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By TERA STARFARE
January 17, 2007
After 16 intense stages of Swords, Fists, and Magic dueling the First Annual Tour de RhyDin drew to a close. There were plenty of prizes to go around in this new Team based sporting event that took place for the first time ever in the regular dueling venues rather than apart from them.
The teams that entered were in no certain order:
• GnomCorp — Colors: Orange and Silver. Members: G'nort Dragoon-Talandor, Cassius Maximus, Rena Cronin, and Cory Havoick.
• Fearless — Colors: Gold. Members: Amaltea thu-Darelir, Brigath Cedran, Tera Starfare, Wyheree Ravenlock-Black.
• Cobra — Colors: Green and Black. Members: Vincent Smith, Artemus Kurgen, Bran Bale, and Kyndra MacDraven.
• Knights of the Squared Circle — Colors: White and Red. Members: Karen Wilder, Tasselhofl Momus, Maetel the Cat, Dinah du Blanc, Dracos Drasoini.
• The Grey Walkers — Colors: Grey. Members: Xenograg thu-Darelir, Alais d'Nitesong, Rhaine DarkSilver, Mystic Silva.
• Crush Bob — Colors: None. Members: Jaycynda Ashleana, Kheldar Drasnia, Matthew Simon, Loyliak VanDuran, Vasvrae.
• Birthright — Colors: Black and Red. Members: Vanion Knightwood-Shadowcast, Anubis Karos, Dawn Karos, Xanthippe Kasiph.
One of the highlights was the "Beat on Random" option that we all thoroughly enjoyed. Once during a stage we were allowed to challenge Random to a duel and if we beat him we got a tour point for that stage whatever it might have been. For those of us that lost against him we were grateful that those duels did not count against us however!
Some memorable moments were the mottos that sprang up during the dueling. GnomCorp's was "We own you!" Bran Bale had one all his very own - "I'm a tower of power! The lizardman of the hour! Too sssweet to be sssour! I've got ssstyle and grace! And a ssscaly face! If you don't like thisss messs, you're at the wrong addressss! I'll make your back crack! Your kneesss freeze! Your liver quiver! And while the other duelersss are in the back room laughin' and jokin', Bran Bale'sss in the dueling ring cookin' and sssmokin'! Wooo!"
The Fearless Team girls all got into the act with theirs: Amal: "Prepare for trouble…" Des: "…and make it double" Amal: "To protect the world from devastation!" Des: "To unite all peoples within our nation" Amal: "To denounce the evils of truth and love" Des: "To extend our reach to the stars above" Amal: "Amal!" Des: "Des!" Amal: "Team Fearless blasts off at the speed of light" Des: "Surrender now or prepare to fight" Wyh: "Fearless is right!"
During the stages there was literally something for everyone with brawls, eliminations, team events, regular dueling events all spread out over the months the Tour lasted. Each week the standings were updated with who currently was wearing those most coveted of all the prizes the jerseys for Swords (Red), Fists (Green), Magic (Blue), Best Overall (Yellow), and Best Rookie (White). There were also plenty of cash and tour point prizes sprinkled throughout the stages.
When the last thrust had been gored and the last jab had been thrown and the last wizard blades had flown across the ring it was time for Random who was the Co-ordinator of this grand and glorious Tour to give out the final awards of jerseys and category prizes.
This part I'm bringing to you straight from the corkboard as Random himself posted it.
The White Jersey, for the highest ranking duelist in the Tour who has not yet attained an official "elite" rank, goes
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to Bran Bale, who overcame Amaltea's dominance of the category in the late stages to take the lead, and finish in a tie for 3rd place overall with an outstanding score of 24 Tour Points!
The Red Jersey, for the best Swords duelist in the Tour, goes to Tasslehofl Momus, whose outstanding victories in the Swords Elimination AND Swords Brawl gave him 10 Swords Points, which allowed him to finish one point ahead of G'nort Dragoon-Talanador even without placing for Swords Points in either the Regular or Team stages!
The Green Jersey, for the best Fists duelist in the Tour, goes to Koyliak VanDuren, whose superior performance in the Regular stages, including one victory, allowed her to sneak past Matt Simon by a single point to make the final rankings 11 to 10 in her favor!
The Blue Jersey, for the best Magic duelist in the Tour, goes to Rena Cronin, whose two victories in the Magic Elimination and second Magic Regular stages, along with a dominance of the Dan rank in the Team stage, kept her a point ahead of Cory Havoick to win the Jersey!
Finally, I am proud to award the Yellow Jersey, the much-coveted prize for the best overall Tour duelist, to Matt Simon, who not only amassed a large number of Tour Points from the Fists stages as everyone expected, but duplicated his feats in the Swords stages and dug in through the Magic stages to seal his victory with 26 Tour Points, yet again a point ahead of his teammate, Kheldar Drasinia!
Last but not least, a struggle that rival led the battle for the Yellow in its intensity, the Team Competition! We watched as the teams soared and dropped through the rankings, as GnomCorp pulled to an almost unassailable lead, yet Crush Bob pulled back in the end to cause likely the most surprising result of the Tour, a tie at 144 points each! However, GnomCorp, with its 7 collective stage wins to Crush Bob's 4, won the tiebreaker to make them the Top Team of the 2006 Tour de RhyDin!
That's it for the major awards, but I have a couple minor awards to give out for some interesting tidbits:
"THE ROCK"
For the duelist who contributed the most points to his/her team, the Rocks for the 2006 Tour are Matt Simon AND Kheldar Drasinia, both of Crush Bob, with 45 team points each! Tasslehofl Momus of Knights of the Squared Circle came in 2nd with 42 points, and Cassius Maximus of GnomCorp in 3rd with 41 points.
"KING/QUEEN OF THE HILL"
For the duelist with the most stage wins, the Queen of the Hill for the 2006 Tour is Rena Cronin of GnomCorp with an amazing 3 stage wins! Coming in tied for 2nd were Tasslehofl Momus of Knights of the Squared Circle and Vincent Smith of Cobra, each with 2 stage wins.
"EL CONSTANTE"
For the duelist (who participated in at least one Regular stage of each discipline) with the highest PDPD across all of his/her regular duels, the 2006 Tour El Constante is Cassius Maximus of GnomCorp, with a PDPD of 1.6 across 13 duels! In 2nd was Kheldar Drasinia of Crush Bob with a PDPD of 1.0 across 20 duels, and 3rd was Rena Cronin of GnomCorp with a PDPD of 0.89 over 9 duels.
"DUELING MACHINE"
For the duelist with the most Regular duels in the Tour, the Dueling Machine of the 2006 Tour is, you guessed it, Bran Bale of Cobra, with 25 duels! Tied for 2nd were Wyheree of Fearless, and Kheldar Drasinia of Crush Bob, each with 20.
"SHUTOUT ARTIST"
For the duelist with the most shutouts across all disciplines during the Tour, the 2006 Tour Shutout Artist is Rena Cronin, who was the only duelist in the Tour to manage a single shutout!
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Cargo Hauling, cheeeeeeap!
