October 2025 Tourney Date Confirmed

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2025 7:48 pm

Lee just confirmed on Discord the October tourney will run on Sat 10/25.
That makes the ADM Freeze 9/13.

ArchMaster Poster Joined: Apr 15, 2004 Posts: 2988

I have been scaling back on Duel2 lately, due to a combination of another fun hobby I started at the beginning of last year (amateur 8-ball and 9-ball) and other life changes, like an impending career change. I haven't lost interest in Duel2, I just haven't had a desire to participate in the arms race aspects of tourney play.

I entered a tight squad of 37 warriors in the October MI:
Breakdown by class: 4 Primus, 2 Contenders, 2 ADM, 4 Freshmen, 4 Challengers, 9 Rookies, 4 Dead Challengers, 2 Dead Champions, 2 Dead Adepts, 1 Dead Initiate, 2 Dead Apprentices
Breakdown by fighting style: 9 LU, 7 AB, 7 ST, 4 TP, 3 WS, 2 PL, 2 BA, 1 SL, 1 PR, 1 PS

There was a purpose for every entry. Here they are:

Primus - My best AB, SNAKE OIL SELLER, has TV'd Primus a few times, so he is always worth an entry. I am trying to get a young LU, PARROT KEEPER, to 300 FE by the next King of Primus, so he earned a spot too. My other two entries were ANDORIAN SMOOTHIE and DEAD MAN WALKING, competing for SL and PR stylemasters and representing token entries for those styles on my roster.

Contenders - I didn't run my strongest Contender, THIRD COURSE, as I felt it would be a shame if she won this tourney, given the prize. It reminds me of those gag "all I got was this lousy t-shirt" gifts. My two Contenders entries were both TPs: SPARE ANCHOR, three time TC and seven time Contenders award winner, and CANNED SAVRADESE, former Eligibles TC and record holder for the most DA kills as a mortal warrior. It will be the first Contenders run for CANNED SAVRADESE and I have no idea how he'll do, but I decided that I would be thrilled if one of my TPs could TC and move on to maxing out in Primus for the next KoP contest.

ADM - I ran one sandbagger, MUKTUK, a clone of THE WHITE WHALE and clone brother of the more famous WHALE MEAT. He got a few ST raises and damage bumps leading up to the tourney, so is a legit TC threat now. I also busted a really unknacky zombie AB, RESURRECTIONIST. He entered the freeze looking like 20(7)-21(9)-9-14(1)-20(9)-5-21. Lots of physicals, but not enough of anything. He is doing a light bust with just WT to 15 and DF to 25 so that he can land in Eligibles afterwards. We will see whether his powerful style, setup, and bust-out can overcome his weak intangibles.

Freshmen - I entered three sandbaggers in this class, MU MENSAE, SPARE BALLAST, and MIRA. All of them have TV and stylemaster potential. I busted out a PL named DENEB. It took her lots of ST trains to pick up Good damage, and that weak damage will probably be her undoing. But maybe with enough skills and her favorite SC, she can overcome that. She entered the freeze as a 17(9)-15(4)-8-20-21-5-11 PL, and after one WT train and two WL trains, has 166 total skills going into the tourney. If she gets lucky and wins early, and trains well, who knows?

Challengers - I entered four Challengers. They are getting more seasoned, but with FEs in the 40s, it isn't quite their time yet. But there is only one way to prep future Challengers and this is it.

Rookies - My 9 Rookies came from my DM 10 and DM 45 future contest teams. I enjoy contests and I put in the effort for them, as evidenced by my King of Primus win and my team's recent Turf War wins. I am happy to give some wins to the eventual Rookie TC if it helps my chances in Darque's upcoming contests.

Dead Challengers - I entered a 21-21 PL, ALPHA CAELI, a 21-21 LU, CASTOR, and a 21-20 PS, MU NORMAE. I would love to get them back, but they are still a little young. My best hope is BANDIT MINCE, who is an AB with big skills and 54 FE.

