The Gaoling Bending Tournament Report: January 2021

2021-02-26 03:27:19 +0000 UTC by QuietDove

Welcome to 2021, and a whole new season of bending tournaments! The stakes are higher than ever before, with a brand new, exclusive, award on the line for the winners of each tournament. Trust me, it's something worth having!

For now though, let's see what our roving reporter, KevinY3 thought of the first tournament of the year...

Competitors Direct Link

Water: Mystef, TikTakJack, WarriorMuffin, Connorj222, redacted1, CaesarSW4R

Earth: GrndMageDecisnom, _Gent, _Kakashi69, S3ventysev3n, TheWuseligOne

Fire: Fire_LordAzula, IncognitoSubito, DeSEPPtion, IcedClouds, NeutrinoBoi, SuperHaggis123, MustardShaker, Rook8056

Air: AJHo, EshelD, BananaVirus, Ajelle, its_jeboi

Non-Bending: Custoj, Coffeee, UROShadow, KevinY3

Fish: CheeseSandwich

First Round Direct Link

Mystef (Water) VS. Custoj (Nonbending):

Custoj is known as one of the most prolific fighters on the server, with a score of impressive runs in previous tournaments. What played to his disadvantage in this bout was his habit of picking fights against new players and people outside of arenas, leaving him inexperienced against higher grade players and ill equipped to fight under tournament conditions. Even so, he was able to perform admirably against Mystef, quite possibly one of the most terrifying combatants in the server’s history and a notable innovator both in the realms of waterbending and arena design.

They traded quite equally early on, with Custoj making excellent use of smokescreen and proximity mine to seal off all of Mystef’s water sources, leaving him vulnerable to an outpouring of grappling hooks and falcon strikes. However, Mystef was able to snatch a series of microvictories out of this unfavourable setup, coming out of each engagement better off than Custoj might’ve hoped.

These miniscule advantages compounded upon one another until eventually Mystef was able to seize the advantage and unleash a deluge of hard-hitting attacks while Custoj’s best skills were still cooling down.

• Winner: Mystef

WarriorMuffin (Water) VS. UROShadow (Nonbending):

Seemingly in indication of each fighter’s combat ethos, WarriorMuffin’s stats were hastily assigned and unrounded while UROShadow’s were perfectly calculated, each a multiple of five and made specifically to counteract anything that Muffin could bring to the table. What shone through in the opening few moments was Shadow’s utter confidence in his approach, sidestepping Muffin’s attacks with ease all while whittling down his opponent’s health, as if of two independent minds.

Muffin quickly realised that they couldn’t hope to control the dynamic of the match and turned tail: it was too late for them to adapt however, and it only took another few attacks for Shadow’s exhaustively honed finesse to overcome Muffin’s reliance on experience and practically subconscious, flowlike style of fighting.

• Winner: UROShadow

Fire_LordAzula (Fire) VS. Ajelle (Air):

It was somewhat odd to see Azula start with flame shot - long distance loving is not one of fire’s strengths - but it seemed to be to her advantage, as Ajelle struggled to get close in order to unleash his best attacks. After a few seconds of probing, with both fighters still in the middle of reading the other’s movements, they each got in close. Ajelle was quicker on the draw, using windslam to silence Azula, but was himself caught up in a followup solar burst, leaving him vulnerable to firebending’s unparalleled DPS. Without aim nor range being factors, it took mere seconds for Azula to cut Ajelle down to size.

• Winner: Fire_LordAzula

NeutrinoBoi (Fire) VS. IncognitoSubito (Fire):

Incog had experienced a blisteringly quick ascent to fame after winning last month's tournament, making him the more popular - and much more betted upon - of the two fighters. Neutrino, on the other hand, had been in the background of the server’s PvPing history for much of his career, inconspicuously snatching a few victories in previous tournaments and always melting back into the crowd afterwards. Even so, his reputation from his practice against other players in the days leading up to the tournament followed him into the arena, convincing some that they were about to see the tournament’s first real upset.

The subsequent dance of death was a whirling dervish of death and flame, with each having many projectiles in the air at a time and an even greater number of plans in simultaneous motion. It was Incognito who came out of the conflict with the upper hand however, taking advantage of his damage-oriented stat setup and mastery of misdirection in order to categorically outclass his opponent.

• Winner: IncognitoSubito

BananaVirus (Air) VS. IcedClouds (Fire):

Much like the bout between Azula and Ajelle, both competitors immediately made use of their ultimates in order to try to seize the initiative: a bold, if inconsistent strategy. BananVirus’ windslam was thoroughly beaten by Clouds’ solar burst, after which a short chase ensued from which Iced emerged the victor.

• Winner: IcedClouds

MustardShaker (Fire) VS. GrndMageDecisnom (Earth):

The casters seemed to be thoroughly in the camp of Decisnom before the match’s beginning, touting his greater experience and elemental advantage. They also noted, however, that Mustard had an especially defensive build, taking advantage of protection and vitality to boost his effective health to tremendous levels. He wore these stats on his sleeve, staying close to Decisnom and taking what hits he could head-on so that he could deal some damage of his own.

Decisnom responded to this health-trading style of fighting by playing a very reactive game, landing shatters and earth blasts to punish Mustard for acting so loosely with his own health.This, however, ultimately gave Mustard the advantage, as his intention all along had been to engage in a straightforward slugfest. Unable to switch up his style in time, Decisnom was baked to a fine char.

• Winner: MustardShaker

EshelD (Air) VS. _Gent (Earth):

Both fighters had bad blood between them, with Gent’s death at the hands of Eshel’s one-hit kill in previous tournaments having been immortalised in the annals of AMC history. Where Eshel treated their clash as just another obstacle to overcome, Gent took it as an opportunity to demonstrate how much he had improved since his last humiliating defeat. Using earth surf he was able to resist all of Eshel’s attempts to deal fall damage to him, simultaneously throwing out projectile attacks that kept Eshel from ever finding stable footing.

Eshel, to his credit, kept his cool and using both windslam and air shock to disorient Gent, dealing chip damage to the unarmoured earthbender who was out of energy less than a minute after the start of the fight. From there the two of them carried out a dancelike routine, neither willing to fall back and be the first to proverbially blink. Gent obviously had the upper hand, completely no-selling all of Eshel’s tactics while wearing him down like a thematically appropriate grindstone.

The match wore on, the audience grew to know what beats to predict: the tedium of it all almost replicated the sensation of being in a Zukologue. Finally, t very long last, Gent was able to finish Eshel off after an agonisingly slow brawl.

• Winner: _Gent

DeSEPPtion (Fire) VS. CaesarSW4R (Water):

Caesar was considered by many to be the decidedly more versatile and more generally talented bender, having demonstrated a mastery of all five elements in previous months. However, he had chosen to enter the tournament as water: an odd choice considering the massive disadvantages that the arena’s layout affected upon the element. Sepp, on the other hand, had never even looked away from the eyes of his darling firebending and was therefore by far the more experienced of the two with the setup that he’d chosen.

The match was more energetic than most: Caesar let out a series of creeping ices in order to expand his control of the arena floor while Sepp kept his distance and used a combination of flame shot and burnout in order to persecute Caesar from a distance.

Caesar attempted to counter this strategy with his own long distance moves such as water blast and ice spear but was unable to keep up with Sepp’s airborne maneuvers, eventually succumbing to a sky-high barrage of flames.

• Winner: DeSEPPtion

Rorrah (Water) VS. S3ventysev3n (Earth):

Rorrah joined the server a day before the tournament. You can probably guess how things panned out for them. Although to be frank, they were able to survive for a staggeringly long amount of time, with the match being the second longest bout in the tournament to that point.

Speaking of surprises, S3ven also took some time out of the round to give Rorrah advice about how to use their element. Absolutely solid stuff!

• Winner: S3ventysev3n

Connorj222 (Water) VS. CheeseSandwich (Fish):

There is a concept in modern philosophy known as The Sublime. It first entered our species' headspace sometime in the first century AD when a writer who we know today as Pseudo-Longinus coined a name for it. It's difficult to convey what The Sublime is with words alone but it may be thought of as total, transcendental sentiment. The Sublime is not an object but a state of being, something which someone may approach and sometimes grasp for brief, fleeting moments. Various happenings may elicit aspects of The Sublime: the animal bliss one wells up with when they look upon their newborn child, the cerebral awe that a person feels as they look upon the Earth from a great distance, the raw terror of beholding the terminal point of life when so much has yet to be achieved; these are tremendously pure experiences during which everything but the present moment is forgotten and only one emotion is felt, utterly overtaking the subject's consciousness. These evanescent milliseconds - the time it takes for a neuron to fire and fade - make a person sublime.

