2014 Halloween Tourney Journal

Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 3:00 am

I’ve always enjoyed reading tourney journals and thought it would be cool to post my tourney results. I am well aware that my results aren’t that impressive, but I thought it would be fun to jot down what happened.

I never send as many participants as you guys do. So my number of entrants is a whopping nine to the living tourney. Someone said Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And with that I sent five of my dead warriors. I know I will never get them back, but it is a chance to run them again. So I do it and try to enjoy it. Here we go.

Freshmen-
Koroshiya Ichi was my only entrant to this class. This guy is my favourite aimed blow that I ever ran. Not just because he is on the Isle, but because he is so much fun. When he was in Morya he earned a 19-6-3 record. Other than that, his biggest high light was coming in third in the Fool’s Tourney of 2013. Koroshiya’s first opponent was Spider- Man of Wensinwasin M.H. I have no idea what Wensinwasin M.H means. Without giving away his style, I will say that Spider-Man handed Koroshiya a beating. At least Koroshiya got an attack skill out of it.

The second turn Koroshiya was matched against Orange Cranberry of Muffins to Die For . In all fairness, the manager is right. They are really good muffins. This match went in Koroshiya’s favour. Maybe things would have gone better if Koroshiya didn’t have Orange Cranberry under so much pressure that he couldn’t draw his back-up, things would have went differently. But we will not look a gift horse in the mouth. We took the win and deftly avoided elimination. On to turn 3.

The third round was a match with Gaige the Destroyer of The Hunted F9. What’s with all of these midgets running around? Maybe I missed the memo. That would also explain why Koroshiya lost. I always heard Gaige’s style wasn’t good in advanced. Colour us embarrassed. But I still have that one win, so I continue on to turn 4.

The fourth turn was a match against Jason Voorhees of Deranged 21 . Again with the midgets! And he is the same style as Gaige as well. Seriously, was there a memo? Needless to say that Jason’s big axe put an end of Koroshiya’s dreams of advancing. But this tourney taught me something. I really need to trust in my warrior and fight the rhythm they prefer and use the weapons that they prefer. Oh well, there is always the next tourney.

Champions-
Ria the Caresser of the Chosen was one of my entrants in this class. She is my leggy wall of steel from Arkers. If you read any of my Duel Masters (Duel II) fiction in Suspense and Decision, you have heard that name before. Currently, Ria is 12-11-0 and duel mistress in Arkers. I know her record isn’t impressive, but to be fair, she ran into a lot of scum total parries in the early turns of her career. Her claim to fame is having Cyclotubulous break her shields with his maul every time they fight. He still refuses to accept the bills from her armourer. The jerk!

I also had another champion is a slasher of mine named Water Rat of Lords of Discipline. He is the duel master in Morya and has a record of 15-5-0. Water Rat received his invite to the Isle this turn, so this will be his last fight as a mortal.

Ria the Caresser- The first turn was a match with Jade of Thirsty Thugs. When I saw Jade’s fighting style, I knew Ria was going to be in trouble. I suspected there to be a lot of attack skills backing up her longsword. I just hoped that Ria could keep her at bay long enough to get an opening. The theme with Koroshiya was midgets. With my guys in the regular matches it was “XXXX slips his XXXX past the parry”. Three minutes later, Ria was in the infirmary nursing a sore left bicep. But that is okay. She still advances to the second turn.

Ria the Caresser- The second turn has Ria matched against War Pig of XXX Bandits. War Pig wasn’t a midget, but he was aggressive. There is nothing scarier than an angry Kannar looking to bury his hatchet into your warrior’s skull. Four minutes later and Ria scored the final hits to the abdomen and ribs of War Pig. To be fair, I was aiming for the arms. But luckily, we are on to the third turn. Enjoy that masters rating War Pig.

Ria the Caresser- The third turn was a match against Grunt 90 of Medal of Honor E5 . That little Ratani skewered Ria before she could catch her breath.

Ria the Caresser- Turn four brought a match with Rattler of Serpents’ Hold. Their stable’s name sounds like an aimed blow’s technique. “Be careful. My aimed blow has an advanced master in attack. He now knows the serpents’ hold technique.” The fight was a good one and after five grueling minutes, it was over and Ria stood triumphant. After the match Ria made a mental note to have a long discussion with her armourer. Rattler broke her shield and her primary weapon. So, with a 2-2-0 record, Ria moves into a the fifth turn.

Ria the Caresser- Turn five was a bit of a sad turn. Not for me, but for Dave Nelson of News Radio . On minute two of this fight, Ria slew Dave Nelson. The eerie part is that Ria warned “Another blow and I will send you to Ahringol”. And she did just that. My condolences to the manager of Dave Nelson. To get a warrior up to the champions class only to have him slain has got to be tough. And so with a 3-2-1 record we move onto turn six.

Ria the Caresser- Turn six and I notice that Ria has a countdown record; 3-2-1. Maybe this is an omen of things to come. Maybe she will be 4-3-2. Sure she would be out of the tourney, but it would still be eerily cool. Well, Ria’s cool ship docks here. Surgeon Warpath of 06031OU saw to that in a lightning fast one minute bought. Ria was holding her own until the shot to the abdomen. It was all downhill from there. Needless to say this was a great run. A 3-3-1 record in the Champion’s Class is a great showing.

