Jan 23: Tempe Freshman Bust Recap

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2023 11:28 am

Monday mornings after the Face are for coffee and contemplation. I don't often have anything interesting to add the conversation, but this time I might!

BLEYS of AMBER, Freshman Lunger. Pre-Bust he looked like this:

ST=16(5) CN=11(5) SZ=11 WT=20(3) WL=20(3) SP=9 DF=13.
Great Endurance, Good Damage. 150 skills (39 Att / 31 Def).
+3 Init +4 Att +3 Def
LO/MOD EP Att learn

I was excited to see his favorites when he graduated, as he was the closest thing to a +5/+4 LU I'd had to that point. I can only say the disappointment was compounded by the fact that I didn't realize LO/MOD was even possible for a LU. I have since had several more.

But I ran him, anyway, thinking I'd bust him and move on. He proceeded to miss 31 consecutive CN trains. At 31, I gave up, but out of contrariness I tried a WL train on the first bust turn and what do you know? He made it! So the bust was on.

I had very low expectations.

He trained WT to 21 on the 2nd turn, and I had a problem. Since he was such a poor trainer, I didn't have a lot of faith in going for 22 WL, and past experience had shown me you had to keep improving or you'd fail quickly.

At this point, I realized I hadn't really thought this through.

Out of a touch of desperation, I decided to train his untouched 13 DF. 14 to 17 DF gave the possibility for a variety of useful skills, and the trains seemed attainable. So he entered RD 1 of Freshman at WT 21 WL 21 DF 14 and 167 skills, with a reasonable chance for 9 more (including 2 Att/Def) at 17.

My basic strategy was to run hot, 10-10-6, EP vs light and LO versus everything else, with a backup EP. I wore a little armor (APL/H) to give me a chance t take a hit. And I hoped for the best!

Rd 1: Easiest Exhalation, a TUM ST, and former TC. A bad omen, I thought, but somehow I won and started the tourney 1-0. Woot!

Having EP favorite helped here, I believe. EE jumped me, and I was desperate in the opening seconds of the Freshman tourney. Not good! But I was able to dodge and rip. Still, this wasn't enough as Bleys had to rip *again* to get a chance to win the fight.

DF to 15 got me Grandmaster Attack, which will become more important later.

Rd 2: Royal, an HW BG AB. Well, this is it, I thought, but again Bleys (who had found new life) overperformed and won in 2. Woot! Woot!

Rd 3: Bozo, an Assur BA, was next. I knew from previous experience that you couldn't let this guy swing or the fight would be over fast! Unfortunately, I failed to pass this knowledge on to Bleys who just wanted to see what it felt like to get hit by a 7'2 BA. He now knows it's a memorable yet miserable experience he doesn't want to repeat! But again Bleys found some Tempe luck and won in 2.

NOTE: Bozo has some of the best fight comments in the game!

DF to 16. The last of the "easy" trains. Still, for Bleys, this was unchartered territory when it came to training success. I figured that was it for him.

Rd 4: Pokey, Mon! My first TEABAG matchup. Vlad's got my number in most of these, but the dream carried on and Bleys again wins in 2.

DF to 17. Now what? I really should have thought this through! The Rip skill at 18 wasn't appealing, and there are 0 skills at 19. I switched to WL. Why not? I'm playing with house money at this point.

Rd 5: Hard Core of Riders of the Hood in 43. This PS jumped me, and hit me with a normal attack. WTF? I later found it was happening to far more accomplished warriors, but I'm not sure that makes me feel better.

A little armor, and a rip, and Hard Core was down in 1.

Rd 6: Rhyme of Heroic Verse in 33. A BA who jumped me, and hit me with a normal attack. This was becoming a trend. The armor helped me carry on until I could rip and Rhyme was down in 2.

Rd 7: Sanctions of Morning Fix, an HW TP. Uh oh! We were both 6-0 and I knew running hot would not work. This is where it got interesting.

