies of your mini-overviews last weekend to see where your ADM level warriors are classed for the July tourney, you likely received them on Monday.

Basic warriors will fight according to their FE on the day of the tourney.

The list of Challengers pulls was published in today's newsletters:

Quote:

NEW GRADUATES--FROM ALL ARENAS (INCLUDING CLOSED ARENAS)

For those of you who keep track of such things, a few additional warriors graduated from regular DM arenas (including closed arenas) since the last tournament.

WICKED WASP (35-4784) SATAN'S SWARM (418)
TYRANNICAL TICK (35-4786) SATAN'S SWARM (418)
EMPTY (72-7269) BASH BROS WALLET (873)
NOBODY HOME (82-53135) ROOKIE PINK 59 (8963)
CAN'T BEAT TUM (84-40978) THE GREAT TMM (7146)
LINT (84-49584) 4-LETTER DIRT (8504)
JANUARY O. IRONTAIL (84-25625) EVIL EASTER BUNNY (4553)
SHOULD BE FUN (85-29872) FRANKENSTEIN HUNT (5482)

Congrats to the grads. -- Green Eyes

Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2020 1:08 pm

One Armed Bandit wrote:

The ADM freeze has been frozen. If you requested electronic copies of your mini-overviews last weekend to see where your ADM level warriors are classed for the July tourney, you likely received them on Monday.

Basic warriors will fight according to their FE on the day of the tourney.

The list of Challengers pulls was published in today's newsletters:

Quote:

NEW GRADUATES--FROM ALL ARENAS (INCLUDING CLOSED ARENAS)

For those of you who keep track of such things, a few additional warriors graduated from regular DM arenas (including closed arenas) since the last tournament.

WICKED WASP (35-4784) SATAN'S SWARM (418)
TYRANNICAL TICK (35-4786) SATAN'S SWARM (418)
EMPTY (72-7269) BASH BROS WALLET (873)
NOBODY HOME (82-53135) ROOKIE PINK 59 (8963)
CAN'T BEAT TUM (84-40978) THE GREAT TMM (7146)
LINT (84-49584) 4-LETTER DIRT (8504)
JANUARY O. IRONTAIL (84-25625) EVIL EASTER BUNNY (4553)
SHOULD BE FUN (85-29872) FRANKENSTEIN HUNT (5482)

Congrats to the grads. -- Green Eyes

Get 'em outta here! Let's clean up Challengers! Fairness and equity or else!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

The tourney announcement has arrived. Important tidbits:

- The tourney is triple elimination.

- The TC prize for each class is 2 potions of max damage.

- They are offering stylemaster awards in EVERY CLASS. For the warriors with the best records of the nine styles that don't TC in each class, the prize is a +1 bonus potion. If an Advanced warrior wins the prize, it can only be used on a warrior in ADM or Primus with the same style. If a Basic warrior wins the prize, it can only be used on any living warrior on that same team. These prizes can't be sold, but can be traded one for one.

The tourney date is July 18. Strategies are due July 15. Other than the above twist, it appears to be a normal Mail-In tourney, just taking place in July.

In case you missed the all-arena ads, RSI is also running three Bloodgames arenas. DM 95 is a slow speed Bloodgames arena, DM 98 is a regular speed Bloodgames arena, and DM 99 is a mail-in style Bloodgames arena.

Hopefully this will keep us all busy this summer!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

Strategies for the tourney were due yesterday, although they will often accept late submissions through Friday.

If all goes according to plan, the tourney will run this weekend, they'll spend the beginning of the week printing and mailing, and people will start to receive results as early as next Friday (but more likely Saturday or Monday).

I did not intend to send as many warriors as I did, but the stylemaster awards in non-Primus classes added an extra 10 warriors for me, and an upcoming contest in DM 32 inspired me to send 5 more from my team in that arena. A few good replacements arrived late and before I knew it, I had entered 81 warriors in the tourney, plus all 3 Bloodgames arenas.

My numbers:
Total entrants: 81
Breakdown by class: 5 Primus, 2 Contenders, 6 Eligibles, 5 ADM, 3 Freshmen, 5 Challengers, 5 Champions, 17 Adepts, 12 Initiates, 8 Apprentices, and 13 Rookies
Breakdown by style: 16 AB, 5 BA, 10 LU, 5 PL, 4 PR, 5 PS, 8 SL, 16 ST, 5 TP, 7 WS

I think this is going to be a tough one (or at least a large one), with so many returned players and people stuck at home with a desire for entertainment.

Good luck to everyone in the tourney!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2957

The tourney is done running. It may even be printing right now at RSI's secret underground production facility.

