|
By TERA STARFARE
August 26, 2007
Rory was kind enough to lay this out for everyone y'all!
On the muggy evening of Sunday, August 27, 2007, twelve duelists met in the rings of the Annex to battle it out in the double elimination Summer Warlord Tournament. With a tough field consisting of former Barons, former Overlords, and some of the newest rising stars in the Duel of Swords, the night's champion needed to exhibit not just skill, but endurance. After eight long rounds and well past midnight, the prizes (an intercession free shot at the overlord and a peer win free shot at a baron) were awarded.
The first round found all twelve combatants ready for action. One would have expected Xerzes to show some rust after all his time away from the rings but he started off with a 5-3 victory over former baroness Rena Cronin, ending the impressive match with a slash through her defense. The Wrecking Crew lucked out with the random pairings as both of their participants had to face off in the first round. Chris Graziano ended up regulating his brother-in-law, Bode Bojangles, to the Non-Winner's Bracket with a quick 5-2 win in seven rounds. Cassius Maximius took Grayson MacLeod a closely fought ten rounds but Grayson was the one who managed to squeak past with a 5-4 win. Sartan and the Overlord's brother, Magnus Eques, also put on quite the show! After twelve rounds, Magnus fended off Sartan's low blow to take the 5-4 win. Former Overlord Max Quinlan Blue certainly doesn't seem to have a fear of snakes. He took Saryna out with a 5-3 victory in eight rounds. Topaz didn't have quite an easy time with the lizard representative in the field, Bran Bale. His 5-3 win allowed him to get through the first round unscathed.
In the second round in the Winner's Bracket, Max's experience trumped Bran's rising talent while Grayson got the energy to carry on from a very verbal cheering section which allowed him to triumph over Magnus Eques. Chris Graziano held strong over Xerzes and took a 5-3 win in eight rounds. In the Non-Winner's Bracket, Rena and Bode bounced the lead back and forth but the Crew lost a participant as she was able to overcome him in the ninth round. Unfortunately for Topaz, she just could not keep up with the reptile contingent of the field. After losing her first duel to a snake, she made an exit from the tournament with a loss to the snake, Saryna. In the battle between two long-time duelists, Sartan put an early end to any attempt from Cas at a prize by defeating him 5-2 in eight rounds.
The third round found only Chris Graziano, Grayon MacLeod, and Max Quinlan Blue in the Winner's Bracket. Chris received the bye while Max gave Grayson a solid 5-1 thumping in six short rounds. In the Non-Winner's Bracket, the first of the reptiles found themselves exiting the tournament as Rena rallied to defeat Bran
|
5-3 in seven rounds. Sartan, on the other hand, could never get his feet under him and Saryna took advantage of that with a 5-0 shut out in seven rounds. While the other duels were solid wins, the battle between Magnus was very close. In the eighth round, however, Magnus was able to get that fifth point and a one point lead by ducking beneath Xerzes' defense.
Chris and Max battled it out in the Non-Winner's Bracket to see which of them would get to coast into the finale! Chris was only able to put one point on the board as Max ended this one in a short, sweet seven rounds. Rena also could only manage to put up one point as Grayson tore through her to move on. The snake proved too much for Magnus too. Even this experienced duelist fell victim to her bites with a final score of 5-3 in ten rounds.
The fifth round found Max cooling his heels in the Winner's Bracket while Chris, Grayson and Saryna battled it out to see which of them would face him in the finale. Saryna received the bye and looked on while Chris and Grayson traded the lead over and over. In the eighth round, Chris scored his fifth point and earned the right to continue on.
Despite the number of stunning bites Chris received in his sixth round fight against Saryna, he continued to battle on. With a trade of cuts in the eighth round, the score became tied at 5 and drove the match into overtime. A stalemate followed in the next round with both duelists slashing out at one another and missing. In the final round, Saryna misjudged the height of an attack from Chris! She ducked and he nailed her for his sixth and final point.
Perhaps after sitting out for two rounds Max was a bit cold because he never seemed to get into his fight with Chris. Chris dominated throughout the ten rounds and obtained his revenge for Max's earlier win with a 5-2 defeat. This win over Max gave them each one loss for the tournament and, more interestingly, at the hands of one another. Therefore, the tournament was driven to a eighth and final round. Unlike the first two between the two men, this one went back and forth. As soon as one would take the lead, the other would steal it back. Shortly after one in the morning and after four hours of heavy dueling, Chris lunged forward to score his fifth and final point to secure his win.