Water Rat- Water Rat’s first turn opponent was Mmmmbuhhh of You Don’t Say!. This was a special treat because Mmmmbuhhh was a zombie. This was a chance for me to see what all of the fuss is about. Mmmmbuhhh is also one those short a** warriors that plagued me this tourney. Seriously, was there a memo? Please tell me. This was going to be an interesting fight. Sure enough, Water Rat took this little zombie apart with his hatchet. It wasn’t as easy as I make it sound. Mmmmbuhhh is pretty agile for a zombie. Water Rat moves on to the second turn with a 1-0-0 record.

Water Rat- Water Rat’s opponent on the second turn was Leontion of Dreamers . Water rat managed to put down Leontion as well. I didn’t know Leontion’s style was that good at parrying. Off to turn three with a 2-0-0 record.

Water Rat- Turn three brought Innuk Shuk across my path. Water Rat was cocky as he walked out on the sands. I mean, after all, he was 2-0-0 in the champions. He had this, right? Wrong! Innuk Shuk beat Water Rat worse than he did his first two opponents. The most embarrassing thing about the fight was when Innuk Shuk said, “Kneel before me, and I’ll consider sparing your life” and Water Rat crumpled to his knees. But in all fairness, the shot to the ankle was the real cause of him doing that as opposed to intimidation. Now Water Rat goes into turn four with a 2-1-0 record. That is still pretty good considering the class he is in. then Water Rat saw who his next opponent was. “Ah! Come on!” was his reaction.

Water Rat- walked out on the sand of turn four with frustration written all on his face. He couldn’t believe his luck. Of all of the people in this tourney, this guy shows up. Much like McDonald’s, the Bash Bros. franchise is everywhere. Water Rat’s next opponent is Eye Bags of Bash Bros Body. The two had met before for a duel master’s title shot. Back on turn 369, Eye bags was a bright eyed Phenom 9-0-0 and Water rat was an 8-3-0 upstart who got too close to the big dogs for his liking. When the dust settled, Eye Bags was the new duel master and Water Rat had a new home in the champions’ class and a pathetic 77 points to his name. Now they meet again. Eye Bags made short work of the pluviophile. Both warriors advanced to turn five with 2-2-0 records.

Water Rat- the turn five fight against Cyano of Azure Shield is what I consider one of the most gruesome fights out there. The 2-2-0 record warriors walked out with hatchets in hand. There is something about the idea of two warriors walking out with hatchets for the sole purpose of hacking each other into submission. They both brought back up hatchets as well. The only thing more unnerving is that Cyano didn’t wear armour. This guy is obviously a lunatic. Well, lunatic or not, Cyano bested Water Rat and sent the young man home with a 2-3-0 tourney record. That’s okay; when he returned to Morya he kept the title, avenged a blood feud and got his invite to the Isle.

Adepts-
Wicker Gremlin- is my first golem and my only entrant in the Adept’s class. He is also a stable mate of Water Rat in Lords of Discipline. Some of you might remember Wicker Gremlin from the 2014 Winter Face to Face in the apprentice class. I was being sarcastic. The only thing that would make him stand out would be his kill and t from A Convicted Thief. He went 4-3-1 in that one and had his climb to tourney victor stud by Tuition Ache of This Old Team.

The first turn had Wicker matched against Mind Crime of Queensryche. The fight actually was one minute. But Wicker started doing some show boating for the crowd. Who poses in a heroic stance while his opponent is lying on the sands screaming in pain? But, for whatever it is worth, the crowd ate it up. And Wicker advanced with a 1-0-0 record.

The second round matched Wicker with Toure of Thirsty Thugs. Wicker had Toure in check and was controlling the fight. And then it happened. The ever popular weapon slipping through the parry tactic. But it was too little too late as Wicker stole the initiative and let Toure have two blows to the shoulder and right arm and it was done. Wicker advanced to turn three with a 2-0-0 record. Enjoy that rating, Toure.

The third match brought Cutie Kill of Nailed It and her 2-0-0 tourney record in Wicker’s sights. This was going to be great; two 2-0-0 warrior were about to duke it out. And Wicker was ready to pose some more for the ladies. Someone should have told that to Cutie Kill. There was nothing cute about what she did to my guy. At least Cutie Kill had enough class to offer Wicker a hand. A much humbler Wicker heads to turn four with a 2-1-0 record.

Turn four was up and Wicker was standing across the sand from Floyd-O-Mine-Tails of Arcane Punishment. I’ll just call him Floyd for this post. When Wicker saw him prepping for the match he said, “I think he is trying to show off with his choice of weapon. Something that showy in a tourney is just ridiculous.” Talking about the pot calling the kettle black! Despite starting the fight with a crit (it missed), Wicker was triumphant. In the end Wicker bowed to the crowd, saluted Floyd, and strutted from the ring. 3-1-0 ad we are off to the fifth turn.

