October MI 2024

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2988

Heard through the grapevine:

The October MI will be held on October 26, 2024.

That makes the ADM freeze this coming weekend of September 14-15, just prior to the increased training/learning turn in Primus.

Remember, there is no basic freeze. Your basic warriors fight according to their FE on the day of the tournament.

Unchartered Poster Joined: Jul 23, 2013 Posts: 15

Thanks for the update, OAB!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2988

The tourney announcement has been posted:

http://www.reality.com/tourny80.pdf

Site Admin Joined: Jun 20, 2002 Posts: 1349

DOH. I missed it. I thought it would be next weekend. I should pay more attention. Good luck all!

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2988

I entered 50 warriors in the October Mail-in, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the reported 3600+ entrants.

Breakdown by tourney class: 1 Primus, 4 Contenders, 1 Eligible, 1 ADM, 7 Freshmen, 1 Challenger, 6 Champions, 3 Adepts, 8 Initiates, 6 Apprentices, 3 Rookies, 3 Dead Challengers, 1 Dead Champ, 3 Dead Adepts, 1 Dead Initiate, 1 Dead Apprentice

Breakdown by fighting style: 13 LU, 11 AB, 10 ST, 4 TP, 2 BA, 2 PL, 2 PR, 2 PS, 2 SL, 2 WS

Prizes were applied unusually late, so I almost didn't get in my final 2 entrants (into Rookies). Here are my best chances:

Contenders

I cut the chaff from my Contenders crew, and am only running the warriors who have previously TV'd the class. They consist of THIRD COURSE (a FI AB with 7 Contenders TVs and 1 Contenders RU), SPARE ANCHOR (a TP with 4 Contenders TVs), DUSKBLOOD PUDDING (a weapon AB with 3 Contenders TV, although none of them recently), and FISHWIFE (a FI AB with 2 Contenders TVs).

In any given tourney, I feel like I have a chance to TC the class with this group. Go, team, go!

Freshmen

I have a group of warriors who I try for non-100% trains each tourney to possibly start off a bust-out. I went for one 100% trainer, and three of the low probability trainers also hit, so I ended up with four bust-outs in the class. I also have three sandbaggers who are shaping up, one of which is SPARE BALLAST, a clone of my three-time TC TP, SPARE ANCHOR.

The bust-outs are challenged physically, which will make it tough to get past HW's group of maxed physical TPs (and other styles). The best of the bunch is this one:

ALPHA CARINAE (22-7490) of CARINA (2218) [58-38-1,179,106FE], will fight Freshmen.
She is a aimed blow with ST=14(3) CN=18(6) SZ=9 WT=21(4) WL=15(6) SP=5 DF=22(1).
She is right handed, is a genius, has a good endurance, can take tremendous amounts of damage, can carry a good amount of weight, is incredibly quick and elusive, does good damage, has a Master in riposte, has an Advanced Master in attack, has a Master in parry, has a Master in defense, has an Expert in decisiveness, favors the dagger, favors a very low offensive effort, favors a very low activity level, and preferentially learns defense.

She started by hitting the minimum train to 15 WL, then followed that up with a 75% train to 22 DF, then I decided to gamble on a 37.5% train to 21 WT (which has the same EV as another DF train being a double breakpoint, but higher variance) and she hit that too. She is going into the tourney with 150+ skills, but with a less deep bust available to her than some other warriors. She uses a weapon, she has some hit points, her knack is unknown.

I have no idea if she or my other Freshmen can get past HW and TMM in the class, but this is as good a shot as I've had in Freshmen in a while.

Honorable Mentions

My 1 Primus entry is SNAKE OIL SELLER, who just had Slash tactic added courtesy of King of Primus (to go along with his FI, Dodge tactic, max damage, and max Att/Def) and I am excited to see if he can get a 2nd Primus TV or better.

My zombie WS, HAEDUS, is competing in Champions. He TV'd Adepts after going 7-3 in two previous classes. I enjoy this warrior and am looking forward to reading the results.