When Cheese stepped into the arena, the ardour which overwhelmed the assembled crowds put The Sublime to shame. As the leviathan's footfalls echoed in their heads, amplified by a cocktail of chemical fear and adrenaline, a deadening malice crept into their veins and tangled their nerves. The world came to a stop. The internecine feuds of man were forgotten as was all sense of self. Laying eyes on Cheese obliterated all other sensations; it overloaded their senses and psyches such that every other experience in living memory seemed vanishingly insignificant. Nothing dared move. Not the stars, which ceased their oscillations and flares, nor men, who knew that such a being as Cheese - one so gifted with agency and capability - rendered them obsolete through the virtue of his existence alone. All the combined works of humanity paled in beauty and importance to even a single act of Cheese's. This was an entity without boundaries, moral or physical. He was constituted of deprivations: a lack of obligations, a lack of needs, a lack of anything that could be considered a limit.

When you first learnt that things existed outside of your perception - gaining object permanence, as all children of Adam do - you realised that a world of boundless possibility existed outside of your limited perspective. Suddenly, you stopped being the most important thing within your nescient sphere of perception. That minor neurological reconfiguration instantly altered your existential context, changing the way you thought of yourself and of others forever. Cheese elicited a similar reaction. You think of yourself now as an individual, don't you? As someone with goals, aspirations; you are the centre of your own universe. Rarely has the thought ever crossed your mind that you might be unimportant to yourself. Not inconsequential on a physical, cosmological scale - that is a given - but instead, totally irrelevant even to the collection of ideas and remembrances that you know as your own life viewed from a first person perspective. When Cheese alighted from his throne, that belief was dashed against the rocks.

All of us stopped asking questions such as "what am I going to do" or "what's going to happen to me": the very notion of "I" and "myself" seemed laughably immaterial by then. Instead, we could only wonder what Cheese was, what lay behind the eyes of apathetic eternity. We were all reborn, awakened to a glory beyond our reckoning. Undeserving of the attention of this presence, we sat silent like obedient children, watching as something of tremendous magnitude took its place on the arena floor. A geometry of light formed about the formation of ligatures and muscle that he called his hand. He held the image of a fish in his palm. Yet beneath it lay what we could not see, for it was so above and greater than us that it escaped our capacity for observation in its entirety.

He held a barb of the flower of death, a single sherd plucked from the stem of all mortality; that greedy rose which harbours countless avarices and drinks that which exists to feed its roots, swallowing life and warmth and ejecting it as photosynthetic entropy. Its name is Anathema, and its purpose is extinguishment. When I looked upon it something was taken from me, devoured by the black. It was my ability to go back to what I had been before I had seen Cheese. Who I had been at the beginning of the tournament felt alien to me, like a totally different person- no, a totally different type of being altogether. What a miserable existence they had led, bound by the constrictor of sensibility and the chains of logic. Now I was the muse of apotheosis, given up in the name of CheeseSandwich: not a king, god or anything of such mortal inception. Rather, he was himself, a self-definitional entity which authored the terms of its own existence. Unable to be classified, unable to be pigeonholed: he was the ultimate expression of freedom among so many other things.

And what of Connor, the supposed antithesis to the indisputable axiom of Cheese's hegemony? Oh how little he represented, a pathetic mustering of matter and finite intelligence which could've never hoped to be as he was before Cheese without his express permission to do so. I would say that Connor made an attempt to resist and threw a prism of ice at Cheese but that would not encompass the truth of the matter. Rather, it was Cheese - the guiding hand behind all occurrence and the well from which the river of time springs - which compelled time to march forward and events to play out as they should have, making Connor perform that meaningless act of resistance. Nothing occurs unless Cheese wills it. He is verity's puppeteer and actuality is his beaten marionette.

Cheese reached down - or was it up, right, left, from within, from without - and brandished his razor of nonpareil nihility. The audience's exultation thickened the air like syrup, though concepts such as viscosity had long since lost all relevance. Wings of endings - with coverts fashioned of the last pages of books and pinions hewn from final moments - stretched behind his back and through them shone the antilight of the great beyond. The Earth heaved and swayed, my nerves curdled as if sour milk, space bent beneath the pressure of having to host the continued existence of this infinite divinity. Pathos bled from me as I awaited the reckoning that surely was to come...

And then I blinked, and all that remained was Connor and the gaping absence of Cheese. The instant in which he chose to spare his would-be lamb seared itself into the fabric underpinning our universe, making itself a point as immovable and inarguable as the fact that two and two makes four. I knew then that Cheese had come to demonstrate something to us: that we all exist because he demands it, and that we would all end if he desired it. Just as he chose not to excise Connor from reality, he chooses not to erase all of us every second of every day, from the beginning of time to its cold, empty end. So expunge sin from your heart, fill your hours with virtue and kindness; not to earn Cheese's love but so as not to attract his wrath. For he watches and he judges eternally, our benefactor and our captor. I'd be afraid of forgetting all of this but I know that I couldn't even if I tried.

Every now and then I close my eyes to blink or sleep and when I open them again I feel an overwhelming catharsis because I'm afraid that while I'm not looking, Cheese will decide to unmake the world and I'll miss it because my eyelids were down. What if he forgets about me and doesn't remember to get rid of me? What if I'm left alone in the dark, blind and unfading, forever? Maybe he'll leave me behind out of nothing but spite. I would never know. There's too little room in creation to hold the answer to these questions; there's no room to contain any part of Cheese at all, the world can only accommodate the shadow that he casts. We're like fish in a lake looking toward the film that forms between water and sky, trying to find truth amidst the distortion. When Cheese came to us, he dipped his finger in the pond.

I deeply regret my existence.

• Winner: Connorj222
• The Real Winner: CheeseSandwich

AJHo (Air) VS. Redacted1 (Water):

Each player was entirely focused on mobility, with Redacted running around the arena from pool to pool while AJHo, suspecting a trick, followed close behind and made sparing use of air blast and windslam to sap Redacted’s health.

However, strangely, in spite of having many opportunities to turn the tides of battle in his favour, Redacted never truly committed to any offensive strategy, instead just running and running until his luck ran out. He was ultimately saved by the bell - or rather, lag induced by blizzard ejecting somewhere around 50 people from the event server - necessitating a rematch.

This one was far shorter than the last, with both players remembering the last round - AJHo realising that he could win easily and Redacted realising that he was bound to lose - and what occurred thereafter was a farcical chase wherein AJHo poked Redacted in the rear until he eventually went down.

• Winner: AJHo

Coffeee (Nonbending) VS. KevinY3 (Nonbending):

A tragedy. A comedy. An illustration of the faults of man and all the abhorrence of violence. These things all describe what transpired that day, as KevinY3 pleaded against all hope - even as daggers and shrapnel tore through their body - for Coffee to lay down his arms and embrace peace. But a tournament cannot abide cooperation by the nature of its format and thus, even as KevinY3 begged for there to be an end to strife, Coffee ended their life. There was a moment of hesitation right at the end, a second before he committed to the kill. That may speak a volume of his character... it may have just been time he spent planning.

Ne'er wearing his emotions on his sleeve, it remains unknown if he felt some remorse. But think not of the violation of brotherhood and the betrayal of kin, consider instead the strings that made Coffee a murderer so. It is not a fault of character to sin, it is the failure of the powers that be to foster an environment in which aggression and dishonesty are unnecessary. It cannot be the responsibility of an individual to be absolutely accountable for how they were raised and what ideals they espouse, not when a collective exists around them which defines their being, and which is itself shaped by a clique which we have come to identify as our leaders.

In other words, we live in a society.

A note from Dove, the Editor-in-Chief: Yes, Kevin did write this themself. All you need to know about the fight is that Coffeee won due to Kevin not really giving a toss about the result!