The fun train is coming to a halt in the fifth turn as Wicker is matched against XXX of Bad News. Wicker was doing what he does best when it happened. The ever popular weapon slipping through the parry tactic. Again! But this one was backed up with a crit. And my poor golem was doomed. Not bad XXX considering you didn’t have the strength or deftness for your weapon. On to the sixth turn with a 3-2-0 record.

Turn 6 is the finality turn for Wicker Gremlin as he is matched up with Neptune Scream of Darque Waters. Neptune Scream is a really good warrior. He even got the compulsory attack through the parry. As I said, this seemed the theme of this tourney. But it all came down to who could connect with their attacks. Neptune Scream was very spastic. It like someone gave him twelve triple shot espressos and sent him out to fight. He did a lot of stepping left, and then right, and then feint. But all in all it was a good match and Wicker salutes him. The strutting golem is eliminated with a 3-3-0 record. I am not ashamed of him performance at all.

Initiates-
I only have two guys competing in the initiates. The first warrior will be Halin Stormbreaker of the Chosen. I am hoping Ria’s stable mate will make a showing as good, if not better than hers. Halin is one of my newest warriors and has a 2-3-1 record in Arkers. We are still expecting Assurnasirbanipal to blood feud Halin for killing Forgot my Towel of Bash Bros Shower in regular play. Trust me; it isn’t something I am looking forward to. But that is Arkers and we are at the Halloween Tourney.

Halin- The first turn was a match with Hobbs of Robo Villiage . No, that isn’t a typo. It is how the team’s name is spelled. The fight was pretty even until the third minute when an exhausted panting Halin lucked up and got a blow to connect. After that, Hobbs dropped like a sack of rocks. It’s the fort turn and it is also a win. I like it already! 1-1-0 and we are on to turn two.

Halin- On this second turn, Halin was matched against The Takeover of Jay-Z . The Takeover was off like a shot as he proceeded to give Halin several openings in his nice shiny armour. Halin tried to put up some kind of opposition, but this was the Takeover’s day and he walked away with the win. And with a record of 1-1-0, Halin advances to turn three.

Halin- Turn introduced Halin to Hocus Pocus of Mothership Tempe . This fight was hsort and sweet with Hocus Pocus working his magic with a broad sword. Halin tried to dodge and hit back against the Takeover. But against Hocus Pocus, he didn’t have what it took. Hocus Pocus took the match in a very short minute. All it took were two hits. Halin looked a little disappointed when I told him that he had one more match. If he wins this one, he is still in. If not, he can pack up and get ready to go back to Arkers. 1-2-0 and it is on to turn 4.

Halin- Babe Ruthless of Street Walkers 7 was more than happy to fight Halin. Maybe it felt that it had a sure win with its 2-1-0 record as opposed to Halin’s 1-2-0. I am not being rude. Babe really is classified as an “It”. Anyway, Halin took another “L” and was done.

My second Initiate was Sat Thu Mot. He was an aimed blow. To be honest, he was hosed majorly in damage and I couldn’t raise a stat to save his life. My goal was to try and make this guy a winner. He had a bit of sentimentality for me because he is one of the few guys from Kyr’terr that had a triple digit ID.

Sat Thu Mot- first turn was against Embezzling Scribe. This was pretty easy. Embezzling Scribe is a total parry after all. So, with a nice shiny 1-1-0 under his belt. Sat Thu Mot advances to the second turn.

Sat Thu Mot- the second turn brought Moor of the Delirium Rules . So the fight began and for the last time. He two fought for initiative and Sat Thu Mot won. This fight was going great. Sat Thu Mot even broke Moor’s long sword with an attack and Moor was too busy to draw his back up short sword. For some reason, Sat Thu Mot had two daggers as back up. And while he was winning, he stopped and drew one of them. Which gave Moor a chance to draw his short sword. While Sat Thu Mot was “struggling to call up his last reserves of energy”, Moor struck. Two shots to the chest and a shot to the head later and Sat Thu Mot is dead. The final record 1-1-0. R.I.P

Apprentices-
Ahhh…the apprentice class. I remember thinking in my more naïve days that this class was a push over. But these days, it is pretty tough. I’ve sent guy in this class and they have come back with their tails between their legs and an 0-2-0 to show for it. But this time I sent two of what I consider good warriors to this class; Yrah Banewrecker of the Chosen and Marin Bleu of Lords of Discipline.

Yrah Banewrecker - the first turn was Yrah vs Pain Maiden of Pain and Pleasure. Pain Maiden surprised me by pulling the victory out. I honestly had to review the fight twice to realize Yrah lost. Seriously. I was looking at the next fight when I noticed Yrah had a loss. Well played lady. Well played. Yrah is on to turn two with his stealth loss and a 0-1-0 record.

Yrah Banewrecker - turn two brings Clicquot Champagne of Made You Look. The fight was very intense. Both warriors were intent on coming out the victor. This makes sense since both warriors were undefeated at the time. It’s all about ego in this match. Yrah proved to be the better man as the arena master declared him the victor. Yrah is now 1-1-0 and off to turn three.

