DQ XLIII Results!

[DUEL Kheldar]

So, six experienced, battle hardened, brawlers showed for DQ LXIII. Among the competitors were Pslyder and Jaycy Ashleana former Opal holders, Xerzes and Cassius former diamonds. Also returning was Tareth the first and only dueler to hold every title in the sport, and rounding out the field was defending champ Matt. Due to the size of the field, the format of a round robin was chosen, as is custom. Random seeds were drawn and the first set of pairings and with the help of the Outback’s newest caller Shard the tournament was under way.

The first round the defending champ when up against the lone female in the field, while Pslyder battled it out with the Roman and two long time duelers in Xerzes and Tareth filled out the pairings. Jaycy has a history of beating Matt in recent events, but such was not the case this evening as she hit match point first but Matt battled back from being down three to take the match. Meanwhile Pslyder started out strong taking the fight to Cassius, winning 5-3 after never trailing in the contest. In the lovely Shard’s rings Tareth squeaked out a 5-4 win against Xerzes.

Second round saw Pslyder and Tareth pair, Matt and Xerzes, leaving Jaycy to face Cas. Instead of a unique ring, Shard had Cas and Jaycy battled blindfolded, where Cas excelled and defeated Jaycy by two. Pslyder made short work of the all titleholder, who appeared a bit rusty and off his game, that match ended 5-1, the most lopsided of the night. Matt was once again down a point early, but scored four in a row to finish Xerzes and keep pace with Pslyder as the only undefeated duelers going into round three.

Third round saw those with like rankings match up. Matt and Pslyder looked to give themselves a clear road to the championships each, while Tareth and Cas both needed the win to give themselves a legitimate chance at a win against a loss. Finally Jaycy and Xerzes both attempted to get into the win column. All three matches this round tallied a final score of 5-3. Jaycy and Xerzes battled it out on the bridge, with Jaycy pulling out the victory. Tareth and Cas duked it out on the fern. Tareth kept it close early, but Cas scored two straight to make it to match point, and Tareth was only able to cut the deficit to one before Cas scored the final blow under an upper body block by Tareth to keep his fate in his own hands, as Matt defeated Pslyder in Shards ring, where they each had an arm tied to the other by the caller.

The standings for the evening had started to take pretty good shape at this point with Matt still undefeated, Pslyder and Cas at two wins against a loss, Tareth and Jaycy needing help from other duelers to catch back up to the pack and Xerzes relegated to the role of spoiler. The only thing giving Tareth and Jaycy hope was the fact that none of the top three were dueling each other the following round, meaning all three could lose. However, only one of the three did, Pslyder and Jaycy battled it out in the longest match of the night going a full fifteen rounds, five of which were spent in sudden death, and the gypsy came out victorious in the end winning 5-4. In the battle of the multi-time diamond winners, Matt came out ahead increasing his record to 4-0. This forced Cassius at 2-1 to defeat Xerzes in order to keep within striking distance of the current diamond. The warrior was able to do just that, also defeating his opponent (Xerzes) 5-2. Cassius had yet to duel Matt, that matchup having been drawn for the fifth and final round. As there were not consolation prizes available for this event, the other four competitors were eliminated by virtue of Matt and Cas’ dominating performances. The finals were held in the Outback’s newest ring. The Mirror Gallery, was named and designed by Vince Smith, who was the winner of last cycle’s summer solstice tournament. This ring is larger than a normal Rask Generic Ring™, and is surrounded by all sides and surfaces by reflective material, creating very disorienting views once inside the contraption. For Cassius to earn his second reign as Diamond, he needed to defeat Matt in two straight duels. Something very few duelers have ever done on such a large stage. It was a hotly contested brawl, with Matt battling back from an early 3-1 deficit only to see Cassius reach match point first and nearly take it to a second round. Matt however was able to get up in the air over the kick of Cas to take it to sudden death, and to extend his record of Diamond Quest victories to six by evading and countering a punch in the following round.

Congratulations Matthew Simon for winning the forty third Diamond Quest. This is not only his sixth time winning the title, but also his second time winning the event in back to back cycles. There have only been four other instances of a champion defending his title: Matt did it himself in DQ twenty-nine, Dustin did it in the twenty-fifth quest, and before that you have to go back to the original Imp in the ninth and Percival in the fifth.

The Outback staff wishes to thank all who participated or attended the event, as well as Shard for her assistance in calling the event. In one last announcement The Mirror Gallery is now a legal ring for all DoF duels and events.

[Harris]

::takes it upon himself to scratch out "Also returning was Tareth the first and only dueler to hold every title in the sport" and replace it with "Also returning was Tareth the first and only dueler other than HARRIS to hold every title in the sport"::

Matt, you must be stopped. Congrats though.

And hell, I know I haven't been around often, but damnit, I want my credit for being awesome as hell for crying out loud!

~Harris

[Goldglo]

It was a great event and, as always, the field was filled with tough, skilled duelers. Thanks to all to participated, watched, and especially Shard and Kheldar who presided.

Vinny, that new ring of yours gave me a headache. But I think I'll learn to like it.

[Koyliak]

::scratches a quick note in her own neat script::

Haven't you all learned yet? The man can't be stopped.

[Raevyx_Araya]

technically, you won the last cycle, but agreed to go mono y mono with Matt ... so ... You technically won a DQ ... but yeah ... Koy is as I have heard ... 1337 ... (leet), and beautiful as well. Much love to my Abbilen.

::: wicky, wicky, wicky, yo ... yo ... word :::