I decided to leverage Bleys' favorite rhythm (and hopefully his GM Attack), and ran him 4-5-6-None with a LO. Naturally, Sanctions jumped me. He ripped me my rip, and knocked me down. Bleys parried from the ground and got back up - I wish I could have seen the look on HW's face.

(Who am I kidding, HW probably just flipped to the end of the fight to see if he'd made his train).

Other than that inauspicious beginning, by min 2 my strategy worked like a charm, with Bleys throwing crit after crit and hitting for extra damage. Except Sanctions wouldn't give up. I was beginning to think Sanctions was going to scum an exhaustion after seeing him get knocked down, desperate, gravely injured, etc. It you would have been inspirational if I wasn't the one fighting him.

Luckily (for me), Sanctions finally succumbed to the onslaught and gave up. Whew! I was the last undefeated warrior in Freshman at 7-0 Sunday morning, and starting to think that maybe Bleys had more magic.

WL to 22. I had now made 4 trains in 7 turns. I switched to WT and dreamed of TC's. Alas, the 22 WL was his last successful train.

Rd 8: Assur' Fogged Up Mirror brought me back to reality, beating me Bleys easily in 1 minute.

Rd 9: Major Cinnamon, PS stylemaster, had just handed my other Freshman bust a brutal loss, so I wasn't feeling good. Bitter experience had taught me how a 7-0 can quickly become a 7-3. There aren't any easy wins at this point! But Bleys refound his old magic and came through in 6. 8-1! TV assured so long as I lived to tell the tale.

Rd 10: Another TP, Whole of Milk is Good. The favs strategy worked again, and Bleys stood at 9-1. The remaining mix of warriors seemed favorable, with 3 AB, 2 TP, 1 each of BA / SL / ST and a PR. I had a loss to give, some style matchups that I'd been winning for the tourney.

Meanwhile, the other managers were probably thinking, "Bleys or an NPC, please!"

Rd 11: Chi Carinae, ST stylemaster, demolished me in 1. I tried the EP trick again, but it didn't work against OAB which is fair since he's the one who taught it to me.

Rd 12: Fomalhaut, OAB's eventual TC, "handily defeated" me in 1.

Congrats to OAC on his TC run!

And that was it, I was out at 9-3 with a LU that had never done anything previously in a tourney. It was more fun, I think, because it was unexpected.

Lessons Learned:

1. Sometimes it's better to give up and move on. I never thought about what I'd do if I busted after the 21 WT/WL. The 31 consecutive missed CN trains should have given me plenty of time! I mean, what was I doing, anyway?!?

2. Assuming you're going to bust, anyway, you have to use every advantage your warriors gives you.
- The natural 4 DF trains netted me 10 skills, at a much higher probability of success than training WT or WL.
- The EP fav can't be used all the time, but situationally it can be very effective. Don't discount a bad favorite weapon.
- And the bad rhythm came in handy vs some very good TPs. See EP fav.

3. If you have the chance, be ridiculously lucky. It really does come in handy.

4. Hope the tourney ends before your luck runs out.

Unchartered Poster Joined: Jun 05, 2003 Posts: 17

Enjoyed the read! Thanks for sharing RR!

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2023 4:23 pm

Thanks, O.A.B - nicely analyzed, humorized and written!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2958

I can't take credit for Riff-Raff's writing or bust!

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 4:41 am

One Armed Bandit wrote:

I can't take credit for Riff-Raff's writing or bust!

OAB can take credit for busting my bust!

Unchartered Poster Joined: Jul 05, 2021 Posts: 21

The Consortium wrote:

Thanks, O.A.B - nicely analyzed, humorized and written!

I crown you "King of the Trolls" after this post!

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:58 am

Great write up!

However:

Quote:

(Who am I kidding, HW probably just flipped to the end of the fight to see if he'd made his train).

Sanctions is a sandbagger. HW doesn't even read these fights until the run offs!

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

Excellent write up RR. Thoroughly enjoyed the read, and congrats on the TV buddy.