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The ADM classes are generally my strongest area, with Eligibles and Freshmen leading the way historically. My Eligibles in this tourney remind me a bit of the characters from the Wizard of Oz. One needs a brain and another needs a heart. One of the others reminds me of a yappy little dog. I might be able to squeak out some stylemasters in the class, but I don't think I'm winning the Eligibles TC.

Freshmen, on the other hand, looks decent for me. If I had to bet on a class to win, this is the one. I have three entries, but one is just trying for a stylemaster prize. My top two entries ended up being original members of the same team. This is them prior to the ADM freeze:

FREEBOOTER (28-5201) of SEA DOGS (1864) [48-54-0,200,106FE], will fight Freshmen.
He is a aimed blow with ST=16(5) CN=11(5) SZ=9 WT=8 WL=21 SP=9 DF=20.
He is right handed, is relatively slow and inactive, is highly coordinated, has great endurance, is incredibly quick and elusive, does good damage, has an Advanced Expert in riposte, has a Master in attack, has an Advanced Expert in parry, has a Master in defense, has an Advanced Expert in decisiveness, favors the quarterstaff, favors a very low offensive effort, favors a very low activity level, and preferentially learns defense.

PICAROON (28-5202) of SEA DOGS (1864) [56-38-1,248,100FE], will fight Freshmen.
He is a parry-lunge with ST=14(1) CN=22(8) SZ=7 WT=20(3) WL=20(3) SP=5 DF=12(1).
He is left handed, is very intelligent, is slightly uncoordinated, has awesome endurance, can take tremendous amounts of damage, can carry a good amount of weight, is very quick on his feet, does great damage, has a Master in initiative, has an Expert in riposte, has a Master in attack, has an Advanced Expert in parry, has an Advanced Expert in defense, has an Advanced Expert in decisiveness, favors the epee, favors a moderate offensive effort, favors a very high activity level, and preferentially learns decisiveness.

Neither are perfect, but I often try to weigh the benefits of continued tourney prep vs the potential awards. Both warriors had reached 100 FE, which some managers believe is a big FE breakpoint (it might not be, but if you are close, it makes sense to err on the side of waiting for it). Both warriors were close to the line, although I had to build in some extra room for the AB since I didn't know his Ini base for sure.

PICAROON was right on the line, with 150 total skills, so I couldn't do anything further with him besides bust him. Being a 17-17 and a PL, it seems worth taking risks and pushing him as close to the line as possible. FREEBOOTER, on the other hand, ended up being only at 136 total skills (which I didn't discover until I started picking up Ini skills from busting).

PICAROON hit the 50% train to 21 WL to start out, then ST to 15, then DF to 13, so he'll be entering the tourney with 162 total skills. I believe I have him mostly training WT, searching for that big payday with the 4th train to 21, then switching to DF in the late rounds. If he hits the train to 21 WT and the two trains to 14 and 15 DF, he could reasonably have 176 skills in the run-offs. Not bad for a 17-17 bust-out.

FREEBOOTER hit WL to 22, then DF to 21, then WL to 23 prior to the tourney, putting him at 152 total skills. He only had room to learn 17 Att and 19 Def during his set-up, but he was the beneficiary of a couple contest potions on his Defense, so he will be entering the tourney with a Master +5 in Defense and a Master +6 in Attack, along with some other useful skills. He isn't super physical and he has a weak weapon and rhythm, but with his 8 WT, 21 WL, and 20 DF, he is essentially a trip-21 bust-out. If he picks up the WL train to 24, the DF trains to 22 and 23, and the WT trains to 9, 10, and 11 (all easy trains), then he could conceivably reach the finals with 177 total skills or more (if he happens to luck into any of the hard 4th trains). Or, he might go 0-3 at the hands of some high Attack/high damage offensives. You never really know.

I feel like I gave these two good chances to win, without spending a ton more time and money on them to try to make them perfect. The rest is up to them.

The only other class where I feel optimistic is Adepts.

I traditionally do poorly in basic. The vast majority of my TCs are at the ADM level, but in an effort to change that, I tried a new tactic. I loaded up on Rookies and Apprentices back in October of 2019, then ran a ton of Initiates in January of this year. This left me with 17 Adepts ready for this tourney. So I ran them all. I have 2 Adepts in particular which look very promising.

RHO TELESCOPII (63-3447) of TELESCOPIUM (374) [8-1-0,121,20FE], will fight Adepts.
She is a striker with ST=9(1) CN=9 SZ=8 WT=21 WL=17 SP=10 DF=11.
She is right handed, is a genius, is incredibly quick and active, can not take a lot of punishment, can not carry a lot of weight, is incredibly quick and elusive, has a Master in initiative, has an Expert in riposte, has a Master in attack, and has a Master in decisiveness.

On paper, she looks fairly generic. But what the mini-overview doesn't show you is that she has learned 18 Ini, 17 Att, and 18 Dec in 20 FE, so she is going into the tourney with a Master +3 in Ini, a Master in Att, and a Master +4 in Dec. I don't think I've ever had an Adept learn this well.