Yrah Banewrecker - Chantilly Lace and a pretty mace…Sorry, I couldn’t resist. But seriously, Chantilly Lace of Golden Oldies. The proud Jhelumite strutted out on the sands intent on doing damage. Not to sound like I am bragging, but Yrah beat him so bad, the crowd was calling for him to go to the Dark Arena. Fortunately for Chantilly Lace, that isn’t an option in a tourney. In case anyone isn’t counting, that is a 2-1-0 record for the tourney. Next up is a bout with a Wizard.

Yrah Banewrecker - “He's a pinball wizard. There has to be a twist. A pinball wizard's got such a supple wrist…” Turn four brought Pinball Wizard of Deviation . Pin Ball Wizard? Huh…they should call him dirty fighter. Did the Pinball Wizard really want to win with repeated shots to the groin? Maybe it was a mating ritual and Yrah didn’t know. Whatever was going on, Yrah put a stop to the nonsense and gave the Wizard a loss causing him to have 3-1-0 record going into turn five. Yrah happily went with a matching record.

Yrah Banewrecker - Sorry. But I don’t have a cute song for this next guy. If only you could hear my real singing voice. There would be riots I tell ya. And all because you’d be fighting to see who got out of ear shot first. But this match was against Sidewinder of Serpant’s Hold. The fight was quick and to the point. I dare say less than a minute. In the end Yrah stood victorious and moved on to turn six with a 4-1-0 and starting to believe he has a chance at a tourney victor.

Yrah Banewrecker - "Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?" ―Indiana Jones. And a Sidewinder no less. This member of Serpent’s Hold was Yrah’s opponent on turn five. Sidewinder was true to his name and was all over Yrah. This loss wouldn’t be a stealth loss like with Pain Maiden on turn one. And then Yrah got the parry and riposte. One lucky parry turned the tide of this match and Yrah started giving bak what he received, That lucky riposte gave Yrah a 4-1-0 record and the chance to move to turn six.

Yrah Banewrecker - It is turn six and my hopes of Yrah getting a TV are growing. Even when I saw the stats on Stark of the Mentors II I wasn’t afraid of him. This match was going ot have two 4-1-0 warrior duking it out. Even if one lost, they still advanced, but a loss at this level affects the chances of getting a TV even more. It’s still possible, but it makes it more stressful. Things were looking good and the match was going Yrah’s way. He even made Stark go desperate two times during the two minute fight. That is until got that shot in when Yrah back pedaled to conserve his energy. Anyone watching could see the pain on Yrah’s face as he accepted the loss. Stark was ecstatic and rightfully so. He had earned that fight and the 5-1-0 that went with it. Yrah took his 4-2-0 and advanced to turn seven.

Yrah Banewrecker - At the beginning of turn seven I could hear a tapping sound. It was he sound of the final nail being nail in the coffin holding his dreams of a TV. The killer of his dream was Glenn of Zombie Squad XI.I should have known it would end in Glenn’s favour. He had a hungry look. As if he wasn’t going home without his place in the TV section. Both warriors had 4-2-0 records. It was going to be a dirty match. No doubt about that. The arenamaster gave the signal to start and the two warriors beat on each other with a primal energy. And when the dust settled, Glenn stood triumphant. If Yrah wasn’t in such pain, he might have looked disappointed. I congratulate Glenn on the win. I frown upon him trying to bury Yrah in the sand. It was just a tacky thing to do. But Yrah’s run is over and he is the proud owner of a 4-3-0 record and a chance to lick his wounds.

This is starting to run a little long, so I will do the last two quickly. Especially since they both went 0-2-0. Marin Bleu of Lords of Discipline was in the apprentice class and fought Bull Porter of Xcom Alpha. and Lana! Of Archer. Despite Marin’s skills, and her opponent not having the skills to use their weapon of choice, Bull Porter dominated the contest. The match against Lana! Wasn’t much better. But Marin could hold her own in the match.

The Hush of Lords of Discipline fought in the rookie class. I have always liked the rookie class because it is one of the few even classes. Entrants are raw recruits who have to fight on pure talent, or lack thereof. I really thought he Hush would do a lot better than a 0-2-0. But the fact is, he just fought better guys. His opponents were Leviathan of Assassin Nation and Empty Pot of Bash Bros Coffee.
So ends my 2014 bid in the Halloween Tourney. I really enjoyed competing against your guys and I am already looking forward to the Face to Face in January. That is if Mannequin is willing to proxy for me.
Very Happy

Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 9:50 pm

I'll join the fun. I really wasn't expecting a good tourney. I send way too many dead warriors to October tourneys and tend to save my best for January and April.

All total, I went 164-185 out of 65 sent, with a living TV and a dead TC.

I will highlight the ups and downs.
Contenders: I sent my normal 3 bashers and for the first time in awhile, none of them reached round 6. A disappointment.

ADM: I sent a guy who on paper looks terrible, but is very high relative to other ADM warriors and was a test for a guy that I hope to have ready for Tempe. I was surprised by a 6-3 record. No clue if it was a one time thing or not, but I'm very encouraged for the guy I plan to run in Tempe.

Freshmen: I sent Job to the tourney, but for some reason forgot to send his armor. He looked fantastic and I will be playing with some new strategies going forward. This was Job's first Freshmen TV on the raised lines. My other warriors all did pretty well also.

