Assur reported earlier that the April MI will be held on the weekend of April 17.
That means that the timing of the ADM freeze (always 6 weeks prior to the tourney) is this coming weekend of March 6. If you would like to receive post-freeze minis by email, send an email to Lee, Sandy, or CSR requesting to be put on the post-freeze minis list.
Also, for any returning managers, please know that there is no basic freeze. Basic warriors are placed into tourney classes based on their FE on the day of the tourney.
One Armed Bandit ArchMaster Poster
Joined: Apr 15, 2004
Posts: 2959
Posted:
Sat Mar 13, 2021 9:45 pm
The prize is confirmed to be Clone/Twin.
The Consortium ArchMaster Poster
Joined: Nov 23, 2002
Posts: 10144
Location: on the golf course, in the garden, reading, traveling, and now Consulting
Posted:
Sun Mar 14, 2021 2:23 am
Let the sandbagging begin .............
_________________ The Consortium: Crapmaster 2013, Crapgiver 2014; 1213 ADM graduates (40+ manager IDs) including 176K+ fights and 118K+ wins plus 4 teams with 1500+ wins (Animal Farm DM11 @2085; Bulldogs DM11 @ 1976; Lenpros DM30 @ 1792; Fandils DM46 @1727
gentleben ArchMaster Poster
Joined: Aug 21, 2008
Posts: 4018
Location: Round Rock, Tx
Posted:
Sun Mar 14, 2021 3:27 pm
Across the land ofAlastari the word is going out. The Duelmasters Grand Tournament LXXIII is coming
soon! This tournament will be held on Saturday, April 17, and will be a Mail-in tournament only.
The Duelmasters Grand Tournament is a premier competition. Only the strong will survive; only the
best will win! And for this tournament only, winning means an opportunity that ranks as every guild
master's greatest dream: They will be able to create a clone or twin (rolled three times) of another
warrior, dead or alive, to be added as a warrior onto one oftheir teams! Warriors may only be cloned if
he,..y .are natural warriors who haze.never.been.cloned, Pleas.e rememher.vou.must.use.all prlzes.within
six months of the tourney when they were won.
In this Grand Tournament, honors will be awarded to warriors in eleven categories of competition:
five tournaments for Advanced Duelmasters (ADM) and six tournaments for regular Duel masters (OM).
Warriors will fight according to their ADM tournament classification and/or total number of fights:
The Primus Tournament -- All Primus inducted warriors (as of the March 2021 ADM Freeze)
The Contenders Tournament -- All Primus contenders (as of the March 2021 ADM Freeze)
The Eligibles Tournament -- All Primus qualified warriors (as of the March 2021 ADM Freeze)
The ADM Tournament -- All other ADM warriors (as of the March 2021 ADM Freeze)
The Freshmen Tournament -- All new ADM warriors and ADM Freshmen (as of the March 2021 ADM Freeze)
The Challengers Tournament -- DM warriors with 31+ fights as of the Tournament
The Champions Tournament -- DM warriors with 21+ fights as of the Tournament
The Adepts Tournament -- DM warriors with 11-20 fights as of the Tournament
The Initiates Tournament -- DM warriors with 5-10 fights as of theTournament
The Apprentices Tournament -- DM warriors with 1-4 fights as of the Tournament
The Rookies Tournament -- DM warriors with 0 fights as of the Tournament (April 17, 2021)
All warriors who have graduated to ADM before the tournament (due dates on or before Thursday,
April 15), as well as warriors who were classified as Freshmen as of the March 2021 freeze, will fight in
the Freshman Tournament. All ADM warriors who are not Freshman or Primus qualified (Eligibles) or
inducted {Contenders or Primus) will fight in the ADM tourney. For non-ADM tourneys, a warrior's
number of fights is calculated by adding his regular arena bouts and roughly half of his previous
tournament fights as of the day of the tournament; the freeze date for ADM warriorswas March 7 at
11:19pm. Please note that all games due on Thursday will process before the tournament, while games
due on Friday and Saturday will run after.