• Winner: Coffeee

TheWuseligOne (Earth) VS. Itz_Jeboi (Air):

Wuselig went into this one with a fair amount of clout at his back: in the weeks preceding the tournament he’d been in the arena almost twenty four seven, putting in ridiculous amounts of practice in preparation for what would most certainly be a gauntlet of challenges on the day of the tournament. Jeboi, in contrast, was almost totally unknown, but showed off an impressive set of skills as soon as the countdown came to an end, using windslam and scooter to not only evade Wuselig’s attacks but also to open up opportunities for him to slip in some serious damage.

Wuselig knew that he didn’t need to win though, he just didn’t need to lose: any strategy, as long as it hit Jeboi even somewhat, would see him through to victory: earth’s durability is simply that high. It wasn’t necessarily tricky plays or even a difference in skill that turned Wuselig into the victor, it was the simple fact that air doesn’t have the toolset to put up a real fight against earth.

• Winner: TheWuseligOne

Second Round Direct Link

Mystef (Water) VS. TikTakJack (Water):

The battle was a foregone conclusion right from the get go. TikTak tried to keep his distance and made every attempt to survive. It wasn’t enough. It was a short, brutal affair that really nailed home just how capable a bender Mystef was: TikTak, though his intuition and skill may have been admirable, simply didn’t have what it took to match Mystef in the arena.

• Winner: Mystef

Fire_LordAzula (Fire) VS. UROShadow (Nonbending):

Azula had prepared herself for a possibly even match, having accompanied Shadow to victory against S3ventysev3n and YaguraKaratachi in the last 2v2 tournament: she believed herself to be his equal. However, Shadow was decidedly different from anything she had ever faced before, totally unlike any of the nonbenders that Azula had sparred against in the past. She expected her opponent to fall back in the face of blitz and dragon, clearly, as she tried to put on the pressure during the opening ten seconds.

However, rather than retreating, Shadow simply stepped back, braced himself and chiblocked Azula before she could get a single good hit off. From there it was a complete landslide in his favour, eventually ending with Azula’s demise.

• Winner: UROShadow

IcedClouds (Fire) VS. IncognitoSubito (Fire):

Clouds and Incognito had played together for a long time before the January tournament, with the latter mentoring the former, providing tips about how to use their element to its fullest extent. Clearly, however, Incognito had chosen not to reveal what to do when facing himself, for Iced found himself on the back foot for the entirety of the battle, unable to assert himself in the face of what might as well have been a concrete mixer barreling down on him.

• Winner: IncognitoSubito

_Gent (Earth) VS. MustardShaker (Fire):

Gent and Mustard had been exposed to one another before in a series of casual matches which had left the two of them with the impression that Gent was the decidedly superior fighter. Indeed, Mustard tried to rush Gent down and to throw him off with an overwhelming outpouring of offensive power. This, though, was turned back by a combination of evasion and offence; Gent's trademark hybrid playstyle. Gent was seemingly content to fight a war from the other side of the arena, always sticking to the middle distance without allowing Mustard to make it close enough to use his best moves.

Gent made innovative use of ground breaker and boulder toss, slowing his opponent so that he could never close the distance which he was so sure he needed to eliminate in order to have a chance of victory. Eventually, Mustard got close enough to see the white in Gent’s eyes - it was his opportunity to turn the tables in his favour! - and yet, mere moments later, all the hope faded as he realised that he hadn’t broken through Gent’s defences. Rather, Gent had allowed him to get that close, luring him into a trap. A rumble, shackle and shatter later, Gent had sealed Mustard’s grave with a headstone of coarse rock.

• Winner: _Gent

DeSEPPtion (Fire) VS. SuperHaggis123 (Fire):

If there were a sound barrier to be broken in Minecraft, Sepp most certainly would’ve shattered it tenfold. He utilized blitz, blast wave and jet in a way that left even the ever mobile Haggis feeling like he was stuck in quicksand. Haggis had no choice but to react to whatever Sepp decided the agenda was: and apparently, Haggis was a better follower than Sepp was a leader, for it was ultimately Haggis that extracted victory from what seemed to be a situation that was thoroughly not in his favour. Perhaps Sepp had been running scared rather than controlling the momentum of the fight? The world may never know.

• Winner: SuperHaggis123

Connorj222 (Water) VS. S3ventysev3n (Earth):

Connor had no qualms, it seemed, with taking the fight to Seven in spite of almost everybody - commentators and Seven included - thinking that he was going to lose. Whether this was because he was unaware of Seven’s reputation for incredibly one-sided victories or because he was simply fearless couldn’t be known but what was certain was that Connor ran literal circles around his opponent, upsetting the crowd with his seeming domination of the two fighters' dynamic.

Yet, it couldn’t be denied that Seven seemed utterly nonplussed by the situation, ever unshakeable much like his element. In spite of an impressive performance on the part of Connor, Seven’s experience and devastating style of play saw him through to the light of day yet again.

• Winner: S3ventysev3n

AJHo (Air) VS. Rook8056 (Fire):

Rook brought his A-game to the table, blazing a trail of firebombs and kickbacks which left AJHo helpless but to flounder. The airbender looked as if he had just encountered a brick wall, an opponent which he could never hope to contend with, let alone overcome. Rook ended the match in mere seconds, displaying a shocking mastery of his element which would've put even the server's best to shame.

• Winner: Rook8056

TheWuseligOne (Earth) VS. Coffeee (Nonbending):

Much of Coffee’s strategy seemed to be to pressure Wuselig as hard as he could, constantly blinding or silencing his enemy so that he could never have a moment of respite. It worked to put the fear of god in Wuselig’s mind, as he switched from his aggressive style of play which he’d displayed in the past to an incredibly cautious, long-range method which he clearly hoped would keep him safe from Coffee’s close range capability for damage. Coffee, though he’d started out strong, failed to keep his own momentum going and took a series of bad trades that ultimately resulted in his narrow defeat.

• Winner: TheWuseligOne

Third Round Direct Link

UROShadow (Nonbending) VS. Mystef (Water):

Mystef admitted before the round that Shadow was likely to win, implying that he’d be proud if he even managed to get Shadow to half health. This was not a display of weakness, it was a show of respect for someone who he considered to be his superior in most regards. Mystef had been one of the original pioneers of the modern style of waterbending and he’d been there to witness Shadow taking his innovations and turning them into something more coherent and practised, something which had come to define the element for months thereafter.

Both fighters had a tremendous career at their backs, with tournament wins on each side. The battle was solemn and balanced, with Shadow keeping close and Mystef trying to stay mobile to no avail, as he found himself constantly silenced and pursued by the silent warrior of steel and powder. Mystef's prediction came true in the end, with him falling to Shadow after a brilliant blaze of glory.

• Winner: UROShadow

_Gent (Earth) VS. IncognitoSubito (Fire):

Gent clearly showed off his adaptability in this round, playing against Incognito’s strength at close range by staying mobile and utilizing dodge and jump at every opportunity. Coins and blasts kept Incog at a distance while earth rumble punished any attempt to get in range. However, Gent’s victory was simply not to be: Incog had a slight edge in mobility and power, enough to constantly arrest Gent’s plans before they could get off the ground. Enough, in fact, to earn him the win.

• Winner: IncognitoSubito

S3ventysev3n (Earth) VS. SuperHaggis123 (Fire):

In a display of how the bout between Gent and Incognito could’ve gone in another world, Seven danced circles around Haggis and built up walls to obstruct his vision, keeping him confused and off balance while Seven built up damage with shackles and pebbles. It was a one-sided stomp in Seven’s favour: a testament to his skill, knowing just how formidable Haggis was.

• Winner: S3ventysev3n

Rook8056 (Fire) VS. TheWuseligOne (Earth):

The third match in a row which set fire against earth, this battle was the most balanced that the tournament had seen so far: Wuselig stayed light on his feet, knowing just how devastating fire could be at close range, while Rook took to the skies, always keeping himself well out of reach of coin and earth blast. For a while, both fighters were too mobile and too cautious for any real hits to connect, but Rook eventually got pinned against a wall and shackled, opening him up to a devastating combo from Wuselig which carried him through to victory.

• Winner: TheWuseligOne

Semi Finals Direct Link

UROShadow (Nonbending) VS. IncognitoSubito (Fire):

Both tournament winners, both pinnacles of bending prowess and inner potential, both bearers of a legacy they needed to honour. Incognito had crushed his student’s chances for victory in his last fight against IcedClouds; now he needed to honour his sacrifice. Meanwhile, Shadow had only just overcome Mystef, a clear demonstration of how far he’d come since the days when Mystef had mentored him in the FNC arena. There would be no backing down, no parlay, no chance for mercy or trickery. The battle, regardless of its outcome, would be nothing short of a clash of titans. And where Shadow spoke casually before the round, keeping the atmosphere light and preventing the pressure from getting to him, Incognito stood silent and unmoving, focusing his energies into a pinprick gaze set entirely on triumph: a scathing stare from the other side of the arena.