Challengers-Rookies: Not a single TV, so definitely a lowlight, but not super surprising either. I took a break after reading Apprentices. I've decided that I'm not going to read my mail in tourneys in one sitting anymore. I end up skimming fights when I'm tired of reading, reducing my enjoyment. I definitely recommend this strategy to anyone who encounters mail in burn out while reading their tourneys

Dead Challengers: Got my first warrior to reach round 10 in this class. He had a good chance to win on round 10, but fell at the end. Maybe next year I can finally break through to a TV. Otherwise this class was mostly a disaster.

Dead Apprentices: At this point, I had read the rest of my tourney and only had a single TV. Plenty of round 9 and 10 guys and very few unexpected 0-2's. But my final warrior in the tournament reaches round 10 undefeated, beating a Whirling Clone on round 10. I'm shocked and very happy. This was the warrior's 3rd Dead Apprentice tourney (going 0-2 twice before). I kept going because of the learns and I liked the warrior's rolls. I faced the Whirling Clone on rounds 13 and 14, eliminating him on R14 after losing R13 and I think I've won, but no, the tourney is still going. I face a striker on round 15 and lose. I win on round 16 for the dead TC and turns a rather unspectacular tourney into a fantastic one.

Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2014 10:31 pm

Cool. I enjoyed the read. I also read One Armed Bandit's write up in another thread.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Mar 10, 2008 Posts: 1999

I only sent 7 so mine will be short!

CHALLENGERS: I sent my 77 FE striker at the last minute into Challengers. Galeb Duhr is a prior 2 time TC. Problem is he is -1 Dec. I decided to use a blanket strategy vs everyone except strikers (vs strikers I ran decise tactic). Didn't work out as he went 0-2 vs LU's! A 4"11" LU NY State of Mind and Thunderbird a 5"3" LU. Both of them went 7-3. I think Galeb Duhr is done but I will continue to run him to 100FE in Challengers well, just because.

CHAMPIONS: Again a last minute look at my very small tourney list and there was a SL named Purist at 30FE that had been sitting on the roster for awhile so said what the heck and gave him a go. Going into the tourney he was: 11-9-5-21-17-14-7, +3 Rip, -3 Init, Good/Norm, probably HA Favorite, my guess would be VH/MO. I wasn't expecting much as he went in with only 21 Decise, but max attack at 30.

I ran a response/Slower tactic vs SL/ST/TP/WS (probably a dumb idea vs the WS's but I didn't have a ton of endurance to keep up the 10-10-7 for long that I ran as a normal strat. It worked out pretty well as turn 6 I was 6-0 after having faced: LU/LU/AB/LU/AB/ST, he also gained a ton of decise skills that he desperately needed.

Turn 7 was his first loss vs a offensive 4'11" TP named The Law, he jumped me (me running response and all) and knocked me down! uhoh sure enough I didn't get up for my DESP strat and he kept attacking beating me in round 1. With my attack I think if I was standing and able to get to my desp strat I could have stood a chance in this one.

Turn 8 was an AB win, Turn 9 was a LU Win and I had a TV at 8-1! A nice unexpected TV! Also hit my Master in Decise on turn 9.

I knew going into turn 10 it was going to be getting to the nitty gritty as Champs usually isn't that crowded and I was right. Black Death the RU lunger was my matchup. I jumped but 2 regular swings?!, 2 dodges and 1 riposte and it was over. I was 8-2.

Turn 11 I faced a Manager run Munt a APM/F, SC/LG WOS. Ugh, I knew I was in for it but what happened? I was an absolute berserker running my response strat with my BS throwing 2 huge crits and getting him desperate on my first two swings. He immediately started parrying and dodging but I got him with 2 more head strikes in minute 1 and had him severely hurt. Thats when it got ugly and I thought it was over. Start of 2 he started swinging, got me desperate very quickly AND I was gasping for breath. However, 2 massive crits after a twanging broadsword parry and I had another victory to put me at 9-2.

Turn 12 and I didn't get a break here either facing another manager WOS Steel Lion. Looked VERY similar to Munt lol. This fight looked EXACTLY like the one vs Munt but I didn't get the job done and in round 3 was too tired to swing and took a SC hit and went down. I must say it was a close fight though. I think if one more of my crits would have gotten thru it may have been my fight. But not to be. I ended up with a respectable 9-3.

ROOKIES:

The other 5 warriors were Rookies that I put into the contest in DM 28. I was expecting a good showing by one of them that of course went 0-2.

Out of the 5 I went:
LU went 2-3 and didn't train ANYTHING with his 20 WL.
PR went 0-2 (and laughingly was the only one to win a fight turn 1 of the contest)
AB went 3-3
PR went 3-3
PL went 5-3

Thats it! My first tourney back in a few years and I had just planned on running rookies but the SL got the blood flowing a bit, I may have to take a look at my tourney roster and get a few guys here and there "just for fun!"

Tripwire

Advanced Master Poster Joined: Jul 19, 2002 Posts: 479

Really enjoyed reading all of your journals.