There will be ten rounds of combat. Pairings in the tournaments are random. In all tournament
classes except Primus and Contenders, your warrior must win one of his first two fights to avoid being
eliminated from the tournament. After that, his third loss will drop him from the tournament. In the
Primus and Contenders Tourneys, warriors will not be eliminated until after Round 5; at that point and
thereafter, warriors with three losses will be eliminated. Each tournament will continue until only one
warrior remains uneliminated. On the average, each warrior will fight six fights, with a minimum of three
fights for each warrior, barring death. Learning, experience, and the likelihood of dying are halved--only
so much can be learned in such a short time, fighting with blunted weapons. The record and popularity
of your warriors in the tournament does not count towards their record in regular arena play.
Those warriors who win eight or more fights in the regular tourney and are alive at the end of Round
lO will be declared Tournament Victors. Tournament Victors may write "Tournament Victor" next to one
of their challenges each turn in regular arena play to receive increased priority on their challenge. The
winners of all B.A.D.D. tournaments will also be declared Tournament Victors. The warrior with the best
overall record at the end of each regular Grand Tournament will be declared Tournament Champion and
will fight for free in regular arena play. Tournament Victor and Champion status are great honors which
last until the next Grand Tournament or until six months have passed.
In addition, one bonus skill potion will be awarded to the manager of each of the Stylemasters in all
tournaments. Primus bonus potions must be used on a Primus warrior of the same style; ADM bonus
potions may be used on an ADM warrior of the same style; basic DM potions may be used on any living
warrior on the same team. These potions must be used within six months.
· You may enter as many of your gladiators in the tourney as you wish. The cost is $7.00 per warrior.
Your account will be billed when we run the tournament. If your account does not have sufficient funds,
we may not process your warriors. Strategy sheets for all warriors you want to participate in the tourney
must arrive at RSI by Wednesday, April 4. We will not accept phoned-in strategy sheets for the
tournament, though yon may fax them.
Below is a strategy heet request slip for the Spring Mail-in Tourney and, also included is a copy of a
strategy sheet. To speed up the processing of your warriors, you may copy this strategy sheet, fill them in
and send them back. If you'd rather have us mail you strategy sheets, fill out the request slip and note
how many you need. There is also a tournament strategy sheet on the web site. Your warriors will be
officially entered into the tourney when we receive your completed mail-in strategy sheets. The strategy
sheet allows you to specify your gladiator's training for each fight up to the tenth round. You may also
designate one alternate strategy against up to five different fighting styles.
Is your warrior the best in his class? How does your Adept measure up to the Adepts in other arenas?
Do you have the strategy it takes to survive ten duels against foes from across the land of Alastari? Don't
just ponder these questions! Register today for the Duelmasters Grand Tournament.
_________________ Gentleben
Ben's Bazaar-21
Caress of Steel-28
Secret Squirrels-32
He Be GBs-33
Time Stallyans-45
Pawn of Prophecy-47
Primal Instinct-81
Misfit Managers-1,2,3,4,18,25,29
Managerr ArchMaster Poster
Joined: Jul 12, 2002
Posts: 4292
Location: Omaha
Posted:
Sun Apr 18, 2021 9:04 pm
tet
The Consortium ArchMaster Poster
Joined: Nov 23, 2002
Posts: 10144
Location: on the golf course, in the garden, reading, traveling, and now Consulting
Posted:
Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:31 am
As usual Consortiumites seldom participate in the ADM classes.
For this Mailer, we are sending a mere 30.
(But watch the numbers significantly escalate for the Cincy FTF!)
6 aimers, 6 bashers (oh, my!), 1 lunger, 1 plunger, 1 piker, 4 slashers, 6 strikers, 4 total parries, and 1 waste. (sorry, no rippers this time.)