I have an arena caliber SL in Apprentices named DEADEYE who has the longshot potential for a great tourney performance. He is a 12-4-9-17-15-12-15 SL who rolled up +4 Ini, +4 Dec, and Good damage and has learned all Ini, Att, and Dec. He goes into Apprentices with an AdEx+3 in Ini, an Ex in Att, and an Ex in Dec. He is a fun warrior with high hopes and low expectations.

I cloned a Primus LU of mine named PARROT KEEPER who TV'd Rookies and ADM, then TC'd Eligibles and Contenders while stuck with an unfortunate Parry favorite learn. I placed the clone on a team that had won a stylemaster award in July, so I was able to ZAP his learn. I was also able to discover the exact favorites of PARROT KEEPER from King of Primus prizes after the clone was created. Will this be enough of an edge for PARROT NEBULA to get past the several hundred other Rookies that a 3600 entrant tourney implies?

I have been averaging 2-3 TCs per year, but things have gotten considerably harder in recent years with all the returning managers and the improved level of play. In the past, the best managers have brought out their best warriors for the Frankenstein prize, so I won't surprised if I come up short across the board. Best of luck to everyone in the tourney. I hope you all get your favorite dead warriors back!

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2024 5:55 am

I sent in 22 I think, mostly dead from 21 and 33, and a couple arena guys from same places. didn't get to my pile of basic tourney guys this time. Best I can hope for is maybe I get one dead back, two would be great, but doubtful.

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2024 7:01 am

No Spoilers here:

But, I had 4 die and killed 2.

The new RUs are heartening ................
5-13-10-10-9-4-19
14-4-7-15-14-4-12
14-3-13-7-12-12-9
8-7-12-10-7-9-17

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2988

I had a very good tourney overall. My 50 warriors went 223-145-2-2 for a 60.6% win. That is much better than my usual win%, and is probably due to me trimming down my Primus, Contenders, and Challengers.

The highlights:

Primus

I entered one warrior, my newly Slash-tastic AB SNAKE OIL SELLER. He had some good matchups early on, facing only 1 perfect AB in the first 5 rounds, along with 3 PLs and 1 PS. He beat JOHN ASHCROFT, along with the non-ABs, and entered round 6 at 5-0.

He then proceeded to face 8 consecutive TMM ABs. He lost to MR. GHERKIN in R6 to go to 5-1. He beat 5 and JORMP JUMPER in R7 and R8 to improve to 7-1. He then lost to DIRTY ZEALOT in R9 to go to 7-2, with the TV on the line in the next match. SNAKE OIL SELLER went on to beat the 9-0 SAMURAI in R10 to get the TV, and then beat MIFFED SANDY and BOB ETERNAL in R11 and R12 for good measure. His run ended with a loss to BOBS AND DOGS in R13.

For those keeping track at home, SNAKE OIL SELLER went 6-3 vs perfect TMM ABs and finished up with a 10-3 TV. He didn't get the TC. He didn't get the RU. But that TV felt as good as any TV can.

Contenders

I entered four Contenders, all former TVs in the class, and they did not disappoint. My worst performance was from DUSKBLOOD PUDDING, who finished 6-3. FISHWIFE went 7-3, which is just as well, as a TV bumps her up to Primus for 6 months. THIRD COURSE went 12-3 for my 2nd TV of the tourney, and SPARE ANCHOR, my newly ambidextrous 3-time TC TP, went 13-3 and was the runner-up.

Mgrr's AB SCOMSSS'S NIGHTMARE won it all, and SPARE ANCHOR didn't really come close as his opponent won it with a 16-0 record. But even though it was one of those distant runner-ups, its a big deal for a TP to runner-up an AB dominated class like Contenders and it gives me hope that SPARE ANCHOR might be able to TC the class some day.

Freshmen

I had a lot of good stuff in this class, but only one of them managed to do well. ALPHA CARINAE, who I mentioned in my pre-tourney write-up, went 10-3. It was a good run, and she was able to win the AB stylemaster, which provides a very useful bonus potion.

Champions, Adepts, and Initiates

I was able to get a 9-3 TV in each of these classes with LESATH in Champions, POLLUX in Adepts, and EDASICH in Initiates. Nothing earth shattering, but entering groups of good warriors and picking up TVs is a nice confirmation that you are doing things right.

