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By TERA STARFARE
January 8, 2007
I can't say this any better than Druid did who officiated this one folks so I'm bringing it straight to you from the corkboard.
MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY!
That's when it happened. ON January 8th at 9:15, Syous of Mystra, Topaz Datrazanov, Vanion Shadowcast, Tassleholf Momus, and Vincent Smith all gathered on the Twilight Isle to blast it out and see who would be crowned the victor and go on to face Will Wulfson, our current Arch Magi.
First round of the tournament saw Syous of Mystra given the bye as he was the first to submit his entrance notice. This left Vanion and Topaz to face off in Ring Tempest. This Ring was designed, by your's truly, to test the duelists ability to combat each other amid a raging storm of wind and rain that only grew stronger as the duel progressed.
While in Ring Roulette Vincent and Tassleholf hopped about on tiles designed to augment or suppress their magic depending on how lucky either one was. This ring I designed to draw on the ideal that every duel has an element of luck to it, no matter how big or small.
At the end of the First round Topaz and Vincent emerged with a win each.
The Second round tested the duelists yet again in battling the elements as Vincent was given the bye for being the first to win his match in the first round.
Tassleholf and Topaz squared off in Ring Ebony. Unlike the other three rings, this one's enchantment was not one that could physically alter the duelists casting, instead it tested their minds and senses shrouding them in a globe of impenetrable darkness. This duel was closely fought right up until the 14th round when Topaz braved the darkness to disrupt Tassleholf's casting with an icy fear touch to take the win with a score of 5.5-4.5.
Meanwhile, Vanion and Syous faced off in Ring Geyser. Much like Tempest this ring called on the element of water, but in a different manner. The entire floor of the ring was dotted with miniature geysers that spewed forth boiling water sporadically to fill the ring with mist and heat testing the duelists on how well they could keep moving and cast their magicks while dodging the burning eruptions of scalding water. This match was longer than any other in the tournament and saw Vanion come out of a 3 point deficit, stalling Syous at 4.5 points to push the duel to the full 15 rounds when the duel finally came to an end with Syous's Nether Ray blasting Vanion right from the ring to take the win 5.5-3. It is unknown
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however what happened to Vanion at this point as he vanished from the Isle, could have been a rogue collision of magic or merely self-caused teleportation. In any event this left four duelists to press on for the prize.
For Round 3, Tassleholf was scheduled to have the bye, but with only four duelists left things moved right along with Topaz and Vincent, the only duelists so far without any losses meeting in Ring Geyser. And Syous faced Tassleholf in ring Tempest. These duels were quicker than the last, each one barely making it to the double digit rounds and saw Vincent claim his second win besting Topaz 5-2.5 in 10 rounds and avoiding the burns of the geyser field, while Syous faced the storm to emerge victorious over Tassleholf 5-3.5 in 11 rounds.
As round three came to a close, Vincent was tied with Syous both holding 2 wins, and zero losses, Topaz in a close second with 2 wins and 1 loss, and Tassleholf eliminated from the tournament with 3 losses. The venerable dragon put up a mighty fight and gave as good as he got against his fellow competitors. Very well fought Lord Momus, I hope to see you come back in future tournaments.
Round 4 gave Topaz the bye, and Syous and Vincent faced off to see which one of them would go on to possibly be the victor of the tournament. The break down of rounds is as follows.
Vincent/Syous
Shield/Reflection Displace/Ghostform
Fear Touch/Fear Touch
Reflect/Reflect
Nether Ray/ Immolation
Armor/Ghost Form
Ghost Form/Reflect
Wizard Blades/Meteor Shower
Shield/Mage Bolt
Arctic Blast/ Wizard Blades
Nether Ray/Fear Touch
And so Vincent Smith emerged victorious besting Syous 5-3.5.
Syous and Topaz had the option of dueling one another as they were now tied with 2 wins and 1 loss each, and one of them could face Vincent who remained undefeated with 3 wins. Vincent would have to bead either of them once, while they would need 2 wins to be crowned the winner. Both duelists declined to continue as it was quite late. Both Syous of Mystra and Topaz Datrazanov showed great courage and fortitude in their matches, congratulations to you both for hard fought wins and a show of great sportsmanship.
So, Ladies and Gentlemen! Fighting his way through a myriad of duelists and daunting rings, Vincent Smith is the winner of the January Arch Magic Tournament and will go on to face Will Wulfson for the title of Arch Mage!!
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By TERA STARFARE
January 21, 2007
I had the honor of officiating this Diamond Quest and what a wonderful night of bumps and bruises it was folks! Seven of the top duelists came to answer the lure of the sparkling gem that is the top honor of this sport. In no particular order they were: Matt, Artemus, Vinny, Chris, Harris, Grayson, Rakeesh.
I decided rather than do a round robin style this time we would have double elimination. Round 1 dueling saw Rakeesh vs Artemus, Matt vs Grayson, and Harris vs Vinny with Chris the number one seed having the bye. Rakeesh, Matt, and Vinny all emerged with wins.