The largest class is 11 Apprentices.
Good luck to all. (Well, sort of. )
_________________ The Consortium: Crapmaster 2013, Crapgiver 2014; 1213 ADM graduates (40+ manager IDs) including 176K+ fights and 118K+ wins plus 4 teams with 1500+ wins (Animal Farm DM11 @2085; Bulldogs DM11 @ 1976; Lenpros DM30 @ 1792; Fandils DM46 @1727
I am hoping for a TC this tourney, but I have no idea if I have the right stuff to get one this time around. I don't have any confidence in my basic crew, but there is plenty of stuff that I'll be excited to read in the ADM-level classes.
Primus
My best AB, SNAKE OIL SALESMAN, will be going into the tourney with Dodge tactic favorite thanks to 5 ZAPs, and I am curious to see how big of an impact it makes. He has done as well as 7-3 before, but has never TV'd.
I cut my Primus LU this tourney, because he simply isn't good enough to win the LU stylemaster and doesn't beat the perfect ABs often enough (once in a blue moon). So he will join my maxed Primus WS on the bench. I do have five other entries going for stylemasters, so I could achieve some fun results in this class without getting close to a TC.
Contenders
I had three entries in the last tourney, two ABs and a TP, and all three TV'd. How will they do this time? I am especially interested to see how SPARE ANCHOR performs after his astounding TV last tourney. I added a fourth warrior, a LU named EIGHTH MATE who has two runner-ups in her past (Adepts and Freshmen) but has failed to TV Contenders in numerous attempts.
TUM reportedly has some good warriors who dropped back down from Primus, so I'm expecting worse results than last tourney. But I am still excited to see what happens.
Eligibles
I have one entry in this class, an AB who has spent his life preparing for this moment and may well wash out.
GUTTERSNIPE of DUNGEON CELL started life as a 12-7-4-21-17-6-17 AB, and entered the freeze as a 25(13)-16(9)-4-21-23(6)-7(1)-20(3) with 194 total skills (20 learned Rip, Att, Par, Def). He is SC favorite, mode, and Parry favorite learn, so he didn't hit the genetic lottery. He went for gateway skills in his first post-freeze turn and picked up 1 Att and 5 Par, then trained DF to 21 and 22 for 213 total skills. He is training WT in 1-9, then switching to WL in 10+, if I remember correctly.
With the warrior having so little tourney experience (and 0 TVs), it is hard for me to rate his chances. But he is what I had ready, so he went for it.
ADM
ADM could be my strongest class, or I might get 0 TVs. Both of my entries are 21-21 and both are flawed.
OKAB of AQUILA is entering the tourney as a 9(6)-13(7)-11-12(1)-24(3)-11-21 AB with 181 total skills. He is Dec favorite learn, LS favorite, but has a lucky favorite OE (mod). He looks good in the arena running 6-10-6 with his LS, and he has a nice bust-out available, but the low starting physicals restricted him to Good damage and middle-of-the-road hit points, encumbrance, and endurance in regular ADM. In my experience, that is tough to overcome. But training DF in 1-7, WL in 8-9, and WT in 10+ gives him a lot of room for improvement over the course of the tourney if he lasts long enough.
ETA ANDROMEDAE of ANDROMEDA was my Bloodgames TV from July 2017, a 17-3-3-21-21-12-7 SL like his predecessor, SUSHI SLINGER. He enters the tourney as a 25(8)-9(6)-3-21-24(3)-12-7 SL with 190 total skills. His SH favorite, mod/low rhythm, and Par favorite learn didn't do him any favors, but there was no other option but to try. Like OKAB, he has a deep bust available to him, training WT in 1-7, WL in 8-9, and DF in 10+. The last time I busted a Bloodgames SL in the ADM class was July 2007, and it earned me a runner-up. I imagine the class has gotten tougher in the past 14 years.
