August 2023 Archmage Tournament

[Max Lager]

The August Archmage Tournament will be held on Sunday, August 6th at 8:00pm Eastern! The format will (likely) be double elimination (depending on entrants), and late entrants have no more than 5 minutes to arrive. Seeding will begin at 8:05pm, and casting will begin at 8:10pm.

Seeding will be based on the most recent RoK rankings. Early registration will cut off on Friday, August 4th at 8:55pm ET. Any late registrants or walk-ins will automatically be ranked below early registrants. Registrants tied with the same ranking will be seeded by WoL.


Second place will also take home an additional prize in the form of the Keeper's Blessing.

Keeper's Blessing

1. Allows the wielder of this grant the ability to use a special one time use Elemental Fury crystal within a challenge against a Keeper. This crystal will allow its wielder the use of Elemental Fury up to three times within a challenge (should the challenge go to 3 full duels). The power of the Elemental Fury Crystal can only be used once per match. The Keeper's Blessing is available for use until the next Archmage Tournament.

- or -

2. Allows the wielder to submit the Blessing to the Duel of Magic staff to be redeemed for a Challenge Grant that can be awarded to any non-Sorcerer duelist of their choice. This grant will allow its wielder to challenge one of the four elemental keeper titles so long as the keeper is not under a grace period. This grant must be used within 14 days.

Please post your registrations as replies to this thread. Good luck everyone!



(( Should 2nd place go to a current Elemental Keeper, they can only select the second option to give the grant away, and cannot select the EF crystal since they're already a Keeper.

This is a reminder that we do have a 5 minute casting limit each round in order to try and keep the tourney from running too late. In the case anyone needs more than 5 minutes for an urgent/special circumstance, please alert the caller, opponent, and the room so that they know you need a few minutes and will return asap. Thanks! ))

[Max Lager]

Anchor's Aweigh! You're naut going to guess the theme for the evening, but you're a-boat to find out!


Deviled egg boats with pepper sails
Veggies & dip
Flip-flop finger sandwiches
Crunchy octopus bell pepper dip
Crabby croissants
Fruit kabobs
Jasmine rice fried up with chunks of pineapple, cashews, and veggies and served in a half-pineapple
Zucchini boats with a couscous filing and carrot sails
Sand dollar cookies


High Tide - Bubbly moscato, vodka, pineapple juice, lemon-lime soda, fruit slices, and choice of blue curacao, grenadine, or midori, served in a fishbowl
Category Five - Light rum, dark rum, passion fruit juice, orange juice, fresh lime, simple syrup, grenadine, and fruit garnish
Adios Be-yacht-ch - Vodka, rum, tequila, orange liqueur, strawberries, jalapenos, lime juice, honey, and a sea salt rim
Mana Wine Mai Tai - White rum, lime juice, orgeat, dark rum, choice of HP or MP mana wine
*All cocktails have non-alcoholic versions available

[Michelle Montoya]

I'll be joining.

[Rachael Blackthorne]

Barring duties that will prevent mon participation, I will enter this tournament.


--Rachael Blackthorne

[Eregor]

If Michelle's in, I'm in

Eregor

[Strawberry]

From a field of five, we fought through a double elimination bracket to declare walk-in Phil Goshawke the winner of the August Archmage Tournament. Second place finisher (and also walk-in) Szuzak Mos takes home the Keeper's Blessing.




Bracket Breakdown:
Seeding:
Pre-registered (RoK + WoL tiebreakers):
1 Rachael Blackthorne
2 Eregor
3 Michelle Montoya

Walk-in:
4 Phil Goshawke
5 Szuzak Mos (no RoK ranking)

R1:
Bye - 1 Rachael Blackthorne
2 Eregor vs 5. Szuzak Mos (Szuzak wins, Eregor to constellation)
3 Michelle Montoya vs. 4. Phil Goshawke (Phil wins, Michelle to constellation)

R2:
Bye: 4 Phil Goshawke (highest seed in winner's without a Bye)
1 Rachael Blackthorne vs. 5. Szuzak Mos (Szuzak wins, Rachael to constellation)
Constellation:
2 Eregor vs 3. Michelle Montoya (Michelle wins, Eregor eliminated)

R3:
4 Phil Goshawke vs 5. Szuzak Mos (Phil wins, Szuzak to constellation)
Constellation:
1 Rachael Blackthorne vs. 3. Michelle Montoya (Rachael wins, Michelle eliminated)

R4:
Bye - 4 Phil Goshawke
Constellation:
1 Rachael Blackthorne vs. 5. Szuzak Mos (Szuzak wins, Rachael eliminated)

R5:
4 Phil Goshawke vs. 5. Szuzak Mos (Szuzak wins, bracket reset)

R6:
4 Phil Goshawke vs 5. Szuzak Mos (Phil wins, Szuzak eliminated)

[Phil Goshawke]

This challenge is happening next Tuesday, August 15 at 10 p.m. Eastern time. Max Lager has kindly agreed to oversee this challenge.