Advanced Master Poster Joined: Apr 11, 2011 Posts: 394

Freshmen-
. Koroshiya’s first opponent was Spider- Man of Wensinwasin M.H. I have no idea what Wensinwasin M.H means. Without giving away his style, I will say that Spider-Man handed Koroshiya a beating. At least Koroshiya got an attack skill out of it.

That's a guy from one of my stables. Wensinwasin, is a mashup of a title of a sermon that I heard from a pastor in church once. The title of the sermon was "Back when sin was in." Im terrible at coming up with original names for anything so I used that. M.H. stands for Marvel Heroes. Spider-Man was the first warrior that I ever designed on my own that TV'd. He made it to the final three warriors his first time out, and made a runner up outing in a mailer. Hasn't done much since then though.

.

Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 8:24 pm

Primus: It was a pretty bad opening 5 rounds. All my guys going after stylemasters were gone, were quickly eliminated, most of them picking up 1 or 0 wins. Patience had a solid win over Rabid Gerbil, but otherwise there was nothing special. My best warrior Bonnie, was a sad 3-2 and I'm thinking it's going to be a pathetic Primus tourney for me. But then, Bonnie keeps winning while on the bubble--before I know it she's 7-2 and fighting for a TV. She eliminates Webbed Toes in Round 10 to get a TV and I'm happy. I kept expecting her to lose in the next round--but she keeps running the Gauntlet. In Round 13, she gets a rematch with John Ashcroft, who beat her before--and this time she wins! That was John's 2nd loss, and I turn the page to look at the match-up hoping to see John in the TC fight again--but instead it's her mail-in bane, Bob, Eternal who was 14-0. Dammit! Anyway, Bob wins and puts an end to Bonnie's run, but you can't be sad about a 3rd place showing in Primus these days.

Contenders: Nothing special here. I was a little disappointed to see a training error on one of the warriors I was just sending for trains.
Best showing was a 3-3. Hope to do a little bit better in this class at the FtF though.

Eligibles: Mostly sentimental ones here. My favorite Striker started out looking amazing--had a 4-0 start before reality happened and
ended up finishing 4-3. One day I will get an Eligibles TV with him which will have made these 10 years of prep worth it. Razz

ADM: I still had hopes for Scomsss's Nightmare, who even though he wasn't busting--was a deep TV the last time and I felt like he could
go deep again. Needless to say I was shocked when he lost to one of Khisanth's seemingly putz AB's in ADM, and then OAB's TP in the 2nd round to send him out 0-2. (OAB's TP's seem to be his bane) I felt a little better when I saw that his Round 1 opponent was the TC, but not much.
Fortunately no bust or this could have been a disaster.

Freshmen: Only sent 2 scum here, Merriweather and Imnota God. (Was thinking about busting a challenger, but an unexpected suck off grabbed him before I could graduate him) I'm not taking Imnota God to the higher line, he's just going to sit until it drops back down (if ever) and Merriweather is my closest TP to the higher line currently. Nothing special just a 6-3 performance.

Challengers: Sent 12, kind of a barren Challengers for me, the past couple of suck offs have decimated my Challengers crew. I was really
excited to see what Superior Snotling could do here, but he ended up getting humiliated at 0-2. At this point, I'm seeing a pattern
with a lot of the warriors I was excited about. It was pretty much a by the numbers Challengers for me here, my warriors who were on the
high end of the FE line did well and the others didn't. 2 TVs here, including one by a Parry-Lunger. Can't complain.

Champs: I felt this was a class I could potentially steal. Looking at the Adepts at the FtF, it was really Striker heavy. I figured
the Strikers would mostly continue their dominance her--which was good for me because I was running a pair of really nice Wall of Steel's.
The plan was to survive the first few rounds and then pick off the Strikers at the end with my Wastes! Of course, the plan rarely works
the way you expect and my Wall of Steels kept fighting Slashers, Aimers, and a weird OAB Lunger from Round 8 on. They were still good
enough to beat most of the warriors and both WS's made the Final 4 but were no match for Anarchist's AB or OAB's LU. There was no way
I was ever gonna touch that AB with my Mailer-Strat anyway, so I didn't feel so bad. Side note, I've been pleasantly surprised at the TV ratio of
my Wall of Steel's lately. Definitely a style I need to invest in more. (And I haven't TC'd with one yet so there's that goal.)

Adepts: For some reason, I had a lot of Adepts timed in this tourney. Like 11. Most of them were average so I just decided to flood the class.
Well, they performed pretty average. (41-32) One TV with a scum of all things. Most of them won't make Champions.

Inits: Only two here, but both former TC winners who had a pretty good learn curve (although not amazing). I thought both paled in comparison to the TDO entry. Both my entries did ok (One TV'd), and TDO's Lunger cruised to the TC.

Apprentices: Sent 4, easily my worst class of the tourney. 2 0-2's and 2 3-3's.

