Deathmatch Tournament -- Main Thread

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AuthorTopic: Deathmatch Tournament -- Main Thread
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #0
"Deathmatch has no save and restore."

*bows*

Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and others, to the 2007 Spiderweb Deathmatch Tournament. Before we begin, allow me to explain how this is going to work.

In this context, a deathmatch consists of a battle to the death between two people -- however, it is a battle which never actually happens. When discussing a deathmatch, you don't describe anything that actually happens; you describe what would most likely happen.

So you wouldn't say "Solberg begins to mindduel Garzahd, but is interrupted by three blows from super-hasted Garzahd." Instead you might say, "Garzahd has a major weakness to Solberg's minddueling, but in a one-on-one match it would take Solberg too long to drain Garzahd, who would just crush him in melee if he tried."

In this respect, deathmatches have more in common with analyzing game mechanics than they do with RPs. On the other hand, analyzing game mechanics is an empirical task, and you can always test your conclusions. Deathmatches are entirely theoretical. Indeed, they are often used to settle rivalries that cannot be empirically tested (e.g., Gandalf vs. Yoda).

And that's exactly what they're being used for here. Spidweb members have no hardcoded statistics, and everyone pictures everyone else differently, so the discussion will necessarily be a little bit subjective. Here's how we handle that:

TOURNAMENT PROCEDURE

1. When a round begins, the Judge (Slarty) will post a new thread for that round. The thread will contain a poll with one question for each match-up.

2. Anyone who wants to can vote in the poll. You are also encouraged to post the reasons you think a fight should turn out a certain way, if you have something new to add.

3. After a set period of time, the Judge will count the votes and will issue a statement describing the outcome of each match. The Judge should normally honor the vote count, but he may overturn it if deemed necessary.

4. Surviving participants will advance to the next round. When there is only one survivor, he is crowned the victor.

5. For the purposes of order and sanity, general discussion about the tournament, rules, etc. should probably go in this thread, and discussion about specific match-ups or rounds should go in that round's thread.

In order to direct the discussion more towards the battles and less towards exactly what abilities each participant has, I have collated information from numerous sources and have prepared it in the form of Spiderweb trading cards, which will be posted as each member is called to fight. This information presents, probably, most of the powers members are likely to have, but there are surely many that I have missed, and the cards are not intended to restrict use or consideration of such powers.

By way of example, here's my card:

IMAGE(http://minmax.ermarian.net/tourney/slarty.png)

(Any resemblance to the Marvel Universe Series I trading cards I collected in 1990 is strictly coincidental. :P )

Some of the categories may be more relevant for some members (and some fights) than others, but it's all there, where I could dig it up. Faith obviously does not reflect anyone's RL religion, but field does reflect RL studies, on the off chance that those are relevant to a battle.

The "Born" category deserves special explanation. This category is basically an attempt at describing oldbieness in a more useful way than has been done in the past; so you can think of the numbers as seven different eras, or as degrees of oldbisity. The septpartite division I settled on, after much consultation, is as follows:

0° -- Prehistory. Pre-Ikonboard.
1° -- Ikonboard.
2° -- UBB, while Misc. was around.
3° -- Post-Misc., pre-BoA
4° -- Basically fall 2003 through summer 2004; this tumultuous period encompassed the arguments about BoA's design, the release of BoA, and the ensuing shift in community composition
5° -- Post-BoA
6° -- Post-TM's permaban; this is an arbitrary but useful cutoff as it happens to correspond to a decrease in traffic and content and to a shift in General's character

The era a member fits into is not determined by registration date but by actual incorporation into the message board community; thus I am 5° despite my 2° member number. Similarly, those who wander in immediately before a cutoff will likely be put into the next category.

CONDUCT

It has been suggested that deathmatch discussion could degenerate into flames, and also that there could be collateral damage from the fights. In order to make sure that doesn't happen, I have recruited two "broken" members to help me keep order:

IMAGE(http://minmax.ermarian.net/tourney/imban.png) IMAGE(http://minmax.ermarian.net/tourney/icshi.png)

(The rumors that neither Imban nor Icshi were consulted about their hiring, and that my guards are mere Simuleacrums, are completely unfounded, and should be ignored.)

In any event, I would ask that flames and whining are kept out of the tournament.

BYES
There are 48 entrants. In order to use a Single Elimination format, the following 16 seeded participants have byes for round 1:

Alec, Aloraeal, Arancaytar, Archmage Alex, Dikiyoba, Dintiridan, Drakefyre, Emperor Tullegolar, Ephesos, Salmon, Schrodinger, Synergy, Stareye, Terror's Martyr, Thuryl, and Tyranicus.