The lowlights:

My 2 deaths in the tournament were doozies.

I lost CASTOR in Champions at 9-3. He was a 21-21 LU from the Holy Grail sheet. This was to be his last basic tournament before arena fighting his way to graduation. Now he will have to slog through Dead Challengers for years.

My other death was my newly minted clone, PARROT NEBULA, in Rookies. He died at 5-3, so at least he'll be timed for Dead Apprentices next year. He looked good enough, but didn't do nearly as well as the original in Rookies. On the plus side, the ZAP of his favorite learn took, so he isn't learning a ton of Parry. Hopefully that will improve his chances at doing well in upper basic and in the ADM classes.

There were plenty of blah results, but that is just how things go. My zombie WS went 5-3 in Champions and will now enter the Challengers grinder. My arena SL with super learning and bonuses only managed a 3-3 in Apprentices. He may get another chance in Initiates. My Royal Court PS went 4-3 in Rookies. Maybe Apprentices will bring better things?

----------

When all was said and done, my warriors got 1 Runner-Up, 6 TVs (if you don't count the dead 9-3), and 3 stylemaster awards, all of them very useful. I had a great record and award percentage, and it was enjoyable to read the results. The only thing missing was a TC.

Congrats to all the TC winners! I don't plan on being in Tempe, but I will send some warriors hunting for TVs, stylemasters, and development in Primus, Contenders and elsewhere. Most of my warriors will begin preparing for April.

Posted: Fri Nov 08, 2024 2:28 am

Great tournament, OAB! Wow!
7TVs and an RU? Awesome.
60% w/l? Awesome+!
Kudos.

P.S. Always enjoy your write-ups.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2988

TC/RU list, as compiled by HW in Chatzy:

Primus: TMM AB Marv Jr/TMM AB Samurai
Contenders: Mgrr AB Scomsss’s Nightmare/OAB TP Spare Anchor
Eligibles: TMM AB Pimpled Ninny/HW AB Adonis DNA
ADM: HW LU Moon Juice /HW AB Foreign Shore
Freshmen: HW TP Imnota Goat/HW TP B
Challengers: HW AB Magnus /JE AB Destiny
Champions: Dr. F SL Primal/HW AB Captain Midnight
Adepts: Dr. F SL Sark/HW TP Swipey
Initiates: Floyd WS The Feelies/Chief I ST The Prodigy
Apprentices: Crip TP Gate Keeper/Obregon PL Lebowski
Rookies: PurpleSage ST Wu-San/Neon Necromancer AB Armbar Jay
Dead Challengers: Mgrr LU WTG/Mgrr LU Lotus Michelle
Dead Champions: Doc Steele ST Jenky/Riff Raff AB Basil Hayden
Dead Adepts: Assur ST Chipped Floor/Riff Raff ST Widow Jane
Dead Initiates: Mgrr ST Trodon/TDO ST Deceit
Dead Apprentices: TDO ST Evil Earwig/Angus LU Bald Eagle

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2024 1:02 pm

I ended up sending 77 warriors--I had very low expectations since most of them were prepping or dead. Plus I still had some TC afterglow and because I'm in my "semi-retirement" phase, you can't have high expectations of more than like a TC every few years these days.

Primus: I normally fight all TMM guys after round 5, but for the first time, it was nice to see so many different faces. As it is, it looked like 6 different managers made the TV list, even though TMM won! I'd say there are now 10 managers who care capable of TV'ing in Primus which is a couple more than there were a few years ago! (Basically HW, OAB, Papaiz added to the list) I sent 7 (4 ABs) and got 1 TV and 0 stylemasters. I see you guys trying to move in on the SL stylemaster with Smelly Socks gone! (Also don't get used to winning that ST stylemaster either!!!)

