Hello, after a brief hiatus last month, the tournament report has returned! The third of our monthly tournaments certainly didn't disappoint, with some classic fights being fought, and one of the tournaments biggest controversies to date.
For the first time in the tournaments history, there were no non-benders taking part, hopefully we see them return in October.
The other four elements were represented by:
Air - Vincebobogunoosh, Porku, Cheesesandwich, J_L_T, radostin04, SkeletonXF238, nanook4219
Water - EvieAscendant, zcvn, Kidletz5
Earth - FireLordIzumi, Caljitsu, Sodie_Pops
Fire - MewRayquaza, Failbourgh, Creepreeck
Once again, air proved to be the most popular choice, especially after Porku's success with it in the last tournament. Perhaps it's popularity is a sign to even organisers that the competition may need levelling out.
The first fight saw a tasty matchup between FireLordIzumi and Vincebobogunoosh, a pre-tournament favourite. The fight was something of a formality as Vince was able to comfortably dispatch Izumi, throwing down the gauntlet to the rest of the competition.
Another notable match was the surprisingly entertaining encounter between Caljtsu and Porku, the defending champion. Cal found more luck than his fellow earthbender, Izumi, in landing a few significant hits against his air bending opponent. However, the fight ultimately came down to a relatively easy victory to Porku.
The third fight was a confusing battle between Mew and Cheese. The fight had to be restarted twice, first due to Cheese using PEGM's (Performance Enhancing Game Modes), then Mew suffering an injury called "Random DC".
In the fight, Mew appeared to be the one with the advantage, Cheese appearing to be unable to land any significant hits. But then, in a twist, Mew appeared to forfeit the match, allowing Cheese to defeat her. This is believed to be due to an illness known as "Lag"
In the other fights:
The headline fight in this round was undoubtably the fight between the tournament favourites, Porku and Vince. The fight did not disappoint as neither fighter left anything on the arena. It was an excellent display of air bending prowess from the pair, any aspiring fighter would do well to observe this fight.
Both competitors landed big hits and the lead changed hands several times early on. But eventually, Porku was able to land some decisive blows that saw him defeat his arch rival.
The fight between Evie and Cheese was another long fight, one for the purists of the sport. Evie made good use of her water bending and, in truth, she never really looked like losing.
Sodie and Radostin provided an entertaining, if slightly one-sided, fight. Sodie gave a perfect demonstration of earth bendings capabilities, with Rad unable to keep up (which is slightly ironic for an airbender...). The fight went to Sodie, as their excellent run continued.
The final quarter final bout was a slightly underwhelming affair between Skeleton and Nanook. Neither fighter seemed to be comfortable with air bending tactics, making for a slightly slow fight. Eventually, Nanook emerged victorious.
The first semi final, between Evie and Porku, was a cracker. Although there were few fireworks, the fight gave us a gripping battle of wills. Evie appeared to be landing most of the hits from the safety of her pool of water, but Porku was able to keep her honest using his speed and landing hits of his own.
In a fight lasting six minutes, it eventually came down to Porku knocking Evie out of the water and landing several significant hits. The fight was ended by a perfectly timed Air Burst from Porku, breaking Evie's defences. Porku advanced to his third successive final.
The second semi final was fought between Sodie and Nanook. This was another long fight, totalling nearly ten minutes, by far the longest of the tournament so far! Sodie took an interesting, and ulitmately misguided, approach to the fight.
The tactic of continually using Earth Wall may have been a masterstroke... Not this time though. The lack of attacking intent from Sodie allowed Nanook to eat and regain health, eventually paving the way for his victory.
The final match of this tournament promised much, both Porku and Nanook had fought well in the previous rounds, but it ended in controversy.
The fight began slowly, both fighters taking time to size each other up, with few punches thrown. As the fight developed both sides grew into it and started to land some hits. Porku had the slight advantage in the early stages, proving his skills. But, Nanook was able to come back into it and peg Porku back, this wasn't going to be easy for Porku. The bout continued in this manner for some time, with Porku able to hold a slight advantage.
However, as the fight headed towards its closing stages, we were presented with one of the tournaments biggest controversies yet. Porku began to use his air ball to travel around the arena, allowing Nanook to get a few hits, before his was blown up into the air. Making no attempt to break his fall, Porku hit the ground and lost the fight.
Initially, this appeared to be a major mistake from the defending champion, as airbenders are difficult to defeat with fall damage, but it later emerged that Porku had deliberately lost the fight.
With this information, the Board of Stewards decided to disqualify Porku from the tournament, citing a breach of the competitions spirit. The stewards are currently in the process of discussing further punishment, news of which should break in the not too distant future.
Despite this, Nanook was named as the champion and went away with the top prize. Congratulations to him!
Best Fighter: Porku - Despite his underhanded tactics in the final, his excellent form must be acknowledged. He once again provided some memorable displays on his route to the final.
Best Battle: Porku vs Vince - An obvious choice. The best two fighters in the tournament were on display in their brilliant quarter-final bout. A true masterclass of air bending from the pair of them.
Worst Battle: - Skeleton vs Nanook - Sorry Skeleton, you're here again! I promise I'm not doing this on purpose... The fight was underwhelming to say the least, its long length didn't help.
Funniest Moment: - The slightly farcical Cheese vs Mew fight, which required three attempts to get started. It was ultimately ended by Mew's terrible internet connection, time to invest in fibre optic I think!
Thank you to everyone who competed this month! You have a whole month to prepare for the next one, so get on the training ground!
Details about the October tournament will be released shortly, so keep an eye on the Discord for all the information.