Freshmen
I have never TC'd with a PL before, but I have a number of PL projects that are reaching their conclusion in Home Guard for the Freshmen class. The first such project is RAT-CATCHER of DUNGEON CELL, who began life as an 8-12-14-5-21-3-21 PL. Assur and I had discussed using some 21 WL-21 DF set-ups normally reserved for ABs for some other styles to try to get those elusive TCs. I made this one before I became fascinated with luckfactor stats, and perhaps this warrior's -2 Defense helped lead me down that path.
He survived to graduation, and has entered the tourney as a 15(7)-17(5)-14-6(1)-24(3)-3-21 PL with 158 total skills. Like my two ADM busts, he has a deep bust available, training DF in 1-7, WL in 8-9, and WT in 10+. He does Great damage and has relatively nice favorites: LO, mod/low, Dodge tactic, Parry learn. A bit of a conundrum with the slow rhythm + Par learn on the one side, and the LO + Dodge on the other side. But I think I found a good pair of strategies for him.
He is accompanied by a throwaway ST bust-out, EGGS BENEDICT, who enters with 24(3)-8(3)-7-21-13(4)-10-13(2) and 154 total skills, training WT the entire way. Whereas all of my other bust-outs are 100+ FE, EGGS just barely passed the 50 FE mark. The goal was to invest as little as possible and have a big damage Striker wingman.
Basic
I have neither the volume nor the talent in basic, so while you can always get lucky, I am not expecting to.
The only basic entry that I'm truly hopeful about is CADAVER DOG, who managed a 7-3 performance in the last Challengers, and landed at 51 FE. His ST/CN training is already well under way with 4 of each. Will the recent graduates leave room for him to make it into the run-offs? Is that 50 FE mark truly a big performance boost? I will wait and see.
I don't know what my odds of TCing are. 50/50? I have a handful of bust-outs and another handful of competitive sandbaggers, but all of them look like low probability warriors in terms of TCing. But if you have enough of them, maybe they add up to something?
I am looking forward to the tourney results, as usual. If I match up with your warrior, I hope to win and not kill. You might think I'm being nice, but I'd rather have you stick around so we can maybe match up again later. :-)
All that stuff I wrote about the ADM level classes? You can just ignore that.
My Primus TV hopeful faced 8 straight FI ABs and went 5-3. Not a bad result considering, but I was hoping that adding Dodge tactic would vault him into the TV ranks. My three Contenders TVs from January went 6-3, 3-3, and 2-3 using the same strategies as the previous tourney. My Eligibles bust-out went 4-3. My ADM bust-outs went 4-3-1 and 2-3. My Freshmen bust-outs went 6-3 and 3-3. My Challenger who went 7-3 in the last tourney and passed the 50 FE mark, went 7-3 again this tourney, so no FE benchmark performance boost was noticeable. Another one of my warriors in the class died at 7-3.
By the time I had gotten to the true basic classes, I had 0 TVs and 1 death out of 21 warriors. The ADM level classes are usually my strength, so I was fairly discouraged by this point. I found myself rooting really hard for someone to reach round 11.
I entered 5 warriors in Adepts, all STs. They all looked good on paper, but few had any tourney success up to this point. I think there were two TVs between the five of them going into the tourney. Normally, I don't like running so many of the same fighting style in a class like this, but I did my best to differentiate their strategies. They had different arrays of weapons, based on what they had looked good with earlier in their careers. I had some using Decise, some using Lunge, and some using Slash, and some crossover between those (like main strategy Slash and alt strategy Decise), while others used no tactic in their alt or main strategies. The five warriors also were attacking four different locations, so no single protect location would foil them. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best I could do to give five Strikers the best chance to succeed.