Contenders: I sent 5 here, including my former runner-up Scomsss's Nightmare. I always felt Nightmare was a bit of an under-achiever but he was my best shot here. With my KOP consolation prize, I drafted an inversion prize, which I used on him here. Apparently, that's what he really really needed because he looked totally unstoppable, easily cruising to the TC! He went 16-0 and I never felt in danger when reading the fights. I was surprised to see a TP (Spare Anchor) in there and the first fight with Anchor was actually the closest fight of the tourney for him, but I just thought was it was extremely unlikely a maxxed attack AB would lose to a TP 3x in a row. Anyway, this was a big TC for me. One of my career accomplishments was to win a TC in every single class--and Contenders was the one class that had eluded me. With this, I now have a TC in all active classes (including every dead class and Novices for good measure) And because I know most people don't have Primus, I know there's not a lot of people who have done this.

Eligibles: I had a single-21 bustout, Cute Snotling, taking a stab at this but he missed a turn and I wasn't super hopeful. (Plus, only Tremendous Damage) He went 7-3 but he really wasn't a match for the top contenders in this class.

ADM-Apprentices: I only had 14 warriors in these classes and it was still pretty nice, they pulled 3 TVs and 2 stylemasters. My Apprentices had a deep run and I had a basher finish 3rd in Freshmen despite never doing anything previously. (No match for HW's guys though)

Dead Challengers: I sent 35 warriors of my 77 guys in this class. I definitely felt like I was the favorite going in--but I think even I underestimated my chances. After disposing of TDO's Lunger, I found myself with the last 3 guys in this class! I pretended I was TMM in Primus as my guys maximized the rounds they could go before WTG was able to slip away with the TC. Another TC with no stress! Why can't they all be like this?!?!?!?

Dead Inits: Most of my guys in my other dead classes were godlings with little chances to come back or guys that just happened to have the right amount of FE. Enter my 9 FE Striker, Troodon, who cruised to a 12-0 start. I did think to myself "It can't be this easy again, can it?". Well it wasn't because he got jumped/lost to TDO's Striker in Round 13 and then again in Round 15. I knew TDO's Striker had 1 decise skill on me. I was prepared to lose the final fight, but Troodon got the RNG luck this and got the jump and won! This one was a little dramatic (But I was already on a TC high when reading it so I could have lost this and it would have been ok)

Overall it was 316-218 (59.1%) with 8 TVs and 3 TCS (2 Living, 1 Dead) and 4 Stylemasters. Can't complain. I've been trying pretty hard in the early part of 2024, so it's nice to see things pay off a bit.

I'll be at the FtF where I'm already emotionally prepared for things to go back to normal and be disappointed again.

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2024 2:16 pm

WOW! Well done, Managerr. Very well done.

Master Poster Joined: Jul 15, 2014 Posts: 229

Grats on the Class Round Robin, Mgrr, and excellent tourney overall. Really cool.

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2024 10:05 am

Fall 2024 recap:

Primus: I've been ramping up my efforts here and was able to add an unnmaxed prize AB Sonny Terry after his Contenders TC.
Ended up with a good W/L, but didn't go past round 12. Franklin's Tower's new ambidexterity was worth a 5-3.

Contenders: I was excited to see if Ashen Shugar, a sz 19 LU, could further his 10-3 success in Minneapolis. He looked strong
and had some good wins vs. good AB's, but ended up outside the runoffs at 7-3. My best performance was a 9-3 FI AB that I
wanted to move up to Primus. He learned some bad gate skills as a quasi-bust, and I guess it helped? He never TV'ed the class
before this tourney.

Eligibles: I had extremely high expectations here as I was busting a nice FI AB that was able to use the KoP increased training to
hit a 50% WL train to 21. I followed that up with 4th and 5th WT trains to 22 and he was looking good. He hit 4 DF trains to 25
through the first 9 rounds. After that I was supposed to switch to an untouched 3 SP, but he ended up training a 25 due to the input
error. I'm not sure it would've mattered against TMM's superior AB, Pimpled Ninny. My AB took all 3 of his losses to the TC.