There was no time spent on the formulation of tactics or the consideration of the opponent’s playstyle, both players immediately threw themselves into combat as soon as they were able to, with Shadow disorienting Incognito with sand attacks and smokescreen all while Incognito pushed his enemy towards the sides of the arena, chasing him with flare blitzes and fire walls that never seemed to permit Shadow any room to maneuver. Each one was a dragon, a serpentine beast which intertwined itself with the other, waiting for their foe to flinch and be crushed. Shadow was the first to slip, after a solid minute of the two of them showing nothing but flawless expertise: a few scant hits from dragon of the west was all it took to clue Incognito into the fact that triumph was within reach.

Seeming to accept his fate, Shadow stood still as Incognito finished him off with aplomb, having lost less than half his health during the clash. The audience exploded into applause.

• Winner: IncognitoSubito

S3ventysev3n (Earth) VS. TheWuseligOne (Earth):

Wuselig had progressed further than anyone could’ve predicted, seizing upset wins by the hair of his teeth again and again. Seven, meanwhile, hadn’t yet had much trouble with any of his opponents, always controlling the arena floor and never once seeming vulnerable or at risk of defeat. It was Wuselig, however, that seemed to have the upper hand for the first half of the match, with his shackles landing over Seven’s. Eventually, in a complete departure from his behaviour in every prior tournament, it was Seven who went on the run, staying back while his opponent pursued him from one side of the arena to the other.

It was truly astounding, watching Wuselig systematically dismantle his opponent’s defences and exploiting openings which only the best of fighters might’ve hoped to be able to discern. In an absolute upset - possibly one of the greatest in the history of AvatarMC - Wuselig came out the winner, leaving the legendary Seven in the dust.

• Winner: TheWuseligOne

Third Place Playoff Direct Link

UROShadow (Nonbending) VS. S3ventysev3n (Earth):

The competition for third place, seemingly always the fight that shines the brightest in any tournament as those that fell on the staircase to glory try to save themselves from the tumble into obscurity. It started with a long range poking match, with both fighters’ backs literally to the wall as they threw stones and knives at one another from as far away as they could possibly be from their opponent. Seven was the one to eventually break the stalemate, going in close for a rumble and a shackle: Shadow turned the tables handily, using chiblock and sand attack to completely flip the precedent that Seven had hoped to set. From there, he kept on the pressure and crushed Seven to a pulp.

• Winner: UROShadow

Grand Final Direct Link

IncognitoSubito (Fire) VS. TheWuseligOne (Earth):

Nobody had expected Wuselig to make it this far. Even those who knew him best, who’d seen him prove himself at the Caldera and Gaoling over and over again, hadn’t known just how much potential he had within his heart, how much power he could truly bring to bear when the chips were on the table. Incognito engaged in a desperate gambit, poking Wuselig with powerful close ranged attacks only to fall back before the winds of retaliation could find him: it was a strategy that seriously played against his own strengths: his aim at long range and his mobility up close. He was forced to always be at a middle distance, right where Wuselig’s attacks were easiest to aim and hardest to avoid. Wuselig seemed an iron wall, entirely immovable. He met every kickback with a coin, every blitz with a blast.

Incognito must’ve felt the cold hand of death closing in around him, felt his chances of victory slipping away. And then, almost imperceptibly, Wuselig stepped back. In an instant, Incog - as he’d tuned his senses to do through thousands of battles, accruing endless scars through the process - recognised his opponent’s weakness. Their relationship flipped. Where once Wuselig had been totally unflappable, now he was vulnerable: he'd become something that Incog could exploit, predict, overcome. As if possessed by a dragon, he surged forward and engulfed Wuselig in an envelope of flame which no amount of sand or stone could hope to bury. Like a raging forest fire ripping the oxygen from the air, Incognito tore at Wuselig’s very soul, obliterating every conception he had of himself.

Wuselig had thought himself skilled, thought himself unstoppable: now he was just another bender caught in Incognito’s scalding grasp. And so it was that he was laid to rest beneath the light of an avid star, the beacon whose name is IncognitoSubito.

• Winner: IncognitoSubito

The bracket for this tournament can be found by clicking here.

Quotes Direct Link

1st Place - IncognitoSubito:“I would like to thank everyone who helped me and cheered me on, you know who you are. :3“

2nd Place - TheWuseligOne:"It was a great tournament and well organised"

3rd Place - UROShadow:“If you don’t kill him, no one will.”

4th Place - S3ventyseven:“buff earth #earthpower”

The Dove Awards Direct Link

Best Fighter - The quality of these tournaments continues to rise and rise, so there's plenty to choose from for this award. For me, the winner is TheWuseligOne! They put on a series of very impressive performances to make their way to the final, going against all expectation.

Best Fight - The only winner here is the exceptional clash between IncognitoSubito and UROShadow. The defending champion coming up against the person who many consider to be one of the greatest of all time. It was thrilling to watch and well worth the billing it had been given.

The Champagne Moment Award - There are lots of nominees for this award. Honourable mentions to UROShadow's camouflaged skin; Cheese and his food fight technique, and KevinY3 for another 'fight and type' showing. But the winner is S3ventyseven for stopping in the middle of a fight to offer his inexperienced opponent some words of advice and encouragement. Heartwarming stuff!

Funniest Moment - This tournament saw a rematch between EshelD and Gent_, the latter of whom had faultlessly countered Eshel's 'one-hit-combo' in a previous tournament. The simple move of jumping onto an earth surf was repeated here, something which clearly annoyed Eshel. He was prompted to jump onto an air scooter and chase Gent around the arena for a few seconds as his frustration finally got the better of him.

Last Notes Direct Link

Once again, a massive thank you to the Events Team for ensuring this event runs smoothly, to Zuko, Kopk1, and Porku for casting the event, and finally to everyone who takes part!

Will we see history being made in February? Incognito has the chance to be the first fighter to ever win three tournaments in a row, and can also match EvieAscendant by becoming a three times individual champion. Another who can claim that milestone is UROShadow. After two tournaments without success, he has the chance to fight back and stake his claim as the GOAT. Victory for him would see him join both EvieAscendant and Porku as the most successful in terms of individual and overall titles. Or will Mystef put a disappointing run of results behind him and win a championship title of his own?

There is much intrigue as we head into this most anticipated of tournaments!

Finally, I would like to show you the Championship Bracelet that we now offer as a prize for tournaments. It was created by KingSquirrel, and is based on the Earth Rumble belt from ATLA.

See you soon!

QuietDove

Hall of Fame Direct Link

• July 2018 - Kaaldr
• August 2018 - Porku
• September 2018 - nanook4219
• October 2018 - EvieAscendant
• November 2018 (2v2) - Tofu_ and Porku
• December 2018 - EvieAscendant
• January 2019 - KevinY3
• August 2019 - Vincebobogunoosh
• February 2020 - EvieAscendant
• March 2020 - Porku
• March 2020 (2v2) - Porku and Best_Minority
• April 2020 - KevinY3
• May 2020 - Jtox17
• June 2020 - Mystef
• July 2020 - YaguraKaratachi (Mystef)
• August 2020 - ShadowKing1255
• September 2020 - CaesarSW4R
• October 2020 (2v2) - UROShadow and Fire_LordAzula
• November 2020 - UROShadow
• December 2020 - IncognitoSubito
• January 2021 - IncognitoSubito

AvatarMC Soon™ - Issue 83: February Bending Tournament

2021-02-13 23:12:05 +0000 UTC by AvatarKorra_

Event: Gaoling Bending Tournament // AvatarMC Discord Direct Link

Love is in the air, and it's time for the best activity to show love and affection: PvP tournaments!

Like last month, there will be no Professions items permitted during the tournament.

The tournament will be broadcast LIVE on the server's very own Twitch channel. Tune in for some prime Zuko content.

When will it be? Direct Link

• The event will take place on Saturday, February 20 at 19:00 UTC. For those who use Google's search engine, this query will find exactly what time this is in your time zone. World Time Buddy is also a helpful resource.