Rookies: At this point I'm pretty depressed about my tourney. But I also knew I had an ace in the hole, my stat switch rolled up
unbelievably well! (Like the best one I've ever had in these roll-up XXX warrior multiple times--mine always come out looking the same)
The only problem is that the stat switch was done so late that I didn't have time to zap the defense favorite learn once I saw how good it rolled up. I'm reading the fights and Cute Snotling is cruising in the early rounds--but then the favorite learn is clearly Parry and I'm worried that was going to be his downfall. As we got into the run-offs the fights get closer and closer as the other warriors start to catch up to him in skills, but somehow he was managing to always win.
Fortunately it was good enough to TC! My 3rd Rookies TC in a row! Now the question is do you super zap a favorite learn at 8 FE?
(FTF 2015 Warning: I'm planning on entering some warriors in the Rookies tourney! Challenge me at your own risk! Especially you, Howling Wolf! Razz

)

Dead Challengers: A long time ago, back in the mid 1990's there was a young Manager who got a godling roll-up (by 90's standards). He made it an AB because that's what you did with 21 DF godling roll-ups those days. He ran it as a single team in a slow arena. Then one day, a mean person by the name of Slugbait, viciously downchallenged and killed it!
That young manager was crushed. And that warrior, K. Carson, has run in every dead tournament since then. He's done 2 7-3's before easily cruising to the Dead Challengers TC this time out. And if Slugbait still runs in Arkers--he better watch out!!!!

Other Dead Tournaments Crap: I got 5 out last year so slim pickings in the dead tourneys for me. Nothing else came out or even really got close. Well my Dead Apprentices Slasher went 6-3 and I think that was my best showing from a Slasher in a tournament in a few years!

Overall, I sent 79 and went 283-213 with 8 TVs and 2 TCs (1 living and 1 Dead). After a 2.5 year long TC drought, it's like all of the TCs came flooding back at once! The last time I won 6 TCs in a single calendar year was all the way back in 2001. Also finished the year #2 in total TCs, which I don't think has happened in a long long time. I know the TC fountain can disappear at any time, so I'm definitely going to ride the wave for as long as it lasts.

Also good to see 11 different prize winners in all of the living classes too! Pretty cool, I thought there might be some interesting results with everyone's pipeline being exhausted after the godling city that was the Summer FtF.

Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2014 10:59 pm

I had the TC winner in Challengers! Hands DOWN!

A lovely 7-0 meant no death and no 3 losses in a row, and who goes 7-0 to 7-3... I mean really.

Met up with some 5-2 LU named Helper Hand and got jumped and 1-shotted. Street Legal turned out to be a LO fave and I had, what I originally thought, was his favorite weapon, the EP. OK no big deal 7-1 is good!

Hay Ride comes along with a 6-2. 4 attacks later my EP dismisses the Hay Ride, in a Dead Halloween tourney.

Another defensive comes along with a 7-2 and Pearl, who I fought earlier with another warrior, turns out to be fake. YOUR OUTTA' HERE!

Another 2 loss warrior, 8-2 to be exact, happens along. ANOTHER defensive? Tenured Whelp turned out to be an untenured whelpling!

ANOTHER defensive? Please I am 10-1, silly OSKSI NOBLE goes down!

11-1, I have only 3 dead warriors, and the stack of paper is still pretty big. I got a shot at my first TC ever!

hmmmm a 12-0 warrior.... bah a silly little Slasher..... no problem! I'm pretty quick and it is carrying 14 weight to my 11....... WHAT? WTF?!? He jumped me... gah Ihave 33 DEF I can dodge his SC crit! WHAT? WTF?!? OK extra damage hit, I have 35 INI I can steal it in Desperation! WHAT? WTF?!? He hit me again? And I give up? Fine 11-2 I still can take this. I won 7, lost 1, won 4, lost 1.... on to the next string of wins.

Clearly HAL mistook me for Lebron Leaving but he will fix this for me!

hmmm an 11-2 AB against me, a 11-2 LU. Going down son! Your carrying a weapon so no way your getting by my 38 ATT! Even if I'm using an EP and I turn out to be a LO fave. 8 attacks 1 hit and dodged 1 SC crit, we got this! 2 attacks and no hits. hmmm a SC crit hit and the Spectators cringe at the power... I think that is the largest extra damage hit (I think all others are random but this is the extra extra damage hit). Desperation and time to count on that 33 DEF and my dodge tactic! I roll instantaneously into a roll to my feet, after a regular SC attack, and launch an EP attack. No hit but the crowd is singing it's praises of me. I look for a better position and the little Bass turd steals the Initiative, a SC crit and I'm done. Sad

Clearly Storm Lord cheated because I was supposed to be the TC winner! It was in stone! That loss, that Lebron Leaving, stole by throwing sand in my face as I went to shake his hand! I lost that match and my confidence was shaken and lost the next match... and to beat that he comes over to announce some "decision" that he will announce on some ESPN and proceeds to pour a Vinegar, Lemon Juice, and Sea Salt concoction onto my fresh wounds!

STORM LORD I WILL HAUNT YOU FOR STEALING MY TC!!!

My uber-TP in waiting still went 4-3-1 in Freshman, and my best dead warrior went 3-3....

STORM LORD WILL RUE THE DAY.... WELL.... START RUEING!!

Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2014 3:17 am

Khorvinus wrote:

Freshmen-
. Koroshiya’s first opponent was Spider- Man of Wensinwasin M.H. I have no idea what Wensinwasin M.H means. Without giving away his style, I will say that Spider-Man handed Koroshiya a beating. At least Koroshiya got an attack skill out of it.