RHO TELESCOPII is fresh from a 9-3 Initiates TV, and this set-up has produced good results for me in the past. The first time I got the set-up, it TV'd Apprentices, Initiates, Adepts, Champions, and Challengers. So hopefully this version has some of that same consistency.

FIFTH-RATE (18-10992) of SEA DOGS (224) [6-0-0,82,20FE], will fight Adepts.
She is a aimed blow with ST=11(1) CN=9(1) SZ=4 WT=17 WL=21 SP=3 DF=21.
She is ambidextrous, is very intelligent, has a good endurance, can not take a lot of punishment, can not carry a lot of weight, is incredibly quick and elusive, does good damage, has an Expert in riposte, has a Master in attack, has an Advanced Expert in parry, and has a Master in defense.

Whereas the ST is all natural, this AB is exactly the opposite. FIFTH-RATE was created using a DYO potion from April 2019. The design looks a little wonky, but it checked all the boxes from me. 10 ST and 4 SZ give you the ability to roll Good damage, similar to 9 ST and 5 SZ. But to get that with 3 SZ, you would need 12 ST. So 10/4 is actually a more efficient way to get there, saving you 1 point for the rest of the design, and keeping the maximum Defense benefit from the small SZ. I thought about 21-17 WT-WL, but the extra hit points from 21 WL boost you from frail to cannot take a lot. And 17 WT is good enough learning for all of basic, while 21 WL is significantly better for ADM. 21 DF because its an AB, and I end up with the 10-8-4-17-21-3-21 initial design. I don't know if its good enough, but it is already performing better than trip-21 designs that I've tried in the past, so that is a small victory.

She earned an 8-3 Apprentices TV with Little damage, and then failed to TV in Initiates after I added Max Damage to her. She is learning well, being an apparent Defense favorite learn, but her fizzle out in Initiates does not inspire me with confidence.

Still, going into Adepts with an Expert +1 in Rip, a Master +6 in Att, and a Master +3 in Def gives me some cause for hope.

The beauty of this class for me, though, is I have several other promising warriors who have TV'd before and who might surprise me. I won't be at all surprised if I continue my poor record in basic, however.

----------

And those are my top prospects for this tourney. I would love to TC, but won't be shocked if I don't. With all the extra stylemaster prizes being offered, it will be quite easy to have a successful tourney without TCing.

Good luck to everyone. I hope your tourney results reach you quickly and find you safe and healthy at home.

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:31 am

Excellent writeup, OAB! I always appreciate your insights into the tourney game.

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:32 am

Your adepts striker is similar to mine in skills.

will fight Adepts.
He is a striker with ST=17 CN=8 SZ=3 WT=21 WL=9 SP=15 DF=11.
He is ambidextrous, is a genius, is incredibly quick and active, is very frail, is
incredibly quick and elusive, does good damage, has an Master in initiative, has an
Expert in riposte, has a Master in attack, has an Advanced Expert in defense, and has a
Master in decisiveness.

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

Ah, One Armed Bandit’s tourney post. It’s like the National Anthem before the first pitch or the smell of napalm in the morning. It signals impending excitement!

Here is my crew, inclusive of a last-minute fax in and an email withdrawal.

Row Labels Count of style
AIMED BLOW 9
BASHING 6
LUNGING 17
PARRY-STRIKE 2
SLASHING 9
STRIKING 15
TOTAL PARRY 3
WALL OF STEEL 14

Grand Total 75

Row Labels Count of class
ADEPTS 5
ADM 5
APPRENTICES 14
CHALLENGERS 4
CHAMPIONS 6
FRESHMAN 3
INITIATES 7
ROOKIES 31

Grand Total 75

As you can see, Maslow’s Hierarchy of DM needs continues to be focused on the physiological at the bottom, in this instance basic in general and rooks and apps in particular. Not a ton going on up towards the self-actualization end of the pyramid, but, as a largely basic manager, it is fun to have people in play up there.

The one thing I do have going on in ADM is the Accidental Tourist Bust™. My two real bust options busted, the first by being upclassed unexpectedly and the other because of a dead train I hadn’t gotten around to. So, I didn’t think I was busting anyone until this guy’s idiot manager lost his semaphore handbook and sent the wrong signal into the arena, resulting in an 11 DF train on turn 1 of the bust window:

CUTTER JOHN (85-4984) of IN BLOOM (7220) [41-37-0,159,103FE], will fight Adm.
He is a slasher with ST=23(9) CN=8(3) SZ=6 WT=18(1) WL=21 SP=14 DF=10(3).
He is right handed, is very intelligent, is very active, has tremendous endurance, can not
take a lot of punishment, can carry a good amount of weight, is incredibly quick and
elusive, does great damage, has an Advanced Master in initiative, has a Master in riposte,
has an Advanced Master in attack, has an Advanced Expert in parry, has an Expert in defense,
has an Advanced Master in decisiveness.

