Summer Warlord Tournament Results!

[DUEL Rory Laurent]

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

((
OOC results for Peer Win purposes:

Round 1:
Xerzes M .def. Rena A Cronin, 5-3 in 10 rounds.
Chris Graziano .def. Bode, 5-2 in 7 rounds.
Magnus .def. Sartan, 5-4 in 12 rounds.
Grayson .def. Cassius Gaius Maximius, 5-4 in 10 rounds.
Bran Bale .def. Topaz, 5-3 in 6 rounds.
Max Blue .def. Saryna, 5-3 in 8 rounds.

Round 2:
Chris Graziano .def. Xerzes M, 5-3 in 8 rounds.
Grayson .def. Magnus, 5-3 in 9 rounds.
Max Blue .def. Bran Bale, 5-3 in 7 rounds.
Saryna .def. Topaz, 5-3 in 8 rounds.
Sartan .def. Cassius Gaius Maximius, 5-2 in 8 rounds.
Rena A Cronin .def. Bode, 5-3 in 9 rounds.

Round 3:
Max Blue .def. Grayson, 5-1 in 6 rounds.
Rena A Cronin .def. Bran Bale, 5-3 in 7 rounds.
Saryna .def. Sartan, 5-0 in 7 rounds.
Magnus .def. Xerzes M, 5-4 in 8 rounds.

Round 4:
Max Blue .def. Chris Graziano, 5-1 in 7 rounds.
Grayson .def. Rena, 5-1 in 7 rounds.
Saryna .def. Magnus, 5-3 in 10 rounds.

Round 5:
Chris Graziano .def. Grayson, 5-4 in 8 rounds.

Round 6:
Chris Graziano .def. Saryna, 6-5 in 10 rounds.

Round 7:
Chris Graziano .def. Max Blue, 5-2 in 10 rounds.

Round 8:
Chris Graziano .def. Max Blue, 5-4 in 9 rounds.

))

[Chris Graziano]

First off, a big thanks to Rory, Harris and my ratastic friend Napoleon for putting such a hot party together. I'd give you all bonuses, but, well, Imp may be filing a grievance for all his missing back pay so we can't afford it.

Second, my bosses have passed down a lame ruling saying that they're frowning upon the idea of me being both Overlord and Coordinator at the same time. Too much power and control or some stupid reason like that. But since they pay the bar tab in the Arena, I'll let them have their way. Looks like you lucked out this time, Cletus.

Chris

[Vanion Shadowcast]

So does this mean Max gets the intercession free Overlord shot, since you can't take it?

[Sabastian GoldRaven]

It means that he took the prize but is not going to use it. It means that Cletus gets a free pass this time around and thus breaks his trend of losing to tournament winners.

[Chris Graziano]

Yeah, the prize just don't get used. I think it's the fourth time that's happened now.

Or you can all petition my bosses. They love getting fan mail.

cg

[Vanion Shadowcast]

Hmmm. That rule is rather... pathetic.

[Sabastian GoldRaven]

it is not a rule it is a ruling from the Supervisor's superiors that he cannot exersize the Challenge Right. There have been a few times where the person who won the Challenge Right specifically took that prize to prevent anyone from using it. The prize is a Challenge Right after all and not a Challenge Requirement.