Chris Graziano decided to take the intercession-free challenge at the Overlord stating that "I always say top prize should be the OL shot, so I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't take that." He also received an added bonus of a dueling date with the dreaded Pirate Napoleon! His decision left Max Quinlan Blue with the peer-win free challenge to a Baron of his choice.
Please remember that wins in the Warlord Tournament do not impact your record but can be used as peer wins.
Congratulations to both Chris and Max! Thank you to Harris and Napoleon for their hard work in officiating the tournament!
As witnessed by,
Rory Laurent
|
|
By TERA STARFARE
August 22, 2007
Rena Officiated this Challenge match and here is what she had to say about it folks.
Wednesday night, August 22, 2007 at the time of 10PM sixteen people saw the challenge for the mantle between the current overlord, Cletus Ganderfald and the baroness of Dockside, Jaycy Asheana. As stated in the Gangster it was not an unruly crowd with each duelist having about an equal number of wellwishers.
The overlord dueled under the colors or Polaris with his wife, Arane Nausikka Ganderfald as his lady of honor and his brother Magnus as his second.
The renegade baroness dueled under the colors of forest green, silver and black with Leo de Lorenzo as her lord of honor and Max Blue as her second.
The overlord chose a best of three format.
|
Match one saw the baroness blocking a cut from the loverlord then using his move against him to cut him down while steeping in the mext round. They replayed round one in the third to both circling the ring the next round. Jaycy took a full 3 point lead in round 5, cutting the bracing Cletus. He finally scored in the next two rounds, both taking a break in round 8 before Cletus tied the score 3 all by getting around Jaycy's parry. She retook the lead by dropping in round 11, he tied it back up in round 13 and ttok the win in round 14 by thrusting over Jaycy's swing to take the first match 5-4.
After a brief break, match 2 started off like match one, Jaycy blocking Cletus' cut. Matching high swings in the second round then lead to a seesaw battle the next five rounds. the lead going back and forth until round 9, when Jaycy attempted to slash but was cut off at the shins by the overlord, taking the second match 6-4.5.
|
|
By RANDOM MCCHANSE
-1st Round-
The first match of the 1st round of the Duel Master certainly set the pace for the tournament, as 16th seed Liena Hope totally stunned everyone by sweeping Cassius Maximus, 1st seed and one of the favorites to win the whole tournament, in three straight duels: Swords 5-2, Fists 5-4, and then an amazing 5-0.5 win in Magic to finish him off 8.5-0!
The second match of the 1st round, between 8th seed Rena Cronin and 9th seed Bran Bale, was exactly the opposite of the momentous match before it; after Bran took a big lead after winning the Fists duel 5-2, Rena struggled back, winning the Swords duel 5-4 and the Magic duel 6.5-5 to end an agonizing half a point short as Bran took the match 3-2.5!
The third match of the 1st round looked to be very promising, pitting 4th seed Vanion Shadowcast against 13th seed Tasslehofl Momus. Unfortunately, a communications breakdown and the resultant delay of the match led to Tass's withdrawal from the tournament entirely, so Vanion advanced by forfeit. He would more than make up the loss of spectacle in the quarterfinals, however!
The fourth match of the 1st round featured two old friends and formidable duelists, 5th seed Artemus Kurgen and 12th seed Random McChanse. It promised to be an exciting match, and so it was! The match started with Magic, and Random took a dominating 4.5-1.5 lead after 7 rounds. Amazingly, Art managed to overcome that huge gap and take the duel 7-6 8 rounds later! He then used that momentum to carry him through the Swords match, winning 5-2 and virtually ensuring his overall victory. Random managed to squeak out a 5-4 win in Fists to save face, but the end result was in Art's favor, 4-1.
The fifth match of the 1st round was another high-low seed bout, with 2nd seed Harris D'Artainian fighting 15th seed Wyheree Ravenlock-Black. Unlike Cassius, Harris proved that he deserved his high seed by taking both the Magic and Swords duels 5-2.5, with only a 5-4 Fists loss in between, finishing with a final match score of 5-1.