The remaining 32 participants are:

The Almighty Doer of Stuff, Andraste, Ash Lael, Delicious Vlish, Excalibur, Goldenking, Infernal, Internal Flamming Muffin, Jewels, Lazarus, Lord Grimm, the Lurker, MagmaDragoon, Marlenny, Mysterious Man, Nalyd, Nemesis, Nicothodes, Niemand, Nikki, Nioca, Randomizer, Riibu, Saunders, Servant of Trinity, the Silent Assassin, Smoo, Stew Boy, Thralni, WKS, Zephyr Tempest, and Zeviz.

To preserve sanity, round 1 and round 2 will take place in 2 parts each. Pairings for round 1, part 1 should be posted later today.

-- Slarty

[ Tuesday, May 01, 2007 16:40: Message edited by: Polydegmon ]

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Guardian
Member # 6670
Profile Homepage #1
Youpi!

Thanks for the bye. With computer problems and work starting tomorrow, my 'net time will be limited in the next couple of days.

The Trading Cards are distilled awesomeness, by the way. Are you genetically predisposed to creating more work for yourself? :P Will you be needing info for them?

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Honk if you love incorrect documentation!

Yes, I know I said it already. It bears being said again.

[ Monday, April 30, 2007 10:37: Message edited by: Dintiradan ]
Posts: 1509 | Registered: Tuesday, January 10 2006 08:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 6403
Profile #2
How the hell did I get in there?

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??? ??????
???? ?????
Posts: 883 | Registered: Wednesday, October 19 2005 07:00
Shaper
Member # 7472
Profile Homepage #3
quote:
Originally written by Polydegmon:

Internal Flamming Muffin
Ow... That'll sting. :D

So, not to be ignorant, but when you say:
quote:
2. Anyone who wants to can vote in the poll. You are also encouraged to post the reasons you think a fight should turn out a certain way, if you have something new to add.
does that include the two that are facing off against each other?

Just want to get that clear.

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I tried to think of something witty to put here.

Needless to say, I failed.
Posts: 2686 | Registered: Friday, September 8 2006 07:00
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #4
Good question. It does. And just to be totally clear, it also includes other people. EVERYONE can contribute.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Guardian
Member # 5360
Profile #5
Awesome trading cards! Nalyd is in abject awe of your work ethic. He is also in abject fear of his inevitable conflict with Ephesos. He'll probably be disqualified in the first round. At least undead never really die.

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May the fires of Undeath burn in your soul, and consume it.
Posts: 1636 | Registered: Wednesday, January 5 2005 08:00
Agent
Member # 4574
Profile #6
Good job clearing up the rules and what not. Trading cards also look excellent. Lastly, I'd like to wish everyone, including myself, good luck.

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All praise the greatest mod of all time! Long live Master Aran!
Posts: 1186 | Registered: Friday, June 18 2004 07:00
Agent
Member # 8030
Profile Homepage #7
This is going to be a masterpiece.

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WWJD?
Posts: 1384 | Registered: Tuesday, February 6 2007 08:00
Councilor
Member # 6600
Profile Homepage #8
The trading cards are sheer brillance and totally worth the wait. Well, it wasn't really the wait that was frustrating. It was more the stuff that filled in the wait.

How are you picking who goes against who? Randomly?

Dikiyoba trusts that Slartucker's ability to reincownate members will not be abused. Unless it's in Dikiyoba's favor, of course. :P
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
Shaper
Member # 7420
Profile Homepage #9
I still wish you'd leave the polls out and judge completely based on posted reasonings. Polls seem subject to cheating, since some have more accounts than others.

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You lose.
Posts: 2156 | Registered: Thursday, August 24 2006 07:00
Canned
Member # 8014
Profile #10
quote:
Internal Flamming Muffin
...
I wonder how my card will look.
I have the power of transformation (though limited)!
And ET is right, cheating is a possibility.

Edit -pathetic typo ;)

[ Monday, April 30, 2007 14:21: Message edited by: Infernal Flamming Muffin ]

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I can transform into almost anything, though not sanity.
Muffins n' Hell. Note that revisions of the first part is down the list.
Posts: 1799 | Registered: Sunday, February 4 2007 08:00
Councilor
Member # 6600
Profile Homepage #11
Originally by Emperor Tullegolar:

quote:
Polls seem subject to cheating, since some have more accounts than others.
Dikiyoba seriously hopes we are all more mature than that.
Posts: 4346 | Registered: Friday, December 23 2005 08:00
Guardian
Member # 5360
Profile #12
Yes, the polls are unfair. They rely on members being well liked, not necessarily better. At this rate, Nalyd might as well commit digital suicide.

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May the fires of Undeath burn in your soul, and consume it.
Posts: 1636 | Registered: Wednesday, January 5 2005 08:00
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #13
I didn't comment on your original cheating remark, ET, as I hoped it would just fall by the wayside.