ADM: I love this class! Moon Juice was a 9-8-9-21-21-5-11 LU that Mannequin rolled up. He came back -2 riposte and -2 defense.
I traded him a fresh 21-21 team sheet for 2 retired basic teams containing 3 hosed 21-21's, including Moon Juice. I graduated him
and he got pretty good favorites of MO-HI LO defense learn. I trained him for a while, getting to 25-16-9-21-21-5-12 and giving
him a max bonus potion to fix his defense. I trained WL post-freeze, then he managed to hit 4 WT and his last WL through the
first 9 rounds. I switched to DF and he picked 1 up to 13. He looked fantastic and TC'ed!

Freshmen: I also love this class! I'm really fascinated by total parries and how they become very good at things that they
look very bad at earlier in the career. Some of them end up being fast, good at maintaining initiative like Rare Breed.
Sometimes they decide they can riposte anyone, like Ill Subliminal. Sometimes they like to just be really scummy, like Tick
... Tock. Imnota Goat, a warrior I got from Khisanth, seemed up for whatever he wanted. He was able to handle offensives
easily, either ripping them into submission or waiting long enough until they got tired. He also had a formidable attack,
and was able to do more than just swing but land extra damage critical attacks. In other news, my busting BA went 2-3.

Challengers: The trifecta! This time, the love was for Magnus, an AB I created with the last iteration of the Frankenstein
prize. It was an odd prize. You removed 6 points from SP and/or DF, then added 2 to ST, 2 to SZ, and 2 to WT. You were given max damage
and ambi. I ended up with 11-8-14-17-9-4-21. Not very prize looking, but he managed to get a Champs RU, then quickly died in Challengers.
After a few years of effort, he TV'ed Dead Challengers to get back in the race. He recently went 10-3 in spring, and I was getting
confident in him as his FE was running out. He was up to 13 CN, and was able to handle some of the back and forths that were his
bane earlier in his career. He ended his TC run against an up and coming LU of JE's, Destiny.

Champions: I entered 1 warrior, my AB Captain Midnight. It was a nickname I got as a kid for only wearing black, so I made him a good warrior!
He had gained some fame with a Rookies TC, then followed that up with an Inits TV in a stacked field. He then went 9-3 at 16 FE with
what I thought was a bad MI strategy, but apparently he likes going 1-10 D and wielding a broadsword? In July, he entered the tourney and
managed to RU, landing perfectly at 30 FE. Things were running really smooth through the 11th round, with just 1 loss to Castor of Gemini. After 3
more wins, I was feeling like this was in the bag for my best tourney ever, but Dr. F had different ideas with his SL Primal. A few HA crits
later and Captain Midnight achieved his 2nd RU in Champs at 13-3.

Adepts: I ran 7 here with low expectations, with 3 for timing. One of the 20 FE guys is a TP though, so you know I love him. He ripped off
a bunch of wins and went into the runoffs undefeated. He eventually lost in round 11, then won 3 more to end up in a sweet 13-1/12-2 matchup
against, what is this? a Dr. F slasher? I will have my revenge! No I won't. Sark peeled off Swipey's APM in back to back fights and he ended up 13-3.

Initiates - Rookies: I ran 23 across these classes, picking up a couple TV's.

Dead: I ran 18 and got 5 back, so that made me happy.

Overall: I really wanted to win a Frankenstein prize, and was lucky enough to manage 3! I was glad that some of the preparation I've done for this
cycle is working, even if that success sometimes came from an unexpected source.

Congrats to the winners! - TMM for his continued dominance in Primus and a strong victory in Eligibles. Dr. F (probably while drinking a margarita
on a cruise ship) for his 2 SL TC's againt me. Big congrats to Mgrr with a high-end Contenders AB TC and dominating the dead side of the tourney.
Leaning into his wheelhouse, Floyd wins another baffling Inits WS TC. How does he do it? Kudos go out to Crip stepping outside of his normal Dead
Challengers effort with what sounds like a scummy TP for the Apprentices TC. And in a grand return for Purple Sage, taking Rookies with a striker.

Hope to see everyone in Tempe!

Howlin Wolf

Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2024 8:32 am

Tourney newsletter did not post all stylemasters from Apprentices, DM 209. The styles left off were WS, PR and SL. Does anyone know who won these awards?