How do I join? Direct Link

• Please join the Discord and sign up in the Tournament Chat or message a Mod or Chat Mod in-game. You can always sign up at the event, but you may not be paired with someone who best matches your skill level—so sign up as soon as you can!

Am I limited to the bending I chose? Direct Link

• No! This event will take place off the main server by typing /server event once the event is open for joining. You will be able to select any bending you wish and change it at any point before the tournament officially starts. The event server will be open 30 minutes before the tournament starts to allow players to have time to pick.

Will there be elytras? Direct Link

• At the moment, we have decided to not provide elytras for players to use. These can be used to avoid combat completely by Airbenders and serve no purpose in combat since they are disabled after taking damage.

Will we be able to eat to heal during the match? Direct Link

• No. In the past when we've allowed food and healing, matches lasted far longer than anyone felt was enjoyable. Because of that, health restoration from eating will be disabled. However, you will be able to eat while outside the arena and water healing moves will be allowed.

Will there be stats and levels? Direct Link

• Just like on the main server you will have stat points to allocate typing /c. You will be automatically set to max level and have all moves available from the moment you select a bending. You can reset your stats throughout the tournament to change your build based on the bender you will be fighting by speaking to the stat spirit near spawn.

Will there be rewards? Direct Link

• First Place: 250,000¥ + Championship Bracelet
• Second Place: 150,000¥
• Third Place: 75,000¥
• Fourth Place: 50,000¥
• Participation: Everyone who signs up for the tournament and participates in it without missing any matches will receive a participation prize. This will consist of 32 spirit essence and four decorative heads. Winners will receive these as well.
• As an additional reward for this month, every participant will be entered into a raffle to win $20 of cosmetics from the server store. One lucky player will be able to claim this prize!

How do I join the Discord? Direct Link

• You can simply join with this direct invite. Below are instructions to link your AvatarMC account with Discord; however, this is not required!
• First, you need to create an AvatarMC Forum account by performing /register while on the server.
• Once you have the forum account set up, go to discord.avatarmc.com and log in with your forum information. This will link your account to your Discord account.
• If you already have an AvatarMC Forum account, but don't remember your log-in information, please contact GuoKao.

Various notes on how the event will function: Direct Link

• The tournament will operate off of a public leaderboard that you can request the link to at any time (after the tournament has started).
• Veterans will face veterans in the first rounds, and newer players will face newer players. Veteran players will fight first. This is to give the new players an opportunity to watch and learn from the fights before and give them a better chance at beating a veteran player.
• Players who lose in the semi-final fights will match against each other to determine 3rd and 4th place.
• Time will be set to sunrise, so no advantage can be gained for either waterbenders or firebenders.
• This tournament is not only a way for you to earn free money, but also a way for us to gain balancing opinions on the elements. After the tournament, do not be afraid to share your opinions on the server Discord or on the forums!

If you have any questions regarding the event, you can ask in our Discord or message a moderator in-game.

We hope you join the fight on Saturday, February 20 at 19:00 UTC!!AvatarMC Discord

AvatarMC Soon™ - Issue 82: January Bending Tournament

2021-01-19 16:44:31 +0000 UTC by QuietDove

Event: Gaoling Bending Tournament // AvatarMC Discord Direct Link

Happy New Year to you all! We hope you have all been enjoying the Harvest Update. It sounds like everyone's been working hard with Professions.

The tournament is back for another year, so I hope you've found time to get some practice in amongst all the farming and cooking. As a side note, there will be no Professions items permitted during the tournament.

The tournament will be broadcast LIVE on the server's very own Twitch channel. Tune in for some prime Zuko content.

When will it be? Direct Link

• The event will take place on Saturday, January 30 at 19:00 UTC. Please use this Google search to find exactly what time this is in your time zone. World Time Buddy is also a helpful resource.

How do I join? Direct Link

• Please join the Discord and sign up in the Tournament Chat or message a Mod or Chat Mod in-game. You can always sign up at the event, but you may not be paired with someone who best matches your skill level—so sign up as soon as you can!

Am I limited to the bending I chose? Direct Link

• No! This event will take place off the main server by typing /server event once the event is open for joining. You will be able to select any bending you wish and change it at any point before the tournament officially starts. The event server will be open 30 minutes before the tournament starts to allow players to have time to pick.

Will there be elytras? Direct Link

• At the moment, we have decided to not provide elytras for players to use. These can be used to avoid combat completely by Airbenders and serve no purpose in combat since they are disabled after taking damage.

Will we be able to eat to heal during the match? Direct Link

• No. In the past when we've allowed food and healing, matches lasted far longer than anyone felt was enjoyable. Because of that, health restoration from eating will be disabled. However, you will be able to eat while outside the arena and water healing moves will be allowed.

Will there be stats and levels? Direct Link

• Just like on the main server you will have stat points to allocate typing /c. You will be automatically set to max level and have all moves available from the moment you select a bending. You can reset your stats throughout the tournament to change your build based on the bender you will be fighting by speaking to the stat spirit near spawn.

Will there be rewards? Direct Link

• First Place: 250,000¥ + A very special new prize!
• Second Place: 150,000¥
• Third Place: 75,000¥
• Fourth Place: 50,000¥
• Participation: Everyone who signs up for the tournament and participates in it without missing any matches will receive a participation prize. This will consist of 32 spirit essence and four decorative heads. Winners will receive these as well.
• As an additional reward for this month, every participant will be entered into a raffle to win $20 of cosmetics from the server store. One lucky player will be able to claim this prize!

How do I join the Discord? Direct Link

• You can simply join with this direct invite. Below are instructions to link your AvatarMC account with Discord; however, this is not required!
• First, you need to create an AvatarMC Forum account by performing /register while on the server.
• Once you have the forum account set up, go to discord.avatarmc.com and log in with your forum information. This will link your account to your Discord account.
• If you already have an AvatarMC Forum account, but don't remember your log-in information, please contact GuoKao.

Various notes on how the event will function: Direct Link

• The tournament will operate off of a public leaderboard that you can request the link to at any time (after the tournament has started).
• Veterans will face veterans in the first rounds, and newer players will face newer players. Veteran players will fight first. This is to give the new players an opportunity to watch and learn from the fights before and give them a better chance at beating a veteran player.
• Players who lose in the semi-final fights will match against each other to determine 3rd and 4th place.
• Time will be set to sunrise, so no advantage can be gained for either waterbenders or firebenders.
• This tournament is not only a way for you to earn free money, but also a way for us to gain balancing opinions on the elements. After the tournament, do not be afraid to share your opinions on the server Discord or on the forums!

If you have any questions regarding the event, you can ask in our Discord or message a moderator in-game.

We hope you join the fight on Saturday, January 30 at 19:00 UTC!!AvatarMC Discord

AvatarMC Soon™ - Issue 81: The Harvest Is Here!

2021-01-01 03:02:56 +0000 UTC by QuietDove

We are delighted to announce that the Harvest Update is now live and ready to play!

The whole team cannot wait for you to experience our biggest ever update. Massive new builds, new ways of playing, and much more besides, are just waiting for you.

The Agrarian Zone Direct Link

The vast fields of Ba Sing Se's Agrarian Zone are now free to be explored! From well known locations, such as the Zoo and Lake Laogai, to brand new villages and characters to interact with. The Agrarian Zone is full to the brim with new content.

Quests Direct Link

A major part of the new update is the introduction of the Questing system. Players can access their quest interface by using the /q command, this will list all available quests and their requirements.

Four quests will be ready to play as a part of this update. These are:

The Tourist Trap - Help Paiwai in his quest to rid Hekou Village of the tourist menace!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Tung, at Ba Sing Se Zoo, is hoping to find a rare species of bear for the zoo to research.

Vigilante Justice - Help out the Ba Sing Se Guard and take out a group of thugs.

Search for the Pet - A Zoo visitor has lost their pet, help them find it.

Mini Dungeons Direct Link

If you're a fan of combat, we have good news! Three new mini dungeons will give you a chance to show off your skills, as well as earn those all important rewards.

Raiding Fields (1—4) - Bandits are trying to steal crops from the field, stop them!

Woodland Lodge (5—7) - Two criminals have been tracked down to a remote lodge, now get in there to apprehend them!

The Fighter in the Fields (Easy: 17—20, Hard: 20—23) - Jun-Fan is looking for any worthy challenger to take him on in one-on-one combat. Are you up for the challenge?