Out of my 5 entries in the class, 3 made it to round 10. But then the two on the bubble lost and finished 7-3. KAPPA VOLANTIS was my sole warrior to advance to round 11 at 10-0-1, becoming my first TV of the tourney! What a relief. Honestly, after the terrible start to the tourney, I was just happy to be there. A match-up with a stand-in sent her to 11-0-1, and then she faced SHORT FUSE, another ST. My warrior was carrying a DA and a back-up and the other warrior was carrying a SC and no back-up. We were a blur of motion, then SHORT FUSE leaped into the air taking a furious slash, and my warrior lost. I felt okay with only 1 loss, and faced two more Strikers in the next two rounds, BARKING LOT and PATCH OF OLD SNOW. Both opponents were wearing armor and both fights began with clashes, but my KAPPA VOLANTIS was able to get the first strike on both of them and finished them each with three Dagger attacks.
Round 15 saw my warrior matched up again with SHORT FUSE. There were three clashes this time, but they were followed by the same SC crit and a loss for me. Round 16 saw another rematch, and after five clashes and a SC normal, the same result. KAPPA VOLANTIS went 13-0-1 vs the field, but went 0-3 to SHORT FUSE to get the runner-up. Congrats to BlackHart on his TC. After such a bad ADM tourney, and with low basic expectations, I was just happy to have been relevant in one class.
The next glimpse of hope came in Apprentices. I had 7 entries in this class, including 3 Strikers. One of them only timed and ran because he had a teammate in the tourney. ARENAMUSTARD of SHEWISH BANQUET is a 12-4-11-21-15-10-11 ST with Good damage, +4 Rip, and no visible hosings at creation, so I ran him in Rookies in July of 2020 to a 2-3 finish. During that Rookies run, he learned 7 Decise skills and failed to get an Expert, so I knew he was -3 or -4 Decise. I wrote him off and didn't bother timing him for Apprentices... until I got another tourney ST on the team that I needed to time for the same class named CONVICTED BEEF. So I timed them both, and ARENAMUSTARD learned another Dec skill in the arena and failed once again to get an Expert in Decise, so I knew he was -4 Dec and going into the tourney with 15 Dec. He was learning great, but I had little hope for him. But since he was timed and he had teammates running, you get a financial incentive to give warriors a try since prep costs are cheaper going forward.
CONVICTED BEEF, the NOT hosed Striker, went 0-3. ARENAMUSTARD, meanwhile, won his first fight, learning an Att and a Dec, and finally picking up that Expert in Dec. He went on to win 5 more fights and continued to learn great. In round 7, he barely lost to a LU named CRANBERRY ASSASSIN to put him at 6-1. He then won some more and achieved a 9-1 record by the end of round 10. Another TV! Granted it was only my second award out of 50 entries, so it was not the greatest of accomplishments, but I was happy to have another warrior provide some excitement.
In round 11, ARENAMUSTARD suffered a loss to a FI AB named ATOL. At 9-2, I figured he would soon by exiting the tourney. Round 12 saw a win over a LU named APEX-LEGENDS. Round 13 saw a win over a FI AB named EVIL TRIBBLE. In round 14, I lucked into a stand-in. Round 15 saw a favorable match-up with a SL named Valentino.
Round 16 featured another SL named SHOUT, this one 4'11". It was a good style match-up, but I was nervous about the 4'11" part. Was this some leftover Rainbow DYO that I was facing? Perhaps I'll never know. The warriors moved with snakelike speed around each other, then ARENAMUSTARD lunged with his SS. Three attacks later, ARENAMUSTARD won the fight and the class.
Of all the improbable outcomes, earning my first Apprentices TC ever with a -4 Dec ST with ordinary numbers was probably the least likely. But there you have it, that is what happened. ARENAMUSTARD now has a special place in my heart for saving what would have otherwise been a terrible tourney for me, and for achieving a first for me. He ended the tourney at 12 FE and with 44 total learns, with 31 of those learns in key areas (Ini, Att, and Dec). ARENAMUSTARD has a long road ahead of him to prep for Adepts, but prep he shall.