Round 2 we had Artemus vs Harris, Grayson vs Chris, and Vinny vs Matt with Rakeesh the number 2 seed having the bye. This go around we said good night to Artemus as Harris took the win along with Chris and Vinny winning their duels.
In round 3 they paired up with Vinny vs Rakeesh, Matt vs Chris, and Grayson vs Harris. Needless to say the field was narrowed down again after this round as Vinny, Chris, and Grayson had wins and we said good night to Harris and Chris.
Round 4 we were down to four duelists. Vinny with a spotless record. Everyone else with 1 loss. Vinny faced off against Grayson and Matt was in the ring with Rakeesh. In the end it came down to
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Vinny dueling Rakeesh, the current holder of Shadoweaver, that nastiest of Opals (okay so that is my personal opinion) in round 5.
When the fists and feet stopped flying we had a winner and this time it was Vincent VM Smith in his first ever reign as Diamond of the Duel of Fists!!!
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By TERA STARFARE
Vincent VM Smith
Preferred Dueling Areas: I prefer fists when I want to rid myself of physical aggression, magic when I want to use my mind, and swords when I want to beat something with a large metal object."
I was overjoyed when Vinny agreed to have a visit with me for my column this month as he currently holds not one but two of the top honors in the sports folks! Not only is this dueler enjoying his third reign as Archmage as of January 11th but he is also as of January the 21st the Diamond of the Duel of Fists.
It is quite an accomplishment to hold two top honors at the same time and I of course did have to ask him if he was considering going after the mantle of Overlord soon to make it all three. Vinny — "I had the brief thought of focusing my efforts on that goal, but decided against it. The urge has yet to strike."
This surprised me so I asked him why not. Vinny — "Because my ego isn't that large. Quite honestly, I'm pretty happy having even one title, never mind two."
His previous accomplishments in his 10 year career span are as I mentioned two previous reigns as Archmage as well as holding the Opal IceDancer. He hasn't held any Towers on the Isle though and hasn't held any Barony in Swords nor been Overlord yet in that sport. This got me thinking and I wondered if maybe duelers had a niche and wanted his opinion on that. Vinny — "Maybe with the younger duelists, but the more experienced ones can generally compete in anything. Whether or not they choose to is another story."
Since there are currently two of The Wrecking Crew members with Challenges to Baron's on the corkboard I asked him if he had heard any of the rumors about The Wrecking Crew wanting to take over the Baronies. Vinny — " I've heard a little bit about it, but haven't paid too much attention. However, if they do win a few, that will certainly give me motivation to capture one of my own."
Then I had to ask him why of course because he had said earlier he wasn't interested in one! Vinny — "Because I'm not a big fan of the crew."
This lead to me wondering if it was personal or professional since in the sports there is a difference at times. Vinny — "Bit of both. I find some of them to be a little too cocky and arrogant for my taste."
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I did ask Vinny if he had any goals while he holds these titles as some expressly pursue the top rank in order to accomplish some task or to change something that they feel needs to be changed within the sport whose highest honor they seek. Vinny — "Dunking Harris. That's first and foremost. Secondly, try to hang on to both titles for longer than two months."
For those of you that don't know Vinny dunking Harris would be a true joy as these two go back several years now. As a matter of fact on the 11th of January Vinny put up this note on the corkboard in The Outback.
I've had it with Harris.
There. I've said it. And I'm glad I did. The guy talks smack, then refuses to back it up. He's had ample opportunities to put his skills where his mouth is and has done nothing but back down every single time. And I think I figured out why. He's scared. He knows that he's gotten a little older, a little slower, and wouldn't last more than 8 rounds against me these days.
I'm sure upon reading this, he'll spout off about how "Vince sucks" and "He's got nothing on me." But he'll refuse to do anything more than that. That much I'm willing to bet on.
Vinny
Some of you may be familiar with the Temple of Divine Light. It just so happens that Vinny is a member and he and I have shared words on this subject that were less than friendly in the past but I digress. This evening I asked him exactly what it was he does there. Vinny — "Digging into my religious life now? Yes, I am a member of the Temple of Divine Light. These days, my main duties are the training of the new guard that will take over patrolling duties and spreading the good word about the White Lady. It's helped give me the little extra focus I needed to get these titles."
Vinny also runs the Hotel Ritz over in the Seaside district and has some interesting hobbies I thought. Vinny — "Most people don't realize this, but I like to cook. Been trying to up my culinary skills by watching Maurice down in the hotel kitchen. Besides that, I like to get out in the wilderness, just to sit back and relax. Plenty of things to do in the woods with some spells and a good imagination."
My questions where finished and I asked if he had anything else that he wanted me to add for him. Vinny — "Just that I'd like to thank everyone for coming out and supporting me the other night. It meant a lot to see my fans out on force."
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