I like the polls, because they allow people who prefer to lurk to still participate. I wouldn't expect to see me validating any ridiculous results, though.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Canned
Member # 8014
Profile #14
The results should be based mainly on the posts, with the results in mind.
At least, that is what I would do.

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I can transform into almost anything, though not sanity.
Muffins n' Hell. Note that revisions of the first part is down the list.
Posts: 1799 | Registered: Sunday, February 4 2007 08:00
Guardian
Member # 2080
Profile #15
quote:
Alec, Aloraeal, Arancaytar, Archmage Alex, Dikiyoba, Dintiridan, Drakefyre, Emperor Tullegolar, Ephesos, Salmon, Schrodinger, Synergy, Stareye, Terror's Martyr, Thuryl, and Tyranicus, The Almighty Doer of Stuff, Andraste, Ash Lael, Delicious Vlish, Excalibur, Goldenking, Infernal, Internal Flamming Muffin, Jewels, Lazarus, Lord Grimm, the Lurker, MagmaDragoon, Marlenny, Mysterious Man, Nalyd, Nemesis, Nicothodes, Niemand, Nikki, Nioca, Randomizer, Riibu, Saunders, Servant of Trinity, the Silent Assassin, Smoo, Stew Boy, Thralni, WKS, Zephyr Tempest, and Zeviz
Well, this is insulting... I don't even have the slightest clue in hell who half these people are...

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"I don't understand a word you just said. Try speaking American. It's the only language I understand."
Posts: 1918 | Registered: Sunday, October 13 2002 07:00
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #16
That makes sense, given that none of them were able to explain to me who the heck you were.

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Law Bringer
Member # 335
Profile Homepage #17
Lone Flame is himself and always has been. He holds the distinction of having been unCanned, and that's about all I can think of.

—Alorael, who is excited by the novel typo of his name. Aloreal is trite and betrays lack of attention to detail, but Aloraeal has a certain ring to it.
Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 6700
Profile Homepage #18
Ooh...
I'm definitely going to be keeping up with this.
If only to see the cards.
:D

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The Silent Assassin is pleased.
Let the pies fly, people.

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-Lenar Labs
What's Your Destiny?

Ushmushmeifa: Lenar's power is almighty and ineffable.

All hail lord Noric, god of... well, something important, I'm sure.
Posts: 735 | Registered: Monday, January 16 2006 08:00
Guardian
Member # 2080
Profile #19
quote:
Originally written by Polydegmon:

That makes sense, given that none of them were able to explain to me who the heck you were.
I participated in some RPs and topics back in the day. Also, as I recall, I wasn't very well liked('specially with the Desperance crew). My lack of popularity wasn't without merit.

While we're on the subject... Who are you?

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"I don't understand a word you just said. Try speaking American. It's the only language I understand."
Posts: 1918 | Registered: Sunday, October 13 2002 07:00
Nuke and Pave
Member # 24
Profile Homepage #20
Slarty, thanks for putting the effort into this. I am particularly enjoying the character cards. :)

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Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword,
For it too has the power to kill.
However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword,
Can also have the power to heal.
Posts: 2649 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
? Man, ? Amazing
Member # 5755
Profile #21
You should get the flu more often. The cards are inspired!

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quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

Well, I'm at least pretty sure that Salmon is losing.


Posts: 4114 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00
Veteran*
Member # 5
Profile #22
quote:
Originally written by Gaara of the Funk:

quote:
Originally written by Polydegmon:

That makes sense, given that none of them were able to explain to me who the heck you were.
I participated in some RPs and topics back in the day. Also, as I recall, I wasn't very well liked('specially with the Desperance crew). My lack of popularity wasn't without merit.

While we're on the subject... Who are you?

Uh, It seems you get kicks out of acting superior and uncaring about everyone. But seriously, get off your high horse. You're not impressing anyone and you're making yourself look like an ass in the process.
Posts: 455 | Registered: Tuesday, May 17 2005 07:00
Agent
Member # 3364
Profile Homepage #23
Unless you already have plans to do so, Slarty, I volunteer to archive the cards and the tourny in a more permanent place. They're great and deffinately need to be memorialized.

It almost makes me want to do that SWWorld that Tyra keeps putting off... almost. :)

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"Even the worst Terror from Hell can be transformed to a testimony from Heaven!" - Rev. David Wood 6\23\05

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can." - John Wesley
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Tuesday, August 19 2003 07:00
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #24
Well, the cards are stored on Aran's server, which should be permanent enough. You're certainly welcome to copy the threads if you want to, though. I'm glad you (and everyone else) are enjoying it so much :)

Edit: And does nobody recognize the images for Imban and Icshi?

[ Monday, April 30, 2007 17:59: Message edited by: Polydegmon ]

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00

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