The numbers:
50 entries
166-156-4-1 for a 52% win percentage
2 awards for a 4% awards percentage
In addition to the TC and RU, I picked up the BA stylemaster in Primus with HORSE D'OEUVRE and his 1-4, the PL stylemaster in Freshmen with RAT-CATCHER and his 6-3, and a PS stylemaster in Rookies with a 5-3 performance.
Even though nothing went as planned, it was an exciting tourney for me and I feel very fortunate to have won a TC.
I won't be attending the summer FtF, but I will send some warriors, follow along online, and hopefully my presence will still be felt. To everyone that is heading to Cincinnati, I hope you stay safe and enjoy yourselves.
The Consortium ArchMaster Poster
Joined: Nov 23, 2002
Posts: 10144
Location: on the golf course, in the garden, reading, traveling, and now Consulting
Posted:
Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:11 am
Great write-up, OAB. always glad to read yours.
And, CONGRATS
_________________ The Consortium: Crapmaster 2013, Crapgiver 2014; 1213 ADM graduates (40+ manager IDs) including 176K+ fights and 118K+ wins plus 4 teams with 1500+ wins (Animal Farm DM11 @2085; Bulldogs DM11 @ 1976; Lenpros DM30 @ 1792; Fandils DM46 @1727
One Armed Bandit ArchMaster Poster
Joined: Apr 15, 2004
Posts: 2959
Posted:
Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:10 am
STYLEMASTERS FOR EACH TOURNAMENT
(Each receives a bonus skill potion to use according to the tourney rules)
200
TOTAL PARRY CAPTAIN POLAND 18-6614 3 3 0 108 THE FIRST REVENGER (35)
PARRY-STRIKE DEADLY BEAR 2-3688 2 3 0 139 THE BEARS (5)
PARRY-RIPOSTE DEE DEE 8-384 3 3 0 138 WILD THINGS 2 (18)
PARRY-LUNGE SKIDMARK BUG 2-5711 4 3 0 695 042909A (6)
WALL OF STEEL THE PERFECT DRUG 3-6943 3 3 0 810 IRATE FORMATIONS (9)
AIMED BLOW MEAT 84-27302 15 2 0 657 4-LETTER PIZZA (118)
STRIKING ATTACK WALL PAPER HANGER 68-6885 3 3 0 142 THE BEARS (81)
SLASHING ATTACK SMELLY SOCKS 18-1975 3 3 0 157 STREET PIZZA (34)
BASHING ATTACK HORSE D'OEUVRE 61-3635 1 4 0 525 SHEWISH BUFFET (76)
LUNGING ATTACK MENDELSSOHN 9-2894 6 3 0 168 WASTELANDERS II (20)
201
TOTAL PARRY THAT GUY 97-2120 4 3 0 643 DIE, MOFO, DIE IV (84)
PARRY-STRIKE CADILLAC DUARDO 18-2130 3 3 0 764 THE FIRST REVENGER (29)
PARRY-RIPOSTE CYCLOTRON PAJAMAS 84-27697 6 3 0 569 011312F (80)
PARRY-LUNGE AFTER 10 BEERS! 84-21651 4 3 0 473 ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE (78)
WALL OF STEEL EARL OF LEMONGRAB 40-4564 11 3 0 446 ADVENTURE TIME 2 (48)
AIMED BLOW OOO OOO OOO 46-4281 12 2 0 550 YOU DON'T SAY! (50)
STRIKING ATTACK MICRO-RAT 19-1173 0 5 0 351 RAT PAK (35)
SLASHING ATTACK THE ZEALOT 6-3656 3 1 0 620 DARK PANTHEON (13)
BASHING ATTACK MRS. BUTTERWORTH 28-1226 2 3 0 619 SUAVE ONCE LOVED ME (39)
LUNGING ATTACK BLIND BLAKE 6-6814 9 3 0 466 BLACK AND BLUES (15)
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