Release Event Direct Link

Of course, a huge release like this needs a suitably impressive event to celebrate.

For the first two weeks after release, a special quest will be available to play, Harvests Across the Agrarian Zone. This quest will see you traveling across the length and breadth of the Agrarian Zone, hunting for trophies. Talk to the Korra NPC at the station to start the quest. Rewards include an exclusive cosmetic and Lotus Tiles; the new name for Tea Leaves!

While you are hunting around for trophies, why not take a second to capture some beautiful screenshots? We are running a screenshot competition on January 1. A special discord channel will be set up for you to submit a screenshot for judging, and get your screenshots in by 21:00 UTC.

Screenshots will be judged on four criteria:

• Community Engagement: Is it a solo screenshot, or a group one?
• Creativity: How unique is it?
• Location: How pretty or cool is the location?
• Lore: Is it portraying a cool story?

The top three entries will win some items from our store, up to the below prices:

• 1st Place: $35
• 2nd Place: $25
• 3rd Place: $15

Professions Direct Link

The Professions system is a new and exciting addition to the server. This system will give you a brand new way of playing the game, with a focus on gathering resources and using them to create hundreds of new items.

Wiki pages that go through each profession in detail are coming very soon, so you'll be on your own for a little bit! However, each capital has a set of NPCs who will provide you with information and items to set you on your way. Use /nav to find the professions masters in your capital.

You will discover a lot of fun things by exploring things yourself and seeing what the system has to offer.

The four Professions are as follows:

Farming:The farming profession is the key to gathering the ingredients that are used to cook and brew the large amount of items we've created. Farming requires you to be both patient and observant. The last thing you'd want is a swarm of scorpion bees eating through your precious crops! Don't forget to pick up some fertilizers to help you out!

Fishing:Hook up some rare fish to either sell or use as ingredients with the fishing profession. You'll notice the harbours in cities are a lot more lively now, with people looking to buy your fresh catches around every corner.

Cooking:Whether you're frying up some snacks like flaming fire flakes to give you quick boosts of energy, or you're making some longer lasting full meals like roast turtle duck, the foods you make with the cooking profession will keep you feeling healthy along your adventure in the world of Avatar. You could even seek out some of master chefs located throughout the world in pursuit of the more unique food recipes.

Brewing:Becoming a master tea brewer requires skill and talent. The slightest mistake when brewing tea can be the difference between perfection and mediocrity. I can assure you that all the hard work that goes into brewing a tea is certainly worth it though. The teas that you can make with the brewing profession will provide powerful and long-lasting boosts to your energy based stats.

Bending Changes Direct Link

If you have been playing on the Event server at all recently, then you will already be well aware of the various bending changes that are being added as a part of this update.

Full details of these changes can be found in the following preview posts: Issue 68 and Issue 70.

Resource Pack and Texture Updates Direct Link

Keeping with the farming theme of this release, the four crop types; Wheat, Carrots, Potatoes, and Beetroots have all been given a visual upgrade. Additionally, water blocks and flowing water also look a little bit different now.

Our biggest update to the resource pack is in the addition of SFX for every single bending move. All of the sound effects have been made from scratch are are unique to each move.

Additionally, we have added four new music tracks that will soundtrack your journey through the Agrarian Zone. To hear these, please download and install the Music Pack from this page: https://www.avatarmc.com/help/rp

Cosmetics Direct Link

We have a large number of new cosmetic hats and focuses for you to purchase. These can be found on the server store here: https://shop.avatarmc.com/

Focuses:

• Earth Royal Palace Guard Spear
• Mugger's Dagger
• Jet's Sword
• A Katana

Hats:

• The Zhu Li (Hat, Glasses, and combo)
• Katara's Headpiece (from the Earth King's Party)
• Pong's Hat (Earth official in Ba Sing Se)
• Joo Dee's Headpiece
• The Earth King's Crown
• The Earth Queen's Crown
• Longshot's Hat
• Wu's Tophat
• The Bard's Hat/Hairpiece

New Limbo Direct Link

This stunning new build is something that you probably never knew you needed! The revamped Limbo features beautiful scenery, hidden locations, and a parkour course. The new Limbo was built by Jtox17.

Thank You! Direct Link

Finally, we would like to say a huge thank you to every team member, both past and present, who has contributed to this release.

It has been a huge part of the last few years and it is thanks to all of you that we are at this stage now.

Have a brilliant new year!

The AvatarMC Team

The Gaoling Bending Tournament Report: December 2020

2020-12-28 15:57:38 +0000 UTC by QuietDove

The final tournament of 2020 is here! It's been a wild 12 months, in so many ways, but we have been treated to some incredible tournaments this year, and December was no different. Sit back, relax, and take in the tournament through the eyes of our reporter, KevinY3.

Competitors Direct Link

Water: UROShadow, Yagurakaratachi, WarriorMuffin, TikTacJack

Earth: GrndMageDecisnom, CaesarSW4R, S3ventyS3ven, _Gent

Fire: Ubuu, deSEPPtion, spug, MrSlushie96, IncognitoSubito

Air: iamthepowerfulE, MatteoCallebaut, Ruben_Ninja, MrCafeMan, EshelD, BananaVirus

Non-Bending: MakoBanned

First Round Direct Link

UROShadow (Water) VS. MakoBanned (Nonbending):

The round went off to an explosive start as Shadow came out with two ice spears in a row, weaving between the water pools and making good use of ice sphere to keep himself sheltered from Mako’s strongest moves. For a while, the two fighters jabbed at each other from a distance until suddenly, through either confidence or by accident, Mako got himself stuck in a pool of water where Shadow was free to pummel him. Shockingly, he managed to extract himself from the situation and was back to poking Shadow from a distance mere moments later, using grenades and blowdarts to keep his opponent on a slow downward slope which would spell his defeat if not halted soon. Shadow, knowing that he had to go in for the kill before he died from Mako’s strategy of inescapable attrition, adopted an almost suicidally forward offensive playstyle. He undoubtedly took many hits as a result of this, receiving grapples and knives and bombs in excessive amounts, but it ultimately saw him through to victory.

GrndMageDecisnom (Earth) VS. CaesarSW4R (Earth):

Decisnom took the offensive as soon as the match began, subverting the expectations of not only the audience but himself: Caesar was the much more experienced and far more feared player, having earned his place in the annals of AvatarMC time and time again. The reason, as he would explain after the match, was because of his ping. Specifically, his 1000ms ping. Thoroughly disadvantaged, Caesar panicked and started erecting walls in order to box himself in, barely avoiding Decisnom’s unrelenting barrage of shatters and coins. In mere seconds, Decisnom had cornered Caesar, who was low on HP and desperately doing everything he could to weather the assault. At that moment, it looked as if one of the server’s best fighters would be knocked out of the tournament! Caesar’s weakness turned out to have all been a ruse, however. One sandstorm was all it took to pin Decisnom and to kill him: in a single move, Caesar had just decisively won the match. It was an astounding display of efficiency, and one that shocked the audience out of their sense of complacency. They had expected Caesar to win, but in such a cunning and understated fashion? Apparently, there was more to Caesar than met the eye.

DeSEPPtion (Fire) VS. Ubuu (Fire):

From moment one it was obvious who had the upper hand. Where Sepp used a veritable menagerie of bending moves, hardly ever touching the ground in between fire jets and blitzes, Ubuu was left running and barely casting a spell. While he floundered, hardly seeming to even understand his own arsenal, Sepp gradually wore him down, never taking even a single hit in return. It was after mere seconds from the outset of the round that Ubuu was crushed. Both of them had given a commendable performance, it was just that Sepp was in another league from Ubuu entirely.

Spug (Fire) VS. IamthepowerfulE (Air):

Spug was uncharacteristically cautious as the fight began, taking some precious time to size up his opponent rather than leaping into the fray. He made use of a tactical style of play rarely employed by firebenders, making very clear distinctions between offensive and defensive phases. There were periods during which he’d use fire shot from a distance to poke his opponent, while during others he’d go in close to try to ensnare them in his fire breath. It was during one of these ferocious pushes that he scored the win, engulfing IamthepowerfulE in a point-blank solar burst. In a heartbeat, the airbender was reduced to cinders.