That's a guy from one of my stables. Wensinwasin, is a mashup of a title of a sermon that I heard from a pastor in church once. The title of the sermon was "Back when sin was in." Im terrible at coming up with original names for anything so I used that. M.H. stands for Marvel Heroes. Spider-Man was the first warrior that I ever designed on my own that TV'd. He made it to the final three warriors his first time out, and made a runner up outing in a mailer. Hasn't done much since then though.

.

So, the mystery is solved. Thanks. No thanks for he beating though. Very Happy

Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2014 1:34 pm

I enjoyed reading these, particularly yours Street Legal, lol. So I figured I'd join in. I was going to be away on an extended vacation and didn't have the time to closely monitor guys prepping for the tourney. So decided to send guys I didn't have to time. Ended up sending only 11 living warriors, all of them challengers and up, and 16 dead. Didn't expect too much, but thought I would be competitive in Freshman and Challengers and was hoping to get at least a few dead back.

Contenders- I had one entrant in this class. An old time lunger Super Senior. I had just maxxed ST, CN, and WL and he had pulled in a few 5-3's in this class before. He was near the top of the Contenders line, and his WT was sitting at 21 (trained up from 17). I decided to do a mini bust out w him, not really knowing what to expect. He trained WT to 24 prior to the tourney, and got 25 in the early rounds. But he only started off 2-2. Uggh! However he was able to turn it around and rattled off 5 straight wins! Sitting at 7-2 and dreams of a TV taking shape, I ran into Otto X's uber AB Rockewell. TV dreams shattered! Oh well! Not a bad run. Now back to the grind of getting my first maxxed warrior in Primus.

Eligibles- I only sent one warrior here as well. An aimer w past mediocre results in this class. But he has slowly been improving the past few tournies. And this time out, managed his best showing in Eligibles, finishing in at 5-3. Here's hoping for more improvement in the future!

ADM- This was my weakest living class this tourney. Sent 2 underachieving warriors, a ripper and a lunger. And no surprise, they underachieved again! Nothing to see here folks! But here's to plugging along and moving closer to the top of the line.

Freshman- Sent 4 warriors here, though all of them are underdeveloped in one form or another. Not not enough skills/physicals or a combination of both. But they have a good pedigree overall. All of them have TV'd, including one former TC and 2 former runner ups. So I was expecting a competitive showing at least. Ended up being disappointed with my two best finishes ending up at 3-3.

Challengers- Here was another one of my hopeful classes! Sent 3 guys, who also have had decent pedigrees. All 3 have TV'd challengers before, and with one former TC in a different class, my lunger Forest Moon. I think Managerr had me as a sleeper in this class, since Forest had the highest finish of all the remaining challengers left from the Chicago Face. Forest had a decent run, finishing in at 7-3 and just missing out on a TV. But my real sleeper came in the form of Lebron Leaving, a slasher that had TV'd Challengers before and had a few 7-3 finishes since. I actually expected more from him since his initial TV, but he was leaving me a little disappointed. Well he wasn't disappointing me this time around! I look up and he is sitting at 10-0 at the beginning of the runoffs, demolishing everyone in his path! Now I am getting into big boy country, but he keeps on winning! After beating Socially Awkward SL's lunger to get to 13-0, I have TC dreams in my head. Rd 14 I lost to The Dark One's very good warrior Slick Billy. Still in good shape standing in at 14-1, but now I face the pre tourney fave Ooo Ooo Ooo in Rd 15. After some back and forth, Lebron ended up taking that one. Wooohooo! Rd 16 I get the standby for a nice stress free win. Rd 17 I get Ooo again, and this time it isn't even close. I get the jump, crit attack and Ooo goes into Desperation. Fights over! I win and get the TC Very Happy

I almost don't care what happens in the rest of my tourney now, though the only ones that are left for me are the dead.

Dead Challengers- I send in 3 nostalgic warriors and a couple of really good lungers. One of my nostalgic guys, a PL that went 7-3 last dead tourney, I had high hopes for. But the best my guys could do here was an average 4-3.

Dead Champs- A 21-15-x-21 AB is my only entrant. After starting off at 2-0, gets killed again Sad

At least he is still sitting at 29 FE.

Dead Adepts- I have 4 really good warriors here! I think all 4 actually have a chance to make it back. Two of them do just that! I have a striker take 3rd place at 11-3 and another warrior at 8-3. The other 2 guys are still adepts at least, sitting in at 20 and 16 FE!

Dead Inits- Again I have some good guys here, but when they are this young, it still seems like a crap shoot! I have a good double 21 aimer here finish at 7-3. Not sure if he can make it back in Adepts or Champs. But maybe in Dead Challengers 6-7 yrs from now. Ha!

Dead Apps- One guy finished at 0-2. Still at 4 FE though! Hmmm, but maybe I'll just make him half of my Frankenstein....

So overall, it was a pretty good tourney for me. Anytime you can get a TC its great! Plus getting 2 dead guys back is a bonus. Ended up w living record of 51-30 and a dead record of 56-44. Combined 107-74 for a 59% win rate.

See you guys at Tempe!!!