Phil Goshawke

[Phil Goshawke]

Something came up at work tonight, so we're rescheduling this challenge for Thursday, August 17 at 10 p.m. Eastern time.

Thank you for your understanding,

Phil Goshawke

[Partly Cloudy]

At Archmage Mairead Harker’s request, Nicole Brock of Nicole’s Bistro and Pizzeria
and Gatito Lindo of Kitten’s Confections Bakery & Café have assembled a menu
of savory and sweet snacks to honor the four Elemental Towers
and the Celestial Citadel.




FIRE

Spicy Sausage Bites
pieces of hot Italian sausage simmered in white wine
served with a creamy, spicy dijon sauce

Sweet ’n’ Spicy Chicken Lollipops
roasted, Frenched chicken drummettes coated in a sauce of
chili garlic sauce, soy & honey


WATER

Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp
jumbo shrimp wrapped in applewood smoked bacon
& glazed with a gently-spiced maple-soy sauce

Crab Beignets
crunchy fried fritters filled with lump crab meat, shallots, scallions,
panko bread crumbs & a touch of spicy Creole mustard
served with white remoulade sauce


EARTH

Mini French Onion Boules
small, yeasted rounds of bread filled with creamy gruyère sauce
& sweet caramelized onions & fresh thyme

Crispy Parmesan Potato Bites
baby gold potatoes tossed in garlic-herb butter & freshly-grated parmesan
then roasted until tender with a crunchy layer of cheese
served with roasted garlic-smoked paprika aioli


AIR

Cheddar-Thyme Gougères
savory choux pastry puffs flavored with cheddar, parmesan, thyme & chives
served with whipped goat cheese

Zucchini Rose Tartlets
flaky puff pastry filled with creamy goat cheese, a hint of mint
& thinly-sliced zucchini arranged in the shape of a rose


plus

Loaded Hummus
freshly-made hummus topped with olives, almonds, capers, smoked paprika, fresh herbs & more
served with flatbread crackers & crudités





CELESTIAL DESSERTS

Celestial Croquembouche
a luxurious tower of choux pastry puffs that have been filled
with dark chocolate & caramelized white chocolate pastry cream & coated in crunchy caramel
finished with golden spun sugar & edible gold leafing

Galaxy Macarons
filled with key lime white chocolate ganache & black raspberry jam
finished with tiny sugar pearls & hand-painted stars

Fresh Summer Fruit
watermelon, ripe berries, seedless grapes, kiwi, star fruit, dragon fruit & more
served with chocolate ganache for dipping


All chocolate items have been prepared using Celestial Chocolate, which is safe
for those who are allergic or otherwise sensitive to regular chocolate.





STELLAR COCKTAILS

Sparks of Summer
dragonfruit, pitaya powder, lime juice, fresh mint, honey
& lime sparkling water
(non-alcoholic)

Build-Your-Own Shandy & Radler Bar
a selection of beers, including Badsider, Silvermark & more, plus
Gardenhome Orchards’ lemonade & fresh orange & grapefruit juices,
ginger ale, lemon-lime, grapefruit & blood orange sodas,
& fresh berry & citrus fruit syrups

[Max Lager]

With the four elements deliciously represented on the buffet table, Archmage Mairead and challenger Phil took to ring Olympus to decide who would gain or keep control of the Celestial Citadel for the upcoming cycle! Mairead kept Phil off the scoreboard until round 4, where she had previously managed to freeze him out, but Phil is resourceful and leaped forward with a focused cast to close the gap and put the score to 2 – 1.5 in round 4 (with Mairead’s lead). Staying the path and with his eyes on the prize, Phil scored again and took a slim lead, holding it till round 7 where Mairead tied things up at 2.5 each. The Archclover as she is fondly called, focused up and hit match point first in round 8, only allowing Phil to gain another half a point until she closed the match with a final score of 5 to 3 in 10! The following match, Mairead was again first to score, but both casters followed up in round 2 to tie the score at 1.5 each. From there it seemed that Mairead would make a steady climb up higher on the board, hitting match point in round 5, but Phil stalled out Mairead’s spells for two more rounds before she successfully closed the match out once more, this time with a final score of 5 to 2.5 in 9!

Congratulations Mairead and well tried Phil!


Official Scores:
Mairead Harker .def. Phil Goshawke 5 to 3 in 10.
Mairead Harker .def. Phil Goshawke 5 to 2.5 in 9.