Ruben_Ninja (Air) VS. Matteocallebaut (Air):

This match had to be delayed for quite some time because Matteo failed to show. When he did though, things went off to a devastating start, with windslams coming out from both sides. Ruben seemed to be toying with his enemy, using twisters to keep him high in the air and to pin him against walls, while Matteo played a comically slow game in return, using no moves except for windslam and the occasional burst, hardly even making use of a single dodge or jump. It was obvious that Ruben was taking the mickey out of Matteo, perhaps unwisely: he was taking a fair amount of damage as a result of his relaxed policy toward combat. It was for this reason, perhaps, that he suddenly came out with a windslam at the tail end of the match, tersely dispatching Matteo and clearing the way to the second round.

Second Round Direct Link

UROShadow (Water) VS. YaguraKaratachi (Water):

It was teacher VS. student, young VS. old, a man of many elements against one who’d practised one to perfection. There was going to be no quarter given and none expected in return: in any other tournament this would’ve been the finale, but Christmas came early this year as Shadow and Yag were put up against one another in the ring, where legends go to be born and martyrs go to die! Spears, cages, stream explosions: Yagura took an unfortunate ice spear early in the round, taking what must’ve been an unacceptable amount of damage from just one attack. After that he got noticeably lighter on his feet, prioritising evasion and tricky maneuvering over sheer offence, as he had in previous tournaments. Shadow, meanwhile, played a reactionary game, selectively picking his engagements whenever he identified an environment that he could abuse. At one point he got Yag in a corner where he had no water to use, but where Shadow was able to exploit a hedge of leaves to pummel his opponent into oblivion. At another, he trapped Yagura within a cage of ice and juggled him with explosions and splashes. It looked as if Yagura was a beast, and Shadow was the tamer desperately trying to keep a grip on the situation: nobody knew where the battle would lead! And ultimately, it came down to one of the small moments - the micro victories which went over the audience’s heads - which sealed Yagura’s fate, as he died in the middle of a combo to a humble water bolt. Well played by both parties, and may we see many more fights of this calibre!

BananaVirus (Air) VS. MrSlushie96 (Fire):

Where Slushie kept to the earth, grounding himself on the arena floor, Virus took to the skies and to the scooter, cleanly transitioning from one mobility move to another. He made himself impossible to target or predict, only occasionally dropping in to deal some light damage to Slushie. The firebender, to his credit, responded admirably by replicating Virus’ own style, staying evasive until an opportunity to attack presented itself, whereupon he committed with everything he had. He found it impossible to outplay the airbender though, and found himself paralyzed by air shocks and wind slams again and again, never quite managing to land the hits that he needed to. He eventually fell to his death, leaving Virus the victor.

CaesarSW4R (Earth) VS. WarriorMuffin (Water):

Caesar went on the defensive again, much as he had in the last round: he erected a wall and took shelter inside a box of earth, perhaps unwisely, as he did so while Muffin was right next to him and he was in a pool of water, making himself easy pickings for an ice spear. He was playing at a level that nobody had ever seen him at, one which could hardly even be described as mediocre. He was clearly doing his best in spite of all the factors stacked against him, from his incredibly high ping to the fact that he was playing on a computer that wasn’t familiar to him. It was almost unfair how dominant Muffin seemed, landing important shot after important shot while Caesar struggled to even make the most out of an earth blast. His sandstorms were waylaid, shackles went awry, pebble tosses struck nothing but air. Ultimately, tragically, he fell to a water blast while trying to run away from Muffin. Unlike many other fights in the tournament, this one didn’t evoke any excitement or anticipation: all it produced was a sad, insidious pity.

DeSEPPtion (Fire) VS. IncognitoSubito (Fire):

Incognito had shown himself both in and out of the ring to be a formidable fighter, challenging some of the greatest legends of the server and overcoming them in endearingly humble fashion. The two firebenders seemed to be gearing up for the battle of the century, the fated clash between the old guard and new, when Subito unexpectedly crashed. Not knowing how to proceed, the server staff decided to take a break and engaged in a behind-the-scenes conversation about how much they hated eating chocolate, forgetting that they’d done so and then later finding brown gunk on their fingers. Before the dialogue could go to darker places, Incognito reconnected and the fight was allowed to get underway. Sepp was clearly in his element, quite literally: he played fast and loose, maintaining a consistent distance between himself and his opponent, knowing that he couldn’t play the close-range game but that he also couldn’t afford to play at great distance. Subito, on the other hand, fought very conservatively and kept his cards close to his chest, remaining relatively immobile and focusing on simply hitting Sepp with every move that he could. It was this stoic and considered strategy that ultimately earned him the victory, causing the ever-dynamic Sepp to perish out of the blue, having continued his ferocious assault even on low health.

Spug (Fire) VS. S3ventyS3ven (Earth):

Spug knew that S3ven would win any straightforward engagement, he was simply too bulky and had too many offensive moves on his side. Spug initially stayed mobile, making use of his greater range, but eventually found out the hard way that old habits die hard. He dashed into S3ven, hoping to score a round-ending combo, only to find himself shackled and in the crosshairs of the most keen-eyed earthbender on the server. Coins, blasts, tosses, they all found their mark. Meanwhile, Spug hardly managed to do anything to S3ven in return, failing to keep up with his myriad of dodges and earth walls. The match was less a fight and more a journey, one where Spug was the passenger, S3ven was the train and the route was the one-way line to the deepest pits of Hell.

TikTacJack (Water) VS. MrCafeMan (Air):

In spite of Jack’s clear advantage in both survivability and offensive potential, he still made use of an evasive style of fighting, spending much of his time in the air and as far away from CafeMan as he could be. He made the most that he could out of his limited arsenal, dealing some minor damage here and there. CafeMan, meanwhile, kept up a relentless assault, using geysers to push his opponent out of the water and an unending slew of air bolts to pin him down. He didn’t seem to realise that he was dealing less damage than Jack could’ve with water bolt alone: air has never been a good element for frontal assaults. TikTac won without really ever having to try, drowning CafeMan in a deluge of splashes and blasts.

Ruben_Ninja (Air) VS. _Gent (Earth):

Gent had learned from his past experiences of being one-hit by Eshel. This time, he wouldn’t be the victim of a similar gambit. He played at a distance, keeping himself as far from his opponent as he could, using blasts and coins to knock him away and walls to build up barriers between himself and what he perceived to be instantaneous death. Ruben showed off his love of scooter in return, often leaping high into the air only to come back down to earth atop a sphere of wind, allowing him to stay above Gent’s coins and to deal some decent damage. He almost always received a shackle and a frankly ridiculous amount of damage in return however, making it rather strange that he kept using air scooter even after it was proven that it was losing him the match. Eventually, he perished during one of his famous scooter rides, going down to a well placed coin.

In other second round news, EshelD was given a bye into the third round after his opponent failed to show up.

Third Round Direct Link

BananaVirus (Air) VS. UROShadow (Water):

Bananavirus hyped himself up perhaps a bit too much before the fight began. As soon as the starting bell tolled, he went in for what he must’ve perceived as an opportunity to take his opponent off guard. Instead, he was caught in the middle of an ice sphere and a whirlpool, taking the full brunt of the assault while Shadow stood in the middle of it and watched Banana get tossed about. It was shortly afterwards that Shadow cast heal, swimming around in a shallow pool while Banana stood far away, not attacking but catching his breath. Once Shadow had finished recovering his health he pushed Banana into a corner, surrounded him with an ice cage and used a blizzard to end his life. The fight had been a foregone conclusion from the start but nobody would’ve anticipated the comedic turns that it ultimately took.

IncognitoSubito (Fire) VS. WarriorMuffin (Water):

Incog was at a loss as the round began, trying to weigh up his options: he’d hardly ever fought waterbenders before and he was rather intimidated by the fact that they had the advantage in close quarters, typically his favourite quadrants to exploit. He was, however, able to adapt and started up an astounding combo of attacks, flitting between flame shots and blitzes into firebombs and walls, zoning Muffin and keeping them on the run. Muffin was all too used to a frenetic and evasive style of play however, and managed to keep up both their mobility and their offence. They eventually had to take a break however and so cast ice cage around themselves to shield them while they recuperated. Bad decision. Incognito stood on top of the sphere and cast solar burst, immolating Muffin inside their own home: crispy!