The sixth match of the 1st round paired two names famous in the rings of RhyDin: 7th seed Kheldar Drasinia and 10th seed G'nort Dragoon-Talanador. Kheldar surprisingly took the Swords duel from the current DoS Madness champion 5-2, and sealed that victory with a Magic win of 5-1.5. G made a surprising move of his own, winning the Fists match 5-4, but the damage was done, and Kheldar was victorious with a final score of 6.5-1.
The seventh match of the 1st round proved to be the second big upset of the tournament, as 14th seed Felix Pride dismantled the highly-respected 3rd seed Xerzes Maureen, winning the Fists match 5-2 and the Swords match 5-1. He even held his own in Magic, battling back from a 3-0 deficit to keep Xerzes' win at only 5-3.5, thus winning the match 7-1.5.
The eighth and final match of the 1st round matched up 6th seed Matt Simon, winner of the 2006 Tour's Yellow Jersey, and 11th seed Vincent Smith. However, it was Vinny who would take the honors this day, as he beat Matt in Magic 5-3.5 and crushed him in Swords 5-1. Matt would take the Fists duel 5-4, as expected of the 8-time Diamond holder, but the Duel Master is about all the disciplines combined, not just one, and Vinny won the match 5.5-1.
Those who made it on to the quarterfinals, at the worst, would only have to win a qualifier match against the winner of a preliminary to get an invitation to the next Duel Master. However, only the top four of the 1st round losers, as determined by match score difference, would receive the same privilege: Rena Cronin, Random McChanse, Wyheree Ravenlock-Black, and Matt Simon. Cassius Maximus,
|
Tasslhofl Momus, G'nort Dragoon-Talanador, and Xerzes Maureen will have to fight through the preliminaries next time in order to make it to the qualifier matches.
-Quarterfinals-
The first match of the quarterfinals pitted 16th seed Liena Hope against 9th seed Bran Bale. Despite her brilliant performance in the first round, Liena was not at her best against Bran, and he dominated the first two duels, winning Swords 5-2 and Magic 5-1.5. Liena, however, saved face in Fists, beating Bran 5-3 and proving that she is quite the formidable competitor in that discipline. However, it would be Bran who would take the overall match 6.5-2, and move on to the semifinals.
The second match of the quarterfinals featured the first top-5 seed matchup, with 4th seed Vanion Shadowcast fighting 5th seed Artemus Kurgen. Again, communication problems delayed the match, but finally the duelists faced each other in the rings. The two gave a great show as they fought right down to the wire, with Vanion winning the Magic duel 5-4 and Art answering right back with a 5-4 Fists win of his own. With the match score at 1-1, it came down to the Swords duel, where Vanion pulled off a 5-2 win to take the match 4-1 and move on.
The third match of the quarterfinal, while not technically a top-5 seed match, was certainly a battle of the titans between 2nd seed Harris D'Artainian and 7th seed Kheldar Drasinia, both highly-experienced and highly-respected duelists in all the dueling rings of RhyDin. Harris seemed on a mission in this match, churning out close, hard-fought 5-4 wins in Magic and Swords, and finishing off the sweep with a 5-3 win in Fists for an overall match score of 4-0. As Harris moved on to the semifinals, it was clear that someone was going to have to pull off something truly special in order to part this man from the title of Duel Master.
Finally, the fourth match of the quarterfinal paired the two lesser upsets of the first round: 14th seed Felix Pride and 11th seed Vincent Smith. Both would fight hard, with Felix winning the first duel in Fists 5-4 and Vinny taking the final duel in Magic 5-4, but it was Felix who would upset again in the second duel, beating Vinny in Swords 5-2 to win the match 4-1 and move on to the semifinals.
As of Sept. 3rd, the semifinal matches between Bran and Vanion and Felix and Harris have not yet taken place, so check the Duel Master forum at www.ringsofhonor.org/viewforum.php?f=89 for updates on the semifinals and for the announcement of the date and time for the Finals, which we hope many will attend!
 Drachen Walde Industries, owned by the Marquess and Marchioness von Triberg specializes in weapons manufacturing.
Custom orders, or off the shelf weaponry available to those with proper ID and resources.
Please see Azjah or Klinton Caer for details and pricing.
|