Dead Champions - I have one hopeful, NAOS, a 30 FE LU. I also have one hopeless, CINNAMON TROLL, a 24 FE BA from my DM 47 team. Last time I entered CINNAMON TROLL, she was the only BA in her dead class and won the stylemaster, so I figured I would give her another try.

Dead Adepts - I like both of my entries in this class. AMBITIOUS LARD is a 17-6(1)-4-17-21-9-11 LU at 20 FE. LAMBDA PYXIDIS is a 9-8(1)-8-17-17-5-21 AB at 19 FE. Neither has shown much knack, except for dying, but both have great starting stats, are timed well, and have learned well.

Dead Initiates - My one entry in this class is a 10-10-7-21-15-10-11 ST named ALKES who is dead at 10 FE. That setup has some TC pedigree (one of Floyd's TCs), and you can't go too wrong with a timed power style in the dead classes.

Dead Apprentices - My two entries are both timed at 4 FE. DAGGERBOARD is a 17-10-6-21-10-9-11 ST, and PARROT NEBULA is a clone of my Primus LU PARROT KEEPER who spectacularly flamed out and died at 4 FE in his Rookies run. The dead tournies are all about second chances, so I am really rooting for PARROT NEBULA!

I would love to sneak in a TC this tourney, as I skipped the winter and summer FtFs, and I only managed a runner-up in April. Hopefully my 16 year TC streak doesn't come to an end, but it wasn't quite important enough to me to run THIRD COURSE in Contenders, load up on Rookies, or run my timed basic warriors. So if I fall short, so be it.

Good luck to everyone in the tourney!

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2025 7:51 am

A Quick Summary of CONSORTIUM Mailer results:

Sent 38
4TVs, 3 Live, 1 Dead Adept
3 Bashers (1 very deep Rookie) and 1 Total Parry
2 Basher stylemasters
54.8% w/l (despite 1-9-0 Primus)

Congrats to all the TVs and TCs

Master Poster Joined: Jul 15, 2014 Posts: 230

How are you not a Blade Master poster yet? 10K+ posts? Criminy!

The Consortium wrote:

A Quick Summary of CONSORTIUM Mailer results:

Sent 38
4TVs, 3 Live, 1 Dead Adept
3 Bashers (1 very deep Rookie) and 1 Total Parry
2 Basher stylemasters
54.8% w/l (despite 1-9-0 Primus)

Congrats to all the TVs and TCs

Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2025 1:23 pm

I guess I am just not Hokie enough?

Vladimer wrote:

How are you not a Blade Master poster yet? 10K+ posts? Criminy!

The Consortium wrote:

A Quick Summary of CONSORTIUM Mailer results:

Sent 38
4TVs, 3 Live, 1 Dead Adept
3 Bashers (1 very deep Rookie) and 1 Total Parry
2 Basher stylemasters
54.8% w/l (despite 1-9-0 Primus)

Congrats to all the TVs and TCs

Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2025 9:38 am

The Consortium wrote:

I guess I am just not Hokie enough?

Vladimer wrote:

How are you not a Blade Master poster yet? 10K+ posts? Criminy!

The Consortium wrote:

A Quick Summary of CONSORTIUM Mailer results:

Sent 38
4TVs, 3 Live, 1 Dead Adept
3 Bashers (1 very deep Rookie) and 1 Total Parry
2 Basher stylemasters
54.8% w/l (despite 1-9-0 Primus)

Congrats to all the TVs and TCs

At 10K posts you'd think he'd have attained the POSTMASTER rating

Master Poster Joined: Jul 15, 2014 Posts: 230

DonaldTrump wrote:

At 10K posts you'd think he'd have attained the POSTMASTER rating

https://media1.tenor.com/m/Wn3myRMF-xAAAAAd/clapping-leonardo-dicaprio.gif

Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2025 1:44 am

Thanks, Vlad. Perhaps, though, that just means I am old?