TikTacJack (Water) VS. S3ventyS3ven (Earth):

TikTac was hardly able to land a single hit throughout the entire match. S3ven was too mobile, erected too many walls, juggled TikTac too much for his aim to ever be steady. Between the many, many pebbles that he landed and the dozens of times he dodged Jack’s attacks, it was obvious that S3ven held the advantage. In a desperate attempt to turn the tide, Jack pulled S3ven in and use high tide, hoping to pull him out of his element. Instead, he trapdped himself in the middle of S3ven’s own sandstorm, a spell which rapidly cancelled Jack’s ultimate and brought him to his knees.

EshelD (Air) VS. _Gent (Earth):

This was a fight which Gent had been desperate to avoid: he’d lost in October to EshelD, dying because of an abusable combo which earth had no chance of avoiding. Similarly, Eshel had lost before to Gent because of that very same combo being temporarily patched out of the game. Both combatants were absolutely terrified of the other one, playing so carefully and non-commitally that they barely even spent most of the round in the same half of the arena as one another. Eshel eventually braved a closer style of play and started making use bursts and wind carries to toss Gent around, keeping him away from his source of power. Gent responded with his own adaptation, using rumbles to interrupt Eshel’s combos and scooter to prevent himself from being knocked into the air. Eshel was at a loss; every attempt he made to crush his opponent was literally stonewalled. He went back on the run, hoping to drag out the fight into a war of attrition which he had more chance of winning. However, the difference had already been made: he was sniped by an earth blast, leaving Gent the last man standing.

Semi Finals Direct Link

IncognitoSubito (Fire) VS. UROShadow (Water):

Shadow bunkered up at the outset, keeping himself within an orb of water while Incognito did his best to deal whatever damage he could. His rains of fire, however, met with essentially no success as Shadow stayed well within the pools in the corners of the arena, not once chancing an expedition onto dry land where he was most vulnerable. Incognito was left pummelling ice and striking water. Shadow, meanwhile, kept landing his shots, making it obvious that if Incognito didn’t knock him out of the game soon, he’d take the match easily. Recognising that this was the case, Incognito tried to land a solar burst, using the very same strategy that had eliminated Muffin. It was shortly rebuffed by an ice sphere. However, after that failure, he started playing more dynamically, more smoothly: he stayed high up in the air where Shadow couldn’t hit him, started aiming his flame shots more deliberately: where he had once seemed like the next stepping stone on Shadow’s path to victory, now he was putting up a fight. And a fight he put up, constantly no-selling Shadow’s best combos and breaking every ounce of momentum the waterbender managed to build up. A mere half minute later, it was Incognito - not Shadow - who was the winner of the fight, subverting every expectation that the audience - and even Incognito himself - had built up in their minds!

_Gent (Earth) VS. S3ventyS3ven (Earth):

Two tectonic titans tangled into the arena, each one a dark reflection of the other. Gent, the oldest active earthbender on the server (sans Martdamp), with an aggressive and mobile playstyle to his name: the very same which had earned him fame and elevated earth to heights never before seen. S3ven, a relative newcomer yet a veteran in his own right, with a host of victories under his belt and a reputation for being unkillable. Both of them were legends, both of them were unwilling to give an inch of ground in true earthbender fashion. Where Gent capitalized on shackle, often silencing S3ven and leaving him vulnerable to attack, S3ven seemed to prioritise twisting the environment to his advantage, strategically erecting walls and keeping up an unceasing output of pebbles, blasts and shatters. Gent, meanwhile, attacked less but made his moves count more, curving blasts around walls and making use of tricky angles to bypass all of S3ven’s defences. Both of them persecuted a slow but deliberate vector of attack. It was Gent who came out on top in the end, having sneaked in enough hits to earn himself a tidy victory while proving that quality trumped quantity.

Third Place Playoff Direct Link

S3ventyS3ven (Earth) VS. UROShadow (Water):

Shadow was fast, ferocious, cunning, like a wolf dancing circles around its prey, closing in for the inevitable kill. He went for the proverbial jugular again and again, making use of spears and creeping ices to either control or obliterate his opponent. S3ven, meanwhile, found himself seemingly surrounded on all sides. When he responded to an attack from his front, he soon found himself being hit from his flanks: Shadow was simply unwilling to stay in place. At one point S3ven leapt into the air in search of solace and instead found himself struck by an ice spear as soon as he touched the ground. Later, he was trapped by a high tide: this time he didn’t manage to cast sandstorm before he was thrown into the air. S3ven played not to win but just to survive, trying to shove Shadow as far away from himself as he could. It was all for naught, however: Shadow, through relentlessness and guile, brought S3ven down. Getting only third place must’ve stung for someone so eminently talented, but he’d more than earned his stripes in the past. This was not so much an accomplishment for him but just a rehash of past battles: another day in the life of a legend.

Grand Final Direct Link

_Gent (Earth) VS. IncognitoSubito (Fire)

Incognito was finally given an opportunity to show off his preferred dynamic. Against earth, he could afford to be bold. Against earth, he finally knew precisely what his role was: the hunter. He chased Gent all around the arena, forcing him to dodge and jump in circles while rains of fire and bombs carpeted the ground behind him. Gent could hardly land a hit, and though things got dicey for Incognito once or twice when a shackle found its mark, for the most part he was an inescapable presence, an exacting buzzard which Gent couldn’t swat. He soared through the air, thundered across the ground, galloped as the vanguard of a cavalry regiment staffed with fireballs and flame shots. The solar brigade left no stone unturned, overcame every fortification in its way: in no time at all Gent was down for the count, burnt to ash and leaving Incognito with his first tournament win: a fantastic performance from one of the newest firebenders on the server!

The bracket for this tournament can be found by clicking here.

The Dove Awards Direct Link

Best Fighter - There are no doubts this month. IncognitoSubito is the runaway winner! He shocked us all by knocking the all dominant UROShadow out of the tournament, the latters first defeat in any tournament since July! Incognito became a firebending hero by becoming just the second one to win a tournament. They were aggressive, exciting, and an incredibly worthy winner. Congratulations!

Best Fight - There are several candidates for this award this month. Honourable mentions to EshelD vs Gent_ and to IncognitoSubito vs UROShadow. The winner though is the titanic battle between UROShadow and YaguraKaratachi. This highly anticpated fight between two of the most succesful fighters in history lived up to all the billing, it was fantastic to watch.

The Champagne Moment Award - What's this? A brand new award? Yes, that's right! The Champagne Moment award will go be given to the best single moment of the tournament. Pull off an incredible combo? Defeat the odds and knock out a defending champion? These are the sorts of things that might win you the Champagne Moment. This month I am awarding this to Gent_ for their remarkable nullification of Eshel's one-shot-combo. They had clearly worked hard to discover this, and they duly awarded with victory.

Funniest Moment - I'm delighted to say that we have a fine winner this month. GrandMageDecisnom is the winner, for their excellent use of sand to suffocate themselves and leave Caesar with a simple task to win their match. Truly astounding incompetence!

Last Notes Direct Link

This has been the best year we've ever had for tournaments. Since Febuary we have held one tournament each month, and each time we have seen the numbers increase, and the quality improve. A huge thank you must go out to the Events team, particularly the joint leaders CheeseSandwich and AvatarKorra, who have tirelessly worked to organise all the events you see on the server.

January will be a bumper month for all things AvatarMC, with the long awaiting Harvest update bringing us the Agrarian Zone, Professions and more. A special release event will go up alongside this update to celebrate, so keep an eye out for more information to come.

Last but not least, a massive thank you to everyone who has taken part in a tournament over the last twelve months. Seeing people enjoying them makes the whole thing worth it.

Have a good Christmas and a much better 2021!

QuietDove

Hall of Fame Direct Link

• July 2018 - Kaaldr
• August 2018 - Porku
• September 2018 - nanook4219
• October 2018 - EvieAscendant
• November 2018 (2v2) - Tofu_ and Porku
• December 2018 - EvieAscendant
• January 2019 - KevinY3
• August 2019 - Vincebobogunoosh
• February 2020 - EvieAscendant
• March 2020 - Porku
• March 2020 (2v2) - Porku and Best_Minority
• April 2020 - KevinY3
• May 2020 - Jtox17
• June 2020 - Mystef
• July 2020 - YaguraKaratachi (Mystef)
• August 2020 - ShadowKing1255
• September 2020 - CaesarSW4R
• October 2020 (2v2) - UROShadow and Fire_LordAzula
• November 2020 - UROShadow
• December 2020 - IncognitoSubito