Let us count the ways this a perfect first bust for me:

1. Complete accident
2. A Slasher
3. In ADM

On the plus side, he had just broken 100FE so he has THAT going for him. As mentioned, he hit his 11DF accidentally, so he followed up with Will trains to 22 and 23. So he goes into the tourney with 187 skills and an eye towards capping out WL at 25, then trying to get WT to 21, then DF. If he can accomplish the first two, that would put him at 204 skills so, perhaps, not bad. But I don’t really expect him to get that far.

Otherwise, I have a promising LU and WS in ADM that are both quite close to bustable. The LU went 6-3 in April and the WS 4-3. My three Frosh are all just testing the “developed enough to be worth running in tourneys?” theorem.

Goal 1: 3-3 or better for the Accidental Tourist Bust™
Goal 2: Non-basic TV

On the basic side of the house, I probably have my best chances to do well in Challengers, Apps and maybe Rooks.

In Challengers, I have 3 very solid, though probably physical underdog, Lungers repeating the class in the company of a new Slasher. One went 10-3 in April and another 6-3 so I am hopeful for a TV in this class. It was my best class in April mailer.

I’ve discovered that I am, perhaps, capable of learned behavior because I kept the immortal Champs basher out this time, despite his enviable faves of ME, MO/LO. It’s all about the willpower, gents. I do have my Appetizers Waste TC in the mix but I suspect he is underskilled for the class. Hoping for a Stylemaster potion though!

Goal 3: Two Stylemaster Potions

I am confident, having read the forums, that my Adepts STs are not up to snuff. So, I am hoping another successful Waste is able to rip some of those strikers the heck outta dodge. That said, all entries are former TVs.

Inits = LUs and STs. Decent but no standouts.

Apprentices is a class I have some hope for. I ran a bunch of nice rooks in April so plenty to choose from. I probably have the most hope for two STs who are already ADEX+ in DEC. My singular ST TC was an App who started similarly. Other fun entrants include an absolute brick of a WS, a BA with three, count ‘em, three experts in all the right places and another one with two.

Goal 4: First Basher TV
Goal 5: Make a finals fight.

Everything and the kitchen sink is what I have in rooks. Not the quality I had in the Spring Mailer, and certainly not from an Aimed Blow perspective. Walls of steel, a recent passion, lead the way, followed closely by ABs and STs. I have a Poor/Great ST but no Poor / Good this time! Again, learned behavior. On the other hand, I am running a Parry Strike besides Mr. Right Handed.

The highest skilled is 64, exclusive of bonus. The average bonus is north of 2 or better with the highest being +9 OB. No net hosings for this crew.

Goal 6: Rooks WS TV
Goal 7: More kills than deaths.

It feels a bit weird that, as I write this, the results are actually already in the can. Makes tense a tricky thing. In any event, as you all get your results, I hope they find you well. It would have been great to gather somewhere in a room! Excepting, of course, Minneapolis.

I wish everyone an enjoyable and successful tourney, however you measure that. When your warriors face mine I hope they wilt and die like the snowflakes and dogs they truly are.

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:34 pm

Actually my numbers weren't so bad as I thought:

Here's my breakdown:

Primus - 7
Contender - 3
Eligibles - 7
ADM - 4
Freshmen - 3
Challengers - 18 Confused

Champs - 2
Adepts - 3
Inits - 16
Apps - 18
Rookies - 28

Style Breakdown:

AB - 25
ST - 22
LU - 17
TP - 9
WS - 6
SL - 6
PR - 5
PS - 4
PL - 3
BA - 2

Goals:
-------
- Make it to Round 12 of Primus *or* have the last warrior left standing after TMM.
- 9 TVs would be nice.
- W/L Record of at least 54%.
- Win 1 Stylemaster Potion
- Contend for a TC. Hard to quantify what it means. Last few tourneys I've felt mostly dead inside when reading my tourney since I didn't feel like I had a real chance. I'd like to feel I have a chance. I don't have the horses I used to but I like to think there's a few things in the back pocket that could happen if I start to get lucky.
- Help someone time their Rainbow for Dead Apprentices. (I would take Dead Inits)

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

Managerr wrote:

Goals:
-------
- Help someone time their Rainbow for Dead Apprentices. (I would take Dead Inits)

Man, I spit out my coffee when I read this. Brilliant! I wish you every success with this goal, assuming it's not mine you help time!

Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2020 11:34 pm

What does 'Rainbow" mean?

Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2020 9:57 am

The last TC prize was the "Rainbow DYO" so we've been calling them "Rainbows" for short.